Disclaimer: Star Trek and all associated characters and situations are the property of CBS studios. Star Trek Online is the creation of Cryptic and Perfect World. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny is the creation and property of Sunrise, Inc. All are here used by myself for entertainment purposes only, without permission or intent to profit.
Author's Note: I'm not sure if the anime referenced here would even exist in the Star Trek timeline, since it was produced in our timeline in 2004-2005, which would place it just a few years after the Eugenics Wars in the Star Trek timeline. I also confess to only having seen a few episodes of it, so I cannot vouch for its "classic" status like Sam—but I thought it an important part of her character that she be into mecha anime. The "desktop viewer" or "viewer" that appears in this chapter and the last is an odd little piece of Federation technology. It's the little personal computers that look vaguely like laptops that seem to have appeared on every ship of every era from every culture—and yet are never named on screen! According to a note on Memory Alpha, the script calls them viewers, so that's the name I'll use too.
Stardates have been calculated with the help of the TNG Stardate Calculator available on TrekGuide .com and may be slightly out of sync with those used in the game's lore.
Further Notice
USS Endurance, Junior Flight Control Officer Samantha Hayashi's Log, Stardate 80221.4:
It seems my practical joke on Doc Lenaris didn't go over too well: certainly not with him, and not with the Old Man—I mean, Captain Ramsey—either. Lenaris tried to press charges, but Ramsey dismissed them all, except for one. He's confined me to quarters because he says I need to learn discipline. Maybe he's right, but I'm not learning anything while I'm stuck in my room with nothing to do, waiting around while the rest of the crew is out there making a difference. At least the down time gives me plenty of time to update my log, watch some of my anime collection…and wonder if I really have a future with Starfleet after all.
The com signal on the desktop viewer in Sam's quarters chimed over the background music. Sam sighed and roused herself from her stupor and paused the video she was watching on her PADD, setting it facedown among the rumpled sheets of her bed. The chime continued, insistent. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she assured it. She pulled on her uniform jacket, just in case, but left it unbuttoned because the odds of her getting a caller who would mind seeing her grey undershirt were vanishingly small. She brushed her hair out of her eyes with one hand and keyed the call acceptance on the viewer with the other.
The screen lit up with the image of a young woman with curly dark hair and Oriental features: Marla Belo, three-time TriSystem Academy Award-winning holomovie actress and fashion model…and Sam's older sister. Marla flashed her a charming smile. "Sam! It's good to see you!" A pause. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
Sam grunted and fell into the chair in front of the screen. "I wish," she said.
Marla's smile faded. "Is something wrong?"
Sam shrugged. "The Old Man says I'm grounded 'until further notice.'"
Marla looked down. "What is it this time?" she asked. "Drinking?"
Sam sat up. "What?! No! You know I only have the one bottle of Romulan Ale, and I'm saving it." She shook her head. "Why are we even talking about this? It's contraband. I officially don't have it and have never seen it before in my life. …Is this a secure channel?"
Marla laughed. "Alright, just checking," she said. "So, if it wasn't that, what was it?"
"I pulled a prank on Doc Lenaris." Sam's lips curled upward a bit, remembering.
"Mm-hmm?" Marla leaned closer.
Sam leaned forward conspiratorially. "I reprogrammed the molecular imaging sensors of the transporter to dematerialize him and everything on him…except his pants!"
Marla put a hand to her mouth to stifle a snort of laughter. "Sam! You're horrible," she teased.
Sam's smile faded. "Yeah, the Old Man thinks so, too."
Marla's face sobered as well. "I thought you said you and the Captain got along."
"We did," said Sam. "But he gets tired of seeing me in his office. They all do."
"Well, they wouldn't see you so much if you'd stop causing so much trouble," Marla said, her eyes roving to the ceiling.
Sam sighed and sat back. "Not you, too."
"Hey, it's your life: I'm not gonna tell you how to run it," said Marla. "That's Mom's department."
Sam shuddered. Now there was someone she was glad she hadn't heard from in a while.
"All I'm gonna say is Starfleet's always gonna be a stickler for rules. They may be a bit more relaxed with all the scientists, explorers, and doctors in their ranks, but they're still a military organization at heart. You knew this when you signed up."
"Yeah, I knew it, and I haven't forgotten." She shrugged. "I guess I just expected Doc Lenaris to be a better sport, you know?"
Marla stifled a laugh. "You expected a—how did you put it?—crabby old Bajoran windbag to be a good sport about you publicly unpantsing him with a transporter?"
Sam giggled. "Yeah, I guess that was a little silly of me. I just couldn't help myself, though, once the idea was in my head!"
"Couldn't, or didn't want to?"
"A little of both, I guess," Sam admitted.
Marla giggled. "Well, now that that's out of the way, what have you been doing to keep yourself occupied, Miss Solitary Confinement?"
"Rewatching some favorite anime episodes," she said, motioning to the PADD on her bed. "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny."
"Those old things?" Marla pretended to gag.
"Hey, these are heirlooms of our Japanese ancestry," Sam declared. "Classics of human entertainment."
"They're crude sequences of sketches flashed in front of a 2D camera: barely a step beyond flip-books," said Marla. "Sorry, sis, but if you want to see real entertainment, you're gonna have to step onto the holodeck like the rest of us."
Sam shook her head vigorously. "I will not be seduced by your flashy technological tricks from the simplicity that is anime."
"I could have a copy of my latest holomovie sent to the Endurance with my compliments: Under Romulan Stars."
"Another Romulan holomovie?" This time Sam pretended to gag.
"Hey, they're getting excellent reviews. Everyone loves them," said Marla. "The saga of a once-great empire shattered by fate, a proud people struggling to rebuild their civilization from the ashes, their struggle among the stars, between the Federation on one side and the Klingon Empire on the other…"
"You make it sound so romantic," Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"It is romantic, in fact," said Marla. "My character has two rival love interests who fight each other to the death."
"I'm sure the Romulan people will love it."
Marla rolled her eyes. "Look, it may not be a completely accurate portrayal, but it generates public interest and sympathy in their plight. With enough support from interested citizens, the Federation Council is sure to increase military and material aid to the Romulan people."
"Yeah, about that…you do know that Sela is the current Praetor of the Romulan Star Empire…and that she's never been exactly friendly toward the Federation, right?"
Marla huffed. "My business is entertainment, not politics. Besides, when was the last time you did something that could change the lives of millions of people?"
"I signed up for Starfleet because we change the lives of millions of people," Sam countered.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Have you?"
Sam sighed. Honestly, the most important thing she'd done so far was take a Sovereign-class starship on routine Warp 5 flights and beam one Doctor down to a somewhat-important medical symposium—sans pants. "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds I may incriminate myself," she said.
Marla's expression softened. "You know, my offer still stands. If things don't work out for you in Starfleet, I can still get you a guest slot in my next holomovie."
"I'd rather be in an anime, or unearthing one from ancient ruins," said Sam. "Besides, what makes you think that the words Samantha Hayashi and actress even belong in the same scentence?"
"I'm sure the fans would just love to see the fifth Belo girl," said Marla.
Sam huffed. "I'm sure they would, but I'm not a Belo girl," she said. When her mother and father had married, her mother—a renowned Portuguese-American model—had opted to keep her last name. Mr. Hayashi and Mrs. Belo had thus decided to let each of their six children choose which last name to bear on their sixteenth birthday. Of the five girls, Sam was the only one who chose to be a Hayashi, and not a celebrity or a model, as her four older sisters—the Belo girls, as they were called—had become. But that didn't keep fans of the family's celebrity status from wishing she'd chose otherwise and dreaming about the fifth Belo girl, when they were being polite…and the lost Belo girl when they were being less sensitive.
"It's your choice," said Marla. "But I'm sure you clean up well enough to be on holorecorder with any of us."
I 'clean up well enough?' Sam touched her uniform self-consciously. "Thanks, sis…I think."
Just then, Sam's combadge chirped. "Ramsey to Hayashi," it said.
She tapped her chest instinctively before remembering she'd taken her combadge off and set it on the desk…along with everything else. She rifled through stacks of PADDs, un-recycled food containers, and mismatched ancient pottery, searching for her combadge. It chirped again. "Ramsey to Hayashi, respond!"
Finally, Sam spotted it, lying on the floor. She must have knocked it off sometime. She glanced back at her viewer, where the screen still showed Marla, watching her in confusion. "Sorry, sis, got to go!" she said quickly, and ended the transmission. Then she dove for her combadge and tapped it before it could chirp again. "Hayashi here, sir!" she said breathlessly.
"Ensign, report to the Bridge immediately," Ramsey said.
"The Bridge, sir? But I thought I was confined-"
"Take this as your further notice," said the Captain. "The shuttle with Commander Stendos and Lieutenant Tanner aboard has retrieved the defector, but they've become caught in a gravimetric shear. We need you to pilot a second shuttle in and rescue them. Understood?"
"Understood, sir!" said Sam, standing.
"Good. Report to the Bridge with Doctor Lenaris and Ensign Bretxal for a complete briefing on the situation," said Ramsey. "You launch within the hour!"
"Yes, sir!" said Sam. She grinned and started fastening her uniform jacket.