Come Sail Away
Shron walked down the hall of deck 5 to the airlock to meet up with Win. He just came from sickbay and luckily remembered to bring a change of clothes with him if the refit took too long. Which it did since some of the computers they had gotten were from the trash bin and not off the assembly line. It cost him three hours of labor he would never get back.
He saw the eager face of Win as he rounded the corner, "Hey sorry I'm a little late. Had some last minute things to do in sickbay."
The Betazoid sized him up, dark blue eyes giving him his full attention. "You're not ill, are you?"
Shron blushed from his remark and said, "Oh no I was renovating the sickbay with an engineering crew on the starbase. Now where do we go?"
"Uhm...I don't know? I have this morning off...we could go sailing?"
Shron thought a moment and decided on sailing. "Well sailing sounds fun. I looked up some stuff but, have no idea how to do it."
"I do. My dad taught me when I was little."
Shron gestured for the man to follow him, "All my father taught me was how to use an Ushaan." A smile escaped Shron's lips and he thought of the wonderful yet horrible memories of training. It was tough and it stressful with many Andorian children. Except he wasn't a Pedigree Andorian and though he was mixed with his mothers don't give up attitude. "Well you can teach me the...'ropes' was it?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what an Ushaan is...perhaps you can teach me? Ropes indeed, they'll be involved." Wintrow smiled, completely in his element in teaching someone something he loved to do. "You can swim, yes?"
Shron laughed awkwardly at his reply. "Ushaan is an Andorian way of fighting an opponent. It's like...um...I...hmm I guess, I don't know a deadly, weapon wielding sport? It's a deadly sport were one Andorian kills the other or ultimately shames them. Very hard to learn because you are using your fist and have to learn flexible moves."
"I see...probably not my thing then. You didn't answer my question however. Can you swim?" They entered the holodeck and it showed them a nice and quiet bay in Scotland, with several boats on docks. "Mine's overthere." He pointed at a small boat with pale blue sails.
"It looks smaller than I expected. Where is this? It looks familiar, like a small Bay area on Earth." Shron walked down the path to pier. The area looked like a small town secluded from the rest of the world.
"Edinburgh," the older teen answered, "if you look overthere you see the Eastern Breakwater and to your left the Western Harbour Breakwater. To get to the open water, we have to navigate our way through that gap overthere. Don't worry, I've done this many times before." He sighed. "And you still haven't told me if you can swim..."
"Swim? Oh sorry I didn't hear you. I can a couple times before it was interrupted by drowning but, I'm ok." Shron looked at the harbor as they made their way to the pier. He finally saw the sailboat and it looked bigger in perspective.
"Then you wear a safety vest, or you're not stepping on board," Wintrow told him sternly as he climbed on board. He put on a vest himself, then handed one to Shron. "Why don't you take a seat for now, while I navigate us out to open water?" The boat was big enough to need more than one person, but Wintrow knew what he was doing, and could easily do it on his own.
Shron climbed aboard the boat and took off his shirt. He then strapped the vest on himself. He sat on the top deck leaning against the top hatch. He watched as Win did his magic on the sailboat. "You need some help over there it seems hard."
"Nah, I got it." Wintrow chuckled. "You didn't have to undress yourself you know, these vests are big enough to fit over a shirt. Unless you in tend to go swimming once we get to open see, in which case I do suggest tethering yourself to the boat with a lifeline, just in case. This boat doesn't have a motor."
The wind caught in the sails and soon the boat was coursing towards open see, the young pilot deftly steering it while also managing the sails.
"Well I didn't want to make a fool of myself. Besides it feels hot, even if it is on a holodeck. I may go swimming? You?" Shron said.
"I might." It didn't take long to get to open see. "Do you want to try?" he asked, gesturing at the rudder. "I'll take care of the sails, don't worry about them for now. Just mind that beam over there, you don't want it to knock into your head."
"Yea I think I'll give it a go." Shron made his way to the rudder, ducking under the beam. "So just move it side to side?" He looked at the clear waters behind to see the rudder. It looked as if it was made of wood, which is horrible for structural support.
"Yes side to side. Move left and we go right, move right and we go left.. You're not the sort to get seasick by the way, are you?" Shron had been right, it was arm under the sun, even holographic. He removed his shirt as well, showing scarred pale skin in the sunlight. Unlike Shron, he didn't wear a life vest.
Shron looked at the boy as he removed the shirt. He saw the scars on him and it frightened him. "Is that what your stepmother did?" He moved the rudder right and left to get used to the controls. He saw an oncoming wave that looked pretty high. "Wave." Shron said to warn the pilot.
Wintrow braced himself as he shook his head. "No. My brother. I don't really want to talk about it now, we're here to have fun."
The wave hit the boat knocking water on board the deck. The impact nearly threw him from the rudder. "Agre-." Another wave hit with a bigger force than the first hitting him clean off the boat. He impacted the water with an immense force forcing him under. He swam his way back to the surface to find a concerned Win looking at him. "Well that was fun!"
Reaching out, Wintrow hoisted him back aboard. "I'm dropping anchor... then you can dry out a bit on the foredeck. The anchor will stabilise the boat, so you won't be thrown off again. If it's too rough we can always adjust the program."
"Well i might do that after this." Shron took his hand and pulled him in. He had a smirk on his face by the time Win got back up to the surface. He couldn't help but, laugh at the expression.
Shaking his head, Wintrow sighed. "You're lucky I already dropped anchor just now, or we'd be in for a long swim."
"Good exercise! Come on let's get back on that's all I wanted to do." Shron climbed back aboard and helped Win back aboard.
"And now we're both wet..." Rolling his eyes, Wintrow removed the remainder of his clothes, to show he'd been thinking ahead and had put swimshorts on underneath. "At least we can't get a sunburn in a holodeck."
Shron looked at Win and grew a little jealous of not remembering what they were doing. He looked at his wet self and frowned, "Well look at me without a back up plan. I can't exactly strip can I? I also can't burn like Humans because of my physiology."
"It's a holodeck, you can just tell it to replicate what you need."
"True but, what fun would that be?" Shron looked at Win's face and laughed. "Sorry a joke!" Shron called down a replicator and it materialized in front of him. He asked for a towel and it complied and started patting himself down.
"There you go," Wintrow chuckled, turning away to give him some privacy to change if he desired. "Tell me when you're done."
He took off his shorts and wrapped the towel around his waist. "You're good." Shron walked to the bow and laid down on the deck to dry off.
"Good at what?" He turned around and watched the young Andorian. "You almost look like a model in a towel commercial..."
"Why thank you! It almost makes me want to take off this towel so you don't feel offended." Shron blushed a dark red of excitement. 'Did he really just say that?'
"I'd rather you didn't..." Wintrow too turned a darker shade of red, not really sure what to make of the comment. He could sense the excitement, but didn't understand it. "Why would I be offended?"
"From my good looks that you are so fond of." Shron still red turned over on his stomach to look at the standing Win.
"I don't understand.. Shron you have to speak plainly, because you continue to confuse me and I don't understand what I sense from you."
"Are you reading my mind? I mean I'm speaking clear as day." Shron was confused on what he meant.
"No I'm not reading your mind. I can't read minds, but there's a difference in what you're saying and what you're feeling and the combination makes no sense. You say I'm fond of your good looks. I don't mean to offend you, but what gives you that idea? Why would you say such a thing?"
"Oh sorry I was just joking around. I was being sarcastic I thought you could hear it sorry. My sense of jokes are different." Shron was confused and a little frightened of this. He didn't get what was happening.
"I'm sorry. Sarcasm is often lost on me." He could sense the confusion and the fear. "What are you afraid of?"
"Fear? What fear? I could add sharks to the program." Shron said.
"I sense fear. You're afraid of something."
"I'm not scared of anything Win. Trust me." Shron said trying conceal his fear with something else.
Wintrow sat down beside him on the fore deck. "You can't fool me that easily Shron. You've been jumpy ever since we met. You kissed me, and it's gotten worse since then. What's going on?"
"Have you not noticed Win? I just like you so much that I fall head over heels for you. I trip over my own feet and get nervous. Ever since I kissed you I just can't contain myself. I can control it at times and I'm trying to get around the fact that you don't like me. So I'm joking about certain things to relieve the tension." Shron looked at the older boy with a look of disbelief on his face. 'Did he really not know this? Did he think it was a joke or can he not process it?'
"I like you fine. As a friend. But I don't love you no. I'm sorry."
"I know Win its just that. I know it can't be so...wait what kind of like?" Shron asked with hope.
"As a friend, that kind of like."
"That's what I thought." Shron sighed. "It's just going to take some time for me to get used to it."
"Or me...who knows what the future brings, but don't make me make you any promises. I can't make you any promises."
"So there is a tiny ounce of hope." Shron murmured to himself. "We'll what do you want to know?"
"There's always hope, even when there seems to be none," Wintrow pointed out, stretching himself out on the deck to enjoy the artificial sunlight. "I'm not sure I follow...want to know what? About you?" He smiled. "Everything you want to share."
"Well I never told you that's why I asked. I grew up on a farm in Tennessee with my mothers parents, where I learned engineering and how to do anything if I want to live in the world. Didn't see my mother or father much since they were on ships and couldn't have me aboard like they wanted to. I have never met my grandmother on my fathers side because she doesn't like Andorians mixing with any other species. Then I somehow ended up here after my mother wanted me to go into Starfleet like her and I'm getting credits to get into the Academy." Shron laid back onto his back and looked up at the artificial sun of the holodeck. "What about you? Do you have anything else you want to share?"
"Why don't you ask me specific questions and I'll think about answering them. You said your mother wanted you to enter Starfleet. What about you? Is it what you really want? My father brought me here, because he wanted me to be safe, I think, in the end he knew what was going on. Or at least suspected something. I was the captain's yeoman for a while, before switching to the fighter wing."
"Ok how did you go from a yeoman to part of the fighter wing?" Shron thought a moment about the questions and replied, "Yes I wanted to go into Starfleet but, didn't know how to get in. Both of them helped me get into an honors enrollment program where I have to work on a ship before going in. I'm glad I made the decision or I would be digging up weeds or fixing a silo."
Wintrow smiled fondly at the memory. "I was on an engineering assignment when an access hatch dropped underneath me. I literally fell in on a wing meeting. They started telling me of their adventures and before I knew it they had arranged a holodeck flight for me. I had never felt so free before, they even gave me my own call sign."
Shron laughed and said, "You're kidding right? I've never heard of that happening to anyone. I would love to talk to whoever was in charge of maintenance. How bad did you get hurt?"
"A bit bruised, surprisingly, considering how accident prone I was as a child, according to my stepmother anyway. My medical record is filled with records of broken bones. I think, I've just about broken every bone in my body at least once." He shrugged. "I don't know who was in charge of maintenance. Me at that point I suppose..."
Shron looked at him with a serious look. "Do you really want to talk about this? You seemed to hurt the last time."
"About what? You asked who was in charge of maintenance, and I think that day, it was actually me. I really don't remember." The older teenager smiled. "Really I'm fine talking about it, I'll let you know when we reach a subject I don't want to discuss. You can ask me anything."
"Win you know what I meant. It's ok if you don't want to talk about it." Shron said.
"I know. Really, you can ask me anything. Go ahead."
"Did he ever try to...do it in public?" Shron tried to use his words carefully no to upset Win.
"No he didn't. He was very sneaky about it. My dad never knew what was going on. I was too afraid to confide in him. More than once, Russell, my half-brother that is, threatened to kill me, and more than once he nearly made good on that threat, just to make a point. Simply because he could."
"I thought that getting into a fight about someone's mother was horrible enough. I'm sorry that happened to you but, your dad never noticed? Not in the slightest way?" Shron asked.
"I think that eventually he suspected, about two years ago. You see, as a diplomat he was away a lot, so it was easy to keep it from him. My stepmother blames me for his death but I wouldn't be surprised if she had a hand in it. Because he sent me away to this ship. This is my home now, the chief counsellor, well he's sort of a big brother and doctor Myles an aunt maybe. Alex, the counsellor I mean...he's legally my guardian."
"So your step mother blames you for everything bad in both of your lives? I guess he figured something was wrong and shoved you onboard." Shron thought a moment about the rest of the information. "So the Doctor is like the Aunt you never had and the Counselor is your dad. Correct?"
"No he's not. He's far too young to even consider that role. No, he's more like an older brother as I just said. To be honest, I'm not sure I even miss family life. I don't really know what it feels like, to be part of a loving family. I mean, in the normal sense of the word. This crew is my family now."
"Oh I see, he's your legal guardian who treats you like a brother. Well we're the next best thing to a family. I heard we're having a family get together tomorrow at 0700 when Alpha shift starts." Shron said with a smile.
"Your family?" Again the poor pilot felt confused.
"It was a joke Win. Alpha shift where everyone is up doing something. The family get together."
"Oh... I see... I thought you were proposing I meet your family." He leaned back and looked up at the sky, then closed his eyes for a moment. "I rarely get up on the bridge anymore, I don't really need to go there. I have no bridge qualifications anymore."
"Then why we're you up at the conn? My father wouldn't shut up about it." Shron tried to get off the subject of family and start talking about something else. "I've never even seen the thing."
"Because I want to learn how to pilot a ship, broaden my horizons. Doesn't mean I'm qualified for it. He needs to supervise, I can't do it on my own." Turning his head, Wintrow stared at the Andorian. "You mean your dad never showed you his workplace? Not that my dad ever took me on one of his trips...our trips were limited to going sailing, all over the place."
"Well the thing is my dad and I are close just not that close. We do things with each other on days that aren't so busy. Like just last Thursday we ate lunch together. It's not anything that extraordinary though." Shron barely saw his dad as a child and now that he's a teenager they can't connect like they should.
"Have you considered asking him whether he'd like to show you? Did you show interest? I asked mine but he wouldn't, saying that conferences and parties were no place for a boy my age."
"I brought it up a couple of times. Besides I'm supposed to be on the ship for another year or so. I have enough time to go see it and my dad has complained about some lag on his console so maybe sooner." Shron had only seen what the Ambassador class bridge has looked like on specs. He figured it was smaller than the Galaxy and bigger than a Constellation but, didn't have certain luxuries like a newer ship.
"You could always ask the captain to go up and see the bridge," Wintrow suggested. "Or another bridge officer if the idea daunts you."
"True but, what's the fun in that? I would rather my father do it but, I hate going up there just to go up there. It seems a bit pointless and off task." Shron said.
"Have you tried talking to your dad about it?" Wintrow laced his fingers behind his head, staring up at the sail which billowed lightly in the wind.
"I have only brought it up but, it's fine. I'd rather be in Engineering than the bridge any day."
The Betazoid smiled. "I suppose you can change your mind any day. Maybe I'll take you up in a fighter someday. Not mine it only fits one."
