A Kling -gone Caper
Jamie Kirk wiggled a little on the plush midnight blue chair in the Officer's Dining Room. These chairs were certainly more comfortable than the molded plastic ones in the Children's Dining Room and Jamie loved to have any chance to eat with the grownups. Pleasantly full of roasted turkey and fluffy mashed potatoes, Jamie covered a yawn and blinked to stay awake. In another few minutes she and Baxter, who sat beside her finishing up a gigantic slice of pumpkin pie, would be free to leave. Jamie squirmed in excitement. Because of the Thanksgiving celebrations today, there was going to be a puppet show on the Children's Deck tonight. The Galaxy Puppeteers from Orion were the honored guests. All the children who'd ever seen them were wild about the performance. Jamie had only heard about the spectacular show and couldn't wait.
If only Daddy would stop talking and notice that she was done eating.
"And I'm sure someone has explained to you the reasoning behind our celebration of Thanksgiving," Daddy was saying at his end of the table. "While it once was a localized celebration to the American states, it soon became a day set aside on Earth for everyone to count their blessings and give thanks."
"Yes, a very laudable holiday," the guest on Daddy's left said in a gravely voice that fascinated Jamie. "We have no such holiday or celebration on Pax."
Ambassador Aviso's voice must fascinate all the Officer's too. Mr. Spock, Lt. Uhura and Dr. McCoy were all staring at him. Only Mr. Scott wasn't paying too much attention, but it might be because he was stuck at the end of the table with Jamie and Baxter. Jamie thought probably poor Mr. Scott didn't like the fancy, dress uniform because he kept pulling at the collar like it chocked him and sighing.
"When can we go?" Baxter whispered to Jamie.
"Not yet," Jamie whispered back which earned a slight frown and a head shake from Daddy. "We have to be excused."
Slithering down in her chair, Jamie blushed when Mr. Spock turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. Jamie was sure it meant disapproval. On his left, Ambassador Aviso's aide, Mr. Cornelian did more than frown. He glared with his scary colored gray green eyes. Jamie didn't much care for Mr. Cornelian. Three days ago, the Enterprise had stopped at Starbase 79A to pick up him and the Ambassador. Because teacher had a special learning session each time the Enterprise did something out of the ordinary, Jamie knew a little about why Starfleet had sent Daddy on this mission.
Ambassador Aviso was from a planet called Pax. Teacher said that was a Latin word that meant peace. All the people living on Pax were from other cultures, other worlds and had colonized the planet to try to bring peace to everyone in the galaxy. Because the Ambassador was half Klingon, he wanted to help bring peace between the Klingons and the Federation - a peace more lasting than the Organian Peace Treaty. The ambassador's mother had been a humanoid from Rigel 7 and his father a Centurion in the Klingon army. It gave him very Klingon features such as his rigged forehead, odd, shaped hair, and gravely voice, but from his human mother he had soft, kind brown eyes and gentle hands. His lips could even form an almost normal smile.
Even so, it felt funny having a Klingon on board the Enterprise. Even a half-Klingon. But teacher said they were all a part of history if Ambassador Aviso could make this peace plan work.
"While many have tried to make peace with the Klingon's," teacher had said, "there is a good chance the Ambassador will succeed. Early this year while doing some archeological excavations on a planet thought to be where the beginnings of the Klingon empire originated, a special medallion was uncovered. After extensive testing it was discovered that this is possibly the oldest known Klingon artifact and was once owned by Kor, a legendary Klingon warrior. It's said that whoever possesses it will have the power to live forever."
"How come Kor didn't live forever then?" Baxter had wanted to know. "If he had the medallion?"
"Perhaps we can ask the Ambassador," teacher had said that day, but Baxter hadn't gotten the courage up to ask him yet. "That is a very astute observation, Baxter."
Daddy had explained later that the Enterprise was to take Ambassador Aviso to a neutral planet to meet with the Klingon High Command. The Ambassador planned to present the medallion as a symbol of peace and ask the Klingon's to open peace talks with the Federation for starters.
"Who knows, " Daddy had told Jamie earlier that day, "if they talk peace long enough, maybe we'll have it in our lifetime. See you at dinner tonight. I'm sure I don't need to remind you to behave?"
"I'm always a good girl in the Officer's Dining Room," Jamie reminded him.
Right then Jamie had cared more about having dinner with Daddy than the Klingon's making peace with anybody. It was always special to have dinner with him anywhere but being invited when there were important guests was double special. Even if Mr. Cornelian kept glaring at her like she was a bug he'd like to step on. Jamie tried not to let him bother her.
At his end of the table, Daddy leaned back and took another sip of the Saurian Brandy. Mr. Spock asked the Ambassador another question about something boring. Jamie sighed. Beside her Baxter wiggled and scratched his neck. When Baxter got bored, he could be the itchiest person alive. The only bad thing about eating with the officers was waiting until Daddy excused her from the table. If he got interested in some boring speech, it could take forever.
Hope I can stay awake until time for the puppet show.
To keep herself awake, Jamie thought about three reasons to be thankful. When Gramma made Thanksgiving dinner in Iowa, they both gave three reasons they were thankful. There's real yummy food just like Gramma made. This is the sixth month I've been on the Enterprise and I'm kind of getting used to it. Although Jamie loved being with Daddy, it took a little time to learn to like being on the Enterprise. Some days she wasn't so sure she even liked living in space, but most of the time being with Daddy made up for the doubts. What is the third reason? Jamie looked down at her beautiful new dress.
My dress! She loved the swishy silky skirt of white and the pink velvet top with a lacy collar and pearl buttons down the front. Just for show buttons too. Gramma didn't much care for fancy clothes. Everything had to be practical and serviceable. At home Jamie had plain and sturdy shirts, pants, skirts and two dressy dresses. But even the dressy dresses were plain cotton and linen. Gramma didn't believe in fancy clothes although Jamie's heart ached for a pretty princessy type dress. On StarBase 79A, she'd seen the beautiful dress and wanted it so much. She begged Nanny Banks to buy it, but she wouldn't. Like Gramma, Nanny liked practical clothes too. Later that day when Jamie opened her closet and saw it, she knew Daddy had bought it for her. Guess I have four reasons to be thankful. Daddy. I'm thankful for Daddy - even if he's still talking, talking, talking . . .
To remind him she was still waiting to be excused, Jamie gave a little cough and covered her mouth politely. A glance at the chronometer told her it wouldn't be long until the puppet show started. Thankfully, Mr. Scott seemed to have enough of the dinner party too.
"Captain, if I kin be excused for interruptin'? The wee ones seem to be finished. . ."
"Thank you for reminding me, Scotty." Daddy smiled down the table, past all the glistening glasses and the real orange tapered candles still burning. "Jamie, you and Baxter are excused." He gave a little nod that meant she should come say goodnight to the guests.
Jamie got up as fast as she could and hurried to his end of the table. Not caring if anyone saw, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged tight. "Good night, Daddy."
After the puppet show, Nanny Banks would meet her and make sure she got in bed. Jamie didn't know when she'd see Daddy again - maybe not for days if he was busy with the Ambassador. She tried not to be sad about it. That was one part of living on the Enterprise she did not like.
"Good night, honey." Daddy hugged her back tight and whispered right in her ear, "I love you."
Jamie was careful to say goodnight to each person, even ugly old Mr. Cornelian in a polite voice. Remembering what Nanny had taught her, she was also careful to say the Latin words of farewell and give a little curtsy which was how the children on Pax were taught to respect their elders. The Ambassador seemed pleased and responded in the words Nanny had said he'd use.
Baxter too told everyone goodnight and politely waited for Jamie to walk through the doors first. Once outside in the corridor, he couldn't wait to yank off the tie he'd been forced to wear. "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaa," he groaned, "I'd have rather ate on the Children's Deck. Too fancy smanshy for me. Next time Uncle Scotty asks me do I wanna, I'm saying no."
"It's not so bad," Jamie answered. "You just can't eat with your fingers or talk a whole lot. I love eating in there."
Parts of dinner in the Officer's Dining Room were always boring, but Jamie didn't tell him that.
"You can have it!" Baxter grumbled. "Probably we'll be late for the puppet show now. We gotta go to your quarters so you can change and then down to mine. The Captain sure does talk a lot."
Jamie ignored him, even though she did agree. "We got plenty of time. Stop complaining. I have candy my gramma sent from the ice planet, I'll bring it to the puppet show."
"Now you're talkin!"
They stepped into the turbo lift and Jamie gave the command, "Officer's Deck."
"State your name." The computer asked. Ever since a couple of little incidents with children going on unauthorized decks, the computer had to ask.
"Jamie Kirk."
"Accepted." The doors whooshed closed and lifted them high in the ship to the Officer's Deck. Baxter had already eased out of his suit coat and crumpled it up in a wad.
"I'll be glad to get out of this fancy smanshy outfit," he complained when the lift let them off at the corridor at the opposite end from the Captain's quarters. "Why'd we come this way?" He noticed the doors to the right, "This is the guest quarters. We should have used the other lift."
Although Jamie usually did go 'home' using the turbo lift on the starboard side of the ship, she used the aft when leaving the dining room. She shrugged. "It's just different. You're the one who likes to explore the ship."
"Not up here," Baxter looked around uneasily, "what if we run into that Mr. Cornelian? He gives me the spooks."
"He's still at dinner and it's only a few steps down to my quarters."
It was more than a few steps, they actually had to walk past several guest and officer's quarters to get to Jamie's room. But Jamie enjoyed walking a different way - some of the officer's had decorations on their doors to celebrate Thanksgiving and the Rigelian Independence Day. Jamie had discovered a few days earlier that the Officers who celebrated the Rigelian holiday left out little baskets of candy and other goodies free for the taking. Lt. Uhura had told her so. She explained all this to Baxter who appreciated the fact as much as she did.
"Hey! There's a basket!" He hurried up to an orange door with a wreath of straw and some odd purple flowers hanging on the door. "Look, Jamie, Rigelian Glad Rocks."
"Yum!" Glad Rocks were a special chocolate covered hard candy, a rare treat in the galaxy. Nanny Banks said the Rigelian's were famous for the candy and shipped it all over. "Don't be greedy, give me some."
Baxter grabbed a handful and divided them up. They were walking past the guest quarters, just steps away from Jamie's room when he stopped and stared. "Hey, Jamie? Isn't that where Ambassador Aviso's staying?"
Following his pointing, chocolate smeared finger, Jamie stared at the orange door. "Yes."
"It's open."
The door wasn't all the way open. Not like it had whooshed open to let someone enter. But there was a crack that shouldn't be there near the edge. Jamie had been on the Enterprise long enough to know there was something wrong with this. She looked around at the other doors in the corridor. If something had happened to the controls of the doors, they should all be cracked open.
"Wonder why."
Baxter shrugged, stepped closer and used his hand to push open the crack. The door slid open wider. "Hey, it's not locked."
"Don't. We should tell somebody."
"We will," he had the door all the way open now. They could see inside the Ambassador's quarters. It looked pretty much like all the guest's rooms - a bed, nightstand, dresser and a few personal things - clothes hung in the open closet, a silver tablet computer on the desk, shoes by the bed. "Hey, wonder if we could just peek at the medallion. Wouldn't you like to see it? Teacher said it's got so many jewels on it; it would be worth billions of credits."
"I don't know, Baxter, maybe we should just call security. Something's not right about this."
"We will. Let's peek first. It might be our only chance. You think the grownups will let us see it if we don't peek?"
Jamie did want to see the medallion, to touch something that could make someone live forever. Ever since Daddy had explained to her about Mama, Jamie had wondered a lot about people dying. Even though Daddy didn't know for sure Mama had died, Jamie thought maybe she was. If she were alive, wouldn't she come back to the Enterprise somehow? "We better not."
"Come on," he said and was already inside the Ambassador's quarters looking around. Jamie followed him in, just to get him to leave.
"Come on! We shouldn't be in here. Let's go call Security."
"Look!"
Baxter pointed to a small leather case covered in an important looking gold seal. "You think it's in there?" He whispered.
The case looked like something used to transport an extra special something to Jamie. The seal was real gold and shone in the dim light of the room. If the medallion was in anything, it would be in that shiny leather case with a very stern looking lock. "Probably." Then knowing there was no stopping Baxter, she hurried to his side. "It's locked. C'mon, let's get out of here."
He grinned and grabbed the case. Suddenly, an alarm began to shrill, and the case began to glow. Startled, Baxter dropped the case and shook his fingers. "It's hot! It burned my hand!"
The alarm blared loud and strong. Jamie knew she should run - fast - but her feet were frozen to the floor. As Baxter dropped the case, it snapped open as if the lock were broken. Jamie stared at the inside; sure he'd maybe broken the medallion. But the inside of the case was empty, just pure white satin with a round space where something might have lain. "It's gone. You must have dropped it! Quick, see if it fell under something!"
Suddenly, Jamie was as scared as she'd ever been. Her heart thudded to the blasts of the alarms. Dropping to her hands and knees, she looked under the desk, shoved the chair to one side. "Do you see it? We need to put it back before someone comes." Frantic now, they searched the floor, but neither of them saw any sign of the medallion. "It's not here."
"We gotta go!" Baxter grabbed her arm and tugged her up.
Jamie ran after him, but they never made it out the door. A huge, dark shape filled the doorway. A scream came past Jamie's lips and her heartbeat like fists wanting to escape.
"What are you doing in here?" Mr. Cornelian's voice bellowed. "What have you done? Where is the medallion?"
Jamie's mouth went dry as space dust and she couldn't speak. I think we are in so much trouble.