84 - Space to Breathe

"Good morning, Elle."

She blinked at him. "You are entirely too chipper for it being this early," she informed the captain, and slurped her hot chocolate obnoxiously.

"New mission," he said, and sat down across from her. "The Federation has finally been granted access to the planet Gideon."

Elle cringed. "More snooty diplomats?" she asked.

"No," Kirk said. "The Gideon High Council has asked for the Enterprise, and specifically, its captain."

Elle gulped her hot chocolate. "Wait... Gideon?"

"Yes," the captain said warily. "Why? Do you remember it? Is this an episode? Oh, Great Bird, are there going to be more Klingons?"

Elle shook her head.

"Romulans?"

"Nope." Elle licked her whipped cream mustache off her lip. "Some very light vampirism."

He stared at her. "..."

"Not real vampirism," Elle hastily reassured him. "They just want your blood. To kill people with."

He raised his eyebrow at her. "Do you delight in saying these things just to confound us?" he asked in an arch, posh tone.

"I do," Elle replied, and giggled madly into her chocolate. "No, but really. Nobody on their planet can die and they're overpopulated to death, and they want to start killing people with, um, that disease you almost died with last month. The vegan one."

His eyebrows went up. "You're kidding."

"That's all they want."

He leaned forward, pressing his fingers into the table. "Not colony planets? Not contraceptives? Not immigration channels?"

"They don't believe in birth control," she replied promptly.

"What?"

"Yeah, I know."

"But there are other ways!" He stood up and tugged at his hair frenetically. "I won't be used as some sort of, of plague. I have to contact Star Fleet." He patted her on the head and strode out, a man on a mission.

Elle sighed and went back to her breakfast. "I think I'm gonna need another cup of chocolate."

"No," Nurse Lia said, as she passed by.

"Hey!"

The captain was still talking to HQ when Elle wandered up to the bridge after her lunch break.

Uhura stopped her from going over to Spock. "Why's your hair wet?" Uhura whispered, touching Elle's dark hair hanging loose over her shoulders.

"I had gym, played volleyball with the yeomen, just took a shower," Elle whispered back. "How's it going?"

Onscreen, the admiral said, "You'll have to speak to the Federation Diplomatic Corps about that. Star Fleet out." The screen switched to the view of the starfield.

Kirk threw himself back in his chair and tipped his head back with a loud groan. "I can't believe this. Lt. Uhura, put in a call to the Federation Diplomatic Corps, please."

"Yes, sir."

He exhaled heavily and turned her chair to face Mr. Spock. "Probability of getting an answer this time around, Mr. Spock?" he asked.

"Low, captain," Spock said, his tone dry as his planet.

The captain rolled his eyes. "Diplomats." He caught sight of Elle and smiled. "Come to tell me a plot twist?"

"Nope," Elle said. "Just came to see how it was going."

"Learn anything new today?"

"How to spike the ball," Elle replied, and added sheepishly, "I elbowed Ensign Paige in the face on accident."

"Ouch."

"She's okay," Elle replied. "It was a very light elbow."

Sulu huffed a laugh. "Says Miss Pointy-Elbows."

"Anything, Lt?" Kirk asked, turning back to Uhura.

"We're on hold, sir," Uhura said, sounding discouraged.

Elle half-raised a hand. "Is now a good time to mention that Sarek gave me the personal comm number of the Federation president and the Terran ambassador?"

Spock whipped around to stare at her as his eyebrows hit the ceiling. "I beg your pardon?"

"He made me memorize them," Elle said, grinning smugly.

"You have the Federation president's comm?" Kirk repeated. "Why?"

"I don't know. He didn't give a specific reason, he just said it was for leverage. In case I really neded it."

Kirk stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Let's keep that option in reserve," he said. "I don't think we're qu at that level."

Sulu spoke up. "We're coming up on Gideon, sir."

"What's the population?" Elle asked, peering over Chekov's shoulder at the sensors.

"We are not allowed to scan the surface," Chekov said. "Probably for that very reason."

"Hm."

"Captain, the Gideon High Council is contacting us," Uhura reported.

"Put them through, lieutenant." Kirk turned to the screen, his Ultimate Negotiator Is Not-Happy Face on. That was the face he used with Klingons. Yikes. "Gideon High Council, this is Captain Kirk."

"Captain Kirk, we are glad you have arrived," the guy in charge said. "This is Ambassador Hodin. I will be your main contact. We have provided the beamdown coordinates to your communications officer."

"Thank you, ambassador," Kirk said. "I have some questions, before I beam down."

Ambassador Hodin made a face. "If you'd beam down, captain, I can assure you we will have plenty of time to answer your questions."

"I would like to ask what methods you use to keep your planetary population levels stable," Kirk continued blithely, using the method known as 'bull in a china shop.'

Hodin and the other councilors on screen gaped at him. "Excuse me?" he demanded. "Scanning the planet's surface is expressly forbidden-"

"We did not scan the surface, ambassador," Kirk replied, holding out his hands in a symbol of peace. His smile was as sharp as obsidian. "My science and anthropology officers are simply fascinated by your culture. If your planet is a virtual paradise where no one dies of disease, how do you keep the population at a sustainable rate? We'd like to know, there are several planets reaching dangerous overpopulation levels. Do you have colonies? Would they be included in possible talks for Federation citizenship?"

"We have no colonies," Hodin said sharply.

"Oh, I see." He tilted his head. "Then how..."

Hodin frowned. "If you would beam down, we could show you."

"I'd prefer not to," Kirk said blandly.

Hodin's scowl deepened. "Someone has told you. Who?"

"Told us what?" Kirk asked, his expression bland as unsalted mashed potatoes.

"We no longer wish for your presence," Hodin said. "Leave. Now."

Kirk dropped the pretense. "Ambassador Hodin," he said. "We know that your population has risen to intolerable levels. It cannot be otherwise. You asked for me, specifically, which makes me think you need something from me." He held their gazes. "I do not like to be used, gentlemen."

Hodin deflated. "We need your blood," he said. "It contains a disease that we could control. We must have it."

"No," Kirk said simply. "I will not allow my blood to be used in such a way."

"Does your doctor keep samples of this disease?"

"No," Kirk said again, even though McCoy probably did have it somewhere, the hoarder.

"Please, captain, we need it."

Kirk tilted his head. "In the Federation, bodily autonomy is the right of every sentient being. The answer is no." He raised a single eyebrow. "But, we will not turn away from people in need. How can we help you?"

Hodin huffed. "We do not wish to become part of the Federation."

"That will not be a condition of our offer," Kirk assured him. "How can we help? There are colony worlds, we can offer terraforming, transportation, immigration, contraceptives-"

"No!" Hodin said. "We cannot go against life itself!"

Kirk inclined his head. "That is your belief." He made a show of glancing at the chrono. "Take some time to deliberate, make a plan. I will call back in one standard hour."

Uhura closed the channel.

Elle clapped. "That was great," she said, hanging off the rail as she beamed at him. "That was so good."

Kirk grinned, the tips of his ears turning red. "Thank you."

"Do you think they're going to go for it?" Elle asked.

"That may be a question for you, ax'nav," Spock said. "What do you think?"

Elle chewed on her lip. "Well, he does seem to actually care about his people."

"We'll have to wait and see," Kirk decided. "Lt. Uhura, call Commander Atka to the Conference Room."

Ah, Commander Atka, the Enterprise's "lawyer". She was cool.

Elle went back to class, satisfied that nothing would get past the captain.

"Okay, this, I was not expecting," Elle said, surveying the orderly file of new colonists from Gideon as they trekked from transporter rooms to their temporary quarters, following calm nurses and yeomen.

"Why do you think we have so much space on this ship?" Sulu asked, laughing. "This is what it's for."

Elle smiled as a trio of children went past with their parents, each child staring in awe at the high ceilings and the open corridors. "True," she said.

Sulu checked his padd. "Also you're getting roommates. Ensigns Carla and Maddie Henry gave up their quarters for a family whose wife just gave birth to a baby."

"Don't Carla and Maddie have a cat?" Elle asked.

"Yup. Burmese."

Elle frowned. "Cats don't eat tribbles, right?"

Sulu grimaced. "I don't think so?"

"If they do eat tribbles can you keep Simba till we get to the new colony?"

"Sure." Sulu patted her on the head. "It'll only be for a week or so, until we get the prefab shelters set up on the colony planet."

Gideon the solar system had the main planet, Gideon, as well as three M-class satellites orbiting the two gas giants in the system. Previous Federation surveys had pinpointed the largest one as the best place to put a colony.

The Enterprise stayed in the Gideon system for another three weeks, ferrying colonists from Gideon to New Gideon-

("Spock are we sure they're not human? They're showing a very human lack of originality in their naming practices."

"They may indeed have a common ancestor, captain.")

-and helping the colonists set up their new communities. If there was one thing Star Fleet was good at, it was colonies. This may or may not be why the Romulans hated the Federation.

"It's very British of them," Elle said, watching the fabricators run full-time as they printed out yet more pre-fab parts.

"Is the computer being British again?" Lt. Matheson asked tiredly. "I thought we fixed that."

Elle laughed. "No, it's, I'm commenting on Federation-Romulan relations."

"Please, for the love of all that's holy, do not invoke the Romulans," Lt. Matheson said.

"Sorry."

Elle went back to her quarters. The ship was full of Gideonites, soon to be New Gideon-ites, and Elle still had schoolwork to do.

Simba and Concrete the kitty were sitting on the sofa, napping. The cat, contrary to appearances, loved Elle's tribble and wanted to be next to it at all times. Both of them were purring like miniature lawnmowers.

Elle sat next to them and enjoyed the ambiance.

"Commander Spock? Can I-"

"No."

Elle pouted. "You didn't let me finish!"

"You may not go down to the surface," Spock replied.

"Whyyyyy."

"The only ones cleared to go the surface have no record of rare diseases, either dormant or active ," Spock said. "We cannot risk giving the Gideon High Council any means to kill their own population."

"Oh." Elle inspected the bluish-green veins under her skin. "I have a rare disease?"

"You are from 21st century Earth," he said, which, okay, enough said.

One of the science lieutenants stuck his head in. "Which means if you're ever in trouble, just bite them really hard and break the skin, you're basically a bioweapon."

"Coool."

Spock pointedly did not roll his eyes. "May I help you, Lt?"

"Yes, sir." The lt handed him a PADD. "We got an intresting repot from the Defiant, they took over our sector for us, and they discovered an artificial planet with the remains of a civilzation. Their CSO sent over the preliminary report since we've had more experience with artificial planetoids."

"Thank you, Lt." Spock took the report.

Elle sighed. "Fine. I guess I'll stay on the ship and watch people assemble toilets."

Spock definitely rolled his eyes that time.