Nintendo Trek: Voyager
Chapter 3
Parallax
"Stay still, Mr. Slippy." the Holodoc was saying to the man on the biobed. Lieutenant Slippy, the senior engineering officer, was suffering from some nasty bruises and a broken nose. Fox and Zelda stood next to the biobed while Slippy explained the nature of the injury.
"Malon Torres and I had a disagreement over how the engine room ought to be run. She punctuated her point with a sharp right hook." He winced at the memory. The report given to the First Officer and the Chief of Security, Fox and Zelda left sickbay.
"I believe the journey ahead of us might go more smoothly if Malon were to spend the trip in the brig." Zelda told Fox as they exited. The first officer scowled. He was not having a good day. He wanted to promote Malon, but she wasn't giving anyone a reason to want to. First he had Slippy yelling for her hide, and now he had to fight an extradition order from Zelda. As he took his leave from the Security Chief, he ran into Ruto and another of his old Maquis crew. They had heard about the..incident..in engineering-blown way out of proportion.
"We just want you to know," Ruto said, "If you want to take over the ship.you have our full support."
Fox reprimanded them and ordered them not to bring it up again. "If you talk about this again, I will charge you with mutiny and throw you in the brig." Fox found himself in an unenviable position. He was the first officer of Voyager, and a former Maquis commander. Until the two crews became 'a crew' he would have to bridge the gaps between them. After dismissing Ruto and her friend he went to confront Malon.
As he entered Malon's quarters, an ashtray narrowly missed his head, hit the wall, and fell with a loud clang to the ground. Malon was in a bad mood. She started raving about Slippy's idiocy.
Fox read her Slippy's medical report. "Broken nose, a couple of skull fractures, not to mention numerous bruises. You've just made my day a whole lot more complicated, Malon. You need to learn to get along with the rest of crew. And I want you patch things up with Lieutenant Slippy."
"Why should I?" Malon growled.
"Because I want to promote you to Chief Engineer."
Malon laughed. "You've got a twisted sense of humor, Commander." the half- Kremling added.
"I'm serious, Malon. You are one of the most competent engineers I have ever known. You deserve the job. But you're going to need the captain's approval."
At the first senior staff meeting aboard the lost Federation vessel, Nabooru and the senior officers discussed the problems Voyager was facing. Power was diminishing, replicators were malfunctioning, and they faced the possibility of running out of food.
"What about the holodecks?" Luigi asked. "They have a self-replenishing supply of power, effectively limitless. If we could tie that into the main power."
"It would not work." Zelda interrupted. "The holodeck's power source works because it is independent of other systems. It cannot be tied in with the main power."
Sonic and Saria arrived unexpectedly. Nabooru protested that it was a senior officer meeting. Sonic replied that he was the senior member of his race aboard the ship, and Saria the senior member of hers. Nabooru relented, and they immediately made themselves useful. Saria suggested they create a hydroponics bay and start growing their food. The staff agreed that it was a good idea, and drafted Saria to be in charge. Sonic boasted that he was a great cook and volunteered for the position.
Next on the agenda was how to fill the duty rosters. The Chief Medical Officer was killed when they were brought to the Delta Quadrant. The EMH designed by Dr. Light was woefully lacking in bedside manner.
"Mr. Link, I've been looking over your records from the Academy. I believe you took two roughly applicable classes. Given the state of this ship, that's pretty qualified. You will start training to assist the Doctor as soon as possible."
The next position that needed to be filled was Chief Engineer. Nabooru preferred Lieutenant Slippy, next up on the official Nintendo Fleet org chart. Fox asked that Malon also be considered.
"Isn't Malon the one who put Slippy in sickbay?" she asked.
"Well, yes. But in the Maquis, you sometimes had to push people out of the way to get things done."
Thus began a debate about how to handle the integration of the crews. Nabooru expected that things be done the Federation way. Fox argued that if positions were chosen purely on seniority, the Maquis would never have a chance to gain senior positions, which he felt would be harmful to the ship and crew. He felt that positions should be determined by merit as much as seniority-at least at first-so the best people would get the jobs. Nabooru considered the argument, and agreed to consider Malon for the position.
Malon was summoned to Nabooru's office. The captain had pulled up some of the half-Kremling's Academy records.
"It says you dropped out before graduation. Stacks of complaints and official wrist-slaps for impertinence, an argumentative nature, and a tendency to break noses when you didn't get your way." In short, she didn't seem like she had the temper of a Nintendo Fleet officer, and she admitted as much. She bristled against the strict rules and hierarchy of the Federation.
"Starfleet rules will apply on my ship." Nabooru asserted. Malon didn't think she was a candidate for the job in the first place-how could she be? By her own admission, she was a good engineer, but a lousy leader, and a lousy officer. She was surly and uncooperative, and Nabooru did not get a good first impression from the interview. Malon stormed out of the office, leaving Nabooru with the idea that Lt. Slippy might well be a better choice. That was when the distress call came in. Nabooru didn't hesitate before ordering Voyager to follow the signal..which led them straight into a singularity. Luckily, they were only at the very edge, still relatively safe. But they could see another ship that looked REALLY stuck in there, probably the origin of the distress call. They wanted to rescue it. Unfortunately, singularities are really difficult to get out of. Unless, of course, one has a very good engineer.
First attempts at communicating with the vessel failed-there was a lot of interference.
"Options?" Nabooru asked. Fox gave her some, hailed Malon and asked for opinions. She gave him some, and he told her to get on it. A millisecond after he cut the channel, Nabooru hailed engineering, and explicitly told Slippy that he was in charge of what Fox had just told Malon to do. She cut the channel and turned to Fox.
"Can I see you in my ready room?"
Fox followed her in. She shut the door and bawled him out. "You were out of line, Commander. I do not want to see such disobedience again."
Fox shook his head. "I wasn't out of line, Captain. I was just working with the person that I knew could get the job done."
They argued some more about the chain of command.
"Look, has Malon been completely removed from consideration?" Fox asked.
"No." Nabooru admitted.
"Then you should treat her as a candidate as much as Lieutenant Slippy." Nabooru bristled a bit. "I'm really working in the best interests of the crew, Captain. This isn't a perfect world, and we aren't one crew yet. I'm acting as the bridge."
It was soon realized that they couldn't help the other ship on their own. Sonic suggested they head out to another star system to look for help. They tried..and found themselves right back where they started. They were well and truly stuck in the singularity. And other things were happening as well.
Saria entered sickbay.
"Computer, activate the EMH." Holodoc shimmered into view.
"What is it?" he groused in his ever-present state of annoyance.
"I was looking for some soil samples for the hydroponic garden." Saria replied. Doc was annoyed, but the Kokiri girl responded kindly.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
"I..I don't have one." he admitted. Saria smiled warmly. The Light Holodoc busied himself getting her some soil samples. Then she noticed something strange.
"Doctor.you're shrinking!"
Yes, the Doctor was shrinking. And people all over the ship were reporting severe headaches. The former only seemed to bother Saria. The latter made people worry. A senior staff meeting was called. Nabooru decided to take a look at the data for herself. She was a very competent scientist herself, but someone had to be Captain. Fox asked who to invite from Engineering. Nabooru decided on Lieutenant Slippy.
"What about Malon?" Fox asked.
"What about her?" Nabooru queried.
"Unless she's been removed from consideration, I suggest you include her as well." After a brief pause, Nabooru agreed.
Slippy, meanwhile, was lording his superiority over Malon. He condescended so much that some engineers were actually rooting for Malon to break his nose again. But she took it all quietly. She had been unnerved by her previous encounter with the Captain. The rumor that was sweeping Engineering was that the Kremling Tsunami was suffering from low self- esteem.
At the staff meeting, Slippy seemed to have the upper hand. Malon sat through it quietly, until forced to 'speak or forever hold her peace.' Slippy offered what sounded like a good plan. Fox looked at Malon.
"I'll follow those instructions if I'm ordered to." she asserted. "But they won't work." She outlined her theories on what was happening. Nabooru, being an engineering type herself, recognized a good thinker when she saw one. They started talking at warp speed, leaving everyone else in the dust. Malon sold her plan, and as they shuffled over to Engineering, Nabooru gave Fox an encouraging look.
They followed Malon's plan of action and managed to make contact with the other ship-where they hear, "Alien vessel, this is Captain Nabooru of the Nintendo Federation starship Voyager. Do you need assistance?" Sure enough, when they established video contact, they were looking at themselves. Not good.
Back in the conference room, Malon was leading the discussion. She and Nabooru were bouncing ideas and theories off of one another. She no longer had to break noses to be heard. Malon suggested that what they were seeing was some kind of an echo. Link was confused.
"We got the distress call before we got stuck. How can we be seeing an echo of something we haven't done yet? Am I making any sense?"
"No." Nabooru replied. "But that's okay. This is a very complicated subject."
They decided there must be a way out, and 'flashed the brights' to look for cracks in the singularity. Sure enough, there was one..but far from big enough to fit Voyager through. Malon was prepared for this though. She suggested taking a shuttlecraft and ramming open a bigger hole.
"I'm already on my way to Launch Bay 2." Link said.
"No, you're not." said Nabooru. "We'll need scientists on this mission. Malon and I will go."
On the shuttlecraft, Malon apologized for blowing up in Nabooru's office.
"I only left because I didn't think I could cut it in Starfleet." she said.
"I did some more reading on your academy record." Nabooru replied. "Believe it or not, you had many letters of recommendation from your professors. They held you in high esteem, and would gladly sponsor you if you wanted to return to the academy. They saw a great talent for leadership in you, Malon. A raw talent, but great talent nonetheless."
Malon brightened considerably.
They did a good job of widening the crack. Though they cut it close, they managed to open a hole wide enough for Voyager to fly through. Things got complicated when they tried to return, though. The echo was back, and they saw not one, but two Voyagers. A disagreement ensued over which was real. Malon argued passionately, but Nabooru pulled rank.
"Land on that Voyager, Lieutenant. That's an order."
With no choice left in the matter, Malon piloted the shuttlepod towards the launch bay-and landed on solid ground.
The crack was big enough, but it was shrinking fast. By the time they got there, it was, technically, to small for them to fly through again. Nabooru wasn't about to let that stop her. After all, she was a redhead. She ordered Link to charge shields to full power and ram on through. Link complied with a wicked glimmer in his eyes. - - - - - RAMMING SPEED!
And they're through! Tarnished, but otherwise fine. Nabooru ordered Link to get them the hell out of there.
Having escaped the demon Plot Complication once again, Voyager will now be blessed by the angel Resolution. Malon was given the Chief Engineer job, and dove right into her work, nervous, but determined. The first to offer his hand in congratulations was none other than Lieutenant Slippy himself. The transition was not going be painless-two crewmembers complained about her promotion that same day. As Voyager sped off into warp speed, Fox and Nabooru were having dinner together.
"I've got a question for you, Captain." Fox said. "What would you do if our situation was reversed-if you had to integrate your crew onto my Maquis ship?"
Nabooru grinned. "One of the perks of command is not having to answer that question."
Chapter 3
Parallax
"Stay still, Mr. Slippy." the Holodoc was saying to the man on the biobed. Lieutenant Slippy, the senior engineering officer, was suffering from some nasty bruises and a broken nose. Fox and Zelda stood next to the biobed while Slippy explained the nature of the injury.
"Malon Torres and I had a disagreement over how the engine room ought to be run. She punctuated her point with a sharp right hook." He winced at the memory. The report given to the First Officer and the Chief of Security, Fox and Zelda left sickbay.
"I believe the journey ahead of us might go more smoothly if Malon were to spend the trip in the brig." Zelda told Fox as they exited. The first officer scowled. He was not having a good day. He wanted to promote Malon, but she wasn't giving anyone a reason to want to. First he had Slippy yelling for her hide, and now he had to fight an extradition order from Zelda. As he took his leave from the Security Chief, he ran into Ruto and another of his old Maquis crew. They had heard about the..incident..in engineering-blown way out of proportion.
"We just want you to know," Ruto said, "If you want to take over the ship.you have our full support."
Fox reprimanded them and ordered them not to bring it up again. "If you talk about this again, I will charge you with mutiny and throw you in the brig." Fox found himself in an unenviable position. He was the first officer of Voyager, and a former Maquis commander. Until the two crews became 'a crew' he would have to bridge the gaps between them. After dismissing Ruto and her friend he went to confront Malon.
As he entered Malon's quarters, an ashtray narrowly missed his head, hit the wall, and fell with a loud clang to the ground. Malon was in a bad mood. She started raving about Slippy's idiocy.
Fox read her Slippy's medical report. "Broken nose, a couple of skull fractures, not to mention numerous bruises. You've just made my day a whole lot more complicated, Malon. You need to learn to get along with the rest of crew. And I want you patch things up with Lieutenant Slippy."
"Why should I?" Malon growled.
"Because I want to promote you to Chief Engineer."
Malon laughed. "You've got a twisted sense of humor, Commander." the half- Kremling added.
"I'm serious, Malon. You are one of the most competent engineers I have ever known. You deserve the job. But you're going to need the captain's approval."
At the first senior staff meeting aboard the lost Federation vessel, Nabooru and the senior officers discussed the problems Voyager was facing. Power was diminishing, replicators were malfunctioning, and they faced the possibility of running out of food.
"What about the holodecks?" Luigi asked. "They have a self-replenishing supply of power, effectively limitless. If we could tie that into the main power."
"It would not work." Zelda interrupted. "The holodeck's power source works because it is independent of other systems. It cannot be tied in with the main power."
Sonic and Saria arrived unexpectedly. Nabooru protested that it was a senior officer meeting. Sonic replied that he was the senior member of his race aboard the ship, and Saria the senior member of hers. Nabooru relented, and they immediately made themselves useful. Saria suggested they create a hydroponics bay and start growing their food. The staff agreed that it was a good idea, and drafted Saria to be in charge. Sonic boasted that he was a great cook and volunteered for the position.
Next on the agenda was how to fill the duty rosters. The Chief Medical Officer was killed when they were brought to the Delta Quadrant. The EMH designed by Dr. Light was woefully lacking in bedside manner.
"Mr. Link, I've been looking over your records from the Academy. I believe you took two roughly applicable classes. Given the state of this ship, that's pretty qualified. You will start training to assist the Doctor as soon as possible."
The next position that needed to be filled was Chief Engineer. Nabooru preferred Lieutenant Slippy, next up on the official Nintendo Fleet org chart. Fox asked that Malon also be considered.
"Isn't Malon the one who put Slippy in sickbay?" she asked.
"Well, yes. But in the Maquis, you sometimes had to push people out of the way to get things done."
Thus began a debate about how to handle the integration of the crews. Nabooru expected that things be done the Federation way. Fox argued that if positions were chosen purely on seniority, the Maquis would never have a chance to gain senior positions, which he felt would be harmful to the ship and crew. He felt that positions should be determined by merit as much as seniority-at least at first-so the best people would get the jobs. Nabooru considered the argument, and agreed to consider Malon for the position.
Malon was summoned to Nabooru's office. The captain had pulled up some of the half-Kremling's Academy records.
"It says you dropped out before graduation. Stacks of complaints and official wrist-slaps for impertinence, an argumentative nature, and a tendency to break noses when you didn't get your way." In short, she didn't seem like she had the temper of a Nintendo Fleet officer, and she admitted as much. She bristled against the strict rules and hierarchy of the Federation.
"Starfleet rules will apply on my ship." Nabooru asserted. Malon didn't think she was a candidate for the job in the first place-how could she be? By her own admission, she was a good engineer, but a lousy leader, and a lousy officer. She was surly and uncooperative, and Nabooru did not get a good first impression from the interview. Malon stormed out of the office, leaving Nabooru with the idea that Lt. Slippy might well be a better choice. That was when the distress call came in. Nabooru didn't hesitate before ordering Voyager to follow the signal..which led them straight into a singularity. Luckily, they were only at the very edge, still relatively safe. But they could see another ship that looked REALLY stuck in there, probably the origin of the distress call. They wanted to rescue it. Unfortunately, singularities are really difficult to get out of. Unless, of course, one has a very good engineer.
First attempts at communicating with the vessel failed-there was a lot of interference.
"Options?" Nabooru asked. Fox gave her some, hailed Malon and asked for opinions. She gave him some, and he told her to get on it. A millisecond after he cut the channel, Nabooru hailed engineering, and explicitly told Slippy that he was in charge of what Fox had just told Malon to do. She cut the channel and turned to Fox.
"Can I see you in my ready room?"
Fox followed her in. She shut the door and bawled him out. "You were out of line, Commander. I do not want to see such disobedience again."
Fox shook his head. "I wasn't out of line, Captain. I was just working with the person that I knew could get the job done."
They argued some more about the chain of command.
"Look, has Malon been completely removed from consideration?" Fox asked.
"No." Nabooru admitted.
"Then you should treat her as a candidate as much as Lieutenant Slippy." Nabooru bristled a bit. "I'm really working in the best interests of the crew, Captain. This isn't a perfect world, and we aren't one crew yet. I'm acting as the bridge."
It was soon realized that they couldn't help the other ship on their own. Sonic suggested they head out to another star system to look for help. They tried..and found themselves right back where they started. They were well and truly stuck in the singularity. And other things were happening as well.
Saria entered sickbay.
"Computer, activate the EMH." Holodoc shimmered into view.
"What is it?" he groused in his ever-present state of annoyance.
"I was looking for some soil samples for the hydroponic garden." Saria replied. Doc was annoyed, but the Kokiri girl responded kindly.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
"I..I don't have one." he admitted. Saria smiled warmly. The Light Holodoc busied himself getting her some soil samples. Then she noticed something strange.
"Doctor.you're shrinking!"
Yes, the Doctor was shrinking. And people all over the ship were reporting severe headaches. The former only seemed to bother Saria. The latter made people worry. A senior staff meeting was called. Nabooru decided to take a look at the data for herself. She was a very competent scientist herself, but someone had to be Captain. Fox asked who to invite from Engineering. Nabooru decided on Lieutenant Slippy.
"What about Malon?" Fox asked.
"What about her?" Nabooru queried.
"Unless she's been removed from consideration, I suggest you include her as well." After a brief pause, Nabooru agreed.
Slippy, meanwhile, was lording his superiority over Malon. He condescended so much that some engineers were actually rooting for Malon to break his nose again. But she took it all quietly. She had been unnerved by her previous encounter with the Captain. The rumor that was sweeping Engineering was that the Kremling Tsunami was suffering from low self- esteem.
At the staff meeting, Slippy seemed to have the upper hand. Malon sat through it quietly, until forced to 'speak or forever hold her peace.' Slippy offered what sounded like a good plan. Fox looked at Malon.
"I'll follow those instructions if I'm ordered to." she asserted. "But they won't work." She outlined her theories on what was happening. Nabooru, being an engineering type herself, recognized a good thinker when she saw one. They started talking at warp speed, leaving everyone else in the dust. Malon sold her plan, and as they shuffled over to Engineering, Nabooru gave Fox an encouraging look.
They followed Malon's plan of action and managed to make contact with the other ship-where they hear, "Alien vessel, this is Captain Nabooru of the Nintendo Federation starship Voyager. Do you need assistance?" Sure enough, when they established video contact, they were looking at themselves. Not good.
Back in the conference room, Malon was leading the discussion. She and Nabooru were bouncing ideas and theories off of one another. She no longer had to break noses to be heard. Malon suggested that what they were seeing was some kind of an echo. Link was confused.
"We got the distress call before we got stuck. How can we be seeing an echo of something we haven't done yet? Am I making any sense?"
"No." Nabooru replied. "But that's okay. This is a very complicated subject."
They decided there must be a way out, and 'flashed the brights' to look for cracks in the singularity. Sure enough, there was one..but far from big enough to fit Voyager through. Malon was prepared for this though. She suggested taking a shuttlecraft and ramming open a bigger hole.
"I'm already on my way to Launch Bay 2." Link said.
"No, you're not." said Nabooru. "We'll need scientists on this mission. Malon and I will go."
On the shuttlecraft, Malon apologized for blowing up in Nabooru's office.
"I only left because I didn't think I could cut it in Starfleet." she said.
"I did some more reading on your academy record." Nabooru replied. "Believe it or not, you had many letters of recommendation from your professors. They held you in high esteem, and would gladly sponsor you if you wanted to return to the academy. They saw a great talent for leadership in you, Malon. A raw talent, but great talent nonetheless."
Malon brightened considerably.
They did a good job of widening the crack. Though they cut it close, they managed to open a hole wide enough for Voyager to fly through. Things got complicated when they tried to return, though. The echo was back, and they saw not one, but two Voyagers. A disagreement ensued over which was real. Malon argued passionately, but Nabooru pulled rank.
"Land on that Voyager, Lieutenant. That's an order."
With no choice left in the matter, Malon piloted the shuttlepod towards the launch bay-and landed on solid ground.
The crack was big enough, but it was shrinking fast. By the time they got there, it was, technically, to small for them to fly through again. Nabooru wasn't about to let that stop her. After all, she was a redhead. She ordered Link to charge shields to full power and ram on through. Link complied with a wicked glimmer in his eyes. - - - - - RAMMING SPEED!
And they're through! Tarnished, but otherwise fine. Nabooru ordered Link to get them the hell out of there.
Having escaped the demon Plot Complication once again, Voyager will now be blessed by the angel Resolution. Malon was given the Chief Engineer job, and dove right into her work, nervous, but determined. The first to offer his hand in congratulations was none other than Lieutenant Slippy himself. The transition was not going be painless-two crewmembers complained about her promotion that same day. As Voyager sped off into warp speed, Fox and Nabooru were having dinner together.
"I've got a question for you, Captain." Fox said. "What would you do if our situation was reversed-if you had to integrate your crew onto my Maquis ship?"
Nabooru grinned. "One of the perks of command is not having to answer that question."