Chapter Three
Revelation
The ship gave a small lurch, attracting everyone's attention to the tremendous viewscreen at the fore of the ship, but the Enterprise crew quickly found there was no need for apprehension. During the brief 'emergency', the pilots had continued with the docking, and the view forward showed a large room, and a wall about three meters ahead of them. The port side hatch slid silently open. "Now, if you'll accompany me, I'll escort you to Deline Jessena."
She led them toward the portal, and Archer had to wonder how much of her aplomb was for their benefit. Certainly, she knew that their ship would be … healed … before too much atmosphere was lost, but a hull breech was nobody's idea of an inconvenience, no matter who they were. He had to wonder if her manner was not calculated, the sort of matter-of-factness a sophisticated metropolitan dweller would use when trying to impress a country bumpkin.
He followed her out of the shuttle, trailed by Trip, Cutler and Farber. The dark woman glanced to her left as she exited, and barely managed to bite back part of a horrified shriek.
The entire rear wall was open to space!
It took the Enterprise crew only a scant moment to realize that the room was not open to space, however. The lighted border they had seen about the port before they docked, and which was clearly evident from this side was clearly the emitter system of a force field generator; and a very sophisticated one at that.
Alir called back into the shuttle. "Misra, would you please close the port? Let's conserve a little power here, huh?"
At her command, the port started to close with an eerie silence; though Archer would not have dismissed the alternative that the malleable hull was 'healing'. He determined to take nothing for granted where these people were concerned. "Captain? This way."
Archer decided to revise his estimate. Definitely sophisticated city dweller to country bumpkin.
He decided he did not particularly care for it.
He remembered the many times that visitors to Enterprise had been astounded by the disparity of technological sophistication between their own cultures and those of Enterprise. But never once had he gone out to rub anyone's nose, even so subtly, in it.
He hoped his dealings with the starship's Deline would be more propitious.
---
The Enterprise crew was led through the ship along what they took to be a central corridor that led directly from the stern of the cruiser to its bow, and in their progress they passed numerous members of the crew. Without exception, the women were clothed in long, flowing garments seemingly chosen for comfort more than utilitarian concerns. After seeing about fifteen members of the crew, Archer was inclined to doubt that colors were significant; as he had not seen the same combinations twice.
They were met with considerable surprise by the women, all of whom were tall, attractive, and from what Archer could discern, generally surprised to see the two men as by the differences between them and their own female shipmates. He decided he could draw a few very tentative conclusions – though he stood ready to dismiss any of them at a moment's notice.
There were no men visible, which at the moment did not mean anything definitive. The women were all tall, many as tall as Archer himself, and they seemed equally taken aback by the somewhat slighter Cutler, a bit less by Farber's darker skin; though she stood out in the quartet by that fact alone; and most of all, that Archer, by his literal position in the group, quite evidently led the group of four.
He very carefully reminded himself that he should be prepared to dismiss any and all of these conclusions, but they were telling in themselves. He wondered how many of them would carry over into the next few minutes.
-
The long corridor branched off backward from them at numerous intervals, yet their path was always straight ahead until they reached the forward end of the curving ship. When they reached a large double door, it slid apart with ethereal silence to reveal the bridge.
The command center of the ship was much as Archer had expected; a larger scale version of the shuttle's layout.
Before them was the command chair, which was even now swiveling to face them. Beyond were two stations, likely designated navigation and helm, and before them a truly tremendous viewscreen!
It had to be at least three meters tall and easily eight wide, and the vast expanse of space was laid out in a panorama before them. Centered in it was Enterprise, to Archer's eyes a majestic jewel in the void, and even now he could see a shuttle pod launching from the bay. But all this could only be taken in at a glance, because the commander of this ship was even now standing up to greet them.
If the other women aboard this vessel could be described as impressive, this woman was magnificent! Easily as tall as Archer, her long snow white hair fell like a curtain behind her. She was dressed in a long blue gown, and for what he could see she did not possess any outward sign of rank except the force of her own personality. Whatever it was, some indefinable aspect of manner or bearing, something that could not be put into words, there was no room for doubt that this woman was the Captain.
If she were human, Archer would have put her age at about 35 or 40, despite the pure white of her hair, even to brows and lashes; but he was trying not to let human preconceptions mislead him. He had already seen so much to throw preconceptions out an airlock.
Tertiary Officer Alir performed the introductions, yet Archer had the clear impression the Commander already knew exactly who was whom. "Captain Archer, I welcome you and your crew aboard the Extikone." She spoke perfect English, with just the barest hint of native accent. It was an impressive rendition; the Enterprise's UTs, for all of Hoshi's skill, tended to render a standard, rather flat Earth English frequently devoid of nuance. It was a nice change.
"Thank you, Deline Jessena." He replied with as close to the same level of formality she had set. This initial diplomacy was always a nerve-wracking affair; too much or too little left too much room for misunderstanding and risk of offence. Frankly, it was the only thing about First Contact that Archer really did not enjoy. "It's a pleasure to greet you on behalf of Earth."
"Earth. I've never heard of it." She looked over the four. "But I can see we have some interesting differences."
Archer availed himself of a chance to glance around. Again, as in the shuttle, the various stations curved away from the front of the room to follow the gentle curve of the ship. There were three stations occupied on each side of the room, with a woman at each one. He returned his attention to the Deline. "I would say so."
"Computer?" She asked no one in particular, but the reply seemed to come from all parts of the room.
"Yes, Deline?" The surrounding, feminine voice inquired. It was a very good voice indeed.
"Where's Earth?"
"Earth is known in our records as 'Tellus', which is the best that the initial survey mission could translate in the planet's primary language 467 mones ago." The tone of the startlingly conversational voice was … convivial, was the best word Archer could come up with as he listened, fascinated, to the exchange. "In the 'Tellurian' calendar, that is 524 of their 'years' ago. It is the third planet orbiting a class 21 star at coordinates 324-6345-3846-343-92881. Records show it is primarily an agrarian world split among 42 principle cultures. No notable industry or technology." Jessena looked over the four officers with a measure of embarrassed surprise.
"Transmission to anthropology: It's time to update the archives."
"Noted."
-
"I apologize for that, Captain." Jessena said with evident embarrassment. "With 42,000 planets in our database, the ones outside our usual transportation routes tend to 'fall through the cracks'."
"No offense taken at all." Archer assured her. He was far too taken by the level of sophistication of the computer and her casual mention of 42,000 (!) planets to care that Earth was considered 'off the beaten track'! "We'll be happy to help you update your records."
Jessena gave him a very real smile. "Yes, I'm sure you will." It was such a companionable smile that Archer found himself warming to this woman.
---
An hour later on board Enterprise, Phlox was just completing an entry in his log when the double doors slid open. He glanced up to see Tia Anlor enter. He looked at her curiously, because her manner seemed remarkably subdued. He'd known days when she fairly danced when she walked, her joie de vivre one of her most notable and endearing characteristics. Many were the occasions when she would stride over to him and take his hand, raising it to touch his wrist momentarily to her lips in an Auran greeting before favoring him with a smile that would seem to brighten the room's illumination by 1000, then make some outrageously scrambled statement that usually had him figuratively scratching his head in wonderment at whatever it was she had just said.
This time there was none of that. She stood by the door, not even entering the room beyond the closed portal, and the look in her eyes was one Hoshi Sato had once referred to as 'scared rabbit'. It was so unlike her that all his usual effusive greetings were instantly cast aside and he settled on a bare "What's wrong?"
"I … help your seek to." He stood up, taking in the sight of her. She looked normal, though seeing her in a Starfleet uniform was quite unusual. It looked new; he suspected she had worn it only a few times, but the most evident indication of the unusual was what looked like green grass stains at her knees. She, however, looked quite normal if one discounted the burnished gold bruise about her right eye, evidence of an untreated assault from two days before.
He took a step toward her, to examine her more closely, and she surprised him be retreating a step. He stopped. "While I could prescribe treatment from across the room, it wouldn't be the best."
She stopped, giving him an embarrassed smile. "Know that do I. Embarrassed I am; ashamed. Seek healed I to be, want to do it nyas." She looked away. "Shamed I am, but avoid longer can nyasi. Hurts much it does."
"I dare say. If what I've heard from Ensign Sato and Commander Tucker are any indications, you must be in considerable pain." She did not answer, just nodded. He went to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come with me into the examination room. I know Aurans don't have a particular concern about nudity or any particular parts of the body over any other, but I think in this case privacy is warranted."
She did not look up, but considered refusing for a moment. But her first step decided the matter for her. If she could alleviate the sharp pains that accompanied every step, it would be for the best. She would just have to depend on his confidentiality.
In the small, private area that could be curtained from the rest of the Infirmary she removed the uniform and her other attire. He noted the large dressing adhered to her left breast; he had given it to Sato and she had delivered it to Tucker in Tia's quarters, when it became obvious she would not see him. It had been against his best judgment, but he had done as they had asked.
She finished removing her clothing and lay down on the examination platform. He carefully removed the pad to peer under it. He did not allow his expression to change, but he was quite dissatisfied with the progress of her healing. He did, however, have some better methods at hand.
He looked down her body, and asked her to raise her knees, which she did reluctantly. Though she complied, however, she kept them quite firmly together. He looked into her eyes, seeing an unaccustomed embarrassment. He smiled, deciding she needed to be reminded about herself. "From a human woman I expect this, but we both know there's nothing significant about any particular part of the body."
"Is embarrassed I am not." Still, she did not meet his eyes.
"Well then, remember; you came to me." He told her with a disarming smile. Slowly, very slowly, she allowed her legs to drift apart. He looked down, and his smile self-destructed. "This is serious." He said flatly, looking closely, and then his eyes locked with hers sharply. "You should have come to me two days ago."
"Val nyas." She whispered, looking away. "Could not." He examined her more closely, noting the damage done to the sensitive flesh by four deep cuts.
"He used a knife, I understand. We have it in security lockup."
"Daai." She said to the curtain beside her. He looked at the long marks still very evident along her left breast, and then at the others, and unexpectedly took her right hand, examined it briefly, noticing the recent scabbed imprints of nails in her palm, and the blood under her nails. Then before she could pull away he grasped her left wrist, pulling her hand up. She tried to tug her arm away, but could not break his grip. When she forced herself to meet his eyes, they were locked on hers with an expression of restrained anger.
"I thought you were right handed."