THE LOST YEARS
by Soledad
PRELUDE: CROSSROADS
Disclaimer: see Introduction.
Rating: PG
Author's notes:
In this chapter, which I'm going to post in two parts because of its length, I briefly leave the main storyline to introduce the other permanent couple of this series. I'm sorry if some readers find this disturbing; I never write in just one genre. The action will return in two more chapters, I promise.
Personnel officer Wong is a canon character. She appeared as a witness on Kirk's trial in the episode Court-Martial. As her name was not given in the episode, I named her after the actress who played her. The feline species of Eeiauo are introduced in Jean Lorrah's novel, Uhura's Song. In the same novel is Uhura's duty time on the planet Two Twilights mentioned.
As for Masters' complaints, in certain TOS-episodes there were, in fact, actual hints that women had it a lot harder in Starfleet than men did. At least among humans. Yes, I know it's the 23rd century. But humanity doesn't seem to develop with half the speed mentally as we develop technically. Plus, Kirk's attitude towards women is canon, after all. Oh, and by the way, canon as I see it does not include all the changes the Enterprise-series "gifted" upon us. Not for me.
CHAPTER 9: FIRST SIGHT, Part 1
Captain Boomer was well known in the whole fleet for his caution. He had been a mere cadet at the Caprican Flight Academy, when he had already had the ability of examining ideas from all vantage points before drawing his well-phrased conclusions. Aside from that, he was also aware of the advantages of respectful behaviour in any situation, more so than anyone else of the young pilots. During tactical briefings, he was the one to ask questions no one else thought of, and he was able to ask them in a way his commanding officers wouldn't find insulting… an ability that proved very helpful for his career.
Of all the Galactica's lead Viper pilots Boomer was known as the most methodical. He rarely started shooting randomly, and could line up his targets in the proper order of importance more quickly and with more accuracy than anyone else in the Fleet's fighter squadrons. Nothing could prove this better than the fact that he was still alive, while his best friend, the brilliant but hot-headed Starbuck, had been missing in action for several yahrens by now.
Actually, he was rather proud of his reputation. There was nothing wrong with being careful and smart – and consequently being alive. Yes, most of the time he thought this was the best way to survive as a combat pilot. Yet in other times he wished to shoot his reputation to Hades. In these times he, too, was tempted by recklessness, desiring to let loose. He wished for just moment in which he could escape his duties, the confinements of logic – like gas leaking out of a faulty conduit. Whenever he felt such urges increasing, he asked himself if he was finally losing it, as many of his fellow pilots did. Yes, as much as Command tried to cover it, everybody knew that some warriors just weren't strong enough to deal with the pressure and broke at the most inconvenient moment.
Which was no wonder, actually. For yahrens upon yahrens have they lived under the constant threat of impending battle, crowded in the much too small barracks of the Galactica, without rest, without recreation, without any pleasant distractions. On the rare occasion, when he felt himself attracted to a pilot or a bridge officer of the opposite gender, they made love hastily, uncomfortably, in the cockpit of a Viper or a shuttle, or hiding in an access tube, as there was no privacy aboard the Galactica. Nowhere on this whole flying monstrosity was.
This was a fate shared by everyone, not even the commanding officers were an exception. Apollo shared quarters with Boxey. Adama and Tigh lived alone, but they only returned to their quarters to sleep. Especially Tigh, who practically hadn't left the bridge since the destruction of the Twelve Worlds. People had accepted this sort of life, even though they had never been able to get used it; nobody considered that there should have been more to life anymore. Survival was everything. Anything else had become irrelevant.
Right now however, when the unexpected turn of events had brought the longed-for peace so heartbreakingly close, Boomer felt the usual, all-consuming unrest stronger than ever. For the first time in his life, he started worrying about the future – for the simple reason because it looked that they actually might have a future. After so many long yahrens of hopeless struggle for the simple survival, the young captain actually started to hope.
"Come with me, Captain," the thin, middle-aged doctor called out to him. "We are about to return to the Enterprise. I heard you're coming with us."
"According to Commander Adama's orders," Boomer replied, and he followed the doctor. Using the intradermal translator chip caused him less problems now than it had in the first days. Besides, he started to understand Federation Standard already. Compared with his own mother tongue, it seemed rather… primitive, to be honest. He had always been talented in learning new languages, and now, he saw whole new worlds opening up before his eyes in that particular area.
On the bridge of the Galactica, the others were already waiting for him. Colonel Tigh stood on the side of his personal guest, the lovely Siress Uhura. The tall, thin, pointy-eared alien was accompanied by Dr. Wilker. There was Cassiopeia, this time as the expert for social and interpersonal relations. Dr. Salik represented the Life Center and Rigel the bridge officers.
"Is everybody here?" asked Uhura. The others nodded, so she flipped her communicator open and spoke, "Uhura to transporter room."
"Kyle," an… educated male voice answered.
"Beam us aboard in two groups, Mr. Kyle," Uhura said. "You do have the coordinates, don't you?"
"Aye, Ma'am," the transporter chief replied. "Ready to beam-over. At your mark."
"Energizing," Uhura said, and the first group disintegrated into glittering energy.
Boomer was next in the line in the second group, together with Tigh and Uhura. As he had been told, he stood very still (and more than a little anxious), waiting what would happen, When the air started to glitter around him, he felt something strange for a moment, a light euphoria – then he found himself in an unfamiliar, circular room, standing with stiff knees on one of the six platforms of a circular dais.
Opposite the dais, behind a complicated-looking console, Mr. Scott stood, the chief engineer of the Enterprise, a broad-shouldered man in his forties. A friendly smile spread over his lined face.
"Welcome aboard," he said with a nod, and then he introduced the almond-eyed young woman in Services red on her side. "This is Chief Wong, our personnel officer. She's prepared quarters for you."
"Follow me, please," Wong invited them. Then, turning to the communications officer, she added, "Lieutenant Uhura, you are expected in the conference room."
"Thanks, Chief," Uhura gave Tigh a smile. "I'll seek you out as soon as I can, Colonel. And I'll organize a guardian angel for Captain Boomer, too."
Laughing, she stepped into the turbolift cabin, while the two colonial officers followed Chief Wong into the other 'lift.
"Deck four," the personnel officer told the universe in general, and the cabin started with surprising smoothness. Seeing the baffled face of her guests, Wong added as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "The ship's computer answers to verbal commands. You can use your own language; Lieutenant Palmer interfaced the board systems with the universal translator."
The miracles didn't seem to cease to the men, accustomed to the rough life in the Galactica's barracks. The broad, arched floors of the Starfleet ship, all painted in soft colours, were blank clean as if polished, and the crew – men wearing bright red, blue and yellow pullovers and women wearing short tunics in the same colours – didn't really looked like the members of a military organization.
"Where have we come, colonel?" Boomer asked, not quite trusting his own eyes.
"This is what peace looks like, Boomer," Tigh answered in the Libran dialect. Since Boomer's parents had moved from Libra to Caprica when their son had been a child, the young captain understood this rare dialect and used it, too, whenever he was alone with his commanding officer.
The airy and comfortable quarters brought a new source of bewilderment for Boomer.
"Are you certain that these large rooms have been selected for me?" he asked his guide.
Wong looked at him in surprise. "These are regular officer's quarters, Captain, not even VIP-rooms. All crewmembers above from junior-lieutenants have the same quarters to their disposal. The Enterprise is big enough, we don't need to move closer together."
"Not even Commander has such large quarters on our ship..."
"Well, you live on a battleship," Wong shrugged. "We don't. Besides, circumstances will be surely changing for you, too, as soon as you'll have a planet to settle on again. Let me show you the basics. This is your washroom; you can use sonic shower as well as real water, or you can have a bath with whirlpool. These systems work with verbal commands. Here can you enter your walk-in cupboard, and this is your computer terminal. From here, you can access the library computer of the Enterprise and ask for any non-classified information you want. I suggest you pack out your bag and become familiar with your quarters. Someone will fetch you for launch in due time."
Boomer took the personnel officer's advice. Packing didn't take too much time, since he barely had any personal possessions, like the fugitives in general. After he'd tried everything, including both kinds of shower, he got dressed again and went over to the bedroom area, separated from the living area by a decorative grille and let himself fall onto the huge, splendid bed. These rooms might have been nothing special by Starfleet standards; compared to the crowded sleeping quarters of the Galactica, they were heaven.
The sound of the doorbell woke him from his sleep. He didn't even remembered falling asleep. I must have been more exhausted than I thought.
"Enter," he murmured, still half in sleeping haze, using his mother tongue out of reflex. The computer seemed to understand him anyway, as it dutifully opened the door. There was a slender, handsome, dark-haired young man standing on the doorstep, with slanted, twinkling eyes. He was not an inch taller than the definitely short Tigh; his smile literally inscrutable.
"Good day, Captain," he said, extending his hand. "I'm Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, chief helmsman of the Enterprise. Some claim that I'd be the best pilot in the Fleet, so Lieutenant Uhura thought we'd get along well enough."
"I'm sure we would," Boomer squeezed the proffered hand carefully; he was still unfamiliar with the typical Terran custom. "Have you ever flown battle assignments with one-man fighters?"
Sulu's smile seemed to pale a little. "Earlier, on Ganjitsu, when I was very young, yeah. We had to defeat our colony against pirates on a daily basis. And I have served at the border patrols for a while, in the squadron of Captain Hunter. She's the toughest leader among the fighting troops, you know."
"I thought you had peace," Boomer said, a little baffled.
"We have," Sulu agreed, "but it's a watchful peace. Most people have probably no idea what's going on along the borders... because the border patrols do their jobs so well. Granted, Starfleet is first and foremost dedicated to research and discovery, but we are also dedicated to the protection of our worlds."
"You speak like a tactical expert," Boomer grinned.
"Well, I am one, after all," Sulu's grin broadened again. "Even though I started my career in the science department."
"You have?"
"Yeah, I used to be an astrophysicist. A rather good one, if I may say so myself. But it always was more of a hobby than a true calling for me. I guess I've been obsessed with flying all my life. To tell the truth, I can't wait to take a closer look at one of your Vipers. They look like a very fine piece of machinery."
"I'll be happy to show you my fighter," Boomer promised. "And what are we doing now?"
"We go eating," Sulu answered merrily.
The 'rec deck' was situated on Deck Eight. Its central room, designed to be the officers' lounge, was almost empty when they arrived. Only at one table in a corner sat a small, slender, dark-haired woman, wearing the blue uniform of the Science Division. She was studying her electronic notebook while picking some nuts from a small bowl absent-mindedly. She had some vague resemblance of a Libran dancer Boomer used to know, and as he imagined her in the glittering, sideless gown of a Libran rari, the young captain's heartbeat quickened involuntarily.
"Who's that?" he asked quietly. Sulu gave the young woman a cursory look.
"You mean Lieutenant Masters? She's a physicist, but she usually works in Engineering with Mr. Scott. She's said to be the best warp-specialist of her generation."
"Do you think we can be seated to her table?" Boomer asked. Scientists always impressed him, and he liked their company. Especially when they were lovely young ladies. Besides, he had the feeling as if she'd seen Lieutenant Masters on the diplomatic reception. Sulu's grin started to grow again.
"You're a lucky man, Captain. Accidentally, I'm one of the few leading officers whom Lieutenant Masters doesn't consider as her enemies. Shall I introduce you?"
"I'm not sure I understand your hint, Mr. Sulu."
"You'll figure it out early enough, just wait," the helmsman laughed. "Well, what's it? Do you want to be introduced or not?"
"I'd appreciate if you did," Boomer replied a little stiffly.
Sulu, holding his head high, like most short people, walked to the woman's table and gave her a friendly grin. "May we join you, Dr. Masters?"
The lady officer looked up. She had short-cropped, curly black hair, which made her lovely, dark face look a lot younger than she actually was. In her large, dark eyes that seized up Boomer curiously, there was intelligence, knowledge and willpower.
"Of course, Mr. Sulu," she said in a pleasant, smoky voice and put her electric notebook aside. "As a former colleague, you are always welcome, and you know that. You have brought a guest, I see?"
"This is Captain Boomer from the Battlestar Galactica," Sulu introduced his company. The lady officer proffered a small hand.
"Charlene Masters, Lieutenant J.G. My pleasure, Captain. I saw you on the vids. And on the reception, I believe."
"What do the letters J.G. mean?" Boomer inquired, holding her strong, warm hand a moment longer that it would actually have been appropriate. Masters gave him a wry grin.
"It means that I'm not a full lieutenant yet, and I'm reminded of that fact often enough. That I've wasted six years of my life after the Academy to study geophysics and warp-technology at Delthara University, instead of working on my Starfleet career. Certain leading officers have a hard time to forgive me my two doctorates."
Boomer shook his head in mild bewilderment. "This is something again that I don't seem to understand."
"It's not your fault," Sulu assured him supportively. "It's just so that Dr. Masters comes from Mars Colony 8, and people from Mars are often confronted with prejudice within the Fleet."
"Why should they?"
"It's a matter of simply envy, I guess," the helmsman shrugged. "Scientific education on Mars is very thorough. It takes almost twice the time as on other former Earth colonies and starts during childhood already. People from Mars have sixty per cent more chances to get to one of the best universities than candidates from other Federation worlds, except, of course, Vulcans."
"And this… what school was it again?"
"Delthara University?"
"Yes. Is it really that good?"
"If it comes to physics and technology, it's perhaps the best in the entire Federation," Masters nodded. "It's certainly the most famous. After all, the chair of Zefram Cohrane, whom we have to thank for warp-technology and artificial gravitation, used to be there." She paused, and then she added in a de facto manner. "I was awarded with the Centaurian Ring of Honour as the best student of my graduation year – that's something nobody else can say about themselves in the entire crew."
"Why in the Twelve Worlds do then people blame you for it," Boomer asked in bewilderment. Among his people, scientists were held in the highest regards.
"Because certain high-ranking officers are still deadly afraid of smart women," someone replied in Masters' stead.
Looking up, they discovered Uhura, who – on Colonel Tigh's arm – had been approaching them unseen, and was now standing right at their table.
"At times it seems to me that nothing has changed since the medieval witch hunts – or, at the very least, since my times."
"What do you mean?" Sulu inquired. Uhura's smile turned bitter.
"I, too, studied at Delthara University, Hikaru."
"I know that," Sulu still didn't understand a thing.
"Yeah, but you probably don't know that aside from communication, I also studied interstellar law, linguistics and xenopsychology."
"Xenopsychology?" Sulu digested this brand new piece of information with a frown. "Well, I guess, it comes handy in your line of work."
"My line of work was supposed to be more than just communications, Hikaru. Much more."
"You could tell us the whole story, couldn't you?" Boomer suggested. Uhura hesitated for a moment, then she gave in.
"Why not? It's been quite a while, though. The Enterprise was still under the command of Captain April..."
"Was he not the founder of the entire starship programme?" Masters asked. Uhura nodded.
"He was… and much more. He was the one who suggested Admiral Noguchi a new position aboard ships assigned to deep space exploration: that of the ship's counselor. This person was supposed to be a close co-worker of the captain; among others translator, mediator between captain and crew, as well as between captain and all possible lifeforms a ship might meet during a mission."
"That would have been quite a piece of work!" Sulu whistled.
Uhura nodded. "Indeed, it would have been. For that very reason, a very specific training was required. A few promising communications experts were chosen and sent for further studies first to Delthara University, then for the last year to Delta V. Captain April asked for female candidates, because he thought that women would be emphatically better suited for a job like that."
"And you were one of those women?" Boomer asked.
"I was one of them; some of our teachers thought I was the best, although not all," Uhura replied without false modesty. "After my studies, I on the Federation outpost of Two Twilights as the personal assistant of Ambassador Obote, for two years. Aside from the Embassy, only members of a feline species lived on this planet: a colony of Eeiauoans." She smiled a little wistfully. "I was the first human who was able to learn their language and their songs… and the only alien whom they have accepted as a bard, so far."
"And after that?"
"I was sent to the Enterprise, under the command of Captain Pike by then. The whole thing was an experiment, so I was officially assigned as the chief of communications. That used to be my original job, and there were certain parallels between the two positions."
"What became of the project?" Masters asked. "It was a rather ambitious one, it seems."
"Unfortunately, it was rejected, because of the resistance of the majority of starship captains," Uhura shrugged. "Captain Pike was against it at first, too, but I managed to convert him. However, there were only a handful that would have been at least willing to give the concept a try. Some of us resigned, out of protest – Starfleet has lost some very capable and dedicated officers that way. The others, who didn't want to lost the chance to live among the stars, accepted the degradation to communications officers."
"You see your work as degradation?" Boomer asked quietly. Uhura suppressed a sigh.
"It is degradation, in many things. Instead of initiating first contact with an alien culture, or providing crucial entries to conferences, or support crew members in the cases of a mental crisis and having influence on the duty roster based on such situations – all things for which I've been sufficiently trained – all I can do is to open hailing frequencies for the captain and file messages, or supervise the work of the people who do it for me. That's not what I studied for eight years long."
"I still can't understand why the starship commanders would reject the concept," Boomer said thoughtfully. "Did they fear to lose their authority when they had someone to help them handle complicated diplomatic situations?"
Uhura grimaced. "Take a look at our captain. Does he look like someone who would accept the help of a counselor?"
"That's highly unlikely," Sulu murmured.
"Although it would be very useful," Masters inserted in a surprisingly sharp tone. "Especially when he's on one of his famous ego-trips."
"You don't like him, do you?" Boomer asked.
Masters shrugged. "Well, I gave his over-developed male ego a blow that had an unfortunate influence on my career."
"How that?" Tigh wondered. Until now, he'd been listening the rather bitter discussion quietly. It had a sobering effect on his admiration towards a new home and possibly new allies.
Masters shuddered. Her lovely face mirrored disgust. "There was an… unpleasant situation, right when I came aboard. I had to make our esteemed captain understand that sexual services don't belong to my regular duties. He… didn't take it well."
"I can't imagine that," Sulu shook his head in bewilderment. "I always thought Captain Kirk was a very fair commanding officer."
"Small wonder," Masters replied cynically. "He's not into guys."
"Unfortunately, Charlie is right, Sulu," Uhura added. "The captain always left me alone – most likely because I'd already been part of the command crew of Captain Pike. But there were barely any female crewmembers whom he wouldn't have approached."
"Save Rand," Sulu grinned.
"Save Rand." Uhura agreed. "If we leave that incident out of consideration when the malfunctioning transporter beamed up two versions of him. After that I looked into that such an incident would never happen again."
"How did you do that, if I may ask?"
"I used my contacts to get Rand transferred."
"But Rand had a crush on the captain of the size of the moon," Sulu said.
"That's right," Uhura answered seriously. "And that exactly was the reason why I interfered. I've protected Rand ever since she came aboard as a frightened sixteen-year-old. I liked her too much to allow her to become Kirk's doormat. Of course, in Captain Pike's times I wouldn't have to take pre-emptive measures," she added dryly. "Chris Pike didn't consider the female crew his personal hunting ground."
"And I always thought you'd actually like the captain," Sulu shook his head.
"I used to like him, once," Uhura replied slowly, "and I still respect his abilities as a starship captain. He is good at what he does, and as long as he is my commanding officer, I'll be loyal to him. But I don't like him… not anymore. Not since Triskelion."
"I always wanted to know what exactly did happen on Triskelion," Sulu said.
"That's something you'll never learn from me," Uhura answered dryly. "You had your chance… and you missed it."
TBC