Chapter Title: The Home Front
Chapter Synapses: As the curtain rises on the second season,the crew is on leave while annual servicing on Hyperion is underway. Starwind, Collins, and West pay a visit to relatives on Earth and Luna.
Written by: Seraph Koji
"Captain's Log, stardate 57543.9. Hyperion has been undergoing a slight servicing. We are also having ablative hull armor and a regular compliment of higher yield torpedoes of all sorts installed. In the meantime, the crew has been given some well-deserved shore leave on Earth. On a personal note, my brother, a doctor at Starfleet Medical, asked me to come see him."
"The doctor will see you now." A receptionist at Starfleet Medical waved Starwind by. He walked down a hall to a room marked "Doctor Lloyd Starwind". He opened the door to find a frail man sitting behind a desk.
"Can you believe they gave me this desk job, Vic?" the doctor asked.
"You're ill, Lloyd."
"The disease is progressing…" the doctor looked away.
Captain Starwind became visibly uneasy, "Lloyd…" he began, stopped, and started again, "Lloyd, you knew that once the Phage was at this stage, there is no cure."
Doctor Starwind coughed, "That's the advantage to this job. I have medical scientists working on one."
Captain Starwind stood, enduring an awkward silence, than finally breaking it again, "I'm leaving, Lloyd." He paused, then added, almost in regret, "This is the most we've talked since mom and dad were assimilated."
"Don't use that word around me!" Doctor Starwind snapped.
"The Borg took our parents from us at Wolf 359, Lloyd. Our parents were stripped of their individuality and their free will and were forced to do the same to countless others." There was a tense silence, "I'm leaving, Lloyd." Captain Starwind exited the office.
Across the North American continent, Amy West entered a house along Lake Huron in Michigan. She looked out onto the water through a large bay window.
"You always loved that view." The voice of an older man called at her, "So did your mother."
"How is she?" West turned to face her father.
"Oh, Rezi is trying to become head of the Symbiosis Program. She says that after learning three lifetimes more than she had expected to, she wanted to repay the program." Her father sighed, "We talk over subspace, but I work here on Earth. I love this planet, and more importantly, I don't enjoy moving." He laughed, "And how are you, Amy?"
"I'm fairly good. I started leading duty shifts on the bridge again." West said, proud of herself.
"I'm glad the big chair didn't scare you too far away." Her father laughed.
West nodded, "I don't think I told you. A few months back I got stuck in a conference room with a joined woman tending to some injuries and trying to keep from being sucked into space."
"Oh?" Her father said, unsure of what he was supposed to say.
"She offered me insight into that side of me. The Trill heritage." West sighed, "I haven't gone to Trill in almost four years."
"Maybe you should pay your mom a visit next time you get shore leave?" Her father suggested.
Back in orbit, VonBach approached Winters in one of Hyperion's Observitorium. He noticed her glaring at the Earth below them. "Not going down?"
"Not my Earth. Mine was more brown and polluted. And dying." Winters gazed at the Earth before her, "It amazed me when I went to test out of the Academy, and it amazes me today. This Earth is so… beautiful."
"I guess it is." VonBach stared at it for a long time as well.
Starwind walked through the grounds of Starfleet Academy, looking for one old man in particular. He tended grounds and was far wiser than half the professors. He was also arguably old enough to have tended grounds while the crew of the NX-01 was being trained.
"You still alive?" Starwind joked, walking up on the man.
"Yeah." The old man replied, "You still pig-headed."
Starwind laughed, "So my first officer tells me."
"Who's your first officer?"
"Dorian Collins. She was a cadet during the Dominion War." Starwind explained.
The groundskeeper nodded, "The Valiant, right? Red Squad girl? We got another Red Squad ship out right now… The Starburst, I think it's called."
"Collins to Starwind, can you meet me in Tekka City?" A chirp came through his comm. badge.
Starwind tapped his badge, "I'll be there shortly."
"Don't do anything stupid, Starwind." The groundkeeper called after him as he walked away.
"I need an update on the new inductor array." Phral called across engineering. He approached a woman with the rank of Commander in a gold uniform, "Ma'am, I understand the armor technology Voyager brought back has entered an experimental phase. I know you've installed the ablative hull armor, but this interphasic armor technology…"
The woman shot Phral a glance, "Chief Petty Officer Phral, are you asking me to add something else to this overhaul?"
"Yes."
The woman sighed, "Lindstrom to McKinley Station." She tapped her comm. badge, "Can we get a team working on installing the interphasic armor technology on Hyperion's hull?"
Phral smiled widely and nodded.
Collins stood over a gravesite on the lavish outskirts of Tekka City's sheltered environment. She stared down at the grave.
"Dorian?" Starwind approached the gravesite.
Collins' gaze remained fixed on the grave, "Near ten months has gone by since he died…"
"You were busy." Starwind tried to console her.
"You would have given me leave right away." Collins sighed, "I just didn't want to accept the truth."
There was an awkward silence.
"You wanted to see me?" Starwind asked.
"Yes." She stood, drying her eyes on her sleeve, "The sun is going to rise over the Sea of Clous in an hour or two…"
Starwind saw where this was going, "Care to go for a trip, Commander?"
"Yes, sir, I would enjoy that."
Aboard Hyperion, VonBach nodded to the on-screen representation of Admiral Nechiev.
"Call your people back." Nechiev ordered, "You're leave is up."
"Mission?" VonBach asked.
"Just a simple flight test. Make sure everything works." Nechiev replied, "Starfleet Command out."
"VonBach to West."
On the lunar landscape, two figures in environmental suits stood near a gathering of rocks and stared off toward the horizon.
"Captain-" Collins began.
"Call me Victor." Starwind interrupted.
"Victor." She smiled, "Being here like this… thank you."
"Any time."
Almost instantly as the sun broke the horizon, the lunar landscape brightened.
"VonBach to Starwind. We've been ordered to field test the upgrades." A voice rang in their helmets.
Starwind looked over to Collins, "Two to beam up." They dematerialized.
"Sir." VonBach approached shortly after he beamed aboard, "I need to talk to you."
"Alright." Starwind entered a turbolift, followed by VonBach, "Bridge."
"Sir, I'm feeling devalued. Today was the first duty shift I led on the bridge in weeks. Since I stepped down as your first officer I've felt like the crew takes me less seriously." VonBach said, earnestly.
"Some of them never took you overly seriously to begin with." Starwind paused, feeling this wasn't quite an appropriate answer, "There's always promotion. I could pull a few strings with the Starfleet brass."
"I like it here." VonBach replied, "Just some of the people are getting on my nerves."
Starwind nodded, "Don't know what to say, Joe. I can't make the crew nice to you, or make them like you, or even make them respect you. You have to do that. And not violently; the finest tactical training in Starfleet won't help. You might scare a few, but won't get real respect that way."
"You're right."
"Shooting first can help outside the ship, but not with your crewmates." Starwind replied as the doors slid apart revealing the bridge. He made for the center of the bridge, "Helm, lay in a course to the outer rim of the system and then double back. Tactical, let's try some new toys."
"Captain's Log, supplemental. Having successfully tested the modifications to Hyperion, we have reentered standard orbit of Earth. Admiral Janeway has extended me an invitation to the annual Admiral's Banquet… and since it happened to be during our annual servicing, I can't figure a way out of it this year."
Starwind, wearing the white and gold of a Starfleet dress uniform, entered a large hall filled with Captains and Admirals."Glad you could make it, Victor." Admiral Janeway approached him, "I hear your ship got my armor."
"It amazes me you don't teach at the Academy. Your improvisations buried the Borg." Starwind complimented.
"Hey, you staved off a war between the Romulans and the Federation." Janeway cited the Risa Incident, "You sure you don't want to move up in rank?"
"I'm sure."
"I didn't think so." Janeway shrugged, "How goes the hunt for Admiral Shran?"
"No new leads."
"Nice seeing you again, Vic." Janeway nodded and walked off.
"I hate these." Starwind sighed, looking for a stiff drink.
Starwind proceed to politely mingle and drink until he could, equally politely, excuse himself. "My ship's waiting in orbit…." He said, stepping out before the droning speeches he so detested.
VonBach impatiently waited on the bridge. He stared at the planet below him.
"Admirals never shut up, do they?" Ivano stared blankly at his console.
"Not usually." VonBach answered.
"Transporter Room Two to Bridge, we have the Captain."
"Hyperion to McKinley Station, request permission to disembark." VonBach instantly called out.
"Hyperion, this is McKinley Station. You are clear for departure. Godspeed."
"Ivano, take us out." VonBach ordered.
