The morning of her departure for the Enterprise Joanna was a nervous wreck; she'd woken up with her stomach feeling like a caffeinated ferret was doing gymnastics in there, so much so that she could hardly keep a single bite of her grandmother's buckwheat waffles and bacon in its proper place.
'Have you got everything you need? Are you taking your school tool kit?' Arnold inquired as he poured his sweet girl some juice. He knew she'd likely boot it but it made him feel less melancholy their little Jo-Jo was going off on such an important adventure.
'They said I would receive the necessary tools from my program mentor because they're going to assign my lab tasks and it's part of their responsibility to ensure we have what we need.'
'You need to eat,' he prodded her, 'even just a little.'
'I know.' Joanna did know it, it wasn't just a line. Flying on a shuttle on an empty stomach was about as much fun as using sandpaper instead of bathroom tissue. On the other hand, she was catching a shuttle to the Enterprise to be an Engineering apprentice; even thinking the words made her brain fizz. 'Can you pass the syrup?'
'I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing Christine as much as your father,' Helen said, pouring herself coffee. She knew the answer already but it had the desired effect of visibly seeing her granddaughter's shoulders relax as she cut into her maple-syrup soaked waffles.
'At first I was really weirded out by the idea of Dad having an actual girlfriend, I mean I know he's had girlfriends after him and mom split up, but this time it's different.' Joanna munched pensively. 'It's like she gets it deep-down that he isn't just Leonard or Doctor McCoy, he's my dad too, and that I'm not just some optional accessory like a pink shuttle for Starfleet Barbie.'
'I'm very glad to see you getting along with her. Will you have time to spend with them together while on board?'
'I think so. I know they're doing a big dinner tonight to welcome the students and the senior officers are all there plus other crew so hopefully they'll both be there.'
'Knowing your dad, he'll find a way to charm the captain into bending the rules so you'll get to see each other on day one,' Arnold chuckled, glad to see his granddaughter had been distracted enough to eat a waffle and a half.
Joanna pulled a face at the notion of Bones charming Kirk. 'That's weird. And yeah, I've got everything packed that I'll need, plus the essential stuff in my carry-on like my school ID and Federation passport. Our luggage going before us on a cargo-lift so it'll be in our rooms before we get there.'
'I thought you call them your quarters on a starship.'
'Yeah it…' Joanna trailed off, swallowed tightly as she felt her stomach threaten to rise. 'It's the proper name for it. Juice please?'
She took a glass of Tyrollean grapefruit juice, the kind that tasted like it was loaded with sugar when it was just the natural sweetness of the hybrid fruit, and drank slowly to settle her nerves back into place. When her glass was drained, she set it down and shoved her plate away declaratively.
'Okay I'm done. We gotta be at the shuttle depot by oh-nine-thirty.'
'First you can help with the dishes,' Helen told her, also acutely aware that it would be the last time for a month she'd get to boss her baby around in the playful way that they'd become accustomed to since Joanna had begun living with them. 'Then you can go off on your grand adventure.'
The Starfleet shuttle depot was buzzing with activity when Joanna arrived - San Francisco was one of the most popular spots in the Western hemisphere to catch a lift up to the dry-dock launching hub where all Federation ships would come for what Bones called the three R's - repair and maintenance work, restock of supplies and reviving the crew with visits home. Joanna clutched nervously at her carry-on bag, a serviceable yet sleek tote patterned off an antique mail-carrier bag that had been varying degrees of popular at the end of the twentieth century. Her grandparents had surprised her with it the day she'd found out about getting into the program, and it was now loaded with what Joanna considered her essentials for being away from home for a whole month. At first she wondered if she looked like an eager-beaver nerd-linger, one of her favourite old-time slang terms, but then she noticed several uniformed and ranked officers carrying them as well.
Glancing around, Joanna wondered where everyone else was - she knew there were other people from her school participating in the program on the Bradbury and the Crichton. Was she in the right spot? Had she mixed up the times and everyone had left her behind? Was there a designated meeting place they were supposed to go? She felt her confidence begin to waver, and was about to open her mouth to ask the nearest official looking person when she heard a voice behind her.
'Jo-Jo!'
She turned at the nickname and felt instantly better when she saw girl of about sixteen with the burnt-sienna complexion and dark waving hair with emerald green low-lights stride up and grab her in a friendly hug.
'Naya!'
Joanna returned the hug fiercely, breathing an audible sigh of relief when Naya stepped back and smiled.
'You ready for this?'
'Yeah, I hope so!'
'Pff, hope so,' Naya scoffed, then turned to Helen and Arnold. 'I'm Naya Devereaux, I'm vice-president of our robotics club at Williams-Wood. I think we met at the tech expo but that was such a crazy busy day, I'm so sorry if I'm getting things mixed up.'
'You're not, and it was,' Joanna agreed, then glanced around. 'Where's Kovac?'
'Guarding our luggage. He's calling it preparatory practice, he was one of the lucky few who actually got into Security and Protocol. They only took five for them out of everyone who got into the program.'
'Probably because he's Vulcan,' Joanna reasoned, 'even teenagers on Vulcan are rule-followers.'
'Come on, let's go find him and get in line so we can get the good spots on the shuttle.' Naya held up her palm-communicator. 'I want to get some holo-shots to send my parents and aunties.'
Joanna found herself being tugged along through the crowd with her grandparents acting as her porters of her luggage - Naya was thin as a bamboo reed with wiry fingers that gripped like a titanium vice - until they reached Naya's parents who stood with the solemn-faced teenage Vulcan watching over several suitcases. 'Kovac! We're here,' Naya called out and Kovac turned to them, offering the slightest of smiles.
'Joanna it is good to see you have arrived promptly,' he told her in his placid manner, held out his hand to Helen and Arnold. 'Kovac, son of K'Miek. I am a compatriot of Joanna's in the robotics society at our educational institution.'
'Yes, I remember you from the tech expo,' Helen replied, 'you were in charge of the battle-bot, correct?'
'I was the chief engineer of record, but our victory in vanquishing the other battling robots was the result of a collective effort.'
'Are you going to be in Engineering with Joanna?' Arnold inquired.
'No, sir,' Kovac replied, shaking his head which set the dark straight fringe of his bangs swishing above his eyes. 'I will be an apprentice in Security and Protocol. I am looking forward to speak with Commander Spock about the functions of the bridge positions.'
'And what about you Naya?'
'Medical Sciences, although I'm hoping that I will also get to have a rotation or two working in the greenhouse with Joanna's almost-mom,' she replied with a conspiratorial wink which Joanna returned.
'I'm sure Christine would love anyone to help her with the plants.' Joanna looked around, fingers tapping nervously on her bag. 'Are we supposed to meet anyone or what?'
'One of the Enterprise staff is supposed to be meeting us in approximately…three minutes,' Kovac declared, flicking his wrist to activate the portable-unit his parents had given to him as a gift in recognition of his achievement of selection for the program. Privately, he thoroughly enjoyed any opportunity to show it off. 'I am curious as to who has been placed in charge of the task of ensuring all program candidates have arrived promptly.'
'I think your answer's headed this way, son,' Arnold informed him as the strawberry-blonde in her operations-red flared tunic and leggings with a PADD in the crook of her arm approached them.
'Good morning, apprentices, I'm Yeoman Rand. Welcome to the Enrichment Program. Very glad to see you're on time this morning. Can I get your names for the roster?'
They did so, and Yeoman Rand tapped at her screen; after a few seconds it gave triple chime tone. 'Apprentices McCoy, Devereaux and Kovac son of K'Miek have received their passport credentials and are cleared for boarding. Please proceed to shuttle dock GR-sixty-six and present your documentation, you'll receive directions for loading your luggage. I recommend saying your goodbyes here, as customs is running slightly behind and we have a schedule to keep.'
'As I have already contacted my parents on Vulcan to inform them of my departure for the Enterprise, I shall take charge of our belongings to give you privacy,' Kovac informed them and went off in search of a hover-trolley for their bags.
Joanna turned to her grandparents, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. She swallowed tightly to try and clear her lumpy throat but to no avail. 'Guess this is it for a few weeks.'
'Oh, don't be so dramatic, girl,' Arnold admonished his granddaughter lovingly, pulling her in tight for one last hug before letting Helen get her own in. 'You'll be lucky to find time to talk to us at all between your classes and work schedule, spending time with your dad and Christine and your own friends.'
'I'll message you as soon as I get settled, okay?' Joanna knuckled her eyes, made sure it didn't look like she'd been crying - she was the only year three chosen from the four candidates from her school, the last thing she wanted to look like in front of everyone else on the shuttle was a weepy little girl. 'Christine already gave me the heads-up that I get her room so that'll be nice.'
'How lovely indeed.' Helen kissed her forehead. 'Good luck, baby, you'll be great.'
Joanna nodded, and turned to head off with Naya towards the counter to be cleared by customs.
