Chapter 4 – The Preparatory Program
Sirella stared around her quarters, in awe of the white walls and gentle lights. It was the brightest room she'd ever been in, and the bed. She leapt onto it and gasped as she sunk into the material.
"So soft," she whispered, pressing her face into the pillows. Her door chimed, and she leapt off the bed and smoothed down her brown flight uniform. It did nothing for her slim build. Actually, it reminded her of a sack of na'ran, only she was the na'ran.
The door opened and Lieutenant Uhura entered, a bundle of maroon fabric and a pair of black boots between her hands. Sirella's face heated and she stood to attention.
"Hello, cadet," Uhura said, her Klingon smooth, even if some of the sounds didn't come naturally. She presented the bundle. "These are your cadet uniforms that you'll wear until we get to Earth."
"Thank you." She took the clothes, then noticed Uhura's puzzled look.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you show gratitude?" Uhura asked. "It's not a common trait of your species."
"My brother told me that humans like to thank people and that gratitude was a quick way to make someone like you."
"Hm. Interesting." Uhura glanced past her at the single bag. "Are these your belongings?"
"Yes. One of your crew scanned it when I came on board and said it was okay."
"Good. Now, I'm also here to tell you about the next two weeks. It won't be easy for you, but the Captain believes you can handle it."
"Will I be dropped on another planet and left to survive by myself for two weeks?"
"No?" Uhura cleared her throat. "You'll be on board for two weeks for the Preparatory Program. Usually it's stretched out over six weeks, but we have a deadline to meet and so everything is being condensed."
"That's not bad."
"There are six different topics that we'll be looking at for two days each. First, we'll look at your basic understanding of Math and Science, then give you a brief overview of Starfleet's history, then a bit on rules and regulations, then experiment a little with zero-gravity, go over the Vulcan culture briefly, and then a crash course in survival."
"That sounds simple." Sirella nodded. As long as there was no Battle class, she would be okay.
"Also, every evening I will be tutoring you in Standard, which is what most people in the Academy will speak."
"Okay."
Uhura smiled. "Good. I'll come get you at 0600 tomorrow, we'll get breakfast, and then get started."
Sirella couldn't deny that the thought of getting breakfast with Uhura made her heart race.
o.O.o
The maroon uniform fit her snugly. Sirella turned in the mirror, admiring how this uniform made her look better than the Flight Academy did. She put effort into taming her hair, then paced her room and wrung her hands for twenty minutes until her door chimed. She rushed to the door and opened it, ensuring she wore her widest smile.
Lieutenant Uhura blinked at Sirella's enthusiasm, but adorned a smile and they engaged in friendly conversation while on their way to breakfast. Sirella's enthusiasm was somewhat dampened by the stares from some of the crewmembers.
They reached the Mess Hall and Uhura retrieved two plates of Terran food. Sirella examined the strange food, sniffing it and poking it with her fingers, then noticed that someone else joined them at their table. A pale man with black hair and equally black eyes. She stared at him, thinking that he might be human, but there was something slightly off.
"Cadet Varrin, this is Doctor Yeto Kestrel," Uhura said.
"Hello."
"He's Betazoid. He's my fia-" She hesitated. "You wouldn't know that word. Intended. He's my intended."
Sirella's insides felt like ice-cold water had been thrown onto them. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, then nodded weakly. Kestrel watched her, his expression sad, and he whispered something to Lieutenant Uhura.
"He says he's sorry," Uhura translated. "Betazoids are empathic. They can sense the emotions of those around them."
"Okay." Sirella forced down a mouthful of the Terran food, wincing at the strange textures. She didn't understand why Uhura's words had affected her this way. Why was she disappointed? Why did she care? She'd only met Uhura yesterday. She just really wanted to gain the woman's approval.
Right?
After breakfast, Uhura took Sirella to a small office with two desks and a presentation wall. Inside was a male Vulcan, who nodded at Uhura. The woman lifted her thumbs at Sirella, who copied the movement hesitantly, then left.
"I am Commander Spock," the Vulcan said, his words translated by a small piece of technology attached to his shirt. "I will be working with you over the next two days to ensure your knowledge of Mathematics and Science are to standard."
"Okay."
o.O.o
Her head spun as she left the office. She'd never met a Vulcan before and hadn't been prepared for just how direct they were. Commander Spock had zero tolerance. No "um's" or "ah's" allowed in his classes.
A shrill giggle interrupted her thoughts and she jerked to the side of the corridor. Two tiny children appeared – twins, they looked like – and stopped in front of her and stared. She couldn't tell if they were boys, or girls, or a boy and a girl. One of them asked her something.
"I… I don't…" She shrugged helplessly. A woman appeared behind them and smiled apologetically. She said something in Standard, most likely, then took the children and pulled them along. As they passed Sirella, the woman continued to speak with that apologetic tone.
Bizarre.
Sirella resumed her original path, following Commander Spock's directions to the Rec Room where Lieutenant Uhura awaited her. She was indeed waiting and Sirella slipped into the seat across from her.
"Hello, cadet," Uhura said. "Now, I will say 'hello' in Standard. Please try your best to copy. Hello."
"He-llo." Sirella drew her mouth wide, then turned her lips into an 'o' shape. She wasn't sure where to put her tongue to make the 'l' sound. Standard 'l's sounded different to Klingon 'l's.
"Now, Standard has over two-thousand different phonetic sounds, despite the alphabet containing twenty-six letters. Every letter has various pronunciations, depending on the tense and context. You'll find that, compared to Klingon, Standard grammar and syntax is very organic and unstructured. Like all languages, it's just a matter of practice, and we have two weeks for you to learn the basics." Uhura handed Sirella a notebook and pen. "First-year cadets aren't allowed PADD's, but you'll be assigned a tricorder once we reach Earth."
"What's a tricorder?"
"A multi-functional device. It can do a lot. I'll show you. Now, back to the lesson, let's work on the alphabet…"
o.O.o
It was both the longest and shortest two weeks of Sirella's life. She woke every morning at 0600, ate breakfast either with Uhura or by herself, and then went to whichever lesson she needed.
Her sessions with Commander Spock were intense. He presented a topic, gave her ten minutes to go over the material, and then she was tested. She never thought she'd be proud of the Flight Academy, but the work she completed during her sessions with Spock were things covered during her first year there. He gave no indication if he was pleased or not, but Uhura told her that that was the Vulcan way.
Her sessions with the linguist proved challenging. The Standard alphabet contained many foreign sounds that she couldn't quite wrap her mouth around, and she was often up until 2300, practicing in front of the mirror.
After two days of working on mathematics and science, her lessons with Commander Spock turned into a crash-course in Federation History, learning about the decade in which Starfleet was founded (that's all they had time for). They then moved onto Starfleet General Orders and Regulations.
"Before engaging alien species in battle, any and all attempts to make first contact and achieve non-military resolution must be made."
"When engaged in contact with an unknown alien species, all attempts must be made to resolve said combat using minimum necessary force."
"In the event of imminent destruction, a Starfleet Captain is authorized to preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means."
"Federation security supersedes the rights and privileges of Federation citizens."
"Officers shall show professional behaviour at all times."
"Striking a fellow officer is a court-martial offense."
The rulebook was immense – twice the size of the Empire Regulation Handbook. Commander Spock gave her a copy to study in her own time and marked particular pages that he thought would be useful for when she reached the Academy.
After completing her final exam on the Prime Directive, she spent two days in a Zero-Gravity Simulator under the tutelage of Lieutenant Sulu. He was a very nice tutor, more patient than Commander Spock.
"What do you want to study?" he asked after they'd finished the first day of Zero-Gravity activities.
"Well… I don't actually know. I like everything."
"Do you like plants? I could show you the Botany Lab, if you would like."
"That would be really nice." She beamed.
Sulu took her to the Botany Lab and showed her the countless plants he'd collected from more worlds than she knew existed. One of them tried to choke her and he'd sprayed it with water, causing it to retreat.
"Most plants need water to survive, but this one only needs sunlight," he explained. "It is a desert plant, and desert plants never need much water."
She wished that the Starfleet Universal Translators were less formal. The lack of contractions was unnerving.
A tiny boy burst into the Botany Lab and rushed over to the pair. He glued himself to Sulu's side and smiled widely at Sirella.
"This is Lieutenant Pavel Chekov, our navigator. Pavel, this is Cadet Sirella Varrin."
"Nice to meet you." Sirella held out her hand, as human decorum dictated, and Lieutenant Chekov shook it. He spoke, his words out of range of the translator. Sulu pulled the boy aside and they exchanged quiet words for several moments. Then Chekov left, and Sulu returned to her side.
"Sorry about that. As pilot and navigator, we work close together."
"Are you blood-brothers?"
He laughed. "No, we are married."
She blinked. Had she misheard?
"But… you're both men."
"We are gay, yes. Is same-sex marriage not practiced among your people?"
"No…" She tried to imagine her older brother in the arms of a man but saw nothing. "How do you procreate if you're both male?" That made Sulu blush.
"It is a… complicated topic. Would you like to talk about it now?"
"Is that okay?" Her mind burned to understand. Sulu gestured to the nearest table and they both sat. She listened as he explained how same-sex coupling worked, and honestly, it blew her mind.
She never thought that it was possible for two men or two women to be together. Actually… she thought back to her childhood, when her family lived in Kl'alath, next to the Orion Embassy. She recalled watching two Orion women holding hands as they shopped in Kl'alath. Her mother said that they must be sisters, but, knowing what she did now, they must have actually been lovers.
"Is it normal on Earth?"
"Being gay is as normal as walking. On Earth, there is no need to pretend to be something you are not. We have bisexual, transsexual, transgender, asexual…" He listed several more words that meant nothing to her. On the bright side, she had four years to learn what all those words meant.
"Thank you for… explaining."
"Oh, and just so you know, treating someone with derision based on their sexual orientation or identity is called 'discrimination' and it is a punishable crime."
"So… like if someone was mean to me because I'm Klingon?"
"Exactly! That is discrimination!"
She sat straighter and grinned. Finally, she was understanding. They left the Botany Lab and ate dinner together. Sulu recommended a meal called 'sushi', which actually tasted a lot like raw pipius.
Once she'd passed her Zero-Gravity test, she sat with Uhura to learn the basics of the Vulcan culture, to better equip her for ensuring she was open-minded towards other species. It was important that she knew that not everyone did things the same way as Klingons, and though it would always be a challenge, she at least had to practice understanding. Patience? Acceptance? Those too.
By the time her tenth day reached its end, Sirella could say hello and goodbye in Standard, ask how their day was and what kind of things they liked. She and Uhura spent hours asking and answering questions in Standard. She found the hardest part was listening to the words and trying to figure out what Uhura was saying. She could speak Standard okay, but listening was something else entirely.
Her final two days of lessons were on survival in different alien environments. From acid rain to cosmic storms, the list of situations was endless, and she found Captain Kirk's teaching style rather… eccentric. He often went into tangents, telling stories from a five-year deep-space mission he'd embarked on. They were entertaining, and his descriptions of how the crew had overcome various obstacles was very informative. It almost made her want to be a Captain.
A Klingon? Captain of a Federation vessel? It would never happen. She dreaded the likelihood of going back to Qo'nos once she'd graduated the Academy. What if… what if that wasn't what she wanted?
Well, she had four years to find out.