Chapter 3

The weeks soon began to go by and Emmy found herself out of probation before she knew it. Pike would occasionally drop by to inspect her work, to give her any kind of feedback he had, then let her go back to work.

Emmy found herself greatly enjoying the people she worked with, too. They were nice, supportive, and straight to the point. She'd try and keep her family updated on what she'd been doing, but knew better than to give too much away. She understood that the Federation had certain things that were meant to be secret from ordinary people—which she, for one, was—which was why they didn't inform her on anything above what she was supposed to be working on that day. So, instead of going into elaborate detail, Emmy told about how nice the people she worked with were, how fair and strict Christopher Pike was, and how the Enterprise was coming along nicely.

That didn't seem to go well with her brother, Ibrahim, who wanted to know every little detail on the new Starfleet ship.

"Why can't you just say more?" Ibrahim exclaimed, pouting.

"Abe, you know I could get in trouble, right?" Emmy looked at the screen dryly. Her brother made sure to call every day at the same time, that way he could try and get as much time to talk to his sister as he could. "I can't afford to lose this job."

"They won't know, will they?" There was a mischievousness in Ibrahim's eyes that made Emmy arch a brow at him. "Can't you just tell me how big it is?"

"It's vey big."

"You're impossible sometimes."

"And you're just a kid," Emmy countered. "I can't go around telling you every little detail because if I do, you'll go and tell everyone about it."

"No I won't." Emmy gave her brother an extra dry look. "I don't go telling secrets like Ezra does!"

Ezra was Emmy's other brother. He was more of a chatterbox, not being able to keep a secret for a little more than five minutes.

"I know Ezra's home with you, Abe." Emmy shook her head. "If he hears, he'll tell everyone. You'll get too excited with the things I'll say and accidentally let something slip."

"That's not fair, Emmy!" Ibrahim cried. "You can't do this!"

"Actually, I can," Emmy said pointedly. "My job's at stake. I'm not risking it. I'm telling you guys what I know I can. Isn't that good enough?"

"Ibrahim!" their mother called, her voice sounding distant. "It's time for bed, c'mon!"

"You'd better go," Emmy said. Ibrahim's gaze went downward. "Listen, Abe, I'll try and do the best I can with what I can say, OK? I don't want you to be upset."

"Fine," he sighed.

"Tell everyone I said goodnight, OK?" she asked. Ibrahim nodded. "Love you, little guy."

That night, Emmy laid in her bed and stared exhaustedly at her ceiling. Some nights she found it increasingly more difficult to sleep than others. It wasn't that she always had trouble sleeping, it was only a few nights when the restlessness happened. Emmy tried brushing it off as maybe she wasn't as tired as she thought, despite a long day at work.

Sighing, Emmy ran her hands over her face in slight irritation.

What's the problem? There's nothing going on for you to worry about. Why're you suddenly having trouble sleeping?

Pulling her blankets a little further over her, Emmy tried getting herself as comfortable as possible. She had to get up early for work, and if she stayed up all night with pointless worries she couldn't even figure out, then her work would end up being sloppy.

Can't have Pike thinking you've got something wrong with you, she thought tiredly. He might let you go if something doesn't turn out right. You can't risk something like that happening, Emmy. You've worked hard to get to this point!

Looking at her clock, the neon numbers showed it was a little after midnight. It wasn't too late, but still late in Emmy's book.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Emmy pulled the covers over her head. Something was bothering her, and she couldn't figure out why!

Author's Note:

Hey-yo, everybody! Sorry for the short chapter, but here it is! If you've got any ideas on how the story could be improved, don't hesitate to let me know, OK? If I'm getting any of the movie's main characters wrong, please let me know beforehand. It'd suck if I found out way down the road that I've been writing the characters wrong the whole time. So please, spare me the embarrassment of possibly writing the main movie characters wrong and just let me know.

I own nothing in the ST universe. All I own are my characters and the fireworks I bought.

As a side note, have a safe Fourth of July to anyone who's celebrating it tomorrow! I hope you all have a wonderful, and safe, celebration with your friends and family.

TomFoolery: Sorry it took so long to get back to your question, but Emmy could be seen as a civilian mechanic. Her mother's family came from a long line of very well known mechanics, and I've been thinking about going a little more into her mother's family's background, but I wasn't entirely sure yet. Hopefully that made sense? Let me know what you think!

jeffhardyluvsme: Hopefully this story is still piquing your interest. Thank you greatly for your review and I really hope I get to hear from you soon.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story.

Leave a kind and helpful review, please!

Thank you.

Susan Strong