Note from the author: Alas, I do not own Star Trek... but I do own the OCs in this story... so I sorta got that going for me :)
Please review & by all means give hints and tips as to the story and character development. So much appreciated.
The Search for the Crew
Shi'Kahr, Vulcan
Earth date: 11 Jan, 2245
The only sound that resonated through the halls was the whirring of Vulcan minds in unison. This was the Starfleet base on Vulcan, and in comparison to other bases on other planets, it was whitewashed, bare, clinical even. Every now and then, a Terran representative would grace the halls, emotion pouring out of every orifice, gesticulating wildly with their arms and their faces animated with the subject they were so engrossed in. Their Vulcan counterparts, however, were the picture of logic, intelligence and every now and again, had an attitude very reminiscent of arrogance.
This was one of the days where only Vulcans were at the base, generally at their stations calculating equations connected to engineering difficulties or in their labs working on the range of sciences now available to them. Hardly any discussion of their findings or obstacles could be heard by an outsider. They were just… working. As always.
One of these labs happened to specialize in particle physics and astronomy, and sat there at his station like all the others, Commander Sorek turned to his computer as it indicated the of a new message. Ignoring the message for now, he continued to calculate the distance necessary for a vessel of a standard Federation of Planets size from a planet core, given its gravitational pull if this planet had a mass of 1.8986×1027 kg, in order to perform a 'slingshot' manoeuvre to minimize energy waste. Although different from many of his kind in his acceptance of Starfleet, given its perceived non-pacifist nature, Sorek shared an awful lot of 'traditional' Vulcan characteristics. Exceptionally intelligent, highly logical and insufferably stubborn with his beliefs, he also enjoyed… enjoyed? A better way of putting it would be 'was oblivious to' being a fairly good looking male.
After a few hours deliberation over the accuracy of his findings, he turned back to his computer to find the message that had been delivered earlier. Anyone would have said that an eyebrow was raised in surprise, although not in emotion – oh not at all! – Simply in recognition that Starfleet Command had requested that he become the Chief Scientific Officer on board the USS Endeavour, effective immediately, if he should so wish. Closing the message after simply replying that 'to accept the appointment would be the most logical course of action to pursue', he decided that the best course of action would be to pack a few essential effects and to make his way to Earth as soon as possible.
The door slid shut, locking behind him. He was now the second Vulcan to be elevated to Chief Science Officer on a Federation Starship, after Spock, son of Sarek and Lady Amanda, whom he much admired. Sorek never did really understand the uproar over Spock's mixed heritage, surely if one born even slightly outside of the fold, still opts to follow the Vulcan way of being, they are no less Vulcan than the next man? Such a xenophobic sentiment was not only emotional, but worse – illogical!
London, England
11 Jan 2245
"So… Tom. I mean, you know him, right?"
"Erm…"
"You know, brunette, puts a little too much gel in it – not that I mind, like – blue eyes, cockney accent?"
"Thomas Peterson?"
"See, I told you, I knew you would know him - he works in Engineering! Isn't he lush?"
"Not really my type"
Amy leaned across the table towards her friend – officially a superior – but really, a friend. Amy had the 'advantage' of being a tall blonde, she had men falling over to simply be in her earshot, but luckily, she was far too dozy to notice this and smiled across the table at the shorter, but attractive woman on the other side.
"I'm not supposed to ogle my workforce, Ames!" she laughed, as she rose from the table, tray in hand, to return to the floor below to do some experimental work on a warp core they'd been working on for some time.
Wildly renowned for being an awesome engineer, a pretty good linguist and fiercely intelligent, Ava also had the ever so slight advantage of being a sort-of product of genetic engineering. Way back in the late 2000s, her ancestors were an experiment into making a workforce of long-living, ultra-strong, super-intelligent human beings, but after the first tests were already done, it was banned for ethical reasons. The children of the experiment were born, and lo and behold, enter Ava's ancestors.
As soon as the lift doors opened to the basement, her thoughts flickered towards the core in the middle of the floor. She couldn't help but think 'I sure hope I don't feck this up'. Sure, in theory, everything would be fine, but you never know what's going to happen. She donned some protective goggles and began to work on one of the control panels for manual core temperature control. Lost in her own little world, she only zoned back down to Earth when her comm bleeped, and she crawled out from under the panel to flick it open. Nyota!
"Ny, how are things?"
"Hey, it's pretty good thanks, gonna have to be a quick call, just to tell you I was assigned to the Enterprise… after some gentle persuasion"
Gentle persuasion – a light bulb in Ava's mind lit up; she thought about saying 'so Spock had to be coaxed, did he?' but decided against it, stifling a giggle.
"Congratulations! I didn't even know the Enterprise was operational again – how's Pike?"
"That's the thing. You'll never believe who's captain."
"Well, I'm not surprised Pike bowed out, poor guy had a rough time…"
Ava thought for a while to herself, 'who the heck could succeed someone like Pike? Talk about filling big boots…'
"Wasn't Spock his First Officer?"
"Yeah, but long story short, it didn't go that way…. It's Kirk."
"FUCK OFF" Ava dropped her phone in surprise and only heard laughing on the other end.
"Mr James 'I'll sleep with anything that moves' Kirk? You have got to be kidding me"
"No kidding. Anyway, gotta go. Wish me luck!"
"Good Luck!"
The connection cut off, but Ava still looked at her phone. Oh, Jim Kirk. Lovely guy, rest assured, but Starship Captain? She still remembered the Academy days. Most people did.
Her padd resting on the panel beeped just as she was about to return underneath it. 'Must be Ny telling me it was all a joke…' she thought as she pressed her fingerprint onto the security section of her padd.
Turns out, she had just been made Chief Engineering Officer on the USS Endeavour, effective immediately unless she opted out. Yeah – like that would ever happen! She would be out in space again, and nothing would keep her from that.
Dublin, Ireland
11 Jan 2245
Dr O'Hara looked absolutely frantic, rushing around the hospital, made especially for Starfleet personnel. And with being in space for a great amount of time, meant no end of infectious disease, parasites and fevers as soon as they hit the ground of any planet in the Federation and beyond. Mix this with an enclosed starship with partially recycled air, and bam! You got yourselves an epidemic and you come crying to the nearest hospital, where good ol' Dr O'Hara will take care of you, and not scold you for not taking extra precautions and certainly wouldn't scold you for jumping into a native lake and not expecting to have a… thing… take a chunk out of you.
"Doctor, we've a new patient with an infected cut of some kind, it's not responding to normal treatment and he says the pain's getting worse…"
Without a word, he ran from his office and was gestured towards the bed of a young lad, in his twenties and took the injured arm in his hands.
"That's because, my dear, there's still a tooth in there!"
"What?"
"I was bitten by a thing on Rigel V… didn't think it was anything, so, you know, just bandaged it and that…"
"'Just bandaged it and that?' Are you being serious?"
"Aye, sir, didn't want to make a fuss, y'know…"
Speechless, O'Hara took the tooth out with what could only be described as pliers, and bandaged up the wound properly.
"Oh god, that's much better."
The doctor sat there for a while before looking at the nurse and then simply saying:
"How did you miss the feckin' tooth in your man's arm?"
"Well, sure, he didn't even tell me he was bitten, how'd you fancy that?" She smiled back at him, obviously taking the question lightly and in good humour.
'I am surrounded by crazy people' he thought quietly to himself as his monitor flashed to him as he'd just received a message.
He reread the message again, and then just once more to make sure he wasn't going mad.
"Chief Medical Officer, now, that has a ring to it" he said aloud, quietly relieved that perhaps he wouldn't be completely inundated with Rigelian bite marks whilst on board a nice clean ship… right?