STAR TREK; PHASE ONE
Different Lives
Starring
The USS Lexington, under the command of Rachel Garrett, was in station keeping. The ship's first mission was to catalog the larger remnants of the Clark/Dennison asteroid that the Enterprise had successfully dealt with nearly a year previously. Most of the debris field had stayed in the same new altered orbital course around the sun. The Lexington was at station keeping as the main debris cloud approached, preparing for the first research aspect of intervention.
All though Clark/Dennison was no longer a threat, large fragments still remained as possible threats to the Earth and/or future space craft, or even future colony cities on Mars. The Lexington had been tasked with cataloging all remnants that posed threats. According to the latest data, there were 2164 fragments that posed possible threats, though in each case it was at least a hundred years in the future.
Captain Garret let the mission specialist, Geologist Doctor Darnell Merriweather call all the shots while launching the "tags" that were placed on each remnant. Now that he had been responsible for blowing it up a year ago, he was now tasked with finding quick and efficient ways to deal with the issue of the fragments. The first part of his plan was the tags.
The tags were tiny devices that the Lexington, while using modified phaser platforms, fired at the various asteroid remnants. The tags would monitor each remnant, and in time, would be used to help target mines to help obliterate them once the debris was past the orbit of Jupiter which it would be seventeen months in the future.
"Doctor Merriweather," Garret said from her command seat as he stood next to her sipping on a cup of coffee, "this is amazing technology."
"Thank you Captain Garret," Merriweather replied. "The satellite we launched yesterday will relay all the data from the tags back to Starfleet's science facilities at Newport Rhode Island. From there we will start the procedure of constructing and programming the mines."
"Then, when it comes time to lay those mines out, I'm sure we'll be seeing you again," Garret said with a smile.
"I hope so," Merriweather said. "However; staying on time, and on budget, will be our only hurdles."
"I'm sure you're doing just fine," Garret said with confidence.
Garrett sat back and watched Merriweather order her Navigator, who also ran the weapons platform, to fire a new batch of Tags at several asteroid remnants.
Earth…Russia…
Live orchestra music could be heard coming from a large mansion that over looked the beautiful city of Moscow. Many of the Russian elite had come to this very special event thrown in honor of one of their own, Nadya Chekov.
Stories of her successes while board the Enterprise, and later her near death on Mars, had made her the stuff of legend. So nearly three hundred guests had come to wine and dine, and dance, all in tribute of Nadya.
Nadya could hear the music below. She had yet to come down to enjoy the festivities. Her very elegant dress was still spread across her bed, waiting for her to put on. But she wasn't ready, not just.
She stared at her naked body as she stood before a full length mirror. She had many strange memories from what happened on Mars. Though, to be sure, she could not tell if many of the images in her mind were memories or dreams. It was hard to tell. And as she brushed her hair, in the mirror she felt she was looking at a stranger. She closed her eyes and saw the memory of Khan placing the creature into Terrell's ear. Nadya remembered being dragged over to the table and Khan preparing to do the same to her. Suddenly the memory changed.
She could see herself, as a young girl, dancing with other young girls in the middle of a large room. All the girls were in leotards, and the room was surrounded by mirrors that allowed them to watch themselves as they danced, while being tutored how to dance by their ballerina trainer. It was every young girl's dream at that age; to be a ballerina. But Nadya's father, Mikael Chekov, had been a successful cosmonaut through-out Nadya's childhood. And she loved her father very much, and always got along with him more than she ever did with her mother. She was her father's pride and joy.
In the years to come he would inspire her even more to follow in his footsteps, which she did. It was known that her mother, Tamara, didn't approve, but there was nothing she could do about it. Mikael was a national hero and would often take his daughter with him to special functions and in time Nadya became a child star. She literally grew up in front of the whole country.
Nadya was brought out of her memories as her mother came in. Her mother was very beautiful, and very elegant. She came over to where Nadya was brushing her hair.
"Let me do this for you," Tamara said.
Nadya handed her the brush, and then turned back toward the mirror. Her mom stood behind her and slowly brought the brush through Nadya's hair. Both women were silent for a few minutes, and finally, Tamara spoke.
"Ivan is here tonight, and looking most sharp," Tamara said. "He wants to see you."
Nadya nodded. She had known Ivan since they were in grade school. It was evident to her that the two of them were being groomed to marry from the time she was ten years old. The families would often share their vacations together, as the elite would often to. And as Nadya and Ivan entered puberty their parents encouraged them to date in high-school, and so they did. She lost her virginity to Ivan after one of the school dances. And even up to now, that one time with Ivan had been the only time she had made love to a man.
As her mother brushed her hair, Nadya closed her eyes. She was taken back to when Khan was holding her head down, preparing to put one of the creatures into her body. That is the point where her memories became clouded. She remembered the pain, and blood, as Khan dropped the creature into her ear. Then she remembered seeing the door to the building fly open; and seeing Gary Mitchell, looking as if he had been consumed by pure evil, standing in the doorway. And as she looked at Gary's memory, she became aroused.
She opened her eyes. Tamara was smiling at her reflection.
"Where were you just now?" Tamara asked.
"Nowhere special," Nadya said. "I was just thinking about old times."
Tamara admired her daughter's beautiful naked body in the mirror. And as only another woman could, she could also see that Nadya had been aroused by whatever she was thinking about. Tamara assumed that it was Ivan she held deep in her thoughts.
"You would make Ivan a very happy man," Tamara said. "I have it on good authority that he will propose to you tonight and I think you should accept. His father is very well respected, and marrying into that family would do wonders for you, and the rest of our family."
The younger woman smiled. "I like Ivan," Nadya said. "I'm not sure that I love him though."
Tamara began to brush her daughter's hair with a bit more force.
"Oh child, when will you learn that love isn't that important," Tamara said. "Stature, and preserving your family's position, is. Your father isn't in the best of health," Tamara went on to say. "And when he is gone, which will be sooner than later, your position in society will depend on men like Ivan. I would start thinking about your future if I were you."
"Mother," Nadya said, "I have a future."
"Which nearly killed you," Tamara countered. "You have been blessed with beauty," Tamara added as she traced her fingers down the left side of Nadya's body to a couple inches below her navel.
Tamara smiled at the sight of Goosebumps on her daughter's skin.
"I love my profession," Nadya countered. "I will carry on the Chekov name in the exploration of space."
"Then you will die a lonely old woman," Tamara said as she stepped back from her daughter. "At least hear what Ivan has to say."
Nadya nodded and turned and lifted the dress off the bed. Her mother helped her in the process. And as Nadya reached for some undergarments, Tamara stopped her.
"Don't wear these tonight," Tamara said with a fiendish look in her eyes. "Ivan would appreciate it I am sure."
Not wanting to cause more tension with her mother, Nadya did as her mother asked. Maybe her mother was right, Nadya thought. Maybe a life with Ivan was where her future would lead her.
Only time would tell.
On the red planet of Mars:
Khan was the only one left. The last of his followers having all been killed by Gary Mitchell, or, as Khan concluded, whatever Gary Mitchell had become.
Khan had been able to repair most of the computer databases that had been brought along with them when they had first come to Mars over a year earlier. He sat at one of the computer stations and accessed the database to find out any information he could about his former XO. According to what he had read, Gary had lived an ordinary life until he was ten years old. It was around that age when a most unfortunate event changed Gary's life.
Gary Mitchell's parents were both killed by a freakish tornado. The storm was undetected by the weather satellites. The Tornado just appeared out of nowhere, on a windless summer day, and struck Gary's childhood home. And just as swiftly as it had appeared, the tornado just spiraled away up into the sky, or so that was what the reports indicated.
"Very interesting," Khan said to himself. "But no matter," Khan added as Gary Mitchell's face appeared on the computer screen. "There will come another time, Captain Gary Mitchell," Khan said with a fiendish smile.
-
Nadya Chekov came down the spiral stairway that led to the large living area below. She walked just steps ahead of her mother.
Ivan, who waited at the bottom of the stairway, stared at her with total eyes of lust. Unknown to Nadya, her father had let in a guest that he had invited from the United Space Agency; Gary Mitchell! And he too was caught up in the beauty of Nadya Chekov.
Continued…