Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters.
"Pick up, pick up. Come on, pick u-"
"Ellara?" Nalli's staticky voice came through.
"Dad!" shouted Ellara, rolling her chair over to her desk. The reception cleared up, and she could see her father's confused face in front of her.
"What's wrong, you never call me." he asked, turning around to look at something off camera.
Ellara gave him a nervous, mock-hurt look. "How insulting. I do too call you!"
"When have you ever done that, my little fire?" he chuckled back.
Taking a moment to think, Ellara blushed when she realized that he was right. "See? But seriously, don't try to distract me. What's wrong?"
Ellara looked away shyly. She didn't really want to tell him, but he was the only person she could ask. Mostly because she didn't know where anyone else was… "Well, see, earlier today, I was really angry about something my friends had done, and I got so angry that I may or may not have caught fire…" Ellara trailed off near the end, twiddling her thumbs.
Nalli backed away from the camera a bit, biting at his nails. She noticed his eyes kept glancing to the side. "What are you looking at?" asked Ellara cautiously.
There seemed to be a fight being waged in his mind, as he debated telling his daughter or not. Finally, Nalli sighed, before leaning back in. "Listen, Elli, it's been a long time since your mother died…"
Of all the things she had expected, Ellara had not expected the words her father spoke next. "I've had to get along with life, and it gets lonely here. Most children move a few houses down, and you left the planet entirely. So… I got a cat." He reached over and pulled a small black kitten onto his lap.
It mewed quietly at him before settling down. "Oh." was all Ellara said. "To be perfectly honest, I thought that you might have found someone."
Nalli looked thoroughly repulsed at the idea. "No. You're mother was the only one for me. However," he began to softly pet the cat, "she really hated animals, and so I didn't want to get one after she died, for fear of insulting her spirit. But… I just couldn't resist this one!"
Ellara chuckled as the small thing meowed irritably at Nalli before jumping onto the desk and sniffing the camera. "It's alright, dad. I'm sure she would have wanted you to get one years ago, to be honest. She just wanted you to be happy."
Nalli nodded, bowing his head. "Now, back to this problem of yours. I'm going to need a few days to consult with some… people... but I'm sure I can find something about. It sounds familiar."
He stood up with his brows furrowed and began thumbing through the books by the television. Nalli pulled out a dusty tome, opening it up to the index. He began mumbling some words in Ancient Rendorian, and his eyes widened especially large. "Listen, El, I'm gonna have to get back to you, ok? See you in a couple of days."
With that the transmission ended. Ellara sat back, blinking in surprise and confusion. She wasn't surprised that he had a book on what she needed help with; after all, her mother used to teach an Ancient Rendorian class. It covered the language, as well as a handful of prophecies, battles, and famous leaders. Her mother had made sure to teach Nalli once they were married, and Ellara had learned it growing up. It was a good way to speak privately, she found, as not many people spoke it.
However, she had never seen her father look that excited before, except for on his twentieth anniversary. That had been a fun night… What could he have found in that book? Ellara toyed with the idea while she got ready to sleep. This was getting curiouser and curiouser.
"Ellara! Ellara!" There was a pause. "Ellara Lat'toy, I am about to smash every single candle in this room."
The Rendorian in question shot up and tackled the person beside her bed. Once she had opened her eyes, she found the shocked face of Lieutenant Sulu underneath her. "Oh, hey, Hikaru. Watcha doin'?"
Ellara got up and dusted herself off. She offered a hand to Sulu, who cautiously accepted it. "I'm here to bring you to the bridge. You weren't responding to hails, you weren't answering your comm, and apparently my furious pounding at the door did nothing."
Ellara blushed deeply. "Yeah, sorry, I had a late night."
"Work?" asked Sulu as Ellara went into the bathroom to change.
Making a noise of disagreement and pulling on a clean shirt, she clarified. "Personal thing. It kept swimming around my head."
"Well, I think this might help you forget it." said Sulu grimly.
The two walked to the elevator, a comfortable silence falling between them. That's what Ellara liked about Sulu; he was comfortable carrying on long conversations, but he could just stay silent when need be without it seeming awkward. Of course, she prefered Spock's silence more- Wait what? Ellara really needed to stop daydreaming as she walked, she thought as she found her ass on the floor.
Sulu chuckled a bit, helping his crewmember up. "If you mention that, you'll find that I know how to wield a scalpel ridiculously well." commented Ellara quietly, making sure no one but her friend heard.
Sulu paled, running to catch up with the Rendorian who was walking farther and farther away, her head held high. "Wait what?!"
Ellara turned to look at the man beside her and giggled at his shocked look. "I was kidding."
They got in the elevator as Sulu's face regained copious amounts of colour. His face was now flushed red at having been tricked like that, and he groaned as the doors opened. "Don't do that to a man, El." he said, walking off to his station.
Spock's head shot up as he heard the helmsman and the counsellor walk in. He had very clearly heard the groan followed by a suggestive sentence, and looking at the pair, he only managed to catch Sulu's flushed face before he walked towards the front of the bridge. Spock would not comment on the relationship between the two, however he found it odd; had Lieutenant Sulu not previously mentioned he had a husband? Maybe he should speak to Ellara…
No. Counsellor Lat'toy and Lieutenant Sulu could do what they wished; he had no permission or reason to interfere. But you want her. Is that not reason enough? A small voice in his head muttered. He quickly sent it off, not wanting to be bothered by ridiculous notions. Especially ones that were certainly only there due to some comments made by Captains and their girlfriends.
"Hey, Spock, have you ever met an Ensign Seabert?" asked his friend as they walked down a corridor.
"I have not, Jim." replied Spock. He was looking over some paperwork when the Captain had walked up to him and began speaking.
James chuckled, patting Spock on the shoulder. "Well, I have it on good authority that she has the hots for you."
"I do not understand." he muttered as he wrote down some numbers.
"She likes you, Spock!" exclaimed the Captain, stepping in front of the Vulcan and walking backwards to try and get more of his attention.
Spock stopped, finally looking up. "I do not understand why this should affect me." he stated, continuing on his way once again.
"Don't you wanna start dating again?" asked Jim, falling back beside Spock.
"I do not see why it is necessary at this moment." Spock began a rant while Jim looked at a notification on his PADD.
"And furthermore, I do not think that it is up to you to determine when I should begin looking for a mate or even to interfere in that process." finished Spock.
Jim looked up once again, a large grin spread across his face. "You like someone already, don't you?" he teased, mirth filling his voice.
"Jim, did you even listen to a word I said?" Spock said as Jim looked his friend up and down.
"I'll bet you it's the Counsellor." he guessed.
Spock froze up, wondering if Jim could hear what he was saying- both Spock and himself. Jim, of course, took it as an agreement. "You do, you sly Vulcan!" that earned Spock a slap on the arm. "God, I knew you were putting the moves on her the other day. Come on, I'll help ya get her."
If it wouldn't be so illogical, Spock would've have rolled his eyes at that moment, maybe even put his hand to his forehead. What he didn't know was that the comm that Jim had received was from Uhura, telling her boyfriend to plant an idea in Spock's head. And Jim had done just that. He was going to get Spock to like Ellara, no matter what it took.
The Enterprise certainly had an interesting Captain, that much was for sure. Spock watched as Ellara walked towards the very Jim Kirk he had just been thinking about, confusion lacing her beautiful features- Spock shook his head slightly, physically trying to remove those thoughts. He would have to meditate afterwards. It was too distracting.
"So, Captain, what would you like?" asked Ellara, placing a hand on her hip.
Jim turned towards the Counsellor and began to chuckle. She furrowed her brow in confusion. "What is it? Is there something on my face?" panicked Ellara.
She turned to find a reflective surface, only to whip her head back when a flash lit up. "You. Didn't." Ellara was furious. There was obviously something wrong with her appearance, and now there was photographic evidence.
He began to back away, holding his hands up as a defence while his chest was shaking with laughter. Quick as a snake, Ellara reached forward and snatched the PADD from him. She quickly opened the camera and found the picture he had taken, and realized that she had forgotten to brush her hair. Ellara sighed and simply combed her fingers through hair, making it look like it was purposefully messed. The blessings of a short cut. "Don't you ever do that again." she growled as she gave the captain his device back.
"I can't promise anything." Jim chuckled.
Ellara shot him a look before composing herself once again. "So, what do you want?"
Jim seemed to remember he'd called her up for a reason, and clapped his hands together before gesturing to the viewport. Ellara looked, and saw the most beautiful planet she'd ever seen. It was a gorgeous fuchsia, with lilac clouds and teal water. She could see various starships flying around, some leaving and some landing. "What… what is this?" she stuttered out, tearing her gaze away.
"This is a new planet. We've been to quite a few now, and you haven't actually visited any. This one seems pretty advanced, so we're going to try and establish contact before landing." said Jim.
Ellara nodded distractedly, beginning to take in the surrounding space. She glanced at the stars and noted the very distinctive pattern. "Hang on!" she ran after Kirk, who had begun to walk towards Spock.
He turned back around, furrowing his brow. "What is it?"
"Those stars- they're familiar. I've seen these constellations before. This is Rendoria Four." she said.
"Wait, what?"
Ellara rolled her eyes at her stupidity, completely forgetting that Starfleet was still mapping out Rendoria's history. "You know how my people are in a giant civil war, right?" she began.
Once she received the nods of the crew members that had turned to listen, she continued. "Well, every once in awhile, one of the four sectors comes across the brilliant idea of just leaving the planet- considering we have a total of ten in our vicinity. They then always end up getting into some kind of trouble, and we have to go help them to the point where the rest of the planet just moves there with them. It's a big fuss that I thankfully haven't lived through. We are currently on our sixth planet. The one out there is Rendoria Four. Like you'd expect, sometimes people don't want to leave, and they remain behind. I guess they've been busy, because it looks fairly colonized."
Jim leaned in to speak with Spock, and the two had a small, hushed discussion. Finally, he turned back to Ellara. "Listen, El, I don't think you should go on this trip, to be honest."
Ellara's mouth gaped wide open in a mixture of shock and frustration. "Oh no, don't you dare do that. You invite me up here, telling me that I'm to help you establish contact, and then you tell me I can't just because I'm related to them? If anything-"
"Come on, don't be like-"
"I'm not finished!" she shouted. "As I was saying, if anything, you should be letting me do this for several different reasons." Ellara had begun pacing as she listed things off on her hand. "First of all, I'm the only person on this ship fluent in Rendorian- no offence Uhura-, so even though the language has most likely changed, it should still be pretty much the same. Second, I know the most about Rendorian culture, so I know how this'll go. And lastly, Rendoria Four is still property of the Rendorian People, and I highly doubt my government knows about this."
She walked over to the viewport and pointed at the planet down below. "It looks like they've turned it into some sort of trade planet, or a mining one, what with the amount of small ships flying around. I'm going, and there's nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise."
Jim looked around at his officers for support, mouth flapping like a fish as he tried to come up with a compelling argument. "You make a very good case, Counsellor, however there is one flaw in your plan." said Commander Spock.
Ellara merely cocked a hip and raised an eyebrow in response.
"These people will not respond well to your appearance. The probability of a violent and or resentful response is very high. Your people left them with very little and did not offer any more aid. You most likely will be injured."
The Rendorian looked down, shamed. She hadn't thought of that. Ellara just wanted to visit the planet. "In all actuality, your government is most likely aware of their existence, yet would not want to start a war."
Ellara gave a small nod of her head to acknowledge that she understood. She felt like a child that had just been scolded, and it hurt. Especially considering it came from Spock of all people. "I'll just… uh… go." she muttered, fast walking to the elevator. Once inside, she sniffled and rubbed at her eye.
Back on the bridge, Jim rounded on his first officer. "Jeez, Spock, was that necessary?" he demanded.
"I do not understand, Captain. I simply informed Counsellor Lat'toy of why she should not join the away mission. Was that not what you wanted?" Spock was confused.
"You could have been nicer when you said." chimed in Uhura.
"Ya basically ripped her a new one." Kirk jumped in.
"I did not realize that kindness was needed to get a point across. If I had not been as harsh as I had, it would be likely that Counsellor Lat'toy would have either not understood or become more aggressive." Spock fired back.
When Spock turned his back, Jim threw his hands up in the air in frustration before shaking his head and going back to the Captain's chair. Getting those two to be together was proving to be one of the most challenging things Kirk had ever done.
Chapter... twenty? No...twenty one... OMG TWENTY ONE CHAPTERS! I'd also like to say that I managed to make this document 2.6k words long sans author's notes(almost 3k with) and I'm ridiculously proud of it because most have been a little under or a little over. I also got this one up on time! Yay! So. Nalli got a kitty, El has a problem, she also is fiercely protective of her candles, Spock is starting to get jealous, and Rendorians are known for moving planets. Which to be fair is a ridiculous notion, however I had written out that idea before I'd even started the story, and it worked right into the plot! Next chapter may or may not have your heart racing(doubtful) as the away team visits Rendoria IV! Gosh I'm so excited! A major thanks to TransformersGeek for editing this chapter, I legit miss soooo much it's ridiculous. Till next week!
booklover1898: That scene was really improvised, but it was a lot of fun to write. :) I'm glad to know it was appreciated!
- fangirl0012345
Updated December 16th, 2016.