Carissa was in love with her new bio lab on board the Enterprise-A. It was much more modern than the old one. She didn't seem to be the only one because she heard everyone talk about the 'upgrades' they had gotten. But nothing surpassed Scotty who was overly proud of the warp 8.5 capability instead of 'just' warp 8. Carissa had never really understood why they needed to make a new device or ship as soon as something got possible. She could understand why they had done so from the 20th to the 22nd century, when producers had hoped to sell new products and getting rich. What did bug her, however, were that some companies had built the devices poorly on purpose so that they wouldn't last long and people had to buy new stuff. She found that was a waste of resources and unnecessary because she was certain that those companies had already earned enough money anyways. She also couldn't imagine what would happen if she had to change her PADD every two years or so. Almost her whole life was on the private PADD she had gotten when she started kindergarten. Of course she had backups of her data because it could always be that you lost or damaged your device but still, there also was stuff that couldn't easily be transferred.
But what she liked most about the new ship were the luxurious quarters she and Spock had gotten. It was built for two people and consisted of three rooms in total. A huge room for them, a bathroom and one for Erik. Though Erik's room didn't actually belong to their quarter anymore but it was connected by a door. Only Erik didn't seem too happy and claimed that now, when his parents would be gone all day he'd be bored. He wouldn't listen to Carissa who told him that he'd be with her most of the time anyway and that there were three days when at least one of them was with him. He had only shut up about it when she promised him that he could 'help' something in the biology lab. She only had to find out what.
-oO0Oo-
The departure was full of tears because most of the people what would not continue their journey with them were there to see them off. Also Tisi was there but she promised Carissa that she'd come to earth after their mission was over. When she looked at her, Carissa saw almost nothing of the shy and submissive woman anymore. Only when a man raised his voice in her presence, did she recoil a bit, even if the words were not directed at her. She also wasn't able to openly converse with men she didn't know well and almost never initiated a conversation but Carissa found that was okay. Once she actually was on the ship for good, she swallowed and hoped that there was nothing she had forgotten. She made a short stop in their quarters where she changed into her uniform.
"You know, it would have been quite fancy to make the ships maiden voyage the start of the mission" she told Spock who was depositing his stuff. Erik tugged on her shirt "Yes, darling?"
"Sa-sa?" he asked
"What about sa-mekh?"
"I and he. Bliss"
"Yeah you two are my bliss" she stroked his head
"No" Erik shrieked and pointed at the celling
"Go bliss"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand" he sighed and waddled over to his father, taking his hand
"Sa-sa bliss. Elik bliss"
"I am not certain whether the bridge is the right place for you to be"
"Ah he wants to go to the bridge with you" Carissa finally understood.
"No. I wash. Fly"
"Come on, just let him stay with you. He wants to see the start I can imagine" Erik gave nod "Then you can send him down to me"
"I doubt it would be wise to let him walk around the ship unattended"
"Then send someone to accompany him. Or I do it"
"Very well" he agreed, making Erik shriek. Spock kneeled down and placed a hand on his son's shoulder, telling him to behave and do as he said when he could go to the bridge. Erik agreed with a nod and smiled broadly.
"Well" Carissa said, straightening her uniform that was her old size, from before the pregnancy much to her pride. "I should get going. Have a lot to discuss with my people down there" she pecked Spock's cheek and ruffled Erik's hair "Have fun you too. See you in the afternoon" they had agreed that Carissa would spend 50% of her worktime on the bridge this week to learn more about her new job so that she could try it alone on Friday. Spock gave a nod and she went on her way to the bio lab. Luckily the design of the ship was so much like the old Enterprise so that she found it directly. "Morning" she greeted upon entering the lab. Quickly, she counted and noticed that two people were still missing. The new workers were already here, so she showed them their workstations where they could work. "I've placed you directly next to someone with about the same area of expertise, just in case you need help"
"Sounds good" Eros said with a grin "It's much more luxurious than on my old ship"
"Yeah same goes for me" she agreed "Anyways, as soon as everyone is here, I'll officially introduce you and give some information" they gave a nod and not much later, William and Sarah joined them too. "Okay" Carissa spoke up, when everyone had found their place and they seemed to have greeted each other "Welcome back everyone. I'd like to give some information before we start" she nodded at the two new workers who swiftly joined her "This is Lieutenant Arass uhm…" she had to check his name again "Ch'ickirahel?"
"It's actually pronounced like Ch'ikiahrel. But I've been called chicken-rahel before, so don't worry"
"Okay no, I think I'll be able to pronounce it, just give me some time. Ch'iki…arel"
"Already better" the Andorian said with a grin.
"And this is Ensign Eros Strakellis"
"You can call me Strike though if you want" the man said and winked.
"As you all surely know already, we unfortunately have lost Endrin and Paul on our last mission and although it's more than one and half a year ago, I think it's necessary I mentioned it today" she gave a sad nod "Then we have a slight change concerning the leading structure. As of today, Arass is my official deputy Head of the lab and he'll be taking over for me each Wednesday and Friday, because then I won't be working. At least not in the lab"
"Why is that?" Verralaa asked
"Because of my son. One day I have off to babysit him, the other day my husband takes off and I'll fill in his place on the bridge"
"Oh that's nice. What about the other day, where will your son be then?"
"Most of the time, he'll be here. Which is something I wanted to address as well… he will have a playpen but he'll also walk around. He's only one and half a year old but he's extremely curios. So he will most likely hang around some of us and wanting to know what we do or if he can help. I want you to know that you can tell him everything you do but only let him help if he can't hurt himself or ruin something, of course. If he annoys you, just tell him that you're busy and he'll most likely leave, if not tell him to leave you alone"
"Okay, can do that" Sarah said
"And something else. He's curious, as I said. So I ask you that if you leave the lab please make sure he doesn't slip out as well. I don't have time to run around the ship and search him. The door scanners are modified you need to be at least one meter thirty in order that the doors open, so he won't be able to open them himself. Unless, which brings me to my next point, he will drag a chair over there and touch the manual open button. So please don't let him do that or Spock will give us all an individual code that we can only leave after entering it…."
"I signed up to be a biologist, not a babysitter" Will protested
"All I ask is that you sometimes have a short look to the door when it opens and if you see Erik trying to get out call for someone…." she said with a sigh.
"Can't you just chain him to your workstation or something?"
"Come on, don't be mean" Verralaa shrieked "He's just a child"
"I hate children"
"Yeah well, I notice that" Ben muttered
"Okay so much for my son…"
"Where is he now?"
"On the bridge. He will come here a bit after our start"
"Oh what if you go onto a planet-side mission? What about him then?"
"I don't know yet. Maybe I'll just go fewer times or maybe look if someone can watch him for a few hours"
"But you can just leave him here. I'm sure we'll be great friends" Sarah offered
"I don't mean to bother you or so"
"Way to go" William muttered, making most of the females roll their eyes.
"I bet you just don't like the fact that he's part Vulcan"
"Yeah that's definitely it" Quentin spoke up
"Okay can I please continue?"
"Sure"
"Alright, what I wanted to say is that this week, I'll only be here to 50% because the other half I will be on the bridge to be introduced to my new job as deputy Junior Science Officer. Which means, Arass will be in charge then"
"What about Jarrell? I thought he was your deputy"
"I discussed it with him, he is glad that he doesn't need to take over two days per week. Besides, Arass already knows more than Jarrell because he led the bio lab on his old ship. No offence, Jarrell"
"Oh okay. And you don't mind being degraded now?"
"I still can be Head of the lab on two days. Besides, it's the best ship of the fleet. I couldn't miss that"
"Does have a point…" Carissa chuckled
"Good that is the information from my side, just continue as we used to before the interruption, although we probably won't have that much to do before we've had our first planetary mission. Is there something from your side you'd like to share?" no one said a thing "Good, then I declare the meeting over" she returned to her own workstation and let out a sigh. A part of her felt like it had just been yesterday that she had last been at such a spot, although while being pregnant with Erik. She couldn't say she missed that, although he had kind of been less of a handful while he still had been unborn. She had inspected her workspace when they started the journey and the Captain started at shipwide transmission in which he greeted them back aboard (or welcomed the new ones)
"It is an honor to have you with us on the continuation of this mission, on the newest ship of the fleet. I'm sure we'll accomplish great things and discover many mysteries and do the old Enterprise all honors" there was a longer pause before he spoke again and she suggested he had paused the transmission "Good, before I cut it off my co-captain has a few words to say"
"What co-captain? Does he mean his First Officer?" Ben asked. But that didn't seem to be the case, because only seconds later she heard a shrill voice
"Hiii" Erik squealed. "We fly" Carissa couldn't help but chuckle and asked herself how many of the people on the ship were asking themselves what the hell was going on. "Co-ceppan out" the broadcast ended and Yvonne turned to her.
"Aww was that your son?"
"Yeah"
"I would kill to know what face Spock made. I bet he didn't like it at all because it is illogical and embarrassing"
"Embarrassment is illogical" Carissa corrected with a grin.
"How is he even gonna get down here? Or will he stay on the bridge?"
"No, he'll come down. But maybe someone needs to come and pick him up… I can't say that yet" the question resolved itself when the door to the lab opened and Leonard came with Erik holding onto his hand and hopping beside him
"Hello Ma-ma" he shouted when he saw her and waved at her
"I heard the bio lab is missing their little celebrity" he knelt down and whispered something in Erik's ear, making him nod vigorously. He let go of the toddler who ran to Carissa and wrapped his arms around her leg and Leonard left. Most of Carissa's co-workers now turned to her and glanced at Erik who seemed to notice everyone was looking at him and he grabbed for her hand, hiding behind her leg and chewing on his fingers.
"Maybe not all at once?" Verralaa suggested then came a bit closer and knelt down "Hey there. You must be Erik. Your mother has told us about you. I'm Verralaa" Erik glanced up at his mother then to the Orion woman and slowly gave a nod "Well it's nice to meet you"
"Vellah" Erik said
"What did he mean?"
"I don't know. Welcome?" she asked Erik who shook his head and pointed at Verralaa
"Vellah"
"Appears like he gave you a nickname.
"Aww that's so cute" Yvonne went beside her colleague and introduced herself too
"Iwon?"
"I want a nickname too" Sarah said and told him her name, which he simplified to 'Sellah'
"Come on, guys you need a nickname too" Verralaa pointed at Will "That's William or Will
"Will" Erik said
"Hm whatever, you're boring, Will. This is Ben and that's Quentin"
"Ben? Watah?"
"And that's Arass and Eros or Strike"
"Assa? Sike"
"And I'm Gino"
"Shino"
"And last but not least, this is Jarrell"
"Shal-shally. Shally"
"Welp, we did it guys, we officially have cute baby nicknames" Sarah said happily "No wait, Carissa, do you have one?"
"Yeah. I'm Ma-ma"
"Ma-ma" Erik replied proudly, pointing at her.
"Okay, now that we know each other, I need to have a better look at you, sweetheart" Verralaa said and held out her hand towards him. "Come here, little one" Erik glanced up at Carissa mumbled something she didn't get and then stepped closer to the other woman "Oh dear you look so cute I could eat you whole. You look like a mini-Spock"
"Sa-sa"
"What's he saying?"
"That's what he calls him. Spock"
"Because he can't say Spock?"
"No, because sa-mekh is the Vulcan word for father"
"Can he speak Vulcan?"
"No, as far as I know Spock's only taught him a few words. He doesn't want him to confuse the languages or rather that he says something that I won't understand"
"That's so cute of him" Carissa grinned
"But maybe not that necessary anymore"
"Why that?"
"Well, I had to visit a physics seminar to upgrade my knowledge on the area a bit and when I was browsing for a course, I might have seen that Vulcan learning course too and I took it as well"
"Oh really? That's great. What did Spock say?"
"He doesn't know it yet. Only Uhura does because I want to practice with her. But speaking and hearing his quite bad. I'm okay at reading, at least I recognize all the letters and sometimes even words. I can write a bit but yeah…"
"Can you say something Vulcan?" she thought for a while, then tried to tell them in the language they had better go to work now, which she then translated into English
"But I'm not done looking at this cutie here yet" Verralaa protested "wait" she got up, went to her workstation and then handed him a small candy, which he stuffed into his mouth even before Carissa could see what exactly it was
"He's not a dog, please don't just feed him like that"
"Well did you see how happy he looks?'" Indeed, Erik had a very relishing look on his face as he sucked on the candy .
"Looks like someone's getting an earful when we're back and sa-mekh finds out" Erik sheepishly grinned and looked away
"Who do you mean? Yourself, Erik or Verralaa?"
"Probably all three of us, in that order. You know what, Erik, we just won't tell sa-mekh about this, okay?" she pressed a finger to her lips and Erik did the same with a grin. "Also, I've got something for you" she said before she opened the bag with the things she had packed for her son. There was an empty workstation, so she decided to just arrange his blanket and toys under the table. "They seem a bit more spacious than the old ones on the Enterprise"
"What?"
"The place under the table is bigger than on the Enterprise"
"What did you do under the tables of the Enterprise?"
"Hiding while I was pregnant and we got attacked shortly before Altamid"
"Oh right, I remember. You insisted that you wanted to come and fight with us" Gino said and when Erik saw that his mother was unpacking his toys, he rushed over to her and almost started emptying the bag too.
"No Erik, you don't need all toys. Four are enough. You can always come and change them when you get bored" Erik looked at her and she didn't know if he was trying to make her change her mind or if he tried to find out what four was. She held up four fingers "Four toys" Erik looked at his toys and picked up a plushie, his sliding puzzle, his PADD and then stared at the rest before grabbing two things and pressing all of them against his chest. She sighed "Okay, five then. But put the rest back in the bag"
"No"
"Erik, put the rest of your toys in the bag, or you can only have four"
"Mine"
"I know they're yours. Just tidy up a bit" he put his things to the ground and started putting the rest of his things back to the bag "Also that what you just took" she said, holding out her hand, requesting him to give her the logic puzzle he was trying to hide behind his back.
"Is noffin"
"Erik, what did sa-mekh tell you about lies?"
"No lie"
"Yes. So I'm asking you what do you have behind your back?"
"Mine"
"Give it to me, please"
"No"
"Fine, you can keep it but then you need to give me another toy. I said four. You got five. But not one more" he let out a sigh and handed her what he was holding "Thank you" she put it in the bag and wanted to take it but Erik's hand shot forward, trying to grab it.
"No. Mine"
"I'm not taking them away from you. I will keep them with me. You can always come and exchange a toy through a new one. You give me one of these. And get another" he blinked and then took the candy out of his mouth offering it to her
"Toy?" she sighed
"Okay, good. You can choose one. One other toy" Erik let out a squeal and dropped the candy and lunged at the bag
"And so my poor candy got traded for a toy…." Verralaa said, while Carissa tried to make Erik pick up the candy and thrash it. But all he did was putting it back in his mouth with a cheeky grin. She rolled her eyes but decided not to take a toy away. If he had more, he probably would leave her alone for longer. Erik sat down on his blanket and started his PADD, opening his sound app. It consisted of many pictures of animals or objects and when you tapped them you could hear the sound it made.
"Erik, wear your headphones" she said, giving them to him because she didn't want another episode of being forced to listen to the elephant and how Erik tried to imitate the sound for three hours. Because the boy wasn't easily distracted if he really wanted to do something. He had only stopped when the battery had been down and Carissa had seized the chance to tell him he couldn't use the PADD while it was being charged. Unfortunately, Spock corrected that when he returned and Erik was trying to accuse her of having stolen his PADD. But she was certain he too regretted telling him that he still could use it while charging when Erik had stated 'iffiny ellyfan' and actually had listened to the sound over and over again. She had organized him headphones on that day. She also had the suspicion that Spock had installed a small program that made it impossible to play a sound more than fifteen times in a row because Erik had already complained that his 'ellyfan pssst' and indeed, when he had tried to tap the picture it didn't make a sound. But he had also discovered that it was only temporarily deactivated and half an hour later he had fifteen new tries. Before she could return to her workstation, they were called from the bridge and Uhura told her that Spock wanted her on the bridge as soon as she had nothing to do because he doubted there was something they'd be able to do today. So she decided to just go to the bridge already and return to the lab if she had to.
"Hey" the Captain greeted her "how's my co-captain doing?"
"Probably learning how to imitate some other animal" she said with a look to Spock and went over to him. "Sir"
"Lieutenant" he greeted back and moved aside so that she could sit down on the second chair next to him. She took out her PADD where she had the notes from her tryout. Unfortunately, there had been no time to already to an introduction to the job before they left, so these notes were all she had.
"Is it approximately the same as on the Endeavour? I mean otherwise these notes will be of little use and we'll have to start over" he told her that no one would have even expected her to make notes at the tryout or even try to remember something from it but that she was welcome to try and start herself. She gave a nod and went through her notes (which she had upgraded and extended a little) to determine what had already been done "Okay, I believe everything's ready. Or is there something else that we need to do that's special for this ship? But I do have another question…. Because all the setting up is that really necessary each day or only when you started the ship from a space dock? I mean won't our consoles be running 24/7 and I just need to log in when I come to my shift?"
"Correct" she made a note
"And my credentials are the same as for everywhere else on the ship right?"
"That is also correct"
"Good. One less password I need to remember" she chuckled and started studying the displays and data on the screen, trying to determine what she found where. She began by drawing a rough outline of the whole console and tried to write down what kind of data she saw on which screen. "Uhm there are a few control panels that I don't recognize" he gave a nod and explained her what each of those did and also informed her which ones she'd rarely need. "Oh dear I'll probably need to make a huge list with all those things"
"I am certain you will learn of their function easily by using them"
"True that" she chuckled "Okay is there anything you want to show me right away or can I ask more questions concerning work processes" he allowed her to ask her questions but added they might needed to do actual work at some point if there was something to do. "Alright and then, once Beta shift acknowledged all of my inputs and is at work, I am allowed to leave?"
"Correct"
"Not correct" Jim intervened "You forgot the most important part"
"Oh?" she looked through her notes, trying to find out what she was missing
"Yeah. The off-work beer with us. At least twice a week. And this time it'll be on a Friday because Mr. Spock never came with us anyway… so we'd be happy to have you with us instead"
"Oh, sure that sounds nice"
-oO0Oo-
"God, somehow I can't believe we're back on a ship for almost three years" she said when she was in bed this evening and was snuggling up to Spock. "Also that's the first night on a ship in ages. I mean where it isn't something like a transport ship. I hope I don't get space sick. But what feels weirdest is the fact that Erik isn't in the same room as us anymore. Of course, I know, he's almost as close as he's been while we were on Yorktown but still… there's a door between us" she sighed and leaned up to peck his lips.
The rest of the week was, at least for the rest of the people in the bio lab, rather uneventful. The only thing they really had to do was shuffling Erik's sliding puzzle or play other games with him. Sometimes, Carissa would show him some lab specific things which he watched with great interest. A part of her still felt bad to leave him here while she was on the bridge. On Thursday, she was called to the bridge at a time she was supposed to be working for the bio lab and heard that she would come onto their first planet side mission. But this time, Spock would take the lead and she should just watch him and make notes and then they'd discuss everything and the next mission would be led by her, regardless of where she was working at the time. Wanting to do something that pleased Erik, she brought him a small plant which she requested him to take care of. With a smile she saw how he had placed the pot on his baby blanket and would talk to it or stroke the leaves gently. On Friday, Spock had his first day off and asked if Carissa was sure that she was ready to work alone and for a whole day
"Spock come on, she can do that. Just leave. Enjoy your day. She'll let you know if there's something we all can't solve" he gave a nod and then left. But only two hours later he was back again, to check up on her "My God, honestly, she hasn't damaged the console already, have a bit more trust. Now off the bridge with you that's an order" after he had left Jim grinned "Computer, lock Commander Spock's access to the bridge for the next twelve hours, unless I resolve it. Authorization Code 11ZO2297"
"Why did you do that?"
"I thought you preferred to work for yourself, knowing he won't constantly watch you" Carissa gave a shrug but grinned as well. She would give anything to be with him when he discovered that he couldn't go to the bridge anymore. Luckily, she only had about four problems she needed to consult her husband and one instance where she had to give the Captain a distance and struggled to read the number, not able to decide whether it were 70 or 700 million kilometers.
-oO0Oo-
She was nervous before leading the away mission but luckily, they didn't have any serious problems, only someone who had gotten some kind of allergic reaction because he touched a plant he shouldn't have. Why did people just have to touch stuff before they collected data about to see if it was dangerous? Okay, she had used to do the same but she had quickly learned to first scan a plant and then touch it.
Later that week, she met Leonard who asked her about how she (and her little goblin) were doing
"I'm fine. It's still unknown or better said unfamiliar on the bridge but you get used to it. I also led my first away mission. Although I hope that won't happen too often. I prefer just going to a mission that someone else has prepared" she gave a shrug "Oh and Erik's full on imitating what he sees. Did you know the lion plushie you gave him has three different fillings? Some kind of cloth in the head, cotton wool for the main body and granules in the ass?"
"What? Did he actually kill the poor plushie?"
"Yeah he did. And he arranged each filling on a small heap but that wouldn't have been that bad actually… he then thought the granules was rice and tried to eat it? Only good he's noticed it tastes awful and spit it out. Still I fear he might have swallowed some."
"Jesus, Cass, I am sorry. I didn't think he would be that cold like his father"
"Oh, if you had seen how Spock reacted you wouldn't call him cold. He scooped Erik up and brought him to Medbay, asking a nurse to give him something that would make Erik vomit. But she only checked up on him and told us that Erik was fine and that the granule would just leave his body undigested" she chuckled
"Of all the people to be overprotective parents I wouldn't have guessed Spock to be one. I thought you were the one to freak out over everything"
"That was in the beginning, when I was afraid he couldn't survive, seeing he was yet another hybrid… but my parents had the devise 'Look here that puddle of dirt, go in there and play a little go get germs and become immune. But don't eat it and try not to get dirty'"
"Maybe you should just take Erik to a planet where he too can play in the dirt a bit. I don't think it's good for him always to be on that ship, where everything is clean"
"Yeah, I know. But I won't just take him to a planet we don't know. Only after I've checked it out and determined it was child-friendly"
"What does child-friendly include? A ball pit?"
"No, just like earth. Nothing too dangerous. But each planet has it's plants that either burn or are poisonous for their safety. So maybe a planet without fauna would be better because there no one has to protect themselves"
"Whatever you say…"
-oO0Oo-
Of course she should have known that sooner rather than later she'd actually be met with a problem during her shift on the bridge. Namely when they received an urgent distress signal from a planet that called itself Owalus because they claimed to be attacked by a ship that was four times the size of their planet. Needless to say that Carissa was scared shitless. What the hell were they supposed to do against a ship that big? To her dismay, Jim decided to go and have a look in order to assess the situation before they asked for help. One thing Carissa has quickly learned was that Leonard often just randomly dropped by of the bridge, so also today. After he got a briefing of the mission ahead he seemed like he couldn't believe it.
"So you're just sacrificing the fleet's newest ship? They're gonna lynch you, you goddamn bastard. And if we die, I'll kill you!"
"You can't kill me if we already died"
"Shut up I don't need such a Spockstitute" Carissa had to bite back a giggle.
"Is that a merge with 'substitute' or 'prostitute'?"
"Well think logically and conclude it from the context. I should've stayed on Yorktown. Or better on earth!"
"Come on Bones, you'd miss me. And your godson" Leonard only growled something to himself. "Look if you don't like it go back to sickbay, where you won't need to see that huge ass ship"
"That doesn't change something about the fact that it's there" he pointed at the viewscreen. "I do wonder who built that fucking ship and how though"
"We all do, Bones" the turbolift door opened but when Carissa threw a look, she didn't see how anyone entered. Only seconds later, she felt something against her leg
"Boo" she winced and looked down to see Erik grinning at her "Hi Ma-ma"
"What are you doing here?" she looked back to the turbolift but Spock wasn't there. "Where's your father?"
"Wolk"
"He isn't at work, sweetie. I'm here, he's home to be with you"
"No play"
"Well maybe he needs to finish something very important. Don't you want to read something on your PADD?"
"No. Play" he pointed at the console "I gamy?"
"No, you can't play games here"
"Play!"
"Erik no" she said "Go back to sa-mekh or he'll need to go and look for you"
"Sa-sa play. Please"
"You need to ask him. But you can't do that when you're here"
"You play?"
"Erik, I can't play with you, I'm at work" Erik looked at her, then crossed his arms and then started screaming. Not crying, just screaming and only stopping to take a breath. Unfortunately, his Vulcan physiology gave him also a better lung capacity and whenever he did that, it would often take seven minutes until he had calmed down. Unless you gave in, of course.
"What the hell is wrong with that child?" Leonard shouted, pressing his hands to his ears.
"Vulcan dickheadness combined with Vulcan emotions and Vulcan lung capacity" she muttered to herself. "Equals a nightmare" meanwhile Erik's face was getting all green from the exertion "Okay listen Erik" she shouted, "If you stop shouting I'm gonna call sa-mekh and ask him to take care of you but I can't promise anything" as if someone had flipped a switch, Erik was quiet and nodded.
"How often does he do that?"
"Once a week, maybe? Spock always says never do what he wants but this time it's different. We're at work" she sighed "Well I suppose now everyone's awake?"
"Sa-sa" Erik demanded, hitting her thigh
"Patience Erik, you don't always get what you want immediately"
"Now!" he screamed
"If you start screaming again, I won't call him at all" she quickly told him and he closed his mouth again.
"Want sa-sa"
"Then you shouldn't have left" she sighed and rubbed her face "Well, do you mind if I contact Spock quickly?"
"No… in fact, I have an idea" she frowned "Uhura, call him and put it on audio before turning to Erik and pressing a finger to his lips. Spock's instant reaction was to ask if they were in danger and if they needed help "Heaven forbid, have some trust in us. I was merely calling to ask how you two are doing"
"I fail to understand why you would do this"
"See it like that, we're bored. Tell me, what's Erik doing?"
"I have asked him to find something he could do by himself until I am done"
"Oh alright. So what's he doing to keep himself busy?"
"I did not have time to ascertain this yet"
"Okay well other question. Carissa said she wants to talk to him. Can you go and get him real quick?" Carissa looked at the Captain and had to bite back a grin. While she found it mean she was interested to see how Spock would react
"Certainly" they hears him walk and then call for Erik. There was silence for a moment "Would you please let my wife know that she may talk to our son later?" everyone on the bridge had to bite back a grin
"Why that?" Carissa asked "Is Erik alright?"
"Of course he is"
"Then why can't I talk to him?"
"There is something I would prefer to attend to beforehand"
"That is?"
"The report I have been working on. I shall let you know when I am finished" he ended the call and now the people on the bridge started laughing.
"I'd give everything to see a desperate Spock chasing though the hallways, searching for Erik"
"But if he finds out he's here, he'll get mad"
"He could have just told you the truth. I just love how that implies he's scared of your reaction" Leonard said
"Why don't we stress him out a bit more?"
"Why? Starting yellow alert already?"
"Maybe later on, when the situation with our big ship justifies it. But we need something to distract him. Bones? Could you maybe go and find something to distract him for a good while. Don't let him leave and search for Erik"
"Is that an order?"
"A request" Leonard's comm beeped
"Speaking of the devil"
"He's calling you?"
"Seems so"
"Looks like he needs help" Leonard answered and indeed, Spock explained him the situation and asked him to help him find Erik before Carissa knew about it. Jim pointed at Leonard, then at the ground, then at Carissa. Leonard frowned and the Captain repeated the signs, then pointed to his ear and Leonard's face lit up
"Before Carissa finds out… well that's gonna be a little problem. I'm on the bridge right now"
"Before I find out what?" Carissa asked, playing along and she got up almost snatching the comm out of her friend's hand "Is there something you would like to tell me? Is Erik sick?"
"No he is not. At least he has been healthy when I have last looked after him"
"And what is he doing now?"
"Last time I have had a look he had been reading on his PADD"
"So what is it then that you need to tell me? It sounds like something has happened"
"Carissa, I assure you that everything is in order and you do not need to worry about anything" just in that moment, Jim triggered yellow alert. It was dead silent at the other end "I must leave" he ended the call.
"Jim, you're mean"
"If he can't look after his child and then tell the truth that's what he deserves. Besides, we're arriving quite soon anyway, it's good if we're on alert" Carissa cracked her knuckles, not sure if she liked it "Come on, we won't scare him too much. In a couple of minutes we'll call him, asking why Erik is on the bridge" she gave a nod. They waited about seven minutes, then the Captain wanted Uhura to contact the Vulcan again
"How's Erik doing?" Carissa asked
"I did not have a look since you have last contacted me" she let out a hum
"Did you even notice he's gone?"
"Gone?"
"Playing dumb now?" Leonard muttered
"Well, you're the scientist, or would you like to explain me how it's possible to be at two places at once? Because Erik's here, on the bridge"
"He is with you?" he sounded relieved
"He is and I'd like to know why. What was that with 'Make sure he doesn't leave because he'll be clever enough to use a chair and open the door with the door panel?'"
"Carissa, I have solely left our bedroom for less than a minute"
"Well apparently that was enough for him to get out"
"I will come to retrieve him immediately"
"Good. And then you might want to consider doing something with him because he says he was bored. It's your day off, you can finish your stuff when he's taking a nap or is in bed. See you" she ended the call and only about two minutes later, Spock appeared on the bridge. Erik leapt towards him and also Spock took a big step to his son
"Erik" he said "I have told you to stay in your room"
"No play"
"You could have asked me to spend time with you instead of running away"
"I walk"
"It does not matter whether you walked or ran away. You should not have done so" he knelt down and took his son's hands in his. "If you go somewhere without your mother or me you have to let us know about your location. Otherwise we will need to find you"
"You find"
"No Erik, I did not find you, your mother has informed me that you are on the bridge. Please promise me to never leave without telling me where you are in advance"
"Play?"
"I will not play with you until you promise me not to leave without my knowledge again" Erik tilted his head
"Po-miss" he gave a nod.
"Very well" he got back up, probably aware that everyone had been watching him before he asked what the reason for the yellow alert was. The Captain summed up the situation and Spock frowned walking over to the science console the check out the planet's position, only to notice that there was nothing to be seen.
"Well yes, we already noticed that, of course" Carissa said "I was so worried when I didn't find anything and thought I did something wrong. But there really doesn't seem to be anything that has been reported before" she gave a shrug. "We'll see when we get there, I suppose.
-oO0Oo-
Spock had decided to stay on the bridge until they reached the planet. Jim had tried to make him change his mind but the First Officer had just sat down at the console beside Carissa and decided to work anyway.
"Lesson number one, don't call Spock to the bridge on his free day" he muttered. About half an hour later they were close enough to the planet to do some scans and all. Carissa looked at her screen in disbelief
"Uh Spock… tell me I'm stupid" she said after she had done a few calculations for it. "I feel like I'm in Wheeler's class again when we talked about gravity and all that stuff…" Spock came over and looked at the number she was pointing "It tells me the mass of that planet is 312.7 tons. That can't be right!" she was just about to redo the calculations when he caught her wrist and had a closer look
"The calculations are correct"
"You're telling me that planet's only 300 tons? That's even less that the Enterprise! Do you have any idea how small that planet would be?"
"Well at least that would explain how the ship can be four times bigger than them" she did a few more scans. "Oh look, it says the planet has a diameter of 13 meters"
"You're saying that planet could almost fit into our bridge?
"Width yes, height no. It's also 13 meters high, of course"
"Okay so, if the ship is four time the size of the planet it's about… 50 meters, right?"
"Yeah"
"53.2, to be exact" Spock corrected
"Whatever. The question is, what could it be? I mean, it could be basically anyone like that. Species we already know. Uhura, can you contact that planet now?"
"I'll try, Sir" they still got no response
"I just hope it aren't Klingons or Romulans, with others you can try to talk. I mean maybe it only was a misunderstanding. There could be a second ship they didn't see and they're fighting each other. Sulu, can you give us warp 7?" only about ten minutes later, they had to go under warp to assess the situation around the planet. They now even saw it on the screen "It looks so weird, usually we'd only see a part of it at that distance and it's even magnified. Anyways, anyone able to tell me what's going on here?" Uhura contacted the planet again, only to hear that the attack had stopped but that they now were in danger of being hit by parts of the ship. "Has that ship been destroyed?"
"I don't think so. It only seems to have lost parts of it and then left"
"Incoming ship, Captain. ETA twenty seconds" Sulu reported
"Origin?"
"Klingon" Carissa reported "Bird of prey"
"Well shit" he triggered a red alert which Erik seemed to like because he kept imitating the alarm sound. The Captain contacted the transporter room, asking if it was possible to just beam away the scraps of the ship without damaging the planet. But before they got an answer, the enemy ship was there and started shooting on the Enterprise. Now Erik let out a squeal and clung to Spock's leg in fear. His father placed a hand on the back of his head
"They're hailing us" Uhura reported
"Of course, just attack them first, always shows your good intentions" the Klingon's message was pretty short:
"Leave this sector or we'll destroy you"
"Wait" Jim shouted "There's a small planet right in between us. They called us for help because the parts of another ship are drifting to their planet. Give us just a minute or two and we'll beam them onto our ship and then we're gone. Just two minutes. We'll even have to lower our shields"
"We don't care about the fate of that planet"
"But we promised them our help" Carissa said "We'd lose our honor if we break it and just flee from you. As our Captain said, we'll be gone in two minutes, if we are done or not. What do you have to lose? If you find we don't honor your terms you have it easy to destroy us"
"They don't have their weapons locked on us anymore" Sulu reported
"Two minutes, then you leave at maximum warp or we destroy you" the transmission ended and Jim called the transporter room after ending the alarm
"We've got one minute, forty-five seconds to beam as much of the debris out there aboard. Get working"
"Sa-sa?" Erik asked, having calmed down, pulling on his father's trousers "Kingon?"
"If you are asking if the person we have talked to is a Klingon, then yes, you are correct"
"Kingon bad" Erik nodded "make ship ouchie"
"No, the ship is not able to feel pain, they might only damage it"
"Damash. Pass it"
"I do not understand what you are trying to say"
"Uhh" Erik started chewing on his finger "Help ship. Un-damash"
"I suppose the word you are looking for is repair?"
"Lee-peh" he giggled "I lee-peh Ennipaise"
"Yes I'm sure Scotty and his men can use your help" Erik giggled at Jim's words even more and buried his face against his father's leg again. Just in time before the two minutes was over, there only was very little of the debris left so they just turned back around and left the place, not wanting to make the Klingons mad "Congrats, Wiley" Jim said with a smile "Your first official mission on the bridge and you saved the day"
