NX-01 Enterprise
Two light-years from Chi Herculis
1800 hours
Captain Tucker waited patiently for alpha shift to be relieved by the members of beta shift before turning to Lieutenant Junior Grade Mostarov to report. A survey ship had gone missing, last known coordinates placing it at Chi Herculis IV.
"We're four days out from Chi Herculis, holding steady at warp five." He said. "You have the con."
"I have the con." Mostarov acknowledged.
Tucker headed for the turbolift, where the rest of the alpha shift had already crowded in. He turned to T'Pol.
"Movie night tonight." He said. "An alpha centauri film. 'Dead by daylight'. A good, old-fashioned zombie flick."
"Zombies represent an interesting concept." She said, "In everyday language, describing someone as zombie-like is to say they are merely going through the motions of whatever it is they are doing, without thought or feeling. Zombies act and operate in the world, but completely lack an internal experience. In other words, zombies lack consciousness."
"Sounds like you're all in." Trip said.
"It's an intriguing concept." T'Pol replied. "Proxima cinema is often considered high quality. I'm sure the film will prove entertaining and perhaps even educational."
"I'm sure." Trip chuckled. "I'll get the popcorn."
"I've seen all the Romero films." Holly Rojas said. "But I've never seen a Proxima take on the genre."
Commander Holly Rojas was Orion, a naturalized citizen having been rescued from a disabled Orion freighter as an infant. She'd been raised in California, near Sausalito, and had graduated from Starfleet Academy only three years prior. Trip snatched her up after reviewing the glowing assessment of her cadet cruise and her meteoric rise to commander's rank.
"It took the Oscar for best adapted screenplay." Trip said.
"I would prefer a dramatic reading." T'Pol said.
"Way ahead of you." Trip said. "I downloaded the original screenplay for you, in case you wanted to spoil the ending."
"I'm sure the 'jump scares' will still prove effective."
"You get jump-scared?" Rojas asked, curiously.
"They make good exercise for emotional suppression." T'Pol said. "Indulging is quite logical."
"It'll take a heck of a lot more than a zombie to scare T'Pol." Trip said, confidently.
The movie went over well, but the ending was quite sad with the last remaining survivor having been bitten and waiting to turn into a zombie. As predicted, T'Pol was the only one that didn't react to the numerous jump-scares.
They discussed the film on the way back to their quarters.
"What did you think of the romance subplot?" Trip asked.
"I found the couple quite complementary to one another." She said, "But the sexual imagery was depicted far too gratuitously."
"Sexual imagery?" Trip responded. "The worst they did was kiss."
"Yes, precisely." T'Pol said. "A Vulcan film would only have alluded to such behavior."
"I'd love to see a Vulcan version of a zombie film. Do you have such a thing?"
"Yes. It would feature Vulcans losing their emotional control. Such a film is quite fearsome. But, again, such films exist to challenge the emotional control of the viewer."
"Making it completely logical as an indulgence, I assume."
"Quite."
They reached their quarters and entered together.
"Speaking of which," Trip asked, once they were safely inside.. "How are your emotional controls this evening?"
"Somewhat disheveled." T'Pol answered. "I was hoping for neuropressure."
"You don't have to ask me twice."
They concentrated on the neural nodes in one another's feet, while Miles Davis's 'So What' played in the background. T'Pol appreciated jazz.
"Any thoughts on Chi Herculis IV?" Trip asked.
"I have many thoughts." T'Pol answered. "From the probe, I'm very curious how a planet with such an abundance of oxygen has no detectable bio-signs."
"Care to speculate?"
"Not at this time."
"Okay then. How's that Andorian crewmen doing in the science department?"
"His arrogance grates on the nerves of his peers. But his aptitude almost earns his arrogance. If he can learn to get along with the other crewmen, I'd be tempted to promote him to Ensign."
"Is he really that good?"
"His knowledge of geophysics is exhaustive."
They sat up and switched to the kavok tal posture, stimulating the neural nodes in one another's shoulders.
"Speaking of non-humans," Trip said. "Lieutenant Kish is fitting in pretty well as chief engineer. He doesn't even complain or argue everything to death, which I understand shows a lot of restraint for a Tellarite."
"It is only logical for him to conform to human societal norms on a largely human vessel."
"A logical Tellarite. Don't that beat all."
"Speaking of restraint, I'm proud of you for not micromanaging engineering."
"Kish is a fine engineer. He would've given me a run for my money back when I first served as chief."
"Still, I would have expected you to be more 'hands on' than you are."
"Well, I'd sneak down there more often if I didn't think he'd see it as second-guessing him."
"Your duties as captain keep you quite busy enough."
"You can say that again."
T'Pol surprised him by reaching and accessing the neural nodes in his face. A mind-meld, always a prelude to sexual intercourse.
T'Pol was rarely "in the mood", but when she was, she was quite aggressive about it. Trip knew he was in for a hell of a ride.
Only two hours later Ensign Moses Gardner stood command of gamma shift. From the ops console Ricardo Carroll reported.
"I'm picking up something." He said. "A distress call. They're reporting weak life support and a loss of propulsion."
"Tactical?" Moses asked.
"Out two hundred thousand kilometers." Crewman Preston Hess reported. "Looks like a Tellarite vessel. A science vessel from the looks of it."
"What are they doing way out here?" Gardner wondered. "Helm, set an intercept course. I'll wake the captain."
Gardner depressed the appropriate panel on the captain's chair.
"Bridge to Captain Tucker." He said.
Trip responded after only a moment.
"Bridge, go ahead."
"We've got a Tellarite science vessel issuing a distress call. About two hundred kay out. We're on an intercept course."
"Understood. I'll be right there."
It took Trip only a few minutes to arrive, already dressed in his jumpsuit.
"Report." He said.
"Life support is weak." Gardner reported. "Propulsion is offline."
"Hail them." Tip said, to Crewman Carroll.
Carroll worked the console for a moment.
"We've got them." He reported.
"On-screen." Trip said.
The forward viewer lit up with the image of wheezing Tellarite.
"This is Captain Tucker of the starship Enterprise." Trip said. "I take it you could use some help."
"Oh, yes." Said the Tellarite captain, breathlessly. "We've lost life support and our engine's down. We've only enough air to supply the bridge for a few more days."
"We'll come alongside and see what we can do." Trip replied. "Meet us at your port airlock."
"Very well." The Tellarite responded.
The Tellarite captain touched something out of view and the screen went blank.
"Have Lieutenant Kish and Ensign Newman report to the bridge." Trip said, speaking to Crewman Carroll.
Lieutenant Zenham Kish and Ensign Jocelyn Newman waited with CaptainTucker at the starboard airlock for the seal to pressurize. All of them wore copper colored EVA suits.
When the airlock cycled open the Tellarite captain stepped forward, taking a deep whiff of the air with his pronounced nostrils.
"Your ship stinks." He announced.
"I'm sure that's your upper lip." Trip responded. "You look like you haven't bathed in a week."
"More like two weeks." The captain said. "I'm Captain Morgosh. I'm hoping this garbage scow of a ship has the personnel to help us, though I doubt it."
Lieutenant Kish stepped forward.
"I'm sure we can handle anything your little ship has in store for us." He said, moving to hoist his gear up from the floor where it waited. Ensign Newman hiked her own gear up on one shoulder and moved to follow KIsh.
Captain Tucker stepped forward as well.
"Where are you going?" Asked Captain Morgosh. "Aren't you the captain of this ship?"
"Yes," Trip responded. "I'm an engineer as well."
"An engineer and a captain?" Morgosh asked. "Isn't that rather redundant?"
"It works for us." Trip said. "Lead the way. We'll tackle life support first."
Tucker reached and closed the helmet of his EVA suit. Kish and Newman followed suit. A Tellarite with an EVA suit of his own stepped forward to lead them.
"So what happened?" Trip asked, as they moved through the corridor.
"An EPS conduit blew out in engineering." The EVA suited Tellarite said. "We lost both our engineers and there's no one else with the expertise to tackle the damage."
"We scanned your ship." Tucker said. "I don't think we'll have any trouble with life support. Engineering's a whole other story, but I think we can spare the gear necessary."
"That's excellent news." The Tellarite said.
Life support was a simple fix. The blown EPS conduit had ruptured a couple of atmospheric processors. It took nothing more than rerouting around the damaged areas.
Propulsion was a different matter. The explosion had cracked the warp engine manifold, resulting in an automatic shutdown to avoid warp core breach. Fixing it took a perilous attempt at resealing the housing, which was touch and go for a while. But the fix was in place in less than four hours, allowing the Tellarite ship to reinitialize a solid warp field on its first attempt.
"Adequate work." Morgosh said, magnanimously.
"You're welcome." Trip said, holding his EVA helmet in one hand. "But you'd better head home now. With no engineers you're in big trouble if something else blows."
"We'll be fine." Morgosh said. "We're reviewing the engineering texts as we speak."
"No substitute for a solid engineering team."
"We'll be fine." Morgosh reiterated.
"Suit yourself." Trip nodded.
"Join us for dinner." Morgosh said, "We're bound to serve a better meal than the slop you humans eat."
"Glad to." Trip responded. "We'll try to stomach whatever you cook up."
Tucker and Newman sampled a bit of everything, finding the chavella root most appetizing of the lot. Kish dug in with gusto, eating more than a mere sample of each dish.
"So where are you headed?" Trip asked, between bites.
"Fellebia." Morgosh answered, spewing bits of kanga bread from his mouth. "We're overdue for some R&R."
"That's not too far from here." Trip said. "Humans have never visited but I understand it's on a Denobulan trade route."
"It's a nice place to visit. But we've nothing to trade but knowledge, however."
"I'm sure they'll be interested. I understand they're barely warp capable."
"A little primitive, but their mud pits are supposed to be exemplary."
"Sounds lovely. Maybe you'll manage to pick up a Fellebian engineer or two."
"An excellent idea. I'm sure a Fellebian engineer would love to serve on a more advanced starship."
"Here's to your good fortune." Trip said, presenting his cup of millia juice as a toast.
"What are you doing?" Morgosh asked, confused.
"It's a toast." Kish responded. "You're supposed to raise your own cup and wish something similar in return."
"Ah." Morgosh said, raising his own cup. "I suppose…here's to your engineers' good fortune."
"Here, here." Trip said.
The dinner passed unremarkably. With Morgosh satisfied with their initial bout of insults, he was a charming and refreshing host.. Once all was said and done, the Enterprise crew returned to their own ship and undocked from Morgosh's.
The two ships went their own way without further preamble.