STAR TREK
"Required Pardon"
In the future, many needed to be saved. In one mission, the captain of the USS Holt Jerome was in need of salvation. He was a troubled officer.
"Bach," the shuttle pilot spoke to the captain he was transporting, "you've got to see this."
It was a light cruiser of Texas-class. Parked inside the nearly completed Earth dock, it was ready for its captain.
"I should have beamed over," he stated with a frown. "She doesn't look like much."
Antwon Bach was his name, "Please bring a Vulcan to the shuttlebay. I must have answers."
"Yes, sir," the pilot said. "Tyvek, the captain is asking for you."
In time, the shuttle landed. Inside, force fields served as a barrier protecting everyone.
It landed, "Doctor Tyvek, reporting as ordered. I am pleased you could come on such short notice."
"Okay," the captain said looking around. "Why is it so messy?"
"The ship is being upgraded," the doctor explained gesturing for him to walk alongside.
"I just so happen to be Captain Antwon Bach and the master of this ship," he proudly spoke. "My only question is why I'm assigned here."
"I will try to get answers," Tyvek promised as they walked through a main corridor.
The captain was angry, "Do not tell me that. You are a Star Fleet officer."
"Again, I apologize," the Vulcan said smiling on the inside. He had never seen anger before.
As they walked, he asked, "Would you like to see the bridge before anything else?"
Bach started to get hotheaded, "First of all, do not imply what it is I should or should not do. I'm wasting no time finding the lab. I have to take a shower."
"Yes, Captain," it was said as they entered separate turbolifts. Bach did not have too many friends.
On the bridge, Tyvek arrived in seconds to open a channel to Star Fleet Academy, "Was the place he was previously assigned to there?"
"Yes," the commandant responded. "I reassigned him to be liberated of his rage. He's a good officer. He asks for so little."
He thought for a moment, "Then I have to report you. You assigned him for reasons of race."
He cried, "Now wait just one minute."
The Vulcan had to smile this time, "You put him here as to make him more docile. To learn from me."
"I'm trying to save a career," the commandant continued. "That is never for reasons of race."
"Your innocence is in question," the doctor told him. "But I will heed your request."
Eyes met all around the bridge. The grave insult to Tyvek was met with silence.
The silence was broken by Antwon Bach as he came onto the bridge with a towel in hand. He was still drying his hair, "It's way too quiet in here."
Standing at the center of the bridge, Tyvek bade, "Come to me. Star Fleet has given us new orders."
"What should I do?" Bach asked throwing the towel over the captain's chair. "Is there any mysticism involved in all this?"
"Close your eyes," the Vulcan said as he felt around inside his pocket for a rock.
He had a commander who learned well, "Hold your hand out."
The captain closed his eyes. Tyvek put the rock in his hand, "You must eat this stone."
He was curious, "How do you have a rock on a starship? Could you tell me that?"
"It's my lucky stone," the Vulcan stated. "You didn't think religion helped Vulcans learn of peace, did you?"
Antwon Bach realized, "Oh. So, I was sent here for anger issues. And I'm forced to eat this."
He put it in his mouth, "How long will it take for my rage to subside, First Officer?"
"First officer, sir?" Tyvek inquired. Humans had always been full of surprises.
"Yes. I want the person who saved my career nearby as I face the unknown," he spoke.
More duties from a job he did not want. But he could not refuse, "Thank you. However, the effects should only take six to eight months."
The captain then smiled for the first time, "Live long and prosper. You have made me a captain."
In the nearly completed Earth dock, the Holt Jerome sat. Tyvek chose to forgive the commandant for his insult. He forgot that humans were a half bad race.
"The Defiant"
Once there was a junior lieutenant named Ethan Parks. He served on the Texas-class USS Holt Jerome. A doctor was treating him for voices in his head.
"And you've had these voices for how long?" the doctor asked.
"Three years," the patient said.
"Jesus, Ethan," the doctor told him. "You should have said something. I want to hear all about it."
"I was left behind at Star Fleet Headquarters after a battle against a Romulan K5R frigate named RIS Henchman," he began.
Sitting, the doctor asked, "Left behind by whom?"
"The USS Defiant," he added. "It was a year before it was lost in deep space. Then I was reassigned to this ship."
"It's not impossible that the loss of your ship and the voices arriving in your head are related," he smiled. "If that's what you're implying."
"Are you going to give me something?" Ethan asked.
"No. I don't even know what you have," he said. "Just... take it easy."
He would leave the sickbay. Hearing voices, he stumbled into the officers' lounge to have a drink. He was the only one there.
Then his dear friend, Dede Smith, sat across from him.
She said, "Hi. I was sent as a yeoman to find you."
"Why?" he asked her.
"It is your turn to stand guard on the bridge tonight as security officer," she said knowing this would lead to trouble.
Ethan ran to the bridge leaving his drink behind. He stated to the senior lieutenant, "Thank you, Dede."
She would finish his drink as he headed for the turbolift. Out of breath, he arrived at his destination. The man in the center seat told him, "Ethan, before you relieve Rush Logan, I've got some news for you."
"Yes, sir," Ethan Parks said standing at attention.
"At ease, Parks," the captain began. "Your department on this ship is no longer required."
The junior lieutenant hesitated to ask, "You mean, you have no need for supply officers anymore?"
"Right," Antwon Bach pointed out. "You always complain about missing stuff, so now everyone is responsible for their own equipment."
Rush Logan rolled his eyes as Ethan Parks took his place guarding the bridge.
Standing there, he looked to the left to see the USS Defiant. He realized the starship Holt Jerome was deep in Tholian space. The former supply officer bolted to the shuttlebay. He believed the Defiant could quiet his mind.
"Lieutenant!" Captain Bach cried out. "Come back here!"
On his way to the shuttlebay, he bumped into Dede Smith drinking his drink. He stole a shuttlecraft named Isca and launched it.
The captain laid back in his chair wondering how the mission would look in his log. Then the small craft appeared before him on the screen.
"Sir!" the helmsman cried. "A shuttle has been launched!"
Captain Bach stood to reach the helm station. He said, "That's Parks! Damn him. Red alert!"
"I suggest we raise shields," the first officer, Tyvek, said to him.
"No! No shields!" he yelled. "Beam him back!"
"Sir," the chief engineer explained, "a Klingon F5 frigate has engaged us from the rear. It's the IKV Accuser."
"Then keep shields at maximum and open fire," the captain ordered.
"I don't think we can keep this up considering our ship's age," Tyvek of Vulcan reminded him.
"I know, Tyvek," the captain responded. "But I'm not going to lose a man in a shuttle."
Weapons fire was being exchanged when a Kearsarge-class starship named USS Repulse appeared to protect and defend the Texas-class Holt Jerome. Ultimately, the Klingons would disengage.
Repulse opened hailing frequencies. Captain Mary Chase said, "Antwon Bach, you really shouldn't be in Tholian space."
"I apologize, but we are here to study a Tholian web," he responded with open arms.
"That's fair," she replied. "Scanners tell us that your man entered the shuttlebay of the starship Defiant. We will retrieve him."
"Why?" he asked. "Do you need him for something?"
"Oh, god, no. Our science officer, Lieutenant Commander Herald Parks, is his older brother," Mary said. "We are getting within transporter range."
The officer known as Ethan Parks was sitting in the Defiant's captain's chair weeping. His old crew was dead, and he was still hearing voices.
A landing party beamed over. Ethan's brother took off his space helmet and simply said, "I'm sorry."
The Repulse captain announced something via communicator. She said, "Prepare to beam back. The Tholians are coming."
"Goodbye, brother," Herald said as he put his helmet back on.
"It will only be for a short time, right?" Ethan asked.
"No. I have a feeling this next fight will be our last," he told his little brother. "You will tell your captain to disengage, immediately."
Ethan Parks contacted his ship with the Defiant's communications station. He said, "We have to leave Tholian space, quickly."
"If we did that, we'd fail our mission," Captain Bach spoke.
"That doesn't matter now," Ethan continued. "We should never have come."
"Alright," his captain ordered. "Get back here."
The landing party was beamed back to the Kearsarge-class ship. Then Ethan Parks was beamed back to the Holt Jerome. Dede Smith was in the transporter room. She walked him to sickbay.
The doctor went to work on Ethan as Dede leaned against a bulkhead. He said, "Don't you even know why you're here?"
Ethan responded with silence.
"I looked at some old files," the doctor said. "You have a touch of space madness."
With the use of a hypo, he was cured. The first thing the junior lieutenant did was move to a computer screen. There, from a distance, he saw his brother's ship explode.
Moving from the bulkhead, Senior Lieutenant Dede Smith put her arm around him to say, "Come on. I'll buy you a drink."
She knew exactly how he felt. Space was a dangerous place. He had not felt so conflicted since the Defiant crew was lost. He needed rest leave.
The End