Re: Star Trek: 500 Rising Tides
Ashley Turner, personal log, October 21st 2364, stardate 41804.9
Five weeks after the little chat I had with Admiral Harriman and Lieutenant Ro, I found that I had completed—and passed—the engineering extension course and learned that I could continue my studies while serving as an enlisted crewman. After graduation, Harriman picked out six of the engineers, me and Ro included, and herded us into one of the small seminar rooms. None of us said as word and Ro just sat by herself. I joined her and was dredging up the courage to speak with her when Harriman entered with a new face in tow. Both men pulled chairs up and the rest of the group sat, moving their chairs into an approximate circle.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lieutenant Commander Zane Cavanaugh,’ Harriman introduced the newcomer. ‘He is the assistant chief engineer of the USS Wellington, a Niagara-class science vessel shortly to be tasked with exploring ancient ruins in and around the Garon system. Commander, I’ll turn this briefing over to you.’
‘The Garonians were a space-faring civilisation approximately five hundred thousand years ago and almost nothing is known about what happened to them other than the fact that they left behind one partially constructed vessel in a surface shipyard. The Admiral is using you as his great experiment, to see whether a team of the Engineering Corps can coexist on a ship of the line with run-of-the-mill Starfleet. As the assistant chief engineer I will be handling some of the standard duties on board, but when the Corps is needed, I will lead you down to the surface and you will work under my guidance.’
I knew that this type of coexistence was doomed to fail because having interacted with my fellow Corps engineers, I knew that they were a fickle bunch and the rules and regulations were there merely as guidelines when not working on a project or ten.
‘Any questions?’ Harriman asked.
‘Who is your second in command?’ Ro asked.
‘As the most senior officer in the group, you are,’ Cavanaugh answered. ‘All of your duty stations will be assigned to you by Commander Mendez, the executive officer, when you report on board. You should all be aboard by fifteen hundred hours tomorrow.’
‘Dismissed,’ Harriman ordered and we left.
I spent the next few hours in a daze since I was packing up my meagre possessions and stuffing them into a standard-issue carryall. I wanted to say goodbye to Doctor Mathias and Doctor Allen but they were both busy so I recorded a message, informing them that I was now an enlisted crewman and being assigned to the Wellington. I had no idea what to expect but I was excited about being back in space...back in space? I didn’t realise I had been in space before, not really. Some of my memories were still unreachable about my twenty-third century life and I hoped to gain access to those memories soon, although it seemed that when I needed them they were there. It was quite disconcerting.
I had never seen a Niagara-class starship before except in holos and it was a striking sight. The general design was similar to that of all Starfleet vessels but the Niagara-class had three Galaxy-style nacelles (two dorsal and one ventral) attached to an Ambassador-style secondary hull which connected to a saucer module resembling a smaller version of the Galaxy-class saucer. It was an impressive sight and I was so enraptured by its beauty that I didn’t hear someone walk up to me.
‘She is beautiful, isn’t she?’ Lieutenant Ro said.
‘She’s as beautiful as the woman who flew her,’ I murmured.
‘Hmph,’ the Bajoran snorted.
‘Well, it’s true,’ I retorted, ‘Sir.’
She glared at me for a few moments and then clasped my shoulder. ‘Come on, Ashley. Let’s get your gear stowed away. I’m sure Commander Mendez will be overjoyed to see me again,’ she added sarcastically.
‘You don’t seem to want to fit in here, do you?’
She opened her mouth to say something, closed it again and sighed. ‘I joined Starfleet to get away from the Occupation, to get away from the Cardassians butchering and enslaving my people, but the few missions I’ve been on have been centred on visiting worlds where something similar is going on, albeit on a smaller scale.’
‘That’s what we I do,’ I said to her. ‘We help people turn away from violence. Show them that there is another way.’
‘It doesn’t always work, you should learn that now.’
‘It might not always work, that’s why we have phasers and photon torpedoes.’
‘Well said, crewman,’ a voice bellowed and Ro winced.
‘Commander Mendez, this is Ashley Turner, part of the Corps of Engineers team aboard.’
‘The team you are leading, yes I know,’ Mendez glared. ‘I don’t know how you managed to get that job, nor do I particularly care, but you’d better not pull any stunts.’
‘I will do my job, sir,’ Ro glared back. ‘But understand this; I will not have you bullying my team because you dislike me.’
‘Glad to see you still have your fire. You’ll need it on Garon II. The advanced team have uncovered another ship, this one almost complete.’
‘When is the briefing?’ Ro asked.
‘The Wellington will depart at sixteen hundred hours and the senior officers’ briefing will be held at nineteen hundred. I expect Cavanaugh to give his briefing at twenty-one hundred hours, giving the team two days to get acquainted with all the material.’
‘We’ll be ready.’
‘Of course you will,’ he replied. Turning to me he added, ‘be careful with Ro, she’s slippery.’
‘Aye sir,’ I replied, blushing.
‘If you’ll excuse us, sir,’ Ro grabbed me and pushed me ahead of her. She whispered into my ear, ‘Don’t even think about it, kid.’
I halted in my tracks and she walked into the back of me. I turned round, and brought myself up to my full height. ‘If I want to pursue you, I will. You’re options are to accept or not.’
There was a twinkle in her eyes that I hadn’t noticed before, she was mischievous but guarded. ‘We’ll see.’
