Reporting for Duty

Posted on Wed Apr 3rd, 2013 @ 12:22am by

1,577 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 82 - The Aggressor
Location: Earth, San Fransciso, Venice, Starbase 400
Timeline: concurrent with shoreleave

Ensign Alexandra Kingston, Lexy to her friends, studied the COMMPAD in her hand as if she couldn't believe it. Less than 48 hours after graduation and she'd already been selected for an assignment. She blinked twice and read the orders again just to be certain. Of course, they were right there in black and white. She was being ordered to Starbase 400 and was expected to be in Admiral Bremer's office by 0700 just 3 days from now for further orders and eventual assignment.

"Why is it that Admiral's never give briefings over a nice brunch during a reasonable hour?" the young ensign mused.

Still, she was excited. Alexandra had never been one for vacations or the peculiarly named "downtime" that the more experienced officers looked forward to with zeal. As it was, she'd only just caught her breath from all the post graduate parties and farewell get-togethers.

Which reminded her, as soon as news of her assignment reached her classmates, further parties and farewell luncheons would ensue, and somewhere between them all, she would have to actually pack her things.
As if she'd sent a telepathic prompt across the courtyard of the Academy, her twin brother Nathaniel materialized from around a corner, fellow graduates in tow, grinning from ear to ear and none to carefully trying to conceal a bottle that looked suspiciously like Romulan ale.

"So, my baby sister's all grown up and heading deep into the unknown! Where are they sending you Lexy, the Beta quadrant; the Neutral Zone?"
Lexy put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot just a little. It was an unconscious habit that her Betazoid mother, a woman of enormous grace and poise had often scolded her for.

"Nathaniel Kingston! You know very well I was born less than a minute after you, and I'm being transferred to Starbase 400! You promised you wouldn't make a spectacle of this!"

"And you promised that if you got your assignment first, we'd have my party for the both of us. Don't try to wriggle, Lexy, for the next 24 hours your butt belongs to us!"

"Natty, I have to pack. I haven't even begun studying the Starbase specs, and Mom and Dad are going to want to see me before I leave this planet. Are you going to take the blame for my disheveled appearance and the 5 alarm hangover your carrying?

T'Aliia, a young Andorian woman with skin like the pale blue of a snow melt river settled the dispute in a single sweeping motion in which she managed to blindfold a kicking young ensign and carry her off like a sack of quatrotriticalie.

The rest of the graduates, a merry group of 10 or so Andorians, Humans, one rather loud young Klingon, and a quiet Vulcan boy, fled with their kidnapped booty towards the nearest transporter pad.

A few seconds later they materialized with Lexy still being dangled precariously from T'Aliia's shoulder in the glittering streets of Venice. Not that anyone in that ancient city of romance and beauty was watching, but the merry squad ran through several alleys, twisting and turning, before finally removing the blindfold and releasing their hostage.

And they were standing in front of one of the most posh night clubs Venice had to offer. Crystal chandeliers and golden goblets graced the room and colorful revelers and entertainers danced and twirled to the latest stylings of the great Baroque pieces known to that grand old city.

It's true they drank, and danced, and wandered, and sang the night away.

Lexy rose groggily to consciousness with the expected screaming hangover splitting her frontal lobe in half. She groaned and tried unsuccessfully to open her eyes.

"Computer: Time." Normally Lexy like the computer's voice; she found it soothing and even somewhat maternal. This morning it sounded like Targ claws on slate.

"The Time is 14:23 Local Earth Time." Lexy tried pressing her hands to her head in the vain hope it would help.

She sensed her brother was still sleeping as were the rest. Except of course for Sakir who was sitting peacefully meditating on some concept of interest.

"I imagine you could use some tea this morning Ensign. Will you join me?" Lexy had always liked Sakir. He never raised his voice. And he was incurably polite.

Together they sat in silent meditation sipping the bitter Vulcan tea (a recipe Lexy was now certain had been designed as a wonder cure for Romulan ale) and waiting without any concern for their companions to waken.

"I wish you well on your journeys, Ensign. You have a quick and intriguing mind, though you cling to a construct of undisciplined philosophies that often propel you to rash thinking and rash action."

Lexy was actually startled. Sakir rarely spoke at all. He was quiet even for a Vulcan and yet he rarely brooded the way so many Vulcans did while puzzling over the mysteries of existence. She was fairly certain this was both the longest and most personal speech she had ever heard from him.
"If by 'a construct of undisciplined philosophies' you mean my devotion to the ideals of a truly free spirit, than I cannot disagree. And of course it gets me into trouble. Of what value would life be if there were never trouble anywhere for anyone to get into? Surely such a world sounds terribly dull even to you!"

Sakir of course said nothing more and returned to his meditations as the others began to wake. Lexy had a sneaking suspicion that Sakir had in fact been bored with his last puzzle and had said what he had just to get her to give him something to think about. Well, at least she hoped so.
2 hours later she was finally back in her quarters staring at her suitcase. Her parents would arrive in the morning, and both her Starfleet father and her Betazoid mother would both know just exactly how prepared she was for her new assignment. They would know just how nervous she was, how excited she was, how utterly small she suddenly felt.

“Oh this is pointless,” she thought to herself, “Sakir would never approve.” She brushed all thoughts to the side and began packing, never thinking to question why she cared about Sakir’s approval at all.

Lexy woke up the next morning feeling considerably better. Maybe she had needed the party, a chance to work out all the emotions that had been gripping her system. She wasn’t tired, she wasn’t frightened; this morning she was calm as if she’d been mind melded with a Vulcan K’ohlinar master. She was packed, her new uniform set out neatly. She thought she cut quite the dashing figure in it. She brushed her hair and tied it back into a long thick braid that hung down her back. It was too long to be strictly regulation, but few commanders seemed to mind as long as it pulled back neatly and didn’t swing about.

She grabbed her suitcase, took one last look around the quarters that had been hers for the last 4 years, and walked out the door…and bumped directly into her parents. They appeared to have been waiting patiently for her to emerge, and Lexy couldn’t help but feel they’d been standing out in the hall for some time. Why was it that parents behaved so strangely watching their children do the same things they themselves had done.
Neither of them stopped talking all the way to the shuttle field. Nathaniel and all the rest of her brothers joined them on the tarmac and Lexy was losing her steely control over tearing up. She was just trying to conjure Sakir’s serene features for strength when she glanced past her father’s burly shoulders and saw him standing some distance away watching the emotionally charged family engage shamelessly in all the emotional constructs they wanted.

It was the second time in as many days that Sakir had startled her. Standing at that distance Sakir had not wished to be seen, and wouldn’t wish acknowledgment of his presence so Lexy turned to embrace her brothers one last time before boarding the shuttle that would take her to the future.

Just three hours later, the sight of Earth long gone, perhaps not as emotional for her as the first time she left Betazed but still somewhat tugging, she found herself in view of Starbase 400. She had the specs memorized and was reasonably sure she could make her way to the Admiral’s office without appearing too new or out of place. Her orders had been vague. She knew she was assigned to the operations department, and she’d even spoke briefly to a certain Ensign Brody, but other than that, she found herself facing the first real thrill of her life. She had entered a world unknown. Another hour and she was standing outside Admiral Bremer’s office. Only then did she notice that it was not her parents or her brothers, her classmates, colleagues, or even her twin that she thought of when she needed strength. It was that strange quiet face that belonged to a Vulcan boy she hardly knew at all. Gathering all of that Vulcan calm and that Betazed cool, Ensign Alexandra Kingston lifted her chin, and reported for duty.

Normally, I won’t leave such lengthy posts, but I wrote this as a bit of introduction. Nice to be here.

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