New Kid In Town

Posted on 12 Dec 2013 @ 5:39pm by Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant Min Zhao
Edited on on 13 Dec 2013 @ 11:30am

4,023 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Near Starfleet Academy Grounds - San Francisco - Earth
Timeline: MD03 : 0720

ON:

Jared had finally slept. Slept and awoke and much to his delight he was still himself. No Borg clone, just good old Jared Nicholas flaws and all. He took a quick shower shaved and got ready for bed. He was glad it was shore leave he needed to relax and just have some time away. So he decide to spend the rest of the morning relaxing, at least as much as that was possible

It was 0700, he had slept for nine hours. Rather than spend the time cooking for himself he decided to head out a little early so he could make the full use of his time.

He decided to try out an old favorite of his from the Academy days, the White Horse Tavern. He knew they would were opened twenty four-seven and they had real food,

He finger combed his hair as he stepped inside and looked around.

Min was already seated at a table tucked a way in the corner of the White Horse, sipping at small cup of green tea and slowly making her way through a plate of Gyoza. A padd lay on the table beside her as she read up on some material in preparation for her final refresher exam.

Most of the patrons were cadets dressed out in their uniforms with various pips indicated where they were in their studies. A few officers, none above the rank of Lieutenant, along with several civilians filled out the rest of the patrons.

This early in the morning traffic was light so Min noticed when an officer wearing j.g. pips stepped into the place with a sense of purpose and belonging. No doubt an officer rotated past earth checking out an old haunt. She'd seen numerous ones over the past couple month, spoke with several, even went out on a date with one or two.

Nothing serious tho as her last romance while in uniform didn't end so well. She didn't want to repeat that mistake while at the same time she missed having a man in her life but at the same time. Maybe it was the maternal instinct prompting her to look for a father for her baby after the biological one ran out on her, she wasn't sure. In any event, while she wasn't actively looking, she wasn't about to kick em to the curb if someone came around.

It hadn't been that long since he had been a cadet, six months are so, though it seemed like ages now. A lifetime ago. he had come dangerously close to being booted from Star Fleet for conduct unbecoming and then he had been promoted.

He recognized some of the staff, his favorite wait person Derrick, whom he had shared more than one drink with after they were both off and some of the customers looked familiar to him as well. He couldn't place any of their names, which was unusual since he was usually good about such things.

It must be the lingering Borg nannies, he reasoned to himself.

Then he noticed someone else, an attractive looking and obviously pregnant woman who appeared to be somewhere around his own age. One of the reasons he noticed her was because she was sitting in "his spot'

He crossed the room and looked down on her, with what he hoped was a winning smile, "Okay, I know this is going to sound like the cheesiest pick up line in the history of the cosmos, but you look like someone I should know, or rather that I do know. I'm Jared Nicholas. I graduated the Academy less than a year ago."

Min placed her down and glanced up at the younger man. "It's not the worst I've heard." She motioned for him to grab a seat. "I'm class of '85. Been on a couple years leave so just doing my retread. " Min said, pointing to her padd.

"Ahh, " he said as the took the offered seat, "well just to let you know, if I were trying to come up with a pick-up line I could do a hell of a lot better than that and do it in nine different languages."

"W gn kndng, n ky. (I'm sure you could)" Min replied in fluent Mandarin, leaning back in her chair.

I am just learning that language, Most of the languages I am fluent in are alien languages. But I had a friend on board that taught me a little Mandarian."

"So what ship are you assigned to?" Min asked as she took another sip from her cup.

"I am assigned to the Galileo, what about you?"

Min cocked an eyebrow in a passable imitation of a Vulcan instructor she had one semester at T'Sal. "Curious. I've been assigned to her as well. Operations." She smiled. "Let me guess, xenolinguistics for you?"

"Exactly," he replied. "Since we are going to be shipmates, let me buy you breakfast. Are you waiting for someone?"

Min shook her head. "Just the two of us this morning till you came along. And yes, I would welcome the company if you're offering."

"Good I could use the company, the last mission was a little overwhelming. So any particular area of operations that you specialize in?"

"Computers and Holographics. It's what I studied in University before OCS." Min motioned to one of the staff. "So tell me about the Galileo. What is she like? "

'Computers and Holographics? You should meet my friend Keval. He's in your department and his specialty is Security Systems and Communications.

As far as the Galileo, she is a great little ship. I can't really compare her to any other ships since she is he only one I've been on, but I like being there. The Captain is Orion and she is fair minded. The XO can be a bit of a hard ass, but he's a good guy once you get to know him.

I haven't had any problems with any of the rest of the crew. Its primarily a science specialty ship, which I am sure you are aware but don't expect it to be dull.

On the mission we just returned from we ran into the Borg and had a first contact situation with another race. I can't get into too much detail about that since it may be classified.

But I can promise you won't be bored."

He paused for a moment, cocking his head slightly, "Is it just going to be you and the baby coming with us?" He wasn't sure how to ask if the child's father was in the picture, that seemed a bit too personal for someone he had just met, so he just kept the question open-ended and let her fill in the blanks. If she wanted to.

"Pretty much." Min responded, a touch of bitterness in her voice. She quickly masked it by changing the subject. "The Galileo is a Nova class is she not?"

He caught the tone in her voice, but chose to ignore it. It seemed to be a sore subject to her and he decided not to push it. "Yes she is. A bit... cozy at times. Kind of like small towns on Earth used to be. Everybody knows everybody's business. Which I guess has it pluses and minuses. It means you can have some really close friends, it also means that you don't have a lot of secrets.

Have you ever been on a Nova class before?"

"Never. My last posting before I stepped down was a Galaxy class." She motioned with her hands. "Big ship. Too big sometimes I felt. You could get lost in the crowd given half a chance." She grinned a little. "The Nova's cramped by comparison but I'm just happy to be back in the fleet and not" Min stopped abruptly as she was about to say 'in some penal facility.'

Though he had no idea what she had been about to say, eavesdropping in her mind would have been highly insensitive and inappropriate, he knew she was holding something back and his curiosity got the best of him.

"Instead of where?" he asked, "If that's not too personal."

Min groaned inwardly. The man was a crewmate and on such a small ship, the truth would get out anyways. Easier to do damage control now then lie and do more damage control later, especially towards a guy that was kinda cute. "Long story but let's just say I made a mistake three years ago that altered my path in life. I finally stood before a disciplinary hearing two months ago. Starfleet chose to send me back to the fleet, rather then spend the next two years in a penal facility."

He cocked his head and looked at her more closely. "Look what happened three years ago is your business. You don't have to share it with me, or anyone for that matter.

We all make mistakes you know, I made one that could have cost me my career before it even really got started. But we can recover. If Starfleet let you back they have to have their reasons They are giving you a second chance.

And don't worry, I'm no gossip, your secret is safe with me."

About that time a waiter came to take their order.

Min ordered two poached eggs, a side of toast and a bowl of fresh fruit. After Jared had placed his order and the waiter left, Min went back to the conversation. "My first mistake was bad enough. I compounded it by not facing the music back then." She sighed a little. "The only smart move I made was to eventually come back and face it, knowing the punishment would be more severe." She paused. "And even the motive for coming back wasn't purely honest in nature."

Min frowned a bit. "I came to a point in my life where my choices were to go back to starfleet with my tail between my legs, go home to my family to face a disapproving father, or stoop ever lower to make ends meet. I couldn't face my father and I didn't want my daughter to grow up with a mother who was either never around because she worked all the time, or end up selling her body for money." Min closed her eyes. "I waitressed at a bar like that. I quit because I couldn't stand to see the conditions the girls lived in. So starfleet it was."

Min sighed, audibly this time. "I'm sorry Jared. I really shouldn't be dumping all this on you ten minutes after we've met."

"It's okay," he told her. "I don't mind. In order to be a good linguist, you have to be a good listener. You made the right choice. I can't really speak to disapproving parents, but I can tell you that that the last thing you want to do is sell your body for money. It changes you in ways you can't even began to imagine.

And really, it doesn't matter how you got here, what's matter is that you are here. No one has to know your past unless you choose to tell them, its really not any of their business."

He sat back and took a bite of his waffle, smiling reassuringly at her.

Min nodded silently. She wondered how much Jared actually knew about the trade. Most people didn't see beyond the lights and the money. They didn't see the girls except for when they were on stage, didn't see the heartache and pain.

"I suppose it is. By the same token, gossip runs rampant where information is scarce." Min took a bite from her poached egg. "What can you tell me about the Senior staff? I know the Captain is Orion but didn't know there were any in Starfleet. Only one's I ever met were syndicate types."

"Well the Captain is definitely not the syndicate type. At least not anymore anyway. She certainly doesn't act like one anyway. She is pretty fair minded and tends to be, flexible with the rules. She'll give you the benefit of the doubt and cut you some slack. But I wouldn't want to make her angry. There is always the typical scuttlebutt among the crew, but I tend to try to ignore rumors and that kind of crap.

The XO is more of a stickler for the rules and that can make him kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. He's not exactly the life of the party type. But he really is a good guy and totally dedicated to Star Fleet and the ship. He had a chance to go to a ship of the line, like the Galaxy class you were on. It would have put him on the fast track to his own command, but he turned it down.

Your boss, is an interesting fellow too. It was funny seeing Keval, my Andorian friend, try to flirt with him.

Anyway, anyone else you'd like to know about?" While he waited for her response he began eating his fried potatoes.

"Just curious really." She glanced down at her plate. "So what's your story? How'd you end up in Starfleet?"

He put down his fork and leaned back in his chair giving her a long look. "My story is a little unusual and not one I usually share, especially with someone I've just met, but I sense that I can trust you. I'm not sure exactly why but I do.

You talked about selling your body for credits, as I said that would has a way of changing you. I was born in space and had dreams of making it into Star Fleet. My family were merchants and were doing quite well. Too well really. We attracted the attention of the Orion Syndicate you were talking about earlier.

They somehow got wind of a shipment we were transporting and surprised us. I was in charge of communications, and told them in three or four languages that we would give them the shipment if they would just leave us alone. They didn't listen, they attacked us.

We couldn't hold them off, there were just.... there were just too many of them. My parents were killed my brothers and I became."

He paused taking a deep breath and sinking further back in his chair. For a moment it looked as though he might not continue or at least change the subject. Instead he said, "We became slaves for the Orions. Playthings for their clients. Sexual play things. We were just boys. Boys that should have been playing Federation and Romulans not sucki... no doing what we were forced to do.

My brothers died and I probably would have been died too, but I had a gift, a gift for languages and for 'seeing' three dimensionally, which just means I'm killer at 3-D chess and navigation.

Anyway Rhiel a Vulcan privateer rescued me and did something I had wanted to do since my ship was attacked he killed the man responsible for everything that happened to me.

I became a bit of a pirate for a time until I got tired of the lifestyle. That may have been more information than you wanted to hear, but you did ask for my story."

Min nodded silently. She wasn't sure how to respond to Jared in this moment. His story, by comparison, was worse then anything she'd witnessed while working the seedier joints. All she could think to do was reach her hand across the table to clasp his. "That's horrible. Being dragged away from your family to be somebodies sexual pet."

He took her hand and held it. Even after all these years, when he thought he had hardened himself against it, it still tore at his soul. He merely nodded at her, not wanting to say anything at the time.

Min shook her head. "My story, at least my growing up years, is too typical of living in the core of the federation. Sheltered from the rougher undercurrents of society." She took another bite of her breakfast before continuing. "For telling me about your past I owe you the same. Why I'm here and not in some penal colony."

"My story begins shortly after my first year aboard the Orion. Good ship by the way. My duty shift changed when I'd been promoted to Lt j.g. and I'd ended up meeting this young engineer who was on the same shift. It was love, or more accurately lust, at first site.

We got a bit too involved too quickly and a month or so later, got reprimanded for sneaking off together when we should have been on duty. That's where we should have ended it, but youth being what it is, we chose to continue our liaison's. Monitoring waste reclamation isn't exactly the most exciting job in the world and entire shifts can go by without anything to note, not even a flicker on the gauges.

A couple weeks later we snuck off and while I was away, something went awry in the EPS feeds. The main feed blew out catching several engineers working in the same area. Nobody died but it was a failure that had somebody, myself, been at their post the buildup would've been caught and shutdown before it became a concern.

Security found me and the engineer, maybe ten minutes later, in a cargo bay. We were quite literally caught in the act. Security hauled us off and next thing I knew I was standing before the CO, XO, and my department head while they explained to me in great detail exactly how my crimes had injured crew, how my dereliction now found me facing a courts-martial with the very real possibility of jail time and dishonorable discharge, etc.

Taking the easy route out, I tendered my resignation and Starfleet cut me loose. I'd spend the next three years wandering the galaxy, getting in trouble, working jobs I'm ashamed to admit I took, and just generally discovered that the real world is no cake walk.

Nine Months ago the story takes a turn for the worse. I met this young Bajoran merchant who needed a store clerk and I took the job. A romance blossomed between us and I honestly thought we had something special. What I didn't know is that he had a wife back on Bajor and I was more of a diversion for him. When I got knocked up, he came clean and fearing reprisal's from his family, cut me adrift.

Fast forward to two months ago and I'm at the end of my rope. No one will hire me because I'm pregnant and Federation law dictates concessions be made for my situation. Discrimination still lives on in Utopia." Min remarked with a bitter voice.

"So I had a choice as I alluded earlier. I could face my family as a failure, stoop to selling my body for cash, or go back to starfleet with the faint hope they'd let me back in, even as a maintenance tech on a fleet freighter. I'm here now with my old rank and job back so you can guess how my choice went."

Jared listened in rapt attention to her story. He would someday, perhaps someday soon tell her of his very public tryst and his own repercussions, but those paled in comparison to her story.

"I am sorry to hear about what happened to you. It is hard sometimes to put the past behind us, but if we don't we become emotionally shipwrecked and useless.

Not everyone is like the Syndicate or the Bajorn bastard that used you. You deserve better you know. There is real love out there for people like you and I and hopefully we'll find it someday.

Right now we just have our jobs and our ship. And speaking of which, I will be glad to help you move your things there."

He wanted to say more, but he didn't really know what to say, so he just gripped her hand a little tighter and looked into her eyes. Eyes he could get lost in if given a chance.

Min smiled a shy little smile. It had a been a while since someone had held her hand like that with genuine affection and she was grateful for the gesture. "I don't have a lot of stuff to bring aboard but once my clearances are in place, perhaps a tour?"

"I'll be glad to give you a tour," he said, "And I have a holodeck adventure I have been wanting to run and it really takes two. Its what I call a historical revision. Though it may have to wait until after the baby, I don't know. It might be too stressful."

"What is it?" Min inquired. She'd never been one to shirk from a good holonovel as the program usually adjusted itself to the player's physical skills.

"Well,' he said finally releasing her hand, "It is set around the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 on Earth. But as I said its not the same timeline as the one we are from. The Nazis won World War II and are still in control.

They are still trying to wipe out those that don't fit their profile of perfection. Jews, gypsies, gays, people of color. We are part of the Resistance. there is a power struggle within the Nazi Party and they are having a big meeting in Washington DC. Our mission is to travel there from San Francisco cross country without being caught and either makes sure that the right candidate, one who is secretly sympathetic to our cause, is selected, or failing that we plant explosives and kill as many big wigs as possible.

Of course the kicker is that the person we are supporting, may just be playing us and its all part of an elaborate trap to end the Resistance movement at one time and even if that is not the case, they'll probably be expecting some kind of an attack."

Min smiled. "Sounds interesting." Placing her fork down, she pushed her now finished plate away from her. "I don't see any reason I couldn't. I'd heard stories growing up about how the Nazi's, and the Japanese, could care less if you were pregnant or not. If you were in the resistance, you were a target. Besides, the idea of a pregnant women avenging her husband's death has a certain romantic appeal to it."

"Well I do like the way you think I'm a romantic at heart and I could use a distraction right about now. How soon would you like to start?"

"I've got finish this exam this morning so after lunch perhaps? I don't have my clearances to board the Galileo yet tho so we'll have to hit up a holodeck on one of the orbital stations."

"Sure that works for me. What if we meet by the transporter station across from the north gate of the Academy, say about 1330? I'll make us reservations and download the program. Would that be okay?"

"Sounds good. Anything I should bring?"

"Pack a bag with some warm clothes. It's going to be winter there and I heard it was pretty cold that year. I'll set the safeties at normal, but there is the random weather modifier and I can't change that."

Min glanced down as her padd vibrated on the table. Time for the exam. "I hate to run but my exam starts in 20min." She grinned at Jared. "So 1330 by the north gate. Bring warm clothes and a don't trust anyone." She scooped up her padd's as she stood. "Good to meet you Jared."

"Good to meet you too," he replied and he meant it. He realized something else as well. For the first time since turning into a Borg clone he was at ease and wasn't afraid to sleep.

Min gave him a final wave as she exited the restaurant before disappearing into the morning rush of people.

OFF:

Lt.(jg) Jared Nicholas
Linguist

&&

Lt j.g. Min Zhao
Operations Officer

RSS Feed