Story:Star Trek: Pioneer/On a Knife Edge/Chapter 2

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Chapter 2
20 June 2598, 1145 hours USS Pioneer, Archer IV shipyards

Captain Edward Mantree again threw the ball against the wall of his quarters, causing it to bounce back and land in his left hand. He was bored. Bored of sitting around whilst engineers and support crew made repairs to his ship. All he could do was simply nothing. He had offered to help, but as he was "unfamiliar" with the Independence-class ship he had merely stepped out of the way and let his crew get on with their jobs.

It all sounded so strange. His ship. His crew. Ever since he had come on board it had taken him time to realise that he was in charge of the 700 crewmembers who operated the ship. Well, 250 at the moment. At least the Pioneer wasn't the only ship suffering from manpower losses. It seemed the only reason he had been promoted to captain. But why this ship? It was as if he had gone from being the king of a single country on Earth to taking over the running of an entire planet.

There had been many who had criticised the choice of captain for the Pioneer. Mantree took solace from the fact that his crew had had a lot of experience, most of it on the Pioneer. As one of the flagships of the Federation, it had seen many a battle, but it was emerging as one of the best battleships in the entire Alpha Quadrant. It was almost a pity that it was more a battleship than a vessel of exploration and scientific research, but as one of his former crewmates had pointed out correctly, "There isn't much more exploring to do, and anyone who is not our ally seems to be gunning for us..."

The door chime activated, and Mantree stopped his ball, replacing it carefully on a shelf above his bed.

"Come in."

The doors parted to reveal a tall man in a Starfleet uniform, bearing the insignia of a commander. He hadn't been expecting anyone, and he was certainly surprised to see that the man at the door had pointed ears and wasn't a Vulcan.

"Captain Mantree?" the man asked, stepping into the doorway.

"Yes, that's me." Mantree realised he was still slouching on his bed and immediately stood up, straightening his uniform before extending his arm to shake the man's hand.

"I am Commander Lhaihtrha Taev, reporting for duty sir. I am to be your new first officer."

Mantree thought for a moment. Was this the Lhaihtrha Taev he had heard all about? Not taking time to think about it, Mantree continued.

"I see. I assume that Romulan Central Command approved of your transfer?"

"Yes sir, they did. Their liaison with Starfleet Command is finally starting to expand. However I was unaware that my presence was required on this ship specifically, as there are others with skeleton crews."

"I can see why you’re here. You're to be my 'mother hen', so to speak."

This phrase was new to the Romulan. "'Mother hen' sir?"

"Let me put it this way. Starfleet places me in command of a flagship, when I have very little experience of commanding a starship. You on the other hand have captained what, three ships in the Romulan fleet and have over 50 years experience of working on a starship. As a 'mother hen', you’re basically watching my every move. You're like a mother, telling me what is right and wrong or what should be done. Didn't your mother do anything like that?"

"Yes sir, she did. My brother and I were taught discipline at an early age, and I have not forgotten it."

"Mother knows best, eh?"

Mantree allowed himself a chuckle, whilst his first officer smiled at the notion.

"Anyway, I need you to check how the repairs are coming along. I told Admiral Turnbull that we’d be ready by the end of today, but as you can see I've not had much to do."

"Understood."

"And I'd like to have whatever senior staff we have on the ship in the mess hall at 2000 hours tonight for an informal meal. I haven't met some of them yet and under the circumstances we could use a little morale boost."

"Of course sir. Anything else?"

"No Commander, that'll be all. And, welcome aboard."

Lhaihtrha nodded slightly. "Thank you captain," he said, before turning and heading out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Commander Lhaihtrha could hear the shouting emanating from engineering from the other end of the corridor. Good, he thought, at least I know that the chief engineer is around.

"Realign the secondary plasma injector! I don't want it blowing up in our faces and causing the whole warp engine to stall on us again..."

Lieutenant Commander Brox was rushing around, darting between the various consoles that littered the main engineering deck. The Bolian took pride in his job – no wonder, thought Lhaihtrha, as the Pioneer was one of the most advanced starships in the fleet. He had so much to look over – not just his crew but 'his' engines as well. Lhaihtrha knew from experience that a lot of Starfleet's chief engineers who would proudly pat the engines and call them his own.

Lhaihtrha stepped forward into the din, before directing his question to the engineer. "Mr Brox?"

Brox turned round quickly, as if one of his team members was about to ask him for more work. On seeing Lhaihtrha, he simply said, "Give me a minute..." and promptly disappeared amongst the commotion. With his superior hearing, Lhaihtrha heard Brox shouting to another crewmember.

"Sammy, keep watching Injector Port 3, will you? We're almost ready to reinitialise the warp drive and if there's a power surge it'll most likely overload the injector, then I'll be annoyed because it'll take even longer to repair."

"Aye, sir."

Brox watched Sammy go about his business, and then walked up to Lhaihtrha, reaching out with his arm for a handshake.

"Commander. It's good to see you again."

Lhaihtrha smiled, returning the younger man's handshake. "I have no doubt."

"So," said Brox. "How's life treating our resident Romulan?"

"It's not too bad. I still receive letters of encouragement from my grandchildren, but I haven't started putting them or the pictures up on the wall yet..."

Brox laughed. The two of them had always been confused by some Human rituals, most of all the one where all handmade drawings by young family members had to be erected onto the usually monotonous walls of the recipient's quarters.

"So, how are the grandchildren? Still scribbling pictures of oddly shaped nusca?"

"Ronar and Galina have just started Level 5 of the education system. They're eight years old and growing up extremely fast."

"From my experience, all children are like that. There’s just no stopping them..."

Lhaihtrha noted that during their exchange, Brox had been continually shifting his gaze from engineering to the first officer. It probably means he wants to get back to his engines before something really does go wrong. Lhaihtrha got straight to the point.

"The captain would like the senior staff to meet up for a meal later in the mess hall. If you'll have finished down here that is."

"Well, I'll be able to give you an answer in about five minutes, as I'm about to try switching the warp engines on. If they're working properly, I'll be around for the meal. If not, we'll be stuck here for a while longer. Excuse me."

Brox disappeared back into the crowd, quickly gathering his team around him for a final systems check, so he could be certain that the ship was ready to depart. Lhaihtrha chose this moment to leave. Heading down the corridor to the turbolift at the far end, Lhaihtrha entered it, and asked the computer to take him to the bridge. As the doors closed behind him, Lhaihtrha thought of his grandchildren. He had been at home when they were born, aiding his own son and his wife with the errands that needed to be done. He longed for the day when he could return home and see them. But the present situation made that impossible; unfortunate, but there was nothing he could do about it. Lhaihtrha comforted himself with the fact that at least Ronar and Galina remembered him. After all, he was receiving a lot of pictures from them...

The turbolift stopped and the doors parted, allowing Lhaihtrha access to the bridge. He made his way to the centre, where he expected the captain to be sitting; but the chair was empty. Quickly scanning the bridge, he found that the captain wasn't there. As he turned to leave, a voice from behind him said:

The captain's in his ready room. Apparently, it's 'too busy' out here."

Lhaihtrha turned, to see a human woman, no more than 45 years of age. Or was it more like 50? I can never tell, he thought.

I'm sorry, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Commander..."

"Lhaihtrha Taev, of Romulus no less. Your wife is called Narru and your family has a little Klingon blood in it, doesn't it?"

Lhaihtrha was taken aback momentarily. How did she know all this? Was she an operative for Starfleet Intelligence?

"I suppose you can tell me what my favourite drink is as well..."

The woman's face became pensive whilst she thought about it. Ah ha, thought Lhaihtrha. I've got her on that one.

"I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and say kali-fal."

"Well, considering how many of my people drink it it's not a surprise that you got that one right." Lhaihtrha didn't know whether to be impressed or startled at this human's ability to remember things. "Are you serving on this ship as well?"

"Oh, yes." The woman smiled, realising that she hadn’t actually given her name to the first officer. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Jennifer – Jenny – Parker. I am both the tactical officer and chief of security. And I get myself a third job by being second officer too."

"Nice to meet you... Jenny. So, have you reviewed the personnel files of everyone on this ship yet?"

Parker smiled. "Isn't that your job?"

"You seemed to have gained a headstart on me, unless you were only looking at my file."

"As chief of security, looking at the files that Starfleet Command sends me on security personnel gives me a better understanding of certain people. I like to be social, but with 250 people on this ship, it'll take a while to talk to everyone. Of course, you get the 'easier' job of just looking over the personnel files of people, then you set their duty rosters and instead of you going to them, they'll go to you."

Parker turned briefly, clutching a PADD that had been lying on the console behind her.

"This is the list of personnel, complete with basic information and their usual duty hours et cetera. The captain asked me to sort out a duty roster for my teams, but as I have a lot of other work to do and it falls under your jurisdiction, would you mind?"

"Not at all." Lhaihtrha took the PADD and skimmed it, before nodding and looking up at Parker.

"When do you want it by?"

"Within the next 24 hours will be good. Rumour has it we’ll actually be flying out of here sooner rather than later."

"It all depends on Brox' engineering team. He seemed to have them sorted though."

"He wouldn't have it any other way. Oh, before I forget. The captain would like to see you."

"And you've spent this whole time chatting to me?"

"Would you prefer I hadn’t?"

Lhaihtrha laughed, then strode down the bridge to a side door marked Captain's ready room. Pushing the controls at the side, he waited a moment before Captain Mantree's voice called out “Come in.” Brushing off a few bits of dirt he had acquired walking down several unfinished corridors, Lhaihtrha tapped another control, and entered the room.

Mantree was standing at the window, looking out at Archer IV, the nighttime starting to set in. Turning round, Lhaihtrha could see a half-smile on his face. Or was it a frown? He was approaching the desk when the captain decided to speak.

"We've got a mission."

Chapter 3