Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 5: All Good People
Scene 7: A Trip to the Beach
5.7
A Trip to the Beach
“Lieutenant Commander, can you please come to us? We have a situation, sir.”
Lt. Cmdr. Vranran zh’Kathar was irritated. Her antennae were twitching. She had less than no idea why she had been chosen to babysit a dozen tellarites as they went about a biological survey. She was no biologist. And while she had no particular love or even tolerance for tellarites, she was well aware that they were more than capable of looking after themselves in a wild landscape. They hardly needed a squad of U.S. Marines, much less a Star Fleet officer to protect them from the local wildlife.
But she could hear a note of panic in Lance Corporal Petra Spitze’s voice and before the communicator shut down, she also overheard the other marine breathlessly saying something about resuscitation. The marines were supposed to look after her, not the other way around. But as a Star Fleet officer, she did have an obligation to them. She quickly spotted the lance corporal, who was waiving her phaser rifle in the air to get her attention.
Andorians were famous for outrunning pretty much any other humanoid known in the Alpha Quadrant, and zh’Kathar was fairly fleet-footed for an andorian. She found herself somewhat impressed at how close the humans had gotten to her before giving up. As she got closer, she realized it wasn’t the humans who had given up… The two young marines were doing their best to revive a tiny, bright pink tellarite.
“Very gently splash water onto her snout and make sure a small amount gets into her nostrils.” Spike was reading from a tricorder. Her own tricorder was stored in her belt. “Ewww… Spit works if you don’t have water… Okay, it says, without forming a seal, blow gently into her nostrils with your mouth about one inch away from her snout.”
PFC Sasha Soko was gamely following Spike’s instructions. He had two fingers gently pressing behind Norkaond Vef’s ear. “I’m still not getting a pulse.”
“Oh, it says here you’re also supposed to lightly tickle under her belly,” said Spike.
“Does it, like, have a diagram or something? What does “under her belly” mean?” Soko asked.
“You’re more familiar with tellarite anatomy than I am,” said Spike. “No. No pictures. It just says “under her belly” like we’re supposed to know what that means…”
“Keep breathing gently into her nostrils,” said Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar as she stepped up and joined the marines. “Gently - you’re blowing too hard.” The andorian officer squatted down to her haunches. She quickly and expertly unbuttoned the pink tellarite’s buttonfly overalls and reached in.
“It’s working, sir,” said Sasha Soko. “I’ve got a pulse…”
Only a few heartbeats later, Norkaond Vef giggled, coughed, snuffled, and managed to force herself into a low squatting position.
Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar stood up. “Report, Marine.”
“Sir, she was running hard to try to keep up with you and she just… dropped,” said Spike.
“I was worried about her breathing and fell behind to keep an eye on her,” Sasha added. “I think she overheated. Her snout was dry and warm. It’s supposed to be cold and clammy.”
“Why did you allow her to overexert herself?” zh’Kathar asked.
“I tried to stop her,” said Sasha. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his short brush of blonde hair. His skin was bright pink.
Spike could see streams of sweat running down his face. “Better put some sunblock on, Moscow.”
Sasha came up with a kerchief out of his pack and wiped his face. “I asked her to stop and she just wouldn’t. She was too winded to tell me why,” he added as he took a tube and started applying sunblock.
Spike followed suit. Her skin wasn’t as fair as Sasha’s, but neither of them were anywhere near as dark as Privates Guz Maxwell and Raanda Habib.
Vranran zh’Kathar shook her head, her antenna moving the opposite direction as she watched the marines and the tiny, pink tellarite. “What are you three doing out here?”
“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Spike asked.
“Always with me, Lance Corporal,” zh’Kathar responded.
“I was assigned to protect you and the Tellarite Biological Survey. All I have is myself and three privates to do that job. The other two are back with the survey. Private Soko and I are here to protect you.”
“I do not need your protection, Lance Corporal,” Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar replied.
“That is not of any consequence, sir. I have my orders,” Spike rejoined. “Norkaond Vef was assigned to coordinate with you by her director. The tellarites are not a military organization, but she takes her assignment seriously and she will run herself to death trying to carry out that assignment.”
Vef was finally sitting up and taking a drink with Sasha’s help.
zh’Kathar turned away. “What am I doing out here?” she muttered.
“Weren’t you ordered to coordinate the activities of the survey, sir?” asked Spike.
“As if they don’t know what they’re doing,” zh’Kathar groused. “They’re tellarites - by far the most acclaimed biologists in the Alpha Quadrant. I flunked biology and had to take it twice while I was at the academy. I’m no biologist. Captain Howard chose the wrong person for this assignment.”
“One thing I’ve noticed about the captain… He is extremely detail oriented,” said Spike. “He figured out my nickname and Raanda’s from our last names. He knew Guz was a guitarist just by looking at his fingers. I’m sure he knows how you feel about being a biologist, sir.”
“Wasn’t there something about silicon based life?” asked Sasha Soko.
zh’Kathar turned around to see PFC Soko and Norkaond Vef standing behind her.
“Silicon life is unlikely to survive in this environment,” said Norkaond Vef. “Maybe really deep caverns, but more likely deep undersea volcanic vents.”
“If silicon life has been on this planet for 70 thousand years, wouldn't it have some sort of impact on the life we find on the surface?” Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar asked.
“It might,” Vef mused. “We would be most likely to find evidence for it along the shoreline…”
“Contact your director, Vef,” said zh’Kathar, a sudden sense of purpose in her voice. “We need to re-target your survey.” The andorian smiled for the first time since she had arrived:
“Let’s take a trip to the beach.”
5.7