Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 8: South Side of the Sky
Scene 11: Separate Ways
8.11
Separate Ways
Grazwella, the elderly giant woman who had welcomed Captain Skip Howard and the rescue party to the home of the giants, emerged from the hallway, followed by Captain Howard, 2nd Lt. Emily Li, Ensign Tos th’Tabriit, and the denobulan planetologist, Cetris Rye, with Private First Class Elvin Washington and 2nd Lt. Iov Pushkin bringing up the rear. They were followed by two pairs of giants, each pair carrying between them a stretcher that had been adapted to carry a dying alien, each encased in a housing designed to keep them at a comfortable temperature.
Washington and Pushkin and Li and th’Tabriit assisted these bower-carrying giants by deploying collapsable legs that were built into the stretchers, allowing the giants to set the stretchers down. As they were doing this, two more giants entered the room - one of them was one of the spear-carrying juveniles who had first encountered the Beagle task force’s rescue party at the wreckage of an alien ship a few days earlier.
“Lieutenant Commander zh’Kathar, I need you to return to our shuttle and report in to the task force. Let them know what our status is, then remain with the shuttle. We will be returning to Gateway Pass by a different route. Our hosts have agreed to help us take these two survivors to the City and attempt to engage the assistance of the purple.”
As the captain of the U.S.S. Beagle was talking to the 2nd officer of the U.S.S. Escort, the denobulan planetologist carefully placed two large, heavy packets into Captain Osollaa sh’Zhiathis’ pack. Iov Pushkin tapped a code against the marine captain’s arm, using code to pass along an order from Captain Howard.
sh’Zhiathis signaled her understanding with a quick hand signal, then addressed Howard: “Captain, I want a veteran with you. Washington, you with me. Glick, you’re with Captain Howard.”
Sergeant Tammy Glick, a small black woman in her 30’s who dyed her hair blonde, exchanged places with the large young private.
Captain Howard’s party departed first.
The two andorian officers, one Star Fleet, the other a United States Marine, spent some time discussing the route back to Gateway Pass with their guides, a pair of giants, who turned out to be father and son, both named Thoma. Sensibly enough, the father was Big Thoma and the son, Little Thoma. The marine captain went over a number of hand signals with the giants so that they could have a functional communication, as the giants’ universal translator system would no longer be available once they left the building.
After they left, the two giants led the way, followed by the three marine privates, Elvin Washington, Tim Cho, and Sean Young. The two andorian women brought up the rear. The air wasn’t quite as cold as it had been two days earlier, when they had arrived.
“So what was all that stuff Cetris Rye was putting into your pack?” Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar asked.
“Undeveloped negatives. Old fashioned film photography,” sh’Zhiathis responded. “Cetris is an aficionado of an antique art form. He’s been recording our entire journey. Hopefully, he’ll manage to photograph the City as well. He managed to do all that without anyone noticing. I didn’t realize what he was doing. And I’m trained to spot stuff like that.”
“And here all this time I thought he was just a big dumb doofus,” zh’Kathar laughed.
“That’s his game. A little bit of goofiness, some awkward conversation and boom, no one is paying any attention to him anymore, and he can get away with pretty much anything.” About 30 meters ahead of the andorians, the youngest of her marines briefly lost his footing in some loose snow and was caught by PFC Washington. "Steady up there, Cho!" Captain sh'Zhiathis shouted.
zh’Kathar shook her head, made an amused noise, and hoisted her pack. “So how many languages do you think Captain Howard knows? At least one of those snuffly tellarite languages... Apparently some denobulan... Bajoran Battle Language…”
“Golic, th’lingn Hol, and American Sign Language,” sh’Zhiathis added. “And Lindanen.”
Vranran zh’Kathar was surprised. “If he knows our language, why did he ask you to translate for Ensign th’Tabriit?”
“Tos is from Avradaga,” sh’Zhiathis explained. “They speak a variant. He was watching my antennae to make sure he understood.”
Lt. Cmdr. zh’Kathar laughed. Her antennae moved quickly and subtly.
“Just because Captain Howard doesn’t have any antennae doesn’t mean he couldn’t read that,” the marine captain responded. “I know other humans who could. Including Major Carter.”
“Yeah, what’s the deal with her and my captain being first cousins?” asked zh’Kathar. “They’re very different hues of pink.”
“They share a grandfather. Their fathers are brothers. I’ve met them. They’re both a very light pink, like Rhonda Carter.” Osollaa sh’Zhiathis shrugged with both her shoulders and her antennae. “But Janet’s mother is a very dark pink. The humans call it black. Apparently skin color is a big deal for them. Or it used to be.”
“Humans,” zh’Kathar opined. She made an amused noise.
8.11