Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 12: Close to the Edge Part I - The Solid Time of Change
Scene 3: Points to Nowhere
And assessing points to nowhere, leading every single one…
12.3
Points to Nowhere
“So the holy landers have taken evasive action. Have they actually changed their heading?” asked Captain Rhonda Carter.
“They’re running for the roof,” reported Master Chief Bill Waller. “They started with a 30% up-angle on the bow. Now it’s more like 50%. It looks like they want wide, open spaces with as few stars as they can find. They’ve pointed their bows at the blankest space they could find.”
“Great,” Carter muttered. “Okay, I hate doing this, but let’s give that swarm a wide berth. We’re going to lose time against the holy landers. And we can’t follow the holy landers above the galactic plane. We’re low on deuterium. There’s a trinary system 6.28 light years from our current location. Let’s go there and tank up.”
Carter took a breath, and then a long swig of Gollum juice. “Bill, first, get your eyes on the trinary system and advise if there are any dangers and also any useful resources. We could probably use some fresh atmosphere and water. Long term, I want you to gather as much information as you can about that swarm that’s chasing the holy landers.”
After another long pull at the Gollum juice, the blue-haired captain continued: “Zizira, put together a team for this purpose. We don’t have the scientists available to us. This crew are pretty much all fighters. Go through the crew roster in detail, interview them and find anyone with any skill or experience or interest in exobiology, alien cultures, alien technology and let’s get a full picture about that swarm. Just because the holy landers are afraid of them does not mean they are automatically our enemy. Probably, but let’s keep an open mind.”
Carter touched a control on her chair. “Chief Mendez, Chief Garrity, General Krank, meet me in Medical. Zizira - you have the conn.”
“Aye sir,” the bolian first officer replied as Chief Medical Technician Kara Garrity followed her captain to the bridge exit. “Master Chief Waller, what are you seeing?”
“Doesn’t look very hospitable,” the veteran coxswain replied. “It looks like two main sequence stars in fairly close, stable orbit of each other, with a blue giant orbiting further out. No Goldilocks zone and there’s one gas giant that appears to be doing a figure-8, orbiting the twin main sequence stars, then the blue giant. There are some mineral deposits in the outer ring, including frozen water and some metals…”
Garrity had any number of questions for her captain as she followed her to the interior room that served as a medical center. Why did the captain insist on taking the U.S.S. Escort away from the area it had emerged into this galaxy? Why was she so certain the holy landers knew the way out of this galaxy? How did a bunch of giant, singing ants take over the ship in the first place? Why was she letting Krank anywhere near Transporter Chief Eva Mendez?
What was this meeting all about and why did she have to go?
Why did the captain dye her hair blue?
But there was no point in asking any of these questions. Even before Captain Carter had been deafened, she would have been very unlikely to provide any answers. Any serious ones, anyway.
The small room that served as Escort’s infirmary actually had two bio beds and a medical work station. For the past two years, this had been Kara Garrity’s work station, seeing after the wounds of the crew. She had mended bone and flesh, removed kidney stones, terminated a few pregnancies, and even in one emergency, performed an appendectomy.
This room had seen far more complicated medical conditions and during the wars, a number of crew members had been brought here, only to die of their battle wounds because there just wasn’t anything that could be done for them.
Now, with the ship’s captain, a terrified Chief Eva Mendez and the ancient klingon general in this room, it was crowded. Mendez was huddled in a corner, trying to put as much space between Krank and herself as possible.
“Sometimes being deaf can be an advantage,” Carter started. “It means in this room I don’t have to put up with any back talk from any of you. You can scream your guts out at me if you want and all it will be to me is just you jacking your jaws.”
“So listen up, pull it together and deal with it,” Carter continued. “Krank, you shattered Eva’s jaw. She can only drink her meals through a straw for the next at least 40 days. You will help her plan her meals. You will see to it that she completes them. You will sing very quietly to her, what ever song she wants to hear. Eva loves to sing. So you will learn her songs and sing them to her until she can sing them herself. You will listen to her critique of your singing, take it to heart, and endeavor to sing better.”
Carter turned toward her now even more horrified transporter chief. “Eva, you will get over your fear of General Krank. He would give his life in a heartbeat to prevent any harm from coming to you. Try not to torment him too much. He can’t carry a tune in a bucket, so you will have to recover so you can get back to singing your own songs. By the time you do, you’ll be singing duets.”
“Kara, you will supervise. They will never be together alone. You’ll be there to keep Eva calm. You also need to monitor her diet. Sorry about the singing. You’re just going to have to suffer through that. And you will report to me how things are going.”
Both Eva Mendez and Kara Garrity started speaking excitedly at once. Even more loudly as the blue-haired captain turned and walked out.
“She cannot hear you,” Krank said, very quietly.
Both Chief Mendez and Chief Garrity turned toward the elderly klingon general, only to realize that they had nothing to say to him.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea. I don’t understand human psychology,” Krank offered. He turned to look at Eva Mendez. “I am sorry that you are afraid of me. And that you have been ordered to teach me how to sing, which, I am afraid, may be an impossible task. But you humans do have a remarkable ability to face your fears and grow stronger.” The elderly klingon took a deep breath. He sat down on the edge of one of the biobeds. “I will do everything I can to help you heal. I owe you nothing less.”
12.3