Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 5: All Good People
Scene 11: Tongue-Fish
5.11
Tongue-Fish
“I want a satellite in geosynchronous orbit to track these animals. Are there any near our other beaches?”
Captain Skip Howard was focusing his tricorder on an enormous, dead animal that was halfway out of the water, its mouth open and its tongue stretched out in two large pieces on the beach. Mounds of foaming blubber and blood oozed from the open ends where Spike’s phaser had cut the tongue almost exactly in half.
Commander Dutch Holland’s Mexican accent sounded somewhat tinny coming through Captain Howard’s communicator pin: “No, not within several hundred kilometers. And except for two that appear to be stationary about a half-kilometer from you, and that dead one on the beach, there aren’t any within 20 kilometers of you - and those are moving away.”
“If any of these animals get within 10 kilometers of any of our beaches, I want that beach evacuated,” Howard replied. “Patch me through to medical.”
“Aye, Skip,” came Holland’s voice.
Then Dr. Uto’s voice came over Howard’s communicator: “Confirmed DOA.”
“Understood, Ten,” Howard responded. “I need you, Bettes, and your forensics team down here along with all the equipment you will need to perform remote surgery on a pair of 100-ton carnivorous fish. They appear to have eaten a lot of camping equipment and, apparently, some live camp fires. You’re going to need to remove the foreign objects from them and do what you can to patch up the damage eating all that stuff has done to them. Set your equipment up in a shuttle so that you can hover over the water close to them. Dutchie will give you their location and depth.”
“You don’t ask for much, do you, Skip?” Dr. Uto observed.
“I want a miracle, Ten. Let’s try to undo as much of this damage as we can,” Captain Howard rejoined. “Oh, and make sure to hover at an altitude of at least 100 meters. These animals have very long tongues.”
Howard turned to find Spike standing at attention. He took a breath as if to give an order, then changed his mind. “Let’s do a walk-through, Lance Corporal. Walk me through from where your tent was, to where you made your stand and just kind of… re-live this for me.”
PFC Sasha Soko was standing nearby. he moved to follow. Howard turned to him: “Private Soko, I want you with Commodore Yui for now. Report to Ensign Peterman, who is in charge of her detail, and let her know you stand ready to answer questions.”
“Yes sir!” the young marine answered crisply, and turned and walked quickly toward the commodore.
Spike gamely walked Captain Howard from her best guess of where her tent had been to the location she had selected to try to control the situation with her phaser. She was extremely nervous as she recounted the night’s events. It was still night, but the daystar flares hanging in the air over the beach made it seem like mid-day.
“…and I finally cut through its tongue…” Spike’s voice trailed off. She had an irrational fear that the captain was angry with her. She wanted him to be angry with her. She started to shake, her eyes tearing up. “They… They weren’t monsters. They were just feeding. Just some kind of… whales?” She turned to see Captain Howard squatting down to his haunches and scanning the beach.
“No. Not whales. These animals are water breathers.”
“How can you tell?”
Captain Howard pointed to the huge, dead animal that was now rolling slightly as the tide started to wash out. “That one asphyxiated. Kind of the opposite of whales. Whales hold their breath and dive deep into the water. These… I guess we can call them tongue-fish? These tongue-fish hold their breath so they can come out of the water to feed.” He stood back up.
Spike found herself wishing the captain were just a little taller. It seemed wrong somehow that they were the same height - about 5’6”.
“You selected a good spot to make a stand,” Howard observed. “Especially considering it was dark. You must have had this spot picked out before you bunked down. You saved a lot of lives tonight, Marine. It’s okay to cry. That’s why I had you bring me up here.”
Spike was crying freely now. In a way, she was relieved that Captain Howard was just standing beside her - had made no move to touch her. She didn’t want to be touched.
“Just look out across the beach and wipe your eyes,” Howard continued. "No one will know you’re crying. It’s just you and me up here. You had a rough time getting to us. You were hunted, captured, tortured, witness to an execution... you still haven’t processed killing those tholians. And you didn’t get much down time after the war, did you?”
“A couple of weeks with my mom, but she was still on active duty,” said Spike. “So I was pretty much on my own.”
“I read your jacket. You went from one battlefield to another. On the front line or behind enemy lines for the duration of both wars. Almost no down time. You’ve been in battle mode non-stop for 7 years. I’m going to arrange some down time for you and I’d like for you to spend that time with General Krank. I’m going to ask him to teach you tri-D chess. He’s a master.”
Spike was puzzled. It was an odd request - enough to take her mind off recent events and give her a little self-control. “Tri-D chess?”
“The man you tried to save, Dr. Arthur Rush. He was a friend of mine,” said Captain Howard. “And he liked to play tri-D chess. Liked playing against Krank. Krank and I are both going to miss him. I think you’ll enjoy the game - it kind of pulls you out of yourself - or so I’ve heard.” Howard turned to look at her. “I know how hard you tried to save Art. Somehow, it seems to me if you learn something about his favorite game, some part of him will live on.” He turned again to look back out over the beach.
Spike dried her eyes, still shuddering a little. But she felt better. Better than she had felt in a very long time.
In the forest behind her, the sun was starting to rise.
5.11