Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Eggeyes, Defender of the Faith! (good version)
PREFACE NOTE: I started writing this story late one night in November or December 1972. Kathie
was at O.C.S. and I was living alone in base housing on Guam. I had gone to a somewhat foregetable
movie (i.e. I don't recall anything about it) and then sat down to write this story. At the time, Kathie
and I were involved with several other Marine, Navy and Air Force personnel in playing Dungeons
and Dragons. The main character of this story was "ginned up" by rolling the dice and then I played
him as if he were a character. The spell throwing and battle sceens were based on the D & D rules
and were played out as if I were a Dungeon Master. I had fun with this story even though I had to
force myself to finish it; I finished at about 2 15 am (I had started at 10 PM or so). I knew that if I
had put the story down I would never finish it! I later wrote a number of stories and poems and
finished them; of course, I then had the prod of finishing them for a class. Unfortunately, this being
28 May 1992, I am no longer under such a "prod" and haven't looked at my "Ronald Regan story"
in so long that it must have been last calandar year (1993) that I made the pretense of working on it...
was at O.C.S. and I was living alone in base housing on Guam. I had gone to a somewhat foregetable
movie (i.e. I don't recall anything about it) and then sat down to write this story. At the time, Kathie
and I were involved with several other Marine, Navy and Air Force personnel in playing Dungeons
and Dragons. The main character of this story was "ginned up" by rolling the dice and then I played
him as if he were a character. The spell throwing and battle sceens were based on the D & D rules
and were played out as if I were a Dungeon Master. I had fun with this story even though I had to
force myself to finish it; I finished at about 2 15 am (I had started at 10 PM or so). I knew that if I
had put the story down I would never finish it! I later wrote a number of stories and poems and
finished them; of course, I then had the prod of finishing them for a class. Unfortunately, this being
28 May 1992, I am no longer under such a "prod" and haven't looked at my "Ronald Regan story"
in so long that it must have been last calandar year (1993) that I made the pretense of working on it...
Update in 2006: I'm going to add a section to my "Ronald Regan story" called "The Lawyer's Story" and pay to have it printed locally.
Unfortunately, this was written in 1982 and it is now 24 years later (2006). About all I remember was I was planning a story with two characters: Eggeyes and a "Paladin". The two would have to work together, in spite of Eggeys's violence and the Paladin's law enforcing violence...
______Eggeyes, also known as "Deathblood, Defender of the Faith", carefully put on his black plate
armour and metal helm. He had to meet with his master, the Grandfather of Assassins. That creature
was known to a few of his faithful as "Gramps" (he happened in fact to be Eggeye's
great-grandfather). He was known to his enemies by far more sinister names.
______Eggeyes looked into his mirror and beheld his bulging eyes set in a face scarred like an old
piece of firepit rock. There was little of kindness in his face and much controlled intelligence. He
sniffed himself with his better than human sence of smell and decided he could pass among the true
humans and half-elves that made u the town's population.
______He put on the girdle with it's bastard sword and poisioned dagger. The crossbow was slung
across his back. He carried no backpack with him. His vial of unholy water was in a pouch and the
poisioned quarrels were in his quiver. There were five of them.
______Eggeyes, looking like a prosperous fighter, carefully left is rooms at the Bloody Miscarriage.
He set the alarms and traps well. He heard his watchbeast awaken and Egeyes hoped that some poor
damned thief would enter. The thief would leave his soul to the watchbeast and Eggeyes would have
a little extra deserved profit.
______The street was safe. A guard approached Eggeyes and bid hima good evening. Eggeyes
answered politely and waited until the man had turned to go before stabbing the guard with a
poisioned blade. The guard had time to turn toward Eggeyes and almost got his blade out.
______"You BASTARD...". The victum fell to his knees.
______"I'm truly upset!" Eggeyes exclaimed in amazement. "The alchemist who sold me the poison
told me it was instant acting and very painful. The Better Business Bureau will hear of this.
Actually", he continued in a musing toneof voice, "I'll just have a word with the alchemist about
this."
______The prospect delighted Eggeyes!
______"You're an assassin! You must be a..."
______At this Eggeyes ripped the man's throat out with one hand. There was one thing no one would
say to hime and that no one would know. Only the Grandfather of assassins knew his secret nad
Gramps wouldn't give the Grandduke or anyone outside of the Assassin Guild the time of year let
alone Eggeye's secret.
______The body yielded two flasks of oil and a flask of holy water. There was the armour to be
removed and sold. The man's short sword and throwing axe were simply added to Eggeye's girdle.
There was five goldpieces which Eggeyes cheerfully added to his purse. He didin't fear a deadman's
curse upon the decreased guard's property. Eggeye's diety had guarenteed him protection from such
curses.
______The night was cool and the smell of dung in the open sewers began to predominate over the
smell of charcoal fires as the fires were douced after the evening meal. Eggeyes noticed it not at all.
______The walk to the Assassin's Guildhouse was uneventful. Egeyes gave the dead guard's
chainmail to the Housemouse. The Housemouse was a drab, retired, thief who gave good prices for
stolen goods. Then, Eggeyes went to the Guild's alchemist.
______Eggeyes put the vial of "bad" poison on a table.
______"It doesn't work fast! A target almost attacked me before I ripped his throat out. And he didn't
seem to be in much pain."
______The wide assortment of hidden and subtle traps and poisons in the room was upsetting
Eggeyes. He held out his hands toward the alchemist in a subconscious attempt to ward off any
attack fromthat worthy. The alchemist feared what spells could be brought into existance from those
hands, however.
______"The poison might have had some old eye of unborn elve in it. Here, try this fresh batch."
______"Thank you, good master, I shall try it!" With that Eggeyes left the alchemist who was
secretly very relieved to see Eggeyes leave. Then, Eggeyes slowly made his way to the Grandfather
of Assassins' quarter.
______"Well, don't stand there boy, say 'hello'".
______"Good evening, sire. I see you've enjoyed another night with 'Their Graces'?".
______"Damned fooliness, if you ask me. I have to go to the Better Business Bureau meeting or
people will get the wrong idea of our guild. Some of those fools, those merchants, wanted to
examine our books with an eye to seeing if we pay our taxes!"
______"Do you wish me to spy out the tax records that we may know who knows how much we
should be paying? I'd like that!"
______Eggeyes meant that he would like interrogating the BB clerks in the dungeon. Somehow,
torturing humans wasn't business but was enjoyment.
______"We have a problem. There are a group of giants who are plundering all caravans leaving this
town. The Guard was about to roast the entire Thieves Guild over slow fires when I was able to
convince the Guard Captainthat no Master Thief would cut off his source of income. Someone else
is plundering the caravans. The Master Thief is the only one licenced to plunder. And that is on a
quota system. We are the only technical advisors allowed to assist the thieves. Someone is using our
techniques in the caravan raids. We must stop this raiding to save our good bad reputations. we have
a reputation of honest 'evil' to uphold and you will protect our reputation!"
______"Who is cutting in our turf?"
______Eggeyes words were a bit slurred as his fangs were beginning to slid down into place. He no
longer looked quite so human; he was beginning to resemble his father and great-grandfather's
brother.
______"The leather merchant is a spy for giants. He must be killed to stop the attacks! Others of the
brotherhood will guide chaotic fighters to find and wipe out the raiders. Go to the Inn of the
Whipping Post and you will find the leather merchant's grudge there. Here, take this:" The
Grandfather of Assassins held out a small vial. "It will make her love you for the night!"
______As Eggeyes, Priest to the Worship- Of- He- Whose- Name- Was- Not- Spoken and Assassin
left, his great-grandfather mused to himself. The "love vial" contained just the opposite and the
GRandfather of Assassins might this night be rid of his most serious future rival.
______The Inn of the Whipping Post was a true dive. Eggeyes had to step smartly to avoid the
rotting corpse of a customer who had sought to leave without paying. He had paid by giving his
living intestines to an entrail reader and his soul to a creature from Middle Hell (a fun place to visit
occasionally Eggeyes thought).
______The main room of the Inn smelt of old shit, strange drugs, sweat, seman and fear. Woven
through that was the smell of the food and drink served there. It was a hideous smell in the
smokeyair that made Eggeyes think we'd gone back to his childhood home again. He ducked his head
beneath the low slung rafters and sought out the barman.
______The barman was an incredibly hairy man who wore a brand identifying him as a werebear.
The human form of the werebear was hugh, stooped over and very old.
______
______"Where, bear, do I find the leather merchang's hag."
______He was ignored.
______"GIve me a tankard of mead." Eggeyes held out a gold piece.
______"The orcbitch in the corner." The barman smilled for he had gotten a gold piece for a glass
of mead that was worth onlya silver piece. Rather, would be if the mead had been bought rather than
stollen from the brewers.
______The orcbitch was incredibly hideous. Eggeyes thought she looked like one of his old
girlfriends or perhaps his sisters and went to meet her.
______"Hi ya, beautiful."
______"Fuck dog breath or I'll rip your balls off!"
______She suddenly sniffed with a light of hope apearing in her eyes.
______"Can it be?", she murmurred in Orciash.
______"Sure is beautiful and watch the threats or I'll rip your tits off and feed them to my dog!"
Eggeyes whispered his endearment to avoid any humans hearing him speaking Orcish.
______The orcbitch gazed in lust at Eggeyes. He had extablished himself as a true lowlife. That is
to say, established himself as the most desirable lust object for a lustful orcbitch, in the room.
______They drank their drinks and Eggeyes made his way to the barman to order two more drinks.
THe barman bitchingly took one gold piece for two tankards and Eggeyes successfully relieved the
barman of a plantium piece the barman had kept in an inner pocket.
______The orcbitch and Eggeyes were in a state of advanced lust when they left. Eggeyes poured
the "love portion" into a drink the sleepy barhog was taking to a barbarian. As they left, the barbarian
fell into hate with the barhog and most of the rest of the patrons. The barman wondered where his
plantium piece went. Suddenly, he went werebear knowing where to bear down to recover his
treasure. The barbarian began breaking bottles over hte heads of customers and the werebear began
attacking anything that moved. A truly drunken mage used a fireball spell and then the fun truly
began...
______The Guard had a busy night and the Palace truth finders used many thumbscrews and hot
nails on the survivors of the brawl to try finding out the cause of the brawl. The Grandduke didn't
take wellt obrawls that ended up firng half a section of his town. But, Eggeyes and his love were
oblivious to the fire behind them and they went to the orcbitch's quarters.
______Eggeyes and his lustful orcbitch made lust in typical orc fashion. If they had been human or
elven, then mere humans could stomack their actions. Violent rending reader(1), I, your narriatior,
am but a retired Grandfather of the Grandfather of Assassins. To tell you of the orc and helforc's
"lovemaking" would be a vomet inducing event!
______On second thought, I will write down the chronicle and have it preserved until the next age
of humans. It is fit to published in a magazine which will be called "Five Houses(2)" or words to that
effect.
______But back to my story...
______
______After leaving his lustmate sleeping, Eggeyes had to make his way through the leather
merchant's houe. He knew the general outline of the house from the orcbitch. Her quarters were in
the basement.
______He would have to go from the orcbitch's quarters to the pantry. From there, he would go up
a set of stairs to the enterance hall. Thence, via a hallway, to the master's study where the leather
merchant purportedly was. There was a dogleg in the hallway.
______As he went up the stairs in the pantry, he noticed a putrid odor and a very strong updraft.
Eggeyes could see no openings from which the updraft could be coming. He stopped moving and
very carefully loostened his poison coated, great bastard sword in it's scabbard. He then
oh-so-carefully cocked his crossbow and lashed down the release mechanism. He fitted it with a poisoned quarrel. He went the rest of the way up the
stairs.
______
(1) This is a takeoff of Dr. Isaac Asimov's custom of referring to his readers as "gentle readers" when
speaking as the author to the readers from within his essays and stories.
(2) "Five Houses" is reference to "Penthouse".
______At the open door, Eggeyes carefully did a recon down the small hallway (almost a
crawlspace) that extended to the left of the door and could see or hear nothing either in that little
hallway or from the room beyond the closed door; Eggeyes had excellent hearing and his vision
extended beyond that of humans. He could smell nothing but the putrid odour from the stairwell. The
assassin part of his soul cursed the sloopy but oh-so-orcish houecleaning. THe cleric part of him
prayed for his life.
______Finally, he entered the parlor. A window at one end was open and the air was hot and clear
near the window. He could see no reason for the breeze in the stairwell and assumed it to be some
sort of magic. If he had known what type, he might have dove out through the window. But, more
likely, he would have pressed on regardless...
______The room had rotting wood along the baseboards and he thought that the wall hangins were
too faded. There was a desk under the window and an armoire(3) near it. A hissing sound could be
heard coming from a large chest against the far wall. Eggeyes went over to the chest and investigated
it. There was a distince hissing coming from the chest. Carefully, Eggeyes looked it over for traps.
He found none.
______Slowly, he raised the unlocked lid just a crack. The hissing was very loud now. He took out
his dagger and slid it betwinx the lid and the box. He felt the blade shudder as something struck
twice at it and then bit it. With a happy, happy, smile, Eggeyes waited until the creature inside quit
moving. Moving back to full arm's length from the chest, he slowly raised the lid. The dagger was
the only thing touching the chest and lifting the lid was tricky work even for a halforc.
______Inside the chest was a dead snake and several gold pieces and platinum pieces. This was a
treasure beyond belief! Inside was the lodge pin of one of the area's tribes of giants. It identified the
bearer as an ally of that tribe and was a safepass. Eggeyes' mind spun with thoughts of what he could
do with such a thing as he carefully picked up the pin with an unpoisoned quarrel. He could tell that
the pin was poisoned and didn't want to die just yet...(3) An amoire is a closed chest or cabinet.
______From the armoire, he found nothing of value or of threat. He carefully went to the closed door
and removed his helmet. He listened so hard that he thought his heart was a kettle drum and he
thought of cursing it. But, he remembered the disconcerting habit his god had of answering such
curses and refrained. If only his god would answer his prayers so readily...
______He went to the unopened door and gently open it. Then, he remembered to put his helm back
upon his head. But, the pause to redon his helmet was his undoing. Out in the hall were two
Troglodytes and they had seen him!
______With hisses of hate they charged him. Eggeyes quickly slammed the door in their faces. After
bolting the door, he noticed that one of the trogs had managed to hit him with a thrown axe. The
sight of his own blood filled Eggeyes with the lust for revenge.
______He ran silently for the stairway enterance to the parlor. He carefully opened it a crack and the
door rang to the assualt of the trog's stone bvattle axe. The trog backed off to allow Eggeyes out of
the parlor. Eggeyes swung hastily and missed; the trog swung and was equally inept. Then, again
they attacked and both missed. The other trog was roaring with laughter and waited to see how the
comedy would progress.
______Eggeyes set imself nad with total concentration swung his bastard sword. He cut the trog just
below it's rib cage on the right side and the large bastard killer of men and monsters sword sheared
through the trog's bodyand exited through it's left shoulder socket. The body oozed to the floor. As
it fell, the trog released it's most potent weapon. It released a strnch that would make a skunk gage
and pray for deliverance. Eggeys abruptly jackknifed over in a spasm of vomiting. He would never
have believed that a halforc could be so affected; perhps his god had intervened? The stone axe
thrown by the surviving trog passed harmlessly over Eggeye's head nad the trog disappeared down
the hall.
______Having emptied his stomack, Eggeyes' wiped off ihs mouth nad crept up the passage. In a
manner that would have made his mentors come with joy, Eggeyes moved silently thrugh the
shadows and crept up upon his victum. Perhaps it had been grief that had kept the trog from noticing
eggeys; perhaps, Eggeyes was simply very good at his chosen vocation...
______
______The orcbitch smilled as she watch the action in her crystal ball.
______
______The body had a few gold pieces and some silver pieces onit. Eggeyes figured his spoils at
about four gold pieces. He thought of the 3600 gold pieces that he had been promised for this night's
work and decided that he would be asking for a bonus. There had been too much shit going down
for the mood he was in.
______Without manking any further attemtps at concealment, Eggeyes went to the enterance of the
leather merchant's study and set foot inside. He had his slightly magical shield up at the ready.
______The room had a large collection of books and at a lecturn sat a darkly dressed man. THe
leather merchant was dressed in the finest of brown silks. he wore no armour and had only a dagger
on. Ther leather merchant picked up a staff and moving away from the lecturn, leanded upon the
staff.
______"I have been waiting for you to come here." He pointed toward a mirror that showed the
image of the orcbitch. Most of the scratchs had stopped bleeding but scratchs were normal to orcish
love (or lust play to be exact). Eggeyes felt his own scratches and his fourteen inches of warty
lustfulliness began strining against his suit of plate armour. He really didn't pay attention to the walls
of books in theroom or the rich decorations on what parts of the walls that were visible. He
momentarily turned his attention to the useless thoughts of his lust object and the leather merchant
struck in that instant.
______From his hands spouted twin jets of fire that seared Eggeyes and might have blinded himbut
for theinstinctive raising of his shield. On one side, the flames ignited a stack of books. With a
scream of pain, the merchant turned his attention to putting out the fire with a water dispatching
spell. He would pay dearly for the use of the water elemental that produced the water but the books
were worth saving.
______Eggeyes didn't react but merely tried to recover and watched the perchant put out the fire.
Thus, his opportunity was lost.
______The leather merchant turned and struck Eggeyes with his staff and Eggeyes staggered
backwards.
______Recovering, Eggeyes tried to ignore the smel of burnt paper and the smoke in his eyes. He
brought up his crossbow and whiped off the restraining lash. His shot was instantly lethal. The
leather merchant fell in a heap. Breathing hard, Eggeyes cautiously searched the body of the leather
merchant. he removed a gem worth at least a thousand gold pieces.
______The Guard arrived to check out the fire. Then, to Eggeyes's surprise, the orcbitch came
running upstairs. She told the guard officer that her master had gotten drunk and set the room on fire.
She told them of how she would give the leather merchant pure hell the next morning.
______The sight of a crossbow quarrel protruding from the leather merchant made the Guard doubt
that the leather merchant would be awakening again ever. But, he had his orders and the Guard
COmmander had been most specific about this house: Ignore all things that occurr at that house
tonight!"
______Eggeyes went to the orcbitch's room for the remainder of the night which made for a truly
memorable night of sin, debachery and degradation. He left early the next morning to report in.
There was a spring to his step and at least 3000 gold pieces worth of loot. He had spent the morning
between dawn and leaving in stealing this wealth.
______When he returned to the Guildhall, the Housemouse paid Eggeyes 3100 gold pieces for his
loot. Then, Eggeyes went to see the Grandfather of Assassins.
______His adventure thenight before had started with meeting with "Gramps" shortly after nightfall.
THe final encounter with the Guard had occurred three hours before the sun arose. It was near noon
now and Eggeyes wanted his lunch and then some sleep.
______"Your report, assassin!" It was the Grandfather of Assassin and not "Gramps" who gave the
order to speak.
______Eggeyes reported all events fromthe time he had taken the job.
______The Grandfather of Assassins intrupted once to say: "You didn't have to use the lust potion?"
______"No, your unholiness. The orcbitch practically raped me so I just put the potion in a
barbarian's drink. I trust it gave him much happiness."
______Gramps smilled. "It gave a lot of people much happiness." Gramps was more than a little
sadistic.
______"Here is your just reward ("Gramps" put 4000 gold pieces in Eggeye's grasping hands.). Take
a few days off. Then, I am going to have you take a combat team and hunt for the headquarters of
the giants."
______Gramps carefully didn't tell Eggeyes that the leather merchant's body had been removed from
town in a wagon that morning by the true spy. Eggeyes was not told that the true spy was a high level
cleric, a High Priestess capable of performing Resurrection, Regenertaion and Restoration. He didn't
know that the true spy would never heart Eggeys for she had found in him the ideal lust partner.
______As the orcbitch and her dead servant, the leather merchant, went to the deep woods location
of the orcbitch's god's temple, she lusted for Eggeyes. She decided that the leather merchant would
have to be better trained. But, first, she would fulfill the promise she had made to the Guard
Officer...
______The grate plans the orcbitch had for Eggeys would have horrified a man and might have
upset Eggeyes had he known.
______More likely they would have delighted him.
POSTSCRIPT:
writing a sequal but didn't get too far as I was transferred in March 1983 and never got around to
finishing the story. The sequal would have featured a half elve Paladin (a holy night sworn to defeat
all evil) forced to work alongside Eggeyes (a creature of quite the opposite orientation). After saving
each other live's a couple of times and they came to an understanding and parted amiable enemies
as opposed to blood enemies. Unfortunately, the rough draft of that story seems to have disappeared
during the past three or four moves.
______There was also another D&D story I started about the same time which was the same story
but told from the viewpoints of four different characters. I wrote it mainly for the fun of writing the
common sceens as told from the four different viewpoints (i.e. a raid on a wagon train or a night in
a tavern/inn). This story is lost (alas).
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
"Phegm Phantasy"
PREFACE NOTE: This is a delightful little piece that I wrote in the winter of 1990; I figured that it might bother Kathie and I was right. So, without further ado, I present for your reading pleasure:
The Artist!
______For three days, Hawk had been working on his greatest masterpiece; it was an experimental work called his "P Phantasy".
______He had thought of the concept only days before and was eager to complete it. His wife was wondering what it was. She had never seen this work for he kept the back of easel facing toward the bedroom door.
______"You can tell me, dear," she said at dinner, "I'm your wife."
______She avoided looked at Hawk for Hawk had a truly classic cold; he was grateful that the cold had gone into both his chest and his larynx and that he couldn't talk. So he whispered something knowing that his wife couldn't hear him.
______"Oh, you poor dear! Here! Drink this cough medicine."
______"Can't dear, I just took a Sue-de-fed."
______Later that evening, feeling worst then ever, Hawk returned to the spare bedroom he worked in. His work was coming along nicely. Hawk liked to work with whatever texture or colour of paint he had available; he was not one to plan ahead and preselect his material for Hawk liked to be spontaneous. Hawk just grabbed what he could and figured where it would go in the completed "P Phantasy". It would take a few more days.
______The next day, Hawk's wife had guests over who sat around talking about the latest TV craze: an overweight, overly made up woman, who cried on the TV and interviewed failed ministers. It was quite amusing and also up to Her-aldo's best (that being how Hawk pronounced the one time newsman's name). Hawk was busily filling his hankies with stringy mucus that no one wanted to look at yet which everyone seemed to see out of the corners of their eyes no matter where they looked. Hawk's wife and their guests were quite relieved when "the poor dear" left the room to get some rest. However, Hawk had always been blessed with excellent hearing. When he heard the way they were discussing him, Hawk knew that they would view his greatest work. He thought that they might not appreciate the subject matter. Hawk didn't like people who talked about him behind his back.
______The work was coming along nicely and his cold was beginning to abate. He knew that with his return to health would come his return to the office ... his return to processing quality control statistics on the colectomy bags that his medical supply company produced.
______The final day had come and he was almost done. His greatest masterpiece was a delicate work in red, greens, tan and clear overlays. The work was of course a Phantasy. His images were, to say the least, disturbing. Later, some would say that they were disturbed. Hawk went to his garage to get some Mountain Dew. Unfortunately, being an abstracted artist concerned with the completion of his somewhat abstract work, Hawk forgot to put on his jacket. It was raining outside and there were four inches of snow still on the ground; he returned to the house soaking wet and with his shoes caked with snow.
______Hawk was crushed by his carelessness and told his wife that the work might have to wait; his cold renewed it's assault on his battered system and Hawk sat bundled in his easy chair quite miserable. His wife made him a hot lemonade that was mostly rum; Hawk never knew when his wife undressed him and put him to bed.
______The next day dawned wonderfully. Hawk's cold was feeling better and he was honking like a bull goose trying to service more than his mate. He ran into his work room and began to feverishly complete his work.
______His wife opened the door and gagged slightly as she saw Hawk snort a strand of mucus onto his palm and then delicately attach it to the canvas. She walked around to look at the abstract images that looked like something taken from an old fantasy story. Then, she realized exactly what media Hawk had been working in and felt very ill when she saw the full title of the piece:
POSTSCRIPT: Sure, it's a little bit disgusting but "what the hell"? Some stories just have to be
written!
written!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Novel status...
My fist attempt at a novel, written from 1990 to 1992 is about half done. I'll have to actually finish it. I'm going to put in a story called "The Lawyer's Story". This will be an "Anderson Story".
My NaNoWri story from 2005 needs some editihng. Mainly, I changed the names of at least one character between chapter 1 and their next appearance (in chapter 4). ALso, I've got to put in a few scenes and then I can pay to have the story published. It will be a great deal cheaper to have the story printed commeercially.
My 2006 NaNoWri story is about 5 scenes from being finsihed. THen, I'll have to do a lot of spell checking and and reformat the lines. Once I got all this done, I think I'll "publish" on this blog.
I haven't come up with a story for 2007 but suspect I will in late October and will then wish I'd plan everything a\head of time.
My NaNoWri story from 2005 needs some editihng. Mainly, I changed the names of at least one character between chapter 1 and their next appearance (in chapter 4). ALso, I've got to put in a few scenes and then I can pay to have the story published. It will be a great deal cheaper to have the story printed commeercially.
My 2006 NaNoWri story is about 5 scenes from being finsihed. THen, I'll have to do a lot of spell checking and and reformat the lines. Once I got all this done, I think I'll "publish" on this blog.
I haven't come up with a story for 2007 but suspect I will in late October and will then wish I'd plan everything a\head of time.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Winner of the 2006 NaNoWriMo
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
my latest of my story...
______LCDR Eric Randall Bellingham sat at the Science Officer's
position monitoring the derelict Star
Fleet light cruiser and listening to his bridge officer giving
the approach orders. The young
officer, one of his "Passed Midshipmen" gave his orders in
textbook fashion but added enough
flare that Eric had hope for him. The USS EDWARD BERRY came to
a halt relative to the
derelict and the bridge officer turned to LCDR Bellingham and
spoke.
______"Sir, we've arrived and are 25 kilometers from the ghost
ship. Shall I signal the flag?" (This
young man had read too many old Naval novels.)
______"Yes, please do and tell ENTERPRISE we look forward to
visiting with them."
______Eric smiled slightly as he heard his bridge officer (under
instruction) exchange greetings with
the ENTERPRISE's bridge officer and state the BERRY's Captain
was standing by.
______Eric opened a window on one of his monitors and drafted a
message to the Captain of the
ENTERPRISE: "John, I look forward to seeing you again! I'm
going to see if I can figure this
puzzle out before your son does."
______The reply was "Eric, you should have marked that PRIVATE. My
son Data is wondering who
my son is..."
______Eric replied: "PRIVATE MESSAGE FOR CAPTAIN JON-LUC PICCARD:
It won't hurt your
son to wonder and he'll figure it out fairly quickly; he is,
after all, a very bring man. Please give
me best to your Doctor and head thumper; I really have been
doing better lately."
______Piccard replied: "That's good to hear and my son is already
scanning the dead ship."
______The dead ship was a challenge and Eric had made damage
control his speciality for 12 years. He
was different from other "Damage Control Engineers" in that he
did more than train his troops
and have drills: he liked to know why damage occurred. On a
starship, there could be surprising
causes for damage and so he hunted.
______It didn't hurt that he had a library of programmes he had
written, stolen or been given "under
the table". He leaned back in his chair and tapped commands on
his keyboard that caused
windows to open on his monitors. He watched the displays and
occasionally issued more
commands on his keyboard. Windows would appear with data and
disappear. He watched them,
taking in the data at a rate that very few could consciously
see let alone assimilate and quietly
build up a picture of what had NOT happened to the dead ship.
______His bridge officer transferred the imagery from Eric's
monitors to the main viewer; Eric didn't
notice. On the ENTERPRISE, Data had patched into the BERRY's
communications systems and
put the images from Eric's monitors onto the ENTERPRISE's main
viewer.
______The ENTERPRISE bridge crew was stunned. Piccard was bemused
and wondered if "his Eric"
had gotten over his problems and hoped the "old Eric" was
back. Dr. Crusher was delighted.
______Eric paused when three screens started showing flickering red
icons. He focused an entirely new
set of diagnostics on those screens and Piccard, feeling an
intuitive dread, began to frown.
______Eric focused on a section of the second deck where something
had created a loop in an exposed
pipe. This pipe carried a necessary compound that was used in
the warp engine cooling system.
The pipe was one of the strongest on the dead ship and in
theory, should have survived a warp
core breach. It was bend into a "C" shape and had clearly
breached. Eric had noticed this with his
first scans but NEEDED to figure out what had caused the
damage.
______He now knew where the ship's personnel had gone. The leaks
had been near a large intake for
the ship's air handling system and quickly filled the ship,
dissolving all organic material on the
dead ship. That is, all humans, three house cats, a highly
pampered lap dog and the First Officer's
pet Vulcan "bird". The ship's ventilation system had vented
the toxic gases but only after the
"organic material" had been completely dissolved. It was a
tragedy.
______Eric's final display showed a squiggly line descending
through the "ceiling" and co-incident
with this, the bending of the pipe. He typed in one final
command and looked into a hooded
monitor which came out from the equipment rack. His retina was
scanned and what he feared
was confirmed.
______All the monitors on the bridge when black.
______A monitor on Piccard's bridge chair lit up and showed what he
had feared from the instant he'd
seen the squiggly line: an Omega particle had gone through the
dead ship. Now, all records of
this event would have to be classified and removed from both
the BERRY and the
ENTERPRISE; a lie would have to be created to satisfy the
curious (weapon hidden by the
Romulans was a classic standby) and it would now be safe to
re-populate the dead ship. Piccard
would leave the writing of condolence letters to the
professionals at Star Fleet Headquarters.
______Eric sent a message to Piccard suggesting they met for lunch
the next morning. Piccard
countered with a 7 am breakfast. Eric responded with a
suggestion for a 9 am breakfast and
Piccard agreed.
______Eric stretched, thinking this was one of "those stressful
events" he'd been warned about.
However, if he was going to finally quit "using the good
stuff", one last "shot of glory" would be
the perfect ending to unfortunate source of "relief from pain"
and would mourn the dead.
______He looked behind him and saw all five of his Passed
Midshipmen clumped together like a group
of nervous Ferengi and three Ensigns from the ENTERPRISE. He
hadn't noticed them beam over
and assumed that Piccard had sent them. He beamed at the three
Ensigns; they had been students
of his at Star Fleet academy and had given memorial
performances during the so-called "Wet
Navy" portion of the damage control classes Eric had taught.
From the scowls, the three
"youngsters" clearly remembered Eric Bellingham.
______Eric suddenly realized his binge of three weeks before had
been his last and he could no longer
indulge.
______He had too many people looking up to him now and he suddenly
realized he needed his people
to think well of him.
______He was finally healed...
______
______"Well, well, it's good to see all of you again! We're going
to have to survey that 'ship of the
dead', gather the personal belongings and ship them to next of
kin, rename that boat and
repopulate her with officers and crew. I'm going to propose a
crew to Captain Piccard and here is
what I'm thinking of...
Chapter 2 - In the beginning...
______
______It was graduation day, that June day in 2358 and Midshipman
Eric Randall Bellingham proudly
marched up to the podium. He braced himself to attention and
in an earlier Navy, he would have
saluted. Vice Admiral J.P. Hanson smiled at him and spoke:
"Midshipman Eric Bellingham has
completed the course of instruction leading to a Bachelor of
Science in Advanced engineering
and a minor in Command. Mr. Bellingham has been accepted into
the Masters programme and
will be searching advanced engineering applications. He is
fully qualified to serve in an Engineer
officer position but that will have to wait until he completes
his advanced education. I look
forward to having Eric serve aborad one of my ships in the
very near future." The Vice Admiral
handed Eric his diploma. Eric smiled with relief and
appreciation of the Vice Admiral's approval
and then Passed Midshipman Eric Randall Bellingham did an
about face and marched off the
stage. He passed the next happy graduate and was only vaguely
aware of the Vice
| Admiral stating "Midship woman Elizabeth Anne Stephanie
Benson has successfully..."
______Eric's parents and irritating 15 year old sister greeted him
with hugs and congratulations. His
little sister stopped the dancing around the subject they all
wanted to know about.
______"So, stupid older brother, why weren't you commissioned like
that 'Elizabeth Anne something
or another was? You're good enough!"
______His parents nodded in agreement.
______"I have some ideas about general engineering. We've got all
sorts of tools but we study each one
separately or at best, several at a time. Most people don't
know what the tools have in common. If
they did, the repair troops might be able to cobble together
different instruments in emergencies.
So, I'm going to be doing a study. I'm ... ah ... not quite
sure what my thesis will be about but I've
several months to decide and I'll have a good professor."
"The USS PEGASUS had returned to Earth so her Captain could
look over the 'fresh crop of
Cadets'. His helmsman, a graduate from the previous year,
William Thomas Riker, came over.
______"Congratulations, Eric, I've been looking forward to this
day!" Riker turned to Bellingham's
family. "Eric and I were in the same weapons engineering
classes last year and we both tutored
several cadets together." Riker abruptly glanced away and then
directly addressed Eric: "A
number of your friends are getting together for graduation
pictures. I'll visit with your family for
a few minutes and then you can head off for a nice two week v
a c a t i o n!"
______"Once every generation, a natural engineer will crop up at
the Academy and he or she will do
more than just learn general systems and how to do general
engineer. He or she will think deeply
about basic designs of our tools and how they are similar or
different. Eric will come up with a
taxidermy of our various machines. His findings will be used
to train engineers graduating from
the academy or the Enlisted training brigade. It will be very
helpful."
______"Why aren't all midshipmen commissioned as officers?"
______"Many are excellent engineers or medical types or Security
forces as police or Marines. It's no
dishonor to not be officer material and besides, there are far
more crewman billets than officer
billets on ships. There aren't very many officers on ships.
Then, the enlisted training brigade is
meant for specialists who will work in strictly limited areas.
These are the crew who might be the
best warp core electronics engineers or the best weapons techs
or the best Marines. The academy
graduates, whether they are commissioned or not, simply have
broader educations and can move
around more. Our Eric will be commissioned and will be a fine
engineering officer. Don't
worry!"
______After a while, Ensign Riker excused himself to wonder over
and speak with other friends of his
from the Academy and with their families. It was pleasant.
______
______All went as Ensign Riker had prophesied. Eric finished his
training in the basics of all of Star
Fleet's engineering systems and his thesis detailed what
instruments had in common and which
parts could be modified to fit into different systems. For
every Engineer who praised his work,
several Engineering students cursed him for his thesis was
"learn by heart" to many instructors. It
was a thesis but Eric was cursed for not writing "a better
textbook..."
______
______The USS TAMERLANE (NCC-11555) had been built as a fast attack
gun ship shortly after the
last Romulans War. For her time, she was fast and heavily
armed. TAMERLANE had the
traditional saucer section but had a modified engineering
section. Instead of being a four section
composition of saucer, engineering "cylinder" and twin warm
nacelles, the TAMERLANE's
engineering "cylinder" was merged into the lower aft section
of the saucer; the twin warm
nacelles could be retracted to bring in tight to the hull and
this allowed for a smaller volume to be
protected by the shields. Thus, the TAMERLANE, in effect, had
a much more powerful shield
that she should have.
______Passed Midshipman Eric Bellingham had read up on his new ship
but didn't appreciate what
TAMERLANE would really look like. He would learn her
virtues...
______Eric was a passenger on a Star Fleet courier boat. Star Fleet
needed very few of these craft since
high speed subspace communications took care of more
communications needs including
replicator templates for suddenly needed products; most
personnel transfers could be handled on
a slower time frame and people could be shuffled on a
leisurely pace. This was the exception,
however. The unnamed courier was carrying a "classified cargo"
and while they were at it, they
hauled personnel for the TAMERLANE and two other ships.
______Eric volunteered to help out in engineering and was rather
kindly turned down. It would have
taken too much time to "break in" the new people and the crew
was busy enough given the "boat"
cruised at warm 9.5 and that would very rough on a ship. He
was told to enjoy this vacation. Eric
also got an introduction to his beloved "old Navy": he was hot
racking. This meant that he had to
share a rack with two other crew men and he had not been
looking forward to making some
person roll out at the start of Eric's "eight" and then be
evicted from "his" rack at the end of "his
Eight". Fortunately, Eric's predecessor never slept more than
5.5 hours and Eric could rack out
early, get 8 - 8.5 hours and let his "successor" rack out
early. It was a source of amusement to the
boat's crew and sleep ranked just below eating and having the
occasional "drink of medicinal
alcohol". Eric was happy to reach the TAMERLANE.
______The boat shut off her engines near the TAMERLANE's and was
drawn by TAMERLANE's
tractors against the main airlock. Personnel simply walked
from the boat to TAMERLANE
without ceremony. There was no saluting towards a flag and no
one "requested permission to
come aboard. It was all so very disappointedly un-military.
Eric was offended.
______Finally, an Lieutenant spotted him and walked over.
______"You must be Mr. Bellingham? I'm Scott Talbert, second
officer and your official greeter.
Welcome aboard!"
______"Thank you sir."
______"Just call me Dan. We Sir "Big Bob" and "Laser Eyes" but
don't let them know those
nicknames. "Big Bob" is Captain Robert McMillian and "Laser
Eyes" is Clark Gray; we call him
"Laser Eyes" since he can pick out problems with the best of
them."
______"Yes, sir."
______"You'll get used to it, once You're settled in. Shall we go
see your quarters and then the
Captain?"
"Yes, sir, er, yes Dan. My gear isn't aboard yet and maybe you
can help me find a hand cart?"
______"Don't worry, we used our cargo transporters to move your
personal gear aboard. They
wondered through several corridors and up a ladder before
finding a door with the names
"Bellingham" and "McDuff" on it. Dan opened the door and
showed Eric around. The quarters
consisted of two small "bedrooms" with a common head, a work
table, storage space inside and
outside the two "bedrooms" and a replicator smaller than what
Eric was used to.
______"Your roomie isn't on the same shift as you so your rooms
should be quiet when you go to bed.
You'll have plenty of time to put your stuff away. Now, you
can replicate a fresh uniform every
day but the Captain thinks this is a waste of power. So, as
long as your uniform is clean and in
good repair, the Captain and First Officer won't care. you can
use the replicator to clean your
uniforms as well. Now, when was the last time you ate, had
something to drink or took care of
personal business? (He meant use the head.)"
______"Right before we docked."
______"Great! Time to meet the man! Stand up straight and I'll
straighten your uniform up." Dan
straightened Eric's uniform, which he had put on clean and
pressed some hour or so before
leaving the boat. Then, Dan slapped the button on the wall
communicator panel and spoke:
"Third officer to the Captain".
______"Talk to me, Dan."
______"Sir, I've gotten Passed Midshipman Eric Randal Bellingham in
his quarters. Will you be
available to meet him?"
______"Certainly, bring the young man up to my 'At Sea Cabin'"."
______
______They entered an outer office, where a stern looking Senior
Chief stood behind a large desk. She
wore the commications pin favoured by Star Fleet Security
(Marine) instead of the more
traditional comminications pin.
______"You must be Mr. Bellingham. I will introduce you to the
Captain." Then she looked at LTjg
Talbert. "I need a few words with you, young man, at your
earliest convience."
______"Captain, this is Passed Midshipman Eric Randall Bellingham.
He did very at the Academy and
wrote a very nice thesis. One of his advisors wrote me a
letter praising the young man. I have
high hopes for him. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a
few words with your Second
Officer."
______"Is there a problem, Senior Chief Haskall?"
______"No, sir, just a matter of scheduling drills."
______The Senior Chief left.
______"Welcome to TAMERLANE, Eric. I'm quite pleased to have you
with us. That advisor Senior
Chief mentioned was most convincing. Have you gotten into
quarters? Did you have a good trip
out here? Have you met your new roomie?"
______"Ah, Sir, I'm delighted to me here but also a bit scared.
Sir, the trip here was fine but I had to
'hot rack'. The Lieutenant showed me my room but I've not met
my roomie. Which advisor wrote
your Senior Chief and", he paused, "if you don't mind me
asking, why did my advisor write the
Senior Chief? Sir."
______"Your advisor is Anna's 2nd son and he was likes routing the
best Passed Midshipmen to his
Mother's Ship."
______"His...Mother's ship?"
______"He is convinced Senior Chief rules the ship. She does but
don't let her know I've said that!
Before you ask, Senior Chief was a member of the Security
Branch called 'Star Fleet Marines'.
She retired as a 'Master Chief' but went by the rank of
"Master Gunnery Sergeant" on active duty.
After a couple of years of retirement, my Anna came back on
active duty as an Administrative
Chief Petty Officer and I promoted her to Senior Chief as
quickly as I could. Ah, where are my
manners. Please, have a seat and I'll arrange for coffee."
______Eric was escorted over to one of a couple of easy chairs that
were in one corner of the Captain's
office. The door opened and the Senior Chief swept in carrying
a silver china service with a
silver looking coffee pot, two china cups and coffee cake,
butter, plates and flatware. She placed
this on a small table between the easy chairs and murmured the
Captain:
______"I have no delusions of running this ship. Sir."
______"No, of course not, Anna."
______She sniffed and swept back out of the Captain's office and
into her lair.
______The Captain grinned at Eric...
______
______"Now that you've met the 'real commander' of the Good Ship
TAMERLANE, how about we
discuss what you'll be doing here. Based on your records, I
get the impression that You're a
generalist and would like to learn all the ship's systems?"
______"Yes, sir."
______"Good! I'm going to make you the Assistant to the Main
Propulsion Assistant (MPA) at first.
Right now, Master Chief Lynch, Jair Lynch, is acting MPA and
is also assistant Chief Engineer.
Once you get settled in, I expect to commission you and you'll
be MPA. Questions?"
______"Sir, I remember reading of something called the 'Pipes and
Wiring Book' back in the 'old days'.
This was something that 'Tripp', Captain Archer's Chief
Engineer required of his people and
something that Captain Scott also required. I'm not sure this
is still in use and I don't want to step
on any toes by asking permission to work through this book.
Sir."
______"Eric, I typically assign 'doing the book' as remedial
training for engineers but if you want to try
it, please do so. Just be aware that you'll get some strange
looks."
______"Strange looks?" Eric had an uncomfortable feeling he already
knew the answer.
______"Yes, strange looks. Folks will wonder how you could have
been on board ship so short a
period and yet be 'in hack' already."
______Eric smiled wanly and the Captain briefed Eric on the ship,
it's history, Eric's expected duties
and told him to be in the Wardroom in Dress Uniform at 1800.
Eric was escorted to the door and
the Captain went back to his "paperwork".
______Eric nodded at the Senior Chief, who nodded back and then
spoke:
______"You would be wise to ask for the 'Pipes and Wiring Book'
from Master Chief Lynch. After he
agrees, just call me and I'll have a copy sent down to you.
Now, did you have lunch before
leaving that courier boat?"
______"I had a little to eat, Ma'am."
______"I thought so." She went to the door and called to a passing
Ensign.
______"Ensign Lyndon, this is Mr. Bellingham, Eric Bellingham. Mr.
Bellingham, this is Ensign
Theressa Lyndon. Miss Lyndon, please take Mr. Bellingham to
the lounge for a snack and then
help him get settled in. I'll arrange for Mr. Bellingham to
have his introduction to Engineering
tomorrow."
______"Yes, Ma'am. Eric, come with me."
______"Here is the officer and Chief Petty Officer listing."
______Eric was handed a padd with the text:
______
______
______
______
______Command:
______
______
______Robert McMillian, CAPT, CO
______
______
______Clark Gray, CDR, 1st officer
______
______
______Scott Talbert, LT, 2nd officer
______
______
______Engiineering:
______
______
______Daniel Jackson, CDR, Chief Engineer
______
______
______ Jair Lynch, Master Chief, Assistant Chief Engineer
______There were the names of a number of engineering officers and
Eric skimmed over them. He
knew he'd learn them soon enough. Unpacking in his "quarters"
(room actually) mainly consisted
of putting out his dress uniform, a clean working uniform for
the next day and his preferred
sleeping gear (his high school running shorts and a ratty t
shirt he grandfather had worn on his
first ship and which he'd given Eric the year before).
______The meal went quickly and Eric would later think it had been
a fine one but he couldn't
remember exactly why. He did know that he'd bonded on some
level with everyone in the room.
Why this had happened when logically it should not have was
something he would never think
about. Star Fleet did a very carefull job of picking it's
future ship's crews and carefully "adjusted"
them in subtle ways so as to make them blend easily and
peacefully into crews. Sometimes it
didn't work; the difficulties one Reg Barclay had on the
ENTERPRISE had become legend
among the "head thumpers".
______
______The next day began his real tour on the TAMERLANE. Eric was
given a tour of the ship and
introducted around. He met dozens of people and knew he would
never remember their names.
Several years later, he now only knew their names, he knew the
names of their spouces, girl
friends, boy friends, families and even most of their dogs,
cats and targs. (Yes, TAMMERLANE
hosted Klingons several times.) He would later see their inner
demons and they his; this
familiarity would not lead to contempt but to deeper
friendship. It was strange but true and
happened to many others in those later years.
______Eric knocked on the door to the Chief Engineer's Office; he
expected a growled order to enter
and then expected to wait while the Chief Engineer did
paperwork that was far more important
than a "Passed Midshipmen". He was wrong.
______Commander Jackson personally opened the door for Eric and
invited him in. The door was a
very old fashioned dogged "hatch" and had to be manually
opened. It had the virtue of being
airtight and impossible for an intruder to open via computer.
The Master Chief was seated in an
easy chair but he arose anyway and walked towards the visitor.
______"Passed Midshipman Eric Randal Bellingham reporting as
ordered, Sir!"
______"The Master Chief rolled his eyes; the Chief Engineer gave
him a "now Master Chief" look.
______"Welcome to my little fiefdom, Mr. Bellingham. I am Daniel
Jackson and this is your new
Mentor, Master Chief Jair Lynch. You don't have to call him
'God' but it wouldn't hurt to bow
towards him every so often."
______The Master Chief simply looked disguested.
______"When Master Chief Lynch was a Senior Chief, I was a Passed
Midshipman in fusion reactor
section. So, please have a seat. Do you like coffee and coffee
cake?"
______"Sir, yes and yes."
______"Well, have a seat."
______There were three seats, with a little table between them. The
Master Chief trundled over to pour
coffee from a pewter pot and removed a large plate of sliced
coffee cake from a microwave oven.
The butter was already melted into the cake. He brought the
tray over to the table,sat and helped
himself. The other two did as well.
______"Eric, what would you like to do?"
______"Sir, I would like to get as familiar as possible with every
engineering system. I would also like
to run through the "Pipes and Wiring" book; I think it would
help. What are your plans for me?"
______"You'll work for Master Chief on qualifying as a Division
Officer. You'll have to qualify as an
Engineer Officer of the Watch first and then serve as the
Fusion Reactors Officer, Master Chief
is currently the Acting Main Propulsion Assistant and is in
charge of the warp drive and impulse
engines. This also means he is acting sub department head for
the warp and fusion reactors and
power generation and distribution. All this could take you
upwards of a year to do."
______The Master Chief spoke immediately after the Department Head
stopped.
______"You'll be learning quite a lot simply to get your Junior
Engineer of the Watch and then
Engineer of the Watch qualificaitons. Normally, a new crewman
would get the Junior quals and
have some breathing room before doing the 'senior' quals. I
think you can do this."
______"Yes, Sir." Technically, he wasn't supposed to "sir" the
Master Chief but no one ever made the
mistake of forgetting this worthy was a non-Commissioned
Officer and so he got "senior officer"
and "old fart" respect.
______The next hour or so was spent in planning Eric's upcoming
training in engineering and his
quals. They left the "big office" and Master Chief mustered
the on-duty crew.
______"This is Mr. Eric Randall Bellingham. He'll be working in all
sections as part of his Engineering
Officer of the Watch quals. I expect we'll commission him
before too long and he'll be the Fusion
Reactor Officer. So, give him as much help as you can, help
get him qualified as quickly as you
and he'll be doing the 'paperwork' before you know it. Then,
too, the sooner he quals, the sooner
the Fusion Reactor Officer can go back to Post Graduate School
and get that Advanced Warp
Theory Ph.D. he has been sighing over..."
______There was a laugh and Eric wondered what the joke was.
______The Master Chief nodded at Eric.
______"I'm happy to be here and want to qualify as quickly as
possible. I've been told that Division
Officers are quote paperwork pushers unquote but my real
interest is in hands on engineering.
I've read of something called the "Wiring and Pipes" book and
I'd like to work my way through
that. It seems to me it would help me learn the systems and
thus, qualify quicker."
______There was a deep silence and someone spoke: "Well, I'll be
damned! A voluenteer!"
______Eric gained a lot of face by voluenteering...
______Over the next five weeks, Eric was introduced to everyone in
Engineering, was shown how to
do a vast number of jobs and favourably impressed most with
his willingness to work and his
ability to work. The strangest jobs were when he trained on
the bridge and realized "I could do
this!"
______"I could be a bridge officer."
______During his Junior Engineering Officer of the Watch board (he
was seated away from the table in
a psychologically vulnerable postion) he was asked by the
Captain:
______"If you saw a problem, would you have the courage to come to
me about it?"
______"Yes, Sir...well, I like to think I would. Sir."
______"That was a trick question, Eric. You're damned regardless of
how you answer. If you'd said
'no', I'd think you a butt kissing courage. If you'd said
'yes', what could the problem be?"
______Eric thought for a moment, looking at the immediate threat in
the question and quickly realized
a deeper meaning. "I would be wrong to have immediately said
'yes' because that would suggest I
was jumping over my chain of command. I would be wrong if I
didn't bring problems to my
Department Head, first officer and finally to you, Sir, if my
leaders didn't decide to report a
problem and it's possible solutions. It would look like I was
trying to put myself above more
experienced, better trained, officers. Sir."
______"Good answer, Mr. Bellingham," the First officer stated. "We
are more experienced but I doubt
we're better trained; after all, you've just graduated from
the Academny with your BS and MS.
You've got the edge in training on the rest of us. As for
experience, you'll gain that. You're in a
rare position: you're about to be commissioned and will be
allowed to make a certain number of
errors; I think of it as a puppy pooping on the rug
occasionally. The puppy needs to learn the
limits. We're old dogs and have learned how to make it to the
yard."
______Eric politely joined in the general laughter especially when
the Captain did a
dog-panting-with-tounge-handing-out-gesture.
______The questioning went on for a while. Then, Eric was
dismissed. When he was brought back into
the Wardroom, the Engineering Master Chief and the Senior
Chief (who was the Senior Chief
who controlled the warp core) ushered him to a regular seat.
There he was told:
______"Passed Midshipman Eric Randall Bellingham, after several
minutes of discussion, we
unanmously declared you qualified to serve as a 'Junior
Engineering Officer of the Watch'. We're
proud of you! Now, I expect to commission you as Ensign in one
week and I expect you to
qualify as 'Senior Engineer Officer of the Watch' in the next
three months. I know it took you
five weeks to get the 'junior quals' and you're probably
thinking three months is a long time.
Actually, it isn't a long time; you're goikng to be a division
officer and will have an unholy
amount of paperwork to learn to do. You'll also have to
continue working on your quals. I'm sure
the Chief (chief engineer), the Master Chief and all the other
Chiefs will want you to continue
doing engineering tasks. You will also have to work with and
live with crew who have come to
think of you as an 'officer under instruction'. Don't let this
go to your head."
______"Yes, Sir. I do suspect the Master Chief will lead the
efforts to keep me humble." He grinned at
the Master Chief.
______"I think we're done here. Why don't you go down to
Engineering and I'll announce you've
qualified."
______Eric was excorted from the Wardroom by the Engineering
officer, the Master and Senior Chief
and the three senior petty officers who had attended and had
quietly offered questions to the
senior Engineers. Eric's responses would spread quickly
through the crew...
______The CO gestered to his First and Second officers to linger
behind.
______"Did you notice a certain mind set to some of the young man's
answers?"
______"Do you mean he speaks like either a Chief Engineer or a
Commanding Officer?"
______"Exactly, number one."
______"Captain, I think this lad could be a CO some day. He has the
ability, he has the touch and he
has demonstrated the ability to get people to work for him.
Some of the jobs he did in
Engineering were delibertly screwed up just to see how he'd
react. He reacted well, quite well."
______The Second Officer nodded in agreement.
______"Well, gentlemen, it'll be several years before our jobs are
endangered by young Eric
Bellingham!"
______On the way to Engineering, Eric was inexplisably delayed by:
______
______A senior petty officer who asked inane quesitions about a
subject said petty officer had taught
at the Academy three years before (the man's eyes twinkled),
______
______A couple of crew members who needed help in solving an
interpersonal problem; this was
strange as the two had been married for twelve years and were
the most stable couple on the ship,
______
______Several junior officers had bad jokes to tell and
______
______Many folks simply wanted to congratulate Eric and talk about
their own boards.
______
______It took over an hour and that gave the "ship's cook" time to
decorate a very large cake. (If Eric
had unexpectidly failed his board, the cake would have been
simply decorated and served with
lunch).
______
______Eric's family loved the photos taken of him with his
celebratory cake. Eric cut the first piece and
gave it to Senior Chief Anna Haskall (he knew who the Sun
Source of power on the ship was!).f
One of the Security officers (police not Marine) had used a
manual ice cream maker to create
several batches of vinilla ice cream. This substance was so
loaded with fat the Medical Officer
had to close his eyes before taking a bite. Then, the "Docs",
who had bad mouthed the ice cream,
ate more than their share...
______Unlike many earlier military services, Eric's comrades truly
cared that he had qualified; they
were more of a family that earlier Navies would have believed.
The Captain had dropped the
TAMERLANE out of warp and the good ship and crew spend the
rest of the day and that night
studying several nearby stars. The next day, the TAMERLANE got
underweigh again on course
to Deep Space Station 14.
______For the next week, life on the TAMERLANE ran it's normal
course and they eventually
prepared for "liberty" at the Deep Space 14.
______
______July 4th, 2359 was a very good day for Passed Midshipman Eric
Randall Bellingyham: he was
commissioned.
______
______
______
______On July 6, 2359, Ensign Bellingham was ushered into his
Department Head's office. There, the
detaching Fusion Reactor Officer (LTjg William Jefferson
Person) handed over the various logs
and certified they had successfully inventoried all items
under the pervue of the "Fusion Reactor
Officer" and had been briefed on the personnel, the status of
performance reviews and even more
"paperwork" to be done. Eric was a bit overwelmed.
______A week later, Eric was called into the Chief Engineer's
office. The First Officer was there.
______"Do you know what happened last night?"
"
______Nothing out of the ordinary, Chief. I haven't had the change
to check the shift logs yet but the
outgoing watch section didn't tell me anything out of the
ordinary."
______"Then you don't know about the little problem with
containment in reactor two?"
______"What! What problem, sir?"
______The Chief Engineer continued: "Containment was lost on fusion
reactor two for some 22
miliseconds. The reaction gases were automatically vented.
This caused a sensor glich and the
bridge became unduely alarmed." The First Officer didin't seem
to appreciate this
characterization.
______"Comments", said the First Officer.
______"Sir! Reporting any problems is something that should have
happened. There is no excuse for
my not being notified."
______"What that in your Standing Night Orders?"
______"My...Standing Night Orders, Sir?"
______"Yes, Ensign, didn't you know you're supposed to maintain a
set of Standing Night Orders?"
______"Er, no, Sir, I'll look right into the matter."
______"You're excused, Eric."
______
______After the door was closed, the Chief Engineer looked at the
First Officer.
______"Standing Night Orders from an Ensign?"
______"Well, let's see how it plays out."
______
______"Eric then proceded to mishandle the situation.
______
______He called in the outgoing night watch, which was in a
training session.
______"Was anyone going to tell me about this reactor venting?"
______"It was in the watch log, sir."
______"Well, I got my ass chewed for not knowing. I would have
appreciated being told at morning
passdown."
______"Yes, sir. We'll make sure you are in the future."
______"Dismissed." That didn't go over too well with the troops;
Eric had been one of them a coupld
of weeks ago and hadn't earned the right to be snotty.
______
______There was a knock on the door and the Master Chief stuck his
head in.
______"May I have a word with you, Ensign?"
______The Master Chief walked in, slammed the hatch shut behind him
and starte in.
______"Young man, you will not chew the butts of your division
without first discussing it with me.
Then, if you still think you need to chew butt, you'll call in
your Leading Chief Petty Officer and
that Chief will call in the offenders and will handle the butt
chewing. You may interject
comments, depending on the situation but you will not cut your
Leading Chief out of the loop. Is
that understood...sir?"
______"Sir" was definitely lower case.
______"Yes, sir, Master chief."
______"Good. Your Chief wishes to speak with you.
______This august person walked into Eric's office.
______"Sir! In the future, sir, if you have a problem with our
sailors, sir, do not cut me out of the loop.
Sir. Make sure you discuss any problems, sir, with me before
you jump my -er- our troops. Sir."
______"I appologize, Chief. I'm still learning the proper
eddicate."
______"Good, sir, good. Oh, The watch Petty Officer wishes a word
with you.
______This young Petty Officer entered and said: "Good morning,
sir."
______"What's good about it?" Eric was glum.
______"Probably nothing much, sir. I just wanted to say, sir, that
if you have a problem in the future,
please talk to me in private or have the Chief talk to me. It
looks bad to bust my balls in front of
my people."
______Now, Eric was getting steamed.
______"I didn't bust your balls. Well, I don't think I did. In the
future, I will react slower and follow the
chain of command better."
______His various visitors left.
______
______After he was once again alone in his office, Eric got to
wondering just what could he put in his
"night orders"? The very concept seemed hazy to him. He
remembered that humans had centuries
of experience at operating Star Ships and every contingency
had been covered with procedures
decades if not centuries before. Then, there was the question
of who his crewmen worked for:
him or the watch officers? If he was presumeptous enough to
leave "night orders" then wouldn't
he be reiterating "ancient received wisdom" and wouldn't he
(an Ensign!) be guilty of issuing
orders to officers senior to him and to senior "enlisted"
who'd been Star Fleet since before he'd
been born? He finally thought of an approach and went off to
find an ally in his coming
compaign: he went to see his Division's Leading Chief.
______Eric knocked on the Senior Chief's door (which was open) and
asked: "Do you have a few
minutes, Senior Chief?"
______The Senior Chief waved Eric in and Eric (being a polite
guest) asked "You want some coffee?"
______"Yes, Sir. Is there a problem?"
______Eric replied "I don't know" and brought over a tray with two
cups of coffee and the coffee cake
this Senior Chief seemed to favour. Then, Eric explained his
problems. The Senior Chief was
polite and only broke into laughter once.
______
______At the end of Eric's discussion, his Senior Chief commented
"You've made some good points
and I agree, we should take this up with the Master Chief."
______The two of them, looking suitably grim, left the Senior
Chief's office and walked over to the
Master Chief's office. This little walk lead to horror stories
among the duty crew who wondered
what had gotten these two riled up especially given the
reaction to Ensign Bellingham's responses
to the reactor hickup. They would find out somewhat later but
the legends of what the crew
feared would last for a long time...
______Division Officer, aided by his Leading Chief, briefed the
Master Chief. The Master Chief
nodded politely and said "I agree with your analysis, Mr.
Bellinham and we can go speak with
the Chief [Engineer]."
______
______They traisped over to the Chief Engineer's office, were
admitted by his Administrative Petty
Officer and were invited to drag up chairs by his desk.
______"Mr. Bellingham has some concerns, sir," spoke the Master
Chief.
______"Sir, I've been thinking about what you said about 'night
orders'. Night orders are intended for
unusual events at night. Basically everything that can come up
in Engineering has been known
for centuries and we have doctrine to cover it. If something
unusual were to happen, that would
necessitate 'night orders', I think the Senior Chief and I
would be there to supervise." The Chief
Engineer nodded in agreement. "Then, there is the question of
who my people work for. During
'normal working hours', they work for me. Some of regular,
that is non-watch standing jobs,
evenings and nights but then they're supervised by the
Engineering Officer of the Watch. The
Engineering Officer of the Watch monitors the reactors and
engines from the warp core
command counsol. The Junior Watch officer monitors engineering
status from the bridge. So,
issuing 'night orders' would mean I'm issuing redundant orders
to offciers senior to me and senior
enlisted who have far greater job knowledge and experience
than me. This seems
presumptious, sir."
______That finally got a laugh from his audience.
______"The 'night orders' was just a bit of a joke, son, so don't
worry any more about it. However, I
like that you thought through this matter. Now, why would
'unusual events' not happen on the
evening or night watches?"
______"Well, Sir, it's been known for centuries that evening shift
workers are less alert than day time
ones and the mid shifters are the least alert of the lot. Now,
our people have fixed shifts and work
the same hours. However, so many things occurr during either
the period before a person goes on
an eve watch or while they're sleeping after a mid watch that
they often don't get really solid
sleep. How many 'all hands meetings' seems to take place at
zero eight hundred?"
______"Too damn many" the Senior Chief muttered.
______"How many 'nice events' take place during what should be a
mid watch stander's sleep period? I
know the Captain tries to avoid dragging people out of their
racks when unnecessary but there are
exceptions. I don't want to reiterate basic rules because
that'll imply my people aren't paying
attention to the rules - especially the safety rules - or that
their supervisors and the watch officers
and watch chiefs aren't paying attention either. I simply
don't want to piss off -er- offend so many
people for no good reason. So, Sir, I'm not sure what I really
could put in 'night orders'." He
paused. "Well, I could discuss unusual events expected on the
eve or mid that don't require
Senior Chief or me to be present. I could submit my verbage as
an adendum to the Captain's
Night Orders."
______This could frowns fron all of his listeners!
______"Now, I don't want you thinking that I want to scribble up
some 'night orders' and either give
them to the Captain or worst yet, append them to his orders. I
really don't. But, if I do create
'night orders' of my own, I would them up the Chain of Command
to the Senior Watch Officer."
This officer, the First Officer, actually wrote the Captain's
Night Orders and the Captain either
delegatedf the "signing authority" to his First or the Captain
personally "signed off" on the Night
Orders. Often, the Captain simply used previous Night Orders
and added or deleted orders.
______"Well spoken Eric and you won't be making too many 'nigth
orders' of your own. However, as
you advance on this ship, you'll find more occasion [to do
so]."
______
______Eric had come of this intact. However, he thought he'd get a
little pay back. Over the next
several days, if Eric thought someone needed a haircut, or
their uniform had remnants of the
previous night's dinner or if they didn't clean up after
themselves, he told his Senior Chief. Only
when the Senior Chief was litterally unavailable (he was stuck
on shipboard watch qualification
boards) did Eric pass his comments to his Leading Petty
Officers. Since he had four fussion
reactors in his division, he had two junior chiefs and four
Leading Petty officers to speak up.
These worthies somehow found the need to be elsewhere when
Eric prowled the division work
spaces with a note-padd in hand...
______The Master Chief decided to give "this pesty junior officer"
two more days to "knock this shit
off" when Eric abruptly stopped taking his notes and resumed
simply telling his people if they
"neededl to wipe the lube oil off the back of your left boot",
etc.
______
______One of the advantages of Eric's wide exposure in engineering
was he had a good idea of what
grades his people deserved on their quarterly evaluations. At
least, he thought so until his Chiefs
grilled him on why he either changed previous marks or didn't
change them. He got a good
education in the problems of writing candid evaluations that
wouldn't kill the careers of this
people and finally was given permission to delegate the
writing of "evals" to the professionals:
the senior enlisted who had far more experience with what was
expected of the crew and were
actually quite good at writing evaluation.
______Eric simply took the "evals" of his Chief Petty Officers and
Senior Chief Petty officers,
improved the marks if they were already maxed out, changed the
praise in the narrative sections
of the "evals" and submitted them. The Master Chief never
complaigned and the Captain even
complemented him on is "tactful way of dealing with the Chiefs
on their 'evals'" when Eric
himself received his 'eval' (FITREP or Fitness Report
actually).
______It was hard to write negative "evals" of personnel who had
years of experience and training and
who would have been winnowed out far earlier if they didn't
met the high standards of the
TAMERLANE's Officrs and Chiefs...
______
______At about the five month point, Eric achieved qualification at
a "Senior Engineering Watch
Officer" and was transferred to serve at the "Warp Core
Reactor Division Officer". At about the
13 month point, Eric passed the qualifications tests for
Engineering Officer; this was a three day
sit down exam and was given at Star Base 19. Immediately
before the exam, he had been given
an oral board exam. Actually, the oral board had been a "goug
session" and was intended to help
him pass the written exams the same officers gave him.
(Nothing like having test proctors who
had "taught you the test" mere days before!)
______Then, having passed the written exams, he took the oral
exams. They told him he'd flunked and
would have to retake some of the orals. Eric was privately
told he'd really passed and the
examiners were giving him stress. He later found he'd not
passed those portions and one of the
proctors was just trying to help him relaxy.
______It worked and Eric could send pictures of himself cutting his
"Chief Engineer Selectee" cake
back to his family.
______The position of "Main Propulsion Assistant" was an officer
who was basically a department
head within the Engineering Department. A month after
qualfying as "Chief Engineer", Eric was
promoted to Lietenant Junior Grade and made MPA.
______He was on track to command the Engineering Section of one of
the larger, more powerful, new
construction ships. However, he had become very much a member
of the TAMERLANE family
and didn't want to leave; it would take some serious prodding
to get him to go...
______
______Eric liked to work on machenery. He had lost track of the
amount of time he spent training,
leading and consuling his division officers (fine Ensigns) and
his Midshipmen. He got a number
of Midshipmen who were fine students but who seems far too
impressed with Eric. He just didn't
think he was that impressive and in this he was wrong; he was
an impressive officer who was
calm under stress and would never think to ask "did I really
do that"? If he did something, he
knew he'd done it and didn't need to double check.
______Eric's ability to scan multiple data displays awed people.
The fact that he'd studied the various
data displays one at a time and knew what the data meant was a
concept he couldn't get people to
believe. They could believe in knowing the signficance of the
data from different displays. They
just didn't believe how many data displays he could study and
keep straight in his head.
______Still, Eric was building a great "Service Reputation" and the
TAMERLANE's prestigue went
up.
______
______The TAMERLANE had been built as a weapons platform and Eric
became interested in how
those systems worked. He spent several weeks studying how the
torpedoes worked. The idea of
using an anti-matter generator to convert small amounts of
"regular" matter to anti-matter and
contain the newly created anti-matter in intense magnetic
fields delighted him. He began to
wonder if a ship could use the "anti-matter induction fields"
to create anti-matter near or in
enemy ships.
______He was told this violated intra-galactic treaty and he would
never, ever, mention that he'd even
considered such a thing. Then, during a meeting about storing
consumables, Eric was briefed on
some weapons he'd not known about. It seemed that using a
"anti-matter creating beam" was the
heart of an advanced "distrupter" the Klingons and the
Federation were jointly working on. This
was highly classified. It turned out the "disrupters" the
Breen used changed the quarks in matter
and this disrupted matter. Changing a proton to a neutrn
changed an atom to the element next
lower on the periodic table. Changing hydrogen to a neutron
surrounded by an electron lead to a
stray electron and destroyed molecules with hydrogen. These
were very impressive weapons!
______Although he wasn't told the name, Eric was made a member of
"Section 31" and would make
good use of the gear they gave him...
______
______There were a number of interesting people: One was "the
plumber", Chief R. Johns Sloan. He
liked to fix toilets, sinks and run cleaning gear through the
pipes. He also did plumbing work on
water pipes and the air handling, purification and
heaing/cooling gear.
______The odd thing is that Chief Sloan was one of the best at
working on the "plumbing" of the warp
core reactor and he was Eric's "go to person" when they needed
to do emergency work (as well as
training others).
______At the Academy, no one had told Eric about folks like his
Chief Sloan...
______
______A better day started with Eric drinking coffee with hid
Division Officers:
______"I've read the overnight logs and nothing strange was in
them. Was there anything ordinary that
we need to be concerned about?"
______"No, sir," his Fusion Reactor officer replied, "everything
was normal and the standard level four
scans showed nothing unusual."
______"Well, Susan, sometimes 'normal' can be deceiving. Sometimes,
the order is which 'normal
events' occurrs can be a sign of problems. Sometimes not but
you can never tell."
______Master Chief Lynch, who for some reason liked to sit in on
the MPA meetings, rolled his eyes
and had managed to keep his laugh from coming out.
______"Good point, Eric and I'll think about it."
______When Eric supposedly wasn't looking, Ensign Susan Burke wrote
on her comms padd: "do a
level 6 scan on the reactors the old farts seem concerned"
______The reply was "which old farts??"
______"The L T and the Master Chief"
______"I'll do a level 8 on most important and level 7 on the rest"
______"She smilled and closed her padd; she'd been paying attention
to the rest of the meeting and
particularily liked listening to her L T and Master Chief talk
about "drafting our imparital evals
to help shape careers". It was humourous to listen to two very
honest leaders talk about (in effect)
lying on "impartial" evals...
______After their division officers and senior officers left,
Master Chief Lynch laughed.
______"Problems can occurr if the order of normal reports is out of
order? Eric, where did you come
up with that idea?"
______"Well, Big Chief, sometimes good ideas come right out of my
mouth without bothering my
brain."
______"Not too often, I hope...sir."
______"No, sir, Master Chief, sir and certainly not enough for me
to be a Master Chief! So, Jain, I
guess I'm stuck as an Engineering Officer."
______Master Chief Lynch rolled his eyes, laughed and left Eric's
office with Eric's best coffee cup.
Eric would later go to the Master Chief's office and retrieve
his coffee cup and maybe snag one
of Jain Lynch's favourite hard bound books. It was a game they
both enjoyed.
______After a couple of hours, the Captain called:
______"Eric, we're dropping out of warp so your people can work on
the warp core. Is everything
ready?"
______"Yes, sir, it is. I'll be directly supervising the work."
______"Great. Bridge out."
______Commander Jackson stood with Eric watching the preliminary
work for a while and then the
Chief Engineer sighed and wandered off to his office, where at
least a hundred routine reports
awaited his review. It was the end of the quarter and
Commander Daniel Jackson had to put
together his quarterly input to the annual Ship's History.
Actually, he would read and edit
(slightly) the input his Administrative Chief and the Master
Chief had put together.
______The warp core stood in the middle of a large room, like the
altar to a primative and brutal God.
The engineers had removed the various shields and moitoring
equipment. One of the "Old
Chiefs" looked at one of the four matter injectors. Eric was
next to him and also examining the
two matter injectors they could see.
______"We're about to remove the port matter injector, sir."
______"Who's going to do this?"
______"Younger Spencer."
______"Didn't he remove the last two injectors? You know, I'm
getting out of practice."
______"Would you like to remove the port matter injector? Sir."
______"Now that you mention it, I think I will."
______Both men pulled their heads out of the reactor and Eric put
on a equiment belt. Then, he started
working his way into the "machine" and as he disassembled
gear, he passed it back to those
outside. He eventually go the injeftor out and passed it back.
______"Well, I'm ready to put the spare in."
______"Good but our Susan will put it in."
______"Our Susan" didn't look so thrilled at Chief Jackson's order
but went ahead and did a fine job.
______"Eric would later learne that several of his crew had taken
flat and holography imagery of the
bottom half of his body sticking out of the warp rector.
Eric's 13 year old sister would take a
large flat image of her brother's buttocks (sticking out of
the reactor) and put it up on her wall
and label it "My Brother Putting His Best Face Forward". This
image also won her honours at her
Middle School's "Remember Our Veterans Day".
______He could also be apauled at the number of folks who put up
this image on their walls...
______
______Eric took the injector with him and entered the work center
where three old Senior Chiefs
worked on the injectors. They sat at a circular table, with
monitors built into the table, test leads
discretely recessed into the table and tools arrayed near
them. Eric sat at the one empty chair and
placed the injector in front of him.
______Then, he waited for the "old men" to react. Finally, one did.
______"Thank you for bringing that injector in, sir, we'll get to
that injector this afternoon", one of the
"old farts" stated.
______"You midunderstand Senior Chief, I'm here to learn how to
overhaul this."
______There was a long pause.
______"Why?"
______"The injectors are the most sensitive pieces of gear on this
boat. You're the closest Star Fleet
has to Master Artisans and generally flunk out most of the
apprentices we send you. I know the
theory but need to know the reality."
______"Are you planning on retiring us and having undertrained
crewmen replace us?"
______"Eric had been warned these three worried about being
"shitcanned like an old targ".
______"No, sir, we're not planning on forcing you to retire. You're
like those old Swiss watch makers.
They did some very detailed and some very delicate work. My
engineering classes taught me that
injectors have to be done to very precise tolorances and that
knowing just how much to turn a
screw or tap on something is a art. I've been told it's harder
to find a person who can do this than
it is to find someone who can do old fashioned neuro surgery.
However, none of you are
immortal and we need you to train the next generation of
'grumpy old Senior Chiefs'. It'll take
more of your time and you'll have less time to run your
divisions but it will be worth it. I can
arrange for you to pick candidates from anyone on the ship,
not just engineering."
______"The three old Senior Chiefs looked at each other, communed
in some non-verbal manner and
nodded.
______"We're agreed then, sir and will pick the best candidates.
We've had our eyes on that new
Ensign working on her sensor and ship driving quals. We want
her and we'll give you the names
of several others."
______"Agreed and give me the name of that Ensign and you'll have
her. Who else?"
______"Well, we've been wondering if we'd need to drag in one of
the officers..."
______"Which one?" Eric was a bit surprised and was curious.
______"A young fart, a fairly intelligent lad named Eric Randall
Bellingham."
______Eric was surprised and pleased.
______"Well, gentlemen, I'm here."
______"Master Chief Lynch and Commander Jackson both looked in on
the training and were both
amused by the attitude changes.
______The three Senior Chiefs started giving him advise as Eric did
a reasonably good job of
dismantling and rebuilding the matter injector. At first, he
was "sir" or "Lieutenant" but near the
end of the four hour procedure he had become "Eric" or "lad".
It was fairly amusing given two of
the Senior Chiefs were the age of Eric's grandfathers and the
third his Grandmother's age (and
she looked a lot like his Great-great-Aunt). The three
remembered Eric from when he'd been a
"Passed Midshipman" and in their opinions, that rated as
mid-range Enlisted...
______Eric didn't have hands as steady as his teachers but he
managed to get the work done. Finally, he
was left with the injector in two parts. The bottom two thirds
and the rest, which simply had to be
placed on top of the big assembly. The monitors and more
important, the three mentors, agreed
the work was done properly. Eric waited for one of the three
to say "good job, lad but we'll re-do
it". This didn't happen.
______"Well, Eric, put the top on and lock her down."
______Eric did.
______The sensors agreed the work was done within specs.
______Senior Chief Mary Margarret Lennier bellowed into the air:
"Jain Lynch, we know you're
watching! This young man did a fine job and now we need to
install this injector as 'proof of
concept'. Jain Lynch, we appreciate you've voluenteered to do
this installing and you may do so
now."
______Master Chief Lynch responded over the compartment's PA
system: "I'll do the job but it's 1400
and none of you have eatten lunch. You will eat while I start
the preliminaries."
______Another of the Senior Chiefs shrugged and told Eric: "It does
him good to show a little humility
occasionally."
______"Humility?"
______"Have you ever seen Lynch's butt? He's getting a bit of
'swivel chair spead'.
"
______Truthfully, I try very hard to avoid looking at his butt."
______"What about that new MD? The girl? Have you looked at her
bvtt?"
______"Well, I've got to go. Got to go watch our Master Chief tear
into my...our...warp reactor."
______Eric got out very quickly and could feel himself blush. The
new MD, one Emmily Quewly was
someone he got along with very well but there was nothing
romantic in the friendship. "Doc
Emmily" was becoming the person he was most likely to eat
meals with in the Wardroom when
he wasn't dining with his officers and Chiefs.
______The Senior Chiefs must have seen something Eric hadn't
because the three "old farts" cracked
up as soon as the hatch was shut.
______
______The three "old farts" trained and qualified fourteen injector
techs over the several months.
______
______Some mornings are quieter than others and on one, after
reading the reports and finding nothing
to be alarmed about and after reading the night sensor scans
(he used problem finding
programmes actually), he turned to a report he'd never read
before: Discarded Items. It was full of
discarded tri-corders, engineering tools and a few other
things. He looked into the status reports
of these items and they were all either old dated and thus
replaced or mostly items that could be
repaired with a little work. The idea of simply shit canning
them bothered him. He decided to
look into it at the Engineering Staff Meeting.
______
______TAMERLANE had spent the past week doing "refresher training"
at a target range near a white
dwarf star. The bridge crews had fired torpedos, phasers and
their "experimental" disrupters
(experimental to the Klingons 20 years before) at various
asteroids and targets. They had to use
the torpedoes or Star Fleet Supply would have no one to send
replacement torpedoes to and
might have to cut production. (The upcoming Dominion War would
need their over-production.)
______"Well, did everyone have a good time this past week?"
Commander Jackson was amused by the
Engineer Drills.
______"It was a lot of fun", Eric replied.
______All the Engineering Officers and a number of their crew had
been "allowed" (ordered to
actually) to use the phasers and distrupters to "attack"
various targets. It had been great fun but in
the future, wouldn't seem so amusing...
______Eric had been allowed to fire a single torpedo and had
destroyed part of a salvaged Romulean
Warbird that had been brought there years before. The idea of
shooting up a real War Bird (with
real Romulans inside) vaguely bothered Eric.
______"I understand the bridge boys are planning a 'cake and
cookies' session to celebrate their
successes over the targets and the dead ships. It seems their
fifteen torpedo salvo has made the
Star Fleet news channels and even gotten TAMERLANE noticed."
Master Chief Lynch was
disguested.
______They really weren't supposed to be advertising that the old
TAMERLANE had too many
weapons systems and that the Romulans and their pseudo-allies
the Klingons should pay
attention to them.
______"I hear a new batch of 'torpedo juice' is about ready?" The
Chief Engineer knew exacly how
"ready" this home made booze was; the fractional distillation
still had been "secretly" set up on
the mid shift and CDR Jackson had personally wired the heater
elements into the ship's power
system. It would be raw but it would be a memorable addition
to the upcoming ship's party.
______Finally, even a staff meeting as great as this had to come to
an end.
______"There being no other bvsiness, we're ajurned."
______The Master Chief didn't rise because he never did and Eric
remained seated since he wanted a
private word with his bosses.
______"What's on your mind, Lieutenant?"
______"I've noticed how many pieces of small equipment are being
shit canned to salvage. I looked at
the status reports of most of this gear this morning. A lot of
the engineering tools just need a little
repair work."
______"You've just noticed, Eric?" CDR Jackson was frowning.
______"No, sir, I've looked at these reports weekly. But, they're
Master Chief's business and I've never
really had enought time to look into the matter. I'm just
wondering why we don't fix and use this
gear?"
______The Master Chief replied: "Because we're not permitted to,
sir. Supply buys a lot of gear from
Federation worlds that still use 'money' and we support their
economies that way. Some tools are
bought from outside the Federation and we need to keep that
supply line open. Oh, we could
make these tools inside the Federation but this way, the
Federation doesn't need to tool up
factories and possibly violate some Alien's 'Interstellar
Patent'."
______"But why just shit can this stuff. Can't we field strip out
the useful parts and do repairs in
house?"
______"We've never been told not to; there is an implied
prohibition of this."
______"Eric nodded to his Department Head and started to rise when
a solution occurred to him.
______"Boss, are we permitted to give away some of this rejected
material?"
______"Yes and we do through the Salvage Diviison."
______"Could we sell some of this stuff, say to the Ferengi?"
______"People usually don't sell to the Ferengi; they usually cheat
folks out of stuff or simply steal it."
______"Perhaps, gentlemen, if we did minor repairs on some of the
gear, we could sell it to the
Ferengi. We could use the excuse that repairing old
tri-corders gives the Engineering staff
practice at depot level maintenance. The 'injector Chiefs'
bitch about personnel being 'great at
swapping out big parts but bad at doing detail work'. That's
not true because a lot of detailed
work has to be done but we could use the excuse."
______"I'll look into it. Oh, by the way, after my hooch gets run
through the carbon charcoal, would
you mind taking a sample to 'Doc Emilly' to get medical's
approval. If you sample it, I'll give you
the rest of the day off."
______"Yes, sir, I will! What time, sir?"
______"Right before lunch would be fine, Eric."
______After Eric had left, the Master Chief commented to the Chief
Engineer: "You're just
encouraging the boy. We both know they'll drink the sample and
get relaxed and start acting like
thier dating."
______"Someone has to."
______
______When Eric had been on active duty for three years, he was
promoted to Full Lieutenant. He got
a really nice cake, imaages were taken of him being kissed (on
the cheek) by LTjg Emmily
LeFere (MD) and Senior Chief Anna Haskell (S/MC) and a Command
Track midshpman named
Ro Larien, who couldn't have been more than 20 years old. It
was the sight of Eric kissing Emilly
back that fueled many rumours about those tow.
______
______The Chief Engineer went into the Captain's "at sea cabin" and
waited till the door shut behind
him.
______"Morning, Big Bob", he said to Captain Robert McMillian, "do
you have a few minutes?"
______"Have a seat, Dan and maybe my Anna can bring in some coffee
cake and coffe for us?"
______About 30 seconds later, the Administrative Chief swept in
with a tray carrying two cups, a
coffee caraf and the coffee cake. A tub of butter was there
for the spreading. She glared at "Big
Bob", probably for calling her "my Anna" (which was was).
______The two men sat and gave their attention to the coffee and
coffee cake.
______"Good snack, Bob but really not why I dropped by. Young Eric
has had an interesting idea. He
mentioned repairing our gear we surplus out."
______"Supply would shit if we did."
______"He also brought up the idea of selling or trading repaired
get to the Ferengi. The repairing
would be good for my people and we all have lists of things
we'd like to buy outside the
hegedmony." (He meant the Federation.)
______There was a pause.
______"I see this as a four part problem, Dan. One, what can we
repair that the Ferengi would buy?
Two, can we get permission from the proper people? Three, how
would be made contact with the
proper Ferengui and four, how could we arrange for the sales
or trades to occurr? Anna, please
come in."
______The good Administrative Chief Petty Officer entered her
Captain's office.
______"Perhaps we should start with getting a stock of surplused
gear repaired and seeing what we
have to offer. I know a few officials who have been swapping
stuff with the Ferengui for years
and maybe they'll set up something. I'll contact the proper
people. We'll need someone to
negociate with the buyer and we'll need folks to transport the
items. Anna, do you suppose some
of our 'Marines' could handle it?"
______"Certainly, sir. Now, if you get permission for this to
happen and if you (here she looked at the
Chief Engineer) have good items to sell or trade, then I'll
personally handle the sales or trades
myself Robert. I know a Fergenui on that Bajorian station who
is easy to work with."
______She smilled and only "her Robert" knew that Anna had been
giving the Fergenui (called Quark)
"umblots" for years. She had bought intelligence information
and various items of interesting
alien tech by being willing to provide latinum and umlots to
Quark. That umlots amounted to
masterbation didn't bother her.
______Anna had a new hand lotion she wanted to try on Quark
anyway...
______
______Later that morning, Dan Jackson told Eric the "trade or sell"
attempt was moving forward.
When the tech monitoring the subspace communicatons told Eric
and Dan "the Old Man has set
up a high powered and encryped comms link one of the
'Captain's Only channels' to Federation
Base 12", he knew his idea had gotten started. When he took a
liter sample of the "booze" to
"Doc Emmily" to be tested, he didn't realize his boss and the
Master Chief had set him on a
date...
______
______
______One of the true quirks of using anti-matter is that no one,
not even the Klingons want to produce
it anywhere near their inhabitated solar systems. Even the
Norsacon, those wild men of the stars,
made it a death penality matter to create anti-matter near one
of their solar systems. It was well
known that the only time the Norsasans cooperated with any
other race was in running down,
trying and executing those who violated the ban against
creating anti-matter within an inhabitated
solar system.
______However, every interstellar race used anti-matter within
their solar systems.
______The reason was simple: anti-matter was created by changing
the "quark signature" of normal
matter and then saving the newly created anti-matter. The
problem was the creation system
sometimes went outside the desired area and a number of minor
moons had been "accidentally
destroyed" in the creation of anti-matter.
______It was a fine afternoon when Eric was discussing the status
of TAMERLANE's refueling
system. There were four anti-matter acceptance system. The
Senior Chief had taken three off line
for an equipment upgrade. The fourth system would work under
normal circumstances, with only
a .04% probability of failure; failure that would destroy the
TAMERLANE and probably the
refueling ship. This was an acceptable risk but fortunately
they were not scheduled for refueling.
______"Eric reviewed the status panels and was pleased with the
results. Then, in an event the
reminded Eric of something he had once read: "Irony is the
axis of the universe" by Alan Dean
Foster.
______His comms panel chimed and the Captain's voice spoke:
______"Eric, we've had an unexpected surprise: a refueling ship has
come to us. It seems they lost their
Commanding Officer and they had to transfer him to a Vulcan
ship."
______"What happened?"
______"I'll let his former First tell you."
______The face of an old Klingon appeared on Eric's viewer. The old
Klingon wore a Star Fleet
Command uniform but also wore a Bajoran Vedic's ear ring, the
Sword of the Order of the
Ba'lick, a medal worn by Priests of Kalass and the c--- of an
Earther Medical Doctor. It was the
strangest thing Eric had ever seen. Behind him was another
Klingon, one with a couple of large
bruises one his head. A human was looking at the bruised
Klingon and silently lautghing.
______"I am General Wand, acting Comanding Officer of the
Federation Fueling Vessle 97, currently
called the "GLENDA JANE". So, Bob, do you have anyone in need
of therapy...er...qualified to command my boat?"
______"Not now, my friend."
______"Soon enough, I suppose." The General looked amused.
______"How did your Second Officer get so bruised?"
______"Our Vulcan Commander was stressed out about his inability to
achieve total destruction of his emotions. Second kept
harrassing him about points of Vulcan Doctrine. First, he
would understnad it, then he would misunderstand it and he
would misreprent the Sacred Vulcan Doctrine. Finally, well,
why don't we just watch the security recording:"
______A Vulcan LCDR in a Commmand uniform stood in front of his
desk holding a very thick book. In front of him was the
Klingon Second Officer.
______The Second Officer asked: "Your prophet says a Vulcan must
control his emotions. Right?"
______"Yes."
______"This suggests Vulcans had emotions before your Prophet?"
______"Yes." The Vulcan was actually looking pupzzled.
______"Were Vulcans worthy after they learned to control their
emotions?"
______"Yes!"
______"Were Vulcans considered worthy before they learned to
control their emotions?
______"Well, yes, to a certain extent."
______"So, Vulcans gained merit by gaining control of their
emotions?"
______"Of course!" The Vulcan proudly held up the Book.
______""Then, of course, if a Vulcan were to cycle from violent to
refined and back a few times, he would gain much merit. Yes?"
______"That isn't exactly the way redemption works but it is an apt
description." The Vulcan's left eye was twitching wildly and
he was actually showing irritation.
______"If it is all right to start out unrefined and it is fine to
cycle from primative emotional to refined and back, why
bother? Why worry about going from the choas of emotions to
the purity of no apparent emotions. Why not have the art form
of selected emotions? Are you afraid you'll not be able to
select the emotions you wish to feel? Is that your concern,
Bucko? Are you afraid of losing control of the emotions you
manefast?"
______The Vulcan LCDR roared "That is not how it works!" In a fine
rage he used his Holy Book to slap the Klingon across the left
side of his face. The Klingon was stggered and stumbled to his
right.
______"I suppose so..."
______The Vulcan roared in pure rage: "Heathen!" and then reared
back, swung the book over his head and slammed the Klingon
hard enough to knock him out.
______The Vulcan looked so angry, so feral, that one could easily
remember that Vulcans had once been a violent race on the
verge of self destruction. (No wonder they conflicted with
humans!)
______The recording ended.
______"You see, Bob, my Vulcan Commanding Officer realzied he
couldn't totally control his emotions but his could sort of
control them. So, he has generally recovered his poise and is
a reasonably unemotional Vulcan. There are a few times when
emotions pop out but he has realzied he can't expect to find
total unemotion. His relationships with his family have
greatly improved and his is now one of the finest Vulcan
Fathers around. All it took was for my Second Officer, 'Rose
Bud', to get whacked across the head!"
______The human was the first to laugh and both Klingons joined
him.
______"He seemed to lose his self control very quickly. Spock would
never have done so."
______"This LCDR was merely a Vulcan; Ambassador Spock was of mixed
heritage and had the advantage of 'hybrid vigor'."
______There was a pauce after First Officer, General Wand, spoke.
______"Oh," the Klingon General remarked, "did I mention this human
is my Chief Engineer? He really helped drive our beloved
Vulcan Commander to his breakdown!"
______There was a moment of silence.
______"He has a very Klingon sense of humour!"
______The three on the oddly named "boat" laughed and the bridge
feed went dead. LT Bellingham and his Senior Chief looked at
each other and both rolled their eyes. It was a fine moment.
______Five minutes later, the bridge announced that refueling was
about to commence. Erid pulled up
screnes to monitor all four of the anti-matter intake feeds.
______"Senior Chief, command doctrine puts you in charge and I'm
not allowed to cancel this fuel
feeding but I still have to say: tell the bridge to cancel the
intake!"
______The prelim to the anti-matter intake started, seveal icons
that were always a "safe" blue on the
monitoris turned blood red and Eric slammed on the speaker
button and bellowed: "Cancel the
fuel load! Cancel it now! We have a little problem here and
will need several minutes to get
ready. Engineering out! Senior Chief, get those other feed
lines fixed as quickly as possible!
Don't argue Leonard James, I have a very bad feeling about
this!"
______Senior Chief chivveyed his "troops" into fixing the three
"out of service" anti-matter refueling
lines; they were done in near record time. Then, Eric keyed
the comms line to the bridge and
spoke:
______"Bridge, Engineering, We're ready to receive the
anti-matter."
______The "fuel" began to enter the ship, a surge of unknown
particles rushed down the primary fuel
line, the entire line failed and the routing controll was able
to switch the surge of anti-matter into
one of the three repaired fuel lines before ship was
destroyed.
______The Senior Chief was furious that he'd been made to look like
a fool. This reacton quickly
ended when he realzied his boss was in shock and that Eric's
face had actually turned a very pale
white.
______"Senior Chief, have you ever seen partical traces like this?
That feed line shold never have
failed! The alternative feed lines? Why didn't they fail as
well? Why are we still alive and what
the Hades did those people doto us?"
______"The Senior Chief looked at the evidence of the events which
lead to the failure of the main
fueling line and blanched as well. They called the bridge and
reported "refueling is nominal;
engineering out."
______"Then they spend several weeks studying the matter. The fact
that the Klingonn General had
advised "we had a Tetrion Leakage into the fueling lines and
here is all we know about Tetrions"
didn't help much.
______TAMERLANE had come very close to be destroyed and LT Eric
EricRandall Bellingham
wanted to find out why!
______Eric spent the next two years studying all of this and came
up with some research ideas. It
seemed the particular environment on TAMERLANE was unique; it
was comprised of ancient
technology and some "bleeding edge" Fleet tech. He took
graduate level courses in the math
required to study "tetrion physics"; one of his Ensigns had
finished his PhD in some highly
advanced math while attending the Academy. The truly odd thing
about this officer was that he
could instruct folks so well that his subjects made sense.
This Ensign was a dead shoe-in for
either a Chief Engineer job at a very young age or a
researcher/instructor at the Academy.
______The Federation Research Consol was impressed with Eric's
ideas and recommended that he be
given six months to research them and to present a thesis. An
"associate" of the very covert
"Section 31" saw some interesting possibilities and reported
his notions to a Senior Officer in
"Section 31" who also served on the Staff of Fleet
Intelligence. These notions came to the
attention of the Head of Intelligence, Fleet Admiral Nyota
(U)penda Uhura. However, she wasn't told of the "Section 31"
connection.
______
______TAMERLAN was ordered back to Earth and told to drop off
"Bellingham, Eric Randall" on
Temporary Duty at Star Fleet Academy.
______
______Eric was called into his Captain's office.
______"You've been given a very rare opportunity, not very many
officers get the chance to take time
off and do this kind of research. Use your time well and bring
useful information back to us."
______"Yes, sir, I will. Hopefully, I can figure out what nearly
went wrong on that refueling."
______Several minutes later, Eric was dismissed and went back to
his home: Engineering.
______
______The TAMERLAN arrived back at Earth and docked at a medium
sized fleet station. This station
normally had several smaller Star Fleet vessels "tied up" to
it but on this day, TAMERLAN was
the only vessel there.
______Eric sat at the Observer's Seat near the Warp Core reactor
and observed. The Senior
Engineering Watch Officer sat in front of Eric and tried not
to appear nervous. He might as well
not made the attempt as Commadner Lynch and Master Chief
Jackson were clearly amused and
occasionally snickered. It was most disconcerting for the
young officer.
______From the bridge came:
______"All stop" (The impulse engines were shut off on the Bridge
by the "Helmsman" and the "Junior
Engineer of the Watch" had been ready to slap the "kill
button" as had the Senior Engineer of the
Watch and the Technician First Class who sat at the manual
controls to the inpulse engines.)
______"Engage tractors" (The ship's tractors pulled TAMERLANE
towards the indicated docking
position on the station.)
______"Disengage tractors. Engage final docking programme." (The
tractors were shut off and the
same engineers prepared to hit their "kill switches".
Manuevering thrusters were activated and
nudged the TAMERLANE neatly into position for docking.)
______"We're docked. Verify status of docking port connections for
personnel ports #1 and #2. Secure
(shut down) warp core (the Senior Engineering Officer of the
Watch supervised the Warp Core
Rector Officer as she and her technicians securred this
reactor). Prepare to switch to station
power. (Eric's people put three of the four fusion reactors on
standby but left the fourth fully
working). Switch to station power. (This meant all ship
generated power was to be shut off but
Engineering never did that. Instead, they allowed station
generated power to flow into their ship
and only when Engineering was sure they could trust the
station power would they secure the
final reactor.)
______Finally, the Bridge announced "Secure special detail and set
Condition four through out the
ship" and everyone began to shut down unneeded equipment. An
officer and Enlisted Aide were
sent to the official docking port and started their "in-port
watch" there; a Chief and junior
Enlisted Aide went to the other docking port and started their
"in-port watch" there.
______Other ships allowed the public somewhat free access, with
hopes that computerized face and
body recognization sysems as well as implanted ID beacons
could keep track of who was on the
ship. Captain Robert McMillian agreed with his predecessors in
the belief that a Warship shold
have tight security. His First Officer, Commander Clark "Laser
Eyes" Gray often thought "Bob"
was just a touch soft on access control as it was...
______
______Eric expected to meet his parents in Seattle and had already
sent most of his luggage to the
apartment he'd be using in San Francisco. He carried a
clothing bag with several changes of
clothing and underwear; he was dressed in a hawaiin design
tunic, black trousers that loked
suspeciously like a midshipman's work trousers and his Fleet
issue work boots. "One thing you
could say about Eric, he always knows how to dress nicely",
Emmily thought with fond irony.
She was waiting for Eric just inside the station, Eric walked
over to her.
______"Are you ready to leave?"
______"Yes."
______They got in line at one of the transporters and materialized
in Seattle. Eric looked at her, gently
took her hand and said "Let's see if my family mae it here?"
______Eric's family - his parents and 15 year old sister - were
there to greet him. After the initial hugs,
Eric introducted Emmily around.
______"Mom, Dad, brat, this is Emmily Lafere, a friend of mine and
Emmily, my Mom, Dad and the
brat."
______"The Brat" punched Eric's arm.
______"My name is Kaylee, not 'Brat' and I'm 'Dog Breath's' sister.
'Dog Breath' has said so many nice
things about you that I thought you'd be three meters tall and
you're not, you're almost as short as
me."
______Eric was about 6 feet tall, Emmily about 5'8" and his "little
sister" perhaps 5'7" and had another
5" of growth to go. "The Brat" would end up a tall, slender
and stately lady but that would be
some time in coming.
______Emmily's family lived on a planet of Epsilon Eridanus and
being 10.8 light years away and
given it took a warp 4 transport two months and two days to
get to earth, it was too far Emmily's
family to come to Earth and visit. After several days visit,
Emmily had to return to the
TAMMERLANE but she had already found a second family. Emmily
got along particuliarly well
with Kaylee.
______
______Eric"s experimentation was going well. He had a team of five
grad students who helped him
creqt and run experiments and he was working on the math one
night four months into his work.
He stii had two months left for working on his research but
his thesis was nealy done and he'd
passed his orals. He was working on the math and his mentor
was reading the results.
______"Eric, you made a mistake here." The mentor, Dr. Bryan
Heinlein, pinted at one equation.
______"Hummm, damn but you're right! The correct shoud be?"
______The Mentor wrote down a different equation.
______"You're right, I made a mistake. Actually, I'm not sure I
made a mistake. I made some standard
transformations of the next equation and that resulted in some
familiar equations. I tgried several
solutions of this differential equation and got some
interesting stuff."
______"Let's test them."
______The two men simulated the results of Eric's "mistakes" and
came up with some very interesting
stuff. One result caused Eric's Mentor to gasp.
______"Ok, what is the problem?"
______"Did you know anything about the Romulan cloaking devices?"
______"No."
______"Well, they use some kind of fields that change the
characteristics of space and our sensors look
right around the field. But this means that firing the tetrion
particles with the correct energy level
will interact with all possible Romoulan style cloaks and
create the right decay products."
______"Actually, the interaction will cause the tetrions to decay
into unknown particle number 2 and
unknonwn particle number 2 decays into unknown particle number
3. That's what those particle
results mean and my math supports it. Those results look
familiar..."
______"You can't talk about this ever."
______"Both Mentor and student were horribly shocked. Eric's lab
was 40 stories below the surface. (A
technology that can create force fields around Star Ships
found no problems in protecting deeply
set basements from earthquakes and the water table. The room
was heaily shields and
transporters couldn't work in it; the only entrance was an
ancient elevator and that sat, with door
locked open, in easy view of the room's occupants. There was
no way the intruder could have
gotten in the room but there he was.
______"Who are you? How did you get here? What do you mean we can't
talk about this research?"
______"One of my researchers made this mistake about 22 years ago
and we've used it to monitor the
Roumulans. We can track them easier when they're cloaked than
when they're not. I'll give you a
copy of the paper which explains the transformation you used
Mr. Bellingham."
______"Thank you, sir."
______"I would like to get your reaction to this paper, Dr.
Heinlein."
______The stranger reached over to an empty tabletop and picked up
a copy of a paper that hadn't been
there before the stranger had distacted Heinlein and
Bellinham. The strange then talked both men
throught he paper.
______"So, as you can see, the transformaton you made by accident
can be justified by the correct
mathematics; this math just happends to be highly classified
and something not likely to be found
by accident. You can study this paper down here but it must
stay down here. Can you live with
this, gentlemen?"
______"Yes, sir. Were you responsible for me being assigned the
computer faciltiy down here."
______"Yes, Erid, I was."
______"You can read this paper on your computer and use the math
programmes on this computer but
this computer only."
______"Did you read the version I created on this computer?"
______"Yes."
______Both Bellingham and Heinlein were very disturbed. Eric's
computer was stand alone and didn't
connect with any communications systems at all. The computer
was powered by a disposable
battery that held an incredible amout of power. When this
battery was expired, the interior was so
toxic that the battery was simply taken to a higher level of
the complex and disassembled by a transporter into
it's component parts. There was no way these batteries could
have been "impressed" with the data
flowing through the computer and were completely destroyed.
______The stranger could no more have monitored the computer than
he could have appearee in this
"transporter safe" room. That really impressed Eric!
______This was fascinating and burned itself into Eric's memory.
______An alarm went off on a monitor and the stranger was gone when
Heinlein turned back to
address him.
______
______Eric and his mentor worked on the "corrected" equation and
came up with some interesting
results. These alone would have guarenteed Eric's PhD. Dr.
Heinlein applied some of the "new
math" he'd learned and came up with some incredible results.
______Finally, Eric was done with his PhD and had figured out why
the tetrion particles had nearly
destroyed his ship. Now, he was ready to go home. But, before
that happened, FADM Uhura visited him and gave him access to
some highly classified programmes. That access woudl later
come in handy...
______The TAMERLANE had spent those six months in drills: damage
control drill, various weapons
drills and even infantry landing drills in conjunction with
two battalions of Star Fleet Security
(Marine) troops. The image of the TAMERLANE leading the two
heavy troop carriers was a
popular one. When TAMERLANE returned to Earth, her crew was in
need of rest, they had folks
transferring off and ever a few leaving Star Fleet, new
personnel coming to TAMERLANE and
their Main Propulsion Assistant was to return with his newly
received PhD.
______The TAMERLANE docked at Space Dock Montegomery Scott and
nearly all her officers and
crew left.
______In the late evening, Captain Robert McMillian was alone in
his cabin and planned on leving
about a half hour later. It bothered him that several of his
crew were planning on remaining on
TAMERLAN for several days. He didn't like it but he couldn't
do much about it. He was relieved
when his cmputer informed him he had an incoming call.
______He accepted the call and saw a young woman, a teenager
actually, smiling nervously at him.
______"I am Captain McMillian. What can I do for you, Miss
Bellingham?"
______She was surprised at being recognized for Kaylee didn't
realize that Emmily LaFere had lined
the wall of her office with pictues of her, her family and of
Emmily with both Eric and Kaylee.
(There were also pictures the LaFere family as welll.)
______Captain McMillian waited patiently.
______"Captain, I dont' want to bother you but Emmily just told me
she doesn't have leave and I'd like
to see her. Is there any way she can get time off?"
______"Miss Bellingham, may I call you Kaylee?" (Kaylee nodded
"yes".) Well, Kaylee, Emmily
didn't request leave and I think she didn't want to impose
herself on your family."
______"Oh, no, sir, she wouldn't be imposing herself. She can stay
with me and my parents won't
mind. Besides, Eric is coming over tomorrow."
______In the background, Bellingham senior shrugged and nodded
"yes".
______"Very well, then, I'll give Emmily two weeks leave and you
can arrange where she stays. Is that
acceptable?"
______"Yes!"
______"I'll need several minutes to tell Emmily to take leave."
______Captain McMillian walked down the empty passageways of ship
and rang Emmily LeFere's
doorbell. She answered the door wearing a sweatsuit.
______"Emmily, are you planning on going ashore?"
______"Yes, sir, in a few days. I was going to ask you for leave."
______"I grant you 14 days leave, starting effective immediately. I
can extend this leave if you need
more time."
______"I really don't know anyone I can visit with."
______"Haven't you gotten mail from anyone? Are you sure you don't
know anyone who'd welcome a
visit from you?"
______The Captain thought it might as well have said "Kaylee wants
you to visit" but he thought to be
discrete.
______"Well, I could call Eric's sister..."
______"That sounds like a fine idea."
______She went back into her quarters and made the phone call.
Captain McMillian was amused by
the enthusiasm he heard from both young women.
______"I'd like to take that leave, sir."
______"We're in space dock and not allowed to use transporters. If
you're going to leave tonight, you'll
have to take the shuttle, which leaves in 7 minutes."
______"Oh shit, I'll never get ready that quickly!"
______"May I come in and help you pack?"
______"Yes, sir. I'll go pack my carry bag."
______While Emmily began packing a small suitcase with the minimal
makesup she used, Captian
McMillian opened her closet. There he selected a brightly
colored blouse and light blue trousers
and hung them over a door knob. He then picked out a dress
uniform, an undress uniform,
several shirts and trousers and placed them in a clothing bag.
He carried this bag over to her
dresser and picked out several sets of underwear for her. He
looked at the three "swimsuits"
Emily had: one rather modest two piece suit, a large one piece
(bottom only) and a thong (which
shocked him). He put these in the carrying case and put
several sets of shoes (already in carrying
bags) in the carrying case and sealed it up.
______Emmily came, ripped off her sweatsuit and stood in front of
her closet dressed in her
underwear. (Captain McMillian and his wife had raised three
daughters and the sight of girls or
young women running around in their underwear simply didn't
bother him. He handed Emmily
trousers and the blouse. She dressed and he put her carrying
case in a pocket of the uniform
carrying bag. Together, they ran down the corridors and left
the ship. McMillian called the
shuttle craft and asked them to wait. The shuttle crew agreed.
______When they arrived at the enterance to the shuttle, Emmily
handed her clothing bag to the shuttle
crewman and began to wedge her feet into the sandals her
Captain had carried. The crewman
laughed and said "take your time, we can make up the time!"
______Emmily waved at her Captain and prepared for the rare event
of actually going from orbit to
planet in a craft vice transporter.
______Captain McMillian returned to his cabin, finished packing his
luggage and took his leave of his
ship. A junior officer who had litterally drawn the short end
of the straw, waved Captain
McMillian off his ship.
______
______She received a warm welcome from Eric's family for they were
quite fond of her. It was a good
thing she'd taken a nap that day for the room she shared with
Kaylee had twin beds and Kaylee
kept the conversation running by calling from her bed "are you
asleep?" "No." Then the
conversation would restart...
______
______The day of His graduation, Eric was visited by Fleet Admiral
Uhura. In the months since she'd
learned of Eric's discovery, the Fleet Admiral had visited
Eric a number of times and they'd
become friends (or at least as much as a Fleet Admiral and a
Lieutenant could become while both
were on active duty). She told him that an experimental Tetron
based weapon had been added to
the TAMERLANE. Captain McMillian has a good understanding of
the weapon's nature and
your boss, Daniel Jackson was also briefed and will cover for
any power used. Your security
Chief knows there is an experimental piece of equipment in
that compartment and will not enter.
I hope you never need to try this weapon but if you need it,
use it!"
______"How does it work, ma'am?"
______"We're not sure; we just know that the interaction of our
tetron beams with a standard warp
reactor results in the creation of strange particles and a
most improbable warp core explosion.
Perhaps you can explain the physics?"
______"Yes, Admiral." Fleet Admiral Uhara grinned at the young
man's discomfort and didn't expect
any answers any time soon...
______
______The TAMERLANE's officers and crew went to Eric's PhD
grauation.
______The First Officer's reactions when he congratulated Eric were
puzzling.
______"Nice job, Eric, nicely done." "Laser Eyes" was very sincere
and so was his wife. Then, she
smirked at her husband and she said: "A P H D! Wow! That makes
you a VERY well educated
individual, doesn't it Eric?"
______"Yes, ma'am."
______Then, Commander Clark Gray smirked at Eric: "Such a good
education! Such a shame to let
this resource go to waste! Don't you agree, Skipper?"
______Captain McMillian smilled broadly and said "Yes, indeed,
Clark, it would be a shame to let
such a resource go to waste!"
______"You are now the training officer. May yu reign over the
training office for many, many, many
years to come!'
______Then Eric remembered the amount of "paperwork" First Officer
"Laser Eyes" and his staff of
two had to do for Eric to be admitted to Post Grad School. He
suddenly remembered hiow many
times he'd asked the Training Office to arrange for courses.
There were times when entire
divisions of crew were signed up for classes and the Training
Officer (i.e. the First Officer)
would bellow at personnel for not doing the course work on a
timely basis. Eric would repent for
his sins against the "old" Training Officer...
______The "old" Training Officer mentioned that he'd like to take
some advanced education and
discussed with the CO what courses the bridge personnel could
take. They thought of quite a
few...
______
______Finally, the leave was over and TAMERLANE left for fleet
exercises. While TAMERLANE
had been in the Space Dock for maintenance, the work required
had not been serious.
______Although it took several weeks, Eric re-integrated into
Engineering as if he'd nver left. The only
problems were the amazing amount of shear "paperwork" required
by the "Training Department"
and the amusement many people seemed to take at his attempts
to get crew members to properly
sign up for classes, to work on the courses let alone complete
them and to be available for the
reqired testing. Then, there was the required testing. He had
"students" who "pretended" to be
cheating simply to make him run around the "classroom". He
didn't think "Laser Eyes" had an
appropriate attitude; it seemed his "Beloved XO" was tutoring
Eric's "students" in how to mess
with "the Teacher's Mind".
______The other item were the emergency drills. He didn't mind
having to do them, he minded how
they were done. He bitched to the training officer about
drills that were done the same way year
after year and about drills that were put on hold because a
"critical person" had gone to the head
or was otherwise away from their work space when the drill was
called. He thought that everyone
should have a good working idea of how to respond. It didn't
gain him friends...
______
______Eric waited until the weekly Engineering Staff Meeting was
nearly over before raising his hand.
His unsusspecting boss nodded and said "Eric"?
______"Have you ever watched any of the old damage control tapes,
sir? I'm talking about the ones
made in the mid 20th century."
______"No, I don't think so..."
______"There was one classic about an aircraft carrier. A fire was
started on their flight deck due to a
combination of nasty factors and the crew had to put it out.
The film clearly shows the better fire
fighters moving across the deck putting out the fires with a
very effective and state of the art
flame retardant. Unfortunately, these pros were followed by
crewmen who had been barely
trained years before; they were doing good to point the hose
in the correct direction. The pros had
set up hoses connected to salt water pumps and they were
'fighting the fires' with salt water.
Unfortunately, their salt waster was washing the effective
fire retardant off the deck. The fuel,
which floated on top of the salt water simply caught fire
again. The ship survived mainly because
the fuel supply burned itself out, probably. There was a
massive failure of command organization
and folks simple lacked the skills to know how to fight the
fires."
______There was a pause.
______"In many ways we're far better trained than these 'men of the
sea' were 400 years ago. But the
biggest number of dead came from crewmen who were ordered to
remain in their living quarters,
which were a hugh room filled with racked bunks. They died of
smoke inhalation because there
weren't any protective mashs or hoods available and no one had
told them to run to rooms with
clean air. Of course, this couldn't happen to a Star Fleet
Ship, could it?"
______"Wasn't there an incident where a newly married man died when
a phaser coolant pipe ruptured
and he couldn't get to a protective mask or out of the
compartment in time?"
______Eric was pleased his Master Chief had replied.
______"Correct, Master Chief, it happened on Montgomery Scott's
ENTERPRISE about a century
ago."
______Everyone knew that technically it had been James T. Kirk's
ENTERPRISE but these were
Engineers and to them, the Chief Engineer was somewhat more
important that the Ship Driver
who commanded the non-Engineering spaces.
______"What if a torpedo got jammed? I remember reading that Dr.
'Bones' McCoy had to install some
kind of medical sensor on a torpedo to allow it to track down
and target a cloaked Klingon
vessel. Could either of our Medical Doctors do this type of
'surgery'?"
______"What if one of the XO's Yeomen were down here harrassing one
of us about a report and we
were engaged? Say, a sneak attack that isolated the bridge and
damaged a nascell. That Yoeman
could be the one ordered to sit at the phaser control panel
and return fire based on orders from an
Ensign in the secondary bridge. Could any of our Yeomen do
this?"
______"If you consider 'Anna the Super Senior Chief' to be a
Yeoman, then she probably could take
command run the battle from engineering. I don't think so
highly of the other Yeomen, especially
the one who went through Enlisted training after getting a
Harvard MBA."
______There was something to be said about cranky Senior Chiefs;
they didn't hold back much. On the
other hand, there were many times when they probably should
have...
______"What about doing unusual drills. Sir? What about doing stuff
like hold a 'phaser gone into self
destruct mode' drill and have it happen to two navigation
techs and one of our Yeoman? I don't
know how a Security Marine type could have a phaser go wild
but I suppose it could happen.
Sir."
______There was also something to be said about Engineering Ensigns
who were Assistant Division
Officers and who hadn't gotten fully into the official mind
set of the ship.
______"That's exactly what I had in mind!"
______They discussed this for a bit longer and Dan Jackson said
he'd take the proposal to the First
Officer. The meeting ended and Eric want back to a mixture of
proof reading training requests,
proof reading engineering logs and looking for booby traps in
the Technician Third Class
evaluations. which his Department Head would be pleased to
read that afternoon. Two hours into
this "oh-so-wonderful" exercise, Eric was called to the
Bridge.
______
______The next day, Eric was summonded to a meeting with the Second
officer and the First Officer.
The Second Officer looked upset and the First Officer looked
like he had talked at...
______"Lieutenant Bellingham, are you trying to bust my chops?"
______"No, Lieutenant Anderson, I am not trying to bust your chops.
I like your drills but I think we
need to increase the emergency supplies and to expand the
training. All I'm saying is we need to
get people used to dealing with the unusual emergencies; right
now, you and the First have
created a very fine system of emergency drills but I think we
need to go beyond. OK?"
______"Eric," Laser Eyes commented, "just what are you saying?"
______"Sir, all I'm saying is we need to expand training. I'm not
exactly sure what but our Marines
coujld train our people in self defense, we could cross train
emergency plumbing etc. This is
something the students could help with."
______
______Eric sent a note around suggesting that eergency supplies be
placed in various locations arouind
the ship. The officers and Chiefs started brainstorming about
what could be planted around the
boat. This lead to much discussin of what kind of supplies and
where to put them and who would
maintain them and the discussion took up entirely too much
time. Fortunately, there were other
things to spend one's tim eon.
______Their beloved (well liked, actually) Second Officer was
promoted to Lieutenant Commander
and various members of the crew decided to get him gifts.
______The swearing in was very nice and held in the ship's general
meeting space. The cake was
decorated with Scott Talbert's two and a half pips and the
signatures of each person no the
TAMERLANE. It was a nice job of decorating.
______The First Officer was master of Ceremonies.
______"We have some gifts for you, Scott, something suitable for a
Fresh Caught Lieutenant
Commander. Cief Ryan, I believe you've got gifts from bridge
crew?"
______The gift was a hand bound set of novels written in the early
21st century, these novels were
about soldiers fighting in the 2nd Iraqi Civil War, faught in
2012 between the Kurds and Central
Europeans living in Iraq. By that time the Second Bathest
Party had taken the Iraqie Oil Fields
and was dealing directly with the United States of America.
The US of A, getting a good deal on
good oil, told the Good People of Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia
to 'fight your own Allah Damned
Wars yourself.' There were a shocking number of Muslims who
found this very funny!
______LCDR Talbert liked making scale models of various ships. The
best artists among Eric's people
constructed a three foot long scale model of the TAMERLANE;
being only one of several fans of
model making, the Guest of Honor and his fellow devotees spent
several weeks (evenings)
working on the model ship. It was very nicely done.
______Engineering provided the final gifts.
______"Sir," Eric began, "we all know of yuor hobbies. So, perhaps
you'll enjoy this!"
______
""Thank you, Eric," and LCDR Talbert opened the first gift. It
was a custom made entranching
tool, commonly used in the early and mid 20th century by
campaigning soldiers. It was also used
by campers.
______"You're quite welcome. We know you've camped out on, what,
twenty five worlds..."
______"Thirty two actually."
______"Worlds and never liked the tools you brought with you. The
blade is made from hull metal,
with a mild steel covering and a stabalizer over that. The
blade is fairly sharp but if you want, we
can put a better than razor sharp edge on it, sir. The handle
is made of century cured mahogany.
A couple of my people hand carved the handle. How does it
feel?"
______Talbert opended the blade out and swung it gently several
times.
______"It feels very comfortable."
______"Good, good, Doc Emmily used erogonomic programmes to get a
proper shape on the handle."
______"Actually, I simply did a slight modification of the
traditional 19th century handle." Doc
Emmily was very pleased with herself.
______"There were several other gift, not least of which was the
booze distilled in Engineering, fltered
through active charcoal and aged for almost a week and a half.
The ship was dropped to low
warp and largely ran on automated systems while the guests got
over the effects of the party.
______The various gifts, especially those from Engineering, helped
heal the hurt feelings between Eric
and Scott Talbert over damage control.
______
______In early 2364, Eric qualfied as both Junior Officer of the
Deck and Officer of the Dec. In late
2364, Eric was standing watch as Officer of the Deck when
sensors picked up something strange.
There was an object, that sensors couldn't pin down and
couldn't quite analyuse, standing off
TAMERLANE's port side. Eric was puzzled.
______"Helm, slow to warp two."
______The order was obeyed and sensors quickly noted the "ghost"
had disappeared and then
reappeared in the same location. TAMERLANE was on course 090
mark 000 at warp 2. He
decided to test the assumption that TAMERLANE was being paced.
______"Helm, change course to 180 mark 090."
______Eric decided to "fire up" a "secret" scanner whose existance
was known only to the Captain and
him. The scan showed a cloaked object, likely a torpedo.
______"Helm! Raise shields! Weapons! Sound battle stations!
Computer, Captain to the bridge. Helm,
evasive manuever pattern Echo. Sensors, what the bloody Hell
is that weapon's Mother Ship?"
______Sensors identified a Cardassian warship in the process of
uncloaking when the unknown
weapon appeared off TAMERLANE's port side and detonated. There
was a splash of energy on
the screens and TAMERLANE rocked to it's starboard.
______The Captain was on the bridge.
______"Helm, get that bastard aft of us. Now. Weapons, target that
Cardie and ripple fire torpedoes."
______"Sir, we have a casualty report and damage reports."
______"Later, deal with it."
______"The Cardassian appeared to have survived the TAMERLANE's
torpedos but seems dead in
space and the Captain ordered "prepare to stand down". Eric
later stated he hadn't heard this
order.
______"Helm, hard about, get that Targ turd off our bow. Weapons,
are phrasers and disrupters
charged?
______The Captain knew when to not interupt and then the Cardassian
abruptly got underweight again.
The Cardassian fired two torpedoes, which TAMERLANE's point
defense phasers easily killed.
______"Weapons, target enemy bridge, torpedo ports, phaser arrays
and engineering and when ready,
fire ASAP."
______The TAMERLANE's phasers took out the enemy bridge and most of
it's torpedo ports and an
experimental tunnling photon torpedo took out the Cardie's
warp reactor. The resulting explosion
was more enjoyable. Eric would later see the enemy warship
exploded over and over in his
nightmares.
______Eric relaxed, breated a sigh of relief and then started
upright.
______"What was that damage report?"
______"Sir, Captain, the weapon penetrated our shields and some
kind of plasma weapon fired through
the battle hull, through an empty room, through the a hatch
into the deck three port corridore and
laid this open to space. Crewman Beatrice Collen was there and
was sucked towards the hull
brach. Doc Emmily used a specialized programme to transport
Beatrice to sick bay. She's being
treated by Doc Emmily, Doc Turbo and two of the Emergency
Medical Personnel. They say she'll
be fine."
______"Captain, endmy ship was destroyed. May I brief you in
private?"
______"No. Everyone listen up! Lt Bellingham used an experimental
sensor system to penetrate the
cloaking on the Cardie torpedo. This scanning is hereby
classified Secret and must not be talked
about." (He knew those talking about the torpedo and it's
scanning would be doing so very
quietly and without open discussion.) Eric, I have the con."
______"Thank you, sir. I need to get with my poeple about repairing
the hole in the foot and half thick
battle armour of the primary (or battle) hull.
______Eric and the Chief Engineer suited up and entered the damaged
section through a temporary
airlock. A strong force field covered the hole in the hull but
the two offices and the five crew
who accompanied them weren't too trusting of force fields.
They carefully examined analzyed the
hold and used a transporter to remove a large section of
damaged hull material around the hull.
Then, the hull maintenance crew used a transporter to modify
some of their emergency stock of
huller material and this shaped hull mateiral was transported
into the spot.
______Nothing could beat using a transporter beam carefully
"sequence" the material around a
replacement plug and it was well known as the stongest weld
possible,
______A pressure check showed the repaired hull to be stronger than
before. Everyone was pleased.
______Eric had just returned from medical, where he had checked on
the recovering Beatrice Collen,
who seemed to be in good spirits. She even consoled Eric:
______"I've heard you feel guilty about not paying attention to the
damage report about me being hurt."
______"Well, yes." Actually, he didn't feel any guilt until right
before going to sickbay.
______"Sir, you did the right things and saved the ship. I'm proud
of you!"
______Eric didn't know how to answer this and his ackward,
stuttered "thank you" was intepreted as
becoming modesty. Eric left, after promising to check in later
that day.
______
______Then matters got worst. Eric had been worried about a "Court
of Inquiry" and one was scheduled for that evening. He put on
his best (his only!) Dress Uniform and arrived early. He
wanted to have a lawyer but had been told by his Master Chief
that "lawyers aren't Star Fleet and besides, Sir, the innocent
don't need them!"
______Eric had once read that "the guilty need a lawyer, the
innocent two and the naive and very innocent three lawyers".
He told his Master Chief this and Master Chief Lynch had
laughed loudly. It was most disconcerting...
______Whren the Captain, First Officer, Senior Chief "Anna", Chief
Engineer Jackson entered and saw both LT Bellingham and Master
Chierf Lynch waiting in their Dress Uniforms, the Captain
muttered "what the Hell"? "Anna" merely smiled.
______"Lieutenant Bellingham, we are now conveining this Formal
Count of Inquiry."
______Bellingham braced himself to attention.
______"Mr. Bellingham, how would you rate your performance during
the Cardassian attack this morning?"
______"Sir! I believe I acted appropriately to defend my ship, sir.
We were attcked, sir and I held off attack when the Cardie
vessel appeared 'dead in space', sir. Sir, I initiated my
phaser attack when the enemy resumed his assualt and fired
torpedoes. Sir
______
______"LT Bellingham, did you authorize the firing of an
experimental torpedo against the engine room of the Cardessian
warship?"
______"Sir, I am responsible for everything that happened during
the engagement, sir."
"
______Did you specifically ORDER a torpedo fired?"
______Eric would later realize his Captain seemed entirely too
relaxed and the other senior personnel seemed too amused.
"
______No, sir."
"
______Eric, since you had the bridge during the attack, you were
responsible for the torpedo firing even if you didn't order
it. Remember this young man: I was in command and therefore am
responsible for everything that happened today. This includes
Ensign Simon Drak firing a torpedo on her own initative. I've
already put her in for an accomodation for displaying
initiative and warned her to try waiting a little bit longer
before firing without orders. Is that acceptable to you?"
______"Ah, yes, sir, it is..." Eric was clearely puzzled for this
didn't seem like a Court to him!
______"Now, why are you and the Master Chief in Dress Uniform?"
______The Master Chief responded: "My Lieutenant was convinced this
'Board of Inquiry' would lead to a finding of his disobeying
orders while the ship was in combat and that he would be
facing a Courts Martial. Sir."
______Eric was not amused by the laughter.
______"Sorry, lad," Master Chief Lynch finally said, "I should have
told you this was a per forma matter but I didn't realize you
feared a court! I suppose you're too frazzled for some good
news?"
"
______I could use some good news right about now!"
______"Commander Jackson, has this officer ever sent crew 'into
harm's way' knowing he could be sending them to their deaths?"
"
______Yes, Captain, he has. Everytime he has to send someone in to
do close in calibration on the anti-matter feed system, he
risks their deaths should the containment fields spike
outward."
______The containment fields were barely stable and barely under
control as it was and every so often would expand outward just
enough to kill anyone near them. The problem was that if the
fields went out of specs (and they did occasionally) it would
destroy the ship to leave them "out of specs" and dropping out
of warp will cause an instant warp core breach. This was what
the Star Fleet Design Bureau called "a known problem"...
______"Then, are we in agreement with what I must do today?"
______Now, Eric was really worried!
______"Eric Randall Bellingham, this Court of Inquiry finds you
behaved in exemplary manner in defending the USS TAMERLANE
from unjustified attack. We commend you on your professional
performance!"
______Eric visibly relaxed.
______"You'll be receiving a special fitness report in several
minutes. This is one I've been waiting to give you for some
time now."
______Now, Eric was puzzled.
______"Finally, you're out of uniform?"
______Eric looked at his Master Chief.
______"Master Chief Lynch, you checked me over before we came in
here and said I looked 'Captain's Inspection Ready'."
______"That was then, young man."
______"You're out of uniform because you have the wrong rank
insignia, Lieutenant Commander Bellingham," spoke the Captain.
______"Sir, I've got my polished Lieutenant pips on."
"
______Ah, but you're no longer a Lieutenant, you're now a
Lietenant Commander."
______"Eric's picture could have been put into a dictionary next to
the word "dumfounded"!
______"We've been planning on your promotion for several months now
but our time table has been shorted by about six weeks. I'll
explain later. Now, it is time to congraduate you!"
______The Court of Inquiry personnel gathered around to congratuate
Eric.
______They had a really nice party for him the next night and
someone had talked about Eric's fear of being Court Martialed
for a number of crewmen came up to him in the forthcoming
weeks to say "don't worry, sir, we still love you". It was
most disconcerting...
______
______The last week of 2365 as when everything changed.
______The TAMERLANE had spent Christmas and Hannacak at at a planet
called "Bush League" because it was a rather raw planet that
was noted for the vast assortment of large and violent
animals. It was in the running for the next planet for "Great
White Hunters" to visit, kill dangerous looking animals and
engage in "Teddy Roosevelt" poses: they wold stand with one
foot up on an animal they'd killed. The irony that most of the
hunters would have been beaters or "native boys" centuries
before (they were not "white") or that the dangerous animals
were more dangerous for being intelligent and capable of
hunting the hunters somehow didn't make the news. It didn't
really matter.
______None of the TAMERLANE's crew hunted "dangerous animals"; they
had been "hunted" by Cardassians and attacked in several "hit
and run" attacks by unidentified aliens.
______The high light had been when Captain McMillian's
granddaughter and her husband had arrived and displyed their
child, the Captain's Great-granddaughter. The Granddaughter
and her husband (both all of 19 years old!) and their child
had been immediately adopted by the Good Ship and Crew. It was
a very happy memory for all...
______The town they partied in was surrounded by an force field
rated for Chiefs of State!
______
______TAMERLANE was enroute to their first visit to Risa when a
message came in via the Fleet Supremem Command channel. Eric
had been on the bridge standing in for the Junior Engineer of
the Watch (who was at a flower arranging class, of all
things!) when the Captain was ordered to take this call. The
Captain went into his "At Sea Cabin" (Ready Room) and was in
there for some time. He called in his First Officer (who was
Officer of the Watch), told his Second Officer to "take the
center seat" and after a short while, his puzzled looking
Chief Engineer. When he went by, Commander Jackson just looked
at Eric and shrugged. CLearely, Commander Daniel Jackson was
in the dark about his summoning.
______Then, the First Officer came out and spoke:
""LCDR Talbert, LCDR Bellingham, you've both done damage
control work. We, ah, I have a thought experiment for both of
you. Assume the ship is facing an implacable foe capable of
adjusting to whatever defenses and offences we can come up
with. Assume this foe could attack any time after about a year
and what would you do to make the TAMERLANE battle ready. You
have twenty minutes. Eric, one of your Junior Engineers of the
Watch will relieve you; we wouldn't want to interupt your
Engineer's recreational schooling. Scott, you've been saying
Ensign Medley is ready to stand her first Officer of the Deck
Watch; have her relieve you and then have Chief Thurson take
the helm. Mary Jo Thurson will be able to supervise our Ensign
by dropping 'gentle hints'."
______It was closer to 35 minutes before both LCDRs were called
into the Captain's Ready Room.
______The Captain's Ready Room had the Captain's desk in front of
the wall across from the entrance hatch, there were five easy
chairs in the center of the room, a kitchen style work table
across from the Captain's desk and a coffee mess set on it.
The wall accross from the hatch was partally covered with
crayon colored pictures made by Captain McMillian's
grandchildren and hologrammes of McMillian's wife, children,
grandchildren and a very small baby (his first
great-grandchild). The Captain liked to groan "I'm too young
to be a great-grandfather but he had spent a lot of time
holding said great-grandchild a couple of weeks before. Now,
the air felt much, much grimmer!
______Captain Robert McMillian, Commander Clark Grey, Commander
Daniel Jackson, Senior Chief Anna Haskall and Master Chief
Jain Lynch stood waiting. Both LCDRs marched in and
immediately braced themselves to attention. They had never
done this before in the Captain's Ready room but they had
never seen the ship's Command Staff looking so grim.
"
______LCDR Talbert, if you were to continue as Damage Control
Assistant, what would you do different, if at all?"
______"Captain, I would continue with the current drills and form
Marine squads from the Security personnel. We have some 60
'Marines', sir and while they are doing fine jobs in other
duties, I suspect it's not their first love."
______"LCDR Bellingham?"
______"Sir, I would continue the same drills and have the Marines
train other ship's company. I would also like to spread
emergency suits around the ship. I would also put damage
control gear in all rooms off the main passageways. I'd like
everyone to have armoured vacume suits and to have everyone
suited up during general quarters. If they can't be battle
suited, then they can at least be in standard vacume suits."
______Several of the Command Staff nodded in agreement.
______"Finally, Sir, I would not be a 'Damage Control Assistant', I
would be the 'Damage Control Asshole'!"
______Gentlemen, I've decided. Eric, you will be the 'Damage
Control Asshole'; Scott, you will bring our Marines back up to
their full abilities and schedule 'Repell Boarders' drills and
hand to hand combat drills; emphasize improvized weapons and
the ability to change tactics. Get everybody involved! There
is one damn thing that neither of you can ever forget: we are
now at war and we can not afford battling egos and battling
agendas and other bullshit! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
"YES, SIR!"
______"Well, now that I've pinned your ears back," the Captain
continued in a softer voice, "I thought it best to get that
out of the way immediately. We really are at war and you'll
see why we must work together like cells in a body or bees in
a hive, Well, take seats. I'll stand. Senior Chief, you can
take my chair."
______They took seats and waited while a flexible screen rolled
down from the overhead. The Captain stood and began to speak:
______"The USS ENTERPRISE was conducting normal operations when a
disaster visited them: the creature called 'Q' visited them.
'He' said he would be their tour guide to the universe. This
'Q' provoked Capt Piccard and CDR Riker into a rash statement
or two and 'Q' said something like 'so you think you're ready
for what awaits you out there? Let's see.' Then, 'Q' took
ENTERPRISE and crew to meet destiny."
______The monitor screen had finished rolling down and Capt
McMillian snapped his fingers. A strange object appeared on on
the screen. The object expanded on the screen and was revealed
as a huge cubical object; the scale markings showed the cube
to be five kilometers on a side.
______"What is the threat of this space station, sir," the Second
officer wanted to know. "That object is the size of a large
space station and we've seen moons smaller than this?"
______"It doesn't look dangerous, does it? Doesn't it look like
it's too big to have gone there under it's own power?" The
Chief Engineer had a slight grin.
______"Yes, sir."
______"A little more detail then. ENTERPRISE was transported 2,700
light years to a location in the Beta Quadrient on the far
side of the Romulan Star Empire. They found this object
drifting in an unknown and uncharter star system. Piccard's
old friend, Madame Guinnen, told him to leave and start back
to Earth as quickly as possible. Piccard ignored her and began
exploring. As far as he could tell, the cube was ignoring him
until he drew it's attention by sending first contact message.
The cube then proved it was more than a drifting space
station.
______The screen showed the cube abruptly stop and head directly
towards the ENTERPRISE at high impulse.
______"This cube is a very versitle space craft. Piccard fled. A
creature beamed into ENTERPRISE's engineering space, began
scanning and somehow was able to interface with the
ENTERPRISE's main computer. Piccard ordered his Security Chief
to kill the invader. Another invaded appeared and finished
downloading the ENTERPRISE's database. The intruder had
somehow adapted to the attack modes and was able to leave
easily. The cube attacked ENTERPRISE and Piccard responded
with torpedoes and phasers. This seemed to stop the enemy.
Piccard send an away team to the enemy vessel and found it was
a living machine, filled with cyborgs."
______He paused for questions.
______"The cyborgs were human machines hybrids that interfaced with
the computer controlling their vessel. Guinnen revealed this
creatures, called 'The Borg', had been working on a system of
linking living humanoid minds to each other via computers for
'thousand of centuries'. No one knows who the origional
species was that created this hybrid and no one knows where
they came from. Most think from the Delta Quadrant of this
galazy and some alien species think they came from the Lesser
Magellanic Cloud or perhaps started in the Delta Quadrant,
went to the Lesser Cloud and came back to the Delta Quadrant,
The important thing to remember is this: the exist to
assimilate intelligent life forms into a collective hive mind.
They assimililate alien technology. Some think these Borg
don't invent tech, they just steal and use alien's technology.
This is both arrogant and dangerous; there is proof that
elements of the Borg overmind can invent new tech and tactics.
They can adopt and that implies imagination and some of
the older aliens say the Borg have great imagination,
horribley great immaginations."
______The room was stunned.
______"What do they want? Well, let's listen to what they told
ENTERPRISE:"
______"We are the Borg. We have analyzed your offensive and
defensive capabilities and you are no match for us. Lower your
shields and prepare to be boarded. Your existance as you have
known it has ended; you will be assimiliated. We will add your
biological and technological distinctiness to our own."
______"The Borg have assimiliated numberous species and realigned
their minds to serve the needs of the group. Who sets their
goals or are they as mindless as a cancer taking over a body?
Are they mindless destroyers like insects taking destoying
everything they come across? Various sources, some reports
tens of thousands of years old and found in records in ruins
on alien worlds suggest the Borg are extensions of a single
alien. These stories came from ancient ruins but the ruins
were set up for the future and had very precise instruction in
how to translate their languages. This is high classified
because the ruins say the only defense against the Borg is to
flee beyong their reach, There are stories of whole species
who left this galaxy and who are still working their way from
isolated star to star across the intergalactic voil in hopes
of finding sanctuary far away from this galaxy." The Captain
sighed. "It makes for great myths and great bed time scare
stories but these monsters are real."
______"The ENTERPISE away party surveyed the enemy ship, returned
to their ship and fled. The Enemy vessel pursued at high warp
and fired some sort of energy leeching weapon that first
removed all power from ENTERPRISE's shields and then leeched
out their warp drive power. Commander LeForge can't explain
this; he says it violated all physics and engineering he'd
been taught. Various study groups have been initiated since
the ENTERPRISE returned. They will be sharing any ideas they
come up with and any wild ass hair brained ideas we can come
up with will be most welcome!"
______"Hair brained ideas, sir," Eric questioned.
______"Yes, indeed, because the idea of a torpedo like weaopon that
could 'leech' shield and warp power is a 'wild ass idea'!"
______The First Officer took up the briefing:
______"Engineering and physics are the only 'wild ass ideas' now on
the table! The Federation sent ambassadores to an emergency
meeting of the political and military elites of the Klingon
Empire, the Romulan Empire, the Gorn Hedgemony, the Torlians
and several other species including the Cardessians. The
Breeen were invited but declined to attend. They later said
the Cardfassians had briefed them on the problem and had said
the Breen were not in danger from the Borg. When images were
shown of the drones in the cube ship, the Breen abrupty joined
this collition. It seems that several Breen, apparently livng
quite well outside their refrigerator suits in the heat of the
cube ship, were seen by the Breen. There were details of the
Breen physiology that the Federation hasn't discovered yet.
Section 31 has since located several Breens and brought back
autospy reports."
______"Were the Breen dead when the autosopies were done?"
______"Apparently not, Senior Chief, apparently not."
______"This group is going to work on unified defenses. The
Federation and the Klingon Empire are working on a new type of
battleship with grossly improved warp and impulse engines and
a warp corp that coulg power the ENTERPRISE; the Romulans are
kicking in their finest, cutting edge, cloaking technology.
The Breen are contributing tactics that should greately
improve our survival chances and the Trolians are going to
provide material science, hull materials that will be a real
surprise to the Borg and which will make the new battleships
much harder to kill. I've also got a surprise." Chief Engineer
Jackson was smilling but it wasn't a happy smile.
______"Commander Jackson will be promoted to Captain and assigned
to head the Engineering efforts. Master Chief Lynch will stay
behing to supervise and to aid his new Chief Engineer: Eric
Randall Bellingham."
______Captain McMillian grinned at Eric's expression; Eric had
expected to be MPA for several more years and then feared he
would be transferred to another ship. He feared this because
the personnel on the TAMERLANE had become his family. He now
only knew their names, he knew the names of their spouces,
girl friends, boy friends, families and even most of their
dogs, cats and targs. (Yes, TAMMERLANE hosted Klingons several
times.) He had seen their inner demons and they his; this
familiarity had not lead to contempt but to deeper friendship.
It was strange but true and happened to many others in those
years. He wasn't ready to leave them. (Most of them weren't
ready for him to leave.)
______The First Officer decided to get matters back on track.
______"These changes won't happen for several weeks anyway. Daniel,
you'll have plenty of time to passdown the Department to young
Eric; you've been Chief Engineer for, what, 15 years? Just
don't forget to pass down the keys and don't steal the nice
flatware." The Chief Engineer was amusedf and outraged. "You
shouldn't have too many problems Eric, the inventory tracking
system indicates that everything is accouonted for. I had an
inventory of all ship's systems, equipment and equipage
yesterday and today. The change in DCA responsibility won't
happen to late January or perhaps early February. Eric, if
you're going to be a success in your `Damage Control Asshole`
work, you'll need to get with everyone and get their ideas.
You can start with the Department Heads and they can ask their
Division Officers and you can get the full input of officers
and crew. Scott, you'll have to work up refresher training for
the 'Marines' and invader repulsion drills for the entire
crew. You can get with Fleet Headquarters about
that. ALso, your First Lieutenant duties will increase and
you'll have to do more damage control work with Eric and work
on physically moving material to and from the ship. This will
involve crains and single person tugs. You will have a lot of
work cut out for you. However, the Borg invasion, should it
even happen, is years away. We will still go to Risa,
hopefully still have fine times and we can begin going to a
war footing afterwards. Captain, should we plan on doing so in
late January [2366]?"
______"That will be fine," Captain McMillian agreed.
______They spent a couple of weeks on Risa and while Emmily and
Eric spent a lot of time together and cemented their
reputation as being a "couple", they didn't carry matters
beyond holding hands. As Eric's sister would later say "those
two are soooooo sloooooow!"
______The first several months after leaving Risa were filled with
drills and Marine training. Studying sensor reports from
remote stations and probes became an obsecession for several
months and that finally abated. The high water marks of Eric's
"enhanced training" included:
______One of the Operations Department sensor techs was walking
down a corridor when a pipe "ruptured" in the overhead and
began leeking water (simulating a heat transfer liquid). This
young Petty Officer grabbed two other crewmen when the hatches
at either end of the corridore clsed and sealed them off. The
three tore the panels off the overhiead ("ceiling"), shut off
the proper valves and used Eric's patch "blanet" to cover the
"hole" in the pipe. Then, the drill was over but the water was
still on the deck and the panels needed to be cleaned and
replaced.
______The Petty Officer was ordered to dry off the panels, remove
the "blanket" and clean up the mess.
______This Pwetty Officer replied that the real fluid would have
given off gases that would have damaged their lungs. So, the
three would have to go to Medical for treatement. As for
cleaning up the mess? That was a job for specialists, which
she and her two helpers were not and it would be the First
Lieutenant or the Damage Control Asshole's responsibility to
do so.
______She marched off to medical; the ship's officers and senior
enlisted laughed themselved sick almost.
______
______The fire alarm went off seconds before a fire control team
burst into his "stateroom". Eric had fumbled out of bed,
wearing just a t-shirt and looked around for the fire. The
team that came through his door did a careful survey, made
remarks like "oh, no, I'm seeing something that only Emmily
should see" and when he went to his head to hide out, started
remarks about his "tight ass".
______Eric wore Academy grade nightware for over a month but a
surprise fire "drill" was never held in his living quarters
again...
______Perhaps the most dangerous drill was when the Captain took
TAMERLANE to a research station and took most of the senior
personnel with him on a visit. Then, Captain McMillian sent
orders to the Ensign (who was Junior Officer of the Deck), who
took TAMERLANE out to deep space, took the ship into warp and
went to a location Capt. McMillian's orders specified. Capt.
McMillian had expected this officer to demand clarification of
orders or send down an away team (to rescue the "hostages")
and hadn't expected the Ensign to "take the ship to rendezvous
with a Fleet Cruiser".
______The Ensign had a commidation for successfully getting
TAMERLANE underweigh without the presence of senior officers
or sernior enlisted. Capt McMillain decided not to try such
drills again. There had not been a "Fleet Cruiser" at the
rendezvous point and McMillian had been forced to "borrow" a
runabout and go retrieve his ship...
______
______While the pace of drils dropped off, the drills chosen became
more focused and far better. After a year, TAMERLANE started
workups in squadron and fleet activities. TAMERLANE had been a
solitary player, whose military origions had been downplayed
for years. In mid year 2366, TAMERLANE was relased from
training duties and resumed her exploration duties. They spent
several months exploring solitary planets in deep space, Eric
resumed his PhD studies on exotic particles and actually
gained a student. It felt strange to have his very own PhD
candidate...
______As time passed and people began to think they were safe, the
pace of drills began tio drop off and even the TAMERLAND was
ordered to resume their scientific research. After all, the
weaopns sensors easily could be used for scientific purposes
and Eric's first PhD candidate was able to collect much data
for her research and was well on the way to an interesting
thesis when desparate emergency messages came in from several
remote stations and an emergency confirmation message came
from the ENTERPRISE. A single Borg cube ship was spotted by
remote stations [which apparently were destoyed] and
ENTERPRISE went to confront the foe. The TAMERLANE had been
enroute from Sirius to Earth and were ordered to Wolf 359. The
ship joined a group of Star Fleets finest combat vessels [save
for the ENTERPRISE] and a growing number of Klingon Warships.
Fleet Admiral J.P. Hanson organized the ships in a movable
ambush line. Some of the ships were in mutually supporting
battle groups and were intended to as flyiing squads.
The FADM [Fleet Admiral] spoke with great hope and confidence.
Privately, he told the Klingon General who commanded the
Klingon vessels that if ENTERPRISE couldn't find a weakness in
the enemy vessel or somehow get them to leave, he didn't have
much hope. Both senior officers were convinced they would die
went the Borg arrived; they only hoped they would die well,
die well after destroying or at least seriously damaging the
Borg vessel. The attack has come too soon and the various
defensive initatives were no werer near completion.
______Agents in a deep cover Federation Agency [some times called
'Section 31'] reported that a Borg vessel had fought a battle
in Earth Orbit and had been destroyed. The Time Police had
surpressed any furthern information.
______"There is much more to the story, Admiral but that is all I
know."
When it came, the attack was overhelming. The Borg vessel
rammed into the Wolf 359 system dispatching death in all
directions.
______TAMERLANE was at full battle stations, Captain McMillain,
First Officer Clark Gray, Second Officer Scott Talbert and the
best bridge personnel were on duty. Eric and his most
experienced junior officers and Chiefs were tripple; manning
all stations; the damage control teams [the rest of the crew]
were in various corridores and spaces. They had removed all
panels that hid pipes, critical valves, important equipment,
ODN junctures and enterances to Jeffries Tubes. Eric sat
behind his command panel, a wide table covered with monitors,
data entry keyboards, voice entry terminals and access to all
systems on the ship. One of the most important monitors showed
the comunications links throughout the ship.
______As part of a five ship element, TAMMERLANE swept towards the
enemy shiop and fired a full spread of torpedes. Each of the
ships fired weaopns with different charactgeristics; there
were explosions against the side of the cube and som emay have
actually damanged the enemy ship. Unfortunately, subsequent
torpedoes with the same settings were futiles. Three of the
ships swept in from a different attack vector and all were
attacked; TAMERLANE survived but Eric's monitors clearly
indicated total loss of communicationswith the bridge and loss
of atmospheric containment [fortunately, everyone on the ship
was suited up, most in battle armour and the rest in standard
Fleet Emergency vacume suits [supply had been very reluctgant
to give Captain McMillian all that he asked for]. The last
thing Eric heard was "FIRE TOR..." and all communications were
lost with the Bridge.
______Eric's sensors showed some kind of incoming weapon. The point
defense phasor operators took out two of the weapons but the
third was untouched.
______Eric keyed the all stations button and bellowed; "STAND BY
FOR WARP JUMP\"
______Seconds later, Eric thumped prepared keys and the TAMERLANE
lurched into warp. That deep in the gravity well of Wolf 359
should have damaged TAMERLANE but Eric had prepared his ship
well and when the ship dropped out of warp, the Borg shp was a
light second away. TAMERLANE's stern faced the enemy vessel
and Eric ripple fired all 14 of the aft torpedos. It was
probably an act of futility and TAMERLANE's last act of
defiance but was necessary. With the bridge cut off, Eric was
in command. He didn't like it.
______An intruder alarm had gone off just before Eric had sent
TAMERLANE lurching into it's warp jump.
______a Borg drone appeared near the Second Offier's "stateroom"
and then entered, waving it's prothesis arm.
______one of the damage control crew followed, grabbed Talbert's
loaded .357 Magnum and fired a round through the Borg's chest.
A second crewman came around behind the drone, took Talbert's
trenching tool and nearly decapitated the drone at the same
time a third crewman drew her enhanced K-bar and plunged it
through a critical node in the Borg drone's chest. The
creature dropped dead and beamed out before it hit the deck.
______
______On a different corridor, a Borg stabbed one of Eric's Vulcans
and the assimilation was begun. The Borg probably never
expected a TAMERLANE crewwoman to fire a phaser into an
overhead pipe that released a highly toxic fluid which was
used in cooling several ancillary systems and which had the
capability of disolving organic tissue. The Borg drone
disolved and the Borg ship flashed into warp. The assaluted
Vulcan suit was self sealing and protected him.
______One of Eric's transporter officers activated very high
powered, very broad band subspace jammers that disconnected
the Vulcan drone from the Collective. A crewman carried the
Vulcan to medical where the complete medical staff worked to
remove the Borg implants. They were successful, one of the
few successful such surgerys.
______Probably the worst event of his life was when Eric had to
watch the bridge recordings.
______The Captain was in his set when TAMERLANE attacked the Borg.
The Second Officer was at the Helm and the First Officer was
handling targeting duties. The Captain abruptly left his chair
and the Second Officer ran towards him. No one ever figured
why Captain McMillian ran towards the aft door to the door.
The Second Officer later said he'd felt the strangest urge to
join his Commander. The First Officer tgook the command chair
and ordered more details of the assualt. Then, a strange
weapon was used. No one ever figured out what the weaopn was
or even if it was a Borg Weapon.
______Eric's sensors later showed an object that may hve been
energy or may have been something combined with energy. This
something struck the outer hull of the ship. The bridge was
surrounded by a meter and a half shell of a material called
"unobtainium" that had a melting point of 11,400K and regarded
as one of the strongest substances known. Part of the
bulkhead, a ribbon of unobtainium a meter long and .01
millimeters thick, was spit off the bulkhead, went across
through the air and decapitated Captain Mc----, hit the
bulkhead behind the Captain and richoshayed downward, cutting
the Captain's legs just above the knees. The end closest to
the ship's bow sliced through the Second Officer's leg and
nearly sliced LCDR Talbert's left leg off.
______The sight of his Captain's pointless death stated Eric
Randall Bellingham's descent into nightmare...
______
______An hour after the Borg cube left the system, Eric's
communications engineers were able to restore power to the
bridge and eric spoke to the new Captain, forner First Officer
Clark Gray and advised him on the status of the ship and what
casualities he knew of. Eric said he had started retrieving
the wounded from other ships or sections of ships or worst of
all, floating in space in fragile suits. Captain Gray nodded
in a distracted manner and said "carry on".
______Eric continued to command the ship from his station in
engineering. Before, he had never double checked his work and
had absolute faith in himself. Now, he wasn't quite so sure.
______Four hours after the battle officially ended, FADM J.P.
Hanson contacted Captain Clark.
______"How well are you handling the death of Captain McMillian..."
______"Very badly, sir, I find it nearly impossible to be here
knowing...knowing my friend...Robert...is simnply not
here...seeing his blood on the deck."
______"Could you handle command of another ship, Clark, a Klingon
ship..."
______"I believe I could, Admiral."
______The Klingon seemed very much less than impressed by the
notion of a human Commander. When Captain Gray announced he
was in command [the former Commander had been killed by a
drone attack], one Klingon officer voiced his defiance.
______Clark Gray backhanced this officer hard enough to drop the
Klingon to the deck.
______The Klingon staggered to his feet, wiped lavender blood off
his mouth and nodded in approval.
______"Your heart is Klingon, Commander and I will serve you
willingly. If anyone disputes your right to command, they will
answer to me..."
______Thus, Clark Gray met his first officer. Later, a picture
would be taken of Commander Clark Gray, in full Klingon
uniform and surrounded by his officers. An outsider, a member
of the High Counsol, studied the picture and said "why do you
have a human in command..."
______High Chanchellor Martock of the House of Martoc replied;
"Everyone on that ship is Klingon."
______"And the Commander..."
______"Perhaps the most Klingon of them all..."
______
______For the next 37 hours, Eric guided his ship around the debry
field retrieving the living and the dead. Finally, he decided
he needed to do some first hand rescue. This was a decison he
would later bitterly regret. The FADM gave Eric command over
the Saecond Officer, who was in medical awaiting repairs and
eventually a rescued Medical Officer from a Vulcan ship did
very rapid work on Talbert and said he could return to duty.
Eric took a team into the ruins of a battle ship. This ship
had beamed the families from a Klingon ship that had been
enroute to the Klingon Embassy on Earth. The compartment was
very badly lighted. Several adults were alive and they were
transported to TAMMERLAND. Eric investiaged a weak life sign,
thinking it might be a house pet, such as a cat or dog. When
one of his "strong armed girls" lifted the final object from
the "house pet", he was horrified to find a child... True, it
was a Klingon child but at that point, a child was a child and
precious beyong belief.
______Eric had seen the casualty figures and knew how very, very
few had survived.
______The child was alive and Eric ordered said baby and him to be
transported directly to TAMERLANE's sick bay. Desparately, he
placed the baby on an examining table and Dr. Emmily and a
Vulcan healer ran over to examine the child.
______The child had not survived the transporter. Eric screamed in
pain and fell back onto the deck. No one could bear to see his
agony; his face looked too much like what the medical
personnel had seen in sickbay's mirrors.
______A long time later, it could have been minutes, it could have
been hours, Eric staggered to his feet and rejoined his team
in surveying ruined ships for survivors, surveying the
remnants of ships and generally bringing back the living and,
against orders, the dead.
______
______One of the most memorable events and one that Eric would
remember forever, happened somewhat late in the nightmare.
______
______
______The battle with the Borg had ended the day before. Now, the
battle with the consequences was
being fought and lost.
______Eric was still getting used to being called "Captain
Bellingham" or "Captain" and didn't like it.
His people had gotten the bodies together and would transfere
them along with the most seriously
wounded back to Earth. A fast attack vessel would arrivein
five hours to provide transport back
to Earth; the speed required would probably destroy the ship's
warp engines but they would last
long enough to make it back to Earth.
______Senior Chief Anna Haskall came on the Bridge.
______"I've finished inventoring HIS belongings, Captain."
______"Call me Eric, he is the Captain."
______"As you wish...Eric. I've finished inventoring and boxing HIS
stuff."
______"I want you to escort HIM back to Earth, Senior Chief
Haskall. His family, your family need
you and you need them, Anna."
______"Thank you, Eric." This time she sounded like she meant the
"Eric".
______"I'll have Crewman Debra Sillings help you pack."
______He looked at Crewman Sillings. "Escort her and protect our
Anna. That is your most important
duty, Debra."
______The crewman walked out with their late Captain's alter ego.
______
______"Four and a half hours later, Eric walked to the docking port
and watched his crewman escort
his Senior Chief aboard the rescue vessel. It didn't look like
the Crewman would be coming back
and Captain Bellingham didn't mind.
______"Computer, add the name of Crewman Debra Sillings to the list
of walking wounded sent back
to Earth."
______Eric stepped aboard the rescue vessel and went to the lounge
area where his people were being
kept. He looked directly at Sillings.
______"Are these the people you want taken back to Earth?"
______"Yes. Have you stowed our dead?"
______"Yes, Captain, we have. We can be underweigh in two minutes."
______"You should have the updated list of my wounded and dead.
Please see to it that all my people
make it to Star Fleet Medical." He looked directly at Crewman
Debra Sillings as he spoke.
______Eric then left the rescue boat. Their crew was dogging their
ship's outer hatch before Eric had
left the air lock. As soon as his crew shut the airlock behind
him, the other ship did an emergency
break away and departed. He knew that Sillings needed to
escort Senior Chief Haskall as much
as his Senior Chief needed escorting and that it would be a
long 3 days and 8 hours back to Earth.
The decisin felt incredibly right.
______
______The data kept coming in and Eric kept moving the TAMERLANE
around the debree fields. Of
the hundes of sensor contacts that suggested living beings,
only a few dozen were actually alive.
After the child, Eric found he couldn't bear to look at what
was rescued. He was actually pleased
to get a call from Fleet Admiral J.P. Hansen.
______"Captain, what is your status?"
______"We're still space worthy, still have inpulse drive and it
looks like we may have warp drive and
I've gotten my walking wounded, wounded and dead off. How is
your status, sir?"
______"Bad, Captain Bellingham, very bad. Right now, yours is the
only fully functioning starship in
this sector. How are your people holding up?"
______"Admiral, we're all walking wounded. Speaking of which, I
just sent two of my peple back to
Earth, who were in that category. Senior Chief Anna Haskall
was our Captain's alter ego and she
needs to take him home. Crewmman Debra Sillings couldn't save
friends she thinks she could
have saved. So, I sent her home with Anna; she can at least
save our Anna from her grief, I
hope."
______"Eric, you'd probably get some shit for doing that if I
hadn't ordered you to have this Debra
escort Anna."
______"Ordered Sir?" Eric was tired and didn't get the Admiral's
meaning.
______"Let the record show that I ordered Debra Sillings to escort
Anna Hastings back home; if reality
doesn't include this order, then it should have!"
______"Thank you, Sir. Will that be all?"
______"Yes. We'll talk later."
______The Fleet Admiral walked off; and left the link open. Eric
heard: "I'll take that call from the
Federation President first and tell Salvage Command I'll take
their call as soon as I've talked with
the the President. Tell them both I had a very high priority
call to make."
______The link remained open until Eric ordered it closed. It was
nice to think that Fleet Admiral J.P.
Hanson though so highly of him...
______
______Eric retained command of TAMERLANE for four months and made
no further rescues; he and his crews [augmented by personnel
from the Star Fleet, Klingon and even Romulan fleets]
continued making body retrievals. During this time, Eric began
using drugs to give him energy, to let him sleep and [he
thought] to let him forget.
______Emmily was walking down the corridore to her quarters when an
alarm went off. An officer had flatlined. She immediately ran
to the room her sensors had given her, her mind refusing to
tell her who the occupant was. She saw a crewman behind her
and yelled "JOIN ME NOW". The crewman ran towards the ship's
Senior Medical Officer without questioning the order.
______The door was jammed and Dr. Emmily LaFere's medical pass code
didn't open the door. The crewman ordered her to back up and
blasted the locking mechanism with his phaser set on full; the
lock disinterated and the door could be opened. Emmily nodded
her thanks,
______Eric was flat on his back and flatlined. He was dead. Emmily
gave him an iinjection knowing this was futile if his heart
wasn't beating; it wasn't. She immediately began chest
compressions and the crewman prooved he'd paid attention to
the emergency classes; he bagan mouth to mouth. Eric began
coughing and Emmily ordered "bring him with me to sick bay."
______The crewman plopped Eric on the first medical bed and Emmily
did a quick analysis; she then redid her analysis and called
for her Vulcan junior MD and together they pieced together
what Eric had consummed. Eric had consummed drugs to bring him
up, take him down, put him to sleep and if it had been an
engineering matter, he would have never allowed crewmen to put
together such a mixture, It took several hours but the two
MDs and the paramedic trained crewman were able to analyze
what Eric had taken and countered the various drugs. Then,
Emmily looked at her two assistants.
______"Have either of you slept in the past 8 hours...'
______The crewman had slept 7 hours before seeing her, the Vulcan 4
hours [she normally slept 3 hours a day] and she had gotten 6
hours. She contacted the bridge and said she was taking
Command and gave the Bridge Officer [who had been an Ensign
Junior Officer of the Deck 6 weeks before, before the Borg
attack and who was now an Officer of the Deck Lieutenant
Junior Grade] orders for TAMMERLANE to stop her impulse drive
and to order all officers and crew to report to their quarters
and to get at least 8 hours of sleep. This LTjg was delighted
to obey.
______Emmily took the center seat, the crewman took the bridge
engineering officer's position [for he was a general engineer]
and the Vulcan began monitoring life signs from Medical.
______This is the CMO [Chief Medical Officer]. I have taken command
and hereby order everyone in their quarters to prepare to
sleep. You have 5 minutes to make last minute hed calls and to
prepare; in 5 minutes, I will gas the ship with a mild
sedative. I had better not find anyone away from their beds
and no one had better try resisting. I expect everyone to
sleep."
______Three hours later, the Commodore called and asked "Why are
you drifting in space... Where is Captain Bellingham..."
______"Sir. Captain Bellingham and all but two of our crew were
exhausted, unable to sleep well if they could sleep at all and
were taking drugs to either knock themselves out or to keep
themselves awake. I relieved Eric of Command, ordered everyone
to bed and will let them awaken in perhaps 5 hours. Sir."
______"Very well, Lieutenant LaFere, I approve of your reasons for
taking command." There was a pause. "Do you know the 'great
secret' that officers are expected to know before they can
assume command..."
______"Do you mean that business of being willing to sacriface
officers or members of the crew if necessary to save the Ship,
Captain and Crew... Yes, sir, I do."
______"Havd you ever sent anyone to die.."
______"I sent people into wrecked ships knowing they could be
killed yet I did it to save lives; I sent people into
dangerous spaces on TAMERLANE knowing they could die. So, yes,
sir..."
______"Then, Lieutenant Commander LeFere, I find you fully
justified in your actions."
______"Commodore, I'm a Lieutant, Sir."
______You were a Lieutenant before taking command of TAMMERALNE.
Give your shipmates extra sleeping time; they need it."
______
______A month later, Eric was standing bridge watch when he
realized he needed to get some sleep. He followed the strange
habit he'd gotten into and brought up every sensor the ship
possessed and displayed the results on the main viewer. There
was no evidence of a Borg cube. Then, he began staring at the
screen. It wasn't until one of his sensor techs - an Enlisted
analyst - began active monitoring of all systems and stood at
relaxed parade rest clearly ready to spend hours monitoring
sensors, that Eric allowed one of his Engineering Senior
Chiefs to gently remove him from the bridge and take him to
his quarters. Sometimes, the Senior Chief would have a drink
with Eric; he or she also was haunted by their dead and the
ghosts of the "Battle" of Wolf 359. [That is, if a defeat of
such magnitude could properly be called a "battle".]
______They too were too hurt to really see the wierdness of the
once highly decisive Captain Bellingham unable to leave his
sensor reports for fear those reports would change abruptly.
Eric Bellingham wasn't a coward but he was very afraid of the
living death of becoming a Borg Drone. Even the survivors of
the assualt lead by Loquitus of Borg had great sympathy for
Jean-Luc Piccard.
______The Medical Staff had no choice but to report how their
Captain had overdosed on various drugs and how a number of
other crew members had come nearly as close; there were also
three suicides. These three had expressed their fears of the
Borg and their feelings of guilt but the persons who could
have saved them simply weren't able to be there; they were
treating far too many others. These three were granted the
status of "Casualties, Combat Killed" and were listed as
"Walking Wounded" who had succumed to their wounds. No one
could argue with that and the three were given the same Church
burials as the other dead on or found by the TAMERLANE's crew.
______Finally, Command decided they needed specialized treatment
for the TAMERLANE's personnel and the ship was sent back to
Earth. There had been successfull implantations of Borg tech
in the warp drive that had been discovered after the battle.
It seemed that Eric's "warp jump" that occurred at a critical
moment and the Borg tech had "died" before "coming to life".
TAMERLANE was taken to a deep space station on the Moon
Gabrielle, which orbited the Earth solar system planet Xena.
There, the Borg tech was studied for centuries and confirmed
statements of VOYAGER's personnel. If anything userful came
from these studies, that information was carefully hidden.
______There was a big reunion for the survivors. Eric's entire
extended family was there to greet him and Emmily; Emmily's
family had been brought to Earth on a fast courier vessel [you
can really cover space quickly at warp 9.9] and greeted her.
The two families got along well.
______Quartermaster 2nd class Debra Sillings had moved into a four
bedroom house with Senior Chief Anna Haskall and both were
meeically retired. They had a lot of healing to do; the nearby
presence of their families helped. Although both women
recovered considerably, neither returned to active duty.
______Eric attended therapy sessions faithfully and could parrot
back what he was told. His therapists thougth they were not
reaching him and that was a parital truth; they were reaching
him but he was turning their helpfull remarks into self
recriminations and this made life much harder for him. If he'd
only been able to discuss the one image that haunted him, he
might have been spared much pain. He would also have missed
meeting some very interesting people.
______Eric was in class one day when;
______"Did you know that behaviour modifying drugs have been around
since early humans arose on this planet/int/ Many, many
species have evolved brain pleasure centres as well as pain
centres. Now, there are good reasons for the pain centres but
why the pleasure centres?"
______Eric replied, "Perhaps to dull the pain of existance or to
give hope."
______"How would pleasure give hope?"
______"Pleasure would give home and that could give these creatures
the strength to continue."
______"True but there is the 'pleasure trap', the fact that initial
pleasure can lead to greater needs for the pleasure substance
and eventual failing of the subdstance. Can I get someone else
to respond to Eric's rather interesting comments?"
______There was more discussion and Eric rather tuned them out
until the instructor began to talk about specific drugs.
______"We all know about alcohol but do many of you know of the
other traditional mind altering drugs? There was 'pot', which
was smoked or steeped into tea or cooked in choclate deserts.
[Eric had tried smoking 'pot' and had just coughed a lot.]
There was 'cocaine' but it was highly addictive and a
stimiulant. [Eric mistakenly thought it must be like the
Klingon 'coffee' he had drunk on TAMERLANE and decided why
bother with 'cocaine'?] Then, the instructor spoke of 'heron'
and said it was a member of the opiate family of plant drugs.
Eric decided to ask a question.
______"You've talked about plant drugs that do various things to
people. Why are they effective?"
______"A very good question! Our brains create extremely powerful
pain killers that have much the same chemical structure as
these plant substances. These plant chemicals can affect
brains the same way pain killers created in the brain does. Of
all these drugs, opiates are the most effective."
______The conversation quickly went to other subjects before anyone
thought to ask questions about addicition or withdrawal. Eric
left with the idea of a plant pain killer.
______Eric's fear of the Borg had lead to Star Fleet putting high
grade data processing equipment in his quarters and giving him
a Starship Captain's access. This access covered classified
sensor reports from distanct star systems, classified
information about "antique" drugs, old histories and many
other items. Eric looked up 'heroin'.
______The encyclopedia said 'herion' was produced from poppy plants
and had been grown in Afganistan for many centuries. Eric
looked up contact numbers for the Afganistan Ministry of
History. He got nine numbers.
______It was just past 6 am in Bush City. The Curator of the War
Century Muesum had just gotten back from first prayers.
______"God be with you,"
______"And with you," Eric replied.
______"What may I do for you, Mr. Bellingham?" Eric's
communications consol had sent his name to the Curator.
______"I am doing research on ancient drugs," Eric began, "and I am
curious about opiates and poppies. From what I've read,
Afganistan is the best place to obtain such plant samples."
______"That is true. I do have to wonder why you are calling me
instead of simply reading from an encyclopedia?.
______"I've found that talking with experts is usually superior to
reading from books or watching recordings of experts. How were
poppys grown and harvested?"
______"The growing season was simple enough but the processing was
difficult." The Curator then described the ancient processing
routines for creating opates. It had been so long since humans
had used opates for recreation that the Curator never thought
to wonder why Eric was interested.
______"So it sounds like a very hard thing to process" and thought
of his next choice on the list, hashish brownies.
______"No one processes it any more, it has been created via
replicator for years and is available in injectable form. Many
have used it in hospice but it hasn't been used in desparation
for generations."
______The conversation ended soon after.
______Eric then looked into the availability of heroin and found it
was located in deep storage as an obsolute medication. He
noted that "heroin" was available in packettes which also
included anti-dotes and blocking agents to initiate extremely
quick withdrawal.
______Eric should have noted that last and decided this "heroin"
was too damn dangerous and gone onto his hashish laden
deserts. He had survived the Borg and thought he could
outfight anything. He was wrong...
______
______Eric went out to dinner with his family that night, it being
a Wednesday.
______
______His weekend started with a nice 5 "click" run and after
cleaning up, he used his Star Fleet comptuter link to download
a small amount of heroin into a standard injector. He
remembered that "heroin" came from the German for "heroic" and
injected the substnce into his neck. Several minutes later, he
felt grate euporia.
______It was wonderful!
______It was the first time he'd felt good since before the Borg
attack.
______He went to lunch with Emmily.
______"You seem more cheerful", she said.
______"Yes, I do!"
______"Eric, I'm happy you're happy."
______Several minutes later, she noticed that Eric seemed a lot
less happy.
______"Eric, you didn't do anything dangerous, did you?"
______"No, of course not."
______about five hours after his first injection, he excused
himself, used his Fleet accesses to use a Fleet transporter to
his quarters, made a second injection and returned to the
party, all perky again.
______Emmily didn't let herself think of what could have caused
this and so their day ended nicely, with him kissing her
before they went to their separate quarters.
______He woke up late that night with alternating feelings of
depression and anxiety and a pee hardon so stiff he couldn't
urinate at first; he thought it a shame he didn't have a lover
to use this on. Somehow, he didn't think of Emmily as being a
lover.
______The effects wore off before he thought of taking the
anti-dote.
______
______The next week, Eric decided to find the "good stuff". He
wasn't getting the effects the old books talked about and
there was no one to use this substance with. The idea of using
a hypodermic syringe was disguesting and the idea of "sharing
needles" just turned his stomach. He had enough trouble
sharing a bottle of beer let along getting someone else's
blood mixed in with his own. His medical classes had
emphasised the danger of mixing blood types.
______The following Monday, after therapy was over for the day,
Eric went looking for the good stuff.
______He decided to dress properly for something shady. He put on a
nice, conservative tunic and shaved the pointy sideburns he'd
worn for years. Then, from habit, he put on his working
trousers, his work boots and put his comms badge in a hidden
pocket of the trousers.
______At the third bar he entered, he ordered a beer and spoke to
the bar tender.
______"This is a fine beer but I'm looking for the good stuff."
______That is the good stuff, sonny,"
______Eric emmited the expected laugh and persisted. "I've heard
you've got some stuff that's much better than your beer."
______"And what have you heard?"
______"Just that you've got some really good stuff, some real feel
good stuff."
______"Must be that bourbon you've been hoarding, Tommy." The man
speaking to the bartender had the look of a Marine who'd been
on the beech a bit too long.
______Eric had another beer and because money didn't exist, simply
left without having to pay a bill. People worked at what they
did because they liked to work at what they did.
______"Who do you suppose that was?.
______The beer drinking customer replied "he has the look of a
Fleetie, the boots and work trousers, you know."
______"True," the bar tender replied, thinking of the pale skin on
the otherwise tanned face. There were two triangles that
looked like recently shaved off "Jim Kirk" sideburns [which
were known to be affected by Fleet Marines in particular] This
particular guest had the same triangles when he'd began
hanging out several months before and asking similiar
questions. He smilled in a benign manner.
______I'll see if anyone at Fleet knows anything."
______Saying "Fleet" was something the current generation of Star
Fleet did; it didn't necessary mean he was other than what he
professed to be//colin// a "beached" Fleet Marine.
______Twenty minutes later, the apparent Marine returned.
______"He is a medically retired Fleet Officer, a Lietenant
Commander. I have no idea what he is talking about."
______The bartender didn't believe him! To his eyes, the skinny
stranger had been physically fit enought to be a Marine, had
the Command feel of a Major, was too young to be senior
enlisted and he had seen other Security Officers leave their
ships and go looking to enforce the local laws the locals
didn't seem able to enforce. Just another "visiting fireman"
[whatever that meant] This beer drinker's response suggested
to the bar tender a Marine working deep cover Security to find
out something about the bar. He was right; the bar tender was
a conduit for stollen information and was getting good latium
for tidbits the "fleet sailors" liked to brag about...
______Five and a half months of deep cover work had gone down the
"tubes" for the Sergeant Major after his cover had been
inplicitely blown. Neither would ever find out.
______Later that week, Eric announced to all concerned that he was
going "on walk about". He then left and moved around for a
week, eatting at replicator stations and sleeping on beeches.
Finally, he moved into an abandoned apartment near the Bolian
Section of a beach community in what had been once called
"Northern Calfornia". Here he began using larger doses of
heroin and gradually built up a tollorance. He had been
approached the lethal dose level when he decided he'd had
enough of just hanging out on the beach drugged up. People
were starting to talk to him like he was a mentally retarded
dog. He took the anti-dotes, slept for 26 hours and woke up
with quite an appitate. A side effect was the reversal of the
constitupation. Years later, he would mention having taken his
usual laxative after awakening and then shitting everything he
stuffed inside himself for months...
______It didn't seem funny at the time.
______
______Eric went back to his apartment and found it unchanged. There
were no messages on his answering machine; his desk sized
terminal was unchanged (none of his intrusion detectin things
were moved) and was still connected to Star Fleet
Headquarters. (He didin't consider that someone wanting to
examine "his" terminal would have simply logged in via a port
he didn't need about and wouldn't desturbe the hairs so
"casually" placed in stragetic locations.
______Eric started several deep searches. He looked up the
byproducts of tobacco smoke and started both a world wide scan
for these products and the history of the gases' presence on
Earth. He hacked into the consolidated intelligence files and
attempted to find any secret criminal organizations. He used
Artificual Intelligence "agents" to seek the information he
needed. LCDR Eric Randall Bellingham, Star Fleet Retired,
stillhad a Ship Captain's accesses and some special accesses
from his favourite Fleet Admiral.
______Eric decided to walk around town (San Francisco), was awed
and shocked by the youth from the Academy,the small Enlisted
Cadre who also served on Fleet Ships and their students and
"Regular Folks". He ate seafood attwo different places,
choclate on the waarf and three beers at a little place. Then,
he went home and enjoyed afourteen hour sleep.
______He went back to the bar where he'd asked about "the good
stuff".
______"May I have a beer?"
______"Yes, what will it be?"
______"A Henry Budweiser, please." (The Henry Wienhart folks would
have been bemused had they known that someday Budweiser and
Hentry Weinhart would have merged.)
______"That's good stuff. Is it the best you've got or do you have
some really good stuff?"
______"I've got some really good stuff! Of course, 'good stuff' is
in the mind of the beholder. Some folks like bourbon straight
up, some like fermented Mare's Milk and there's a Klingon
whose come in here, ordered Prune Juice and washed it down
with Blood Wine. He says thats 'the good stuff'! So, you see
sonny, 'good stuff'is subjective." The man, easily in his erly
50s grinned.
______"What do you think is 'the good stuff', young man?"
""Ahhhh, the 'good stuff'."
______"Such a fine Marine response!"
______"Marine?"
______"Until you tell me more about this 'good stuff', I can't help
you, Major."
______Feeling very flustered, Eric left in a hurry. He even
committed the sin of leaving a partially filled lager on the
table. The Marine casually finished his beer and drifted out
of the bar, following Eric. This alone confirmed the br
tender's belief this frequent guest was a "Fleet Agenta"
looking into the bar and it's affairs.
______
______Eric decided he would get some bait.
______Eric used one of his medical tricorders and scanned several
houses in a block. He found several houses that were
unoccuppied and simply walked into the first one. The house
didn't even have alocking mechanism on the door. There was
nothing he couldn't have gotten easily or didn't already have.
There was nothing worth stealing and so he left without the
owners ever knowing they'd almost been robbed.
______The next house was different.
______Eric walked up to the door but it didi not open. He used his
engineering tricorder to determine that a protective system
was in use and that opening the door would set it off. Eric
used some programmes his crew had written to penetrate the
house owner's security system and scan the house contents.
There was nothing worth stealing. THiswas beginning to
disturbe Eric. The Marine Gunny following Eric was beginning
to wonder just what the hell Eric wanted.
______"The third and fourth houses were barren and Eric simply
scanned them from the curb of the carefully preserved "roads".
______The woman in one house called the emergency number.
______"San Franscso police, how may we help you, Mrs. Cassandra?"
______"There is a strange young manwalking in front of my house.
He's waving one of those tricorder boxes Fleet liked to play
with. I just don'tthihnk this is a good thing."
______"Wewilllook into it,Ma'am."
______On the other line, the Marine Gunny was listening.
______"Sir, what is your interest with this man?"
______"He is oneof ours and we'll take responsibility for his
actions. Hehas just gone around the side of a building. I'm
going to see what he's doing."
______"Sir," the police operator replied, "I'm scanning him with
local sensors." There was a pause. "Perhaps it would be a nice
thing for you to leave him be for now." The operator actually
chuckled.
______"Why?"
______Sensors shows he is standing still at the side of a house, in
agroup of trees."
______"I can't see him."
______"Of course not, sir, he is hiding. A low volume of warm
liquid is appearing in front of him; this liquid is body
temperature, has a high uric acid content and a small amount
of organic material. Suggestions?"
______"He's taking a urination?"
______"Correct, he's having a urination and I hope he enjoys it!
Computer analysis suggests it's a big volume event and event
hints at his drinking beers."
______"True, he did drink beer a little while ago but he
committedthe sin of leaving a partial beer on the table. A
good beer, too."
______"What a pity."
______"Thank you for your cooperation, we'll take it from here."
______
______Eric had saved himself by having to piss; he had also
discovered that there was nothing worth taking in the house.
He finished his little mission and left for the curb. He never
saw the Marine, who was using some sort of personal cloak that
had been found on a Star Ship in the Delta Quadrant.
______Eric broke into the next house he found and took a tricorder.
Then he broke into a yet another house, found anothing of real
value but decided to steal a set of fancy flatware. HIs "fleet
escort" waspuzzled by his actions...
______Eric had earlier found an unoccuped building and he went
there. He dropped off his "booty" and used his tricorder to
connect with his computer. The computer hadn't found any
results for his inquiries.
______His premise was that stealing enough stuff would leadto
people talking and this would get to the local crime families.
Then, he just had to go around to a few places and the "word"
would come to him.
______This idea was filled with wishfull thinking and dream stuff
and had he been fully rational, he would have shot down the
idea. Before the Wolf, he wold never have believe he could act
as he been doing. He would have laughed and mocked the mixture
of bad ideas, poor logic and simply lunacy in his notions and
conclusions.
______But this was after the Wolf...
______Eric went to an upper floor of "his" building and entered
very dusty rooms. There, he found an ancient "come along".
This was a device that slide under big objects and generated
artificual gravity fields to both support the "come along"
above the floor and to hold objects on the "come along".
______He did a rather poor and prefunctuary job of scanning the
area with his engineering tricorder. Even a high class
scannign job would hvae been futile as the Marine squad were
all "cloaked".
______Eric took a mobile from near "his" warehouse to a house some
20 clicks from there. The 'mobile" was a chair which used an
internal anti-gravity drive to float just above the paement
and which cruised at a precise 25 kilomters per hour. It was a
pleasant drive and he was easy to follow: noone else was being
followed by a "comealonmg". And follow him the did. Men on
floasting chairs rode behing Eric and pulled off to the side
fo the road before he suspected. Other men used transporters
to bean onto side strees ahead of Eric and "followed hiim from
ahead". Others forcast where he could be going and went there.
It was an interesting exercise.
______The trip ended at a fairly nice house. It was centries
old`and had a driveway looping around an island of grass. Eric
noted three different sensor systems but oddly enough, none of
them wee working. This along would have caused the "old" Eric
to fleein terror.The "new" Eric thought thought distainfully
of the folks who lived there.
______Eric walkedup to the front door and found it unopened.He
coudln't believe the laxness and lack of security this folks
exibited. Eric should have realized that two secruity ssytems
had been focused on the door and the door had been unlocked
for him.
______Eric walked around inside the house and decided that
everything was either too commmon to steal or simply too big
to take. He called in the "come along", arbituarily took their
sofa and marched outside.
______The sight of Eric Randall Bellingham, LCDR (ret) marching
along side his sofa toting "come along" was so military the
Marines watching were amazed, amused and horrfyied. They later
agreed this retired officer was still a Star Fleet Officer.
Deep inside was the soul of a Fleet Officer and they felt hope
for him.
______He was pathetic but he could be saved if only he would help
others help himself...
______
______Eric took back roads and got "his" sofa into "his" warehouse.
He settled the sofa by one wall, sat at the table and looked
at the two other stollen items. A horrible truth was being to
sink in.
______His tricoder attached to his home terminal was flashing. Eric
opened access to his terminal by letting the tricorder monitor
his bio-signs. The data there confirmed his fears.
______He coudln't find any drug dealers because there were no drug
dealers.
______He couldn't find anyone "fencing" stollen goods because there
no fences.
______There was no point in stealing items because everything could
so easily be obtained by replicator, by barter or by
requesting.
______Earth hadn't used money in many decades, therefore the
economy was very, very different from that of his beloved
novels set in the 20th Century. People couldn't get everything
they wanted but an allotment system based on "credits" earned
determined who got what. (It was very Soviet.) The saving
grace was that production was done by automated factories or
hand built by artisians. There was simply no want...
______Eric began laughing and that lead to tears of despair...
______
______He hardly reacted when the Star Fleet Marines (acting in
their Security role) walked in and sat around the table.
______So, Lieutenant Commander, what are you going to do with this
stuff? Why did you steal it?"
______Eric roared with laughter and sobbed "you would never
believeme if I told you!"
______They believed him and he didn't notice when a Vulcan walked
up behind him, did a very quick and throughl mind meld and
walked away shaking his head.
______"This young man was quite right, we would not beleve him. He
was so hurt by the Borg attack that he started using drugs -
stong drugs - to hide his pain. Some of these drugs were not
used for centuries and our doctors have forgotten how bad they
are. They have even forgotten how to tell when they were
used." She paused. "This officeris the first hair-oh-win
addict in perhaps 150 years. No one realy knows how to treat
this addiction."
______"Is that true?"
______"About the hair-oh-win additiction?"
______"Yes. There are anti-dotes but there are no known ways to
remote the cravings. The cravings! The literature I read
didn't talk about the cravings! ANyone got a drink, something
alcoholic?"
______One of the Security Marines handed Eric a small flask of rum.
Eric chugged some, sat for several minutes while the effect
kicked in, then chugged some more.
______"I feel better,"Eric said.
______Another thing forgotten in the "clean centuries" (i.e. drug
free centuries) was that stong alcohol could help junkies
survive withdrawal. He would do a lot of resisting in the
coming years. He had suffered a lot of emotional pain.
______"So, what are we to do with this stuff?"
______The Gunny who had drank with Eric replied.
______"We'll return it to the owners."
______The tricoder was simply beamed back near where Eric had
stollen it and no one knew it'd been taken. It was too late to
beam back the silverwear. The owners were having a party.
______They intercepted a call to the local police, reporting the
missing items. They simply beamed them to a nice location and
the owners called back with an embarrassed "we found them.
Sorry about calling you."
______The sofa was another matter. The sofa was too large to be
beamed back and his thieft was too unusual. The Marines called
the Sector Admiral and told him the situation. The Admiral
called Star Fleet Medical they agreed to take Eric into
custodial care. They monitored the conversation:
______"Police, this is StarFleet Medical. We woiuld like to
intervene here."
______"Why? What is Star Fleet's interetinthis matter?"
______"The person who stole the sofa is a medically retired
StarFleet officer. He may be clinically insane and that is the
reason he felt it necessary to steal your sofa. We would like
to return your property."
______"WHy would an officer steal a sofa?"
______"It is not something we care to discuss."
______"Fine! Give his name to the police."
______"He was a senior officer on a fleet ship at the WOlf 359
disaster. He took command after his Commanding Officer was
killed by the Borg. He did rescue work and had victims die in
his arms. He is walking wounded."
______The Gunny interjected:
______"During Earth's so-called 'Second World War', a group of
elite soldiers faught a desparate battle. Many were killed,
many wounded and some of them later died of their wounds. An
outstanding officer on one side said 'we were all
casualties'."
______"This man was a serious casualty. We don'tknow if he can be
saved but we need to try. Trying him for thieft would destroy
our hopes for him. He is not body injured and he is more than
mentally injured, he is soul sick. Threr is hope but it has to
be under the treatment of the correct people."
______"We would like to speak with this thief!"
______Eric howled in agony.
______The woman who had demanded to speak with Eric blanched and
said "get him treated! He can keep the sofa!"
______"We will replace your sofa with anyone you want. We can send
some of our best interior decorators to your home tomorrow."
Those listening were shocked. "We have interior decorators for
the Embasseys etc."
______Eric was taken to the main Star Fleet Hospital, was checked
in and given a healthy meal. Eric had gained some 12 pounds,
which was remarkable for a person in that century. Then, he
spent some time simply talking with his doctor and he was put
to bed on a rather comfortable bed. He suspected this bed was
a high class medical instrument and he was correct.
______
______Eric awoke in a strange bed and it took him several minutes
to realize where he was. Only when he looked like he a aware
of his surroundings did a bearded man come in.
______LCDR Eric Randall, I am Dr. Donage and may I call you Eric?"
______Sure, why not and did you say Doctor?"
______"Yes," Dr. Donage replied with a smile, "I have that
distinction."
______"Are you, by any chance, a Betazoid?" Eric really meant "are
you a mind reader?"
______"No, of course no!" Dr. Donage thought "but I am a half
Bdtazoid and a weak telepath.'
______"Eric, you've really gotten yourself messed up. Do you
realize you're the first herion addict in over a hundred
years? We're really not sue how to treat you."
______"I'm sorry about that; I'm not sure I'd been addicted if I
really knew the consequences."
______Dr. Donage suspected Eric Bellingham would have been even
more addicted had he known the consequences.
______"We're going to have to get your health back to normal.
You're still in fairly good shape. Did you work out on your
ship?"
______"Yes, I ran on a trendmill for 30 minutes a day, lifted
weights three times a week and we all did situps, pushups,
chin-ups, sit-ups and a fewother exercises several times a
week. It wasn't exactly fun but like a Muslim doing their five
prayesrs a day, we did our workouts."
______"How come we don't hear this in the Star Fleet publicity?"
______"Would you join a military unit that requires physical
workouts and which generally doesn't have those 'Jim Kirk
adventures'?" He smirked; he had been on three "away parties"
to alient worlds; two had been to dead worlds and nothing had
happened, one had been to an inhabited world and the away
party had barely excaped charging aliens. They then surveyed
this planet from orbit...
______"Have you felt disappointed by this?"
______"What difference? The difference between the publicity
stories and the reality of ship duty? Not really, I've been an
engineer most of my career."
______"So, your focus was always the engineering?"
______Yes, it was, no, wait a minute," he paused. "At first, I was
purely interested in Engineering but then I realized that as
much as I like engineering, I like command better."
______"But command requies taking responsibility, yes?"
______"Yes, it does."
______"How do you deal with the stress?"
______"We were taught various coping stregeties."
______"Is becoming a herion addict one of those techniques?"
______"No, it is not!"
______Dr. Donager wasn't a very strong telepath but he was a
telepath and could tell his patient was heading for emotional
shutdown and he dind't want this. He decided to change
subjects.
______"Have you ever gone sailing?"
______"Sailing?"
______"Sure. Can you see those sailboats out on the harbour?
They're planning on leaving the staging area, make a loop
around the old Museum Island and come back. We doctors have a
running bet on the outcome."
______"What did you bet?" Dr. Donager read the thoguht "loser gets
to treat the looney officer".
______"The race hasn't started yet and I haven't lost." Eric didn't
realize this MD must have read his mind. "I've bet my
ancestor's Coffee Cake. That is, if I lose, I have to bake a
very large batch of my ancestors coffee cake. Besides, I'm
afraid they're getting tired of it, anyway."
______"Really?" Eric really hated it when his crewmen felt sorry
for themselves; it was a pity he couldn't hear himself but the
Doctor could...
______"Yes, they are," Dr. Donager said as he checked a medical
tri-corder.
______"Well, let me try some."
______The MD was happy to hear this but kept this from showing.
______Several minutes later, a nurse broght in a tray with slices
of coffee cake, covered in melted butter. This was real butter
on real coffee cake made with real sugar etc. It was decadent
and something that "good" MDs didn't prescribe; Eric needed
some good food and this was a start.
______Some minutes later, the doctor spoke.
______"Do you have any idea just how dangerous this herion really
is? Do you have any warning that you'll spend years fighting
the temptation to use this material and the conditions under
which you are most vulnerable to useage?"
______"Er, no sir."
______"Well, Eric, you are going to be."
"Several minutes later, the sedatives in the coffee kicked in
and Eric nodded off. They moved Eric to a gurney and took him
into an oerating room where a very intensive physical scan of
Eric was conducted. They noted the constipation and used a
transporter to beam in stool losteners and did other things to
Eric that he didn't need to know...
______
______That night, Dr. Donager, Eric's lead physicaian, called his
parents.
______"Mr. Bellingham, Mrs. Bellingham, I am Dr. D'jel Donager and
am your son Eric's lead medical doctor. Have you heard from
Eric lately?"
______"No, Doctor," Mrs. Bellingham replied, "he jsut sent us a
note saying he 'was going on walk about'. We're worried about
him, a large number of people from his ship have called and we
haven't known what to tell Emmily."
______"Would that be Emmily LaFere?"
______"Yes, she is. Do you know her?"
______"No, sir, I don't but I know the French section of Star Fleet
Medical has charge of her treatment. She has a lot of issues
and her doctors don't think she should talk with 'her Eric'
quite yet."
______"'Her Eric'?"
______"Yes, her Eric," Dr. Donager answered sadly, "for a couple
that loves each other, they seem more iterested in dancing
around each other than in dancing with with each other." He
thought "dancing in her" but couldn't tell if he had thought
that or if one of Eric's parents had; he thought the Mother
had.
______Eric woke up the next morning in "his room" and never
realized he'd been to the treatment room. A minister came to
see him but Eric didn't remember the man's name let alone his
denomination. This was most unlike Eric; before the Borg, Eric
could have remembered the Preacher's full name, significant
physical characterists, denomination and the main points of
their discussion. All he rmememebered was "general religious
talk" and that would bug him in later years.
______The following Tuesday, Eric was released from the hospital
but wsa strongly encouraged to move into Fleet housing. Eric
could tell an order when he heard one and obeyed...
______
______The "Marine" Gunny (actually a Sergeant Major") met Eric and
suggested, in front of Eric's nursing staff minder, "why don't
we go for a nice run?"
______"Sure, let's!" Eric said in a tone of bring enthusanism that
fooled no one. "I'd love a nice run!"
______Both men ran a slow two blocks before they were out of sight
of the residence and the Marine said "I think I've run long
enought. Want to walk, instead?"
______"Well, for you, I'll give up this easy run." Eric was blowing
like a blast furnace but he'd been able to keep up, barely
able to keep up...
______"Have you ever thought about the 'old days', the days of the
United States of America or the United Kingdom. I'm talking
about their Navies, where some of their Marine officers
received the same training at their Navy Academies and the
rest at civilian colleges? In our time, all our officers are
trained at the Academy and are basically Navy officers with
Marine Core training and orientation."
______"I haven't really thought about that but it seems to me that
our Academny is more Marine than Navy. Look how easy it is
more the 'Navy branch' offices and enlisted to act as Marines
with little training."
______"It's that survival and space training, it's really Marine
training with a different name."
______"Are you saying you didn't get specialized Marine training?"
______"Yes, I did, just as you got specialized engineering and ship
driving training."
______They walked for another couple of hours. Of course, they
didn't walk continuously, they stopped for coffee a coupld of
times and had a nice lunch just before Eric returned to his
quarters. They arranged to meet the next day.
______"did you have a nice walk," Eric's "minder" asked when Eric
was back inside the halfway house.
______"I sure did! We're going for another walk tomorrow."
______The minder already knew this; Eric had been wearing a "bug"
and nither he nor Marine knew this.
______Eric had wanted the experience of the early 20th century. He
didn't realize that he was being treated as a medical casualty
and not like a "drug crazed madman running loose" as he would
have in his precious 20th century!
______Eric had a very nice breakfast the next day. He didn't
realize the meal was mostly bulk and that it was a nicly
designed diet plate. The bacon, fried eggs, fried potatoes,
coffee cake, orange juice and coffe were in portions a bit
bigger than was the normal in the 23th century and would have
been considered on the light side in Eric's precious 20th.
______Eric's Marine ate with Eric and the other inmtes.
______Then, Eric was in a low key therapy session for a couple of
hours. After that, he left for a basketball game.
______Eric had once been a fine player. He was badly out of
practice (basketball didn't go well with the exposed equipment
or controls that peppered the TAMERLANE, a ship that wasn't
the modern showcase of safe design that ENTERPRISE was.
TAMERLANE had been designed as a warship and that meant being
able to get easy access to varous components of the ship.
______Eric actually got a couple of baskets and suspected the other
players had given his an easy time. Three weeks later, after
he'd lost 15 pounds, Eric knew he'd been treated very gently
that first day; he wasn't being treated gently now and
wouldn't have it any other way!
______Eric wouldn't realize for some years just how different his
treatement had been from that of junkies in the 20th. In the
20th century, he would have been jailed and probably left to
crash, to come "cold turkey" down from the herion. Instead, he
was given slow medical treatement to reverse the effects of
the drug.
______In the 20th, he would not be playing basketball with the
police who'd "busted" him and Emmily and him would not have
had Sunday brunch at the police chief's home.
______The reunion with Emmily had been painful with recriminations
and expressions of love and concern and left Eric (and Emmily)
with the knowledge that each loved the other. It was a damned
shamne that neither felt the urge to "get physical" but in the
long run, that was a good thing.
______
______In late August 2365, a meeting was held to decide Eric's
future. FADM Hanson, FADM Dr. "Bones" McCoy, CDR Beverly
Crusher, Dr. Donager and the Marine/Security Sergeant Major
met.
______The FADM spoke first:
______"What are we to do with this officer?"
______"The man is a failure as a civilain," the Sergeant Major
spoke first.
______"He is a natural ship driver and is only at home on ships,"
Dr. Donager, who had been ENTERPRISES's doctor before Beverly
Crusher agreed.
______"Then, what job can we put him into? Chief Engineer?"
______"We could, Dr. McCoy but that isn't quite good enough. A
Chief Engineer controlls Engineering but Eric Bellingham need
more control than that. He needs to control the ship itself,
he needs to know he can keep his people safe or if necessary
to endanger them, he'll be the one to endanger them. Eric
thinks that he and only he can insure the minimum casualty
count."
______"Well, then, Admiral, I don't think we can put him directly
in command of any ship. We need to ease him back 'into the
harness'".
______"I agree, Dr. McCoy and I've already got an answer. We can
put him in a special training class at the Academy. After
that, we can put him in command of the General's boat; the
general is about to accept Eric's Vulcan as a patient -er- his
commanding offier. I'm not sure what classes though."
______"I have just the classes in mind, Fleet Admiral. He can take
a 8 am class in command philosophy, a class in the paperwork a
Captain needs to know, the specialized legal training he or
she needs and emphasis on the proper mind set for command, a
class in comparative religion, work out hard before lunch and
the real course: We're going to give him an open afternoon
schedule starting with damage control classes and then
therapy."
______"What is the joke?"
______"Wait my dear Dr. Beverely, just wait and you'll see." The
Sergeant Major laughed and when they finally got the answer
from him, the rest of the meeting lagughed as well...
______
______Eric sat in an easy chair across from Dr. Donage and wondered
what the good doctor seemed secretive about.
______"Eric, have you thought about what you want to do with the
rest of your life?"
______"I thought I'd try getting the training for a civilian life."
______"Oh, male targ feces! You're not a 'civilian', not now Eric.
YOu're a sailor at heart."
______"True, I am. I suppose I could get hired on a merchant vessel
and finally see the universe."
______Dr. Donager simply stared.
______"Haven't you ever wanted to sail on a tramp steamer and see
the sea? Doc?"
______"Are you serious?"
______"No. I would like to return to space but if I can't go on a
Star Fleet vessel, then it would have to be a merchant ship."
______"What makes you think you're barred from Star Fleet ship
command?"
______"What would bar me? How about the drug addiction? How about
the thieving? How about running up a criminal record? How
about that?"
______"What criminal record, Eric? You were never charged with
'thieving' as your friends talked the home owners out of
pressing charges. The drug addiction is not a crime in this
century even if it was a crime in the 20th century; it is a
medical problem and medical problems can either be cured and
an officer can return to space or said officer is treated or
medically retired.
______'We're told you'll be taking command of a small boat after
the refresher training. This ship's First Officer said 'he's
already pencilled in our name as his next Commander'". The
General is looking forward to meeting you."
______"Bottom line: I would be back in space on a fleet vessel?"
______"Yes, Eric, you would be and you'd be in command."
______"I accept then!"
______
______Eric was nervous before the first class. He had been asked to
wear his working uniform, which the uniform of a commissioned
offier and not a cadet's uniform. He didn't wear rank insignia
and left many of his classmates to wonder if he was an officer
or a Chief. The speculation wasn't helped with Eric was
overheard having a private conversation with his old classmate
William Riker. They were clearely friends, were easy about
using first names, Riker was worried about Eric's health and
hoped that Eric would "command another deck soon".
______Eric hadn't noticed the door was open when he talked to Will
Riker.
______Eric's picture and the naem "Eric Bellingham" was ran through
the databases and the legends of Eric was rapidly inflated.
______
______Later, when the instructors discussed the "Piccard Manuever".
______"The so called 'Piccard Mannever' is based on belief that a
very brief, high power jump into and out of warp can move a
ship safely even in a very deep gravity well. Any observers
will think the ship jumping has escaped or exploded. The
useage is contra-indicated."
______"I respectfully disagree. It worked well for Captain Piccard
and if the equations are solved properly, a modern star ship
can make a brief 'Piccard jump'. Of course, it takes training
and the ship's systems have to be in very good shape and it
takes luck."
______"And you knowledge of this is?"
______"I knew TAMERLANE's warp engines were in good enough shape
for a 'Piccard Manuever', my bridge crew calculated the jump
correctly and their results agreed with mine, the Borg were
closing and I made the jump out of desparation."
______Eric's classmates looked at each other. So, this was LCDR
Eric Bellingham, late of the late TAMERLANE!
______"I commanded TAMERLANE at Wolf 359 after my Captain was
murdered by those God Damned Borg!"
______There was an embarrassed silence after Eric's roar.
______"I guess I still have strong feelings about the matter."
______The class discussion continued but the atmosphere was
different. It was one thing to have "that old fart, he must be
31 years old" as a classmate and it was quite another to have
a decorated war hero. All they knew about Eric was he had been
medically retired for severe stress.
______
______Eric went to the damage control class and on the first day,
hoped the material would get better.
______On the second day, Eric thought the material was so badly
presented that he prayed it would get better.
______On the third day in the class, Eric had enough. He asked to
speak with the instructors.
______"I hate to criticize all of you for this class but it needs
to be stronger if it's going to prepare officers and crew to
serve now. After all, we're facing the Borg, probably the
Romulans, the Cardessian and we'll have to live with the
Klingons and Norseicans. The training seems fine, most of it
but the emphasis seems to be on following procedures. You
should teach how to blend different procedures and break the
chain of command; have junior people be put in the position of
having to take charge of dealing with broken coolant pipes,
intruders, away parties where tricorder wielding yeoman have
to use phasers to escape from attackers. There are also
traditional drills that will help remove arrogance from some
of my fellow students and many lesson from the past. Just a
suggestion, ladies and gentlemen."
______"So, you want to take over as Lead Instructor for the rest of
this eight month course, Eric"?"
______"Yes, I do, sir."
______Then, you have it! Pleae formulate your changes with your
instructors; they have mentioned changes they'd like to
implement.
______After Eric left to attend "my session" (group therapy
session), one of the instructors looked at the rest and said
"that Marine was right! We have a wolverine here!"
______
______On the first day of the next week, when Eric announced he was
taking over as Lead Instructor, Eric was speaking to every
student in the damage control/survival class (which only met
afternoons).
______"The instruction circulum is very well written and quite
compreshesive and I'm not changing that. What we're changing
is the mind set. It is one thing to know and execute emergency
procedures. You will even learn how to blend or modify
procedures on the fly. This is traditional as well. There are
some folks who wouldn't normally take command in a crisis and
they will be doing so. You're also going to do some old drills
that can't happen on a ship."
______"An example would be to put emergency patches on fresh water
pipes. Does this sound practical?"
______One of the brighter cadets spoke: "Sir, I don't know if
putting an emergency patch on a fresh water pipe is relevant
but putting an emergency patch on a pipe carrying pressurized
helium from a pebble bed reactor might be very important.
Sir."
______"A pebble bed reactor? Who uses those?" This instructor knew
this answer already.
______"Sir, the Tangray disdain fussion reactors and use Pu239
pebble bed reactors for their auxialiary power. Any of use
assigned to a Tangray ship should know how to patch or repair
their systems, sir."
______"Quite right, quite right, Mr. James. I don't hpoe you'll
serve on their ships but if you do, you'll be ahead of the
game."
______There was a pause as a screen slid down behind Eric. This was
so 21st Century...
______"What we're going to see is an actual history tape. First,
the setup. In the mid 20th century, 1967, a great Naval vessel
was preparing to conduct combat operations. He flashed some
images. There are the combat craft they flew. He showed a
variety of period piece Naval aircraft and how they were
launched and recovered on the carrier. The students had a bit
of trouble getting used to 2-D images.
______Then he showed images of how the weaspons were loaded, armed
and fired.
______"You've now seen enough to comprehend the disaster about to
unfold. Thee will be surprises...
______The movie started and the "US NAVY" credits flowed past. The
students looked at the aircraft "in pack", they watched a very
young looking man check something with what looked like a
tricorder, pull a flag and then die when I missile launched.
______The missile rammed shot across the deck, hit another warbird
and it exploded, firing the archiat weapons at other warbirds
and soon the deck was a hell of fire, explosions and running
men.
______Groups of men holding long hoses hoses advanced across the
burning deck and something coming out of the hoses dampened
the fires. Then, to their surprise, other teams came across
the deck, also pouring liquid from their hoses and the fires
resumed. It was most puzzling...
______
______"Does anyone see the disasters occurring? For those who are
wondering, this was the USS FORRESTAL. "USS" stands for
"United States Ship" in this case."
______No one responded.
______"First, they should have put each warbird on the catapult
before pulling the safties. Then, had the missle fired, it
might have killed, burned to death, the missile tech and may
have hurt the launch control officer but the missile would not
have struck other warbirds and set off a series of explosions.
Can anyone guess what caused this problem?"
______Eric knew it was too esoteric.
______"What about the tech?"
______"Was he using a tricorder on the launching mechanism? Did he
misuse it?"
______"Good response and I like your reasoning. Now, they didn't
have tricorders then, what the sailor had was a static
electricity detector. The weapon was fired by a pulse fired
down a pair of wires. When he removed the flag, he removed a
safety that shorted out the firing lines. You'll rmember from
basic electricity that a shorted pair of lines won't allow
current to get to the load - the firing mechanism in this
case. What happened is the static electricity detector failed
and when the lad pulled the safety, a surge of static
electricity on the line set off the missile's firing
mechanism."
______He paused.
______"The first crew of hosemen were pouring a fire surpressing
compound on the highly inflamatory fuel and initially stopped
the fires. The follow on hosemen poured cold sea water on the
deck. I suppose this was to cool off the deck and prevent it
from warping. What it also did was remove the protective
coating and allow the fire to resume. There were a number of
deaths. Do any of you know where the worst deaths were?"
______"The pilots in the warbirds and the crew working on their
warbirds?"
______"Yes, many did so die and they received a high honour, the
Purple Heart, for wounds suffered in the line of duty during a
war time operation. I doubt their widows and orphans and
parents and other friends and relatives took much confort. The
real kill zone was in a large so-called 'berthing
compartment'. That was a large room where some 80 sailors -
crewmen if yous will - were ordered to stay. They were ordered
to stay in this room and when they started coughing they
obeyed orders and so they died from smoke inhaliation. It was
a horrible tragety!"
______There was a long pause and one of the instructors asked
"comments, please".
______"Maintain your chain of command."
______"Know your jobs."
______"Know what to do in disasters!"
______"Know when to disobey stupid and dangerous orders!"
______"Now, that is an interesting answer! You do know that a major
goal of military training is to instill instant obedience to
orders and to do dangerous things, ever risk or give up your
life, because your senior officers or senior enlisted believe
it necessary. Ok, this is Basic Military Philosophy 101. A way
to get around this is for everyone to know what to do in
emergencies, how to respond and the reasons for the responses.
But, you are right in this case. The chain of command failed
to keep situation awareness and the proper people allowed
sailors to die. We are going to teach everyone this
philosophy. The course that has been taught did this nicely;
we're going to improve on that!"
______The students then watched some other presentations and
"enjoyed" a five hour class. The next day, the classes went
back to an hour each and Eric and his insturctor began
handling the five sections.
______
______The restraunt was very nice and situated near the Columbia
River in Vancouver. He was decked out in a light green tunic,
dark green trousers and fleet work boots. He had a Bajorian
Vedic's nose ring on, what must have been a miniturized Order
of the Baalith around his neck and under the tunic and a Star
Fleet Medical Doctor's comms badge. He stood out...
______Eric's Father wondered in and each recognized the other
immediately. (A 7 foot tall old Klingon who had gaunted out
with age was immediately obvious.)
______The General met Eric's Father before he could get to the
table.
______"Henry, son of Andrew, of the House of Bellingham, I am Wand,
son of Jorell, of the House of Wand. It is an honor to met
you, sir. I met your son years ago and have been very
favourably impressed with him. I greive with thee."
______"Thank you, sir. Are you a doctor?"
______The two walked back to the table. The General ordered two
local brewed beers.
______"This is a good choice, Doctor, how did you know?"
______"Your son Eric told me which beer to pick and please call me
Wand. I am a Star Fleet trained Medical Doctor and have served
the Federation for 30 years now. Your Eric is one of the
finest people I've met and it is his virtues that have driven
him to irrational behaviour. He is receiving excellent
treatment but there is something deep inside Eric that is
preventing him from fully healing. You could think of what I
propose as a final attempt at healing."
______"Does it work well?"
______"Henry, it has worked with Vulcans, Humans, Klingons,
Bolients, Andorians and even a Breen. Of course," the General
roared with laughter, "the Breen was my prisoner!"
______"What did you do with the Breen?"
______"I had my second officer arrange a way for this Breen to
escape and to steal away in on of my ship's shuttles. Of
course, he thought there were covert tracking beacons and he
found the ones we intended for him to find. The ones we didn't
intend to find were what the AMERICA battle group followed.
Star Fleet seemed to accidentally interupt a Breen attack on a
Bajorian refugee ship. We recovered our shuttle and our
ersewhile priosoner escaped; he has been a very moderate Breen
officer since then and has apparently prevented violence.
______"Now, what I plan is..."
______
______Six months into the eight month course, Eric got too tired
and broke down; he shot up with the herion and thought he
could use the anti-dote before anyone noticed. he had gone
back to his old apartment before doing this. He woke up the
next moring in the clinic of the halfway house; he was on an
exaning table.
______"What the bleeding hell were you thinking?"
______"I don't know why I just had to do it..."
______"What was your schedule yesterday?"
______Eric told him and the Nurse/Doctor Assistant (who would have
rated as an MD in the 20th Century) and the N/DA immediately
responded: "You were too damned tired!"
______They spoke for several minutes and his therapists talked with
him. Eric had missed his morning classes and after lunch, made
it to the second of the five afternoon classes. He looked in
the room, nodded at his students and welked up to the
instructor's offices. The students were told "Mr. Bellingham
was ill and will be missing class."
______The students knew Eric had some kind of emotional problems
from the Wolf disaster. They were sympathic but didn't know
what they could do to help. Actually, not making a fuss over
Eric was the best they could have done. Eric was very much a
traditional officer and believed that Senior Officers didn't
tell there problems to their junior people.
______
______The decussion of religion was one which Eric was very
interested. He had been a Methodist and now wondered how God
could have let the Borg loose. He studied a number of
religious faiths in this class and that actually helped his
recovery.
______A week after his breakdown, Dr. Wand was back at Star Fleet
Medical Headquarters. He had brought his great-granddaughter,
B'linna, with him. After his briefing on Eric, he decided that
Eric would be a good candidate. But, inspite of having lived
in the Federation for 30 years, he still thought important
questions had to be decided by the family and not just the
individual.
______The General contacted Eric's father and arranted a meeting;
he also contacted LT Emmily LaFeere and asked her to attend.
They arranged to meet at an outdoor restraunt near Mt. Hood.
It was very private.
______The General and his great-granddaughter enter after Eric's
family. The General spoke:
______"Shall I make introductions? I am Wand, son of Jorell, of the
House of Wand. This is my great-granddaughter, B'linna.
B'linna, our hosts are Henry, son of Andrew, Kathryn, daughter
of Linda and their daughter Kaylee. This young lady is Emmily,
daughter of Deborah, of the house of LaFere. If they give
their permission, their son Eric will be in command of my
boat. I would like to discuss the whole matter."
"Certainly, grandfather."
______"Perhaps I should talk about me first. I served with the
Klingon Armed Forces for 90 years. I was a ship's officer for
14 years, then a Marine officer for 6 years and the logical
counsequence would have been for me to assume command of a
Marine company. Instead and with perfect Klingon logic, I was
given command of my first ship. I spent the last 70 years of
my Naval career commanding ships." He looked directly at
Kaylee. "I served on the far side of the Klingon and never
faught Federation members. In fact, I helped pevent the deaths
of Federation settlers on a planet near one of my patrol
routes."
______"How was that, General?"
______"A compact white dwarf star slammed through a G class star.
This resulted in massive fussion occurring and the G class
star emmited the amount of energy it should have in about a
million years. The energy was so intense that the planets
simply evaporated. I have imagery of it. Anyway, we knew of
the human settlement and when we realized what was about to
happen, we were able to evacuate the entire settlement. We
later resettled them in a Federation deisgnated site."
______He paused.
______"Then, I retired, visited Earth for the first time and met my
old friend Lenard McCoy and he talked me into going to Star
Fleet Medical school. I specialized in illness of the heart
and mind. Over the years, I studied on Bajor and became a
Vedick, revived my Kliongon religious studies and eventually
studied Earth religions. I may not be a Christian or Muslim or
Jew but the highest officials of those faiths have given me
the training and permission to minister to their members. It
has been very helpful in my work. Your Eric is a Liberal
Chistian with definite leandings towards Reform Jewdianism. He
is haunted by the ghots of Wolf 359. That would be bad enough
but there is one particualar set of memories that drives me to
drugs and he can't or won't tell us that what is. We believe
that my crew can help him.
______"Why are you telling us this?" Eric's mother wanted to know.
______"Among Klingons, family is everything. The decision to do
this must be made with the familie's blessing and permission;
even if Eric doesn'twant to serve as my ship's commander, he
willhave to should his family demand it."
______The General's serene belief in the sancity of the family
alone was sufficient to concince Eric's family to go along
with the plans.
______"What will Eric have to do?" For once Kaylee referred to her
bother as "Eric".
______"He will simply have to be hisself, my dear, simply that.
Only then can we pressure him into revealing the ghosts that
torment them and only then can we exorcise them.
______There was some general conversation when B'linna saw her
great-grandfather give her the eye and slash his eyes to her
left and she knew it was time to draw off Kaylee.
______"Kaylee, would you mind going with me to the other side. I
want to see the valley."
______The young woman and young girl walked off. After a few
minutes, the elderly Klingon acted startled and looked at
Emmily. "Young lady, would you mind checking on my
great=granddaughter? Thank you!"
______Emmily walked off and Eric's Mother spoke: "I have very good
hearing and heard nothing. Were you trying to get Emmily away
from here?"
______"Yes, I was. There is a matter concerning Emmily. Since
Emmily and Eric are betrouthed, you are acting for her
parents. She is probably more damaged than Eric. Only by
goingon my ship and helping treat Eric and some others can
Emmily be cured. We hope. This is a family mnatter, her
parents are too far away and since you two are acting in her
parent's names, I need your permission."
______"Betrouthed?"
______"They plan on marrying?"
______"You need our permission?"
______"Emmily and Eric have been living like a married couple that
doesn't have sexual relations and which occaionally lives
apart. Hense, the need for your permission. Why they don't
declare their love is something I can't figure out."
______"They were on the same ship and at the end, Emmily worked for
him. By human customs, that prevented their relationship."
______"Maybe," the General mused, "I'll have to include discussions
of being sneaky to these kids."
______Eric's parents and Emmily's "acting parents" nodded in
agreement.
______Minutes later, the two young women and the girl came back as
the "old farts" were discussing the merits of some old style
of coffee.
______The big hit of the rehab center, gosip-wise, was the Vulcan
who had been saved from the Borg. He had become extremely
emotional, become extrmemely unemotional and in his
occasillations, had visited various human churches. He liked
the answers he found there.
______He spent about six hours a day for five months in intensive
study (which for a Vulcan is very intense) and ended up
joining the Catholic Church.
______Eric, Emmily and the survivors of "the Wolf" and a number of
others watched his First Communion. It was a very moving
experience and it was very strange to see a Vulcan officer
wearing a simple cross over his uniform tunic. Something that
initially seemed very wrong occurred:
______The Vulcan's fiance broke off their engagement.
______
______Later that week, the newly "made" Vulcan Catholic who had
changed his name to "Brother Soran" was meeting with Eric, his
"sister" Emmily (who had saved his life) and the head of the
Rehab Centre.
______"I asked the Bishop if I could attend the Seminary. He said
'no'. I asked why and he said 'you, my Son, are on the
emotional rebound. Your fiance has abandoned you, your
certainties in religious belief have been shaken, you will be
facing the Pon Fare and you need to do a great deal of soul
searching'. I was furious."
______"You were furious?"
______"Yes, my sister, I was furious! His Holiness, my Bishop,
didn't say anything but let me regain my 'emotional composure'
and realize that I'd felt a very ancient and very dangerous
emotion: True Vulcan Rage!"
______"What really bothers you Torrock, er, Brother Soran?" Eric
asked.
______"She left me!" the stiken Vulcan screamed.
______About thirty feet away, a couple in Star Fleet "civilian"
clothing were starteled into pausing.
______"What was that about," the male "Fleetie" asked.
______"That is the Vulcan who 'found' Jesus at the Wolf; his fiance
left him when she learned he'd become Catholic", the female
replied.
______"Damn!" and this was more than a surprised cures, it was a
religious statement.
______After several minutes, a handsome couple (an old "black"
woman and an old "white" man) walked over to them and she
asked "May we joing you?"
______Eric jumped to his feet.
______"Yes, ma'am! Good morning to you both!"
______The wait staff brought over chairs for the two newcomers to
Eric's little party. After they were seated, Eric made
introdutrions.
______"How about I use the simplified introction style? LT Dr.
Emmily SueAnn LaFere, ENSIGN Brother Soran and the Head of the
Rehabilitation Centere, Dr. Naomi Lenora Kissinger, SJ, please
meet Fleet Admiral Paval Checkof and Fleet Admiral Fleet
Admiral Nyota (U)penda Uhura."
______The members of the group nodded acknowledgements.
______"Fleet Admiral Checkof", "Brother Soran spoke, "did you serve
with Admbassadore Spoke on the old ENTERPRISE?"
______"Yes, I did," FADM Checkof's heavy Russian accent was nearly
gone.
______"Spoke once said you seemed so terribly young and naive when
you were an Ensign, Sir."
______There was a general air of embarrassemnt; it was clear this
Vulcan was himself very young and very naive.
______FADM Uhura replied in high Vulcan: "He is no longer 'terrible
young and naive', young man. He grew up and commanded three
major ship and one fleet in combat."
______FADM Checkkof replied in the same language: "Two fleets in
combat."
______Then, in English, Checkof explained:
______"She who is my wife just told this very young man that I
'grew up', commanded three major ships and one fleet. I
commanded two fleets in combat!"
______Uhura simply rolled her eyes.
______Emmily spoke: "To what do we owe the honour of this visit,
Sirs?"
______"Checkof spoke softly in Russian: "I like this girl, she
speaks her mind."
______Uhura replied: "Da! ("yes") We Fleet Admirals must have our
little conversations; it proves we are high ranked enough to
be rude and lends us an air of power." She smilled and then
spoke directly to Emmily. "Pavil said 'I like this girl, she
speaks her mind.' I replied 'Da' or yes." She then looked at
Eric: "I am also quite fond of you and have hope for you.
Paval has an idea of something that could help all three of
you." She then looked at "Brother Soran" and said "I have
contcted old friends who are concerned about you. They will be
contacting you to offer you discussion." Then in the Batazed,
which was the "milk tongue" of Dr. Naomi Lenora Kissinger, SJ,
"perhaps you should tell him how he came to the attention of
Mother Church?" (Dr. Kissinger's Father was Human and her
Mother was Betazoiz and the good Doctor an excellent empath
and fair telepath.)
______"I am a member of the Society of Jesus, a 'Father' and I am
the first one who thought you were Catholic at heart. Do you
rmemeber meeting the Bishop at a Saturday brunch?"
______Brother Soran shook his head "two" and that failure of memory
was a clear sign he was not a mentally healthy Vulcan; he was
sane, still had emotional "issues" but still had cerebral
deficits. His damaged memory was one such "issue".
______"We could see that Mother Church would help you; I spoke with
the head of the Vulcan Center on Earth and she said 'young
Torrock' will not be able to achieve the Erasure of His
Emotions but if joing the Holy Roman Catholic Church will help
him, then the Vulcan hierarchy fully supports his joining."
______"Brother Soran" looked stunned.
______"I didnt' know and now I don't know what to think."
______"Examine your feelings for several minutes, my Son and tell
me what you think."
______"I am still a Catholic, Father Kissinger and in fact, am even
more a Catholic than before." His enthusanism rang in his
voice.
______"Ooops," Father Kissinger blurted out, "that was hearing
confession!"
______"Don't worry about this, young lady, we're Naval Officers and
we've all heard confessions before. We just called it
counseling." There was a tone of absolute convection in FADM
Checkof's voice. FADM Uhura spoke:
______"I suppose we should discuss our ulterior motives for coming
here? General Wand commands a Fleet Refueling Vessel. He is
looking for a Commanding Officer to relieve him so that he can
quote go back into retirement and simply putter around as a
First Officer unquote. The Good General is looking for a young
Medical Doctor to quote terrorize my staff properly unquote
and a young brige officer that quote I can raise to be a
proper ship driver unquote."
______"Checkof nodded; his wife Uhura continued:
______"General Wand said he was looking for an enthusiastic young
warrior, someone like that Paval Checkof was."
______She smilled at her husband, who looked stunned.
______The following luncheon was a very pleasant one and Eric and
Emmily walked off holding hands, the two Fleet Admirals walked
off arm in arm and the two Catholics engaged in Brother to
Father conversation (confession and consuling actually).
______
______Towards the end of the eight month "refresher training
period", Eric was running a trio of very cocky young
midshipmen through a portion of damage control training called
'Wet Navy". He had already run crusty old senionr officers and
Chiefs through this training and the expected results had
occurred:
* They didn't disucess the training with "virgins" and
* They loved to see "virgins" go through the training.
______
______It was a simple enough drill. A group of four trainees were
in a corridore sized space and had to patch over a large hole
in a leeking pipe. There was a viewing gallery on the same
level as the exercise room and this quickly filled with those
who had been "trained". Eric and two guests were in the
balcony level; Eric had two guests and he had an arm around
each. To his left was Emmily and to his right was FAHM Uhura.
A later "photo" showed that both women looked amused and Eric
had a beatific smile.
______He had a fine training drill going on and a fine woman at
each side and his arms around both. He had plenty to be vey
pleased about and his sister would put that photo up in her
room along with the "photo" of Eric inside the reactor...
______In the training room, the trainees heard a loud noise. To
their surprise, a hold blew out from a large pipe. They knew
what to do!
______One ran to the valve and began spinning it to shut off the
water flow. The other two wrapped a blanket around the pipe
near the hole tightened it down somewhat with a rope coiled
around the pipe and blanket and began sliding the whole mess
tosards the pipe. They couldn't get the contraption through
the water flow, which mysteriously had increased in pressure
and seemed to be getting colder.
______In desparation, one of the two ran back and relieved the
valve man and said valve man ran back to the leeking pipe's
hole. He slipped and fell in the water, which was waist high
by now. He wasn't hurt. Finnally, when the three students were
treading water and wondering if it would be easier when the
water level was above the hole did Eric's assistant shut off
the water flow and open valves that quickly "dewatered" the
compartment. The three students were asked:
______"Well, how did it go?"
______"Badly, sir," the less cocky leader of the 3 person exercise
said, "the damned valve didin't seem to conrol the water flow
and it seemed to get harder the longer we tried!"
______"The point of the exercise is that sometimes you can do
everything correctly and still fail. It's not your fault; the
deck was stacked against you! The valve is stripped and can
not shut off the water flow. Another water value, controlled
by the exercise staff, was used to increase the water
pressure. Well, you three have passed and we need to get the
room set for the next group of trainees. Now, it is
traditional for those who've been through this exercise to
view the next set of trainees with previous graduates. Would
you like to do so?"
______The leader looked at her fellows and said "Yes, Sir!"
______"Then get changed and we'll have some one guide you to our
viewing room."
______While the students were drying and dressing, high voumn air
blowers forced hot dry air nito the room and it quickly dried.
Then, cool air was blown into the rooom, to bring it to the
slightly chilly temperature the drll "required". After that,
the relatively cold water would do the trick of cooling off
the students.
______The students entered and found themselves among the sernior
officers of the Academny and Star Fleet Headquaters and a
large number of the instructors and many of their fellow
Fourth Year students ("Senior" to civilians). A Vice Admiral
passed a tray with flutted chamgaing glasses on it to them.
They drank to the student's efforts. Then, they were handed
large glasses of a local lager and settled down to watch the
next set of students...
______THose who "completed" the drill at the end of the training
day were always excused from afternoon classes the next day to
attend and observe. No matter how much they were pestered
would the graduates reveal what really happened in "The Wet
Navy Drill".
______
______Shortly before the eight months of refresher training was up,
Eric was summonned to a meeting with Dr. Kissinger, SJ, Vice
Admiral Michael Thomas Etro, the Head of Star Fleet
assignments and an elderly Klongon. The Klingon smilled when
he saw Eric and said:
______"It is good to see you again, young man."
______"I don't recall ever meeting you, sir." This was a clear sign
that Eric's memory was still fuddled.
______"Ah, it has been a while but you'll thihk of it. I understand
you did a lovely thesis on tetrions?"
______"Thank you, sir."
______"It had some very interesting conclusions. I've heard that
you left details out?"
______"Well, sir, you know editors and major professors will remove
material they don't think 'moves the story forward'."
______"He will do nicely!" The General was quite pleased with
Eric's non-commital answers.
______"Lieutenant Commander Bellingham, we are going to put you in
command of Fleet Fueling Vessel 97, once known as the "GLENDA
JANE".
______Eric abruptly remembered the incident when the TAMERLANE had
nearly been destoryed during a refueling from the "GLENDA
JANE" and he remembered who had commanded her,
______"You coud have killed us all!"
______"Not at all, Mr. Bellingham, not at all. Our sensors were
quite capable of telling that your main feed line would have
failed quickly enough to force the fuel load to one or more of
the other fuel feed systms. We could also tell those three
feed systems were out of service; it was quite pleased to see
how quickly you had your people bring them back into service."
______Eric nodded.
______Vice Admiral Etro spolke next: "This is General Wand, of the
House of Wand and he commands FFV96 when he doesn't have a
regular commander. We have deciced to put you in command of
this craft."
______"Why me, Vice Admiral? Why put me in command of a fairly
sensitive position?"
______"Because General Wand is also Doctor Wand and this tour duty
is to bring you back where you belong: in commnand of a ship.
It is also to continue your medical treatement. Will you
accept?"
______Eric thought of his nightmares, both mental and physical and
replied: "Will this be my salvation?"
______"That is up to you, Eric," Dr. Wand was uncommonly serious
for him.
______"Then, I'll take the assignment but I can't go back as a
'Lieutenant Commander' and somehow the tite of 'Captain' seems
oppressive."
______"That is something I can handle, Eric," Vice Admiral Etro
replied, "you can go back as a 'Chief Warrant Officer' with
the title of 'Craft Master'. You'd still have to operate your
craft in full complience with interstellar law and treaty,
Star Fleet regulations and practices and in accordance to the
situation as it unfolds. Is this acceptable?"
______"Let me think on it for a minute, please and to get some
advise."
______Eric called his parents and explained the situation. General
Dr. Wand had already briefed Eric's parents and they told him
"it sounds like a very good opportunity for you."
______Next Eric called Emmily and asked for her advise.
______"Eric, didn't they tell you that I've been selected to serve
as that boat's Medical Doctor? I'd love to have you there with
me!"
______"I'll tell them yes" and after some more conversation, he
went back to the waiting senior officers.
______While he had been gone, the Vice Admiral asked "who do you
think he called first, his girlfriend or his parents?"
______"The parents and then his beloved," the General said, "he is
rather Klingon you know, especially in how he reacts to
horrible stress."
______"I will be honored to accept this assignment. I understand
that LT LaFere is going aboard as a medical officer in spite
of her having gone through eight months of operations
training?" Eric sounded pissed off.
______"LT LaFere will be getting as much ship handling experience
and training as she could ever want on FFV 97. She had to go
aboard as a Medical Doctor or she would be the senior line
officer and that would lead to command problems. So, we
arrange the paperwork such. Oh, who did you call, if you don't
mine me asking?" The Vice Admiral was quite curius.
______"I called my parents and then I called Emmily." Eric looked
puzzled that anyone would possibly doubt his choice. Dr. Wand
looked pleased...
______
______The graduation ceremony was quite nice. Eric was declared to
be medically retired and that he had been retained on active
duty and would be serving on a Fleet Fueling Vessel. Emmily
graduated from the Advanced Command Track course and it was
announced she would be serving on a Fleet Fueling Vessel both
as Medical Doctor and Second Officer under instruction. Their
Vulcan Soran would be serving as Third Officer under
instruction. There were a number of other greaduates but these
were the only ones who mattered to Eric's family...
______
______Eric had been told that he would have to name the ship
himself and he hadn't decided what to name it. Eric and his
group were put aboard a fast courier and were taken to his new
home, FFV 97. Upon arrival, he went for a tour of his "new"
boat. It was quite different from what he'd expected.
______He had thought FFV 97 would be a large cargo ship with the
minimum engines required for the tasks, barely enough weapons
to rate being called "armed" and the minimum shields
freighters sported. He was quite wrong!
______FFV 97 had vast storage areas filled with an unbelievable
assortment of anti-matter. There were storage tanks for
anti-hydrogen, anti-deuterium, anti-oxygen, anti-silicon and
even anti-iron. Eric had never heard of anyone using
anti-oxygen, anti-silicon or anti-iron.
______He was told rather dryly "we service more than just the
Federation or Klingon ships."
______Engineer was a long structure that basically was a spear.
This "spear" was a single structure comprised of the
anti-matter (warp) reactor, the impulse reactor, warp engines
larger than even on a Galaxy class starship and impulse
engines suitable for a starbase. This ship could create
anti-matter if necessary and could auto-repair at a incredible
rate. The FFV 97 could sprint at warp 9.9 for hours, could run
at warp 9.8 for several days ("72 hours", his new chief
engineer sniffed) and cruise for months at warp 9. This was a
performance he'd have expected only from a high speed courier
boat.
______This engine complex looked like something out of Naval
history and even had canvus "racks" attacked to the sides of
the "engine complex", There were two heads and at one end and
ermergency lockers on the bulkheads the engine complex was
inside. Eric was told "if we're attcked and can't escape, we
can dump the rest of the ship and leave at warp 9.9, We have
the best cloak the {Romulan} Star Empire and the Federation
and Section 31 can proivide." Eric would later learn who
"Section 31" was when he had to refuel a Section 31 vessel.
______He and his fellows had met FFV 97 near the planet Xena, a
solar planet so far out that it was nearly a free planet. At
this distance, the sun was just another star. Still, the
amount of construction around Xena was most impressive. There
were emergency shipyards (orbital), a number of shps with
silent IFF (which meant they couldn't be identified) and what
appeared to be a late model Romulan Warbird. Eric used the
highest magnification on his bridge to see the Star Fleet
insignia and the numbers "31" on this Romulan Warbird.
______He asked: "Do we resupply Romulans and why is there a
Romulean Warbird with Federation markings? Why does it have a
"31" on the side? That is not the normal position for a ship's
hull number."
______"We resupply Romuleans and a number of other space going
species just as they resupply us. The Romulan Warbird belongs
to the Federation's version of the Obsedian Order or Tau Shier
and is an agency that operatres outside Federation
Territority. This is all highly classified and you're not
allowed to ever mention this information."
______"Do the Romulans know about this Section 31?"
______"Yes, Warrant Bellingham, just as do the Klingons,
Cardassians, Gorn, Breen and a number of other species. They
know because the Federation told them. None of these Star
Nations would have taken the United Federation of Nations
seriously if we didn't have a covert operations spy agency to
counter their covert operations spy agencies. Besides, we've
had it since the first unifed Earth Government was formed."
______"The first," Eric asked his new third officer.
______"Well, sir, the first that lasted more than a couple of
weeks."
______Space was alive with lights from anti-matter creation
facilities and these lights were a great distances from each
other. Eric had lerned that no species which had survived an
accidental explosion in an anti-matter creation plant ever put
them near inhabitated planets again. He was about to learn why
from the production standpoint.
______
______Eric and everyone from the FFV97 was in the reception room of
the anti-matter production facility. Their host, the manager
of the facility, welcomed them. The room was quite large, had
windows on all surrounding walls and little else.
______"Now, I know most of you have heard this lecture before but
it never hurts to repeat. How do we get the anti-matter? Do we
go prospecting for it in deep space? No, there simply isn't
very much left 'in the wild'. Do we use particle accelerators
to create it? No, the cost in energy makes that idea horrible
inefficient. Do we use transporters or replicators? Actually,
we could if it weren't so dangerous. Yes, we could but we
don't have to. What we do is take advantage of a loop hole in
quantum physics."
______He paused for questions, there were none.
______"We have discovere dwhich sub-atomic forces make matter
matter and anti-matter anti. We can create fields in a volume
of matter that converts the whole mass to anti-matter at once.
What would this be inportant?"
______"Partial conversion would leave matter mixed with anti-matter
and that would lead to an explosion. Sir." The rspondent was
one of Eric's long service Chief Petty Officers, a Chief who
had been on FFV 97 for many years.
______"Quite correct, Chief! Can any of you tell me why this
facility is highly regulated and why we have members of the
Intra Galactic Anti-matter commission watching everything we
do? (The IGAMC unified the Federation, the Klingons, the
Breen, the Romulans and a number of other space going races in
that they all hated those high handed IGAMC bastards and their
overbearing ways.)
______The facility manager grinned happily and waited for an answer
that didn't come.
______"It's really very simple. The anti-matter creation beams can
be swept rapidly across a planet and convert great swaths of
said planet into anti-matter. Do you think this might have an
effect on a planet?"
______There was a shocked silence that was reflected in the body
language of even those who'd heard this introction before.
______"We're highly regulated becuase just one conversion device,
the size of a Federaton Runabout, could physically 'blow up' a
planet. This is generlly regarded as a 'bad thing'."
______
______Finally, even this fascinating tour ended and the group
returned to FFV 97. There, on the bridge, General Wold and
Chief Warrent Officer Eric Randall Bellingham (LCDR Medically
Retired) when through the ceremony that General Wold had gone
trought so many times.
______"Sir, I stand ready to releive you."
______"Sir, I stand ready to be relieved."
______"Sir, I relieve you."
______"Sir, I stand relieved."
______Eric then read his orders from a hand written scroll:
______"Chief Warrant Officer Eric Randall Bellingham, you will take
command of the Federation Fueling Vessle 9 7 and operate it in
a safe manner in accordance with all relevant Interstellar
teaties and agreements, the Federation dictates for save
Interstellar flight and the particular requirements of those
you are providing fuel to. You will begin a series of three
month voyages. For two months, you will take fuel from the
Xena facility or the "Extruded Lamb facility' (operated by a
very strange alien species and no one knew what they meant by
'Extruded Lamb') and refuel anyone requiring fuel. Then, you
will spend one month on the planet Marian II'. Your sister
ship, Fleet Fueling Vessel 193 will serve in your Area of
Operations for you. Your final order is to give your ship,
Fleet Fueling Vessle 9 7 her current name. We look forward to
learning ths name. Make it a good one."
______The irony was that when Wold was "relieved", he was never
"relieved" for he then had another "Commander" to nurse back
to health. When he relieved his most recent "Commander", he
went back to being Commander of FFV 97 (whatever it may have
been called by the most recent commander). In a sense, Wold
had been in command of the Good Ship FFV 97 ever since he'd
proposed the idea to Star Fleet Medical some 21 years
before...
______
______First Officer and Commanding Officer had done a very quick
inventory and everything had been there. This was due to a
crewman who had the compulsion to track everything used on the
boat. He knew where everything was and what was used and
didn't mind shipmates hiding stuff from him. He thought it was
funny and that was his saving grace.
______Fully loaded and with little fanfare, the FFV97 left "port";
her first destination was a Bolian freighter a light week out.
This freighter had taken on a cargo of manufactured goods from
Mars and was hauling them to one of the colonies of Sirius
(which were under domes on an otherwise wretched world). The
FFV pulled alongside and Eric simple sat on his bridge,
watching as his highly experienced crew conducted the
refueling with bored expertiese. He did learn something:
______
______The FFV97 had sensors he had never seen before and could
look into the status of systems on other ships better than any
he had ever seen. His crew literally knew more about the other
ship that their crew did.
______"How are we looking today?"
______"You look just fine; it looks like you got the anti-matter
flow regulator changed and your impulse engines appear to be
very nicely balanced. Our congratulations to your maintenance
staff." Eric's third officer was speaking for the ship and he
had the Bolian's preferred terminology down nicely.
______"FFV97, from your lack of a name, I assume you have a new
commanding officer?"
______"Yes, you may, he is Chief Warrant Officer Eric Randall
Bellingham. May I introduce you?" There was a brief pause.
"Captaain Bellinham, may I introduce you to 'Snake Laughing',
the Commander of Bolian heavy cargo hauler 197? 'Laughing
Snake", may I introduce you to my Woe, Captain Bellingham?"
______"'My Woe'", Eric asked?
______"Think nothing of it Good Warrant," Snake Laughing said, "my
'Woe' is a play on words. 'Woe' is short for 'WO' or Warrant
Officer' and as his Superior, you are supposed to cause him
'Woe'. I like 'Little Turd's' sense of humour!"
______"'Little Turd' my ass
______"
______"'Little Turd' from your 'little ass' and that would make you
a self made man? Now there is a stange concept." Eric would
never be able to explain what caused him to say this. There
was a pause and the Bolian spoke:
______"A philosopher, I see. Well, you've come to place for such
things. Good bye then and God Speed to all of you go on all
your appointed rounds and all that shit, ah, stuff, ah,
whatever you're supposed to say at a time like this!"
______The Bolian roared and comms was cut and everyone looked at
Eric who somewhat sheepishly said: "That seemed to go well."
______"'A Philosopher King'", Wold murmurree, "we'll have to rename
you in honour of Nezahualcoyotl or 'Starving Coyote'. Well,
what does everybody think?"
______"'Starving Coyote'?"
______"He was an early Earth 'Philosopher King'. Our Eric had been
discovered to be a 'Philosopher' and a Ship's Captain is, to
quote your Robert Heiinlein, 'the last of the Absolute
Monarchs'. Thus, our 'Woe' is a 'Philospher King'. Does anyone
disagree?"
______The laugher didn't really start until Eric began to laugh; he
thought it all quite amusing. (It was only his thinness that
saved him from then being called 'the Laughing Budda'', which
would have been premature.
______Two days later, a routine precedence message from FFV 97 was
received on ENTERPRISE. LCDR Data turned to Captain Picard and
said:
______"Sir, it would seem that Captain Bellingham has selected a
name for FFV 97."
______"Well, don't keep us waiting," LCDR LaForge prodded.
______"Fleet Fueling Vessel 97 is now 'the Coyote King'. The text
stated that the initially proposee name of 'Starving Coyote
King' was undignified and therefore unacceptable. However and
this was signed by First Officer Wold, if anyone wanted to
address the ship as 'Starving Coyote' or 'Starving Coyote
King' then it would be prefectly acceptable with and I quote
our Philosopher King unquote."
______"Thee is a story here and I'd like to learn what it is",
Consoler Troi murmurred.
______Jean-Luc Piccard sighed and spoke. "Computer, send a messagae
to my brother asking him for a case of Champaign and two cases
of the vinyard's best. Tell him that I'm going to be hosting a
visit with the officers of a Federation Starship 'The Coyote
King'."
______"MESSAGE SENT
______"
______ENTERPRISE being ENTERPRISE, they could use the high speed
subspace comms circuits. Whatever ENTERPRISE went encrypted to
the various relays and went through ahead of nearly every
other form of communications. It took an hour but the reply
from Robert Piccard came back the same way.
______"That sounds interesting and I want to hear the full story.
Oh, I contacted your Star Fleet and said I had a package for
the ENTERPRISE's Commander. They are going to send the wine on
one of your 'high speed diplomatic courier boats'. Seems a bit
excessive to me but I got the felling this boy likes to fly
fast. Well, I hope your party enjoys the wine. Piccard out."
______Back on the "Coyote King", First Officer Wond suggested that
Eric had been awake too long and that he go to bed. Eric did
so. When the sensors showed Eric asleep, General Wond awoke
the sleepers and made a short shipwide speech.
______"Eric Randall Bellingham is recovering from wounds received
at the Battle of Wolf 359. He is a fine commanding officer who
should be called by his proper rank of 'Lieutenant Commander'.
The problem is he is easing back into command slowly. He must
be called 'Warrent Officer' or 'Chief Warrant Officer' or
'Chief' until he has recovered. You must all remember, he is
still a Lieutenant Commander and still CAPTAIN of this ship.
Bridge out."
______Eric appeared to settle down fairly well. However, about
three weeks into their 'tour of duty', he began using herion
again. This lead to constitupation and his bodie's attempt to
deal with it.
______Eric entered the wardroom feeling wretched. He didn't notice
the air filter system fans were running at emergency overload
or the air perfume that made him feel ill.
______"So, sir, what will it be this lunch?" The steward was
leaning away from Eric and that was well as Eric felt a fart
slide from his ass.
______"I'll have something mild and gentle."
______"Perhaps something with less fiber than, Sir, something
easily digested?"
______"What do you mean by that" and was interupted by a bowell
emptying gasious emission; it was a fart a Klingon could be
proud of!
______Eric's chief Engineer tapped a button on his padd and the
transporters removed all known "fart gases" from the Wardroom.
The nice smell was very, very nice.
______"I'll bring a nice steak and rice pilof,sir."
______When a bridge runner came in and asked Eric to initial a
padd, Eric had to turn away from the table and didn't see one
of his officers put a "flatuance control pill" into his roll.
Eric didn't know the Wardroom Steward put a similiar pill into
Eric's pilof and Eric had never heard the Prune Juice his
Second Officer gave him was good for 'making you regular'.
______After lunch, Eric made it to the Thomas Crapper barely in
time!
______After about a week and a half, Eric abruptly quit using the
herion, administered the anti-dote (and was given some serious
drug therapy by Emmily's "nurse" after Eric went to sleep) and
thought he was going to 'rip himeself a new asshole' the first
time he tried 'voinging his bowells'. It was an effective
disuaging technique; Eric didn't touch the "good stuff" the
rest of that two month voyage.
______The "Coyote King" refueled fourteen ships, including a
Romulan. This was odd because the Romulans used captive
mini-black holes for their power supple. It turned out the
Romulans used anti-matter in their main "APU" or "Auxiallary
Power Unit".
______The planet "Marian II" was the Second Planet of the Star
"Francis". The inhabitants simply smilled when asked why the
planet was "Francis II".
______The highlight of the visit was meeting General Wond's eight
year old great-granddaughter B'linna. She was a precouious
child who knew the world revolved about her. She immediately
fell in love with Eric and Emmily and 'her Brother the Vulcan'
and several others and they with her.
______During the month long standdown, Eric engaged in
conversations, little realized they often were therapy and
worked with his remaining Graduate Student (who had stuck with
Eric) and went for walks with Emmily and B'linna. It was
during one such walk that Eric found relief from some of his
pain.
______B'linna and her three younger brothers and sister were
walking through a corridore into a plaza. As usual, B'linna
was talking and just being the very cute and domineering
little girl she was.
______"What are we supposed to call you, Mr. Ship Captain?"
______"Your great grandfather calls me whatever he feels like."
______"Shall I call you 'Whatever He Feels Like' then?"
______"That wold be a bit ackward, B'linna."
______Three Norsikans, whose ulginess would make a Terran Wart Hog
look handsom, were hanging out and just being obnoxious.
Seeing a little Klingon girl leading a Human made them think
it would be fun to give them some shit.
______"Human, is this your bastard child?" One Norsikan shouted.
______"She is really his bastard sister and his future wife!"
______The Norsikans thought this was very funny; Eric did not. He
had the very strong image of the dead Klingon child he had
rescued years before and was becoming furious.
______"I know! I know! We can rape both of them and save the three
little morsels for later. Call the ship and prepare to beam us
all up!"
______"Harm my children and you will ALL DIE!"
______Eric had never known the pure fury he now felt. It was a
wonderful, glorious emotion and he actually felt calm He
didn't look calm, he looked amused and furious and he suddenly
look harmless. Then, there was the knife (his special K-bar)
that had magically appeared in his hand.
______The loud mouthed leader of the Norsikan group moved towards
Eric and Eric swung his blade and easily cut through the would
be rapist's armour and left him staggering and bleeding. Eric
lunged forward and took a second Norsikan in his left bicept
and that was when the third Norsikan screamed into his comms
unit to "beam us up now"! They were beamed up.
______Anywhere Norsikans went on this colony was automatically put
under surviellance and a combined group of Star Fleet Security
and Klingon Military Police were already beaming in when the
fight occurred.
______The Klingon leader commented "well done, human, that was a
very Klingon thing you just did and I am proud of you!"
______The Vulcan who commanded the Star Fleet police said "If I
were capable of emotion, I would also be proud of you. You did
quite well and I am most satsified." That was a Vulcan way of
saying "I'm proud of you."
______The Vulcan girl beamed at Eric and one of the human Security
troops wiped the blood off the blade. This would be used as
evidence should Star Fleet ever catch the Norsikan who'd
attacked Eric and threatened the children. The Norsikan had
beamed to a Norsikan ship which had embassey status and which
had already gone to warp. Those on the planet did not know
that this retreat was seen as colardise and that all three of
the Norsikans were spaced...alive...for their lack of proper
courage.
______B'linna's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents (Wond
and his wife) arrived and viewed the surveillance records.
There was one question that everyone wanted to know:
______"Why did you attack those Norsikans?"
______"I believed them. I wan't about to let these children be hurt
by anyone and I was willing to do whatever it took to protect
them! I'm still willing to protect them. It's a personal thing
for me and exactly the same thing all of you would do!"
______If Eric had simply talked about the girl who'd died in his
arms then he'd have been saved much pain. But he couldn't...
______"We're very proud!" B'linna's Mother hugged him. "We need a
Klingon name for you now!"
______"I know. I know! I'll call him Grandfather Targ!" shouted
B'linna. From that day on, she and her siblings called Eric
"Grangfather Targ". The adults called him "Eric" or "Brother
Eric".
______Among the precominately Kliongon population, Eric and Emmily
could walk around hand in hand and no one cared. In fact,
B'linna began calling her Grandmother Targ...
______The month that Eric thought would never end, did end and he
had to leave. It would never occurr to him that a mixed
Klingon, Human and Vulcan population could not only get along
well but could live in harmony. It was a revelation to him.
______
______The "Coyote King" departed without incident.
I'm not going to pull our troops off the battle field before
the mission is complete.
^^^
______
______Many civilians and even Star Fleet personnel who never served
on ships was the question: what do you do for entertainment?
Well the answer was quite a few things.
* There was socializing,
* There was reading,
* There was hobies,
* There was watching old movies...
______
______One of the answers that was never given was "watching
television". "Television" had become obsolute in the mid 21st
century, so the concept of half hour shows, with rigid
formulatic requirements was alien to the "modern
sensibilities" of the 24th century. Sure, these rigid formats
didn't prevent many different plot ideas from happening. It
was like a classic sonnet: rigid form and yet complete freedom
in ideas.
______There was a modern form of Television called:
______
The Flatulence Of The Targs!
______
______The episode opened with the mightily Targ space craft, a
vessel that looked like a Targ standing up, flying through
space with an incredibly long flame from a reaction drive
behind it. The rocket exhaust had to have gone through a
massive amount of fuel.
______In the ship, large Targs walked around on their hind feet and
reminded the viewers of Klingons. The ship was controlled by
huge levers and control wheels and was full of flashing
lights. The "Fighting Targs" were looking stolen vats of
"Nemesis Liquid", the Holy "Water" that was the Nemesis of
excessive sobriety and which allowed the mighty "Fighting
Targs" to get as drunk as a "Mind Frecking Romulan" or at
least as the proverbial "Drunken Irish-person".
______The Might Vessel, called the "Wretched Excess" was closing in
on the villains. The majority of the "Fighting Targs"
transported over to the Enemy Vessel. There, they found the
villains: huge snakes with arms and legs that folded out of
recesses in their hideous snake bodies. The fiends turned to
face the "Fighting Targs" and large pointy ears slide out;
they looked remarkably like Romulans! (The end of long and
bitter diplomatic alliances can be like a bad divorce: there
is misrepresentation of one's lost partner!)
______The "Fighting Targs" attacked with their dreaded fangs and
hideous claws and bad puns. (This part of the episode reminded
a televison history fanatic of something called the "Ninja
Turtles".) But, the "Fighting Targs" were overcome by the
snake fiends and their sprayed venom. Our Heroes fell in
twitching heaps. On the "Wretched Excess", "scientists"
examined the events through bizarre "scientific instruments".
______It looked bad for the "Fighting Targs" as the snake bastards
appeared to be Bolo Constrictors.
______The scene cut to an interior view of the "Wretched Excess",
which had somehow avoided being captured when the majority of
it's crew had beamed over to the Snake Vessel.
______Then, the point of view pulled back to see the "Wretched
Excess" doing what would have been called a "wing over" had
the "Wretched Excess" been a 20th century atmospheric craft
and not an un-aerodynamic 24th century space craft that looked
like a quadruped flying through space. The scene then changed
to a safety lecture that lasted about 3 minutes. This was long
enough for the viewers to "hit the head", get snacks from the
replications and to steal someone else's seat...
______Then, the show resumed!
______The "Fighting Targs" decided upon a search pattern and after
a crew member accidentally hit a course change lever, found
the enemy vessel. There was an apparent "tender moment" in
which something (hopefully heterosexxy Eric thought) may have
happened. However, with the "Fighting Targs" it didn't seem to
matter what happened to whom as long as the Targs "got off"...
______Then, the "Fighting Targs" beamed over to the Enemy Vessel in
their Space Suits and some how they weren't knocked out by the
snake's poison. (Their "scientists" had somehow come up with a
cure.)
______There was a large amount of snake/Targ fighting with snake
fangs mostly sliding off the Targ Suits and Targ fangs ripping
(sometimes) into the Snake Flesh. Finally, the Targs realized
that to save their fellows, the Targs would have to use their
Ultimate Weapon. The Generalmisseo Targ-the-Greater roared
"Let loose the Farts of War!"
______All the "Fighting Targs" then turned to a fellow "Fighting
Targ" present, presented a hoof and roared "Pull my hoof!"
______Hoofs were pulled, Targs farted very loudly, the villain
snakes fell in heaps (some melting) and the "Fighting Targs"
prepared to leave. In a signature gesture, one of the
regulars, a kindly old Targ, one who was the butt of jokes
because of his "gentle good nature" managed to urinate upon a
snake and the snake awoke only to die in convulsions, it's
snake body whipping around and melting, dissolving, where the
urine had painted it. (Eric wonder what good a space suit
could be if the wearer could urinate through it...)
______The episode ended with the fixed ending: The Genermisseo who
commanded the "Fighting Targs" reared back, shook his fanged
head towards the heavens (well the ceiling) and roared his
signature end-of-episode line:
______"I LOVE THE SMELL OF FARTS IN THE MORNING!!!"
______
______On second thought, Eric could realize why the Fleet Sailors
didn't tell non-fleet folks about this series. Oddly enough,
even the Romulans liked it. It made Klingons look bad and they
thought the villains (who were usually pseudo-Romulans) were
Vulcans...
______Eric knew the "wing over" was taken from a forgotten
televison show called "Sky King" and the end line from a very
old flat movie about a forgotten war on Earth...
______He smiled to see his shipmates so amused by the episode and
didn't realize how much he truly enjoyed "Tales of the
Fighting Targs!" (This was the subtitle.)
______He especially like the episode where little rats had been
turned into Borg and the "Fighting Targs" had gored the rats,
fucked them somehow and throught their shinny silver suits and
the little rats loved the smell of Targ Farts!
______Emmily had a question: "What is that flame coming from the
rear of the flying Targ space ship?"
______"That is their mighty rocket drive! Let's not speculate on
how many Gs it is pulling and that it is powered by liquid
methane." Eric replied.
______"But liquid methane doesn't burn," one Engineer replied, "it
needs an oxidozer."
______"Well, they must be mixing it in with the fuel." Some one
else commented.
______"They sure use a lot of that fuel. How can they store it?"
Emmily wondered.
______"Big tanks?"
______"I figured out they are using 3 to 4 times the volume of the
ship every second..."
______The producers of "The Flatulence Of The Targs!" or "Tales of
the Fighting Targs!" got around such objections with bizarre
techno babble or swithing to a grateious fight or to a couple
of Targs apparently indulging in some form of sexual activity
(sex and sexual orientation apparently irrevelant).
______"Then they must have a gateway between the Targ Refueling
World and the "Wretched Excess". They simply 'gate through'the
mixed fuel they need."
______No one mentioned that such gates were impossible. Apparently,
only Eric and the General knew that Star Fleet had a sniper
rifle based on sending a bullet through an interdimentional
gate.
______Star Fleet and the Klingon Marines didn't want outsiderx to
learn of this...
______
______Then, there was the attraction of sex.
______Some of the bigger ships had those "new fanglied fucking
Ferengi holo suites" wherein one could fantasize. Eric and his
shipmates all uniformely denounced such unreal entertainments,
not hearing the envy, the pure envy, in their voices...
Henry, son of Andrew,
20 year old sister Kaylee
Henry, son of Andrew,
Kathryn daughter of Linda
Lemmon Pepper Fish and rice pilof with broccoli
""^^^
______
______
______
______
______
______
Eric had gained 12 pounds. This took some doing but he had
been trying. In an earlier time, he
would have gained at least 30 pounds. However, he had been
rasied with strict portion controls
and had been taking fleet diet control medications on a daily
basis for years. Even through he had
somewhat given up on fleet behaviour, he still took his
morning pills. Just as he still wore his
working uniform boots, occasionally his working uniform
trousers and kept the fleet haircut and
sideburns. Well, his hair was a little longer than the
"Security (Marine)" length he'd worn it for
years.
in 2367, Admiral J.P. Hanson Battle of Wolf 359
Mid Voyage (in the Endless Patrol)
______FRV-97, currently known as the "SPENT TARG", was standing a
kilometer off the bottom of
the ENTERPRISE's engineering section. On the "Spent Targ's"
sole bridge view screen, Eric sat
in "his" Command Chair, the General was next to him and his
second officer was at the
helm/navigation position. The lighting was arranged so the
ENTERPRISE trio, Captain Picard,
Commander Riker and LCDR Troy could be clearly seen but only
the "SPENT TARG's" Second
Officer could be seen.
______Eric's voice was quite rough, too much vomiting from drinking
too much of something his third
officer said "will put hair on your bald spot".
______"Captain Picard, we have a large amount of anti-duterieum as
well as anti-iron. I've heard your
Mr. LeForge has been experimenting with using anti-iron in
your warp reactor?"
______"How did you know that, Captain Bellingham?"
______"The experimentation creates a wide assortment of unusual and
short lived particles, sir. We've
been monitoring this. Bill! Tell your chief alchemist to be
very carefull with that
experimentation. There are certain failure modes which can
lead to anti-matter containment loss
in the feed lines to your warp core. This would destroy your
ENTERPRISE before any of you
could say the prayer: 'FATHER FORGIVE US FOR WE HAVE FUCKED
UP!'"
______"Eric, it seems you've added blaspemy to your style of
jokes." William Ricker was quite upset.
______Eric leaned forward and the bridge crew could see how wasted
he looked.
______"It wasn't blaspemy my friend, it was simple realization of
reality."
______The sound from the ENTERPRISE cut off. Eric tapped his
"microphone off" button and
glanced at his First Officer.
______"It would seem I've aggitated them a bit, Old Grandfather."
______"Yes, it would, Young Grandfather."
______Eric activated his microphone again and shortly after,
Captain Piccard spoke again.
______"Mr. Bellingham, perhaps you should work with my Chief
Engineer with the refueling and
advise him on the dangers of using anti-iron." Then, as if it
were an afterthought. "Oh, my First
would like to speak with your First about a subject of mutual
concern."
______Piccard then did something very strange for him: he turned
and pointed at Worf, clearly
indicating the Firsts were going to talk about Worf (and not
about one Eric Randall Bellingham).
______"Very well, Sir, if you can connect me with your Engineer, we
can begin..."
______
______The General left his bridge and entered the small alcove and
shut the door behind him. He stood
behind the desk and spoke: "Ship, open a secure line to
ENTERPRISE and ask for their First
Officer, William Thomas Riker."
______Riker appeared on the screen immediately.
______"William, son of Kyle, of the House of Piccard, how may I be
of service to you?"
______"Wand, son of Modoc of the House of Modoc, it is good to see
you again, Sir."
______"You were one of my best students at the Academy when I
taught emergency medicine in the
survival course. We are quite pleased to see how well you've
done; I've bragged about my fine
student, William son of Kyle so many times my
great-granddaughter is calling you 'Uncle Bill'
and would like to meet you. But I don't think you wished to
speak with me about my
great-granddaughter's Hero Worship of you or of Worf son of
Maag of the House of Maag."
______"No, sir, I didn't. Tell us about Eric. He looks like crap.
Your 'Doctor Emmily' has talked with
'Dr. Beverly' about him, your Second Officer has talked with
Dr. Troi and Dr. S'ook and they're
all worried. Funny thing about your Second. Troi says he
speaks perfect Betazoid and S'ook says
he speaks High Vulcan with the accents of a Temple High
Master."
______"My Second is one of the finest linguists in the Empire and
he learned High Vulcan when he
studied religion on Vulcan; oddly enough, he became more
emotional after that experience. But,
you're worried about our Eric. So are we, my young friend, so
are we. If we could just get him to
say what it truly bothering him, we might be able to break him
out of his destructive cycle. This
'hair oh win' habit of his is very destructive. It seems to
give him relief and yet the withdrawal
sympthoms are dreadful! Did you know it makes him
constitipated? The medications we give
him make him fart like a Klingon but he smells like a 'Farting
Targ' and this is simply horrible!
Have you noticed how ghastly he looks? We've tried to get him
to eat but he says he's got no
appatite. So, we've resorted to a desparate measure..."
______
______After the "SPENT TARG" had departed on her 'endless patrol',
Riker asked Piccard and Troi to
join him in the Captain's Ready Room. Data took the center
seat.
______"General Wand is quite worried about Eric. He won't say what
is really bothering him, it seems
there was one moment on TAMERLANE that has torn him up.
Speaking of 'torn up', they say he
farts like a Targ and that has really offended his shipmates."
______Dr. Crusher had already been in the Ready Room.
______"Why don't they change his diet?"
______"He refuses to eat much and they've been forced to a very
dangerous expedient. They get him
filled up on some drink and get him settle down in his chair.
They need him immoble for what is
coming up. Then, they map the contents of his stomack and
their transporter operator does a very
rapid exchange of stomack contents for an equal volume of high
concentration liquid food. He
hasn't complaigned yet."
______His audience was stunned.
______"The General also said he seems to be cooperating with them."
______
______What no one seemed to realize what Eric still had his habit
of needing to see if the Borg were
sneaking up on him. So, he monitored all systems and all
sensors with some esoteric computer
routines. One of these checked for transporter traces around
him. The first time he'd sat in his
"office", put on the headset and scanned the logs, he'd been
shocked to find he was being fed via
transporter. It touched him deeply to know others worried
about him. There was no other way he
could eat, he simply couldn't bear to take solid food "the old
fashioned way".
USS TRENTON a Hokule'a class vessel
NCC-19387
______They didn't know the "natives" had not only penetrated into
the "attick" but had removed
inspection ports and were looking into the sealed first
section.
______Eric heard "Ms. Emmily" and turned to face her. She walked up
to him and simply hugged him.
He put his arms around her, squeezed her tight and lowered his
head onto hers. She sighed.
______"If we were civilians and at least not in the same chain of
command, this would be so simple."
______"I know but we are what we are."
______"For once, why don't we pretend you're not in my chain of
command and simply be a man and
woman who happen to be in love."
______"We can. We won't be the only ones usng the casualty, by the
way."
______""If you're thinking of our First Officer and the lovely
young Passed Misdhipman then I'm in
agreement."
______"I am and I applaud his delicacy in the way he actually
treats her no different than any of the
other crew."
______"Ms. Emily" knew of several others who were having cross rank
relationships but that was
medically privledged information and her CO didn't have need
to know. He also knew of some in
the same types of relationships but he knew in his personal
capacity and not his official capacity
and so he didn't tell himself what he knew...
______He could never have been a Borg; they gossiped too much...
______They entered his cabin and locked the door behind them. He
helped her remove her uniform and
she helped him remove his. There was another inspection port
above his "cabin" and the "native"
was looking through that. He rubbed her shoulders and then her
breasts and then she rolled on
top of him and the native left feeling a bit of guilt at
"watching elders mate". The "natives" also
enjoyed kissing and regarded female on top as the only form of
acceptable mating.
______Eric and "Ms. Emily" had inadvertantly proven to the
"natives" that they were "people" and not
some form of animal...
______
______Two days later, the New Plantary Servey body 114 (NPS-114)
"colony" received a messaage
from Star Fleet Exploration: "Abandon your post, remove all
personal effects and take only what
you need to carry. Leave the rest for any later follow on
clean up crews. You are to meet Star
Fleet Engineering team 12 on Planetary Body G-117a and will
receive further orders then."
______Eric responded with: "We have a lot of survival gear here and
other items. The "natives" could
easily penetrate this building. Do you wish to recind the
orders preventing the proper securring of
this facility?
______The answer was verbal, very snide and simply said: "You have
your orders. We don't appreciate
any criticism. Take only personal items amd Star Fleet
critical items. Fleet Exploration out!"
______Eric not only saved that verbal message but included it as an
attachment to his Movement
Report to Fleet and his "abandoning station" report to Fleet
and Star Fleet Exploration and the
Federation Diplomatic staff and to his old friend, "John", who
maintained an interest in the
BERRY's activities. "John's" son, Data, was perpluxed but the
while affair and have a number of
discussions with his friends.
______Eric got on all communications channels: "We've been ordered
to adandon this post. You have
one hour to get your personal effects together. I'm going to
have the BERRY land and we'll board
through the sally ports. I don't want the natives to know
about our transporters. We'll send as
much personal items as we can via transporters and all
critical effects. I want as many people as
possible to carry their duffels and board through the sally
ports. I want everyone to report their
prepardiness to deport. Division officers, report to your
Department Heads. Department Heads,
report to my Second Officer. (A number of crewman wondered how
their CO meant "my": was it
the Royal "my" of a Captain or the personal "my" of a lover?
But, ultimatly it didn't really matter
and no one wasted much thought on it...
______There were 24 officers and crew who simply couldn't deal with
walking across the surface of an
alien planet, breathing alien air and in danger from unknown
aliens. This was a strange attitude
for Star Fleet officers but an accepted one. That these 24
included folks of three different "alien
races" who had calmly dealt with aliens in space was seen as a
quirk.
______One of the natives, looking through yet another removed
inspection port, watched as "the
Leader's Mate" caused three hands of her people to vanish. Two
carried one of the "four legged
masters each" and three each carried two of the "infant
masters" each. Then, one of the 24
reappeared and a second reappeared. Boxes were placed on the
"magic circles" and these items
vanished into thin air. After a while, the "Leader's Mate"
stood on one circle and vanished.
Comparing reports later, an unseen "native" reported the
"Leader's Mate" had appeared from no
where and spoke with her mate, the Leader. Then, she walked
back into their building.
______
______Three hours after receiving the recall message, Eric was
standing on the green swarth looking
towards the swamp. Not for the first time, he wondered why
Star Fleet had insisted on removing
the swamp from a hill, putting grass and a fortified builiding
there and then decided to abaondon
said base. Didn't they care what would happen after they left?
He had already seen evidence that
eatting grass caused wierd effects among some of the native
vegetarians and the grass was slowly
spreading into the swamp. On the other hand, creatures that
looked like rabbits crossed with targs
were eatting the grass as fast as they could. It might work
our.
______
______
position monitoring the derelict Star
Fleet light cruiser and listening to his bridge officer giving
the approach orders. The young
officer, one of his "Passed Midshipmen" gave his orders in
textbook fashion but added enough
flare that Eric had hope for him. The USS EDWARD BERRY came to
a halt relative to the
derelict and the bridge officer turned to LCDR Bellingham and
spoke.
______"Sir, we've arrived and are 25 kilometers from the ghost
ship. Shall I signal the flag?" (This
young man had read too many old Naval novels.)
______"Yes, please do and tell ENTERPRISE we look forward to
visiting with them."
______Eric smiled slightly as he heard his bridge officer (under
instruction) exchange greetings with
the ENTERPRISE's bridge officer and state the BERRY's Captain
was standing by.
______Eric opened a window on one of his monitors and drafted a
message to the Captain of the
ENTERPRISE: "John, I look forward to seeing you again! I'm
going to see if I can figure this
puzzle out before your son does."
______The reply was "Eric, you should have marked that PRIVATE. My
son Data is wondering who
my son is..."
______Eric replied: "PRIVATE MESSAGE FOR CAPTAIN JON-LUC PICCARD:
It won't hurt your
son to wonder and he'll figure it out fairly quickly; he is,
after all, a very bring man. Please give
me best to your Doctor and head thumper; I really have been
doing better lately."
______Piccard replied: "That's good to hear and my son is already
scanning the dead ship."
______The dead ship was a challenge and Eric had made damage
control his speciality for 12 years. He
was different from other "Damage Control Engineers" in that he
did more than train his troops
and have drills: he liked to know why damage occurred. On a
starship, there could be surprising
causes for damage and so he hunted.
______It didn't hurt that he had a library of programmes he had
written, stolen or been given "under
the table". He leaned back in his chair and tapped commands on
his keyboard that caused
windows to open on his monitors. He watched the displays and
occasionally issued more
commands on his keyboard. Windows would appear with data and
disappear. He watched them,
taking in the data at a rate that very few could consciously
see let alone assimilate and quietly
build up a picture of what had NOT happened to the dead ship.
______His bridge officer transferred the imagery from Eric's
monitors to the main viewer; Eric didn't
notice. On the ENTERPRISE, Data had patched into the BERRY's
communications systems and
put the images from Eric's monitors onto the ENTERPRISE's main
viewer.
______The ENTERPRISE bridge crew was stunned. Piccard was bemused
and wondered if "his Eric"
had gotten over his problems and hoped the "old Eric" was
back. Dr. Crusher was delighted.
______Eric paused when three screens started showing flickering red
icons. He focused an entirely new
set of diagnostics on those screens and Piccard, feeling an
intuitive dread, began to frown.
______Eric focused on a section of the second deck where something
had created a loop in an exposed
pipe. This pipe carried a necessary compound that was used in
the warp engine cooling system.
The pipe was one of the strongest on the dead ship and in
theory, should have survived a warp
core breach. It was bend into a "C" shape and had clearly
breached. Eric had noticed this with his
first scans but NEEDED to figure out what had caused the
damage.
______He now knew where the ship's personnel had gone. The leaks
had been near a large intake for
the ship's air handling system and quickly filled the ship,
dissolving all organic material on the
dead ship. That is, all humans, three house cats, a highly
pampered lap dog and the First Officer's
pet Vulcan "bird". The ship's ventilation system had vented
the toxic gases but only after the
"organic material" had been completely dissolved. It was a
tragedy.
______Eric's final display showed a squiggly line descending
through the "ceiling" and co-incident
with this, the bending of the pipe. He typed in one final
command and looked into a hooded
monitor which came out from the equipment rack. His retina was
scanned and what he feared
was confirmed.
______All the monitors on the bridge when black.
______A monitor on Piccard's bridge chair lit up and showed what he
had feared from the instant he'd
seen the squiggly line: an Omega particle had gone through the
dead ship. Now, all records of
this event would have to be classified and removed from both
the BERRY and the
ENTERPRISE; a lie would have to be created to satisfy the
curious (weapon hidden by the
Romulans was a classic standby) and it would now be safe to
re-populate the dead ship. Piccard
would leave the writing of condolence letters to the
professionals at Star Fleet Headquarters.
______Eric sent a message to Piccard suggesting they met for lunch
the next morning. Piccard
countered with a 7 am breakfast. Eric responded with a
suggestion for a 9 am breakfast and
Piccard agreed.
______Eric stretched, thinking this was one of "those stressful
events" he'd been warned about.
However, if he was going to finally quit "using the good
stuff", one last "shot of glory" would be
the perfect ending to unfortunate source of "relief from pain"
and would mourn the dead.
______He looked behind him and saw all five of his Passed
Midshipmen clumped together like a group
of nervous Ferengi and three Ensigns from the ENTERPRISE. He
hadn't noticed them beam over
and assumed that Piccard had sent them. He beamed at the three
Ensigns; they had been students
of his at Star Fleet academy and had given memorial
performances during the so-called "Wet
Navy" portion of the damage control classes Eric had taught.
From the scowls, the three
"youngsters" clearly remembered Eric Bellingham.
______Eric suddenly realized his binge of three weeks before had
been his last and he could no longer
indulge.
______He had too many people looking up to him now and he suddenly
realized he needed his people
to think well of him.
______He was finally healed...
______
______"Well, well, it's good to see all of you again! We're going
to have to survey that 'ship of the
dead', gather the personal belongings and ship them to next of
kin, rename that boat and
repopulate her with officers and crew. I'm going to propose a
crew to Captain Piccard and here is
what I'm thinking of...
Chapter 2 - In the beginning...
______
______It was graduation day, that June day in 2358 and Midshipman
Eric Randall Bellingham proudly
marched up to the podium. He braced himself to attention and
in an earlier Navy, he would have
saluted. Vice Admiral J.P. Hanson smiled at him and spoke:
"Midshipman Eric Bellingham has
completed the course of instruction leading to a Bachelor of
Science in Advanced engineering
and a minor in Command. Mr. Bellingham has been accepted into
the Masters programme and
will be searching advanced engineering applications. He is
fully qualified to serve in an Engineer
officer position but that will have to wait until he completes
his advanced education. I look
forward to having Eric serve aborad one of my ships in the
very near future." The Vice Admiral
handed Eric his diploma. Eric smiled with relief and
appreciation of the Vice Admiral's approval
and then Passed Midshipman Eric Randall Bellingham did an
about face and marched off the
stage. He passed the next happy graduate and was only vaguely
aware of the Vice
| Admiral stating "Midship woman Elizabeth Anne Stephanie
Benson has successfully..."
______Eric's parents and irritating 15 year old sister greeted him
with hugs and congratulations. His
little sister stopped the dancing around the subject they all
wanted to know about.
______"So, stupid older brother, why weren't you commissioned like
that 'Elizabeth Anne something
or another was? You're good enough!"
______His parents nodded in agreement.
______"I have some ideas about general engineering. We've got all
sorts of tools but we study each one
separately or at best, several at a time. Most people don't
know what the tools have in common. If
they did, the repair troops might be able to cobble together
different instruments in emergencies.
So, I'm going to be doing a study. I'm ... ah ... not quite
sure what my thesis will be about but I've
several months to decide and I'll have a good professor."
"The USS PEGASUS had returned to Earth so her Captain could
look over the 'fresh crop of
Cadets'. His helmsman, a graduate from the previous year,
William Thomas Riker, came over.
______"Congratulations, Eric, I've been looking forward to this
day!" Riker turned to Bellingham's
family. "Eric and I were in the same weapons engineering
classes last year and we both tutored
several cadets together." Riker abruptly glanced away and then
directly addressed Eric: "A
number of your friends are getting together for graduation
pictures. I'll visit with your family for
a few minutes and then you can head off for a nice two week v
a c a t i o n!"
______"Once every generation, a natural engineer will crop up at
the Academy and he or she will do
more than just learn general systems and how to do general
engineer. He or she will think deeply
about basic designs of our tools and how they are similar or
different. Eric will come up with a
taxidermy of our various machines. His findings will be used
to train engineers graduating from
the academy or the Enlisted training brigade. It will be very
helpful."
______"Why aren't all midshipmen commissioned as officers?"
______"Many are excellent engineers or medical types or Security
forces as police or Marines. It's no
dishonor to not be officer material and besides, there are far
more crewman billets than officer
billets on ships. There aren't very many officers on ships.
Then, the enlisted training brigade is
meant for specialists who will work in strictly limited areas.
These are the crew who might be the
best warp core electronics engineers or the best weapons techs
or the best Marines. The academy
graduates, whether they are commissioned or not, simply have
broader educations and can move
around more. Our Eric will be commissioned and will be a fine
engineering officer. Don't
worry!"
______After a while, Ensign Riker excused himself to wonder over
and speak with other friends of his
from the Academy and with their families. It was pleasant.
______
______All went as Ensign Riker had prophesied. Eric finished his
training in the basics of all of Star
Fleet's engineering systems and his thesis detailed what
instruments had in common and which
parts could be modified to fit into different systems. For
every Engineer who praised his work,
several Engineering students cursed him for his thesis was
"learn by heart" to many instructors. It
was a thesis but Eric was cursed for not writing "a better
textbook..."
______
______The USS TAMERLANE (NCC-11555) had been built as a fast attack
gun ship shortly after the
last Romulans War. For her time, she was fast and heavily
armed. TAMERLANE had the
traditional saucer section but had a modified engineering
section. Instead of being a four section
composition of saucer, engineering "cylinder" and twin warm
nacelles, the TAMERLANE's
engineering "cylinder" was merged into the lower aft section
of the saucer; the twin warm
nacelles could be retracted to bring in tight to the hull and
this allowed for a smaller volume to be
protected by the shields. Thus, the TAMERLANE, in effect, had
a much more powerful shield
that she should have.
______Passed Midshipman Eric Bellingham had read up on his new ship
but didn't appreciate what
TAMERLANE would really look like. He would learn her
virtues...
______Eric was a passenger on a Star Fleet courier boat. Star Fleet
needed very few of these craft since
high speed subspace communications took care of more
communications needs including
replicator templates for suddenly needed products; most
personnel transfers could be handled on
a slower time frame and people could be shuffled on a
leisurely pace. This was the exception,
however. The unnamed courier was carrying a "classified cargo"
and while they were at it, they
hauled personnel for the TAMERLANE and two other ships.
______Eric volunteered to help out in engineering and was rather
kindly turned down. It would have
taken too much time to "break in" the new people and the crew
was busy enough given the "boat"
cruised at warm 9.5 and that would very rough on a ship. He
was told to enjoy this vacation. Eric
also got an introduction to his beloved "old Navy": he was hot
racking. This meant that he had to
share a rack with two other crew men and he had not been
looking forward to making some
person roll out at the start of Eric's "eight" and then be
evicted from "his" rack at the end of "his
Eight". Fortunately, Eric's predecessor never slept more than
5.5 hours and Eric could rack out
early, get 8 - 8.5 hours and let his "successor" rack out
early. It was a source of amusement to the
boat's crew and sleep ranked just below eating and having the
occasional "drink of medicinal
alcohol". Eric was happy to reach the TAMERLANE.
______The boat shut off her engines near the TAMERLANE's and was
drawn by TAMERLANE's
tractors against the main airlock. Personnel simply walked
from the boat to TAMERLANE
without ceremony. There was no saluting towards a flag and no
one "requested permission to
come aboard. It was all so very disappointedly un-military.
Eric was offended.
______Finally, an Lieutenant spotted him and walked over.
______"You must be Mr. Bellingham? I'm Scott Talbert, second
officer and your official greeter.
Welcome aboard!"
______"Thank you sir."
______"Just call me Dan. We Sir "Big Bob" and "Laser Eyes" but
don't let them know those
nicknames. "Big Bob" is Captain Robert McMillian and "Laser
Eyes" is Clark Gray; we call him
"Laser Eyes" since he can pick out problems with the best of
them."
______"Yes, sir."
______"You'll get used to it, once You're settled in. Shall we go
see your quarters and then the
Captain?"
"Yes, sir, er, yes Dan. My gear isn't aboard yet and maybe you
can help me find a hand cart?"
______"Don't worry, we used our cargo transporters to move your
personal gear aboard. They
wondered through several corridors and up a ladder before
finding a door with the names
"Bellingham" and "McDuff" on it. Dan opened the door and
showed Eric around. The quarters
consisted of two small "bedrooms" with a common head, a work
table, storage space inside and
outside the two "bedrooms" and a replicator smaller than what
Eric was used to.
______"Your roomie isn't on the same shift as you so your rooms
should be quiet when you go to bed.
You'll have plenty of time to put your stuff away. Now, you
can replicate a fresh uniform every
day but the Captain thinks this is a waste of power. So, as
long as your uniform is clean and in
good repair, the Captain and First Officer won't care. you can
use the replicator to clean your
uniforms as well. Now, when was the last time you ate, had
something to drink or took care of
personal business? (He meant use the head.)"
______"Right before we docked."
______"Great! Time to meet the man! Stand up straight and I'll
straighten your uniform up." Dan
straightened Eric's uniform, which he had put on clean and
pressed some hour or so before
leaving the boat. Then, Dan slapped the button on the wall
communicator panel and spoke:
"Third officer to the Captain".
______"Talk to me, Dan."
______"Sir, I've gotten Passed Midshipman Eric Randal Bellingham in
his quarters. Will you be
available to meet him?"
______"Certainly, bring the young man up to my 'At Sea Cabin'"."
______
______They entered an outer office, where a stern looking Senior
Chief stood behind a large desk. She
wore the commications pin favoured by Star Fleet Security
(Marine) instead of the more
traditional comminications pin.
______"You must be Mr. Bellingham. I will introduce you to the
Captain." Then she looked at LTjg
Talbert. "I need a few words with you, young man, at your
earliest convience."
______"Captain, this is Passed Midshipman Eric Randall Bellingham.
He did very at the Academy and
wrote a very nice thesis. One of his advisors wrote me a
letter praising the young man. I have
high hopes for him. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a
few words with your Second
Officer."
______"Is there a problem, Senior Chief Haskall?"
______"No, sir, just a matter of scheduling drills."
______The Senior Chief left.
______"Welcome to TAMERLANE, Eric. I'm quite pleased to have you
with us. That advisor Senior
Chief mentioned was most convincing. Have you gotten into
quarters? Did you have a good trip
out here? Have you met your new roomie?"
______"Ah, Sir, I'm delighted to me here but also a bit scared.
Sir, the trip here was fine but I had to
'hot rack'. The Lieutenant showed me my room but I've not met
my roomie. Which advisor wrote
your Senior Chief and", he paused, "if you don't mind me
asking, why did my advisor write the
Senior Chief? Sir."
______"Your advisor is Anna's 2nd son and he was likes routing the
best Passed Midshipmen to his
Mother's Ship."
______"His...Mother's ship?"
______"He is convinced Senior Chief rules the ship. She does but
don't let her know I've said that!
Before you ask, Senior Chief was a member of the Security
Branch called 'Star Fleet Marines'.
She retired as a 'Master Chief' but went by the rank of
"Master Gunnery Sergeant" on active duty.
After a couple of years of retirement, my Anna came back on
active duty as an Administrative
Chief Petty Officer and I promoted her to Senior Chief as
quickly as I could. Ah, where are my
manners. Please, have a seat and I'll arrange for coffee."
______Eric was escorted over to one of a couple of easy chairs that
were in one corner of the Captain's
office. The door opened and the Senior Chief swept in carrying
a silver china service with a
silver looking coffee pot, two china cups and coffee cake,
butter, plates and flatware. She placed
this on a small table between the easy chairs and murmured the
Captain:
______"I have no delusions of running this ship. Sir."
______"No, of course not, Anna."
______She sniffed and swept back out of the Captain's office and
into her lair.
______The Captain grinned at Eric...
______
______"Now that you've met the 'real commander' of the Good Ship
TAMERLANE, how about we
discuss what you'll be doing here. Based on your records, I
get the impression that You're a
generalist and would like to learn all the ship's systems?"
______"Yes, sir."
______"Good! I'm going to make you the Assistant to the Main
Propulsion Assistant (MPA) at first.
Right now, Master Chief Lynch, Jair Lynch, is acting MPA and
is also assistant Chief Engineer.
Once you get settled in, I expect to commission you and you'll
be MPA. Questions?"
______"Sir, I remember reading of something called the 'Pipes and
Wiring Book' back in the 'old days'.
This was something that 'Tripp', Captain Archer's Chief
Engineer required of his people and
something that Captain Scott also required. I'm not sure this
is still in use and I don't want to step
on any toes by asking permission to work through this book.
Sir."
______"Eric, I typically assign 'doing the book' as remedial
training for engineers but if you want to try
it, please do so. Just be aware that you'll get some strange
looks."
______"Strange looks?" Eric had an uncomfortable feeling he already
knew the answer.
______"Yes, strange looks. Folks will wonder how you could have
been on board ship so short a
period and yet be 'in hack' already."
______Eric smiled wanly and the Captain briefed Eric on the ship,
it's history, Eric's expected duties
and told him to be in the Wardroom in Dress Uniform at 1800.
Eric was escorted to the door and
the Captain went back to his "paperwork".
______Eric nodded at the Senior Chief, who nodded back and then
spoke:
______"You would be wise to ask for the 'Pipes and Wiring Book'
from Master Chief Lynch. After he
agrees, just call me and I'll have a copy sent down to you.
Now, did you have lunch before
leaving that courier boat?"
______"I had a little to eat, Ma'am."
______"I thought so." She went to the door and called to a passing
Ensign.
______"Ensign Lyndon, this is Mr. Bellingham, Eric Bellingham. Mr.
Bellingham, this is Ensign
Theressa Lyndon. Miss Lyndon, please take Mr. Bellingham to
the lounge for a snack and then
help him get settled in. I'll arrange for Mr. Bellingham to
have his introduction to Engineering
tomorrow."
______"Yes, Ma'am. Eric, come with me."
______"Here is the officer and Chief Petty Officer listing."
______Eric was handed a padd with the text:
______
______
______
______
______Command:
______
______
______Robert McMillian, CAPT, CO
______
______
______Clark Gray, CDR, 1st officer
______
______
______Scott Talbert, LT, 2nd officer
______
______
______Engiineering:
______
______
______Daniel Jackson, CDR, Chief Engineer
______
______
______ Jair Lynch, Master Chief, Assistant Chief Engineer
______There were the names of a number of engineering officers and
Eric skimmed over them. He
knew he'd learn them soon enough. Unpacking in his "quarters"
(room actually) mainly consisted
of putting out his dress uniform, a clean working uniform for
the next day and his preferred
sleeping gear (his high school running shorts and a ratty t
shirt he grandfather had worn on his
first ship and which he'd given Eric the year before).
______The meal went quickly and Eric would later think it had been
a fine one but he couldn't
remember exactly why. He did know that he'd bonded on some
level with everyone in the room.
Why this had happened when logically it should not have was
something he would never think
about. Star Fleet did a very carefull job of picking it's
future ship's crews and carefully "adjusted"
them in subtle ways so as to make them blend easily and
peacefully into crews. Sometimes it
didn't work; the difficulties one Reg Barclay had on the
ENTERPRISE had become legend
among the "head thumpers".
______
______The next day began his real tour on the TAMERLANE. Eric was
given a tour of the ship and
introducted around. He met dozens of people and knew he would
never remember their names.
Several years later, he now only knew their names, he knew the
names of their spouces, girl
friends, boy friends, families and even most of their dogs,
cats and targs. (Yes, TAMMERLANE
hosted Klingons several times.) He would later see their inner
demons and they his; this
familiarity would not lead to contempt but to deeper
friendship. It was strange but true and
happened to many others in those later years.
______Eric knocked on the door to the Chief Engineer's Office; he
expected a growled order to enter
and then expected to wait while the Chief Engineer did
paperwork that was far more important
than a "Passed Midshipmen". He was wrong.
______Commander Jackson personally opened the door for Eric and
invited him in. The door was a
very old fashioned dogged "hatch" and had to be manually
opened. It had the virtue of being
airtight and impossible for an intruder to open via computer.
The Master Chief was seated in an
easy chair but he arose anyway and walked towards the visitor.
______"Passed Midshipman Eric Randal Bellingham reporting as
ordered, Sir!"
______"The Master Chief rolled his eyes; the Chief Engineer gave
him a "now Master Chief" look.
______"Welcome to my little fiefdom, Mr. Bellingham. I am Daniel
Jackson and this is your new
Mentor, Master Chief Jair Lynch. You don't have to call him
'God' but it wouldn't hurt to bow
towards him every so often."
______The Master Chief simply looked disguested.
______"When Master Chief Lynch was a Senior Chief, I was a Passed
Midshipman in fusion reactor
section. So, please have a seat. Do you like coffee and coffee
cake?"
______"Sir, yes and yes."
______"Well, have a seat."
______There were three seats, with a little table between them. The
Master Chief trundled over to pour
coffee from a pewter pot and removed a large plate of sliced
coffee cake from a microwave oven.
The butter was already melted into the cake. He brought the
tray over to the table,sat and helped
himself. The other two did as well.
______"Eric, what would you like to do?"
______"Sir, I would like to get as familiar as possible with every
engineering system. I would also like
to run through the "Pipes and Wiring" book; I think it would
help. What are your plans for me?"
______"You'll work for Master Chief on qualifying as a Division
Officer. You'll have to qualify as an
Engineer Officer of the Watch first and then serve as the
Fusion Reactors Officer, Master Chief
is currently the Acting Main Propulsion Assistant and is in
charge of the warp drive and impulse
engines. This also means he is acting sub department head for
the warp and fusion reactors and
power generation and distribution. All this could take you
upwards of a year to do."
______The Master Chief spoke immediately after the Department Head
stopped.
______"You'll be learning quite a lot simply to get your Junior
Engineer of the Watch and then
Engineer of the Watch qualificaitons. Normally, a new crewman
would get the Junior quals and
have some breathing room before doing the 'senior' quals. I
think you can do this."
______"Yes, Sir." Technically, he wasn't supposed to "sir" the
Master Chief but no one ever made the
mistake of forgetting this worthy was a non-Commissioned
Officer and so he got "senior officer"
and "old fart" respect.
______The next hour or so was spent in planning Eric's upcoming
training in engineering and his
quals. They left the "big office" and Master Chief mustered
the on-duty crew.
______"This is Mr. Eric Randall Bellingham. He'll be working in all
sections as part of his Engineering
Officer of the Watch quals. I expect we'll commission him
before too long and he'll be the Fusion
Reactor Officer. So, give him as much help as you can, help
get him qualified as quickly as you
and he'll be doing the 'paperwork' before you know it. Then,
too, the sooner he quals, the sooner
the Fusion Reactor Officer can go back to Post Graduate School
and get that Advanced Warp
Theory Ph.D. he has been sighing over..."
______There was a laugh and Eric wondered what the joke was.
______The Master Chief nodded at Eric.
______"I'm happy to be here and want to qualify as quickly as
possible. I've been told that Division
Officers are quote paperwork pushers unquote but my real
interest is in hands on engineering.
I've read of something called the "Wiring and Pipes" book and
I'd like to work my way through
that. It seems to me it would help me learn the systems and
thus, qualify quicker."
______There was a deep silence and someone spoke: "Well, I'll be
damned! A voluenteer!"
______Eric gained a lot of face by voluenteering...
______Over the next five weeks, Eric was introduced to everyone in
Engineering, was shown how to
do a vast number of jobs and favourably impressed most with
his willingness to work and his
ability to work. The strangest jobs were when he trained on
the bridge and realized "I could do
this!"
______"I could be a bridge officer."
______During his Junior Engineering Officer of the Watch board (he
was seated away from the table in
a psychologically vulnerable postion) he was asked by the
Captain:
______"If you saw a problem, would you have the courage to come to
me about it?"
______"Yes, Sir...well, I like to think I would. Sir."
______"That was a trick question, Eric. You're damned regardless of
how you answer. If you'd said
'no', I'd think you a butt kissing courage. If you'd said
'yes', what could the problem be?"
______Eric thought for a moment, looking at the immediate threat in
the question and quickly realized
a deeper meaning. "I would be wrong to have immediately said
'yes' because that would suggest I
was jumping over my chain of command. I would be wrong if I
didn't bring problems to my
Department Head, first officer and finally to you, Sir, if my
leaders didn't decide to report a
problem and it's possible solutions. It would look like I was
trying to put myself above more
experienced, better trained, officers. Sir."
______"Good answer, Mr. Bellingham," the First officer stated. "We
are more experienced but I doubt
we're better trained; after all, you've just graduated from
the Academny with your BS and MS.
You've got the edge in training on the rest of us. As for
experience, you'll gain that. You're in a
rare position: you're about to be commissioned and will be
allowed to make a certain number of
errors; I think of it as a puppy pooping on the rug
occasionally. The puppy needs to learn the
limits. We're old dogs and have learned how to make it to the
yard."
______Eric politely joined in the general laughter especially when
the Captain did a
dog-panting-with-tounge-handing-out-gesture.
______The questioning went on for a while. Then, Eric was
dismissed. When he was brought back into
the Wardroom, the Engineering Master Chief and the Senior
Chief (who was the Senior Chief
who controlled the warp core) ushered him to a regular seat.
There he was told:
______"Passed Midshipman Eric Randall Bellingham, after several
minutes of discussion, we
unanmously declared you qualified to serve as a 'Junior
Engineering Officer of the Watch'. We're
proud of you! Now, I expect to commission you as Ensign in one
week and I expect you to
qualify as 'Senior Engineer Officer of the Watch' in the next
three months. I know it took you
five weeks to get the 'junior quals' and you're probably
thinking three months is a long time.
Actually, it isn't a long time; you're goikng to be a division
officer and will have an unholy
amount of paperwork to learn to do. You'll also have to
continue working on your quals. I'm sure
the Chief (chief engineer), the Master Chief and all the other
Chiefs will want you to continue
doing engineering tasks. You will also have to work with and
live with crew who have come to
think of you as an 'officer under instruction'. Don't let this
go to your head."
______"Yes, Sir. I do suspect the Master Chief will lead the
efforts to keep me humble." He grinned at
the Master Chief.
______"I think we're done here. Why don't you go down to
Engineering and I'll announce you've
qualified."
______Eric was excorted from the Wardroom by the Engineering
officer, the Master and Senior Chief
and the three senior petty officers who had attended and had
quietly offered questions to the
senior Engineers. Eric's responses would spread quickly
through the crew...
______The CO gestered to his First and Second officers to linger
behind.
______"Did you notice a certain mind set to some of the young man's
answers?"
______"Do you mean he speaks like either a Chief Engineer or a
Commanding Officer?"
______"Exactly, number one."
______"Captain, I think this lad could be a CO some day. He has the
ability, he has the touch and he
has demonstrated the ability to get people to work for him.
Some of the jobs he did in
Engineering were delibertly screwed up just to see how he'd
react. He reacted well, quite well."
______The Second Officer nodded in agreement.
______"Well, gentlemen, it'll be several years before our jobs are
endangered by young Eric
Bellingham!"
______On the way to Engineering, Eric was inexplisably delayed by:
______
______A senior petty officer who asked inane quesitions about a
subject said petty officer had taught
at the Academy three years before (the man's eyes twinkled),
______
______A couple of crew members who needed help in solving an
interpersonal problem; this was
strange as the two had been married for twelve years and were
the most stable couple on the ship,
______
______Several junior officers had bad jokes to tell and
______
______Many folks simply wanted to congratulate Eric and talk about
their own boards.
______
______It took over an hour and that gave the "ship's cook" time to
decorate a very large cake. (If Eric
had unexpectidly failed his board, the cake would have been
simply decorated and served with
lunch).
______
______Eric's family loved the photos taken of him with his
celebratory cake. Eric cut the first piece and
gave it to Senior Chief Anna Haskall (he knew who the Sun
Source of power on the ship was!).f
One of the Security officers (police not Marine) had used a
manual ice cream maker to create
several batches of vinilla ice cream. This substance was so
loaded with fat the Medical Officer
had to close his eyes before taking a bite. Then, the "Docs",
who had bad mouthed the ice cream,
ate more than their share...
______Unlike many earlier military services, Eric's comrades truly
cared that he had qualified; they
were more of a family that earlier Navies would have believed.
The Captain had dropped the
TAMERLANE out of warp and the good ship and crew spend the
rest of the day and that night
studying several nearby stars. The next day, the TAMERLANE got
underweigh again on course
to Deep Space Station 14.
______For the next week, life on the TAMERLANE ran it's normal
course and they eventually
prepared for "liberty" at the Deep Space 14.
______
______July 4th, 2359 was a very good day for Passed Midshipman Eric
Randall Bellingyham: he was
commissioned.
______
______
______
______On July 6, 2359, Ensign Bellingham was ushered into his
Department Head's office. There, the
detaching Fusion Reactor Officer (LTjg William Jefferson
Person) handed over the various logs
and certified they had successfully inventoried all items
under the pervue of the "Fusion Reactor
Officer" and had been briefed on the personnel, the status of
performance reviews and even more
"paperwork" to be done. Eric was a bit overwelmed.
______A week later, Eric was called into the Chief Engineer's
office. The First Officer was there.
______"Do you know what happened last night?"
"
______Nothing out of the ordinary, Chief. I haven't had the change
to check the shift logs yet but the
outgoing watch section didn't tell me anything out of the
ordinary."
______"Then you don't know about the little problem with
containment in reactor two?"
______"What! What problem, sir?"
______The Chief Engineer continued: "Containment was lost on fusion
reactor two for some 22
miliseconds. The reaction gases were automatically vented.
This caused a sensor glich and the
bridge became unduely alarmed." The First Officer didin't seem
to appreciate this
characterization.
______"Comments", said the First Officer.
______"Sir! Reporting any problems is something that should have
happened. There is no excuse for
my not being notified."
______"What that in your Standing Night Orders?"
______"My...Standing Night Orders, Sir?"
______"Yes, Ensign, didn't you know you're supposed to maintain a
set of Standing Night Orders?"
______"Er, no, Sir, I'll look right into the matter."
______"You're excused, Eric."
______
______After the door was closed, the Chief Engineer looked at the
First Officer.
______"Standing Night Orders from an Ensign?"
______"Well, let's see how it plays out."
______
______"Eric then proceded to mishandle the situation.
______
______He called in the outgoing night watch, which was in a
training session.
______"Was anyone going to tell me about this reactor venting?"
______"It was in the watch log, sir."
______"Well, I got my ass chewed for not knowing. I would have
appreciated being told at morning
passdown."
______"Yes, sir. We'll make sure you are in the future."
______"Dismissed." That didn't go over too well with the troops;
Eric had been one of them a coupld
of weeks ago and hadn't earned the right to be snotty.
______
______There was a knock on the door and the Master Chief stuck his
head in.
______"May I have a word with you, Ensign?"
______The Master Chief walked in, slammed the hatch shut behind him
and starte in.
______"Young man, you will not chew the butts of your division
without first discussing it with me.
Then, if you still think you need to chew butt, you'll call in
your Leading Chief Petty Officer and
that Chief will call in the offenders and will handle the butt
chewing. You may interject
comments, depending on the situation but you will not cut your
Leading Chief out of the loop. Is
that understood...sir?"
______"Sir" was definitely lower case.
______"Yes, sir, Master chief."
______"Good. Your Chief wishes to speak with you.
______This august person walked into Eric's office.
______"Sir! In the future, sir, if you have a problem with our
sailors, sir, do not cut me out of the loop.
Sir. Make sure you discuss any problems, sir, with me before
you jump my -er- our troops. Sir."
______"I appologize, Chief. I'm still learning the proper
eddicate."
______"Good, sir, good. Oh, The watch Petty Officer wishes a word
with you.
______This young Petty Officer entered and said: "Good morning,
sir."
______"What's good about it?" Eric was glum.
______"Probably nothing much, sir. I just wanted to say, sir, that
if you have a problem in the future,
please talk to me in private or have the Chief talk to me. It
looks bad to bust my balls in front of
my people."
______Now, Eric was getting steamed.
______"I didn't bust your balls. Well, I don't think I did. In the
future, I will react slower and follow the
chain of command better."
______His various visitors left.
______
______After he was once again alone in his office, Eric got to
wondering just what could he put in his
"night orders"? The very concept seemed hazy to him. He
remembered that humans had centuries
of experience at operating Star Ships and every contingency
had been covered with procedures
decades if not centuries before. Then, there was the question
of who his crewmen worked for:
him or the watch officers? If he was presumeptous enough to
leave "night orders" then wouldn't
he be reiterating "ancient received wisdom" and wouldn't he
(an Ensign!) be guilty of issuing
orders to officers senior to him and to senior "enlisted"
who'd been Star Fleet since before he'd
been born? He finally thought of an approach and went off to
find an ally in his coming
compaign: he went to see his Division's Leading Chief.
______Eric knocked on the Senior Chief's door (which was open) and
asked: "Do you have a few
minutes, Senior Chief?"
______The Senior Chief waved Eric in and Eric (being a polite
guest) asked "You want some coffee?"
______"Yes, Sir. Is there a problem?"
______Eric replied "I don't know" and brought over a tray with two
cups of coffee and the coffee cake
this Senior Chief seemed to favour. Then, Eric explained his
problems. The Senior Chief was
polite and only broke into laughter once.
______
______At the end of Eric's discussion, his Senior Chief commented
"You've made some good points
and I agree, we should take this up with the Master Chief."
______The two of them, looking suitably grim, left the Senior
Chief's office and walked over to the
Master Chief's office. This little walk lead to horror stories
among the duty crew who wondered
what had gotten these two riled up especially given the
reaction to Ensign Bellingham's responses
to the reactor hickup. They would find out somewhat later but
the legends of what the crew
feared would last for a long time...
______Division Officer, aided by his Leading Chief, briefed the
Master Chief. The Master Chief
nodded politely and said "I agree with your analysis, Mr.
Bellinham and we can go speak with
the Chief [Engineer]."
______
______They traisped over to the Chief Engineer's office, were
admitted by his Administrative Petty
Officer and were invited to drag up chairs by his desk.
______"Mr. Bellingham has some concerns, sir," spoke the Master
Chief.
______"Sir, I've been thinking about what you said about 'night
orders'. Night orders are intended for
unusual events at night. Basically everything that can come up
in Engineering has been known
for centuries and we have doctrine to cover it. If something
unusual were to happen, that would
necessitate 'night orders', I think the Senior Chief and I
would be there to supervise." The Chief
Engineer nodded in agreement. "Then, there is the question of
who my people work for. During
'normal working hours', they work for me. Some of regular,
that is non-watch standing jobs,
evenings and nights but then they're supervised by the
Engineering Officer of the Watch. The
Engineering Officer of the Watch monitors the reactors and
engines from the warp core
command counsol. The Junior Watch officer monitors engineering
status from the bridge. So,
issuing 'night orders' would mean I'm issuing redundant orders
to offciers senior to me and senior
enlisted who have far greater job knowledge and experience
than me. This seems
presumptious, sir."
______That finally got a laugh from his audience.
______"The 'night orders' was just a bit of a joke, son, so don't
worry any more about it. However, I
like that you thought through this matter. Now, why would
'unusual events' not happen on the
evening or night watches?"
______"Well, Sir, it's been known for centuries that evening shift
workers are less alert than day time
ones and the mid shifters are the least alert of the lot. Now,
our people have fixed shifts and work
the same hours. However, so many things occurr during either
the period before a person goes on
an eve watch or while they're sleeping after a mid watch that
they often don't get really solid
sleep. How many 'all hands meetings' seems to take place at
zero eight hundred?"
______"Too damn many" the Senior Chief muttered.
______"How many 'nice events' take place during what should be a
mid watch stander's sleep period? I
know the Captain tries to avoid dragging people out of their
racks when unnecessary but there are
exceptions. I don't want to reiterate basic rules because
that'll imply my people aren't paying
attention to the rules - especially the safety rules - or that
their supervisors and the watch officers
and watch chiefs aren't paying attention either. I simply
don't want to piss off -er- offend so many
people for no good reason. So, Sir, I'm not sure what I really
could put in 'night orders'." He
paused. "Well, I could discuss unusual events expected on the
eve or mid that don't require
Senior Chief or me to be present. I could submit my verbage as
an adendum to the Captain's
Night Orders."
______This could frowns fron all of his listeners!
______"Now, I don't want you thinking that I want to scribble up
some 'night orders' and either give
them to the Captain or worst yet, append them to his orders. I
really don't. But, if I do create
'night orders' of my own, I would them up the Chain of Command
to the Senior Watch Officer."
This officer, the First Officer, actually wrote the Captain's
Night Orders and the Captain either
delegatedf the "signing authority" to his First or the Captain
personally "signed off" on the Night
Orders. Often, the Captain simply used previous Night Orders
and added or deleted orders.
______"Well spoken Eric and you won't be making too many 'nigth
orders' of your own. However, as
you advance on this ship, you'll find more occasion [to do
so]."
______
______Eric had come of this intact. However, he thought he'd get a
little pay back. Over the next
several days, if Eric thought someone needed a haircut, or
their uniform had remnants of the
previous night's dinner or if they didn't clean up after
themselves, he told his Senior Chief. Only
when the Senior Chief was litterally unavailable (he was stuck
on shipboard watch qualification
boards) did Eric pass his comments to his Leading Petty
Officers. Since he had four fussion
reactors in his division, he had two junior chiefs and four
Leading Petty officers to speak up.
These worthies somehow found the need to be elsewhere when
Eric prowled the division work
spaces with a note-padd in hand...
______The Master Chief decided to give "this pesty junior officer"
two more days to "knock this shit
off" when Eric abruptly stopped taking his notes and resumed
simply telling his people if they
"neededl to wipe the lube oil off the back of your left boot",
etc.
______
______One of the advantages of Eric's wide exposure in engineering
was he had a good idea of what
grades his people deserved on their quarterly evaluations. At
least, he thought so until his Chiefs
grilled him on why he either changed previous marks or didn't
change them. He got a good
education in the problems of writing candid evaluations that
wouldn't kill the careers of this
people and finally was given permission to delegate the
writing of "evals" to the professionals:
the senior enlisted who had far more experience with what was
expected of the crew and were
actually quite good at writing evaluation.
______Eric simply took the "evals" of his Chief Petty Officers and
Senior Chief Petty officers,
improved the marks if they were already maxed out, changed the
praise in the narrative sections
of the "evals" and submitted them. The Master Chief never
complaigned and the Captain even
complemented him on is "tactful way of dealing with the Chiefs
on their 'evals'" when Eric
himself received his 'eval' (FITREP or Fitness Report
actually).
______It was hard to write negative "evals" of personnel who had
years of experience and training and
who would have been winnowed out far earlier if they didn't
met the high standards of the
TAMERLANE's Officrs and Chiefs...
______
______At about the five month point, Eric achieved qualification at
a "Senior Engineering Watch
Officer" and was transferred to serve at the "Warp Core
Reactor Division Officer". At about the
13 month point, Eric passed the qualifications tests for
Engineering Officer; this was a three day
sit down exam and was given at Star Base 19. Immediately
before the exam, he had been given
an oral board exam. Actually, the oral board had been a "goug
session" and was intended to help
him pass the written exams the same officers gave him.
(Nothing like having test proctors who
had "taught you the test" mere days before!)
______Then, having passed the written exams, he took the oral
exams. They told him he'd flunked and
would have to retake some of the orals. Eric was privately
told he'd really passed and the
examiners were giving him stress. He later found he'd not
passed those portions and one of the
proctors was just trying to help him relaxy.
______It worked and Eric could send pictures of himself cutting his
"Chief Engineer Selectee" cake
back to his family.
______The position of "Main Propulsion Assistant" was an officer
who was basically a department
head within the Engineering Department. A month after
qualfying as "Chief Engineer", Eric was
promoted to Lietenant Junior Grade and made MPA.
______He was on track to command the Engineering Section of one of
the larger, more powerful, new
construction ships. However, he had become very much a member
of the TAMERLANE family
and didn't want to leave; it would take some serious prodding
to get him to go...
______
______Eric liked to work on machenery. He had lost track of the
amount of time he spent training,
leading and consuling his division officers (fine Ensigns) and
his Midshipmen. He got a number
of Midshipmen who were fine students but who seems far too
impressed with Eric. He just didn't
think he was that impressive and in this he was wrong; he was
an impressive officer who was
calm under stress and would never think to ask "did I really
do that"? If he did something, he
knew he'd done it and didn't need to double check.
______Eric's ability to scan multiple data displays awed people.
The fact that he'd studied the various
data displays one at a time and knew what the data meant was a
concept he couldn't get people to
believe. They could believe in knowing the signficance of the
data from different displays. They
just didn't believe how many data displays he could study and
keep straight in his head.
______Still, Eric was building a great "Service Reputation" and the
TAMERLANE's prestigue went
up.
______
______The TAMERLANE had been built as a weapons platform and Eric
became interested in how
those systems worked. He spent several weeks studying how the
torpedoes worked. The idea of
using an anti-matter generator to convert small amounts of
"regular" matter to anti-matter and
contain the newly created anti-matter in intense magnetic
fields delighted him. He began to
wonder if a ship could use the "anti-matter induction fields"
to create anti-matter near or in
enemy ships.
______He was told this violated intra-galactic treaty and he would
never, ever, mention that he'd even
considered such a thing. Then, during a meeting about storing
consumables, Eric was briefed on
some weapons he'd not known about. It seemed that using a
"anti-matter creating beam" was the
heart of an advanced "distrupter" the Klingons and the
Federation were jointly working on. This
was highly classified. It turned out the "disrupters" the
Breen used changed the quarks in matter
and this disrupted matter. Changing a proton to a neutrn
changed an atom to the element next
lower on the periodic table. Changing hydrogen to a neutron
surrounded by an electron lead to a
stray electron and destroyed molecules with hydrogen. These
were very impressive weapons!
______Although he wasn't told the name, Eric was made a member of
"Section 31" and would make
good use of the gear they gave him...
______
______There were a number of interesting people: One was "the
plumber", Chief R. Johns Sloan. He
liked to fix toilets, sinks and run cleaning gear through the
pipes. He also did plumbing work on
water pipes and the air handling, purification and
heaing/cooling gear.
______The odd thing is that Chief Sloan was one of the best at
working on the "plumbing" of the warp
core reactor and he was Eric's "go to person" when they needed
to do emergency work (as well as
training others).
______At the Academy, no one had told Eric about folks like his
Chief Sloan...
______
______A better day started with Eric drinking coffee with hid
Division Officers:
______"I've read the overnight logs and nothing strange was in
them. Was there anything ordinary that
we need to be concerned about?"
______"No, sir," his Fusion Reactor officer replied, "everything
was normal and the standard level four
scans showed nothing unusual."
______"Well, Susan, sometimes 'normal' can be deceiving. Sometimes,
the order is which 'normal
events' occurrs can be a sign of problems. Sometimes not but
you can never tell."
______Master Chief Lynch, who for some reason liked to sit in on
the MPA meetings, rolled his eyes
and had managed to keep his laugh from coming out.
______"Good point, Eric and I'll think about it."
______When Eric supposedly wasn't looking, Ensign Susan Burke wrote
on her comms padd: "do a
level 6 scan on the reactors the old farts seem concerned"
______The reply was "which old farts??"
______"The L T and the Master Chief"
______"I'll do a level 8 on most important and level 7 on the rest"
______"She smilled and closed her padd; she'd been paying attention
to the rest of the meeting and
particularily liked listening to her L T and Master Chief talk
about "drafting our imparital evals
to help shape careers". It was humourous to listen to two very
honest leaders talk about (in effect)
lying on "impartial" evals...
______After their division officers and senior officers left,
Master Chief Lynch laughed.
______"Problems can occurr if the order of normal reports is out of
order? Eric, where did you come
up with that idea?"
______"Well, Big Chief, sometimes good ideas come right out of my
mouth without bothering my
brain."
______"Not too often, I hope...sir."
______"No, sir, Master Chief, sir and certainly not enough for me
to be a Master Chief! So, Jain, I
guess I'm stuck as an Engineering Officer."
______Master Chief Lynch rolled his eyes, laughed and left Eric's
office with Eric's best coffee cup.
Eric would later go to the Master Chief's office and retrieve
his coffee cup and maybe snag one
of Jain Lynch's favourite hard bound books. It was a game they
both enjoyed.
______After a couple of hours, the Captain called:
______"Eric, we're dropping out of warp so your people can work on
the warp core. Is everything
ready?"
______"Yes, sir, it is. I'll be directly supervising the work."
______"Great. Bridge out."
______Commander Jackson stood with Eric watching the preliminary
work for a while and then the
Chief Engineer sighed and wandered off to his office, where at
least a hundred routine reports
awaited his review. It was the end of the quarter and
Commander Daniel Jackson had to put
together his quarterly input to the annual Ship's History.
Actually, he would read and edit
(slightly) the input his Administrative Chief and the Master
Chief had put together.
______The warp core stood in the middle of a large room, like the
altar to a primative and brutal God.
The engineers had removed the various shields and moitoring
equipment. One of the "Old
Chiefs" looked at one of the four matter injectors. Eric was
next to him and also examining the
two matter injectors they could see.
______"We're about to remove the port matter injector, sir."
______"Who's going to do this?"
______"Younger Spencer."
______"Didn't he remove the last two injectors? You know, I'm
getting out of practice."
______"Would you like to remove the port matter injector? Sir."
______"Now that you mention it, I think I will."
______Both men pulled their heads out of the reactor and Eric put
on a equiment belt. Then, he started
working his way into the "machine" and as he disassembled
gear, he passed it back to those
outside. He eventually go the injeftor out and passed it back.
______"Well, I'm ready to put the spare in."
______"Good but our Susan will put it in."
______"Our Susan" didn't look so thrilled at Chief Jackson's order
but went ahead and did a fine job.
______"Eric would later learne that several of his crew had taken
flat and holography imagery of the
bottom half of his body sticking out of the warp rector.
Eric's 13 year old sister would take a
large flat image of her brother's buttocks (sticking out of
the reactor) and put it up on her wall
and label it "My Brother Putting His Best Face Forward". This
image also won her honours at her
Middle School's "Remember Our Veterans Day".
______He could also be apauled at the number of folks who put up
this image on their walls...
______
______Eric took the injector with him and entered the work center
where three old Senior Chiefs
worked on the injectors. They sat at a circular table, with
monitors built into the table, test leads
discretely recessed into the table and tools arrayed near
them. Eric sat at the one empty chair and
placed the injector in front of him.
______Then, he waited for the "old men" to react. Finally, one did.
______"Thank you for bringing that injector in, sir, we'll get to
that injector this afternoon", one of the
"old farts" stated.
______"You midunderstand Senior Chief, I'm here to learn how to
overhaul this."
______There was a long pause.
______"Why?"
______"The injectors are the most sensitive pieces of gear on this
boat. You're the closest Star Fleet
has to Master Artisans and generally flunk out most of the
apprentices we send you. I know the
theory but need to know the reality."
______"Are you planning on retiring us and having undertrained
crewmen replace us?"
______"Eric had been warned these three worried about being
"shitcanned like an old targ".
______"No, sir, we're not planning on forcing you to retire. You're
like those old Swiss watch makers.
They did some very detailed and some very delicate work. My
engineering classes taught me that
injectors have to be done to very precise tolorances and that
knowing just how much to turn a
screw or tap on something is a art. I've been told it's harder
to find a person who can do this than
it is to find someone who can do old fashioned neuro surgery.
However, none of you are
immortal and we need you to train the next generation of
'grumpy old Senior Chiefs'. It'll take
more of your time and you'll have less time to run your
divisions but it will be worth it. I can
arrange for you to pick candidates from anyone on the ship,
not just engineering."
______"The three old Senior Chiefs looked at each other, communed
in some non-verbal manner and
nodded.
______"We're agreed then, sir and will pick the best candidates.
We've had our eyes on that new
Ensign working on her sensor and ship driving quals. We want
her and we'll give you the names
of several others."
______"Agreed and give me the name of that Ensign and you'll have
her. Who else?"
______"Well, we've been wondering if we'd need to drag in one of
the officers..."
______"Which one?" Eric was a bit surprised and was curious.
______"A young fart, a fairly intelligent lad named Eric Randall
Bellingham."
______Eric was surprised and pleased.
______"Well, gentlemen, I'm here."
______"Master Chief Lynch and Commander Jackson both looked in on
the training and were both
amused by the attitude changes.
______The three Senior Chiefs started giving him advise as Eric did
a reasonably good job of
dismantling and rebuilding the matter injector. At first, he
was "sir" or "Lieutenant" but near the
end of the four hour procedure he had become "Eric" or "lad".
It was fairly amusing given two of
the Senior Chiefs were the age of Eric's grandfathers and the
third his Grandmother's age (and
she looked a lot like his Great-great-Aunt). The three
remembered Eric from when he'd been a
"Passed Midshipman" and in their opinions, that rated as
mid-range Enlisted...
______Eric didn't have hands as steady as his teachers but he
managed to get the work done. Finally, he
was left with the injector in two parts. The bottom two thirds
and the rest, which simply had to be
placed on top of the big assembly. The monitors and more
important, the three mentors, agreed
the work was done properly. Eric waited for one of the three
to say "good job, lad but we'll re-do
it". This didn't happen.
______"Well, Eric, put the top on and lock her down."
______Eric did.
______The sensors agreed the work was done within specs.
______Senior Chief Mary Margarret Lennier bellowed into the air:
"Jain Lynch, we know you're
watching! This young man did a fine job and now we need to
install this injector as 'proof of
concept'. Jain Lynch, we appreciate you've voluenteered to do
this installing and you may do so
now."
______Master Chief Lynch responded over the compartment's PA
system: "I'll do the job but it's 1400
and none of you have eatten lunch. You will eat while I start
the preliminaries."
______Another of the Senior Chiefs shrugged and told Eric: "It does
him good to show a little humility
occasionally."
______"Humility?"
______"Have you ever seen Lynch's butt? He's getting a bit of
'swivel chair spead'.
"
______Truthfully, I try very hard to avoid looking at his butt."
______"What about that new MD? The girl? Have you looked at her
bvtt?"
______"Well, I've got to go. Got to go watch our Master Chief tear
into my...our...warp reactor."
______Eric got out very quickly and could feel himself blush. The
new MD, one Emmily Quewly was
someone he got along with very well but there was nothing
romantic in the friendship. "Doc
Emmily" was becoming the person he was most likely to eat
meals with in the Wardroom when
he wasn't dining with his officers and Chiefs.
______The Senior Chiefs must have seen something Eric hadn't
because the three "old farts" cracked
up as soon as the hatch was shut.
______
______The three "old farts" trained and qualified fourteen injector
techs over the several months.
______
______Some mornings are quieter than others and on one, after
reading the reports and finding nothing
to be alarmed about and after reading the night sensor scans
(he used problem finding
programmes actually), he turned to a report he'd never read
before: Discarded Items. It was full of
discarded tri-corders, engineering tools and a few other
things. He looked into the status reports
of these items and they were all either old dated and thus
replaced or mostly items that could be
repaired with a little work. The idea of simply shit canning
them bothered him. He decided to
look into it at the Engineering Staff Meeting.
______
______TAMERLANE had spent the past week doing "refresher training"
at a target range near a white
dwarf star. The bridge crews had fired torpedos, phasers and
their "experimental" disrupters
(experimental to the Klingons 20 years before) at various
asteroids and targets. They had to use
the torpedoes or Star Fleet Supply would have no one to send
replacement torpedoes to and
might have to cut production. (The upcoming Dominion War would
need their over-production.)
______"Well, did everyone have a good time this past week?"
Commander Jackson was amused by the
Engineer Drills.
______"It was a lot of fun", Eric replied.
______All the Engineering Officers and a number of their crew had
been "allowed" (ordered to
actually) to use the phasers and distrupters to "attack"
various targets. It had been great fun but in
the future, wouldn't seem so amusing...
______Eric had been allowed to fire a single torpedo and had
destroyed part of a salvaged Romulean
Warbird that had been brought there years before. The idea of
shooting up a real War Bird (with
real Romulans inside) vaguely bothered Eric.
______"I understand the bridge boys are planning a 'cake and
cookies' session to celebrate their
successes over the targets and the dead ships. It seems their
fifteen torpedo salvo has made the
Star Fleet news channels and even gotten TAMERLANE noticed."
Master Chief Lynch was
disguested.
______They really weren't supposed to be advertising that the old
TAMERLANE had too many
weapons systems and that the Romulans and their pseudo-allies
the Klingons should pay
attention to them.
______"I hear a new batch of 'torpedo juice' is about ready?" The
Chief Engineer knew exacly how
"ready" this home made booze was; the fractional distillation
still had been "secretly" set up on
the mid shift and CDR Jackson had personally wired the heater
elements into the ship's power
system. It would be raw but it would be a memorable addition
to the upcoming ship's party.
______Finally, even a staff meeting as great as this had to come to
an end.
______"There being no other bvsiness, we're ajurned."
______The Master Chief didn't rise because he never did and Eric
remained seated since he wanted a
private word with his bosses.
______"What's on your mind, Lieutenant?"
______"I've noticed how many pieces of small equipment are being
shit canned to salvage. I looked at
the status reports of most of this gear this morning. A lot of
the engineering tools just need a little
repair work."
______"You've just noticed, Eric?" CDR Jackson was frowning.
______"No, sir, I've looked at these reports weekly. But, they're
Master Chief's business and I've never
really had enought time to look into the matter. I'm just
wondering why we don't fix and use this
gear?"
______The Master Chief replied: "Because we're not permitted to,
sir. Supply buys a lot of gear from
Federation worlds that still use 'money' and we support their
economies that way. Some tools are
bought from outside the Federation and we need to keep that
supply line open. Oh, we could
make these tools inside the Federation but this way, the
Federation doesn't need to tool up
factories and possibly violate some Alien's 'Interstellar
Patent'."
______"But why just shit can this stuff. Can't we field strip out
the useful parts and do repairs in
house?"
______"We've never been told not to; there is an implied
prohibition of this."
______"Eric nodded to his Department Head and started to rise when
a solution occurred to him.
______"Boss, are we permitted to give away some of this rejected
material?"
______"Yes and we do through the Salvage Diviison."
______"Could we sell some of this stuff, say to the Ferengi?"
______"People usually don't sell to the Ferengi; they usually cheat
folks out of stuff or simply steal it."
______"Perhaps, gentlemen, if we did minor repairs on some of the
gear, we could sell it to the
Ferengi. We could use the excuse that repairing old
tri-corders gives the Engineering staff
practice at depot level maintenance. The 'injector Chiefs'
bitch about personnel being 'great at
swapping out big parts but bad at doing detail work'. That's
not true because a lot of detailed
work has to be done but we could use the excuse."
______"I'll look into it. Oh, by the way, after my hooch gets run
through the carbon charcoal, would
you mind taking a sample to 'Doc Emilly' to get medical's
approval. If you sample it, I'll give you
the rest of the day off."
______"Yes, sir, I will! What time, sir?"
______"Right before lunch would be fine, Eric."
______After Eric had left, the Master Chief commented to the Chief
Engineer: "You're just
encouraging the boy. We both know they'll drink the sample and
get relaxed and start acting like
thier dating."
______"Someone has to."
______
______When Eric had been on active duty for three years, he was
promoted to Full Lieutenant. He got
a really nice cake, imaages were taken of him being kissed (on
the cheek) by LTjg Emmily
LeFere (MD) and Senior Chief Anna Haskell (S/MC) and a Command
Track midshpman named
Ro Larien, who couldn't have been more than 20 years old. It
was the sight of Eric kissing Emilly
back that fueled many rumours about those tow.
______
______The Chief Engineer went into the Captain's "at sea cabin" and
waited till the door shut behind
him.
______"Morning, Big Bob", he said to Captain Robert McMillian, "do
you have a few minutes?"
______"Have a seat, Dan and maybe my Anna can bring in some coffee
cake and coffe for us?"
______About 30 seconds later, the Administrative Chief swept in
with a tray carrying two cups, a
coffee caraf and the coffee cake. A tub of butter was there
for the spreading. She glared at "Big
Bob", probably for calling her "my Anna" (which was was).
______The two men sat and gave their attention to the coffee and
coffee cake.
______"Good snack, Bob but really not why I dropped by. Young Eric
has had an interesting idea. He
mentioned repairing our gear we surplus out."
______"Supply would shit if we did."
______"He also brought up the idea of selling or trading repaired
get to the Ferengi. The repairing
would be good for my people and we all have lists of things
we'd like to buy outside the
hegedmony." (He meant the Federation.)
______There was a pause.
______"I see this as a four part problem, Dan. One, what can we
repair that the Ferengi would buy?
Two, can we get permission from the proper people? Three, how
would be made contact with the
proper Ferengui and four, how could we arrange for the sales
or trades to occurr? Anna, please
come in."
______The good Administrative Chief Petty Officer entered her
Captain's office.
______"Perhaps we should start with getting a stock of surplused
gear repaired and seeing what we
have to offer. I know a few officials who have been swapping
stuff with the Ferengui for years
and maybe they'll set up something. I'll contact the proper
people. We'll need someone to
negociate with the buyer and we'll need folks to transport the
items. Anna, do you suppose some
of our 'Marines' could handle it?"
______"Certainly, sir. Now, if you get permission for this to
happen and if you (here she looked at the
Chief Engineer) have good items to sell or trade, then I'll
personally handle the sales or trades
myself Robert. I know a Fergenui on that Bajorian station who
is easy to work with."
______She smilled and only "her Robert" knew that Anna had been
giving the Fergenui (called Quark)
"umblots" for years. She had bought intelligence information
and various items of interesting
alien tech by being willing to provide latinum and umlots to
Quark. That umlots amounted to
masterbation didn't bother her.
______Anna had a new hand lotion she wanted to try on Quark
anyway...
______
______Later that morning, Dan Jackson told Eric the "trade or sell"
attempt was moving forward.
When the tech monitoring the subspace communicatons told Eric
and Dan "the Old Man has set
up a high powered and encryped comms link one of the
'Captain's Only channels' to Federation
Base 12", he knew his idea had gotten started. When he took a
liter sample of the "booze" to
"Doc Emmily" to be tested, he didn't realize his boss and the
Master Chief had set him on a
date...
______
______
______One of the true quirks of using anti-matter is that no one,
not even the Klingons want to produce
it anywhere near their inhabitated solar systems. Even the
Norsacon, those wild men of the stars,
made it a death penality matter to create anti-matter near one
of their solar systems. It was well
known that the only time the Norsasans cooperated with any
other race was in running down,
trying and executing those who violated the ban against
creating anti-matter within an inhabitated
solar system.
______However, every interstellar race used anti-matter within
their solar systems.
______The reason was simple: anti-matter was created by changing
the "quark signature" of normal
matter and then saving the newly created anti-matter. The
problem was the creation system
sometimes went outside the desired area and a number of minor
moons had been "accidentally
destroyed" in the creation of anti-matter.
______It was a fine afternoon when Eric was discussing the status
of TAMERLANE's refueling
system. There were four anti-matter acceptance system. The
Senior Chief had taken three off line
for an equipment upgrade. The fourth system would work under
normal circumstances, with only
a .04% probability of failure; failure that would destroy the
TAMERLANE and probably the
refueling ship. This was an acceptable risk but fortunately
they were not scheduled for refueling.
______"Eric reviewed the status panels and was pleased with the
results. Then, in an event the
reminded Eric of something he had once read: "Irony is the
axis of the universe" by Alan Dean
Foster.
______His comms panel chimed and the Captain's voice spoke:
______"Eric, we've had an unexpected surprise: a refueling ship has
come to us. It seems they lost their
Commanding Officer and they had to transfer him to a Vulcan
ship."
______"What happened?"
______"I'll let his former First tell you."
______The face of an old Klingon appeared on Eric's viewer. The old
Klingon wore a Star Fleet
Command uniform but also wore a Bajoran Vedic's ear ring, the
Sword of the Order of the
Ba'lick, a medal worn by Priests of Kalass and the c--- of an
Earther Medical Doctor. It was the
strangest thing Eric had ever seen. Behind him was another
Klingon, one with a couple of large
bruises one his head. A human was looking at the bruised
Klingon and silently lautghing.
______"I am General Wand, acting Comanding Officer of the
Federation Fueling Vessle 97, currently
called the "GLENDA JANE". So, Bob, do you have anyone in need
of therapy...er...qualified to command my boat?"
______"Not now, my friend."
______"Soon enough, I suppose." The General looked amused.
______"How did your Second Officer get so bruised?"
______"Our Vulcan Commander was stressed out about his inability to
achieve total destruction of his emotions. Second kept
harrassing him about points of Vulcan Doctrine. First, he
would understnad it, then he would misunderstand it and he
would misreprent the Sacred Vulcan Doctrine. Finally, well,
why don't we just watch the security recording:"
______A Vulcan LCDR in a Commmand uniform stood in front of his
desk holding a very thick book. In front of him was the
Klingon Second Officer.
______The Second Officer asked: "Your prophet says a Vulcan must
control his emotions. Right?"
______"Yes."
______"This suggests Vulcans had emotions before your Prophet?"
______"Yes." The Vulcan was actually looking pupzzled.
______"Were Vulcans worthy after they learned to control their
emotions?"
______"Yes!"
______"Were Vulcans considered worthy before they learned to
control their emotions?
______"Well, yes, to a certain extent."
______"So, Vulcans gained merit by gaining control of their
emotions?"
______"Of course!" The Vulcan proudly held up the Book.
______""Then, of course, if a Vulcan were to cycle from violent to
refined and back a few times, he would gain much merit. Yes?"
______"That isn't exactly the way redemption works but it is an apt
description." The Vulcan's left eye was twitching wildly and
he was actually showing irritation.
______"If it is all right to start out unrefined and it is fine to
cycle from primative emotional to refined and back, why
bother? Why worry about going from the choas of emotions to
the purity of no apparent emotions. Why not have the art form
of selected emotions? Are you afraid you'll not be able to
select the emotions you wish to feel? Is that your concern,
Bucko? Are you afraid of losing control of the emotions you
manefast?"
______The Vulcan LCDR roared "That is not how it works!" In a fine
rage he used his Holy Book to slap the Klingon across the left
side of his face. The Klingon was stggered and stumbled to his
right.
______"I suppose so..."
______The Vulcan roared in pure rage: "Heathen!" and then reared
back, swung the book over his head and slammed the Klingon
hard enough to knock him out.
______The Vulcan looked so angry, so feral, that one could easily
remember that Vulcans had once been a violent race on the
verge of self destruction. (No wonder they conflicted with
humans!)
______The recording ended.
______"You see, Bob, my Vulcan Commanding Officer realzied he
couldn't totally control his emotions but his could sort of
control them. So, he has generally recovered his poise and is
a reasonably unemotional Vulcan. There are a few times when
emotions pop out but he has realzied he can't expect to find
total unemotion. His relationships with his family have
greatly improved and his is now one of the finest Vulcan
Fathers around. All it took was for my Second Officer, 'Rose
Bud', to get whacked across the head!"
______The human was the first to laugh and both Klingons joined
him.
______"He seemed to lose his self control very quickly. Spock would
never have done so."
______"This LCDR was merely a Vulcan; Ambassador Spock was of mixed
heritage and had the advantage of 'hybrid vigor'."
______There was a pauce after First Officer, General Wand, spoke.
______"Oh," the Klingon General remarked, "did I mention this human
is my Chief Engineer? He really helped drive our beloved
Vulcan Commander to his breakdown!"
______There was a moment of silence.
______"He has a very Klingon sense of humour!"
______The three on the oddly named "boat" laughed and the bridge
feed went dead. LT Bellingham and his Senior Chief looked at
each other and both rolled their eyes. It was a fine moment.
______Five minutes later, the bridge announced that refueling was
about to commence. Erid pulled up
screnes to monitor all four of the anti-matter intake feeds.
______"Senior Chief, command doctrine puts you in charge and I'm
not allowed to cancel this fuel
feeding but I still have to say: tell the bridge to cancel the
intake!"
______The prelim to the anti-matter intake started, seveal icons
that were always a "safe" blue on the
monitoris turned blood red and Eric slammed on the speaker
button and bellowed: "Cancel the
fuel load! Cancel it now! We have a little problem here and
will need several minutes to get
ready. Engineering out! Senior Chief, get those other feed
lines fixed as quickly as possible!
Don't argue Leonard James, I have a very bad feeling about
this!"
______Senior Chief chivveyed his "troops" into fixing the three
"out of service" anti-matter refueling
lines; they were done in near record time. Then, Eric keyed
the comms line to the bridge and
spoke:
______"Bridge, Engineering, We're ready to receive the
anti-matter."
______The "fuel" began to enter the ship, a surge of unknown
particles rushed down the primary fuel
line, the entire line failed and the routing controll was able
to switch the surge of anti-matter into
one of the three repaired fuel lines before ship was
destroyed.
______The Senior Chief was furious that he'd been made to look like
a fool. This reacton quickly
ended when he realzied his boss was in shock and that Eric's
face had actually turned a very pale
white.
______"Senior Chief, have you ever seen partical traces like this?
That feed line shold never have
failed! The alternative feed lines? Why didn't they fail as
well? Why are we still alive and what
the Hades did those people doto us?"
______"The Senior Chief looked at the evidence of the events which
lead to the failure of the main
fueling line and blanched as well. They called the bridge and
reported "refueling is nominal;
engineering out."
______"Then they spend several weeks studying the matter. The fact
that the Klingonn General had
advised "we had a Tetrion Leakage into the fueling lines and
here is all we know about Tetrions"
didn't help much.
______TAMERLANE had come very close to be destroyed and LT Eric
EricRandall Bellingham
wanted to find out why!
______Eric spent the next two years studying all of this and came
up with some research ideas. It
seemed the particular environment on TAMERLANE was unique; it
was comprised of ancient
technology and some "bleeding edge" Fleet tech. He took
graduate level courses in the math
required to study "tetrion physics"; one of his Ensigns had
finished his PhD in some highly
advanced math while attending the Academy. The truly odd thing
about this officer was that he
could instruct folks so well that his subjects made sense.
This Ensign was a dead shoe-in for
either a Chief Engineer job at a very young age or a
researcher/instructor at the Academy.
______The Federation Research Consol was impressed with Eric's
ideas and recommended that he be
given six months to research them and to present a thesis. An
"associate" of the very covert
"Section 31" saw some interesting possibilities and reported
his notions to a Senior Officer in
"Section 31" who also served on the Staff of Fleet
Intelligence. These notions came to the
attention of the Head of Intelligence, Fleet Admiral Nyota
(U)penda Uhura. However, she wasn't told of the "Section 31"
connection.
______
______TAMERLAN was ordered back to Earth and told to drop off
"Bellingham, Eric Randall" on
Temporary Duty at Star Fleet Academy.
______
______Eric was called into his Captain's office.
______"You've been given a very rare opportunity, not very many
officers get the chance to take time
off and do this kind of research. Use your time well and bring
useful information back to us."
______"Yes, sir, I will. Hopefully, I can figure out what nearly
went wrong on that refueling."
______Several minutes later, Eric was dismissed and went back to
his home: Engineering.
______
______The TAMERLAN arrived back at Earth and docked at a medium
sized fleet station. This station
normally had several smaller Star Fleet vessels "tied up" to
it but on this day, TAMERLAN was
the only vessel there.
______Eric sat at the Observer's Seat near the Warp Core reactor
and observed. The Senior
Engineering Watch Officer sat in front of Eric and tried not
to appear nervous. He might as well
not made the attempt as Commadner Lynch and Master Chief
Jackson were clearly amused and
occasionally snickered. It was most disconcerting for the
young officer.
______From the bridge came:
______"All stop" (The impulse engines were shut off on the Bridge
by the "Helmsman" and the "Junior
Engineer of the Watch" had been ready to slap the "kill
button" as had the Senior Engineer of the
Watch and the Technician First Class who sat at the manual
controls to the inpulse engines.)
______"Engage tractors" (The ship's tractors pulled TAMERLANE
towards the indicated docking
position on the station.)
______"Disengage tractors. Engage final docking programme." (The
tractors were shut off and the
same engineers prepared to hit their "kill switches".
Manuevering thrusters were activated and
nudged the TAMERLANE neatly into position for docking.)
______"We're docked. Verify status of docking port connections for
personnel ports #1 and #2. Secure
(shut down) warp core (the Senior Engineering Officer of the
Watch supervised the Warp Core
Rector Officer as she and her technicians securred this
reactor). Prepare to switch to station
power. (Eric's people put three of the four fusion reactors on
standby but left the fourth fully
working). Switch to station power. (This meant all ship
generated power was to be shut off but
Engineering never did that. Instead, they allowed station
generated power to flow into their ship
and only when Engineering was sure they could trust the
station power would they secure the
final reactor.)
______Finally, the Bridge announced "Secure special detail and set
Condition four through out the
ship" and everyone began to shut down unneeded equipment. An
officer and Enlisted Aide were
sent to the official docking port and started their "in-port
watch" there; a Chief and junior
Enlisted Aide went to the other docking port and started their
"in-port watch" there.
______Other ships allowed the public somewhat free access, with
hopes that computerized face and
body recognization sysems as well as implanted ID beacons
could keep track of who was on the
ship. Captain Robert McMillian agreed with his predecessors in
the belief that a Warship shold
have tight security. His First Officer, Commander Clark "Laser
Eyes" Gray often thought "Bob"
was just a touch soft on access control as it was...
______
______Eric expected to meet his parents in Seattle and had already
sent most of his luggage to the
apartment he'd be using in San Francisco. He carried a
clothing bag with several changes of
clothing and underwear; he was dressed in a hawaiin design
tunic, black trousers that loked
suspeciously like a midshipman's work trousers and his Fleet
issue work boots. "One thing you
could say about Eric, he always knows how to dress nicely",
Emmily thought with fond irony.
She was waiting for Eric just inside the station, Eric walked
over to her.
______"Are you ready to leave?"
______"Yes."
______They got in line at one of the transporters and materialized
in Seattle. Eric looked at her, gently
took her hand and said "Let's see if my family mae it here?"
______Eric's family - his parents and 15 year old sister - were
there to greet him. After the initial hugs,
Eric introducted Emmily around.
______"Mom, Dad, brat, this is Emmily Lafere, a friend of mine and
Emmily, my Mom, Dad and the
brat."
______"The Brat" punched Eric's arm.
______"My name is Kaylee, not 'Brat' and I'm 'Dog Breath's' sister.
'Dog Breath' has said so many nice
things about you that I thought you'd be three meters tall and
you're not, you're almost as short as
me."
______Eric was about 6 feet tall, Emmily about 5'8" and his "little
sister" perhaps 5'7" and had another
5" of growth to go. "The Brat" would end up a tall, slender
and stately lady but that would be
some time in coming.
______Emmily's family lived on a planet of Epsilon Eridanus and
being 10.8 light years away and
given it took a warp 4 transport two months and two days to
get to earth, it was too far Emmily's
family to come to Earth and visit. After several days visit,
Emmily had to return to the
TAMMERLANE but she had already found a second family. Emmily
got along particuliarly well
with Kaylee.
______
______Eric"s experimentation was going well. He had a team of five
grad students who helped him
creqt and run experiments and he was working on the math one
night four months into his work.
He stii had two months left for working on his research but
his thesis was nealy done and he'd
passed his orals. He was working on the math and his mentor
was reading the results.
______"Eric, you made a mistake here." The mentor, Dr. Bryan
Heinlein, pinted at one equation.
______"Hummm, damn but you're right! The correct shoud be?"
______The Mentor wrote down a different equation.
______"You're right, I made a mistake. Actually, I'm not sure I
made a mistake. I made some standard
transformations of the next equation and that resulted in some
familiar equations. I tgried several
solutions of this differential equation and got some
interesting stuff."
______"Let's test them."
______The two men simulated the results of Eric's "mistakes" and
came up with some very interesting
stuff. One result caused Eric's Mentor to gasp.
______"Ok, what is the problem?"
______"Did you know anything about the Romulan cloaking devices?"
______"No."
______"Well, they use some kind of fields that change the
characteristics of space and our sensors look
right around the field. But this means that firing the tetrion
particles with the correct energy level
will interact with all possible Romoulan style cloaks and
create the right decay products."
______"Actually, the interaction will cause the tetrions to decay
into unknown particle number 2 and
unknonwn particle number 2 decays into unknown particle number
3. That's what those particle
results mean and my math supports it. Those results look
familiar..."
______"You can't talk about this ever."
______"Both Mentor and student were horribly shocked. Eric's lab
was 40 stories below the surface. (A
technology that can create force fields around Star Ships
found no problems in protecting deeply
set basements from earthquakes and the water table. The room
was heaily shields and
transporters couldn't work in it; the only entrance was an
ancient elevator and that sat, with door
locked open, in easy view of the room's occupants. There was
no way the intruder could have
gotten in the room but there he was.
______"Who are you? How did you get here? What do you mean we can't
talk about this research?"
______"One of my researchers made this mistake about 22 years ago
and we've used it to monitor the
Roumulans. We can track them easier when they're cloaked than
when they're not. I'll give you a
copy of the paper which explains the transformation you used
Mr. Bellingham."
______"Thank you, sir."
______"I would like to get your reaction to this paper, Dr.
Heinlein."
______The stranger reached over to an empty tabletop and picked up
a copy of a paper that hadn't been
there before the stranger had distacted Heinlein and
Bellinham. The strange then talked both men
throught he paper.
______"So, as you can see, the transformaton you made by accident
can be justified by the correct
mathematics; this math just happends to be highly classified
and something not likely to be found
by accident. You can study this paper down here but it must
stay down here. Can you live with
this, gentlemen?"
______"Yes, sir. Were you responsible for me being assigned the
computer faciltiy down here."
______"Yes, Erid, I was."
______"You can read this paper on your computer and use the math
programmes on this computer but
this computer only."
______"Did you read the version I created on this computer?"
______"Yes."
______Both Bellingham and Heinlein were very disturbed. Eric's
computer was stand alone and didn't
connect with any communications systems at all. The computer
was powered by a disposable
battery that held an incredible amout of power. When this
battery was expired, the interior was so
toxic that the battery was simply taken to a higher level of
the complex and disassembled by a transporter into
it's component parts. There was no way these batteries could
have been "impressed" with the data
flowing through the computer and were completely destroyed.
______The stranger could no more have monitored the computer than
he could have appearee in this
"transporter safe" room. That really impressed Eric!
______This was fascinating and burned itself into Eric's memory.
______An alarm went off on a monitor and the stranger was gone when
Heinlein turned back to
address him.
______
______Eric and his mentor worked on the "corrected" equation and
came up with some interesting
results. These alone would have guarenteed Eric's PhD. Dr.
Heinlein applied some of the "new
math" he'd learned and came up with some incredible results.
______Finally, Eric was done with his PhD and had figured out why
the tetrion particles had nearly
destroyed his ship. Now, he was ready to go home. But, before
that happened, FADM Uhura visited him and gave him access to
some highly classified programmes. That access woudl later
come in handy...
______The TAMERLANE had spent those six months in drills: damage
control drill, various weapons
drills and even infantry landing drills in conjunction with
two battalions of Star Fleet Security
(Marine) troops. The image of the TAMERLANE leading the two
heavy troop carriers was a
popular one. When TAMERLANE returned to Earth, her crew was in
need of rest, they had folks
transferring off and ever a few leaving Star Fleet, new
personnel coming to TAMERLANE and
their Main Propulsion Assistant was to return with his newly
received PhD.
______The TAMERLANE docked at Space Dock Montegomery Scott and
nearly all her officers and
crew left.
______In the late evening, Captain Robert McMillian was alone in
his cabin and planned on leving
about a half hour later. It bothered him that several of his
crew were planning on remaining on
TAMERLAN for several days. He didn't like it but he couldn't
do much about it. He was relieved
when his cmputer informed him he had an incoming call.
______He accepted the call and saw a young woman, a teenager
actually, smiling nervously at him.
______"I am Captain McMillian. What can I do for you, Miss
Bellingham?"
______She was surprised at being recognized for Kaylee didn't
realize that Emmily LaFere had lined
the wall of her office with pictues of her, her family and of
Emmily with both Eric and Kaylee.
(There were also pictures the LaFere family as welll.)
______Captain McMillian waited patiently.
______"Captain, I dont' want to bother you but Emmily just told me
she doesn't have leave and I'd like
to see her. Is there any way she can get time off?"
______"Miss Bellingham, may I call you Kaylee?" (Kaylee nodded
"yes".) Well, Kaylee, Emmily
didn't request leave and I think she didn't want to impose
herself on your family."
______"Oh, no, sir, she wouldn't be imposing herself. She can stay
with me and my parents won't
mind. Besides, Eric is coming over tomorrow."
______In the background, Bellingham senior shrugged and nodded
"yes".
______"Very well, then, I'll give Emmily two weeks leave and you
can arrange where she stays. Is that
acceptable?"
______"Yes!"
______"I'll need several minutes to tell Emmily to take leave."
______Captain McMillian walked down the empty passageways of ship
and rang Emmily LeFere's
doorbell. She answered the door wearing a sweatsuit.
______"Emmily, are you planning on going ashore?"
______"Yes, sir, in a few days. I was going to ask you for leave."
______"I grant you 14 days leave, starting effective immediately. I
can extend this leave if you need
more time."
______"I really don't know anyone I can visit with."
______"Haven't you gotten mail from anyone? Are you sure you don't
know anyone who'd welcome a
visit from you?"
______The Captain thought it might as well have said "Kaylee wants
you to visit" but he thought to be
discrete.
______"Well, I could call Eric's sister..."
______"That sounds like a fine idea."
______She went back into her quarters and made the phone call.
Captain McMillian was amused by
the enthusiasm he heard from both young women.
______"I'd like to take that leave, sir."
______"We're in space dock and not allowed to use transporters. If
you're going to leave tonight, you'll
have to take the shuttle, which leaves in 7 minutes."
______"Oh shit, I'll never get ready that quickly!"
______"May I come in and help you pack?"
______"Yes, sir. I'll go pack my carry bag."
______While Emmily began packing a small suitcase with the minimal
makesup she used, Captian
McMillian opened her closet. There he selected a brightly
colored blouse and light blue trousers
and hung them over a door knob. He then picked out a dress
uniform, an undress uniform,
several shirts and trousers and placed them in a clothing bag.
He carried this bag over to her
dresser and picked out several sets of underwear for her. He
looked at the three "swimsuits"
Emily had: one rather modest two piece suit, a large one piece
(bottom only) and a thong (which
shocked him). He put these in the carrying case and put
several sets of shoes (already in carrying
bags) in the carrying case and sealed it up.
______Emmily came, ripped off her sweatsuit and stood in front of
her closet dressed in her
underwear. (Captain McMillian and his wife had raised three
daughters and the sight of girls or
young women running around in their underwear simply didn't
bother him. He handed Emmily
trousers and the blouse. She dressed and he put her carrying
case in a pocket of the uniform
carrying bag. Together, they ran down the corridors and left
the ship. McMillian called the
shuttle craft and asked them to wait. The shuttle crew agreed.
______When they arrived at the enterance to the shuttle, Emmily
handed her clothing bag to the shuttle
crewman and began to wedge her feet into the sandals her
Captain had carried. The crewman
laughed and said "take your time, we can make up the time!"
______Emmily waved at her Captain and prepared for the rare event
of actually going from orbit to
planet in a craft vice transporter.
______Captain McMillian returned to his cabin, finished packing his
luggage and took his leave of his
ship. A junior officer who had litterally drawn the short end
of the straw, waved Captain
McMillian off his ship.
______
______She received a warm welcome from Eric's family for they were
quite fond of her. It was a good
thing she'd taken a nap that day for the room she shared with
Kaylee had twin beds and Kaylee
kept the conversation running by calling from her bed "are you
asleep?" "No." Then the
conversation would restart...
______
______The day of His graduation, Eric was visited by Fleet Admiral
Uhura. In the months since she'd
learned of Eric's discovery, the Fleet Admiral had visited
Eric a number of times and they'd
become friends (or at least as much as a Fleet Admiral and a
Lieutenant could become while both
were on active duty). She told him that an experimental Tetron
based weapon had been added to
the TAMERLANE. Captain McMillian has a good understanding of
the weapon's nature and
your boss, Daniel Jackson was also briefed and will cover for
any power used. Your security
Chief knows there is an experimental piece of equipment in
that compartment and will not enter.
I hope you never need to try this weapon but if you need it,
use it!"
______"How does it work, ma'am?"
______"We're not sure; we just know that the interaction of our
tetron beams with a standard warp
reactor results in the creation of strange particles and a
most improbable warp core explosion.
Perhaps you can explain the physics?"
______"Yes, Admiral." Fleet Admiral Uhara grinned at the young
man's discomfort and didn't expect
any answers any time soon...
______
______The TAMERLANE's officers and crew went to Eric's PhD
grauation.
______The First Officer's reactions when he congratulated Eric were
puzzling.
______"Nice job, Eric, nicely done." "Laser Eyes" was very sincere
and so was his wife. Then, she
smirked at her husband and she said: "A P H D! Wow! That makes
you a VERY well educated
individual, doesn't it Eric?"
______"Yes, ma'am."
______Then, Commander Clark Gray smirked at Eric: "Such a good
education! Such a shame to let
this resource go to waste! Don't you agree, Skipper?"
______Captain McMillian smilled broadly and said "Yes, indeed,
Clark, it would be a shame to let
such a resource go to waste!"
______"You are now the training officer. May yu reign over the
training office for many, many, many
years to come!'
______Then Eric remembered the amount of "paperwork" First Officer
"Laser Eyes" and his staff of
two had to do for Eric to be admitted to Post Grad School. He
suddenly remembered hiow many
times he'd asked the Training Office to arrange for courses.
There were times when entire
divisions of crew were signed up for classes and the Training
Officer (i.e. the First Officer)
would bellow at personnel for not doing the course work on a
timely basis. Eric would repent for
his sins against the "old" Training Officer...
______The "old" Training Officer mentioned that he'd like to take
some advanced education and
discussed with the CO what courses the bridge personnel could
take. They thought of quite a
few...
______
______Finally, the leave was over and TAMERLANE left for fleet
exercises. While TAMERLANE
had been in the Space Dock for maintenance, the work required
had not been serious.
______Although it took several weeks, Eric re-integrated into
Engineering as if he'd nver left. The only
problems were the amazing amount of shear "paperwork" required
by the "Training Department"
and the amusement many people seemed to take at his attempts
to get crew members to properly
sign up for classes, to work on the courses let alone complete
them and to be available for the
reqired testing. Then, there was the required testing. He had
"students" who "pretended" to be
cheating simply to make him run around the "classroom". He
didn't think "Laser Eyes" had an
appropriate attitude; it seemed his "Beloved XO" was tutoring
Eric's "students" in how to mess
with "the Teacher's Mind".
______The other item were the emergency drills. He didn't mind
having to do them, he minded how
they were done. He bitched to the training officer about
drills that were done the same way year
after year and about drills that were put on hold because a
"critical person" had gone to the head
or was otherwise away from their work space when the drill was
called. He thought that everyone
should have a good working idea of how to respond. It didn't
gain him friends...
______
______Eric waited until the weekly Engineering Staff Meeting was
nearly over before raising his hand.
His unsusspecting boss nodded and said "Eric"?
______"Have you ever watched any of the old damage control tapes,
sir? I'm talking about the ones
made in the mid 20th century."
______"No, I don't think so..."
______"There was one classic about an aircraft carrier. A fire was
started on their flight deck due to a
combination of nasty factors and the crew had to put it out.
The film clearly shows the better fire
fighters moving across the deck putting out the fires with a
very effective and state of the art
flame retardant. Unfortunately, these pros were followed by
crewmen who had been barely
trained years before; they were doing good to point the hose
in the correct direction. The pros had
set up hoses connected to salt water pumps and they were
'fighting the fires' with salt water.
Unfortunately, their salt waster was washing the effective
fire retardant off the deck. The fuel,
which floated on top of the salt water simply caught fire
again. The ship survived mainly because
the fuel supply burned itself out, probably. There was a
massive failure of command organization
and folks simple lacked the skills to know how to fight the
fires."
______There was a pause.
______"In many ways we're far better trained than these 'men of the
sea' were 400 years ago. But the
biggest number of dead came from crewmen who were ordered to
remain in their living quarters,
which were a hugh room filled with racked bunks. They died of
smoke inhalation because there
weren't any protective mashs or hoods available and no one had
told them to run to rooms with
clean air. Of course, this couldn't happen to a Star Fleet
Ship, could it?"
______"Wasn't there an incident where a newly married man died when
a phaser coolant pipe ruptured
and he couldn't get to a protective mask or out of the
compartment in time?"
______Eric was pleased his Master Chief had replied.
______"Correct, Master Chief, it happened on Montgomery Scott's
ENTERPRISE about a century
ago."
______Everyone knew that technically it had been James T. Kirk's
ENTERPRISE but these were
Engineers and to them, the Chief Engineer was somewhat more
important that the Ship Driver
who commanded the non-Engineering spaces.
______"What if a torpedo got jammed? I remember reading that Dr.
'Bones' McCoy had to install some
kind of medical sensor on a torpedo to allow it to track down
and target a cloaked Klingon
vessel. Could either of our Medical Doctors do this type of
'surgery'?"
______"What if one of the XO's Yeomen were down here harrassing one
of us about a report and we
were engaged? Say, a sneak attack that isolated the bridge and
damaged a nascell. That Yoeman
could be the one ordered to sit at the phaser control panel
and return fire based on orders from an
Ensign in the secondary bridge. Could any of our Yeomen do
this?"
______"If you consider 'Anna the Super Senior Chief' to be a
Yeoman, then she probably could take
command run the battle from engineering. I don't think so
highly of the other Yeomen, especially
the one who went through Enlisted training after getting a
Harvard MBA."
______There was something to be said about cranky Senior Chiefs;
they didn't hold back much. On the
other hand, there were many times when they probably should
have...
______"What about doing unusual drills. Sir? What about doing stuff
like hold a 'phaser gone into self
destruct mode' drill and have it happen to two navigation
techs and one of our Yeoman? I don't
know how a Security Marine type could have a phaser go wild
but I suppose it could happen.
Sir."
______There was also something to be said about Engineering Ensigns
who were Assistant Division
Officers and who hadn't gotten fully into the official mind
set of the ship.
______"That's exactly what I had in mind!"
______They discussed this for a bit longer and Dan Jackson said
he'd take the proposal to the First
Officer. The meeting ended and Eric want back to a mixture of
proof reading training requests,
proof reading engineering logs and looking for booby traps in
the Technician Third Class
evaluations. which his Department Head would be pleased to
read that afternoon. Two hours into
this "oh-so-wonderful" exercise, Eric was called to the
Bridge.
______
______The next day, Eric was summonded to a meeting with the Second
officer and the First Officer.
The Second Officer looked upset and the First Officer looked
like he had talked at...
______"Lieutenant Bellingham, are you trying to bust my chops?"
______"No, Lieutenant Anderson, I am not trying to bust your chops.
I like your drills but I think we
need to increase the emergency supplies and to expand the
training. All I'm saying is we need to
get people used to dealing with the unusual emergencies; right
now, you and the First have
created a very fine system of emergency drills but I think we
need to go beyond. OK?"
______"Eric," Laser Eyes commented, "just what are you saying?"
______"Sir, all I'm saying is we need to expand training. I'm not
exactly sure what but our Marines
coujld train our people in self defense, we could cross train
emergency plumbing etc. This is
something the students could help with."
______
______Eric sent a note around suggesting that eergency supplies be
placed in various locations arouind
the ship. The officers and Chiefs started brainstorming about
what could be planted around the
boat. This lead to much discussin of what kind of supplies and
where to put them and who would
maintain them and the discussion took up entirely too much
time. Fortunately, there were other
things to spend one's tim eon.
______Their beloved (well liked, actually) Second Officer was
promoted to Lieutenant Commander
and various members of the crew decided to get him gifts.
______The swearing in was very nice and held in the ship's general
meeting space. The cake was
decorated with Scott Talbert's two and a half pips and the
signatures of each person no the
TAMERLANE. It was a nice job of decorating.
______The First Officer was master of Ceremonies.
______"We have some gifts for you, Scott, something suitable for a
Fresh Caught Lieutenant
Commander. Cief Ryan, I believe you've got gifts from bridge
crew?"
______The gift was a hand bound set of novels written in the early
21st century, these novels were
about soldiers fighting in the 2nd Iraqi Civil War, faught in
2012 between the Kurds and Central
Europeans living in Iraq. By that time the Second Bathest
Party had taken the Iraqie Oil Fields
and was dealing directly with the United States of America.
The US of A, getting a good deal on
good oil, told the Good People of Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia
to 'fight your own Allah Damned
Wars yourself.' There were a shocking number of Muslims who
found this very funny!
______LCDR Talbert liked making scale models of various ships. The
best artists among Eric's people
constructed a three foot long scale model of the TAMERLANE;
being only one of several fans of
model making, the Guest of Honor and his fellow devotees spent
several weeks (evenings)
working on the model ship. It was very nicely done.
______Engineering provided the final gifts.
______"Sir," Eric began, "we all know of yuor hobbies. So, perhaps
you'll enjoy this!"
______
""Thank you, Eric," and LCDR Talbert opened the first gift. It
was a custom made entranching
tool, commonly used in the early and mid 20th century by
campaigning soldiers. It was also used
by campers.
______"You're quite welcome. We know you've camped out on, what,
twenty five worlds..."
______"Thirty two actually."
______"Worlds and never liked the tools you brought with you. The
blade is made from hull metal,
with a mild steel covering and a stabalizer over that. The
blade is fairly sharp but if you want, we
can put a better than razor sharp edge on it, sir. The handle
is made of century cured mahogany.
A couple of my people hand carved the handle. How does it
feel?"
______Talbert opended the blade out and swung it gently several
times.
______"It feels very comfortable."
______"Good, good, Doc Emmily used erogonomic programmes to get a
proper shape on the handle."
______"Actually, I simply did a slight modification of the
traditional 19th century handle." Doc
Emmily was very pleased with herself.
______"There were several other gift, not least of which was the
booze distilled in Engineering, fltered
through active charcoal and aged for almost a week and a half.
The ship was dropped to low
warp and largely ran on automated systems while the guests got
over the effects of the party.
______The various gifts, especially those from Engineering, helped
heal the hurt feelings between Eric
and Scott Talbert over damage control.
______
______In early 2364, Eric qualfied as both Junior Officer of the
Deck and Officer of the Dec. In late
2364, Eric was standing watch as Officer of the Deck when
sensors picked up something strange.
There was an object, that sensors couldn't pin down and
couldn't quite analyuse, standing off
TAMERLANE's port side. Eric was puzzled.
______"Helm, slow to warp two."
______The order was obeyed and sensors quickly noted the "ghost"
had disappeared and then
reappeared in the same location. TAMERLANE was on course 090
mark 000 at warp 2. He
decided to test the assumption that TAMERLANE was being paced.
______"Helm, change course to 180 mark 090."
______Eric decided to "fire up" a "secret" scanner whose existance
was known only to the Captain and
him. The scan showed a cloaked object, likely a torpedo.
______"Helm! Raise shields! Weapons! Sound battle stations!
Computer, Captain to the bridge. Helm,
evasive manuever pattern Echo. Sensors, what the bloody Hell
is that weapon's Mother Ship?"
______Sensors identified a Cardassian warship in the process of
uncloaking when the unknown
weapon appeared off TAMERLANE's port side and detonated. There
was a splash of energy on
the screens and TAMERLANE rocked to it's starboard.
______The Captain was on the bridge.
______"Helm, get that bastard aft of us. Now. Weapons, target that
Cardie and ripple fire torpedoes."
______"Sir, we have a casualty report and damage reports."
______"Later, deal with it."
______"The Cardassian appeared to have survived the TAMERLANE's
torpedos but seems dead in
space and the Captain ordered "prepare to stand down". Eric
later stated he hadn't heard this
order.
______"Helm, hard about, get that Targ turd off our bow. Weapons,
are phrasers and disrupters
charged?
______The Captain knew when to not interupt and then the Cardassian
abruptly got underweight again.
The Cardassian fired two torpedoes, which TAMERLANE's point
defense phasers easily killed.
______"Weapons, target enemy bridge, torpedo ports, phaser arrays
and engineering and when ready,
fire ASAP."
______The TAMERLANE's phasers took out the enemy bridge and most of
it's torpedo ports and an
experimental tunnling photon torpedo took out the Cardie's
warp reactor. The resulting explosion
was more enjoyable. Eric would later see the enemy warship
exploded over and over in his
nightmares.
______Eric relaxed, breated a sigh of relief and then started
upright.
______"What was that damage report?"
______"Sir, Captain, the weapon penetrated our shields and some
kind of plasma weapon fired through
the battle hull, through an empty room, through the a hatch
into the deck three port corridore and
laid this open to space. Crewman Beatrice Collen was there and
was sucked towards the hull
brach. Doc Emmily used a specialized programme to transport
Beatrice to sick bay. She's being
treated by Doc Emmily, Doc Turbo and two of the Emergency
Medical Personnel. They say she'll
be fine."
______"Captain, endmy ship was destroyed. May I brief you in
private?"
______"No. Everyone listen up! Lt Bellingham used an experimental
sensor system to penetrate the
cloaking on the Cardie torpedo. This scanning is hereby
classified Secret and must not be talked
about." (He knew those talking about the torpedo and it's
scanning would be doing so very
quietly and without open discussion.) Eric, I have the con."
______"Thank you, sir. I need to get with my poeple about repairing
the hole in the foot and half thick
battle armour of the primary (or battle) hull.
______Eric and the Chief Engineer suited up and entered the damaged
section through a temporary
airlock. A strong force field covered the hole in the hull but
the two offices and the five crew
who accompanied them weren't too trusting of force fields.
They carefully examined analzyed the
hold and used a transporter to remove a large section of
damaged hull material around the hull.
Then, the hull maintenance crew used a transporter to modify
some of their emergency stock of
huller material and this shaped hull mateiral was transported
into the spot.
______Nothing could beat using a transporter beam carefully
"sequence" the material around a
replacement plug and it was well known as the stongest weld
possible,
______A pressure check showed the repaired hull to be stronger than
before. Everyone was pleased.
______Eric had just returned from medical, where he had checked on
the recovering Beatrice Collen,
who seemed to be in good spirits. She even consoled Eric:
______"I've heard you feel guilty about not paying attention to the
damage report about me being hurt."
______"Well, yes." Actually, he didn't feel any guilt until right
before going to sickbay.
______"Sir, you did the right things and saved the ship. I'm proud
of you!"
______Eric didn't know how to answer this and his ackward,
stuttered "thank you" was intepreted as
becoming modesty. Eric left, after promising to check in later
that day.
______
______Then matters got worst. Eric had been worried about a "Court
of Inquiry" and one was scheduled for that evening. He put on
his best (his only!) Dress Uniform and arrived early. He
wanted to have a lawyer but had been told by his Master Chief
that "lawyers aren't Star Fleet and besides, Sir, the innocent
don't need them!"
______Eric had once read that "the guilty need a lawyer, the
innocent two and the naive and very innocent three lawyers".
He told his Master Chief this and Master Chief Lynch had
laughed loudly. It was most disconcerting...
______Whren the Captain, First Officer, Senior Chief "Anna", Chief
Engineer Jackson entered and saw both LT Bellingham and Master
Chierf Lynch waiting in their Dress Uniforms, the Captain
muttered "what the Hell"? "Anna" merely smiled.
______"Lieutenant Bellingham, we are now conveining this Formal
Count of Inquiry."
______Bellingham braced himself to attention.
______"Mr. Bellingham, how would you rate your performance during
the Cardassian attack this morning?"
______"Sir! I believe I acted appropriately to defend my ship, sir.
We were attcked, sir and I held off attack when the Cardie
vessel appeared 'dead in space', sir. Sir, I initiated my
phaser attack when the enemy resumed his assualt and fired
torpedoes. Sir
______
______"LT Bellingham, did you authorize the firing of an
experimental torpedo against the engine room of the Cardessian
warship?"
______"Sir, I am responsible for everything that happened during
the engagement, sir."
"
______Did you specifically ORDER a torpedo fired?"
______Eric would later realize his Captain seemed entirely too
relaxed and the other senior personnel seemed too amused.
"
______No, sir."
"
______Eric, since you had the bridge during the attack, you were
responsible for the torpedo firing even if you didn't order
it. Remember this young man: I was in command and therefore am
responsible for everything that happened today. This includes
Ensign Simon Drak firing a torpedo on her own initative. I've
already put her in for an accomodation for displaying
initiative and warned her to try waiting a little bit longer
before firing without orders. Is that acceptable to you?"
______"Ah, yes, sir, it is..." Eric was clearely puzzled for this
didn't seem like a Court to him!
______"Now, why are you and the Master Chief in Dress Uniform?"
______The Master Chief responded: "My Lieutenant was convinced this
'Board of Inquiry' would lead to a finding of his disobeying
orders while the ship was in combat and that he would be
facing a Courts Martial. Sir."
______Eric was not amused by the laughter.
______"Sorry, lad," Master Chief Lynch finally said, "I should have
told you this was a per forma matter but I didn't realize you
feared a court! I suppose you're too frazzled for some good
news?"
"
______I could use some good news right about now!"
______"Commander Jackson, has this officer ever sent crew 'into
harm's way' knowing he could be sending them to their deaths?"
"
______Yes, Captain, he has. Everytime he has to send someone in to
do close in calibration on the anti-matter feed system, he
risks their deaths should the containment fields spike
outward."
______The containment fields were barely stable and barely under
control as it was and every so often would expand outward just
enough to kill anyone near them. The problem was that if the
fields went out of specs (and they did occasionally) it would
destroy the ship to leave them "out of specs" and dropping out
of warp will cause an instant warp core breach. This was what
the Star Fleet Design Bureau called "a known problem"...
______"Then, are we in agreement with what I must do today?"
______Now, Eric was really worried!
______"Eric Randall Bellingham, this Court of Inquiry finds you
behaved in exemplary manner in defending the USS TAMERLANE
from unjustified attack. We commend you on your professional
performance!"
______Eric visibly relaxed.
______"You'll be receiving a special fitness report in several
minutes. This is one I've been waiting to give you for some
time now."
______Now, Eric was puzzled.
______"Finally, you're out of uniform?"
______Eric looked at his Master Chief.
______"Master Chief Lynch, you checked me over before we came in
here and said I looked 'Captain's Inspection Ready'."
______"That was then, young man."
______"You're out of uniform because you have the wrong rank
insignia, Lieutenant Commander Bellingham," spoke the Captain.
______"Sir, I've got my polished Lieutenant pips on."
"
______Ah, but you're no longer a Lieutenant, you're now a
Lietenant Commander."
______"Eric's picture could have been put into a dictionary next to
the word "dumfounded"!
______"We've been planning on your promotion for several months now
but our time table has been shorted by about six weeks. I'll
explain later. Now, it is time to congraduate you!"
______The Court of Inquiry personnel gathered around to congratuate
Eric.
______They had a really nice party for him the next night and
someone had talked about Eric's fear of being Court Martialed
for a number of crewmen came up to him in the forthcoming
weeks to say "don't worry, sir, we still love you". It was
most disconcerting...
______
______The last week of 2365 as when everything changed.
______The TAMERLANE had spent Christmas and Hannacak at at a planet
called "Bush League" because it was a rather raw planet that
was noted for the vast assortment of large and violent
animals. It was in the running for the next planet for "Great
White Hunters" to visit, kill dangerous looking animals and
engage in "Teddy Roosevelt" poses: they wold stand with one
foot up on an animal they'd killed. The irony that most of the
hunters would have been beaters or "native boys" centuries
before (they were not "white") or that the dangerous animals
were more dangerous for being intelligent and capable of
hunting the hunters somehow didn't make the news. It didn't
really matter.
______None of the TAMERLANE's crew hunted "dangerous animals"; they
had been "hunted" by Cardassians and attacked in several "hit
and run" attacks by unidentified aliens.
______The high light had been when Captain McMillian's
granddaughter and her husband had arrived and displyed their
child, the Captain's Great-granddaughter. The Granddaughter
and her husband (both all of 19 years old!) and their child
had been immediately adopted by the Good Ship and Crew. It was
a very happy memory for all...
______The town they partied in was surrounded by an force field
rated for Chiefs of State!
______
______TAMERLANE was enroute to their first visit to Risa when a
message came in via the Fleet Supremem Command channel. Eric
had been on the bridge standing in for the Junior Engineer of
the Watch (who was at a flower arranging class, of all
things!) when the Captain was ordered to take this call. The
Captain went into his "At Sea Cabin" (Ready Room) and was in
there for some time. He called in his First Officer (who was
Officer of the Watch), told his Second Officer to "take the
center seat" and after a short while, his puzzled looking
Chief Engineer. When he went by, Commander Jackson just looked
at Eric and shrugged. CLearely, Commander Daniel Jackson was
in the dark about his summoning.
______Then, the First Officer came out and spoke:
""LCDR Talbert, LCDR Bellingham, you've both done damage
control work. We, ah, I have a thought experiment for both of
you. Assume the ship is facing an implacable foe capable of
adjusting to whatever defenses and offences we can come up
with. Assume this foe could attack any time after about a year
and what would you do to make the TAMERLANE battle ready. You
have twenty minutes. Eric, one of your Junior Engineers of the
Watch will relieve you; we wouldn't want to interupt your
Engineer's recreational schooling. Scott, you've been saying
Ensign Medley is ready to stand her first Officer of the Deck
Watch; have her relieve you and then have Chief Thurson take
the helm. Mary Jo Thurson will be able to supervise our Ensign
by dropping 'gentle hints'."
______It was closer to 35 minutes before both LCDRs were called
into the Captain's Ready Room.
______The Captain's Ready Room had the Captain's desk in front of
the wall across from the entrance hatch, there were five easy
chairs in the center of the room, a kitchen style work table
across from the Captain's desk and a coffee mess set on it.
The wall accross from the hatch was partally covered with
crayon colored pictures made by Captain McMillian's
grandchildren and hologrammes of McMillian's wife, children,
grandchildren and a very small baby (his first
great-grandchild). The Captain liked to groan "I'm too young
to be a great-grandfather but he had spent a lot of time
holding said great-grandchild a couple of weeks before. Now,
the air felt much, much grimmer!
______Captain Robert McMillian, Commander Clark Grey, Commander
Daniel Jackson, Senior Chief Anna Haskall and Master Chief
Jain Lynch stood waiting. Both LCDRs marched in and
immediately braced themselves to attention. They had never
done this before in the Captain's Ready room but they had
never seen the ship's Command Staff looking so grim.
"
______LCDR Talbert, if you were to continue as Damage Control
Assistant, what would you do different, if at all?"
______"Captain, I would continue with the current drills and form
Marine squads from the Security personnel. We have some 60
'Marines', sir and while they are doing fine jobs in other
duties, I suspect it's not their first love."
______"LCDR Bellingham?"
______"Sir, I would continue the same drills and have the Marines
train other ship's company. I would also like to spread
emergency suits around the ship. I would also put damage
control gear in all rooms off the main passageways. I'd like
everyone to have armoured vacume suits and to have everyone
suited up during general quarters. If they can't be battle
suited, then they can at least be in standard vacume suits."
______Several of the Command Staff nodded in agreement.
______"Finally, Sir, I would not be a 'Damage Control Assistant', I
would be the 'Damage Control Asshole'!"
______Gentlemen, I've decided. Eric, you will be the 'Damage
Control Asshole'; Scott, you will bring our Marines back up to
their full abilities and schedule 'Repell Boarders' drills and
hand to hand combat drills; emphasize improvized weapons and
the ability to change tactics. Get everybody involved! There
is one damn thing that neither of you can ever forget: we are
now at war and we can not afford battling egos and battling
agendas and other bullshit! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"
"YES, SIR!"
______"Well, now that I've pinned your ears back," the Captain
continued in a softer voice, "I thought it best to get that
out of the way immediately. We really are at war and you'll
see why we must work together like cells in a body or bees in
a hive, Well, take seats. I'll stand. Senior Chief, you can
take my chair."
______They took seats and waited while a flexible screen rolled
down from the overhead. The Captain stood and began to speak:
______"The USS ENTERPRISE was conducting normal operations when a
disaster visited them: the creature called 'Q' visited them.
'He' said he would be their tour guide to the universe. This
'Q' provoked Capt Piccard and CDR Riker into a rash statement
or two and 'Q' said something like 'so you think you're ready
for what awaits you out there? Let's see.' Then, 'Q' took
ENTERPRISE and crew to meet destiny."
______The monitor screen had finished rolling down and Capt
McMillian snapped his fingers. A strange object appeared on on
the screen. The object expanded on the screen and was revealed
as a huge cubical object; the scale markings showed the cube
to be five kilometers on a side.
______"What is the threat of this space station, sir," the Second
officer wanted to know. "That object is the size of a large
space station and we've seen moons smaller than this?"
______"It doesn't look dangerous, does it? Doesn't it look like
it's too big to have gone there under it's own power?" The
Chief Engineer had a slight grin.
______"Yes, sir."
______"A little more detail then. ENTERPRISE was transported 2,700
light years to a location in the Beta Quadrient on the far
side of the Romulan Star Empire. They found this object
drifting in an unknown and uncharter star system. Piccard's
old friend, Madame Guinnen, told him to leave and start back
to Earth as quickly as possible. Piccard ignored her and began
exploring. As far as he could tell, the cube was ignoring him
until he drew it's attention by sending first contact message.
The cube then proved it was more than a drifting space
station.
______The screen showed the cube abruptly stop and head directly
towards the ENTERPRISE at high impulse.
______"This cube is a very versitle space craft. Piccard fled. A
creature beamed into ENTERPRISE's engineering space, began
scanning and somehow was able to interface with the
ENTERPRISE's main computer. Piccard ordered his Security Chief
to kill the invader. Another invaded appeared and finished
downloading the ENTERPRISE's database. The intruder had
somehow adapted to the attack modes and was able to leave
easily. The cube attacked ENTERPRISE and Piccard responded
with torpedoes and phasers. This seemed to stop the enemy.
Piccard send an away team to the enemy vessel and found it was
a living machine, filled with cyborgs."
______He paused for questions.
______"The cyborgs were human machines hybrids that interfaced with
the computer controlling their vessel. Guinnen revealed this
creatures, called 'The Borg', had been working on a system of
linking living humanoid minds to each other via computers for
'thousand of centuries'. No one knows who the origional
species was that created this hybrid and no one knows where
they came from. Most think from the Delta Quadrant of this
galazy and some alien species think they came from the Lesser
Magellanic Cloud or perhaps started in the Delta Quadrant,
went to the Lesser Cloud and came back to the Delta Quadrant,
The important thing to remember is this: the exist to
assimilate intelligent life forms into a collective hive mind.
They assimililate alien technology. Some think these Borg
don't invent tech, they just steal and use alien's technology.
This is both arrogant and dangerous; there is proof that
elements of the Borg overmind can invent new tech and tactics.
They can adopt and that implies imagination and some of
the older aliens say the Borg have great imagination,
horribley great immaginations."
______The room was stunned.
______"What do they want? Well, let's listen to what they told
ENTERPRISE:"
______"We are the Borg. We have analyzed your offensive and
defensive capabilities and you are no match for us. Lower your
shields and prepare to be boarded. Your existance as you have
known it has ended; you will be assimiliated. We will add your
biological and technological distinctiness to our own."
______"The Borg have assimiliated numberous species and realigned
their minds to serve the needs of the group. Who sets their
goals or are they as mindless as a cancer taking over a body?
Are they mindless destroyers like insects taking destoying
everything they come across? Various sources, some reports
tens of thousands of years old and found in records in ruins
on alien worlds suggest the Borg are extensions of a single
alien. These stories came from ancient ruins but the ruins
were set up for the future and had very precise instruction in
how to translate their languages. This is high classified
because the ruins say the only defense against the Borg is to
flee beyong their reach, There are stories of whole species
who left this galaxy and who are still working their way from
isolated star to star across the intergalactic voil in hopes
of finding sanctuary far away from this galaxy." The Captain
sighed. "It makes for great myths and great bed time scare
stories but these monsters are real."
______"The ENTERPISE away party surveyed the enemy ship, returned
to their ship and fled. The Enemy vessel pursued at high warp
and fired some sort of energy leeching weapon that first
removed all power from ENTERPRISE's shields and then leeched
out their warp drive power. Commander LeForge can't explain
this; he says it violated all physics and engineering he'd
been taught. Various study groups have been initiated since
the ENTERPRISE returned. They will be sharing any ideas they
come up with and any wild ass hair brained ideas we can come
up with will be most welcome!"
______"Hair brained ideas, sir," Eric questioned.
______"Yes, indeed, because the idea of a torpedo like weaopon that
could 'leech' shield and warp power is a 'wild ass idea'!"
______The First Officer took up the briefing:
______"Engineering and physics are the only 'wild ass ideas' now on
the table! The Federation sent ambassadores to an emergency
meeting of the political and military elites of the Klingon
Empire, the Romulan Empire, the Gorn Hedgemony, the Torlians
and several other species including the Cardessians. The
Breeen were invited but declined to attend. They later said
the Cardfassians had briefed them on the problem and had said
the Breen were not in danger from the Borg. When images were
shown of the drones in the cube ship, the Breen abrupty joined
this collition. It seems that several Breen, apparently livng
quite well outside their refrigerator suits in the heat of the
cube ship, were seen by the Breen. There were details of the
Breen physiology that the Federation hasn't discovered yet.
Section 31 has since located several Breens and brought back
autospy reports."
______"Were the Breen dead when the autosopies were done?"
______"Apparently not, Senior Chief, apparently not."
______"This group is going to work on unified defenses. The
Federation and the Klingon Empire are working on a new type of
battleship with grossly improved warp and impulse engines and
a warp corp that coulg power the ENTERPRISE; the Romulans are
kicking in their finest, cutting edge, cloaking technology.
The Breen are contributing tactics that should greately
improve our survival chances and the Trolians are going to
provide material science, hull materials that will be a real
surprise to the Borg and which will make the new battleships
much harder to kill. I've also got a surprise." Chief Engineer
Jackson was smilling but it wasn't a happy smile.
______"Commander Jackson will be promoted to Captain and assigned
to head the Engineering efforts. Master Chief Lynch will stay
behing to supervise and to aid his new Chief Engineer: Eric
Randall Bellingham."
______Captain McMillian grinned at Eric's expression; Eric had
expected to be MPA for several more years and then feared he
would be transferred to another ship. He feared this because
the personnel on the TAMERLANE had become his family. He now
only knew their names, he knew the names of their spouces,
girl friends, boy friends, families and even most of their
dogs, cats and targs. (Yes, TAMMERLANE hosted Klingons several
times.) He had seen their inner demons and they his; this
familiarity had not lead to contempt but to deeper friendship.
It was strange but true and happened to many others in those
years. He wasn't ready to leave them. (Most of them weren't
ready for him to leave.)
______The First Officer decided to get matters back on track.
______"These changes won't happen for several weeks anyway. Daniel,
you'll have plenty of time to passdown the Department to young
Eric; you've been Chief Engineer for, what, 15 years? Just
don't forget to pass down the keys and don't steal the nice
flatware." The Chief Engineer was amusedf and outraged. "You
shouldn't have too many problems Eric, the inventory tracking
system indicates that everything is accouonted for. I had an
inventory of all ship's systems, equipment and equipage
yesterday and today. The change in DCA responsibility won't
happen to late January or perhaps early February. Eric, if
you're going to be a success in your `Damage Control Asshole`
work, you'll need to get with everyone and get their ideas.
You can start with the Department Heads and they can ask their
Division Officers and you can get the full input of officers
and crew. Scott, you'll have to work up refresher training for
the 'Marines' and invader repulsion drills for the entire
crew. You can get with Fleet Headquarters about
that. ALso, your First Lieutenant duties will increase and
you'll have to do more damage control work with Eric and work
on physically moving material to and from the ship. This will
involve crains and single person tugs. You will have a lot of
work cut out for you. However, the Borg invasion, should it
even happen, is years away. We will still go to Risa,
hopefully still have fine times and we can begin going to a
war footing afterwards. Captain, should we plan on doing so in
late January [2366]?"
______"That will be fine," Captain McMillian agreed.
______They spent a couple of weeks on Risa and while Emmily and
Eric spent a lot of time together and cemented their
reputation as being a "couple", they didn't carry matters
beyond holding hands. As Eric's sister would later say "those
two are soooooo sloooooow!"
______The first several months after leaving Risa were filled with
drills and Marine training. Studying sensor reports from
remote stations and probes became an obsecession for several
months and that finally abated. The high water marks of Eric's
"enhanced training" included:
______One of the Operations Department sensor techs was walking
down a corridor when a pipe "ruptured" in the overhead and
began leeking water (simulating a heat transfer liquid). This
young Petty Officer grabbed two other crewmen when the hatches
at either end of the corridore clsed and sealed them off. The
three tore the panels off the overhiead ("ceiling"), shut off
the proper valves and used Eric's patch "blanet" to cover the
"hole" in the pipe. Then, the drill was over but the water was
still on the deck and the panels needed to be cleaned and
replaced.
______The Petty Officer was ordered to dry off the panels, remove
the "blanket" and clean up the mess.
______This Pwetty Officer replied that the real fluid would have
given off gases that would have damaged their lungs. So, the
three would have to go to Medical for treatement. As for
cleaning up the mess? That was a job for specialists, which
she and her two helpers were not and it would be the First
Lieutenant or the Damage Control Asshole's responsibility to
do so.
______She marched off to medical; the ship's officers and senior
enlisted laughed themselved sick almost.
______
______The fire alarm went off seconds before a fire control team
burst into his "stateroom". Eric had fumbled out of bed,
wearing just a t-shirt and looked around for the fire. The
team that came through his door did a careful survey, made
remarks like "oh, no, I'm seeing something that only Emmily
should see" and when he went to his head to hide out, started
remarks about his "tight ass".
______Eric wore Academy grade nightware for over a month but a
surprise fire "drill" was never held in his living quarters
again...
______Perhaps the most dangerous drill was when the Captain took
TAMERLANE to a research station and took most of the senior
personnel with him on a visit. Then, Captain McMillian sent
orders to the Ensign (who was Junior Officer of the Deck), who
took TAMERLANE out to deep space, took the ship into warp and
went to a location Capt. McMillian's orders specified. Capt.
McMillian had expected this officer to demand clarification of
orders or send down an away team (to rescue the "hostages")
and hadn't expected the Ensign to "take the ship to rendezvous
with a Fleet Cruiser".
______The Ensign had a commidation for successfully getting
TAMERLANE underweigh without the presence of senior officers
or sernior enlisted. Capt McMillain decided not to try such
drills again. There had not been a "Fleet Cruiser" at the
rendezvous point and McMillian had been forced to "borrow" a
runabout and go retrieve his ship...
______
______While the pace of drils dropped off, the drills chosen became
more focused and far better. After a year, TAMERLANE started
workups in squadron and fleet activities. TAMERLANE had been a
solitary player, whose military origions had been downplayed
for years. In mid year 2366, TAMERLANE was relased from
training duties and resumed her exploration duties. They spent
several months exploring solitary planets in deep space, Eric
resumed his PhD studies on exotic particles and actually
gained a student. It felt strange to have his very own PhD
candidate...
______As time passed and people began to think they were safe, the
pace of drills began tio drop off and even the TAMERLAND was
ordered to resume their scientific research. After all, the
weaopns sensors easily could be used for scientific purposes
and Eric's first PhD candidate was able to collect much data
for her research and was well on the way to an interesting
thesis when desparate emergency messages came in from several
remote stations and an emergency confirmation message came
from the ENTERPRISE. A single Borg cube ship was spotted by
remote stations [which apparently were destoyed] and
ENTERPRISE went to confront the foe. The TAMERLANE had been
enroute from Sirius to Earth and were ordered to Wolf 359. The
ship joined a group of Star Fleets finest combat vessels [save
for the ENTERPRISE] and a growing number of Klingon Warships.
Fleet Admiral J.P. Hanson organized the ships in a movable
ambush line. Some of the ships were in mutually supporting
battle groups and were intended to as flyiing squads.
The FADM [Fleet Admiral] spoke with great hope and confidence.
Privately, he told the Klingon General who commanded the
Klingon vessels that if ENTERPRISE couldn't find a weakness in
the enemy vessel or somehow get them to leave, he didn't have
much hope. Both senior officers were convinced they would die
went the Borg arrived; they only hoped they would die well,
die well after destroying or at least seriously damaging the
Borg vessel. The attack has come too soon and the various
defensive initatives were no werer near completion.
______Agents in a deep cover Federation Agency [some times called
'Section 31'] reported that a Borg vessel had fought a battle
in Earth Orbit and had been destroyed. The Time Police had
surpressed any furthern information.
______"There is much more to the story, Admiral but that is all I
know."
When it came, the attack was overhelming. The Borg vessel
rammed into the Wolf 359 system dispatching death in all
directions.
______TAMERLANE was at full battle stations, Captain McMillain,
First Officer Clark Gray, Second Officer Scott Talbert and the
best bridge personnel were on duty. Eric and his most
experienced junior officers and Chiefs were tripple; manning
all stations; the damage control teams [the rest of the crew]
were in various corridores and spaces. They had removed all
panels that hid pipes, critical valves, important equipment,
ODN junctures and enterances to Jeffries Tubes. Eric sat
behind his command panel, a wide table covered with monitors,
data entry keyboards, voice entry terminals and access to all
systems on the ship. One of the most important monitors showed
the comunications links throughout the ship.
______As part of a five ship element, TAMMERLANE swept towards the
enemy shiop and fired a full spread of torpedes. Each of the
ships fired weaopns with different charactgeristics; there
were explosions against the side of the cube and som emay have
actually damanged the enemy ship. Unfortunately, subsequent
torpedoes with the same settings were futiles. Three of the
ships swept in from a different attack vector and all were
attacked; TAMERLANE survived but Eric's monitors clearly
indicated total loss of communicationswith the bridge and loss
of atmospheric containment [fortunately, everyone on the ship
was suited up, most in battle armour and the rest in standard
Fleet Emergency vacume suits [supply had been very reluctgant
to give Captain McMillian all that he asked for]. The last
thing Eric heard was "FIRE TOR..." and all communications were
lost with the Bridge.
______Eric's sensors showed some kind of incoming weapon. The point
defense phasor operators took out two of the weapons but the
third was untouched.
______Eric keyed the all stations button and bellowed; "STAND BY
FOR WARP JUMP\"
______Seconds later, Eric thumped prepared keys and the TAMERLANE
lurched into warp. That deep in the gravity well of Wolf 359
should have damaged TAMERLANE but Eric had prepared his ship
well and when the ship dropped out of warp, the Borg shp was a
light second away. TAMERLANE's stern faced the enemy vessel
and Eric ripple fired all 14 of the aft torpedos. It was
probably an act of futility and TAMERLANE's last act of
defiance but was necessary. With the bridge cut off, Eric was
in command. He didn't like it.
______An intruder alarm had gone off just before Eric had sent
TAMERLANE lurching into it's warp jump.
______a Borg drone appeared near the Second Offier's "stateroom"
and then entered, waving it's prothesis arm.
______one of the damage control crew followed, grabbed Talbert's
loaded .357 Magnum and fired a round through the Borg's chest.
A second crewman came around behind the drone, took Talbert's
trenching tool and nearly decapitated the drone at the same
time a third crewman drew her enhanced K-bar and plunged it
through a critical node in the Borg drone's chest. The
creature dropped dead and beamed out before it hit the deck.
______
______On a different corridor, a Borg stabbed one of Eric's Vulcans
and the assimilation was begun. The Borg probably never
expected a TAMERLANE crewwoman to fire a phaser into an
overhead pipe that released a highly toxic fluid which was
used in cooling several ancillary systems and which had the
capability of disolving organic tissue. The Borg drone
disolved and the Borg ship flashed into warp. The assaluted
Vulcan suit was self sealing and protected him.
______One of Eric's transporter officers activated very high
powered, very broad band subspace jammers that disconnected
the Vulcan drone from the Collective. A crewman carried the
Vulcan to medical where the complete medical staff worked to
remove the Borg implants. They were successful, one of the
few successful such surgerys.
______Probably the worst event of his life was when Eric had to
watch the bridge recordings.
______The Captain was in his set when TAMERLANE attacked the Borg.
The Second Officer was at the Helm and the First Officer was
handling targeting duties. The Captain abruptly left his chair
and the Second Officer ran towards him. No one ever figured
why Captain McMillian ran towards the aft door to the door.
The Second Officer later said he'd felt the strangest urge to
join his Commander. The First Officer tgook the command chair
and ordered more details of the assualt. Then, a strange
weapon was used. No one ever figured out what the weaopn was
or even if it was a Borg Weapon.
______Eric's sensors later showed an object that may hve been
energy or may have been something combined with energy. This
something struck the outer hull of the ship. The bridge was
surrounded by a meter and a half shell of a material called
"unobtainium" that had a melting point of 11,400K and regarded
as one of the strongest substances known. Part of the
bulkhead, a ribbon of unobtainium a meter long and .01
millimeters thick, was spit off the bulkhead, went across
through the air and decapitated Captain Mc----, hit the
bulkhead behind the Captain and richoshayed downward, cutting
the Captain's legs just above the knees. The end closest to
the ship's bow sliced through the Second Officer's leg and
nearly sliced LCDR Talbert's left leg off.
______The sight of his Captain's pointless death stated Eric
Randall Bellingham's descent into nightmare...
______
______An hour after the Borg cube left the system, Eric's
communications engineers were able to restore power to the
bridge and eric spoke to the new Captain, forner First Officer
Clark Gray and advised him on the status of the ship and what
casualities he knew of. Eric said he had started retrieving
the wounded from other ships or sections of ships or worst of
all, floating in space in fragile suits. Captain Gray nodded
in a distracted manner and said "carry on".
______Eric continued to command the ship from his station in
engineering. Before, he had never double checked his work and
had absolute faith in himself. Now, he wasn't quite so sure.
______Four hours after the battle officially ended, FADM J.P.
Hanson contacted Captain Clark.
______"How well are you handling the death of Captain McMillian..."
______"Very badly, sir, I find it nearly impossible to be here
knowing...knowing my friend...Robert...is simnply not
here...seeing his blood on the deck."
______"Could you handle command of another ship, Clark, a Klingon
ship..."
______"I believe I could, Admiral."
______The Klingon seemed very much less than impressed by the
notion of a human Commander. When Captain Gray announced he
was in command [the former Commander had been killed by a
drone attack], one Klingon officer voiced his defiance.
______Clark Gray backhanced this officer hard enough to drop the
Klingon to the deck.
______The Klingon staggered to his feet, wiped lavender blood off
his mouth and nodded in approval.
______"Your heart is Klingon, Commander and I will serve you
willingly. If anyone disputes your right to command, they will
answer to me..."
______Thus, Clark Gray met his first officer. Later, a picture
would be taken of Commander Clark Gray, in full Klingon
uniform and surrounded by his officers. An outsider, a member
of the High Counsol, studied the picture and said "why do you
have a human in command..."
______High Chanchellor Martock of the House of Martoc replied;
"Everyone on that ship is Klingon."
______"And the Commander..."
______"Perhaps the most Klingon of them all..."
______
______For the next 37 hours, Eric guided his ship around the debry
field retrieving the living and the dead. Finally, he decided
he needed to do some first hand rescue. This was a decison he
would later bitterly regret. The FADM gave Eric command over
the Saecond Officer, who was in medical awaiting repairs and
eventually a rescued Medical Officer from a Vulcan ship did
very rapid work on Talbert and said he could return to duty.
Eric took a team into the ruins of a battle ship. This ship
had beamed the families from a Klingon ship that had been
enroute to the Klingon Embassy on Earth. The compartment was
very badly lighted. Several adults were alive and they were
transported to TAMMERLAND. Eric investiaged a weak life sign,
thinking it might be a house pet, such as a cat or dog. When
one of his "strong armed girls" lifted the final object from
the "house pet", he was horrified to find a child... True, it
was a Klingon child but at that point, a child was a child and
precious beyong belief.
______Eric had seen the casualty figures and knew how very, very
few had survived.
______The child was alive and Eric ordered said baby and him to be
transported directly to TAMERLANE's sick bay. Desparately, he
placed the baby on an examining table and Dr. Emmily and a
Vulcan healer ran over to examine the child.
______The child had not survived the transporter. Eric screamed in
pain and fell back onto the deck. No one could bear to see his
agony; his face looked too much like what the medical
personnel had seen in sickbay's mirrors.
______A long time later, it could have been minutes, it could have
been hours, Eric staggered to his feet and rejoined his team
in surveying ruined ships for survivors, surveying the
remnants of ships and generally bringing back the living and,
against orders, the dead.
______
______One of the most memorable events and one that Eric would
remember forever, happened somewhat late in the nightmare.
______
______
______The battle with the Borg had ended the day before. Now, the
battle with the consequences was
being fought and lost.
______Eric was still getting used to being called "Captain
Bellingham" or "Captain" and didn't like it.
His people had gotten the bodies together and would transfere
them along with the most seriously
wounded back to Earth. A fast attack vessel would arrivein
five hours to provide transport back
to Earth; the speed required would probably destroy the ship's
warp engines but they would last
long enough to make it back to Earth.
______Senior Chief Anna Haskall came on the Bridge.
______"I've finished inventoring HIS belongings, Captain."
______"Call me Eric, he is the Captain."
______"As you wish...Eric. I've finished inventoring and boxing HIS
stuff."
______"I want you to escort HIM back to Earth, Senior Chief
Haskall. His family, your family need
you and you need them, Anna."
______"Thank you, Eric." This time she sounded like she meant the
"Eric".
______"I'll have Crewman Debra Sillings help you pack."
______He looked at Crewman Sillings. "Escort her and protect our
Anna. That is your most important
duty, Debra."
______The crewman walked out with their late Captain's alter ego.
______
______"Four and a half hours later, Eric walked to the docking port
and watched his crewman escort
his Senior Chief aboard the rescue vessel. It didn't look like
the Crewman would be coming back
and Captain Bellingham didn't mind.
______"Computer, add the name of Crewman Debra Sillings to the list
of walking wounded sent back
to Earth."
______Eric stepped aboard the rescue vessel and went to the lounge
area where his people were being
kept. He looked directly at Sillings.
______"Are these the people you want taken back to Earth?"
______"Yes. Have you stowed our dead?"
______"Yes, Captain, we have. We can be underweigh in two minutes."
______"You should have the updated list of my wounded and dead.
Please see to it that all my people
make it to Star Fleet Medical." He looked directly at Crewman
Debra Sillings as he spoke.
______Eric then left the rescue boat. Their crew was dogging their
ship's outer hatch before Eric had
left the air lock. As soon as his crew shut the airlock behind
him, the other ship did an emergency
break away and departed. He knew that Sillings needed to
escort Senior Chief Haskall as much
as his Senior Chief needed escorting and that it would be a
long 3 days and 8 hours back to Earth.
The decisin felt incredibly right.
______
______The data kept coming in and Eric kept moving the TAMERLANE
around the debree fields. Of
the hundes of sensor contacts that suggested living beings,
only a few dozen were actually alive.
After the child, Eric found he couldn't bear to look at what
was rescued. He was actually pleased
to get a call from Fleet Admiral J.P. Hansen.
______"Captain, what is your status?"
______"We're still space worthy, still have inpulse drive and it
looks like we may have warp drive and
I've gotten my walking wounded, wounded and dead off. How is
your status, sir?"
______"Bad, Captain Bellingham, very bad. Right now, yours is the
only fully functioning starship in
this sector. How are your people holding up?"
______"Admiral, we're all walking wounded. Speaking of which, I
just sent two of my peple back to
Earth, who were in that category. Senior Chief Anna Haskall
was our Captain's alter ego and she
needs to take him home. Crewmman Debra Sillings couldn't save
friends she thinks she could
have saved. So, I sent her home with Anna; she can at least
save our Anna from her grief, I
hope."
______"Eric, you'd probably get some shit for doing that if I
hadn't ordered you to have this Debra
escort Anna."
______"Ordered Sir?" Eric was tired and didn't get the Admiral's
meaning.
______"Let the record show that I ordered Debra Sillings to escort
Anna Hastings back home; if reality
doesn't include this order, then it should have!"
______"Thank you, Sir. Will that be all?"
______"Yes. We'll talk later."
______The Fleet Admiral walked off; and left the link open. Eric
heard: "I'll take that call from the
Federation President first and tell Salvage Command I'll take
their call as soon as I've talked with
the the President. Tell them both I had a very high priority
call to make."
______The link remained open until Eric ordered it closed. It was
nice to think that Fleet Admiral J.P.
Hanson though so highly of him...
______
______Eric retained command of TAMERLANE for four months and made
no further rescues; he and his crews [augmented by personnel
from the Star Fleet, Klingon and even Romulan fleets]
continued making body retrievals. During this time, Eric began
using drugs to give him energy, to let him sleep and [he
thought] to let him forget.
______Emmily was walking down the corridore to her quarters when an
alarm went off. An officer had flatlined. She immediately ran
to the room her sensors had given her, her mind refusing to
tell her who the occupant was. She saw a crewman behind her
and yelled "JOIN ME NOW". The crewman ran towards the ship's
Senior Medical Officer without questioning the order.
______The door was jammed and Dr. Emmily LaFere's medical pass code
didn't open the door. The crewman ordered her to back up and
blasted the locking mechanism with his phaser set on full; the
lock disinterated and the door could be opened. Emmily nodded
her thanks,
______Eric was flat on his back and flatlined. He was dead. Emmily
gave him an iinjection knowing this was futile if his heart
wasn't beating; it wasn't. She immediately began chest
compressions and the crewman prooved he'd paid attention to
the emergency classes; he bagan mouth to mouth. Eric began
coughing and Emmily ordered "bring him with me to sick bay."
______The crewman plopped Eric on the first medical bed and Emmily
did a quick analysis; she then redid her analysis and called
for her Vulcan junior MD and together they pieced together
what Eric had consummed. Eric had consummed drugs to bring him
up, take him down, put him to sleep and if it had been an
engineering matter, he would have never allowed crewmen to put
together such a mixture, It took several hours but the two
MDs and the paramedic trained crewman were able to analyze
what Eric had taken and countered the various drugs. Then,
Emmily looked at her two assistants.
______"Have either of you slept in the past 8 hours...'
______The crewman had slept 7 hours before seeing her, the Vulcan 4
hours [she normally slept 3 hours a day] and she had gotten 6
hours. She contacted the bridge and said she was taking
Command and gave the Bridge Officer [who had been an Ensign
Junior Officer of the Deck 6 weeks before, before the Borg
attack and who was now an Officer of the Deck Lieutenant
Junior Grade] orders for TAMMERLANE to stop her impulse drive
and to order all officers and crew to report to their quarters
and to get at least 8 hours of sleep. This LTjg was delighted
to obey.
______Emmily took the center seat, the crewman took the bridge
engineering officer's position [for he was a general engineer]
and the Vulcan began monitoring life signs from Medical.
______This is the CMO [Chief Medical Officer]. I have taken command
and hereby order everyone in their quarters to prepare to
sleep. You have 5 minutes to make last minute hed calls and to
prepare; in 5 minutes, I will gas the ship with a mild
sedative. I had better not find anyone away from their beds
and no one had better try resisting. I expect everyone to
sleep."
______Three hours later, the Commodore called and asked "Why are
you drifting in space... Where is Captain Bellingham..."
______"Sir. Captain Bellingham and all but two of our crew were
exhausted, unable to sleep well if they could sleep at all and
were taking drugs to either knock themselves out or to keep
themselves awake. I relieved Eric of Command, ordered everyone
to bed and will let them awaken in perhaps 5 hours. Sir."
______"Very well, Lieutenant LaFere, I approve of your reasons for
taking command." There was a pause. "Do you know the 'great
secret' that officers are expected to know before they can
assume command..."
______"Do you mean that business of being willing to sacriface
officers or members of the crew if necessary to save the Ship,
Captain and Crew... Yes, sir, I do."
______"Havd you ever sent anyone to die.."
______"I sent people into wrecked ships knowing they could be
killed yet I did it to save lives; I sent people into
dangerous spaces on TAMERLANE knowing they could die. So, yes,
sir..."
______"Then, Lieutenant Commander LeFere, I find you fully
justified in your actions."
______"Commodore, I'm a Lieutant, Sir."
______You were a Lieutenant before taking command of TAMMERALNE.
Give your shipmates extra sleeping time; they need it."
______
______A month later, Eric was standing bridge watch when he
realized he needed to get some sleep. He followed the strange
habit he'd gotten into and brought up every sensor the ship
possessed and displayed the results on the main viewer. There
was no evidence of a Borg cube. Then, he began staring at the
screen. It wasn't until one of his sensor techs - an Enlisted
analyst - began active monitoring of all systems and stood at
relaxed parade rest clearly ready to spend hours monitoring
sensors, that Eric allowed one of his Engineering Senior
Chiefs to gently remove him from the bridge and take him to
his quarters. Sometimes, the Senior Chief would have a drink
with Eric; he or she also was haunted by their dead and the
ghosts of the "Battle" of Wolf 359. [That is, if a defeat of
such magnitude could properly be called a "battle".]
______They too were too hurt to really see the wierdness of the
once highly decisive Captain Bellingham unable to leave his
sensor reports for fear those reports would change abruptly.
Eric Bellingham wasn't a coward but he was very afraid of the
living death of becoming a Borg Drone. Even the survivors of
the assualt lead by Loquitus of Borg had great sympathy for
Jean-Luc Piccard.
______The Medical Staff had no choice but to report how their
Captain had overdosed on various drugs and how a number of
other crew members had come nearly as close; there were also
three suicides. These three had expressed their fears of the
Borg and their feelings of guilt but the persons who could
have saved them simply weren't able to be there; they were
treating far too many others. These three were granted the
status of "Casualties, Combat Killed" and were listed as
"Walking Wounded" who had succumed to their wounds. No one
could argue with that and the three were given the same Church
burials as the other dead on or found by the TAMERLANE's crew.
______Finally, Command decided they needed specialized treatment
for the TAMERLANE's personnel and the ship was sent back to
Earth. There had been successfull implantations of Borg tech
in the warp drive that had been discovered after the battle.
It seemed that Eric's "warp jump" that occurred at a critical
moment and the Borg tech had "died" before "coming to life".
TAMERLANE was taken to a deep space station on the Moon
Gabrielle, which orbited the Earth solar system planet Xena.
There, the Borg tech was studied for centuries and confirmed
statements of VOYAGER's personnel. If anything userful came
from these studies, that information was carefully hidden.
______There was a big reunion for the survivors. Eric's entire
extended family was there to greet him and Emmily; Emmily's
family had been brought to Earth on a fast courier vessel [you
can really cover space quickly at warp 9.9] and greeted her.
The two families got along well.
______Quartermaster 2nd class Debra Sillings had moved into a four
bedroom house with Senior Chief Anna Haskall and both were
meeically retired. They had a lot of healing to do; the nearby
presence of their families helped. Although both women
recovered considerably, neither returned to active duty.
______Eric attended therapy sessions faithfully and could parrot
back what he was told. His therapists thougth they were not
reaching him and that was a parital truth; they were reaching
him but he was turning their helpfull remarks into self
recriminations and this made life much harder for him. If he'd
only been able to discuss the one image that haunted him, he
might have been spared much pain. He would also have missed
meeting some very interesting people.
______Eric was in class one day when;
______"Did you know that behaviour modifying drugs have been around
since early humans arose on this planet/int/ Many, many
species have evolved brain pleasure centres as well as pain
centres. Now, there are good reasons for the pain centres but
why the pleasure centres?"
______Eric replied, "Perhaps to dull the pain of existance or to
give hope."
______"How would pleasure give hope?"
______"Pleasure would give home and that could give these creatures
the strength to continue."
______"True but there is the 'pleasure trap', the fact that initial
pleasure can lead to greater needs for the pleasure substance
and eventual failing of the subdstance. Can I get someone else
to respond to Eric's rather interesting comments?"
______There was more discussion and Eric rather tuned them out
until the instructor began to talk about specific drugs.
______"We all know about alcohol but do many of you know of the
other traditional mind altering drugs? There was 'pot', which
was smoked or steeped into tea or cooked in choclate deserts.
[Eric had tried smoking 'pot' and had just coughed a lot.]
There was 'cocaine' but it was highly addictive and a
stimiulant. [Eric mistakenly thought it must be like the
Klingon 'coffee' he had drunk on TAMERLANE and decided why
bother with 'cocaine'?] Then, the instructor spoke of 'heron'
and said it was a member of the opiate family of plant drugs.
Eric decided to ask a question.
______"You've talked about plant drugs that do various things to
people. Why are they effective?"
______"A very good question! Our brains create extremely powerful
pain killers that have much the same chemical structure as
these plant substances. These plant chemicals can affect
brains the same way pain killers created in the brain does. Of
all these drugs, opiates are the most effective."
______The conversation quickly went to other subjects before anyone
thought to ask questions about addicition or withdrawal. Eric
left with the idea of a plant pain killer.
______Eric's fear of the Borg had lead to Star Fleet putting high
grade data processing equipment in his quarters and giving him
a Starship Captain's access. This access covered classified
sensor reports from distanct star systems, classified
information about "antique" drugs, old histories and many
other items. Eric looked up 'heroin'.
______The encyclopedia said 'herion' was produced from poppy plants
and had been grown in Afganistan for many centuries. Eric
looked up contact numbers for the Afganistan Ministry of
History. He got nine numbers.
______It was just past 6 am in Bush City. The Curator of the War
Century Muesum had just gotten back from first prayers.
______"God be with you,"
______"And with you," Eric replied.
______"What may I do for you, Mr. Bellingham?" Eric's
communications consol had sent his name to the Curator.
______"I am doing research on ancient drugs," Eric began, "and I am
curious about opiates and poppies. From what I've read,
Afganistan is the best place to obtain such plant samples."
______"That is true. I do have to wonder why you are calling me
instead of simply reading from an encyclopedia?.
______"I've found that talking with experts is usually superior to
reading from books or watching recordings of experts. How were
poppys grown and harvested?"
______"The growing season was simple enough but the processing was
difficult." The Curator then described the ancient processing
routines for creating opates. It had been so long since humans
had used opates for recreation that the Curator never thought
to wonder why Eric was interested.
______"So it sounds like a very hard thing to process" and thought
of his next choice on the list, hashish brownies.
______"No one processes it any more, it has been created via
replicator for years and is available in injectable form. Many
have used it in hospice but it hasn't been used in desparation
for generations."
______The conversation ended soon after.
______Eric then looked into the availability of heroin and found it
was located in deep storage as an obsolute medication. He
noted that "heroin" was available in packettes which also
included anti-dotes and blocking agents to initiate extremely
quick withdrawal.
______Eric should have noted that last and decided this "heroin"
was too damn dangerous and gone onto his hashish laden
deserts. He had survived the Borg and thought he could
outfight anything. He was wrong...
______
______Eric went out to dinner with his family that night, it being
a Wednesday.
______
______His weekend started with a nice 5 "click" run and after
cleaning up, he used his Star Fleet comptuter link to download
a small amount of heroin into a standard injector. He
remembered that "heroin" came from the German for "heroic" and
injected the substnce into his neck. Several minutes later, he
felt grate euporia.
______It was wonderful!
______It was the first time he'd felt good since before the Borg
attack.
______He went to lunch with Emmily.
______"You seem more cheerful", she said.
______"Yes, I do!"
______"Eric, I'm happy you're happy."
______Several minutes later, she noticed that Eric seemed a lot
less happy.
______"Eric, you didn't do anything dangerous, did you?"
______"No, of course not."
______about five hours after his first injection, he excused
himself, used his Fleet accesses to use a Fleet transporter to
his quarters, made a second injection and returned to the
party, all perky again.
______Emmily didn't let herself think of what could have caused
this and so their day ended nicely, with him kissing her
before they went to their separate quarters.
______He woke up late that night with alternating feelings of
depression and anxiety and a pee hardon so stiff he couldn't
urinate at first; he thought it a shame he didn't have a lover
to use this on. Somehow, he didn't think of Emmily as being a
lover.
______The effects wore off before he thought of taking the
anti-dote.
______
______The next week, Eric decided to find the "good stuff". He
wasn't getting the effects the old books talked about and
there was no one to use this substance with. The idea of using
a hypodermic syringe was disguesting and the idea of "sharing
needles" just turned his stomach. He had enough trouble
sharing a bottle of beer let along getting someone else's
blood mixed in with his own. His medical classes had
emphasised the danger of mixing blood types.
______The following Monday, after therapy was over for the day,
Eric went looking for the good stuff.
______He decided to dress properly for something shady. He put on a
nice, conservative tunic and shaved the pointy sideburns he'd
worn for years. Then, from habit, he put on his working
trousers, his work boots and put his comms badge in a hidden
pocket of the trousers.
______At the third bar he entered, he ordered a beer and spoke to
the bar tender.
______"This is a fine beer but I'm looking for the good stuff."
______That is the good stuff, sonny,"
______Eric emmited the expected laugh and persisted. "I've heard
you've got some stuff that's much better than your beer."
______"And what have you heard?"
______"Just that you've got some really good stuff, some real feel
good stuff."
______"Must be that bourbon you've been hoarding, Tommy." The man
speaking to the bartender had the look of a Marine who'd been
on the beech a bit too long.
______Eric had another beer and because money didn't exist, simply
left without having to pay a bill. People worked at what they
did because they liked to work at what they did.
______"Who do you suppose that was?.
______The beer drinking customer replied "he has the look of a
Fleetie, the boots and work trousers, you know."
______"True," the bar tender replied, thinking of the pale skin on
the otherwise tanned face. There were two triangles that
looked like recently shaved off "Jim Kirk" sideburns [which
were known to be affected by Fleet Marines in particular] This
particular guest had the same triangles when he'd began
hanging out several months before and asking similiar
questions. He smilled in a benign manner.
______I'll see if anyone at Fleet knows anything."
______Saying "Fleet" was something the current generation of Star
Fleet did; it didn't necessary mean he was other than what he
professed to be//colin// a "beached" Fleet Marine.
______Twenty minutes later, the apparent Marine returned.
______"He is a medically retired Fleet Officer, a Lietenant
Commander. I have no idea what he is talking about."
______The bartender didn't believe him! To his eyes, the skinny
stranger had been physically fit enought to be a Marine, had
the Command feel of a Major, was too young to be senior
enlisted and he had seen other Security Officers leave their
ships and go looking to enforce the local laws the locals
didn't seem able to enforce. Just another "visiting fireman"
[whatever that meant] This beer drinker's response suggested
to the bar tender a Marine working deep cover Security to find
out something about the bar. He was right; the bar tender was
a conduit for stollen information and was getting good latium
for tidbits the "fleet sailors" liked to brag about...
______Five and a half months of deep cover work had gone down the
"tubes" for the Sergeant Major after his cover had been
inplicitely blown. Neither would ever find out.
______Later that week, Eric announced to all concerned that he was
going "on walk about". He then left and moved around for a
week, eatting at replicator stations and sleeping on beeches.
Finally, he moved into an abandoned apartment near the Bolian
Section of a beach community in what had been once called
"Northern Calfornia". Here he began using larger doses of
heroin and gradually built up a tollorance. He had been
approached the lethal dose level when he decided he'd had
enough of just hanging out on the beach drugged up. People
were starting to talk to him like he was a mentally retarded
dog. He took the anti-dotes, slept for 26 hours and woke up
with quite an appitate. A side effect was the reversal of the
constitupation. Years later, he would mention having taken his
usual laxative after awakening and then shitting everything he
stuffed inside himself for months...
______It didn't seem funny at the time.
______
______Eric went back to his apartment and found it unchanged. There
were no messages on his answering machine; his desk sized
terminal was unchanged (none of his intrusion detectin things
were moved) and was still connected to Star Fleet
Headquarters. (He didin't consider that someone wanting to
examine "his" terminal would have simply logged in via a port
he didn't need about and wouldn't desturbe the hairs so
"casually" placed in stragetic locations.
______Eric started several deep searches. He looked up the
byproducts of tobacco smoke and started both a world wide scan
for these products and the history of the gases' presence on
Earth. He hacked into the consolidated intelligence files and
attempted to find any secret criminal organizations. He used
Artificual Intelligence "agents" to seek the information he
needed. LCDR Eric Randall Bellingham, Star Fleet Retired,
stillhad a Ship Captain's accesses and some special accesses
from his favourite Fleet Admiral.
______Eric decided to walk around town (San Francisco), was awed
and shocked by the youth from the Academy,the small Enlisted
Cadre who also served on Fleet Ships and their students and
"Regular Folks". He ate seafood attwo different places,
choclate on the waarf and three beers at a little place. Then,
he went home and enjoyed afourteen hour sleep.
______He went back to the bar where he'd asked about "the good
stuff".
______"May I have a beer?"
______"Yes, what will it be?"
______"A Henry Budweiser, please." (The Henry Wienhart folks would
have been bemused had they known that someday Budweiser and
Hentry Weinhart would have merged.)
______"That's good stuff. Is it the best you've got or do you have
some really good stuff?"
______"I've got some really good stuff! Of course, 'good stuff' is
in the mind of the beholder. Some folks like bourbon straight
up, some like fermented Mare's Milk and there's a Klingon
whose come in here, ordered Prune Juice and washed it down
with Blood Wine. He says thats 'the good stuff'! So, you see
sonny, 'good stuff'is subjective." The man, easily in his erly
50s grinned.
______"What do you think is 'the good stuff', young man?"
""Ahhhh, the 'good stuff'."
______"Such a fine Marine response!"
______"Marine?"
______"Until you tell me more about this 'good stuff', I can't help
you, Major."
______Feeling very flustered, Eric left in a hurry. He even
committed the sin of leaving a partially filled lager on the
table. The Marine casually finished his beer and drifted out
of the bar, following Eric. This alone confirmed the br
tender's belief this frequent guest was a "Fleet Agenta"
looking into the bar and it's affairs.
______
______Eric decided he would get some bait.
______Eric used one of his medical tricorders and scanned several
houses in a block. He found several houses that were
unoccuppied and simply walked into the first one. The house
didn't even have alocking mechanism on the door. There was
nothing he couldn't have gotten easily or didn't already have.
There was nothing worth stealing and so he left without the
owners ever knowing they'd almost been robbed.
______The next house was different.
______Eric walked up to the door but it didi not open. He used his
engineering tricorder to determine that a protective system
was in use and that opening the door would set it off. Eric
used some programmes his crew had written to penetrate the
house owner's security system and scan the house contents.
There was nothing worth stealing. THiswas beginning to
disturbe Eric. The Marine Gunny following Eric was beginning
to wonder just what the hell Eric wanted.
______"The third and fourth houses were barren and Eric simply
scanned them from the curb of the carefully preserved "roads".
______The woman in one house called the emergency number.
______"San Franscso police, how may we help you, Mrs. Cassandra?"
______"There is a strange young manwalking in front of my house.
He's waving one of those tricorder boxes Fleet liked to play
with. I just don'tthihnk this is a good thing."
______"Wewilllook into it,Ma'am."
______On the other line, the Marine Gunny was listening.
______"Sir, what is your interest with this man?"
______"He is oneof ours and we'll take responsibility for his
actions. Hehas just gone around the side of a building. I'm
going to see what he's doing."
______"Sir," the police operator replied, "I'm scanning him with
local sensors." There was a pause. "Perhaps it would be a nice
thing for you to leave him be for now." The operator actually
chuckled.
______"Why?"
______Sensors shows he is standing still at the side of a house, in
agroup of trees."
______"I can't see him."
______"Of course not, sir, he is hiding. A low volume of warm
liquid is appearing in front of him; this liquid is body
temperature, has a high uric acid content and a small amount
of organic material. Suggestions?"
______"He's taking a urination?"
______"Correct, he's having a urination and I hope he enjoys it!
Computer analysis suggests it's a big volume event and event
hints at his drinking beers."
______"True, he did drink beer a little while ago but he
committedthe sin of leaving a partial beer on the table. A
good beer, too."
______"What a pity."
______"Thank you for your cooperation, we'll take it from here."
______
______Eric had saved himself by having to piss; he had also
discovered that there was nothing worth taking in the house.
He finished his little mission and left for the curb. He never
saw the Marine, who was using some sort of personal cloak that
had been found on a Star Ship in the Delta Quadrant.
______Eric broke into the next house he found and took a tricorder.
Then he broke into a yet another house, found anothing of real
value but decided to steal a set of fancy flatware. HIs "fleet
escort" waspuzzled by his actions...
______Eric had earlier found an unoccuped building and he went
there. He dropped off his "booty" and used his tricorder to
connect with his computer. The computer hadn't found any
results for his inquiries.
______His premise was that stealing enough stuff would leadto
people talking and this would get to the local crime families.
Then, he just had to go around to a few places and the "word"
would come to him.
______This idea was filled with wishfull thinking and dream stuff
and had he been fully rational, he would have shot down the
idea. Before the Wolf, he wold never have believe he could act
as he been doing. He would have laughed and mocked the mixture
of bad ideas, poor logic and simply lunacy in his notions and
conclusions.
______But this was after the Wolf...
______Eric went to an upper floor of "his" building and entered
very dusty rooms. There, he found an ancient "come along".
This was a device that slide under big objects and generated
artificual gravity fields to both support the "come along"
above the floor and to hold objects on the "come along".
______He did a rather poor and prefunctuary job of scanning the
area with his engineering tricorder. Even a high class
scannign job would hvae been futile as the Marine squad were
all "cloaked".
______Eric took a mobile from near "his" warehouse to a house some
20 clicks from there. The 'mobile" was a chair which used an
internal anti-gravity drive to float just above the paement
and which cruised at a precise 25 kilomters per hour. It was a
pleasant drive and he was easy to follow: noone else was being
followed by a "comealonmg". And follow him the did. Men on
floasting chairs rode behing Eric and pulled off to the side
fo the road before he suspected. Other men used transporters
to bean onto side strees ahead of Eric and "followed hiim from
ahead". Others forcast where he could be going and went there.
It was an interesting exercise.
______The trip ended at a fairly nice house. It was centries
old`and had a driveway looping around an island of grass. Eric
noted three different sensor systems but oddly enough, none of
them wee working. This along would have caused the "old" Eric
to fleein terror.The "new" Eric thought thought distainfully
of the folks who lived there.
______Eric walkedup to the front door and found it unopened.He
coudln't believe the laxness and lack of security this folks
exibited. Eric should have realized that two secruity ssytems
had been focused on the door and the door had been unlocked
for him.
______Eric walked around inside the house and decided that
everything was either too commmon to steal or simply too big
to take. He called in the "come along", arbituarily took their
sofa and marched outside.
______The sight of Eric Randall Bellingham, LCDR (ret) marching
along side his sofa toting "come along" was so military the
Marines watching were amazed, amused and horrfyied. They later
agreed this retired officer was still a Star Fleet Officer.
Deep inside was the soul of a Fleet Officer and they felt hope
for him.
______He was pathetic but he could be saved if only he would help
others help himself...
______
______Eric took back roads and got "his" sofa into "his" warehouse.
He settled the sofa by one wall, sat at the table and looked
at the two other stollen items. A horrible truth was being to
sink in.
______His tricoder attached to his home terminal was flashing. Eric
opened access to his terminal by letting the tricorder monitor
his bio-signs. The data there confirmed his fears.
______He coudln't find any drug dealers because there were no drug
dealers.
______He couldn't find anyone "fencing" stollen goods because there
no fences.
______There was no point in stealing items because everything could
so easily be obtained by replicator, by barter or by
requesting.
______Earth hadn't used money in many decades, therefore the
economy was very, very different from that of his beloved
novels set in the 20th Century. People couldn't get everything
they wanted but an allotment system based on "credits" earned
determined who got what. (It was very Soviet.) The saving
grace was that production was done by automated factories or
hand built by artisians. There was simply no want...
______Eric began laughing and that lead to tears of despair...
______
______He hardly reacted when the Star Fleet Marines (acting in
their Security role) walked in and sat around the table.
______So, Lieutenant Commander, what are you going to do with this
stuff? Why did you steal it?"
______Eric roared with laughter and sobbed "you would never
believeme if I told you!"
______They believed him and he didn't notice when a Vulcan walked
up behind him, did a very quick and throughl mind meld and
walked away shaking his head.
______"This young man was quite right, we would not beleve him. He
was so hurt by the Borg attack that he started using drugs -
stong drugs - to hide his pain. Some of these drugs were not
used for centuries and our doctors have forgotten how bad they
are. They have even forgotten how to tell when they were
used." She paused. "This officeris the first hair-oh-win
addict in perhaps 150 years. No one realy knows how to treat
this addiction."
______"Is that true?"
______"About the hair-oh-win additiction?"
______"Yes. There are anti-dotes but there are no known ways to
remote the cravings. The cravings! The literature I read
didn't talk about the cravings! ANyone got a drink, something
alcoholic?"
______One of the Security Marines handed Eric a small flask of rum.
Eric chugged some, sat for several minutes while the effect
kicked in, then chugged some more.
______"I feel better,"Eric said.
______Another thing forgotten in the "clean centuries" (i.e. drug
free centuries) was that stong alcohol could help junkies
survive withdrawal. He would do a lot of resisting in the
coming years. He had suffered a lot of emotional pain.
______"So, what are we to do with this stuff?"
______The Gunny who had drank with Eric replied.
______"We'll return it to the owners."
______The tricoder was simply beamed back near where Eric had
stollen it and no one knew it'd been taken. It was too late to
beam back the silverwear. The owners were having a party.
______They intercepted a call to the local police, reporting the
missing items. They simply beamed them to a nice location and
the owners called back with an embarrassed "we found them.
Sorry about calling you."
______The sofa was another matter. The sofa was too large to be
beamed back and his thieft was too unusual. The Marines called
the Sector Admiral and told him the situation. The Admiral
called Star Fleet Medical they agreed to take Eric into
custodial care. They monitored the conversation:
______"Police, this is StarFleet Medical. We woiuld like to
intervene here."
______"Why? What is Star Fleet's interetinthis matter?"
______"The person who stole the sofa is a medically retired
StarFleet officer. He may be clinically insane and that is the
reason he felt it necessary to steal your sofa. We would like
to return your property."
______"WHy would an officer steal a sofa?"
______"It is not something we care to discuss."
______"Fine! Give his name to the police."
______"He was a senior officer on a fleet ship at the WOlf 359
disaster. He took command after his Commanding Officer was
killed by the Borg. He did rescue work and had victims die in
his arms. He is walking wounded."
______The Gunny interjected:
______"During Earth's so-called 'Second World War', a group of
elite soldiers faught a desparate battle. Many were killed,
many wounded and some of them later died of their wounds. An
outstanding officer on one side said 'we were all
casualties'."
______"This man was a serious casualty. We don'tknow if he can be
saved but we need to try. Trying him for thieft would destroy
our hopes for him. He is not body injured and he is more than
mentally injured, he is soul sick. Threr is hope but it has to
be under the treatment of the correct people."
______"We would like to speak with this thief!"
______Eric howled in agony.
______The woman who had demanded to speak with Eric blanched and
said "get him treated! He can keep the sofa!"
______"We will replace your sofa with anyone you want. We can send
some of our best interior decorators to your home tomorrow."
Those listening were shocked. "We have interior decorators for
the Embasseys etc."
______Eric was taken to the main Star Fleet Hospital, was checked
in and given a healthy meal. Eric had gained some 12 pounds,
which was remarkable for a person in that century. Then, he
spent some time simply talking with his doctor and he was put
to bed on a rather comfortable bed. He suspected this bed was
a high class medical instrument and he was correct.
______
______Eric awoke in a strange bed and it took him several minutes
to realize where he was. Only when he looked like he a aware
of his surroundings did a bearded man come in.
______LCDR Eric Randall, I am Dr. Donage and may I call you Eric?"
______Sure, why not and did you say Doctor?"
______"Yes," Dr. Donage replied with a smile, "I have that
distinction."
______"Are you, by any chance, a Betazoid?" Eric really meant "are
you a mind reader?"
______"No, of course no!" Dr. Donage thought "but I am a half
Bdtazoid and a weak telepath.'
______"Eric, you've really gotten yourself messed up. Do you
realize you're the first herion addict in over a hundred
years? We're really not sue how to treat you."
______"I'm sorry about that; I'm not sure I'd been addicted if I
really knew the consequences."
______Dr. Donage suspected Eric Bellingham would have been even
more addicted had he known the consequences.
______"We're going to have to get your health back to normal.
You're still in fairly good shape. Did you work out on your
ship?"
______"Yes, I ran on a trendmill for 30 minutes a day, lifted
weights three times a week and we all did situps, pushups,
chin-ups, sit-ups and a fewother exercises several times a
week. It wasn't exactly fun but like a Muslim doing their five
prayesrs a day, we did our workouts."
______"How come we don't hear this in the Star Fleet publicity?"
______"Would you join a military unit that requires physical
workouts and which generally doesn't have those 'Jim Kirk
adventures'?" He smirked; he had been on three "away parties"
to alient worlds; two had been to dead worlds and nothing had
happened, one had been to an inhabited world and the away
party had barely excaped charging aliens. They then surveyed
this planet from orbit...
______"Have you felt disappointed by this?"
______"What difference? The difference between the publicity
stories and the reality of ship duty? Not really, I've been an
engineer most of my career."
______"So, your focus was always the engineering?"
______Yes, it was, no, wait a minute," he paused. "At first, I was
purely interested in Engineering but then I realized that as
much as I like engineering, I like command better."
______"But command requies taking responsibility, yes?"
______"Yes, it does."
______"How do you deal with the stress?"
______"We were taught various coping stregeties."
______"Is becoming a herion addict one of those techniques?"
______"No, it is not!"
______Dr. Donager wasn't a very strong telepath but he was a
telepath and could tell his patient was heading for emotional
shutdown and he dind't want this. He decided to change
subjects.
______"Have you ever gone sailing?"
______"Sailing?"
______"Sure. Can you see those sailboats out on the harbour?
They're planning on leaving the staging area, make a loop
around the old Museum Island and come back. We doctors have a
running bet on the outcome."
______"What did you bet?" Dr. Donager read the thoguht "loser gets
to treat the looney officer".
______"The race hasn't started yet and I haven't lost." Eric didn't
realize this MD must have read his mind. "I've bet my
ancestor's Coffee Cake. That is, if I lose, I have to bake a
very large batch of my ancestors coffee cake. Besides, I'm
afraid they're getting tired of it, anyway."
______"Really?" Eric really hated it when his crewmen felt sorry
for themselves; it was a pity he couldn't hear himself but the
Doctor could...
______"Yes, they are," Dr. Donager said as he checked a medical
tri-corder.
______"Well, let me try some."
______The MD was happy to hear this but kept this from showing.
______Several minutes later, a nurse broght in a tray with slices
of coffee cake, covered in melted butter. This was real butter
on real coffee cake made with real sugar etc. It was decadent
and something that "good" MDs didn't prescribe; Eric needed
some good food and this was a start.
______Some minutes later, the doctor spoke.
______"Do you have any idea just how dangerous this herion really
is? Do you have any warning that you'll spend years fighting
the temptation to use this material and the conditions under
which you are most vulnerable to useage?"
______"Er, no sir."
______"Well, Eric, you are going to be."
"Several minutes later, the sedatives in the coffee kicked in
and Eric nodded off. They moved Eric to a gurney and took him
into an oerating room where a very intensive physical scan of
Eric was conducted. They noted the constipation and used a
transporter to beam in stool losteners and did other things to
Eric that he didn't need to know...
______
______That night, Dr. Donager, Eric's lead physicaian, called his
parents.
______"Mr. Bellingham, Mrs. Bellingham, I am Dr. D'jel Donager and
am your son Eric's lead medical doctor. Have you heard from
Eric lately?"
______"No, Doctor," Mrs. Bellingham replied, "he jsut sent us a
note saying he 'was going on walk about'. We're worried about
him, a large number of people from his ship have called and we
haven't known what to tell Emmily."
______"Would that be Emmily LaFere?"
______"Yes, she is. Do you know her?"
______"No, sir, I don't but I know the French section of Star Fleet
Medical has charge of her treatment. She has a lot of issues
and her doctors don't think she should talk with 'her Eric'
quite yet."
______"'Her Eric'?"
______"Yes, her Eric," Dr. Donager answered sadly, "for a couple
that loves each other, they seem more iterested in dancing
around each other than in dancing with with each other." He
thought "dancing in her" but couldn't tell if he had thought
that or if one of Eric's parents had; he thought the Mother
had.
______Eric woke up the next morning in "his room" and never
realized he'd been to the treatment room. A minister came to
see him but Eric didn't remember the man's name let alone his
denomination. This was most unlike Eric; before the Borg, Eric
could have remembered the Preacher's full name, significant
physical characterists, denomination and the main points of
their discussion. All he rmememebered was "general religious
talk" and that would bug him in later years.
______The following Tuesday, Eric was released from the hospital
but wsa strongly encouraged to move into Fleet housing. Eric
could tell an order when he heard one and obeyed...
______
______The "Marine" Gunny (actually a Sergeant Major") met Eric and
suggested, in front of Eric's nursing staff minder, "why don't
we go for a nice run?"
______"Sure, let's!" Eric said in a tone of bring enthusanism that
fooled no one. "I'd love a nice run!"
______Both men ran a slow two blocks before they were out of sight
of the residence and the Marine said "I think I've run long
enought. Want to walk, instead?"
______"Well, for you, I'll give up this easy run." Eric was blowing
like a blast furnace but he'd been able to keep up, barely
able to keep up...
______"Have you ever thought about the 'old days', the days of the
United States of America or the United Kingdom. I'm talking
about their Navies, where some of their Marine officers
received the same training at their Navy Academies and the
rest at civilian colleges? In our time, all our officers are
trained at the Academy and are basically Navy officers with
Marine Core training and orientation."
______"I haven't really thought about that but it seems to me that
our Academny is more Marine than Navy. Look how easy it is
more the 'Navy branch' offices and enlisted to act as Marines
with little training."
______"It's that survival and space training, it's really Marine
training with a different name."
______"Are you saying you didn't get specialized Marine training?"
______"Yes, I did, just as you got specialized engineering and ship
driving training."
______They walked for another couple of hours. Of course, they
didn't walk continuously, they stopped for coffee a coupld of
times and had a nice lunch just before Eric returned to his
quarters. They arranged to meet the next day.
______"did you have a nice walk," Eric's "minder" asked when Eric
was back inside the halfway house.
______"I sure did! We're going for another walk tomorrow."
______The minder already knew this; Eric had been wearing a "bug"
and nither he nor Marine knew this.
______Eric had wanted the experience of the early 20th century. He
didn't realize that he was being treated as a medical casualty
and not like a "drug crazed madman running loose" as he would
have in his precious 20th century!
______Eric had a very nice breakfast the next day. He didn't
realize the meal was mostly bulk and that it was a nicly
designed diet plate. The bacon, fried eggs, fried potatoes,
coffee cake, orange juice and coffe were in portions a bit
bigger than was the normal in the 23th century and would have
been considered on the light side in Eric's precious 20th.
______Eric's Marine ate with Eric and the other inmtes.
______Then, Eric was in a low key therapy session for a couple of
hours. After that, he left for a basketball game.
______Eric had once been a fine player. He was badly out of
practice (basketball didn't go well with the exposed equipment
or controls that peppered the TAMERLANE, a ship that wasn't
the modern showcase of safe design that ENTERPRISE was.
TAMERLANE had been designed as a warship and that meant being
able to get easy access to varous components of the ship.
______Eric actually got a couple of baskets and suspected the other
players had given his an easy time. Three weeks later, after
he'd lost 15 pounds, Eric knew he'd been treated very gently
that first day; he wasn't being treated gently now and
wouldn't have it any other way!
______Eric wouldn't realize for some years just how different his
treatement had been from that of junkies in the 20th. In the
20th century, he would have been jailed and probably left to
crash, to come "cold turkey" down from the herion. Instead, he
was given slow medical treatement to reverse the effects of
the drug.
______In the 20th, he would not be playing basketball with the
police who'd "busted" him and Emmily and him would not have
had Sunday brunch at the police chief's home.
______The reunion with Emmily had been painful with recriminations
and expressions of love and concern and left Eric (and Emmily)
with the knowledge that each loved the other. It was a damned
shamne that neither felt the urge to "get physical" but in the
long run, that was a good thing.
______
______In late August 2365, a meeting was held to decide Eric's
future. FADM Hanson, FADM Dr. "Bones" McCoy, CDR Beverly
Crusher, Dr. Donager and the Marine/Security Sergeant Major
met.
______The FADM spoke first:
______"What are we to do with this officer?"
______"The man is a failure as a civilain," the Sergeant Major
spoke first.
______"He is a natural ship driver and is only at home on ships,"
Dr. Donager, who had been ENTERPRISES's doctor before Beverly
Crusher agreed.
______"Then, what job can we put him into? Chief Engineer?"
______"We could, Dr. McCoy but that isn't quite good enough. A
Chief Engineer controlls Engineering but Eric Bellingham need
more control than that. He needs to control the ship itself,
he needs to know he can keep his people safe or if necessary
to endanger them, he'll be the one to endanger them. Eric
thinks that he and only he can insure the minimum casualty
count."
______"Well, then, Admiral, I don't think we can put him directly
in command of any ship. We need to ease him back 'into the
harness'".
______"I agree, Dr. McCoy and I've already got an answer. We can
put him in a special training class at the Academy. After
that, we can put him in command of the General's boat; the
general is about to accept Eric's Vulcan as a patient -er- his
commanding offier. I'm not sure what classes though."
______"I have just the classes in mind, Fleet Admiral. He can take
a 8 am class in command philosophy, a class in the paperwork a
Captain needs to know, the specialized legal training he or
she needs and emphasis on the proper mind set for command, a
class in comparative religion, work out hard before lunch and
the real course: We're going to give him an open afternoon
schedule starting with damage control classes and then
therapy."
______"What is the joke?"
______"Wait my dear Dr. Beverely, just wait and you'll see." The
Sergeant Major laughed and when they finally got the answer
from him, the rest of the meeting lagughed as well...
______
______Eric sat in an easy chair across from Dr. Donage and wondered
what the good doctor seemed secretive about.
______"Eric, have you thought about what you want to do with the
rest of your life?"
______"I thought I'd try getting the training for a civilian life."
______"Oh, male targ feces! You're not a 'civilian', not now Eric.
YOu're a sailor at heart."
______"True, I am. I suppose I could get hired on a merchant vessel
and finally see the universe."
______Dr. Donager simply stared.
______"Haven't you ever wanted to sail on a tramp steamer and see
the sea? Doc?"
______"Are you serious?"
______"No. I would like to return to space but if I can't go on a
Star Fleet vessel, then it would have to be a merchant ship."
______"What makes you think you're barred from Star Fleet ship
command?"
______"What would bar me? How about the drug addiction? How about
the thieving? How about running up a criminal record? How
about that?"
______"What criminal record, Eric? You were never charged with
'thieving' as your friends talked the home owners out of
pressing charges. The drug addiction is not a crime in this
century even if it was a crime in the 20th century; it is a
medical problem and medical problems can either be cured and
an officer can return to space or said officer is treated or
medically retired.
______'We're told you'll be taking command of a small boat after
the refresher training. This ship's First Officer said 'he's
already pencilled in our name as his next Commander'". The
General is looking forward to meeting you."
______"Bottom line: I would be back in space on a fleet vessel?"
______"Yes, Eric, you would be and you'd be in command."
______"I accept then!"
______
______Eric was nervous before the first class. He had been asked to
wear his working uniform, which the uniform of a commissioned
offier and not a cadet's uniform. He didn't wear rank insignia
and left many of his classmates to wonder if he was an officer
or a Chief. The speculation wasn't helped with Eric was
overheard having a private conversation with his old classmate
William Riker. They were clearely friends, were easy about
using first names, Riker was worried about Eric's health and
hoped that Eric would "command another deck soon".
______Eric hadn't noticed the door was open when he talked to Will
Riker.
______Eric's picture and the naem "Eric Bellingham" was ran through
the databases and the legends of Eric was rapidly inflated.
______
______Later, when the instructors discussed the "Piccard Manuever".
______"The so called 'Piccard Mannever' is based on belief that a
very brief, high power jump into and out of warp can move a
ship safely even in a very deep gravity well. Any observers
will think the ship jumping has escaped or exploded. The
useage is contra-indicated."
______"I respectfully disagree. It worked well for Captain Piccard
and if the equations are solved properly, a modern star ship
can make a brief 'Piccard jump'. Of course, it takes training
and the ship's systems have to be in very good shape and it
takes luck."
______"And you knowledge of this is?"
______"I knew TAMERLANE's warp engines were in good enough shape
for a 'Piccard Manuever', my bridge crew calculated the jump
correctly and their results agreed with mine, the Borg were
closing and I made the jump out of desparation."
______Eric's classmates looked at each other. So, this was LCDR
Eric Bellingham, late of the late TAMERLANE!
______"I commanded TAMERLANE at Wolf 359 after my Captain was
murdered by those God Damned Borg!"
______There was an embarrassed silence after Eric's roar.
______"I guess I still have strong feelings about the matter."
______The class discussion continued but the atmosphere was
different. It was one thing to have "that old fart, he must be
31 years old" as a classmate and it was quite another to have
a decorated war hero. All they knew about Eric was he had been
medically retired for severe stress.
______
______Eric went to the damage control class and on the first day,
hoped the material would get better.
______On the second day, Eric thought the material was so badly
presented that he prayed it would get better.
______On the third day in the class, Eric had enough. He asked to
speak with the instructors.
______"I hate to criticize all of you for this class but it needs
to be stronger if it's going to prepare officers and crew to
serve now. After all, we're facing the Borg, probably the
Romulans, the Cardessian and we'll have to live with the
Klingons and Norseicans. The training seems fine, most of it
but the emphasis seems to be on following procedures. You
should teach how to blend different procedures and break the
chain of command; have junior people be put in the position of
having to take charge of dealing with broken coolant pipes,
intruders, away parties where tricorder wielding yeoman have
to use phasers to escape from attackers. There are also
traditional drills that will help remove arrogance from some
of my fellow students and many lesson from the past. Just a
suggestion, ladies and gentlemen."
______"So, you want to take over as Lead Instructor for the rest of
this eight month course, Eric"?"
______"Yes, I do, sir."
______Then, you have it! Pleae formulate your changes with your
instructors; they have mentioned changes they'd like to
implement.
______After Eric left to attend "my session" (group therapy
session), one of the instructors looked at the rest and said
"that Marine was right! We have a wolverine here!"
______
______On the first day of the next week, when Eric announced he was
taking over as Lead Instructor, Eric was speaking to every
student in the damage control/survival class (which only met
afternoons).
______"The instruction circulum is very well written and quite
compreshesive and I'm not changing that. What we're changing
is the mind set. It is one thing to know and execute emergency
procedures. You will even learn how to blend or modify
procedures on the fly. This is traditional as well. There are
some folks who wouldn't normally take command in a crisis and
they will be doing so. You're also going to do some old drills
that can't happen on a ship."
______"An example would be to put emergency patches on fresh water
pipes. Does this sound practical?"
______One of the brighter cadets spoke: "Sir, I don't know if
putting an emergency patch on a fresh water pipe is relevant
but putting an emergency patch on a pipe carrying pressurized
helium from a pebble bed reactor might be very important.
Sir."
______"A pebble bed reactor? Who uses those?" This instructor knew
this answer already.
______"Sir, the Tangray disdain fussion reactors and use Pu239
pebble bed reactors for their auxialiary power. Any of use
assigned to a Tangray ship should know how to patch or repair
their systems, sir."
______"Quite right, quite right, Mr. James. I don't hpoe you'll
serve on their ships but if you do, you'll be ahead of the
game."
______There was a pause as a screen slid down behind Eric. This was
so 21st Century...
______"What we're going to see is an actual history tape. First,
the setup. In the mid 20th century, 1967, a great Naval vessel
was preparing to conduct combat operations. He flashed some
images. There are the combat craft they flew. He showed a
variety of period piece Naval aircraft and how they were
launched and recovered on the carrier. The students had a bit
of trouble getting used to 2-D images.
______Then he showed images of how the weaspons were loaded, armed
and fired.
______"You've now seen enough to comprehend the disaster about to
unfold. Thee will be surprises...
______The movie started and the "US NAVY" credits flowed past. The
students looked at the aircraft "in pack", they watched a very
young looking man check something with what looked like a
tricorder, pull a flag and then die when I missile launched.
______The missile rammed shot across the deck, hit another warbird
and it exploded, firing the archiat weapons at other warbirds
and soon the deck was a hell of fire, explosions and running
men.
______Groups of men holding long hoses hoses advanced across the
burning deck and something coming out of the hoses dampened
the fires. Then, to their surprise, other teams came across
the deck, also pouring liquid from their hoses and the fires
resumed. It was most puzzling...
______
______"Does anyone see the disasters occurring? For those who are
wondering, this was the USS FORRESTAL. "USS" stands for
"United States Ship" in this case."
______No one responded.
______"First, they should have put each warbird on the catapult
before pulling the safties. Then, had the missle fired, it
might have killed, burned to death, the missile tech and may
have hurt the launch control officer but the missile would not
have struck other warbirds and set off a series of explosions.
Can anyone guess what caused this problem?"
______Eric knew it was too esoteric.
______"What about the tech?"
______"Was he using a tricorder on the launching mechanism? Did he
misuse it?"
______"Good response and I like your reasoning. Now, they didn't
have tricorders then, what the sailor had was a static
electricity detector. The weapon was fired by a pulse fired
down a pair of wires. When he removed the flag, he removed a
safety that shorted out the firing lines. You'll rmember from
basic electricity that a shorted pair of lines won't allow
current to get to the load - the firing mechanism in this
case. What happened is the static electricity detector failed
and when the lad pulled the safety, a surge of static
electricity on the line set off the missile's firing
mechanism."
______He paused.
______"The first crew of hosemen were pouring a fire surpressing
compound on the highly inflamatory fuel and initially stopped
the fires. The follow on hosemen poured cold sea water on the
deck. I suppose this was to cool off the deck and prevent it
from warping. What it also did was remove the protective
coating and allow the fire to resume. There were a number of
deaths. Do any of you know where the worst deaths were?"
______"The pilots in the warbirds and the crew working on their
warbirds?"
______"Yes, many did so die and they received a high honour, the
Purple Heart, for wounds suffered in the line of duty during a
war time operation. I doubt their widows and orphans and
parents and other friends and relatives took much confort. The
real kill zone was in a large so-called 'berthing
compartment'. That was a large room where some 80 sailors -
crewmen if yous will - were ordered to stay. They were ordered
to stay in this room and when they started coughing they
obeyed orders and so they died from smoke inhaliation. It was
a horrible tragety!"
______There was a long pause and one of the instructors asked
"comments, please".
______"Maintain your chain of command."
______"Know your jobs."
______"Know what to do in disasters!"
______"Know when to disobey stupid and dangerous orders!"
______"Now, that is an interesting answer! You do know that a major
goal of military training is to instill instant obedience to
orders and to do dangerous things, ever risk or give up your
life, because your senior officers or senior enlisted believe
it necessary. Ok, this is Basic Military Philosophy 101. A way
to get around this is for everyone to know what to do in
emergencies, how to respond and the reasons for the responses.
But, you are right in this case. The chain of command failed
to keep situation awareness and the proper people allowed
sailors to die. We are going to teach everyone this
philosophy. The course that has been taught did this nicely;
we're going to improve on that!"
______The students then watched some other presentations and
"enjoyed" a five hour class. The next day, the classes went
back to an hour each and Eric and his insturctor began
handling the five sections.
______
______The restraunt was very nice and situated near the Columbia
River in Vancouver. He was decked out in a light green tunic,
dark green trousers and fleet work boots. He had a Bajorian
Vedic's nose ring on, what must have been a miniturized Order
of the Baalith around his neck and under the tunic and a Star
Fleet Medical Doctor's comms badge. He stood out...
______Eric's Father wondered in and each recognized the other
immediately. (A 7 foot tall old Klingon who had gaunted out
with age was immediately obvious.)
______The General met Eric's Father before he could get to the
table.
______"Henry, son of Andrew, of the House of Bellingham, I am Wand,
son of Jorell, of the House of Wand. It is an honor to met
you, sir. I met your son years ago and have been very
favourably impressed with him. I greive with thee."
______"Thank you, sir. Are you a doctor?"
______The two walked back to the table. The General ordered two
local brewed beers.
______"This is a good choice, Doctor, how did you know?"
______"Your son Eric told me which beer to pick and please call me
Wand. I am a Star Fleet trained Medical Doctor and have served
the Federation for 30 years now. Your Eric is one of the
finest people I've met and it is his virtues that have driven
him to irrational behaviour. He is receiving excellent
treatment but there is something deep inside Eric that is
preventing him from fully healing. You could think of what I
propose as a final attempt at healing."
______"Does it work well?"
______"Henry, it has worked with Vulcans, Humans, Klingons,
Bolients, Andorians and even a Breen. Of course," the General
roared with laughter, "the Breen was my prisoner!"
______"What did you do with the Breen?"
______"I had my second officer arrange a way for this Breen to
escape and to steal away in on of my ship's shuttles. Of
course, he thought there were covert tracking beacons and he
found the ones we intended for him to find. The ones we didn't
intend to find were what the AMERICA battle group followed.
Star Fleet seemed to accidentally interupt a Breen attack on a
Bajorian refugee ship. We recovered our shuttle and our
ersewhile priosoner escaped; he has been a very moderate Breen
officer since then and has apparently prevented violence.
______"Now, what I plan is..."
______
______Six months into the eight month course, Eric got too tired
and broke down; he shot up with the herion and thought he
could use the anti-dote before anyone noticed. he had gone
back to his old apartment before doing this. He woke up the
next moring in the clinic of the halfway house; he was on an
exaning table.
______"What the bleeding hell were you thinking?"
______"I don't know why I just had to do it..."
______"What was your schedule yesterday?"
______Eric told him and the Nurse/Doctor Assistant (who would have
rated as an MD in the 20th Century) and the N/DA immediately
responded: "You were too damned tired!"
______They spoke for several minutes and his therapists talked with
him. Eric had missed his morning classes and after lunch, made
it to the second of the five afternoon classes. He looked in
the room, nodded at his students and welked up to the
instructor's offices. The students were told "Mr. Bellingham
was ill and will be missing class."
______The students knew Eric had some kind of emotional problems
from the Wolf disaster. They were sympathic but didn't know
what they could do to help. Actually, not making a fuss over
Eric was the best they could have done. Eric was very much a
traditional officer and believed that Senior Officers didn't
tell there problems to their junior people.
______
______The decussion of religion was one which Eric was very
interested. He had been a Methodist and now wondered how God
could have let the Borg loose. He studied a number of
religious faiths in this class and that actually helped his
recovery.
______A week after his breakdown, Dr. Wand was back at Star Fleet
Medical Headquarters. He had brought his great-granddaughter,
B'linna, with him. After his briefing on Eric, he decided that
Eric would be a good candidate. But, inspite of having lived
in the Federation for 30 years, he still thought important
questions had to be decided by the family and not just the
individual.
______The General contacted Eric's father and arranted a meeting;
he also contacted LT Emmily LaFeere and asked her to attend.
They arranged to meet at an outdoor restraunt near Mt. Hood.
It was very private.
______The General and his great-granddaughter enter after Eric's
family. The General spoke:
______"Shall I make introductions? I am Wand, son of Jorell, of the
House of Wand. This is my great-granddaughter, B'linna.
B'linna, our hosts are Henry, son of Andrew, Kathryn, daughter
of Linda and their daughter Kaylee. This young lady is Emmily,
daughter of Deborah, of the house of LaFere. If they give
their permission, their son Eric will be in command of my
boat. I would like to discuss the whole matter."
"Certainly, grandfather."
______"Perhaps I should talk about me first. I served with the
Klingon Armed Forces for 90 years. I was a ship's officer for
14 years, then a Marine officer for 6 years and the logical
counsequence would have been for me to assume command of a
Marine company. Instead and with perfect Klingon logic, I was
given command of my first ship. I spent the last 70 years of
my Naval career commanding ships." He looked directly at
Kaylee. "I served on the far side of the Klingon and never
faught Federation members. In fact, I helped pevent the deaths
of Federation settlers on a planet near one of my patrol
routes."
______"How was that, General?"
______"A compact white dwarf star slammed through a G class star.
This resulted in massive fussion occurring and the G class
star emmited the amount of energy it should have in about a
million years. The energy was so intense that the planets
simply evaporated. I have imagery of it. Anyway, we knew of
the human settlement and when we realized what was about to
happen, we were able to evacuate the entire settlement. We
later resettled them in a Federation deisgnated site."
______He paused.
______"Then, I retired, visited Earth for the first time and met my
old friend Lenard McCoy and he talked me into going to Star
Fleet Medical school. I specialized in illness of the heart
and mind. Over the years, I studied on Bajor and became a
Vedick, revived my Kliongon religious studies and eventually
studied Earth religions. I may not be a Christian or Muslim or
Jew but the highest officials of those faiths have given me
the training and permission to minister to their members. It
has been very helpful in my work. Your Eric is a Liberal
Chistian with definite leandings towards Reform Jewdianism. He
is haunted by the ghots of Wolf 359. That would be bad enough
but there is one particualar set of memories that drives me to
drugs and he can't or won't tell us that what is. We believe
that my crew can help him.
______"Why are you telling us this?" Eric's mother wanted to know.
______"Among Klingons, family is everything. The decision to do
this must be made with the familie's blessing and permission;
even if Eric doesn'twant to serve as my ship's commander, he
willhave to should his family demand it."
______The General's serene belief in the sancity of the family
alone was sufficient to concince Eric's family to go along
with the plans.
______"What will Eric have to do?" For once Kaylee referred to her
bother as "Eric".
______"He will simply have to be hisself, my dear, simply that.
Only then can we pressure him into revealing the ghosts that
torment them and only then can we exorcise them.
______There was some general conversation when B'linna saw her
great-grandfather give her the eye and slash his eyes to her
left and she knew it was time to draw off Kaylee.
______"Kaylee, would you mind going with me to the other side. I
want to see the valley."
______The young woman and young girl walked off. After a few
minutes, the elderly Klingon acted startled and looked at
Emmily. "Young lady, would you mind checking on my
great=granddaughter? Thank you!"
______Emmily walked off and Eric's Mother spoke: "I have very good
hearing and heard nothing. Were you trying to get Emmily away
from here?"
______"Yes, I was. There is a matter concerning Emmily. Since
Emmily and Eric are betrouthed, you are acting for her
parents. She is probably more damaged than Eric. Only by
goingon my ship and helping treat Eric and some others can
Emmily be cured. We hope. This is a family mnatter, her
parents are too far away and since you two are acting in her
parent's names, I need your permission."
______"Betrouthed?"
______"They plan on marrying?"
______"You need our permission?"
______"Emmily and Eric have been living like a married couple that
doesn't have sexual relations and which occaionally lives
apart. Hense, the need for your permission. Why they don't
declare their love is something I can't figure out."
______"They were on the same ship and at the end, Emmily worked for
him. By human customs, that prevented their relationship."
______"Maybe," the General mused, "I'll have to include discussions
of being sneaky to these kids."
______Eric's parents and Emmily's "acting parents" nodded in
agreement.
______Minutes later, the two young women and the girl came back as
the "old farts" were discussing the merits of some old style
of coffee.
______The big hit of the rehab center, gosip-wise, was the Vulcan
who had been saved from the Borg. He had become extremely
emotional, become extrmemely unemotional and in his
occasillations, had visited various human churches. He liked
the answers he found there.
______He spent about six hours a day for five months in intensive
study (which for a Vulcan is very intense) and ended up
joining the Catholic Church.
______Eric, Emmily and the survivors of "the Wolf" and a number of
others watched his First Communion. It was a very moving
experience and it was very strange to see a Vulcan officer
wearing a simple cross over his uniform tunic. Something that
initially seemed very wrong occurred:
______The Vulcan's fiance broke off their engagement.
______
______Later that week, the newly "made" Vulcan Catholic who had
changed his name to "Brother Soran" was meeting with Eric, his
"sister" Emmily (who had saved his life) and the head of the
Rehab Centre.
______"I asked the Bishop if I could attend the Seminary. He said
'no'. I asked why and he said 'you, my Son, are on the
emotional rebound. Your fiance has abandoned you, your
certainties in religious belief have been shaken, you will be
facing the Pon Fare and you need to do a great deal of soul
searching'. I was furious."
______"You were furious?"
______"Yes, my sister, I was furious! His Holiness, my Bishop,
didn't say anything but let me regain my 'emotional composure'
and realize that I'd felt a very ancient and very dangerous
emotion: True Vulcan Rage!"
______"What really bothers you Torrock, er, Brother Soran?" Eric
asked.
______"She left me!" the stiken Vulcan screamed.
______About thirty feet away, a couple in Star Fleet "civilian"
clothing were starteled into pausing.
______"What was that about," the male "Fleetie" asked.
______"That is the Vulcan who 'found' Jesus at the Wolf; his fiance
left him when she learned he'd become Catholic", the female
replied.
______"Damn!" and this was more than a surprised cures, it was a
religious statement.
______After several minutes, a handsome couple (an old "black"
woman and an old "white" man) walked over to them and she
asked "May we joing you?"
______Eric jumped to his feet.
______"Yes, ma'am! Good morning to you both!"
______The wait staff brought over chairs for the two newcomers to
Eric's little party. After they were seated, Eric made
introdutrions.
______"How about I use the simplified introction style? LT Dr.
Emmily SueAnn LaFere, ENSIGN Brother Soran and the Head of the
Rehabilitation Centere, Dr. Naomi Lenora Kissinger, SJ, please
meet Fleet Admiral Paval Checkof and Fleet Admiral Fleet
Admiral Nyota (U)penda Uhura."
______The members of the group nodded acknowledgements.
______"Fleet Admiral Checkof", "Brother Soran spoke, "did you serve
with Admbassadore Spoke on the old ENTERPRISE?"
______"Yes, I did," FADM Checkof's heavy Russian accent was nearly
gone.
______"Spoke once said you seemed so terribly young and naive when
you were an Ensign, Sir."
______There was a general air of embarrassemnt; it was clear this
Vulcan was himself very young and very naive.
______FADM Uhura replied in high Vulcan: "He is no longer 'terrible
young and naive', young man. He grew up and commanded three
major ship and one fleet in combat."
______FADM Checkkof replied in the same language: "Two fleets in
combat."
______Then, in English, Checkof explained:
______"She who is my wife just told this very young man that I
'grew up', commanded three major ships and one fleet. I
commanded two fleets in combat!"
______Uhura simply rolled her eyes.
______Emmily spoke: "To what do we owe the honour of this visit,
Sirs?"
______"Checkof spoke softly in Russian: "I like this girl, she
speaks her mind."
______Uhura replied: "Da! ("yes") We Fleet Admirals must have our
little conversations; it proves we are high ranked enough to
be rude and lends us an air of power." She smilled and then
spoke directly to Emmily. "Pavil said 'I like this girl, she
speaks her mind.' I replied 'Da' or yes." She then looked at
Eric: "I am also quite fond of you and have hope for you.
Paval has an idea of something that could help all three of
you." She then looked at "Brother Soran" and said "I have
contcted old friends who are concerned about you. They will be
contacting you to offer you discussion." Then in the Batazed,
which was the "milk tongue" of Dr. Naomi Lenora Kissinger, SJ,
"perhaps you should tell him how he came to the attention of
Mother Church?" (Dr. Kissinger's Father was Human and her
Mother was Betazoiz and the good Doctor an excellent empath
and fair telepath.)
______"I am a member of the Society of Jesus, a 'Father' and I am
the first one who thought you were Catholic at heart. Do you
rmemeber meeting the Bishop at a Saturday brunch?"
______Brother Soran shook his head "two" and that failure of memory
was a clear sign he was not a mentally healthy Vulcan; he was
sane, still had emotional "issues" but still had cerebral
deficits. His damaged memory was one such "issue".
______"We could see that Mother Church would help you; I spoke with
the head of the Vulcan Center on Earth and she said 'young
Torrock' will not be able to achieve the Erasure of His
Emotions but if joing the Holy Roman Catholic Church will help
him, then the Vulcan hierarchy fully supports his joining."
______"Brother Soran" looked stunned.
______"I didnt' know and now I don't know what to think."
______"Examine your feelings for several minutes, my Son and tell
me what you think."
______"I am still a Catholic, Father Kissinger and in fact, am even
more a Catholic than before." His enthusanism rang in his
voice.
______"Ooops," Father Kissinger blurted out, "that was hearing
confession!"
______"Don't worry about this, young lady, we're Naval Officers and
we've all heard confessions before. We just called it
counseling." There was a tone of absolute convection in FADM
Checkof's voice. FADM Uhura spoke:
______"I suppose we should discuss our ulterior motives for coming
here? General Wand commands a Fleet Refueling Vessel. He is
looking for a Commanding Officer to relieve him so that he can
quote go back into retirement and simply putter around as a
First Officer unquote. The Good General is looking for a young
Medical Doctor to quote terrorize my staff properly unquote
and a young brige officer that quote I can raise to be a
proper ship driver unquote."
______"Checkof nodded; his wife Uhura continued:
______"General Wand said he was looking for an enthusiastic young
warrior, someone like that Paval Checkof was."
______She smilled at her husband, who looked stunned.
______The following luncheon was a very pleasant one and Eric and
Emmily walked off holding hands, the two Fleet Admirals walked
off arm in arm and the two Catholics engaged in Brother to
Father conversation (confession and consuling actually).
______
______Towards the end of the eight month "refresher training
period", Eric was running a trio of very cocky young
midshipmen through a portion of damage control training called
'Wet Navy". He had already run crusty old senionr officers and
Chiefs through this training and the expected results had
occurred:
* They didn't disucess the training with "virgins" and
* They loved to see "virgins" go through the training.
______
______It was a simple enough drill. A group of four trainees were
in a corridore sized space and had to patch over a large hole
in a leeking pipe. There was a viewing gallery on the same
level as the exercise room and this quickly filled with those
who had been "trained". Eric and two guests were in the
balcony level; Eric had two guests and he had an arm around
each. To his left was Emmily and to his right was FAHM Uhura.
A later "photo" showed that both women looked amused and Eric
had a beatific smile.
______He had a fine training drill going on and a fine woman at
each side and his arms around both. He had plenty to be vey
pleased about and his sister would put that photo up in her
room along with the "photo" of Eric inside the reactor...
______In the training room, the trainees heard a loud noise. To
their surprise, a hold blew out from a large pipe. They knew
what to do!
______One ran to the valve and began spinning it to shut off the
water flow. The other two wrapped a blanket around the pipe
near the hole tightened it down somewhat with a rope coiled
around the pipe and blanket and began sliding the whole mess
tosards the pipe. They couldn't get the contraption through
the water flow, which mysteriously had increased in pressure
and seemed to be getting colder.
______In desparation, one of the two ran back and relieved the
valve man and said valve man ran back to the leeking pipe's
hole. He slipped and fell in the water, which was waist high
by now. He wasn't hurt. Finnally, when the three students were
treading water and wondering if it would be easier when the
water level was above the hole did Eric's assistant shut off
the water flow and open valves that quickly "dewatered" the
compartment. The three students were asked:
______"Well, how did it go?"
______"Badly, sir," the less cocky leader of the 3 person exercise
said, "the damned valve didin't seem to conrol the water flow
and it seemed to get harder the longer we tried!"
______"The point of the exercise is that sometimes you can do
everything correctly and still fail. It's not your fault; the
deck was stacked against you! The valve is stripped and can
not shut off the water flow. Another water value, controlled
by the exercise staff, was used to increase the water
pressure. Well, you three have passed and we need to get the
room set for the next group of trainees. Now, it is
traditional for those who've been through this exercise to
view the next set of trainees with previous graduates. Would
you like to do so?"
______The leader looked at her fellows and said "Yes, Sir!"
______"Then get changed and we'll have some one guide you to our
viewing room."
______While the students were drying and dressing, high voumn air
blowers forced hot dry air nito the room and it quickly dried.
Then, cool air was blown into the rooom, to bring it to the
slightly chilly temperature the drll "required". After that,
the relatively cold water would do the trick of cooling off
the students.
______The students entered and found themselves among the sernior
officers of the Academny and Star Fleet Headquaters and a
large number of the instructors and many of their fellow
Fourth Year students ("Senior" to civilians). A Vice Admiral
passed a tray with flutted chamgaing glasses on it to them.
They drank to the student's efforts. Then, they were handed
large glasses of a local lager and settled down to watch the
next set of students...
______THose who "completed" the drill at the end of the training
day were always excused from afternoon classes the next day to
attend and observe. No matter how much they were pestered
would the graduates reveal what really happened in "The Wet
Navy Drill".
______
______Shortly before the eight months of refresher training was up,
Eric was summonned to a meeting with Dr. Kissinger, SJ, Vice
Admiral Michael Thomas Etro, the Head of Star Fleet
assignments and an elderly Klongon. The Klingon smilled when
he saw Eric and said:
______"It is good to see you again, young man."
______"I don't recall ever meeting you, sir." This was a clear sign
that Eric's memory was still fuddled.
______"Ah, it has been a while but you'll thihk of it. I understand
you did a lovely thesis on tetrions?"
______"Thank you, sir."
______"It had some very interesting conclusions. I've heard that
you left details out?"
______"Well, sir, you know editors and major professors will remove
material they don't think 'moves the story forward'."
______"He will do nicely!" The General was quite pleased with
Eric's non-commital answers.
______"Lieutenant Commander Bellingham, we are going to put you in
command of Fleet Fueling Vessel 97, once known as the "GLENDA
JANE".
______Eric abruptly remembered the incident when the TAMERLANE had
nearly been destoryed during a refueling from the "GLENDA
JANE" and he remembered who had commanded her,
______"You coud have killed us all!"
______"Not at all, Mr. Bellingham, not at all. Our sensors were
quite capable of telling that your main feed line would have
failed quickly enough to force the fuel load to one or more of
the other fuel feed systms. We could also tell those three
feed systems were out of service; it was quite pleased to see
how quickly you had your people bring them back into service."
______Eric nodded.
______Vice Admiral Etro spolke next: "This is General Wand, of the
House of Wand and he commands FFV96 when he doesn't have a
regular commander. We have deciced to put you in command of
this craft."
______"Why me, Vice Admiral? Why put me in command of a fairly
sensitive position?"
______"Because General Wand is also Doctor Wand and this tour duty
is to bring you back where you belong: in commnand of a ship.
It is also to continue your medical treatement. Will you
accept?"
______Eric thought of his nightmares, both mental and physical and
replied: "Will this be my salvation?"
______"That is up to you, Eric," Dr. Wand was uncommonly serious
for him.
______"Then, I'll take the assignment but I can't go back as a
'Lieutenant Commander' and somehow the tite of 'Captain' seems
oppressive."
______"That is something I can handle, Eric," Vice Admiral Etro
replied, "you can go back as a 'Chief Warrant Officer' with
the title of 'Craft Master'. You'd still have to operate your
craft in full complience with interstellar law and treaty,
Star Fleet regulations and practices and in accordance to the
situation as it unfolds. Is this acceptable?"
______"Let me think on it for a minute, please and to get some
advise."
______Eric called his parents and explained the situation. General
Dr. Wand had already briefed Eric's parents and they told him
"it sounds like a very good opportunity for you."
______Next Eric called Emmily and asked for her advise.
______"Eric, didn't they tell you that I've been selected to serve
as that boat's Medical Doctor? I'd love to have you there with
me!"
______"I'll tell them yes" and after some more conversation, he
went back to the waiting senior officers.
______While he had been gone, the Vice Admiral asked "who do you
think he called first, his girlfriend or his parents?"
______"The parents and then his beloved," the General said, "he is
rather Klingon you know, especially in how he reacts to
horrible stress."
______"I will be honored to accept this assignment. I understand
that LT LaFere is going aboard as a medical officer in spite
of her having gone through eight months of operations
training?" Eric sounded pissed off.
______"LT LaFere will be getting as much ship handling experience
and training as she could ever want on FFV 97. She had to go
aboard as a Medical Doctor or she would be the senior line
officer and that would lead to command problems. So, we
arrange the paperwork such. Oh, who did you call, if you don't
mine me asking?" The Vice Admiral was quite curius.
______"I called my parents and then I called Emmily." Eric looked
puzzled that anyone would possibly doubt his choice. Dr. Wand
looked pleased...
______
______The graduation ceremony was quite nice. Eric was declared to
be medically retired and that he had been retained on active
duty and would be serving on a Fleet Fueling Vessel. Emmily
graduated from the Advanced Command Track course and it was
announced she would be serving on a Fleet Fueling Vessel both
as Medical Doctor and Second Officer under instruction. Their
Vulcan Soran would be serving as Third Officer under
instruction. There were a number of other greaduates but these
were the only ones who mattered to Eric's family...
______
______Eric had been told that he would have to name the ship
himself and he hadn't decided what to name it. Eric and his
group were put aboard a fast courier and were taken to his new
home, FFV 97. Upon arrival, he went for a tour of his "new"
boat. It was quite different from what he'd expected.
______He had thought FFV 97 would be a large cargo ship with the
minimum engines required for the tasks, barely enough weapons
to rate being called "armed" and the minimum shields
freighters sported. He was quite wrong!
______FFV 97 had vast storage areas filled with an unbelievable
assortment of anti-matter. There were storage tanks for
anti-hydrogen, anti-deuterium, anti-oxygen, anti-silicon and
even anti-iron. Eric had never heard of anyone using
anti-oxygen, anti-silicon or anti-iron.
______He was told rather dryly "we service more than just the
Federation or Klingon ships."
______Engineer was a long structure that basically was a spear.
This "spear" was a single structure comprised of the
anti-matter (warp) reactor, the impulse reactor, warp engines
larger than even on a Galaxy class starship and impulse
engines suitable for a starbase. This ship could create
anti-matter if necessary and could auto-repair at a incredible
rate. The FFV 97 could sprint at warp 9.9 for hours, could run
at warp 9.8 for several days ("72 hours", his new chief
engineer sniffed) and cruise for months at warp 9. This was a
performance he'd have expected only from a high speed courier
boat.
______This engine complex looked like something out of Naval
history and even had canvus "racks" attacked to the sides of
the "engine complex", There were two heads and at one end and
ermergency lockers on the bulkheads the engine complex was
inside. Eric was told "if we're attcked and can't escape, we
can dump the rest of the ship and leave at warp 9.9, We have
the best cloak the {Romulan} Star Empire and the Federation
and Section 31 can proivide." Eric would later learn who
"Section 31" was when he had to refuel a Section 31 vessel.
______He and his fellows had met FFV 97 near the planet Xena, a
solar planet so far out that it was nearly a free planet. At
this distance, the sun was just another star. Still, the
amount of construction around Xena was most impressive. There
were emergency shipyards (orbital), a number of shps with
silent IFF (which meant they couldn't be identified) and what
appeared to be a late model Romulan Warbird. Eric used the
highest magnification on his bridge to see the Star Fleet
insignia and the numbers "31" on this Romulan Warbird.
______He asked: "Do we resupply Romulans and why is there a
Romulean Warbird with Federation markings? Why does it have a
"31" on the side? That is not the normal position for a ship's
hull number."
______"We resupply Romuleans and a number of other space going
species just as they resupply us. The Romulan Warbird belongs
to the Federation's version of the Obsedian Order or Tau Shier
and is an agency that operatres outside Federation
Territority. This is all highly classified and you're not
allowed to ever mention this information."
______"Do the Romulans know about this Section 31?"
______"Yes, Warrant Bellingham, just as do the Klingons,
Cardassians, Gorn, Breen and a number of other species. They
know because the Federation told them. None of these Star
Nations would have taken the United Federation of Nations
seriously if we didn't have a covert operations spy agency to
counter their covert operations spy agencies. Besides, we've
had it since the first unifed Earth Government was formed."
______"The first," Eric asked his new third officer.
______"Well, sir, the first that lasted more than a couple of
weeks."
______Space was alive with lights from anti-matter creation
facilities and these lights were a great distances from each
other. Eric had lerned that no species which had survived an
accidental explosion in an anti-matter creation plant ever put
them near inhabitated planets again. He was about to learn why
from the production standpoint.
______
______Eric and everyone from the FFV97 was in the reception room of
the anti-matter production facility. Their host, the manager
of the facility, welcomed them. The room was quite large, had
windows on all surrounding walls and little else.
______"Now, I know most of you have heard this lecture before but
it never hurts to repeat. How do we get the anti-matter? Do we
go prospecting for it in deep space? No, there simply isn't
very much left 'in the wild'. Do we use particle accelerators
to create it? No, the cost in energy makes that idea horrible
inefficient. Do we use transporters or replicators? Actually,
we could if it weren't so dangerous. Yes, we could but we
don't have to. What we do is take advantage of a loop hole in
quantum physics."
______He paused for questions, there were none.
______"We have discovere dwhich sub-atomic forces make matter
matter and anti-matter anti. We can create fields in a volume
of matter that converts the whole mass to anti-matter at once.
What would this be inportant?"
______"Partial conversion would leave matter mixed with anti-matter
and that would lead to an explosion. Sir." The rspondent was
one of Eric's long service Chief Petty Officers, a Chief who
had been on FFV 97 for many years.
______"Quite correct, Chief! Can any of you tell me why this
facility is highly regulated and why we have members of the
Intra Galactic Anti-matter commission watching everything we
do? (The IGAMC unified the Federation, the Klingons, the
Breen, the Romulans and a number of other space going races in
that they all hated those high handed IGAMC bastards and their
overbearing ways.)
______The facility manager grinned happily and waited for an answer
that didn't come.
______"It's really very simple. The anti-matter creation beams can
be swept rapidly across a planet and convert great swaths of
said planet into anti-matter. Do you think this might have an
effect on a planet?"
______There was a shocked silence that was reflected in the body
language of even those who'd heard this introction before.
______"We're highly regulated becuase just one conversion device,
the size of a Federaton Runabout, could physically 'blow up' a
planet. This is generlly regarded as a 'bad thing'."
______
______Finally, even this fascinating tour ended and the group
returned to FFV 97. There, on the bridge, General Wold and
Chief Warrent Officer Eric Randall Bellingham (LCDR Medically
Retired) when through the ceremony that General Wold had gone
trought so many times.
______"Sir, I stand ready to releive you."
______"Sir, I stand ready to be relieved."
______"Sir, I relieve you."
______"Sir, I stand relieved."
______Eric then read his orders from a hand written scroll:
______"Chief Warrant Officer Eric Randall Bellingham, you will take
command of the Federation Fueling Vessle 9 7 and operate it in
a safe manner in accordance with all relevant Interstellar
teaties and agreements, the Federation dictates for save
Interstellar flight and the particular requirements of those
you are providing fuel to. You will begin a series of three
month voyages. For two months, you will take fuel from the
Xena facility or the "Extruded Lamb facility' (operated by a
very strange alien species and no one knew what they meant by
'Extruded Lamb') and refuel anyone requiring fuel. Then, you
will spend one month on the planet Marian II'. Your sister
ship, Fleet Fueling Vessel 193 will serve in your Area of
Operations for you. Your final order is to give your ship,
Fleet Fueling Vessle 9 7 her current name. We look forward to
learning ths name. Make it a good one."
______The irony was that when Wold was "relieved", he was never
"relieved" for he then had another "Commander" to nurse back
to health. When he relieved his most recent "Commander", he
went back to being Commander of FFV 97 (whatever it may have
been called by the most recent commander). In a sense, Wold
had been in command of the Good Ship FFV 97 ever since he'd
proposed the idea to Star Fleet Medical some 21 years
before...
______
______First Officer and Commanding Officer had done a very quick
inventory and everything had been there. This was due to a
crewman who had the compulsion to track everything used on the
boat. He knew where everything was and what was used and
didn't mind shipmates hiding stuff from him. He thought it was
funny and that was his saving grace.
______Fully loaded and with little fanfare, the FFV97 left "port";
her first destination was a Bolian freighter a light week out.
This freighter had taken on a cargo of manufactured goods from
Mars and was hauling them to one of the colonies of Sirius
(which were under domes on an otherwise wretched world). The
FFV pulled alongside and Eric simple sat on his bridge,
watching as his highly experienced crew conducted the
refueling with bored expertiese. He did learn something:
______
______The FFV97 had sensors he had never seen before and could
look into the status of systems on other ships better than any
he had ever seen. His crew literally knew more about the other
ship that their crew did.
______"How are we looking today?"
______"You look just fine; it looks like you got the anti-matter
flow regulator changed and your impulse engines appear to be
very nicely balanced. Our congratulations to your maintenance
staff." Eric's third officer was speaking for the ship and he
had the Bolian's preferred terminology down nicely.
______"FFV97, from your lack of a name, I assume you have a new
commanding officer?"
______"Yes, you may, he is Chief Warrant Officer Eric Randall
Bellingham. May I introduce you?" There was a brief pause.
"Captaain Bellinham, may I introduce you to 'Snake Laughing',
the Commander of Bolian heavy cargo hauler 197? 'Laughing
Snake", may I introduce you to my Woe, Captain Bellingham?"
______"'My Woe'", Eric asked?
______"Think nothing of it Good Warrant," Snake Laughing said, "my
'Woe' is a play on words. 'Woe' is short for 'WO' or Warrant
Officer' and as his Superior, you are supposed to cause him
'Woe'. I like 'Little Turd's' sense of humour!"
______"'Little Turd' my ass
______"
______"'Little Turd' from your 'little ass' and that would make you
a self made man? Now there is a stange concept." Eric would
never be able to explain what caused him to say this. There
was a pause and the Bolian spoke:
______"A philosopher, I see. Well, you've come to place for such
things. Good bye then and God Speed to all of you go on all
your appointed rounds and all that shit, ah, stuff, ah,
whatever you're supposed to say at a time like this!"
______The Bolian roared and comms was cut and everyone looked at
Eric who somewhat sheepishly said: "That seemed to go well."
______"'A Philosopher King'", Wold murmurree, "we'll have to rename
you in honour of Nezahualcoyotl or 'Starving Coyote'. Well,
what does everybody think?"
______"'Starving Coyote'?"
______"He was an early Earth 'Philosopher King'. Our Eric had been
discovered to be a 'Philosopher' and a Ship's Captain is, to
quote your Robert Heiinlein, 'the last of the Absolute
Monarchs'. Thus, our 'Woe' is a 'Philospher King'. Does anyone
disagree?"
______The laugher didn't really start until Eric began to laugh; he
thought it all quite amusing. (It was only his thinness that
saved him from then being called 'the Laughing Budda'', which
would have been premature.
______Two days later, a routine precedence message from FFV 97 was
received on ENTERPRISE. LCDR Data turned to Captain Picard and
said:
______"Sir, it would seem that Captain Bellingham has selected a
name for FFV 97."
______"Well, don't keep us waiting," LCDR LaForge prodded.
______"Fleet Fueling Vessel 97 is now 'the Coyote King'. The text
stated that the initially proposee name of 'Starving Coyote
King' was undignified and therefore unacceptable. However and
this was signed by First Officer Wold, if anyone wanted to
address the ship as 'Starving Coyote' or 'Starving Coyote
King' then it would be prefectly acceptable with and I quote
our Philosopher King unquote."
______"Thee is a story here and I'd like to learn what it is",
Consoler Troi murmurred.
______Jean-Luc Piccard sighed and spoke. "Computer, send a messagae
to my brother asking him for a case of Champaign and two cases
of the vinyard's best. Tell him that I'm going to be hosting a
visit with the officers of a Federation Starship 'The Coyote
King'."
______"MESSAGE SENT
______"
______ENTERPRISE being ENTERPRISE, they could use the high speed
subspace comms circuits. Whatever ENTERPRISE went encrypted to
the various relays and went through ahead of nearly every
other form of communications. It took an hour but the reply
from Robert Piccard came back the same way.
______"That sounds interesting and I want to hear the full story.
Oh, I contacted your Star Fleet and said I had a package for
the ENTERPRISE's Commander. They are going to send the wine on
one of your 'high speed diplomatic courier boats'. Seems a bit
excessive to me but I got the felling this boy likes to fly
fast. Well, I hope your party enjoys the wine. Piccard out."
______Back on the "Coyote King", First Officer Wond suggested that
Eric had been awake too long and that he go to bed. Eric did
so. When the sensors showed Eric asleep, General Wond awoke
the sleepers and made a short shipwide speech.
______"Eric Randall Bellingham is recovering from wounds received
at the Battle of Wolf 359. He is a fine commanding officer who
should be called by his proper rank of 'Lieutenant Commander'.
The problem is he is easing back into command slowly. He must
be called 'Warrent Officer' or 'Chief Warrant Officer' or
'Chief' until he has recovered. You must all remember, he is
still a Lieutenant Commander and still CAPTAIN of this ship.
Bridge out."
______Eric appeared to settle down fairly well. However, about
three weeks into their 'tour of duty', he began using herion
again. This lead to constitupation and his bodie's attempt to
deal with it.
______Eric entered the wardroom feeling wretched. He didn't notice
the air filter system fans were running at emergency overload
or the air perfume that made him feel ill.
______"So, sir, what will it be this lunch?" The steward was
leaning away from Eric and that was well as Eric felt a fart
slide from his ass.
______"I'll have something mild and gentle."
______"Perhaps something with less fiber than, Sir, something
easily digested?"
______"What do you mean by that" and was interupted by a bowell
emptying gasious emission; it was a fart a Klingon could be
proud of!
______Eric's chief Engineer tapped a button on his padd and the
transporters removed all known "fart gases" from the Wardroom.
The nice smell was very, very nice.
______"I'll bring a nice steak and rice pilof,sir."
______When a bridge runner came in and asked Eric to initial a
padd, Eric had to turn away from the table and didn't see one
of his officers put a "flatuance control pill" into his roll.
Eric didn't know the Wardroom Steward put a similiar pill into
Eric's pilof and Eric had never heard the Prune Juice his
Second Officer gave him was good for 'making you regular'.
______After lunch, Eric made it to the Thomas Crapper barely in
time!
______After about a week and a half, Eric abruptly quit using the
herion, administered the anti-dote (and was given some serious
drug therapy by Emmily's "nurse" after Eric went to sleep) and
thought he was going to 'rip himeself a new asshole' the first
time he tried 'voinging his bowells'. It was an effective
disuaging technique; Eric didn't touch the "good stuff" the
rest of that two month voyage.
______The "Coyote King" refueled fourteen ships, including a
Romulan. This was odd because the Romulans used captive
mini-black holes for their power supple. It turned out the
Romulans used anti-matter in their main "APU" or "Auxiallary
Power Unit".
______The planet "Marian II" was the Second Planet of the Star
"Francis". The inhabitants simply smilled when asked why the
planet was "Francis II".
______The highlight of the visit was meeting General Wond's eight
year old great-granddaughter B'linna. She was a precouious
child who knew the world revolved about her. She immediately
fell in love with Eric and Emmily and 'her Brother the Vulcan'
and several others and they with her.
______During the month long standdown, Eric engaged in
conversations, little realized they often were therapy and
worked with his remaining Graduate Student (who had stuck with
Eric) and went for walks with Emmily and B'linna. It was
during one such walk that Eric found relief from some of his
pain.
______B'linna and her three younger brothers and sister were
walking through a corridore into a plaza. As usual, B'linna
was talking and just being the very cute and domineering
little girl she was.
______"What are we supposed to call you, Mr. Ship Captain?"
______"Your great grandfather calls me whatever he feels like."
______"Shall I call you 'Whatever He Feels Like' then?"
______"That wold be a bit ackward, B'linna."
______Three Norsikans, whose ulginess would make a Terran Wart Hog
look handsom, were hanging out and just being obnoxious.
Seeing a little Klingon girl leading a Human made them think
it would be fun to give them some shit.
______"Human, is this your bastard child?" One Norsikan shouted.
______"She is really his bastard sister and his future wife!"
______The Norsikans thought this was very funny; Eric did not. He
had the very strong image of the dead Klingon child he had
rescued years before and was becoming furious.
______"I know! I know! We can rape both of them and save the three
little morsels for later. Call the ship and prepare to beam us
all up!"
______"Harm my children and you will ALL DIE!"
______Eric had never known the pure fury he now felt. It was a
wonderful, glorious emotion and he actually felt calm He
didn't look calm, he looked amused and furious and he suddenly
look harmless. Then, there was the knife (his special K-bar)
that had magically appeared in his hand.
______The loud mouthed leader of the Norsikan group moved towards
Eric and Eric swung his blade and easily cut through the would
be rapist's armour and left him staggering and bleeding. Eric
lunged forward and took a second Norsikan in his left bicept
and that was when the third Norsikan screamed into his comms
unit to "beam us up now"! They were beamed up.
______Anywhere Norsikans went on this colony was automatically put
under surviellance and a combined group of Star Fleet Security
and Klingon Military Police were already beaming in when the
fight occurred.
______The Klingon leader commented "well done, human, that was a
very Klingon thing you just did and I am proud of you!"
______The Vulcan who commanded the Star Fleet police said "If I
were capable of emotion, I would also be proud of you. You did
quite well and I am most satsified." That was a Vulcan way of
saying "I'm proud of you."
______The Vulcan girl beamed at Eric and one of the human Security
troops wiped the blood off the blade. This would be used as
evidence should Star Fleet ever catch the Norsikan who'd
attacked Eric and threatened the children. The Norsikan had
beamed to a Norsikan ship which had embassey status and which
had already gone to warp. Those on the planet did not know
that this retreat was seen as colardise and that all three of
the Norsikans were spaced...alive...for their lack of proper
courage.
______B'linna's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents (Wond
and his wife) arrived and viewed the surveillance records.
There was one question that everyone wanted to know:
______"Why did you attack those Norsikans?"
______"I believed them. I wan't about to let these children be hurt
by anyone and I was willing to do whatever it took to protect
them! I'm still willing to protect them. It's a personal thing
for me and exactly the same thing all of you would do!"
______If Eric had simply talked about the girl who'd died in his
arms then he'd have been saved much pain. But he couldn't...
______"We're very proud!" B'linna's Mother hugged him. "We need a
Klingon name for you now!"
______"I know. I know! I'll call him Grandfather Targ!" shouted
B'linna. From that day on, she and her siblings called Eric
"Grangfather Targ". The adults called him "Eric" or "Brother
Eric".
______Among the precominately Kliongon population, Eric and Emmily
could walk around hand in hand and no one cared. In fact,
B'linna began calling her Grandmother Targ...
______The month that Eric thought would never end, did end and he
had to leave. It would never occurr to him that a mixed
Klingon, Human and Vulcan population could not only get along
well but could live in harmony. It was a revelation to him.
______
______The "Coyote King" departed without incident.
I'm not going to pull our troops off the battle field before
the mission is complete.
^^^
______
______Many civilians and even Star Fleet personnel who never served
on ships was the question: what do you do for entertainment?
Well the answer was quite a few things.
* There was socializing,
* There was reading,
* There was hobies,
* There was watching old movies...
______
______One of the answers that was never given was "watching
television". "Television" had become obsolute in the mid 21st
century, so the concept of half hour shows, with rigid
formulatic requirements was alien to the "modern
sensibilities" of the 24th century. Sure, these rigid formats
didn't prevent many different plot ideas from happening. It
was like a classic sonnet: rigid form and yet complete freedom
in ideas.
______There was a modern form of Television called:
______
The Flatulence Of The Targs!
______
______The episode opened with the mightily Targ space craft, a
vessel that looked like a Targ standing up, flying through
space with an incredibly long flame from a reaction drive
behind it. The rocket exhaust had to have gone through a
massive amount of fuel.
______In the ship, large Targs walked around on their hind feet and
reminded the viewers of Klingons. The ship was controlled by
huge levers and control wheels and was full of flashing
lights. The "Fighting Targs" were looking stolen vats of
"Nemesis Liquid", the Holy "Water" that was the Nemesis of
excessive sobriety and which allowed the mighty "Fighting
Targs" to get as drunk as a "Mind Frecking Romulan" or at
least as the proverbial "Drunken Irish-person".
______The Might Vessel, called the "Wretched Excess" was closing in
on the villains. The majority of the "Fighting Targs"
transported over to the Enemy Vessel. There, they found the
villains: huge snakes with arms and legs that folded out of
recesses in their hideous snake bodies. The fiends turned to
face the "Fighting Targs" and large pointy ears slide out;
they looked remarkably like Romulans! (The end of long and
bitter diplomatic alliances can be like a bad divorce: there
is misrepresentation of one's lost partner!)
______The "Fighting Targs" attacked with their dreaded fangs and
hideous claws and bad puns. (This part of the episode reminded
a televison history fanatic of something called the "Ninja
Turtles".) But, the "Fighting Targs" were overcome by the
snake fiends and their sprayed venom. Our Heroes fell in
twitching heaps. On the "Wretched Excess", "scientists"
examined the events through bizarre "scientific instruments".
______It looked bad for the "Fighting Targs" as the snake bastards
appeared to be Bolo Constrictors.
______The scene cut to an interior view of the "Wretched Excess",
which had somehow avoided being captured when the majority of
it's crew had beamed over to the Snake Vessel.
______Then, the point of view pulled back to see the "Wretched
Excess" doing what would have been called a "wing over" had
the "Wretched Excess" been a 20th century atmospheric craft
and not an un-aerodynamic 24th century space craft that looked
like a quadruped flying through space. The scene then changed
to a safety lecture that lasted about 3 minutes. This was long
enough for the viewers to "hit the head", get snacks from the
replications and to steal someone else's seat...
______Then, the show resumed!
______The "Fighting Targs" decided upon a search pattern and after
a crew member accidentally hit a course change lever, found
the enemy vessel. There was an apparent "tender moment" in
which something (hopefully heterosexxy Eric thought) may have
happened. However, with the "Fighting Targs" it didn't seem to
matter what happened to whom as long as the Targs "got off"...
______Then, the "Fighting Targs" beamed over to the Enemy Vessel in
their Space Suits and some how they weren't knocked out by the
snake's poison. (Their "scientists" had somehow come up with a
cure.)
______There was a large amount of snake/Targ fighting with snake
fangs mostly sliding off the Targ Suits and Targ fangs ripping
(sometimes) into the Snake Flesh. Finally, the Targs realized
that to save their fellows, the Targs would have to use their
Ultimate Weapon. The Generalmisseo Targ-the-Greater roared
"Let loose the Farts of War!"
______All the "Fighting Targs" then turned to a fellow "Fighting
Targ" present, presented a hoof and roared "Pull my hoof!"
______Hoofs were pulled, Targs farted very loudly, the villain
snakes fell in heaps (some melting) and the "Fighting Targs"
prepared to leave. In a signature gesture, one of the
regulars, a kindly old Targ, one who was the butt of jokes
because of his "gentle good nature" managed to urinate upon a
snake and the snake awoke only to die in convulsions, it's
snake body whipping around and melting, dissolving, where the
urine had painted it. (Eric wonder what good a space suit
could be if the wearer could urinate through it...)
______The episode ended with the fixed ending: The Genermisseo who
commanded the "Fighting Targs" reared back, shook his fanged
head towards the heavens (well the ceiling) and roared his
signature end-of-episode line:
______"I LOVE THE SMELL OF FARTS IN THE MORNING!!!"
______
______On second thought, Eric could realize why the Fleet Sailors
didn't tell non-fleet folks about this series. Oddly enough,
even the Romulans liked it. It made Klingons look bad and they
thought the villains (who were usually pseudo-Romulans) were
Vulcans...
______Eric knew the "wing over" was taken from a forgotten
televison show called "Sky King" and the end line from a very
old flat movie about a forgotten war on Earth...
______He smiled to see his shipmates so amused by the episode and
didn't realize how much he truly enjoyed "Tales of the
Fighting Targs!" (This was the subtitle.)
______He especially like the episode where little rats had been
turned into Borg and the "Fighting Targs" had gored the rats,
fucked them somehow and throught their shinny silver suits and
the little rats loved the smell of Targ Farts!
______Emmily had a question: "What is that flame coming from the
rear of the flying Targ space ship?"
______"That is their mighty rocket drive! Let's not speculate on
how many Gs it is pulling and that it is powered by liquid
methane." Eric replied.
______"But liquid methane doesn't burn," one Engineer replied, "it
needs an oxidozer."
______"Well, they must be mixing it in with the fuel." Some one
else commented.
______"They sure use a lot of that fuel. How can they store it?"
Emmily wondered.
______"Big tanks?"
______"I figured out they are using 3 to 4 times the volume of the
ship every second..."
______The producers of "The Flatulence Of The Targs!" or "Tales of
the Fighting Targs!" got around such objections with bizarre
techno babble or swithing to a grateious fight or to a couple
of Targs apparently indulging in some form of sexual activity
(sex and sexual orientation apparently irrevelant).
______"Then they must have a gateway between the Targ Refueling
World and the "Wretched Excess". They simply 'gate through'the
mixed fuel they need."
______No one mentioned that such gates were impossible. Apparently,
only Eric and the General knew that Star Fleet had a sniper
rifle based on sending a bullet through an interdimentional
gate.
______Star Fleet and the Klingon Marines didn't want outsiderx to
learn of this...
______
______Then, there was the attraction of sex.
______Some of the bigger ships had those "new fanglied fucking
Ferengi holo suites" wherein one could fantasize. Eric and his
shipmates all uniformely denounced such unreal entertainments,
not hearing the envy, the pure envy, in their voices...
Henry, son of Andrew,
20 year old sister Kaylee
Henry, son of Andrew,
Kathryn daughter of Linda
Lemmon Pepper Fish and rice pilof with broccoli
""^^^
______
______
______
______
______
______
Eric had gained 12 pounds. This took some doing but he had
been trying. In an earlier time, he
would have gained at least 30 pounds. However, he had been
rasied with strict portion controls
and had been taking fleet diet control medications on a daily
basis for years. Even through he had
somewhat given up on fleet behaviour, he still took his
morning pills. Just as he still wore his
working uniform boots, occasionally his working uniform
trousers and kept the fleet haircut and
sideburns. Well, his hair was a little longer than the
"Security (Marine)" length he'd worn it for
years.
in 2367, Admiral J.P. Hanson Battle of Wolf 359
Mid Voyage (in the Endless Patrol)
______FRV-97, currently known as the "SPENT TARG", was standing a
kilometer off the bottom of
the ENTERPRISE's engineering section. On the "Spent Targ's"
sole bridge view screen, Eric sat
in "his" Command Chair, the General was next to him and his
second officer was at the
helm/navigation position. The lighting was arranged so the
ENTERPRISE trio, Captain Picard,
Commander Riker and LCDR Troy could be clearly seen but only
the "SPENT TARG's" Second
Officer could be seen.
______Eric's voice was quite rough, too much vomiting from drinking
too much of something his third
officer said "will put hair on your bald spot".
______"Captain Picard, we have a large amount of anti-duterieum as
well as anti-iron. I've heard your
Mr. LeForge has been experimenting with using anti-iron in
your warp reactor?"
______"How did you know that, Captain Bellingham?"
______"The experimentation creates a wide assortment of unusual and
short lived particles, sir. We've
been monitoring this. Bill! Tell your chief alchemist to be
very carefull with that
experimentation. There are certain failure modes which can
lead to anti-matter containment loss
in the feed lines to your warp core. This would destroy your
ENTERPRISE before any of you
could say the prayer: 'FATHER FORGIVE US FOR WE HAVE FUCKED
UP!'"
______"Eric, it seems you've added blaspemy to your style of
jokes." William Ricker was quite upset.
______Eric leaned forward and the bridge crew could see how wasted
he looked.
______"It wasn't blaspemy my friend, it was simple realization of
reality."
______The sound from the ENTERPRISE cut off. Eric tapped his
"microphone off" button and
glanced at his First Officer.
______"It would seem I've aggitated them a bit, Old Grandfather."
______"Yes, it would, Young Grandfather."
______Eric activated his microphone again and shortly after,
Captain Piccard spoke again.
______"Mr. Bellingham, perhaps you should work with my Chief
Engineer with the refueling and
advise him on the dangers of using anti-iron." Then, as if it
were an afterthought. "Oh, my First
would like to speak with your First about a subject of mutual
concern."
______Piccard then did something very strange for him: he turned
and pointed at Worf, clearly
indicating the Firsts were going to talk about Worf (and not
about one Eric Randall Bellingham).
______"Very well, Sir, if you can connect me with your Engineer, we
can begin..."
______
______The General left his bridge and entered the small alcove and
shut the door behind him. He stood
behind the desk and spoke: "Ship, open a secure line to
ENTERPRISE and ask for their First
Officer, William Thomas Riker."
______Riker appeared on the screen immediately.
______"William, son of Kyle, of the House of Piccard, how may I be
of service to you?"
______"Wand, son of Modoc of the House of Modoc, it is good to see
you again, Sir."
______"You were one of my best students at the Academy when I
taught emergency medicine in the
survival course. We are quite pleased to see how well you've
done; I've bragged about my fine
student, William son of Kyle so many times my
great-granddaughter is calling you 'Uncle Bill'
and would like to meet you. But I don't think you wished to
speak with me about my
great-granddaughter's Hero Worship of you or of Worf son of
Maag of the House of Maag."
______"No, sir, I didn't. Tell us about Eric. He looks like crap.
Your 'Doctor Emmily' has talked with
'Dr. Beverly' about him, your Second Officer has talked with
Dr. Troi and Dr. S'ook and they're
all worried. Funny thing about your Second. Troi says he
speaks perfect Betazoid and S'ook says
he speaks High Vulcan with the accents of a Temple High
Master."
______"My Second is one of the finest linguists in the Empire and
he learned High Vulcan when he
studied religion on Vulcan; oddly enough, he became more
emotional after that experience. But,
you're worried about our Eric. So are we, my young friend, so
are we. If we could just get him to
say what it truly bothering him, we might be able to break him
out of his destructive cycle. This
'hair oh win' habit of his is very destructive. It seems to
give him relief and yet the withdrawal
sympthoms are dreadful! Did you know it makes him
constitipated? The medications we give
him make him fart like a Klingon but he smells like a 'Farting
Targ' and this is simply horrible!
Have you noticed how ghastly he looks? We've tried to get him
to eat but he says he's got no
appatite. So, we've resorted to a desparate measure..."
______
______After the "SPENT TARG" had departed on her 'endless patrol',
Riker asked Piccard and Troi to
join him in the Captain's Ready Room. Data took the center
seat.
______"General Wand is quite worried about Eric. He won't say what
is really bothering him, it seems
there was one moment on TAMERLANE that has torn him up.
Speaking of 'torn up', they say he
farts like a Targ and that has really offended his shipmates."
______Dr. Crusher had already been in the Ready Room.
______"Why don't they change his diet?"
______"He refuses to eat much and they've been forced to a very
dangerous expedient. They get him
filled up on some drink and get him settle down in his chair.
They need him immoble for what is
coming up. Then, they map the contents of his stomack and
their transporter operator does a very
rapid exchange of stomack contents for an equal volume of high
concentration liquid food. He
hasn't complaigned yet."
______His audience was stunned.
______"The General also said he seems to be cooperating with them."
______
______What no one seemed to realize what Eric still had his habit
of needing to see if the Borg were
sneaking up on him. So, he monitored all systems and all
sensors with some esoteric computer
routines. One of these checked for transporter traces around
him. The first time he'd sat in his
"office", put on the headset and scanned the logs, he'd been
shocked to find he was being fed via
transporter. It touched him deeply to know others worried
about him. There was no other way he
could eat, he simply couldn't bear to take solid food "the old
fashioned way".
USS TRENTON a Hokule'a class vessel
NCC-19387
______They didn't know the "natives" had not only penetrated into
the "attick" but had removed
inspection ports and were looking into the sealed first
section.
______Eric heard "Ms. Emmily" and turned to face her. She walked up
to him and simply hugged him.
He put his arms around her, squeezed her tight and lowered his
head onto hers. She sighed.
______"If we were civilians and at least not in the same chain of
command, this would be so simple."
______"I know but we are what we are."
______"For once, why don't we pretend you're not in my chain of
command and simply be a man and
woman who happen to be in love."
______"We can. We won't be the only ones usng the casualty, by the
way."
______""If you're thinking of our First Officer and the lovely
young Passed Misdhipman then I'm in
agreement."
______"I am and I applaud his delicacy in the way he actually
treats her no different than any of the
other crew."
______"Ms. Emily" knew of several others who were having cross rank
relationships but that was
medically privledged information and her CO didn't have need
to know. He also knew of some in
the same types of relationships but he knew in his personal
capacity and not his official capacity
and so he didn't tell himself what he knew...
______He could never have been a Borg; they gossiped too much...
______They entered his cabin and locked the door behind them. He
helped her remove her uniform and
she helped him remove his. There was another inspection port
above his "cabin" and the "native"
was looking through that. He rubbed her shoulders and then her
breasts and then she rolled on
top of him and the native left feeling a bit of guilt at
"watching elders mate". The "natives" also
enjoyed kissing and regarded female on top as the only form of
acceptable mating.
______Eric and "Ms. Emily" had inadvertantly proven to the
"natives" that they were "people" and not
some form of animal...
______
______Two days later, the New Plantary Servey body 114 (NPS-114)
"colony" received a messaage
from Star Fleet Exploration: "Abandon your post, remove all
personal effects and take only what
you need to carry. Leave the rest for any later follow on
clean up crews. You are to meet Star
Fleet Engineering team 12 on Planetary Body G-117a and will
receive further orders then."
______Eric responded with: "We have a lot of survival gear here and
other items. The "natives" could
easily penetrate this building. Do you wish to recind the
orders preventing the proper securring of
this facility?
______The answer was verbal, very snide and simply said: "You have
your orders. We don't appreciate
any criticism. Take only personal items amd Star Fleet
critical items. Fleet Exploration out!"
______Eric not only saved that verbal message but included it as an
attachment to his Movement
Report to Fleet and his "abandoning station" report to Fleet
and Star Fleet Exploration and the
Federation Diplomatic staff and to his old friend, "John", who
maintained an interest in the
BERRY's activities. "John's" son, Data, was perpluxed but the
while affair and have a number of
discussions with his friends.
______Eric got on all communications channels: "We've been ordered
to adandon this post. You have
one hour to get your personal effects together. I'm going to
have the BERRY land and we'll board
through the sally ports. I don't want the natives to know
about our transporters. We'll send as
much personal items as we can via transporters and all
critical effects. I want as many people as
possible to carry their duffels and board through the sally
ports. I want everyone to report their
prepardiness to deport. Division officers, report to your
Department Heads. Department Heads,
report to my Second Officer. (A number of crewman wondered how
their CO meant "my": was it
the Royal "my" of a Captain or the personal "my" of a lover?
But, ultimatly it didn't really matter
and no one wasted much thought on it...
______There were 24 officers and crew who simply couldn't deal with
walking across the surface of an
alien planet, breathing alien air and in danger from unknown
aliens. This was a strange attitude
for Star Fleet officers but an accepted one. That these 24
included folks of three different "alien
races" who had calmly dealt with aliens in space was seen as a
quirk.
______One of the natives, looking through yet another removed
inspection port, watched as "the
Leader's Mate" caused three hands of her people to vanish. Two
carried one of the "four legged
masters each" and three each carried two of the "infant
masters" each. Then, one of the 24
reappeared and a second reappeared. Boxes were placed on the
"magic circles" and these items
vanished into thin air. After a while, the "Leader's Mate"
stood on one circle and vanished.
Comparing reports later, an unseen "native" reported the
"Leader's Mate" had appeared from no
where and spoke with her mate, the Leader. Then, she walked
back into their building.
______
______Three hours after receiving the recall message, Eric was
standing on the green swarth looking
towards the swamp. Not for the first time, he wondered why
Star Fleet had insisted on removing
the swamp from a hill, putting grass and a fortified builiding
there and then decided to abaondon
said base. Didn't they care what would happen after they left?
He had already seen evidence that
eatting grass caused wierd effects among some of the native
vegetarians and the grass was slowly
spreading into the swamp. On the other hand, creatures that
looked like rabbits crossed with targs
were eatting the grass as fast as they could. It might work
our.
______
______