...To Chase the Songs of Distant Stars (A Star Trek: To Boldly Go... Companion Quest)

Prologue: Chapter V

Captain's Log, Stardate 24980.2, USS Stargazer, Captain Maryam Ajam
(EC Excelsior, Apinae)

Following the completion of our exercises the Fleet has arrived at Apinae, the capital of the United Hives.

Apinae is the last major Federation world that the fleet will see for probably the next twenty four years. For that reason, the Apiata have cleared their repair slips at the Grand Hive Shipyards for a final inspection of all of the fleet's vessels and thorough early Baryon sweeps.

Except Pride of Kadesh, which will still be receiving a thorough inspection by Apiata and Indorian engineers, just not in a berth.

As this will also be the last major Federation or Federation aligned world that the fleet will be stopping at before we enter uncharted space, Starfleet is granting a week's leave for crews on Apinae.

For myself, I have been invited to a formal diplomatic event being thrown for us by the All Hives diplomatic corps.

Personal Log, Maryam Ajam
(Human, Female)

Aside from a small skeleton crew almost the entirety of Stargazer's crew have been granted leave planetside and the ship feels very empty right now. She's almost alien without her crew.

On a happier note, there are a lot of families here to see our crews. Which is expected as this is the last chance they will have to see them face to face for almost a quarter century.

Raelin, Ayishah, and I have already met up with my parents who arrived at Apinae a week ago to anticipate our arrival. We're planning to spend as much of the next week together as possible touring all that there is to see on Apinae before Stargazer departs for the Gabriel Border Zone.

However, the Apiata All Hives are throwing an official event later tonight in honour of our mission, and Raelin and I will be attending while Ayishah spends the night visiting with her grandparents.

-

"Hmm…" says Maryam, a finger over her lip, as she studies her husband carefully. He stands before her, fully resplendent in his Amarki Navy uniform, complete with ceremonial breastplate and sword.

She reaches out and adjusts a golden braid that connects from an epaulette to a stiff high collar before turning her attention to his face. He's handsome in a classically Amarki fashion, light blue skin, closely cropped platinum white hair, pointed ears slightly larger than a Vulcan's, large grey eyes, strong jawline and a sharp but short nose.

Maryam nods to herself and reaches out her finger again… and taps him on the nose, "Bop!" she giggles, "Now, you're perfect."

Raelin chuckles himself and reaches up to adjust some of the decorations on his wife's crimson Starfleet Uniform, "No cloak?" he asks as he steps back to admire her.

"I'm still not used to them." she says as she steps towards the exit to her quarters, referring to a new dress uniform style implemented during Rigel's recent admission into the Federation, "Besides, I uhm, might accidentally get it caught on some Queen's tiara and take it right off! Cause an interstellar incident right there in the middle of the Grand Gardens!"

Realin chuckles as he follows Maryam out into Stargazer's corridors, "What? Again? I, ahhh... could swear you already did, well, already did cause an incident with the Apiata?" he says teasingly.

"Oh well, that one wasn't really my fault. That was all the Cardassians" she says breezily as the two wait for the turbolift doors to open, "Plus Nash sorted that one out for me with Izzidiera and the other queens."

"Ah! The Sun Queen!" says Raelin, forcing a neutral expression atop his natural inclination to grin at the mention of the first Apiata Queen to make contact with a Federation ship. An Apiata Queen who had spent her time exasperating Ajam's old Captain, Nash ka'Sharren.

"No, no, Tsun Queen," Maryam pauses and holds up a finger, "Deck twelve please" she lowers her finger, "Tsun, Tsun, there's a slightly different soun-"

"That's what I said! Sun Queen" says Raelin as the turbolift doors open, keeping his expression in check, "Sun Queen."

"No, it's -hold on." Maryam sighs in dramatic exasperation, "You're doing this on purpose, those are completely different words for you! The translator should be doing my work for me."

Raelin grins as the doors to Stargazer's primary transporter room open, revealing most of Captain Ajam's senior staff, "Come on, we have a transporter to catch. We don't want to BEE late for our meeting with the Apiata AmBEEssadors!"

"My father has been a terrible influence on you, Raelin, my sweet Knight! I should never have let Dad teach you English!"

-

"-and, both hands on solid ice here, it's a completely true story. And that is why I never go anywhere without at least one hankerchief" finishes Ambassador Sharen na'Threx, patting the breast pocket on his formal suit where a bright yellow square of cloth is just visible.

Ajam and Raelin are standing near the edge of a pool of electric torchlight in a carefully landscaped garden. Flowers in hundreds of hues and strong trees in dozens more are carefully planted throughout the Garden, drawing the eye into swirls of colour and dancing patterns of petals and stems.

Scattered here and there in the Grand Garden are dozens of high ranking Federation and Apiata guests in little knots of casual conversation, the dinner proper having finish just as the Apinae sun was setting and stars above emerging.

Lowering his voice slightly, Ambassador na'Threx leans in slightly closer to an older Apiata Queen who is tittering into a long stemmed glass of something bright red and bubbling, "And If you track me down later, I'll tell you how having two hankerchiefs on hand won me a one on one duel -and a date- with a Klingon warrior back in '87"

Raelin turns and raises an eyebrow at Maryam over his glass of Saurian Brandy.

She leans over slightly, speaking quietly so as to not interrupt an Apiata Queen who is now telling her own harrowing tale of survival as a youth in the aftermath of the Indorian-Apiata war of 2242-2244, "I actually looked up the Imperial Guard rescue logs after I first heard that story. Every word of it is one hundred percent true."

Raelin blinks, "Even the bit with-"

"Especially the bit with the laser drill." says Ajam with an insistent nod.

Ajam's considering tracking down a server to refill her drink when her communicator, clipped to her belt, chimes quietly but insistently and the other nearby guests regard her with looks ranging from sympathetic to annoyed.

"Sorry, Ambassador, your Queenships," she says nodding respectfully to the other nearby notables, "I'll need to take this"

Captain Ajam takes a half dozen long strides out of the light and pulls out her communicator, "Ajam here."

Raelin waits patiently for a couple of minutes as his wife has a brief conversation with someone who, judging by the complete change in her tone and posture, was contacting her in a professional capacity.

"Anything serious?" He says, stepping over to Maryam as she puts her communicator away and sighs.

"No. Just annoying." she frowns slightly, "That was my chief engineer. Apparently there was a manufacturing defect in one of Stargazer's dorsal shield emitter arrays. The exercises burnt it out."

"Nothing too serious I hope?"

She shakes her head, "No, minor issue, I just needed to give permission to begin pulling the array apart tonight, so that tomorrow we can draw a new one from the local stockpiles that the Apiata keep for Starfleet," she sighs and looks up at the stars, searching for the lights that indicate the shipyard where Stargazer is currently cradled, "Which means that I'll be spending tomorrow morning filling out the paperwork for that instead of…" she trails off in annoyance.

Raelin reaches out to put his right arm around his wife and pulls her towards him, "Don't worry about it. There's still most of the week left." he looks up at the same stars as his wife, "So, how is that new engineer working out, uh…" he snaps his fingers on his left hand, "Lieutenent Commander… uhm-"

[ ] [CHENG] Lt-Cmdr. Inshren ch'Kennic

"You mean Inshren ch'Kennic?

He's working out pretty good so far. He runs a pretty tight ship down there in engineering, clearly knows what he's doing and nothing goes to waste. Keeps his quarters surprisingly warm for an Andorian, almost Earthlike.

And I he doesn't throw anything out if he can help it, really hates to reduce parts back to their basic feedstock components.

I also know that he's got an office full of tools and broken gadgets that he tinkers with during his off hours. I think it offends him on a personal level if he can't find a use somewhere for something that's broken."

S:3, P:1, I:2, C:1, E:2
[Reduce, Reuse, Recycle] Stargazer uses less supplies

-

[ ] [CHENG] Lt-Cmdr. Luel Ulin

"You mean Luel Ulin?

Oh! Did I ever tell you that Ulin was the first Betazoid Chief Engineer in Starfleet? They used to work on experimental drives for the University of Betazed, but then jumped over to Starfleet at the first opportunity. Apparently Starfleet gets "all the best toys first". And if there's one thing they like it's getting their hands on the newest stuff.

Oh! And, uh, you know that little hovering stuffed Docana plushie? That was Ulin, apparently their hobby is making toys in their spare time.

S:3, P:3, I:1, C:1, E:1
[Early Adopter] New ship parts are refitted quicker.

-

[ ] [CHENG] Lt-Cmdr. Rand lap Tank

"You mean Rand lap Tank?

Hey, did you know he served on Kirk's Enterprise back in the late 80s? That Tellarite could probably have his own ship by now if he didn't keep getting into fights with Klingons.

Don't laugh! I'm serious. there's an actual note in his service file from the FDS requesting that Starfleet not have him posted near the Klingon Neutral Zone anymore. We're all used to Tellarites being argumentative, but lap Tank takes it to the next level in the defence of his ship's honour.

He really does take good care of his ships though. Stargazer is lucky to have him, he absolutely takes the time to make sure that everything is done just so.

S:3, P:1, I:1, C:1, E:3
[TLC] Repairs to Stargazer are discounted by 15%

-

[ ] [CHENG] Write In. Same rules as the last vote (see below) with 9 points, and peak of 3 same as the above candidates.

-

"Well, it's good to know that your ship is in good hands" Raelin leans his head onto his wife's shoulder and she leans her head into his.

The two continue to watch the Apiatan skies, in comfortable silence, Stargazer and the rest of the fleet twinkling in orbit above.