Star Trek: Lineage Ch. 05

"Ready for launch, sir," came Kara's voice over the intercom.

"Helm, begin the turn," Sahar ordered. The ship pitched up and banked, pulling up and away from the Gorn ship. "Open Shuttlebay doors."

"Aye, sir," responded the Auxiliary systems operator. On her display, a green light marked "Main Shuttlebay Doors" blinked yellow for a few seconds, then turned red. "Doors are open."

"Deploy the shuttles." As theAthenabanked into its wide turn, shuttles deployed from the Main Shuttlebay, forming a ring around the Gorn ship. As they passed beneath the enemy, the shuttles moved into position around the larger ship. TheAthenapassed below the Gorn, the last shuttles emerging.

"Shuttles away and in position," said Kara through the Comm.

"Affirmative. Helm, stand by," Sahar ordered. The ship came back up, nearing the same elevation as the Gorn. "Helm, hard to port!" she yelled.

"Hard to port, aye!" The ship banked hard, and the impulse engines hummed loudly, trying to push the large craft ever so slightly faster. The Gorn ship filled the viewscreen, and theAthenahurdled towards its left flank.

"Make your pass underneath," Sahar yelled, and the bow dipped slightly. "All shuttles, commence fire." On the viewscreen, a dozen bright orange beams converged on the Gorn ship, impacting the shields and encasing the vessel in an egg of bright green light. On her console, Sahar saw the port shield weaken, and pressed the fire button.

A spread of nearly a dozen torpedoes streaked towards to Gorn ship and as they struck, the phasers fired, hitting the weakened shield with the full fury of theAthena. Green, red, and orange flashes filled the viewscreen, painting the Bridge Crew's shadows on the wall for an instant. Sahar looked down at her display. "Fuck!" she screamed. "Port shield is holding at 6 percent!"

"Coming hard to starboard!" called the helmsman.

"Negative, steady as she goes, all ahead full!" Sahar called back.

The helmsman hesitated. "Captain?"

"You have your orders," Lowe said calmly.

"Aye, sir. Steady as she goes, ahead full. The Gorn ship is coming about."

"All hands, brace for emergency maneuvers!" Sahar yelled. She watched on her screen as the Gorn ship turned towards them, accelerating. It banked hard towards theAthena. Sahar watched as the ship tilted harder and harder, waiting for the perfect moment. "Helm, one third impulse, emergency turn, 90 degrees hard to port!" she screamed.

"One third impulse, emergency to port, 90 degrees, aye!" The massive ship lurched sharply, forcing Sahar to grip the console to avoid being thrown to the floor. The ship came out of the turn, and Sahar watched on her display as the Gorn struggled to match the turn, trying to decelerate. But the ship was too slow, and passed aft of theAthena, port shield exposed. Sahar fired again, and several torpedoes flew from the aft launcher. For what seemed to Sahar like an eternity, the torpedoes, like glittering rubies in the night, sped silently through the void until striking the Gorn ship.

"Shield is buckling... the shield is down! Away all boarders!" she cried.

"Boarding party is away," reported Fuller. For a few moments, no one moved, waiting for the news.

"Captain, theReptiliscongratulates us on a clever victory," reported the Comm officer. Cheers ran through the ship, and Sahar slumped back in her chair.

Slowly, joyous tears filled her eyes.

******

Assembly Hall, GCSReptilis, 1600 hours

The massive hall rang with sound. The more senior members of both crews had filled the room, and stood in ranks, one crew facing the other, both at attention. The Federation Anthem played, echoing through the room. On one side of the hall, behind the crew of theAthena, was hung a giant banner with Federation Seal emblazoned across it. On the opposite wall was hung an equally large banner for the Gorn.

The graceful, sweeping melody would have been very inspirational for Sahar, had she gotten more than 3 hours of sleep in the previous 48 hours. As it was, the song allowed her to remain awake, and she was able to avoid yawning. Following the anthems, there were brief speeches from each captain, and more formalities followed that. Through it all, Sahar remained at attention, wearing her dress uniform.

Finally, mercifully for Sahar, the ceremony finished, and the reception began in earnest. The two crews mingled, exchanging anecdotes, opinions, and other kinds of small talk as they ate. Sahar was mostly interested in the drinks, preferably something with generous amounts of caffeine and sugar. Unfortunately for her, she could not make it more than a meter or two at a time before someone wanted to speak with her, or congratulate her, or something of that nature.

I really hate this crap,she thought, trying to evade a particularly verbose dignitary. At the bar, she ordered her lemon sharbat, and greedily downed a large portion of the tangy drink. It was revitalizing, and she began to feel as though this event would not actually kill her. She felt a cold, powerful hand on her shoulder, and turned to find Riss standing behind her.

"Lieutenant, I wanted to congratulate you on your ssssucssssessss. I understand you were in command for the lasssst exerssssisssse," he hissed, possibly happily.

"That's right. I finally beat you," she smiled.

"You fought well, Ssssahar. I congratulate you," he said graciously.

"Thank you, Riss," Sahar said, patting his shoulder.

"You are quite welcome. I am ssssure you are exhaussssted, sssso I will leave you be."

"It's been a pleasure, Riss," Sahar said as he started to walk away.

"I will ssssee you again, I think," he replied. Sahar turned, only to find the dignitary bearing down on her. At the last moment, though, someone grabbed her arm, pulling her through the crowd and out a small door at the back of the room.

When they were away from the crowd, Sahar recognized her abductor as Kara, and was immediately thankful. The room they were in was a massive arboretum. Tall, alien trees stretched more than 10 meters into the air, with numerous shrubs, bushes, flowers, ferns, and other smaller plants forming a thick mass of green. Wide, tall pathways had been cut into the small jungle, and Sahar noticed a few Federation personnel down one of the paths. "What is this place?" Sahar gasped, awestruck.

"This is theReptilis'sarboretum." Kara explained. "Gorn are carnivores, and they eat a lot. To keep a ship this size fed, they need their own forest to feed the food."

"This is amazing," she muttered. Nothing like this existed on Federation starships, or even on Federation Starbases. She walked silently down one of the paths, staring up at the artificially lit ceiling.

"Come on, this way," Kara smiled, taking her hand. They walked slowly down the path, hand-in-hand, enjoying the scenery. The jungle opened up into a large clearing, with a small pond and stream. Several varieties of fish were visible in the pond beneath the footbridge that took the walkway through the clearing.

"Wow," Sahar said as she leaned over the rail on the bridge, watching a school of small fish dart about beneath the surface.

"You like it?" Kara whispered as she wrapped an arm around the taller woman and leaned against her.

"We havegotto get one of these," she smiled.

"I don't think it would fit. It's bigger than the Main Cargo Bay" Kara laughed. She unconsciously twirled a lock of Sahar's hair in her hand, and squeezed her tighter. She felt Sahar's long, sculpted arm wrap around behind her, and closed her eyes. "You did great today."

"I would have to agree," chuckled someone behind them. The voice startled them, and Sahar nearly dove over the rail for cover instead of turning around. "Whoa, take it easy, Lieutenant," Lowe laughed as they snapped to attention. "At ease. We have been ordered to the Alpha Centauri Yards for a retrofit. Afterwards, I want you on the rotation for Tactical on the Bridge."

"Thank you, Captain!" Sahar gaped.

"As you are aware, this makes you one of the Bridge Officers. As such, you are being assigned private quarters on deck 7. They will be ready for you at 0900," he finished.

"Aye, sir."

Captain Lowe turned to leave, but stopped. "Take tomorrow off, Lieutenant. You look like you need it," he said over his shoulder. Kara turned to Sahar.

"Told you," she whispered, kissing her ear.

******

Deck 7, Lieutenant Sahar Tehrani's Quarters, 1000 hours

"This place is awesome, Harry!" Casana squealed, peeking into the head.

"Don't call me 'Harry'," Sahar sighed with the last tiny bit of annoyance she could muster. She was sprawled out on her back on the modest bed, eyes closed. She had not slept well last night.

"Aww, are you hung over?" Casana cooed, sitting down next to her, patting her on the stomach.

"Hey, paws off my girl!" yelled Kara in mock anger. She was sitting at the small table in the center of the room with Zula, while Suvak inspected the room silently, hands clasped behind her back.

"Yes. Yes, I'm hung over. And I blame you," Sahar sighed, pushing Casana lightly. "The party was your idea, after all."

"What, didn't you enjoy it?" Casana giggled.

"I don't remember," mumbled Sahar.

"Good point!" Casana cackled. "That's why I brought you the tea," she said, motioning to the untouched cup on the table next to the bed. "It's my own recipe!" she added proudly.

"Come on Harry, drink it. What's the worst that could happen?" snickered Zula. Sahar opened one eye and stared venomously at her. "I mean 'Sahar'. Or 'sir'," she said, raising her hands in surrender. Sahar's eye closed. "Well, I have to get back to the Armory before Sedaris blows something up." She stood to leave, waving to each of them.

"I should depart as well," Suvak stated, and left unceremoniously. Kara gave her a pat on the back and looked at Casana intently. Casana mouthed "What?", and Kara motioned to the door.

"Oh, I just remembered! I have to go... do... things," she said, scurrying out of the room with a knowing smile. Once the door closed, Kara sat down gently on the bed and lifted Sahar's head into her lap.

"Okay, you really do need to drink this now, love," she whispered as she grasped the cup.

"She tried to kill me with drinks last night. How do you know she isn't trying to finish the job?" Sahar said as she sat up.

"She likes you too much," Kara laughed as she handed her the cup. Sahar took a long drink, and nearly gagged.

"Holy hell, what is in this?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to," Kara answered, leaning against her. "Just finish it." Sahar groaned, but tipped the cup back and downed what was left.

"I am going to kill her for this," she moaned, flopping back down on the bed.

Kara lay down next to her, gathering the extraordinarily tired woman in her arms.