The Envoy
Posted on Tue Dec 7, 2021 @ 3:44pm by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot
1,994 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
We Will Take Care of You
Location: Beta Aurigae System
Timeline: Three months before their arrival
3 months ago:
“Bridge to Captain Alvarez,” the comm system said, coming to life.
“Go ahead,” Alvarez said, continuing to work at his desk.
“Our new Head Nurse has arrived. She’s asked to speak with you,” the officer said.
Relieved at something to disrupt the boredom of watch duty, the Captain nodded. “Have them report to my office,” he said.
The ship was small and functional with the Captain’s office adjacent to his quarters, rather than on the bridge, so it wasn't too surprising that the chime rang so soon after their new crewman arrived. “Enter,” he said.
The Captain sat up a bit straighter, smoothed his uniform, and tried to adopt an air of authority. He wasn’t the oldest Captain in the fleet, nor was he the youngest. He was an average man, of average age, in an average ship, sitting and watching one of the dullest planets in Federation space. Any moment of change, and any opportunity to dust himself off, was welcome.
Into the middle of his musings about the musty, stale assignment he’d fallen into suddenly walked a breath of fresh air. Her hair was as golden as the corn silk of his hometown farms. Her eyes were as blue as the ponds he used to swim in, and her figure….if he ever thought Starfleet uniforms tended to androgynize officers, he was now changing his mind, seeing how she filled hers out.
She was smiling at him with two rows of perfectly, almost painfully, white teeth, framed by delicate pink lips. She smiled, and smiled, and he suddenly realized he was staring and cleared his throat. “Welcome aboard, Lieutenant,” he said, accepting the padd she held out and skimming it. “I see you’ve recently transferred here from the Delta Quadrant. Why such a drastic change?”
The new head nurse shrugged her shoulders girlishly, an effect not lost on the Captain. “Just wanted to be a bit closer to home,” she said.
“Well, I can’t promise this will be the most glamorous assignment,” he said. A Saber-class ship is a bit tight, but also tight-knit. Our patrol area isn’t the most exciting corner of space, but we do a job and we’re proud to do it. I hope you find yourself enjoying your time with our little family.” He walked up and held out a hand. “Welcome aboard the Wolfeboro, Lieutenant Naroot.”
“Please,” she said, smiling more. “Call me Penny.”
2 months ago:
George Alvarez grunted and let out a small shout as he felt ten fingernails dig into his shoulder blades. The sensation only spurred him on, helping to bring his passion to critical mass. He let out a moan of pure animalistic passion, echoed by a more feminine call beneath him and finally collapsed, breathing hard. He felt her hand stroke the back of his head and he finally rolled off of her, lying on his side of the bed, trying to catch his breath.
He looked at the chronometer on the wall by his bed and blinked. “How is it already after 2300?” he said to himself.
“Is that really your primary concern?” Penny’s voice whispered in his ear. “The time?”
George turned back around and looked into the eyes of the woman he’d been sharing a bed with for the past few weeks. What had been a dull, drab tour of duty monitoring a planet had suddenly become far more bearable. He’d initially felt self-conscious about taking up a relationship with a woman so much younger than him, not to mention a member of his crew, but he’d since had those feelings drowned out by more primal instincts. Nonetheless, they’d been discreet, only meeting in his quarters after their shifts, and he kept his promise to not discuss it with his First Officer, a rather by-the-book Vulcan who would most likely have disapproved.
“It just never ceases to amaze me how I can lose track of time with you,” he said. “It’s like the hours blur together into one big haze of happiness.”
Penny grinned. “I like the way you phrased that,” she said. “But it’s my function to take care of your needs, and so I have. As for the haze, well, I could fill you in on any details you missed along the way with a full report of our activities,” she said, grinning mischievously, “or…” She swung her leg over and mounted up on top of him. “We could just start from the top and see how much you remember this time.”
George felt his head drop to the pillow and surrendered himself again to the void as Penny once again hypnotized him with her charms.
1 month ago:
“Commander Stahl,” Lieutenant Kenyon said from tactical. “Did you authorize a ship-wide sensor diagnostic?”
“I did not,” the First Officer said. “Terminate the diagnostic.”
“I can’t,” Kenyon said. “I’m completely locked out.”
“On whose authorization?” Stahn said, standing and turning to face the security chief.
“The Captain’s….” the Lieutenant said, confusion evident in his voice.
“Stahl to Captain Alvarez,” the Commander said. After a moment of silence, Stahl tapped his combadge. “Captain Alvarez, please respond.”
“Commander,” Kenyon said. “Someone just authorized a battening down procedure.”
“The Captain?” Stahl said.
“Aye, Sir,” Kenyon said. “All exterior hatches, windows and ports are closing. Between that and the sensor diagnostic, we’re completely blind.”
“All stop. Stahl to Engineering,” the Vulcan said, his voice still calm. As he suspected, no response was forthcoming. “Computer, where is Captain Alvarez?”
“Captain Alvarez is in his quarters,” the computer said, dutifully.
Stahl immediately turned back to the rear stations. “Ensign Ballard, report to Engineering. Inform them of the situation and attempt to reestablish control of the ship. Lieutenant Kenyon, report to the Captain’s quarters and ensure his safety. If he is able, have him brought to the bridge.”
Ensign Ballard was out of his chair as soon as Commander Stahl looked away. He rushed to the turbolift and caused everyone’s heads to turn as he slammed face-first into the doors.
“Emergency exits,” Stahl said.
Ballard and Kenyon pulled a panel off the rear bulkhead and dove in, crawling through the innards of the ship. Stahl calculated how long it would take them to reach their destinations and sat back in the center chair. With no way of orienting themselves, they couldn’t risk moving the ship. They were safe, but effectively trapped.
Lieutenant Kenyon dropped out of a jefferies tube and ran down the corridor of deck four to the Captain’s quarters. He rang the chime three times in quick succession, waited a breath and a half for a response, then punched in his security override and leaped through the doors as they opened.
The Captain’s quarters were dark and a faint sound of snoring came from his bedroom. Kenyon ran into the bedroom and found the Captain sleeping peacefully in his bed. Kenyon grabbed the Captain by the shoulder and shook him hard. “Captain! You’re needed on the bridge!”
The captain groaned and sat up, batting away the younger man’s arm and trying to fight through the cobwebs. “What...what’s going on?”
“Sir, someone is taking over the ship with your authorization code!” Kenyon said, trying to snap the Captain out of his stupor.
“That’s...not possible,” Alvarez said, shaking the cobwebs off. “Penny, we need to--” he stopped as he realized that the other half of his bed was empty. “Penny?” he called out. Silence responded.
Alvarez looked up at his security chief and blinked. Deciding the cat was now out of the bag, he put aside his need for secrecy. “Did you see Lieutenant Naroot go by when you got here?” he said.
“Who?” Kenyon said, confused.
“Lieutenant Naroot. Penelope.” Alvarez said, insistently. “She was...well she was here.” He tapped his combadge. “Alvarez to Naroot.”
“Internal communications are down,” Kenyon said. “And, Sir, I don’t recall any Penelope Naroot on the crew roster.”
“She came aboard two months ago,” Alvarez said, throwing on his clothes with as much modesty as he could. “She’s transferred in as our Head Nurse.”
“Head Nurse?” Kenyon said, now thoroughly confused. “Sir, maybe you were dreaming. We only have a crew of forty and a medical staff of five. We only have three nurses: Ensign K’tal, Ensign Bo and Ensign Wallace.”
Alvarez looked like he was just told that the moon truly was made of green cheese. “That’s...not possible. I’ve been...we’ve been seeing each other for weeks now. Dinners, the holodeck….” he racked his brain, realizing that in order to be discreet, he’d never gone to Sickbay looking for her, never asked about her, never inquired where her quarters were. And the few times he’d ask about her day beyond the perfunctory, she’d distracted him...repeatedly.
“Sir?” Kenyon said, shaking the Captain out of his ruminations.
Alvarez looked at him a moment, then threw his uniform back on and walked out of his quarters, Kenyon in tow. “Do we have external communications?” he said.
“So far, but there’s no one in range to hail,” Kenyon said.
“Yes there is,” Alvarez said.
They climbed up the emergency ladders back to the bridge and Alvarez came around and took his chair, his expression hard. He was hurt, he was angry, and the combination of anger and betrayal he was feeling was enough to burn a hole in the viewscreen with his glare.
“Captain,” Commander Stahl said, “someone has seemingly used your command codes to override our systems. We are, in effect, entombed, blind and trapped at this position.”
“Locked down, but kept safe,” Alvarez said. “No threat to the ship, nor the crew.”
“Correct, Sir.”
“Open hailing frequencies,” he said.
“To whom?” Kenyon said.
“The planet,” the Captain said, sitting down in his chair.
“Sir,” Commander Stahl said from his position at the First Mate’s station, “our orders explicitly forbid any contact with the population of the planet. We are to observe and patrol only.”
“They’ve already made contact with us,” Alvarez said.
“How so?” Stahl said.
“They sent a…” he paused, looking for the right word. “They sent an emissary. Now they have us pinned down. Let’s find out what they want.”
“Captain,” Ensign Tuckerson said from Ops, “we’re being hailed.”
“On screen,” Alvarez said.
The viewscreen lit up to show a bridge manned by several people. It was similar in design to his own bridge, but everyone on the alien bridge looked blankly at him, whereas his people looked grim.
“Captain Alvarez,” the man in the center seat said. “On behalf of the Androids of Planet Mudd, we officially request to be allowed to send a delegation for peace talks.”
Whatever the Captain had been expecting, that was not it. He leaned forward in his chair. “Peace talks?”
“Yes, Captain,” the android said, evenly. “Forgive our distraction, but we required your ship to be removed as a threat so that we could launch our delegation without danger. We mean you no harm, and will return control of your ship to you once we have your assurance of safety for our ship. We have established a diplomatic delegation and wish to begin talks with one of Starfleet’s officers.”
Alvarez sat back. The androids had infiltrated his ship, fooled him into thinking one was part of his crew, and gotten close enough to him to extract his….command codes. If they had wanted to destroy his ship or harm him directly, they had opportunity, and hadn’t taken it. And, he had to admit to himself, his time with their representative had been some of the happiest he’d had in years.
“Who do you wish to speak with?” he said.
“Captain Rhea Kennit,” the android said.
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