To: , ,
        , ,
        , "JustKenning"
        
From: "Jay  P Hailey" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com


Title: Star Trek: Outwardly Mobile
Author: Jay P Hailey (JayPHailey{at}yahoo.com) Series: MISC - TNG OCs
COdes: None
Part: 123/335(?)
Rating:[PG]
Archive: Fine with me, just tell me where. Disclaimer: Paramount owns all
things Star Trek.  I claim Original Characters and Situations for me.
Webpage HTTP://www.phoenixinn.iwarp.com/jayphailey

    Through the Looking Glass
    by
    Jay P. Hailey
    And
    Dennnis Washburn
     (Stardate 48855)

    I was having one of my infrequent dinners with the family of Aaron and
Elizabeth. They were the leaders of the colony that the Discovery was
carrying out into deep space. I tried to stay in frequent touch with them.
They were the center piece to our mission. I wanted to be sure that
everything was going according to plan.

    Elizabeth and Aaron had a fairly large family and dinner was always a
very happy, social event. Aaron sternly outlawed certain topics at the
dinner table, like politics, religion or work.

    I wound up feeling like Seczerade. Every time I went I told a single
story of a place that I had been to or an event that I had witnessed. I
carefully limited myself. When my 1,001 dinners were over and my stories
were all told, then what?

    I recounted my recent meeting with the Harmon. It was an interesting
story, and I could spin the resulting political reactions for laughs.

    The dinner was wonderful despite having been replicated. There were only
so many animals and plants on the Discovery. We couldn't just go around
eating them. Our life support cycle was designed around the replicator.

    Afterwards I played 3-D chess with the youngest child, Woody. He was
some sort of prodigy. He had a solid string of wins at flat chess, until I
switched to 3-D chess. I started to kill him there when I discovered an
interesting thing. Woody was a terrible sport. He would go so far as to
have a tantrum or knock the board over if a loss was inevitable. Recently
though, Woody had started to make a real game of it. I was afraid that soon
I would be loosing consistently again.

    After that, Elizabeth, Aaron and I gathered in the main room of their
quarters for "Adult Talk". It consisted mostly sipping coffee and
discussing the business of running the colony inside the Discovery.

    "I understand that you've got your medical teams set up and everything's
just fine autonomously, but I'd still like to have some back up in case
something went seriously wrong." I said.

    "I just don't want my people getting attached to your Starfleet
hardware." Aaron said. "They'll have a long time to do without it
when we get there."

    "That's all fine and good, but why can't my medical staff have records
on your people? Aaron, for Christ's sake I'm responsible for them,
too." I said. I didn't like the wheedling tone my voice was taking. I
was the Captain, dammit. I could insist. I just didn't want to. If I took
over administering the colony while it was on the Discovery then the
decision making abilities of the colonists might be atrophied by the time
we got to Beta Howard 223. I didn't want to have that happen. If I insisted
over Aaron's objection, then that's what would happen. Leadership is often
an all or nothing thing.

    "You met Guinan on Earth before we left, right?" Elizabeth asked.

    "Yes." I said. Was she trying to change the subject?

    "What did you speak with her about?"

    "Actually, she talked me into taking this assignment." I said.

    "Did she?" Aaron asked.

    "Yes. You recall when we first met. I wasn't sure I wanted to take this
assignment."

    Aaron nodded encouragingly.

    "Well. I went back to Earth ready to resign and try to make a public
stink to stop this."

    Aaron made a sour face. Elizabeth's face was carefully neutral. It was
an expression she wore only when she strongly disagreed or was unhappy
about something.

    "Well think about it. I've told you my objections to this whole mission.
A colony a thousand light years away? No help for years if at all? It
amounts to suicide. All I have to really show on the other side of the
ledger is a couple of vague admonitions to trust that you know what you're
doing."

    "And what did Guinan have to say?" Aaron asked.

    "She reminded me that if I dropped out, then the next candidate for
command of the mission would come from Admiral Necheyev and Starfleet
Intelligence." I said.

    "Does that make a difference?" Elizabeth asked.

    "I've met a few of the people from Starfleet Intelligence. I don't have
a lot of faith in their command ability or their compassion." I said bluntly.

    "But you do have faith in yours?" Aaron said, smiling.

    "More than Colonel Flagg's, for example." I said. "If
told that it was a
matter of national security, Flagg would drive you all out into the hinder
lands and then dispose of you all without hesitation. With me here, if you
get a sudden burst of sanity, I can try to bring you all home."

    "You wanted to make sure we had a back door?" Elizabeth asked.

    "Yes. Exactly." I said.

    "I see that you still don't trust that we know what we're doing." She
said, sadly.

    "I'm sorry. I haven't seen anything to change my mind." I said.

    "We're a little far along with the mission to be waffling about it now,
aren't we?" Aaron asked.

    "That's exactly the point. We cross the Klingon border in a couple of
days. Once that happens then we start the longest leg of this trip. There
will be no back up, and no high command to appeal to. Once we cross that
line, we're committed. At least turning around will become a much more
difficult proposition."

    "I don't think there will be any turning around, Captain. If you'll let
me, I'll show you why." Aaron said.

    "Is that wise?" Elizabeth asked him.

    "I don't want a half-hearted Captain, Love. Let's get him solidly on our
side and then worry about the consequences. Okay?"

    "What consequences are you talking about?" I asked, warily. I had no
idea about what they were talking about, but it sounded unhealthy.

    "I'm sorry Captain, to know, you'll have to see. After you see, it's too
late to go back." Aaron said. "The choice is, of course, yours."

    Humans are the most aggressive xenophiles in known space. To risk life
and limb exploring space one would either have to have no clear idea of how
dangerous it is, or a burning desire to see what was on the other side of
the hill. I always identified with Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, whose motto
was "Run, go see and find out!"

    "All right." I sighed. "Let's go."

    "I'll have desert waiting when you return." Elizabeth said.

    "I'll have to take you to my ship, Rosinante to have the necessary
materials. You may want to log off your ship." Aaron said.

    As we left the quarters assigned to Aaron and Elizabeth's family, I
called bridge and told them that we were about to go joy riding in Aaron's
shuttlecraft. I placed Commander Mendez in command of the Discovery. Aaron
and I took the turbolift to the main shuttle bay.

    -*-

    The main shuttle bay on the Galaxy class starship is right under the
bridge, covering the rear portion of the Saucer Section. The Discovery's
was bigger than most, since we needed to handle several cargo shuttles and
smaller one trip pods that would carry the Colony to the surface of its new
world.

    -*-

    The Rosinante was a small yet comfortable shuttle. The chairs were
upholstered with good padding and some sort of durable plastic material.
The control panels were the standard flat configurable type.

    "I'll need to conduct a small power test." Aaron said. Then he spoke in
a language that I couldn't understand. I was shocked. I was wearing my
universal translator. It should have either translated what Aaron said or
beeped to show that it didn't have enough of a sample to apply
meta-language to. It did neither.

    "Hmm. I guess my translator's on the blink. What language was that you
spoke to the shuttle?" I asked.

    "All will become clear shortly." Aaron said.

    Several panels lit up and the shuttlecraft hummed quietly to itself for
a moment. Then it said in a standard computer voice "All systems check
out nominal. Welcome aboard, Aaron. I detect another being with you.
Scanning. Welcome Captain Jay P. Hailey of the United Federation of
Planets."

    "Rosy, override the standard warning and then open the main engineering
access panel."

    "Yes, Aaron." A big panel slid open on the deck of the shuttle. Inside
there was a well-lit work area and several devices. Their function was not
immediately clear to me. I didn't like that. I had been a Chief Engineer on
a Starship at one time. I was not used to shuttlecraft devices that stumped
me. Aaron saw my expression and my almost unconscious leaning forward to
get a better view.


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