Acceleration In A Straight Line

Tilly looked at the letter on her screen. It had been relayed to Discovery first, then to Starbase 71 before it was finally forwarded to the Windhoek. That round trip took three days. “Would have been good to know in advance what’s coming.” She thought. It was astonishing, how subspace communications allowed face to face meetings in real time over hundreds of light years, but it took three days to relay an electronic letter. On the other hand: Real time communication across light years was kind of impressive, so maybe that was reason for a little humility.

She put the data pad away, and left her quarters on the way to the galley to request some spumoni ice cream. She had a feeling Po was going to need it.

Tilly had already given up convincing the captain, that he should keep protocol to a minimum. Maybe he was excited to meet an actual monarch for once. There weren’t many queens left in the Federation. After all, most space faring civilisations had established some form of democracy. Even the war mongering Klingons did not have a king or chieftain. They elected their leaders, even if it was legal to overthrow a candidate by fighting them.

Xahea also was not an absolute monarchy, and in reality Po’s power was limited to being the representative and some sort of role model to her people, and to act as an ambassador to other species. However, her word carried a lot of weight, because the queen was perceived by her people as the voice of their home world, which the Xaheans believed to be a living organism; and their sister.

The state visit would be televised, and maybe -even after almost two centuries of space travel- people still hungered for stories about queens, princes and armoured knights.

At least her visit to the galley turned out to be a success: the chef was human, and even of Italian descent. The prospect of serving a special dish from his home region to an alien leader delighted him.

The rest of the day went by without much to do for Tilly, so she went to her quarters. The crew of the Windhoek was capable of preparing the state visit without her, and after sharing her knowledge of Xahea, she would only be in the way. That somewhat dampened her mood, because it gave her time to reflect on her latest failure. And also there was yet another message from her mother.

Tilly sighed, sat down in front of the small screen, and selected the communication relay to earth. Right now, while she still had some time to spare, she could get this over with. She dialled the number of her parents house, and shortly after, a three dimensional representation of her mother appeared on the desk. The holo-projector in her cabin was not as large as the one on discovery, therefore the image of her mother was only a few inches high and limited to the viewing screen. Tilly was quite happy about that, since seeing her mother face to face as if she was in the room always had an intimidating effect on her.

Siobhan Tilly was an impressive woman, tall in stature and and with dark hair. A life dedicated to hard work had left traces on her face, but she was nonetheless very beautiful. She was very determined, and had demanded independence from her children from a very young age. While Sylvia’s stepsister seemed to get along quite well with her step mother, Sylvia’s relationship to Siobhan was more complicated. She had yearned all her life for the one thing her mother couldn’t give: Her embrace. So always in the shadow of her over-achieving step-sister, she could never shake the feeling of inadequacy.

“Hello Sylivia!” Her mother said.

“Hello, mother.” Sylvia said, her mouth dry.

“How nice of you to call. It’s not that I left you a message days ago!”

“That was yesterday!” Tilly protested. “And I was very busy.”

Her mother looked annoyed. “You failed the test. Didn’t you?”

Tilly grinded her teeth. “Yes. Happy now?”

Her mother was obviously upset. “How can you say such a thing?”

Tilly blushed and looked away. Why did she always feel guilty, when she talked to her mother?

“Because you always sound, as if you don’t want me to succeed.” She murmured.

“That‘s nonsense.’’ Her mother shot back at her. “Of course, I want you to succeed. I just don’t think Starfleet is the right place for you.”.

“But it is!” Tilly defended herself. “I want to do this, more than anything in the world!”

“And look where it got you! We had a goddamn funeral for you, Sylvia!”

That hurt. “I didn’t ask for that! I was nearly dead when Discovery was lost.” That was a lie of course, but Tilly was not allowed to tell the truth about the battle against Control. Not even to her own mother.

“You hid in a life pod during the battle. Do you think that will impress your friends at Starfleet?”

“Would you rather have me dead?” Tilly shot back. “Is it that? Am I such a great disappointment to you?”

It was unfair, and Tilly knew that.

Her mother sighed. “Sylvia, I just want you to come home.”

Tilly shook her head. “We’ve talked about this, mum. I am not going to leave Starfleet.”

“Sylvia, I really don’t know what to do with you. I really don’t know.”

“Just let me live my life.” Tilly said.

There was an awkward silence between them. Finally, Siobhan said: “I’ve got to go, honey.”

“Yeah.” Tilly replied. “Have a good.”

“I love you, baby. Please understand that.”

Tilly nodded. “Talk to you soon.”

“Bye.”

The screen went dark, and the small image of her mother disappeared. Tilly felt as if she was going to cry. Why did every conversation with her mother end like this? She knew that Siobhan meant well. She really was worried, but she also never trusted Tilly to be an adult and make her own decisions. When she had been a child, her mother was rarely at home to see her daughter grow up. Maybe that’s why she thought Tilly was still a little girl. The fact that she had thought for three years, that her daughter was dead, while those three years had only been a few months for the Discovery crew hadn’t helped the situation.

She decided to go to bed, and try and get some sleep.

After a rough night full of weird dreams and tossing and turning, Ensign Sylvia Tilly stood in front of a mirror and checked her new ceremonial uniform. The new, more colourful design of Starfleets uniforms had been picked up in the ceremonial garments, and she had to admit, they looked quite fancy.

She checked her hair in the mirror a last time, then left for the docking bay. For some reason, Po would not beam aboard the Windhoek, but arrive in a shuttle craft. Tilly suspected, that this was due to protocol.

The docking bay was decorated with federation flags and Xahean banners. A guard of honour was flanking the path where the shuttle craft would land. They carried phaser rifles and they were the only ones to wear hats. Tilly asked herself how long Starfleet would keep these archaic rituals up. The military pomp was in stark contrast to everything that Starfleet represented. To the side stood a military band, ready to play the respective anthems. A few cameramen and an estimated dozen of camera drones were whirling around in the background.

“Shuttle approaching” a voice announced to the ship wide intercom.

Tilly straightened her pose and put her hands behind her back. This posture was done in Starfleet instead of a military salute.

The bay doors opened and through the blue shimmer of the force field, that kept the atmosphere inside the ship, the Xahean shuttle appeared. The ship was of a sleek design, with an elegantly curved exterior hull. It looked more as if it had been grown rather than build, as most Xahean technology had an organic vibe to it.

With a gentle pop the ship drifted through the energetic barrier that separated the ship from space, as a tiny bit of air escaped into the vacuum outside. The shuttle craft slowly turned on the spot and then touched down on the docking bay floor. The docking clamps fixed the small craft, and for a couple of minutes nothing happened. Finally, the shuttle’s airlocks opened, and six soldiers of the Royal Vanguard stepped out. Unlike the Starfleet officers, they wore only a small ceremonial dagger, and were not visibly armed.

“Ah-ttention!” The commander of the guard called, and the Starfleet guards shouldered their rifles.

Then the queen herself appeared. She looked a little more grown up than three years back, when Tilly had last seen her, but she was, if that was even possible, more beautiful than ever. She wore a robe that was embroidered with symbols unknown to Tilly, but was otherwise so simple, that Tilly felt ashamed for wearing her pompous Starfleet uniform. The young monarch gracefully walked down the gangway, while, one after the other, her guards fell in line behind her. She approached the captain.

“Your Serene Highness Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po! In the name of the United Federation of Planets, I welcome you on board the U.S.S. Windhoek.” Captain Athon said.

Po smiled politely and reached out her hand to shake it with the captain. It was a very human gesture and confused the Andorian captain, but he took her hand and shook it. Journalists and camera drone surrounded the group like insects, everyone eager to get a good picture of this historic moment.

Then the queen and the chief diplomat of the Federation walked down the red carpet, and the band began to play. They played Beethoven’s Ode To Joy, since the Xaheans never adapted the concept of national or planetary anthems. Although the world was known to have a rich musical culture, little was known about it in the Federation.

With the formal greetings over, the camera drones were shut down, and security personnel shielded the state visitor from the curious journalists.

Together, the Starfleet crew and their guest left the docking bay.

“The cameras are off now?” The queen asked captain Athon.

“Yes, ma’am.” The captain confirmed. “We have prepared some refreshments for you; if you like to follow me.”

“In a minute, captain. In the mean time, allow me to greet an old friend.”

The captain was puzzled. “Well, of course. As you wish.”

She smiled at him and then walked over to Tilly, who had been the last of the officers to leave the docking bay. To Tilly’s surprise, the Xahean mornach flung her arms around her and hugged her tightly..

“It’s so good to see you my friend. I thought I’d lost you! I grieved for you.”

Tilly blushed, but she returned the embrace. “I missed you too. Thank you for inviting me.”

The queen looked at her. “You’re going to help me, aren’t you? I still have no clue how to do all this state business stuff.”

“I am afraid, I’m not very good at it either.” Tilly confessed.

“Doesn’t matter. Just stay with me, will you?”

“Of course.”

“To be honest: I’m terrified.“ Po whispered into Tilly’s ear.

Tilly gave her friend a reassuring pat on the back.

Po straightened up and smiled at her friend. “Thank you. Once this official business is over, I’m all yours.”

She broke away from Tilly, but took her arm, leading her back to the captain and her guards.

“Now Captain,” she said with a bright smile. “I hope those refreshments include some spumoni ice cream?”

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