Arrival

Tilly woke to the beeping of her communicator. Po slept next to her, one arm loosely around Tilly’s waist.

They had been talking for hours, listened to weird music, among it an aria from a Klingon opera. It was silly and childish laughing at it, and they both knew that. They talked about the pros and cons of men and interspecies relationships and got into a sugar rush from all the candy they ate.

Eventually they both fell asleep on Tilly’s bed. Now Tilly tried to get to her communicator.

She flipped it open.

“Ensign Tilly, report to the bridge immediately! We have a situation!”

Tilly was immediately awake. “What happend?”

“The queen is gone. She didn’t return to her quarters last night!”

Tilly relaxed again. No crisis here. “No need to worry, Sir. She’s with me. We’re all right.”

“What? Were are you?”

“Um, my quarters sir.”

“Bring her to the bridge. The captain wants to see you both. Bridge out.”

The communicator fell silent. Po stirred beside her. “What happened?” She asked sleepily.

“It seems you’re on a missing persons list. We need to get dressed and report to the bridge.”

Tilly could hop out of bed and get dressed in no time, but the princess was slower. So when Po stumbled out of the bathroom, Tilly was already in her uniform, her hair in a tidy knot, as if she hadn’t been up all night. She was already answering the communicator.

“The captain is waiting.” A voice just said.

“Well, you’ll have to wait until her Serene Highness is dressed.” Tilly defended herself.

Po stared at her friend with her best “Oh, really?”-look in her eyes. Her nictitating membranes where blinking rapidly, which was a sign she was annoyed.

She pointed to the communicator. “Give me that!” She commanded.

Wordlessly, Tilly handed her friend the communicator.

“You’re annoying. Stop calling, we’ll be there when we’re ready. Tell your captain, I’m not holding audiences before breakfast.”

She cut off any reponse by closing the communicator. Tilly looked at her wide-eyed. “Did you just cut off the bridge?”

Po nodded. “When you’re in my position you learn quite quickly how to deal with self important big heads. Show them who’s boss.”

Tilly sighed. “I’m not boss.”

“Not yet. But it doesn’t mean you have to put up with everything.” She thought for a moment. “I will have my office send a statement to Athon’s superiors, where they praise the hospitality on this ship, and especially your role in making me feel welcome. They won’t dare giving you a hard time after that. Trust me.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. Let’s see what Captain Bloathead wants!”

Po did not take the direct route to the bridge, diverting them through the galley to grab a mug of coffee before heading on. Tilly got more and more nervous.

“The captain is already waiting for us, we need to move.” She said.

“The captain will wait for us. Don’t worry.” Po gave an encouraging smile.

Together they entered the bridge. Capatain Athon stood in the centre of the oval room, his back to the door. He slowly turned around.

“Ah, Ensign Tilly. How nice of you to honour us with your presence.” He said.

“I’m sorry sir, Her Serene Highness, ahm, needed a moment to get ready.” Tilly stuttered. Her face reddening.

“You don’t have the authority to modify protocol. We will discuss this later.”

Po now stepped forward. “No, we will discuss this now.” She said. “Because I want to know where the problem is!”

“I am sorry for any inconviniences, Your Serene Highness. We do have strict protocols implemented, so all our visitors get the respect and honours they deserve.” The captain explained.

Po sighed. “Relax captain. I am willing to play your game where neccessary. But you might have noticed, that I am not the Klingon ambassador, and I assure you, there is no war looming between the Federation and Xahea. On the contrary, I think we are very much on the same wavelength. And for the record: I had a great time yesterday. I was catching up with one of my oldest and dearest friends, and sneaking out of my quarters was part of the fun.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Maybe I should have warned you. My own people have gotten used to it by now, but I should have told you how I tick. I apologise for this.”

“But… the crews quarters are in no way appropriate for a queen!” The captain exclaimed.

Po shrugged. “Do I look as if I care? I used to sleep on the naked floor in the dilithium caves on Xahea.”

The captain was obviously confused. An agressive Klingon ambassador was something he was prepared for. But the blunt, almost working-class attitude of this teenage queen was something he never had dealt with before. He had expected a diplomat, or even a spoilt brat. But this woman was neither. His anger at towards Tilly evaporated. Maybe it was a good idea to let the two women run free and have the young ensign keep his royal guest off his back, before he did something stupid.

But of course Po would not let him get away that easy.

“We stil have two hours until we arrive at the starbase.” She said. “I need a decent breakfast before I can face all the robe-wearers. Captain” she turned towards Athon, “would you like to join us? I would really like to try out an Andorian breakfast. Maybe you can show me, what your people prefer to eat?”

She gave him a warm smile, that not even he could resist. And so they spent the next hour in the galley, trying out breakfast dishes from different worlds. The captain looked like a fish out of water. Because the Xahean’s unconventional way of dealing with people none of his diplomatic standards worked, which in the end forced him to be himself. That however, turned out to be a good thing, because beyond his captains no bullshit attitude, Athon was quite a pleasant man. Still Tilly enjoyed watching him struggle when dealing with everyone at the table, for Po had invited everyone along the way to join them, from the security chief to the janitor.

When their small feast was over, they had tasted Andorian fruit plates, a Bovarian grass soup, bacaon and egg sandwhiches Vulcan puffed mushrooms and many more things, that Tilly didn’t even know the food dispenser had on it’s menu.

With lifted spirits among the crew, the Windhoek reached her destination, and when Po and her entourage left the ship, everyone on board was sad, she was leaving. Everyone, except for the captain, who -although he too was delighted by the young monarch, also felt some relief, that the routines aboard his ship went back to normal. His mixed feelings extended towards the young ensign Tilly, whose unusal way of handling things he found disruptive, but he had to admit, her close personal relationship to their guest had been a life-saver for him. And after all, she had done the right thing, when he himself was at his limits. Athon was a fair man, and he would mention that in his report.

Meanwhile Tilly had a lot of free time on her hands. Po was in the negotiations with the federation officials, and she would not be back before the evening. Now technically there where no days on a starbase, but different parts of the huge construction had different day and night cycles. The parts mostly populated by humans had a twenty-four-hour day, while there where parts with sixteen or even thirty-hour days.

Tilly kept in mind that her friend was not used to twenty-four hour cycles, and she would be tired when she came back from the talks. Xaheans needed less sleep than humans, but days on their world were shorter, and they usually slept for short intervalls during the day. So Tilly had arranged dinner in a fancy, but not too fancy restaurant that served artifical meat, and tickets for the movies later. People lived in an age, where they could play interactive stories with holograms, and yet most places still had an old fashioned cinema. There where even a lot of movies still produced in 2D. Oddly, on a night out nothing seems to beat sitting in a darkened room with strangers, staring at a silver screen.

For the rest of the day, she walked around the station, went for a bit of shopping, and mostly thought about last nights conversation with her friend.

Being in command of a space ship had always been her dream. But was it really the right decision? The idea of being at the forefront of discovery excited her: As a specialist for first contact scenarios, she was still on the command track. Such experts often served as first or second officers, because they were essential to any captain in a first contact situation. It would still be a possibllity to get her own command. It meant taking the long way around, but doors would not close forever. And the idea of being sent on a five year mission into the unknown, on a ship like the Enterprise, was exciting to her.

By the time she picked up Po for dinner, she had made her decision.

“I’m going to do it.” She told her friend when they sat down for their supper.

“Do what?” Po asked.

“Go for the first contact specialist. I really think it’s what I want to do. It’s what I am good at.”

Po grinned. “I told you so.”

“I’m actually looking forward to tell my mother.” Tilly said. “She’s going to have kittens, but for the first time I will not feel guilty. I know what I want now. She can say whatever she likes, I’m going to do it.”

“Have kittens?” The Xahean asked, looking mystified.

“Oh, it’s an earth saying. It means she’ll be shocked to hear about my plans, maybe even upset. But I can prove to her, I’m good at something.”

“You don’t need to prove anything.”

Later that night, Tilly sat in front of the comms-screen in her quarters. Po was sleeping on the bed behind her. She had already been tired during the movie, where she had dozed off from time to time, her head resting on Tilly’s shoulders. Tilly didn’t blame her; it had been a very long day.

Tilly was too excited to sleep though. For the first time in a long while, she knew where she was headed. She smiled, and selected her mothers contact on the holo-screen.

 Previous chapter