The All-Stars {Star Trek the Next Generation Fan Fiction}

Chapter 13 - Decisions

"Let's take another vote," Majira suggested.

"We've already taken four," Wesley complained.

"Well, it's been a few hours since we voted," Crita pointed out, yawning.

"It's almost one hundred hours," Daniya announced, checking her PADD. "Mack, are you awake?"

"Uh, almost." Mack blinked several times. Her PADD was flashing, indicating a new message. She clicked it open.

Mystic, are you okay? I didn't hear from you. – MDM

She tapped out a fast response.

Be glad you're not a part of the real nitty gritty decision-making. Dullsville. – MDM

She sent the message and a new one came in, nearly immediately, from the Federation Diplomatic Attaché on Andoria, Human Unit. The specific sender was named Hoberman. She read it to herself, and then crowed, "Hot dog! We got ourselves a game!"

The rest of them sat up straighter. "What kind of game?" Crita asked.

"Ice hockey. I, uh, holy cow, it says here that, the military unit – they still call them MACOs there – it says they get homesick sometimes and would like to play a game that would remind them of Earth!"

"Perhaps we should gear some of our personnel choices around this game," Daniya suggested.

"I disagree," Wesley said, "what if we're horse racing the next day, or the next month, or something?"

"Well, we'll need somebody. The Caitian and the Witannen aren't going to be playing hockey," Mack opined.

"It's highly likely," Majira stated, "that Vulcans would find this sport to be too cold. They would probably not perform up to par."

"That Imvari's probably out, too," Wes pointed out. They all looked puzzled so he clarified, "Knees."

"Right. But we've got Shaw, the human guy," Mack stated. "We could use a guy like that Jem'Hadar, y'know."

"We could," Wes conceded. "Hockey players are always really big guys," he explained to the alien women.

"So, Klingons?" Crita asked, a little timidly.

"Agility is good, too," Mack pointed out, "we might want Xindi sloth."

"I imagine we'll be busy, no matter what," Majira opined. "Andorians could tolerate the cold rather well. I'm sure they would enjoy playing on their home turf, as it were."

"Here, let's do this," Daniya suggested, "let's indicate our choices on our PADDs and then maybe take a break for a while. Don't send the lists until after break is over. Let's just clear our heads for maybe a half an hour."

"Fair enough," Mack agreed, "take thirty."

Daniya cornered her as the others stepped outside of the room, stretching. "They are very tired."

"I am, too, but," Mack yawned, "we gotta get this done today, I figure. I wanna have our offer letters out by tomorrow morning, and get our people ready to play hockey so we can play our first game in maybe a month or so. Less would be better; I'm not exactly made of money."

"That is reasonable," said the green-skinned woman, walking out to get a snack.

Wes came up to Mack this time. "I've been meaning to ask you."

"Oh?"

"You always seem to know exactly what you want. You know just what to do. I," he shook his head, "I'm still in the dark half the time. I can't quite comprehend how you've been managing to do it."

"I, um, let's just say that I had a really, really long time to think about things like that."

He stepped back and quietly looked at her for a moment. "You, uh, I'm glad you didn't lose hope."

"It wasn't necessarily hope. It was more like a fantasy." Mack's eyes were far away for a moment. "I need to grab some coffee. Want any?"

"Sure."

In a few hours, they had their list and they had all agreed. Xochar'inif – the Jem'Hadar – had made the cut. They had to admit that they needed someone as large as he. There were plenty of others; it was a rather motley group indeed.

Mack prepared the offer letters. "Okay, once I hit send, the letters'll be sent. Speak now, or forever hold your peace." There were no objections, and the letters were all sent out, and the offers of employment were made.

In fifty separate bunks, PADDs dinged or flashed, signifying incoming messages. Some candidates were sleeping, and did not know until the morning. Others answered immediately, making their enthusiasm apparent. Still others bided their time a little, thinking it over.

One candidate contacted a way station, a dummy account, set up for the express purpose of allowing for the anonymizing of messages, and the erasure of all traces of origin or destination, sender or subject matter.

The message was one word, and would be a snap to refute or wave away. Plausible deniability, they call it.

In the middle of the night, Admiral Nechayev heard her personal PADD ding. She was having trouble sleeping, and had been for some time, as threats and wars and problems were constantly in the forefront of her mind. She was already awake and the sound didn't make things any worse. She clicked in the semi-darkness, and the one-word anonymous message came up.

Success.

She smiled to herself, rolled over, and tried again to get some sleep.

=/\=

Mack was still awake, excited about what was happening. She opened every new acceptance message that came in, smiling broadly, adrenaline still pumping. It was all falling into place.

The Cookie was as ready as it could ever be, although Wesley could stand to get in some time reviewing the engines and the ship's many other marvels more closely.

Sick Bay and Communications were both ready. Crita, most likely, would have her roommate, and would finally feel comfortable enough to sleep on board.

Daniya, like Wes, could use some added time getting used to the ship and more up to speed. Mack had to admit that she herself could use a bit more time at Tactical. It would help if she could trust a player to take over if she was ill or otherwise engaged – such as to run the ionization diffuser – but she allowed that that could wait for the nonce.

A week, she decided, but no more. She wrote to the attaché on Andoria, some guy named EK Hoberman.

We'd be more than happy to play your MACO unit. Say, August 10th of 2379? Let me know if this for some reason doesn't work for you. Looking forward to it. – M. Dana MacKenzie, Coach of the Black Sheep

Then she added one last note.

Marty – See if you can get to Andoria on August 10th.We'll be playing our first game, ice hockey, and I would love to see you. It's been way the hell and gone too long. – Mystic.