Star Trek: Excursion

Because of These Ridges

The Captain stared at her reflexion in her mirror. She frowned as she tried to fix her hair so it wouldn't get in her eyes. There was a buzz at her door. "Come in," She said holding a hairpin in her mouth and turning towards the door.
Rothel walked in. "Having trouble?" He asked looking at her with some amusement in his eyes.
The Captain gave him an unamused look. She continued to mess with her black hair. "Do you think I'd look good with a shaved head?" She asked.
Rothel looked at her startled. "Please don't," He said distressed. He walked up so he was very close to her.
"I am so tired of styling it in the morning. It's just so frustrating," The Captain said. "Men don't understand things like that."
Rothel stuck out his lip. "And women don't understand the seductive beauty of long flowing hair," He said putting his head on her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her waist.
The Captain frowned. "Maybe I should cut it off," She said.
Rothel stood straight up. He took the hair pin from her lips and began to style her hair. He put it into a perfect bun. The Captain admired his work.
"Good job," She said.
Rothel glared at her. "You gave me no choice. I can't have you cutting off your hair," He said with fake pain in his voice.
"So, you'll come in and do my hair every day?" The Captain asked.
Rothel pursed his lips. "I supposed I'll have to," He said.
"Oh, don't act like it's such a big deal," The Captain said. "You know you'd still come around even if my hair was short."
"True..." Rothel said. He paused for a moment. "Oh, did you hear about how we're getting more crew at Starbase 9?"
"Yes, I did," The Captain said turning towards the door.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye or something?" Rothel asked.
The Captain turned and gave him a slightly annoyed look. She kissed him on the cheek before walking out of her quarters. Rothel watched her leave with a smile painted on his face.
The Captain headed towards the Bridge. Bennya walked up beside her. "Hello, Brenda," Bennya said smiling.
"Bennya," The Captain said politely.
Bennya laughed. "When we stop at next the Starbase 9 I'm getting more engineers!" She said so happily.
The Captain smiled. "Good, anything to get this ship to run more efficiently," She said.
"It really makes engineering so much less stressful. I have been having to do most of the repairs myself," Bennya said. "It doesn't seem like there are a lot of competent engineers aboard."
"Everyone has a lot on their plate," The Captain said.
"Oh, I know," Bennya said.
The Captain reached the turbolift. "Bridge," The Captain said. Bennya got in the turbolift with the Captain.
The Captain and Bennya got off the turbolift when it reached the bridge. Aage was standing up and walking around. "Commander," The Captain said.
Aage turned around and saw the Captain. "Captain," He said.
The Captain headed towards her chair. "Anything to report?" She asked.
"No, sir," Aage said.
"Good, I'd hate to start the morning with a lot to deal with," The Captain said sitting down in her chair.
Bennya took her place by the engineering monitor. Aage made his way towards her. He looked at the engineering monitor. Bennya looked up at him and smiled.
"Good morning, Commander," Bennya said.
"Good morning," Aage said. "Anything interesting in engineering?"
Bennya thought for a moment. "No," she said, "not really."
"Captain, we're approaching Starbase 9," An ensign said.
"Hail them," The Captain said.
"Yes, sir," The ensign said.
The Captain stood up.
"The channel is open, sir," The ensign said.
"This is Captain Brenda Chang of the USS Excursion to Starbase 9. We would like permission to dock," The Captain said.
"Permission granted, Excursion," A voice replied.
The crew gently piloted the starship to the Starbase. The Starbase held them there with docking clamps.
The Captain smiled. "I think this will be our first shore leave," She said.
Aage walked towards the Captain. "Is that right?" Aage said.
"It is. We've been on the Excursion for three months now," The Captain said.
"Really... It hasn't seemed that long," Aage said.
"Time sneaks up on you when you've got work to do," The Captain said.
"Well, I wouldn't mind a little shore leave," Aage said. "I haven't talked with a beautiful woman that wasn't part of the crew in a long time."
The Captain rolled her eyes. "Have fun," She said.
"Are you going to take some leave, Captain?" Aage asked.
"No, I think I'll stay on the Excursion," The Captain said. "I've never been one for shore leave. I'm happy with just a holoprogram and my quarters."
Aage frowned. "What type of fun is that?" Aage asked.
"My type of fun," The Captain said rolling her eyes.
Aage shrugged. "I don't think that could take the place of a night on the town, pardon the expression," He said.
"Who would watch the ship while I'm away?" The Captain asked.
"Commander Loures is qualified to command and so is Bennya," Aage said. "The Excursion would be fine."
The Captain thought for a bit. "I guess if you insist," She said. She didn't look comfortable saying this.
Aage's face lit up with an extremely happy grin. The Captain looked at her first officer with some doubt. He was up to something, and she wasn't sure if it was good.
The Excursion sat at the Space dock for awhile taking on its new crew and new cargo. The Excursion needed more medical supplies, engineering equipment, and many other trivial things that were surprisingly hard to do without. The Excursion was also going to transport a large amount of grain to a colony on Dalho Six. The Starship bustled with activity. At one point Bennya slipped back to Engineering. She went to meet her new engineers. The Captain stayed on the bridge staring off at the other ships that passed the view screen.
"Lieutenant Commander Alenis to Captain Chang," Bennya's voice said from the Captain's combadge. She sounded upset like something had made her angry.
"Yes, Lieutenant Commander?" The Captain said.
"I need you to come down to Engineering..." Bennya said slowly with a large amount of distaste in her voice.
The Captain glanced over at Aage. Aage shrugged. The Captain stood up and walked towards the turbolift. "Engineering," The Captain said.
The turbolift shot her towards Engineering. Bennya was standing in front of the turbolift. "I'd like to request a transfer of a crewman," She said almost immediately.
The Captain's brow furrowed. "What for?"
Bennya's face hardened. She looked cold and almost hateful. "She's a spoon head," Bennya said bitterly.
The Captain looked at Bennya surprised. "A what?" The Captain said.
"A Cardassian," Bennya said angrily.
The Captain was confused. She had never heard of a Cardassian being in Starfleet before. "That can't be right," The Captain said.
Bennya scowled. "It is..."
"She means me..." A woman's voice said from behind Bennya.
The Captain looked over to see an ensign with an engineering uniform on. The ensign had dark skin, darker than Bennya's skin. Her hair was tried back in a small bun. Strands of hair had fallen out of the bun and framed the ensign's face. The ensign had strange almost scaly ridge around her nose and eyebrows and an upside-down tear-shaped ridge on her forehead. She was unmistakably Cardassian.
"Name," The Captain said slowly while looking at the ensign.
"Sha'Tasha Okadigbo," The ensign said.
Sha'Tasha had an accent. It wasn't an obvious one. It was a subtle accent. It was also unmistakably from Earth.
"I request that she is transferred," Bennya said glaring at Sha'Tasha.
Sha'Tasha looked pained.
"Request denied, Lieutenant Commander," The Captain said coldly giving Bennya a disappointed look.
Bennya looked shocked. "Her kind killed my parents!" Bennya shouted suddenly filled with rage.
The Captain glared at Bennya. "Lieutenant Commander Alenis, you are confined to your quarters until I have time to deal with you," The Captain said with a commanding voice.
Bennya looked surprised. She glared at the Captain. "Yes sir," Bennya hissed.
Bennya walked towards the turbolift. She got in and the lift closed. The Captain turned towards Sha'Tasha. "Come with me," The Captain said walking towards the turbolift.
Sha'Tasha followed quietly. The turbolift was back and the Captain boarded it, and Sha'Tasha followed suit. "The Bridge," The Captain said.
Sha'Tasha avoided making eye contact with the Captain. She looked terribly sad and the Captain wanted to comfort her. The turbolift opened and the Captain exited the lift and headed towards her ready room. Sha'Tasha walked through the bridge with her head high. Her face became stern and emotionless.
The Captain entered her ready room. Sha'Tasha stepped in after her. The Captain sat down on the chair behind her desk. She pointed towards one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Sit down," The Captain said.
Sha'Tasha sat down on the chair the Captain gestured to. "You'll have to forgive my lack of tact," The Captain said.
"I'll forgive it," Sha'Tasha said.
The Captain nodded. "You're a Cardassian," She said. "You have an accent like I've heard before on Earth. How's that?"
"My mother was Cardassian," Sha'Tasha said. "My father is human."
The Captain's mouth formed a little 'o'. "So, why did you join Starfleet?" She asked.
"I joined Starfleet because I wanted to get away from my father and joining the Academy seemed the best idea," Sha'Tasha replied.
"You must be the first Cardassian to join Starfleet," The Captain said.
"I consider myself human," Sha'Tasha said.
The Captain looked at her surprised. "Why?"
"I have never seen another Cardassian before," Sha'Tasha said.
The Captain's face got even more surprised. "Not even your mother?"
"I never really got to meet my mother. She died in a Bajoran attack of a civilian cargo ship," Sha'Tasha said. "They were given information that Cardassian soldiers were on board and didn't even give the ship time to defend itself."
The Captain's expression became one of pity. Sha'Tasha's jaw was locked to keep herself from crying.
"My mother was hurt in the explosion and when we got in the escape pod she died because of her injuries. She died with me in her arms," Sha'Tasha said. "She's buried on Earth with my father's family. Her family wouldn't even take her body back. They said she wasn't a Cardassian anymore. Cardassians are supposed to have strong family values and they didn't even take her back to Cardassia to be buried..."
"I'm... sorry," The Captain said quietly hesitating to think of what to say.
Sha'Tasha managed a small, sad smile. "I've come to terms with that," She said. "It's how people treat me that makes me upset. Because of these ridges, people hate me. I'm a spoon head, a Cardy... I'm not human at all to them."
The Captain looked at Sha'Tasha's ridges. "I'll work it out with Bennya," The Captain said slowly. "I'll try and get her to understand."
"Thank you, Captain," Sha'Tasha said.
"Go to your quarters, alright," The Captain said. "I'll get it all straightened out before we leave Starbase 9."
"Yes, sir," Sha'Tasha said.
"You're dismissed," The Captain said.
Sha'Tasha left the Captain's ready room. The Captain laid her head in hands. She rubbed her eyes in a strange exhaustion that seemed to have come over her. There was a buzz at her ready room's door.
"Come in," She said.
Aage stepped into the room. "Who was that?" He asked.
"Ensign Sha'Tasha Okadigbo," The Captain replied.
Aage nodded in a lost in a thoughtful way. He turned back towards the door to leave. "Was that all you came in here for?" She asked.
"Oh, yes," Aage said. "I was uh... curious."
The Captain nodded her head looking at him with an idea what he came in for. Aage stepped out of the Captain's ready room. The Captain smiled slightly. She stood up, feeling a little less confused and a little calmer.
The Captain stood up. She walked out of her ready room. She walked into the turbolift.
"Deck 12," The Captain said. The turbolift began to move. It stopped on deck 12. The Captain walked towards Bennya's quarters. She reached them and pressed the buzzer.
Bennya opened the door. "Captain," She said.
"I have to talk to you," The Captain said.
Bennya frowned slightly. "Come in then," She said.
The Captain stepped in. "I want to talk to you as a friend, not a commanding officer," She said as the door shut behind her.
Bennya sat down on a chair. She turned it to face the Captain. "Alright, shoot," Bennya said.
"Did you know that Sha'Tasha was half human?" The Captain asked.
"It doesn't matter, she's still Cardassian," Bennya said bitterly. "I hate all of those damn spoon heads."
"I'm disappointed in you," The Captain said. "You didn't even give her time to explain who she is."
Bennya glared at the Captain. "What is there to explain? Her people killed mine!" Bennya exclaimed.
"Your people killed her mother while she was on a civilian cargo ship," The Captain said. "Don't act like Bajorans were the only ones that lost innocent lives."
"We weren't, but we lost more!" Bennya shouted. "My mother, my father, and thousands of others!"
"Lives aren't something you can look at by numbers! All life is precious and all innocent lives are on the same side!" The Captain said. Her voice slowly got louder. "Bajoran, Cardassian, Human, Vulcan, Romulan, what's the difference when they're dead? It's still an immense loss!"
"It was war!" Bennya shouted. "They were wrong for being near Bajor!"
"Oh, it's easy to say it was just war! You won't admit that Bajorans might have been wrong! If it was war, it must be alright, huh," The Captain said angrily.
Bennya was silent. The tone of the Captain's voice scared her. Bennya had never seen the Captain angry.
"Oh, I see you're finally going to listen to me," The Captain said glaring at Bennya. "Do you realize you are going against the very thing you pledged to uphold when you joined Starfleet?"
Bennya looked at the floor.
The Captain looked at Bennya with some pity. "I know why you feel the way you do and I know I'll never truly understand how you feel, but you can't hate a person for being a Cardassian. Sha'Tasha is human as far as you should be concerned," The Captain said.
Bennya nodded slowly. She looked as though she was going to cry. "You hate me now, don't you Brenda," Bennya said slowly. Her voice was shaking.
"No, Benny, it is perfectly natural for you to feel some resentment for Cardassians, but you can't let that interfere with your work," The Captain said putting her hand on Bennya's shoulder.
Bennya was now sobbing. "I just don't know... Starfleet is my life, it saved me, but now I feel like I'm not good enough for it," Bennya said.
The Captain kneeled down and put her arm over Bennya's shoulders. "It's alright, Benny. You're a great officer," The Captain said. "You've always done your best. You're the finest engineer I've ever met."
Bennya smiled slightly and rubbed her eyes. "Thank you, Brenda," She said. "I won't let you down. I can look past the fact that she's Cardassian."
"Why don't you spend some time with her? She seems like she will be very nice," The Captain said as she took her arm off Bennya and got ready to stand up.
Bennya made a face. "I don't think I'm ready for something like that," She said.
The Captain shrugged. "Just working with her will be a step in the right direction," She said. She stood up.
Bennya looked at the Captain. "Will I be able to go back to work?" She asked.
"Yes, after we leave Starbase 9," The Captain said.
"Thank you, Brenda," Bennya said. "I needed that..."
The Captain smiled at her before leaving Bennya's quarters. She walked towards the turbolift, planning to go to the Bridge. Aage walked out of the turbolift. He smiled.
"I have to steal you away for a little while, Captain," He said
The Captain looked at him surprised. "What?" She said slightly confused.
"We're going on some shore leave," Aage said smiling at her. He took her by the arm and walked her towards the turbolift.
"Deck 6," Aage said. The turbolift started to move down a few levels towards deck 6. It stopped and Aage took the Captain by the arm and walked her towards the transporter room. She allowed him. She needed to do something for awhile and maybe shore leave would help the dull pain in her head.
Aage walked into the transporter room and dragged the Captain onto the transporter pad. He turned to the transporter chief before the Captain could say anything. "Energize," He said smiling.
The Captain and Aage materialized on another transporter pad in Starbase 9. Aage locked his arm around the Captain and walked her out of the transporter room of Starbase 9. They soon found themselves in the busy Starbase's halls. The Captain kept staring at people walking by with interest.
It was an odd mix of people. Species from all over the Federation were walking around with each other quite happily. They would buy things from each other, go on dates with each other, and eat together. It was quite amazing how such a small station could hold such a wide variety of people.
"You seem oddly interested in the people," Aage said.
"I'm just thinking of how well everyone can get along if they forget the little differences," The Captain said.
"Ah," Aage said.
The Captain found herself looking at a certain Klingon restaurant. It was almost empty. "I've just thought about something," She said.
"What did you just think about?" Aage asked.
"I haven't eaten in hours," The Captain said.
"Are you saying you're hungry?" Aage asked slowly raising his eyebrow.
"Yes, very," The Captain said.
"Well, I guess we can," Aage said.
The Captain smiled and walked towards the Klingon restaurant. Aage's face grew pale as he looked at the Klingon restaurant. He didn't enjoy Klingon food. He followed after her, but decided then not to eat anything.
The Captain sat down at one of the tables and Aage joined her. A Klingon waiter walked up. The Captain looked up the waiter. "I want some Racht and a cup of Bloodwine," She said.
The Klingon waiter walked away to get her food. Aage made a face. "That sounds horrific," He said.
"It's also alive," The Captain said smiling slightly.
Aage's eyes widened. "Alive?" He said surprised and slightly disgusted.
"Yeah," The Captain said.
Aage's complexion got paler. "And Bloodwine?" He asked slowly.
"An alcoholic beverage, it's pretty strong," The Captain said.
Aage's brow furrowed. "Are you sure you want to drink something like that?" He asked.
"Yeah, I like it," The Captain said.
"I didn't know you drank," Aage said trying to think of a way to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach.
"Only sometimes," The Captain said. "Pretty much only when I'm on shore leave."
"Is that why you didn't want to go on shore leave?" Aage asked.
"I do like to look like I have some self-control," The Captain said.
Aage's brow furrowed. He began to look around the restaurant.
"Are you going to eat?" The Captain asked.
"Not here, I like my food very dead," Aage said.
The Captain snorted. Aage went back to looking around the restaurant. The Captain noticed his skin was slightly paler than usual after their talk of Bloodwine and Racht. The Klingon waiter brought in the Captain's food. She nodded as acknowledgement and began to eat her Racht.
"So, how did you uh... start eating Klingon food?" Aage asked.
"When I was younger my ship was damaged and we had to stop at a Klingon outpost. I was dared by a few crew mates to eat Racht. It honestly wasn't as bad as some of the things my grandmother used to feed me," The Captain said.
"What could be worse than food that is alive?" Aage asked.
"I ate stuff that was alive before Racht," The Captain said.
"How?" Aage asked.
"My grandmother had a game where she would blindfold me and feed me something without telling me what it was," The Captain said. "She wanted me taste the food of my ancestors without shying away because of how it looked."
"She made you eat things that were alive?" Aage said with a grossed out face.
"Alive, uncooked, possibly dangerous," The Captain said.
Aage covered his mouth. "That's horrible," He said.
"No, not really, most of the time I was pleasantly surprised on the taste," The Captain said. "I've always thought of myself as rather adventurous, and I've never been a picky eater."
"I never thought of myself as picky, but I can't imagine eating Racht," Aage said.
The Captain shook her head slowly. "Young people are supposed to be adventurous," She said.
"I am, but I think I'll stick with food from Earth that is dead, cooked, and nontoxic," Aage said.
"Isn't there an Icelandic food that is fermented shark?" The Captain asked.
"Yes, and I've eaten it and I almost threw up my entire stomach," Aage said. "That is why I don't eat traditional Icelandic foods."
The Captain shook her head as she took a few gulps of Bloodwine. She set her cup down and looked at Aage with a disappointed look. "What is the weirdest thing you like eating?" She asked.
"One time I ate Blóðmör, blood pudding," Aage said. "I rather enjoyed it."
"You're disgusted by Racht, but you can eat blood pudding?" The Captain said.
"I thought it was just bread pudding at first, and it's only sheep's blood," Aage said.
The Captain shook her head as she finished the rest of her Racht and Bloodwine. "Do you have any latinum or darseks?" The Captain asked.
"Um... I think I have a few darseks," Aage said reaching towards his belt. He set them on the table. "Do you think that will be enough?"
The Captain counted them. "Yeah, if not more than enough," She said.
The Klingon waiter walked back up and took the darseks. The Captain stood up and walked out of the restaurant. Aage stood up and followed after her quickly. The Captain was looking at all the different stores on the Starbase. Aage was walking beside her now.
"You know," the Captain said, "it's amazing how far the Federation has come."
"It really has," Aage said looking at her with a smile.
"I wonder if Bennya can be more tolerant towards Cardassians," The Captain said.
"She'll learn to be. She's a smart girl," Aage said.
The Captain laughed slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.
"I think she'll realize that Ensign Sha'Tasha Okadigbo will be one of her best engineers," Aage said. "I reviewed her files. She graduated top of her class and was a natural in engineering."
"Bennya was the same way," The Captain laughed. "If Benny only knew how alike they are."
"Benny?" Aage said smiling slightly.
"Oh, don't call her that," The Captain said covering her mouth. "She only lets me call her that."
"Oh, I won't," Aage said with a mischievous look in his eyes.
The Captain frowned slightly. Aage stopped in front of a bar. "You wanna play some poker?" He asked.
The Captain smiled slightly. "How did you know I like poker?" She asked.
"Commander Loures told me," Aage said.
"Well, did he also tell you that I am probably the worst poker player to ever live?" The Captain asked.
"No," Aage said, his brow furrowing.
"Good because he cheats," The Captain said smiling.
The Captain and Aage walked into the bar together laughing.

(Okay, I want this to be known. I imagine Aage as the biggest kid ever. I don't know if that's how he'll turn out, but that's how I really want him to be. I actually had this Klingon fight while they were in the Klingon Restaurant, but then I realized it was super random and had nothing to do with the rest of the story so I took it out. Now, the restaurant scene seems a little random, but for some reason I wanted to talk about food. Well, that fermented shark from Iceland is a real thing called Hakarl, I've never tried it, but I plan to one day. All the human foods I talked about was real, yeah gotta love Iceland. A little background information about Sha'Tasha, her idea was conceived by my little brother. He sat down by me while I was drawing and writing some. He want to make up a character. I agreed and so we worked together to think her up. He named her and that's the only reason she's named Sha'Tasha. I wanted to name her Nyoka, so that's her nickname which will be given to her by a certain someone. I can't think if I made any references to any shows that would go over everyone's heads, so anyway! Yes, Rothel and the Captain are dating. I don't know when it became a thing in my head, but it is a thing sooo... Oh, and about the buzzing at the doors, so you know how in the Next Generation and Voyager they have that noise when someone's at the doors, well I didn't know what to call it so I called it a buzz. That's about everything. Hope you enjoyed this story!)