The half-Kirusan spoke up. "Captain, this system is populated. I'm sensing warp signatures. And, I've got a Class M planet."
"Well, bring us in a little closer, K'Lara." The half-Tellarian maneuvered the huge ship like it was on rails. Without discomforting anyone, the ship made a stop and a sharp turn then headed in its new direction. "Do we have a visual at all, Mr. Valdago?"
"I've got the planet, and some ships orbiting it.
"On screen."
The screen in front of the bridge changed from the normal space view showing a small speck of a sun to a close up of the planet. It was very busy with activity. Ships were moving everywhere. "Captain," announced the tactical officer, Richard Wallace. "We are being hailed."
"Bring it up," said the Captain as he stood to address who ever it was that wished to speak with him.
On the monitor screen a man appeared. He was short and squat. He was also familiar. "Captain Maruu, I'm so happy to see you and your crew again." The man smiled as two women were massaging his back.
Maruu also smiled. He remember his friend from a month earlier. Throgg was the governor of a peaceful civilization that was the first to help the Virgo in a long time. They had met when Virgo was looking to see who made a warp signature. They had been in need of some simple supplies, and the Virgo helped them with their simple request. They in return gave the crew some jewelry which had no value other that sentimental since it was made of gold and other non-precious metals. Maruu had refused payment but the Throgg (an odd tradition of the people was to rename themselves to match their leader) had been very adamant. Maruu wore one of the necklaces to remind him that not everyone was trying to kill him.
"I see you still have my necklace. I'm glad you like it."
"Yes, thank you. What brings you out this far from home?"
"VACATION! What brings you here?"
"Your hail. What did you want to speak to us about?"
"Well, let me tell you." He snapped his fingers and the two girls massaging him walked away. "We had a fairly dry summer and are short on food for the winter. We need some help."
"Sure, let me check with my first officer on our supply situation." Maruu leaned over to Lataro who began punching up the conversion charts on his PADD.
"We need 40 K'thraps of grain to last us our winter." Lataro punched in the numbers. When the amount of cubic tons that was equal to 40 K'thraps appeared Lataro looked up at Stephen who was dumb founded. Lataro tried the numbers again. The same answer appeared.
"Maruu stood up. Well, Throgg, we'd love to help you but even if we dumped all our personnel, the Virgo couldn't even hold that much grain."
"Well," Throgg announced with a huge roar of laughter emerging from his gut, "I didn't expect you to give us all of it. We're simply scraping resources from all our know allies. Can you spare any?"
Maruu conferred with Lataro. "I believe we can help you with an eighth of a K'thrap. It doesn't seem to even dent your need."
Then Lataro got an idea. "Sir, if I may?"
Maruu nodded his head. He knew that Lataro was probably thinking of a great plan, as always.
"On my planet we have a saying: 'Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.'"
Throgg was silent. If he had been a Vulcan his eyebrow would have jumped off his forehead with confusion. "Mr. Lataro? What's a fish?"
"That's not the point. Basically what I'm thinking is this: our botanists have grain samples from all over the galaxy. I'm sure they have something that will grow in Throgg's winter climate. We can give him a sample and with some training we can make sure his people know how to reproduce and cultivate it."
Maruu liked what he heard. It utilized even less resources that giving them a minuscule portion of what they needed. "How long would it take for our botanist team to show the Throgg what they needed to know?"
"Not too long. A few days maybe."
"That gives me an idea," Throgg said. If you don't mind, Captain, I can arrange to give you and your first officer a week long vacation on the planet. The pleasures are uncountable."
Maruu thought about it for a while, as did Lataro. They of course planned on refusing. "I'm afraid, sir, that we can't accept. We aren't here to trade for profit."
"Well, in that case, I'll make it a week vacation for five crew members! Now I won't accept the grain unless you take payment. Every time you refuse you'll get five more tickets. What'll it be?"
Maruu was left with no option. "I accept the five weeks. Thank you. As soon as you and your botanists are ready hail us and we'll beam them over."
"Good, good. Same for you. As soon as you choose the five crew members beam them down. I'll see you soon." And with that, Throgg was gone. Now Maruu had to decide who went and who stayed.
"Mr. Lataro, make the arrangements, I need to pick the other four crewmembers that will accompany you to the surface." Maruu began heading for his ready room.
"Sir," interrupted his first, "with all do respect, I would like to stay here. I've got a newborn, and I could never go without K'Lara. I don't want you playing favorites with such a big decision." In a way Lataro didn't mean a word of it, but he did prefer to stay with his family.
"Well, in that case, I grant you and K'Lara officially on leave tomorrow. Holodeck One is yours all day. Thank you for your selflessness." That made Lataro happy he made the decision he did. On the holodeck he could take his whole family to a pleasure planet (as fake as it might be).
It also gave Valdago an idea. "Sir, if Holodeck Two is still open I'd volun..."
Maruu cut him off. "Don't even think about it, Lieutenant." He walked into his ready room. He moved to his desk and sat down. First he punched up the crew roster. Hundreds of names began to fly by. He had no idea how to start. "Computer, I need to pick five crewmembers to go on a week long trip on the planets surface. Any suggestions?"
<Searching. Only 78 members of the Virgo crew have that many days of shore leave available.>
Maruu couldn't believe it. An obvious start. "Computer, erase Stephen Maruu, Jonathan Lataro, and K'Lara Lataro from that list." The captain thought a bit more. Seniority. "Computer, remove anyone with rank less than full lieutenant, or a rank comparative to that in the case of NCOs from the list. How many does that leave?"
<Computing. Thirteen.>
That was a damn good start. "Computer, randomly choose five of those crewmembers to be the lucky ones. Don't inform me until I request the information. Oh, and have those 13 officers report to the DEL." Maruu headed there himself. As he walked onto the bridge he noticed that Valdago, Wallace and Benton were heading to the turbolift.
Valdago had a grin on his face. He knew what this was about. "So, it's us four and who else," Valdago said.
"First of all, I'm definitely not going. Second of all, it's a random choice between you thirteen others. Good luck." They all entered the turbolift.
It didn't take long before Dana Maruu, Garek Loran, Johnny Chee, Sandra Yosh, Jenara Tomme, and various others got to the DEL. Maruu informed them of the situation. They all began looking around. Each of their odds weren't even half. "Computer, begin reading of the five names one at a time."
<Lieutenant Sandra Yosh, Medical.>
The group applauded. Yosh let out a little squeak.
<Major Johnny Chee, Marine.>
Johnny really hadn't been expecting to hear his name at all. The others applauded, which made him a little embarrassed. "It's not like I did anything."
<Lieutenant Commander Garek Loran, Engineering.>
Valdago patted his friend on the back. Again, the crowd applauded.
<Lieutenant Jonathan Valdago, Operations.>
"YES!!!" He jumped into the air and smacked his skull into the bulkhead. He fell to the floor with a horrendous thud. He stood up slowly holding his head. "You and me Garek, you and me!" Garek was smiling until he noticed the evil glares the two were getting. Something told the rest that it was an amazing coincidence that those two best friends both were picked. No one applauded.
<Lieutenant Commander Dana Maruu, Medical.>
This time all applauded. Everyone knew how much work she put in and thought she deserved a break. "All right," announced Maruu. Those lucky five, get packed, you leave in two hours. The rest of you, I'll see to it that you all get some extra time off this week. Wallace, Benton, meet me in my quarters tonight at 2100 hours. It looks like you me and Lataro got some poker to play. And Benton, don't forget to bring the sucker."
"Right," Benton agreed, "I'll see to it that Sitto comes with." Most of the crew had already started heading back to work. Chee, Garek, Valdago, and Yosh were racing to their quarters to get ready. Dana stayed behind.
"This isn't right, Stephen. We're married, we shouldn't spend this whole week apart." She grabbed him around the waist.
"Now, now, Babe. You deserve it. Plus, I have to win back four slips of latinum from Benton. Go, enjoy yourself."
"No, I couldn't."
"That's an order, Lieutenant. Don't make me have Yosh give you a medical examination to prove your sanity. We could use a little vacation from each other. We both need it now and then."
Dana was quiet for a while. "I guess you're right. I'll go."
"That's why I get paid the big bucks."
"Who are you kidding?" added Dana as she headed for the door. "You don't get paid. And by the way, it's Lieutenant Commander." The captain smiled as she left the room. Outside the door, Dana quietly screamed a big "Yes!" and she ran off to her quarters. Even with the doors closed, Stephen knew exactly what happened.
The planet was everything that Throgg had said and more. The two women enjoyed beautifying mud baths and facials, the men enjoyed hot tubs and beautiful sites. There was plenty of oxygen, food, trees, and best of all, women.
"It's a good thing Lataro declined this trip," said Valdago as his head turned with his eyes locked on another beauty.
"I know," said Garek, looking at another. "All of this would have been a waste on a married man."
"How true, how true," said Chee as his gaze was also distracted.
"Everything here is great," Valdago stated. "All except those two horrifically ugly beasts headed this way," he yelled quite louder than necessary. Garek and Chee got the hint. They turned to look at the two women in robes that were approaching the hot tubs. "My lord, I'm being blinded! AAAAAAAAH!"
"Very funny," Sandra Yosh said as she got close enough to speak. She and Dana were wearing short robes and their faces were covered in a green mud that was suppose to remove wrinkles. What are those hot tubs suppose to do to you?"
"Relax us," said Garek. "It's working too, look at all those bubbles." Garek's face turned into that of a five-year-old who knew he had just done something bad.
"You boys are disgusting," said Dana as she sat down on a bench. The three men looked at each other as if they had been offended, then, simultaneously, they looked at the to women and grinned acknowledgment.
"So," said Yosh as she leaned over the edge of Valdago's tub. "What are you boys wearing under all those bubbles?"
"Just our smiles, care to see?" answered Chee.
"It's a good thing we aren't in uniform, young man, or I'd have to press charges," the CMO told him.
"So, Sandra, under that frog face what kind of face are you wearing?" Valdago questioned.
"A beautiful princess, kiss me and see." Sandra moved in close and offered a big old puckered face. Then, to the amazement of all, the Russian/Kirusan stood up, picked up the medical officer and kissed her. Then he pulled her into the hot tub with him.
"It's a real good thing we're doctors, or we'd be seeing something for the first time."
"Speak for yourself," Garek said as he shielded his eyes. Chee had dunked his head under the water.
"Don't worry, Garek," said Sandra as she sat down, "you're at least five yards away. You wouldn't be able to see anything." All laughed accept Chee who had just emerged from the water and of course, Johnathan who didn't find the joke funny at all.
On board the USS Virgo, Intelligence Officer Alysa Sinclair was having a conversation with her commander. Not the commander of the ship, but her commander. Luther Sloan.
"Is everything ready?" he asked her.
"Yes, I've got someone installing the 'mirror' right now."
"And you've adjusted it to the settings I gave you?"
"Yes, of course, although I'm not sure what the plan is."
"Well, I'll tell you when the time is right. Jacobsen is a promising young agent. He won't fail you."
"Yes, sir. Sinclair out." She turned off the com panel. It's begun.
Antilles and Jacobsen were working on the transporter. They had been getting some odd readings from it and had taken the thing apart trying to find it. Without Garek it would probably never be fixed.It was probably a noisy conduit out of alignment, but there were so many that it was just near to impossible to find the one that was faulty. Luckily, a transporter had enough back ups that nearly half of conduits could go out before it failed.
[Maruu to Antilles and Jacobsen. How's it going down there?]
"Ohay," said Antilles, "I have to admit that I don't think we'll find it until Garek gets back."
[Well, they're ready to beam up. So get ready.]
Antilles moved to the transporter panel. She began to operate the machine. It began humming, and five forms began to appear on the transporter pad.
Suddenly the five forms disappeared. "Oh, hell!" yelled Antilles.
"What happened?" asked Jacobsen.
"I don't know, I just lost their patterns. Hold on." She began working the controls again. A very short time later the five forms reappeared. They started to fade and reappear. Finally, Jacobsen ran over and tried something. It seemed to work. The five forms finally materialized. That's when the controls shorted out. Both Antilles and Jacobsen were thrown to the floor as fire covered the panels. The fire went out quickly but the room was filled with fog.
"Vut da hell is going on here. Are you trying to kill us?"
"Sorry, sir," said Antilles as she stood up. She couldn't see a thing. "There was a power fluctuation. We weren't able to find it."
"That's okay," said Garek. We all made it back."
"Shut up, Garek. They need to be put in the brig with these two." Johnny Chee was motioning to the females. The smog began to clear.
"Admiral Valdago to Admiral Maruu. Could you get some real engineers vorking on dis ship? I'm sick of dis crap."
[Excuse me? What's going on down there?]
The smog cleared up and Antilles and Jacobsen got their first glimpse of the five. Dana and Sandra were in tattered rags with bruises and scars all over their bodies. Johnny Chee was dressed in an odd, very militaristic uniform. Garek looked normal, but Valdago...
He was fully Human.
Jacobsen reported to his commanding officer. "Captain, we have a problem."