Chapter Twelve

Not long after his encounter with Kirk, Apollo found himself assigned to another ship. It was too much for him to suspect coincidence, so he vowed to send a thank you note to the captain once he was settled in.

Ironically, his new ship was the USS Monitor, undoubtedly the Merrimac‘s sister ship. He was assigned as Security Chief, one of the fews positive things to happen from the results of the scandal. As soon as the captain got over the skepticism of having him aboard, however, she took note of his piloting skills in the Academy and decided to see how he could do behind the helm. Apollo was impressed by the fact that as large of a ship as she was, the Monitor handled like dream. It was almost like being in one-man craft, though naturally this ship had a lot more power to her. Satisfied with his performance, the captain told him that he could double as a relief helmsman.

Apollo was glad that he could still be trusted, but he wasn’t sure if he should press his luck, so he kept a tight reign on any emotion. He never let anyone know that the incident aboard the Merrimac affected him more than he let on. He kept mainly to himself, never socializing with the crew. Quite basically, he never made any friends there. Apollo hoped for a long and unfulfilling journey.

Fate had a funny way of proving him wrong. On more than one occasion, the Monitor found itself going to places where the crew got themselves into scrapes. Apollo never saw it as showing off or trying to prove himself. He was simply doing his job, as well as he could do it. Any friends or rivals he picked up along the way was merely happenstance.

Once, during a diplomatic mission to Altraeus IX, Apollo led the security team assigned to the envoy. The mission ended early when the site was engulfed by a natural disaster and they needed to escort the envoy to safer ground. He stayed close to Captain Howell for her protection. His other people kept an eye on three civilian members of the group. Apollo could hear Howell muttering, “Where in the hell were their brains when they picked the base of an active volcano for negotiations?”

One of the ambassadors spoke up. “It was a symbol of the potency of the treaty we wished to establish, Captain. It stood for how volatile the situation was and how the need for peace had to be stressed to keep these people from destroying each other.”

“Well, this volcano’s certainly protesting its being used as a symbol, Ambassador. Now if we don’t get out of here, it’s going to destroy us all.”

“Why didn’t we just beam up from there?” another ambassador asked.

“There are elements in the ash cloud preventing a transporter lock,” Apollo explained. “We need to get upwind so we can be out from under it when the Monitor finds us again.”

They continued on when Howell looked up a slope along their path. Her eyes grew wide. “Oh, good lord…”

Apollo looked and saw a landslide heading for them. Looking around, he spotted a small natural lean-to made of debris that had already fallen. “Quickly!” he ordered his men. “Get these people under there! The deadfall should protect us!”

They struggled toward their haven, the captain and the security chief bringing up the rear. He saw the first of the slide about to reach them and gave Howell an extra shove. The added force served to propel her under the shelter just in time. Apollo almost made it himself when a large log caught him, clipping him behind the knee and bringing him down. “Racer!” Howell yelled.

The lieutenant commander wasn’t out of it yet. He reached over and, with seemingly inhuman strength, brought a log up and stood it on the ground above him. Any more debris that fell toward him was deflected away, though rocks and hot ash still managed to get through.

After a few minutes, the worst was over. Once they saw it was clear, the other security guards rushed over to help their chief out. “Commander!” one yelled. “Are you okay?”

“I’m all right, but I’m pinned down. Get me out of here.” Apollo strained to move but couldn’t. Even Howell moved to help him.

“That was pretty smart thinking, using that log, Commander,” she said, struggling to help lift some of the debris. “I’ll be damned if I knew how you were able to lift the thing, especially just by using upper body strength.”

When they finally cleared the area, the two guards were stunned. “What the hell…?” Apollo’s leg was twisted around at an impossible angle, but he didn’t look as if he was in pain at all. Something jutted through a tear in his pant leg that looked like metal.

“Racer, what in…” Howell gasped, and backed away a step. One of his sleeves was also torn, revealing the arm beneath it. Some of the skin had torn away, showing the mechanisms that were hidden underneath.

He looked at his damaged arm. “It’s just a flesh wound.” Then he saw his leg. “Ummm… this…” he reached down and fingered the exposed piece of metal, “will take a little explaining.”

~ * ~

The captain had him in her office after he was repaired. “Your record did mention that you were injured in the Academy, but I didn’t realize you had undergone such… radical reconstruction.”

Apollo shrugged. “It was necessary, to allow me to perform normally in Starfleet. I figured the less people knew about it, the more comfortable they’d be around me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know… you seem to get yourself into the most unlikely of situations. I’ll run interference when I can, but I’m afraid some of these repercussions you’ll just have to deal with yourself.” She sighed. “I don’t see any reason to limit your duties… you’re obviously as fit as anyone else. Dismissed.”

Shortly after that, Starfleet had reviewed the incident and decided to reward Apollo’s performance. Howell had called upon Apollo again, but this time it was to promote him to full Commander. The news was met with mixed feelings. Some of the people who had tried hard to get close to him were genuinely glad for his accomplishment. Some people leered at him skeptically, as though he didn’t deserve the distinction. Others were just plain afraid of him. They didn’t understand the alternative to his situation, so they tended to avoid him.

Then one day, he entered the officer’s lounge for something to eat. As he walked up to the food synthesizer, he overheard a conversation about him at a nearby table.

“Makes you wonder how much of him is real and how much is a machine.”

“That’s probably why he’s always acted so cold. His heart’s made of metal.”

“If you ask me, it scares the daylights out of me.”

He never asked for this. Most likely, they didn’t even know he was standing there. But he kept quiet as long as he could, gripping the edge of the counter. The synthesizer was beeping that his food was ready, but he was too busy trying to keep his temper under control to acknowledge it.

It did, however, attract the attention of group at the table. “Excuse me, sir,” called a lieutenant sitting at the table. “Your food is ready.”

Apollo slowly turned around to face them; he got some small pleasure at seeing the looks on their faces when they realized that the subject of their discussion was standing right there, listening to every word they said. Even that pleasure faded, though, when he found that the lieutenant who spoke to him, the one who did most of the talking the whole time, was one of his lieutenants in Security, a man who once claimed to him that who or what he was didn’t bother the lieutenant at all. Whatever feelings of rapport he had with this crew vanished immediately.

His food forgotten, he approached their table, their looks of terror becoming more pronounced with each step he took. He smiled and leaned right in until his face was an inch away from the lieutenant’s face. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he said quietly, “I couldn’t help but oevrhear what you were saying. These damn auditory sensors must be overcalibrated.” Then, almost too fast for their eyes to see, he brought his fist down on the table, driving a hole through the top. “Oops… I’m so sorry. The servos in that arm must be awfully twitchy. Never know when these malfunctions might hit me,” he grinned coldly, “and… do something nasty.”

He could almost smell the fear in the pair seated before him. In fact, he could smell it in one of them. Apollo frowned and glared at the man. “Change your pants, Lieutenant. What a disgrace.” He stood and headed back to the synthesizer so it could recycle his food, untouched. Then, his appetite spoiled, he left the lounge.

~ * ~

The next day, Apollo was called to the captain’s office. When he entered, he didn’t need to stand at attention; of all the people he knew on the ship, he had come to know Captain Howell as a friend. “Sit down,” she said. By her tone of voice, it was more than a request, but less than an order. “There’s a hole in one of the tables down in my lounge, Commander. Would you care to explain how it got there?”

Apollo sat silent in his chair, not looking down, but not exactly looking at the captain, either. He had the sensation of being a kid who was caught tracking mud into the house. “My apologies, Captain. I overheard a derogatory conversation about me and… I lost my temper. I guess I’ve been under a bit of stress these past few days.”

“With you, that could be a little dangerous,” she said, half in jest. She decided to come right out and say it. “Commander, I know what happened in the lounge.” His head snapped to lock her eyes with his. “Oh, yes, very little slips by me on this ship. It can’t afford to.” She paced a little, then stopped in her original spot. “Apollo, why don’t you tell me of these things? When my officers go through some personal doubts, I’d like to know if it will impede with their performance.”

Apollo had recovered from the last shock. This time his control was in place. “I was never in danger of having my personal problems interfere with my work.”

“If you’re putting cup holders in my tables, Commander, I’d say you’re very much in danger of having them interfere.” She sighed. “I can understand your need for control, but if you’re still having problems, I’ve always been here to help. You can’t just shut everyone out… it’s not healthy. There are people here who would love to get to know you, to help you through some of the bumps in the road you’re traveling. Hell, our engineer wants to write a paper about your enhancements.”

The corners of Apollo’s mouth turned slightly upward. “Hate to disappoint him, but that’s already been done. I don’t think my doctor was going to let anyone beat him out of his achievement.”

“But you yourself said you modified them. I saw an example of that in the lounge.” She smiled a little, enough to allow him to relax some. “I only wish I had known this before it was too late.”

Apollo was puzzled, but he received an urgent sense of something disturbing. He stood up. “Too late? Too late for what?”

She sighed and headed to her desk, where she handed him a padd. As he glanced through it, she explained. “The Excalibur is to rendezvous with us. Her captain, Jeff Thomas, lost his first officer in a recent border dispute with the Romulans. He asked me for one, knowing that I owed him a favor.” She paused, letting Apollo completely register what she was saying, and what the padd read. “As soon as he gets here, you’re to transfer over to him as his first officer.” She leaned back against the front of her desk. “Please understand, this isn’t anything against you, and it has nothing to do with your past incidents. Hell, you’re a good officer… it would have happened regardless. It was simply a case that he was searching for an replacement for his first, and you were the best choice for him. He made that decision, not me. If it were up to me, you’d be my first officer, when the one I have leaves in a few months. Jeff got to me first.”

Strangely enough, a calm settled on Apollo. “I understand, Captain. When is he expected to arrive?”

“He’ll be here tomorrow.” He saw a remorseful look on her face. She truly didn’t want to lose him. “I meant what I said… you’re a good officer, Apollo. As much as you think people will be relieved, there are just as many, if not more, who will regret seeing you go.”

He nodded, knowing she was telling the truth. “I’ll be ready for him, sir.”

~ * ~

He stood in the transporter room, once again wearing a gold tunic as he did when arriving on the Merrimac, except this time it bore one extra stripe. His captain and Captain Thomas entered. Is that a look of affection passing between them, he wondered. Thomas saw him standing there and smiled. “Commander Racer, it’s a pleasure meeting you. I hope we get along as well as Keri here tells me you two did.”

“I hope so, too, sir,” Apollo replied. “It’ll… certainly be interesting.”

“Well, your reputation precedes you. I have a few of my crew who can’t wait to meet you.” He turned to Captain Howell. “Well, if you don’t mind, we’ll be leaving now.”

“It was certainly a pleasure meeting you again, Captain.” Apollo couldn’t mistake the slight undertone in her voice. When Howell said it was a pleasure, she meant it in more ways than one. “I just hope we can do it more often.”

“The feeling is mutual.” He turned to Apollo. “But right now, I have to get my new first officer acquainted with his crew. Let’s go, Commander.” They walked up the steps and stood next to each other. He then gestured to the transporter operator. “Energize.”

If Apollo hadn’t known any better, he would have claimed they never went anywhere. The only differences he saw were that his former captain was suddenly missing and a different person had replaced the one behind the console. “Welcome back, sir,” the technician said.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. I’d like you to meet our new first officer. Commander Racer, this is Lieutenant Schaffer. She’s our transporter chief.”

Apollo held out his hand. Surprisingly, the gloom he felt aboard the Monitor was somehow left behind, and he found a smile easily come to his face. The pleasant grin on the lieutenant’s face could have had something to do with it. “Pleased to meet you,” he said, for once actually meaning it.

They left the room and walked down the corridor. “Some of our crew is over at the Monitor. I guess the closest description I could give you of what they’re doing is ‘comparing notes’. It’s always good to talk to another crew, trade a few stories, some technical bits.” He glanced at Apollo. “I understand you’re not too bad of a helmsman.”

“I can get by in a pinch,” he said, modesty obviously showing through.

Thomas chuckled. “I’ll just bet you can.”

~ * ~

The tour went real well. The crew all seemed friendly toward him, but at this early point in time, Apollo couldn’t tell if it was genuine or just an attempt to make him feel comfortable. At any rate it was a welcome change. When it was over, Captain Thomas suggested that Apollo get a bite to eat and some rest; then he would be shown his duties the next day. Apollo headed into the lounge. Upon entering, he couldn’t help but notice that like transporter rooms, lounges looked pretty much the same as well. He looked at the nearest table, but shook his head. No, silly, there wouldn’t be a hole there. You’re getting your ships mixed up. He shook his head again, just to make sure the cobwebs were fully kicked loose. He went over to the replicator, picked out a simple bowl of soup, and headed toward a table. The officers he passed on the way smiled and either nodded their greetings or waved to him. He simply nodded back, as his hands were full, and sat down to eat his soup.

He took no more than a few bites when a voice penetrated the calm. “Oh, man! I can’t believe they’ll let anyone eat in this place! What’s this ship coming to?”

Apollo thought that somewhere in his mind, that voice sounded familiar. He turned around… his eyes widened at the sight before him and he smiled. “Skip!”

Sure enough, his Academy buddy was standing there in a red tunic of support personnel, lieutenant commander braids clearly glimmering on his sleeves. Apollo jumped up and clasped his friend by the arms. “My God, you don’t know how good it is to see you. I didn’t know you were aboard.”

“What, you think you’re the only one who can go ship-hopping? Hold on a second… Let me get something, and I’ll join you.” Apollo returned to his seat, and shortly after, Skip sat down opposite him with a huge hoagie on a plate. “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to program the damned machines to make this just right; but boy, it’s worth it. So, you old dog, what brings you around my stomping grounds?”

Apollo was intrigued that Skip didn’t know. “Oh, I’m doing my captain a favor. I’m going to be Captain Thomas’ first officer.”

Skip looked incredulous. He looked at Apollo, then out a viewport, then back to him. “What the… you mean… get outta town!” His face split in a grin. “We’re actually going to serve on the same ship? Unbelievable.”

“Yeah, well, I found it hard to believe that I got these so quickly.” He lifted his arm, indicating his commander’s stripes. “I thought that it would take a lot longer.”

“If the stories I’ve heard are true, then you deserve to wear them.”

“Yeah, yeah… I’ve heard that before. So, how is Karen? Is she here, too, or did you two get separated in reassignment?”

Skip dropped his smile. Apollo started to worry. “Yeah, she got reassigned. She’s back on Earth, doing Admin work.” Apollo looked disappointed, but Skip’s frown became a wide smile. “At least until the baby is born.”

Apollo was astonished. “My God! Congratulations! I never knew you had it in you.” He laughed, he was so overjoyed.

When they settled down, Skip asked, “And how’s Sam? Have you heard from her?”

This time it was Apollo’s turn to frown, and Skip felt that it was no joke. “I… I haven’t heard from her since she was on the Lexington. I hope she’s doing okay. I tried to keep in touch with her, but…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

Skip waved him off. “Ah, man, I’m sorry. Don’t worry about it. Last I heard, the Lexington‘s fine. No word from Sam, but I’m sure she’s doing great. Karen speaks to her more than I do. Next time I get in touch with her, I’ll ask if she’s heard anything.”

Apollo shrugged. “I’m just concerned, Skip. One day, I just stopped getting replies. I kept sending messages, but they were unanswered.” He sighed.

“Hey, don’t get down on yourself. If it were any two people I thought were made for each other, it was you and Sam. If she’s not responding, there has to be a good reason.”

“Yeah, well… she’s got her life, I’ve got mine.” Skip didn’t like the way that sounded. Before he could say anythign about it, though, Apollo decided to change the subject. “So what do you do on this tub, anyway?”

Skip pointed at him, glaring mockingly. “Hey, now. Don’t you call my ship a tub. It’s not nice.”

“Your ship?” Then it hit him. “Ahhhhhh, I see…. Chief engineer, are you?” Skip smiled in confirmation. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“For calling my scow a tub, you should be.” They had another laugh. The conversation continued long after the lounge had cleared. Finally, Skip stood up. “Well, I have to get some rest. I start my shift bright and early tomorrow… that is, if you can tell what ‘bright and early’ is on a starship. Did you get your quarters, yet?”

“Yeah, I found that out shortly after I arrived. Now that you mention it, I ought to call it a night as well. The captain’s going to show me the ropes tomorrow.” Apollo stood up as well.

They looked at each other for a moment. Skip spoke first. “It’s going to be real good working with you, pal. I mean that. I told you, I always hoped that I’d get to serve with you. I think you’ll make a damn fine first officer. At least until you sit in your own captain’s chair.”

Apollo let that sink in. “Thanks, Skip. That means a lot to me, more than you know.” They shook hands. “See you tomorrow.”

As his friend turned to walk out, Skip noticed something about what Apollo just said. There’s something you’re not telling me, buddy, Skip thought, concerned. I know I can’t make you say anything, but I sure hope you tell me, or anybody, before what you’re holding inside hurts you. After that pensive thought, Skip’s smile returned, along with the good feeling he had about Apollo being on this ship.

~ * ~

Skip didn’t have to wait long for that talk.

He was in Engineering one day, just about to go off shift when the first officer entered. Skip finished the conversation he was having with his relief, then he walked over to his friend. “Hey, did you kill the captain and take over yet?”

“Bite your tongue,” Apollo said with a smile. “I couldn’t do it if I was ordered to.”

“I know what you mean. So, what brings you down here?”

Apollo got a little uncomfortable. “Well, I figured that I needed someone to talk to, someone I’ve known for a while.”

Skip smirked. “Hell, I guess that narrows your list down somewhat. My shift just ended, too. Let me finish up and I’ll join you.”

The shuttle bay was a perfect place to go. It was quiet and deserted when it wasn’t in use. A shuttle was always kept in the bay, ready for launch whenever it was needed. It was on the engine pod of this shuttle that the two men were seated. As Skip listened intently, Apollo caught him up with everything he’d been through, including some things that had been left out of the rumor mill.

Skip could only shake his head in response. “Sheesh… you’d think these people had never encountered anything as strange as you.” His joke went flat when Apollo glared at him. “Sorry. But seriously, how can you be in Starfleet and not see something out of the ordinary on a regular basis?” He ignored the irony of that statement. “I mean, look at you… in a glance, you look normal. So what if you’re older, stronger and faster than average? And… and that thing you’d do with your mind. Seeing the future and all… I mean, that’s a little creepy, but I can live with it.”

Apollo nodded and fidgeted a little. “There…” he paused, making a decision. “There is one benefit from my isolation. The main thing I can do is sense imminent danger around me. Gives me a better reaction time, cuz I know what to expect. If I concentrate… or rather, meditate… I can get it to work for people I care about, too.”

Skip looked thoughtful. “So how does that explain the first time it showed its head?”

“I was untrained. It was like a muscle I hadn’t used before. I could See any danger that was about to happen to anyone in my immediate area. Now that I’ve honed it, I can See any potential threat to me. If I open my mind a little more, I can expand the range. I’d rather keep it pretty tight, though. Less headaches that way.”

“You said it was the main thing,” Skip said, pickign up the cue. “You can do other stuff?”

“Well…” Apollo fidgeted some more. “Yeah. If I completely let down my guard, or mental shields, I can See the thoughts of people… I can’t actually read their minds, but I can pick up what they’re thinking on the surface. It’s like…” He thought of a suitable analogy. “It’s like seeing a book on a table from across the room. I can see that page has words, but I can’t read the words from across the room. But, if the text is large enough, I can. Surface thoughts are pretty much words in large text. I can’t help but see them if I’m unguarded.”

“Ahhhhhh… got it.”

“Of course, this leaves me completely open to attack from one way or another. For instance, in that condition, Vulcans would be able to meld with me without approaching me, even though we know that they’re really touch-telepaths.” Apollo’s look grew impish. “And… I can do this…”

:I can project my thoughts to someone in the same room as me.: Skip heard Apollo’s voice, it echoed inside his head, but his lips didn’t move. He fell off the engine pod in shock when he realized what just happened. “You… you… your voice!” Skip sputtered as he got up off the floor and sat back down, but he was so shaken by what he experienced that he had to feel for the pylon before he sat, or he’d end up on the floor again. “I… I just heard you in my head, I mean I heard you, but you didn’t speak! I mean… my God. What the hell did you just do!?”

“Didn’t you hear what I thought to you? I can project my thoughts to someone I want to hear them, as long as they are in the same room as I am.”

“As long as they’re in the same room. So does this mean that if you’re outside it doesn’t work?”

Skip ducked to avoid getting knocked off the engine again. “Silly,” Apollo said. “You know what I mean.” He abruptly grew serious. “I’m kind of scared by this. I really don’t know everything I’m capable of. And what I do know…” He shivered. “It’s a big responsibility… to make sure I use it for the right reasons, if I use it at all.”

Skip smiled warmly. “You know something?” He clapped Apollo’s shoulder. “I don’t really think you have anything to worry about. The fact that you’re asking yourself that question means that you’re willing to consider the consequences of your actions. Nothing more responsible than that.” He stood up. “Now come on. Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.” He looked around the shuttle bay. “Can you believe that the only things between us and open space are those two big doors? Sometimes it just gives me the creeps.”

Apollo smiled. “So… I guess you’re really worried about that open space between those two ears of yours.”

“Why, you…” Skip grabbed his friend in a headlock. “Try and think your way out of this, buddy boy…”

~ * ~

Captain’s Log, Stardate 4813.4:

The Excalibur has been investigating a sector of space near the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy. There have been reports that ships have been disappearing in this sector… I intend to find out the truth behind these reports. I just hope we don’t become a statistic ourselves.

Thomas thumbed off his log recorder. Apollo stood behind and to the right of his chair. “What do you make of it?” Thomas asked of his first officer.

Apollo studied the screen for a while. “Well, sir, it’s certainly mysterious enough. I can understand ships wanting to explore it and getting lost.”

Thomas swiveled to face his science officer. “Crane, are you getting any readings?”

Crane looked up from his viewer. His looks certainly matched his name. He was a wisp of a man, but Apollo had seen him in action, and if anyone personified the term will o’ the wisp, it was this man. He had a passion that was unquenchable. “I keep getting readings, as if there’s something out there, but then it disappears on me. I really can’t get much from here.”

Thomas nodded slowly. He looked to Apollo, who met his gaze. All at once he made a decision. “Helm, change course,” he said with finality. “We’re going in.”

~ * ~

It was the fifth day. On the third, they had lost contact with normal space; now they were just as lost as the ships they were still searching for.

Apollo couldn’t help but notice that the crew started becoming edgy. Tempers were short… what would have been simple disagreement turned into knock down, drag out fights. He had to break up more than one. Even Skip got more frustrated than usual. When it became a week, Apollo avoided Skip all together… he had become too testy. He also found that he had to close down his senses more. They alerted him more and more to danger, to the point where it seemed like he had a constant buzzing in his ears. Even he wasn’t immune. More than once, he caught himself snapping unnecessarily at a crewmember, or he would punch a bulkhead for some trivial reason. The amount of times he lost his temper could be counted by the number of holes left in the wall in various places on the ship.

On the second week, their helmsman went berserk. “I can’t stand this!” He suddenly yelled. “We’ve been here a week. Why don’t we leave?” He whirled around to face the captain. “Why don’t you get us out of here?” He started to advance on Thomas.

Thomas was about to punch the intercom to call Security, but Apollo was a step ahead of him, literally, moving between Thomas and the helmsman. The man lunged, and Apollo’s hand snaked out, grasping the juncture of the neck and shoulder. Sarek had taught him how to do a nerve pinch while he was on Vulcan, despite his warning to the human that he’d never possess the strength needed to accomplish the move. That changed since the Academy. The man dropped like a sack of grain.

Thomas made a call anyway… to Sickbay instead of Security. “Doctor, I have a man up here who just went mad.”

“I’ll send someone up to take care of him,” came the reply, which, like most of them, sounded ragged and grouchy.

Apollo turned to Thomas. “That’s the fifth case I’ve seen in two days. Sir, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this barrier is driving people insane.”

Thomas nodded. “I’d have to agree with you. Seems you have a chance to prove your skills to me… please take the helm, Mr. Racer.”

Apollo instantly took the chair recently unoccupied. He looked for a reference point, no matter how insignificant, but he couldn’t find any. If ordered to turn about 180 degrees, he’d be able to do it, using the instruments as guidance, but the sensors wouldn’t display him any different information otherwise. “I’m sorry, sir. I’m afraid I can’t do much more than what’s already been done.”

Thomas sighed. “That’s all right, Commander, just so long as I have someone sitting there. Steady as she goes.”

~ * ~

At the end of his shift, Apollo was walking down the corridor. It was hard for him to focus; in addition to the way this space was affecting him, his senses were buzzing uncontrollably now. It was hard to tell whether or not he was in danger. In fact, Apollo had been starting to get a little paranoid in the past day or so; he was looking around corners before turning them. Every little sound made him suspicious, and it got to the point where he could hardly sleep.

It was just outside of his quarters where he was attacked. Three men jumped him from different directions. “It’s his fault! He’s the one who brought us here! He wants to kill the captain and take over the ship!” Apollo tried to resist, but they had gotten to him too quickly. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, being pummeled senseless.

One of them had torn a piece of railing from somewhere and was using it to bash him. When one of the commander’s arms was damaged, the man pointed in shock. “He’s… he’s not even human!” They redoubled their efforts, and Apollo tumbled into blackness.

He was found by a medical crew two hours later, broken, bleeding and unconscious. The doctor already had too much on his mind… his sickbay was full, both with actual patients and with people he treated who had nothing wrong with them. At least, not until he finished with them. The physician put Apollo in a stasis chamber, muttering that he’d get back to him when he had the chance.

He never got that chance.

Chapter Eleven

They met up in the transporter room of Starbase One. “Well, Apollo,” Skip said, pumping his friend’s arm, “it’s been real fun. I hope to see you again sometime.” He left Karen on the pad and came up close to Apollo. “And confidentially, what I said a couple of years ago still holds. You find yourself in the captain’s chair one day, you let me know. I wouldn’t mind serving with you.”

“Ditto, buddy. Have yourself a great adventure.” He watched as Skip stepped up to the pad next to Karen. He signaled, and the transporter operator activated the controls. They disappeared in sparkling coalescence.

He turned to his lover, looking solemn. “Looks like it’s your turn.”

“Uh huh.” Sam stood there for a few seconds, then gave Apollo a hug. “You take care of yourself. I’m looking forward to sharing shore leave with you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” he said. He turned her toward the pad and gave her a gentle push. “Now get going. I don’t think your captain will appreciate you being late.”

Before she got up on the pad, she turned quickly, and before he could react, she kissed him. Then, stepping into position, she looked at him and waved. Apollo thought she looked so vulnerable at that point. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms, but fought the urge. “Goodbye,” she said to him. The operator took that as his cue and beamed her over to her ship.

Apollo hung his head, feeling the weight of this departure. He walked up the platform and took his place. Taking a deep breath he stood up straight. “Energize,” he said firmly.

He felt a moment’s disorientation, the way he always did when he used a transporter. When it ended, he saw a different room. A different person stood behind a console similar to the one he just saw, but there were two officers standing next to him. One of them approached him with his hand extended; Apollo could clearly see the two and a half braids encircling the sleeve of his gold tunic. “Lieutenant Racer,” the officer said, “I’m Captain Peterson. This is my first officer, Commander Stevens.”

“Hello, Captain,” Apollo said warmly, “Lieutenant Racer reporting for duty, sir.”

“I’m glad to have you, son… er, excuse me. I heard a rumor that you don’t particularly like that term.”

The lieutenant shrugged. “It doesn’t really suit me, sir.”

Peterson laughed. “I completely understand. Look, Stevens here will show you to your quarters. What’s say we start your orientation tonight at dinner. Will that be okay?”

Apollo was a little taken aback. Pretty informal, isn’t he? “Why… yes, sir. If you insist. I mean, we could do it sooner if you’d like.”

“Nonsense. You need to settle in first. Tonight will be just fine. Now, I have to be on the bridge, so if you’ll excuse me.” With that clearly sounding like a dismissal, the captain turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Apollo immediately sensed that the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees. He looked over toward the operator; he was starting to fidget. Apollo decided to study what seemed to be the apparent reason for his unease.

Commander Stevens was obviously not as laid back as his captain. He was six-foot-four, largely built, and extremely stiff. His eyes burned like ice, and the look on his face told Apollo that this man knew who and what he was, and he wasn’t too pleased. The lieutenant immediately decided that he did not like this man.

“If you’ll come with me, Lieutenant.” He gestured toward the door, but walked through it before Apollo did. Walking through the corridor was pretty silent. Later, upon reflection, Apollo judged that it was halfway to his quarters when Stevens finally spoke. “You may as well know now. You’re not going to get any special treatment on this ship.”

Oh, great, Apollo thought, he’s got a chip on his shoulder. If it’s one thing I don’t need on my first mission, it’s someone like Quinn. He felt, however, that Stevens wasn’t going to be as easy to enlighten as Quinn. “I never expected that at all, sir.”

“That’s good. Remember that.” They entered a turbolift, but before any commands were given, he allowed the doors to shut before continuing. “I don’t care how the captain treats you, but around me, you’ll stick to protocols. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.” Apollo ached to give this guy a smart-assed remark, but somehow, he felt that it wouldn’t be a good idea at this time.

“Deck eight,” Stevens ordered. The lift started to move. “I’ll be watching you, Racer. Don’t think that just because you left the Academy a lieutenant, you know more than an ensign.”

“Uh, with all due respect, sir, I do know more than an ensign. In fact, I’ve probably forgotten more than you’ll ever learn, sir.”

Stevens backed Apollo against the turbolift wall. “Don’t you dare get smart with me, Lieutenant, or I will not hesitate to make an example of you! Is that clear!?”

Apollo didn’t turn his gaze away; he matched it, to show this overgrown alpha wolf that he wasn’t about to back down from bullying, regardless of rank. “Crystal… sir,” he said through clenched teeth. Stevens waited a moment before moving away. “Permission to speak freely, sir.”

“Denied,” Stevens snapped back.

The rest of the trip was in silence. When Apollo finally reached his quarters, he stood in the center of them for a moment. Then he dropped himself into a nearby chair and audibly let out a breath. “Whew.” He wiped his brow. If he didn’t watch himself, this was going to be a very long tour.

~ * ~

The next day didn’t give him any more insight into the first officer. At the dinner last night, he carried himself with such dignity and composure that he seemed to be a completely different man from the one who escorted Apollo to his quarters. He knew it was a ruse, though. He thought about exposing him to the captain, but he figured that if Stevens managed to pull this off for this long, it stood to reason that others have had the same thought, and met with less than desirable results. Besides, this was only his first day aboard ship. He didn’t think he had any clout here yet, so he kept quiet about it. When the end of the night came, Stevens gave Apollo a superior look, as though to silently acknowledge that the pecking order had long been established on this ship, and no upstart lieutenant would change that. Right then and there, Apollo silently vowed that he would be watching the commander as closely as he himself would be watched. It would be a dangerous game, but fully worth it to wipe that smug look off that man’s face. He didn’t care if it took his entire tour on that ship.

For now, though, Apollo shunted those thoughts to the back of his mind as he reported to his duty section. Though he wore a gold tunic when he arrived on board, he had changed into a red tunic to report to Security. Before he went to sleep that night, he decided to memorize the ship’s layout, a good measure if he were to be one of the personnel in charge of keeping it safe. It was also necessary because he couldn’t get Stevens’ face out of his head long enough to sleep peacefully. There were few people that Apollo took an immediate dislike to, and they usually provided good reasons. This first officer easily ranked high on that short list.

The Security section was pretty much the same as on other ships. He entered into a large foyer. There was a gray desk with a black top for the person on watch; behind that were three doors, two red and one gray. The one on the left was the Security Chief’s office and the one on the right was the conference room. The third door, the gray one, directly across from him, looked more fortified. This was the door to the brig; its door was three times as thick as normal doors, phaser resistant, and force field protected. The field, of course, was off at the time; you don’t expect to have prisoners when you’re leaving Earth. Apollo envisioned Stevens in a cell beyond those doors, and his day brightened.

The security person at the desk hopped up to attention. “Good morning, sir. Commander Brooks is expecting you.”

Apollo studied the sharp officer. He realized that he’d also have to memorize the crew manifest so he could get the names right. “Thank you, ensign.” He moved around the desk and upon approaching the office, the door opened and he entered.

A man sat at the desk inside. He was looking over a report on a padd, twirling a stylus while doing so. His sleeve bore the rank of Lieutenant Commander, but he looked relatively young. It went with the rumors Apollo heard: that on board a starship, one didn’t make it to old age as Security Chief, just an early grave… unless they were good. Apollo stopped at attention in front of the desk. “Lieutenant Racer reporting for duty, sir.”

The man merely looked up at him, then resumed reading at a leisurely pace. When he finished, he looked back up… Apollo hadn’t budged an inch. He got up and moved around the desk. Slowly circling Apollo, he headed toward the door. For a moment, Apollo though he was going to leave him in that position. He heard the door open. “Ensign,” he began, “who put this statue in my office?”

The ensign looked up, completely flabbergasted. “Sir, no one, sir. Lieutenant Racer was supposed to be meeting you. I thought…”

“I thought so. He must be some type of trickster, entering my office and leaving that… that facsimile of himself, thinking that I wouldn’t notice, and he could get out of meeting with me.” He wagged a finger at the ensign. “If you see him, tell him I want a word with him.” He re-entered his office without waiting for acknowledgment. Again he slowly circled Apollo, whom he noted still hadn’t moved. “All right, you’ll do. At ease, Lieutenant.” When he noticed his new arrival visibly relax, he extended his hand. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Brooks. You must be our eager new phaser fodder. Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you, sir,” Apollo replied, shaking his hand.

Brooks returned to his seat. “It’s not often that we get full lieutenants straight out of the Academy. What did you do to be so special?”

“Prior military service, sir.”

“Yes, I notice that.” He gestured to the padd. It was then that Apollo realized that Brooks was reading his file when he came in. “What else?”

“Well, they seemed to think I did pretty well in the Academy.”

Brooks slowly nodded. “Good… good. You know enough not to draw attention to yourself. I’ve had people come in here pretty proud of their accomplishments and felt it was something they needed to share with everybody.” He snorted. “May as well have gone around wearing a target.” He tapped a couple of controls on his padd, scrolling through the text. “It says here you performed above and beyond your duties at the Academy.” He thought a moment. “What do you know about an incident involving a fire a year or so ago.”

Apollo shrugged. “There was a fire, my friends were involved, I got them out. End of story.”

Brooks looked at him skeptically. “Uh huh. Well, if that’s all you want to tell me, then that’s as far as I’ll take it. One thing that strikes me as odd, though… there are some areas in your file that even I can’t get access to. I find items like that suspicious. But… there’s something about you. I can’t put my finger on it. But as long as you work for me and you don’t do anything to get on my bad side, you’ll be all right. I’m not one to hold things over people’s heads, unlike some people.” He caught Apollo’s speculative expression. “Yes, I’m talking out our illustrious first officer. I know you’ve met him. The general scuttlebutt around the ship is that he’s a pompous ass. But he does his job, so no one gets in his way. Those who do find themselves on the business end of a transfer. But don’t worry, as long as you stay out of his way and do your job, everything should go fine.”

Apollo smiled at that, but he was actually wondering if his life would be that simple.

~ * ~

For the most part, life aboard the Merrimac was contrary to what Apollo had believed. Being one of many Security personnel assigned to the ship, he had little reason to interact with the first officer. Once in a while, he would “pick the short straw,” as his comrades would put it, and wind up on a landing party that Stevens led. They felt he’d be fine, as the commander paid little or no attention to the Security people unless his life was threatened. Unfortunately, they hadn’t realized that Stevens had picked Apollo as his “pet project.” He was always given the low or dangerous assignments, perhaps in Stevens’ hopes that Apollo would either get sick of the abuse and request a transfer… a request that the lieutenant suspected would get turned down to spite him… or he would become just one more statistic of Security personnel fatalities.

Despite this, Apollo persevered. He also kept notes… especially ones when his report was required after landing party duty, but was conveniently lost if it spoke unfavorably of the first officer. Apollo smelled something rotten on his ship, but he didn’t have nearly enough evidence to bring it to the captain. He also had a bad feeling… like he was stumbling onto something much bigger than he yet imagined.

His one blessing had been letters from Sam. After she got over initial sadness at being separated, she found herself greatly enjoying her life aboard the Lexington. It made him smile when she would describe her experiences… science officers seemed to have more pleasant ones than Security. He purposely left out his encounters with his first officer, but it seemed she had a sense there was something he was keeping from her.

He sent her messages at least once a week, yet for some reason, her replies seemed to be getting fewer and farther between. When they stopped coming altogether. He felt a deep sadness. I wonder if she’s forgotten about me, he thought. That idea seemed wrong, though… nothing in her communiques led him to believe she would just stop replying like that, no matter how gradual her responses petered out. She wouldn’t do that to him… would she?

In the meantime, he continued his discreet investigations, becoming grimmer as he realized just how deeply Stevens’ corruption reached into the ship’s infrastructure. I can’t believe this is being allowed to happen aboard a starship. Something needs to be done. He sighed, sitting back in the chair in his quarters, staring at the screen. But what? Where can I find my rosetta stone that’ll bring this setup crumbling down? Figuring that he couldn’t do anymore that night, he shut down his terminal, lowered the lights and laid across his bed for a fitful sleep.

During his next landing party mission, he got the evidence he’d been looking for…

“Racer to Merrimac! Come in, Merrimac!” Apollo had been yelling into his communicator for about five minutes. Disruptor fire screamed past his head. How did I get myself into this, he thought.

Their ship was on routine patrol duty when the planet, Decimus, had contacted them. It was a Federation supply outpost, so the captain decided they could stop by. En route to the planet, Brooks felt there was something odd about the message, so they ran what they knew through the computer. That’s when they discovered that Decimus was supposed to be an automated outpost… there weren’t supposed to be people there. So who contacted them?

When they reached orbit, they found no ships there, so Stevens led a party down to investigate. It was after they materialized on the surface that everything went to hell. They were surprised to find a Klingon outpost, with a lot more Klingons than there were landing party members. Apollo wondered how Klingons managed to get this far into Federation space. That question was put on hold, though… their arrival was like kicking a hornet’s nest.

The lieutenant did a quick survey to update his situation. Nicholson, his partner, was down. He was glanced by a shot, and as a result, he had a huge, gaping wound in the side of his leg. Fredericks wasn’t as lucky. The only thing left of her was a black outline on the boulder where she thought she had cover. His only comfort was that she felt no pain as her atoms defaced the rock.

They had managed to get corralled into a small clearing. Stevens and the medical officer, Browning, were trapped across the clearing from Apollo. Stevens made a move to try to get a better position. “Stay down, sir! It’s too dangerous!” Apollo yelled. As if to emphasize his statement, the tree next to him was disintegrated.

Stevens ignored Apollo’s warning as he headed out. Browning was livid… he tried to grab at Stevens but missed. “Dammit, Ted, what in blazes do you think you’re doing?” he shouted, then he looked to Apollo. “Well, don’t just sit there! Do something!”

Apollo rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, silently counting to three… then he took off. Browning never saw him change position. Apollo blurred as he used his momentum to push Stevens behind a large boulder closer to the outpost.

Stevens slammed against the rock. Dazed by the sudden jarring, he shook his head to clear it. Glaring at the Security officer, he hissed, “What the hell are you trying to do, kill me!?”

“No, sir. I think you can do that just fine on your own. What I’m doing is saving your butt. Sir.” How the idiot hadn’t gotten himself killed by now, Apollo had no clue. Probably due to other security men who weren’t as fortunate as Apollo, having the abilities needed to avoid blasts like the one that blackened the ground where Stevens had previously been. And of course, Stevens didn’t even register that his life was a hair’s breadth away from ending.

Too late, Apollo saw Browning make a run for their spot. “Don’t…” Apollo started, but as he spoke, a bright red beam struck Browning. He glowed for an instant, then disappeared. Apollo clenched his teeth in rage. “Dammit…” He poked himself up long enough to shoot whoever had killed Browning, then darted back in before he could get hit himself.

“Contact the ship,” ordered Stevens.

“Sir, I’ve been trying to. From their lack of response, I’d say they have their hands as full as we do,” Apollo replied wearily.

“Don’t question my orders, Lieutenant! Just do as you’re told!” His shout was punctuated by another shot shaving off a section of boulder above his head. At this rate, their cover wouldn’t last long.

“Why don’t you just shout a little louder so they can pinpoint us.” Apollo took his attention off of Stevens and tried his communicator again. “Racer to Merrimac, come in Merrimac. If you’re able, please respond.”

Static crackled over the communicator for a minute. Suddenly, it cleared up. “Landing party, this is Merrimac. Sorry we couldn’t respond sooner. A Klingon battle cruiser appeared shortly after you beamed down. We scan more of the suckers not far from you. Do you need assistance?”

“That’s affirmative. We lost Browning and Fredericks. Nicholson is down with a bad leg wound. Commander Stevens and myself are pinned down. We…”

Stevens yanked out his own communicator. “We need to get beamed out of here immediately. Can you lock onto us?”

“Stand by.”

Apollo glared at him. “You’re just going to run?”

“We can take care of them from orbit. Like shooting ducks in a barrel.”

Apollo’s eyes grew wide with shock. “I can’t believe this. You’d murder them in cold blood?”

“Look what they did to Fredericks and Browning! They wouldn’t think twice about doing it to us! Now this is a direct order, Lieutenant! We’re beaming up to the ship, and you can put yourself on report for insubordination!”

That pushed Apollo past the breaking point. “You’re right, they wouldn’t think twice about killing us that way, because they’re Klingons! We’re not! If you want to be a coward, then be my guest. When I do back to the ship, the only report I’m going to make will be how you’re selfishness and incompetentence cost the lives of three good people.” He reset his phaser, then he took Nicholson’s phaser and stepped out. The next thing Stevens knew, Apollo was gone.

He stared at the lieutenant’s previous location a moment, his hand holding the communicator trembling with rage. He brought the device up slowly. “Merrimac,” he said, not taking his eyes off where Apollo went, “one to beam up.”

As he materialized in the transporter room, he made his way to the console. “Bridge to Transporter room,” Peterson’s voice blared over the commlink, “what in devil’s name happened down there? Where’s the rest of your landing party, Commander?”

Stevens glared at the transporter pads. “They’re gone.”

~ * ~

Apollo was a blur. He slowed down long enough to draw a bead on a Klingon, then stun him into submission. The rage he felt at losing his friends and at Stevens’ behavior only focused his concentration. He steadily moved inward. It was only when he was in the outpost’s control room did he realize that the fight was over. He stepped outside and examined the Klingon bodies sprawled everywhere. Slowly he moved among them… if they were still alive, he dragged them into a central location. If they were dead, he vaporized them with his phaser. When he was certain the scene was secured, he contacted the ship. “Racer to Merrimac.”

There was silence for a second, and he wondered if his tranmission had gotten through. Apollo was about to repeat his hail when he got a reply. “Lieutenant, is that you?”

Apollo decided he deserved to make a wisecrack. “No, this is a Klingon. I only sound like your Lieutenant Racer. What do you think?” He paused to shift gears. “The outpost has been secured. If it’s prisoners you want, you have your pick. We can beam the whole kit and kaboodle up if you want.”

More silence, then a different voice came over the communicator. “Racer, this is Captain Peterson. What the devil happened down there? I was told you were killed.”

Apollo fumed… he knew exactly where those reports came from. “I can assure you, reports of my demise have been grossly exaggerated. I could use some rest right now, though.”

“Understood. Stand by to beam up. And Racer… well done.”

“Thank you, sir.” He closed his communicator and looked around at the smoking ruins that used to be an outpost. Apollo suddenly felt very tired, yet at the same time he literally had his smoking gun. Starfleet is going to have a cow when they find out about this, he thought as the transporter whisked him and his prisoners away.

~ * ~

The captain was waiting for him in the transporter room. “Lieutenant, I don’t know what you did down there or how you did it, but that was a damn fine job. I’m sorry about Fredericks. She had a lot of spunk, and Browning is a blow to us, too. But if it helps, Nicholson will be just fine in a week or so.”

Apollo couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you, sir. Yes, that does help some. I’ll visit him later.”

“Later is right, Lieutenant. You look like hell. Go get some sleep. You can turn in your report in the morning.” Peterson headed down the corridor, passing Brooks as the security chief came up to him.

“Are you all right, Lieutenant?”

Apollo nodded. “Yes, sir… I just wish things could have gone a little better.”

“Trust me, losing people on a mission never gets any easier. You’d do well to remember that.” He glance down the corridor to make sure no one else was there. Then in a lower tone, he asked, “Did Stevens really write you off as dead?”

Apollo fumed inside, but was careful to keep his expression controlled. “Yes, sir, he did.”

“That’s pretty serious. I’d be careful with how to handle it if I were you.”

“I fully realize that, Commander. I know exactly what to do.”

Brooks studied his man for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Do what the captain said… go get some sleep.”

Apollo hadn’t been resting long when his door chime went off. It didn’t take his Foresight to know who that was. “Computer, record,” he said. When the computer finished chittering, he sat up on his bed. “Enter,” he said wearily.

Stevens marched in through the opening doors; he didn’t look very happy. “Racer, I’d like to have a word with you. Your actions today were reckless and totally irresponsible. You were supposed to protect the landing party from danger, and instead lives were lost. You acted completely against direct orders, and there is absolutely no excuse for that.”

“You know, sir, you do have a mirror in your quarters.”

Stevens blinked, both in confusion and due to the lieutenant’s tone. “Excuse me?”

“I mean, if you were going to yell at yourself, you could just as easily have done that to the mirror in your quarters instead of using me as one.”

The Commander was livid. “How dare you take that tone with me, Lieutenant! I don’t care how much of a hot shot you are! I’ll have you busted down to ensign so fast your head will spin, and you’ll stay there for a good long time, in an out-of-the-way section of Starfleet!”

Apollo just looked at Stevens from his prone position. “Are you quite finished, sir?” Stevens was speechless, so Apollo took it as a yes. “Perhaps you’d like to know what my report will read, sir.” He paused a moment. “‘Landing party arrived to find the outpost overrun with Klingons. Prudent course would be to return to the ship and inform Starfleet. Instead, the first officer demanded that we stay and try to ascertain the level of infiltration. Landing party was immediately beset upon by a hostile force. Through the first officer’s inaction, one security agent was injured, another killed. His own inept performance almost got himself killed as well before being moved to safety. The first officer then, in direct contradiction of his previous command, and at the cost of the chief medical officer, ordered the remaining landing party members to beam up, where orbital bombardment would cleanse the site of hostile forces.'”

“I made no such…”

Apollo spoke over Stevens’ bellowing denial. “‘The first officer beamed up, claiming to be the sole survivor of the party. His gross negligence cost the lives of two officers.'”

“I had no idea you were alive! With all that firepower, no one could have survived on their own!”

“‘This in combination with this officer’s previous observations as listed in the attached file suggests that the first officer is unfit for duty and should be relieved.'”

Stevens was about to protest again until he heard the end of the report. It then hit him that just as he had been keeping an eye on this upstart, striving to make his life aboard the Merrimac a living hell, this lieutenant was also keeping tabs on him. He dropped his act and gave Apollo a cold smile. “That report will never be seen. It has to go through me before it can reach the captain. Yes, I’ve seen your past reports… did you really think I was going to allow you to give Peterson suspicions about me? I’ve got too good of a thing going here to have you mess it up. I’m going to make sure you’re drummed out of Starfleet. You’ll be seen as a troublemaker, and no one will want anything to do with you.”

He stood in front of the first officer. “Permission to speak freely, sir.”

Stevens’ eyes narrowed. “What the hell else could you possibly have to say to me?”

He didn’t expect a right cross to solidly connect with his jaw, sending him flying across the room to slam into a bulkhead. He started to get up, but Apollo gave him a look that told him to stay down. The coward in him listened and he didn’t move. Apollo stood over Stevens and glowered at him. “For the past year, I’ve been calmly taking whatever abuse you’ve been dishing to me and the crew. I tolerated it and your little delusions of grandeur, because I didn’t see any way I could do anything about it. But today you took things too far. Your behavior reflected that of a spineless coward who was looking for the easy way out. To make things worse, you left me and Nicholson for dead down there, and you told the captain I didn’t make it. If we did things your way, we would never have found the reason for the Klingons’ presence at that outpost.”

Apollo was silent for a moment, to maintain his composure, then continued. “I’ve noticed how you show one side in front of the captain, but in his absence you show your true colors. Yes, you’re really the model officer.” He sat down on his bed.

Stevens was flushed with anger. “I’ll have you court-martialed for striking a superor officer! You’ve made a big mistake now, mister! If you think your word is going to be believed over mine, I’ve got news for you! There is no way in hell a lieutenant is going to make an ass out of me! Your career is as good as ruined!”

“Ohhhh, I don’t think so, sir. You see, I’ve been planning for just such a day as this one. I never liked you, and I know you never liked me. I don’t know if I simply rubbed you the wrong way or you saw my Academy record and figured I’d be bright enough to pose a threat to you. Either way, it’s over… our whole conversation here has been recorded. Once I show my report and this recording to the captain, it is your career that is finished, not mine.”

Stevens was flustered. He wanted to say something, but nothing would escape his lips. Apollo concluded his little speech. “It’s my job to protect this ship and its crew from any threat. That goes for within as well as from without. Which means that if I so choose, your butt could be in the brig right now. But I think you have those commander’s stripes on your sleeve for some reason, though it completely escapes my logic. I’ll let you decide how you’re going to rectify the situation. Computer, end recording.” Apollo grabbed his tunic and a disk from out of his terminal. He held it up so the commander could see it. “I’ve just brought my report through you, sir. Would you like to review it again?” The menace in Apollo’s look kept Stevens’ mouth shut. “I thought not.” He marched out the door, leaving the first officer on the floor of his quarters.

~ * ~

Peterson stared at his terminal, unable to believe his eyes. Apollo had entered and presented him with his material. After a few minutes, the captain said, “Better sit down, Lieutenant… this is going to take a while.”

Apollo patiently waited, allowing the captain to review the data. At certain points in his perusal, he asked the lieutenant some pointed questions for clarification. Then he returned to his reading. After half an hour, he sat back and took a deep breath. “I have to tell you, Racer, if you hadn’t given me this file, I’d have been hard pressed to believe your report. now I honestly don’t know what to believe. I never realized Stevens had been playing me this whole time.”

“He’s like a chameleon with his behavior, Captain. He lets people see what he wants them to see, what they want to see. To anyone not looking for it, they would have never suspected anything.”

“Like a certain blind starship captain?” He smirked.

“Sir… I-I didn’t mean…”

“Relax, Lieutenant. You’ve opened my eyes. I also like how your findings present themselves… they give me just enough to lift this veil of obscurity, but allows me to start conducting my own investigation without overlapping anything you already have.” He gave the security officer a suspicious look. “You never struck me as the type to butter up to the boss.”

“I merely felt that by giving you the opportunity to conduct your own investigation, the answers you would find would confirm and strengthen that which I already discovered.”

He nodded. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were Vulcan.” He shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure that this is a completely good thing, though.” To Apollo’s credit, he didn’t try to protest this, though Peterson gave him an opening to try. “Some of these leads you have could go pretty deep into our crew. I can’t tell just how big a can of worms it is you’ve handed me, but I think it’s safe to say there will certainly be repercussions to this. I have to warn you, Lieutenant… something like this is always messy. Expect to find unexpected echoes from this.”

Apollo nodded, though he wasn’t quite sure what the captain meant.

It didn’t take long for him to find out. A ship-wide investigation was started, and Security found a number of people who were essentially working around the rules. For two solid weeks, people were being called in for questioning by the captain and the security chief. Stevens was certainly relieved of duty and confined to quarters. Others suffered similar fates, from a simple reprimand to spending time in the brig. The command structure of the ship was completely shaken. Brooks and the captain did their best to reassure their bright lieutenant through it all that he did the right thing.

The problem was that more and more, Apollo was starting to feel as though this wasn’t the case. Some of the crew who weren’t even involved in the scandal had received some unexpected benefits from the corruption. Some weren’t involved in the scandal, but they were bending rules on their own and got caught. As much as he tried to keep his role as catalyst to these proceedings to himself, somehow his role was fleshed out, and he had a feeling Stevens had something to do with it. What baffled Apollo the most was the fact that some of the people he considered as friends were implicated in the mess. He suddenly found people who knew Stevens was corrupt but were afraid to speak out against him were alienating him.

The captain had to reprimand him for decking Stevens… as criminal as the first officer was, he was still Apollo’s superior officer. Strangely, Stevens’ warning had been prophetic in an unexpected way. Apollo’s fellow officers didn’t see him as someone who rooted out corruption… they saw him as someone who thought nothing of loyalty toward his own crewmates. Some felt he only started the whole thing as a way to gain favor with his superiors in hopes of an early promotion. He would try to talk to them, to explain his actions, but they wouldn’t listen. As much as Peterson and Brooks lauded him for his performance, Apollo found he really needed the acceptance of his peers.

At the lowest point of his ordeal, he finally decided a change was in store. Despite Peterson’s protests, Apollo requested for a transfer, citing that his absence would improve morale and efficiency aboard the ship. The captain reluctantly granted it. Brooks was one of the few people who also felt Apollo leaving was a bad choice. “I’m not trying to tell you to stay. It’s obvious you’ve made up your mind. It’s your decision to make, but for the record, I’m saying it’s a mistake. You leaving is like saying Stevens won.”

Apollo shook his head. “I disagree. Stevens didn’t win. The corruption he ran on this ship is being purged. There’s not much I can do to shake things up any more than they already are.” He smirked. “Look on the bright side, sir… I didn’t become one of those redshirt statistics.”

Brooks patted him on the shoulder. “You take care of yourself, Lieutenant.”

The Merrimac reached Starbase 14. Apollo wasn’t the only crewmember to stay behind when the ship left again, but he was the only one to stay voluntarily.

As no ship was scheduled to arrive in the near future, Apollo was temporarily assigned to the starbase. He tried to get in touch with his friends, but upon searching for the Alexander, he discovered that their location was classified. That meant they were on a sensitive mission… he’d have to do without contacting them. Instead, he automatically put together a message to Sam, updating her on what had been going on. When he was finished, he moved to send the communique, but something stopped his hand.

Apollo sat there for a few moments, staring blankly at the screen. The scandal took its toll on his confidence… he didn’t know what had happened, but something stopped her from replying to his messages. He wished he knew what he did wrong for her to drop contact with him. Was it his duties? Did someone, for some reason, tell her that he turned on fellow Starfleet officers? He made about as many enemies with his role in the scandal’s revelation as he made friends. Still, what could he say to her to make her believe him. With a sigh, he realized he had no answers.

The computer was still waiting patiently for his command. “Computer…” he muttered, “delete message.”

He spent six months on Starbase 14, during which time he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander, due in part to his efforts on the Merrimac, but coming too late to do him any good. He satisfied himself with doing administrative work – Starbase 14 had its own security force – and boned up on technical manuals of the base, along with those of different starships. Anything he could get his hands on… from the layout of the base to any intelligence reports available on Klingon forces… he kept himself busy so his head wouldn’t know just how hurt his heart was.

For all his efforts, the paperwork did the exact opposite of what he was trying to accomplish, and only served to deepen his depression. While the personnel were civil enough, his incident on the Merrimac was still fresh on their minds…. they gave him a wide berth. After eight months, all he had to look forward to was going to the officer’s lounge after his shift. Since no one would sit with him, he figured that he wouldn’t waste the table space, and sat at the bar.

One night, he was sitting there, staring at a half-empty glass of Saurian Brandy, his fourth for the night. If his head hung any lower, it’d be resting on the bar. He heard someone come up behind him, but he was firmly ensconced in his depression, and he was also more than a bit tipsy to acknowledge it.

Then a familiar voice said, “I’ll have what this gentleman’s having. Saurian Brandy, isn’t it?” Apollo twirled in his seat to see Captain Kirk smiling at him.

Apollo almost jumped off his seat, but remembered the standing rule in the lounge, set by the base commander himself: In the officers’ lounge, there are no officers. Besides which, in his state, he was likely to wind up on the floor. “Captain Kirk, what a surprise.” His depression wasn’t serious enough to prevent him from returning the smile, but his tone clearly revealed his mood. “Would you like to join me?”

Kirk accepted, sitting next to Apollo as the bartender set his glass down in front of him. “Well, a lieutenant commander,” the captain said, noting the stripes on Apollo’s sleeve. “Not gunning for captain too fast, are we?”

Apollo snorted. “Nothing of the sort. Just doing my job.”

“Yes, well, if you were ‘just doing your job’, you wouldn’t be lieutenant commander.” Kirk shifted gears. “I heard what happened,” he said in a more compassionate tone.

The smiled abruptly left Apollo’s face. “Did you now.” He turned to face the bar, emptied his glass and ordered another one. “News travels fast.”

Kirk kept his smile. “Fastest thing in the Federation. You know, you did your ship a good service. Not many people would have the guts to come out and say that something’s wrong with the command structure, especially when they’re under it. I’m impressed.”

Apollo scowled. “Forgive me for saying this, sir,” he said, forgetting lounge policy, “but if that came from anyone but you, I would have been insulted. And I certainly don’t need to be patronized.” He didn’t hear an answer, and looked at Kirk. The captain had a look on his face that Apollo had seen before. This was the type of man who wouldn’t ask you to elaborate, but his behavior compelled you to do so anyway. “Because of what I did, I lost any standing I had on my ship, I have a lot of people who don’t trust me anymore, not just those on the Merrimac. I’m not so sure that even you should be seen with me right now.”

Kirk’s face grew stern. “Walk with me.” He got up and waited. Apollo figured the man was going to stand there until he complied, so he drained his glass again and joined him. They walked until Kirk was sure no one would deliberately listen in. “Don’t do this to yourself. I’ve seen a lot of fine officers walk the line. Some of them fall one way or the other, but a few rare people manage to keep their balance. Yes, people are going to be uncomfortable with you, but that’s because on the Merrimac, you gave those people a good swift kick in their complacency. You’ve rocked the boat, but you’ve done it for the right reasons, and that’s what counts.”

Apollo kneaded and rolled that advice in his head. It served to help him fight off the effects of the alcohol. As he did, two men walked up to Kirk. “Come on, Jim, the concert’s about to start.” He looked over Kirk’s shoulders and saw Apollo. “Oh, excuse us, Commander, but we’ve got to drag our captain to an appointment.”

The other officer, a Vulcan, raised his eyebrow. “Yes, Captain. You had only spent the past 2.63 days boasting about how you looked forward to this event.”

“Yes, gentleman, in a minute. I was talking to Commander Racer here…”

A sparkle appeared in the eyes of the officer who called Kirk “Jim.” “Is this the one you told us about a couple of years ago?” He had a southern accent that Apollo actually found quite pleasing. He reached around Kirk to shake Racer’s hand. “Well, I always wanted to meet the person who knocked our captain down a notch.”

Apollo was bewildered. “I assume you mean my test scores at the Academy.”

Kirk grinned. “Commander Racer, this is my chief medical officer, Dr. McCoy, and my first officer, Mr. Spock.”

Apollo shook McCoy’s hand, then he turned to Spock. “Greetings, Spock,” he said, raising his hand in the Vulcan salute. “I am honored to finally meet you.”

“And you as well, Commander.” Spock returned the salute with the greetings. “My mother has spoken of you.”

“It is a privilege to be the subject of such a pleasant woman’s conversation.” He turned to Kirk. “If you would excuse me, I’d like to finish my ‘business’.”

Kirk looked at him wryly. “As a matter of fact, I believe our table seats four, isn’t that right, Bones?” He looked sideways at Dr. McCoy, who nodded confirmation. “You’re welcome to join us, if you’d like.”

Apollo didn’t give it a second thought. “I’d consider it an honor, Captain.”

As he fell into step with them, Spock turned to him. “I am curious… from what I’ve heard, my father can be quite a taskmaster.”

“Yes, he is,” Apollo replied. “He was as thorough as he was efficient.”

“He had mentioned to me of a human who had managed to meet his standards. There are few non-Vulcans who can accomplish that.”

“Well, Jim, I think we finally found Spock a friend,” McCoy uttered dryly. Kirk grinned at the comment.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Ten

Champagne glasses clinked together at the table occupied by Apollo, Sam, Skip, and Karen. The day was indeed a day for celebration. Skip stood up. “A toast…” He extended his glass, and the others stood and joined suit. “Here’s to the Class of 2266…”

“’67.” Apollo corrected, using his Vulcan tone of voice and displaying absolutely no emotion. The women chuckled.

“’67,” Skip reiterated, directing a mock glare toward his friend, “and all I have to say is this: watch out Starfleet! There are four brand new officers entering the fold, eager for adventure and full of life.”

“Actually, 273 cadets will graduate this year, not just the four of us,” Apollo said, also in a matter-of fact tone. He wound up getting Skip’s drink dumped on him. They all started laughing.

Sam raised her glass. “And here’s to Skip, who, among the four of us, managed to make it through the Academy without having to spend any amount of quality time in the infirmary.” This caused another round of laughter.

The party lasted well into the night. The foursome laughed and cheered and regaled old stories, the most interesting of which was Apollo’s recital of some of his experiences in the 21st century. The way he had told it, it seemed as though he had just done those things yesterday. Finally, the time came when they closed the place down. Walking out, or rather, leaving at a slight stagger, they all gave each other a group hug. Skip was obviously trying to say something. “Well, for God’s sake, man, spit it out!” Apollo prompted, a little slurred in his speech.

“Me an’ Karen are goin’ to…” Skip blurted. “Goin’ toooo…”

Karen elbowed him and chuckled. “You can say it in front of them. They’re friends.” She put her hand to the side of her face and said in a stage whisper, “We’re goin’ to get it on.”

“Oh, yeah… announce it to the world, why don’cha…” Karen cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath to follow her boyfriend’s suggestion. Skip grabbed her arm as she chortled. “Anyway, I jus’ wan’ed t’ warn you so you wouldn’t come in an’ disturb us.” Skip tried to wink, but his eye stayed closed. Karen giggled.

Apollo didn’t mention to Skip that as of a week ago, Skip’s room and Karen’s were the same, since Skip and Sam switched places; they had been practically living that way since mid-year anyway. The arrangement was infinitely more agreeable than the previous one, if for no other reason than to get rid of an extra bed to provide more space. “Thaaaaat’s alright… I’m not ready to night it a call, yet. Are you, Sam?”

Sam’s eyelids fluttered; whether she was flirting with Apollo or just plain inebriated, he couldn’t tell. “Heeee… you’rrrre drunk, mister.”

“I am certainly most not! I’m just… just… a slight bit tipsy.” He held his thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart… the fact that he had them just as close to his face set the others off again.

“Well, I’m feeling tired.” She saw his disappointed look and realized he was taking her seriously, so she subtly pinched him. Karen noticed, and giggled again. “And you are too, dear.”

It took a couple of seconds for the message to reach his brain. “Oh! Yeah! I’m sacked… what’s say we get in the bush?” Sam blushed but it didn’t stop her from laughing hysterically. Skip and Karen leaned on each other and waved to their friends as they left.

Sam then grabbed him by the arm and pulled him close to her. “Apollo, you need to help me back because I think I drank just a little too much and I can’t see straight,” she said in a half-whisper.

“If I’m gonna help you, who’s gonna help me?” She punched him in the arm. “Anyhooo… we earned the right to be a little drunk. C’mon… I’ll take you home.” He moved to take her arm.

Sam had other plans. She spun behind him and jumped onto his back. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear, breathing a little heavier than necessary for her answer.

It had the desired effect. He carried her all the way back to the dorm. He let her down inside of his room, whereupon she pounced on him, knocking him onto the bed. Before he could do anything, her lips were locked on his. This continued until she reluctantly pulled away from him. Sam stood facing him wearing a smile. Then that was the only thing she was wearing. Whew, he thought, I didn’t realize these uniforms were so easy to remove. Sam had a sly smile on her face, as she showed him with his uniform how she performed her little trick. Apollo wasn’t thinking too much after that.

~ * ~

He tugged on the collar the gold tunic of his dress uniform. The metallic gold braid encircling the collar and running down the middle of his front seemed stiff and unyielding. “Damn things must be made out of steel wool. I’ve never worn anything more uncomfortable.”

Skip shook his head. He was leaning against a wall, also wearing his dress uniform, but his tunic was red. He and Sam had switched rooms that morning for the express purpose of changing into their dress attire. “What a complainer. You don’t have to wear it much. They just want you to make sure that the experience is a memorable one.”

Apollo chuckled. “I’ll remember, all right… I’ll have a rash around my neck for a week.”

“Lighten up. Today’s the big day. We don’t want to set a bad example.”

Apollo was about to shoot off a retort when there was a knock at the door. It opened; Sam and Karen walked in, both in blue; Karen wore the dress, but Sam preferred the tunic and pants. “Hi. Thought you gentlemen would like an escort to the graduation,” Sam said cheerfully.

Karen chimed in. “She wanted to just walk in, but I told her it would be polite if she knocked. Besides, we didn’t want to catch you indecent.”

“Now, Karen, when are they anything else.” The two girls chuckled at the men’s expense. Skip just smiled, but Sam could swear she could see Apollo turning a light shade of pink.

“Well, now that the two of you are here, shall we go?” Apollo headed out of the room.

Sam and Karen looked at Skip. He simply shrugged. “He’s nervous. What can I say, I’m a bit giddy myself.” He ushered them out in front of him and shut the door behind him.

~ * ~

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Nova Squadron made a brilliant display for everyone. When they finished, the pilots joined their fellow cadets to participate in the main event. Names were called, and cadets went to the front to receive their commission as Starfleet officers. When the last name was called, a thunderous applause swept through the grounds. The Commandant of the Academy took the stage. As he approached the podium, the crowd hushed.

“To the Class of 2267, I bid you congratulations. You have truly earned your right to wear the uniform of Starfleet. I hope that you all have long and prosperous careers. I can remember the day when I sat in your place, listening to my commandant give a speech to us. It was an exciting experience…”

Apollo’s mind drifted off. He thought about where this step was going to take him. Once again, he was going to be an officer in an elite organization of peacekeeping individuals. He couldn’t have wanted more from his life. When he was a boy, he would sit out in the open field by his house, gaze at the stars, and wonder what type of life was waiting for him to discover it. Now he can actually find out.

He was interrupted from his daydreaming; Sam was elbowing him sharply in the ribs. “Apollo, snap out of it,” she hissed at him.

“What… is he done, yet?” He was a little disoriented.

“Yes, but when the commandant went to his seat, Komack took the stage.”

Instantly interested, Apollo focused his attention in front of him. He had seen the commencement ceremonies of the cadets who graduated before him while he was there; Komack had never appeared for them. “Cadets,” Komack began, “it is common for you to join this Academy, expecting to leave your mark on the history books. While you have all done very well, there is one cadet among you who has far excelled in his duties to this Academy. This cadet’s unwavering confidence and determination have not gone unnoticed in these halls. While I would enjoy introducing this cadet, I am obliged to delegate this task to a visiting officer who is truly appropriate for the deed. This officer is a shining example to Starfleet, and we are proud to have him represent us when he performs his duties throughout the Federation. The officer of whom I am speaking is none other than Captain James T. Kirk.”

A man stood up from among the instructors and approached the podium. Through the applause, Apollo could hear dozens of gasps escape the lips of his fellow cadets; indeed, he wasn’t immune to the effect this man had on everyone there. The class gave Kirk a standing ovation.

Kirk waved to the crowd and allowed them to settle back into their seats. “Greetings,” he began. “In the history of the Academy, I have been known for setting a lot of precedents, some of which are not appropriate to mention while in public.” Laughter broke out in the crowd. “During my senior year at the Academy, I took a test that all Command candidate cadets have to take if they ever want to sit in the captain’s chair of a starship. My score was… unique; its outcome was the standard for every candidate to try and meet. It has come to my attention that someone has finally topped me in that regard, and I would feel privileged to meet this talented cadet. Would Apollo Racer please join me up here?”

More gasps moved through the crowd. Apollo looked at Sam, who merely gave him a look that said, “Go on.” He could feel all eyes searching for him, resting on his position when he stood up to approach the stage. Those eyes followed him all the way, and it took every Vulcan discipline he knew to keep from jumping out of his skin. Once he reached the podium, he did the only thing he could think of when approaching a superior officer; he snapped to attention. “Cadet Racer reporting as ordered, sir.”

“At ease, Cadet,” Kirk said. “So, I understand that you were able to pass this test without any, ah, outside help.”

“That is correct, sir,” Apollo replied.

Kirk’s curiosity was evident on his face. “I was wondering. I took the test three times before I found the solution. How long did it take you?”

Apollo felt a slight tint in his face. “Well, sir, it… was my first time.”

Kirk looked mildly surprised. He looked over to where the faculty was sitting. Komack slowly nodded once in confirmation. “Your first time…” The cadet was almost sure he saw jealousy for the briefest of moments in Kirk’s expression. “So… do you think you could give me a little tip?” The crowd chuckled nervously; they knew he was asking in jest.

Apollo shrugged. “I guess you just go with your gut feeling, sir.”

More laughter. As if Kirk commanded any other way. “I’ve been told there was another reason for you to be up here right now. From your records, it appears that this isn’t your first experience in an organization such as Starfleet.”

Apollo visibly relaxed, able to talk about an unrelated subject. “Yes, sir. I was a captain in the United Earth Forces of the mid-21st century.”

“Yes, well, Starfleet can’t give you your actual rank back; not yet, at least. It can certainly give you a good push in the right direction, though. Cadet Apollo Racer, by the authority given to me by Starfleet Command, you are hereby given the rank of full Lieutenant, with all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that goes with it.” He smiled. “Let me be the first to congratulate you on a job well done.” Kirk offered his hand. As Apollo shook it, he heard Skip in the crowd, cheering. The cheer had no sooner left his lips than the entire class joined in with a thunderous roar of approval.

Apollo’s mind was threatening to overload with so much positive stimulation… he had once been told that he’d been popular with the other cadets, and he had no cause to deny or ignore it. But never had he seen it manifested in such a way as he saw here today. With a smile he could barely control through his excitement, he said, “Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.” As he faced the horde of cheering cadets, he found himself fortunate that they didn’t insist that he say something on his behalf; he was too excited to think of anything to say, anyway.

~ * ~

At the reception, Apollo’s friends had gathered around him to congratulate him. “Well, well, Lieutenant Racer,” Skip said with mock envy, “how does it feel to be such a big shot on campus?”

“It feels…” Apollo paused to think about it, “rather nice, actually.” Skip punched him on the arm. “Careful, now. Don’t go assaulting a superior officer. I might have to drag your ass to the brig.” The sarcasm couldn’t possibly be missed in his voice.

Sam gave him a huge hug and a kiss. “I am so proud of you. You really did deserve that jump in rank. You were such a big help to me.”

“Are you sure that’s an objective opinion?” Apollo teased, his eyebrow arching very Vulcanly.

“Well, maybe a trifle subjective.” she responded, holding her thumb and forefinger about a centimeter apart and giving him a wink.

“Actually, he was a big help not just to you but to the other cadets as well.” The voice came from outside their little group. When they turned, Captain Quinn and Captain Kirk were striding toward them. Apollo could feel his face start to flush again. When the two captains reached the group, Quinn continued. “I spoke with your other instructors, and some of the other cadets. I’ve heard how you gave your time and effort helping the other cadets with their studies. A very commendable trait. I’ll have to admit, Apollo, I was wrong about you at first. But someone told me that if I were to go and try to tear through a person’s shields, I should first look to see if those shields were up to begin with.” Apollo could tell that she was slightly uncomfortable with this confession, but knowing she was giving it upped his respect for her astronomically. “I took another look at you. You never had them up. I guess I was so busy trying to look around the image, that I never realized I was looking at the actual product.” Realizing she had nothing more to say, she smiled, winked and offered her hand. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Racer. I hope to see you again someday.”

“Thank you, sir,” he said, shaking her hand. “I would be honored.” When they noticed that she had left, but Captain Kirk remained, Sam nudged Skip away with her, convincing him that they could both stand to refill their glasses.

Kirk and Apollo strolled in the opposite direction. “That was very profound. You really told her that?” At Apollo’s nod, he shook his head. “That sounds like something my first officer, Spock, would say.”

Apollo simply shrugged. “I needed her to understand my position at the time without resenting me for bringing it to her attention, sir. The truth was the logical choice.”

Kirk gestured with his hand. “Enough with the ‘sir’. We’re at a party.” He paused. “You sound like you spent some time on Vulcan yourself.”

“Four years.” Apollo thought for a moment. “If I may add, I believe we had a mutual acquaintance.”

“Oh, really.” Kirk could hardly believe what he was hearing.

“Yes. Your first officer’s father was my instructor on Vulcan.”

Kirk’s eyes grew wide. “You studied under Sarek? Small galaxy.” Something beeped. “Excuse me.” He turned away from Apollo and brought out a communicator. Due to the noise in the room, Apollo couldn’t clearly hear what was being said. Then Kirk closed his communicator and turned back to him. “I have to go. Good luck with your career, Lieutenant.” He shook Apollo’s hand again.

“Will do, sir. Thank you.” Apollo watched Kirk stride toward the exit. He felt an immense swelling of pride engulf him.

“Uh, oh. He’s going to blow. We’d better cool him down.” He turned to see who said that when he was suddenly drenched in water. When the cascade ended, he cleared his eyesight to find Skip and the girls, holding a huge, dripping barrel that was at one time filled with water. They were splitting their sides laughing.

Apollo stood there, sputtering. “Very funny, people,” he said.

He started to laugh with them. They all enjoyed the joke until Skip and Sam felt themselves get picked up. Apollo tucked them each under one arm. “Hey! What are you doing?!” yelled Sam.

“Yeah, bud! It was just a joke!” Skip exclaimed. “C’mon, let us down!”

Apollo simply smiled. Everyone noticed the commotion and followed Apollo. He led the group outside and toward the huge fountain in the center of the grounds, Sam and Skip kicking and screaming every step of the way. As soon as he reached his destination, he unceremoniously launched both of them in. The crowd started laughing. Karen was so caught up in the situation that she didn’t notice until too late that she was right next to Apollo. He picked her up, held her over his head, and she followed her friends’ route into the fountain. His audience cheered; he stood up on the lip of the fountain and gave them a theatrical bow. The three in the pool all nodded in unison, then they each grabbed Apollo and pulled him in with them. He came up spluttering, and the prank turned into a knock-down, drag-out, water fight, getting the graduates surrounding the fountain as much as they got each other.

~ * ~

The next morning, Apollo woke to the sound of soft breathing in his ear. He slowly turned his head to find Sam resting soundly. Apollo simply let her sleep, using her breathing to allow him to slip more easily into a meditative state. If he was right about what was in store for them today, he would need to be as ready for it as he could be about anything, and Sam would need his support, too. Privately, he had been dreading this day, enjoying the time they had together as much as he possibly could. In fact, if it could be said that humans could bond as readily as Vulcans could, then that was what happened between these two people. Skip even asked him jokingly about when the wedding would be. On the surface, Apollo would laugh, but inside he was torn… he knew this day was coming, accepted it, but wished with all his heart that it didn’t come.

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft peck under his chin. He looked to see her gazing up at him.

“Good morning,” he whispered.

“Hi,” she answered. She stretched; Apollo watched her body move under the coverlet and fought down a wave of hormones. It wouldn’t make today any easier. “You looked deep in thought. Anything you’d like to share?”

He gazed into her eyes, wondering what he should say. He sighed. “Well, for one thing, I was thinking of what was in store for us today.”

She searched his face, trying to figure out what he said. Her eyes brightened when she figured it out. “We get our first assignments today!” In her excitement, she practically jumped out of bed in order to get ready, and Apollo fought off yet another desire. “I can’t wait to find out where they’re sending us.”

“Sam, there’s something I need to talk about.” The intensity of his statement caused her to stop in her tracks. Now that he got her attention, he decided to go for broke. “I know you’re excited, and it would be great if we got a starship together… but there’s a little truth in the matter.” He paused, then let her have it. “As nice as it would be, the chance that we’ll be posted together is rather slim. In fact, it will be more than likely that… that we’ll be assigned to different ships.”

When the implication of what he said reached her, she looked as though he had just slapped her in the face. “You don’t mean that, do you? I’m sure they could work something out.”

“Starfleet will send us where they need us the most. Our needs won’t necessarily be significant to them.” He felt horrible telling her this. “I knew all along what I was getting into when I joined Starfleet. That’s why I enjoyed the last couple of months as I did. I… just thought you had that in mind, too.”

Sam was definitely hurt. “So, is that it? You figured that this was all fun and now that we’re moving on it’s ‘Well, I had fun, but see ya, honey?’ What a lousy way to act.” She finished dressing, a bit more forcefully than necessary.

“No… no, that’s not what I meant. We can still keep in touch, or who knows, maybe we will be posted together. I couldn’t ask for more.” Apollo stepped toward her, but she moved away.

“It’s okay. You’re right. I was an idiot to think this could last, anyway.” She put her hand to her head, as if physically trying to push back tears. “I hope you get what you want.”

“Sam, wait!” He tried to stop her, but she already rushed out the door, and he still was in no condition to be seen in public. Within a few minutes, though, he rectified the situation and plunged out the door. When he left the building, she was nowhere in sight. Apollo decided he might as well get it over with, and headed to the administrative building to get his assignment.

There was a small outdoor waiting area next to the Admin building, where some cadets had taken to wait their turns to get their assignments. Skip was there waiting for him. “Morning, Apollo.” He jerked a thumb behind him, toward the building’s entrance. “I just saw Sam fly by me. I take it you told her what to expect.”

Apollo merely nodded. He had already confided his fears with Skip a few days ago. They agreed that letting the girls know up front was the best way to handle it. “How about you?”

Skip shrugged. “Karen’s got a good head on her shoulders; now that I think about it, she’s got some pretty good shoulders, too, as well as anything underneath that.” Apollo nudged him, moving him a meter or two. Skip chuckled, but quickly grew serious. “Yeah, she doesn’t like it, but she accepts it. I take it Sam saw things differently.”

“She was going on the premise that we’d be assigned somewhere together.”

They shook their heads. “Poor girl,” Skip said. “I hope she gets over it.”

At that moment, Sam stepped outside. She looked almost worse than when she ran from Apollo’s room. She didn’t say a word. She simply walked over to Apollo and put her arms around him. Her body shook with sobs. “I’m sorry….” Her whimper was muffled by her boyfriend’s chest. Just then, Karen appeared at the doorway. The look on her face told the men that she had sat Sam down and talked with her.

Apollo just held her. He looked and saw a padd in her hand; he took it. “It seems she took the liberty of getting our assignments for us.” He scanned the padd, then handed it to Skip.

Skip pored over the information. “The USS Merrimac. I hear she’s a nice ship. But why Security?”

“You have to start somewhere, I guess.” Apollo looked down at Sam, who was just now starting to come to her senses. “Are you going to be okay, Sam?”

Sam pulled away a little and nodded. Her face was red from tears. “Y-yeah. I’ll be all right.” She felt a little awkward. “I’m… I’m… sorry about what I said back there. I didn’t mean any of it. It… it’s just that I actually thought we would be together in this.”

Apollo’s smile was comforting. “We’ll still be together. Just because we’ll be on separate ships doesn’t mean we’ll be apart. I’ll always be thinking of you.”

Sam tried to return his smile. “I’ll miss you, too.” She shrugged. “And who knows. If the Merrimac and the Lexington are in the same sector, maybe…”

“Count on it,” Apollo said, concluding her thought. She smiled at his confidence. “Now then, Skip, when do you have to report to the Alexander?”

“It says I don’t have to go until tomorrow.”

Karen looked at the padd, smiling. “Did you see it, love? I’m on the Alexander, too! We’re on the same ship! Isn’t it wonderful?” She looked at them, then stopped. Apollo and Skip were cringing, while Sam looked a little forlorn. “Oh…. Oh, Sam, I’m sorry. Here I am, acting like this when you… oh, I’m so sorry.” She moved over to give Sam a hug.

“It’s okay, really, Karen,” Sam replied. “I really am happy for you two.” She returned to Apollo’s side. “Besides, I have a good feeling that we’ll see each other again.”

“Hey, I thought I was the one who was supposed to see the future,” Apollo whined, feigning a hurt look.

“Maybe it’s rubbing off on me,” she responded, smiling up at him.

“Humph,” came a sound from Skip’s direction.

“What’s wrong?” Apollo asked.

“Well, the Alexander doesn’t sound like a very exciting ship. Isn’t it one of those small classes of ships? Hermes, I think?”

Karen squeezed him. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure we can make it exciting.”

“Let me see that again.” Apollo took the padd from his friend. “Let’s see. NCC-511… NCC-511…” He rolled the ship’s registry number through his mind, until he straightened with recognition. He then lightly swatted his friend across the head. “You idiot. Alexander isn’t Hermes class, it’s Saladin!” He waited until he was sure that the meaning sank into Skip’s brain. “That’s right, my friend… you two are going to be on a destroyer. If it’s anything life will be, it certainly won’t be boring. Congratulations.” He continued looking at the sheet. “Sam, you’re going to a Constitution-class ship; that’s a heavy cruiser. The fleet doesn’t have too many of them. And mine…” he paused as he searched his head some more. “Mine’s also a heavy cruiser. One of the newer ones.”

Sam looked bewildered. “I thought they were all the same.”

“No, no,” he said, easily slipping into teacher mode. Skip recognized this and rolled his eyes. “When the first Constitution ships came out, today’s technology was still being discovered. They frequently had to report to starbases for upgrades. Ships like the Merrimac, however, already had these upgrades incorporated into their designs. It’s a lot easier to build a ship pre-improved from the keel up than it is to keep going in for refits. In fact, I understand that even now, they’re finalizing designs on the next major refit on these ships.”

Apollo stopped his lecture and looked at his friends. Sam appeared to be intensely studying the padd in Apollo’s hands. Karen was looking around at the scenery, and Skip was leaning against the wall; whether he was actually sleeping or only pretending to do so remained to be seen.

Sam looked up from the padd. “I’m sorry, were you telling us something important?”

Sam got swatted, while the other two managed to duck. “Come on… let’s throw us a going away party.” They threw their arms around each others’ shoulders and walked four abreast down the walkway.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Nine

Captain’s Log, Stardate 1468.5:

The USS Endeavor has been assigned to patrol along the Romulan Neutral Zone. For the moment, all is quiet, but where Romulans are concerned…

The ship’s commander trailed off, for dramatic pause before concluding his log. “…one can never expect it to remain quiet for long.”

Apollo punched off the log recorder. “Status report,” he stated.

The helmsman glanced up from her console. “Maintaining course and speed, sir.”

“No sign of any ships or objects within our course, captain,” came the reply from the navigator’s station, to the right of the helm.

Behind him, Apollo could hear the science officer and the communications officer give their respective reports. “Nothing from the Romulan side, sir.”

“All’s quiet on subspace channels, sir.”

Apollo rested his chin in his hand and brooded. “That’s the problem… it’s too damn quiet.”

The science officer spoke up. “Why expect trouble? Just be glad we have this little rest.”

The captain spun in his chair and grinned at the officer. “Count my blessings, eh, Skip?”

“Well, like I’ve always heard, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Apollo chuckled. “I hear you, mister. Engineering, how are things down there?”

“Couldn’t be better, sir,” answered a voice with a thick Middle Eastern accent. “The engines are purring like kittens.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Mr. Bendavi. Keep up the good work.” Apollo leaned back in his chair as he cut the intercom. Things were just too boring for his liking. But then, Starfleet life was not all action.

“Captain! I’m picking up a subspace signal. It’s on a distress frequency!” the comm officer said, excited.

Perhaps I thought too soon. Apollo practically jumped from his chair. “Let’s hear it, Mr. Jacobs.”

Noise flooded the bridge, but slowly a message could be made out among the noise as Jacobs filtered it out. “…point five… Tar… need… please…”

“Jacobs, get a fix on that, now.” Apollo was impatient. He wanted to hear what they were saying.

“Trying, sir.” He made a few more adjustments. “Here it comes again.”

The message was definitely clearer. “…need help please. We repeat, this is the transport freighter Kobayashi Maru. We have been rendered inoperative by a subspace anomaly. Our engines are dead and our life support is out. We urgently need help please.” The message repeated itself again.

“Hail the ship, Jacobs. Skip, I want information on them.” Apollo was excited that they were finally getting some action.

As Skip turned to the science station, Jacobs got Apollo’s attention. “I have them now. Putting you through.”

“Kobayashi Maru, this is the USS Endeavor. We have picked up your distress signal. Give us your coordinates and we’ll assist you.” Apollo determined to put as much confidence in his voice as possible to assure the ship that they were heard.

“Thank goodness, a Federation starship. We feared the worst. We’re in the Tarod star system. I don’t think we can hold out much longer.”

“Stand by, Maru, we’ll get to you as fast as we can,” Apollo said.

Jacobs looked up at his commander. “Sir, I’m losing the signal.” His hands fluttered over his board. “No good, sir. I’ve lost them.”

The navigator spoke up. “Sir, I have the coordinates. They place them dangerously close to the Romulan Neutral Zone.”

Skip turned to face his friend. “Captain, the Maru is a medium range transport ship. At last reports, it carried a crew of 209 and a cargo of hytritium. If anyone even blinked wrong…”

“It’ll blow the ship to kingdom come,” Apollo finished for him. An odd look crossed his face. “What the hell is a passenger freighter doing with such an unstable substance?”

Skip shrugged. “Dunno. It’s not uncommon for freighters to pull double duties for a little extra in their coffers. At any rate, if their engines are dead, they could have drifted into the Neutral Zone already.”

Apollo nodded. “And we certainly don’t want the Romulans to get their hands on something so volatile. Mr. Phillips, set an intercept course, best possible speed. I want to be there yesterday!”

“Yes, sir. Engaging warp drive.”

Apollo could feel the Endeavor spin around on an axis. He next felt the thrumming of her mighty engines as the screen showed her bursting into warp speed. Pumped up with adrenaline, Apollo started pacing around the bridge. “We’ve reached warp 8, Captain,” said Phillips.

Skip spoke from his station, his face glowing blue as he looked into his viewer. “At that speed, we should get there in about fifteen minutes.”

Apollo nodded. “But is it enough. Will we get there in time.” The fact that he stated the questions more than asked them led the crew to believe that they were rhetorical statements. They remained silent.

A quarter of an hour later, Phillips spoke up. “Sir, entering the Tarod system. The furthest planet out is just within Federation space.”

“Understood. Slow to impulse speed. Skip, keep an eye out for the Maru, along with other surprises,” Apollo said through clenched teeth.

“Aye, sir.” Skip scanned the area. His brow wrinkled. “This is weird. There’s no sign of the Maru.”

Apollo was just as puzzled. “Any sign of debris? Could she have exploded?”

“Hang on.” Skip looked again, then shook his head. “No sir, no sign of anything.”

Apollo returned to his seat. “That’s odd.” Suddenly, he straightened up in his chair, his spine tingling.

Skip looked concerned. “Sir, are you all right?”

“Quiet!” Apollo snapped, waving him off. He simply stared at the screen. “Focus in on the planet.”

Phillips looked at her commanding officer, then to Skip, then to the navigator. She shrugged and concentrated
on the planet. “Aye, sir. Increasing magnification.” Soon, the planet filled the screen.

All Apollo did was concentrate on the screen. Skip was about to ask him what he was doing when he pointed to the planet. “There! See that?”

Skip shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re…”

“There! In the lower right hemisphere of the planet.” Skip squinted until he saw what Apollo saw. There was an odd distortion on the planet’s face; a distortion that was growing in size. Apollo jumped up. “Red alert! Shields up! All hands to battle stations!” he forced out of his mouth. The klaxon sounded immediately, and the bridge was bathed in red light. “Open a hailing frequency.”

Jacobs hesitated for a second, until Apollo glared at him. “Aye, sir,” he said, shivering, “hailing frequencies opened.”

Apollo turned his glare to the screen. “This is Captain Racer of the Federation starship Endeavor, calling the Romulan ship ahead of us.” At hearing those words, all heads turned toward their captain in surprise. “We are here on a rescue mission. Number one, I want to know what happened to the ship that sent the distress signal, and number two, I want to know why you’ve crossed over into Federation space.” While he waited, he turned to Phillips, “Lock phasers on target. If their response is anything but friendly, open fire.”

Phillips’ eyes widened slightly, but her voice was firm. “Aye, sir,” she said, inputting the appropriate commands.

Skip spoke out. “Sir! Energy surge coming from the ship! Romulan bird-of-prey decloaking; weapons coming on line, shields going up!”

“Let ’em have it.” Here we go, Apollo thought, not too disappointed.

Twin blue beams streaked out in front of them to strike dead center of the ship just becoming visible. They leaned hard to one side as damage was clearly being made. “Direct hit, sir,” Skip declared. “Heavy damage. We got them before their shields were completely up.” He looked wonderingly at Apollo. “How did you know?” he said quietly. At a beep from his console he brought his attention back to it. “Two more ships decloaking! Klingon-made D-7 battlecruisers! They’re firing!”

The ship rocked under the concentrated blast from two separate hits. “Shields to ninety-two percent and dropping fast under heavy fire!” cried Phillips.

“Evasive action Delta 5. Attack plan Zeta 2-22. Follow that with Attack Plan Alpha Romeo 6,” Apollo calmly said. “Send word to Starfleet about our situation.”

After a moment, Jacobs replied, “Sir, they’re jamming us on all signals.”

The ship lurched as defensive measures were brought into play. They would loop around, fire, then loop in a different direction, spinning around on all axes. As much of a swath as they were cutting through space, the Romulans managed to stay with them. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion behind Apollo. Jacobs was flung over the command chair, coming to rest between Apollo and the helm. Apollo looked back at the smoking ruin of the communications station, then to the downed officer. “That did it,” he raged. “Phillips, hard about! Ram a couple of photon torpedoes down his throat and we’ll see if he likes them!”

His response was plain as the view whirled around again. The Romulan bird-of-prey loomed on the screen. A plasma beam burst forth from it, heading toward the ship. At the same instant, Phillips launched two torpedoes at their enemy. The two energy projectiles passed each other, heading toward their respective targets. Once again, the bridge rocked from the hit. But Apollo was satisfied as the pounding was too much for the Romulan’s shields. It erupted in a ball of flame, blacking out the screen. “We’re blind!” shouted Phillips as they lost their view. The ship rocked again. “Shields down to twenty percent. We can’t take much more.”

The intercom squawked. “Captain, environmental systems are out.” Bendavi’s voice said, anguish clear in his tone. “Warp drive has been damaged.”

Apollo got another tingle down his spine. “Phillips, 180 degree turn, fire everything!”

Phillips shouted, “But we can’t see where we’re going!”

Apollo jumped up. “Just do as I say, Lieutenant!!”

She immediately whipped around to comply. Her hesitancy was enough for the ship to get blasted again. Another explosion erupted on the bridge. Phillips was flung out of her chair to land next to Jacobs.

“Dammit!” Apollo said. He jumped over the two bodies and completed the maneuver. Compensating for the loss of time, he shot where he felt the ship would be, hearing acknowledgments that both phasers and photons were fired.

Silence, aside from the fires on the bridge, cut through the air. Apollo managed to coax the ship to stop its wild careening. “Skip?” he simply said. He looked up to see his friend struggle to his feet, injured in the last hit. He looked into his scanner. His head whipped around to look at Apollo, his face clearly showing shock. He looked back into the scanner. “I can’t believe it,” he whispered.

“What was that, Skip?” Apollo said.

“Sir, I’m not getting anything from the Romulan ship.” He looked up and stared at Apollo. “You got it. The bird-of-prey is the only one left. It’s trying to limp away.”

“Not for long,” Apollo said. Glancing at the instruments, he swung the ship toward an intercept course. “I’m going to find out why those bastards wanted to…”

“Captain!” Skip interrupted. “Receiving an energy surge from them! They’re going to…”

He never finished his sentence as more eruptions swept across the Bridge. The floor lurched out from under him, sending Skip sailing across the room. He landed against the wall near the viewscreen. Apollo was flung backward from his chair, winding up on the floor on top of the navigator.

He opened his eyes. All was quiet. He tried to get up, but he was too dazed to move. “Ugh…” he grunted. “Skip, are you okay?”

He heard a dull moan in response. “Oooh. Stop the ship… I wanna get off. Ohhh, this is worse than any hangover I’ve ever had….” Skip managed to get to his feet, holding his head. The bridge was tilted at an outrageous angle. “Hang on, sir. I’ll try to see what happened. He staggered to his station and clung to his viewer as he tried to look into it. “It’s no use. I’m not getting anything. The controls are dead.”

“You couldn’t have phrased that just a little bit better?”

Suddenly, Apollo heard a voice from outside the Bridge. “What the hell happened in there?! Open the damn thing up!” He winced as bright light poured into his eyes. The viewscreen split down the middle and parted. A man was silhouetted in the light. People were running like mad behind him. “What the hell!?” They looked around incredulously. “What in God’s name happened in here? Can we get some lights in here, for Christ’s sake?”

The bright light disappeared, or rather, it seemed dimmed as normal lighting came up on the “bridge”. The floor slowly righted itself and ventilators began clearing the smoke from the room. Apollo heard a muffled moan. “Geh uva meh…”

He blinked in confusion. “Huh?” was all he could say.

He heard cursing next. Someone shook his leg off their head. It was Phillips. Now that her head was free, she hollered, “Get offa me!”

“Oh. Sorry.” He immediately got to his feet, then found the mistake in doing that as his head swam.

“Damn, Racer,” she said, glaring at him as she got off the floor. “Do you work out or something? You feel like you almost weigh a ton!” He grinned sheepishly as the officer – a real officer… she was assigned to a ship currently orbiting Earth, and had volunteered to take part in the simulation – walked out of the room.

Allowing his vision to return to normal, he saw the rest of his “crew” getting up off the floor in various stages of dizziness. Skip was leaning against his station, still holding his head. Apollo staggered over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You okay, buddy?”

Skip nodded. He removed his hand, and noticed a slight trace of blood on it. “I think so. Must’ve rapped that bulkhead a little too hard.”

Apollo grinned. “Bull. You couldn’t rap anything hard enough to hurt that thick skull of yours. I’ll bet the bulkhead hurts worse than you.”

“Hah. Hah. Very funny, Captain sir.” Skip said, oozing with sarcasm. Then Apollo saw him snap up straight, at least as much as he could. Apollo looked in that direction and understood why, snapping to attention himself as Admiral Komack walked into the room.

The admiral looked around at the smoky haze that the vents still hadn’t cleared. “Unbelievable,” he muttered. He dismissed everyone but Apollo, making a special note to Skip to get his head looked at. When they left the room, he came up to the cadet. “Well, you got yourself into a fine fix, didn’t you.”

Apollo shrugged, then remembered that he was supposed to be at attention. “Permission to speak freely, sir.”

“Certainly.”

Apollo looked straight at him. “It was a trap, plain and simple. I allowed myself to be led into a trap.”

“Ah, but you didn’t know that at the time you got the distress call, did you?”

“No, sir, although I must admit that by putting the ship near the Neutral Zone, it kind of made sense that we would have met some type of opposition.”

Komack walked in a circle around the cadet. “Which brings me to something I found peculiarly puzzling. You went in there to perform a rescue, but if you ask me, you also half-expected to run into trouble.” He got right up into Apollo’s face. “How in blazes did you know you were going to be attacked!?”

“Well, sir, I found it highly suspicious that a ship assigned to carry passengers would be carrying a cargo of highly sensitive and volatile explosives. Surely even a freighter captain looking to make some extra currency wouldn’t be desperate enough to haul both at the same time.”

“Okay, I’ll admit you probably have a point there,” he replied, adding with a mutter, “I told those designers that might be a bit too hard to explain…” His attention immediately returned to the cadet with whom he was supposed to be chewing out. “At any rate, this simulation is kept Top Secret! Only myself and the engineers running it know what’s going to happen, as well as the veteran officers who assisted you in filling some stations! Only inside knowledge would explain you knowing how this scenario would play out.”

“Admiral, are you accusing me of violating the rules? With all due respect, sir, I find that implication highly offensive. My only impression of this simulation and my performance is that it was an utter fiasco.”

Komack left Apollo’s face and paced around the wrecked bridge. Apollo thought he had heard the admiral grunt, but it was followed by a few more. He then realized that Komack was laughing, most likely at him. “Sir, permission to request what the admiral thinks is so funny about my performance.”

At that outburst, Komack turned to him. He was smiling. “You don’t get it, do you. You honestly don’t know what this test was about?” He shook his head and chuckled some more. “Well, cadet, this was supposed to be a simulation to measure how well you handle defeat. It’s supposed to be a test of character.”

Apollo thought about what the admiral just said. “‘Supposed to be’? Am I to take it that’s not what this was? My whole crew died. The Bridge was smashed.”

“Did they?” Komack watched him as he walked in front of the viewscreen. “Was it? Tell me, Cadet, what was the last thing you did just before the lights came up?”

He looked at the superior officer, perplexed. As he ran through his actions in his head, he said, “I… I was checking to see if Cadet Douglas was all right. Was that wrong?”

The admiral chuckled again. “Only in that he would have been able to answer you at all. Given the readings we received before the simulation ended, your ship suffered heavy damages, but it wasn’t destroyed.”

Apollo’s eyebrow rose. “Pardon me for saying so, but wouldn’t that be a good thing, Admiral?”

“Not in this test.” Komack was once again in front of Apollo. “You see, Cadet Racer, the Kobayashi Maru is designed to rate a command cadet on his response to a no-win scenario.” Seeing the cadet’s confusion, he began pacing. “At any time in a Starfleet officer’s life, there may come a time when there’s absolutely no chance of a victory, no chance of a rescue, no chance of coming out of the situation alive. This test was designed to see not how you commanded, but how you would best deal with the fact that there’s no way out.”

“And that wasn’t the case, sir?”

“No, that wasn’t the case, Cadet! That wasn’t the case at all! Your ship suffered damage… your crew suffered casualties… but you survived! We sent the best Romulan crap our intelligence knew they had after you, and damned if you didn’t survive!” He put a hand behind his neck and shook his head. “Heh… you beat the damned no-win scenario… and Jim Kirk is going to be pissed.”

Apollo recalled that name; he was one of Starfleet’s finest starship captains. “Sir, I don’t understand.”

“Jim Kirk was the only other person to beat the scenario. But he cheated. He re-programmed the damn thing so he could rescue the ship.”

Apollo thought for a moment. “But there was no ship. It was a trap.”

Komack shook his head. “No… there wasn’t a ship. But that doesn’t matter now, does it.” He took one last look around the Bridge. “Ah, hell… go clean up, Cadet. You’ll receive the official results later today.”

“Yes, sir.” Apollo replied.

Komack grunted and turned to leave the simulator. He was almost out when he a realization struck him. He headed back towards Apollo and tapped the cadet on his temple. “You knew this way, didn’t you?”

“Huh?”

“You saw in your head what was going to happen, didn’t you? Just like when your friend was caught in that fire? Which means you did have foreknowledge of what was going to happen.”

“No, sir. I may have had flashes of insight to guide me when we could no longer use the viewscreen or sensors, but I never…” Apollo stopped himself. “Now that you mention it, I did have this weird dream last week…”

“Weird dream? What was it like?”

Apollo concentrated so he could recall the images he saw. “There… there was a bird… a phoenix. It wanted to kill me, but I somehow stood it down.” Enlightenment colored his features. “I didn’t understand what the dream meant until now.”

“So you saw the dream again here, in this room?”

“No, sir. I just did what I felt was right.”

He paused, thinking it over, and snorted. “Damn… quite a gut feeling you have there.”

“Sir, if my Foresight somehow allowed me advance knowledge of the test… although I’m not exactly sure how it could have worked for me since this was only a simulation…”

“The test measures more than your character. It also test your knowledge the skills you have and your ability to utilize equipment you have on hand,” Komack interrupted. “Your… ‘skill’ simply allowed you to react better. And the way you took over the helm…”

“Sir…” Apollo said, interrupting right back. “I had no choice there. Phillips was down, I had no time to assign someone else… and I was closer anyway.”

“Relax. Stop trying to disqualify yourself, damn it. I’m not criticizing your actions. It’s my feeling that a good captain has to know every function that takes place aboard his ship. You certainly proved that.” Komack turned to leave the room. “Know this, Racer,” he said, not turning around. “Keep this up, and you’ll have a fine career ahead of you. And may God have mercy on your soul.” He disappeared around a corner.

Apollo stood alone in the simulator. “Thank you, sir,” he said quietly, stunned as much by Komack’s appraisal as by the fact he found himself smiling.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Eight

Apollo, Sam, and Skip met in Admiral Komack’s office later that evening. Apollo looked over at his friend. “Hey, Skip… you all right?”

“Yeah, sure. I was just a little shaken, that’s all,” Skip replied. Apollo didn’t believe Skip’s false bravado for a second, though. He had a pale, waxy complexion; he also looked as though he spent the last few hours in a sauna.

Dr. Bennings walked into the room. “Ah. I see you’re all here.” Apollo and Sam looked at each other and couldn’t help but smirk at the doctor’s quirk.

Skip looked at his friends. “What’s so funny?”

Apollo shook his head and waved. “Never mind. We’ll tell you later. Doctor, what’s the word?”

Bennings just smiled. “Don’t let him fool you. He’s had quite a shock. It isn’t every day you come face-to-face with a plasma fire, and come out in one piece. I’ve seen worse case victims of such a thing, and just their appearance scares me. I just don’t understand how you could’ve gotten up there in time to save them.”

Apollo took the question quite literally. “I had to… uh… use an alternative route.” Before Bennings could question him more, Apollo passed the attention off to Sam. “What about you? You still doing okay?”

Sam nodded, though a little shaky. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just worried about Karen, that’s all.”

“Karen is doing fine,” Bennings said assuredly. “I just have her resting overnight. It’s just for observation purposes.”

Sam showed her approval with a slight smile as Admiral Komack walked in. He did not look amused. He slowly walked around the small group assembled in his office and quietly sat at his desk. He allowed the silence to carry on for a couple of moments before saying anything. “I believe you all know why you’re here.” He was speaking to everybody, but he was looking directly at Apollo. “I suppose you’ve also guessed that the little stunt performed earlier today gave the media a field day.”

“Well it’s nice to know that some things haven’t changed in 200 years,” Apollo said.

Komack ignored that comment, though it gave him somewhere to start venting his frustrations.

“Racer, what in God’s name did you do today!? We’ve gotten reports that sighted someone – and I’m assuming it was you – running across San Francisco Bay! This person sped his way through the city, practically flew through the Academy gates, and, before anyone even realized that something was wrong, broke into the burning science lab by running up the side of the building and entering through the door of the balcony! When the crowd saw you, you had Taylor’s roommate over your shoulder and your friend basically stuffed under your other arm. Then, to beat all, you jumped three stories to safety without so much as a scratch.” Komack had to take a breath before continuing. “Do you think you could tell me just how the hell you did that? Would this have anything to do with those… those adjustments you made to yourself.”

Bennings was startled. “You made further adjustments to your limbs? By yourself?”

Apollo shrugged. “I had to; something just didn’t feel right, and I couldn’t get rid of the feeling until I worked on my limbs. They seem all right now, though.”

“I’ll say they are, if they allow you to do what you just did,” Komack said, practically leaping out of his chair to stalk through the room. “The reports also mention that no one else knew about the fire. And you weren’t even on the Academy grounds. How could you, of all people, know what went on. According to Cadet Goodman here,” he indicated Skip, “it was a simple lab experiment that backfired.” He glared at Skip. “I’ll get into policies that concern performing unauthorized experiments and abuse of lab resources later. I expect there’ll be a few demerits in yours and Cadet Douglas’ records. Now…” he returned his attention to the oldest cadet. “I want to know how in the hell a cadet who wasn’t even on campus at the time of the accident was to discover the danger almost before it happened.”

Apollo knew Komack wanted him to tell him outright… he wouldn’t give him the pleasure. Let him try and figure it out from the clues, Apollo figured. “Well… sir. You said that you’ve gone over my file before. Wouldn’t there be something there to tip you off? Anything that might’ve raised some flags with you?”

“That’s the question I wanted you to answer, Cadet! And when I ask a question, I expect it…” he trailed off, going over the file again in his mind. Certain factors stuck out, and he pointed at the cadet. “Wait a minute. Now that you’ve oh-so-subtlely mentioned it, your file mentioned a higher than normal psi factor. Are you saying that it’s not as latent as we thought?”

Having gone for so long without the need to reveal his secret, Apollo was reluctant to do so now. Instead, he looked at Sam, who picked up the cue. “Doctor Bennings, do you remember when I was your patient, when I had that nasty fall?” The doctor nodded, and she glanced from him to the admiral, to Apollo, and back. “Well… Apollo… kind of knew about the incident beforehand.” The doctor, for his part, was astounded by the information.

Komack narrowed his eyes at Apollo. “All right. Now’s the time to come clean. I figured that you’ve been hiding something about yourself for some time. Would you mind telling me now just what was so damned secretive?”

The cadet took a deep breath. Boy, he never missed a beat all this time. Well, I guess now’s a better time than any to tell him. He opened up. “Well, sir, apparently, the same unexpected incident that helped me survive into your century also gave me a gift I call Foresight. At completely random times, my mind picks up a perfectly clear image of an incident that is about to happen. Timing seems random… it could relate to an event that might happen five minutes in the future, or five years in the future. I can’t control it, but if I can recognize it for what it is in time, then maybe I could do something about it, or at least help as best I can.”

Surprise was clearly evident on the officer’s face. “The reason I made an effort to keep this secret,” Apollo continued, “is because I didn’t want scientists crawling all over me, taking tests and generally hampering with my training. I joined Starfleet because I wanted to give something of myself to this time period, to fit back in with society; not to be crowded by and hoarded over by a bunch of geeks in lab coats.” Sam glared at him, taking offense because she was studying to become one of those geeks in lab coats. Apollo didn’t register her, being too focused into plead his case. “I just hope that nothing has changed about that. I still want to serve in Starfleet, but I can’t if I’m going to be kept under a microscope. Sir… I don’t want to be seen as a freak. I hope you can understand that.”

Komack couldn’t say a word. He simply walked back to his desk and slumped into the chair. “Well, I guess I just don’t see any choice in the matter.” He let those words hang in the air, allowing the people in front of him to think what they wanted. Sam’s eyes widened with disbelief; her obvious thoughts were that the admiral couldn’t keep this secret. Skip glared at him; he looked like he wanted to leap over the table and strangle Komack. Bennings looked as if he were happy; he was likely thinking he could get a paper or two out of this. Apollo was the hardest to read; it was as if he slipped a mask over his face; no emotion showed whatsoever. “I want you four to know right here, right now…. None of this, absolutely none of this, is to be mentioned outside of this room.” The doctor looked crestfallen… no paper would come of this for him. “Racer, if you have any more of these… these ‘feelings’, or visions, you are to let either me or Dr. Bennings know about them as soon as possible, is that clear?”

“Crystal, sir,” Apollo replied sharply.

“Good. Now I think we could all use some sleep, and I could use a stiff drink. Get out of my office.”

As they stood to leave, Skip spoke up. “Ummm… Admiral? Sir? If all these is to be kept secret, does this mean we won’t get demerits for our records?”

“Out!!”

~ * ~

The group left Headquarters in silence. They headed back toward the infirmary, where Dr. Bennings broke the solitude. “You know, Apollo, I’d like to schedule a follow-up appointment with you, find out exactly what you did to yourself. It could be important.”

Apollo smirked. “Doctor, I’d be happy to show you, but you must trust me. Regarding the adjustments I made, an engineer would understand them more than you would.” Bennings had no response to that. When they entered the infirmary, Bennings separated from the three cadets, heading toward his office, muttering personal mental notes to himself.

They reached Karen’s room; she was asleep. Skip walked over to her bedside and gently took her hand. As Sam and Apollo waited by the door, she leaned toward him and whispered, “You know, we all seem to be getting very familiar with the infirmary during our term here. All that’s left is to have something happen to Skip.”

“Shh,” Apollo said in her ear, “you know what they say. Careful what you ask for; you may get it.”

“Mmm. Does that go for everything?” She smiled warmly.

“Maybe.” Apollo read her obviously subtle sign by sending a playful puff of air into her ear.

Across the room, Skip got up and headed toward them. “Let’s go,” he said.

“How is she?” Apollo asked, easily switching his attention from Sam to his friend.

“Well, if you two weren’t whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears,” Sam blushed, while the corners of Apollo’s mouth simply turned up a little bit, “you’d have noticed that she woke up. It was only for a few minutes, but she said she’s okay, and she can’t wait until she gets out of here. Frankly, I agree. I’ve already seen far too much of this place.” The other two smiled knowingly at each other. “What?” Skip asked, feeling like he’d been left out of a joke; or worse, been the butt of one. “What!?” It was hard for him to show his desperation in a hoarse half-whisper.

“Nothing, my friend,” Apollo replied. “We simply share your sentiment. Come on.” They walked out of the infirmary. “I’m going to walk Sam home. Are you going to be all right, Skip?” he said, once they were outside.

“Yeah, yeah. Go on, you two lovebirds. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Skip turned and walked away.

Apollo started to head towards Sam’s dorm, but she didn’t move. “What’s wrong, Sam?” he inquired.

Sam crossed her arms and hugged herself, as though she felt cold. “I don’t know. I just don’t feel like going back there, not tonight. I… I just don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Apollo grunted in agreement. “Okay. Well, is there any other friends you could stay with?”

“Maybe, but they probably have roommates too; you know as well as I do that those rooms are barely big enough for two people, let alone three.”

“It would just be for one night. Karen should be released in the morning.” Apollo looked at her for a moment. “There’s something else, isn’t there.”

Sam was silent at first, then she reluctantly nodded. “I can’t get over the feeling that something’s trying to split us up somehow. I mean, first there was my fall, then your crash, now this. All the accidents were serious, yet we’ve all survived them.”

Apollo gazed at the stars, adding it all up. “I think you’re looking at things from the wrong perspective. I don’t think these incidents were meant to split us up; rather, they were meant to bring us together.” He saw the puzzlement in her eyes. “If not for your fall, I would never have met you. If not for my crash, we may not have discovered how deeply we feel for each other. The same would apply between Skip and Karen now. The fact that Skip hasn’t been injured yet makes us hope that the pattern ends here; that he’s the lucky one in our group to escape tragedy. I know I certainly wouldn’t want to lose him as a friend, and I’m sure you feel the same way. I do know one thing. For all the unfortunate circumstances that we’ve had to endure, in a way I’m glad we’ve experienced them, because it’s brought us closer together.”

Sam was so deeply moved that Apollo could see a tear glisten in the corner of her eye. Through her emotion, she managed to speak, “You know…” she began, her voice catching in her throat, “you are the most long-winded son of a bitch I know.” With that, she wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

Apollo was shocked at first – he never expected that answer – but he recovered quickly. “Okay, your dorm is out. What shall we do?” he said, pulling away. “I, for one, am not tired. This day still has me going.”

“I’m not sleepy either.” She shrugged.

Apollo raised his eyebrow and smiled. “Well… the moon is exceptionally bright tonight. And the night is still young. That restaurant should still be open… what say we finish our interrupted date?” He spoke in a British accent, and offered her his arm.

“Why, that’s a mah-velous idea, dahling. I’d be delighted.” Accepting the arm, she snuggled close as they strolled through the grounds under the moonlight.

~ * ~

He was sitting in dim light. The floor violently rocked under him, but he managed to keep his seat. He was shouting something, but it was severely muted. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The view on the screen ahead of him showed a dizzying panorama as stars danced crazily. The screen grew and moved closer until it engulfed Apollo. Then, from below, a huge flaming phoenix rose in front of him, spitting fire at him. As it turned its fiery, baleful gaze on him, he felt this unspeakable, overwhelming urge to kill it, but he didn’t know why. He jumped out of his chair and pointed at the bird, yelling silently at it. The phoenix took offense and rose its head, crying out in an ear-piercing shriek. Another gout of flame erupted from its beak towards him. There were explosions… the floor rocked again and he fell. Darkness engulfed him…

~ * ~

Apollo woke up with a start. He was drenched in sweat and his breathing was rapid. He looked at his surroundings: he was in a strange room; he was naked in bed, and Sam was lying next to him in the same state of undress; a rather rumpled coverlet lay draped over them, conforming closely to the contours of their bodies. As the dream consigned itself to his subconscious, he regained his bearings. After they completed their belated dinner date, he and Sam had walked until the moon had set. Then they went off-campus to a hotel Sam told him about. She said it was a good place – her parents had once stayed there when they were visiting – so they rented a room. They made love that night. Any misgivings or concerns Sam had about Apollo’s artificial limbs were allayed during their time on the beach, although his feats that day had garnered some reservations… as well as a little teasing… “I hope you haven’t gotten faster in every aspect.” They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms after their tryst.

Sam stirred at Apollo’s abrupt rise into a sitting position. “What is it?” She said this while half-asleep, her face muffling her voice in the pillow. When she received no answer, she turned and sat up. “Hey… are you okay?” she repeated.

He looked into her eyes, seeing the concern nestled there. “It… it’s nothing. I… just had a bad dream.”

“Oh, is that all?” she said, grabbing him around the neck and wrestling him back down. She cuddled close to him and stroked his hair. “I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me about it.”

He thought for a moment, staring at the ceiling. “Sure, as soon as I figure out what it was… what it meant.” Having calmed down, he suddenly felt very tired. “Right now, all I need is a little rest.”

“Mmmmm… I second the motion,” she whispered into his ear. She instantly returned to sleep. Apollo stayed awake for a little longer. He felt it comforting to feel her curled up against him, one leg draped over him, feeling her breath on the side of his neck. Focusing on those sensations, Apollo grew very relaxed, allowing sleep to regain its hold over him.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Seven

It was nearing the end of Apollo’s third year. His studies were light, his tutoring sessions were productive, and best of all, he and Sam were enjoying a relationship that a year and a half ago he never thought he would have. In his eyes, his life couldn’t have been better.

He entered his room after a long day, ready to flop down on his bed and relax. But he caught himself in midfall. On his terminal, the words “Message Waiting” flashed in bright blue on the screen. He moved over to the desk and activated the message. As he read the words, Skip walked in.

“Hey, hey, pal of mine. What’s going on?” Skip said, feeling cheerful today. He and Sam’s roommate, Karen, had hit it off pretty well since that first encounter. The two of them were seeing each other as much as they could, even going so far as to change some of their classes so they could share them, too. Skip was whistling a tune when he walked in, but it petered off as he saw the concerned look on his friend’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Apollo replied, not taking his eyes off his terminal. He pointed to the screen where the message burned. “I just came in myself when I noticed that I had a message.” He turned to face Skip. “It’s from Starfleet Command… Admiral Komack wants to see me.”

Skip slowly backed up until the backs of his legs hit his bed; he then slowly sat down. “Wow,” he said in a voice of awe. “The big guy wants to see my roomie. I wonder what for.”

Apollo shrugged. “I don’t know. But if one gets a message from above, there are two things he can do: he can ignore it, and accept whatever consequences befall him…” he stepped toward the door and opened it, “… or he can satisfy his curiosity, and heed the message.” On that note, Apollo stepped out and shut the door behind him.

“…and accept whatever consequences befall him.” Skip concluded for him. Then, with a smile and a shrug, he thought aloud, “I hope he won’t mind me having his stuff if he doesn’t come back.”

~ * ~

Why does Starfleet Headquarters seem larger than it was when I first saw it, Apollo wondered as he approached the massive complex. Starfleet Command covered a vast stretch of land next to San Francisco Bay. The building were a lot more streamlined than Apollo had seen on Earth during his time. The Academy, south of Headquarters easily took up most of the space with its many instructional buildings. The infirmary was off to Apollo’s left. The Administration building to his right was huge, designed solely to impress the people approaching it. The either front face of the building consisted of massive flagpoles flying high over the sheltered entrance. A flag from each world of the Federation flew from the its own pole; the seal of the Federation shone in silver and gold in the center of the building’s face, near the top.

The Headquarters building, for which Apollo was heading, reminded him of that high rise building from the Jetsons, although it was only a few stories tall. A huge, wonderfully designed fountain, several meters in diameter, sprayed jets of water high into the air.

Maybe it’s the fact that when I came here with Sarek, I was still thinking in a Vulcan way, so it didn’t seem so impressive. It also helped that I had one of the Federation’s most respected ambassadors by my side. Now that I’m here alone… He had a better sense of the size of the Command grounds as he watched hover vehicles flit from one building to another; but there were still people, like himself, who preferred to walk. No one had to worry about it raining on them, either. The one thing Apollo still couldn’t get over was the fact that Earth had finally managed to control its weather, though it did take the fun out of some things. Uh, sorry, dear. We can’t have that picnic today. They have a downpour scheduled for three. Let’s do it tomorrow. He chuckled to himself, took a deep breath, cracked his knuckles – except his new knuckles wouldn’t crack, he bitterly noted – and entered the building he needed.

The interior was done entirely in Starfleet gray, the doors all painted red. After a short distance, it seemed as though Apollo were traveling in circles, as one door looked just like another. However, he reached Admiral Komack’s office in a short time. Without Sarek with Apollo as he entered the aide’s office, the admiral’s aide was able to maintain his bearing as he was approached by the cadet. He looked up from his work, saw Apollo, and activated the intercom. “Admiral, sir, the cadet you were expecting is here to see you.”

“Send him in,” came the reply, giving Apollo a sense of deja vu, as it sounded almost exactly as it did a couple of years ago. Accepting the aide’s nod as admittance, Apollo stepped forward, and the door slid aside to allow him to enter. Admiral Komack stood to greet him. The scene didn’t look all that much different from the scene about three years ago. Apollo reached the front of his desk and snapped to attention. “Hello, cadet,” the admiral said. He took in Apollo’s appearance at a glance. “As you were, son. No need to dispense with that here.” Upon seeing Apollo relax, he proffered a hand, which Apollo shook. “Please, sit down.”

Apollo took the seat behind him. “May I speak frankly, sir?”

“Always, son,” replied Komack.

Apollo cocked his head. “Son? With all due respect, sir, I believe I do have a few years on you.”

The admiral let out a laugh that caught Apollo off guard. “That’s right. You are older than I am, aren’t you? Well, I only meant it figuratively. I see any cadet as a child of Starfleet.”

God! How corny, Apollo thought. He almost decided to project that thought to the admiral, if only it didn’t give away his secret. “I received your message, sir. Did you wish to see me for something? Have I done anything wrong?”

Komack smiled. “No, you haven’t done anything wrong, nothing at all. I just thought I’d get in touch with you, discuss your progress. After all, when ambassador Sarek recommends a student for the Academy, I don’t take that recommendation lightly.”

Apollo seemed skeptical. “If that were the case, why haven’t you contacted me before this time?”

“Well, to be blunt, you’re not that important. I do have other duties besides keeping track of cadets’ progress. Besides, with the problems you’ve had this past year, I didn’t feel it was appropriate.” He took in Apollo’s expression of concerned understanding. “Yes, I know about the accident. In fact, I even know of Dr. Bennings’… unorthodox… way of restoring you to full health. No need to worry, we haven’t punished him. On the contrary, we’ve commended him. Starfleet knows that it can’t punish someone for making great strides in the improvement of humanity, even if it does bend some rules now and then. I’m just sorry that you were the guinea pig for it, but as they say, you were in the right place at the right time.”

Apollo shrugged. “I can’t complain. I haven’t had any problems since the operation. In fact, they feel better than before.”

“Better? How so?”

The cadet felt compelled to tell the truth. “Well, sir, the limbs aren’t exactly the same as the specifications imply. I’ve, uh, made some adjustments to them.”

Komack looked concerned. “What kind of adjustments.”

Apollo had to think for a moment for the best wording. “Let’s just say I did a little fine tuning.” It didn’t look as if Komack would accept that as an answer, so he continued. “You see, I would work with my limbs, and somewhere, they just wouldn’t… feel right. So I adjusted them until they did.”

“Interesting. And just how well do you think you ‘fixed’ them?”

“Well, for one thing, there’s virtually no lag in my response time. In fact, I think I actually improved it from my original time. I haven’t really experienced anything else, at least in the way of side effects or anything.”

Komack sat back, impressed. “I… see. So you’re saying that a third-year cadet managed to make improvements on technology that took a team of scientists to develop; and to do it in the space of a couple of months when it took them years.”

Apollo gave him a sheepish look. “Well, as you said, I was a guinea pig, and I’d like to think that I know pretty much how they affect my body better than anyone else would know.”

Komack leaned forward and clasped his hands on his desk. “Yes. Yes, this is true. Anyway, that was only part of the reason why I asked you here.” He sat back in his chair and gave Apollo a steely look. “Cadet, just what do you intend to do with your future in Starfleet?”

Apollo looked confused. “Sir?” was all he allowed out of his mouth. What is he getting at? was what was going on in his head.

Komack noticed his confusion. “What do you plan to become when you graduate from the Academy?” he elaborated.

Apollo had to take some time to think about it. He and Skip had discussed this several times before. “Well, sir, I was thinking of becoming a science officer, or maybe a pilot. I can fly those small ships easily enough. Hell, I could probably even helm a starship if I set my mind to it. Though to be honest, sir, after I had my accident, I figured my days in Starfleet were numbered. I’m actually surprised I’ve been able to stay.”

“Yes, well, I’d have to say you’re very lucky.” Komack sat there a moment, absorbing Apollo’s answer. “Do you want to know what I think?” He took the cadet’s silence as a yes, so he continued. “I see a waste of material in both those choices.”

Apollo was startled, but held it in. “Might I ask the basis of that opinion, sir?”

The admiral stood and began pacing behind his desk. “Do you want to know what I see? I see a man… a very intelligent man. Studied four years on Vulcan earning compliments from his instructors… who, I might add, are very stingy when it comes to compliments, especially for non-vulcans… and decided to return to Earth to resume his learning. He accomplished in a short time what some cadets take their entire Academy career to do. If he wanted, he could’ve requested… and been granted… early graduation and assignment to a starship.

“Instead, this exceptional cadet felt he could be more useful helping his fellow classmates… tutoring them in areas where they have trouble and making sure they’re able to continue on their own. That shows a remarkable degree of empathy, Apollo. I don’t want you to get a swelled head, but you’ve become quite popular. Hell, when I first met you, you acted so much like a Vulcan, I thought someone had shoved a board up your ass.” Apollo’s eyebrow couldn’t help rising at this statement, and Komack shook his head, but he continued. “Ever since your mishap, and ever since your liason with that young cadet you’ve been seen with…” Apollo blushed, “yes, it’s that obvious, but not at all uncommon, so relax… you’ve managed to find your niche. You’re a natural leader.”

Apollo decided that a little ego inflation couldn’t hurt at this point. “Well, my roommate did tell me one time that he saw me as an individual more comfortable with giving orders than taking them.”

“Your friend has remarkable insight.”

The cadet blinked in confusion. “Come again?”

Komack took a deep breath, then approached Apollo. “Racer, I’m going to come right out and say it. How would you like taking Command courses for your final year?”

Apollo stammered, so Komack continued. “You’ve proven that you can handle the normal workload. Hell, you’re tutoring about a quarter of your class. I’m sure that they can do without you for a couple of hours per day.” Then he closed the deal. “Besides, didn’t you tell me when we first met that you’d like to be a captain again? This is your chance to do that. Unless your priorities have changed, that is.”

“Sir, I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything. Take the course. Like any other course, you’ll have the option of dropping out if it gets to be too much, though I doubt it’ll come to that. Are you game?” He held out his hand.

“How could I possibly turn down such an offer? I’ll give it a try. Thank you, sir.” He shook the proffered hand.

“Glad to hear it. And I swear, if you so much as move toward standing at attention to leave, I’ll personally and physically boot your butt out of my office.” He said it with a smile, but Apollo could tell he was serious.

“Yes, sir. Good day, sir.” Apollo briskly walked out of the office and practically floated back to his dorm.

~ * ~

In his first Command class, Apollo couldn’t help but feel a little apprehension. Yes, he’d taken leadership courses before, but that was over 200 years ago, and it was necessary for the rank he held. He was still thinking about how different this would be, when the instructor marched through the door. Like his other instructors, she was a captain. Unlike the others, when they stood at attention, she did not dismiss their actions. Instead, she let them stand there for a few minutes; she walked down the ranks, looking each of her cadets in the face, scanning them, as if she could tell by just how they stood there what type of students she was getting. “All right,” she finally said, “take your seats.”

As the cadets sat down, she introduced herself. “My name is Captain Quinn, and I’m to be your instructor for the next few weeks.” She paced the room. “Let’s see if you know why you’re taking this course.” She looked around the room for a volunteer. When none were evident she picked one. “Cadet Racer, why are you here?”

Apollo stood. “I… was told this was where I had to be, sir.” He got a laugh from the rest of the class, but Quinn glared daggers at him. Suddenly, Apollo had the feeling it was the wrong thing to say.

“Told to come here? You were just following orders, is that it, cadet?” she said, slowly and deliberately. She walked right up to him and looked him in the eye. “Isn’t that kind of ironic? Attending classes in leadership because you were told to? Do you not want to be here, cadet?”

“Sir, that’s not what I…”

“Quiet! I’m still talking!” A feral gleam appeared in her eye. “Oh, I’m going to like working with you. I’m really going to enjoy showing just how smart you really are.” She started pacing again. “I suppose you feel that you don’t need this class; oh yes, I’ve seen your file. You think that your ‘many years’ of experience has you all set for command, is that it?” Apollo could have said that her assumption was wrong, but he felt that it would be a fatal mistake, so he allowed her to continue. “In my eyes, mister, you have a handicap. All that you learned about leadership back then, you’ll have to unlearn, and you can bet your boots that I’ll be watching you. Now sit down, you’re giving me a headache.”

Apollo sat down and silently gulped. Yep, I’m definitely in trouble, he thought.

~ * ~

It turned out be easier than he expected. As long as he made sure that his attitude was in check, a task simplified by his Vulcan disciplines, he should do fine. Granted, he couldn’t see Sam as much as he used to, and his tutoring sessions were somewhat curtailed by studying, but he expected that, and she hadn’t complained so far. In fact, she was overjoyed by his acceptance to the Command line and supported him. Sometimes he really needed that support. Quinn wasn’t kidding when she said she’d be watching him, and there were days he felt he had really gotten on her bad side. It was days like that when he could appreciate Sam’s understanding and presence.

He wasn’t as learned in command functions as he was in science, and Captain Quinn wasn’t making things any easier. When the class had projects to accomplish, she made sure he had the most difficult part of the project. ALong the course of the year, cadets who couldn’t hack the increased demands upon them were weeded out. As this happened, there would tend to be an uneven number of students in the course. Quinn always made sure she had an exceptionally difficult project for them, and on those days, she’d ensure that in group projects, Apollo would always be the odd one out. Then she wouldn’t excuse his work just because he didn’t have a partner. He didn’t give her the satisfaction of failing her, however. Rather, he worked twice as hard to ensure his success, which gained the respect of his classmates.

Quinn looked on as her cadets completed her latest project. She especially kept an eye on Apollo. He’s good, I’ll give him that, she thought. I try to teach him a lesson, make an example out of him in front of the class, but he keeps proving himself. I can’t help but be impressed with his tenacity. Could Komack have been right about this one? He seems to be pretty sure of what he’s doing, but other than that, he’s an enigma. She decided to fix that. The cadets finished their project as class time expired. As they headed toward the door, she called out. “Racer, front and center.”

Apollo glanced at his classmates. They pretended to take no notice of him, but he knew what they were thinking, because he was thinking the same thing. What have I done wrong now? I swear, the woman told me she’d go out of her way to draw me out, and she’s proven good to her word. I wonder if she’s thought of a new trial for me. She gestured for him to enter her office, and he made an extra effort to enforce his discipline when he did.

She shut the door behind him and gestured to the seat in front of the desk. He took it as she sat down in her own seat. She cut right to the quick. “Well, Racer, I suppose you think you’re pretty good.”

“Sir?” was his only reply. He was going to make her play her cards first.

“I’ve done everything in my power to make it nearly impossible for you here, and all you do is prove me wrong. What does that make me think, Racer?”

“Well, sir, if I may be allowed to speak freely…”

She gave him a backhanded wave. “Go right ahead.”

He straightened and took a deep breath. “I really don’t know what you think, but I’d like to tell you what I think.” Here goes nothing, but she asked for it, he added silently, taking a deep dreath. “For the past three weeks, you’ve done, as you say, everything you could to make me quit; everything from giving me the hardest tasks in projects to even leaving me out all together. Were it as you’ve claimed… that sometimes we need to learn to see things from an objective point of view… then I’d have no problem with it. But it seems I’m the only one you feel has the need to learn that lesson. Every time I’ve proven myself, and every time you’re not satisfied, and you try and give me something even harder to do.” He paused to see if she had any comment. Hearing none, he continued. “I realize that the comment I made in the beginning of the year was off the wall and completely inappropriate, but I think that a grudge should only carry on for so long, if it should even be carried at all. It should be clear to you that I’ve no intention of dropping out. Now I don’t care if you ride my case all the way through the end of the year. But believe it or not, what I’m concerned about is the fact that with all this attention you’re heaping on me, the other cadets are starting to wonder why you’ve made such a special case out of me. They don’t believe, and I share their views, that one little remark would merit such a vendetta.”

Quinn just sat in her chair. Her face betrayed no emotion, but Apollo learned long ago to look at the eyes; and her eyes told him that if he unzipped his skin to reveal two Hortas standing on top of each other she wouldn’t have been more shocked. She displayed a characteristic typical of officers who were formulating a response; she got up and paced the room. Apollo knew this was common because he had been known to do it himself.

Long winded son of a bitch, she thought, and perceptive, too. She stopped pacing and leaned forward, placing her hands on her desk. “Just so it’s clear to you right now, I don’t give a damn how the other cadets think I treat you. This Command course is serious business. The decision of life and death has been placed on the shoulders of officers who have been through this course, so you’d better believe that I make sure the people who graduate my class learn this real quick.” She straightened, a small smile playing on her lips. “As for why I rode you, it wasn’t because of that wisecrack you made. Hell, I forgot about that on the first day. Oh, no. It was because you were recommended by Admiral Komack.”

Apollo was perplexed. “What does that have to do with anything?”

She started pacing again. “I’ve had cadets recommended by admirals, Komack especially. Believe me when I say that he doesn’t have as keen a sense as you think on who will make a good cadet. Or they had relatives who happened to be high-ranking officers and officials. Because of that, those cadets thought that they could walk on water. I made them lose that illusion pretty damn quick. Every one of them either dropped out or got their act together.” She stopped – again – and faced him. “But you… you’re different. You’re taking longer than I’d hoped to find out what you’ve hidden behind your personal shields. But believe me, those shields will come down, and then we’ll get somewhere.”

Apollo never looked away from her the whole time she spoke. She felt as though someone was tracking her with a phaser, and they’d locked on target. It was silent for a while; then Apollo stood up. “Sir, I meant what I said. Whatever personal vendetta you have against the admiral, I don’t think I should be made to suffer. Singling me out isn’t the answer. The others badly misread that action. If you talk to them, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If I may…” he gestured toward the door. When she said nothing, he headed for it. Just before he walked completely out, he stopped, then looked back in. “And sir, I suggest that before you even bother trying to knock down those shields, you should first check to make sure those shields are even up to begin with.” Satisfied at seeing the startled look on her face, he left.

~ * ~

“I can’t believe it! You just walked out on her?” Sam stopped eating and looked incredulously at Apollo from across the table. They had met at the restaurant where they had first met, and they were enjoying dinner while Apollo recounted his day’s events to her. “Wow, I’ll bet Quinn blew a gasket after you left.”

Apollo gazed thoughtfully at the sky. “Actually, from my last view of her, she just stood there, staring at me… I thought her jaw was going to hit the floor with how low it dropped. I really don’t think anyone’s ever had the nerve to talk to her that way before.”

“Are you sure you won’t get in trouble?”

He registered the concern in her voice. “I’m not that worried about it. Besides, she did give me permission to speak freely. She’s a good instructor, but she can be a bit of a bully sometimes.” Again, he took up that thoughtful expression. “I wonder if she had a bad experience when she went through the Academy, one that made her act that way now.”

Sam smiled. “I don’t know, but between you and me, I wish I was there to see it.”

“She probably would have yelled at you for… listening… in…” Apollo’s voice trailed off, staring past Sam and a little above her, as if trying to spot something on the horizon.

Sam was laughing, but it died when she saw the expression on his face. “Apollo? Apollo, what’s wrong?” She was starting to get worried.

Apollo stood up with a start, knocking his chair over in the process. “I have to go!” He turned to go.

Sam caught his arm. “Apollo, what is it?!”

He turned to look at her; she did not like that look. “I Saw something. Skip’s in trouble.”

“What do you mean you saw something? What did you…” The context of what he said finally grasped her. “What did you See? Where…?”

“I have to go.” He shook himself from her grip, and turned to go.

She didn’t even see him start to run. Suddenly, he was gone. “APOLLO!” she yelled after him.

~ * ~

Skip was with Karen in a laboratory on the third floor of the science complex, helping her with a science experiment. A simple task… Karen was working with a small tractor beam she constructed, so she could study its effects on certain test objects. Skip realized that he had done that project before. “Hey,” he said, “here’s something to do to really impress the instructor.” He altered a circuit to perform a feedback loop, causing the flow of energy to add itself to the energy being generated, causing a buildup in power. “In my experiment, it boosted the power about 115 percent, and allowed for some really impressive results.” He altered another circuit to perform a controlled bleedoff so as not to cause an overload. Then he reactivated the device.

Apparently, the device’s construction wasn’t as sound as Skip’s was. It worked fine for a minute, but then the emitter exploded, sending a feedback discharge into the power outlet. The resulting explosion knocked the two cadets backward; Karen hit her head on the edge of a table and was knocked out. Skip was thrown against the wall, where he saw the explosion rip a hole in the near wall, starting a plasma fire, which quickly spread through the lab. With a normal fire, the fire suppression system would have no problem with taking care of the fire. However, this fire wouldn’t go out normally; either the fire had to lose its plasma supply, or the oxygen had to be evacuated from the room. Currently, there was a slim-to-none chance of either happening. Skip just sat against the wall. Oh, shit, was all his mind would utter before he froze, staring entranced at the green flame as it worked its way toward them.

~ * ~

Apollo turned to head toward the Academy. He broke into a run and simply took off. The next thing he knew, he was skimming across San Francisco Bay, sending up a wall of water on either side of him. What the… he thought. His concentration broken, he did the worst thing he could have done; he slowed down. Without the velocity backing him, he immediately started sinking into the bay. SHIT, he screamed mentally, and reversed his course. He tore through the water like a photon torpedo. When he hit the shore, he didn’t slow down. His mind working quickly, he realized what he was doing and took complete control. What was a straight line of color grew curves and bends as he veered around people and objects. He couldn’t figure out how he knew when to turn, but as long as it worked, he didn’t try to analyze it at the time.

In no time at all, he hit the Academy grounds and made a beeline for Skip’s location. From the images in his mind, he gathered that to be a science lab. The way into the building was too congested from the cadets evacuating, so Apollo made a lightning-quick decision. Using his momentum, he ran up the side of the building. When he reached a balcony that ringed the entire floor, he stopped and looked in to the lab in question. Skip was sitting against the wall, mesmerized by a plasma fire slowly moving toward him via the floor and the ceiling. Karen was on the floor, apparently unconscious, blood trickling from a cut behind her ear. Apollo screamed Skip’s name, but the sliding transparent aluminum door was meant to be soundproof. Unfortunately, the fire caused the door controls to malfunction… normally it’d release to allow people to escape. In his rage, Apollo pounded on the door and an enormous dent appeared. Shocked, he kept beating on the door until it finally gave way and he tore it from its housings.

Rushing in, he picked up Karen and slung her over one shoulder. He then grabbed Skip by the arm and helped him up; Skip graciously allowed himself to be led. He then headed out to the balcony. Looking back, Apollo noticed that the fire was getting worse; his grand entrance only introduced more oxygen to it, making it spread faster. He looked down, realizing for the first time that he just ran three stories up the wall. A crowd was gathering below. With no other way out, he told Skip, “Hang on, this is going to be rough!” He then yelled down to the crowd, “Clear out, now!!” and jumped. He timed it just right; an explosion ripped across the balcony where he had been standing.

How he managed to stay on his feet, he was uncertain. The Starfleet Corp of Engineers showed up at the scene; part of their job was extinguishing fires when the automatic suppression systems either couldn’t handle it or malfunctioned. Using electromagnetic pulses, they deactivated the plasma conduit that powered the room as well as that section of the building. Without fuel, the fire quickly went out.

Sam came running up to him as medics relieved him of his two charges. “Apollo, what the hell happened? I lost sight of you at the restaurant. I swear I didn’t even see you leave. Did you beam here somehow?” She looked up at the room, then after her two friends. “Are they all right?” she asked the medics.

“The girl’s got a bump on her head and a small cut, maybe a minor concussion. The guy’s just dazed. They’ll be all right,” replied the medic. He and his partner hurried off with Skip and Karen.

Sam looked back at her other main concern. “Apollo?”

Apollo looked up at the room, then back the way he had come. He looked at Sam, then to no one in particular. “I think I need to sit down,” he said distantly.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Six

Sam entered Apollo’s room later that week. She had tried to go in before, but just seeing him was enough to cause her to run back out. Now she felt she had enough courage to go to him. She saw him lying in bed; the bandages were off his eyes, but they were still a little swollen. An oxygen tube was taped under his nose. His bed covers, which should have formed little tents where his arms and legs should be, lay flat on the bed.

A tear started to roll down her cheek. He looks so… incomplete. I almost can’t bear to see him this way. She managed, though, to walk to his bedside. “Hi,” she said weakly. There was no answer from the still form. “Thought I’d stop by to see how you were doing.” She paused, clearly uncomfortable. “I… I guess the tables are turned now, huh. Me coming to see you instead of the other way around.”

She slowly paced the room. She clearly had something to say, but it took some effort for her to speak. “Why didn’t you see it? Dammit, you saw when I was going to get hurt! Why couldn’t you see your own accident?” Her voice rose with her temper. “After all this time, I thought we were finally going to get somewhere with our relationship! Why do you have to do this to yourself!?” Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t care. “I fall in love with you and you respond by nearly getting yourself killed!” Sam dropped into a chair by the bed and placed her face in her hands.

After a while she got up and wordlessly left the room. She didn’t notice the single tear make its way down the side of Apollo’s face to soak into his pillow.

~ * ~

Within the next two months, tests were conducted on the newly constructed limbs and the compatibility between them and Apollo. When it was determined that Apollo would have no problem with rejection, Bennings assembled his team and performed the operation.

Two days later, Apollo opened his eyes and immediately realized that something was different. He managed to raise his head and look down himself. The sheet indicated he once again had limbs. He tried to move his legs, but all he could get out of them was a twitch in one of his feet. He couldn’t even get that from a finger when he put the same effort into moving his arms. The cadet felt completely paralyzed.

“Ah. I see you’re awake.” Apollo looked toward the voice and saw Bennings, who just walked into the room. He also realized that the doctor said the exact same thing the last time he visited; in fact, he seemed to say that every time he came in. “You’ve also no doubt noticed that you’re somewhat whole again.”

Apollo grimaced. “It’s great for looks. But something seems wrong. I can’t move them.”

Bennings had a surprised look on his face. “Oho, so my patient thinks that he can just get up and walk away, does he?” He sat on Apollo’s bed, leaned in, and gave him a hard look. “Now listen up. I’m by no means finished with you. Before we can even think about giving you a clean bill of health, we need to put you into therapy. Once you can move those things, I can make the final adjustments on them.”

“Final adjustments? I thought they were finished.”

“Oh, sure, it’s simple enough to put them on you. The tricky part will be to calibrate them so that you can use them with a minimum of trouble.” Bennings saw the question on Apollo’s face before his patient could ask it, so he continued. “When you use your new limbs, there will be a slight time lag between the command your brain gives them to move and the actual movement. By studying your therapy, we’ll be able to adjust your limbs so that there will be as little of a pause as possible. I’ve theorized that if we do it right, it will be no more than a second or two.”

Apollo thought about that. “So basically what you’re saying is that whatever my normal response time would have been, I now have to add a second to that?”

“Yes, that’s about right. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

“No. I suppose it doesn’t, from a certain point of view.”

“A certain point of view? Now what is that supposed to mean.”

Apollo looked him square in the eye. “It means that my days in Nova Squadron, and possibly Starfleet, are over. When it comes to making quick decisions, a lot can happen in one second.” He turned away to look out the window. “On the other hand, I guess it beats not having any arms or legs at all.”

Bennings wanted to comment on that, but he honestly didn’t know what to say to it. “Your first therapy session is tomorrow. I want to get you on your feet as soon as I possibly can. In the meantime, I want you to get some rest. You’re going to need it.” Bennings left the room, leaving Apollo with his own thoughts.

~ * ~

The next time Sam got the nerve to visit Apollo, Skip went with her; he figured if he didn’t go with her, she’d change her mind. Apollo had been working on his therapy for three weeks now. They found him in the gym, walking between two balance beams; his movements were stiff and jerky, but he made no move to grasp the bars on either side. “Slow down, buddy,” Skip called out to him. “The Academy will still be here when you finish your therapy.”

Apollo gave his friend a mock glare. “And I suppose you persuaded the faculty to postpone all classes until I’m better.” Skip smiled, and he returned it. He then looked at Sam. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she returned. “Feeling better?”

“Almost. I get tired by the end of the day. The doctor says I should be released soon. Maybe we can do something by then.”

“Sure, maybe,” Sam said. Apollo could tell that her attention wasn’t entirely in the here and now. “Skip, would you mind…”

“Man, I’m real thirsty. I could use a drink. Sam, Apollo, you want something?” Skip said, immediately picking up on Sam’s request.

“I’ll have some juice, thanks,” he replied. Sam just shook her head. As Skip went off, Apollo got her full attention. “What’s wrong?”

Sam shivered. “It’s that I keep thinking about the day I was in your room and you…”

“I know, I probably didn’t look my best at the time. But just wait. Before long…” He looked into her eyes. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”

“Apollo, I didn’t say…”

“You’re afraid that I’m more machine than man, is that it?”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Are you reading my mind? I thought you weren’t supposed to do that?”

Apollo shook his head. “I don’t need to read your mind. The look in your eyes told me as much.” He struggled to find what to say next. “Let me assure you, I’m no less the man than I was before. Do you want to know why?” As he was talking to Sam, Apollo noticed that her gaze fell to the floor. To my legs, Apollo thought. Slowly, he raised his hand under her chin and gently tilted her head up, so she was looking him in the eyes. He then pointed to his chest. “It’s what’s here. I still have my heart, and while my heart is human, I’ll be human.”

Sam looked a little reassured. Skip showed up carrying two glasses. He handed one to Apollo, who carefully gripped it. “There you go, buddy. Everything okay?” Sam nodded. Apollo simply took a drink. “Good, then what I have to say will be a little easier.” Skip suddenly had Apollo’s full attention. “Apollo, I heard some scuttlebutt around the campus.” Skip grew skittish, but he continued. “They’re saying that you’re… uh… going to be dropped from the Academy.”

Apollo’s face went slack. “They’re what?!”

“They feel that your injuries were cause enough for…” Skip was interrupted by a loud crack as Apollo’s grip tightened around his glass to a point where it shattered in his grasp, sending glass and juice flying everywhere.

It was enough for Sam to jump. She looked forlornly at Apollo. “We’re… I’m so sorry.” She turned and ran out of the gym.

“Sam, wait!” Apollo called after her. He tried to run, but his legs didn’t move fast enough. His change in momentum caused him to pitch forward and fall to the floor. Skip took a step toward the door Sam had exited, paused, then turned back to help Apollo back up. “Are you okay, Apollo?”

Apollo was fuming so much with rage that he was sputtering. “Why did she run? Why!” He brought his arm down on one of the balancing bars, breaking it in two. He then yanked himself out of Skip’s grip and started hobbling toward another exit. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. If I have to go to the Commandant’s office, damn it, I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

For a moment, Skip wondered what to do. Then he made a decision. “Wait! Apollo, wait for me!” He quickly caught up with Apollo. Sheesh, he thought, as stiff as he walks, he sure can move fast.

~ * ~

Skip carried Apollo’s padd as they walked to Apollo’s next class. Skip was having trouble keeping Apollo’s pace; it wasn’t that Apollo was going too fast, rather the contrary. After six more weeks of therapy, Apollo could still only move in jerks as the commands from his mind strove to make it to his legs. Unfortunately, Dr. Bennings said that he couldn’t calibrate the limbs any better than they were.

Skip heard Apollo curse under his breath. “Stupid bloody things.”

Skip simply shook his head. “C’mon, now. At least you’re up and around. It could be worse. I mean, you might not even have to worry about your next class.” That day of the incident in the gym, they headed toward the office of one of the head instructors. He had told them yes, releasing Apollo from the Academy was an option. After an hour of persuasion and debate, the instructor notified the other head instructors of their conversation. By the next day, Apollo had received word that he could remain in the Academy at least until the end of the year.

Apollo laughed; to Skip it sounded more like a cough. “I could also be in a wheelchair. I’d have been in the classroom by now. I walk like a damn robot from an old movie. Hell, all this jerking around gives me a damn headache. I can’t even hold my padd because I haven’t yet learned to hold anything without crushing it. How could it possibly be worse?”

Skip smiled. “You could be dead. Then who would I have to complain to me?”

Skip’s smile was infectious, and soon the corners of Apollo’s mouth turned upward. “You’re right, of course. I’d smack you, but I’d probably knock myself over in the process.”

“Now, that might not be a bad sight, though you’d probably take my head off in the process. But tell me, why are you taking Engineering? I figured with your condition, you wouldn’t be of much use as an engineer.”

Apollo smiled and looked to the sky. “My dear Skippy. In Ancient Mythology, it is said that the Greek god Hephaestus, whose Roman name, appropriately, is Vulcan, was lame, yet he was the most skilled craftsman in Mount Olympus. He crafted Athena an owl out of silver, gold, and jewels, and it flew like a living thing. Surely a couple of glorified stilts can’t keep me back.”

Skip looked askance at his friend. “You know, you seem to be taking this awfully well.”

Apollo’s face slipped into that stoic Vulcan expression that he’s often used. “Why shouldn’t I? I was forced into this situation through my own clumsiness; I may as well make the best of it. Sure, I’ll complain at times when I feel that these things are being frustratingly inconvenient, but as you said, I am alive. I should be grateful.” He took on a shifty look, darting glances from side to side, and he lowered his voice. “Besides, I have a plan.”

This last statement caught Skip off guard. “Plan? What plan?”

“I haven’t completely figured out every detail yet, but when I’m ready, you’ll find out about it,” he emphasized his reply with a wink. Apollo looked up and saw his destination in front of him. “Ah, after several years, I arrive.” They entered the building, and when they reached Apollo’s classroom, Skip put the padd down on the table. “Thank you. I’d shake your hand…”

“…but I’m gonna need it for later,” Skip finished. “No problem. I’ll come back after my class and help you back to the dorm.”

“Thanks,” Apollo said, and waved at Skip as he walked out and the instructor came in.

~ * ~

Skip returned to the engineering building, but Apollo wasn’t in the classroom. A short search showed that he was one of the labs. He appeared to have finished a project, because he was managing to put away some tools. He turned to see who entered. “Ahh. Perfect timing. I was just finishing up for today. Shall we go?” He handed his padd to Skip. There were small dents on the edge of the padd, and Skip pointed them out to Apollo. “Damn. That’s where I picked it up earlier. I’m trying to gauge the right pressure to use, but I still get it wrong.”

Skip whistled. “I see. Well, where to now? Our dorm? Sam’s place?”

Apollo shook his head. “No, it’s the infirmary tonight. Dr. Bennings and I have been working on a way to eliminate the time lag in my limbs’ actions. If our theory works, I’ll have full motor abilities returned to me.”

Skip’s demeanor brightened. “Apollo, that’s great! How do you plan on doing it?” His friend showed some reluctance. “Come on, you can tell me.”

Apollo studied Skip’s face for a long momnet before deciding he could be trusted. “Bennings is going to hardwire my limbs to my spinal cord, or something like that.”

Skip stopped dead in his tracks. Apollo’s padd dropped to the floor. “Whoa, buddy. That sounds a bit dangerous, messing with your spinal cord. You sure you want to do this?”

Apollo looked pensive. “I agree, there is some… risk.” With effort, Apollo managed to turn to face Skip. “But if it works, you’d never know that my limbs are artificial. I’d actually have normal movement again.”

Skip still looked skeptical. “Uh huh. And if it doesn’t work…” he prompted. Apollo was silent. “Well?!”

“I… could be paralyzed, limbs or no.”

“Apollo!”

“No, I’ve made up my mind. I’ve always been one to go for broke, and I’m not going to let this situation change that. I’m going through with it.”

Skip studied Apollo for a moment. “Does Sam know about this?”

Apollo met Skip’s eyes and held his gaze, searching, and came to a decision. “No. And she’s not going to know. At least, not unless it’s successful. Is that clear?”

His friend took a deep breath, then let it out and nodded. “You know, you’re taking an awfully big chance.”

Apollo nodded. “I know. But I’ve thought about it, and I’m going to go for it. I have a good feeling about this.”

Skip threw his hands in the air. “Oh. Well. That decides it. I guess since you have a good feeling about this, then it must be okay.” The sarcasm hung between the two of them. “Hell, with or without me, you’d do this anyway. I suppose this was your plan.”

“Yeah, pretty much. Although the doctor was working on just such an idea when I brought it up to him.”

“Well, all right. Let’s go see Bennings.”

~ * ~

Two weeks went by, and Apollo seemed to have dropped from the face of the earth. Sam badgered Skip for anything he knew as to Apollo’s whereabouts. He admitted as much that Apollo was in the infirmary, but wasn’t allowing visitors. It hurt him to tell her that, because she looked as though she felt Apollo was ashamed of himself and didn’t want her to be with someone he felt was an abomination.

Then one day, Skip was in his room going over some material for an upcoming exam. His door was open, so his friends could see he was home and give him an excuse to take a break. It was then that a shadow fell across his notes. “Do you mind?” he said, not looking up. “You’re in my light.” When the person didn’t move, Skip looked up from his studying. “Well, well, well… hello, stranger. Don’t think I’ve seen you around these parts. Say, you haven’t seen a friend of mine, have you? About your height, has your looks, walks like he was a puppet and someone was jerking his strings?”

Apollo stood there and acted like he was thinking real hard. Then he shook his head and walked over to his bed, where he sat down. “Nope, haven’t seen him.”

Skip’s eyes grew wide. “Hey! It worked! Your little experiment worked!”

Apollo slipped into a Vulcan attitude, one he knew that severely ticked off his friend. “I fail to see how you could have thought differently. After all, the choices I had laid out when I accepted this plan were either success or paralysis. Since I moved into the room with no trouble, I would surmise that the former would be correct.” Apollo received a pillow in his face for his troubles.

“Wow, I just can’t believe it. You mean he actually connected those things right into your spinal cord? Doesn’t it feel different?”

Apollo shook his head after he got it out of the pillow. “It doesn’t feel too differently. I mean, I can’t feel pleasure or pain through my limbs, but I do receive sensory inputs from them. It’s kind of like how your foot falls asleep, and you can’t feel anything with it, but you know how much weight to put on it without falling flat on your face.”

Skip shook his head in awe. “Bennings could write a paper on this one. Maybe even get a prize.”

Apollo immediately had a somber expression, and violently shook his head. “No! No, no one must know of this. The procedure I went through was purely experimental, still in its formative stage. The medical community pretty much frowns on what Bennings just did for me. At least, they do now. When the procedure is allowed to naturally come forth, Bennings will be seen as a genius. But for now, it must remain secret. Understand?”

Skip looked at Apollo and decided that this was no time to be joking. He simply nodded. “I understand. I won’t say a word. But Apollo…” he urged, “Sam has to know. She’s been worried sick, and I frankly didn’t know what to tell her. I did say you were in the infirmary, but you wouldn’t see anyone.”

“And for all intents and purposes, you told her the truth. I was in the infirmary, and I wouldn’t see anyone. Not if I wanted the good doctor to remain out of trouble.” He regarded his friend and smiled. “I thank you, and I owe you. I’ll figure something out… but for now, I need some rest.” He reduced the lights so that Skip only had light over the desk where he was studying. “Good night, my friend, and… thanks again. For being there.” Apollo laid back, and within moments was softly snoring in the darkness.

Skip shook his head and muttered under his breath. “No problem. Sheesh. All that time in the infirmary, you’d think they’d have been able to stop him from making all that damn noise when he sleeps.” He shrugged and returned to his book.

~ * ~

Sam was in the library working on an essay for her astrophysics class. Without warning, her screen cleared. “Hey, what the…” she hissed, lightly rapping the terminal. Suddenly, a confirmation message flashed on her screen. The message stated that she had reserved a hover vehicle for a trip to the coast set for tomorrow. She was immediately perplexed. Funny. I don’t remember scheduling a trip to the coast. She sighed. Maybe I’ve been pushing myself too hard. Either that, or someone’s playing a very cruel joke on me. She thought about it a little more. Still, it does sound like something I could use. Curious, she acknowledged the message. The time and departure route showed up; she acknowledged that, too. Her screen then cleared again and returned to her essay. Huh… that was weird. She shrugged and continued her work.

The next day, she trotted over to the hover rental place outside the Academy. When she arrived gave the clerk her name, he perked up and gave her the control card for a vehicle. “It’s all prepped and waiting for you at the end of the lot, Ms. Taylor.”

“But… I didn’t… how many credits will it…?”

“Oh, that’s all been taken care of, ma’am.” She absently nodded and slowly turned for the lot. “Have a nice trip,” he said to her on the way out.

She found the route relaxing enough; it took her through all the scenic areas. When she reached a specific spot near the beach, the hover vehicle landed. Sam got out and found that she was near a changing station. The sign on the door read, “Come in.” So she cautiously got out of the vehicle and walked towards the small cabana. “What is going on here?”

Inside was a two-piece bathing suit hanging on the wall… it had apparently been placed there for her. Sam shrugged and decided to go with the mystery. She changed into the suit and looked at a mirror also placed in the pavillion, admiring the cut and color of the suit. Leaving the tent, she started on a nice, slow stroll along the shoreline, allowing the waves to lap against her feet and a soft breeze coming of the water to tickle her skin. She could just feel the tension wash from her as the ocean washed against her.

She walked for nearly a kilometer or two before she heard a voice call out, “The water’s not too cold for you, is it?”

She turned toward the voice to see Apollo stretched out on a flat rock, wearing swimming trunks. If she hadn’t known what had happened to him over the last few months, she would have never been able to tell that he had been through anything. She walked over to him, slightly unsure of the sight before her. “Apollo? Is that really you?”

She was shocked by the response when he sat up and flipped off the rock to land nimbly on his feet. “Now, what do you think?” He flashed her a smile that she just couldn’t refuse. All her fears about him seemed to melt away as she ran up to him and jumped into his arms. Their lips met as he gently held her. “Shall we?” he said, offering his arm. She took it and they walked down the beach together.

“Apollo, I’m so happy that you’re better. But how? The doctor said…”

“I know,” he said, interrupting her. “That’s one of the reasons why I asked you out here.”

Pieces fit into place. “I kind of figured you arranged this trip for me, sent the confirmation message, rented the vehicle, even planned the route I took,” she said.

Apollo nodded. “That’s right. I needed to talk with you alone, without any prying ears. And… I figured you should enjoy yourself along the way.”

“What was so important that you had to talk to me here?” She looked at him slyly. “You’re not going to propose to me in an attempt to smooth things over, are you?”

Apollo acted shocked. “Why, whatever would make you think that? But seriously, no, that’s not the reason. I just felt that you should know how I received my good fortune.” Apollo then proceeded to tell her the whole story, from the plan’s conception right up to his little talk with Skip. Sam was startled at some points, but understanding showed more and more prominent in her expression as Apollo explained. When he finished his story, they moved on to other topics, chatting until the sun was seen just over the horizon, reflecting off the ocean waves. The couple made it back to their original location, where he stopped and looked deeply into her eyes. “So… now that you know the whole story, and you should also know, by the way, that this secret must be kept at all costs, what do you think? Will it affect our relationship in any way?”

Sam thought for a moment. “Well… What I think is that you were pretty brave for going through with the procedure, and more than a little foolish, considering the risks you put yourself through.” She edged closer to him. “As for our relationship…” She reached up and pulled him lower so she could tenderly kiss him. “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.” They lowered themselves to the ground… as the sun set and the tide went out, their passion rose with the full moon.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Five

“C’mon, Apollo. Tighten up the formation,” Nova Leader said.

“All right, already. Closing in.” Apollo slapped the side of his head to clear the cobwebs. He was thinking of Samantha – Sam – all through the afternoon. He shook himself free of his daydream long enough to realize he was on a collision course with an asteroid. Instantly alert, he pulled out of his unintentional suicide run. Each action threatened to drive him through another asteroid, but he avoided each one with a grace more defined with each move.

“Stop horsing around, Apollo. We know you don’t have much to do today, but we’d like to get back to the Academy before graduation.” Andrew, Nova Leader, shook his head at the craft making the wild loops through the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter; but he was shaking it more out of awe than frustration. Man, he said he could fly, but I never knew he was this good.

Apollo left the asteroid field, where the squadron proceeded to finish their maneuvers. As they were returning to Earth, Apollo felt he had to explain himself. “Sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to get lost in space up there. It’s just that I had a lot on my mind.”

“Understood,” came the reply. “Skip had told us you were having girl problems.”

Apollo flushed at the affront to his privacy, but the moment quickly passed. “Actually, not so much a problem anymore. And frankly,” he finished with a mischievous gleam in his eye, “I couldn’t feel better.” Upon approaching the west coast, Apollo put on a burst of speed and lined up to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Apollo, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Andrew said. He then saw a flash on his screen. “Apollo, look out!”

Apollo looked in time to see a tour shuttle cutting across his path. He jerked up in time to avoid the shuttle, but he grazed the underside of the bridge, sending him out of control. He fought to recover his flight path, while at the same time he headed for the hanger. He felt that he could pull off his stunt yet, regaining control just as he would reach the hanger, he could slide gracefully into his spot. It would probably impress the hell out of his comrades.

Apollo’s luck ran out that day. The drive system on his craft gave out in an explosion. He dipped sharply just inside the Academy grounds and plowed into the earth. Only at the last second was he able to realize his problem; he allowed a calming effect to overtake him, realizing that this could be it. He hit the button that would activate the emergency transporter in his craft, but it was too late. At the last second, he heard a sickening crunch, and blackness overcame him.

~ * ~

The explosion rocked the Academy grounds. Skip was in class when he heard the blast. He looked outside and saw a plume of dark smoke. “Holy shit! What was that!?” he exclaimed. His class rushed outside toward the area he thought was the source. Reaching the spot, and seeing the Nova Squadron crafts – minus one – heading for the hanger, he knew what had happened. A deep furrow a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide was plowed into the ground before him, with a smoking, disfigured mass of metal at the end of it embedded deeply into the earth. It wasn’t long before a crowd gathered, but Skip was headed for the hanger. He intercepted Andrew. “What happened?” he yelled.

Andrew ran right by him, heading for the infirmary. “It was Apollo,” he screamed back. “Gotta hurry! We registered his emergency transporter kick on just as he crashed!” They rushed into the building and headed for the transporter room, followed by the rest of the squadron.

When they reached the transporter, however, nothing was there. “I don’t get it.” Skip said. “He should be here, right?”

A medic shouldered his way into the room. “One side!” he shouted, reaching the console. “Cripes!” he said, looking at the readings. “How he got the thing to work, I couldn’t even begin to guess!” The medic started to work the controls. A humming filled the room and a pad on the platform glowed to life.

“What’s he talking about?” Skip said.

Andrew shook his head. “Well, if we registered his transport correctly, it happened at the exact same time as the crash. Seems that its last duty before it turned to slag was to get him here. Anyone using an emergency transporter will be caught in suspension until a medic can beam him in. That way they can be sure someone will actually be present when that person arrives.”

“Here he comes,” he said. Other medics came in with an anti-grav stretcher. A figure coalesced on the pad, barely recognizable due to his condition. No one could speak, but the medics were galvanized into action. They managed to stabilize Apollo so they could place him on the stretcher and activate a unit on the side to place him in stasis. They rushed down the hall, leaving the crowd behind.

Skip led the group out into the main waiting room. There was already a small group there; Samantha was one of them. “What happened?” she asked, worried. She looked at Nova Squadron and realized that one of them was missing. She ran up to Skip. “It was Apollo, wasn’t it? What happened to him?” She started to head in the direction of the medics.

Skip caught her by the arm. “Sam, you don’t want to go back there.”

His grim statement only got her more worked up. She struggled to free herself, screaming, but Skip held fast, while Andrew ran up and grabbed her other arm. Finally she just collapsed in Skip’s arms, sobbing. Skip couldn’t help but shed tears himself. He wanted to tell her that he’d be all right. But he saw Apollo on the transporter platform, saw what had happened to him, and he honestly couldn’t say anything.

~ * ~

Darkness surrounded him. He fought to find some light. When he did find it, it was hazy, blurred, colored insanely. He couldn’t even decide if he was actually seeing anything at all. He tried to speak, but could only gurgle (Gurgle?, he thought) a bit.

One of the doctors working on him heard the sounds. “My God, he’s coming to! Put him back under!”

He struggled to think. Who was that? Why would they be afraid of me waking up? Why do they want me unconscious? It was then, just before he heard the hiss of a hypospray, that his nervous system was overwhelmed by a cascade of pain… together with the sedative, Apollo succumbed to unconsciousness with relief.

~ * ~

Apollo tried several times to regain consciousness, and each time the results were the same. He’d wake up feeling nothing but pain. If anyone were watching the monitor to his room, or if they were in his room, they would make a sound or a gesture and put Apollo under again. After the first day of this behavior, they finally decided to put him in stasis. That way he would remain unconscious without his will trying to force him awake.

Skip and Samantha visited the infirmary to check on Apollo’s condition. They were met by Doctor Bennings, who Samantha recognized as having treated her. He told them that Apollo had been severely injured in the crash. “He sustained internal injuries, both his arms and his legs had been crushed in the accident and his face was badly burned. Now, we’ve stabilized his injuries, but we couldn’t do much for his arms and legs; I’m afraid we had to amputate what was left of them. His face was the least of our worries, but by no means are we saying that it wasn’t serious. His eyes are swollen shut, but scans show that they’re all right.” Bennings was extremely severe when he had given them the news.

“But he will live, right?” Skip said. Had he been joking, Samantha would have clobbered him for asking such a stupid question. But his concern for his friend showed clearly on his face.

“Oh, yes, he’ll live, if you want to call being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his days living,” replied the doctor.

Samantha looked frantic. “Surely there’s another way! I don’t think Apollo came this far in the Academy just to be crippled!”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t…” Bennings paused. “Wait a minute. There just may be something we can do.” He started to walk away, as if to carry out the idea while it was still fresh in his mind.

Skip stopped him. “You can’t just leave us hanging, doc! What did you have in mind?”

The doctor turned back to them. “Well, we do have another option. It hasn’t exactly been approved yet. We can replace Apollo’s limbs with robotic prostheses.”

Skip gave Bennings a weird look. “Robot pro-whatz-its?”

“Prostheses. Artificial replacements designed to replace normal limbs. They even look like the person’s normal limbs. I know that doesn’t sound like much… humans have been using prosthetics for centuries. But if these work, then maybe your friend will have a chance.”

Samantha was excited, but she read the doubt in the doctor’s voice. “Why do you sound unsure of this?”

Bennings looked at her sheepishly. “Well… you see, the stage of compatibility with a patient is still experimental; the late phase, though. We expect to be completely proficient in this in about a year.”

Skip exploded. “No way, doc! No way you’re going to use my bud for a guinea pig!”

“Well, you certainly don’t have to worry about making that decision for him, now do you? I intend to give Apollo the choice and let him decide for himself.”

“You can’t be serious.” Samantha said. “You honestly expect Apollo to be well enough to make that kind of decision?”

Bennings shrugged. “He has no other option. He obviously has no family to consult. And we’ve stabilized him. Once that was done, recovery simply became academic, with or without the prosthetics. What I would wonder is what Apollo thinks he’ll be able to do when he fully recovers. Do you think he’ll be able to stay in the Academy in the condition he’s in now?”

“It’s not unheard of for someone in that shape to be in Starfleet. Why, look at Fleet Captain Christopher Pike. I mean, he…”

The doctor cut her off. “Captain Pike was a special case. He had a lot of clout because of his accomplishments. Starfleet wouldn’t just cut loose a former starship captain, especially one from the Enterprise. Apollo is just a cadet. They’d let him go in a heartbeat. Now, with new limbs, he could at least perform as an aide to the brass or other such type of administrative position.”

Skip’s expression was clear as to how he felt about that. “Yeah, that’s all he needs… to be cooped up behind a desk. I didn’t learn a lot about Apollo, but what I do know is that he doesn’t belong in a desk job,” Samantha said, on the verge of tears.

Skip put a hand on her shoulder. “I have to agree with the doctor. Apollo may be crippled, but at least he won’t need to be cooped up in some wheelchair. He’ll still be able to lead a fairly normal life.” He looked at Bennings. “But could we at least talk to him?”

“I don’t see why not. It’ll take a few days to figure out how we’ll go about this. You should be able to see him before then. But for today, at least, he should be undisturbed.” Bennings walked away.

“C’mon, Sam, let’s go.” Skip led her out of the infirmary.

On their way back to the dorms, Samantha turned to Skip. “You know, something is going on that I just don’t understand. I really don’t know Apollo that well. So why do I get so emotional about him?”

Skip simply shrugged. “Hey, it happens. I don’t know why or how, and I don’t bother trying to figure it out. Something sparked between you and Apollo, and you two spent just enough time to fan that spark into a flame, at least that’s what I think. I only hope that those doctors make the right decisions.”

~ * ~

This time when Apollo woke up, he wasn’t put back under. He couldn’t see; everything was still pitch black. Is it night time? he asked himself. He tried to raise a hand to his forehead. The thought was there, but the action wasn’t carried out. Why have they restrained me? He tried to flex his fingers; even that little act was prevented. He thought he could still feel his hands. He tried moving his feet. That, like his hands, proved ineffective. Funny, he mused, I can feel them, but it’s almost as if they’re… not there. Why can’t I move anything? Why can’t I see anything? There should at least be light from a window, unless my room has no windows. He struggled; again it seemed that he wasn’t restrained, but he just couldn’t move anything.

Then he heard the door open. “Who’s there?” he asked. He meant the question to sound firm and commanding. It came out weak and cracked.

“Ah. I see you’re awake. My name is Dr. Bennings, and you, cadet, are a very lucky man.”

Apollo sat there thinking for a moment. “I can remember flying… a collision… the ground was coming up fast… I slammed my fist down on the emergency transport button. Am I all right?”

Bennings nodded, then realized that Apollo couldn’t see him. “If you can remember that, then I can be relieved. You haven’t suffered any memory loss or brain damage.”

“I’m not so sure, doctor. I’ve had these weird dreams. I kept waking up, trying to say something, but it was like trying to talk underwater. Hurt like hell, too. Then I’d conk out again.”

Bennings noticed that nothing slipped by Apollo. He decided to be straight forward. “Those weren’t dreams. You were in a serious accident. Like I said, you were lucky; it was amazing that you survived such a crash.” The doctor paused, taking a deep breath. “You no doubt wonder why you can’t move.” He noticed Apollo’s feeble attempt at a nod. “You aren’t being restrained, at least not by us. Apollo… your arms and legs were crushed in the accident. I’m afraid we couldn’t save them.”

The room was very silent as Apollo let the information sink in. “I… see. Or rather, I can’t see. Did I lose my eyesight, too?”

“No, no. Your face was badly burned, but your eyes were intact. Those bandages will come off in a couple of days. We’ve also taken care of any other injuries you incurred.”

“Except my arms and legs.”

“Yes, well, as I said, there was little we could do for them.” He watched Apollo nervously. “Is there… anything you need at this time?”

More silence. “Yes. You could leave me alone now,” Apollo said, calmly and evenly.

Bennings moved toward the door. “If you need anything else, just speak up. A medic will show up for you.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

Bennings went outside, but stopped and looked in the window next to the doors. He expected screams, crying, anything to reveal what Apollo was feeling right now. But the figure on the bed simply laid there, looking as if he’d just simply fallen asleep. Frankly, he didn’t know which reaction was worse.

Author: Apollo Racer
Title: Origins
Email: fltadmracer@hotmail.com
Characters: New Crew/Star Trek: TOS/Star Trek TOS: Animated Series.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a bizarre twist of fate, a young man from the 21st century is trapped
in a frozen coffin as he drifts along the tides of time to be awakened 200 years
later.

Chapter Four

During his third year at the Academy, things started to turn around. Apollo found himself too busy to worry much about anything. Thanks to his Vulcan studies, Apollo was allowed to lighten his work schedule; there were classes he simply didn’t need to take, as he was overqualified for them. Starfleet felt that they shouldn’t waste his time by making him take classes either equal to or inferior than the ones he took on Vulcan. That left him open to follow up on Skip’s Nova Squadron contacts. If anything, he’d like to be able to fly again. It also gave the scientists at the Academy more time to study Apollo’s abilities, which gave Apollo no end of frustration.

Skip’s contacts proved as good as he had claimed. A member of Nova Squadron met with Apollo and discussed his options. A short interview and a test flight later, he was welcomed as a member of Starfleet Academy’s elite pilot corps. He found that getting back in the cockpit of a single-person craft was just the touch of his past that he needed to feel good again. He had considered himself a hotshot pilot long before the 23^rd century; now he had a chance to prove it, and prove it he did. These small shuttles were far surperior to any plane he used to fly… this factor alone enhanced his performance. During their first practice session, he easily managed to stay with the group, even improvising on techniques for better performance. Nova Squadron had themselves a new pilot.

The other thing occupying his time was tutoring. There were several cadet instructors on campus, but Apollo felt that he could best help cadets with a more informal study session. So rather than teach classes that the Academy wanted taught, Apollo helped cadets in areas where they most needed it. More frequently than other cadets, Apollo tutored Samantha. However, their relationship never warmed to anything other than friends, and that in a loose term. It could be described more as a student-teacher relationship, although their sense of familiarity with each other made it something more, though not much more.

This wasn’t to say that they never tried going further. However, when they even found the nerve to look at each other, they’d make eye contact, but quickly look away, the courage drained from them. Apollo found that looking in another direction didn’t mean that his heart followed him. It was only when he had first arrived on Vulcan that he felt this confused about anything. Logically, one answer was to ask someone for help or advice. But Apollo was too proud and stubborn… he at least kept that much of his old attitude. Besides which, he mused, I only know two people on Earth well enough to talk to. Skip at best wouldn’t understand… at worst, he’d give me some lame brained advice that I’d be a fool to follow. Sarek is the other person, except he’s a Vulcan, and as Vulcans go, while he knows more about human emotions than most of his kind, excluding his son, he’s still pretty much in the dark about how this feeling affects other people; so I can’t talk to him. No, it looks like I’m going to have to figure this one out by myself. Apollo didn’t feel very confident about that last thought. Even back on Earth in his time, he paid more attention to his work and his equipment than fashioning some relationship. Now he felt out of place. Maybe that’s what’s holding me back. The fact that technically, I’m old enough to be one of her ancestors. He immediately shook that thought out of his head. It shouldn’t make a difference how old he is chronologically; physically, he still had the body of a man in his late twenties. Yes, Apollo was confused, indeed.

Once he had returned to his dorm room, and found that Skip was graciously absent, he decided to concentrate on the meditation disciplines he learned on Vulcan. He sat at his desk and gradually relaxed until his mind was free of emotional thought. He figured that since he couldn’t answer his dilemma right away, he may as well spend the time more usefully, like doing his studies. He always fell back on those when he needed to table his personal problems. Maybe once I get some more book-learning in me, I’ll be focused enough to try to tackle this problem again. With grim satisfaction, he selected his next subject for study on the viewer.

~ * ~

The reason Skip wasn’t in their room was because he had plans of his own. That lunkhead roomie of mine doesn’t know a good thing when he sees her. He was so sure that when he saw their eyes meet at the restaurant, they were going to hit it off right away. But something happened one night when he went to tutor her. When he returned from that session, he looked like he’d been punched in the stomach by his best friend, which couldn’t happen because he never touched Apollo; his eyes looked as if a light went out inside them. I didn’t even realize that in the space of one night a guy could even get knocked so far down the ladder, he thought. But one thing was for sure. There were a few times when Apollo helped him out, and Skip wasn’t about to let him down.

He knew Apollo wasn’t ever going to try and chase her down. Were it any other guy, the trip that Skip was now making would have been to see if she were available, and offer himself as an alternative to a lonely night. But this was Apollo, and even if he was the stiffest human on the campus, he deserved better; thus was the reason for this crusade. If Skip could accomplish anything tonight, he was going to try to get those two to sit down and talk things over.

He reached Samantha’s room, but her roommate, who introduced herself as Karen, said she wasn’t in (although Skip was more than welcome to keep her company). He politely refused, stating that he had an urgent message for Samantha; but after he delivered it, he’d see what he could do to take Karen up on her offer. Karen smiled, suggested that he check the library, and Skip was off.

There weren’t that many people in the library at that time of night, which made it easy to search. After fifteen minutes, though, he saw no sign of her. He was about to give up when he walked by a private study room; the door was ajar (they still used old-fashioned doors in the Academy), which usually meant it was unoccupied, but he heard someone working in there. Curious, he went in.

He saw Samantha staring intently at a reader screen, its glow the only light in the small room. Skip sneaked in closer to see what she was reading. Apollo’s statistics scrolled across the screen. “What are you doing?” he said in a hoarse half-whisper.

She nearly jumped out of her skin; as it was, she cleared her seat by at least three inches as she gave off a clipped shriek. “WHAT did you do that for!? You scared me half to death!”

“Small wonder. It’s not every cadet that has access to other cadet’s files,” he said accusingly.

“I happen to have friends in the Admin Department. They owed me a favor or two,” she countered. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you. I have a roommate who happens to be worrying himself into old age.” She glared at him. “Look,” he said, reading her look, “you can think what you want, but you’re not the only person who has other people owing favors to you. There were several times I was one step away from being drop kicked out of the Academy; Apollo was there to save my butt. I consider him my friend, and I’d like to think he considers me one. I can tell which night he tutors you, because when he comes in afterwards, he looks like his dog died. Frankly, I got tired of it, so I came searching for answers.”

Samantha looked at the intense look on Skip’s face. She didn’t necessarily hide her reservations of Apollo these last few weeks. She made up her mind, closed the file, and shut off the reader. “Come on,” she said, getting up and grabbing Skip’s arm as she headed for the door, “let’s find somewhere more appropriate to talk.”

Skip really didn’t think the Academy’s cafeteria wasn’t any more appropriate than a file room inside the library, but at least they were at an empty table; there were a couple of these in each corner, removed from the main sections, so that people such as Skip and Sam could talk somewhat privately. The place smelled of cleaning solutions, which told Skip that the sanitation crew had already been through. And at such a late hour, the only other people there were night owls anyway, getting a midnight snack while catching up on their studies.

Samantha gave Skip as much as she knew about what she and Apollo had discussed, as well as what she had found out on her own. “You’re saying that Apollo knew in advance that you were going to get injured, and he told you that since he didn’t really know the purpose of what he saw at the time, he couldn’t prevent what happened to you,” Skip said, trying to summarize what he’d been told.

“That’s right,” she replied. “That’s why I was at the library tonight. It took me this long to finagle a way to see his records.” She paused, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say next, and just blurted it out. “Did you know that he has an incredibly high psi factor? I’ve heard of high factors in Vulcans, but not in humans; not that high.”

“What, you’re saying he’s a Vulcan in disguise?” Skip asked sarcastically.

“No, simply that it confirmed what he told me. Maybe he really did see me fall in his head before it actually happened.”

“Okay, so he has a little precognitive ability. He obviously doesn’t control it, nor is he probably fully aware that it exists.” Skip sat back and folded his arms together. “So what has this got to do with putting him down?”

Samantha sighed, frustrated. “I did not put him down. That night, he left on his own.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t try very hard to stop him.”

“Why do you care? You never even knew me before that stupid accident, and neither did he. Why can’t you both just leave me alone?” Even as she finished saying it, she knew it was only her confusion talking.

They both realized that their voices were carrying. They sat in silence until the few people that were in the room resumed their attention on whatever it was that they were doing. Skip made an effort to lower his voice and answered her. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know. You said Apollo visited you while you were in the infirmary. Maybe while he was there, something sparked in him. Maybe he did feel responsible, maybe it was something else. But I can tell you one thing.” He paused, smirking. “You are rather attractive. And quite frankly, if I see my bud set eyes on someone, I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s worked his butt off for over two years, and who knows how long he had to endure Vulcan.”

“Four years,” Samantha interrupted.

Four years, Skip thought, no wonder he’s such a bookworm! “Okay. So he’s had six years of studies without what seems to be a single break. Let’s also not forget that he’s probably still feeling out of place; I mean, the guy’s from two hundred years in our past.” He paused there, as they both were reminded of how old Apollo actually was. “Hell, I know I’ve done my share these past couple of years to drag him off for some relaxation. It works some, but not much. Along comes this coincidence… yes, it’s too bad he found you like he did, but he did find you. And from what I saw at that restaurant, you saw something interesting in him, and I’m not talking about his smarts.”

She sat there for a minute, thinking of her answer. “Well, it is true that I needed help to catch up on my studies… he is the best candidate for a tutor. I mean, you haven’t seen him take many classes lately, have you?” When he shook his head, she continued. “And you’re right. He’s no troll. But…” She shivered. For some reason, she felt cold. “Looking at his file, remembering what he’s told me as well as what others have told me, both truth and rumor… he kind of scares me. I mean, if he can see into the future, what else can he do?”

Skip took a mental step back. “Whoa, wait a second, I didn’t say he could see the future.”

“True, but what if he can? What if he can read thoughts?”

Skip started to get angry again. “So what if he can? We’re talking about a guy who isn’t even here to defend himself. There have been people who have had high psis before; no one persecuted them. In fact, I’ve heard that people with high psis have to learn not to read people’s minds or they’ll go crazy.”

“Suppose he never learned? He is human, isn’t he?”

This last bit pushed Skip over the edge. This time, he didn’t care if his voice carried. “Don’t you think Vulcan would have taken care of that?” He shook his head aggressively. “Why do you have to ask around for answers; why do you have to sneak into his file? Maybe if you asked him these questions you have, he just might be more than willing to answer them. Did you ever stop to think of that?”

More silence. Samantha looked down at the table, realizing just how wrong her actions were. “You’re right. I’ve only been protecting my feelings… I never realized I might be hurting someone else’s.” She looked at Skip and gave him a small smile. “You know, you’re an awfully good friend to stick up for a guy you don’t know that well.”

Skip waved her off. “I know him pretty well. It’s just that he has his secrets. Doesn’t everybody?”

“I guess we do. So what do you think I should do?”

He stood up. “I think you should head over to our room and talk to him right now.” He looked at a chronometer on the wall. “But knowing him, he’s probably either sleeping or meditating right now, so the best bet would be…” he stopped in mid-sentence. “No. I just decided that I’m not going to tell you what I really think you should do. You have to figure that one out by yourself.” He yawned and rose. Her eyes grew wide at his answer. “As for me, I’m going to our room to get some sleep.” He started to head out the door before he stopped and looked at her again. “Oh, one more thing. Tell your roommate Karen that I’ll contact her tomorrow.” He grinned. “She asked me to do her a favor, but it’ll have to wait for now.” He left her to think real hard about her next actions.

~ * ~

The next day, Apollo was just finishing his last class of the day. He left the building to find Samantha sitting on a bench just outside the door. “Hi,” she said.

If Apollo was startled by her being there, he showed no sign. “Hello. I didn’t realize we had a session today.”

“We don’t,” she replied. “But I felt that we needed to talk.”

“Well, I have practice with Nova Squadron in about three hours…”

“Perfect. That’s plenty of time. Come on.” She took his hand before he could walk away and led him to the Academy’s park.

Once there, they found a secluded area and sat down on the grass, where Samantha went right in with what she was practicing to say all day. “Listen, there’s something I want to tell you, and I don’t want to be interrupted. Will you let me speak?”

Apollo looked confused. He was rushed to this park, plopped down, and now he was asked to listen to her. He figured that she would explain this action while she talked, so he agreed. She then proceeded to tell him about how she tried to find out more about him, from asking instructors and other cadets about their experiences with him to the little clandestine operation she was involved in when Skip caught her. Apollo never heard any of this from Skip, so he assumed that Skip knew about this conversation.

Samantha watched Apollo’s expressions while she told him about everything she did. When she reached the part where she looked at his file, she winced as he glared at her. “I expected you to react that way. It wasn’t very honest of me to do that.”

Apollo simply shook his head. “No, it was not,” he agreed. She didn’t see just how much he was using his techniques to hide what he thought of that crusade. “But please, continue.”

“I merely wanted to find out more about you; I honestly didn’t intend to hurt you. In fact, as I told Skip, I never knew you before that accident. And I didn’t know why you had such an interest in me.” She took a breath and continued. “I wanted to learn about you, but I didn’t know how to go about it.”

“You could have asked me.”

“I know. Skip even said as much. Well, you’re not exactly the easiest person in the world to approach. You carry yourself so coldly, so closed off from everyone else. It made me feel as if I was imposing on you if I asked you about yourself.”

This caught Apollo off-guard. He never thought that he looked that way to other people. “I… never realized that I seemed so aloof to everyone. Please forgive me, I never wanted to alienate anyone. It’s just that all my life, my concerns were to do a good job with my work. I never thought that it would consume me.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that you were consumed, but you did seem to go out of your way to stay busy. After all, you had over two hundred years of Earth history that you had never known about. Obviously, you’ve caught up.”

He nodded. “Yes, that’s why I have the free time to be in Nova Squadron, as well as tutor other cadets. You don’t realize how much time at the Academy is spent with science until it’s not in your curriculum.” He sat silent for a moment. Then, taking her hand, he said what he was thinking of. “Samantha, I do forgive you, and I hope that through all this we can be friends.”

She saw this as her chance. “Actually…” Samantha blushed and hesitated just for a moment. Then she cupped his face with her hand and kissed him. “I hoped we could be more.” At first, Apollo was startled. He had always envisioned this moment, but never thought it would actually take place. Realizing that it was, he responded, warming to her embrace and returning the gesture in kind. He felt a warmth in his heart that he had never known, and he hoped that the moment wouldn’t end.

Unfortunately, his chronometer had other plans. Interrupted by its chirping, he quickly got up. “I’m sorry, Samantha, I’ve got to go to practice. Could we, uh, continue this afterward?”

“Sure, and call me Sam. All my friends do. Where should we meet?”

“Let’s see. How about at the restaurant where we first met?”

“How about I meet you after practice and we walk there? Then we can get to know each other a little better.”

“Fair enough,” he said, flashing her a thumbs-up. He was about to leave when he felt that the gesture wasn’t good enough. He rushed up to her and kissed her again. When he headed for the hanger, there was a smile on his face. Suddenly, life seemed a lot better.