“Beyond the cosmic horizon”

by Lord Thanatos

05/06/09 – 22/08/09

Scenes:

1. The rebuild

2. Debt

3. Shooting the dead

4. Origami

5. Open house

6. Frankenstein

7. Déjà vu

8. Cargo

9. From beyond

10. The offer

11. The restart and the ending

The captain walks from beam down site towards the center of the Utis VIII colony being rebuilt in the background and around him, while the captain’s log recording can be heard. At the end of the recording LT will have found Linton in the square at the very heart of the colony.

LT: “Captain’s log, stardate 63167.29. The bodies of the colonists and the Greate Pier crew that died in the alien attacks that still remained onboard have been transported to the morgue on Harwood. There they will be picked up and returned to Earth by a cargo vessel, expected to reach Harwood in a matter of days. Harwood has the means to defend itself and there isn’t a soul on the evacuated Utis IV Beta, but all the other colonies now have Kaneda fighters to protect them. On the way back to Utis VIII we picked up 94 volunteers from several colonies to repopulate Utis VIII, which is currently being rebuilt. As each and every one of these volunteers is also going to be helping out with the rebuild, I’ve decided to get 15 of my engineers back from the surface as soon as we arrive. Five of them will be studying the captured alien shuttle in the shuttle bay. The other 10 will be joining the skeleton engineering crew in repairing the remaining damage to the Greate Pier. The hull breaches have been repaired, however, those pesky aliens also wrecked a lot on the inside of the ship, during their raid… Bastards. End log.”

Linton: “Ah, captain, there you are. Welcome back.”

LT: “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander.”

Linton: “It must look quite different from when you left.”

A large number of houses and other buildings as well as a big square have been completed in the Greate Pier’s absence.

LT: “Indeed, indeed… I can see that a lot has been done. What’s the status?”

Linton: “Well, by my estimates we’re on about 30% of completion. The old colony counted 90 houses; we’ve currently rebuilt 19 or 20 of them… All the other buildings, the ore storage facility, the research building, all of ‘em have been completed, except for the infirmary.”

LT: “Yes, Doctor Shelley beamed down with me; she will be helping out with the infirmary and will assign additional medical crew to assist if necessary…”

Linton: “Wonderful, wonderful… You’re the bearer of good news today… We need all the help we can get around here…”

LT: “Well, it’s nice to bring some good as well, once in a while… Although, I’m not sure the following will be good news. I’m afraid I’m going to pull 15 of my men back from the surface. I need them to study the alien vessel and complete repairs to the Greate Pier.”

Linton: “Oh… Well, I can’t say I’m happy about that, sir…”

LT: “How about I swap those 15 of my crew for 94 others?”

Linton looks puzzled…

Linton: “…sir?”

LT: “Hahaha, I’ve brought 94 colonists from other border colonies to repopulate this colony as soon as it’s done. And they all agreed to lend a helping hand in any way they can.”

Linton: “Oh, that’s very, very welcome… That would tremendously speed up the rebuild, hahaha…”

LT: “Not all of them have engineering degrees, but I’m sure you have enough to do around here for everyone…”

Linton: “Definitely…”

LT: “They should beam down any minute now. Any guesses on how fast you can finish this little project with the extra help?”

Linton: “Well, if those new recruits are half as capable as my average crew member, we could possibly finish this ‘little project’ in 10 days. Assuming the new colonists clean the place up themselves after construction is done.”

LT: “Make it a point to be done in 7 days. Deadlines help to get things done, hahaha… ”

Linton: “Yes, sir. I’ll replicate a bunch of whips.”

The first party of the new colonists beams down to the surface. Among them are Dan Krager and Yasmine Cole, continuing the conversation they started just before they beamed over. Both are 22 years old, Dan is Caucasian, Yasmine is racially black.

Cole: “So, you’ve been doing research for the past 3.5 years? No time off? No fun? How can you stand that?”

Krager: “Well, don’t get me wrong, I loved my job, but why do you think I jumped at this chance to do something else for a change?”

Cole: “I can’t blame you…”

They start walking in the direction of the square.

Krager: “So what have you been doing? You’re from MTRP IV, right?”

Cole: “Yes, I was a communications officer there…”

Dan replies jokingly:

Krager: “Interesting… Sitting in a chair all day talking to people sounds very interesting…”

Yasmine tries to hide her laugh…

Cole: “Oh shut up, you!”

Right after she says that, she fails to keep herself from smiling…

Krager: “Hahaha! And what are you going to be doing here?”

Cole: “Pretty much the same, communications… I’ll mainly be in contact with the Apparan asteroid colony and the cargo ships…”

Krager: “If the job is the same, why did you volunteer for the assignment?”

Cole: “Well, this colony needs to get up and running again, you know. And I also feel sorry for the people who died here… We need to show them aliens we’re not going to budge.”

Dan agrees, but after expressing that, looks quite shocked and regrets the chosen words…

Krager: “Yeah, we need to kick those black bastards in the rear… Oh! No pun intended!...”

Dan looks a bit ashamed, but luckily Yasmine isn’t offended… She smiles as she answers:

Cole: “No problem, but you owe me one…”

Krager: “What would you like?”

Cole: “What?”

Krager: “I owe you one… One of what would you like?”

Cole: “How about a drink, after our first shift?”

Krager: “Well, only because you keep pushing…”

Yasmine laughs…

Krager: “Come on, let’s find this Linton fellow, see what he has planned for us…”

They walk off trying to locate Linton.

Doctor Shelley is in the ship’s morgue and has put one of aliens on a surgical table, face down. After using a medical tricorder to scan for a short while, the doctor dictates her findings in a report.

Shelley: “Computer, open black alien report, append.”

Computer: “Bleep.”

Shelley: “Neurological scans confirm the crew’s experiences: The alien’s nervous system is very resilient. After injecting Araxom 34 into the tissue near the spine, there should be signs of twitching nerves for a while, even in a body that has been in the morgue for a long time, however, after one or two slight twitches, nothing else happened. Now proceeding with additional tests. Computer, save and close report.”

Computer: “Bleep.”

The doctor inserts 2 nodes with wires attached into the neck and lower back of the alien. She hooks the wires up to a small machine and activates it. She then opens a com link to security.

Shelley: “Shelley to security.”

Marks: “Marks here. Any trouble, doctor?”

Shelley: “No, on the contrary, I’d like to prevent trouble. As part of my research into these aliens I need to fire a phaser at one of their bodies. Can you deactivate the weapons detection system here in the morgue?”

Marks: “Is this sanctioned by the captain?”

Shelley hesitates for a short while…

Shelley: “Yes… Yes, of course…”

Marks: “Alright, hold on a second…”

Marks walks over to a console and complies with the doctor’s request.

Marks: “Alright, it’s deactivated, doctor.”

Shelley: “Thank you very much, Marks.”

Marks: “Alright, good luck with the experiment. Marks out.”

Shelley pauses for a moment to contemplate… Then she picks up her PADD and a phaser…

Shelley: “Computer, create an uplink between this hand phaser and my PADD.”

Computer: “Uplink established.”

She reprograms the phaser with the PADD and a short moment later is ready to try it out…

Shelley: “Let’s see what this does…”

She takes some distance from the dead body and fires her phaser right at it. She quickly walks over to the machine the spinal nodes are hooked up to and looks disappointed…

Shelley: “Hardly any nervous response…”

The doctor reprograms the phaser again… After a few seconds of tinkering with the PADD the doctor shoots at the alien again… She checks the data and her loudly whispered response says enough…

Shelley: “Dammit!”

Shelley isn’t about to give up and picks up the PADD again...

In the shuttle bay, Serrag is on the bridge of the alien shuttle. Unable to sit in the tiny chairs, he sits on the floor with his back against the wall, working on a PADD. Then Margon crawls onto the bridge.

Margon: “Lieutenant Margon reporting, sir.”

Serrag: “Ah, lieutenant… Welcome, welcome. Don’t mind the mess, but I’ve got limited room. I should move to a bigger place…”

Margon: “I hate this damn place… It seems even smaller this time.”

Margon slams his head into a bulkhead and the necessary grunts are heard when he tries to sit down, holding his forehead with his hand. He kicks over one of the tiny chairs in the process, formerly firmly fixed to the floor…

Serrag: “Hmm, that’s a shame… Try to keep the rest of the ship intact.”

Margon: “Be glad, you now have more space. And what are you doing here anyway?”

Serrag: “I’m attempting to translate the alien’s language so we can read the database and also make sense of the controls…”

Margon: “Violence is the only language they understand…”

Serrag: “That may be, however, I doubt the captain wants us to understand the alien’s language so we can negotiate peace. It’s probably to gain a tactical advantage for when we next meet. There might be crucial technical data in the database that can help us to shield the Greate Pier against their weapons…”

Margon: “Can’t the universal translator understand a single word of this language?”

Serrag: “Nothing, so far. I’m inputting all available information, hoping the UT will pick it up.”

Margon: “And what do you want me and the other engineers to do?”

Serrag: “Take this ship apart, learn anything you can and be sure to be able to put it all back together again…”

Margon: “Yes, sir.”

Margon tries to wiggle his huge Klingon body off of the bridge again.

Serrag: “Oh, and lieutenant?”

An annoyed Margon pauses his wiggling attempts and freezes in a very unnatural, uncomfortable and plain funny position to respond to his superior.

Margon: “YES!...”

Serrag: “Make the weapons systems your priority; the captain will want to know about that…”

Margon: “Yes, sir…”

Yasmine is upstairs in one of the not yet completed houses… She’s standing at the top of the stairs and shouts down.

Cole: “Hello? Can somebody bring me that white panel from downstairs?”

Krager, who is working downstairs, recognizes the voice and smiles while he lays down his tools. He looks around, sees the white panel leaning against the wall and picks it up. He walks up the stairs of the house which doesn’t have a roof yet… He walks into the first room on the left, where the voice came from. Yasmine gives Dan a warm reception in the form of a broad smile…

Cole: “Hello there…”

He acts like he didn’t expect to see her…

Krager: “Oooh, it’s you…!”

Cole: “Oh come on, you knew…”

Krager: “Maybe… But how did you know it was me that would bring the panel up?”

Cole: “My tricorder told me…”

Krager: “So, you’re spying on me, huh?”

Cole: “Maybe…”

Krager: “Where do you want this panel?”

Cole: “Downstairs.”

‘Innocent’ Dan asks with a tiny smile on his face:

Krager: “Why ask me to bring it up here then?”

Cole: “Because I need you upstairs…”

Dan plays offended.

Krager: “You don’t even have the decency to wait until our drink after our shift?”

Cole: “Not the decency, nor the patience.”

Krager: “And how come…”

Yasmine interrupts:

Cole: “Oh, shut up.”

Yasmine suddenly kisses Dan under the open sky… Dan does not protest and throws the panel aside, embraces Yasmine and they kiss like there’s no tomorrow, let alone an appointment for ‘a drink’ later that day.

Shelley is still at it in the morgue... She gets ready to fire another shot. Then captain LT walks in and the doctor fires…

LT: “Are you roasting some alien for me?”

Shelley is caught by surprise… She didn’t expect to be disturbed in the morgue…

Shelley: “Oh, sir… I…”

LT: “Don’t look so shocked, I’m not going to eat you. I might just eat this alien, if he’s well-done… I love red meat, but with aliens you just can’t be careful enough. I just came by to check on the progress you’ve made examining these critters.”

Shelley: “Well, eh… These eh… aliens are quite… weird.”

LT: “Yes, I knew that already. Any specifics?”

Shelley: “Well, the weapons they all have in their left arms are implanted. They probably implant them when they reach their adult size. They’re fired in pretty much the same way as we move a finger…”

LT: “Interesting. Even more interesting is you shooting an already dead alien… Care to enlighten me?”

Shelley: “Well, you wanted to know if there was a way of stopping them without killing them…”

LT: “Yes…”

Shelley: “I’ve been testing numerous different ways of accomplishing that with a standard issue phaser, with some programming adjustments… And I found a way that probably works.”

LT: “You found a way by experimenting with phaser fire on a corpse?”

Shelley: “Well, experiment… You make it sound so horrid…”

LT: “That’s because it is.”

Shelley: “How is it different from an autopsy?”

LT: “There’s a lot of difference between performing an autopsy and conducting experiments on a dead body… They might be vicious, murdering aliens, but that does not justify experimentation of this kind. In a desperate situation I might consider it, and perhaps even Starfleet Command would sanction such a course of action, however, this is not a desperate situation just yet, if you ask me. But then again, apparently, you’re not in the habit of asking me. I understand any personal feelings you might have towards these little bastards… Believe me, I’m quite sure we share the same sentiment towards them.”

Shelley: “We did gain a lot of information… Information you’d be sorry not to have in case of another direct encounter with these beings…”

LT: “I know. And I am glad we now have that knowledge… I’m just not glad with the method of gaining that knowledge…”

Shelley: “Well, sir, it’s just…”

The captain interrupts with an easing voice…

LT: “Don’t sir me, Eve… This is informal… For your sake and mine… Because I’m not going to put this in any report or log. Who else knows of this experiment?”

Shelley: “No one else but me… No, wait… Marks from security, he knows. He deactivated the weapons detection system on my request.”

LT: “I want you to keep the use of alien bodies out of your logs… Just log this knowledge as an experimental, untested method.”

Shelley: “Yes, sir…”

LT: “I’ll talk to Marks.”

Shelley: “Don’t reprimand him, captain. It’s not his fault…”

LT: “I won’t, I just need him to keep this out of his logs as well. And to be clear, I’m not in the habit of leaving things out of logs, Eve… However, in this case, I think it’s best for the chief medical officer and the commanding officer of this ship. As well as the Federation in general.”

Shelley: “Understood.”

LT: “Now then, tell me about what you’ve found out.”

Shelley: “Well, it may seem like a weird method, but you have to shoot directly at their heads… A small target to shoot at, but it’s the most effective way…”

LT: “They’re not attractive enough for me to mind shooting at their faces…”

Shelley: “I made a new custom setting for a standard issue hand phaser. It’s a low intensity wide beam setting that carries impulses which trigger the release of a certain chemical. That chemical, in sufficient quantity, can overload the nerves… The chemical causes no harm and will dissipate slowly from the bloodstream. It should knock them out for at least an hour and a half… All nerve function will slowly return as the chemical is dissipating.”

LT: “Can you send the new programming to Commander Reinard? I’ll make sure he updates all phasers with the new anti-annoying-alien setting.”

Shelley: “Yes, of course, sir.”

The captain walks towards the door… As he leaves he says:

LT: “Good work, bad doctor.”

After the door closes a puzzled looking doctor speaks in a soft voice:

Shelley: “Thank you?”

Margon tries to yank out a circuit board from an open panel on the side of the ship, accompanied by loud grunts and Klingon swearing. A small hatch opens on the side of the shuttle and Serrag’s head pops out. With a puzzled face he looks around and his eyes finally find Margon as he manages to remove the board with considerable force… Serrag asks for the obvious.

Serrag: “I have a terrible feeling of déjà vu… Did you manage to pull out that circuit board yet?”

Margon, still annoyed and aggressive looking…

Margon: “Yes!”

Serrag: “Will it still be working when you put it back in?”

Margon: “No!”

Serrag: “I see… Try to focus your aggression on your wife, lieutenant…”

Serrag’s head disappears and the hatch closes… After a second or two Margon makes the déjà vu complete by throwing away the circuit board.

Linton walks out of one of the houses his crew and the new colonists just completed. He’s followed by several people carrying tools and leftover building materials.

Maresca: “Maresca to Lieutenant Commander Linton.”

Linton halts, taps his combadge and answers the lady.

Linton: “Linton here.”

Maresca: “Incoming communication from Stewart colony for you, shall I patch Mr. Irons through to you?”

Linton: “Yes, please, thank you. This is Lieutenant Commander Linton, what can I do for you?”

Irons: “This is Patrick Irons, colony leader of Stewart colony, hello Lieutenant Commander… I’ve got some news for you and Lieutenant Commander Selurtis as well.”

Linton: “Oh, hold on…”

Linton calls Selurtis, walking some 10 meters away from Linton’s position. They walk towards each other and meet in the middle.

Linton: “Selurtis, I’ve got Stewart colony on the line, they have some news for us, it seems…”

Selurtis: “Alright, I’m listening…”

Irons: “The first 3 cargo ships just docked here at Stewart colony not 2 minutes ago…”

Selurtis: “Ah, that’s great!”

Irons: “I’ve got a large group of volunteer colonists here who are willing to help unload the cargo intended for Stewart.

Linton: “Is the captain of the lead vessel there with you?”

Snow: “Yes, I am… I’m Captain Snow. We’ve brought you some goods you might like.”

Linton: “Indeed we do… Have your men and the volunteers unload the equipment for Stewart.”

Snow: “Will be done. Those goods are on my ship, shall I send the other two ships to Pershard V and Deep Space Alpha right away?”

Linton: “No, after unloading you should go to Harwood colony and stretch your legs for a day or two and breathe some real outside air. I’m sure the people there won’t mind. We’re occupied with rebuilding Utis VIII for at least 6 or 7 days, so we won’t be installing your cargo on the colonies in the next few days.”

Snow: “Sounds like a good plan; I’ll contact the admiral, see if he agrees, hahaha…”

Selurtis: “And there’s another good reason not to send the other 2 ships away, captain. I don’t think it’s wise if your 3 cargo ships to split up. It’s just too dangerous. I firmly recommend you stick together.”

Snow: “Alright, then we will.”

Linton: “Irons, we’ll be there in about 8 or 9 days to start setting up the defenses on your colony.”

Irons: “Alright, we’ll be looking forward to it. We’ll feel a lot safer once that’s all done.”

Linton: “Good. See you then. Linton out. Alright, Selurtis… How about we try to pick up some more pace in fixing this place up. We have a lot more work cut out for us on the other colonies…”

Selurtis: “I’m afraid so…”

The captain finds Serrag and Margon checking something out under one of the opened panels of the alien vessel…

LT: “How are things coming along, gentlemen?”

Serrag: “Do you want the good or the bad news first?”

LT: “I’m in for some good news…”

Serrag: “I managed to translate some of the alien’s language… It will take a while to translate the entire database, as the universal translator isn’t picking the patterns up too well. But with the current knowledge of their language I managed to find some information in the database regarding the big vessel we encountered. The good news is that their crew complement isn’t nearly as large as we estimated. A mere 11,000.”

LT: “11,000?! And that’s less than you estimated?!”

Serrag: “Yes, when we compared the sizes of the captured shuttle and the big ship and we calculated there might be as much as 46,563 aliens onboard. But, it turns out to be just 11,000…”

LT: “11,000? Are you sure?”

Serrag: “Quite sure.”

LT: “And that’s the good news, right?...”

Serrag: “Yes, sir.”

LT: “Alright, hit me with the bad news then… I bet it can’t possibly be worse than the so-called good news…”

Serrag: “The bad news is that there are 2 more of those big ships.”

LT: “…I withdraw my previous statement…”

There’s a moment of silence before LT concludes the following.

LT: “33 of them killed 14 of my crew and badly damaged my ship. And now we possibly face 33 thousand more of them…”

Serrag: “Inj…”

LT: “What’s that?”

Serrag: “That’s apparently what they call themselves, sir, the Inj.”

LT: “So the beast now has a name… besides bastards.”

Serrag: “There’s some more information I was able to get from the shuttle’s computer which might actually qualify as real good news.”

LT: “If this isn’t good news either, I’m going to let the replicator turn you into breakfast…”

Serrag: “They’re not from around here…”

LT: “Define ‘not from around here’…”

Serrag: “As in they’re from the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy…”

LT looks amazed…

LT: “From another galaxy?!”

Serrag: “Yes, and as they don’t have very advanced propulsion systems, it’s unlikely they’re able to have reinforcements join them in our lifetimes.”

LT: “Any information on how long it took them to get here in the first place or why?”

Serrag: “Not at the moment, I’m still working on it.”

LT: “Alright, any other discoveries?”

Margon: “We’re currently focusing on the weapons… Their primary phaser-like weapon is not unlike ours, but about half as powerful. And as we found out in battle, this weapon is easily knocked out of commission with our own weapons. Their secondary weapon is a different story… It is a short range weapon, effective up to about 2,000 meters only. A short burst, like we experienced in the fly by attack by this vessel, knocks out engines and shields and does minimal damage. With continuous firing it can do a lot worse…”

LT: “How much worse?”

Margon: “Utis VIII worse. We can now confirm that this type of weapon, if not this very one, was used to destroy the colony below.”

LT: “So it was those… Inj that did it…”

Margon: “They must have fired continuously for 30 to 40 seconds at very close range to get this level of destruction.”

LT: “That’s some news the admiral will be interested in…”

Something catches the captain’s eye and he walks over to the discarded circuit board.

LT: “Oh, what’s this? Was this damage caused by our attack?”

Serrag: “Well no, in order to get to the weapons systems, we had to remove this unrelated circuit board. And it broke in the process…”

LT: “It ‘broke’? It looks like a mentally unstable Targ used it as a chew toy…”

Serrag: “Yes, now you mention it… It does…”

Margon now looks at Serrag with a look that could rip apart the Vulcan like the now proverbial circuit board.

LT: “And you said ‘unrelated’? What did the circuit board relate to?”

Serrag: “Something inconsequential, nothing important.”

LT: “And what would that be?”

Margon has enough of this subject and walks away, towards the shuttle. As he passes the captain he says:

Margon: “Just don’t use the toilet facilities on this shuttle…”

Yasmine walks into Dan’s new house… The living room is littered with crates full of Dan’s personal belongings.

Cole: “Hey, you already moved your stuff in here…”

Dan is sitting on his couch and just moves a small crate from his lap to the floor next to the couch.

Krager: “Yeah, I just brought in the last stuff… I thought I might just as well settle in right away... I’ll unpack everything after tomorrow’s shift.”

Cole: “Not that we need any of it…”

Krager: “Oh? And why not, if I may ask?”

Cole: “We just need the replicator and this couch…”

Yasmine sits down and places her arms around Dan…

Krager: “Well, I learned never to argue with a woman...”

Cole: “Oh come on, don’t tell me I don’t need to tame you…”

As a tease, Dan stands up.

Krager: “Don’t jump to conclusions, lady… But before we replicate our drinks, we need to replicate something else first…”

Dan walks over to the replicator.

Cole: “And what’s that?”

Krager: “Curtains…”

Yasmine laughs. A few curtains and a little while later the fresh couple sits on the couch enjoying their 6^th drink or so, judging from the number of glasses they’ve collected on the floor during their long talk.

Cole: “Say, why don’t you put the glasses back in the replicator when you get new drinks?”

Krager: “Oh, that’s just so I can count the number of drinks I need to give you…”

A naughty smirk decorates Yasmine’s face as she says:

Cole: “The number of drinks you need to give me for what?”

Krager: “To let you laugh at my poor jokes, hahaha…”

Cole: “Riiight, hahaha…”

Krager: “Or to let you move in with me after we finish helping out building all the remaining houses…”

Yasmine looks surprised for a moment but just a second or two later the smile reappears. She puts her glass on the floor because of the lack of a table and starts to kiss Dan. Several garments majestically soar through the air mere seconds later…

Not so early the next morning doctor Shelley walks up to Dan’s house. Just before she reaches the house, Dan barges out the door franticly trying to find the hole in his uniform through which to put his arm…

Krager: “…g’morning.”

Shelley smiles.

Shelley: “And a good morning to you too, hahaha…"

Shelley knocks on the half opened door…

Cole: “Yes, who is it?”

Shelley: “It’s Doctor Shelley from the Greate Pier. May I come in?”

Cole: “Yeah, come on in…”

Shelley finds Yasmine in the living room tinkering with her hair in front of a mirror.

Cole: “I’m sorry, doctor, I don’t have any time for physicals or anything, I’m late enough as it is…”

Shelley: “I know... I was expecting you about an hour ago, haha… Lieutenant Commander Linton agreed to have you helping me out today in the infirmary.”

Yasmine stops modeling her hair and joins the doctor in the center of the living room.

Cole: “Oh, I’m so sorry, doctor. We kind of overslept… I’m not in the habit of turning up late for duty…”

Shelley looks at the empty glasses on the floor and smirks.

Shelley: “Well, it’s not duty, as you volunteered to help out… But I can see there’s a good reason for being a bit late, hahaha… You must have had an interesting evening with Mr. Krager.”

Yasmine looks slightly embarrassed…

Shelley: “Come on, I’ll get you a cup of coffee…”

Cole: “Sounds like a good plan, I could use some…”

They both walk outside and head in the direction of the brand new infirmary.

Cole: “Why do you need me in the infirmary?”

Shelley: “Well, we’re a few hands short in completing the new infirmary and I prefer to have someone with a bit of medical training helping us out.”

Cole: “Well, I don’t have a lot of medical training, doctor.”

Shelley: “The grades I saw in your file were exemplary, though...”

Cole: “I’ve worked hard for those grades; I always wanted to be a doctor really bad…”

Shelley: “Then why did you quit?”

Cole: “My parents conveniently decided to move to MTRP IV. I wasn’t even given the choice if I wanted to stay and finish my education or not… I had to come. So, my dream of one day becoming a doctor just evaporated.”

Shelley: “Oh, that’s horrible…”

Cole: “I had horrible parents, doctor. Plain and simple.”

Shelley: “Had?”

Cole: “Yes, had. My mother died about 3.5 years ago…”

Shelley: “Oh, I’m sorry…”

Cole: “I’m not. Absolutely not.”

Shelley: “And your father? If you don’t mind my asking…”

They enter the new infirmary and walk into the office. Shelley invites Yasmine to sit down on a comfortable couch. The doctor orders 2 coffees from the replicator and then joins Yasmine on the couch.

Cole: “He came home one day, clearly drunk… Some woman was with him, never saw her before. But I think he didn’t either… He said he was going to leave with her… I didn’t pay much attention to what he said. He was often drunk and then his words usually didn’t make much sense. He grabbed some random stuff from the house it seemed and they left. I never saw him again and I have no clue as to where he lives these days… Nor do I care to know.”

Shelley: “That’s a terrible story… I can’t understand how people can treat their own children like that…”

Cole: “Well, that ‘terrible story’ luckily ended just over 3 years ago…”

Shelley: “And you’re a communications officer these days, right?”

Cole: “Yes, after we moved to MTRP IV I soon found a job as communications officer on MTRP IV Station.”

Shelley: “You have no interest in continuing your studies now you don’t have to do what you parents want anymore? You can still do that, you know…”

Cole: “Yeah, I know… But, I don’t know… I love being a communications officer as well and I also had a dream of being a veterinarian… I mean, I’m 22 and I apparently haven’t made a choice what I want to do with my life yet…”

Shelley: “Well, there’s still time left… Speaking of which, there’s someone special I’d like you to meet, before we get to work…”

Cole: “And who would that be?”

Shelley and Yasmine both stand up and move to the center of the office. Without answering Yasmine’s question Shelley instructs:

Shelley: “Greate Pier, two to beam up.”

They dematerialize… A short while later the door to cargo bay 3 opens and the ladies enter…

Shelley: “After what you told me, I’m sure you’ll love to meet her.”

Yasmine stops and takes a moment to smell the air…

Cole: “And by ‘her’ you must mean the horse I smell…”

Shelley: “You can smell that?”

Cole: “You mean you can’t?”

They both walk around large crates that obscured the little artificial pasture where the horse resides…

Shelley: “This is Aleste. One of my nurses takes care of her and gave her the name.”

Cole: “Aleste, I like the name. And it’s very nice to see a real horse again… There are none on MTRP IV. Come to think of it, there are hardly any animals on MTRP IV… It’s not a class M planet, like Utis VIII…”

Yasmine strokes the horse and seems captivated by the great beast… After a moment of silence, Shelley makes life harder for Yasmine.

Shelley: “I could arrange for you to transfer to the Greate Pier. You could take the care of Aleste out of the hands of my nurse…”

Yasmine looks shocked…

Cole: “…me?...”

Shelley: “Why not? In addition, you could also help out in sickbay if you want to… I can always use some extra help…”

The look on Yasmine’s face turns from shocked into worried and somewhat depressed…

Cole: “Oh, I wish you hadn’t made that offer… And why offer it to me? You hardly know me…”

Shelley: “I’m a good judge of character…”

Cole: “Well, you see…I met this guy…”

Shelley: “Ah, yes, the guy I saw for 2 nanoseconds before I came in to meet you, Mr. Krager...”

Cole: “And you know, I’ve met other guys before, but Dan seems so different. We connect on a certain level, something I’ve never experienced before…”

Shelley: “When did you meet him?”

Cole: “Yesterday…”

Shelley: “Yesterday? Hahaha…”

Cole: “I know it’s weird, but despite the fact that I just met him yesterday, I know there’s no one better for me in the entire universe … We talked until 3 in the morning and we have so much in common that it’s plain spooky… I mean, you can understand me, right? I mean, I’m sure you’re married…”

Shelley: “Well, no, actually I’m not… And I haven’t had much of a love life in the past either... But, I guess my job is the love of my life.”

Cole: “Well, then I guess you do understand me… Sort of… I mean, you must have had a moment at which you thought ‘this is what I want, I want to be a doctor, this is who I am.’”

Shelley: “Oh, yes, definitely. And I remember it all too well… I was 14 years old when my father died of a disease that was incurable back in those days. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a doctor. I knew it wasn’t going to help my father, of course… But I passionately wanted to help other people with all kinds of health issues and I still do today…”

Cole: “…maybe it’s just a little too sudden… Too soon, you know? After I had to give up my medical studies I kind of stopped living… I just did what my parents wanted. I was lucky to find a job as an escape from them… But even after my mother died and my father disappeared, I guess I never really woke up and picked up my life again… Oh, damn, I’m so sorry, doctor. I’m bothering you with my nonsense… You’re not a counselor…”

Shelley: “Please, don’t feel ashamed. Please, don’t. It’s good to talk about these things, especially if your life stood still for a while, living all alone in that house… Let me tell you, I had a rough patch in my life, about 15 years ago… And, as you might have guessed, I wasn’t involved with anyone at the time… My parents were already dead and I had no friends at all, as my life consisted solely out of working, eating and sleeping, even in my dreams at night. It’s good to have someone listening to your problems, even if that’s all he or she does…”

Cole: “Thank you, doctor… I really appreciate it. I really do.”

Shelley: “And I’m sorry for making an offer to join us here on the Greate Pier, I didn’t want to complicate matters even more in your life…”

Cole: “That’s ok, doctor. I’m actually honored you asked me.”

Shelley: “The offer still stands, though.”

Cole: “I really want to, but I really want to be with Dan as well… He even asked me to move in when the rebuild is complete… But I’m very sure he wouldn’t want to join me and live on a ship…”

Shelley: “No one can make the decision for you, I’m afraid…”

Cole: “I know, I know… I have to seriously think about it…”

Shelley: “The Greate Pier won’t leave for another 5 days at least, so you have a little bit of time…”

Cole: “Hmm….”

The doctor puts her hand on Yasmine’s shoulder.

Shelley: “Come on, let’s go… Let’s concentrate our attention on the infirmary for now…”

The ladies walk towards the exit.

A crowd of around 600 people, consisting of nearly the entire Greate Pier crew, Linton’s crew and the new colonists have gathered in the square. LT, Linton, Selurtis and the new colony leader, Mr. Miller stand side by side on a small podium.

LT: “Ladies and gentlemen. Like Mr. Miller, the new colony leader, just said, we’re not going to take up any more of your time. I’m sure that now the rebuild is done, the new colonists here in the crowd will be eager to get to work on this renewed colony. But not before I thank each and every one of you, also on behalf of Admiral Mullins and all of Starfleet and the Federation. The new colonists, Lieutenant Commander Linton’s engineering crew, Lieutenant Commander Selurtis and the crew of the Greate Pier all together rebuilt this colony in record time. A brilliant effort. This colony was destroyed in a cowardly fashion by the Inj, as they’re called. We showed them we’re not just going to leave or stand for the death and destruction they’ve caused. There are no celebrations here today, because 136 people died here not long ago. But this still feels like a victory. Colonists, enjoy your new home.”

LT, Linton, Selurtis and Miller shake hands with each other while the crowd applauds. Slowly but surely the crowd dissipates. Yasmine walks in the direction of her own house on the colony. Dan spots her and catches up.

Krager: “Hey, where are you going? We need to celebrate this… I know it seems sort of inappropriate, but…”

Dan notices something isn’t quite right with Yasmine, she looks a little down.

Krager: “…hey, what’s wrong?”

Cole: “Dan, we have to talk…”

Krager: “What’s up? Are you ok?”

Cole: “Come, let’s go inside first…”

They walk into Yasmine’s house and sit down on her couch…

Cole: “You know we’ve been talking about moving in with each other and all…”

Krager: “Oh, that’s what it is… We’re moving too fast…”

Yasmine doesn’t respond.

Krager: “Well, you know, I didn’t want to rush things, you know… So, we can take it a little slower, if you want…”

Cole: “Honestly, it’s not going too fast, it’s just too soon…”

Krager: “Too soon? I see… But I thought you loved me, that you really wanted to be with me…”

Cole: “I do… And that’s the difficult part… I just know we fit together so perfectly… But…”

Krager: “But?”

Yasmine sighs…

Cole: “It’s so hard to explain… I guess it comes down to me having to sort out my life, the one my parents screwed up for me.”

Krager: “I understand…”

Cole: “I have to leave again, Dan.”

Krager: “What? Why? Don’t you want to see me at all then? Tell me honestly, did I do something wrong?”

Cole: “You’ve done nothing wrong, my sweet Dan… Nothing at all. The only thing you’re guilty of is making me happy for the first time in my life… The past few days were absolutely perfect! And don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to lose you. But I can’t be here right now…”

Dan looks down at the floor and silence fills the room for a moment…

Krager: “Where would you go?”

Cole: “I’m leaving with the Greate Pier tomorrow… Doctor Shelley offered me a double job. They have a horse onboard that needs taking care of and I can help out in sickbay.”

Krager: “When did they offer you that?”

Cole: “Some 6 days ago…”

Krager: “6 days ago?! Why didn’t you tell me? We were having such a great, great time… Why didn’t you tell me you were going to leave just 6 days later?”

Cole: “I didn’t know what I wanted yet… I couldn’t tell you, I didn’t even know what to tell myself…”

Dan puts his arm around Yasmine.

Krager: “That double job sure sounds like something you’d enjoy.”

Cole: “Before I came to MTRP IV studying medicine was my life. Maybe I just need a taste of it to get my old life back… My life has been standing still since we moved to the border colonies. As you know, my father disappeared 3 years ago, but for some reason I didn’t go straight back to Earth to pick up my medicine studies. I just need to jumpstart my life again…”

Krager: “And I don’t fit in that picture.”

Cole: “Please do understand, I love you very, very much.”

Krager: “And I love you too…”

They hug very tightly… After a few seconds Dan continues.

Krager: “And that’s what makes this so hard… I need you close to me.”

Cole: “I’ll be back, I promise…”

Krager: “You really promise?”

Cole: “Yes, I do, I promise…”

Krager: “Then I’m a worry-free man…”

Cole: “Come, let’s replicate something that will make us come out of bed late again…”

Krager: “Or go to bed early…”

They both walk over to the replicator and order some drinks…

Krager: “We should make a toast…”

Cole: “To what should we toast then?”

Krager: “How about to this night… May it last forever…”

Their glasses touch and they both take a sip…

Changelog:

13/09/09

Changed: Several mentions of '5 days ago' in a conversation between Cole and Krager in the laste scene.

To: 6 days ago.

Reason: Minor continuity error.