Setting the Course: Five Year Mission

Chapter Thirteen: Mind Your P's and Q's

April 19, 2156 1035 –Andoria orbit (Procyon VIII)

The Kralek Heavy Industries passenger shuttle, on its way to rendezvous with Enterprise, shuddered as it passed through some turbulence.  This was the VIP shuttle, used for the top executives of the company.  Larger than one of Enterprise’s shuttles, inside it was well appointed, with comfortable seats, communications equipment and a well stocked bar.  The passenger compartment was separated from the pilot’s compartment for privacy.  The cabin was set at a comfortable 5 degrees Celsius.

The three passengers were quiet. Talarak, the Director of Technology for Kralek Heavy Industries, was an older woman.  She was a frequent user of the shuttle and quite at home.  In addition to her position with Kralek, she also served on General Krag’s Defense Council.  She had been part of the Andorian negotiating team who had met with Archer previously.  She was writing in an old fashioned notebook, the pages made from the thin scales of the arkla, a huge, serpent like animal.

Melek and Igrilan were young engineers in the Shield Division.  They had been assigned to go to Earth and assist with the shield installation and design work.  The possibility had been raised some months before but it was only after the negotiations had been completed that they had finalized the trip plans.  Talarak was a last minute addition to the trip and her presence was making them both uneasy and curious.  They had been expecting to take one of the work boats up to Enterprise, not the VIP shuttle.

Igrilan, a younger male, was staring pensively out the window. 

Talarak looked up from her notebook.  “Taking a last look at home, Igrilan?” she asked.

“Yes, Director,” he answered.  Melek, a tall woman, also looked away from her window.

“Worried about being away for so long?” Talarak asked.

“I think I’m more worried about taking passage on such a primitive ship,” he said.

“Enterprise may be a little old fashioned by our standards but I wouldn’t call it primitive,” Talarak chided, as she finished inking a small diagram.

“I don’t understand why there’s so much fuss over these Humans.  We should have just given them a manual.  If they want the shield generators installed they could have come to our facilities here,” Igrilan complained.

Talarak put her notebook into her bag.  Igrilan was a bright young engineer but he needed to learn a bit about business and politics.

“These Humans may very well be the making of your career and yours too Melek,” she said.

Melek snorted, “Fah!  I don’t want a career dependent on primitives!”

Talarak sighed.  “Before we left, did you two notice that Manufacturing was in a tizzy?”

Igrilan said, “No, not really.  I don’t get down to that area of the plant very often.”  Melek shook her head.

Talarak said, “We just shipped ten medium shields generators up to Enterprise a few days ago – we only have two in stock now.  And, we just received a purchase order from Starfleet on Earth for an additional forty to be delivered this year.”

Melek’s antennae stood up straight.  “We normally only build twenty four a year!”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Talarak replied drily.

Igrilan and Melek looked at each other in confusion.  Melek said, “What can these Humans be doing?”

Talarak replied, “That is why I’m coming on this little field trip.  General Krag is also very curious about what the Humans are up to.  We’ve had no indications that they had so much ship building capacity.”

Igrilan said, “But what about the needs of the Imperial Guard?  Are we going to short change ourselves?”

“Igrilan, this contract is only good for ten Earth years.  After that, they are free to produce as much as they like under the terms of their license.  If they do not believe that Kralek Heavy Industries and Andoria are good partners, we will not be getting that business.  The first part of being a good business partner is actually having goods for the customer!”

“What do we care about these Humans?  Our defense must come first!” he said forcefully.

“These Humans are going to be a force in this quadrant of space.  As far as the Defense Council can tell, they are going to be the best allies Andoria can have,” said Talarak.

“Andoria doesn’t need allies!  We are strong!” said Igrilan.

“Igrilan, please.  We are 250 million people on Andoria, another 50 million on the colonies.  We are outnumbered on all sides.  We have good ships and brave warriors.  But numbers will always win out in the end.  We have been fighting with the Vulcans for centuries.  Only their lack of real interest in our icy worlds has kept them back.  The Tellarites are impossible to get along with.  They are stupid but they have numbers.  However, we can get along with the Humans.  They are not as smart as the Vulcans but they do well.  Their theoreticians are at least the equals of ours.  And there are 10 billion of them on their homeworld!”  Ever since accurate statistics had become available to the Defense Council she had been worried.  The more she learned about the Humans the more she became certain that they would be the major force in the quadrant within a century.

“How is that possible?” asked Melek.

“It is a warm and fertile planet.  It is also a rich world.  When we told Archer the price for the shield generators he hardly blinked.  It was well within his negotiating parameters it would seem.  And we charged fifty percent more than we would to the Guard!”

“So you’re saying they’re rich, they’re reasonably smart and there’s a lot of them.  Where does that leave us?  We’re like a rounding error on their census!” spat Melek.

“Yes, we are, aren’t we?” said Talarak.  “Finding out where we fit with respect to the Humans suddenly takes on a whole new urgency, wouldn’t you say?” she asked.  “The Humans look on us as being more advanced and they don’t see our limitations yet.  I want to keep it that way as long as possible.  I expect you both to be on your best behavior.  Is that understood?”

“Yes, Director” they chorused.  Silence descended as Talarak took her notebook out of her bag again.

Twenty minutes later the shuttle docked with Enterprise’s port airlock.  Archer, Trip and T’Pol were there to greet them.

Talarak was first through the airlock.  Archer greeted her right away.  “It’s a pleasure to see you again Director Talarak.  I was a little surprised to hear you were coming personally.”

Melek and Igrilan struggled through the hatch with the baggage.

“I wanted to make sure that our new customers were properly taken care of.  We also had a lot of questions about the transporter internals and I was anxious to get some answers from the source.  The Heisenberg compensator assembly steps are a little strange to say the least.”

Trip laughed.  “Those things are weird.  You open them up and look inside and they stop working!”  T’Pol shot Trip a look.  Trip continued, “We had Emory Erickson on board a while back and I asked him about that.  He claims it’s an observer effect and that they use blind people to put them together at the factory.”

“Really?” said Talarak.  “Well, perhaps we could use the Aenar for that.”

T’Pol jumped in, “I believe that was a joke.  Human humor can sometimes be difficult for non-Humans to recognize.”

“I could see why Vulcans would have difficulty,” said Melek.  You don’t have a sense of humor at all, do you?” she continued, looking down at the Vulcan.

The shorter T’Pol looked up at her and quirked an eyebrow.  “I have heard Human males say that women in general lack a sense of humor.  You may take that up with them.  Personally, I find that a sense of irony substitutes quite well for a sense of humor most days and requires a bit more…intellect.”

Talarak guffawed,  “Shran said that you could hold your own, T’Pol.  I see he was correct.”  She nailed Melek with a glare.  “Best. Behavior.  Or I’m sure we have openings in Maintenance.”  Melek visibly wilted, her antennae drooping.

 T’Pol ignored the interchange.  “Shall we show you to your quarters?” she asked.

“A fine idea,” said Talarak.

T’Pol led off and the group began walking down the corridor.  Archer said “We’ll be breaking orbit in a couple of hours so we’ll be a little busy until we’re underway.  I’d like to have the three of you join us for dinner tonight.”

Talarak replied, “We’d be delighted.  And perhaps afterwards we can share some Andorian ale, and maybe some of that Earth drink you introduced us to the other day, what was it called, tekila?”