Stardate 50660.8
At Cap Meares, a lighthouse overlooked the Pacific Ocean. In the past it helped travelers avoid the coast and reach Tillamook Bay in safety. It was vital as Pillar Rock and Pyramid Rock were near the lighthouse and could have been a danger for any ship traveling near the coast.
Sitting on a bench, a small woman with auburn brown hair, freckles, and black spot on the side of her body was looking at the sunset. Dressed in a pink Jane Doe T-shirt and a jean, she had an antic Polaroid camera in hands. Next to her, a blue bag was containing her stuff.
As she was captivated by the view, she didn’t notice a slightly older woman walking toward her. Wearing a grey jumpsuit with red shoulders.
“So, this is where you’re hiding, enjoying a last Golden Hour before leaving Oregon?”
Surprised, Max looked in the direction of an all too familiar voice.
“Steph! What are you doing here?”
With a smile, the young cadet walked toward her.
“Oh, I was thinking that you could miss the time of the transport to San Francisco, so I could come catch you and take you with me. You already said goodbye to everybody?”
A brief grin enlightened the face of the seventeen years old half-trill. But she then asked:
“Yes… Steph… Why did you join Starfleet?”
Taking her chin between two fingers, Stephanie Gingrich faked overthinking her answer.
“What a question! Well, it was obviously for the opportunity to have a girl on each planet. Clearly that.”
Bumping her fist to the shoulder of her older friend, Max laughed:
“Damn, tell me the truth, you perv!”
With a warm smile, the second-year cadet answered:
“Oh, it’s stupid. But you know how I was raised on Tolkien and Sapkowski by my nerdy dad. And I’m not proud of that but when you’re only surrounded by human, there’s no big difference between Dungeon and Dragons or Bat’leths and Bihnuchs. A Vulcan is just a High-Elf that you can see on the news. As you know, you and your mom were the first “non-human” a lot of people in Tillamook Bay ever met. But I’m glad to not have wait to meet you to face the diversity of the real world.”
Knowing her friend, Max was able to realize when that happened:
“It was in Seattle, when your parents divorced.”
Steph nodded, then continued:
“I realized that the world offered all the excitements, adventures and diversity of my games, and a lot more. I had to explore these strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations. But I’m used to be the Dungeon Master… That’s why I need to become captain of my own ship. Hence the red shoulders.”
Hearing her friend, Max looked at her feet, feeling ashamed.
“Sometimes, I feel like I only do that for avenging Chloe. I just want to catch pirates and criminals to prosecute them.”
Putting a hand on her friend’s one, Steph decided to step up:
“Max, see it that way: your actions will secure the galaxy by removing threats from the life of the innocents, so no one experience what you had to endure. This is a noble cause. Anyway, it’s time. You’re ready?”
Putting the camera into her bag before leaving the bench, the young Caulfield nodded:
“Yup, I’m ready to boldly go where I’ve never gone before.”
Amused by her friend’s answer, Steph tapped the combadge on her torso. The little delta on top of two gold bar made two beeping sounds.
“Cadet Gingrich to Academy, two to beam up.”
And the two young women disappeared in a blue light from Tillamook Bay.
The noise of a huge crowd directly attacked Max’s ears when she rematerialized in Presidio, followed by the smell of exotic flowers that cohabited surprisingly well despite coming from different planets. The enlisted operating the teleporter nodded to the two cadets and, taking Max hand, Steph moved toward the nearest officer. His uniform was like Gingrich’s own in it’s cut but the red shoulders topped a black jumpsuit instead of a grey one.
“Ah Gingrich. I guess you’re not coming to complain about your room.”
Slightly blushing, she commented:
“Good evening and no, Lieutenant Matthews. Here’s cadet Caulfield. Can you tell us her room?”
Max made a shy salute that surprised the human officer.
“Good evening cadet. You’ve got room 219 in the Hoshi Sato dormitory. I’m pretty sure cadet Gingrich can show you where it is. How many dormitories did you visit last year?”
Biting her lips, Steph was now red like a tomato:
“All of them, but you will not catch me again, Sir.”
Lieutenant Skip Matthews was visibly trying to not laugh as he gestured them to move away. Smiling to him, Steph moved toward the dormitory named after the famous communication officer and xenolinguist of the USS Enterprise NX-01 from United Earth that had been so pivotal in the foundation of the United Federation of Planets.
“What’s the story?
Asked Max while following her friend.
“I’ll just say that I may have had some success with the girls and that he may have caught me more than once while trying to sneak into some girls’ room… Or trying to sneak back into my own.”
Steph’s answer surprised the young Caulfield:
“Lieutenant chaperone us in the Academy?”
Looking at her friend, Steph realized that Max had a lot to learn:
“Check the officers’ collar and learn how to read the pipes. He’s only got one gold pipe and one black one. He’s just Lieutenant Junior Grade. Barely better than an ensign. But more than enough to kick your ass if you don’t enjoy his musical taste.”
“Oh? Ok.”
This explained why a Lieutenant was doing such a small job in the academy. He wasn’t really a Lieutenant.
Following Steph, Max tried to memorize her path from the public teleporters in the park of the Academy to her dormitory. A century old but in perfect condition, the dormitory was far from being the newest addition to the campus. Logically built, the building was filled with students in civilian clothes and uniforms. Max was guided to the second floor by her friend when she opened her mouth:
“Steph, what’s your dormitory?”
The young trill wondered why she didn’t ask before that question to her friend. It was clearly something to ask.
“Una Chin-Ridley, room 067. It’s very practical to visit the campus at night, I can use the window without injuring myself.”
While Max had never expressed any interest into anyone, Steph always had a girlfriend as far as she knew. But it seemed dubious that she would have had enough girlfriends in a single year to visit every dormitory… Was she going to secret parties?
“Ok, here’s your room. Look like you are already having guests.”
Putting her arm on the doorframe, Steph looked inside the room. Being shy in nature, Max walked slowly past her friend and discovered what would be her room for four years, minus the time spent in space or the summer vacation with her parents.
The room was sized so two students could live there without having to walk into each other. Two windows provided light directly into the room and a desk with a secure computer terminal linked to the academy’s mainframe was installed under each. Between both desks, a small replicator was installed to provide anything the cadets could need. Behind these desks there were two functionals beds with white sheets covered by the emblem of the Academy, a red triangle in which the Golden Gate at the golden hour and Starfleet logo were emblazed.
In the middle of the room there was a couch, and wardrobes were placed on each side of the door.
“Not the best room in the Academy, but much better than what we would get on most training ships.”
Commented Steph. The guests mentioned were three young women of their age. Two were Andorian and the third was human.
On Max right, the blue skinned girl with chin length white hair sitting on the bed was wearing a striped sweater in the style of old marinière, a black pants and sandal shoes. Her antenna turned toward the duo before her eyes, but they soon returned in the direction of the human girl who was lying on the bed, using her friend’s laps as a pillow.
That human had long blonde hair, a vest in jeans, a white short and the feet at the end of her long legs were resting on the pillow. At least the boots had been removed.
On the other bed, only the antenna of the andorian had moved but they were clearly fixed on Max. Looking at her, Max was surprised by the look of her pixie cute, her delicate face, the cashmere she was wearing, the perfectly cut skirt and very long legs… so long that Max got lost following them with her eyes.
“Look like I’m getting some mute girl as my roommate.”
Commented that andorian girl. Steph felt some anger rise in her, and she clearly left the pose she had for a much stricter one.
“Oh! Hmm... I’m Max Caulfield.”
Reacted the young trill.
“Look like your pinky remembered how to speak.”
Commented the andorian pillow. At that moment Max realized that the blonde girl had her hair pet by her friend.
“Looks like we gonna love each other. I’m second year cadet Steph Gingrich. And you should all check your uniform for tomorrow. Superintendent Keaton isn’t going to like students with a badly cut uniform on the first day. Especially if he notices it during the Chancellor of the Academy’ speech.”
Reacted Steph in a sarcastic tone.
“I’m Vtoria Shase, this is Kurtny Wgner and Taylor Christensen. I hope that you do not snore, Caulfield.”
The girl alone on her bed had commented as if she was reading the weather forecast. She was clearly bothered by her roommate and the cadet interrupting some girl talk.
“Ok everyone, let’s the girls meet each other. You’ll have ample time to debrief later.
Said Steph, inviting Taylor and Kurtny to leave the room. It worked and Max decided to unpack her bag. She didn’t notice that Vtoria was fixing her either with her eyes or antenna when it wasn’t both.
“You… It’s your first time on Earth?”
Asked Max, as she finished unpacking her belongings.
“Pinky, my parents are part of the Andorian delegation. Kurtny and I grew up here. You?”
Vtoria seemed uninterested by the answer but bored to a point where she had nothing better to do than talk.
“My dad’s human but i’ve been on Earth for five years only.”
“And already trying to leave it. Make sense.”
Having finished unpacking, Max moved toward the replicator to order a soup.
“Do you want to eat something?”
If Vtoria had a thought, she said nothing, but her hand clearly pushed an imaginary plate away.
“Ok Then I guess you want to upset someone and leave Earth by joining the Fleet. Or you want to look like a rebel, so you say that story.”
At that deduction, Vtoria froze and looked at the trill with both her eyes and antennas.
“Bon appétit and try to sleep. We gonna need it.”
“Thanks, Vtoria and good night.”
The soup was finished in silence as Vtoria changed her clothing before going under her drapes. Once the meal over, Max went to brush her teeth and found Vtoria sleeping or faking it when she came back.
“Look like these four years gonna be long.”
Thought Max as she put on her PJs then went to bed and turned off the light. As she laid her head on the pillow, she realized that it was still smelling Taylor’s feet. She returned it, trying to not complain despite being upset by Taylor action. In the dark, she could not notice Vtoria antenna turned toward her. The Andorian wasn’t missing any moment of the Caulfield show.