32Note: First, I do not own any of the Star Trek characters other than those I make up myself. I swear.
This is the second story, Linnaeus, starting with the same prologue. Since I realize you've already read the prologue, I added an epilogue to Apoidea, kind of like a consolation prize, yes. I'm still working on the next chapter and didn't want to hurry just for the sake of posting.
Enterprise
"Captain Archer's log. We're still in the Porcellio Gamma Three constellation. There have been no reportable events, the science teams are hard at work verifying the Vulcan star charts and cataloguing new information."
Archer clicked off the com with a sigh. Lucky scientists. The entire ship was abuzz with their excitement, Enterprise had become one giant geekfest. It was day sixteen of their assignment and as far as he was concerned it might as well have been day sixty-one. That's how long he felt this had dragged on already. Way too long. He needed some action. But hard to deflate the excitement of his teams with the news that their captain was bored.
At least he had Trip on his side, the Engineering crew had pretty much hand-buffed every last head of every last screw on board. In a little while, the numbers would be with him, there would be more bored crew members than not and the balance would start tipping. Then he could start gently asking T'Pol when they would be done without getting lectured about the invaluable data they were streaming on a daily basis.
Every day found her almost impatiently waiting to be done with breakfast so that she could run down to the labs and start another day of exploration. Of course, she'd deny every last bit of it, Vulcans didn't run and they didn't get excited, yadi, yadi, yada. But she didn't fool anyone.
"Captain, I'm getting a distress call!" Hoshi interrupted his mulling.
'Damn, Jonathan, don't you know better than ask for action?!' part of him reproached. The other part couldn't help celebrate the news that there would at last be something for him to do. To each his own.
"Hoshi, ask their coordinates and let them know we're on our way; Travis, set a course when we have them!" His commands were short, efficient. "Ah, Hoshi, also let the science teams know we're detouring for a short while, tell them we'll be back as soon as the emergency's resolved."
It was something he should have done himself, but he just didn't feel like being the messenger. T'Pol would look at him as if she suspected he'd had something to do with it, and truth be told he would'a if he could'a. That made him not wish to face her. To each his own.
It took two days before they finally spotted the alien ship, unmoving though life support systems were obviously still on. It was huge, larger than he'd expected. But then, why would a ship in distress by necessity be small? This transport was almost half the size of Enterprise, at least three decks to judge by the portholes, and a huge bow. Definitely not a design he was familiar with.
"Hail them, Hoshi, put it on the screen."
He glanced over at T'Pol and was graced with a quizzical eyebrow in return. Now that there was no more data to be collected, she was back on the bridge. He shrugged his ignorance of what was wrong with the vessel, waiting tensely for an image to appear on the main screen.
And what an image. There were a dozen or so of those beings on the alien ship's bridge. These were definitely aliens. Long, tall, and willowy. Graced with external sexual characteristics that firmly established they were female. They had a general air of kinship. They were all tall, their necks elongated beyond the Human norm, their eyes naturally shadowed, their hair a two-tone white and tan.
They were chittering excitedly with each other. Finally, one of them split from the group, came closer to the view of the bridge crew. Archer noticed there was a double edging of some sorts along the lines of the short-legged tunic that hung close to her body. He got up from his chair and walked to the screen.
"I am Captain Archer, of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We've received a distress call."
A pair of huge black eyes blinked repeatedly. She looked stupefied, like she had never seen aliens before. Usually space farers were slightly more accustomed to encountering other humanoids. She started chittering at the screen.
Archer turned to Hoshi, "The universal translator's not working!"
Hoshi was frowning, looked back up at him. "It may take a few moments to calibrate. I don't know what their root language is."
At that moment, the tall alien started talking in Standard. "I am X-Eliantix, Captain of the fulfillment vessel Tarorat. We're experiencing technical difficulties."
Archer glanced at Hoshi. "Fulfillment vessel?" he asked softly. She briefly shook her head, she had no idea what the translator meant. He turned his attention back to the alien. "What kind of technical difficulties?"
"Our engines won't maintain more than life support systems. We need to get back to our planet for repairs." The alien captain still seemed somewhat enervated, to judge by the repeated rapid blinking of her eyes. She was looking fixedly at Hoshi.
Archer turned to Trip, who was looking a lot chipper. This emergency was a godsend for him as well. "Perhaps we can help," Archer replied. He turned to T'Pol. "How's the atmosphere on the ship?"
"The levels are quite acceptable for Human lifeforms, comfortable even." T'Pol dropped her voice. "May I remind you of Starfleet directives -"
"My chief engineer will go over shortly with a couple of technicians, see what can be done," Archer announced to the alien captain, cutting T'Pol off because she could finish her sentence.
He knew what she was going to say. That he needed to ascertain these aliens didn't present any danger or threat, and were generally inoffensive in their disposition. If he listened to regulations, they'd never do any exploring.
Archer trusted his gut instinct, and his gut instinct was that these aliens were inoffensive.
xxx
Tarorat
A silence fell over the bridge as the aliens walked in. A dozen pair of black orbs blinked repeatedly. Finally the Captain walked over to the new arrivals. "What are you?" she asked in a half-whisper.
The alien with the gold hair bared his teeth, though it did not seem to be threatening. "We're Humans, ma'am, from a planet called Earth. I am Charles Tucker the Third, Chief Engineer on Enterprise, but call me Trip."
Trip hesitated, wondering whether it was good manners, but curiosity was the stronger. "And what are you?" he asked.
"We're Aneukarians," X-Eliantix responded. The others stood around her in stupefied silence. Trip almost felt like checking that the two technicians with him were not doing anything incongruous. He figured the Aneukarians hadn't dealt with many aliens before.
"I thought perhaps we could have a look at the engines, see if there's anything we can do for you?" Trip flashed his broadest smile again, all southern charm. Three Aneukarians separated from the group and one of them introduced herself as the engineer.
After walking what seemed to be miles of corridor, the six of them were staring at the warp coil and the blinking crystal chamber. Trip frowned, this didn't look too good.
One of the technicians siddled closer as they were taking readings. "Chief, did'ya see, they're all females!" he whispered. Trip rolled his eyes. Like he hadn't noticed. "What d'you think it is?" Awada asked again.
Trip shrugged him off with a shoulder. "We don't know their world. Perhaps the men are much smaller."
"Or perhaps the men carry babies," McBreen cut in, guffawing. Trip rolled his eyes. Since the Xyrillian incident, there'd been plenty of jabs from his men. They loved him to death, and he didnt let it bother him. "Yes, there are worlds where men stay home and have the babies. Get over yourself, McBreen."
"Or perhaps there's no men!" Awada anted up. The three of them chuckled at the thought.
