#34 -- Gaila, independenceyahtzee63May 13 2009, 16:38:59 UTC
At the age of five, Gaila was sold by her father to a traveler they met at a guard post. She had expected to be sold - it was the lot of an Orion woman - but five was young even for them. Sometimes she thinks she can remember what her mother's face looked like as her father tore her away; usually she knows she can't.
Her new "owner" proved to be an investigative journalist doing an expose on the Orion slave trade and the Federation citizens who abused it. Instead of scrubbing floors, she was put before holocams, a cherubic green child who didn't deserve the terrible fate of slavery. The journalist made sure Gaila never wanted for money, clothes or food, but he did not try to find her mother again.
One day, he offered to send her to a fine university on his homeworld. That night, Gaila downloaded the application for Starfleet Academy. Her slavery might have ended years ago, but she wanted to find out what it meant to truly be free.
#13 -- Uhura, there but for the grace of Godyahtzee63May 13 2009, 17:03:29 UTC
ASSIGNMENT: U.S.S. FARRAGUT
When she first read them, the words stung. Nyota hadn't known what to think. Had her Kobayashi Maru score been lower than she'd feared? Was there some gremlin in the works of Starfleet's brand-new flagship? Was Spock doing the whole "I need space" thing?
It turned out to be the opposite - he'd been worried that assigning her to his ship would look like favoritism. One step aboard the Enterprise, and Nyota knew it was everything they'd said it would be. And they had a crisis to deal with: She could find out about her test scores later.
Only in the aftermath of the crisis - with the last dust of Vulcan glittering in space, half the fleet wrecked, billions dead, and the unmistakable sense that she'd aged 20 years in the past two days - did Nyota realize how narrow her escape had been. If she'd been on the Farragut, she'd be dead.
"You got lucky, Spock," she muttered to herself. "Because I would damn sure have come back to haunt you about that one."
#87 -- Kirk and Uhura, surprise partyyahtzee63May 13 2009, 17:47:50 UTC
When you're captain of a starship, you can't exactly manage your own birthday party. No more casual messages to friends, suggesting a bar and a time; it sounds like an order. You can't even hint to somebody what you'd like: If you do, chances are you'll show up and find everybody there in uniform, standing at attention. Not exactly Jim Kirk's idea of a good time.
He wasn't too concerned about this. The Enterprise had to count as the best birthday present he'd ever received. If this year he simply kicked back on his birthday - maybe by walking a bottle of Denebian brandy over to Bones' cabin - as long as the cabin was in this ship (his ship), this was still a banner year
( ... )
23 - Sulu, the need for speedbktheirregularMay 13 2009, 17:57:24 UTC
“They’ve gone to warp!”
Sulu doesn’t look at his instruments; he simply reaches out and moves, and the Enterprise responds, turning to follow, part of his own body. “How fast?”
“Warp nine!”
Nothing in Starfleet is rated for warp 9. But there’s always a gap between what a ship’s designed to do, and what it can do.
“Maximum warp!” Sulu calls out, and suddenly, the throttle is through the gate and the Enterprise is sprinting between stars. He feels her, stretching from his fingertips, under his toes, deep in his bones.
Re: 23 - Sulu, the need for speedbktheirregularMay 13 2009, 18:11:51 UTC
Oh HELL yeah. I had to cut out some fencing references to fit the drabble limit, but I figure it's like a great swordsman who uses the blade not as an inert object, but as a natural extension of his or her arm. You gotta know that by the time of that final confrontation, Sulu's not bumbling around at the helm anymore.
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Her new "owner" proved to be an investigative journalist doing an expose on the Orion slave trade and the Federation citizens who abused it. Instead of scrubbing floors, she was put before holocams, a cherubic green child who didn't deserve the terrible fate of slavery. The journalist made sure Gaila never wanted for money, clothes or food, but he did not try to find her mother again.
One day, he offered to send her to a fine university on his homeworld. That night, Gaila downloaded the application for Starfleet Academy. Her slavery might have ended years ago, but she wanted to find out what it meant to truly be free.
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When she first read them, the words stung. Nyota hadn't known what to think. Had her Kobayashi Maru score been lower than she'd feared? Was there some gremlin in the works of Starfleet's brand-new flagship? Was Spock doing the whole "I need space" thing?
It turned out to be the opposite - he'd been worried that assigning her to his ship would look like favoritism. One step aboard the Enterprise, and Nyota knew it was everything they'd said it would be. And they had a crisis to deal with: She could find out about her test scores later.
Only in the aftermath of the crisis - with the last dust of Vulcan glittering in space, half the fleet wrecked, billions dead, and the unmistakable sense that she'd aged 20 years in the past two days - did Nyota realize how narrow her escape had been. If she'd been on the Farragut, she'd be dead.
"You got lucky, Spock," she muttered to herself. "Because I would damn sure have come back to haunt you about that one."
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He wasn't too concerned about this. The Enterprise had to count as the best birthday present he'd ever received. If this year he simply kicked back on his birthday - maybe by walking a bottle of Denebian brandy over to Bones' cabin - as long as the cabin was in this ship (his ship), this was still a banner year ( ... )
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Sulu doesn’t look at his instruments; he simply reaches out and moves, and the Enterprise responds, turning to follow, part of his own body. “How fast?”
“Warp nine!”
Nothing in Starfleet is rated for warp 9. But there’s always a gap between what a ship’s designed to do, and what it can do.
“Maximum warp!” Sulu calls out, and suddenly, the throttle is through the gate and the Enterprise is sprinting between stars. He feels her, stretching from his fingertips, under his toes, deep in his bones.
He grins. “Let’s see what she can do.”
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