This is old; I found it going through my files and thought I would publish it in honor of Veterans' Day as it was inspired by my brother in law's story about a forced camping trip he endured during Officer's Training School. At the time I was writing something for another audience about people failing to recognize love unless it looks like it should. Somehow the two stories combined. It was entertaining to me, but kind of a mess, so I never did anything with it. I enjoyed it when I reread it and thought I would throw it out there. It's finished, but I am trying to tighten it up, so I will probably put up about three chapters at a time. The first three chapters are the weakest, so I wrote the prologue to try and better set the tone for this funny little story. I am a little uncomfortable with it and am interested in whether or not people think it worked.

Prologue

Two Days Before

"New orders Spock!" Kirk said happily.

"Yes Captain," the first officer replied.

The captain waited for questions about the mission, but the first officer continued to work placidly at the science station. The captain frowned and said, "Chekov, I am sending you some coordinates. Use them to plot a course to a planet called Phadru. It's in Zeta quadrant."

"Aye sir," said the navigator.

"Aren't you interested in knowing about the next mission Spock?"

"I am confident Captain that you will eventually relay all information you deem pertinent."

"And you are right, I will. I think you'll like this one Bones, it sounds fun."

The doctor, standing beside the captain's chair with his hands behind his back snorted and said, "I doubt very much it sounds fun Jim. They are almost never fun."

"Course plotted, Captain," said Chekov.

"That was fast," said the doctor, frowning at the helm.

"He's always fast," Kirk said. "Estimated time of arrival Mr. Chekov?"

"Seventeen point three hours at warp three Captain Kirk."

And at warp four?"

The ensign glanced nervously at the first officer. He opened his mouth but before he could answer Spock said, "Captain, Starfleet policy recommends all non-emergent travel anticipated to be less than twenty four hours in duration should be done at speeds not exceeding warp three."

The captain closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes Mr. Spock, thank you for the reminder. Mr. Sulu, proceed to Phadru, warp three."

The helmsman said, "Yes sir, setting course to Phadru, warp three."

The captain pushed some buttons on his screen. "There you go Spock, I sent you a copy of the orders, and since it's really more your kind of thing anyway you should organize the mission. Let me know what kind of crew you want. You are going to like this one Bones, we are going surveying."

"Surveying for what? Gold?"

"I wish! No, it's nothing so interesting."

Spock looked up from his screen, where the orders were displayed. "We shall be conducting a survey of land Doctor McCoy. We are ordered to perform an in depth scan on the proposed site of a smelter. Phadru contains significant resources of,"

"I don't care what they have Spock. They all have something, and the Federation always wants it. I never know what they want it for, and I don't care. Why do we have to survey it, that's my question? Why didn't they send a geologic team?"

"The site has been surveyed Doctor, and judged geologically appropriate for the smelter. Our work is to establish a record of the site's original properties so that environmental integrity is maintained and to aid in eventual reclamation."

"It will take us a week or so." said Kirk.

"The mission should be five days in duration." Mr. Spock said firmly.

"Unless something goes wrong," the doctor said in a tone that suggested something would definitely go wrong.

Kirk looked at him sideways and continued. "The landing party will be working on the smallest continent, in a completely undeveloped area, but there are cities on the larger continents. We should be able to offer the crew liberty while we are in orbit."

McCoy asked, "So you are going on leave?"

"Not me," replied the captain. "I'm going to go camping with the work crew."

"Why would you do that Jim? You could use some R and R; I thought you just said Spock was going to be in charge of this one?"

"He is Bones, he's in charge of the work party, and I'm in charge of the camping. It will be fun."

"It will not be fun, and I am not going."

"Why are you so incapable of seeing the potential of things?"

"I am a doctor, not a boy scout. If we are really going to have an entire week in peaceful orbit around a developed, class M planet I would like to spend it doing the things I never get to do because this ship is staffed entirely with catastrophes waiting to happen."

"Doctor," Spock began.

"I have CE credits I should work on, reports to file, records to update, a million things to do that I am always afraid to start because I can never be sure when you will next present me with a cargo load of injured. I am not going."

"Suit yourself, but we will need someone from medical. Send your pick to Spock. This is his mission."

"Sir," began Mr. Spock, but Kirk continued.

"We'll need someone from engineering, I wonder if Scotty would want to come?"

"Jim, you know that given the choice between a week to do maintenance on the ship and a week camping he's going to stay on the ship. He's got a longer to-do list than me."

"You're probably right. Too bad, he's always fun. Well, I'll ask him to send someone else then. It doesn't have to be an officer, it's unlikely they'll have to do anything harder than debug a tricorder, and you don't need a master's degree for that. I am going to have to tell Giotto too. That's never a day brightener."

"It is standard procedure for away landing parties to have security support." Mr. Spock said.

"Yeah, but Giotto is so serious about everything; he always acts like whatever I want to do is impossible, and he always wants to take the whole division. It is impossible to do anything fast when you have to haul half a dozen redshirts with you everywhere. But I guess it can't be helped. I will message him."

"Or maybe Spock would like to do that," McCoy said.

Kirk continued as if he hadn't heard. "We'll need someone from communications, hey Uhura, why don't you plan on joining an away team, alpha shift, forty eight hours from now?"

"Yes Captain," Uhura said, making a notation on her PADD. Spock glanced her way, and she smiled gently at him.

"Medical, science, command, communications, anything else Spock?" the captain asked.

"Geology sir, we will need experts trained in the environmental analysis work we will do."

The young captain's smile faded. "You're right of course, but that might be a little hard." The doctor looked at him worriedly, and frowned.

Mr. Spock continued. "I believe that as the ship has not yet been able to replace the members of the geology division lost in the massacre at Tormos successful completion of the mission will require that we use those few we have in the most efficient manner possible. Crew members with science backgrounds could do the actual work of surveying under the supervision of one geologist. The remainder of the department could stay on board ship to evaluate and store the information as we provide it."

Kirk said, "Whoever comes with us, this will be their first time off the ship since we lost half their division. It will be hard on them and we need to remember that."

"Very true captain," McCoy said softly.

"I wish it was different, but given the reality, Spock's idea is very good." The captain took a deep breath, and straightened his back. He looked around the bridge, searching for a distraction. His eyes lingered on the officers in front of him. He leaned forward and said, "Hey Chekov, want to go camping?"

The navigator turned toward the commander's chair. "Me?" he asked happily, mouth hanging open in surprise. The helmsman rolled his eyes and then reached over to lightly flick his thigh. The navigator blushed and said, "I mean, yes sir."

"Great, there Spock, I already got you one crew member with a science background eager to work. You're welcome. And you know what else? He could probably be in charge of tricorder maintenance and let someone from engineering go on leave."

"I am not sure that's a good idea." the doctor said. The ensign sighed, turned back to the screen and sank in his seat. The doctor frowned at him and grunted.

"Relax Bones," said the captain. "He won't get hurt. It's a rustic area. There are no native people objecting to our work, and I am going to be there. What could go wrong?"

"Are you kidding me? I know your track record, anything could happen. The ration packs will probably come to life and try to eat you, but their eyesight will be bad and instead they will grab hold of Chekov and he'll come back with his limbs chewed off or something."

Spock's eyebrows drew closer together. "Doctor McCoy, inanimate objects do not," he began.

The doctor interrupted. "I don't actually believe the ration packs will attack the captain Spock. It's hyperbole."

"No, it is inaccuracy Doctor." Spock returned to the topic, "Ensign Chekov and perhaps two others with science backgrounds. I shall check the duty rosters. I thought too Captain Kirk, that as we will be logging and working with large amounts of data the presence of a member of the yeoman's corps would be appropriate."

"I hope it's Rand. Chekov, do you want to bet on what her hair will look like after a week without product?"

The ensign glanced back wide eyed and shook his head vigorously.

"When he asks you a question you have to answer him," hissed Sulu.

"No sir, I would prefer not." whispered Chekov. Sulu rolled his eyes again.

"No? Are you sure? That's too bad; I am counting on you to not be boring on this mission Chekov. Are you up for the task?"

Chekov looked at Sulu who shrugged. "I shall try sir?" the ensign said, sounding very uncertain.

"Good man Chekov, that's the attitude," said the captain. "I only ask that you use your natural talents." The ensign looked at the pilot again and then slid even lower in his seat.

"Jim, for God's sake, he doesn't know when you are teasing," the doctor began.

The captain ignored him and continued, "I think we'll probably leave you in charge Sulu, so there's something for you to look forward to too."

"Yes sir," replied the pilot calmly, but he smiled at his board as if he were pleased.

"Will you discuss the staffing requirements with Mr. Giotto sir, or shall I?" Spock said.

The captain yawned and stretched. He said, "Oh, you go ahead Spock, this is really your mission, and I don't want to take over."

Chapter One

The Day Before

Precisely ten minutes before she needed to, Ziem entered the assembly room of the security department. She liked to come in early so that she could be assured a seat at the very rear of the room. She preferred to sit with her back against the wall. It was more comfortable, and she thought it was more polite, as she was so tall, and so, sturdy. And she liked to be able to watch the other members of the division as they came in.

Ziem loved this time of day. Security was always a high activity area. Everyone was loud. People walked into the meeting talking, teasing, bragging, and complaining. They kept it up, talking louder and louder, outdoing each other right up to the second the chief called for attention, and then immediately the whole room silenced and everyone focused on Lieutenant Commander Giotto. Ziem loved it. She loved the way the individuals immediately became a team. It was inspiring.

The chief walked to his podium and looked out at the assembly. Then, like he did every day, he coughed, grasped the podium with both hands and barked, "Okay. Listen up people."

Like puppets on strings, every head turned to him, every voice silenced. Satisfied that he had their attention, he continued. As he spoke, the screen behind him lit up, illuminating the stardate, and an itinerary for the day's meeting.

"First, some of you haven't done your six month recert on weapon safety. Get it done. It is every six months for a reason. I am not accepting excuses, and if your certification expires you will need to redo it, which means, as you all well know; you must repass the written component. While you are uncertified you will be ineligible for assignment. That means you will spend your time in here, doing the most unpleasant tasks I can find for you. Have I made myself clear on this matter? I would prefer to not repeat myself. Let's see if we can achieve 100% compliance by tomorrow morning."

He would, Ziem knew, need to repeat himself tomorrow, and the day after. And a few of the crew, she knew, would be recertifying from scratch.

The screen changed, showing a memo highlighted in red, from the head of maintenance. The chief continued. "Next up, maintenance reports that once again, food scraps have been found in the combat control consoles. You are not to eat while on duty. Period. The safety of the entire ship may depend upon it. I remind you, all sections of the ship are under surveillance at all times. If this happens again I will go through the vids myself. I will place the individuals who have chosen to disregard my direct orders on report. I will make a notation in their records reflecting their disregard for regulations and ship safety. Understood?" There was silence in the room. Ziem thought that he probably would not need to repeat that, at least not for several weeks.

"Okay." The chief continued, making a tick on his PADD as he went through his list. "We have a rugby game Thursday. We are playing The Commendable this week." Here Giotto paused and stared intently at the silent force. The screen changed, and showed a copy of the play schedule for the rugby league. Someone had altered it, drawing a line through the team name "The Commendable" and writing in "The Arrogant Pricks." Derisive Laughter ran through the group. Someone threw a wadded napkin at the screen.

"Yes people." continued the chief. "We are playing a team made up entirely of command track ensigns and lieutenants." There was a pause as his eyes swept over the assembly. "I hope," he said, his voice lower and very serious, "that I do not need to tell you how very much I wish to see us vanquish this particular team. I would like to see the win be significant, with high scores and maybe some injuries. Nothing fatal, disfiguring will be fine." There were a few chuckles in the crowd. The chief continued, "Those of you not playing should consider coming to cheer on the team. If we win, and again, we better win, I will buy the first round. If you are playing, and are unable to moderate your celebration, prearrange your own shift coverage. I am not the team nanny."

There were muffled cheers. Giotto waited for them to quiet again, and then said, "Let's move on to assignments." The screen altered again and showed the duty roster.

"Nothing significant today, big doings tomorrow, and I want to talk about it. We are currently in orbit around Phadru. It's a standard issue class M planet with all the usual markers. The development tends to have been in cities located on the largest continent. We are going to the third and smallest continent, not as much development there. There are lots of mines though. So some miners and there are also some indigenous beings living fairly nomadic lives on large plots of family held lands. Apparently Phadru has lots of some element the Federation wants. The Phadruan government wants the element smelted planet side. In the interest of speedy refining, the Federation agreed. Our presence is allegedly welcome, so tomorrow we will be sending down a team to perform a geological survey on a small section of the continent.

"It all sounds fine. It all sounds not complicated. There is already development, with established mines in the general area. The Phadruan government says the local folks are pleased as punch to have a giant factory dropped right the middle of their lands, eager to make some money, and thrilled to be able to participate in this project. This sounds great." Giotto paused, his eyes tightened and he continued, "It sounds great, but the last time I described this situation we were in orbit above Tormos."

Giotto paused to look around the silent room, and then went on, "I know you all remember that the Enterprise also dropped a geological survey group at Tormos. And while they were there, a group of disgruntled local activists, beings whose own government had assured us were thrilled to participate in the development of their ancestral grounds, slaughtered the geologists and the security guard I sent to protect them. Lieutenant Michael Morris was a brave, honorable young man and a valued member of this team."

Giotto paused once more. When he began to speak, his voice was softer. "I will never again accept on face value reports that estimate risk factors as low in unknown environments." His voice returned to its usual gruff timbre. "Consequently, tomorrow's geological expedition will be very secure. Let's go over it."

Ziem remembered Lieutenant Morris. He had been a soft spoken man, but had seemed competent. She had heard the expedition had been overrun by sheer numbers, that even his phaser could not protect the scientists from the hordes of armed locals. She always appreciated when Lieutenant Commander Giotto referred to deceased team members during these talks. It made her feel like they weren't forgotten. And she thought it reminded some of the less careful members of the team to think about their responsibilities. Abruptly she remembered listening was one of her responsibilities and she decided to focus on what the chief was saying.

"..And so Mr. Spock will be actually in charge of the survey, but the captain will be the ranking officer." The commander's lips tightened as he spoke. Not for the first time, Ziem wondered if he approved of both the captain and first officer joining an away team. It happened regularly on the Enterprise, and did not seem odd to her, but Mr. Giotto never seemed to like the idea.

"There will be a communications officer, someone from medical and one geologist, a Lieutenant Wilson. He will be organizing the research. The rest of the geologists will be on board, and busy analyzing the information as it is sent up. Since Tormos we don't have enough geologists to do the work on the ground and in the sky; which is a problem. Mr. Spock has decided the best option is to bring with us three gold shirts with science backgrounds to do the scut work. Since the actual labor will mostly consist of walking around, pushing buttons on tricorders, and not getting lost, I am hopeful that they will be able to handle it. One of them has some engineering experience and he will be the operations man. If the tricorders break I guess."

Mr. Giotto's tone was a little snide, but then he grew serious again. "I plan to take a four being division to provide security for the survey team."

The board behind him changed again to show the next day's work assignment. Ziem was pleased to see her own name on the task force. The lieutenant commander provided confirmation, saying, "I will head up the team. Rudolf, Hendorff, Sabide, you are up. I want to make it clear. You are working for and answering to me. We are providing security to a survey team. We will not be assisting in any other task. You will not be gathering data, setting up campsites, cleaning, cooking, or in any way making this experience easier for the survey team; in particular you will not be available to meet the needs of any command track lieutenants. Do you all understand? Good. Okay, supply lists and other prep materials should be on your PADDs. You three are dismissed to start preparing. The rest of you, let's discuss the gamma shift schedule again. It seems like last week's discussion did not really solve the problems we have been having with night time hallway supervision."

Ziem tried to leave unobtrusively. She was not able to do so, because she had forgotten that with the chairs around her all still occupied, there was not nearly enough room for her to slink out quietly. Everyone along the whole line had to move. Most of her coworkers pushed back helpfully. But one young man refused to budge. Instead he grinned up at her, pretending not to know what she needed.

Someone whispered loudly, "shove him out of the way Ziemmie, it would be easy for you!" in an encouraging voice. But Ziem was not a pusher. She saved actual force for work emergencies. She tried to glare threateningly at the man blocking her way. He didn't back down, just continued to grin mockingly up at her.

Ziem was considering her options when the chief barked, "Morgan. You are in Lieutenant Sabide's way and you are both disturbing my presentation."

"Sorry sir," Ziem and Morgan said at the same time. The young man scooted his chair back toward the wall as far as it would go. Ziem slipped past without looking at him. She kept her head down, and pushed through the doors of the assembly hall to the quiet of the general offices. As soon as she was alone, she leaned against the bulkhead for a few seconds and willed herself to stop blushing.

I love working here, she thought. It is the best division in Starfleet. But I hate being the biggest member of security.

Chapter Two

Meeting the Crew, Early the First Day

The next morning Ziem followed Randy Rudolph and Geoff Hendorff into the transporter room. She knew them both a little; more by reputation than because she had spent much social time with them. Hendorff was an academy grad, a lieutenant. He was experienced, and had been on the ship from the first and served during the Nero incident. Rudolph was an enlisted man. They were both humans, and from Earth. They were both popular in the division. Rudolph was considered crass, and a little lazy, but fun to be with and willing in a fight. Hendorff was very well liked; he was thought of as hard working and friendly, and even among the other security officers, he was considered brave.

The chief was already in the transporter room, supervising the transfer of the sleds they had packed yesterday. All the materials for the entire survey group, the weapons, the food, and many of the tools were sealed below tarp like covers on the antigravity sleds.

The sleds were packed by supply, from lists created by each division, but security was responsible for signing off on equipment, and once they reached the planet, for its safekeeping. Ziem had overseen the packing with Mr. Hendorff. She had had always enjoyed the time she had spent with him on missions. She had found him to be a cheerful man, and he was today too; very excited about the mission, which he seemed to consider would be basically a camping trip. He was older by several years, but he seemed young to Ziem. It might have been because he had asked her to call him by his first name, which she thought was a little unprofessional. Perhaps it was because, although by human standards a large man, he was almost a dozen centimeters shorter than Ziem, and probably 15 kilos lighter. He was the size of her youngest brother, home on Bahz.

Shortly after security arrived, the nurse for the trip joined them. She spoke quietly to the chief, probably, Ziem thought, checking to see that her requested supplies had been packed. Her list had seemed long and, for such a short mission, far too detailed to Ziem. Perhaps, like the chief, she was determined to be prepared for any emergency. She was Venzi, and had their typical round eyes and fur like hair covering her head and neck. She wore hers short, and had the blue sciences tunic all the medical personnel wore. Like Ziem, she wore it with trousers rather than the dresses favored by so many female staff members. She looked Ziem thought, like a businesslike owl.

The door whooshed open and a dark skinned young woman in the red dress of the operations department entered the room. She was the alpha shift communications officer, Ziem had seen her on the ship before, but never been on a mission with her. Her name was Uhura. She was very small and slight, would have reached just above Ziem's waist if they had stood next to each other. But she looked strong, and her expression was confident. She did not look, Ziem thought, like she needed much protection.

Ziem heard loud voices as the doors opened again and a crowd of gold entered. The work crew of command track officers had arrived. They stopped their chatter when they saw the chief. Ziem thought they were all probably human, because most of the crew was human, and because they had the look. Ziem studied them; she thought she might have a hard time telling the two men apart. They both had dark hair and blue eyes, and were tall for their species, although much smaller than Ziem, small enough that she needed to tilt her head to see their features. In their gold shirts, and with their matching smirks, she found them very similar.

One of the young men stared back at Ziem. "Hey," he said. 'Security sent the big, big guns for this trip." His companion laughed. Ziem felt her neck redden uncomfortably.

The first man glanced behind himself and continued, "You're probably feeling pretty inadequate right about now, huh Chekov?"

Ziem realized there was another man behind the two officers, he slipped between them and Ziem heard him say, "Inadequate? I haven't even done anything wrong yet."

"Hey, good one Pav." laughed the taller of the officers.

"But we all know that eventually you will." replied the other laconically.

Maybe, Ziem thought, they are not all human. The third male was so frail looking, if it was a human it would have to be quite a young one. And his standard was oddly accented.

The smaller being, whose uniform made him an ensign, slipped past his laughing companions, and smiling happily, greeted her companion.

"Hello Mr. Hendorff, this will be fun, right?"

"Yeah, it'll be lots of fun. Where were you? You barely got here in time and you're usually the first one anywhere." Hendorff said.

"I was with my girlfriend and didn't watch the time." said the ensign with a grin.

"Chekov" said the smaller of the two lieutenants, "for like the two hundredth time, those dolls in the gym are called practice dummies and you shouldn't refer to them as your girlfriend in front of other people."

The ensign sighed and looked skyward, but only said, "Thank you sir, she assured me she would miss me sir." Both the lieutenants laughed and walked a little further away.

"Just too bad they get to come too huh?" said Geoff, nodding in the direction of the other lieutenants.

"It would take more than Lapinski and Martin to bother me today." The young man smiled at Ziem. Ziem thought maybe he was waiting for an introduction, but Hendorff didn't seem to notice and she wasn't sure, so she said nothing. The young man waited a few seconds and then murmured a good bye before he slipped away, to stand by the communications officer, who returned his smile in a familiar way.

"Who was that?" Ziem asked Hendorff.

"That is Pav, um, Ensign Chekov. I got to remember we use titles when we are on duty. That is not going to be easy; I usually call him by his first name. Anyway, yeah, he's a good guy. He's my wall ball partner."

"He's your what?" Ziem asked.

"My wall ball partner, we have a team. We are really good." Hendorff looked expectantly at Ziem, who could not imagine what he was talking about. "You know, wall ball? It's a game. There's a soft little ball with an antigrav unit in, it, and you have to keep it from escaping up to the ceiling. You can bounce it against the wall or the roof if you do it hard enough, or even the floor, it doesn't matter, but the opposite team has to return it or they lose the point. You truthfully don't know about this game?" When Ziem didn't respond the Hendorff stared at her with disbelief. Finally he said, "It is very popular Ziem. Everyone plays it."

"And you and the ensign are a team?" Ziem tried to picture the waif like ensign and the strapping Hendorff coordinating at anything.

"Yeah, we are great. We have a strategy. See, he's fast, and really accurate. And he's intense! He doesn't mind throwing himself into walls or whatever to get the ball. He like can't stand to miss, and he never quits. But, well, you can see he's a little dude. He isn't that strong, so his balls are not that hard to return. I'm lots slower, but I am way stronger. So what we do is, Pav returns the ball like ninety percent of the time, but every now and then he sets me up with like a perfect ball and I smack it so hard no one can catch it. Truthfully, nobody can return a ball I really hit. It sounds like I am bragging, but it's just the truth."

Hendorff continued, "Anyways, there's a kind of informal tournament going on and me and Pav beat Lapinski and Martin a couple of days ago. It was great too, cause they were trash talking us. They completely thought they would beat us." Hendorff smiled happily and added, "I knew we would win though. We always win, we are that good."

He looked at Ziem like he was seeing her for the first time, and then said, "You should come watch a game Ziem. It's fun. You know what? You should play! You would be good at it I bet, you are really strong."

Zicem tried to imagine jumping after a little ball in a room full of strangers. She had loved all sports on Bahz. When she first arrived at the academy she had played quite a few. She had particularly enjoyed basketball. The game had seemed ridiculously easy to her, the first few times she had played in the lighter gravity of Earth. But in one game she had fallen awkwardly after a jump shot and heard other cadets laugh. She hadn't felt it was funny. At dinner that night she had heard one of them telling a group of students about it. He had said her fall had made the whole gym shake. She remembered all the little tiny girls at his table laughing, covering their mouths and looking at her with amazement. It bothered her to think that the other students watched her when she played and laughed about her size. After that she had participated in all the required activities, but had not played games for fun.

Ziem's failure to respond to seemed to disappoint Hendorff. His voice, when he spoke again, was much more subdued. "Well anyways, he's a good guy. He's quiet, but he says really funny things sometimes under his breath. And he's pretty much nice to everybody. You'll like him Ziem."

The chief prevented Ziem from needing to reply by saying, "The captain is waiting to speak to us, and then we will get this show started."

There was a small conference room located by the main transporter room. It was usual for teams to gather prior to away missions. At Giotto's words, officers and enlisted began to make their way that direction. The two dark haired lieutenants bolted ahead. When Ziem entered the conference room she saw that they had grabbed chairs and been seated. They clearly had experience with away team meetings then, because as Ziem too knew, there were never enough seats in these rooms. Officers, according to protocol, would be seated according to rank. As a courtesy to him, the captain's yeoman would have a chair by him, but Rudolph, as an enlisted man, would be standing. So would the ensign, and the plethora of lieutenants probably meant some of them might need to be standing too. Ziem looked at the slim little chairs around the table and immediately decided to join Rudolph, Hendorff, and his wall ball partner in leaning against the bulkhead. Everyone else sat down, turned on PADDs, and directed their attention to the head of the table, where was seated, the captain.

Chapter Three

Meeting Room on the Enterprise, Still the First Day

"Welcome Away Team!" As the captain launched into a fairly standard introduction to a planetary visit, Ziem's thoughts wandered. She hadn't been on the Enterprise for the battle with Nero, but she knew all about it. Everyone did. The captain was a hero. When she had first arrived on the ship she had been a little star struck. The Enterprise was one of the larger starships, but the living space was not big. It was impossible to not see the captain eat, and work out, and chat with the senior officers. She had never actually had a conversation with him, but Ziem didn't feel awestruck now when he walked into the mess, or if they were in the gym at the same time. And yet, she still found him to be charismatic in a way she had never known anyone else to be.

"Now I know that you have all had departmental briefings on our missions," the captain said with a nod to Giotto. "And I am sure you have all read your packets, so well and thoroughly prepared by Mr. Spock." This was said with a glance at the yellow shirted crew members, who shifted slightly in their chairs and failed to meet the captain's gaze. "But to ensure that we are all on the same page for this mission, Lieutenant Wilson will remind us of our goals and then each department will have a chance to remind us of our responsibilities. Finally, Mr. Spock will speak very briefly on the specifics of his plan." The captain turned to the commander and speaking slowly, and with emphasis, repeated, "Briefly, very briefly."

Mr. Spock did not acknowledge the captain, but sat impassively in his chair. The captain sighed and turned to the man seated to his left. "Lieutenant, are you ready?" he asked.

The geologist, Lieutenant Wilson, stood and began to speak in a nervous, weedy voice. He talked a long time, about the minerals, and Phadruan government plans for developing the area they were to study. Basically the area to be developed was the historically poorest part of an extremely wealthy planet. Phadru was unusual in that it had not developed much technology. It had been an enthusiastic trading partner for everyone that stopped in for almost a thousand years. The planet had never developed space flight; it had been given to them long before there was a Federation. More accurately, the technology had been stolen. Taking what you wanted was a cultural norm on Phadru. The wealth the planet had amassed was unimaginable. Lt. Wilson said most people on the planet lived pretty traditional lives in large family groups. Their focus was on fulfilling social responsibilities. They were able to pay others to do almost everything for them. Most citizens of Phadru could not even turn on their own personal computers, they had servants do it. He finished by asking for questions.

There were no questions. Next Chief Giotto outlined the security precautions to the group. Most of his talk was also pretty standard, he did stress that no member of the party was to go anywhere without a security escort. When he finished, an officer from engineering, who wasn't going to accompany them on the mission, described the equipment they would be using. Then Lieutenant Sascheja, the nurse that would be responsible for providing medical care for the mission, reminded everyone that they were required to have a hypo to prevent sunburn, and that their need for hydration would be high while in the field. She said more, but it was not interesting and her tone was so unpleasant that Ziem had trouble listening to her.

Finally, Mr. Spock spoke, not at all briefly, about organizational details for the work parties. He stressed that the crew's mission was to confirm information that had already been gathered. That didn't seem like the best use of time to Ziem. Almost as if he read her thoughts Mr. Spock said that the previous studies had been to check feasibility of development. The focus of theirs would be to provide a record for reclamation. At that point Rudolph yawned noisily. Ziem was horrified, and Mr. Giotto turned angrily in his chair trying to see who it had been. Mr. Spock did not seem to notice and asked for questions. The captain, who had been swiveling back and forth in his chair for some time, seemed to feel it was his cue to smile and announce that they were finished. He asked the entire group to report to the transporters.