Chapter Text
“Personal Log, Stardate: 77112.4. The Arcadia has just received a new mission. We are to travel to the Pharos System where we will engage in Second Contact with the Thalassae. Can it really be called a Second Contact since some Thalassae have already been to Earth? Nevermind, forget all that. It has been a month since the Arcadia’s launch, and we will soon be receiving new crewmen here on their first assignment.”
“Viran, the Arcadia will be arriving at Douglas Station soon,” a Vulcan informed the blond Trill distracting him from his log, as she turns away, she looks back, “Also Allen will be returning with the new crewmen. So, you can stop being a ‘dramatic shit’.”
Viran gave an exaggerated gasp of outrage, “Dramatic! Me! I’m not dramatic Saya! You want dramatic? This is dramatic! Oh, my heart! How can I possibly survive?! My spirit is shattered! I will never recover!”
Saya shook her head and left as the Trill continued being dramatic.
Douglas Station stood suspended in the void of space when a trio of shuttles shot into existence before making their way into the station’s interior. Inside one of the shuttles a Bajoran was reading a PADD displaying information on the U.S.S. Arcadia.
‘U.S.S. Arcadia, NCC-96004.’
‘California Mark II class support ship.’
‘Unlike the original California class the secondary hull is directly connected to the saucer section. The Cali IIs possess three shuttle bays, two are located on the port and starboard near the aft of the saucer section with the main shuttlebay located facing aft at the back of the secondary hull.’
‘Like the California class, the California Mark IIs were designed for logistics and supply. They are not intended to be exploratory vessel nor designed for combat. Just like it’s forbearers the tractor beam of the California Mark II is capable of easily towing or halting vessels many times their own size. They also possess highly advanced self-repairing shields to keep the vessel safe when in a hostile environment, such as a battlefield.’
‘The U.S.S. Arcadia was launched in January 2400 alongside several sisterships. Just like the original California class, the California Mark II class ships are named after cities in California. The Arcadia primarily specialises in engineering-oriented tasks, such as establishing infrastructure or providing power to powerless vessels or facilities. It is also used for Second Contact missions.’
The Bajoran placed the PADD down when she noticed that some of the other new crewmen were crowded around the viewport. The three shuttles circled around the Arcadia as they made their way into the main shuttlebay where they landed. Once the shuttle’s door opened her passengers made their way out. Upon exiting the shuttle, she caught sight of a brunette Trill in a Science Blue uniform with three pips, two silver and one black on her breast showing that she was a lieutenant commander.
“Nice to see you arrived without incident. I’m Lieutenant Commander Dezel Tiran, the Chief Science Officer here on board the Arcadia. Welcome aboard,” she told the new crew, “Now, it’s time to receive your duty assignments. Those of you who arrived aboard the Alameda report to the lieutenant on my left. Those from the Sacramento report to the one on my right. If you arrived on the Redwood, you’ll report to me. Chop, chop.”
The Bajoran glanced back at the Redwood where she saw a brunet walk out of the shuttle. He must have been the pilot.
“Fiya Aryan,” Tiran called out drawing the Bajoran’s attention, “Welcome to the Arcadia. Your orientation liaison is Ensign Allen.”
“Thank you,” Aryan told the Trill, “Where can I find them?”
“He’s already here,” Tiran responded before calling towards the Redwood’s pilot, “Ensign Allen, you’re Ensign Aryan’s orientation liaison.”
“What? Are you sure?” the Human called out in shock before turning to Aryan, “You sure you wouldn’t rather have someone else?”
“You’ll do fine,” Tiran assured him, “Now hurry up, I have more ensigns to assign.”
With the lieutenant commander’s dismissal, the Human and Bajoran made their way out of the shuttlebay.
“Okay, okay, what first?” Allen asked himself before turning to face Aryan, “The mess hall, you’ll need to know where to get food.”
“I suppose I could go for a bite to eat,” the redhead responded.
“Guess we must have gone to warp,” Allen commented as he and Aryan were walking down a hallway.
“What makes you say that?” Aryan asked.
“Window,” Allen pointed at a nearby viewport which show streaks of white light as the Arcadia exceeded the speed of light.
“Uh yes, well,” Aryan tried to think of a change of topic before she suddenly began floating in the air, “What?”
“Huh, guess some of the gravity plates are still not working after that gravitational anomaly last month. Oi, Rythal,” Allen called out to a nearby Andorian wearing an Operations Gold uniform who was working on an open panel, “You working on the plates?”
The white haired Andorian look up hearing his name, “Huh? Oh, Allen. You’re back. Yeah, I am. Turns out we missed some of the gravity plates. Not sure how, it’s been a month. Ah here we go.”
Rythal tapped something inside the panel and gravity reasserted itself. Unfortunately, Aryan’s ankle did not agree with the restored gravity.
The ship’s Chief Medical Officer Doctor Tirkas closed his tricorder after checking over Aryan’s ankle.
“You’ll be fine,” he assured his fellow Bajoran, “Just keep from putting too much weight on it.”
The doctor left for his office.
“Well, that’s good, right,” Allen remarked, “I suppose I should probably show you your quarters.”
“Al!” a voice called out drawing their attention to a blond Trill who had two pips, one silver and one black revealing that he was a lieutenant junior grade, “I’ve missed you as a tree misses the sun, a dolphin misses water, a…”
Allen interrupted him, “Saya called you dramatic again,” he deadpanned.
“What? No, she didn’t.”
Allen took out a PADD and played a recording of a woman’s voice, “Also Viran is being dramatic again. The only consolation is that this time you…” the Human ended the playback.
“Yes, well, shut up,” Viran retorted.
Allen turned to Aryan, “So, want to see your quarters?”
“One of the advantages the Cali IIs have is that ensign quarters are a bit more private,” Allen explained, “Instead of sleeping in the halls we actually have rooms. I mean, sure it’s two to a room and they’re still pretty small. But hey, it beats a hallway.”
“You slept in a hallway?” Aryan responded in surprise.
“We had beds,” Allen retorted, “They were just imbedded in the walls. Besides the rooms used by the lower deckers on the Cali IIs are only somewhat better depending on how you view it. The ensign hallways on the original Calis at least had more room. Ah here we are.”
The two arrived in front of a door that Allen opened. Aryan realised what Allen meant by the hallways having more room. Imbedded in the wall directly opposite the door were a pair of storage compartments. A set of bunk beds was situated next to them with the foot of the beds lying against the side of the storage compartments. And opposite the bunk beds was a desk with a single chair. Sitting on the bottom bunk was a Vulcan who was meditating.
“Hey Saya,” Allen greeted the Vulcan, “This is your new roommate, Aryan Fiya.”
“Hello Ensign Aryan,” the Vulcan told her having opened her brown eyes, “Welcome to the Arcadia. The bunk above my own is unoccupied.”
“Oh um, thanks,” Aryan answered as Allen placed her bag on the upper bunk.
“Soooo should I go out while you unpack?” the Human asked.
“Oh, yes please. I’ll let you know when I’m done,” the Bajoran told him.
After Allen left the room Saya spoke up, “It will take some time to reach our destination. You should try to get a ‘feel’ for the Arcadia before we are called to our stations”
“Oh, thank you for the advice.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Saya responded, “We are part of the same crew.”
Several days have passed and while Aryan hasn’t seen everything on the ship she now knew where the mess hall, rec rooms, holodecks and Cetacean Ops were. When she entered the mess hall, she was surprised to see a pair of people however she didn’t recognise their species.
They resembled humanoid cetaceans. One of them had blue skin and purple eyes. They were also wearing clothing that looked ceremonial. The other one had a more blue-grey skin, amber eyes and their head was somewhat larger than their companion. They were wearing what appeared to be light armour of some kind. Both beings had some kind of device vaguely resembling a neck pillow around their necks.
The armoured one noticed Aryan but it was the other one who spoke up,
“Hello there,” they greeted with a smile, at least Aryan thought it was a smile based on her interactions with the crew in Cetacean Ops, “A pleasure to meet you. I am Tethys and this is my bodyguard Melicertes. I am curious, what do you know of the Arcadia’s current mission?”
“Only that it’s a Second Contact,” she answered.
“That is true, in that this will be the Federation’s second major visit to Pelagos,” purple eyed cetacean remarked, “I am the Thalassan Minister of Science. I am also the Crown Princess.”
Aryan’s eyes widened in surprise, “Oh, I didn’t realise your… how should I address you?”
“Tethys is fine,” she assured her before towards her companion, “Melicertes is also a scientist. He is also my bodyguard. We should be arriving soon.”
Not long after the Arcadia dropped out of warp.
“Aeolia and Kymoleia are currently on the other side of the system,” Tethys remarked, “But we should be passing my namesake on the way to Pelagos.”
As the Arcadia passed by an asteroid belt, she soared by pale blue gas giant with a ring system and seven moons.
“We’ll be arriving at Pelagos soon,” Tethys remarked as the planet whose name she shared became smaller with distance, “I should meet with your captain. It was nice to speak with you.”
Tethys and Melicertes left the mess hall leaving Aryan to look out the viewport as an ocean world and it’s moon soon came into view.
Aryan made her way into the shuttlebay to see that Allen, Rythal, Viran and Saya were loading crates into the Redwood.
“Is there a reason we can’t use the transporters?”
“Not really,” the Andorian responded, “That weird glitch has been fixed up for a while.”
“Glitch?” the Bajoran asked confused.
“It’s nothing major,” Viran assured her, “When the Arcadia was escorting a dignitary, we discovered that one of their aides had their DNA altered after going through the transporter. The alteration was negligible, but we still investigated it. It seemed like everyone under twenty-five had this negligible change when using the transporter.”
“We’ve already had the transporters fixed and modified to reverse the change when used,” Rythal added, “Turns out the transporters for all of the Cali IIs had the same issue. The modifications were sent out to all the other Calis, even the originals still in service.”
“Does Starfleet know?” Aryan asked.
“A report has been filed,” Saya answered, “However since the original alteration was negligible and a fix has already been sent out, it has not been flagged as a high priority.”
“Also, we’re a support and logistics ship,” Allen added, “We’re just not important enough. If we were a Sovereign or even a Defiant, it would be different.”
“I see.”
“Also, we don’t know how the plants would react to being transported,” Saya informed the Bajoran.
“Plants?” Aryan inquired.
“Correct,” Saya responded before gesturing to the crates, “These crates contain crops that were modified to survive on the archipelago Aegaeus where the planet-based spaceport is being constructed.”
“Modified how?”
“Well given the archipelago’s position on the planet, the air is heavy in moisture,” Saya explained.
“Urgh, humidity,” Allen groaned.
Saya ignored him, “Naturally, the crops had to be modified so they wouldn’t drown from all the moisture.”
“That’s interesting,” Aryan remarked, “Do you like plants.”
“Yes,” Saya answered, “I primarily work in the botany labs. I find it… fulfilling.”
“She’s working on trying to create blight resistant fruit trees,” Rythal added.
“I have only made minimal progress,” Saya admitted as the last crate is loaded onto the Redwood.
The five made their way into the shuttle. Allen sat down at the cockpit and ran a systems check before contacting the bridge.
“Arcadia this is shuttlecraft Redwood. We are ready for launch.”
“Acknowledged, Redwood. When you arrive at the landing zone report to Lieutenant Commander Tiran.”
“Acknowledged, Arcadia,” Allen responded as he piloted the shuttle out of the shuttlebay.
He directed the shuttle towards Pelagos. As the shuttle passed the moon Thetis and the under-construction Harbour Station, Aryan got her first real look at Pelagos. The planet’s surface was almost entirely water.
“Only a tenth of the planet’s surface is above sea level,” Saya remarked, “Most of that landmass take the form of archipelagos. Aegaeus is the largest archipelago on the planet and is home to the main settlement of the same name.”
“We’re entering atmo,” Allen announced as the shuttle began its decent through Pelagos’s atmosphere.
The Redwood landed just outside the main settlement allowing the ensigns to unload the shuttle’s cargo.
“Right on time,” Lieutenant Commander Tiran approached the group of five, “Lieutenant Viran, report to Doctor Tirkas at the medical centre. Ensign Rythal, report to Lieutenant Commander Golenn at the spaceport.”
The Trill then turned to the remaining three ensigns, “I want the three of you to transport the crops to the outlying farms. Any questions?”
“Will we have to carry them by foot sir?” Aryan inquired.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Lieutenant Commander Tiran assured her, “We’ve brought down a couple Argos. I believe both Ensign Allen and Saya are trained in operating them.”
“I still don’t know why people expect me to know how to drive an Argo,” Allen remarked as he drove towards the Thalassan farms.
“You did have a better understanding of the ‘gear shift’ compared to the rest of the class,” Saya told him.
“Umm, how long until we arrive?” Aryan interjected.
“Nearly there,” Allen answered, “We’re passing the fields right now. They are just waiting for the crops to be planted.”
“So, once we deliver the crops what do we do?”
“Well, we’ll help move things around and provide additional hands with the planting while Saya analyses the crops to make sure they adapt properly to Pelagos’s soil and environment,” Allen told the Bajoran.
“So, grunt work,” Aryan remarked.
“We are ensigns,” Saya informed her, “Sometimes you should take a walk, rather than swing for the fences.”
“What?”
“Baseball metaphor,” Allen answered, “Saya’s a fan. The game has actually been picking up in popularity over the last couple decades.”
“I know that,” Saya responded, “My sister’s a fan of the Bajoran Sinoraptors. I was talking about the metaphor itself.”
“I meant that our tasks while not exciting or interesting, still need to be done,” Saya told her, “If these tasks are not done then it will have repercussions on others.”
“Thank you,” Aryan responded, “How do you think the others are doing?”
“Okay, I just need to know. Why did you throw the High Druid into the fountain?” Doctor Tirkas asked glancing at the fountain where the High Druid Clymene was submerged.
“She was experiencing a condition akin to an asthma attack,” Viran informed the brunet Bajoran, “After noticing she was not wearing an Thalassan rebreather I suspected she was having difficulty drawing oxygen from the air. Soooo, I threw her into the fountain.”
“And I am fine now,” the High Druid added before turning towards Viran, “Thank you young man. May the Currents guide you.”
She then resubmerged herself back into the fountain.
“You know what, that’s fine,” Doctor Tirkas remarked in exasperation, “I mean you only threw the Thalassae’s most important religious figure into a fountain. I… I need a moment to think.”
“Whatever you say bossman,” Viran responded with a grin and salute.
Rythal closed a maintenance hatch.
“Annnd that’s another one done,” the Andorian sang to the tune of an old Earth song.
“And another one done,” an Orion added keeping with the tune as she closed another hatch.
“Another one bites the dust,” they finished in unison.
“If you have the time to sing, maybe you can doublecheck Bay 1,” the Tellarite Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Zan Golenn suggested.
“On it,” the Andorian and Orion responded before heading off to Bay 1.
“Ensign’s log, supplemental. The Arcadia has completed her assigned mission to Pelagos in the Pharos system. The spaceport on the planet’s surface is now functional, a treatment to help the Thalassae to more quickly adapt to an air-based environment is being disseminated by the Arcadia’s medical teams. The crops that were delivered to the outlying farms have adapted to the high moisture environment as expected. All in all, my first mission out of the Academy went well.”
In the mess hall Aryan, Allen, Viran, Rythal and Saya were all seated at the same table.
“Congratulations are in order,” Viran remarked raising a glass of synthehol, “To Aryan’s first mission.”
“It was a fairly standard Second Contact,” Allen remarked.
“It was?” Aryan asked.
“Yep,” Rythal answered, “Help set up infrastructure and the like. Very standard.”
“Construction of Harbour Station is estimated to be completed around Frontier Day next year,” Saya added, “It will help deal with space traffic to and from the planet.”
“So, that’s it? Nothing else?” Aryan inquired.
“Well, the Federation will likely continue providing help and resources with the Thalassae’s agreement,” Viran remarked.
“The Thalassae might also join the Federation one day,” Allen added.
“That is their prerogative,” Saya remarked, “They might choose to remain independent.”
“I suppose so,” Aryan responded as the Arcadia made her way out of the Pharos system.