Ghost From the Past

Posted on Tue Jun 2nd, 2020 @ 12:31am by Lieutenant Alana Tovan & Lieutenant Erin Whitlam PhD

Captain Jalaach jav Zhefors was a busy man. Very busy. He could not afford to waste time with red tape or customs forms or requisition confirmations. Why couldn't Starfleet just give him what he needed and let him be on his way? He had other ports to visit, more deliveries to make, freight to pick up. The last thing he needed was further delays!

So when an injector manifold in the primary intermix assembly of the Wal'esh'aan's warp core reached dangerously high levels of corrosion, he had to make a slight detour to Starbase 332 for a repair. It was dreadfully inconvenient for him.

"Why can't you just give me the part I need?" he growled at the Starfleet lieutenant that was sent to assess the Wal'esh'aan. "It should be a very simple request! I tell you what I need, you give it to me, my engineer installs it, and I can get back to my work."

Lieutenant Alana Tovan was not one for confrontations. She had dealt with enough confrontation growing up, though it was never started by her. If she had her way, she'd just be able to keep her head down and go about her work. But for some reason in her line of work, she somehow ended up being the face of everything irate captains like Zhefors hated. She stifled a sigh while she read through the list on her PADD. "I've been trying to tell you, Captain. It's not as simple as replacing a single part and being on your way. The level of corrosion that I'm seeing is beyond normal wear and tear." She looked at him critically. "When was the last time that you had injector manifolds serviced on the Wal'esh'aan? With this kind of damage, you're looking at a high risk of microfractures forming in the intermix chamber. Microfractures lead to cracks. Cracks lead to containment failures. Containment failures lead to warp core breaches. It looks like we've caught it in time, but the injector manifold needs to be replaced and the entire matter/antimatter reaction chamber needs to be cleaned and checked for cracks."

Despite wanting to avoid confrontation, she wanted to send this ship out into the cold with a faulty warp core even less. "Do you really want to trust the repair of your warp core to an engineer who allowed it to get this bad in the first place? This isn't about tightening a few bolts. If this is done wrong, the whole works can fail and explode. And then there will be nothing left for me to be able to say 'I told you so.' I may not be much, but I am good at my job, Captain. I don't want to send you out there in a potential deathtrap, and I'd like to think that you wouldn't either."

The Tellarite growled and waved a hand dismissively. "Bah! My engineer has been keeping warp cores running since long before you were even thought of, Starfleet! He's a Vulcan, you know; they don't allow things to get bad. I know my ship - my Vulcan engineer knows my ship - and we know how to keep her flying. Wal'esh'aan is a good ship. She is a magnificent ship! She is not a deathtrap! I must say, that your insinuation about my competence, and the competence of my engineer, is frankly insulting! I could have you kicked out of Starfleet, you know. I know admirals!"

Alana took a breath and checked her hair. She let the captain rant, but part of her was still subconscious that he did know admirals, and she didn't want any more attention on her than necessary. It was probably better if she made sure her ears were covered. When the Tellarite was done ranting, she waited a moment before replying. "Sir, with all due respect, I want the best for you and your ship. I'm sure your engineer is competent. Vulcan's have a reputation of being thorough. Perhaps I can meet with your engineer and we can come up with a plan for repairs and let you get on your way?"

Zhefors muttered something under his breath and turned without saying another word. He shuffled off out of the engine room and towards the crew deck.

After the captain left, Alana rolled her eyes. Every ship owner and captain thought that they new their ship better than anyone else. That was even true of Starfleet captains, maybe even especially Starfleet captains. She was used to working with impatient clients, and Zhefors was no different. While she waited patiently for the engineer to arrive she directed her attention to the warp core, and checked her scans again to make sure she hadn't missed anything.

When the captain returned, he was far from quiet. Instead of muttering as he did when he left, his return was heralded by a loud, booming voice that Alana could hear before he even arrived. He was retelling the story of his encounter with the Starfleet engineer, "... who thinks she knows more than she does! Honestly, what does Starfleet teach its engineers that they have such high and mighty egos? I tell you what they don't teach them, and that's respect for the ordinary, hard-working merchant fleet that is the backbone of the Federation!"

Zhefors trudged around the corner into the engine room before gesturing towards Alana and turning back to address his taller companion. "Here she is. Starfleet's finest in all her bureaucratic glory," he almost spat.

Alana rolled her eyes again at Zhefors's boasting and complaining. At least she was going to be working with the engineer soon, and not the captain. She turned to meet the captain, trying her best to show respect towards the backbone of the Federation.

"Starfleet, meet Kyto; the finest engineer this side of Tellar."

Alana was frozen in place. The finest engineer this side of Tellar was someone she knew from a long time ago, and he was not someone that she was happy to see. The name was new, but the face she would never forget. She opened her mouth to speak, but managed no words.

The Vulcan engineer regarded Alana with no emotion, but was that a slight twitch of an eye? "Lieutenant," Kyto said, tilting his head in what would charitably be described as a bow. He turned to Zhefors and, looking down his nose at his captain, said, "Captain, I believe I can manage the situation with Lieutenant Tovan. I will contact you when our work is complete."

Zhefors looked smug and nodded approvingly, like Kyto had just somehow proven his point. He turned to Alana and tilted his head back, subtly mimicking the Vulcan's natural haughtiness. "Do try to keep up with him, Starfleet," he sneered. "And maybe you'll learn or a thing or ten." He chuckled and shuffled off, leaving the two engineers to their work.

Kyto watched the captain leave then slowly turned back to Alana. When he looked at her now, the Vulcan facade had vanished and his features seemed to somehow soften and become more menacing all at once. "Why do you hide your ears like that, Alana?"

Alana hesitated to speak. So many words flew through her mind, and very few of them she decided were appropriate. Her emotions were just as confusing and conflicted. Anger mixed with confusion, and tossed into a pile of doubt that the man she saw standing in front of her was really here. "They're a reminder of a past I'd like to forget. What are you doing here, and don't tell me that you're a refugee? You wouldn't posing as a Vulcan if you weren't up to no good."

He smiled and it looked like a genuine, natural expression of happiness. "We all have things in our past we would rather forget; it's something of our family tradition, wouldn't you say?" He turned and ambled across to the safety rail that surrounded the warp core, leaning forward on it and looking up at the heart of the ship. "I'm not a refugee, Alana. I am here to see you." He turned back and looked her in the eye. "There is plenty in my past that I would rather forget, but you are not one of those things. I came because I wanted to see my daughter. Nothing more."

Alana let out half a laugh. "Really? You came here to see me. I find that hard to believe. If you really cared about seeing your daughter, maybe you wouldn't have betrayed her and your wife. After twenty-three years, do you really expect me to think that you really care about seeing me?" Alana sighed and started packing up her tool kit. "I knew no competent engineer would ever let his warp core get in such bad shape. How long have you been sabotaging the ship just to get Zhefors to stop here?"

He glanced up at the warp core. "I wouldn't exactly call it sabotage," he said. Looking back at Alana, his expression almost anguished, he shook his head. "But that's not the point. The point is that I'm no longer that man who betrayed his family. I don't deny I did that and I do not deny the pain I put you and your mother through." He paused and drew in a deep breath. "I do regret it. Perhaps I didn't before, but I do now. I came here because of all the things I've done in my lifetime, the one thing I know to be good, the one thing I do not regret ... is you, Alana." He shook his head and turned back to look at the warp core. "I cannot blame you if you deny me, but I had to come. I want ... I need ... to make amends."

A loud thud accompanied the slamming shut of Alana's tool kit. "Well, I'm glad after all this time you're starting to feel guilty. But you have no idea what you put Mom through. What you put me through. Everywhere we went, she was known as the woman who married a spy. Do you think anyone would trust her with sensitive information ever again? Maybe I didn't have the career setbacks that she dealt with, but we both had to deal with the emotional pain. I'm glad you feel the need to make amends. But I don't. I made my peace years ago."

Tovan slung her tool kit over her shoulder and started for the airlock. "I'm going to send someone to repair your mess. And then I want you to leave. And I want you to live with your guilt. I certainly had to."

Lieutenant Alana Tovan [P: Von]
Chief Shipfitter
Starbase 332

Captain Jalaach jav Zhefors [Whitlam]
Commanding Officer
Wal'esh'aan

Kyto/Khavek [Whitlam]
Chief Engineer
Wal'esh'aan