Star Trek Voyager: Here I Stand

Here I Stand, Part 2

Part 2

The car was an extravagance.

He’d resisted the whole idea at first. He had ready access to Starfleet transporters and shuttlecraft, so there was really no good reason to own a personal groundcar. But then B’Elanna had reminded him that Big Sur residents treasured their isolation, and the nearest transporter station to the house he planned to live in was almost 50 kilometers away in Monterey.

Harry had pointed out that the station at Monterey was not automated and tended to be unmanned after 2200 hours, and if he didn’t want to bother Starfleet for a site-to-site every time he stayed late at the office, he needed a reliable way to get to and from campus.

Tom had waxed poetic about the Old Cabrillo Highway up the coast from Big Sur to Monterey and on to San Jose, some 200 kilometers of empty road winding its way along the Pacific Ocean, sometimes diving down among the rocks and waves, sometimes climbing to the clifftops hundreds of meters above.

They’d dragged him to buy the car.

He was ready to settle on a simple, reliable two-seat hovercar with just enough power to get him from Big Sur to San Francisco in a little over an hour and on one charge, when Tom Paris had spied The Falcon.

It was a vintage model from 2329 – the year he was born, B’Elanna noted with a smirk – and one of the last luxury machines off the Land Rover line. It was sophisticated and black and so far out of his comfort zone it made his head spin.

The four of them had stared at it for many long minutes while the Ferengi salesman stood by, rocking back and forth on his heels.          

“This is the one,” Tom said.

Chakotay shook his head. “It’s too…showy.”

“But powerful,” B’Elanna countered. “In hover mode it’ll get you to San Francisco in just under an hour, and you’ll be able to make the round trip on one charge.”

“It’s too big,” he said.

“But when your sister and her family come to visit, you’ll be able to take all of them wherever they want to go in one trip,” Harry replied. “And even in ground mode it’ll eat up the rough terrain from the highway back to your house.”

“It’s too expensive,” he said.

“But worth it,” Tom purred, his eyes gleaming. “So, so worth it. If ever there was a good use for seven years of back pay, this is it.”

Chakotay peered at their eager young faces. “You all just want to drive it.”

Tom had practically exploded. “Damn straight, we do! Look at her! Just….just look at her!” He waved at the car. “Look at that classic Rover design, that strong frame, those sleek lines. They don’t make them like this anymore, Chakotay. Think of it, just you and her, gliding along the Cabrillo Highway…” The pilot bounced on his toes. “Maybe I’ll buy her.”

B’Elanna poked her husband in the ribs. “Not a chance, Flyboy.”

The Ferengi salesman slithered between him and the car. “Would the gentleman like to see her with the top down?”

Tom groaned. “Yes. The gentleman most definitely would.”

The Ferengi salesman touched a control and the car’s top slid away, revealing a gray and blood-red interior with deep, plush seats, carved wooden accents and gleaming silver controls. Chakotay’s fingers itched to touch everything he saw. The Ferengi smiled. “Would the gentleman care to take her for a spin?”