Later Days {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

Bread, Chapter 2

His eyes scanned the room, taking in a Calafan representative, a Takret, a Tandaran, a Vissian and more. "Our differences are our strengths. Together, I am certain; we will be greater than the sum of our parts. On behalf of all of us – on Earth, on Denobula, on Tellar, on the Xyrillian home world, on Vulcan, on the Caitian home world and here on Andoria, we offer a myriad of opinions and cultures. All are important, and all are to be maintained. We are strong together, as we celebrate infinite diversity in infinite combinations. And I thank you."

=/\=

The shuttle bay was quiet. The two of them worked together, with Leah on her back, working on the underside of one of the shuttles. "Hand me that spanner," Leah commanded as Josh stood nearby and pretended to take notes on his PADD.

"Uh, sure. Listen," he began, "I wanna thank you for including me. Izo is, well, let's just say of the four of them, I put him at number three for my choices to become the next Emperor."

"I take it Arashi is number four," she murmured as she worked.

"You got it. I bet he'd set up listening stations and hidden cameras. About the only reason we don't have those now is the Empress doesn't like a record of when she makes her conquests."

"Right. You got a preference between Kira and Jun?"

"Not particularly," he admitted. "Kira is at least a little bit influenced by MacKenzie, but he's a bit of a wimp. If the Empress gets her hooks into the Romulan Star Empire, I doubt he'd be able to hold it."

"Perhaps. Hand me the magnetic wrench."

"This thing?"

"No, to the left. Your other left."

"Oh, uh, yeah. As for Jun, he's kind of a wild card. I think he'd –"

The door swished open and he immediately stopped talking.

There were two people coming in – the day shift pilot, Shelby Pike, and the Chief Engineer, Frank Ramirez. They didn't see Josh and Leah, and looked around furtively, and then kissed.

From their hidden vantage point, Leah and Josh exchanged a look.

"I wish we could meet more openly," Shelby breathed.

"C'mon," Frank encouraged, "the shuttles are clear. We can do it in one of 'em."

"They aren't clear," Josh announced, showing himself and drawing his phaser.

"Oh!" Shelby exclaimed. "We didn't know."

Leah got up and came over. "Listen, you're not exactly being careful about this."

"Don't tell her," Frank requested. Nobody had to be told who that was.

"You owe us," Josh declared, resheathing his phaser.

"What is it that you want?" Shelby inquired, stepping a little closer to Frank and putting a hand on his arm. Frank was taller than Josh, but Josh was armed.

Leah thought quickly. "I, I wanna get out of here. We'll stay quiet, but I've gotta get off this boat. I don't wanna be eighty and have Izo Sato leering at me. I hardly know why he's bothering."

"I think he's looking for someone who's easy. He seems to need a success," Shelby mused. Leah shot her a look, so she added, "Hey, I'm not the one who's really thinking this."

"And you?" Frank asked Josh. "You looking to head out, too?"

"I dunno. But I'm not getting any younger, either. At some point, I will probably get dumped on some rock. I'd rather at least get my choice of rock. Maybe this can be a test run for that."

Shelby and Frank moved over to the side. He quietly said to her, "This might be a way for us to figure out our own endgame. I'm not interested in dying here."

"I feel the same," she replied. "But I say we only do it if we can learn something, and turn it to our advantage. If we get in trouble, I'm not taking the fall for either of 'em."

"Agreed," He murmured, "I'll take a risk, sure, but I'm not sticking my neck out for them."

"A practice run, huh? Well it might not just be a practice run for you. Huh. None of that'll be easy," Shelby said more loudly as she and Frank returned to where the others were. She paused for a moment, and then added, "But it's not impossible."

"A shuttle could, I dunno, crash. It could be cover for all sorts of things. There are all kinds of ways for things to ... fail," Frank thought out loud.

"Where are we going next?" Josh asked.

"Orders came down today," Shelby reported, "We're going to Andoria for a hunt before heading to the Romulan Star Empire."

"We can work with this," Leah decided. "Let's get there – I'd estimate two days?"

"One and a half if we go full-tilt," Shelby stated. "And we all know she'd rather go full-tilt."

"Okay," Josh said, "we got less than two days to plan this."

"Why are you two working together, anyway?" Shelby inquired.

"We're members of the same tribe," explained Josh. "There aren't a lot of us left. My, heh, my mother sent me a last message last week, before she died. She said I should look out for anybody in the tribe."

"That explains it, then," Leah murmured to herself. Josh had never taken an interest in her well-being before.

"The Empress'll put it all together, you know," Frank cautioned. "Well, don't look at me. Even if Shelby and I stay quiet, someone else is bound to figure all that out."

"Then we'll have to create a diversion, or some sort of a pretext," Leah mused.

"The hunt," Josh decided, "that'll be the cover. Plus it's cold there. That's gotta be good for something."