The crew had consumed the food that Giovanni had prepared without the usual grumbling for once, and were engaged in idle activities before going to sleep. A small fire was in the center of their camp, and their pallets were laid out around it. Lt. Reiv was keeping a watch, his arm still in a make-shift sling, while Commander Yilaan and Dr. Giovanni engaged in idle conversation. Lt. Ivanovna was busying herself with several small sticks on the ground which she'd grab a handful of every time she tossed a rock in the air. She'd catch the rock with the same hand she'd scooped the sticks up with, would smile to herself, and lay them out again to repeat the sequence.
Dr. Giovanni was half listening to Commander Yilaan and was becoming distracted by Ivanovna's activities. Yilaan noticed the lapse in the doctor's attention and tapped her on the shoulder. "Doctor? Are you listening?" she asked.
"Sorry Commander," the doctor apologized and then pointed to Lt. Ivanovna.
Both officers watched the Lt. for a moment before the doctor spoke. "Katrina, what are you doing?" the doctor asked, "Are you playing jacks? Isn't that a child's game?"
Lt. Ivanovna stopped what she was doing and looked at the doctor. "Some might call it keeping one's reflexes honed," she said, her thick Russian accent revealing no emotion.
The doctor laughed aloud, to which Lt. Ivanovna reacted angrily. She picked up the sticks and the rock she was using and threw them at the doctor, who barely dodged them with a gasp of alarm. "Perhaps you'd like to test your reflexes, Doctor!" Lt. Ivanovna said with harshness in her voice, standing up and taking a defensive posture. "I'd guess they could use a little work."
The doctor's mouth was agape and she ducked behind the commander as the security chief, who was nearly a foot taller than her, made a menacing move towards her. Lt. Reiv turned towards the camp at the sound of the harsh words and took a few steps towards the conflict.
"Lt.!" Commander Yilaan shouted, "At ease!" Seeing Lt. Reiv moving in, she added, "Both of you!" The commander then pulled her phaser and adjusted the settings on it. "Very well then; since you want to fight so badly, go to it!" she added after seeing Lt. Ivanovna seethe at the doctor.
Both the doctor and the security chief looked at each other and at the commander with surprised expressions. "Commander?" the doctor finally said.
"Go on Lt.! Take the doctor down and wrestle on the ground and smash her head on a rock or something," the commander yelled.
Neither officer moved. Lt. Reiv stood at ready, waiting for something to happen, and wondering what he should do if it did.
"Lt. Ivanovna, I order you to attack Dr. Giovanni!" Commander Yilaan shouted.
"No sir," Ivanovna said under her breath.
Yilaan walked over to Ivanovna and stood directly in front of her, "What did you say?"
"I said 'no sir' Commander. I will not fight the doctor," said Ivanovna, her Russian accent very monotone.
Cecilia Yilaan backed off a step. "Alright then," she said pausing. Her voice resumed a normal tone as she continued, "I understand you're frustrated. I know the climate here is hot and humid. I know we're all a little sick of each other. We're all uncomfortable but that's no excuse," Commander Cecilia Yilaan said, looking directly at Ivanovna. She paused for a moment and paced about. "The last time I checked, we were all Starfleet officers. Are we Starfleet officers, Lt.?" she asked Lt. Ivanovna.
Lt. Ivanovna stood at attention with her hands clasped behind her back. "Yessir!" she said brusquely.
"Are we behaving like Starfleet officers Lt. Ivanovna?" Yilaan asked the security chief.
"You are, sir," Ivanovna responded, looking down at the ground.
Yilaan smiled slightly at the comment. "You will look at me when I am speaking to you Lt.!" Yilaan ordered. Lt. Ivanovna looked up abruptly. "Since you have so much extra energy Lt., you stand watch," Commander Yilaan said, tossing the phaser to the security chief. "Reiv, take a break."
Lt. Ivanovna left the camp as Reiv went to lay down on his pallet. Yilaan, on the way to her own, passed the doctor and said, "Stay out of her hair, Doctor."
"What? What did I..." the doctor began to protest, but a nasty look from the commander silenced her.
The remainder of the night passed on uneventfully, and the group continued on in the morning. After travelling for about three hours, the group emerged into a clearing. Several humans were there and four saw the Bristol officers, alerted the others, and proceeded slowly towards them.
"Looks like we have company," Reiv said under his breath, one hand instinctively going down by his phaser.
Ivanovna also prepared herself, as Yilaan stepped forward to greet the four approaching figures. The Betazoid Yilaan sensed concern from them, but not overt hostility, so she had made the decision to approach them openly and try and find out what was going on. Normally the Prime Directive might prevent her from revealing who and what the Bristol officers really were, but she figured, since they had a scanning beam designed for probing starships, they couldn't be that ignorant of extra-planetary life. They appeared to be humans, but there was something odd about them that she couldn't place. It almost seemed like part of them was missing somehow, in what she was sensing of them. Nevertheless, she hoped that that would not matter, and that she would find a way to figure what was going on and get her people home.
"Greetings," Commander Yilaan said, hoping the universal translators built into their comm-badges would kick in if necessary to translate in case these people didn't speak her language. "I am Commander Cecilia Yilaan of the Federation starship Bristol."
One of the people looked at another and said quietly, "They look human."
The other responded as quietly, "Can they be? After so many years...other humans? Maybe this is a trick." He then turned to Yilaan and spoke in a normal tone, "I am Turner. What is it you want? Where have you come from? Why are you here? What is this Federation you speak of?"
Yilaan smiled warmly at them, "Our shuttle crashed on your planet. We have been unable to contact our friends orbiting your world to rescue us. Can you help us?"
One of the others that approached after the initial four native inhabitants of this world stepped forward smiling, "I am Thomas, mayor of this settlement. We greet you as honoured guests, such as we have not had in countless years. Come, please join us and tell us of yourselves. Our settlement lies just beyond those trees."
The Bristol officers followed Thomas through the clearing and the aforementioned trees, emerging on a small community, numbering perhaps 500 people. There were no modern conveniences that the officers could see; no anti-grav units, no automatic doors, no replicators. Not even something as old fashioned as a steam engine. Everything of a constructed nature was wood, mud, and stone. As they walked down a main thoroughfare, amounting to little more than a dirt path, Giovanni mumbled sidelong to Yilaan, "With this simple existence, how were these people able to probe our ship? It doesn't seem likely does it?"
Having overheard the comment, Thomas paused and looked at the doctor. "Ah but it is. All in good time though. Come, please," he finished, gesturing towards a large structure at the end of the path they were on.
Thomas led the group inside the structure. It appeared to be a common eating area; there were several large tables with benches and a couple open doors presumably leading to the kitchen. "Please, sit here," Thomas offered. "I will return shortly with refreshments."
The Bristol crew did as they were told, and in a moment, Thomas emerged from the kitchen with a large tray of food and drink. "Help yourselves," he said cheerily. The officers gorged themselves on the refreshments, sorely needed and much appreciated after the fare they were forced to consume over the past several days. Each mumbled the occasional thanks while they ate and drank, and Thomas smiled pleasantly at all, while waiting for them to finish. As the crew eventually satiated themselves, Thomas spoke. "So, Commander Yilaan," he began, "tell me of yourselves. You seem to be a good people, not to mention very advanced technologically."
Yilaan smiled, "Yes we are Thomas. We are all members of a federation of aligned species, who have come together for mutual defense and assistance in learning about what lies around us. At heart we are explorers; our Starfleet explores the galaxy seeking peaceful contact with other lifeforms, and exploring spacial phenomena."
"You appear to be humans, except for you," Thomas said indicating Lt. Reiv. "Is this so?"
"Lt. Ivanovna and the doctor are," Yilaan answered, indicating the two officers named. "I am Betazoid, and Lt. Reiv is Bajoran."
"Betazoid and Bajoran," Thomas repeated as if musing over the names. "I haven't heard of them before. You wouldn't happen to have any Vulcans in your Federation, would you?"
Yilaan smiled with interest, "As a matter of fact we do, Thomas! How do you know of them?"
"When we set out from Earth, we were one of the first colony ships to volunteer for the one-way trip into what we considered deep space. At the time, Earth, Alpha Centauri, and Vulcan were in a sort of loose alliance; am I correct in assuming they later formed this Federation you're a part of?"
Ivanovna leaned over to Reiv. "That was well over four hundred years ago," she whispered under her breath. Reiv looked alarmed at that comment, but said nothing.
"Yes, they are three of the founding members," said Yilaan, still smiling albeit slightly nervously at this point. "I'm glad to see we have common ground, Thomas."
"As am I. When we heard nothing more from Earth, we were afraid it had been overrun by Andoria," Thomas said, sitting back in his chair.
"The Andorians?" Dr. Giovanni piped in with surprise before recalling her history and nodding. "Oh yes, I recall. The Andorians at that time in history were indeed quite hostile. However, Vulcan managed to orchestrate a peace between their 'loose alliance' as you put it, and the Andorians. A similar occurrence happened with Cait some years later."
Thomas, speaking to Dr. Giovanni, said, "You said something about a lack of technology. What was that all about?"
"Well sir, where we come from, technology is a much more prevalent part of our daily lives than it apparently is in yours," she replied. "I meant no disrespect to your ways or your people; I was merely making an observation."
"And does our lack of your technology make you uncomfortable?"
Giovanni smiled, "Not at all sir; it kind of reminds me of home in some ways. My mother and father thought our technological dependencies to be disgusting and reprehensible." She frowned slightly and looked away, "They were less than pleased when I joined Starfleet."
"I'm glad, as you may be here for awhile," Thomas said.
A tinge of danger crept up the backs of the Bristol officers at that comment.
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