Surefoot 20: One Man's Eden...

"Captain's Log, Stardate 47318.66, USS Surefoot-A, Captain Esek Hrelle, Commanding: following refitting of the patrol vessels on the Federation-Cardassian border, we are now proceeding to the Demilitarised Zone, a less-rigid boundary between our respective governments, where Federation and Cardassian colonies that refused to leave try to get along - with little success.

Specifically, we are here to provide an escort for a transport ship, the Valley Forge, which is currently evacuating a group of colonists as their planetoid has become unalterably polluted from weapons employed years before during the conflict, and they need to move to a new home. The orders received weren't... very specific, but reading between the lines, I can guess that the colonists weren't too keen to leave, or to have help from Starfleet."

*

"Can you blame them?" Kami asked, relishing the warmth from the contents of her cup as she held it at her fingertips, as well as the scent of the tea. "From what I understand, Eden was one of the oldest colonies in this sector, almost a hundred years old in fact. They ventured out here decades before Starfleet even officially explored this part of the Quadrant. I'm sure they never expected to see us again. And then to be caught up in a war they wanted nothing to do with."

"They were short-sighted." Commander T'Varik allowed her own cup of Vulcan mint tea to sit before her, her mind calculating the optimum time when it was cool enough to comfortably drink. "It was inevitable that there would be expansion by the Federation into this sector of space, and that they would encounter Starfleet-" She stopped and glanced to her left. "Please cease."

Beside her, Chief of Security Lt C'Rash stopped sending her tail up to touch the Vulcan's thighs, a slight smirk on her black-furred Caitian face the only visible sign of her act of mischief. "Well, they'll be happy for our presence on this trip; activity in the Zone, from both Maquis, Cardassians and non-aligned pirates has increased, and they'll want to hang onto what little they're taking with them to their new home."

"'Eden'," Hrelle mouthed, not waiting for his extra-sweet cappuccino to cool before bringing it to his muzzle. He sipped and returned the cup to the table - oblivious to the dot of foam on the tip of his snout. "They must be human. Humans love that myth. Living in a garden forever, eating rabbit food. Some Paradise."

"Based on the limited manifest provided, they are predominantly human," T'Varik clarified, frowning at her Caitian captain's nose. "Sir, you have-"

But Kami raised a furred hand to cut off the First Officer, leaning closer to her husband - and licking the tip of his nose, before settling down again.

"That is not very hygienic," T'Varik noted dryly.

"But it does look like fun," C'Rash flirted, looking to the Vulcan. "Next time, you should get a cappuccino, too, so I can give you the same treatment."

T'Varik lifted up her tea, not engaging in eye contact with her new friend and confidante. "There is not enough time before our rendezvous with the Valley Forge to list all the reasons why that will not happen."

"Get a room, you two," Hrelle quipped, purring at Kami as he stared into her deep, wonderful eyes. He had Paradise right here.

*

Crew Mess Hall:

"You are... Dizzy?"

The slim young woman with Asian features and ponytailed sable hair smiled. "Izzy. Short for Isabelle."

Kitirik's wattles flushed blue beneath his narrow reptilian chin. "Oh! Forgive me, please, Respected Squad Leader, I misheard."

The smile became a grin, as she reached across the table with her hand. "That's okay, you can call me Dizzy. No one else, though."

Kit rose from his seat, accepting the hand. "I would be honoured, Respected- I mean, Dizzy."

Alpha Squad Leader Sasha Hrelle set her tray down and sat beside Delta Squad's latest leader, newly arrived after the long-overdue departure of her predecessor, Ledit. "Kit, let go of her hand, Ensign Zhou doesn't have much time to eat - and neither do you."

"Yes! Yes, Good Friend Sasha." Kit sat down, returning to his plate of roasted giant moth.

Sasha smiled, both at Izzy's reaction to Kit's ebullience - and to the Qarari cadet's insectivorous diet. "Tuck in, we still have to complete your flight and weapons certifications, put you through the standard medical check, introduce you to the Counselor, bore you with the safety briefings on transporter use, EVA, Jeffries Tube access, Evacuation Protocols-"

"It's all go onboard with you here, isn't it?" the girl asked, her Northern English accent strong, with just a hint of the sound of being overwhelmed.

"That's life in the Advanced Work Experience program," noted Giles Arrington, Beta Squad Leader and Sasha's boyfriend, as he sat beside her. "Must have been a shock for you, accepting the appointment and having to race out here to the Cardassian border at a moment's notice."

"It was," she admitted, tucking into a sausage sandwich. "More than it should have been." After a bite and a swallow, she continued, "I grew up in space, both parents in Starfleet Tactical, never onboard any one ship for long before getting another assignment. The longest I've ever stayed in one place has been the last three years at the Academy on Earth. I think I lost my space legs."

On the other side of the table, the Bolian Neraxis Nemm looked up. "Hey, Furball, that was your cue to make some remark about helping Ensign Zhou find them."

Meow Rrori, the snow-furred Caitian Flight Specialist for Alpha Squad, just growled and stared blankly at his breakfast.

"What's wrong with him?" Giles asked.

"He was up all night again," Sasha replied, smirking.

"Doing what, studying?" Zhou enquired affably. "Perhaps I can give you a hand?"

Neraxis chuckled, her bald blue head brightening. "What he studies at night, he's been studying all his life. And one hand should be enough."

Zhou frowned. "I don't get it."

At the far end of the table, Alpha Squad's Medic Eydiir Daughter-of-Kaas, a tall, dark-skinned Capellan, never looked up from her own meal as she explained in her typical glib manner, "He self-pleasures."

"More than anyone else in the Quadrant," Sasha added, grinning.

Zhou's face flushed, as she stammered, "Oh, uh, wow - I mean, uh-"

Now Rrori responded, looking to the new arrival and replying in a surly voice, "These primates exaggerate, of course."

"We do not," Eydiir countered. "Two to three times is statistically too much."

"I am in heat," he explained. "Accentuated by the Counselor's pheromones during her pregnancy. "

"Oh." Zhou seemed to want to make a show of being insouciant about the sex talk with crewmates she had only just met. "Well, two or three times a week is a little-"

"A night," Neraxis corrected.

"WHAT?" Zhou gazed in astonishment at the Caitian male. "How can you still walk?"

Rrori ground his teeth at the laughter from the others, but recovered quickly, "Superior Caitian stamina, I can assure you. And unlike the prurience you see with certain humanoid races, Caitians are quite open about the subject of self-gratification - especially when it is the only means of relief available, in the absence of willing partners."

"It is not the only means," Eydiir amended. "I can provide you with hormonal suppressants."

"Or we can just get you spayed?" Neraxis suggested.

"No willing partners?" Zhou echoed, smiling. "That seems difficult to believe, for someone with your looks."

"Yes!" he agreed readily. "I am quite disappointed at my low success rate since boarding the Surefoot. Although many have had the good taste to show interest, I have had relatively few conquests."

Zhou nodded at that, before suggesting, "It might be a good start if you didn't refer to women as 'conquests'."

"I still think you should get spayed," Neraxis joked.

Rrori looked to her. "You and Jonas are at it like Argelians these days." Then he focused on Sasha. "Same with you and Giles." Finally he focused on Eydiir. "And then there's you and Falok."

Zhou looked to Eydiir. "You and Ensign Falok are dating?"

The Capellan woman seemed reluctant to admit anything, but recognised a superior was technically asking her a question, and responded with, "We are spending time together, on an exclusive basis. The level of our intimacy is our own business."

"Of course, of course."

"Nevertheless," Rrori continued, recapturing their attention once again, "It is deplorable that every member of my squad is having sex but me! Simply unacceptable! I must seem inadequate to others, laughable-"

"Rrori," Sasha cut in.

But he continued his rant. "The butt of everyone's jokes, pathetic and unworthy-"

"Rrori!" Sasha snapped.

He looked to her - but she was looking at Kit, sitting beside him, who was now just staring at his plate.

Then Rrori understood, and felt himself blush under his fur as he realised the extent of his faux pas. "My friend, I did not mean to imply that you-"

"Yes, Friend Rrori, you did," Kit cut in with uncharacteristic curtness, focusing instead on a bemused-looking Zhou, though it was obvious that he was speaking to everyone in earshot. "My race does not engage in sexual activity for pleasure, only reproduction. Individuals of certain sexually-driven races often see this as something to be pitied.

But it shouldn't be. There is an ineffably great amount of time, thought, effort, art, anticipation, disappointment, pain, heartache and suffering given by other races to what amounts to only a few seconds of physical pleasure - something one can duplicate with a satisfying bowel movement."

"It's a lot more than that, Kit," Giles pointed out. "It's also about intimacy, love-"

"Not always, Good Friend Giles, though many races seem unable or unwilling to grasp the distinction. To their detriment." He rose to his feet. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Friend Dizzy. Please excuse me. I wish to be somewhere else now."

He departed, leaving behind his half-finished breakfast.

"Wow," Neraxis breathed out. "That was tense. I've never seen him so angry."

"That was angry?" Zhou asked, looking to Sasha.

The other woman nodded. "For Kit, yes." She rose up enough to reach across the table and smack Rrori loudly across the snout. "Go, you stupid kussik! Do the right thing!"

The Caitian male growled - but rose and followed Kit out the door.

"Did you just assault a fellow cadet?" Zhou asked, thoroughly confused.

Sasha returned to her omelet. "Hmm? Oh, that. The females of his clan gave me permission to keep him in line." She left it at that.

Zhou looked to the remainder of Alpha Squad, until Neraxis offered, "We do things differently here than at the Academy." Then she eyed the abandoned trays. "Anyone want to split a half-finished shuris meat pie and giant moth?"

*

Bridge:

Hrelle sat in his command chair and regarded the giant vessel on the main viewscreen. The Valley Forge was long, much longer than even the new Sovereign-class starships, with an old-fashioned framework like some cub's climbing tower in a playground, wrapped around a central rectangular hull.

But of particular interest was a set of eight giant geodesic green domes mounted around the aft section of the Valley Forge, just in front of the main drives. "What are those? Fuel pods? Storage facilities?"

"Biodomes, Captain," Second Officer Lt Neheru reported from the Ops Station behind Hrelle. The Kelpien's gaunt, apricot-coloured noseless face creased as he continued to peruse the readings from his station. "When the pollution from the Cardassian weapons began irrevocably damaging Eden's biosphere and evacuation became inevitable, the Edenists were determined to save as many of the various environments as they could: forests, jungles, tundra and the like.

When the time for evacuation came, the domes were lifted up by tractor beams to the Valley Forge, to ultimately be replanted at their new location. And..." He paused to read some more. "There appear to be small communities in most of them."

"The Edenists are living in them?"

"The Edenist society is pastoral," T'Varik, standing beside Neheru, reminded him. "Rejecting technology for a more primitive existence."

Hrelle smirked. "Not all technology. Hail them."

"Sir, they're hailing us, on Audio."

"Let's hear it."

Hrelle settled back in his seat - then started at the loud chants that filled the Bridge. "-Herbert it's No Go! Tell Herbert It's No Go! Tell Herbert It's No Go!"

Hrelle turned in his chair and glanced up at an equally-bemused T'Varik, before finally speaking up. "Excuse me? Valley Forge, this is Captain Hrelle of the Surefoot. We're-"

"Tell Herbert It's No Go!"

"We're here to escort you out of the DMZ," Hrelle continued, mentally counting the number of voices leading the chants: about twenty, young people mostly.

"Tell Herbert It's No Go!"

Louder now, Hrelle asked, "Are there any grown-ups there I can talk to, please?"

The chanting stopped. Seconds later, a gruff, older male's voice offered, "Captain Hrelle, this is Captain Bakunin of the Valley Forge. I apologise for that; some of the Edenists heard that Starfleet would be assisting us, and they staged a sit-in on my Bridge."

Hrelle glanced up as Kami entered and stood by his side. "A what?"

She looked at him and mouthed: A protest.

Suddenly, a younger female voice broke in. "Tell Herbert It's No Go! We reject your militancy, your aggression! We will not break bread with baby killers!"

Hrelle bristled, and his voice was taut as he responded, "Young lady, I can assure you that I have never killed a baby, nor has anyone else onboard my ship. We are here only to provide you with protection-"

"We don't need protection, Baby Killer! We are peaceful! When you are peaceful to the Universe, the Universe will be peaceful to you!"

Hrelle rolled his eyes. "I said I was not a baby killer, young lady. And we didn't come here to debate pacifist politics. Captain Bakunin, we'll run parallel with you along the pre-agreed route, matching your own Warp 4. We'll also need to run the usual security and medical checks of your crew and your... passengers."

"Of course, Captain-" Bakunin started to reply.

But then the girl's voice returned. "No Baby Killers polluting our space-"

"I'M NOT A BABY KILLER!" Hrelle snapped.

He stopped, aware of Kami and everyone else on the Bridge looking at him now, before continuing in a more-controlled voice again. "Captain Bakunin, to continue with what I was saying... normally we would just scan your vessel and be done with it, but we're a training vessel with cadets, and given the time it'll take to lead you out out of the DMZ, I was hoping you'll allow us to send cadet teams over instead? I promise they'll not interfere with your normal operations."

"Of course, Captain," Bakunin replied, sounding both apologetic... and afraid of upsetting Hrelle. "Whatever you want."

"My Chief of Security will be in touch with you shortly with the details. Surefoot out." He rose to his feet. "You have the Bridge, T'Varik, I'll be in my Ready Room, working. I don't wish to be disturbed by anyone." He ignored his wife as he left.

He wasn't in the room a minute before Kami entered, waddling a little in her pregnant state. He was standing by his window, staring out at the Valley Forge, knowing who it was by scent without having to turn to face her. "I thought I was pretty clear about not being disturbed."

"You were, and it's simply adorable that you think that's going to stop me after all this time." She walked to him, slipping an arm around his, and entwining their tails together. "Calmed down some?"

"I was always calm," he lied.

"Oh, of course. You're like a furry Buddha, a fat-tailed Surak." She sighed. "You're tense. Everyone is, our workload has been considerable, with these new assignments and the cadets in their final Academy year; the stress levels are high."

His gaze focused on a collection of stars in the space about the other ship, imagined forming new constellations from them. "Tell Herbert It's No Go. What's a Herbert, anyway?"

"Old slang, from a hundred years ago when the Edenist Movement first rose. It refers to a minor bureaucrat notorious for his rigid patterns of thought."

Hrelle nodded at that. "Well... I'd ask you to make sure I don't go rigid, but-"

"I can guess the rest of that, thanks."

His expression sobered again. "I'm not a baby killer."

"I know that, Esek. So does everyone else."

"Not everyone."

"A few misguided individuals, out of trillions in the Federation. The vast majority knows Starfleet is bound by principles of peace, using aggression only as a last resort; the organisation couldn't have survived in its current form for as long as it has, without that support. But there will always be people who only see our phasers and torpedoes and uniforms, and lump us under the same banner as the Romulans or the Breen."

He nodded. "And we hardly encounter those people in our daily lives. We're always around other members of Starfleet, or their families or support systems. Who knows how many young people out there think the same thing as Little Miss Bigmouth?" He leaned forward, tapping his forehead against the window. "And would you blame them? I get labelled aggressive, and respond aggressively. Nice one. How pathetic is that?" He was tensing again.

Kami responded by uncurling her arm from his, guiding his hand to her belly, and letting him unfold his furry fingers to gently clasp the bump, feeling their child react to the familiar touch.

Hrelle felt Misha's heartbeat, and felt himself calm down in response.

"Oh look," Kami noted softly. "Here's one young person who doesn't think you're a baby killer."

He nodded gratefully - just as his combadge chirped. "Captain, apologies, I acknowledge that you did not wish to be disturbed, but the Counselor advised us to ignore that."

He smirked. "Of course she did. What is it?"

"Security teams are being organised for beam-over to the Valley Forge. And the Edenist's representative, a Mr Freeman Lowell, has contacted us, inviting you to visit, and to give him the opportunity to thank you personally for our assistance."

"Thank you, T'Varik. Proceed with the inspections, and inform Mr Lowell I'll beam over shortly." Then he let his hand drifted around to Kami's rear, squeezing her right cheek through her uniform. At her look, he asked innocently, "What?"

She rolled her eyes. But let his hand stay where it was.

*

SS Valley Forge, Biodome 2:

Hrelle and Kami materialised onto a slope surrounded by a rich, verdant, vibrant forest, reminding Hrelle of the Pacific Northwest back on Earth, or the Shirekeen Provinces on Cait: tall, black trees rose up in tight, narrow clumps, sheltered around the roots by bushes, vines, moss, and tall, drooping flower stalks. The air was filled with the scents and sounds of life, and it was only when he looked straight up, to see the huge dome with lights mounted at connecting points on the lattice framework, that the illusion of being on an actual planet's surface was broken. "Wow."

"Wow indeed," Kami agreed, taking his hand in hers as they descended the slope, her tail swishing happily against knee-high ferns, shaking free more scents. "This puts our Arboretum on the ship to shame. Even the Holodeck programs aren't as good as the real thing."

He made a sound of agreement, drinking in all the sensory wash. They hadn't been on a planet's surface since their visit to Cait, many months ago. It instilled such an air of tranquillity in him, that it was almost shocking in itself.