first chapter pretty confident it is final

Star Trek: The Flying Dutchman

“Terror Awakened”

A Startrek fan fiction story

By: Christ van Silfhout

Everything in the Star trek Universe is the property of Paramount or CBS or other owners

Except for the places, persons, things and events which were created in my imagination.

I hold no rights nor have any intent to gain anything from this document. This is purely written for the fun of writing it and in no way intends to infringe upon any rights or laws anywhere. Any objections to anything in this document may be sent to deuZige@ziggo.nl and will be acted upon promptly.

Chapter 1: “Welcome aboard”

Just for a second the commsignal interrupting the idyllic peace in which Keash had immersed himself on the nicest beach on the planet Pacifica annoyed the hell out of him. The annoyance came from his gut reaction and the second was all it took for his rational persona to reassert itself once more. He directed his gaze into the sky as he responded as if he would be able to see the spaceship that undoubtedly spawned the communication request in orbit with his own eyes. “Captain Foultish, go ahead”

The tiny device did a remarkably good job at reproducing the sound of the speaker on the other end, removing the canny quality that most communicators had produced over the century. “This is Commander Snetto sir. I thought you’d want to know the shuttle bringing the last of our crew compliment will be docking in ten minutes.”

This bought a smile to Keash’s face and spurred him into motion. “Acknowledged. I’ll be aboard shortly. Foultish out.” Keash told his XO as he gathered the empty drink containers and put on his uniform pants and top. A minute later he felt confident he was presentable and had left nothing but his footprints behind on the pristine golden beach he had spent the last few hours on. He let his gaze take in the magnificent beach, the gently breaking waves on the beach, the bright blue ocean that stretched into the horizon and filled his lungs with the ocean air one more time before tapping the communicator. “Foultish to Flying Dutchman, one to beam up”

Just as the high warp long range personnel carrier shuttle “USS Breda” touched down on the deck of the massive hanger bay located in the belly of the USS Flying Dutchman’s main hull Keash stepped through the doorway. After beaming back from the surface of the planet he’d rushed into his quarters, quickly took a sonic shower, put on a clean uniform and had even managed to check his reflection in the mirror and see he had forgotten to shave and there wasn’t enough time left to correct that oversight. Taking position at the shuttle’s exit just as it started to open he had time to feel slightly embarrassed and rub his hands over his face feeling the stubbles that were the cause of that embarrassment. The passengers that started to file out were the cream of the crop in Starfleet. Namreh and he himself had spent many many hours going over the available officers to select the best crew possible. The specific officer he was now waiting to greet had not been on the list of available officers though. As the gorgeous lines of Aneleh Snetto’s face became visible Keash was again struck by its exceptional beauty and as her body, complimented by the tight fit of the uniform she wore, was revealed when the ensign walking in front of her stepped aside Keash’s breath caught for a moment before he gasped and resisted the urge to shake his head to clear it. The lt. Commanders gaze had found his by then and the scowl on her face told him she was still pissed as hell at him.

“Aneleh, how very good to see you again” Keash said as she approached him and he extended his hand in greeting. Before Keash realized it though he had a stinging pain searing in his left cheek and Analeh’s beauty had been replaced by the ceiling of the hanger bay. As his mind caught up he realized she’d hit him, knocking him off his feet, and he’d never even see her move. “Still the quickest right uppercut in the galaxy and the temper of an uncontained warp core huh?” he quipped before starting to get up. He took the hand offered to him by the same woman that had decked him and got to his feet, his head still reeling from the impacts of Analeh’s punch and subsequently the hanger bay floor. “That was for shanghaiing me for this assignment without so much as subspace text-message you bastard!” Aneleh spit at him as her gaze locked with Keash’s. Keash let a second or two pass after that before letting his Captain Mode kick back in. “Lt. Commander Snetto, I deserved that, I had it coming. But I must warn you that now we are even, and you are my subordinate. Any insubordination from this point forward will be dealt with according to Starfleet regulations and protocol, am I making myself clear” Keash said, loud enough for the still shell-shocked ensigns and Lieutenants that had witnessed their Captain being knocked on his ass by a Lieutenant Commander to hear. Aneleh had by then snapped to attention, saluted and replied “Sir, yes sir”.

Flicking a salute in return with a nod and then letting his gaze drift to the on looking crowd was enough to motivate everyone back into motion doing their best to look as busy as they possibly could. Soon the only ones left in the hanger bay were Keash, Aneleh and a pair of engineers doing after flight checks on the shuttle. “Keash, you know I am grateful for giving me this job but why the hell didn’t you contact me yourself?” Aneleh asked, pained expression directed at Keash. “The last communications we had exchanged had been heated if you recall. I had stated I expected an apology from you before I wanted any more to do with you” Keash stated. “What changed your mind?” Aneleh simply asked, as if Keash’s explanation was as logical to her as it seemed to be to Keash. Her expression had changed into her patented “I am faking an innocent look but making sure you can see it is actually a mischievous look” look which was one of the expressions they both knew could melt away almost any anger inside Keash. “All right, we both know this already even though I’ve never said it straight out to your face. We’re about to go on a mission that is scheduled to last five to ten years and I owe it to you to be clear about this so you can turn down the assignment, without repercussions to your career. After we leave Pacifica there’s no turning back or getting out so consider carefully my words” Keash told her after a sigh. He looked the gorgeous women deeply into her eyes then.

“I am in love with you. If you hadn’t figured that out by now the tales of women intuition are all a bunch of baloney. I also am well aware that the chances of you being romantically or physically interested in me are non-existent though, hence my reluctance to voice my feelings for you. Those feelings are not the reason you are here though, I give you my word. You are here because you are the best Astronomer, Astrophysicist, cartographer and exo-anthropologist in the known reaches of space and that is exactly what this mission, this crew and this Captain needs.” Keash said, his gaze then dropping to his shoes for some reason. “And your dad would have killed me if I had given the job to anyone else.” He softly added.

Analeh’s face went through a range of expressions before settling on a shocked, pleasantly surprised one. “Dad? Are you telling me someone managed to get him away from his desk at Starfleet Academy long enough to get involved in the crew selection for this mission?” she asked.

It was Keash’s turn to put on the “I am failing to look innocent and look mischievous on purpose” look complete with an evil grin at that question. The genuinely confused and suspicious expression on Analeh’s face at that moment was priceless, and Keash savored it for a second or two before explaining himself.

“The former professor of the Academy that taught exploration 101 and author of the books from which command level officers learn their crew management skills for long term exploration missions was reluctant to say the least when I approached him at first but after time I managed to convince him to agree to my request with the argument that he would never be sure that his theories and teachings, though derived from analysis of the logs from every long term mission in Starfleet’s history and interviewing the command level staff members from those missions that were available, would remain a theory composed of assumptions, suppositions and hypotheses if their author was unwilling to put them into practice and observing their validity in person.” Keash intoned in a semiofficial tone of voice as if he was making a case to an Admiral. He had used that exact tone of voice and those exact words to convince Admiral Hewhaj that Namreh Snetto was the right man for the XO position weeks before actually.

Aneleh was silent for a moment gathering her thoughts before breaking a smile. “Dad’s going on this mission?” she asked with disbelief in her voice.

He is.” Keash smiled, adding; “In fact, Commander Namreh Snetto is the USS Flying Dutchman’s first officer” Keash told her with the biggest smile his face was capable of. “So… now you’re fully informed about the reason for your being here and the fact you’ll be taking orders from your father…. And the other thing I mentioned…. What is your decision? Will you take the job and head up the Science department? If you don’t I will understand and you can go back to your old position in the Daystrom institute without any mention of this on your record. No questions asked.”

Aneleh breathed in to answer but stopped before saying anything. Her face twisted into a scowl and her eyes flashed with anger for a moment as she seemed to realize something. “Onamor isn’t on Earth on vacation with his grandfather is he?” she asked, mostly rhetorically. “At the moment he is doing the Kuiper-belt grand prix race against Arend in holo-deck seven if I’m not mistaking. Arend still can’t stand getting beaten every single time but has reduced the time he lags behind to under one second” Keash answered, clearly proud of his son’s ability to keep up with his almost two years older best friend. He hoped this would keep Analeh’s mind off the fact that her son had been here, aboard the Dutchman, for the past two weeks instead of on Earth with his grandfather.

“I want to hit you in the face so much right now I can’t even tell you” Aneleh began. “The only thing keeping me from punching your lights out right now is the fact that I don’t want to explain to the whole crew why you have two black eyes for the next five years or more every time I’m in the mess hall having an off duty drink” She added. “And you don’t want to put me in the position of being forced to impose disciplinary measures on you or lose respect from the rest of my newly assembled crew, right?” Keash smiled in reply.

“Lieutenant Commander Aneleh Snetto requesting permission to come aboard and reporting for duty captain!” Aneleh stated while snapping to attention, complete with salute. “Permission granted, and welcome aboard Commander.” Keash saluted back, relieved the second most difficult person to get to become part of his crew had been successfully convinced to join. He pointed to the hanger bay’s exit saying “Let me show you to your quarters. Arend and Onamor’s race should be over in five minutes and they promised to go there to greet you as soon as they were done.”