Uneasy Alliances: a Captain Soma solo adventure

Uneasy Alliances: A Captain Soma solo adventure

By Quills

Contact: the_quill_pen@yahoo.com
Series: ENT
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star trek and I derive no financial gain from this story.
Codes: A Captain Soma Adventure
Summary: The crew of the U.S.S. Argo, under the command of Captain
Jonathan Soma is ordered to rendezvous with a mysterious party in a remote section of space for a mission that may lead both Soma and his crew into the hands of an enemy.

The starship Argo had remained motionless for twelve hours after arriving in the Dynarius Cluster. Her crew had received orders from Starfleet Command to proceed at maximum warp to the coordinates supplied and then to await further instructions. No explanation given. No further information supplied.

“Mr. Beltane?” said the man in the center command chair, addressing the ship’s science officer.

Beltane, a senior lieutenant in a blue Starfleet tunic with a full red beard he wore to cover his boyish features, looked up from his instruments. The expression on his face almost made it appear as though he had just been startled. In truth, like the rest of the crew, he was simply getting tired of waiting and watching for nothing.

“Still nothing Captain Soma,” replied Beltane shaking his head. “If they’re out there, then their damn good at hiding…begging your pardon, sir.”

Soma shook his head as he shifted in his seat. “It’s all right lieutenant. We’re all getting a little tired of this waiting game Starfleet has sent us on.”

“I just don’t understand,” said a woman seated in front of Soma. Lieutenant Commander Allysa Vemanova, was the ship’s navigator and first officer. She turned around in her chair, looking at Soma. “Why all the secrecy. There’s nothing out here worth keeping quiet about.”

Soma smiled at the dark haired navigator. She never was one for mysteries. Soma had often wondered why she ever joined Starfleet if she had no sense of the mysterious. He had finally come out and asked her point blankly. Her response had always amused him.
Where else can I pilot the fastest, most technically advanced ships in the galaxy!

“Allysa, where we are may hold little interest for the rest of the galaxy,” smiled Soma, “but who we’re supposed to meet is another matter.”

“So it’s a person?” asked a voice from an aft bridge station.

Soma glanced back. Tav, his Tellerite Security Chief, was leaning with his back against a bulkhead, his gold tunic Starfleet tunic hugging against his ample frame. Tav was the first Tellerite to graduate from Starfleet Academy and Soma felt a special kinship with the man, as he had been the first Vulcan to graduate from that same illustrious institution.

“Undoubtedly,” replied Soma. “Why else send us out here to wait unless we’re waiting for a rendezvous.”

“I say, that’s clever!” replied Tav humorously.

Soma gave him a small grin. “That’s why I’m a captain.”

“Ok,” said Allysa. “So if it’s a person then who?”

Soma gave the dark haired navigator a slight shrug. “If I knew that, I’d be an admiral.”

“Hmmm, I wonder who our mystery person could be,” said the Tellerite. During this time, with Earth and Starfleet’s heightened tension with the mysterious Romulans leading to what most in the fleet believed would be war and the recent first contact with the predatory Kzinti the possibilities of whom their contact could be proved both tantalizing and frightening. Tav was about to voice several possible individuals he believed their mysterious rendezvous might involve when Ensign Calvert addressed Soma.

“Captain, we’re receiving a signal sir,” said the stocky blonde man. Tav and Soma had been trying to get the Tom Calvert to transfer over to security. He had all the requirements for a first rate security officer, but the ensign had repeatedly declined, telling the captain and Tav that he was a ‘communications officer…not a bully boy’. “It’s scrambled and encoded sir.”

“On screen ensign,” said Soma as adjusted his posture, straightening his gold tunic for good measure.

“Aye sir,” replied Calvert. “Coming through.”

The view screen shimmered as the image of empty space was replaced by the face of a woman. Soma’s brow shot up. She was a remarkably beautiful woman. Hauntingly so, but it wasn’t her beauty which caused Soma’s reaction; it was her deep blue skin and pure white hair which culminated at the top of her head with to slender antennae. Andorians

“Captain Soma,” said the woman, “I am Sub-Lieutenant Thala of the Andorian Imperial Guard.”

“I take it you’re the person who we’ve been requested to meet, Sub-Lieutenant.”

“No Captain,” the woman responded in an almost icy tone. “I am escorting the person you have been ordered to rendezvous with.”

Soma noted the stress she gave the word ‘ordered’ as if the person in question were the Andorian regent himself. “Well Sub-Lieutenant, my crew and I are here…we’ve been waiting for twelve hours…why don’t you drop the pretense and tell us exactly who it is we came all this way for.”

Thala glared at Soma. The Vulcan captain annoyed her; that much was plain. For Soma’s part he gave the Andorian woman a congenial smile which seemed to only increase her annoyance with the Vulcan. Glancing off screen, she nodded her head and slowly stepped out of the frame of the viewer. Within a few moments another Andorian replaced her. This one was clearly a male and much older than Thala. His skin was the traditional deep powder blue of all Andorians, but it was wrinkled and worn from a lifetime of activity. He moved with a slight limp that further belied his age or possibly some old battle wound.

“It’s good to see you again Captain Soma,” smiled the elderly Andorian. “It’s been a while.”

Soma’s brow furrowed as the Andorian greeted him. He recognized the man immediately. And he was correct; it had been a long time, but for Soma, not long enough.

“Shran.”

Continue to Chapter 2

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Four of you have made comments

Shran?! Love it and am looking forward to more.

How long do Andorians live? And Soma doesn't like Shran? Even though I get the feeling from Twilight, Shadows of P'Jem, and Proving Ground that Trip does and that Shran helps Trip, even in alternate futures.

Myst...I don't know how long Andorians live. I'm assuming not as long as Vulcans. Soma is very young in this story. The Argo is his first command. He's had her maybe a year. He's in his early thirties. I have the starfleet uniforms the same design as the ones from "Where no man has gone before..." of TOS so its closer to Kirk's era
but still awhile from it.
Q

Yay, Shran! What goodies shall we get this time around? Just delightful! Can't wait for more!

I also find it curious that Soma does not like Shran. I've always assumed that Shran would play a key role in the formation of the Federation (along with Archer, T'Pol et al). I wonder what happened for Soma to form a negative opinion? Great story so far. Can't wait for the next chapter.