Tests
By Wanderer (Wandering Smith)
October 2000
Summary: PG, J/C - Can be read as sequel to Caring.
Voyager meets a another new culture. One that *really* believes in
'family values'...
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimers: As it is thought, so let it be as said… You make the
toys,I play with them.
"Captain's log, Stardate XXXXXX. I think what I miss most about the
Alpha Quadrant is always being within reach of a Starfleet equipment
depot! This time it was tritanium to fix the latest shuttle damage. The
last 3 freighters we'd met all pointed us to the Mulk Confederation as
the best source. However, it seemed that they had some.. awkward
customs. End Captain's log."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Tuvok, I believe you have some information regarding the upcoming
contact?"
"Aye Captain. According to the intelligence Mr. Neelix has gathered,
the Mulkan have developed a culture where it is mandatory for all
adults to be in a pair-bond. Any adult not part of a couple will be
treated as a child, with commensurate responsibilities. They have
extended this requirement to all alien races wishing to trade with
them."
Into the stunned silence, Tom burst out, "You don't mean that only
married people can deal with them, do you?!!?"
"That is exactly what I am saying Mr. Paris," the Vulcan replied with a
raised brow. "Although, since the mating rituals of different races are
so different, they do not require other races to have gone through
their Lith-ga ceremony, their.. 'wedding'. Only that the couple pass
certain tests that the Mulkan believe indicate the deep bond of mates."
" Nice of them…" Tom muttered sarcastically.
"Just how strict are they with these rules Tuvok? Surely they don't
expect purely military cultures, for example, to carry their wives, or
husbands, in space?", Chakotay asked, ignoring the snorts at Paris'
comment.
"It would appear that they do Commander. Any vessel without at least
one couple on board will not be able to deal with any Mulkani. It
should be noted that since they do not require a ceremony, many
captains are rumoured to get around the restrictions by pretending to a
relationship."
"So what exactly are these tests that need to be passed Tuvok?" the
Captain asked, frowning.
"That is not spoken of Captain. The Mulkan know that not all people who
come claiming a bond are speaking the truth; they even appear willing
to let the lies pass, as long as they are not too obvious. It seems
that when the first outsiders were allowed in to trade, some captains
would show up with a different 'mate' every few months. When it was
discovered, the Mulkan government felt they were being mocked and began
to enforce stricter rules; they also instituted the tests."
"Wonderful." The captain started to pace the room. "At the rate we're
going through shuttles, we can't afford to have the Sacajeawa out of
service. Someone has to go trade for the tritanium." She ended her
pacing next to the Commander's chair, unconsciously drawing on his
presence to relax. "I don't like starting a relationship on a lie, but
in this case, it seems to be the only way. Now, the question is, who to
send."
"Well, since we don't know what these tests involve, it had better be
people who get along!" Tom interjected.
"Captain, Kes and I would be happy to go. I'm sure we'd have no problem
passing these 'tests'."
"That's very kind of you Mr. Neelix. This certainly sounds like a
mission that you have some unique qualifications for."
Grinning at the Captain's slightly exasperated look, Tom interrupted
again, "The only problem is that neither Neelix nor Kes have the
expertise to know if what they're offering will work for us…"
"Did you have someone else in mind Tom?", this time everyone grinned at
the exasperation.
"Yeah, actually."
He turned to B'Elanna with a smirk, "What do you say Lieutenant? We
made a pretty good team against the Vidiians… and you're certainly the
person to know whether their technology is compatible with ours."
"Are you out of your mind helmboy?? You think anyone
would be stupid enough to think that *we* are married?!?"
"Sure! I'm a good actor." Tom put on an injured look, then went on
pointedly, "What's the matter, afraid of being alone with me?..." his
smirk grew as she sputtered in outrage. "I promise to be good…"
"That's enough Tom." The captain exchanged smiling looks with the
Commander.
"Yeah Tom, you better watch out, Klingon mating rituals are.."
Chakotay's grin was evil as he watched his friend smolder, "very
demanding."
"Chakotay!!" B'Elanna spared the smirking Commander a withering glare
before returning to Tom, "I'm not afraid of you *Helmboy*, if you don't
watch your tongue I'm going to whip the holodeck with your.."
"Lieutenant!!" the captain's voice broke through the laughter breaking
out around the room, "That'll be enough. You two would
be the best choices, but considering the requirements, I'm sure
Neelix.."
"No. That's all right Captain. I'm sure I can reach a compromise with
Helmboy here.", she smiled at Tom, showing some sharp teeth.
"All right then. We have work to do. Dismissed. Tom, B'Elanna, stay."
Once everyone had filed out, she turned to the porthole. "Although I'm
very proud of both of you for volunteering, I hope you realize that
since we don't know what these tests are, we can't know what you'll be
asked to do… how far you'll be required to go."
B'Elanna darted a glance at Tom before replying slowly, "Captain, these
people seem to have a different body type than we do, and if these
tests are used on all aliens that come looking for trade, they can't
really go that far. Too many races have.." she
grinned, "rituals that are *far* different. Can you imagine their
requiring Vulcans to complete a Klingon mating ceremony??"
The Captain turned back to them with a smile. "Outside of the Pon Far,
that would indeed be rather extreme. However, the fact that they're
different means that something they might consider minor, and so,
appropriate for this, might be seen in a rather different light by
you."
Tom answered seriously. "It has to be done Captain. If we don't get
that tritanium, the Sacajeawa isn't safe to fly. And we can't afford to
be short another shuttle. No, we'll do it Captain."
She stepped up to them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Very well. We'll be reaching the transfer station in a week. If we're
lucky, we'll manage to find out more about these tests in that time."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they got within a day of the station, the navigation system
suddenly gave a lurch and dropped them out of warp.
"Report!"
As the Captain reached her seat, Chakotay spared a glance to be sure
she hadn't been injured, "Something's interfering with the warp field
Captain; all navigation and propulsion are down."
"Mr. Kim?"
"There's some sort of subspace echo that caused a large energy surge
through the deflector grid!"
"Source?"
"I… trying to find it Captain, its rather generalized. But it's
definitely coming from the system ahead."
"All right. Full stop." She tapped her badge, "B'Elanna, what's the
situation down there?"
They could hear shouting in the background as B'Elanna coughed, "We're
not going to be going to warp anytime soon, Captain. Whatever that was,
it's completely overloaded the relays.. even once they cool down and we
fix the structural damage, they're still going to need to be
reinitialized."
Chakotay looked at the Captain. 'So much for B'Elanna going down.' he
thought, 'that's going to take at least a week…' From the way she
started rubbing her temples, she'd obviously come to the same
conclusion.
"Keep me informed Lieutenant. Mr. Kim, find out what caused that surge.
We do not need surprises."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, according to the Stihl captain we just spoke to, this subspace
echo is caused by the alloy the Mulkani use in most of their
installations. Their propulsion technology is different enough that it
doesn't affect them.. but many other races can only go subwarp when
near their installations. Mr. Neelix?"
"Yes Captain. Ahh, it seems we may have a slight problem. I've spoken
briefly to the Mulkan station manager, and they only sell their
tritanium preprocessed.. which means they're only willing to sell us
this 'alloy' which they use."
"And which destroy my engines!" B'Elanna growled.
"Quite. Ahh, I'm afraid my rank of ambassador didn't appear to carry
much weight with them, Captain.. I suspect that if we want anything
other than what they've offered.. I think you're going to have to
convince them to give it to us yourself."
The room fell silent as Tom and the Captain looked at each other, both
trying to find the words to get out of the impasse. Chakotay
interrupted quietly, "If we have trouble with impulse too it would be
better to have our best pilot at the helm, Tom. I'll go."
Kathryn gave him a smile and a nod of thanks. He responded with a
teasing leer, quickly hidden. "The old term for First Officer *was*
First Mate…"
The others in the room gave the Commander surprised looks at the public
teasing.
Kathryn felt her skin heat up at the implicit reminder of what the
offer entailed. She told herself sternly that he was only teasing,
but.. 'Oh my, it's a good thing he didn't use that look too often…'
'Don't be silly Kathryn, of course it wouldn't change anything. He's
only your first officer, and a good friend; nothing more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they waited for the signal to transport down to the planet for the
first meeting, the Captain spoke up, "What do you say Chakotay? Up to
stretching the truth?"
Chakotay nodded, not trusting himself to speak. 'It won't be a stretch
Captain.' The thought was quickly buried, before it could take root and
interfere with the strict guidelines he'd set himself for this
mission.'Friends, old man, just friends; and fellow officers with a job
to do.'
This was going to be a long mission!
AN:(barrage
me enough and I might actually sit down and finish this.. especially if
my teachers left me time enough...)
To be Continued.... Not likely to be, very sorry
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