The Lesson of the Moth ...

[Shalin 0]

Starfleet Academy, 2 years ago

 

Shan stumbled through the academy library, his arms filled with old datacards. The desk clerk looked at him bemusedly. "Again, Cadet Shalin? What is it with you?"

 

Shan set down the cards. "You are an Earthling - you grew up with this, so you probably don't understand the beauty of your culture. Your literature is rich and full of feeling. Your writers explore ideas and thoughts and all sorts of things. My people are stagnant. We sing, we dance, we cook, we love ... but we don't progress, think, or really feel!"

 

He left the clerk shaking her head as he made a quick path back to his quarters. Taking the first card off the stack, he plugged it in a pad to read.

 

'i was talking to a moth

the other evening

he was trying to break into

an electric light bulb

and fry himself on the wires'

 

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Current Day

 

Shan sat at his station, keeping pace with the Flemming without getting too close. In a real way they couldn't: even if the crew was willing to help the Commander ( which at this point was highly unlikely ) she wouldn't answer, and signalling would warn the bad guys that they were coming. All of this, however, wasn't about to change Shan's mind.

 

He could tell that he wasn't popular on the bridge, and his opinion was probably even less so. It was the reason he didn't speak up to begin with - that and the fact that Lieutenant Belo was talking with Marcie and Long John ... not to him. She was going to be a hard one to deal with: the reprimand she gave him dissuaded him from taking initiative, only to find that he was supposed to engage the Warp drive even without an order to do so. His instructors were always of one mind or the other: do nothing without orders and proper regulation, or relax regulation and move on initiative. Shan hated mixed signals.

 

He also hated having to speak up, but he had to. Too many people were all set to just cut the Commander off; someone had to speak up for her. It would be one thing to say that she had to be punished, but let the Captain do the punishing. Just cutting her off - that was heartless. Shan hadn't known the Commander that long, but there was one thing that he was sure of: leaving her for the Orions to play with was the wrong thing to do. Why? Because he wouldn't want the same thing done to him if he ever pulled a bone-headed stunt.

 

Something drove the Commander over the edge - Shan didn't know what, but he did know two things. First: he admired that the Commander had so much heart that she was willing to throw everything away for it. Second: someday, for some reason that he couldn't imagine today, he might find himself in the same situation. He wouldn't want the people he trusted and worked with to just give up on him, even if he deserved it. No - he wouldn't want that at all, so he couldn't do that to the Commander. Like it or not she would be rescued from her own impulsiveness, even if Shan had to do it all himself.

 

Shan smirked at his last thought; maybe there was something in the ship's water ...

 

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Recommended reading: 'The Lesson of The Moth' by Don Marquis, from 'archy and mehitabel' ( 1927 )

[Crash Calestorm 0]

The water? Isn't it the pheromones? =P

[Shalin 0]

No ... the Commander bugged out over whatever, while I may defy orders for the sake of loyalty.

 

I'm not hot for the Commander ... not that green skin isn't awesome or anything, but ... nevermind.