....In Dedication to the Veterans of the United States Armed Forces.                        "Archie!"        "Edith, how many times have I told you don't bother me when I'm watching the Tri-Dee."        "But Archie, we won!"        "We won what?"        "We won the contest."        "What contest Edith? I don't know about no contest."        "It was half a year ago Archie, remember, we entered that sweepstakes for an all expense paid two month starliner tour. We won!"        "What do you mean we won, no body wins those worthless contests. It's only a bald-face ploy you get you to spend your hard-saved replicator credits at their replimat. I told you that then, and I'll say it now..."        "But Archie, we won. Look."        Archie stopped in mid rant. He looked at the letter Edith held out on her PADD. He took the PADD, and read it again.        "Well, like I said, sometimes you get lucky. I knew that contest was up front from the start. Now, your Andorian, you can fool them with a fake contest, but not Archie Breeds, oh no. I see these fakes a mile away."        "So Archie, are we going?"        "Of course we are Edith, a smart man never turns down a free starship ride. Now, wadda we have to do here?"        Captain Kirk motioned Commander Ap Owen into the club. She looked a little shy about entering, it was for Captains only after all.        "And their guests." Kirk corrected.        "And I'm your guest today?"        "Yes, over here." He led her to a table.        "What's the occasion?"        Kirk grinned a little. "That comes later. So, what you think?"        "James Timothy Kirk, if you dragged me in her to show off, rank not withstanding...."        "Seriously. I've heard the club has been around since the Romulan War. I don't think it has been redecorated in that time."        "Have you been appointed to the decorations committee?"        "Not yet, but I want some ideas if I am."        "You are a terrible tease. However, I see what you mean. That hat stand for example, and the hat."        "They have been here since the Romulan War. The hat is the property of one Captain Howard Nelson MIA."        "There is a story."        "Yes, his ship was seen departing the scene of a battle at high relativistic speed, no contact was made, the ship was damaged. A friend left the hat in memory of all Starship crews lost in space, until he comes to claim it. Well, it has been over 200 years, and the USS Ulysses S Grant has not been seen or heard from."        "When do you stop hoping?"        "I don't think anyone does hope, but the thought, the memory, of what it stands for, that is what matters."        "Gwenith Ap Owen looked thoughtful for a moment. "We all have those we have lost, to circumstance, time, or other factors. It's a good symbol."        "I believe that is why it has endured. In any case, I have an announcement."        "An announcement?"        Kirk pulled a standard PADD from his uniform. Stood and requested the attention of the room. When the room quieted down, he read.        "Commander Gwenith Ap Owen. As of this stardate you are promoted to the rank of Captain, and shall assume all the responsibilities and privileges of that rank. On acceptance you are further ordered to assume command of the USS Hadrian NCC 10475. Do you accept this promotion and these orders?"        Gwenith sat speechless for a moment. She stood up.        "Yes Captain, I accept."        The assembled Captains and Admirals applauded. A toast was offered, and drunk. And they sat once again.        "You have a sense of drama."        "It's a first for me too."        "It is?"        "I have never had a Commander under me promoted. But then again, the Kongo is my first space command."        "First, when I met you it seemed you had been in the center seat a thousand years."        "I would suppose I am a decent actor then. I felt like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar."        "You where that nervous?"        "I had my share of the officer of the deck days, and some times when it was hairy and the Captain wasn't there. But I was never, never the man responsible when the chips were down. As many times as you have had the Kongo's center seat, as confident as you might be on that deck. When the deck is yours, and there is no one else to turn to, it is the loneliest place in the Galaxy. As prepared as you are, and as much as I tell you this, I cannot prepare you for the moment, only warn you it will happen."        "I stand warned. By the way, what is the Hadrian?"        "Kongo class."        "Kongo class? I didn't know there was a Kongo class."        "The Hadrian is the second. Ambassador class hull mated with Ane warp drives and computer. Starfleet has smiled on my experiment and authorized a second ship. They also insisted on taking you from me to command her. I put up a brave fight, but they prevailed. Picard wants a Captain familiar with the ship and, as he put it, 'quirks' of the system."        "But I don't get Tathilan."        "Not if I can help it. You are however getting the seconds of every engineering and computer department on the Kongo. I have heard howls over that, believe me. Picard tried to twist Felialan out of me, but I told him that if he took my First, and my Chief Engineer, he would have a land mutiny on his hands. He got my point, having been a Captain himself. Your computer officer you have to choose yourself. Tathilan is willing to help you with selection. And Captain Ap Owen.." Kirk stood. "We are expected at a promotion party, yours. Everyone from both crews we could get, and Admiral Picard."        "How did you swing that?" She said, rising herself.        "I told him that if he was taking the best officer I had, he could at least help see her off."        "Well, let's go."        "Wow Archie, us, on a Starship, wow!"        "Edith, you are making us look like a couple of tourists"        "But Archie, we are tourists."        "Just keep cool. You're drawing attention."        Edith went back to watching the Earth rolling out the viewport of the station.        "Archie, what is that over there?"        Archie Breeds stared out the viewport.        "Why its another station Edith, what does it look like?"        A crewman looked where they were looking.        "It is the Starfleet Spacedock madam."        "I wonder if we will see the Enterprise."        "I don't believe the Enterprise is in the sector Madam."        "Edith, you are making us look like tourists."        "But Archie..."        "Attention all passengers. The Skylark is now boarding at lock 137."        "Archie, that's our ship."        "I know that Edith. This way."        The party was boisterous, as such affairs usually are. You take a disciplined and highly trained bunch of people, and give them an excuse to not be disciplined in an approved of way, and they get boisterous. Tathilan would get the tales of who was found in whose bed to him later. She always did.        Tim found himself on the edge of the party, he always did. Loud parties were not his favorite places to be. The main difference is he had Tathilan's humanoid in his arm. It did make him look less out of place.        **Why do you come then?**        **This is as much duty as the quarterly reports.**        **Duty alone?**        **Pretty much. Being seen with you is nice. Which reminds me, we have to visit my parents while we are at Earth.**        **I'll make a note of it. Why so nervous?**        **I don't like large crowds, never have.**        **So you enter a profession were you meet lots of people.**        **Meeting people, that's fine, meeting the entire community at once, that's a problem.**        **And the Sixliss first contact? You had lizards all over you when the shuttle hatch opened, and your smile was as wide as the ship. The boisterousness of that crowd makes this look like a Vulcan meditation session. They were touching everything, checking out my hair and ears, fingering clothing laughing, crying, and singing for joy all at the same time.**        Kirk grinned at the memory. **Yea, it was great.**        **So why is that great, and this a difficult duty? These are the same people you trust your life with daily.**        Kirk stopped, and thought a minute. **You're right. I know almost everyone here. But I was more at ease being crawled by Sixliss I didn't know. I don't have an answer, but it will be something to meditate on.**        **You're learning.**        **I imagine I'll stop about five minutes after the first clod hits the coffin.**        **Not any more. You're one of us now, you will never stop learning.**        **I am still considering that, thank you.**        Tim scanned the party for other unoccupied persons. He found one, but was surprised by who it was. Commander Data stood by himself, looking at the celebration in progress. Tim wandered in his direction.        "Good evening Commander."        "Captain Kirk, I believe it would be good to see you."        "The question is Data, is it, or isn't it?"        Data thought a minute. "It is. But I thought the question was 'To be or not to be?"        "You to?"        "Me also?"        "Tathilan finds humor in classical allusions I usually fail to understand."        "Yes, that would be a humorous thing under that circumstance. I have progressed in my understanding of humor, but Ane humor still escapes me."        "You and most of the Galaxy."        **I believe I am being spoken of here.**        Data looked confused for a moment. "Tathilan, I thought you occupied an Ane form Gynoid."        **On occasion, yes, I do.**        "This is not the case tonight?"        **As you can see, no.**        "How do you manage that?"        **You mean switching bodies?**        "Yes."        **It is a function of what I am. You are the positronic brain in your body. The pathways develop as you do. Like a biological, you are both hardware and software. I am all software. You might say that RIs are energy beings with a limited environment envelope, the guts of a computer. However, within that limit, I can change bodies as you change clothes.**        "Most curious. Who owns the hardware?"        **In the case of this one, I do. In the case of the Kongo, Starfleet does.**        "That supports you alone."        **Yes, I don't need externals.**        "If you two are going to talk shop, I'll move along."        **Don't be a spoil-sport, I thought you liked this sort of thing.**        "OK, I am unmasked. Forgive me Data, but I hear this conversation every time some engineer gets near her. I think of her as a person, not a collection of hardware."        "How would you think of me Captain Kirk?"        "As a person Data, there was never a doubt. You are not human, although you are clearly raised by humans, but from the moment I met you, your sentience was not in doubt."        "Your certainty is unusual Captain Kirk. I usually find most people doubt my 'person-ness', or profess a false belief in it, but test or try it. Why do you accept so quickly?"        "To use the classical allusions myself. You wear your heart on your sleeve Data. I sense it."        "You are referring to telepathy."        "That is part of it. But not all of it. Even if I didn't know from the shape of your mind, I could infer from your posture, your manner. You act like people, not like a machine acting like people."        "And if you found a people that did not act like you thought people should act."        "An open mind is a useful tool, and I have made mistakes before."        "Mistakes are the process of learning."        "Hopefully they don't get you killed in the process. I did a little arm twisting to get Admiral Picard here. Why did you come?"        "I enjoy opportunities to practice my social skills Captain. While I have much experience, it never seems to be enough."        "No, I don't suppose there is such a thing as too much social practice. Tathilan what is the crowd density?"        **Down 26% from peak.**        "OK, we can duck out now."        "Duck out?"        "You enjoy the practice Data, I don't. But I will not leave until 25% of the other attendees have left first."        "Why is this?"        "Politeness. I don't want to be the first to go, even though I really want to be the first to go. I prefer small social occasions."        "Would this be classed as a form of social lying, commonly called a "grace"?"        Kirk smiled wryly. "Exactly."        Kirk looked around for Ap Owen. She was amid her new senior officers. She glowed with excitement and animation.        "Tathilan, time to leave the stage to the new star."        "Good night sweet Prince?"        "As you like it."        He caught Gwenith Ap Owen, Captain Gwenith Ap Owen's eyes, bowed, and exited on Tathilan's arm.        The streets of Crom were quiet in the early afternoon. The town had changed little in four centuries. Quaint crafter's shops lined the narrow streets. While in times past the shops sold the daily necessities of life, today all were cottage industries or artist studios. The houses, for the most part, were the heavy stone structures of the late 18th century. The occasional modern building was carefully camouflaged to look the same, even if it wasn't. The Kirk house, was one of these.        Home, Tim thought, the one place they have to take you in. He placed his hand on the door pad, and it obediently opened for him.        "Hello?" It was his Mother calling.        "I'm home!"        She swept into the room, long skirts, and afghan.        "James. Good to have you home, you're so dark, are you well?"        "I am. El Nanth will do this to you, and yourself?"        "Well, as much as can be expected."        Tathilan stood back slightly. Mrs. Kirk noticed her.        "James, is this your young Lady? You should be more forward James. We haven't even been introduced."        "Give me a chance Mother, I just got in the door. Tathilan, my Mother, Angela Elaine Grayson Kirk. Mother, Tathilan."        "Is that all the name the girl has James?"        "Different cultures, different customs Mother. As well you should know."        "As I well do." Elaine Kirk turned to the back of the house. "Father? James and his Lady are here. Come out a while."        "Coming." Sounded faint from the back of the house.        "Father has yet another project. Works at it like a mad-man sometimes."        "He always has Mother, and you always chide him for it."        "The privileges of old marrieds. What have the two of you been up to?"        "We just finished a refit at El Nanth yards, and before that closed the second stage of the Sixliss resettlement. It's in Admiral Kowalski's hands now, good hands too."        "I don't know the man, but I'll trust your judgment of him. However, I was thinking more about the two of you, and specifically you. Just what happened James?"        "Ah, hmmm..."        "Out with it young man."        "Mother, I am hardly 'young' anymore."        "However, the moment is not passing."        "Would you believe I was assaulted by the ghost of Amanda Grayson?"        "No, you can do better."        "In a mater of speaking, I was. Psi testing is not common for humans at birth, but it seems I should have been tested. I am, or was a latent Telepath."        "This means you are no longer latent." Continued in Part Two   Comments or questtons on this file? Mail Here Download a zipped RTF version of this story. Return to -- Epiphany Trek: The Stories The Above is a work of fiction. All characters are fictional, any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental. Copyright © Garry Stahl: May 1999. All rights reserved, re-print only with permission.