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"Boomer Bust" by Lady Rainbow
Rating: PG-13 This story happens a few months after my first Travis story, “Captain Mayweather's Mission”, after he's promoted to Lieutenant. No spoilers, but R/S and T/T'P implied. As usual: Comments and Reviews wanted and appreciated! Thanks! ;) Chapter One Travis Mayweather entered the Mess Hall with a spring in his step. It was his day off and he meant to enjoy every minute of it. He glanced at the lunch selection and chose fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Commander Trip Tucker had suggested the chicken and Travis could smell why. The delicious aroma made his mouth water. For the millionth time since the beginning of the Enterprise's mission, he thanked Captain Archer for Chef's cuisine. “Hello, Lieutenant! You seem to be in a good mood today.” He glanced up at Chef, who stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen. Chef's hands were covered with flour and his white shirt with spaghetti sauce, but the man wore a bright smile. Travis smiled back. “It's my day off, Chef.” “Ah, rest and relaxation. Enjoy it while you can, Lieutenant.” “I intend to, Chef!” The older man laughed at the enthusiasm in Travis's voice and disappeared into his sanctum. Travis scanned the tables, looking for a place to sit, but none of the Alpha shift crew was here yet. Then he saw Crewman Trieste sitting all by himself. Trieste was one of the gamma shift helmsmen; this would be the middle of the “night” for him. So why was Trieste up at this time? Travis decided to find out, and he made his way to Trieste's table. Trieste looked up at him as he approached. “Lieutenant Mayweather,” he greeted in a voice laden with exhaustion. There were dark circles around his eyes and his short blond hair was rumpled. Travis frowned at Trieste's appearance. “Mind if I sit here, Philippe? Unless you'd rather be alone?” “Go right ahead, but I'm afraid I won't be good company, sir.” Trieste made a weak gesture at the chair next to him and Travis sat down. They ate in silence for a few minutes. At least, Travis ate; Trieste only pushed his pasta around his plate. “Trouble sleeping?” Travis asked, concern in his tone. “You don't look too good, Philippe.” Trieste laughed, but it sounded hollow. “Yeah, a bit of trouble, sir. Got a recorded message from home. Said pretty much what I thought it would say.” “Oh?” The Trieste family owned a huge shipping company out of Alpha Centauri. Although Travis's family had never worked for Estelle de Montclaire Limited, Travis grew up with the stories of their enormous wealth. Captain Paul Mayweather, Sr. had avoided EdML like the plague, only saying that he didn't trust the Trieste family. Ironic that his son and Trieste's were good friends now on the Enterprise. “Yeah, oh. The usual rant about my cousins, the other “competitors” on the market and the transit taxes in the Alpha Centauri system. He thinks it's highway robbery.” Travis nodded in sympathy. “For what it's worth, I have to agree with him. My brother complains about it too. Even before I left for the Academy, it cost more to haul ore from Alpha Centauri than anyplace else.” “Yeah, well, the other transport captains really hate it. Father's trying to mollify both them and the Centaurian officials, but it isn't working. You know his method of negotiation: wield the biggest sledgehammer and swing it so hard it breaks.” Philippe winced in embarrassment and Travis patted his shoulder. “Anyway, he wants me to come back to the family fold, continue the tradition, all that stuff. Being the only son and all that. I told him thanks, but no thanks. Starfleet's what I want and he can either accept it or just live with it.” Travis resisted a smile. From what Travis could piece together, René Trieste's attitude towards Philippe was similar to Admiral Stuart Reed's towards his son Malcolm. Both fathers thought they knew best for their sons and reacted badly when those sons chose otherwise. My dad wasn't exactly thrilled either when I didn't stay on the Horizon and went to the Academy instead. So I suppose we all have that in common, Travis considered. He chose his next words carefully, and as he said them, he saw the Enterprise's Tactical Officer in his mind's eye. “You know, Philippe, you're showing a lot of guts staying out here because you want to. That's something to admire.” The younger man dipped his head to hide a smile of embarrassment. “Thank you, sir--” “It's Travis. If you need to talk, just give me a call, okay? Any time, day or night. I mean that.” “ Okay--Travis.” Trieste managed a smile and got up from the table. Travis watched him dispose of his still-full plate and leave through the Mess Hall doors. As he returned to his food, Travis found himself running his and Philippe's conversation through his mind. He hadn't heard anything from Paul Mayweather, his brother and Horizon's current captain, but that didn't mean there wasn't any trouble ahead. Maybe he ought to drop a line to the Horizon. Just because. “How's the life on a starship, big brother?” Paul teased. He sat back in his seat and regarded Travis from the other end of the connection. Travis thought he looked more relaxed in his role as Horizon's captain. It had been almost eight months since the brothers had seen each other last, but Paul still appeared the same as always. “The same. I fly the ship, we arrive at the next port of call, we deal with the COW, I fly us out again, and repeat,” Travis answered in the same teasing tone. “COW? You mean Starfleet's got you guys transporting cattle? And you keep joking about what we used to haul around when Dad was captain?” Travis chuckled. “COW stands for Crisis of the Week. Our chief engineer coined the word.” Paul thought for a moment, then grinned widely. “Tucker? Yeah, sounds like something he'd come up with. One of his so-called 'Tripisms'? I gotta remember than one.” Travis laughed and said, “Yeah. It's good to see you again. I see captaincy agrees with you, Paul.” He shrugged. “It's all right. By the way, Mom says hi. She's up on the bridge right now; otherwise, she'd be looking over my shoulder at you. We're on our way to Branwith Station with some cargo, then a short hop to Alpha Centauri.” Travis winced. “Alpha Centauri? You're gonna go there? I remember Dad wasn't crazy about that place.” “I don't like that place, either, but that's the price of commerce. Just dropping off a few things.” " Yeesh. Heard they've upped some of the fees over there.” Paul scowled and Travis suddenly realized how much Paul resembled their father. He glanced over his shoulder as if confirming no one else was listening, then lowered his voice. “Every kind of fee you can think of. Loading fees, docking fees, transit fees, it's ridiculous. They keep telling us it's so they can upgrade some of the facilities, but...I don't know.” Paul shook his head and ran a hand through his short hair. “The Cargo Transit Authority's making some noise about it, but Alpha Centauri's an independent Earth colony, so that'll be all it is, noise.” “'The price of commerce', huh?” Travis said, not hiding the sarcasm in his voice. Paul shrugged and squared his shoulders. “If that's the case, Alpha Centauri'll find itself in a hole in about ten years are so. Cargo transports are going to be avoiding docking there unless they absolutely have to. Not exactly what the Centaurians want. Even Old Man Trieste's getting involved in the act and that says something. He doesn't get involved unless it personally affects his precious holdings, namely EdML.” Travis remembered what Phillipe had told him during lunch. Estelle de Montclaire Limited, the Trieste empire. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” “Anyway--” Paul waved his hand and changed the subject. “So, tell me, what's been going on in your part of the galaxy? Anything new about the lady with the languages and the guy with the itchy trigger finger? When's the big day?” He laughed. “Paul, you gotta remember their names. You remember Trip Tucker, but not Hoshi and Malcolm?” Paul's eyes twinkled. “I'm joking. Besides, that's how I usually think of them. They just seem like the galaxy's odd couple.” Travis thought about Trip and T'Pol and thought, You haven't seen the galaxy's odd couple, Little Brother. Aloud, he replied, “They haven't set a date, but believe me, the minute I hear about it, I'll let you know...” The two brothers shared all kinds of news up until their allotted time was over. After they'd said their good-byes and cut the connection, Travis thought about what Paul had told him...and not told him. Travis knew his brother's non-verbal language said just as much, and Travis guessed this news bothered Paul more than was obvious. What if other colonies followed Alpha Centauri's lead? Independent transports like the Mayweather's would be forced out of business, if not soon, then eventually. Travis frowned and thought, There has to be more than what we're seeing. I wonder...Travis called up the Cargo Transit Authority's information link and began to read what was there. |
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