Stargazing

Chapter 1.

No infringement intended and the poem except is from "The Road Not Taken." by Robert Frost.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Fourteen months before the prologue...

Staring down into his half empty glass Pavel tried to force himself to cheer up – tried, and with a heavy sigh admitted defeat. The black cloud of unhappiness that hung over him had been gathering for several weeks and he knew it was the reason his friend Lieutenant Sulu had insisted on Pavel accompanying him on shore-leave. Pavel had tried to say no, but his name had been on the roster for shore-leave and when he'd retreated to his cabin to escape Sulu's persistence Sulu had pursued him there and brought re-enforcements in the shape of Lieutenant Uhura with him. Uhura had said that as she wouldn't be able to go down to the planet herself, due to essential maintenance on the communications array, she wondered if he'd do her a personal favour and pick up some Nashiran silk which she knew was sold in the local market. Then she'd smiled at him and...well he was only human and along with virtually every other male on the Enterprise, and a few of the female crew too, he was a little in love with her. So here he was staring into his drink in a noisy, crowded bar tucked away in the city's back streets with a carefully wrapped parcel of Nashiran silk sitting on the table next to his glass.

He really didn't want to feel like this but he couldn't stop himself, and as much as he hated to admit it, even if it was just to himself, because it made him feel like a child, he was homesick. In three days time it would be his Grandfather Chekov's eightieth birthday and a big family gathering was planned to take place at his grandfather's dacha. From past experience he knew there'd be troika rides through the snow, ice skating on the nearby frozen lake and mass snowball fights amongst his cousins. Then there'd be hot, sweet tea from the samovar and his Aunt Katya's blini's waiting inside for when red cheeks began to sting and the cold meant you lost the feeling in your fingers and bowing to the winter cold you retreated inside to warm up. His life had been punctuated by such gatherings held to celebrate important family occasions. The last one had been held in his honour to celebrate his passing out of Starfleet Academy and his assignment to the Enterprise. This was the first family gathering he'd miss and the pain of it made his heart heavy and his mood low.

A familiar warm, easy laugh made Pavel look towards the bar where Sulu had gone to get another couple of drinks, but was now getting on very well with a pretty young woman who had sidled up to the Lieutenant and was now pressed against him so tight Pavel doubted you'd be able to slip a hair between them, not that Sulu seemed to mind. Pavel smiled to himself, wherever they went the charming Lieutenant never seemed short of company. Then Pavel saw Sulu glance in his direction and begin trying to disentangle himself from his ardent admirer. Pavel felt a pang of guilt for impinging on his friend's fun. Shore-leave should be spent having a good time not babysitting a homesick Ensign. Quickly draining his glass, feeling the strong alcohol in the drink blazing its way through his insides all the way to his stomach Pavel picked up Lieutenant Uhura's package and made his way over to the bar and Sulu.

"Hey, Pavel," Sulu said with a smile, having to raise his voice over the sound of the people around him. "I'll get us those drinks."

Shaking his head Pavel leant in towards Sulu and replied,

"No, not for me I'm tired and am going back to the ship." Knowing that Sulu would insist on coming with him he added, "You stay and get to know your new friend."

Pavel nodded towards the young woman who hadn't seemed to notice his presence while she nuzzled Sulu's neck.

Sulu laughed and reaching up pushed the woman back, his wide grin and wink taking away any sting she might have felt at the gesture.

"Are you sure?" He asked Pavel.

"Yes, absolutely. You stay and have fun." Then lowering his voice he added. "And tell me all about it tomorrow, yes?"

"Deal," Sulu grinned, before asking "You know how to get back to the beam up site in the city centre, we're a bit off the beaten track here?"

Feigning a look of disgust Pavel played along, "Please you insult me. I am the best navigator in Starfleet; you think I cannot find my way around some city streets."

Holding up his hands in mock surrender Sulu laughed saying, "Okay, okay." Adding with a wink, "I'll see you at breakfast."
Nodding Pavel replied, "Have fun." And then threaded his way through the crowd in the bar and breathing a sigh of relief finally pushed his way out through the door and made it out onto the street.

It took him approximately half an hour to finally admit he was lost, "...best navigator in Starfleet..." he thought ruefully to himself. The drinks at the bar must have been a little stronger then he'd realised because out in the cold night air he suddenly felt a little light-headed. The locals didn't seem to believe in street lighting, at least not away from the city centre, and all the streets had begun to look alike. He'd wandered on hoping to see something familiar to put him back on the right track, but he realised had probably only succeeded in getting himself even more turned around, and yes he had to admit it – lost. Pausing he was finally about to reach for his communicator and ask to be beamed up from his current location, even if it would probably mean weeks of teasing from everyone – the navigator who got lost. Just as his fingers brushed the cold metal at his waist he heard a sound like a whimper of pain coming from an alley to his left. Peering into the darkness he could just make out the shape of a small person hunched over, leaning against the wall about one third of the way down the alley. He called out,

"Are you alright?" as he stepped towards the entrance of the alleyway.

He hesitated a little, reluctant to move away from the relative safety of the street, but another pain-filled cry made up his mind and he trotted down the alley towards the figure.

The person had their back to him and stopping by them he leaned forward trying to see their face as he asked,

"Are you hurt? Do you need help?"

The figure straightened and turned towards him and he had a glimpse of a woman's smiling face before he felt a sharp pain in his back and the world went black.

Two men stepped out of a shadowed alcove in the wall behind Pavel, one re-holstering his stun weapon and looking at the woman who'd acted as the decoy.

"I thought you said there were two of them." He hissed.

"There were, but the other one got picked up by some local whore and this one left on his own. I didn't want to go back to the ship empty handed, and it was hard enough figuring out which way this one was going and getting ahead of him to set the trap without having to explain it all to you first." She sneered back.

Looking down the man nudged the unconscious form at his feet with his boot before grunting,

"I suppose he'll have to do then."

Then he crouched down and quickly frisking Pavel he pulled out his communicator and tossing it to the woman he said,

"Here, destroy that so they can't get a fix on it. It'll slow down their search for him and the more space between us and that Federation ship before they figure out he's not planet-side the better."

He watched as the woman stamped repeatedly on the communicator smashing it to pieces and kicking what was left under a pile of rubbish. When he'd finished he spoke into his own communicator which he wore around his wrist,

"Bring us up and tell the Captain we have cargo, we can leave orbit right away."

There was a brief muffled response and then a glow of blue light that faded quickly and left the alley dark, quiet and empty, a wet and muddy length of Nashiran silk spilling from a trampled package.