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Khonn stepped up to the microphone and smiled at T’Mir, seated in the front row between Trip and T’Pol.
“As you all know, today a certain young lady is celebrating her third birthday. Her request for the party was a karaoke night or talent show, and never one to say ‘no’ to his daughter when she asks for something reasonable, Commander Tucker has asked, sweet-talked, and outright bribed many of us - including our guests - to participate. I shall be your master of ceremonies, as my singing talents lay somewhere within the realm of ‘where is that dying animal?’ and I do not wish to torture you thus on such a festive occasion. Therefore without any further ado, allow me to introduce the first act of the afternoon, performing Women In Black - and featuring the birthday girl herself, Miss T’Mir Tucker.”
The mess hall broke into a round of applause as T’Pol, Hoshi, Liz, Janelle, T’Pen, and T’Mir walked to the stage that had been set up at one end of the room, and climbed the couple of stairs onto it. The women wore black suits and ties with white shirts, along with their Starfleet standard-issue sunglasses. T’Mir wore a costume inspired by a completely different film franchise - purple body, pale grey flippers on all four limbs, and googly eyes wobbling on top of the head, which also featured an old-fashioned mop-head for hair.
Music began to play from the speakers which had been set up, and Janelle led the backing vocals as T’Pol stood at the mic in the centre, surprising the room with her rapping abilities. The lyrics had been altered slightly from the original, changing ‘Men’ to ‘Women’, ‘good guys’ to ‘good folks’, and ‘M.I.B.’ to ‘W.I.B.’ - and when T’Pol rapped “guard against extra-terrestrial violence”, she and T’Pen pointed at their ears, exchanging a wink. Janelle, Liz, T’Pen and Hoshi performed alongside T’Pol with backing vocals and coordinated choreography to match the original music video, while T’Mir danced in front of them, boogieing in her little alien-monster costume and clapping in time with the women at the appropriate moments.
When the song ended everyone present applauded loudly, and Trip whistled before catcalling “my wife the rapper! Wooooooo-ooooot!”
Khonn took to the stage as the women and T’Mir returned to their seats, and he smiled at T’Mir.
“What an opening performance! That’s going to be difficult to beat, but her father and Commander Sato intend to try. Performing ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ from one of Commander Tucker’s many ‘favourite’ films - a list which seems to have no end - please welcome the Blues Brothers.”
Also wearing suits and sunglasses but with the addition of black fedoras, Trip and Malcolm ascended the stage grinning. Trip began with an altered version of the spoken-word introduction to the song, thanking their friends and family for joining them rather than the Illinois Law Enforcement Community, and then Malcolm began to sing. Trip provided backing vocals and played his harmonica, while both men danced enthusiastically, including a cartwheel by Malcolm. Trip encouraged everyone to join in with chanting “you, you, you!” in the second half of the song, and as the music ended they both dropped to one knee, gesturing at T’Mir, who stood on her chair to lead the applause.
Khonn cleared his throat as he reached the mic, brows raised. “Well, that was certainly a valiant effort, well done Commanders!”
He continued to introduce each act and make comments at their conclusion, while the entire senior staff, several junior officers, and all the invited guests took part.
Amanda and Avramia’s vibrantly blue and orange costumes stood out, alternating who faced the crowd and who faced the other as they sang.
Shran, Talas, Jhamel, and Ishry performed as a quartet, with Ishry on lead vocals and the other three backing them. Clearly singing to Travis, Ishry’s dancing was slightly suggestive but toned down for T’Mir’s sake, and the other three had their focus on Jon, sitting holding little Talla in his lap as he sang along with them from the audience.
Ishry remained on stage for the following song, with Travis, Malcolm and Mike joining them. Travis rapped while Ishry again led the main vocal, Malcolm impressed all with his dancing, and Mike was a cheerful swaying presence on backing vocals, keeping his movements minimal as he kept his gaze on Janelle in the crowd.
The security team took to the centre aisle in addition to the stage for a dance number set to a fun upbeat song, each of them wearing a different costume. Some had repurposed those from Halloween - done up as mummies, vampires, ghouls, and werewolves - while others wore formal wear with elaborate masks, and Malcolm traded his fedora and sunglasses for a long velvet cloak which he swished dramatically as he danced.
An interval was called and Chef wheeled out a trolley bearing an enormous cake - shaped and decorated to look like Endeavour, with a row of LED lights glowing blue along the length of the nacelles.
Khonn beckoned to Talla, who joined him on the stage and accepted the microphone with a soft “thank you.”
Turning her attention to the crowd and speaking up, she looked at everyone with a smile as her antennae shifted nervously. “Human tradition says we must sing to T’Mir for her birthday. Can you all please sing with me, even if you aren’t Human?” she asked.
Murmurs of ascent followed, and soft piano music began to play as Talla led them in the birthday song.
With the candles blown out by T’Mir, the cake was cut and shared around, along with an assortment of mocktails in vibrant colours - wedges or slices of fruit on the rims of the glasses alongside paper umbrellas and spiral straws, decorated in the way T’Mir loved from other celebrations they’d held aboard the ship in her lifetime.
The next to take the stage when everyone was seated once more was Phlox, performing a much longer number than most. It began slowly, and he grooved in time to the music as it progressed. A little over halfway through the song changed style entirely, becoming loud and shouty with driving guitar and heavy drums. Phlox’s vocal skill was middling but his enthusiasm was contagious, and everyone in the mess hall soon bopped their heads in time with the music. The song shifted again for the closing couple of lines, returning to the softer feel of the beginning, and Phlox bowed when everyone applauded.
Jon followed with an upbeat pop song, his excellent vocals accompanied by intentionally daggy dancing to match the original performance. Talla twirled around him, sweetly singing the backing vocals and encouraging everyone to join in on her “oooooh, give you up!” in the break between verses.
Travis returned to the stage with Hoshi, the two friends singing sweetly as they swayed with their arms around each other. Hoshi’s attention was clearly on Malcolm, while Travis kept his gaze on Ishry, and several of their friends joined Trip’s parents on the chorus, singing from the crowd.
Wearing a stylish dress with large gold earrings, Elaine Tucker wowed everyone with her singing - Trip grinning as he watched from the front row. Trip’s father Charles Jnr wore aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket with stone-wash denim jeans and white t-shirt, emulating the original performer with a look that was clearly not his usual. His vocals were impressive in their own right, but he held nowhere near the belting power of his wife, who he kissed on the cheek at the end of their performance.
Soval surprised all by taking the stage to sing a nonsense tongue-twister which accelerated in pace as the song progressed, ending in one long note which he held well considering how rapidly he’d just been singing.
T’Mir bolted up the stairs to throw her arms around his legs, squealing, “WOW GRANDPA SOVAL!!! THAT WAS SO GOOD!!!”
“Thank you, T’Mir,” Soval said, stroking her hair before gesturing at the chair Khonn had just brought over, decorated to look like a hollow log. “I believe you are needed on stage now. Will you take the special seat?”
“Oooooh!” T’Mir gasped, hopping up.
Khonn returned to the stage as Soval departed it and said, “for our penultimate song, would you all please welcome the return of Commander Tucker, who shall be performing Rainbow Connection. I am told that you should imagine him as an anthropomorphic frog puppet in a swamp” - smirking as Trip joined them on-stage.
Sitting on another decorated chair, Trip played banjo as he sang, his eyes never leaving T’Mir throughout the heartfelt tune.
When it ended he kissed her cheek and said, “stay here, darlin’. You have your special song with Mekina now.”
“Okay Daddy!” she replied, kissing his cheek in reply.
T’Pol joined them on-stage, exchanging a peck with Trip before he returned to the mic.
“I’ll save Khonn the journey up the stairs and let you all know that this is the last performance before we get to presents. Please give it up for my lovely wife and daughter, T’Pol and T’Mir.”
Everyone applauded as Trip resumed his seat on the log rather than leaving the stage, watching with rapt attention as they both sang.
T’Pol’s love for T’Mir was apparent in both the lyrics and the way she sang them, while T’Mir performed admirably for her age - joining with the backing vocals originally sung by the young daughter of the artist who’d released the song so many decades prior.
Tears were shed by more than a few in the room as the song concluded, including Trip and both his parents. The Tucker trio applauded more fiercely than anyone as mother and daughter took a final bow and descended, Trip following in their wake.
Most of the crew departed, returning to their stations to relieve those borrowed from Starfleet Headquarters and Jupiter Station for the event, and those remaining reorganised the seats to form a large circle, stacking most along one wall.
“Your present from Daddy and I will be in your room when we return to our quarters,” T’Pol explained, as everyone settled into their seats.
“Is it too tricky to bring to the mess hall?” T’Mir asked.
Trip nodded, grinning. “Much too tricky.”
Smiling, T’Mir asked, “can I have kisses for waiting?”
T’Pol and Trip both leaned in, pressing a kiss to either cheek, and she grinned. “Thank you Daddy, thank you Mekina. I’m sure I will love the tricky thing.”
Soval came over to offer his gift, wrapped in soft grey fabric with a blue ribbon.
“You will need your mother or Auntie Hoshi to read this with you until you’re a little older, unless you bring it when you visit me, and then I will gladly do so,” he said gently.
“Thank you, Grandpa Soval!” T’Mir said, smiling happily as she untied the ribbon.
Within the fabric wrapping was a beautiful leather-bound Children’s Edition of the Kir’Shara, illustrated with care by a famed Vulcan artist.
“Ooooh, it’s so pretty!” T’Mir said, running her fingers over the embossed cover.
Elaine and Charles offered their gift next - boxed sets of Dr. Seuss and Madeline books.
“More books!” T’Mir said happily.
“You should be able to read some of those yourself,” Elaine said. “Others you may need a little help still, at least for a year or two.”
Charles nodded. “We wanted you to have them now rather than waiting, because you’re such a bright girl.”
Bouncing from her seat to give them a kiss each, T’Mir said, “thank you Grandma Elaine, thank you Grandpa Charles. I look forward to reading them to you!”
Jon led Shran, Talas, Jhamel, and Talla over with a large box, kept closed with a wide purple ribbon. “This is from all of us,” he said with a smile.
“Thaaaaaank you Unca Jon, Unca Shran, Auntie Talas, Auntie Jhamel, and Cousin Talla! It’s HUGE!” she said excitedly, tugging on the ribbon.
Within rested a miniature Starfleet jumpsuit, nestled on top of a set of Andorian cold weather clothing.
Talla smiled as T’Mir looked at each item carefully. “You need Andorian furs so you can go with us when we visit! I chose the colours, and the ribbon!”
“They look very cosy!” T’Mir said, smiling.
Malcolm and Hoshi were next, bringing over one large parcel and one smaller one wrapped separately but bound together with a length of silver ribbon.
“Thank you Auntie Hoshi, thank you Unca Mol-kom!” T’Mir said, smiling as they gave her kisses on the top of her head.
A hardcover illustrated edition of The Hobbit was within the smaller parcel, while the larger contained a boxed set of seven books, collectively forming The Chronicles of Narnia.
“The authors of these books were friends when they were alive,” Malcolm said. “Professor Tolkien wrote many more, but they’re a little too complex for you yet, even if we read them to you. We’ll make sure you get copies when you’re older though.”
“Oh wow!” T’Mir whispered. “So many new books! I will need more shelves!”
Trip and T’Pol exchanged knowing smirks, as did the next group to bring over their gift.
Phlox led Amanda, Avramia, Khonn, T’Pen, and Maharukh - each of them carrying an identical parcel.
“Ours are a set which can also be expanded upon further in the future,” Avramia said as she passed over her part of the gift.
“Wooooooow!!! Thank you all! This is so much to unwrap!” T’Mir said with a grin.
As the wrappings were removed, they slowly revealed a set of large illustrated books with pop-ups, slide-pulls, and lift-the-flaps which covered in an age-appropriate manner the natural and constructed Wonders of Earth, Vulcan, Denobula, Andoria, Tellar, and Earth’s Lunar & Martian colonies.
“I one hundred percent I need more shelves now!” T’Mir said excitedly.
Travis and Ishry were next, bringing over a box secured with bright blue ribbon.
“We took the liberty of assembling this one for you, but when you get older we can get other to construct yourself if you’d like,” Travis said.
“Oooooh, I wonder what it could be!” T’Mir said curiously as she opened the box, looking at them both when she lifted the lid, having found a scale model of a shuttlepod within.
“It has a remote control,” Ishry said, pointing. “It flies. You can be a helm officer like us now.”
T’Mir gaped. “It flies?!”
Smiling, Jon spoke wistfully “I made one a bit like that when I was a kid, though not as fancy. My father taught me to fly it before he got sick. I still have it at home.”
“Maybe we can fly together once I know how, Unca Jon?” T’Mir suggested gently.
“I’d love that,” Jon said softly. “Maybe we could get one for Talla as well, and have a little flying competition.”
Talla nodded, smiling. “Yes please!”
T’Pen brought over something on a stand covered in a bed sheet, and raised her brows at T’Mir. “This is from the sciences team, with some help from Doctor Phlox. Do you remember the scan he did of your whole body a little while ago?”
T’Mir nodded. “I got to see my insides on the screen after!”
T’Pen gave a single nod, then said, “why don’t you pull the sheet off?”
“Okaaaaaaay…” T’Mir said curiously, and did so, finding a model of herself.
“Press her belly-button three times quickly,” T’Pen said lightly.
Doing so, the model opened up, revealing internal organs, some of which were partially concealed by a ribcage. “It’s my insides!” T’Mir cried.
Phlox nodded. “Being formed of two distinct species means that anatomical models for either will be incorrect for you. This is so that you may know your own body, and can learn how it differs from each of your parents, and the rest of us.”
“She’s amaaaaazing, thank you!” T’Mir said, looking closely in wonder.
Janelle and Mike returned bearing a trolley each and two broad smiles - another pair of gifts covered in large blue bed sheets.
“Whaaaaaat are thooooose?!” T’Mir mused, nearly overwhelmed by all the gifts.
“These are from the engineering and general operations teams,” Janelle said, still smiling. “They’re quite delicate, so Mike and I will take the covers off for you, whenever you’re ready to reveal them.”
T’Mir nodded. “I’m ready! Reveal, please!”
Beneath were a pair of elaborate three-dimensional planetarium models, rendering both the Sol and Omicron² Eridani systems in exquisite detail. With the press of a button on each, they began to move, following a sped-up but otherwise accurate orbit of each system.
“Holy mac and cheese, Batman!” T’Mir said, much to the amusement of all gathered. “I will need special shelves for these!”
Finally, Amanda brought over a box, tied with a ribbon of Operations Red. “Lucky last, apart from Mekina and Daddy’s tricky-to-bring present,” she said with a smile. “This is from the security team.”
“Thank you Auntie ‘Manda!” T’Mir said, untying the final ribbon of the day before her jaw dropped open in shock as she lifted the lid. “Auntie ‘Manda, I’m not allowed touch weapons til I get big!”
“These are special weapons,” Amanda said, pulling one of the vibrantly gold, red, and teal pistols from the box. “They won’t hurt anyone, they’re for laser tag. See underneath, those discs with the straps?”
T’Mir looked more closely and nodded. “Yeah?”
Amanda gestured to them. “You strap those on, and use the special pistols to shoot the tags. There’s a little sensor inside that tells the computer when the laser hits the tag. So you can run around the training room with us and do target practice, without using Uncle Malcolm’s real ones that might hurt somebody.”
“I get to do target practice?!” T’Mir asked excitedly.
“You do with these,” Amanda said.
Grinning, T’Mir held the pistol carefully. “It must be set to stun, because this present it stunning!”
Hoshi laughed, looking at Trip. “Hmmm. I wonder where she gets her sense of humour from…”
Returning to their quarters with a trail of gift-bearers following them, T’Mir walked between her parents, holding their hands.
“Can I have a hint about my present, please?!” she asked.
“Nope, because you’re going to see exactly what it is in about a minute anyway,” Trip said, grinning.
T’Mir sighed heavily, and T’Pol glanced down at her, gently squeezing her hand. “We’re almost there.”
Trip opened the main door to their quarters, allowing everyone to follow and deposit the gifts before departing again, then scooped T’Mir up and held her in his arms. “Are you ready?”
“Yes please, Daddy!” T’Mir said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“Alright darlin’, you press the button for your door then,” he said with a smile, and she did.
“What?!” she gaped as they three walked through the door. “What happened to my room?!”
Slightly concerned, T’Pol asked, “do you like it?”
Looking at her mother and then around the room again, T’Mir said, “it doesn’t look like mine!”
“Is that a positive thing or a negative one?” T’Pol asked, sharing a worried glance with Trip.
“It’s… it’s a lot, Mekina!” T’Mir said.
Trip set her on her feet and crouched down. “Do you want us to change it back?”
Sitting on the floor in the very middle of her room, T’Mir said, “I got a new big bed, and new shelves for my new books, and special shelves for my planet models, and a shelf for my flying shuttlepod, and a shelf for my laser tag, and a shelf for my insides of me, and and and… and so much! How did you change it while we were at the party?!”
“I asked the team from Jupiter Station for a favour. They were happy to help ‘Starfleet Baby’,” Trip explained.
“I love that painting!” T’Mir said, pointing at a large framed print hanging on the bulkhead over the bed as she turned to keep looking at things.
T’Pol sat on the floor beside T’Mir and said, “that’s why we had a copy framed for you. Do you remember the name?”
Nodding enthusiastically, T’Mir said, “it’s Starry Night! Vincent painted it!”
“That’s right, Vincent Van Gogh painted Starry Night,” T’Pol said proudly.
“Vincent did my favourite flowers, too!” T’Mir said. “The branches of little ones on the blue-green background is so pretty.”
Trip grinned, sitting beside them both. “Almond Blossoms would look great in the living room. I’m sure we can get a print for all of us to enjoy.”
Leaning into his side, T’Mir nodded drowsily, suddenly worn out from the celebrations. “Yes please, Daddy,” she said with a yawn, falling asleep against him a moment later.
With T’Mir settled they went through to sit together on the sofa, Trip putting his arm around T’Pol. “Happy gave-birth day, darlin’,” he said fondly. “You did one hell of a job.”
“She’s worth the effort,” T’Pol said fondly.
“You both are,” Trip said, kissing the side of her head.
T’Pol smiled slightly. “As are you.”
