Nicholas's mother died in a shuttlecraft accident when he was an infant. Since then, little Nicky lived in so many places and in so many environments he lost count, due to the nature of his father's work and his single-parenthood. When he wasn't travelling with his father, he was on Mars in school and living with relatives.
When he was eleven, his father left his position as head of Linna Development to work for the Federation Trade Commission. Again, young Nicky tagged along to Deep Space Five, where his father was assigned. There, his father met and fell in love with Elisabeth Romée, a Star Fleet commander and the Executive Officer of the station. Nick and Ellie got on quite well, and he knew that his father had fallen for her hard and fast. And, eventually, Ellie came to return that love.
Just when things were going swimmingly, Ellie suffered a piloting accident and was suddenly near death. It was then that Nick learned what had really happened when his mother died. His father was physically still his father, but inside he was a highly-evolved being who had witnessed the shuttlecraft accident which had in fact killed both of his parents. The being had decided to inhabit the father's body to raise him. However, now, it was time for him to go... for he must give up his life to save Ellie's.
Although Nicky cried, he knew somewhere deep down in his heart and soul that it was Right. His father loved Ellie, and Ellie loved him back. And it was Right that he give his love to her, totally... even when it meant that he would die.
So it was Nicky who was at Ellie's bedside when she regained consciousness. He had to explain, as well as an eleven-year-old could, what had happened, how she had been saved... and that his father had wanted her to raise and take care of him.
Ellie Romée did as she was asked, though the rest of the Linna family was astonished and angry that Alex would do such a thing. They had been upset enough when he had left the family business; now he had gone and died and given his son for a stranger to raise? And a half-breed, even! They never accepted Ellie as part of the family, except for his uncle, Väinö Linna, who was at least sympathetic to her dilemma and was friendly to her.
Now Nicky tagged along with Ellie as she moved on with her career. They spent a little under two years on DS5, then about two years on the Valkyrie, then about three years on the Intrepid.
Growing up on Star Fleet ships had its pros and cons, especially when your mother/guardian was also the Captain. He found the responsibility of being a rolemodel for the younger children, especially as a teenager, too much pressure, and found himself rebelling against her authority, as well as that of everybody else.
Sooner or later, though, he relented, and he was all the better for getting that out of his system. He found Ellie to be a kindred spirit, once he had gotten over the whole rebellious teen period. By the time he left for college in Florida, on Terra, they were better friends than ever.
Nick (as he now preferred to be called) was one of the few freshmen who had been raised as Star Fleet brats, and at first, they were his closest friends. Having grown up in space, he reveled in living planetside, especially on Terra. He took every opportunity to try new outdoor activities, especially ocean sports like surfing, waterskiing, and sailing, which became one of his favourite activities. He also sang in the university's chorus and volunteered in the local community center while he studied psychology.
It was at the chorus's Christmas concert, during which he had a solo, that he was spotted by a talent scout for a prominent Terran music label. Although the scout had been attracted by his singing voice, he also knew a marketable face when he saw one, and Nick had both, thanks to his birth parents. After a holovid audition for the big boss, he was asked if he would like to join a new singing group the label was readying for launch called Heavenly Blue.
This was a chance of a life time, but it was also one filled with risks. What would this do to his plans for education? His private life? His family, his friends? Finally, after long consideration, Nick gave a yes, with the conditions that his real family would remain anonymous, and that any activity for this group would only take place during his school breaks. The last took some doing, as the management was eager to get the group on the road, and often. Nick stood firm, however, and they finally relented.
He took a leave of absence from university for one semester to concentrate on preparing for the group's launch. The almost-bootcamp-like weeks of lessons, rehearsal and trying out their act in local venues bonded the five young men together. Besides Nick (who adopted the stage moniker 'NikkyL'), the group consisted of Scott Rivers, a congenial, gentlemanly boy a girl can take home to meet her mother; joined Trill Jamee Joraan, the rebel with a penchant for practical jokes; Duane 'Big-D' Reade, a Risan with the body of a linebacker and the disposition of a debutante; and Tayhan 'T-Bone' V'Reyk, a Romulan/Human hybrid whose shyness was born of being raised in a human-dominated family on a Federation colony and growing up trying to hide his pointy ears.
As the first big-scale launch of Heavenly Blue neared, Nick began having doubts about whether he really belonged there. He had always enjoyed singing in choirs and going out dancing with friends, but he had never thought of becoming a professional performer. Compared to people like Scott or Jamee, who had been performing professionally for several years before joining up, he took longer to learn the routines and made more mistakes. He always found himself looking at the floor when he danced, and when he got lost, as he often did, he stopped and stood still looking confused. With the encouragement of his new mates, however, especially Tayhan's, he worked hard up to the last minute.
Opening performance was beyond what any of them, including the music label, had hoped. The following they had built in the previous months bore fruit when a record number tuned in for their first concert broadcast from Risa. The group numbers came off without a hitch, and each boy had a chance to shine in a few solo pieces.
Nick had drawn the first solo slot, with a song he had picked himself: a raunchy come-on sung in a dangerous growl as he eyed the audience with his smouldering blue eyes. He had figured that if he had to do this, he'd have fun with the performance, and he hammed it up as if his life depended on it. His fun-loving spirit was contagious, turning the energy level in the house up to, as they say, 'eleven.'
His second solo fell toward the end of the concert. Amidst the deafening screams, the stage suddenly went dark. A single spotlight fell on a lone figure at center stage, his black ensemble sharply contrasting with his pale face and blond hair. The figure sang in his youthfully sorrowful voice of the love of his life, and how he lost her, then won her back. His performance drove the live crowd berserk and caused near riots at the various broadcast points in the Quadrant.
And this was only the first show.
So began the dual life of Nicholas Romee, college student, and NikkyL, singer of Heavenly Blue. It was a hectic life, with him working on essays, term papers and projects as the group shuttled around on tours, holovid shoots, recording sessions, and the constant interviews. During term, he always ran the risk of being recognized, although he worked to develop a very different stage persona: NikkyL was a mysterious and occasionally truculent boy of a few words with a dangerous, dynamic stage presence, while in private life, Nick was becoming a mature, caring young man with a serious interest in child psychology and education. University of Florida took pride in keeping him anonymous and the media at bay, as did his friends, though there were occasional problems with students and/or their younger siblings attempting to sneak into the classes he was taking or even into his dorm room.
Nick managed to get through the four plus years that it took him to graduate with some measure of aplomb. His extracurricular activity earned him much fame and wealth, which he used to support his family as well as charities that dealt with children's issues. His solo charitable contributions were often either anonymous or under his real name, but he also supported charities as part of the group when Heavenly Blue made donations in its name. His few indulgences which he allowed himself were the newest computer and hologames he managed to collect, and the sailing boat he kept docked near his own seaside house on the Florida coast.
As graduation neared, he began preparing for his leavetaking from the world of contemporary pop music. He asked his manager's assistant to begin sending out his academic resume to various schools on Terra, concentrating in Florida but also in other regions. However, one application he filled out and submitted himself: the one addressed to Star Fleet's Civilian Services Division (CSD).
SF CSD recruited civilians in various areas of work that occasionally could not be filled by enlisted men and women or officers. This included food service professionals on starbases and star ships and caretakers of minor supernumaries. Nick had hoped that he could get a posting with his mother, whose friendship was something he missed in his almost overwhelmingly busy life.
With the last concert -- and the near rioting by the young fans that followed -- over, he bid his now four best friends farewell. They had known from the beginning that he would be leaving once he finished college. As he left for San Francisco and Star Fleet Headquarters, the music label was already conducting secret, closed auditions for his replacement.
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