Waiting In The Wings

Posted on Sun Sep 6th, 2020 @ 12:17pm by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: Starbase 234
Timeline: Current

Operations was a hotbed of activity. A busy starbase, after all, had to direct traffic like an old school airport, monitor security on a multitude of decks and in general monitor the systems for thousands of civilians. It was akin to running a Starship with only a different set of parameters in place, the Starbase didn’t go anywhere.

She walked, Remal at her side, through the throng of people. She could tell the eyes in the crowd fell on him and not her, likely due to his larger frame. By comparison, she was rather small and therefore well hidden from the onlookers. The Commander was standing with Lucy at the doorway to his office and it seemed Bonnie and Remal were going the same way.

The Commander noticed Remal first and did not look too happy. As they approached Bonnie could hear him say, “Later Lucy. We will discuss this later.” effectively shutting Lucy’s mouth and silencing her last word. He then turned to face Remal. “Mr. Kajun, for the last time, there has been no word on your wife or the ship she was on. Now if you will politely wait patiently I will have someone let you know when there is something to report.”

Remal seemed a stubborn man in his response. “I figured as much Commander Huntley, but as I’ve spent the last hour pursuing your shops and patronizing your food court. I’ve decided my place is better served here where I may offer more assistance in whatever it is you ARE doing to bring the Liberty back safe.” His words carried frustrated weight as he towered over Commander Huntley by several inches.

“We are doing all that we can…”

“Do more.” Came the simple interruption.

“If you’ll excuse me please, I need to brief a crewmember on the status of her ship and then I shall as you suggest and ‘Do More’.” Huntley clenched his jaw and possibly his ass cheeks, not being used to being talked to in such a manner. Bonnie was impressed. Remal and Huntley were effectively the same rank, but this was Huntley’s starbase. She doubted that would stop Remal if it came down to an action conflict. Huntley nodded to Bonnie, “Come with me, Lieutenant.” He turned on his heels and made for his office.

Bonnie eyed the Bajoran then mouthed, “Nice meeting you” before moving to catch up to the Commander. Lucy meanwhile fell in line behind Bonnie making Bonnie uncomfortable in her skin as if someone were stalking her, boring their eyes into her back.

They crossed through the threshold, one, two, three, into Huntley’s office and no one spoke until the doors swished closed behind them. Huntley moved around and took a standing position behind his desk despite the many chairs in the room. Bonnie knew from protocol, you don’t sit unless your Commander sits, or instructs you to do so. She and Lucy stood at attention on the opposite side of the desk.

“At ease.” He said after a minute of uncomfortable silence. “You missed your boat, it would seem, Lieutenant. The Liberty and her crew departed from here at Approximately 0630 this morning and promptly set course for the Conara system.” He turned and looked out the window at a passing freighter. When he spoke again his tone changed and became more somber. “Somewhere between here and there we lost communications with her. At this time we have our suspicions as to her whereabouts based on course and speed telemetry, the problem is getting to her.”

For some reason, he eyed Lucy then began to speak again, “At this time we are attempting to mount a rescue, however, the only two ships docked currently are in no state to go anywhere let alone deal with a potential threat. Hell the Shenandoah just had her warp core removed and the Potomac had a run-in with the Breen and has lost over 40 crew members including her second officer.” He was frustrated as he described the sorry state of what he had to work with. Bonnie just listened and formulated. She could feel the other shoe about to drop.

He continued. “It is our belief the Liberty was a victim of a pirate attack, possibly at the hands of Orion smugglers.” He tapped his console to show a digital display of ship movements in the sector. Then he pointed at a spot in the map where a Federation signature was. “This is their last known position. Just before they dropped off the communications grid we picked up this signal moving on an intercept course.” He pointed at a second symbol of a tiny Jolly Roger.

Still thinking, Bonnie reached for more information, “Any idea what they might be after? Sir?”

“Actually yes. The Liberty was carrying an advanced set of Targeting Sensors and an Upgraded Phaser Array.” His tone shifted again into a more positive note. “Fortunately as I understand it, the schematics are highly encrypted and there were only three people capable of accessing them. So unless the Captain or First Officer breaks or her Vulcan Second Officer,” he paused and let out a small chuckle at the thought of a Vulcan breaking under pressure. “Then I think we are safe.”

Bonnie, being who she was and proud of what she could do blurted out, “Well unless the encryption level is over 2020 bit, any amateur who has written a decryption algorithm could access the files.” Lucy shifted next to her but she carried on. “In fact I wrote one for my senior project at the academy. It’s not android level,” she laughed. “But then what is right?”

Huntley’s smile dropped into a frown. He eyed Lucy, then back to Bonnie. “For the time being, I’m going to have to ask you to sit tight. Take in the promenade, buy something pretty and we will let you know if anything develops further.”

“But.” She had more to offer than to sit like a bump on a log as she suddenly realized how Remal felt to be sidelined.

“Dismissed Lieutenant.” His voice was stern in it’s finality.

She nodded in defeat, turned and moved to the door, but stopped with one last question on her mind. “Sir, what about Cody Devilrall?”

“Well the way I see it we owe him nothing. We recovered the logs from his shuttle and feel the accident was just that, an accident. We’ll likely send him packing in the morning.”

This news made Bonnie’s mouth seethe with anger. “But you promised him a shuttle.”

“I did no such thing. I told him we could work something out. What I worked out is how to send him packing, now I suggest you let this go like I have.”

Brick wall. Bonnie nodded and exited the office. The loss of Debbie was her fault. Her guilt was a powerful motivator. She looked around ops, a determined look upon her face. Shopping for pretty things, indeed. She b-lined back to the turbo-lift, stepped inside and said “brig.”

Still in ops, Remal saw the frustrated look on Bonnie’s face as she emerged from the lead office, and watched her march to the lift. A moment later he spotted Lucy making her way out of the office, a phaser tucked away at her side. His eyebrow went up as realization came to him that Bonnie may be in trouble.

TBC

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