Misplaced Slightly

Posted on Fri Aug 21st, 2020 @ 11:50pm by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: Fresno?
Timeline: Current

A quick stop at home to have her personal effects gathered, then she tossed a small bag over her shoulder that carried her immediate personal effects. Nothing extensive, a couple of pictures of her mom and dad, a tablet with some light reading on the structural dynamics of the interior of a mark IV dilithium matrix warp core. And a tablet with all the details of her new home, the USS Liberty.
There was no one to say goodbye to so she left a quick message of goodbye and then left. One transport jump from home to a Starfleet hub, then a transport to the starbase and finally a quick jump to the shipyards or even a direct line to the ship, what could go wrong?
In Bonnies life that was a loaded question with a number of variables to calculate into an answer. You see luck was rarely on her side. If it had been the proverbial rain cloud over her head it would have been large enough to not be stopped by the planetary weather control system.
"No no no, not Fresno! Not again. San Francisco. San. Fran. Cisco." She said pointedly slower. Her level of frustration was rising. "There is not even a Starfleet hub here in Fresno at least not that I'm aware of." She raised her hands to exaggerate her frustration. If she were at the controls she would be there by now, she told herself.
“We are truly sorry Miss. perhaps the computer got the coordinates wrong. I will see what I can do to correct the error.” Bonnie’s brow furled for she knew that was a lie. Computers don’t make mistakes, she told herself over and over, people do. The pleasant woman on the other side of the glass tapped console buttons, stared at readouts then tapped several more, never appearing to lose composure. Bonnie grew ever more impatient and began tapping her fingers on the marbled counter.
After several more minutes she couldn’t control her frustration any more. “Well?” she blurted out.
The woman stopped what she was doing and stared at Bonnie matter of factly. “There doesn’t seem to be another transport window for another two hours. I do …”
“Two hours?” Bonnie snapped back. “Two hours!” She was yelling too loudly for the quiet transport terminal. “Two hours. Two hours.” Her eye started to twitch. “How? We’re only 186 miles away. How is that possible?” She was almost pleading now.
The woman took a calculated breath and wondered how Bonnie knew the exact distance before brushing that small nugget of information aside. “As I was saying Miss., I do have an alternative for you. There is a local taxi shuttle driver just up the way. I could contact him and have him take you to the station, if you wish?”
Bonnie was coming down from her tantrum high, “And is that my only option?”
“Yes Miss. Again I am sorry.”
“How long will it take for him to arrive?”
“Only about an hour.” She saw the distraught look upon Bonnie’s face and in an effort to avoid another yelling session quickly corrected, “Or less if he’s awake and had a shower.”
Feeling defeated yet clearly frustrated Bonnie looked around at the empty room with the uncomfortable seating before responding, “Alright, I guess I’ll just wait here then.” She slugged her bag over her shoulder.
“Very good Miss.” The nice lady mused for a moment before asking. “Can I ask how you knew the exact distance from here to San Francisco Miss?”
Bonnie pursed her lips, “It’s not exactly my first time, being sent to the wrong place that is.” In fact in all of her travels from her home to just about anywhere planet side she had in fact been misplaced a total of 42 times. Since she was young her papa had mused that she wasn’t lost, but just misplaced. ‘One is never really lost so long as there is a familiar star to guide you and a destination in your heart’ he would say.
She made her way to the bench seat she had decided last time was the most comfy and plopped down. Then she riffled through her bag pulling out her tablet. “Alright, time to get acquainted. USS Liberty, Sovereign class. I guess there’s no time like the present to get a better understanding of what I’m in for.” Then she looked around realizing she was talking to herself, then sat back and began immersing herself in technical specs and diagrams.

TBC

Bonnie Bon-Bon Durnell
Stuck in Fresno