On The Road Again

Posted on Sun Nov 10th, 2013 @ 11:11am by James Holbridge

USS MISSOURI, INTELLIGENCE-FITTED RUNABOUT
ON APPROACH TO THE SOLARIAN WORMHOLE

The flying of a runabout, even a specialized beast like the Arrow-class craft he was flying, was a largely automated affair when in transit, so Jim Holbridge was in the aft living module, staring blankly out the porthole wondering why in the hell he couldn’t keep his goddamned mouth shut. Ten years in Intel, and Gilroy still hadn’t told me anything about Wyatt’s death….yeah I have a right to be pissed!. But in this case,” right” didn’t exactly jibe with “authority”, of which Commander Kieran Gilroy was in above Holbridge. After Jim’s return from his extended deployment, he was given a rather warm reception….

Deep Space 12
THREE DAYS AGO
“Welcome back, Jimmy. Grab a chair.” CMDR Gilroy said by way of greeting.
Holbridge nodded, smiling, wondering what he had done to piss off the boss now.
“When I recruited you after your little sojourn in the Gamma Quadrant, I told you that I would provide you with the information concerning your brother’s fate when it was available.”
“I…”began Jim, only to be cut off.
“Shut up!” Gilroy barked. “I am speaking, and if I want any lies from you, I’ll tell you what to say! To continue; I got a message from Captain…are you hearing this???....CAPTAIN Zeb Spruance, chief of Reman Sector command, and guess what he told me?? Go ahead, guess!”
“I dunno what he said, sir,” Jim mumbled, trying his best to lie.
Gilroy leaned forward in his desk and tabbed a control. “He says, ‘One of your people has been making inquiries, both discreet and otherwise, into Operation: NEBULA. The total number of inquiries has exceeded my patience, not to mention the sector CINC. Get rid of him.’” Gilroy shut off the bulkhead viewer and leaned back in his chair, glaring at Jim. “Comments?”
“Sir, I…”
“SHUT UP, HOLBRIDGE!” Gilroy thundered. “I don’t want your commentary, no matter how it sounds to the contrary! I have to ask these questions before I get rid of your stupid ass! You get it? You are outta here, effective immediately!”
“Commander, before you shove me out the hatch, I think I deserve to know what happened to my brother. Since that mission, I have been forced to live apart from my family, away from all that I know, and have been lied to, cajoled, brow-beaten, and flat-out shit on at every turn….”
“Can the poor me shit!” Gilroy replied. “You have stayed on longer than any other operator I have because you are that fucking good! They don’t hand out Master Chief Warrant officer’s pips for completing potty training, you know. You were a damned good Marine, a shit-hot flyboy, and now you are one of the best operators I have ever trained. Once you learn how to keep your mouth shut, you’ll be set. To that end, I have a dispatch from one Admiral Lucius Hawke here, and he is requesting that an Intel-mod runabout be sent to the Delta Quadrant’s god-awful-big-starbase they have out that way. Aaaand, since you just bought yourself a one-way-ticket to the shithouse, you just volunteered to fly the Missouri to Admiral Wegener and his band of merry marauders.”
Holbridge kept his lips closed, earning him a nod from Gilroy. “You’re not as dumb as I thought. I downloaded all of the relevant poop we have on the doings in Reman space…why, I have no idea…..along with a few updates from me to your new boss.” Gilroy’s expression softened. “Son, what I am going to tell you don’t leave this room. Your brother was killed by rogue Vorta operating near Shakaar Province on Bajor. The Vorta, Mulek’th, acquired the schematics to an upgraded version of a Jem’Hadar warrior and had deployed them against the Bajorrans without Founder authorization. The Founders reached out to us, and we had to try and contain them in an effort to bring the war to a close. Wyatt was killed in one of the last attacks on the team’s position. He managed to set a trap and took the entire complement of enemies with him.” Gilroy reached into a drawer and pulled out a black box. “This is your brother’s Intelligence Star and Federation Medal Of Honor. Wyatt Holbridge saved the planet of Bajor from being wantonly slaughtered.”
“Why wasn’t I told this?” Jim demanded.
“I didn’t know until a few minutes ago, Jim “was the sincere reply. Gilroy rose to his feet. “That runabout won’t get to Starbase 900 by itself. Dismissed……

THE PRESENT

Jim was stunned by the revelation of his brother’s heroism. He knew Wyatt had enough guts for a squad of Klingons, but those waters ran very deep. Still it would have been nice to be able to tell Mom and Dad….and Trish.

Holbridge hated his job simply because he was unwilling to expose his family to what he perceived to be mortal danger, and he was right. Infiltrators like him were at risk constantly, and the stress of discovery was notorious for wrecking marriages. Sure, he got to fly any missions he was a part of and occasionally got to do Intel sweeps for the gyrenes simply because nobody else was better at it than him. It had been better to just leave the family behind to keep them safe.

As the runabout flew on, Jim did not notice his message light blinking, nor the sender id: Patricia Holbridge.

END PART ONE
A post by:
MWO James Holbridge
Homeless and Lonely