Reunion of the Hardheads

Posted on Wed Mar 30th, 2016 @ 8:00pm by Jackson Banning V & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Marine Captain Quentin Harrison
Edited on on Sun Apr 17th, 2016 @ 10:57am

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Marine Command Center / Piper Medical Center

OPERATIONAL COMMAND CENTER
MARINE BARRACKS

His first day as XO of the regiment was turning out to be fairly dull. Quentin Harrison was no stranger to action, whether it be combat or nocturnal calisthenics, but garrison duty drove him up the friggin wall! A famous American military officer had once said that garrison detail was like babysitting thirty two-year-olds with an open gun cabinet in the same room. The Marines had transformed from a cohesive fighting force into a mob of half-witted gorillas within twenty-four hours! No wonder Davey drank like a fish some days.

Harrison went into Dave’s office and flopped down into a chair, frustrated and hot under the collar. Some of Corporal Thomas’ comrades had tried to make Thomas suffer for his role in the death of Sakkath by sealing him in a photon casing. Harrison had quickly put a stop to the horseplay and assigned the entire platoon to seventy-two hours of sanitation detail in Waste Processing, one of Lorenz’s favorite disciplinary details.

Thinking about Sakkath got Quentin curious about the other Borg survivors. That there were any survivors at all was a miracle in itself. Harrison had known for some time that Oralia Zeferino, or Oz as she liked to be called, had transferred to 900 some time before he did, but he did not seek her out due to his brutish behavior and ham-handed treatment of her during his time as security chief on the Berkeley, much as he had avoided speaking with Kh’ali due to his past romance with her. Maybe it was time to mend some fences.

“Computer, location of Commander Zeferino?”

=/\=Commander Zeferino is in Piper Medical=/\=

Quentin stood up and left Dave’s office. “Doyle, you have the MCC. I have an errand to run. Dinnae invade anybody without tellin’ me first!”

“Captain, Mr. Thomas has requested…”

“Whatever it is, he can wait! I am not ready to deal with him just yet. Keep him confined to quarters until I get back.”

“You got it, captain” Doyle sighed.

PIPER MEDICAL
THIRTY MINUTES LATER

As he entered the medical facility, Harrison felt oddly uneasy. He hadn’t been to a hospital or any sort of medical treatment facility since his post-graduation physical and Starfleet doctors made him uneasy. He went up to the desk and queried Oz’s location again. Upon learning her room number he made his way through the maze of corridors until he found her room. Not knowing what else to do he knocked politely on the door, despite it being open.

Inside, Oz was glaring at Jackson. “Gimme the padd back. I was only reading reports!” And getting worked up. But that was besides the point.

“Nope. That’s Will’s orders, by the way. He’s agreed that you can get back to work when he releases ya from here. Don’t make him change his mind.” Jackson grinned at Oz and held the padd out of reach.

“Yer lucky she doesnae shoot ye, Jack!” Quentin grinned from the doorway, amused by the scene. “As I recall, she has a good eye and a draw nearly quicker ‘n me own.” Quentin looked at Oz’s face, taking in the faded scarring from the Borg devices and was suddenly uncomfortable. “If I am intrudin’ on a family moment, I can catch ye another time.”

Surprised to see Quentin, Oz dropped her glare and shook her head slightly, “No, no. There’s no family here. Just a fellow who shot his wife and is now holding her work hostage. C’mon in, Q-ball. How are things with you?” Things with her were fairly obvious.

“I’m busier than William Wallace at Stirling with me duties as regimental XO. Lass, I am glad we were able to get you and yer team away from those Borg bastards. I dinnae know what we woulda done if we hadn’t saved the lot of ye.” Quentin looked at Jackson. “You didnae tell her how ye came to call me that did ye?”

“Not a word,” Jackson replied with a smile. “I’ll leave that story to you. She likely won’t shoot you. Me? Not so sure.”

Quentin was new at being nice and sociable, and was having a hard time making conversation. Finally he sighed and said, “Look, Oz, we don’t exactly have a lot of good memories between us. I came here to tell ye that I deeply regret my actions toward ye on the Berkeley and I offer me sincere apologies.”

She glanced at Jackson while she interpreted Quentin’s accent. She knew Quentin couldn’t know that she and Jackson now had a little ritual based upon the time when Quentin had suspended her for insubordination. “Apology accepted. And no hard feelings.”

Quentin grinned at both people in the room. “Tis a relief to be sure!” Quentin visibly relaxed. “I am glad yer both in fightin shape! Davey and me almost bought the farm goin after that Borg what took Commander Sakkath’s body. Damn Borg cube appeared right in our flight path and if our young Holbridge hadnae reacted as quick as he did, we would be in Heaven singin’ the praises with angelic harps!”

It took Oralia a moment to decipher the Scot’s colorful and heavily accented language. Once she did, she nodded. “It’s good that you’re not ...um..., in heaven. I apologize for anything I might have done that contributed to our prior issues,” she smiled slightly.

Quentin smiled at her and waved his hand carelessly. “Water under the bridge, lass!” Quentin turned to Jackson and put on a lop-sided grin. “Two bars of latinum I owe ye; you were right, she didnae want to order me keelhauled!” After the laughter died down, Quentin turned serious. “I am not here for purely social reasons. Davey, um, you know him as Major Lorenz, has been fiddlin’ around with some new ideas for combatin’ the Borg.” Quentin handed Oz a padd.

Oz took the padd from him and started reading the information on it. She sat up a little more and gestured with the padd, “I like this one, with the taser-like weapon. Think it would actually penetrate Borg shields?”

Quentin nodded. “Initial simulations run by Jimmy’s R+D bunch have had an 84% rate of success. There is a 5% variance on those numbers but once we develop faster algorithms and get some hard data on reaction times we can program that stuff in and increase effectiveness to 92%” Quentin switched a page. “Here’s a dandy lil’ bugger I dreamed up. 6-barrel cannon firing these!” Quentin shifted the picture again to show a bullet-like object with a blinking case on one end. “This is a round fired from that cannon, and it will impact the Borg drone’s shield and at the same instant the embedded micro-transporter will beam in a plasma round, turning the drone into a bloody mess inside its own shields.”

Jackson glanced at Quentin, then reached over to slip the padd out of Oz’s hands. “They are both great ideas Q, but not for Oz, not right now. The docs have given strict orders she’s not to do anything dutywise till they say so, and so far they won’t say so. Solis especially. He’s bein’ a hardass on this one.”

Quentin’s eyes narrowed slightly. “This will give our lady fair somethin’ to think about as her convalescence drags on! I’m gonna keep workin on this stuff with Jimmy and my mob. Come see me when they let ye outta jail, Oz!” Quentin gave her a sly grin.

Nodding, Oz smiled. “Will do, Q-ball.” She wanted to look at the ideas more, think on them, call Gilroy for his input... and that was exactly why the doctors - and Jackson - were barring her from work. “But, doctors and husbands come before fun.”

“I wouldn’t know about either one!” Quentin said. “I better get back to the barracks before Doyle decides to invade Archadia..” Quentin looked at Jackson. “I almost forgot, JD is now in Flight training with Patrick Smith!”

“Tell ‘im congratulations for me. I remember that kid when he was learnin’ ta walk.” Jackson smiled at Quentin. “An’ tell ‘im next time he’s in the Nexus, the evenin’s on me.”

“Will do!” With that, Quentin exited the room quickly. Even though the visit went well, he cordially hated hospitals, especially the doctors that wanted to run endless batteries of tests...ugh! Harrison escaped into the waiting room, then smoothly blew a kiss to one of the prettier nurses, who smiled back at him. Tis a good day indeed!

***************

A Post By:

MCPT Quentin Harrison
Oaf In Good Standing

Cmdr Oralia Zeferino-Banning
Somewhat Obedient Wife (For Once)

Jackson Banning V
Strict Husband (For A Change)