Wringing Hands

Posted on Wed May 2nd, 2012 @ 11:17pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Wegener's Office / Command & Control
Timeline: Current

It had been three days since the Hammond and its escort of fighters went through the wormhole and nothing had been heard from them. The first day didn't mean much of anything to Rick. He knew that, assuming they made it through okay, they would be scouting the area to find out where they were. They may even possibly be attempting to map some of the area for potential planetary bodies that may be useful to the Federation. But after the second and third days had passed, Rick became a bit nervous.

He hadn't gotten much sleep and spent most of the time in his office switching between vast amounts of coffee and half a bottle of scotch. It was now the middle of the third day and even the reports he had to go through weren't helping keep his mind off of his away team. Had he sent an entire ship's crew, and fighters, to their deaths? It wouldn't have been the first time he'd had to do so, sometimes on purpose, but it wasn't something that could be helped. Even in the wonderful world of the Federation, lives had to be laid down and damn if Rick didn't hate himself for it. It was worse because of his longevity of life along with his uncanny abilities to remember most everything he's ever done. This caused many a sleepless night for him from nightmares that haunted him.

With one last swig of scotch he donned his formal jacket and strode out of his offices to the primary nerve center of Starbase 900.


** Command & Control **

The duty officer announced the Admiral's arrival in C&C, as was the norm, and Rick strode directly to the operations console.

"Any word from Hammond?" he asked.

The Ops staff had been asked over and over again by the Admiral regarding the Hammond or the fighter unit. They understood his concern, as they were as well, but couldn't help but let it get under their skin a bit to think that he may wonder if they wouldn't contact him immediately if they found something. But, it was their duty to report, and his to be concerned over the lives of those under him.

"Nothing yet, Admiral. The long rang scanners have been activated since they went through, and have been tweaked a bit by our engineering staff. We also have shuttles stationed out near the wormhole as well to keep close watch."

The Ops officer could hear an audible sigh and suddenly felt bad for the man, but he couldn't say anything about if if he did.

"Very well," Rick replied. He put a hand on his shoulder, almost as if he was reassuring them both. "I'll be around. Keep me posted."

He strode the main deck peering over the shoulders of his very competent staff, something they had gotten used to in him. Always with a kind or reassuring words, remembering everyone's names no matter what rank they were and trying to be helpful to all. He'd even been known to go and get refreshments for his personnel, knowing that they were too busy to leave their workstations. Overall, the Admiral was deemed firm but fair, with a helpful streak thrown in.

He had done his rounds and was just about to leave C&C to the senior officer on deck when the Ops officer called out.

"Sir! Sir, we have something!"

Rick quickly made his way back to the console. "Report."

"Something is coming through the wormhole sir."

There was a pause in the room as almost everyone stopped moving to wait and see what was going on. Tension was everywhere. It could be the Hammond, a badly injured Hammond or warships from some unknown part of the galaxy. But they had to wait it out to see.

=^= Starbase 900, this is USS Hammond. =^=

Loud cheers and whoops could be heard throughout the deck.

=^= We are back enroute to the station with good news. Starfleet Command sends their best and requests contact from Admiral Wegener via subspace relay through the wormhole to advise on your status. =^=

More whoops and cheers erupted as the news that they had been in contact with Starfleet Command. And if they were able to communicate through subspace relay through the wormhole, that meant that the destination of the wormhole led to friendly space.

"Hammond, this is Wegener. Welcome home. Advise Captain qeraQ' that I expect a full report, in person, as soon as you dock."

=^= Understood. Hammond out. =^=

"Officer of the deck," Ricky called out, summoning a Lieutenant wearing red to his side. "Since the initial explosion of the gateways destroyed our communications arrays, see to it that our engineers get replacements up immediately and let me know when I can begin contacting Starfleet." He smiled and clasped the man's arm. "This is good news indeed."

With that, he turned, a smile etched on his usually dark face, and walked out of C&C. An ensign walking past the main doors swore that she saw him jump and let out a large whoop of his own.

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VADM Ricky Wegener
Commanding Officer
Starbase 900