Raising An Alarm

Posted on Thu Jul 26th, 2012 @ 3:06pm by Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Janice Gree

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Oz's Office

Ever since she’d been released from Piper Medical, Oralia Zeferino had been working her way back to full duty, starting with taking her normal shift and, thanks to Michael Darwin’s insistence, staying in or near her office. Darwin wouldn’t let her go to the training rooms or the sparring mats or the weapons ranges. Not that firing a phaser was particularly dangerous, but... he didn’t see any need to take chances.

So it was that when Janice Gree and Eli Ziyad came into the Main Security Offices that morning, Darwin, recognizing Eli and Jan as being ‘social contacts’, directed them to Oralia’s office. In her office, Oralia had been doing and re-doing and re-re-doing the personnel coverage for the ‘base. It wasn’t that her first efforts were bad; no, they were quite good, but the mental task kept her from thinking about the past weeks. When the door chime pealed, she kept her head down, working out a suitable four-on, three-off schedule, and called, “Enter!”

“Ah... Commander Zeferino,” Jan started hesitantly. She hadn’t expected to be sent to this woman’s office and glanced at Eli, wondering whether he was the reason they were getting routed around the normal procedures.

Oz looked up at the unfamiliar voice and scanned the faces of both the visitors. “Oh, Ms. Gree, Mr. Ziyad, um...,” she glanced at the work on her console and PADDs then turned all of the displays off. “What brings you here?”

Eli hesitated a moment before he spoke. He didn’t want to alarm Oz unnecessarily. He was also somewhat aware that she had been less than thrilled at being called by Chase the other night when he thought Eli was missing. That fact had been all but pouring out of Darwin’s thoughts. Finally he took a step forward.

“We’re sorry to bother you but this is about Jackson.”

The smile Oz had been trying to get on her lips died before making it there. Surely Jackson wasn’t sending... emissaries... to see how she was doing? She pushed the thought away, irritated with herself for even thinking something so... adolescent. “What about Jackson?”

Jan licked her bottom lip and spoke, “Jackson and Cassidy Wilde. They went on a few days’ leave to the planet. They were due back yesterday but haven’t shown up or called or... anything.”

Looking from one to the other, Oralia put the pieces together - from what Jan and Eli had just said and what Jackson had told her prior to leaving - and came up with: “So... Jackson and Cassidy went to one of the beach resorts for sun, fun and relaxation. And now Jackson is a day late showing up? When he has a pretty” beautiful, blonde, sexy “woman with him?” Quietly she surveyed the two, letting them see the logic there. “I imagine he’s just enjoying himself.” Somehow, she’d managed to say that without grinding her teeth. Instead, she smiled pleasantly.

Eli raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at Oz, then cleared his throat gently. “It’s not like that, Oz. Jan had to practically browbeat him to get him to go and for him to stay away a minute longer than he’d planned...especially as worried as he was about you, isn’t like him.”

Jan shifted uneasily as well. She’d had that thought already, but it simply wasn’t Jackson to not contact her. She told Oralia as much and added, “Even if Jackson was too... wrapped up... with Cassidy, Cassidy would contact us.”

Again, Oz’s gaze shouted that she wasn’t quite buying the idea that Jackson and Cassidy weren’t in some beach resort, making sure each was fully relaxed.

The emotion wasn’t lost on Eli and he groaned in frustration. “Come on Oz, you know what his deal is. I have no idea why he isn’t back, but the fact that he’s not here on your doorstep says it all. Something is up.”

Not quite rolling her eyes, Oz sighed. What harm was there in a bit of a wild goose chase? Likely the matter would be resolved in the time it took to contact Jackson’s hotel, to confirm he was still checked in. “Okay, look, I’ll call down to Archadia and verify their whereabouts. Beyond that, my hands are tied - technically, my jurisdiction only encompasses the Station and vessels docked here.” She knew, of course, that she could stretch that a touch because the matter involved Station residents.

Eli nodded, still obviously worried. “Has he called to check on you?”

“Check on me?”, she was slightly startled.

“Oh, gods, you are amazingly blind!” Jan erupted, tossing her hands in the air and glaring, first at Oz then, slightly less so, at Eli. Focusing on Oz again, she sharply recited, “He was the first one in your hospital room; he went and got that damned spider of yours when you asked; he’s seen you or talked to you every day since. Do you think he’d stop doing that just because he’s on the planet instead of on the Station?”

Chagrined, Oralia cleared her throat and looked mostly at Eli; she didn’t want to meet Jan’s glare right now. “Ah... well, no, he hasn’t,” she acknowledged.

“And you don’t think that’s strange at all? In the least?” Eli crossed his arms now as he met Oz’s gaze.

Carefully, Oz hazarded a look at Jan, who was about as angry as she’d ever seen the woman. “Admittedly, that’s rather un-Jackson-ish,” she hedged. “I already said I’d contact the resort....” Pausing, she looked down at her console, which had just flashed a message at her. It was from Darwin, who was apparently listening in; either that or he’d taken initiative in contacting the resort based upon whatever Jan and Eli had said to him on their way in. Sometimes, Darwin irked Oralia with his efficacy. “Ah... well, apparently we do have cause for concern,” Oz said, scanning the message quickly, “Neither Jackson nor Cassidy have been in their hotel rooms in the past two days.”

“Two....days?” It was all Eli could manage.

“And now what?” Jan turned up the heat in her glare.

“And now I send a team down to investigate where and when Jackson and Cassidy were last seen,” Oz replied.

“So, we wait.” Eli ran his hand through his hair and sighed aloud. “Who’d want Jackson?” Belatedly, he realized how that sounded. “You know what I mean.”

Eyebrows slightly raised, Oz looked at Eli then to Jan. “Indeed, I do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to assemble a team and get them to Archadia.”

Relieved someone would be looking for Jackson and Cassidy, Jan lightly gripped Eli’s forearm and nodded, “All right, we’ll be going, but contact us with any updates.”

“Please.” Eli added. “Find him.” He stepped back away from the desk, then spoke once more. “He’d do anything for you, you know. Ready Jan?”

Guilt lanced through Oz with Eli’s words. She knew the kid was right. “We will,” she assured them.

“Thanks. We’ll be at the Nexus if you need to call.” Eli reached out to open the door, then waited for Jan to go first.

Jan pointed one finger at Oz, with a stern look backing it up. Having given Oz her silent lecture, Jan nodded and exited the office with Eli in tow.

Having been left alone, Oralia first slumped in her chair then sat up straight and called both Darwin and Aliso into the office. They’d be the ones organizing the search.

*********
Janice Greer
Stern Looker

Eli Ziyad
Guilt Tripper

Oralia Zeferino
Sternly Guilted