Bowled Over

Posted on Tue Nov 27th, 2012 @ 6:09am by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Varies
Timeline: Morning After "Jaded Darwin"

Morning came too soon for Darwin. It wasn’t that he’d had too much beer the night before while out with Jade - Mallory, he reminded himself; it was simply that he wasn’t really a morning person. That, and that he’d gone and paid a certain friend a late-night visit. He’d received word that she wanted to see him, so he went and was glad he did. This particular friend was one who seemed to think that he needed - or deserved? - payment of a very pleasant nature in exchange for unpleasant information. He would have readily given Seyla the information she was asking, but... she’d offered, and who was he to say no?

The information Darwin had passed on to her was the same as he would have given any other civilian on the Station: yes, Admiral Wegener and Commander Hawke were missing; yes, Suresh was last seen with the two, and, no, he hadn’t been seen since. On the other matter she asked about, he was slightly less forthcoming and told her simply that Chance Conradi had indeed been killed in Jackson Banning’s office. Though troubled by that news, Seyla had seemed satisfied ...so much so that she made sure he was satisfied. Several times. In various positions.

And so it was that he was having a small issue waking up and getting moving for the day. But move, he did; he knew he had a thousand and one things on his plate for the day, from the usual morning meeting with Oralia (a grieving Oralia, at that) to checking in on Jade (Mallory, dammit) to going back to square one on the the Admiral’s kidnapping. Staying in bed wasn’t an option. Rising, he went through his morning routine and soon enough found himself in Oralia’s office with Aliso, Gilroy, Edwards and the woman herself.

He watched her as the four gave their daily reports. With Chance’s death having been announced just the morning before, she was looking hollow-eyed and seemed to have aged a hundred years; her hand shook as she reached for her coffee. His heart went out to her as he found himself again thinking of her kid brother as he was in life. Tuning back into what Oralia was saying, he glanced at Aliso, since that was who she was directing her comments to.

“...in the Cherry Pit, increase patrols. Edwards’ team found a hypospray of poison in Jackson’s office. That came from somewhere, find the where and put pressure on these lowli-- people to start talking. Aliso, work with Darwin and Edwards on the apparent overloaded disruptor and destruction of the relays in the commercial sector - with the use of a disruptor in the Admiral’s office and in the commercial sector, I have to wonder if they’re linked. Gil, we have too many of these things floating about. Close up the holes.” Gilroy nodded, understanding just what she meant. Things were out of hand and Oralia’s frustration was just under the surface. “You’re dismissed.”

Each of the four murmured ‘yes, ma’am’ or some variation thereof and left the Chief’s office to go their separate ways. Gilroy, though he’d worked the graveyard shift, headed deeper into the Security offices, to initiate a crack-down on all non-Fleet weapons. Aliso and Edwards had their own tasks. Nodding at Aliso, Darwin told her, “I have one thing I’d like to get done, then we can talk about the disruptors.” With that, he grabbed his current assigned assistant, Carter, and headed for the Admiral’s office. Science had sealed it, but Security needed evidence - specifically evidence that might link this ‘accident’ with the one in merchant Ivam Qarth’s shop. Since that was something he could check off his list (and lately he was very focused on checking things off his list), he headed that way.

* * *Admiral’s Office* * *

“Sir? You’re going inside?” Carter’s face was wrinkled with worry.

Darwin was already planning his lunch: he’d call Jade - Mallory, he reminded himself - and take her to the Talaxian place on the Promenade. It could be a working lunch; he’d take a PADD and pull up her records while they ate. “It’ll be fine,” Darwin assured Carter.

Famous last words if there ever were any.

What seemed like hours later, Darwin woke to a world of pain. He was lying flat on his back and when he shifted to sit up, his entire backside complained in a way that he recognized: he’d fallen from a fair height and landed on his back. Glad there wasn’t anything under him that would have broken his back, he gingerly stood up and dusted himself off. He recognized the area he was in - he was on the Station, but... it wasn’t in good repair anymore. Had they been attacked? He only remembered going into the Admiral’s office and then... Carter had been with him. He had heard Carter shout. Then... here he was.

Behind him, he heard the shuffle of a footstep a second before a very familiar female voice demanded, “Identify yourself!”

He turned slowly and was utterly bowled over when a black-haired woman suddenly laughed and dashed towards him. She crashed into him and hugged him fiercely, “Mike! Oh, I thought I’d lost you! You’ve been gone for so long and with comms down....” She kissed him.

When she finally gave him a moment to breathe, he gave her a confused look and asked, “Amber? But....” She kissed him again, silencing him. He couldn’t piece it together. Amber L’Berr - Admiral Amber L’Berr - was a quadrant away, helping rebuild the remains of the Ohmacht sector. Yet here she was, kissing him, hugging him. Confounded but never one to be called a fool, he went along with the kiss and hugged her tightly, letting himself revel in holding the one woman he’d give anything for before needing to question how such a thing was happening.

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Lieutenant Michael Darwin