Darwin's Terrible No Good Very Bad Day

Posted on Thu Nov 29th, 2012 @ 5:32pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Captain Li Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: SB900 - Alternate Dimension
Timeline: Current

* * * SB900 - Alternate Dimension * * *

The talk with Suresh had gone far better than Li expected. For the hour since, both had been busy tracking down Delta Quadrant contacts and so far they’d had not a lot of success but at least enough to lift their spirits. Li’s neck had grown tense from the time over the terminal and so she stood and finally tracked down Ricky.

“Feel like a walk?”

"Hey," he said as he turned from his own terminal. "Sure." Standing, he logged off since he still had command level access and he didn't want anyone else blowing up bits of the station in a fit of last-resort rage. "You okay?" he asked as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Sitting bent over a terminal too long. I spoke to our fellow traveller. I don’t think you’ll have any further trouble from him. If you do, I’ll kill him myself.” They moved off down a path paved with flagstones that ran down into a grove of trees.

Rick grunted an acknowledgement and smiled. She really did know how to handle herself, he thought. "So, did you come up with anything, or anyone, useful? I've been working at trying to get the damn sensors back online, but I think they're physically damaged so that may be a lost cause."

“We’ve reached a few, one his people is actually looking like the most promising. Funny huh?” The hum of the activity back at the main area faded as they strolled along and Li found the tension beginning to ebb. The quiet was a relief, at least for a few moments. They they heard the sound of voices just ahead.

“...status of the station?”, a male voice asked as several figures came within earshot.

“Status? Mike, you should know! You’re the one that’s been lost out there,” a woman answered. She had a good grip on the male’s hand and smiled up at him as they walked.

A moment later, Michael Darwin came close enough to recognize Wegener and Li. “Admiral Wegener? Commander Hawke?”, he asked, hoping they might be ‘his’ CoC.

Li was wary once more as she and Rick stopped. Looking Darwin over head to toe, she noted immediately that he wore the comm badge they used back home, not the style that was normal for this universe.

“Darwin? You’re here?”

It took a moment for Rick to realize it, but this Darwin had called Li Commander, not Captain. "How did--," he started, then grabbed him as if he were checking him over. "How did you get here? More importantly, what are you doing here? You're not injured are you?"

This man was his officer. Unlike the rest of the group here, he felt especially responsible for his men and women. And he'd seen what that portal thing had done to his desk. He wanted to make sure nothing had happened to Darwin either.

“Uh... Admiral?” Darwin glanced at the woman next to him, who was now staring back at him with confusion and disbelief on her face. “I’m okay... I landed kinda hard on my back, but otherwise, I’m good. And this is Amber L’Berr, Sir.”

The black-haired woman blinked. “L’Berr? I’m Amber Darwin,” she corrected Mike.

“Oh boy...,” Darwin whispered.

“Oh boy,” Li echoed.

A crack resounded in the room as Mrs. Darwin slapped Darwin. “You kissed me like you were my husband! But you aren’t, are you!?” Amber already knew about the Admiral and Commander; she was a fast study and knew what had happened here. Angry and worried, she turned on her heel and stalked off without letting Darwin answer.

"Oh....damn," Rick replied at the sound of the slap. "What happened? How did you get here?"

“That’s what I was going to ask as well, Michael.” Li watched Amber storm off, then turned back to Darwin. “Was it the office?”

“Yeah. I went in there to take some readings,” rubbing his newly abused cheek, he looked from one to the other. “An overloaded disruptor was used in the commercial sector to incinerate a shop. We believe the merchant was killed in the blast. Anyway, went to your office, Sir, to take a few more readings and... here I am.” He looked where Amber had gone and thought, And there she goes. “Are you two okay?”

“It’s been...interesting, I’ll say that.” Li smiled a moment. “We should probably tell Commander Sakkath you’re here.”

Rick groaned. "He may not like the fact that another of ours has arrived. He wasn't exactly keen on us getting here, as you recall, even after he read you."

Deciding not to voice what little he knew of Leroy’s experiment, Darwin frowned. “Sakkath might appreciate knowing that Commander Leroy is doing everything he can to pull you two, and now me, back into our proper places.” He looked around suddenly. “Did Suresh survive?” He hoped someone, or something, had killed him.

"Unfortunately," Rick said with a frown. "Alive and well and, for now, on his best behavior."

“And will stay that way,” Li added.

“On his best behavior?” Darwin scoffed and shook his head, looking at Li.

“I have ways,” was all she said about that. “You’ve noticed the state of the station, here is more or less the last stand. The Admiral and I managed to restore the computer for them, and they’ve set up a force field perimeter but something has occurred to us. As much devastation as the Archadians managed, we are thinking that there has to be someone on the inside.” She turned to Rick now. “Do you think you could convince Sakkath to let you two join the patrols? I seem to be off the list for anything like that but you two may see something that stand out that the natives might not notice.”

“Amber - excuse me, Mrs. Darwin - has probably already reported to the powers that be that I’m not this place’s Darwin. But then, if what she told me about Commander Zeferino in this world is true... Sakkath might overlook that issue.”

"And I don't believe we should let Sakkath know what we suspect just yet. He may see that as us trying to stir trouble within his own ranks, with people that he already knows and trusts." Rick began walking back towards the center of the arboretum, where he'd last seen Sakkath.

“Wait, what did she say about Oz?” Li hesitated, waiting for the answer.

“She, Aliso and Gilroy were wiped out in the first blow by the Arcadians,” Darwin answered. “In our ‘verse, that’d leave me in charge of Security.”

“Did Amber say where the other you is?”

“Apparently he’s been missing for a while now.” He looked at Li fully for a moment. “If he’s anything like me and knows he has her to come back to, the only reason he’d be gone so long is that he’s dead.”

“Very likely, unfortunately.” She turned to lead the way once more. “Let’s get this over with. I'll warn you now though, the Sakkath here isn’t quite so thrilled with my presence as the one back home.”

“Duly noted, Commander,” Darwin nodded as he fell into step with her and the Admiral. “They’re doing everything they can to get you back where we’re supposed to be,” he commented and chuckled as he added, “Commander Leroy even blacked out a few decks with his efforts.”

“That’s a relief. And while it’s safer here, we’ll eventually have to get back up to the Admiral’s office. The barrier is the thinnest there.” They emerged from the trees and now, Darwin could see the central area. Li pointed and there stood Sakkath, speaking to one of his officers. “Go get ‘em tiger.”

“Gee, thanks, Commander,” Darwin let himself take on a sarcastic tone with her. He stepped forward and, just a few feet from Li and Wegener, was greeted with a hearty hail by several Security officers.

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

Commander Li Hawke
Watching The Situation Evolve

Lieutenant Michael Darwin
Wading In

Vice Admiral Ricky Wegener
Finding Some of His Own