Welcome To The Jungle
Posted on Fri Jan 3rd, 2014 @ 6:58pm by Captain Li Hawke & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Z. Talan
Mission:
Breaking New Ground
Location: XO's Office
* * * XO’s Office * * *
Li stood at the portal in the wake of Oz’s news, trying her best to settle her thoughts and decide what to do. They had a new Suresh on board, the version from the alternate universe, and that presented a troublesome question of just what to do with him. Technically, he hadn’t done anything other than stow away and there was no way to send him back home. Round and round her thoughts went until the chime at her door interrupted them.
“Come,” she called out.
Z entered slowly, taking in the office in a quick scan. Noting that the office’s occupant was not at her desk, he stopped at the room’s center, approximately 6 feet from the desk’s front, hands folded into one-another behind his back.
“Lieutenant Talan reporting to the XO. . .sir.”
Li smiled for a moment. “Welcome to Starbase 900, Lieutenant Talan. I received your transfer orders just a few days ago. I am Captain Li Hawke, the station XO. Admiral Wegener, our CO, is down on Archadia. Please, have a seat.” She motioned him to one of the chairs before her desk.
“Thank you, sir,” Though the address per protocol came quicker this time, Z still felt it hesitantly scrape the roof his mouth. It was force of habit, having spent his first 2 years out of the Academy at Starfleet Command. As the popular saying went, They play the game for real at Command, and some female command officers preferred the male form over Ma’am.
“Have you settled in yet?” Li took a seat and relaxed back in her chair. “I have to say you have come at an interesting time. Today’s events have been eye opening.”
“No. . .” Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Not Ma’am. . . “sir. I came in on the USS New Orleans, just fifteen minutes ago. . .Permission to speak freely, sir?”
The Captain nodded her response.
“I did manage to pick up a couple of. . .rumors, sir. Something about an alternate universe.”
Li frowned and nodded. “At ease, lieutenant.” She rose and moved over to the replicator. “Care for anything?”
Umm. Must be a sensitive topic, Z thought. “No. . .thank you, sir. I was just wondering. On the roster of positions I read back at Command it said you having openings in Security Investigations. It’s what I did. . .what I worked on in my last assignment.”
Li requested black coffee and and returned to her desk. “That’s where you’ve been assigned, yes. A moment.” She touched her comm badge. “Hawke to Commander Zeferino. Please report to my office.” She turned her attention back to Z. “The short answer is yes, a misfire in an old Romulan disruptor ripped open several rifts in the Admiral’s office, resulting in him, the criminal, me and Lt. Darwin from Security being sucked across. The 900 we found there was far different than this. The Archadians had attacked, with the help of a traitor and all but destroyed the station, including mine and the Admiral’s counterparts.”
“Begging the Captain’s pardon if I presume too much, but I get the feeling the story doesn’t end there.”
“Not by a longshot. And yes, it is a sensitive topic. We helped them find the traitor,” her eyes narrowed at her words, “and science here figured out how to get us home. The problem is that we came home with an unexpected guest. The man responsible for our being there is now residing at Elba II, but his counterpart is the one who stowed away.”
“Kinda begs the question,” Z said. “Is he the only duplicate from his universe that is here now?”
“Yes. There was another, initially, when science tried opening a rift to get them home, but she returned with the crew that rescued our team. Aside from this one, the copy of Suresh, all is right with the world as they say. That name, Suresh, is one you’ll want to look up in the computer but do it when you have some time to read. It will take a while.”
Having come at a run - she had, after all, just recently left this office with the intent to spend the rest of the night with Jackson, Oz hurried into Li's office. "Li? Is everything...," she spotted the Lieutenant and slowed her speech down, "...okay?" She felt slightly out of place in her civilian dress.
“Come on in.” Li motioned to the man seated before her. “I wanted to introduce you to Lt. Talan, new security investigations officer. He just arrived about twenty minutes ago. I’ve been catching him up on tonight’s activities. Lt. Talan, this is Commander Zeferino, Chief Of Security and currently acting XO while the Admiral and Commander Sakkath are away.”
"Evening, Talan," Oz said. With a raised brow, she looked at Li and asked, "All of tonight's activities?"
Z stood, out of both reflex and training. “Good to meet you, Commander,” he threw a quick glance at Captain Hawke. “The Captain was telling me about. . .Suresh, the stowaway.”
"Yes, our favorite stowaway.... Rather, least favorite," Oz recalled that she'd forgotten to tell Li about the Hammond's eight legged stowaway. "Good to meet you, too, Lieutenant. Darwin will be pleased to see you."
“I bet he will. I also got in a report that says someone trapped two of our JAG staff in the holodeck and tried to kill them." Li looked from Z to Oz. “Like I said, coming in at a good time.”
“If you don’t have anything more for me,” Z’s gaze touched both women, “I’d like to get settled in and then hook up with Lieutenant Darwin. . .Get my feet wet, so to speak.”
Hiding that she hadn't yet been aware of the attack on the JAG officers, Oz nodded. "Right, report to Darwin, he'll assign a case to you."
“Welcome Lieutenant and good luck.” Li smiled as she watched Talan leave. Once the doors were closed, she leaned back in her chair and propped her feet on her desk. “Is tonight finally over?”
"I thought it was already over. But I forgot to tell you that Iggy is on the Hammond."
Li froze. “Iggy is..where? Tell me I didn’t hear that.”
"On the Hammond," Oz didn't let her not hear it. "She stowed away."
“I thought that’s what you said.” Li rubbed her forehead absently. “Does Sakkath know?”
"I'm not sure. I found out earlier today when I comm'd with Chance. She was behind him, so at least she's safe."
Li’s laugh began with a snicker but it grew until she had to wipe her eyes. “Then I suspect Sakkath has not been informed yet.”
"Well... You could give him a wifely call, inform him that Iggy is out there with him?" Oz hinted. "Or we could leave that task to the cadets."
“I like that idea better. We’ll consider it a growth experience. Let’s get the hell out of here before anything else happens.” Li stepped out from behind the desk, joined her arm in Oz’s and led the way out.
*************
Lieutenant Z. Talan
Security Investigations
Commander Oralia Zeferino
Acting XO
Captain Li Hawke
Acting CO
