<USS Avalon> Re: Leave No Man Behind

Leave No Man Behind
 
 
The words that T'Leara had said to him was quite unnerving, not to mention  
hard to imagine that isn't completely true either. Adrian stood outside of main 
 engineering, the next part he needed to plan out. Transportation and 
equipment  were to be critical, both for the survivors and for the mission's 
success. 
His  boots made a dull click as he walked through the doors into main 
engineering,  surveying the bustle around him as he stepped through the door. 

Laney  was still muddling through all the service reports that had been piled 
on her  desk when she was called out into the engine room to look over the 
warp core's  energy readings, which were slightly out of sync. She and her crew 
were just  finishing with adjusting the intermix chamber's flow of 
anti-matter, bringing  the energy readings back wherethey should be, when 
Adrian walked 
in. The new  chief engineer was just heading back to her office, and she 
stopped, smiling,  when she saw him. 

"Facing seeing you again so soon, Major," she said.  "To what do I owe this 
pleasure?" 

"Indeed," said the marine as he  spotted Laney and strolled over to where she 
was, rather then draw too much  attention to them both. "And how goes your 
new position, Lt?" He said, returning  the smile. 

"Well, for most of the afternoon I've been slogging through  service reports, 
and just now we had to reset the anti-matter flow in the  intermix chamber. 
But uh...I guess not so bad. They're listening to me, at  least," she said in a 
low voice, lest she be overheard. 

"Was there  something you needed?" she asked, wondering why he'd come down to 
the engine  room. Certainly not just to see her---though if hehad, his visit 
would certainly  be welcome. 

His grin did not fade by any means. "Can't I just stop by  and check on ya?" 
He said, chuckling silently to himself. It was good to forget,  at least for a 
moment, the immense amount of peril the whole ship was about to  be in. 
"Actually, I've got another reason also." 

Inside Delaney was  buzzing with excitement, as with that first statement she 
had a feeling he might  just do that sometime. It made her feel good about 
herself, despite the niggling  voice that kept telling her to walk away because 
of the secret she carried.  

As to the second statement, she smirked, saying, "I had a feeling you  had an 
ulterior motive. What can I do for you?"

His face lit up in one of  shock. "Well, feelings or no, I may just stop by 
to say hello one of these  days." He grinned again and motioned to the office. 
"We probably should talk in  there." 

Laney kept a grin on her face, turning and leading the way into  her tiny 
office. She faced him as she leaned against the desk, bracing her hands  on the 
edge. "What's up? I take it you need some sort of engineering  expertise."

A step inside brought him a bit closer to her in the confined  space and he 
couldn't resist the urge right away. "Who says I just didn't want  you alone 
and in private a little bit?" he said softly, letting the moment sink  in as he 
felt the warmth of her near him. 

Delaney's pulse, what there  was of it given she was nearly as Changeling as 
a purebreed, quickened with his  prximity, and the soft, silken way he spoke. 
"Uh, no need for pretense  there...all you had to do was ask." 

Deciding that a tactical retreat was  in order---before she made a fool of 
herself or something worse---Laney edged  around the desk and dropped into her 
chair. She swallowed heavily before looking  back up at him. "Seriously, what 
can I do for you, Major?"

Adrian grinned  and leaned against the wall. "Well, now that our little 
distraction is over, we  should take care of the actual reason I came to 
visit." He 
looked over at her, a  fair bit more serious suddenly as he focused on the 
task at hand. "Have you  heard about our current mission involving Vega Prime?"

She nodded. "Yeah.  Got a memo from Ketchum not too long ago 'bout how we're 
going to retrieve some  stolen property. Said the first ship sent after it was 
destroyed. He wants the  ship's engines, shields and weapons in optimal 
operating conditions, because he  doesn't want what happened to the Resurgence 
to 
happen to us. I assume  you need some sort of engineering help, though I can't 
say I have any idea what  you could possibly need from this department."

"What do you know about  Vega Prime?" Adrian responded, knowing he was going 
to need everyone's help to  make this happen. The discomfort of the whole 
mission was nawing at the back of  his mind, and that wasn't normal. Then 
again, 
you normally know at least  something about what your facing. 

"Only whispers," Laney replied,  sitting back as she considered the fact that 
she hadn't heard much about  anything during her time as a guest of the 
Federation Penal System.  "Those being that they color outside the lines over 
there, skirting regs or  ignoring them altogether. And from the look on your 
face, 
I take it those aren't  just whispers?"

The weight of his legs shifted as Adrian pondered his  response. "What Vega 
Prime is all about is bio warfare, and they don't play by  the rules, you've 
got that right." He took out a PADD and, after scanning it  quickly to make 
sure 
it was correct, handed it to Laney. "What they lost was a  biological weapon, 
or weapons, I'm not sure. Were supposed to get them, or  destroy them." The 
last he let linger, waiting to see the new chief's reaction.  

Laney perused the information he had handed her, her eyes going wide for  a 
moment. She looked up when shhad finished reading. "So, if I'm understanding  
this correctly, they want us to get them back, but if that proves to be  
impossible, we're to destroy them? Sounds like a bad plausible deniability  
scenario. This Admiral Taggert fellow doesn't want anyone to know what the hell 
 
they've been doing at Vega Prime, does he?"

She thought about the fact  that the weapons were biological in nature, and 
shivered imperceptibly. Section  31 had used a bio-weapon against the 
Changelings, and in doing so had nearly  committed genocide---all the while 
claiming 
they were doing what was best for  the Federation. She'd learned this 
classified 
information when she had been a  part of Great Link seven years ago, and it 
still had the ability to repulse her.  No doubt Taggert and his researchers 
were doing much the same thing at Vega  Prime, if not worst things. 

"By the looks of things, probably not."  Adrian said calmly, knowing just how 
well people like to hush things up when  something bad went or worse. "We'll 
need to be ready for everything, and that  PADD has a couple of the shuttle 
specs I think might help us if should push  comes to shove---if you think it's 
do-able." 

Looking back at the PADD,  Laney read over the shuttle specs he referred to. 
"Actually, I think my Delta  fits this bill better than our other shuttles, 
and will only need a few  modifications..." 

Her head snapped up as something dawned on her. "You  want to look for 
survivors, don't you?"

The grin reformed on his face  again. "You seem to read me better then you 
probably thought." He said simply as  he handed her a second PADD, not even 
bothering to check it this time. "I can  tell from when I mentioned bioweapons 
that you've had some bad experiences with  mass destruction, and you're also 
old 
enough to remember the Dominion War. I'm a  Marine, we don't leave people 
behind. Orders or not, we are going to look  for them." 

He stepped forward and leaned on the desk, one hand pointed  to the 
information on the PADD. "Here's the manifest of the Resurgance  that I took 
the 
liberty of looking up. We don't know who's still alive, but by  isolating their 
bio 
signs, it will help the search process alot." 

Laney  nodded at the determination on his face. "That's a good philosophy. 
And we'll  have to get a doctor involved---only an MD will have the clearance 
to 
access  their DNA profiles from Starfleet Medical." 

She glanced over the  information again, locating the coordinates of the 
Resurgence's last  known location, then keying on her desktop computer and 
checking the coordinates  against a star chart. She turned the monitor toward 
Adrian. 
"According to this,  there's an M-class planetoid nearby that survivors could 
have landed on. Looks  like the best place to start looking, for them and for 
the weapons."  

"Sounds like a plan, then. Will you forward that information to the  Admiral? 
We should be arriving in the next day or so," Adrian agreed as he  looked at 
the information on her screen. "So then... is there anything else you  need 
from me on this?" he said at last, looking back at her again.  

Delaney shook her head. "No...I've a pretty good idea what to do with  Einin, 
just some shield calibrations is all she'll need. I'll also go  ahead and 
have a couple of our Type-11's prepped as well, in case the runabout  the 
weapons 
were on is damaged beyond repair. If there are more than a handful  of 
survivors, Avalon will be in orbit as backup. Actually, do you think  you can 
speak 
to Dr. Mahler about requesting those medical records while I write  up a 
report and forward it to Admiral Ketchum?" 

Letting his mind settle  from unloading the information, Adrian stood up 
straight again and nodded. "I  can do that, I was heading over there anyways." 
Then he went and changed the  subject completely. "So, got enough to keep ya 
busy 
or think we can squeeze in  that date?" 

She couldn't help it---she laughed. Lanny's eyes sparkled  with mirth as she 
said, "I would love to, but unfortunately, with having to  finish up prepping 
Avalon and three shuttles, I'm afraid the earliest  I'll be free is breakfast 
tomorrow." 

He grinned back. "Hey, at this  point I'll take what I can get. Where would 
ya like to go?" Adrian knew all of  it seemed quite silly, but he knew better 
then anyone else that one needed to  find joy and be able to change gears, 
otherwise you'd never get out again.  

"Honestly? The mess hall is fine with me," she said, "unless you want to  do 
a holodeck program, or maybe just a simple meal in my quarters or yours. I'll  
let you take the lead," she added with a grin.

Adrian grinned. "Well why  don't I make ya some breakfast? I promise to be a 
good host." His grin widened  and got a little mischievous, milking it for all 
it's worth. 

Laney  nodded, still smiling. "Alrighty, then. You've got yourself a date,  
Major."
_____
 
Written by 
Lt. Delaney Scott
and 
Major Adrian Phillips
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