<USS Avalon> "The Searching" Pt. 2


“The Searching” - Part Two
by Commander Javan Sierra



The doctors didn’t look concerned and neither did Javan, but Ryan Hollander appeared to be going downhill. He looked upset and emotionally bankrupt. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Javan nodded without speaking in hopes of soothing Ryan’s strained heart. “You couldn’t have known, Ryan, and neither did I.”

A young woman stepped over to the two security officers with a smile on her face, “Your companion is going to be just fine.”

“Thank God,” Ryan said in a sigh of relief. “Can I go see her?”

“Yes,” the woman nodded and gestured to Savannah’s body. “She’ll be a little groggy for a bit, but that’s because she’s just coming around. Keep it brief.”

Javan pulled at the doctor’s arm over to a more secluded part of the infirmary. “So, what is wrong with her? She just stumbled and collapsed, but it looked as if she’d seen a ghost right before that. It isn’t anything mental, is it? I hate to sound uncaring, but we’re in the middle of a mission that cannot be delayed.”

“I understand your concern, Commander, and it is to be commended, but she’s going to be just fine. She had an anxiety attack. I checked in Starfleet’s medical and psychological database for an answer and found one,” she handed him a PADD that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, “shuttle accident when she was fourteen.”

Taking the storage device, Javan’s eyes scanned the surface quickly. It had claimed the life of her older brother and younger sister. It was a traumatic event that anyone would struggle with, but to react with such devastating effects? “What’s the prognosis?”

“It’s a mental thing, Commander,” she said, smiling as she retrieved the information from Javan’s grasp, “She underwent counseling then and she recovered fine. However, this time anyway, I don’t know if that’s really required. She’ll make a full comeback as soon as she gets back on her feet.”

“Excellent,” Javan nodded. “How long do you need her to stay here?”

“Another hour or so, just so she can regain her bearings. Nothing would be more detrimental than sending her back into the fray after such a strenuous psychological event. If you have things you need to do we can surely watch her progress until you return.” Another doctor-like smile floated his way.

He nodded, “Thank you for your hospitality.” Moving past her, Javan stepped up next to the shaken Ensign. Placing another calming hand on his shoulder, Javan could feel the pain coming from him. It was more than just a friendly concern, it was something more. “Ryan, would you stick around here until I return?”

Ryan looked up, pain in his eyes, “Of course, sir.”

“She’ll be fine, Ensign, don’t worry about it.” As he moved for the doors back into the heart of the starbase, a man handed him a PADD. “Crewman?”

The young man, no more than twenty, stood to attention. “An invitation from Commander Diablo to join him in his office in Main Operations. The turbolift is down the hall on your left past the botany lab.”

“Thank you,” Javan acknowledged the man and then walked out. The turbolift was right where he had been told it would be. Stepping into the claustrophobic confines, the commander called out his intended destination and waited. Lol Kendrick probably wasn’t on the station by this time, but hopefully Commander Diablo had more information for him.

The lift shuddered to a halt and Javan stepped out onto an elaborate deck of controls. It was like a super bridge. He chuckled slightly to himself as he looked at the insignias on the door trying to find the right one. A lieutenant pointed to the right side of the deck and smiled as he nodded.

Tapping the chime, Javan focused on his task at hand. Savannah was still tugging at his thoughts. Why had she never mentioned that attack? More importantly, being in his line of work, why wasn’t he aware of it? It was just a personal slip that Javan wouldn’t make again and, besides, no one would know whether he was aware of that information or not.

“Enter!” The muffled sound came from the opposite side of the door.

Striding in, Javan saw a man that was middle-aged much like he. The man had signs of gray on the sides of his heat just above his ears; no doubt signs of intense stress and pressure from running a starbase with a population in the thousands. “Commander Sierra, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Pleasure’s mine, Commander.”

“I’m sure it is,” Diablo smiled meekly and offered his hand, “I’m sure you’ve heard enough horror stories of my orders and personality already. You’ve been on the station for about an hour, right? That’s enough for news to travel to our far-lying colonies nowadays.”

Javan smirked, “An hour, yes, but only good things about your conduct. I was wondering if you had any contact with a Lol Kendrick? He’s a Petty Officer on the run from the USS Avalon.”

“Charges?”

“First degree murder, I’m afraid.” Javan hesitated getting into details, but surmised that the station’s figurehead had a right to know what might be happening on his starbase. “He killed the Captain.”

Diablo blinked, “Ketchum?”

“No. Captain Joseph Flubb. The only Antican in Starfleet. You can tell by that fact alone just what this means to the Federation and its allies. We were to bring him to justice, but he managed to stow aboard one of our crewmen’s shuttle when he was on his way home.” Javan tapped the PADD in his hand as he began to pace around the rather large office.

Diablo nodded from behind his desk, “Lieutenant Snuffy. We made contact with him and a Sergeant Major Vikkil, I believe it was not too long ago. It would appear your Chief Science Officer has a problem with following standard procedure when approaching a starbase.” He chuckled. “I’m afraid I have never heard of this Petty Officer.”

Damn. “Thank you anyway for your help.”

“I do have one thing you may be interested in.” The commander fished something out of his desk drawer and handed it to Javan. “I think that it belonged to this Kendrick you spoke of.”

Javan’s eyes looked at the small device. It looked like a hockey puck from ancient Earth, but he knew better. Activating the storage device, a holographic representation of the young Petty Officer’s family materialized before his eyes. A aged woman and man with smiles on their faces and a young girl with pig tails with her tongue out. “Cute.”

“It would found in one of the more isolated corridors on the station. Found in the berthing station for Ferengi cruisers and non-aligned Breen shuttles. Advanced security, as I’m sure you can understand.” Commander Diablo folded his arms and nodded, “that is the most I can give you.”

“May I use your computer for a moment, Commander?”

“Of course. And, please, we’re both the same rank, call me Aaron.” The officer moved to the large bay windows that overlooked the incoming freighter lanes. There were a myriad of ships coming in, each a little different and each a little the same. “What’s it like serving on a ship nowadays, Commander.”

Tapping the surface of Diablo’s computer, the Betazoid smiled, “Javan. It’s all right. I’ve served in Starfleet in many capacities over the years, and ships are always the ones that I find more entertaining. Why do you ask?” He continued to manipulate the database.

“Oh, you know, going stir crazy. I have no problem running a starbase. For the most part it is more complex and challenging than running a starship, but we’re stationary. The people that come and go are interesting enough, but one thrives in braving the unknown,” he paused and looked at Javan, “I miss that exploration.”

Javan smiled, finding what he wanted in Starfleet’s records, “That’s what the people of Starfleet do, Aaron, we explore. As for Mr. Kendrick, this would be his family. You said you found this in the Ferengi berths?”

Looking as if he wanted to talk about exploring and less about work, Commander Diablo sat down on the desk surface and peered over Javan’s shoulder, “Yes. There’s Breen shuttles in there too, but we haven’t had one of those for almost a month. Check the station’s port manifest.”

With hands flying, Javan brought it up, “It would have to have been within the last two days. It shows here that there have been three: the Jadonk, the Karmok, and the Rollanild. All three have left the station in the last twenty-four hours and all had a scheduled designation of the Ferengi homeworld. That’s at least a three day voyage at standard warp. Less than two at maximum warp - for a Ferengi Marauder that is.”

“How often do Ferengi tell the truth?”

“Rarely ever, unless they’ve got something to gain,” Javan chorused. “Ferenginar, huh? Thank you for your time and information, Aaron, I’ll be asking for departure clearance as soon as I can get authorization from the medical staff to release Ms. Eckstein.”

Aaron gave Javan a gentle pat on the back, “Good luck, Commander.”

He walked back through Main Operations and noted that there had been a change in command people. The man he had seen earlier had been replaced by a woman of age, probably just about forty. Javan nodded all the same and got back into the turbolift. “Infirmary.” Within moments he was walking down the same corridor that he had traversed about a half hour before.

Ryan Hollander turned on his heel as Javan entered. “Any leads, sir?”

“Better than that, a location. He’s heading to Ferenginar.”

“Ferenginar, sir?”

Savannah sat up, obviously having fully recovered from her panic attack, “Is there an echo in the room, Ryan, that’s what it sounded like he said the first time. Are we cleared for departure, sir?”

Javan’s first instinct was to have Savannah stay on the station and let Ryan and him pursue Lol, but figured that the hardheaded nature of Lieutenant Eckstein would’ve been with him from the moment he opened his mouth. Her fiery spirit was rather unique. “I have to contact Captain Ketchum first. Ferenginar is outside of our jurisdiction. We’d have to either not tell the Ferengi government and go in on our own, or take the time to go through proper channels.”

Ryan groaned, “That could take forever.”

“Which is what he’s hoping for,” Savannah Eckstein said, throwing her feet off the biobed onto the floor, “he would have plenty of opportunities to secure passage off the planet to another harbor. He probably knows that he’s being followed and figures that a non-Federation planet would be best to lose us.”

Javan nodded, knowing he went over all this before coming back to the infirmary, “Let’s get back to the shuttle. I don’t want to let him go and I don’t think that the Captain will want us to either. The question now is whether we go diplomatic in the search or go tactical.”



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