[ussbansheec] A Box of Pips in the Center Ring

_A Box of Pips in the Center Ring
_by Gabriel Joachim Wagner & Sara Kaelyre


It wasn't very dignified to ran down corridors as if he were on a football field, but Crewman Apprentice Jonah Cagle had no choice. The ship had come up to the station with no problem but someone must have missed the flag it was flying on sensors. This ship wasn't just here for an normal reason, this ship was carrying brass. Blasting into Ops, Cagle scanned the room and then headed for the CO's office stopping short in front of the man's assistant. "Ship... docking... brass... four... pips..." He huffed out.

Gordon cringed. Oh yeah, the captain's going to love this one. There weren't any ships due in that day and especially not with more brass than was already aboard. Holding up one finger to indicate that the that the crewman should wait, he pressed the comm and said, "Begging the captain's pardon but you might want to come outside, sir. Cagle's got some more bad news."

"Selbstverständlich ist was sonst neu?" Gabriel muttered as he stood up. He stepped into the outer office and eyed the out of breath crewman. "Report, Mr. Cagle."

Cagle took a deep breath and in one long rush of words said, "The USS Romanov has just docked at docking port 34, Sir. She's the home ship of a four pipped Admiral who's coming on board as soon as docking is cleared. It's a big time Admiral, sir, the ship carries the Fleet command marker as well as a diplomatic one for at least two other worlds."

Gabriel closed his eyes and counted to ten in German. "Wunderbar and have we received a hail as to who it is I'm greeting?"

Cagle was about to open his mouth as he shook his head when an office in the background piped in. "Sir, there's a "request" from the USS Romanov for permission for an Admiral Kaelyre and her people to board to the station."

"Fine. Standard berthing procedure and I'll be heading down there to welcome our guest," Gabriel said with a shrug. "Gordon, please make sure there are appropriate quarters available."

Sara waited by the docking port with her aide, a few people from her office, and five small dogs. She was looking over a padd as they waited, calling of orders to her people which she expected to be carried out as soon as the doors rolled open.

Oh yes, what a lovely first command, he thought as he made his way to the docking areas. Missing ships, assaulted Marines, murdered Marines...mein Gott but this is crazy. Nevertheless, he had on his best straight commander's face as the doors slid open. A very small part of him wondered how the admiral was going to react to his appearance. One never knew...

As the doors opened Sara continued to instruct her people, when the door was all the way open she stepped onto the station and looked up. Forty-six years in Starfleet, the better part of that time as a doctor, and yet Sara had never seen a person as unique as the man standing there waiting for her. The first thing that came to mind was his coloring, it was such a unique blue, almost the color of the turquoise stone she wore under her uniform from a gold chain; a gift from her Annie. The girl had given her and Cyanah matching stones for their fortieth wedding anniversary. "Captain." She greeted, looking into his eyes.

"Admiral Kaelyre, welcome to Deep Space Vega Prime. I'm Gabriel Wagner," he said simply.

Sara started off down the hall fully expecting the Captain to walk with her as her people trailed behind. "I know this project is had placed an inconvenience on your people, Captain, but the station is the closest to the badlands with the technology, power, and people we need."

"There is no inconvenience from that at all, Admiral," Gabriel said, shaking his head, trying to ignore the dogs. Dogs usually hated him and he, in turn, was not too terribly fond of them.

Prancing along with their mistress as if they were just as important the small pack of dachshunds ignored the blue man. He wasn't as important as their mistress so as long as he kept his distance from her and showed her respect they'd leave him alone.

The aged redhead laughed. "Come now, Captain. I've been in your shoes, I've had my own command. I hated it when anyone with a box around their pips came aboard. They were always just a pain in the ass no matter why they were there."

"If you say so, ma'am, but the Banshee project really is no bother. I've got no family aboard, except a chosen cousin, but they're Fleet so they actually are family." Bright yellow eyes glanced at the dogs. "Ah, Admiral, about the dogs..."

"They stay with me where ever I am." Sara answered before he could say anything else. "They know how to behave."

A small knot of aggravation settled itself right between his eyes. "I wasn't questioning that, Admiral," Gabriel said carefully. He spoke very precisely, knowing that, like his father and oldest brother, he had a tendency to allow his accent grow too thick when he was well and truly irritated. "I do beg your pardon but they need to be kept out of Ops and any vital areas of the station...including my office."

"Pathfinder, from my understanding, has it's own space, Captain. I do not foresee the need to be all over your station." Sara said firmly. "And as I have said they remain with me at all times and know rather well when to stand outside and wait by a door. They've been very well trained since my wife has issues with dog fur in her labs."

"You are quite correct about the set aside space, ma'am, and I do apologize but dogs, even little ones, usually go after me. I have had them set on me one too many times when I was younger," he explained.

"You do not reach such places in a career as my wife and I have without entertaining a gamete of peoples, Captain." Sara reassured. "I've lost track of the people we've invited to our home. The dogs, these and the nine at home, are more diplomatic then most diplomats."

"I am sure they are gut benommene Hunde but most that I have met are not. My apologies, Admiral, I mean no offense," he said. "May I ask how goes the project, though? As I said before, I have no blood family aboard but Fleet is family and my fiancee's baby sister is aboard as is my sort of cousin David."

Sara sighed as they entered a lift. "The Tempest thinks it's found something worth looking more closely at. Fenchruch is using its fighters to get more detailed scans. The more time we spend looking for the needle the more hay there is to look through."

"Is it even the right haystack then?" Gabriel asked, hoping that he could give Izzy and her family a little bit of something.

"I'll know more once my people report in." Goddess how she wished Cyanah was with her. Her Imzadi was the astrophysicist, she was a medical doctor with an air for command.

His PADD beeped at him. Turning his attention to its message, he nodded in satisfaction. "Ah, my aide is a very efficient man I see. He has assigned you quarters in our VIP section. You will have some neighbors due to the large amount of dignitaries aboard."

Sara laughed lightly. "I spent my first few years on a refitted steamrunner, Captain. The original Banshee was a nemesis class ship. Neighbors I can handle."

He held up one elegant blue finger for each person he could recall off the top of his head. "Field Marshal Quon, General Swiftwind, President zh'Shra, several other Banshee families..."

"My former daughter in law, my wife soon I hope, the head of Starfleet medical has been rumored to be on her way." Sara laughed. The poor boy was going to drown in pips and stars.

He could understand the wife and the Fleet CMO but..."Your former daughter-in-law, ma'am?" He had no idea who that could be, especially since he considered gossip to be a particularly evil vice.

"Abbie Murgo." Sara clarified. "She was married to, and foolish divorced, my daughter, Aeriannah. Young women these days." Sara rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Ah." The journalist he'd spoken to, to whom he'd given the vids of what happened to his precious Izzy. Mein Gott but I almost lost her over my anger in that. "In that case, we've met."

Sara smirked as she turned to look at the man. "If you've met the journalist side then my condolences. That part of her tends to act without thought and could use a good smack. Our sweet Abbie is nothing like that, though she could use a good smack too."

"Ah, ja, that would be the part I met," he said with a sigh. "Still, I suppose one does what job one is supposed to."

"And right now my job is to get that ship back." Sara sighed, fighting the urge to pinch her nose.

"Are you the ring mistress of the circus then?" Gabriel asked, never able to resist a good circus metaphor.

Sara nodded as she turned her attention to checking on her dogs. "That'll teach me to publish a non medical paper." She teased. "But I'd have it no other way, my baby is the XO on that ship."

"I don't envy you either instance then, Admiral. Playing host to that project is an absolute pleasure compared to some lunatic trying to kill me and my fiancee," Gabriel said wryly.

A snarl, or a look close to one, actually graced Sara's face. "That man..." She shuddered, the tips of her ears reddening under her hair. "No, he is not a man, that evil has been a thorn in Starfleet's side for ages."

"This was my first run in with him but that was enough. He was actually rude enough to the President that she came out here without notice. Lovely lady, that one..." Gabriel shook his head. The whole matter was still so up in the air.

"Haven't had the pleasure as of yet to meet Madam President, though if I were to meet her I think it would make my oldest daughter's head pop." Sara smiled brightly, her eyes bright whenever she spoke of one of her daughters, yet with Annie missing there was a shadow cast over the brightness. "As for Fitzwilliam, the man gave a lecture once at a medical conference I was attending, it literally made me ill."

"That I cannot say anything about because I don't like the man. I would use the word hate but that is too much of a sin," he growled. He shook his head, trying to dispel the mood that Fitzwilliam seemed to inspire. "Now, Zha Vretha is a very lovely lady. She was very kind to my Isobel and her father."

Sara nodded with a thoughtful look. "Perhaps having her here is a sign of good luck."

"Or, as I like to think, may His will be done. I do know she's here because the general refused to implement diplomatic immunity at a member world's request. Granted there's only one of his sort out here but his children fall under that protection," Gabriel explained.

"Something I am all to aware of, Captain." Sara told him as they approached the VIP cabins. "Until very recently my wife and her elder brother were the only to from her homeworld to leave and join Starfleet. It's taken nearly fifty years since Cyanah left to get Delos to even send someone to the Council to 'observe'."

"This is more the case of Mr. Ecitsuj being the only one of his people curious enough to stay off world," Gabriel told her. "The only one in Starfleet, too."

Sara sighed as she shooed one of the dogs away from a passing crewmen softly in Delosian. "Thankfully his run in with that creature wasn't sooner."

Eyeing the dogs again, Gabriel asked, "Why? That is, what do you mean?" He felt his skin prickling again. He didn't like the idea of anyone looking at any of the Ecitsujs cross eyed.

"If he had seen the kind of evil we sometimes miss and allow into our ranks then he might have gone home, missing out on so very much." The aged redhead explained.

Gabriel shook his head. "This I understand but Mr. Ecitsuj served through the Dominion War and was fortunate enough to have made a good friend, a Vulcan of all sorts," he said with some amazement. "I thank God every day that more of the Fleet is like him and not that general."

"As do I, Captain." The Admiral agreed as they reached a VIP cabin door. "As I am thankful our future looks so bright with officers like you and those on Banshee. Captain Morrigan would have been pleased with this newest version of her ship."

"I hope so. Ah, is there anything else I can do for you, Admiral?" Gabriel asked.

Sara nodded. "Don't let word get out to quickly that I'm here. My youngest is one of your science officers," Sara beamed. "I would like to surprise her."

"Ach, I'll see what I can do to head off the scuttle butt. The only reason I knew you were on your way was because one of my crewmen bolted up to OPs to tell me. Cagle's a good man but a bit of a gossip..."

"And rather young from what I saw." Sara laughed and shook her head. "The young ones tend to get dazzled easily by the box around the pips."

"We were all that way once but perhaps he was a bit sheltered more than some of us," Gabriel said with a snort. "I will see what I can do to stop the rumor mill, though."

Sara smiled. "Thank you, Captain. Now if you'll excuse me. I've work to see to."

"Guten Tag then, Admiral." He walked away heading to find Cagle before the man's tongue wagged.

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