[ussgeorgetown] The Deluge
- From: TKilyle@xxxxxxx
- To: ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 06:39:02 EST
The Deluge
by Nikolas Renaldi and Senek Menkara
"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."--Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow
He wasn't going to say it, he thought as walked back to the ready room after
checking in with Natalia and the boys. He just wasn't, not that it would
matter. "Things couldn't possibly get worse," he muttered as he stepped
inside,
then groaned. "Aw fuck, I said it." With a tired heavy sigh, he sat behind
his desk and tapped his comm badge. "Renaldi to Menkara, I need to speak with
you."
Senek didn't mind busy. Busy did more to distract him from pain than did
calm when he was on duty though he supposed the bridge staff and the station
repair crews were getting irritated with his looming presence. Irritation was
illogical in that case and it almost amused him, not that he would ever admit
it. He was not amused at the other recent goings on at all, though. Nobody
was. Renaldi's summons staved off what would have likely grown into a full
blown internal rant, though. "Aye, sir." He fixed his eyes on the relief
helm officer. "You have the conn, Mr. Hardy." With that, he headed for the
captain's office, imagining he heard the staff saying 'thank god' as he left.
Nikolas was at his replicator when Senek walked in. Hale had scotch and
bourbon on hand but Nikolas was a Russian raised Greek, his tastes fell more
towards vodka and ouzo, but, unlike Hale, he'd never drink on duty. "I was
just
getting more coffee, can I offer you anything, Commander?"
More than coffee at this time of day? Senek raised a brow and shook his
head minutely. "No, sir," he said deadpan. "Not unless it's tea and only
tea."
The dark haired, tired looking young man ordered an Vulcan evening tea and
then placed it on the desk in front of the guest chair before sitting behind
his desk with his coffee. "Are you familiar with the human phrase 'when it
rains it pours', Commander?"
"Quite," Senek said with a nod of thanks, "even if my father was raised in a
desert nation. Might one logically assume a deluge has started?"
"It's a flood, Commander, and we're up to our necks in it." Nikolas held
back a sigh. Captains never sighed, you never saw Picard or Kirk or Janeway or
Sisko sigh. Stoic, that's what he was going for, yet he couldn't help but feel
like a boy playing in his father's shoes. He'd adjust though. He just
needed time. He hoped. "Apparently, the Federation Council calling for
tribunals
to confront Captain Hale and everyone else linked to Turner and those mines
wasn't enough pressure for us. No, the Garrity boys and McEntire decided they
just had to go AWOL, which, in turn, has SFSF at our door."
"Oh really." Senek's voice was, even at his most logical, rather warm. If
it ever approached the frigidness in those three syllables, it was an obvious
sign that he was, to put it mildly, not pleased at all. "Remind me, should
we see them any time soon, to wring their necks for such blatant stupidity."
"The agent who contacted me seems to think Georgetown could be where they're
heading," Nikolas replied after taking a gulp of his coffee. "Do you really
think they'd come here? I know they have personal connections, but that would
only put those people in very tight places where the SFSF and Star Fleet
Command were concerned."
Senek blew out a soft, controlled breath. "If they thought they could rely
on certain personnel, they might. I would count myself and Dr. Coyne as
possible contacts as well as Dr. Jameson." He thought further, taking a sip
of
tea. "Perhaps even Tempest if Captain Hale were to contact Captain Craig."
Nikolas pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why?" he wondered out loud. "Why
would they go AWOL? They had to know it would only make things worse."
"Sir, are you familiar with the expressions 'hero complex' or 'messiah
complex'?" Senek asked tiredly.
That caused Nikolas to look up and raise a brow. "You think they went off
to play heroes?"
"That plus the belief, may I be forgiven the blasphemy, only they can do it,
as only His Son could save the world," Senek explained, his expression
rather sour at having to make the comparison. "Mr. McEntire is more the hero
rather than the savior."
"Great, ten more men and he could start a religion," Nikolas muttered. The
more the idea swam around in his head, the more he wondered. "The only thing I
can think of that he'd want to save are more mine slaves. What kind of deal
did the Captain make with the Devil anyway?"
"Or it was a deal with Sauron and the three are of the Company. Either way,
sir, this is nothing my grandfather can get them out of, not like the last
time." Illogical or not, Senek was disgusted. The very fact that there was a
'last time' meant that neither brother had learned a damned thing, had not
grown as individuals at all. It annoyed him, too, because Zachary had abused
the trust given to him. "I some how doubt that they will end up like the
elves."
Nikolas stared at his executive officer for a long moment, blinked, and then
laughed. "There's a reference to The Chronicles of Narnia in this whole
thing too, but that would be over kill." He took a moment to think things
through and nodded. "They're officially off the manifest, not our problem
unless
they show up so let Lieutenant Lazzara and MC Le Beau know to be on watch.
That'll leave us to find a new chief engineer."
Senek steepled long fingers in front of himself. "Sir, there is the
possibility that they would try to contact other crew members. We can do one
of two
things: spend too much time guessing what frequency they might try to use or
we can block all incoming traffic, routing it to a central location.
Certainly that would be a lot of work but it would be less cumbersome than
trying
to explain to everyone aboard why they can't talk to them."
"I hate to screen personal calls and such but go ahead with the central
router idea," Nikolas agreed. "And make sure everyone knows to play nice with
the
SF agent that'll be poking around. It should only be for a few days, then we
get to relaunch. We're a sovereign class ship for Pete's sake, we can't let
Picard have all the fun."
"I am quite sure my definition of fun differs from yours, sir," Senek said
dryly.
Nikolas laughed at that. "I'm a fly boy at heart, Mister Menkara. My idea of
fun is different from a lot of people's."
"Then we will all have to have a turn at taking those three to task for
ruining any number of types of fun," Senek replied, feeling the headache
forming
already. Whoever got stuck with playing old time phone operator was not
going to be happy.
"We'll let the courts and Command deal with them." Nikolas replied as a slow
smile pulled at his lips. "We'll deal with our own, starting with two names
that's come across my desk way to often. Fred Batty and John Butler, they've
just become our personal Ernestine."
So said Surak: Kaiidth. What is, is.
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