[ussbansheec] Aftermath
- From: Rhi <bansheec@xxxxxxx>
- To: ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 14:48:30 -0400
"Aftermath"
Captains Miranda Hale and Sol Salaem
The flash of light was so bright that stars danced in her vision. The
sound coming over the comm. system was so loud that it made her ears
ring to the point that she couldn’t her herself scream, “Daddy!”, before
she was thrown across the bridge and into a bulk head. The memory played
out in Miranda’s dream and for the third time in as many hours she
bolted painfully upright on the couch in her ready room. Her breathing
was ragged and the pain in her shoulder was again a sharp stabbing
sensation. When she’d hit the bulk head she’d dislocated it and her left
knee, but she’d only stayed in sickbay long enough to get both put back
into place. She had a ship to see to, a mission to see to, and now the
loss of lives to deal with. Miranda didn’t have the time or patience to
put up with injuries and damned pushy ass doctors.
Pushing herself off her couch carefully she limped to her replacator.
She was tempted to go for the bottle of bourbon she had in her ready
room, but thought better of it. She needed a clear head right now, she
could feel numb later. “Coffee, strong, hot, and sweet.” After the steel
mug appeared she took it over to her desk and switched on her terminal.
She was just getting into a damage report when her chime ran. “Come.”
Captain Sol Salaem was a tall, broad shouldered, dark hair and dark eyed
man. At first sight he came across as cold and hard, but in reality he
was just the opposite. “Captain Hale.”
Miranda looked up at the other captain. Everyone knew him by reputation,
he’d been an outstanding science officer and the first openly Romulan
captain in Star Fleet. “Captain Salaem.” She greeted. “I take it you’ve
finished your investigation?”
Sol nodded. “It wasn’t an accident, Captain.” He began bluntly. “The
pilot of that shuttle meant to destroy that ship.” He took the chair in
front of her desk, his voice becoming just a little softly. “You have my
condolences, Captain Hale.”
Miranda wasn’t sure what to say. She’d just been told her father had
been murdered, what could she say? “Who was in the shuttle.”
“A Star Fleet officer by the name of Francesca Murgo.” Sol replied as he
handed her a padd from his pocket.
“Frankie?” Miranda asked after choking on a mouth full of coffee, soft
honey brown eyes wide in surprise.
Sol titled his head to the side in a curious manner. “You knew
Lieutenant Murgo?”
Miranda nodded lamely. “Our fathers were best friends. They’d come up
together through the Fleet, they were in each others’ weddings, members
of each others families. My father was godfather to all three of Uncle
Darius’ girls, and he was mine.”
“Then I am doubly sorry, Captain.” Sol said with real empathy in his
voice. “The other life sign…”
“Was Darius Murgo?” Miranda asked. When Sol nodded she put her head in
her hands. “Holy fucking shit.”
Sol let several moments pass so that the young woman could process what
he’d told her, but then had to ask. “Captain, we’re still looking into
Murgo’s motive for what she did. Would you know of a reason for her attack?”
Miranda slowly raised her head and looked at the man sitting across from
her. Her mind racing for an answer and could only come up with one
reason why Frankie would snap. “Garrity.”
“Annabelle…”
Miranda shook her head cutting him off. “Joshua. He was her brother.”
Sol cocked an eye brow in question. “I heard you’d found him in a
wormhole, I did not know he was connected to the Murgos.”
“No one did.” Miranda replied. “Josh Garrity was a lie. His real name
was Daniel Murgo and everyone thought he was dead until Frankie’s
mother’s adopted daughter turned up pregnant with Josh Garrity’s kids.
Angie and Gabe,” She groaned and closed her eyes as she thought about
all the lives they’d just lost. “were born with the same high metabolism
Josh had, they had to take the same supplements and everything, needless
to say when they ran tests they found a genetic match between the twins
and Darius.”
If not for the emotions crashing around the young woman, Sol would have
found this all rather funny, like an ancient soap opera.
“We all kind of lived with Daniel’s ghost in one way or another. My
father had this weird bond with Josh so I can kind of understand why
Frankie hated Daniel so much.” Miranda shrugged. “I just never thought
it was this bad, to want him dead like this. I didn‘t like the guy,
didn‘t like how he haunted even my family, but it never bother me as
much. I‘m a Momma‘s girl, Daddy’s obsession was his problem.”
“So you think Lieutenant Murgo rammed the ship in order to kill Joshua
Garrity?” Sol asked.
Miranda nodded. It was the only thing that made sense and it made her
sick at her stomach to think about it.
“Clarkson to Captain Hale.”
Miranda tapped her comm. badge without thinking about it. “Hale here.”
“Captain, you wanted to be informed when the Excalibur was within range
of DSVP.” The female voice called out. “They should be docking within
the next forty-eight hours.”
“Fuck.” Miranda muttered, then louder replied. “Thank you Lieutenant.”
After closing the connection she started rubbing the lines of her
forehead with her middle finger as she muttered, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Over and over.
The gesture actually took Sol aback. It had been years since he’d see
it, but not from this young woman, he’d see her mother do it repeatedly.
“Is there a problem Captain?”
Miranda nodded, “My mother’s on her way here and she doesn’t know about
my father yet.”
“You’re mother is a strong woman.” Sol said without thinking. “Her first
concern will most likely be you and your siblings.”
“My brother Stephen’s on the…” She stopped, blinked, then looked at the
man across from her oddly. She titled her head to the side and really
took him in before adding, “You sound as if you know her.”
The tips of his ears turned a light green. “I did, once. We were quad
mates in the academy.”
Honey brown eyes went wide again. “That’s why I know your face. She has
a picture of you in her footlocker.”
Something tugged at his insides knowing Lindsey still had his picture.
“We were very good friends.”
Miranda smiled sadly as she glanced at the picture of her family that
sat on her desk. “She’s gonna need friends now that’s for sure.”
He nodded, “Was she coming here or just to the station?”
“Here.” Miranda snorted. “I called home and set of her mommy red alert.”
Sol smiled for a brief moment before offering, “The station is buzzing
with what happened.”
Again Miranda nodded. “I need to get to the station… but…”
“The wormhole.” Sol nodded. “I will go and bring her here myself.”
Miranda narrowed her eyes and stared at the man across from her.
Something about this, about him and her mother, didn’t sit right with
her. But she didn’t want her mother walking into this blindly and they
were on the verge of sending out the tracing signal to locate Banshee.
“Thank you.”
Sol stood and nodded, “I’ll meet up with transport and bring her
straight here, your brother as well.” He headed for the door and then
paused. “I am truly sorry about your father, Captain.”
Miranda smiled weakly. “Me too.”
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