Stardate 53298.3 (18 April 2376)
Argus Array Subspace Telescope
Near the Federation/Cardassian Border
The brilliant star field was bracketed by the faint glow of the nearby McAllister C-5 and Hugora Nebulas. The Argus Array subspace telescope, with nothing for scale, seemed small and dark against such a panorama, until with a flash a Federation shuttle dropped out of warp and began a slow circuit around the device.
Inside the shuttle two Starfleet technicians worked at their control stations, downloading diagnostic reports and scanning the telescope.
The first to break the silence some minutes later was the young Petty Officer handling the information dump. “Chief, don’t you ever wish for something more exciting? You’ve been here doing this run for what, four years? And doing routine maintenance on the starbase in between. Don’t you want something more out of life?”
Chief Anthony Marconi looked up from his sensor scans with a neutral expression that did not fully hide his boredom. “Petty Officer Dehinbo, the Chinese have an old proverb, ‘may you live in exciting times,’ and it’s more of a curse. Be careful what you wish for in other words. I’ve had my share of excitement and besides….” The Chief looked down at his arm to a faintly visible scar. The scar clearly showed the outline of where a tattoo of Starfleet Senior Chief rank insignia had been.
“I’m lucky to even be in Starfleet, anymore. But don’t worry about me, you’ve got your whole career ahead of you. I’m telling you, apply for the Academy, you could make the grade.”
“I don’t know Chief…” Dehinbo momentarily lost his train of thought as he became entranced by the flow of data on his console.
“Chief, there’s gaps in the time signatures of these diagnostic reports,” Dehinbo said as he scrolled back the data stream.
Marconi managed to look slightly less bored. “So? The diagnostics are automated, they don’t run constantly.”
Dehinbo shook his head, “The gaps are in a pattern Chief.”
Standing from his console, Marconi assumed a more pensive look as he stepped behind Dehinbo to see the data for himself. “And you noticed this as it was streaming by?”
Dehinbo grinned. “Always pay attention to the small things, and the big things fall into place.”
“Who said that?” Marconi asked, still watching the data.
“You did, Chief.”
“Bah, must have been drunk. What’s the pattern?”
Dehinbo punched up a graphic on his console. “Here. One. Three. Five. Seven…”
Marconi laughed, “Either someone has a twisted sense of humor or…”
The proximity alarm blared and flashed from Marconi’s unattended station, cutting off his comment as he darted to identify the reason for the alert. The image on the main view screen changed from the sedate backdrop of the Argus Array to the rapidly approaching shape of a New Orleans Class Frigate.
A fraction of a second after Marconi brought up the image, the ship hailed them. Marconi put the hail onscreen automatically.
Seated in the command chair of the Frigate was a blonde Lieutenant Commander with her hair pulled back from her symmetrical face. She was not smiling as she spoke. “Senior Chief, it is usually considered rude to raise one’s shields when being approached by a friendly vessel.”
Marconi turned to Dehinbo and spoke quietly, “It’s OK, you can lower the shields, quick thinking though.” Marconi had not even noticed when the Petty Officer had raised them.
Then, Marconi turned to the view screen and responded. “Sorry Maam, but we didn’t know you were ‘friendly.’ Oh, and it’s Chief now, by the way. What can I do for you?” Marconi fought to keep sarcasm from his voice, and was not completely successful at the effort.
“Oh right, sorry Chief, old habits. I forgot.” Marconi knew otherwise, but was surprised to see her turn away, obviously fighting back some emotion that wasn’t vindictiveness.
She quickly composed herself and continued. “We’re to take you aboard the Rutledge, and deliver you to your new assignment. I’ll explain once you are aboard. Oh and don’t worry, we already retrieved your personal effects from your quarters. Stand by to beam over.”
The screen went blank as the Rutledge abruptly cut the transmission.
Marconi stood and numbly muttered, “Of all the obscure outposts in all the sectors in all the quadrants, she warps into mine.”
Dehinbo stood, puzzled, “What Chief?”
Marconi shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll make sure they send someone to help you finish the mission. It’s been good working with you.” Just as he held out his hand to Dehinbo, the transporter beam from the Rutledge engulfed Marconi and he shimmered out of existence.
And rematerialized in the transporter room onboard the frigate. Strangely, the first thing Marconi noticed in passing was that the room itself was actually larger than the interior of the shuttle. The second thing he noticed was a First Class technician in coveralls waiting to step onto the transporter pad.
Apparently, a replacement was already in the works. Marconi stopped the Tellarite as they walked past each other. “Dehinbo is a good kid, but a little impulsive. He’s also quick to spot things. He found a prime sequence embedded in the diagnostic download that might need looking into.”
“We’ll see,” was all the Tellarite said.
--Later--
The guest quarters Marconi occupied were clean and spartan. Once the ship went to warp, he had changed artificial starfield in the viewport to a tropical beach scene with waves gently washing over it. No need to rub in what being on a starship was like before being assigned to another backwater starbase or colony outpost. No the seascape suited him just fine.
He made no move to look through the storage crates that shared the stateroom. Either everything was there, or it wasn’t. Nothing he could do about it anyway, he obviously wasn’t going back to Starbase 47. Besides if Trina… Commander Nygard said his things had been retrieved, they had. She was in any case not a liar.
His stomach rumbled slightly, so Marconi walked over to the replicator. He stood for several seconds before walking back to the bed and laying down. He wasn’t a prisoner, his door wasn’t locked, and he presumably had the run of the ship if he wanted. He simply had no desire to walk around, to see ebullient shipboard starfleeters at their duties. He folded his hands behind his head and waited for sleep to come.
Sometime later, the door chimed. Marconi ignored it. The door chimed again. Marconi laconically rolled from the bed and stood, rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out. He walked to the sink, wetted his hands and his face before drying them. The door chimed again.
“Enter,” Marconi said with resigned apprehension.
The door opened and Lieutenant Commander Trina Nygard stepped tentatively into the stateroom.
“No bodyguards?” Marconi snipped, and instantly regretted.
“Anthony, I didn’t ask for this assignment.” Trina looked back as the door closed behind her.
Marconi turned, paced to the window, changed the display back to the default starfield and looked out intently. “Then why not send someone else?”
“I don’t send others to take care of things that are my responsibility.” Trina started towards the viewport, to stand next to Marconi, but stopped short.
“You still don’t get it, sometimes you have to.” Marconi said, still staring out the viewport, Trina’s reflection superimposed on the star field.
“You underestimate me Anthony, I know I have to be able to delegate. But this, this I had to do.”
Marconi half turned, “So you could gloat?”
Trina took another step closer. “Do I look like I’m gloating? No, we left so much unfinished, so much unsaid.”
Marconi’s voice hardened. “I kind of figured the courts martial took care of all of that.”
“That’s not fair, and you know it. I was only a Lieutenant and there were witnesses. It’s not like I could stop the JAG once they got a hold of the case.”
“Who ever said things are fair? Besides, we were doomed from the start anyway. Regulations aside, neither of us would have…”
“I would have…”
Anthony turned fully toward Trina, facing her. “But now you’re on the fast track, married to Starfleet.”
Trina let out a little laugh, “I was married to Starfleet when you met me.”
“Touche! Hence your suicidal plan to charge into that deathtrap, phasers blazing, out of some sense of honor and duty.”
“Out of loyalty to you, Ensign Sanek and the others.”
“Even Ensign Sanek recognized the illogic of your plan.”
“Ensign Sanek didn’t punch me in the jaw instead of following orders.”
Trina and Anthony take one step closer to each other, hesitantly.
“Don’t you blame me for his death.” Anthony blurted.
“Blame you Anthony? I blame myself.”
“That’s…” The words catch in Anthony’s throat. He sees a tear roll down Trina’s cheek.
His resolve breaks, his bitterness evaporates. In an instant, he closes the distance and takes her in his arms.
“I did it to save you, and I’d do it again.”
Trina allows herself to relax in his embrace, “I know, but you could have stunned me with a phaser.”
“And give up our location?”
“You have a plan for everything, don’t you?” Trina lifts her head from his shoulder and looks into his eyes.
Anthony shakes his head, “Not even close Trina, not even close.”
Trina leans in and kisses a very surprised Anthony very gently on the lips, then withdraws. “That’s a start.”
Stepping back, Lieutenant Commander Nygard straightens her uniform and regains her composure. One lock of hair remains loose from her bun, and frames one side of her face. She seems not to notice.
Chief Marconi remains stunned for several seconds before a slight smile grows on his face.
“That’s not what I was expecting.”
“Nor I.”
“So where are we going now?”
“I’m not sure,” Commander Nygard smiled, “but my orders are to take you to Starbase 216. Apparently Admiral Selak requested you for an assignment. A little bird told me in involves a starship, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
Chief Marconi’s face changed to incredulity in an instant. “A starship? Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“If I’d opened with that, you wouldn’t have really been in the mood to chat about anything else, would you?”
Marconi laughed, “You are right about that. Do you still claim you didn’t have anything to do with being assigned my transport?”
“No Chief, I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was as surprised as you when I found out whom we were giving a ride to. But, someone once told me “I don’t believe in luck, I believe in leveraging unexpected opportunities to their maximum benefit.”
“Starbase 216, isn’t that on the Cardassian border?”
“That’s the one.”
Chief Marconi turned back to the viewport as he considered his changed circumstances. “Well, I wonder what unexpected opportunities are in store?”
Trina placed one hand gently on Anthony’s shoulder. “More than there were yesterday, and that’s all that matters.”
Argus Array Subspace Telescope
Near the Federation/Cardassian Border
The brilliant star field was bracketed by the faint glow of the nearby McAllister C-5 and Hugora Nebulas. The Argus Array subspace telescope, with nothing for scale, seemed small and dark against such a panorama, until with a flash a Federation shuttle dropped out of warp and began a slow circuit around the device.
Inside the shuttle two Starfleet technicians worked at their control stations, downloading diagnostic reports and scanning the telescope.
The first to break the silence some minutes later was the young Petty Officer handling the information dump. “Chief, don’t you ever wish for something more exciting? You’ve been here doing this run for what, four years? And doing routine maintenance on the starbase in between. Don’t you want something more out of life?”
Chief Anthony Marconi looked up from his sensor scans with a neutral expression that did not fully hide his boredom. “Petty Officer Dehinbo, the Chinese have an old proverb, ‘may you live in exciting times,’ and it’s more of a curse. Be careful what you wish for in other words. I’ve had my share of excitement and besides….” The Chief looked down at his arm to a faintly visible scar. The scar clearly showed the outline of where a tattoo of Starfleet Senior Chief rank insignia had been.
“I’m lucky to even be in Starfleet, anymore. But don’t worry about me, you’ve got your whole career ahead of you. I’m telling you, apply for the Academy, you could make the grade.”
“I don’t know Chief…” Dehinbo momentarily lost his train of thought as he became entranced by the flow of data on his console.
“Chief, there’s gaps in the time signatures of these diagnostic reports,” Dehinbo said as he scrolled back the data stream.
Marconi managed to look slightly less bored. “So? The diagnostics are automated, they don’t run constantly.”
Dehinbo shook his head, “The gaps are in a pattern Chief.”
Standing from his console, Marconi assumed a more pensive look as he stepped behind Dehinbo to see the data for himself. “And you noticed this as it was streaming by?”
Dehinbo grinned. “Always pay attention to the small things, and the big things fall into place.”
“Who said that?” Marconi asked, still watching the data.
“You did, Chief.”
“Bah, must have been drunk. What’s the pattern?”
Dehinbo punched up a graphic on his console. “Here. One. Three. Five. Seven…”
Marconi laughed, “Either someone has a twisted sense of humor or…”
The proximity alarm blared and flashed from Marconi’s unattended station, cutting off his comment as he darted to identify the reason for the alert. The image on the main view screen changed from the sedate backdrop of the Argus Array to the rapidly approaching shape of a New Orleans Class Frigate.
A fraction of a second after Marconi brought up the image, the ship hailed them. Marconi put the hail onscreen automatically.
Seated in the command chair of the Frigate was a blonde Lieutenant Commander with her hair pulled back from her symmetrical face. She was not smiling as she spoke. “Senior Chief, it is usually considered rude to raise one’s shields when being approached by a friendly vessel.”
Marconi turned to Dehinbo and spoke quietly, “It’s OK, you can lower the shields, quick thinking though.” Marconi had not even noticed when the Petty Officer had raised them.
Then, Marconi turned to the view screen and responded. “Sorry Maam, but we didn’t know you were ‘friendly.’ Oh, and it’s Chief now, by the way. What can I do for you?” Marconi fought to keep sarcasm from his voice, and was not completely successful at the effort.
“Oh right, sorry Chief, old habits. I forgot.” Marconi knew otherwise, but was surprised to see her turn away, obviously fighting back some emotion that wasn’t vindictiveness.
She quickly composed herself and continued. “We’re to take you aboard the Rutledge, and deliver you to your new assignment. I’ll explain once you are aboard. Oh and don’t worry, we already retrieved your personal effects from your quarters. Stand by to beam over.”
The screen went blank as the Rutledge abruptly cut the transmission.
Marconi stood and numbly muttered, “Of all the obscure outposts in all the sectors in all the quadrants, she warps into mine.”
Dehinbo stood, puzzled, “What Chief?”
Marconi shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll make sure they send someone to help you finish the mission. It’s been good working with you.” Just as he held out his hand to Dehinbo, the transporter beam from the Rutledge engulfed Marconi and he shimmered out of existence.
And rematerialized in the transporter room onboard the frigate. Strangely, the first thing Marconi noticed in passing was that the room itself was actually larger than the interior of the shuttle. The second thing he noticed was a First Class technician in coveralls waiting to step onto the transporter pad.
Apparently, a replacement was already in the works. Marconi stopped the Tellarite as they walked past each other. “Dehinbo is a good kid, but a little impulsive. He’s also quick to spot things. He found a prime sequence embedded in the diagnostic download that might need looking into.”
“We’ll see,” was all the Tellarite said.
--Later--
The guest quarters Marconi occupied were clean and spartan. Once the ship went to warp, he had changed artificial starfield in the viewport to a tropical beach scene with waves gently washing over it. No need to rub in what being on a starship was like before being assigned to another backwater starbase or colony outpost. No the seascape suited him just fine.
He made no move to look through the storage crates that shared the stateroom. Either everything was there, or it wasn’t. Nothing he could do about it anyway, he obviously wasn’t going back to Starbase 47. Besides if Trina… Commander Nygard said his things had been retrieved, they had. She was in any case not a liar.
His stomach rumbled slightly, so Marconi walked over to the replicator. He stood for several seconds before walking back to the bed and laying down. He wasn’t a prisoner, his door wasn’t locked, and he presumably had the run of the ship if he wanted. He simply had no desire to walk around, to see ebullient shipboard starfleeters at their duties. He folded his hands behind his head and waited for sleep to come.
Sometime later, the door chimed. Marconi ignored it. The door chimed again. Marconi laconically rolled from the bed and stood, rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out. He walked to the sink, wetted his hands and his face before drying them. The door chimed again.
“Enter,” Marconi said with resigned apprehension.
The door opened and Lieutenant Commander Trina Nygard stepped tentatively into the stateroom.
“No bodyguards?” Marconi snipped, and instantly regretted.
“Anthony, I didn’t ask for this assignment.” Trina looked back as the door closed behind her.
Marconi turned, paced to the window, changed the display back to the default starfield and looked out intently. “Then why not send someone else?”
“I don’t send others to take care of things that are my responsibility.” Trina started towards the viewport, to stand next to Marconi, but stopped short.
“You still don’t get it, sometimes you have to.” Marconi said, still staring out the viewport, Trina’s reflection superimposed on the star field.
“You underestimate me Anthony, I know I have to be able to delegate. But this, this I had to do.”
Marconi half turned, “So you could gloat?”
Trina took another step closer. “Do I look like I’m gloating? No, we left so much unfinished, so much unsaid.”
Marconi’s voice hardened. “I kind of figured the courts martial took care of all of that.”
“That’s not fair, and you know it. I was only a Lieutenant and there were witnesses. It’s not like I could stop the JAG once they got a hold of the case.”
“Who ever said things are fair? Besides, we were doomed from the start anyway. Regulations aside, neither of us would have…”
“I would have…”
Anthony turned fully toward Trina, facing her. “But now you’re on the fast track, married to Starfleet.”
Trina let out a little laugh, “I was married to Starfleet when you met me.”
“Touche! Hence your suicidal plan to charge into that deathtrap, phasers blazing, out of some sense of honor and duty.”
“Out of loyalty to you, Ensign Sanek and the others.”
“Even Ensign Sanek recognized the illogic of your plan.”
“Ensign Sanek didn’t punch me in the jaw instead of following orders.”
Trina and Anthony take one step closer to each other, hesitantly.
“Don’t you blame me for his death.” Anthony blurted.
“Blame you Anthony? I blame myself.”
“That’s…” The words catch in Anthony’s throat. He sees a tear roll down Trina’s cheek.
His resolve breaks, his bitterness evaporates. In an instant, he closes the distance and takes her in his arms.
“I did it to save you, and I’d do it again.”
Trina allows herself to relax in his embrace, “I know, but you could have stunned me with a phaser.”
“And give up our location?”
“You have a plan for everything, don’t you?” Trina lifts her head from his shoulder and looks into his eyes.
Anthony shakes his head, “Not even close Trina, not even close.”
Trina leans in and kisses a very surprised Anthony very gently on the lips, then withdraws. “That’s a start.”
Stepping back, Lieutenant Commander Nygard straightens her uniform and regains her composure. One lock of hair remains loose from her bun, and frames one side of her face. She seems not to notice.
Chief Marconi remains stunned for several seconds before a slight smile grows on his face.
“That’s not what I was expecting.”
“Nor I.”
“So where are we going now?”
“I’m not sure,” Commander Nygard smiled, “but my orders are to take you to Starbase 216. Apparently Admiral Selak requested you for an assignment. A little bird told me in involves a starship, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
Chief Marconi’s face changed to incredulity in an instant. “A starship? Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“If I’d opened with that, you wouldn’t have really been in the mood to chat about anything else, would you?”
Marconi laughed, “You are right about that. Do you still claim you didn’t have anything to do with being assigned my transport?”
“No Chief, I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was as surprised as you when I found out whom we were giving a ride to. But, someone once told me “I don’t believe in luck, I believe in leveraging unexpected opportunities to their maximum benefit.”
“Starbase 216, isn’t that on the Cardassian border?”
“That’s the one.”
Chief Marconi turned back to the viewport as he considered his changed circumstances. “Well, I wonder what unexpected opportunities are in store?”
Trina placed one hand gently on Anthony’s shoulder. “More than there were yesterday, and that’s all that matters.”
