From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jan 28 2008 - 02:07:24 PST
=Goodbyes=
(cont'd from "107")
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station
SCENE: Hangar
STARDATE: [2.8]0128.0135
TIME INDEX: Before Yao leaves the station
The reopening of the wormhole had brought with it a torrent of ships. GATEWAY's isolation had lasted almost half a year, and the economic effect had certainly been felt by many traders. If nothing else, GATEWAY Station and its position in the Gamma Quadrant represented an avenue of economic opportunity that was largely unrivaled in Federation territory. GATEWAY was on the frontier of Federation space, and a great deal of opportunistic merchants had found their fortunes ferrying needed goods to and from the Gamma Quadrant. When the wormhole had reopened, it represented a brand new opportunity- which merchants would be the first to *re-establish* the trade routes that had been so taken for granted before?
In addition to the merchant vessels, the amount of Starfleet traffic had increased exponentially as well. Many of the ships were transport or support vessels, with instructions to resupply GATEWAY of both supplies and personelle. But of all the ships bringing people *to* GATEWAY Station, it was the ship taking one *away* that weighed heaviest on Jake Crichton's mind.
He had recieved word of Lt. Nick Cannon's transfer only a few days before, and had been kept too busy with work to find the time to make proper goodbyes with the FCO. So when the report of Lt. Yao's transfer away from GATEWAY Station had come to Crichton's attention, he had resolved to be there to bid the now former-CSciO a proper farewell.
The hustle-and-bustle of the hangar was especially thick today, so Crichton had some difficulty picking Yao out of a crowd. But eventually, he spotted nan standing among a group of bedraggled-looking civilians. Crichton sighed inwardly as he saw them, noting that they were just one group of many whose lives had been devastated by the Dominion attacks. They likely were headed back to EARTH, hoping to find a way to pick up the pieces and return to some approximation of a normal life, like so many hundreds of others.
Crichton made his way through the crowd, manging to make it a few feet away from Yao before the crowd began to move, pushing nan towards the vessel that would ferry nan away from GATEWAY.
"Yao!" Crichton called. The former-CSciO stopped and looked around, obviously having heard nan's name being called from somewhere among the throng of life than teemed around the hangar. Crichton called again, louder this time, and was pleased when Yao's eyes fixed on him.
"Crichton," the J'naii said, moving through the crowd to stand next to GATEWAY's CEO. "What are you doing here?"
"Screwing up your whole 'sneak off GATEWAY without making the proper goodbyes' plan, it looks like," Crichton said with a grin. "So what, you weren't planning on letting any of us know you were leaving?"
"I'm sorry," Yao said, shaking nan's head. "The transfer orders came through so quickly- with all the fuss aboard GATEWAY right now, it just didn't seem right to make a big thing out of this."
"Then it's a good thing I've taken the liberty of looking at the latest crew-rotation communiques from Fleet Command," Crichton said.
"I'm not sure that's technically within Starfleet protocols," Yao chuckled.
"Way I see it, if they didn't want people listening in on that kind of stuff, they'd do a better job of encrypting it," Crichton shrugged. For a long moment, they stood, not saying anything, until Crichton cleared his throat. "So... you really leaving?"
"Yes," Yao said, with a sigh. "I'm just... I'm not cut out for this, Jake. Not war. I'm not a soldier."
"I don't blame you," Crichton said. "Hell, I'd be lying if I said a big part of me didn't want to hop on this shuttle right alongside you."
"I'm sure Lt. Varn will perform adequately as the new Science Officer," Yao offered, obviously hoping to lighten the mood a little.
"I'm sure Tommy-boy will do just fine," Crichton nodded. "But there's something else... if you leave, it's just going to be me and Kor."
"What do you mean?"
"The ones who were here for it all," Crichton said. "For the isolation, the blockade, the attacks... sure, there's the civilian population, and the officers below us who were here too, but of the Senior Staff? Only me and Eishnala are left. It just... it feels like the crew's being broken up, you know?"
Yao nodded and sighed. For another moment, they could only stand in silence, quietly paying homage to all they had experienced together, and to all who had died so that they could live.
Finally, Yao spoke. "I know I'm leaving GATEWAY in good hands," nan said. "You won't let the Dominion scratch the paint, right?"
"They'll pay through the nose if they do," Crichton said with a smile. "I can promise you that much."
"That's good enough," Yao said, extending nan's hand. "A pleasure working with you, Jake Crichton."
"It was all mine, Yao," Crichton said, accepting the J'naii's hand and shaking it. "Take care of yourself."
========================================================
NRPG: I figured Crichton would want to give Yao a proper goodbye before nan sneaked off the station.
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
---------------------------------
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Oct 13 2008 - 03:10:37 PDT