From: Justin Owens (teddy276_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Feb 10 2008 - 14:01:47 PST
=Elbow Grease=
(cont'd from Kim's "Confusion")
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station
SCENE: Maintenance Walkway
STARDATE: [2.8]0117.1245
TIME INDEX: Before "Puzzles"
Jake Crichton and Thomas Varn sat with their backs to each other, each one working on an open panel on opposite sides of the walkway. Between them lay an Engineering toolkit, and periodically they would reach back and replace a tool, then grab a new one.
"So tell me about yourself," Crichton said.
"Just transferred from the STONEHENGE ," Varn shrugged.
It wasn’t that Thomas wasn’t someone to tell about himself, well it really was, but he would try his best to remember what Daisy told him. In fact she was right the coat, that he was ordered to remove, but expediently put back on was now becoming a bother. Sure it was odd enough to see a science officer walking around in a coat, almost like a lab coat, but no one seemed to say anything.
Slowly undoing the front Thomas shook his head sighing a discontented sigh before removing the restraining fabric to allow himself to work freely. As the coat fell to the floor his wings slowly moved back into a more natural position. Looking at the console he could see the few officers working around him that had taken a break stop and look, and that was all he needed to begin his small but informative speech.
“Right, to answer any and all questions you may have. I was not born with these, as a Cadet I was assigned to a ship, that went on a mission where I was kidnapped and genetically altered. Thus, the wings were added along with a few more items. Yes, they work, yes I can fly, no you may not touch them, and no I do not eat bird seed,” he said causing the officers to return back to work in a flurry and for Thomas to change the subject.
"Can I ask you something, Lieutenant?" Varn asked.
"Sure."
"What happened here?"
"I'm sure you've read the official report," Crichton said, glancing back at Varn.
"Yes, but it was a little... impersonal," Varn said. "It was all just... reduced to pure numbers. I want to know what *really* hapened."
Crichton sighed. "I had just been assigned to GATEWAY Station, was aboard one of the last ships to make it through the wormhole, along with Commander Kor. Before we had even docked with the station, the wormhole was gone."
"How?" Varn asked.
"Just... gone," Crichton shrugged. "One minute it was there, and the next..."
He trailed off.
"What happened next?" Varn asked.
"Oh, it was total confusion," Crichton said with a slight laugh. "Everyone wanted to know what was happening, nobody had any answers. Kane did his best, along with then-Ambassador Bonviva, to keep things under control. But then came the ANDARA thing."
"Their annexation by the Dominion?" Varn asked.
"That's the one," Crichton nodded. "And with it, the blockade of GATEWAY Station. After that, all the confusion just sort of gave way to a palpable sense of impending doom, you know? We had the Dominion on our doorstep with a wall of battleships, we were cut off from the Federation, and we'd lost our only remaining ally in ANDARA. And Kane... Kane was at his wits end."
"And then came the secession," Varn said. "Did you support him?"
"Hell, I was still technically a cadet at that point," Crichton laughed. "I didn't even get invited to the meeting where he announced it. But after I heard... I dunno', I figured we were all of us in the same boat no matter *what* we called ourselves, and I was more worried about the wall of Dominion ships outside my window than what everyone might say when... *if* we ever got home again."
"What next?"
"We made a go of it for awhile," Crichton shrugged. "We were probably fooling ourselves, but we did our best to stake out a claim in the Gamma Quadrant. We even started research on stealth-equipped fighters to sneak by the Dominion blockade and restore trade-routes. But things didn't last.
"See, Kane wanted the *people* to have a say in the running of this new government he'd created," Crichton continued. "We were all set to have elections and everything, but it turns out the Dominion wasn't about to let us get back on our feet. A changeling spy assassinated one of the candidates."
"So what caused the riots?" Varn asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We did, I guess," Crichton said. "We had evidence of the Dominion's involvement in the assassination, but Kane was worried that if we released it, the people would either panic or, worse, demand some kind of retaliation. None of us was in a hurry to start a fight we had no hope of winning, and Kane didn't want pressure from the civilian population to respond to the attack. So we hid the evidence... but someone had a conscience, and released the files anyway. And when the public found it... well, all the tension that had been building for months on GATEWAY just... exploded.
"That must have been their plan along," Crichton said thoughtfully. "The Dominion was waiting for us to freak out, then they could come right in, restore order, and be hailed as *saviors* by the civilians. But it didn't work out that way."
"No," Varn said. "And the Federation fleet's sudden arrival certainly tipped the odds in your favor."
"Now *that* was a surprise," Crichton said with a grin. "Man, if we'd known all along that they were coming to get us... I dunno', but I have a feeling things would have been different."
"It's quite a story, sir," Varn said. "I can't imagine what it was like."
"What about you?" Crichton asked. "Why'd you decide to come out to the front-lines?"
"Well, I didn’t technically choose to be here sir. I was, well I got orders from Starfleet Command telling me to get here and get here now,” his voice was calm and steady.
Suddenly, a voice came from over the comm.
[[Ensign Gonzalez to Crichton.]]
Crichton slapped his badge.
"Crichton here."
[[Commander Davidson's been asking after you,]] Gonzalez replied. [[She's here with the PATRIOT's counselor, Ensign Niala.]]
Crichton sighed. "This can't be good.. direct them to my office, Gonzo, I'll be there presently."
[[Will do, sir. Gonzalez out.]]
"Well, looks like duty calls," Crichton said, rolling his eyes. "Can you finish up here on your own?"
"Shouldn't be a problem, Lieutenant," Varn nodded.
"Alright," Crichton said. "Have at. When you're done, report back to me or Gonzo- I'm sure we can find something else for you to do."
"Looking forward to it, sir," Varn said.
Scene: Arboretum
Time Index: One Hour Later
After the last occurrence in an arboretum Thomas was very reluctant to come to Gateway’s, but he had heard it was pretty much being rebuilt. What were the odds he would be attacked by a mutated plant that made him want to pounce on a female companion again.
===========================================================
A Joint Post By...
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
And
Justin Owens
Lt Jg Thomas Varn
Science Officer
GATEWAY STATION
Justin Owens
Lt. Jg Thomas Varn
Science Officer
Gateway Station
a.k.a
Lt. Jg Jolem Blackstone
Junior ACT Instructor
Starfleet Academy
---------------------------------
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Sep 08 2008 - 03:10:57 PDT