Rumor and Speculation

Posted on 01 Jan 2013 @ 3:00am by Staff Sergeant Philip Kasmierski

687 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: M9: Rest, Recovery, and Reflection
Location: Down in the depths of SB80, where the enlisted are quartered.

A light flickered overhead, casting weird shadows about the storage bay cum formation area used by Starfleet personnel who for whatever reason needed to muster. In this case, the dull gray walls and spotty lighting were made even more eerie by the fact the place was occupied mainly by boxes of items that couldn't be replicated, along with a tiny band of five at the far end, closest to the sole door.

Kaz looked at the little group of four lined up before him. He'd been surprised when all of the remaining members of Bravo Team had been given orders to this new billet, but he wasn't about to question. Probably this U.S.S. Achilles was short and Starfleet was making up the difference by grabbing what remained of Villalobos's recon.

“Report,†he added, looking at the most senior, Corporal Sarnek.

The Vulcan saluted, then dropped his hand. “All present and accounted for, Sergeant.â€

“All right. At ease.†He waited as the group shifted about, then continued. “Hope everybody had a good leave.†He didn't mention that Brandenburg was too far for him to take the two weeks holiday leave they'd been allotted, so he'd stayed at SB80. “Next day or so we'll be reporting to the U.S.S. Achilles. I don't have any idea at the moment about what our duty assignment will be.†He paused. “You have the rest of the day off. See you back here at 0600 tomorrow for PT. I need to see Corporals Sarnek and Tenaka after this. Fall out.â€

As the two privates headed off to more amusing areas of the station, the Vulcan walked over to him, as did Corporal Kaminari Tenaka, aka Jeannie, a petite woman who looked very Japanese, though Tenaka would be the first to say she was born and bred American, whatever that meant in this day and age.

“Okay you two, sitrep. Like I said, we're going to the Achilles. Sarnek, you and Whelan turned in our weapons to their armory, right?â€

“Of course.â€

“Tenaka, you made sure we got billets both here and on the ship? Everybody's stowed their gear, got processed as much as we could?â€

“Uh, yeah.†She gave him her look of 'are you stupid?' which caused Kaz to raise his hands.

“You mean the supply guy could actually see your midget head?†he quipped, falling easily into his routine of baiting the petite corporal.

“Yeah, because your big overinflated one wasn't standing in front of me,†she snapped back.

“You mean she wasn't overwhelmed by my sexy good looks and charm. On a serious note, I've heard the Achilles is a good ship with almost a full complement, so we'll be all right. †He ran a hand over his hair. The truth was that he was nervous. Rumor had it that JAG was looking for Villalobos crew to press charges against for dereliction of duty or incompetence. Not that he was going to say anything – they had the computer records, they should be able to figure out that if anything, the surviving crew were heroes.

“So what do we do about the court-martial rumors going around?†Tenaka asked, almost as if she were reading his mind. “I, like, had some Fleetie tard approach me asking if I was one of those people leading the massacre of the Villalobos.â€

He looked around the empty storage bay/parade ground, trying to quash the flare of rage that rose up. “Are you kidding me?†he finally said. “We saved the Lobo. If it wasn't for us and the Engineering guys, those Kzinti would have gotten themselves a Nebula class ship. Next time you get something like that, you tell whoever it is to come see me. I'll have them beat their face until I get tired.†He sighed a short sharp explosion of breath. “Anything else I need to know about?â€

“No, sergeant,†Sarnek replied.

“Nothing here.â€

“I'll see you both tomorrow then. Check out the station. But have your comms on in case I need you.†He followed the pair out, but went in a direction opposite to theirs.

 

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