Collateral Damage - A Sudden Detour Part 1

Posted on Thu 30th Apr, 2020 @ 12:32am by Lieutenant Elliot Jericho & Lieutenant Commander Kiara Lena
Edited on on Sun 9th Aug, 2020 @ 11:14pm

1,046 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Runabout Churchill
Timeline: MD: 13, 0900 hours

ON

It was time for Kiara to leave, even though she still had things to do. She had a PADD with her work, and she planned to do as much as she could in the evenings when she had no official functions. She packed her second-best formal gown and two sets of Vulcan-Esque robes, preferring the formal diplomatic attire to a Starfleet uniform. She hoped that would be enough for the two weeks this was supposed to take. When working on her own, she had two causal skirts and four blouses. Everything fit neatly into one travel case. She pulled it behind her on a hover cart as she approached the shuttle.

"Lieutenant Jericho?" she called.

Elliot had been prepping the shuttle for the takeoff time indicated on the itinerary that had been sent to him by the Ambassador's Office. He had got there early enough to make sure the shuttle was VIP ready, well it really wasn't a shuttle per se, it was a Runabout, Danube class that was used only for Ambassadors and VIPs. It was set up with a conference room in the back and a couple of sleeping spaces and a small office suite. Elliot was all set for his two-week separation from Meghan. He had just got her back after losing her for a month, but he wasn't about to turn down a mission after the higher up had done so much for him already. He would miss her greatly. His train of thought was interrupted by someone calling out for him. "In here!" He called back.

She boarded the shuttle and stowed her bag before joining him. "Hello. I'm Kiara Lena. Thank you for your time. I hope we can get there and back quickly. This should be a fairly routine trip."


Elliot spun in his seat and got up to shake the woman's hand, "I'm Elliot Jericho. I... just was reunited with my wife who thought I was dead a month ago. Right now I was pulled from our short reunion, but I don't mind, it's my job. I will do it to the best of my ability and even though it's my job I hope to make a new friend so that you may know you can call on me for anything, anytime." After Elliot shook Kiara's hand he sat back down and turned his seat back towards the control panel, "I guess we have a long trip ahead of us?" It was more of a statement than a question. Elliot already had the coordinates of the planet that they were going to and already had plotted their course.

She shook his hand. "Thank you for taking time away from your wife. I hope not to keep you long." She smiled and took a seat. "I'm expecting this to take three weeks."

"Don't worry about it, I'll do what is required of me and my wife understands." Elliot shook his head, "I apologize for the way I think I sound, I'm not normally like this." He smiled, "Shall we get underway?"

"Yes, and you're forgiven," She smiled back. "Although there's really nothing to forgive." She settled in for the long ride. "Tell me about your wife."

Elliot chuckled, "That's a conversation for after we have taken off." He smiled at her, "I guess we do have a lot of time on our hands." Elliot got departure clearance from the star base and headed for the massive door as it opened for them and another, bigger ship. After a minute they were out in space, clear of the behemoth of a star base. Elliot pointed the shuttle in the right direction and hit a couple of commands on his console. The Runabout seemed to stretch for a moment and then disappeared in a burst of light.

"If you'd rather not, we can find something else to talk about. Or I can read and let you do whatever you need to," Kiara offered cheerfully. "I don't want to be a distraction."

Elliot set the shuttle to Autopilot with a few commands from his fingers and the computer now controlled the Runabout. "Now we can talk." Elliot smiled. "You'd like Meghan, she's strong like you." He said as he sized Kiara up in an instant now that he didn't need to concentrate on anything else. "She's beautiful like you as well, she's a brunette with dark brown eyes. We got separated on our last mission together and after an explosion, she thought I was dead and had to move on. She made her way, by herself to SB 109 where we found each other a month later." Elliot paused, As I said, she's strong, she's also smart and very resourceful. I bet you are like that as well."

Kiara smiled, liking the sound of his wife. "I'm not sure how I measure up to her, but I do try. How did you meet?"

"I met her when I was station aboard the Lindhurst, well we were both stationed there. She was young and spirited, intelligent and resourceful." Elliot smiled, "I guess that's why I fell in love with her. We dated for about two years and then we got married. We have been very happy ever since."

"That's wonderful. So, what caused you to be separated recently?"

"Unfortunately that's highly classified, but I will give you an idea. We were on a mission to recover a couple of items. It came down keeping her with me and she might be killed or pushing her in a different direction hoping that she would make it out on her own. I was in a big firefight with a lot of bad guys and had to use an explosive to even the odds. I had to move quickly and could only do that on my own. She thought I was killed in the explosion and had to move on." Elliot explained without going too much into the mission. One thing was certain, he was glad that it was behind them.

"I won't ask more. I'm glad you both got back safely."

Elliot laughed, "Good because that's all I can tell you about that situation, but there is lots more to tell and we have a long time to talk. Let's hear something about you now."

 

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