He Could At Least Have Said Goodbye

Posted on Fri 28th Feb, 2014 @ 5:03am by Commander Mikaela Locke

763 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/6
Location: Orchids & Jazz
Timeline: The Morning after the 'Welcome Aboard' Party.

[ON:]

Mikaela Locke sat at the bar in Orchids & Jazz, her hands cradling a straight Jack Daniels. She knew that she shouldn't be drinking, but she didn't really care. She wasn't on duty until the swing shift and so she had headed down to the bar, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a loose-fitting black shirt and tried to blend in with the general station populace as they bustled around the busy promenade area.

Miss Lantz liked to take a turn behind the bar in the Jazz club. It gave her a chance to interact with both staff and customers on an informal basis. It helped her keep track of things going on all over the base, and sometimes even directed how she ran her business. This mid-morning time, after the coffee bar crowd, and before the lunch crowd, was typically a quiet time, but usually provided something of interest in the day.

Finishing her re-stocking tasks, she walked down the length of the bar to the lieutenant who'd come in a short time before and had insisted on the real thing in her glass. Jade believed the customer had the right to choose, but she did keep a closer watch on those who chose alcohol over synthahol. The club owner never minded being a safety valve, and what was told to her didn't go anywhere unless the safety of the base was involved ... which had only happened twice in her career as a jazz club owner on several bases and one ship.

"How are you doing over here?" she asked, referring to the drink, knowing that often people needed an opening to confide the things that were bothering them.

Mikaela looked up her friend and then back down at the almost-empty glass in her hand. "Hit me," she replied with a nod.

It was none of Jade's business if Locke wanted to drink herself into a stupor, so she poured another shot into the glass. As an El-Aurian, she was often the recipient of confidences, but if someone didn't want to talk, that was okay, too. Still, she decided to give it one more try and asked, "Off duty today?"

Mikaela downed the shot and then exhaled a stifled laugh, as the absurdity of her actions hit home afresh. "Actually… no…" she replied, slowly. "I'm in Ops later this afternoon…" She laughed, more fully this time, as she reflected on her behaviour more fully. "I guess I assumed that reconfiguring communications arrays was something that I could do without needing to be sober." She pushed her glass towards Jade. "You'd better take this away from me," she conceded with a half-smile.

Jade put the glass in the tub underneath, for washing later, and wiped the surface clear. Leaning on the beautiful carved wood, she said, "I do have Sober-All, if you need it when you leave. These probably taste better and might do almost as much good." She pushed a complimentary bowl of peanuts from Earth toward the lieutenant and asked, "Want to talk about it?" Three strikes and you're out, my girl, she thought.

Locke slowly and deliberately picked up a couple of the peanuts and popped them into her mouth, chewing them almost absentmindedly.

"I have very few friends in this universe," she eventually said, looking past Jade at the shelves behind the bar. "Ashton Drake was one of them. At least…" she paused, her eyes glazed, "at least I thought he was."

So that was the problem. Jade thought quite a few people on the base felt abandoned, betrayed by the abrupt leave-taking of their former base commander. "Does his moving on necessarily change that?" She thought of friends to whom she hadn't spoken in fifty years and wondered how much proximity played a role in friendship.

Mikaela shifted her gaze from behind the bar to the El-Aurian. "It does if I don't know where he's gone." She mused for a few seconds. "I know that sometimes orders come through that are top-secret and all that," she reflected, "But…" she paused again. "Dammit, he could have at least said 'goodbye' or something."

"I'm sorry," Jade sympathized. "I don't think he said goodbye to anyone, but I don't know that for a fact, of course. It seemed that he was here and then ... he was replaced." She wiped the counter automatically, thinking. "You know, there hasn't even been the usual rumor mill going on this one, so ... maybe you have your answer. Top secret, need to know. But, yeah ... he could at least have said goodbye."

 

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