A Walk on the Docks

Posted on Fri 5th May, 2017 @ 1:40pm by Lieutenant Ricardo Shepard & Lieutenant JG Patrick Biere

1,281 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night

"Great!" Rico commented. "Put together some teams including you and I. Hopefully there won't be any spider monsters sitting around."

Biere looked scared, "The words spider and monsters don't go well together if I'm honest. Why can't there be friendly unicorn butterflies or something? Those words sound good together."

Rico chuckled and looked back over to the Lieutenant. "Now where would the fun in that be?"

Before they both knew it, Biere was on his way, ready to see what he could do to impress the boss now he was back. He felt even more positive than he already was recently after seeing Shepard and the praise he received from the back of it. He couldn't wait to tell his wife, Maria. He loved telling her everything about work.

After Beire left his office, Rico made his way to the turbolift. As the door opened he remembered he had yet to visit his friend Doctor Addams. AS he entered the lift he stated, "Deck 83." The turbo lift doors closed and moved the Chief Operations officer along its guided path. Once the turbo lift made it to the assigned deck, Shepard stepped off and made his way to the infirmary. Once off of the lift, he continued on his way and rounded the corner to enter the infirmary. He stood outside the door for a moment, getting himself together to surprise his friend Dr. Addams. Once he was together, he entered through the choosing doors and began to look of this friend. At first he saw no one at all in the Sick Bay.

"Hello? Doc, you here?" He asked aloud.

"Ah, Lieutenant Shepard," Addams said, coming out of the triage ward. "I would recognize your bellow anywhere. Welcome back. Was your temporary duty enjoyable?"

Shepard turned towards the Doctor looking for her handy companion. "Enjoyable? No! But I am back now. How have you been?" He asked as he made his way towards her.

"Très bon état," Addams said, approaching and tucking her hand through Shepard's elbow. "Walk with me, mon ami?"

"And where are we heading to now if I may ask?" Rico enjoyed the company of the Doctor. He could appreciate her honesty and how she was always upfront.

"Down the corridor to the lift, for a start," Addams answered, guiding Shepard subtly with pressure on his arm. "Tell me about this extra duty which you did not enjoy?"

The happiness and contentment that Rico once had quickly escaped him once the Doctors question left her lips. He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "Honestly Doc, it was hell." Shepard's head dropped instantly. He slightly shivered as his thoughts went back to his mission. "A lot of folks didn't make it back. A lot of my engineers died right in front of my eyes, and it was because of a decision I made." Rico's shoulder slumped as if the weight of the world had just fallen upon them.

They reached the turbolift and stepped in. As the doors slid closed behind them, Addams instructed the mechanism, "Café au quai, deck 720, please." As the lift began to descend, Addams considered her... not enemy. The other one; the nicer one. Friend, yes. That was the word.

"We had some excitement here, as well," the Doctor said airily. "Quite the enjoyable little murder mystery. Well. Enjoyable as long as you weren't one of the murdered, and then, I suppose, enjoyable in quite a different way."

Rico didn't quite know how to take the Doctor's comment at the moment. He couldn't think of anything enjoyable about his last mission. But of course, she didn't know the mission details like he did.

"Doc, if I tell you something, will stay between me and you?" He nervously asked Doctor Addams.

"Doctor-Patient confidentiality is quite important to me," Addams agreed.

"I just gave my debrief to Commander Hunt about this. He and Starfleet are the only ones beside the crew of the Tempest who know about this." The ChEng stopped walking for a second, pulling onto the Doctors arm which was still interlocked with his.

"Doctor, I am responsible for the deaths of over 400 souls." As the words left his mouth, tears began running down the cheeks of Shepards face.

"Computer, hold lift," Addams said. "Medical over-ride. Authorization code: 'Shut up and do what I tell you.'"

"Authorization code accepted," the computer responded, shuffling the turbolift into a rarely used side passage.

Addams reached into the thigh pocket of her uniform trousers and produced a small packet of tissues, which she offered to Shepard. "Socrates suggested that death may be the greatest of all Human blessings," she commented. "In what way were you responsible for these deaths, Ricardo?"

Rico accepted the tissue and wiped the tears away from his eyes. "You are not supposed to know this, but...." He paused for a moment, hating to relive the incident all over again. But, he knew he had to if he was going to get this off of his shoulders. "I ended up taking command of the Tempest. There was a warp core breach and an explosion imminent. I ordered a a saucer separation and ordered all hands in the drive section to abandon ship. Then... then, I left them. I left all those people to their deaths to complete the mission."

Addams nodded slowly. "Computer, resume lift operation," she said. As the turbolift shuddered into motion, Addams regarded Shepard. "In the days of wooden ships and iron men, the loss of a vessel was automatically cause for a board of inquiry. A group of experienced senior officers would listen to the accounts of the officers involved, and render judgement on whether they had taken all prudent and expected measures."

The lift reached deck 720 and stopped, the doors sliding open. Addams took Shepard's elbow again and guided him out, into a wide corridor. On their left was a standard Starfleet construction guidelines airtight bulkhead; to their right, corundum windows gave a view over the base's commercial harbor. Addams glanced at where Silent Night had been tied up, but passed over the thought without mention. "In this case," she said instead, "I am an officer of higher rank and longer service, which by some measurements makes me superior. I have ridden two starships into... oblivion." She grimaced, then went on, "which makes me experienced. So there we have it. Are you prepared for inquiry?"

"I am." Rico said with sincerity. "I own what I did everyday. The scary part is Doctor, I think I would do it again if I had to." The ChEng looked out of the windows, admiring the view of the harbor. "You know, this was always my favorite view of the harbor."

"This," Addams said, gesturing with her right hand out the windows, "is a dock."

Shepard laughed out loud as he realized what the Addams had just done. "You know, I wondered why you didn't correct me when I first called you Doc. I can't believe you walked me all the way down here to prove a point. I thought you were just feeling sorry for me."

"I never feel sorry for anyone," Addams said primly. "Now, this is Café au quai, the 'Dockside Cafe.' Let us take a seat within, and begin our inquiry into your actions and responsibilities, shall we? Oh, and they make a most delightful confection called a 'banana split,' which is too much sweetness for a lone diner; I expect you to share one with me."

"Of course I will, my friend. I've missed our talks together." Shepard was glad to be amongst his friends again.

 

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