The Housing Bubble Burst

Posted on Wed 10th Jan, 2018 @ 2:20am by Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller

667 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Deck 98, Science Department Offices
Timeline: MD 3, 1115

After 48 hours of trying to sort through the housing system, two return trips to Operations, where he fortunately did not come in contact with Spurlock again, McCabe was ready to give up. The problem was, he couldn't give up. His family needed space. The quarters next to his were empty. He wondered how long it would be before someone noticed if he bashed a hole in the wall between the two. With a sigh, he sat back. He couldn't concentrate on his job until his family was settled.

It might have been fate that his boss walked past his open door on the way to her office just then. "Uh, Lieutenant?" he called out. "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure," Jasmine smiled. "I was just coming to check on your progress with the posting you requested. Did you get your quarters upgraded without problem?" She asked because she and Adam had just put in their request as well. With a baby coming and Oscar, they needed extra room - more than either of their quarters allowed for.

"It isn't going well," Anthony admitted. "I've been down to Operations three times, turned in all the possible files they could want ... and I'm just getting a runaround. I don't know if it's my rank, or the clerk I had the first day put some curse on me, but we are bursting at the seams, and I've got to do something. I can't even concentrate on my job because I'm thinking about this so much!"

"They're really giving you that hard a time?" Jasmine didn't understand the problem. There were several, as in hundreds, of family quarters available throughout the station and that didn't include VIP suites or Command Staff quarters. She sounded angry as she sat down at the nearest console and began typing furiously. "I can't say that I have any pull, but we'll see if Colonel Drake has anything to say about how his people are being treated."

McCabe saw a new side to his boss. He was glad it was on his behalf, and the anger wasn't directed at him. He was afraid to hope she could straighten out this mess, but he hoped it anyway.

After a few moments the comms chimed and Jasmine smiled. "Well now, that seems like it did the job." She pointed to the screen. "It looks like you became the top priority. You've been assigned the Assistant Chief's quarters right down the corridor from mine with a family upgrade."

"Wow. You are a good person to have on my side," Tony said. "I can't believe this. The Assistant Chief's quarters? Wow," he said again. What a step up this would be in space!

"Thank you. I don't know what to say. This has been just a nightmare, and now you've fixed it in only a few minutes. I wanna be you when I grow up," he grinned at her. "Wait until Janetta hears this! When can we move, does it say?" His eyes roved over the assignment page.

"Oh, look, there it is. It says ... we can move in right away! Great! I'll get Janetta started packing up her things and Bella's and we'll move in tonight."

He looked at his boss in gratitude. "I can't tell you how much this means to me, but you can probably guess. You'll be doing the same thing shortly, and I hope it won't be nearly as difficult a process. You're a lieutenant, so probably not! I had no idea my sister would be showing up here, and I still don't have the entire story. I'm trying not to push her too hard, you know? Maybe with a little more stability, getting Bella in school, her own space ... maybe she'll feel better about telling me what's going on. All of which is a long way of saying thank you. I know my own mind will be more settled after this, too! I can finally get back to the job I'm supposed to do."

 

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