Ad Astra :: Star Trek Fanfiction Archive ^{Beam me up, Scotty.}

Chapter Text

* * *

The XO stood by as the starbase’s JAG personnel arrived by transporter.

Five figures took shape atop the transporter pad as their bodies regained molecular cohesion.

The Bolian officer stepped forward. “I’m Commander Jadaetti Davula, executive officer. Welcome aboard Reykjavík.”

Davula was of average height for her species, with her dominant features being her cobalt blue skin, bald head and the bifurcated ridge that bisected her facial features.

"Commander Leo Verde," said the lead officer of short and stocky stature. In his soft baritone, he explained with a boyish grin, "OIC of this JAGMAN detachment." A couple of steps forward from the pad with his palm outstretched toward Davula in greeting, Verde's companions filtered out around them to view the exchange.

Davula shook his hand firmly, her smile genuine. “I’m glad you were available, Commander. Otherwise, I’d have had to step in as potential legal counsel for any personnel under investigation. Let’s just say JAG duties aren’t my strong suit.”

"Yes, of course," Verde said understandingly. "Your famous journey likely placed you in all manner of various duties, I'm sure. We should have a drink, sometime." He gestured to the group that arrived with him and acknowledged, "But, allow me to introduce the team. My second chair is Lieutenant Alejandro Martinez." The tall and wiry officer offered his hand.

"Chief Zenn is our yeoman on this trip," he continued with an open hand toward the short, but muscular Trill woman. "And we have our pair of investigators, First Lieutenant Marie Collins, and her partner, Sergeant Angela Torres." Both marines nodded toward Davula stoically.

Davula nodded to them individually as they were introduced, shaking hands as appropriate. “Commodore Trujillo’s asked me to see you to quarters. We’re scheduled for a senior staff meeting at seventeen hundred hours.”

She gestured towards the exit. “Reyky pulls diplomatic escort detail fairly often, so our guest accommodations are rather nice. No enlisted bunks for you this trip, I’m afraid.”

Verde grinned, as he led the team in following her out into the corridor. "She's a beautiful ship. This is my first time aboard a Shangri-La," he admitted. "I earned my sea pay aboard nothing but Chandleys."

“Thank you, we’re rather proud of her and her record. Chandleys are a great design, probably why there are so damn many of them underfoot,” she replied with a smirk, leading the group out into the corridor and towards the nearest turbolift.

The group managed to tuck into the lift car, in spite of the luggage and gear. "They say these things are designed for eight to ten, but these must have been tested with a group of Kelpiens," Verde jovially noted. "Sorry for the tight squeeze."

Davula chuckled lightly at Verde’s witticism. “Deck Four,” she ordered, setting the lift-car in motion. “We’ll be departing in the next twenty minutes to form up with our task force en route to the border,” she advised them.

The short trip to deck four brought the minor inconvenience to an end, but not before Martinez added his own humor to the proceedings. "Really glad you switched out your cologne, Leo." The rest of the team did not bother to hide their amusement.

Verde smirked. "Well, Maria thought I would get better results with her suggestions," he said as they all emptied out and waited for Davula to take up the lead position once more. "But if you are telling me you're interested, then you'll have to go through her, first."

Martinez smiled broadly at that. "I'm good, thanks."

"Just sayin'..."

Davula stepped past them into the corridor, gesturing to a series of hatchways. “Commander Verde’s rated a single-occupancy cabin, and the rest of you are going to have to double-up. However, our double-occupancy VIP cabins have individual queen-sized beds, their own lavatories, and the sleeping areas are separated by a shared living area. Reykjavík… come for the combat, stay for the comfort.”

She turned back to face Verde. “Commander, once you’re squared away down here, the commodore would like to see you topside.”

Verde smiled toothily at the mention of Trujillo. "Looking forward to it, Commander, and I really appreciate you taking the time to show us down here."

“My pleasure. Again, we’re glad to have you along with us on this assignment. Forgive me for being blunt, but given how this looks at the outset, I’m hoping your particular skills won’t be needed. This might just be a pleasure cruise along the Gorn border, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion that won’t be the case.”

Verde handed off his luggage to Zenn. "Since I'm bunking solo, we'll set up the boards and offices in there, Chief. I'm going to head up topside with the Commander, here." He leaned over to the others, "Get yourselves unpacked and I'll be back shortly."

Zenn shouldered the duffel and satchel along with her own and nodded. "Aye, sir."

Verde turned back to Davula and with an open hand, he told her, "I'm all yours, sir."

* * *

Davula entered the ready room with Verde in tow, staying just long enough to make introductions. “Commodore Nandi Trujillo, Commander Leo Verde.”

Trujillo stood from behind her desk, a radiant smile on her features. “Oh, Mister Verde and I are well acquainted, Commander. Back in the day he helped clear me of some rather unflattering allegations after a dust up with the Tzenkethi. I was delighted to discover Commander Verde was here on a detached assignment and was available to accompany us on this mission.”

She moved around the desk to offer her hand. “Welcome aboard, Rally. It’s wonderful to see you again. I just wish the circumstances weren’t so dire.”

Leo "Rally" Verde blushed under the nickname's attention, trying very much not to make eye contact with Davula. "Uh, it's always good to see you, sir," he replied with a friendly grip of hands. "You're lucky we were available; we just got done closing another case in the sector and were cooling our heels waiting for a transfer back to Starbase 8." He leaned in slightly and lowered his voice as he asked, "I trust that you received my wetting down gift through our mutual friend?"

“I did, thank you. It’s remained unopened, awaiting a suitable occasion. Perhaps this mission will be it?”

He sighed, "I hope this is all much ado about nothing, so yeah. It'd be nice if this all turned out to be just a simple flag-flying excursion to the border, but…"

Trujillo nodded in turn, her expression darkening. “Yeah… I’m getting the same feeling. Maybe the Gorn really are behind all this, but that’s not how things are adding up so far.”

She turned to Davula. “Thank you. Please see to our departure, Commander, and have Lieutenant Shukla begin making arrangements for rendezvous with the task force.”

As Davula exited, Trujillo gestured to a chair across from her desk before heading straight for her concealed mini-bar behind a nondescript bulkhead panel. “Name your poison, Leo.”

Leo watched her move to the mini-bar and nodded. "Definitely calls for something strong. If you got anything within shouting distance of a whiskey, I'll take a shot."

“I have Scotch, Kentucky bourbon, and Aldebaran.”

"The green stuff? I'll definitely take a quick hit of that," he said enthusiastically. "I've actually been cutting back recently, but it's a vacation, right?"

“If you say so,” she laughed mirthlessly, pouring two shot glasses full of the milky green fluid. She handed one to Verde, holding up her own. “Salud.”

Leo followed suit. "Salud," he murmured before knocking back the shot. As it sizzled down his throat, he grinned. "Oh, yeah. It's been a while since I've had this. With all the marines we got running around, you can barely find a bottle on the Crazy Eight," he said, using the pejorative unofficial name for Starbase Eight.

She set down her shot glass, wiping her mouth with the back of one hand while fixing an assaying look on Verde. “I trust you already know Theo Keller’s apparently in the middle of all this?”

He met her look briefly, as he silently exhaled through pursed lips. "He does not like being called Theo or Teddy. And yeah, I read the brief." Leo stalled in his response, taking a little time to set the empty shot glass with its remnants slinking down the sides upon the pristine bartop. "Even though I might have a poor opinion of him, if he did go off half-cocked into Gorn territory, that would be crazy. He is so tightly wound."

“Do you know of anything in his history that ties him to the Gorn? Something that might have provoked an overreaction by Captain Keller?”

"Not that I recall," Leo replied thoughtfully. "When I sailed with him, we were on the Cardassian border; other side of Federation territory. Closest we'd got to the Hegemony was maybe a short supply run to one of the outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone."

Trujillo shook her head forlornly. “If Keller did launch an unsanctioned raid against the Gorn, this’ll be the biggest court-martial since Admiral Cartwright and Chancellor Gorkon’s assassination.”

"To say the least," Leo agreed with widened eyes. He sighed. "I know we're here as a detachment, sir, and ordinarily a team like mine isn't subject to your command, since we're supposed to be investigating, but…"

Trujillo refilled the shot glasses. “But…?”

"We could find ourselves in the middle of a crisis and if you need help beyond the law, you know I got your back," Leo said. "I may be a lawyer, but I still kept up my line officer status. Otherwise, my dad would never let me hear the end of it."

“I’d never sideline capable officers in such circumstances, and if the situation calls for it, I won’t hesitate to reinstate you to line-duty. However, we’re heading in with a task force of at least eight ships. Your legal expertise and that of your team will be of far more value than having you stand a post on the bridge for a shift or two. We may need to convince the Gorn that we’re dealing with the situation internally, though how we might go about that is beyond me at the moment.”

"Whatever you need," he promised with a curt gesture of his right hand. Leo's expression turned to one of curiosity. "You think diplomacy might work with the Gorn?"

“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I certainly hope so, but our history with them has been so fraught in the past fifty years that it’s hard to know what they might do. If we’re dealing exclusively with their elders, they might listen to reason. Their militant youth, though… they’re always spoiling for a fight, especially one that results in prisoners they can use for gestation-stock on one of their horrific breeding planets.”

Leo stared down into the refilled shot glass. "'Horrific' is an apt descriptor. I've never actually seen that, but I've heard the stories." He raised the glass and offered a short salute. "But, if you can manage to open relations with them, then maybe that'll lead to something."

She held up her glass. “Right now I’d settle for convincing them not to stage any further cross-border raids. We’ve already lost dozens of lives aboard our outpost and a score more on the border cutter they destroyed. Hopefully they’ll be satisfied with that pound of flesh and call it even.” Again she offered, “Salud” before draining the contents of the glass.

After draining his glass, Leo swallowed and smiled at the taste. Once more, he set it back down on the bartop and exhaled slowly. "Once we shove off, do you have a plan for tracking down our wayward ship?"

She retreated to her chair behind the desk and lowered herself into it. “We’ll keep hailing and scanning, scouring the border region for any sign of her. Failing that, I'll send my former XO, Commander Glal, to run them down. He’s got a sixth-sense for this kind of thing, a knack for putting himself inside someone else’s head. If anyone can find Keller, it’ll be Glal.”

Leo followed her with a turned head and nodded once. "'Gol's skipper. Great ship for scouting and hunting, too." He stepped over toward her desk and silently begged permission to sit down opposite her with his fingers in a quick motion. "You should tell him that Keller tends to favor the tactic of using magnetic resonance to mask or diminish his sensor signature. He's really good at running silent, too. He used to demand tactical drills constantly, so I presume he hasn't changed that over the years."

Trujillo motioned for Verde to sit while typing herself a note to that effect on her desktop terminal. “Good to know. How is Captain Keller likely to react to being confronted by another Starfleet vessel? How does he react when backed into a corner?”

The first question elicited a scoff from Leo. "Whenever he was faced with another Starfleet vessel, his demand for perfection would skyrocket. His Achilles' heel is his pride and ego. That was the source of his insufferable behavior in command. If anything happened that reflected upon him in any unfavorable light, woe betide the person who caused it, and woe betide their immediate superior."

She nodded fractionally in response, a sour expression tugging at the edges of her mouth. “I’d heard as much.”

"If he's backed into a corner," Leo said with a single shake of his head. "I don't think this is him being in a corner, sir. I know this is going to sound crazy…"

"Unless he's under some extraordinary influence, this is wholly out of character for Keller. Under ordinary circumstances, he wouldn't take this kind of action without believing he had proper authority to do so," Leo explained. "There had to be something that he felt he had no choice but to storm across the border. His reputation is his most treasured currency."

“Maybe so,” Trujillo conceded, “but we won’t know until he makes an appearance and explains himself. Going to ground only makes it look worse for him. I’d understand if he’s hiding in nebula or the upper layers of a gas giant while the Gorn hunt for him, but if he’s just parked someplace trying to figure out how to squirm out of a series of piss-poor decisions, that’s really going to irritate me.”

"I would put a very large bottle of Aldebaran whiskey on the notion that he believes he's going to be welcomed as a hero when he sees another Starfleet ship," he said slowly. "Maybe you can use that to your advantage."

“I’d much prefer that to a scared, desperate man who wants to fight his way out of a hole he’s dug for himself.” She stretched, referencing the chronometer on her workstation. “You’ve probably got a lot of prep-work to do with your team, and I’m keeping you up here spinning what-if scenarios.”

Leo smiled knowingly. "I'll get out of your hair." He rose from his seat and paused. "They got us assigned to the guest staterooms down on four if you want to come find me later. I brought some provisions, too, if you'll allow me the opportunity to return the favor."

Trujillo smiled. “I will indeed. Oh, and I’d like you at our senior staff meeting at seventeen-hundred. We’ll be linked in with the command staff of my two escorts, setting the groundwork for this operation.”

He strode toward the exit and called back, "I'll be there. Mind if I bring my yeoman? She takes all my notes."

“The more the merrier, Commander,” Trujillo rejoined.

* * *