We Regret to Inform You

Posted on Tue Jan 28, 2020 @ 8:52am by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Alanna Wells

785 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Commander Soran's Office
Timeline: MD 150

[ON]

When Alanna arrived in the CO's office, Maritza had been looking at the padd for a while. It was not unexpected, but it was still...disheartening. It was also frustrating. It proved that the pattern Robert Haines had told her of was working again.

How was Daniels or Xeod or whatever he called himself doing that? There were checks and balances. No one should be able to do this. This was Starfleet.

She put the pad down, and indicated the chair in front of her desk. "Please, have a seat."

Something was terribly wrong. Alanna could feel it pulsating like a beating heart in the room. "What is it?" she asked, sitting on the edge of her seat. "Is it Jason?"

There was no pointing about the bush. "Its not good news, I'm afraid." Maritza adjusted the pad on the desk and waited for Alanna to sit.

"There's been no trace of the Marseilles for over six months now. Jason's missing person's file is being closed. Presumed dead."

"That doesn't mean he's dead," Alanna stated. "Just missing. He can still come back. I can go to the last known coordinates of the Marseilles. There might be a clue there to what happened."

Yes. All of that was true. Maritza folded her fingers together over the padd. "Dr...Alanna." She began gently, "Its all been done. Starfleet security have looked. They've taken all the information I've had from Intelligence and his own father. This man Daniels is...inhuman." That was the only word for it. Humans weren't driven by their passions like Andorians, or repressing them like Vulcans. It was a species that had managed to grow and become...better. Daniels was a throw-back. If she ever met him again, she check to see if his knuckles dragged on the ground. "He wanted Jason dead. Jason was incredibly resourceful. But if he'd escaped, we'd have heard by now."

"But..." She knew if there was any way, he'd come back. Would have come back. But she still couldn't quite accept that he was really dead, that Daniels had killed him, after everything he'd been through. For a long moment, she sat there, shaking. "They thought his father was dead, but he came back."

"Robert Haines was never declared KIA. Only MIA, and that for mission reasons." Martiza corrected carefully. "It was all planned. This wasn't. Its hard to accept, but the chances of finding him alive now are in the less than 0.5% range."

Alanna took a long, slow breath. "Thank you for telling me." She still didn't want to believe he was really gone. She still couldn't believe it, but the captain was correct in that after six months, the chances were almost nil. And it hurt more than losing him the first time.

"There's a long time to wait before he can be legally declared dead." It wasn't much comfort. But it was all Maritza had. "Its not over yet." Though it might as well be.

"Can I..." She took a breath. "Can I clean out what's left in his quarters? He only took one bag with him." It would be something. Seven years was a long time to wait for someone to be legally dead.

Maritza thought about it. Robert Haines was in the wind now. Alanna would be the closest thing to next of kin, and operations would want the room space back. Better her than some operations officer who didn't know Jason clearing the space. "I'll ask the QM to give you access."

"Thank you." At least she had that. She was still feeling shattered. Some time alone would help her get some of her balance back. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"No, but if that changes, you'll be the first to know." Maritza assured her. "I promise."

"Thank you. I know it's not easy to give this sort of news." She was trying to hold it together, to not fall apart in front of the captain, but it wasn't easy. Seeing Jason's father a short time ago--even though he denied who he was--had given her hope. But this... "May I be excused? I need to be alone to process this."

"Of course. Take your time." Maritza had done this entirely too many times already to know it was always a nasty shock, even to the most logical of Vulcans, let alone people healthily in touch with their emotions. "I'm sorry its not better news."

"Me, too." She gave the captain a wan smile. "I appreciate you telling me." Alanna walked out, pleased that her legs didn't shake too much.

____
OFF



Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

Commander Maritza Soran
CO
Deep Space Five

 

RSS Feed