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Starbase 84: Murder On 84

WHAT IF THINGS HAD GONE DIFFERENTLY BETWEEN HI'JAK & KOMIAL DOTNHIL?

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Lt JG Hi'Jak | Starbase 84 | Living Area | Restaurant] Attn: @Brutus
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Hi'Jak personal log; Stardate 2380.290 Today would be the festival of Kot'baval for the Klingons it would be a day of celebration, food, and mock battles. I haven't been a part of those festivals for about six years since coming to the Federation, and even then I was always put on the loosing side. Can't have the good warriors on the loosing side, still despite the innumerable fractures and head injuries from fake weapons, I always loved the food. Compare that to just another day here on 84, Being an earth centric outpost there are few if any good holidays, and the nearest bowl of Gagh is about 9 days away at warp 8.5.

My Homesickness aside things are going a touch crazy around here. Security is prepping for the arrival of a diplomatic delegation from the Romulan neutral zone. Simon has shut down my lab for 'health concerns' after one of my biogenic mold samples may have escaped it's containment field, and so it would seem that I have the day off.

~~~

Jack sat at his seat, poking at the food he had ordered. Steak, human and miserable cow steak. It smelled delicious, but at the same time was boring in every single way he could imagine food to be boring. It didn't scream when you cut it with a knife, it did bleed, as a medium rare should, but it was cooked flesh of a long dead animal it wasn't exactly amazing, but it was well prepared. It was exactly as mundane as human food would be expected to be.

His eye went to his Padd beside his table. "I should have chosen a ship." He said with a soft sigh. He could have been on a galaxy class vessel, but he wanted a starbase posting. It was safer or so he thought.

Back then he hadn't realized that Safe meant boring.

Re: Murder On 84 (What if)

Reply #1 –
[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | Security Center]Attn: @Masorin 
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Sipping at her spice tea, Komial Dotnhil flicked a few strands of coppery light hair back behind her ear, and let her eyes dart back and forth over the itinerary for the following week. Tomorrow morning, a ship of delegates would be arriving, from the Neutral zone. This necessitated an increased security presence around all controlled areas of the starbase, as well as any of the civilian sections the delegation might frequent. This was prudent and reasonable. IT looked bad if diplomats got axed when visiting a starbase. As if the people that lived here daily weren't just as important, she thought spitefully. But orders were orders.

That had meant spending the last few days on secure comm channels with the individual delegates security teams, as well as one advanced team that had already arrived at the station and attempted to dictate - to her- how to run her station. Captain Hawthorne had given the CSec a free hand however, and the confident woman's gaze had turned as cold as her touch when she hand introduced the man's face to the floor after he made an unwise comment about how someone so slender and small could possibly be of benefit in the situation they were facing.

The lesson had been taught swiftly and painfully.

Unfortunately, proving herself so capable had landed her with more responsibility, as the embarrassed diplomatic security officer had decided to get even by hounding her with every little thing. The headache she was fighting off had a name, all right, and she knew whose it was. The only shame was that the man was not present for her to vent her spleen on him.

"Right, enough of this," she declared, pushing back from her seat in the security center. She needed a break, a way to deal with some of the stress that was building up. "Mac. you're in charge here," she informed one of her senior Deputies as she stood and stretched. She took a final sip of the tea (it had gone cold, she noticed with a grimace) and sauntered over to the replicator to recycle the cup and its contents. She turned back to the room, as the lights of the small chamber flared behind her, and looked the people over.

"I'm going on a walk about, to check the guard rotations in the recreation districts." This would take a few hours, given the size of things. "Make sure there is still at station for when I get back." The smile was a wry one - she wasn't going to take her frustrations out on her people here, but gods help any of the diplomatic staff that was supposed to be augmenting the patrols in the civilian section if they were slacking off.

Re: Murder On 84 (What if)

Reply #2 –
Lt JG Hi'Jak | Starbase 84 | Living Area ] Attn: @Brutus
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Jack got up from his seat, and picked up his coffee, having finished the majority of the meal he decided that maybe he should do a bit of a walk around the living area. He knew the area was bound to be busy, with security changing their rotations and the added tension from the diplomatic envoy. Some part of him wanted to know a bit more about what security was planning. He would have loved to get inside the meeting.

However he was a scientist, not a dignitary and there was little if any chance that he could get in. He supposed senior staff would be in attendance. If he could get Simon to give up his shift than he would probably be able to cover.

He tapped his comlink, and tapped into FNN, listening to the broadcast of the day as he walked about. Officially just because a comlink could be used to pick up FNN, didn't mean it was entirely allowed so it was technically a minor violation of his work ethic. Today's top story, The Utopia fleet yards were unvieling some new ship, the key feature of this off branch of the prometheus class was that it had a unique shipboard A.I. Jack actually gave a bit of a laugh at that.

"Sure lets all build a warship, and then give it to an A.I. with fully autonomous control, that won't in any way kick start a robot revolution." Jack said sipping his coffee as he shook his head. "Still if they are broadcasting about it already that means something about the project leaked."

He sighed maybe he should sign up for a transfer, try and get on a new ship. He shook his head. He had applied for transfers before, and all had been blocked or hushed. He was pretty much locked on this base. He turned a corner rolling his eyes and not paying attention to where he was walking, he felt his body collide with something attractive.

In an instant his coffee slipped from his hand and was spilt every single drop of which landed on the woman he recongized from a few meetings here or there. The worst person he could have walked into.

The chief of security. "Oh. I'm sorry." He tapped his com to cut out the transmission of the news network and tried his best to smile as he reached down to pick up his now empty coffee mug. "I didn't see you there."

Re: Murder On 84 (What if)

Reply #3 –
[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | Security Center]Attn: @Masorin 
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She was thirty minutes into her patrol when it happened. Stretching her legs, getting to see the green of the park, the bustling paths of the promenade. All of it was a welcome distraction from the security center. Form the paperwork. A chance to get back out, among her people. Press the flesh, see and be seen. This was an important part of her duties. There was something delightful for making the rounds and getting a feeling for the pulse of the starbase.

Normally this was the kind of thing that would center Komial, and bring her into a sense of calm, and even, on occasion, joy. She thrived on this. A cop walking her beat, proud and in charge. But it was hard to feel proud, or in charge, when you were suddenly dripping wet from a very, very hot liquid. She'd be barreled into by pure happenstance. Simply turning a corner...

Coffee, her mind observed all on its own, as she stepped back, arms out to the side, as if to shake off the liquid, then gripping the hem of her jacket and pulling it back to observe the damage. She'd need to change. Dammit she thought as she heard someone apologizing and some noise suddenly cutting off. Her mind was working fast to catalog what she heard, where she was, and just who she had bumped into.  That person was bending over to collect their mug.

Muttering an oath - she saw it was a fellow Starfleet Officer - and fixed the man with a withering glare. "So tell me Lieutenant do you always barrel into people and assault them with coffee, or is it just a Thursday thing for you?" she snapped off.

Her eyes seemed to flare as she looked around and snatched up a PADD of her own from where it had fallen. He was the half-breed Klingon in Simon's department. She knew the Chief Science officer didn't think well of him at all. She didn't think well of Simon but so far this Klingon junior officer wasn't impressing her either.

"And just what were you listening to anyway?" Komial's eye's narrowed as she took the man in.

Re: Starbase 84: Murder On 84

Reply #4 –
Lt JG Hi'Jak | Starbase 84 | Living Area ] Attn: @Brutus
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Jack looked up and shrank slightly as he saw just whom he had barreled into for a moment. He swallowed as he looked at the woman who ran security on the entire starbase. Oh shit, of course of all the people he could have run into he had to hit up Komial. Normally this would be the silent highlight of his day. Komial had become a bit of a fascination for the science officer. He was often drawn towards strong, authoritative women. It must have been some aspect of his Klingon half, though Klingon women were perhaps the most threatening thing that has ever come close to killing him in the long run.

That was usually a problem in it's own way though as they rarely tolerated his presence for very long.

And Komial seemed like she was already close to her daily limit with the way her voice was tempered. he swallowed for a moment taking a step back. "Sorry, I wasn't really looking." He was about to make up some excuse of work when she called him out watching a news cast as he had been walking. "Er, well."

"It's the FNN's cast off about the new ship they are building. The one with the advanced AI?" He said holding out his PADD for her too look at. "I was kinda thinking it would be neat to see it at some point." Jack was not a fan of ships, he prefered the work of a starbase, but honestly the way 84 had treated him so far, he was starting to rethink that policy. A job on a ship had to be better than this place.

Re: Starbase 84: Murder On 84

Reply #5 –
[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | Security Center]Attn: @Masorin 
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Komial gripped the PADD in her hand tightly, her knuckles white as she stared down the science officer and digested what the half breed had said. There was more than a bit to unpack from what little had past his pale lips Her own face was red, and her spots quite flushed, drawing a contrast with the normally tanned skin. She did little to hide her ire. All day she had been looking for an excuse, any excuse, and now it seemed as if one had quite literally barrelled into her at warp 2, leaving her in need of a trip back to her quarters for properly dried attire.

She never even heard the low, growling noise that reverberated in her throat. It was  subconscious action, a vocalization of her temper finally getting the best of her. She stalked over to Hi'Jak, getting uncomfortably close to him. She could feel the heat of his body - everyone was warm compared to a Trill - and smell the coffee on his breath. She locked her eyes with his and held his gaze, hers swimming with dark flames of pure loathing. "I'm not sure where to begin, Lieutenant. Fortunately for you being a klutz isn't a violation of protocol."

Taking a step back, she tapped her PADD against his chest, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to be felt. To make a point. The edge of it rested just under his combadge. "Unfortunately, modifying your combadge to pick up the FNN frequency is against regs. Those aren't supposed to be used for listening to civilian audio feeds. You're a Starfleet officer. That's there for us to get a hold of you in an emergency. And in case you have failed to notice, Lieutenant," she kept harping on his rank, though she was in her rights to call him 'junior' or 'mister' if she so wished, being a full lieutenant herself, and as the Stations Chief of Security, a member of the Senior Staff. "We are on a heightened security standing. We do have 'guests' from across the neutral zone wandering our halls."

This led her right into her next issue with the young man, and she got right back up in his grill again, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. [color=orange=]Just because the FNN is stupid enough to make a story about a classified ship project public knowledge, doesn't mean that you need to be stupid enough to have it coming out of your chest where any of those diplomats might hear it."[color] Komial was privy to some of the details about the Theurgy project, based both on her clearance as CSec of a major border station, and because Captain Hawthorne had thought it necessary to loop her in on some of the traffic he saw as the raking officer for the sector. Just what blithering idiot had leaked the project to the FNN was unbeknownst to Komial, but she'd be forwarding a sternly worded report to Starfleet Security back on Earth.

"It's hardly a secret, Lieutenant, that every diplomat is equal parts charmer, and spy. They are here to learn as much as they can, not just to spin a good story and try to get us in bed with them. Politically speaking." Of course, some of them would try and  bed anything that walked. Diplomats, she thought with sheer hate. They never wanted to let her do her job, and always acted as if they were better than everyone else.

"So thank you, Mr. Hi'Jak," she proved then that she did know his name, having dragged it out of her memory at some point between being knocked down, and backing him up against the wall as she hissed in his ear,"for making their jobs that much easier."

Re: Starbase 84: Murder On 84

Reply #6 –
Lt JG Hi'Jak | Starbase 84 | Living Area ] Attn: @Brutus
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Jack could have put out that if he was listening to a public broadcast of a classified document it was either because it was leaked and the romulans would have already gotten it's contents, or because it was part of a disinformation campaign but he didn't open his mouth he was supposed to be a dumb scientist unaware of how spy networks often did their work. He just sat on the ground wide eyed as Komial completely ripped him out his ego, and found it oddly attractive to be talked down too. 'She's like a klingon in beautiful smooth skin.'

Of course he was pretty sure that if he actually said anything other than some sort of plea for mercy he would just wind up in worse trouble than he already was. "Sorry sir." He said quickly pulling off his comlink and starting to deprogram the thing to remove the FNN signal from his channels. "I will refrain from modifying my comlink in the future."

As she backed him against the wall he felt himself swallow slightly, she was whispering into his ear, and while most would have found this rather threatening he was just kinda hoping she was initiating a mating ritual, from the warmth and radiance of her anger he could admit he was a touch turned on. Of course he had to try to hide that fact, even if he couldn't hide the blush on his face. He hoped she thought it was just from the fact that she was emasculating him.

"Sorry, Ms Dotnhil, I'll be more vigiliant in the future." Although that did make him curious about the diplomats on the station. Maybe he should try to find some, talk to them, and see what they were willing to share. While diplomats were often spy's even spies could end up getting tripped up or letting down their guard if they thought they were talking to an average idiot with information to spill.

When the Lieutenant left him there, without another word, Jack cleared his throat, adjusted his trousers to hide the impact she'd had on him, and went about his duties - trying to disperse the thoughts of her.

- FIN
 
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