BACKPOST: An Unexpected Friendship

Posted on 06 Sep 2022 @ 2:10am by Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant JG Christina Hartley

1,281 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Bajor
Timeline: 2380 - 20 years ago

ON
Bajor

William Hartley was in both a bad mood. He had been annoyed since he had been assigned idiots in his new engineering team, and that was being kind. The ones fresh from the academy, he was being patient with, since they were new to the job.

But six of his team were veterans, and making mistakes that cadets made. He looked at them, or rather, he glared at them.

"If it wasn't for the fact that we're behind on our work right now, I'd be shipping each of you back to Earth!" William snapped angrily. "If any of you cause even one more screw up, I don't give a rat's ass how busy we are, I'll send you into Bajor's Sun! Now get the hell out of my sight and get those bloody supplies sorted, because if I get hell from anyone for the delay, I swear each of you will be scrubbing every toilet on Bajor with toothbrushes!" William said loudly, his anger getting the better of him.

As the officers left, quickly, William was glad that Amanda, Chris, and Amy were arriving at Bajor within the hour. He had missed them in the last four months, and Amanda had taken a leave of absence to take the kids on a field trip to Bajor, to see the sights, and to see their father.

He became aware of a Starfleet officer approaching him, and he recognised him immediately: It was Lt. Commander Bane Plase, the current acting CO of the... what ship was it... The Pegasus D, that was it.

He knew that a large portion of the delayed supplies were meant to be headed to the Pegasus. William sighed as he approached the man.

"Commander Bane, if you're here about the supplies, I'm sorry, we've been having delay issues, but I've got my people on it. You'll have them in two days, at the latest," William said wearily, expecting the man to be annoyed. He couldn't blame him; the Pegasus was meant to be on an exploratory mission, and the delay would be holding them up.

Bane, for his part, was taken aback for the sudden greeting. He knew humans were often apologetic and sometimes over-explained themselves (Captain Montgomery being the exception to this, as far as he knew), but this man exceeded that. Bane was also relieved; he was about to tell Mr. Hartley that there was a two-day delay in getting underway, as the Pegasus needed a few repairs at Deep Space 9 prior to heading out. "Uh, think nothing of it, sir.," Bane said. "The navigational deflector on my ship has been having some intermittent issues that Lieutenant Sanehouse, that is, my Chief Engineer, couldn't fix without drydock, so you have time."

William let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that makes my day a little better, I won't lie, so I might send a thank you card to Lt. Sanehouse," William said. "I've had to deal with idiots who keep screwing up, messing the paperwork up, sending the wrong supplies to ships, so I had to deal with the USS Venture having extra warp plasma coils, and the USS Antares needing to be towed to spacedock because their plasma coil supplies ran out and their warp engines went down," William explained, as he walked to more supplies with Bane.

Falling in stride with the Senior Engineer, Bane nodded and hummed appropriately, though inwardly he could not imagine how upset he, or his Chief Engineer would be should they ever run out of supplies and they be dead in space. "I cannot imagine the crushing pressure you are under, Commander Hartley. I imagine Starfleet Corps of Engineers is coming down on you pretty hard for the Antares." He switched gears before the senior officer could answer. "Do you think these logistical issues will continue? I am sure I could send Lieutenant Periera down to help get you situated and running smooth. He is a wizard when it comes to Logistics."

"Honestly, if you can spare him for a few days, that would help a lot. I've already received messages of complaints from the Antares, from Starfleet Command, and from the Venture, so I'll take any help right now. The worst part is I didn't pick this team, I took it over after the last senior engineer transferred out, and now I see why. On top of that, my wife, my son and my daughter are arriving shortly, and I'm having less time with them than I'd like," William said. "I should have taken that ship assignment, but my kids need to be on Earth for their education."

Bane had a moment of extreme guilt. Just yesterday, he and his wife, Suzette, were talking about having children and settling down, either here on Bajor, or back on Earth. She was from France, and it was every bit as lovely there as it was here on Bajor. At least, the parts that weren't strip-mined or over-harvested into a dust-bowl. Bane could understand the man's feelings. "For sure I will send him down. I can also send down several of my Operations crew. They will be a little put out about losing their shoreleave time, but I will make it up to them. That way, you can get to see your family while they are here. Do you have a tour guide, or somewhere specific you all were wanting to see?"

William allowed a small smile. "Nothing specific, but it's the first time my kids have been off world, so Amanda wanted to show them some of the sights. She's an engineer, but she also minors in the sciences, specifically anthropology," William explained. "I really appreciate the offer, Commander. It's actually going to make my blood pressure go down a lot."

Bane smiled, happy to help out. He hadn't intended on taking any shoreleave, but knew Lieutenant Commander Mason, his Acting Executive Officer, would be up to the task in overseeing the repair and overhaul at the station. Plus, Colonel Kira had stated she would see to it that her new Chief of Operations would assist, so he wasn't needed. "It's honestly my pleasure. I think I know exactly the kind of places you guys would thoroughly enjoy. If you will excuse me, I need to call my ship and let them know I will be away for a few more days," he said.

"That would be wonderful, thank you so much," William said, smiling as his PaDD beeped. He checked it, his smile growing. "And my family just arrived."

"Mmhm," Bane said, right as he tapped his commbadge. "Commander Bane to Shuttlecraft Nile." Bane knew he was at the extreme edge of range that his commbadge would work.

=/\=Shuttlecraft Nile, go ahead, Commander.=/\= It was Ensign Chell, the Senior Auxiliary Pilot assigned to the Pegasus.

"Ensign, you can go ahead and head back to the Pegaus and start your Shoreleave. Please inform Commander Mason that I'll be staying on Bajor for a few days, and he has command."

=/\= Roger that, sir. Have fun. Shuttlecraft Nile out.=/\=

Looking back at the Engineer, Bane said, "I'm all yours for the next three days."

"Well then, let's go and meet the family," William said. "Chris is going to be quite the prodigy, he loves asking questions about engineering," William explained, leaving the area with Bane, feeling better for the first time in days, now he'd made a new friend.


OFF

A JP between:

William Hartley, Commander
Starfleet Core of Engineers, Senior Team Leader
(As played by Christina Hartley)

&

Bane Plase, Lieutenant Commander
USS Pegasus-D, Commanding (Acting)

 

RSS Feed