They have come home

Posted on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 @ 11:18am by Major Alexandria Somers

Mission: A Day in the Life
Location: Sol - Earth/Various
Timeline: Over 22 years prior to current year.

NOTE: This takes place over 22 years ago Sim time, 7 years ago in RL

[ON]

Stardate: 237011.21 0600 hrs

The shuttle carrying the assault team arrived back on earth at the San Francisco flight pan, the story that was put out was that the team had been assembled to take out an extremely hostile Orion slaver cell, that morning the FNS was there filming the shuttle landing, the assault teams families were also there watching as the shuttle landed and went into safe mode before the ramp was lowered.

In the crowd were Alex’s older brother John Somers a Lieutenant who was on leave from Starfleet Engineering. To their right was Mary and Wayne Graves and their eldest child, Mary Graves was chatting away to John Somers when they heard the Federation News Service announce the ramp opening, all looked and out came sombre looking marines, then behind the first four came Alex, she had stuck her head out, scanned the crowd and upon seeing Annabel’s parents and brother hung her head in sorrow, as she popped back in and led out a simple old fashioned wooden coffin and walked down the ramp another marine was holding the front of the coffin with yet another marine holding the back, on top of the coffin was a Marine combat helmet and a unit badge along with a Commando knife, a throwback, but recently standard issue, she and the other marine headed towards the Graves family the FNS following the events, as they closed the gap both came to a stop and gently lowered the casket and Alex walked close to the family and pulled something out of her belt pouch.

In the front of the crowd the Graves family looked up with the rest as it was announced that the ramp was lowering, Mary saw four Marines lead the way then a familiar face popped her head out, she had met Alex some time ago on leave she and her daughter had, her hopes rose upon seeing the Red head, their eyes locked for a moment and the girl hung her head in sorrow, Mary inhaled afraid of what was to come, her husband gripped her shoulders a little tighter as he too tensed. After briefly popping back into the shuttle Alex walked down the ramp, like all the disembarking marines, she wore the current Starfleet duty uniform, black shoes, trousers, and a black overtunic with grey shoulder pads, her shirt was green and she wore Corporal bars on the collar, the other marines also displayed their ranks in such a fashion. As she advanced forward a male marine with a Lance Corporal rank walked down the ramp carrying a plain wooden coffin, that had a marine combat helmet on top, a unit badge and a marine combat knife, then the second marine another Lance Corporal held the rear of the coffin, with a sad look on the face of Alex both Mary and Wayne knew who was in the coffin and both broke down in tears.

Alex closed the space and stopped, this signalled for the marine carrying the casket to gently rest it on the floor as she approached them. She looked at her brother who looked sad, but remained silent; she took out something from her belt pouch and came to a halt in front of Mary and Wayne.

“Mr and Mrs Graves, it is my sad duty to notify you that your daughter fell in the line of duty, she always carried this with her,” Alex said and placed a necklace in Mary’s hand and closed her fist.

Mary opened her hand and looked at a pure gold four leaf Clover necklace, the woman looked up tears streaming from her eyes “Annie always said it held a special place in her heart and that it always brought her comfort and joy, before we went on mission she asked me to return this to you, should she fall in action, I take my duty very seriously” Somers said and was momentarily surprised when Mary threw her arms around her and hugged her, up until this moment Alex was stoic, returning the embrace she too joined in the tear fest.

After a moment Mary broke the embrace “Thank you for bringing her back home Alexandria, can we take her belongings home?” Mary asked referring to the stuff on the coffin. Alex looked back at the coffin “I do not see the problem; one of the Lance Corporals gathered the items and brought them forward and handed them to Wayne, both nodded their thanks. “Starfleet Marine High Command will let you know when the funeral is,” Alex said, the tearful parents nodded and after Alex getting a hug from their son the family left to grieve. When they were gone she looked at her older brother “go tell papa I will be home later” she said to her brother who simply nodded and left. “Okay you two let’s get the coffin to headquarters,” Somers said and the marines once again picked up the casket and followed Alex to a hover truck where they put the casket in and then climbed into the truck behind it and the vehicle sped off.

That same day at 0700 hours, Alex was in one of the few remaining seedier areas on earth, she was in a bar that served the real deal alcohol. Alex was knocking back the Andorian Ale, when she finished the bottle she called the bartender over “I want a bottle of Romulan Ale, I know you have some in stock” she said, the bartender was hesitant as she was still in her uniform. If not for her green shirt, the bar would have emptied long ago, but she had been to this bar enough times in her uniform, so the regulars knew her. “It is expensive” he said, she replied by dropping a lot of Latinum onto the table, bring me a bottle of your best Bloodwine too” Somers said she looked at the Bartender, he had a scarred face and she knew he too was former military, he had sustained his injuries during the Dominion War and had left the service when it ended. “Tell me barkeep, when will the pain end, I keep drinking, but the pain is still there?” she asked “what pain?” he asked “Loss” she simply said, he now knew why she wanted to get drunk “I could spout all the nice platitudes, but you strike me as someone who prefers reality *pause* I cannot tell you it will go away, I can only tell you that it will get easier, as long as you take your loss and make it a strength, but most of all you grieve and move on, I Will get you those bottles now” he said pocketing the Latinum strips and leaving her to finish the drink she already had.

From the other side of the room hidden by a hood was a figure whose face was hidden and all that could be seen was her red glowing eyes that drank in moderation. She was looking at the drunken form of Alex via infrared vision, there were parts of her body that got redder and parts then became room temperature, she watched as the woman placed a lot of Latinum on the table as she talked to the barkeep, at this moment she put her special glasses on, she wanted to see her quarry in normal vision. The barkeep had returned with two bottles, Somers opened the green bottle and poured a glass and knocked it back, this was followed by another until the bottle was empty, then she opened the Bloodwine and began to drink that. The hooded figure was amazed that someone with such a small frame could hold so much strong alcohol, the girl looked tipsy, but the hooded figure knew her coordination was shot, holding ones drink was one thing, holding it and having perfect coordination was another. The hooded figure pulled out a Communications Padd and connected to the person who asked the person to keep an eye on his daughter.

“Ambassador Somers, this is S’arila, I have located your daughter,” the person said, “how is she S’arila?” Samuel Somers asked. “for someone so small in stature she can certainly pack down a lot of strong drink, never seen a human put away so much before and remain upright,” S’arila said she heard Samuel sigh “what has she been drinking S’arila?” he asked. “Let’s see, she knocked back four full bottles of Andorian Ale, then she knocked back a bottle of Romulan Ale and now she is finishing off a bottle of Bloodwine” S’arila said and on the visual device Sam saw the woman look up as if something had caught her attention “I will make sure she arrives home asap, right after I stop her getting whupped upside the head, S’arila out” she said and placing a strip of Latinum on the table for her drink S’arila stood up and slowly made her way to Alex’s table she noted those to her left and right looked afraid as the hooded figure stood up to her full Seven foot in height.

Alex had just finished off the Bloodwine when she felt her limbs begin to relax and four burly guys stood over her “hey Meng look what we have here, we got us a real life Starfleet marine, drunk no less, she is easy on the eyes too” the first burly guy said “I know Jim, she may be enlisted, but her breeding is upper class, no amount of training can rid someone of that” the second guy said, Alex looked up, despite her relaxing limbs and her drunk demeanour she spoke as if she was more sober than she really was “hey boy, what can I do for you, I will have you know that I am a highly trained combat vet” she said with a drunk smile “oh yeah! Little Lady, why don’t you come with us and we will show you a good time” Meng said.

Standing shakily to her feet “no, no, no boys you are not my type and I am not drunk enough to even consider you worthy” Alex said and found herself picked up by her collar “not your type eh!... Aiiiiieeeee” Meng exclaimed as he went flying, as he sat up he was trying to figure out how a drunken human managed to break free from his grip and thrown him away, he looked at her standing there swaying as if being blown by a gently breeze, she took down Jim too, but the third guy punched her to the floor and he and the fourth guy began beating her and kicking her, she was now weeping, this is where S’arila jumped in. The first time the bullies who were kicking Alex knew another was behind them was when they joined Meng on the floor, they looked up dazed. In the immediate area was a busted table, the hooded figure whipped her hooded cloak off and placed it gently over the unconscious Alex and took off her glasses, she had been told she looked scary without her glasses. S’arila dragged the other guy so he was besides his companions. By this time the bar had fallen silent as all in the bar were watching four bullies getting the snot kicked out of them, by a very tall female with red eyes and some kind of mark between them.

This tall woman was wearing the same type of uniform Alex was, the one difference was she was a Major who looked down at the bullies “If I ever see you sorry excuses for humanoids again, I will do more than just rough you up, do I make myself understood?” S’arila asked, Meng was still looking defiant and he stood up in a threatening manner and S’arila knocked him flat on his rump again with a broken nose the others simply nodded and picked themselves up “take your sorry excuse for a humanoid with you too” S’arila said indicating Meng. The bullies did as told and left as quickly as they could, S’arila tossed the barkeep some Latinum strips “that should cover the damages Dave” she said and walked over to get her Padd and returned it to her leg pouch “thanks S’arila, I hope she survives the pain that brought her here” Dave the barkeep said, S’arila looked at him and smiled “she reminds me of someone else I used to know, she will survive and become stronger for it” S’arila said and gently picked up the unconscious Alex and left the bar, as S’arila headed for the neared public transporter she looked down at the battered form of Alex “I could not save you in my reality, but I hope I have made up for it some in this reality” she said and entered the nearest public transporter and typed in the destination of the Somers residence.

[OFF]

Major Alexandria Somers
G Company Commander 'Omega'
14th Marine Btn SFMC
Starbase 332