What You've Been Looking For

Posted on Thu Jan 9th, 2014 @ 10:20am by Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Augustus Deakin

Mission: Fate of the Angels
Location: USS Beyla, Mess Hall
Timeline: MD01 - 1434hrs.

OOC: Happy to start it up.

[ON]

"Computer, locate Commander Gunning," Gus asked after he finished his watch on the bridge.

"Commander Gunning is in the Mess Hall," came the artificial reply of the ship's computer. Gus had missed that monotonous droning during his time out of the service.

It took him almost three minutes to walk to the Mess - a definite advantage of such a tiny ship. The computer hadn't lied, there was Gunning at one of the little metal tables, sipping out of a small glass and reading a PADD.

"How are we looking, skipper?" he said as he headed for one of the replicators in the wall to order up a nice cold beer.

"You know, I'd never realised how dull it was to have a ship flying on autopilot that barely needs you to function." He replied, looking up from his PADD. The Beyla had been flying under her own control for four and a half hours and Gus' presence in the Mess meant that it must have been Drayel's watch. Price was no doubt tinkering in the Engineering bay. "Makes drinking seem like the only option. How was it on the bridge?"

Gus smiled. "Put it this way, do you know the difference between watching a starscape streak past at warp speed and watching grass grow?"

Gunning raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Nothing," he replied. "Absolutely nothing; they're both as boring as each other. But, we signed up to make a living in space and as one my Academy instructors warned us: 'space travel is filled with hundreds of hours of ... boredom.'"

"Could be worse. You could be locking horns with O'Donnell on the station." Gunning chuckled. "The security feed keeps throwing up warnings every time the pair of you get within two decks of one another."

"Yeah, well, he started it," Gus said. The feud between the Chief Operations Officer and the Chief Engineer seemed to be the talk of the station. Was it even a feud? No, not a feud. More of a mutual intense disliking. "And it's not like I'm complaining about getting away for a few days."

"Well, that's the solution isn't it?" Gunning chuckled as he swirled the dark liquid in the bottom of the glass. "Run away from your problems."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, big guy," Gus said, then quickly moved to change the subject. "Hey, I came here to talk to you about something. I found a couple of Ferengi to run your bar."

Gunning almost baulked as he drained the glass. "Oh, christ Gus. I was only joking when I said I might need to find some Ferengi I was just taking the piss."

Gus couldn't help but smile as he reflected on what must now go down as some turbulence on his re-entry into civilised life. Of course Gunning was taking the piss! How did he not realise that? On the other hand, was it really so bad? He did have a couple of pliable Ferengi he could keep on a leash.

He thought for a second and then tapped on the table, leaning in closer, "I wasn't taking the piss when I said to make sure you hire Ferengi that you have some leverage over," he said then leaned back with a satisfied grin.

"You're not joking, are you?" Jordan replied. He had nothing against Ferengi but the idea of constantly having to constantly keep an eye on them to ensure that they weren't diddling the books filled him with dread.

The big operations officer shook his head, "Dead serious, mate. Trust me, these guys are just perfect for the job." He counted out on his fingers, "One, they're desperate for work. Two, they're not half as bright as they think they are - even the smart one. And three, we have solid leverage over them. Or at least I do."

"What's the leverage?" Gunning asked and instantly regretted it.

Gus had already gamed out this part in his head while he was on watch. He was in the unenviable position of not being able to explain everything, yet there was no way Jordan would be satisfied with a simple 'trust me'. How was he supposed to do that? It had bothered him for some time, even before his stumbled on the Ferengi in the cargo bay. It was a problem he had to face sooner or later when people started asking about where he'd been for the past seven years.

He asked himself, what would a real deep cover intelligence agent do when confronted with these questions after they surfaced? They certainly wouldn't talk about it. They would evade if they could, but if they were pressed, they would just be honest; not allowed to talk about it. That was how Gus decided to handle it. Now he would find out, how that played out in real life.

He allowed a moment of silence to linger between them a moment, broken only by the light tapping of his fingertip on the tabletop. "Have you seen my service record?"

Gunning offered only a nonchalant shrug. He had seen enough to know that parts of the record were locked above even Captain Von's clearance.

"Then you will have noticed a large chunk of the last few years has been redacted," Gus said, looking around the mess to make sure they were still alone. "I can't talk about it. But these two Ferengi recognised me from, let's call it a past life. I know enough about them to get them into trouble with the wrong people and they don't want that to happen."

"You'd do that, huh?" Jordan asked with a hint of surprise. He wouldn't have put it past the Lieutenant but didn't fancy the idea of the 'wrong people' turning up at his door.

"Between you and me, I would never actually follow through on this threat," Gus continued, "but they don't know that. I actually kind of like them - they make me laugh. Plus, they know how to run a pub."

"Make you laugh?" Gunning raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure giving a percentage of the profits to a couple of clowns is really the best approach."

"Clearly you've never run a business before," Gus retorted. "I meant ... I meant they amuse me, not that they crack jokes. Believe me, I don't even know if Venin is capable of laughter. But that's beside the point. The opportunity is solid. They do know their way around a business and we have leverage. Plus ..." he shifted, feeling suddenly uncomfortable and vulnerable. He hated that.

"Plus?"

"They recognised me," he said quietly, again making sure nobody was around to hear. "They know where I am. If I know where they are ..." He didn't finish that sentence, trusting that his meaning was imparted without having to utter the words.

"We'll meet with them when we get back to the station. They're certainly the best candidates so far." The Commander mused, knowing that Deakin was the closest thing he had to a friend on the station. "Best and only candidates."

[OFF]

Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Augustus Deakin
Chief Operations Officer
Starbase 332