Remember What We're Fighting For
Posted on Tue Apr 14th, 2015 @ 5:30pm by Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Isaac Dewitt & Lieutenant Dave Marz
Mission:
Ill Tidings
Location: Promenade, Memorial Wall
It was never easy coming down here, to the Memorial Wall. It very nearly gave Liarra chills every time. If anyone truly knew what she was feeling, they would know that she often swore that she saw ghosts, or heard voices and children's laughter. Of course that was all in her head, but sometimes she wondered if the names on this wall, the people those names belonged to, were still trying to speak to her.
It had been about a year since the attack, and Von was convinced that not even time could heal all wounds. She came down to the Memorial at least once a month, if for nothing else just to remind herself why she was fighting. Some people may feel that 13,159 people could be considered a statistic. But those people had names, they had lives. And every single one of them had been cut short by a selfish act. She had promised herself a year ago that she would continue to fight for their legacy.
It was her friend and mentor's name that bothered her the most. Even a year later, it was often hard for her to wrap her head around him being gone. For someone who had already lived through so many lifetimes, one would think that she would be more used to death. But Liarra Von would never get used to death, and for someone who had lost both her mother and her dearest friend, it was something that she was reminded of constantly.
Lieutenant Marz tried to swallow back the frog in his throat as he neared the memorial wall. Intellectually, he knew to expect to see it. The lost had to be honored, but seeing the names always added a gravity that a number on news reports couldn't capture. He walked up to the captain, snapping to attention, the padd with his transfer orders held to his side. "Lieutenant Dave Marz reporting as ordered, Captain."
Von turned to greet the newcomer, mustering a smile as she did so. "Lieutenant Marz, welcome. I'm Captain Von." The Trill extended her hand to the engineer.
Marz shook the offered, returning the smile.
Dewitt paced stiffly towards the memorial wall for his first meeting with his new commanding officer. The wall had space for each of those lost in the explosion and a lot of people had died. He could see the captain ahead of him, standing next to another officer in engineering attire. Approaching, he stopped swiftly and clicked his boots against the floor. “Lieutenant Commander Isaac Dewitt, Ma'am”
Von was glad to see that both of her new officers were punctual. "Welcome aboard, Commander," she said to the new chief of security as she offered her hand. "I hope you both forgive me for making this our meeting place. It's nice to get out of my office for a change, though I must admit that coming here probably isn't the most welcoming place to meet." She gestured to the massive wall of names behind her. "But I still thought it would be good for you both to see it."
Marz looked past the captain, back at the memorial. He had his thoughts on her decision to meet her, but mentioning what a commanding officer might be thinking was a good way to find yourself scrubbing Jeffries Tubes. "It is a fine memorial." He finally said, as reverently as he could manage.
Liarra followed Marz's eyes back to the wall, though her eyes went where they always went, to Gunning's name. "They deserve better," she muttered under her breath. Her expression changed from somber to stoic. "But I didn't ask you to meet me here just as a moment of reverence. No doubt both of you have already read the reports on our situation. Repairs are going well, but there are always delays of various sorts. And thanks to the Sojourners setting off their bomb, we've needed security to be tight. Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of support from Earth out here. We don't even get that much help from Cestus. For some reason the rest of the fleet isn't too worried about our situation on the edge of Sojourner and Ritorian controlled territory. We have to make due with the standard resupplies, and my requests for additional manpower has been repeatedly rejected. I know it's a lot to ask for, but I need to know that you gentlemen are up to the challenge."
Marz lifted the PADD he had brought, and pressed a few buttons, changing the display. "I reviewed the logs for the last couple of months on the trip here, Captain. I've noted some ways I think we can stretch the supplies to get a little more bang for our buck." He held the PADD out for Von to look over. "I'll be able to be more specific once I've met my staff and get a full inventory checklist."
“Tightening of belts has always gone hand-in-hand with conflict, Captain. I'm sure we'll both be able to do more if we're creative with what we've got.” Dewitt glanced from the Captain to Marz and then back again, trying to gain an impression of his fellow officers.
"Great. I'm glad to hear it. As far as repairs go, we've been prioritizing main systems and getting the superstructure back to as good as new. We do have some construction ships that have been making it a bit easier on us, but they can only do so much. On the security side of things, we've been using our marine garrison in conjunction with the standard security forces. It's not a solution I like, but at least we've been keeping the marine patrols out of the civilian areas. You've got good officer, Commander. They just need a strong leader."
Marz nodded. "The work done so far with limited supplies does your engineers credit. I can only hope to be as good a chief for them."
Von nodded along. "I'm sure you will be. I know most young officers dream of of being on a starship and exploring the galaxy, but the starbase crews are the unsung heroes of Starfleet. Someone has to keep all those ships running when they come in for maintenance."
“Not to mention keeping the ships and their personnel safe while they're in dock.” Dewitt nodded at the memorial wall. “Making sure that something like this never happens again is top of my priority list. Do we have any intelligence on the present threat level from the Sojourners?”
Liarra gave a noncommittal look. "Some. Intelligence hasn't exactly been easy to come by. Vaishaa, the Sojourner leader, has a pretty impressive counterintelligence network. We don't have anything that suggests another attack like this one, but that doesn't mean that we should let up. Lately they've been focusing on some of the local independent systems, which led to a recent influx of refugees, many of them still in camps on Archa IV. Believe me, the Archan government isn't exactly happy with me over that one, but the station simply couldn't support them. I've made it a habit to keep up with any new Sojourner intelligence, and you can bet that I'll share anything I can with you during our security briefings."
Marz watched the back and forth, making mental notes. One of the things he had noted with the engineers he had served under was that they would pay very close attention to the security briefings they were able to attend. It would occasionally give them a leg up on what they needed to prepare for in the near future.
"Alright, I'm sure you both still have a lot to do to get settled in," Von replied. "I don't want to keep you from that. Do you either of you have any questions?"
“No, sir. Sounds like we'll have plenty to keep us busy.” Dewitt intoned, just about keeping his tone on the correct side of “understatement”.
"Not at the moment, Captain. That'll likely change after I get more hands-on, though." Marz said, wondering what he would learn about the Starbase's personality.
"Then I'll let you get to it." Von shook the hands of both of her new officers. "Welcome aboard, both of you."
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
Lt. Commander Isaac Dewitt
Chief of Security
Starbase 332
Lieutenant Dave Marz
Chief Engineer
Starbase 332
