New Faces and Long Shadows

Posted on 15 Apr 2023 @ 12:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Derek Martin

795 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Deus ex Machina
Location: USS Cassiopeia / USS Odin
Timeline: Just prior to the mission and distress call

The convoy was glad to have the Odin back among her number. The mood lightened almost palpably aboard the USS Cassiopeia and people's shoulders began to relax. Derek noticed it almost immediately when the Captain broadcast the news. He watched out into the darkness of several ships in the distance moving through space in formation.

His commbadge chirped.

"Transporter Room One to Doctor Martin," came the page over the communicator.

He reached up and tapped the badge. "This is Martin. Go a'ead."

"Doctor, we're ready to transport you aboard to your new vessel at your convenience. Commander Ross wanted to say goodbye personally and he's on his way," the technician advised him.

Derek sighed a little bit and looked back out through the viewport. The vast blackness of space stretched beyond the convoy. It represented so many things to Derek. The past. The future. The immaterial boundary of the present that stretched between them.

"Doctor?" came the technician's voice again, snapping Derek out of his reverie.

"Yes, ta, I'll be down in a moment," Derek said and closed the channel with another tap of the badge.

Most of all, for Doctor Derek Andrew Martin, the darkness represented the silent void which was his mute confidant. His secrets were kept there. The darkness would never betray that.

===================/\===================

In transporter room one, his things, packed away in cargo containers, were sitting on the pad waiting for him.

The technician smiled. The Caitian Petty Officer gave him a simple quick nod.

"We're ready, and so is the Odin, Doctor," he said simply.

"But are we ready to lose you lad? That's the question," came the voice of the ship's executive officer: Commander Ethan Ross. Six feet and three inches of engineer somehow crammed into a red collared command uniform left little doubt where the grandfatherly old man would rather be. He'd trade meetings for wrenches and diplomacy for spanners any day of the week, and Derek knew it.

"Well it's not exactly a thing to argue with, now is it?" Derek asked. He and Ethan had bonded over a prescription. The old engineer faced a little stomach trouble and a nerve riddled constitution as the years crept up on him. Ethan asked about medications, supplements, the usual sort of thing a doctor would program into a replicator to ensure their patients were given proper nutrition in a holistic approach to treating a problem.

Derek simply shrugged and told him to come by in the evenings and bunk off at the end of shift and have a beer.

Ethan had been utterly shocked, but found his anxieties ebbing naturally as he took time to relax. He'd always been high strung, and Derek knew a simple bit of relaxing and de-stressing would help in the long term. A spring wound too tightly was liable to snap, and in Ethan's case, the Cassiopeia couldn't afford it.

Many an evening saw the two discussing family, friends, love, life, and old times. Mostly Derek simply listened and let Ethan ramble. Father of three. Widower and lover of only one woman, Derek was occasionally jealous when Ethan would mention his wife, but never let it show.

"I'm goin' to miss our evenings, friend," Ethan said, sticking out a giant paw of a hand.

Derek accepted it and shook it firmly.

"You'll be fine. Just find a friend, natter on, and enjoy a beer. You're a natural when it comes to bunkin' off, but I don't think you've ever applied yourself to it," Derek said simply.

Ethan nodded quietly and Derek favored his friend with a small half smile. It was the ghost of a smile and the phantom of happiness that crossed his features was gone almost as quickly as it came on.

The doctor stepped up onto the transport pad and nodded to the Caitian tech.

"Ready in 3..." he began.

"Goodbye Derek," Ethan said, hands behind his back as he fixed the doctor, his friend, with his best stoic look. Despite the attempt, the glint of friendship, of fond times, and of good memories glistened on the Commander's eyes.

"2..." the Caitian continued.

"Ta, Ethan, see you 'round eh?" Derek said with a quick and imperceptible nod.

"1... Energizing," the Caitian said. The distinctive hum and trill of the transporters enveloped Derek, and when his vision cleared, he stood aboard the USS Odin. His new home, his new assignment.

Without a friend aboard, perhaps, Derek thought, he could avoid such attachments here. Practice medicine, keep his friends down, and somewhere in the blackness of space, he'd be able to keep one step ahead of the secrets that pursued him.

He took his things and headed out of the transporter room as the security officer on duty handed him a berth assignment and welcomed him aboard.

 

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