Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
January 2, 2385 1311 hours
A full minute had gone by since the Torvalds had crossed the gateway and Jordyn Mormar was tense. No word back yet.
What had happened? What was the delay? Was Gateway Station still there? Would he be burying more family today? All these questions and more, no answers to satiate his active mind.
“Torvalds to Caesius,” a voice crackled in the comm speakers, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “You’re not going to believe this, but I’ve got an all-clear signal from Gateway Station’s beacon. Detecting no discernible Divine Alliance or other foreign power signatures, but I’ve got a lot of debris in the area.“
Jordyn audibly sighed in relief. “Understood, Torvalds,” he replied. “Give them any assistance required. I’ll call up some salvage ships as soon as possible.”
“General, I’m also being informed that Gateway Station is under a strict quarantine,” came the voice of Mills. The news of this latest development shocked Jordyn. “I’m in contact with the OIC right now, but all I got was there was a medical contagion on board that extended from before the attack to this moment. Sir, they’re requesting we shut down the gateway until they can give us the all-clear; they do not want to have this contagion spread to the Milky Way.”
“Understood,” Jordyn replied. “We await your signal. Caesius out.”
The line was cut and the image of the gateway showed that the pool reflecting the image from the other side wavered and disappeared into nothingness. Jordyn relaxed his posture in the standing position he had assumed during this tense time, then reached over to his desk and hit a button. “Princeton, get me a list of medical and salvage ships in the area, on the double,” he ordered. “And send a thank you note to Colonel Worth for me for the use of the runabout.”
“Yes, sir.”
Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
January 2, 2385 2045 hours
“Sir?” Keri Princeton said from the doorway of the office. There had not been a response to any of the pages from the overhead comm system, so Keri had come to the doorway and was gently edging her way in to the form of General Mormar, whom had finally collapsed onto the couch within his office and was peacefully snoring.
“Sir?” she repeated as she edged closer, unsure of the proper protocol for waking a flag officer in his office. “General Mormar?”She had approached him and was standing directly at the foot of the couch, but he still had not given any signs he was awake.
Keri eventually just left the PADD on the table in front of the couch. Just as she was turning to leave, Jordyn said, “Crewman, what are you doing sneaking around my office?”
The sound of his voice made her jump and turn around quickly, bumping into the coffee table as she turned. “My apologies, sir!” she blurted out. “I’ve been trying to contact you over the comm for the past twenty minutes, but you haven’t responded, so I checked in with the transport that brought you here and they reported that you hadn’t slept for at least thirty hours and I thought you may have crashed out on the couch or worse on your desk and I-”
“Crewman,” he said, cutting her off as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. “You talk too much.”
“Sorry, sir,” she replied.
“So what was it that was so important?” Jordyn yawned.
“Gateway Station has made contact again,” Keri replied.
Jordyn blinked and focused in. “Indeed. Status?”
“The quarantine has ended and the station is reporting a release of both Starfleet and civilian traffic as free and clear. They have contained the contagion and located the sources of infection.” Keri paused. “It came from a diplomatic convoy from a species called the Al’Sazella.”
“I remember reading up on them,” Jordyn said.
“The OIC promised a full report within the hour,” Keri said. She nodded toward the PADD on the table. “A casualty report list is right there, but I figure I should be the first one to mention: Marshal Bryce is dead.”
“What?!?” Jordyn exclaimed. “How?”
Keri hesitated, then spoke again. “Reports show that he was trying to defect over to the Divine Alliance and was slain by one of their boarding party leaders, whom in turn defected over to us.”
Jordyn blinked, then groaned. “Oh, I get to have words with Fleet Admiral Neychayev. She’s going to have a field day with the Marines once she hears about the top Marine in Starfleet being a defector… get me a channel to Earth. I’m going to have to wake her up and tell her myself.” He sighed. “I’m just glad I got that nap in. It’s going to be one long night.”
Gateway Station, Medical Center
January 2, 2385 2210 hours
“Colonel Krezek?”
The sound of the voice of the medical officer shook Kiara out of her silent observation through the transparent aluminum of the observation area of Captain Krezek… Toran, her brother. She turned her head, her blonde locks spilling over her shoulder and her deep blue eyes focusing. “Yes?” she said.
“Colonel, you have an incoming comm signal from a Major General Mormar. He’s requesting a status report.”
Kiara swallowed hard. “Is there any place where I can have a private conversation with the General in here?” she asked.
The medical officer gestured towards the back office, and Kiara nodded then headed off to the private office. She touched a screen on the desk and said, “Colonel Krezek to Ops. Route comm signal from General Mormar down to this terminal.” A few seconds later, and she was faced with the pleasant face of Mormar. “General.”
“Report, Marine,” he barked.
“The three Divine ships have been destroyed,” Kiara reported, stiffening at the tone of the older man. “Captain Krezek is still affected by the condition he is in. The treatment devised by the doctors here is effective on everyone except to- um… Captain Krezek.”
The person on the screen sighed. “His condition is irreversible?” he confirmed.
“Yes, sir,” Kiara replied.
“Damn.” Mormar’s face dropped a bit. “My first day on the job, and I have to look for a replacement for him already.“
Kiara was taken aback by his tone. “Permission to speak freely, sir,” she said.
“Granted,” Mormar replied.
“Uncle Jordyn, he’s family.”
Mormar blinked. “Kiara, I’ve known him longer than you’ve been alive. I know he’s got a very serious condition and my heart goes out to him as part of his family. However… me stopping everything because of this isn’t going to help Toran. He wouldn’t want that.“
Kiara nodded. “It’s just… been hard,” she said. “Annika’s a wreck. His girlfriend seems to be taking it pretty hard, and she’s pregnant with his child.”
“Pregnant?” Mormar repeated. “I did not know.“
“We found out about the same time as the attack started; there wasn’t a lot of time to send out notifications.”
Mormar thought for a second, then there was a light on his face. “Kiara, I want you to exactly describe to me his condition, his powers, everything.“
Kiara listed off everything she knew about his condition from the briefings she had received from the doctors and what she had observed, as quickly and concisely as she could, Mormar nodding as she gave over the information. He was taking some notes down on a PADD, and when she finished, he was still jotting notes down with the stylus. Once he finished, he looked up. “Kiara, I need to ask you: are you ready for your own command?“
“…what?” Kiara said, dumbfounded at the news. “Command?”
“Yes,” Mormar replied. “You have the experience to command a base. There’s a sizable Marine contingent on Gateway, so it makes sense. You’ve got the training. You’ve got experience with that whole Morning Glory Outpost thing. But there’s one other thing you’re going to have to do, if you do accept…“
Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
January 3, 2385 0836 hours
Jordyn still had not left his office since he got there.
“Living quarters”. The thought that he had been assigned living quarters on the base as well as his office was laughable. Though he was perfectly entitled to a nice set of quarters, Jordyn had the suspicion he would not be utilizing them much. He was a workaholic; he knew it and most of his ex-wives knew it too. Having enough time for life and a family… it just did not compute for him. Happiness was reserved for Joe Citizen out on one of the colonies, not for the tired old soldier who had spent his life defending Joe Citizen’s right to enjoy his life.
“General Mormar,” Keri’s voice came over the comm link. “The Torvalds just returned back to the hangar. Captain Krezek and company are aboard.“
“Thank you, Crewman,” Jordyn replied. “I’ll meet them over at the medical building.”
