Chapter 6 - Friday, 27 December 2377
The Executive Officer of the U.S.S. Chamberlain walked through the entrance of the small drinking establishment The Wild Gander and took a moment to look around the dimly lit bar with its series of tightly arranged tables. Lak Negev's antennae twitched ever so slightly as he looked for those he had agreed to meet. Not finding them, the Andorian strolled toward the long bar where only five people sat on stools imbibing whatever strange concoctions gave them some peace.
Negev leaned up against the bar and asked the Tellarite behind it if those he was meeting had arrived. The snout-nosed bartender simply shook his head and returned to serving a drink to a man seated a few feet away from Negev.
"What brings you here, Mr. Negev?"
The Andorian turned and saw Duncan Zachary smiling next to him. "Mr. Zachary, are you waiting for McGuire and the others?"
"I'm afraid not. I just came by here to relax. This place is always quiet this time of the evening."
Negev nodded and hesitated as he considered a course of action. Finally he looked at Zachary. "We were meeting here to welcome back Paul Falco. The Abdiel just returned and Lee McGuire thought of getting together a few of the officers from the Chamberlain to celebrate. You're welcome to join us."
Zachary took a drink from his glass and forced a smile. "Actually I think I might enjoy that."
Negev pointed toward a table near a window and Zachary stood to his feet and walked through the bar toward it as the Executive Officer followed. The two officers sat down and Negev waved a waitress over and ordered his own refreshment.
After the woman left, Negev turned to Zachary. "I think the others were planning on getting something to eat, but I'm not that well informed about human foods. Do you have any suggestions?"
Duncan pulled a menu from its holder on the table and glanced at the overly colorful display of items. "I'm not certain what McGuire might have in mind, but usually for occasions like this its hard to go wrong with some sort of pizza."
Negev looked at the menu. "I'll leave it to you then."
The waitress returned with Negev's drink, a thick bright red liquid. Zachary looked up at her and ordered two large pepperoni pizzas with extra cheese. Negev hoped he was doing the right thing leaving this to the Science Officer.
A few moments later the Andorian took a small drink from his glass and smiled. "From what Mr. McGuire has told me this is Falco's favorite bar in Federation territory."
Zachary raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have thought a quiet place would appeal to Falco's personality."
A loud commotion at the front door of the bar caused both of them to turn that direction. Lee McGuire led a group of Starfleet officers which included Doctor Taylor Preston, the green-skinned M'naran Akala Wilmarza, the red-haired Cynthia Pederson, and the stocky Paul Falco. Arm in arm with Falco was a beautiful dark-skinned woman with piercing eyes, Commander Tamika Hayden. McGuire noticed Negev and the group walked over to the table he and Zachary sat at.
Lee smiled as Falco yelled at him. "Total incompetence, McGuire, pure and simple!"
McGuire pointed to Negev as the others spread out around the table. "Here's the one you should complain to, Paul."
"What about?" Lak Negev asked.
Falco and Hayden sat down next to each other as everyone else took their seats. "I'll tell you what about. I barrel-ass my way back to Federation space to meet back up with you losers and what kind of greeting do I get?"
Falco let that hang a moment in the air as Pederson and Wilmarza smiled. "I'll tell you," Paul Falco continued. "The main bay is in such a mess that I can't berth my ship. And now McGuire tries to tell me there's nothing he can do about it."
Lee leaned forward. "Explain it to him, Lak."
Negev grinned as the waitress returned to take orders for drinks from the new arrivals. "I'm afraid I can't help you, Lee. I'm on shore leave. I'm not in charge of the repairs aboard the Chamberlain."
"But you're the Exec. That's your job," Lee stated.
"Not this time. Melissa Vargas volunteered to take charge of the repairs."
McGuire rolled his eyes. "There's the explanation right there."
Cynthia Pederson turned to Negev. "Why'd Melissa volunteer? I'd have thought she'd be looking forward to some shore leave."
Negev tilted his head slightly. "So would I, but she went to the captain a full day before we arrived and offered to do it. It worked out well for me. I had some family business to attend to last night."
Falco grinned as he watched McGuire sigh. "You got something against Vargas, Lee?"
Pederson, Akala, and Preston all glanced over at McGuire. They knew what had happened five weeks earlier between Lee and Melissa.
"Let's just say we don't get along," Lee stated.
"I'd think she was about your type, McGuire," Falco started. "Ambitious and blonde."
Lee started to get angry, but quickly forced himself to let it go. A smile came to his face. "You ever try having sex with a Vulcan?"
Falco smirked. "Not recently."
"It's not near as much fun as you might think," Lee said.
Cynthia Pederson and Akala Wilmarza frowned. They both considered Melissa their friend and didn't like what they were hearing.
Paul Falco turned and smiled at Tamika Hayden and put his arm around her. "My heart bleeds for you, Lee."
McGuire shook his head and chuckled. "Go to hell, Paul."
Their waitress brought drinks to the newly arrived members of their party and before she left told Zachary the pizzas would be ready in ten minutes.
McGuire nodded to Zachary. "Excellent choice, Duncan. Good thing you were here to order the food. Hard telling what Lak would have ordered."
Most everyone snickered as Negev grinned. "I'm sure it would have been delicious for Andorians, but deadly for humans."
Akala turned to Lak. "It’s a good thing M'naran physiology is different from humans."
Doctor Preston turned to Akala. "That would have made you and Negev the only ones left to enjoy the evening."
Falco snickered. "Now what would the two of you done without the rest of us?"
Negev glanced over at the beautiful Akala. "I'm sure we would have thought of something."
She looked over at the Andorian and raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps we'll need to investigate that possibility sometime, Mr. Negev," Akala said in a sultry voice.
"Ohs", "ahs", and a lot of laughter erupted around the table from everyone but Zachary. He looked blankly down at the table as everyone else enjoyed their evening.
After the laughter died down and everyone took sips from their drinks Doctor Preston nudged Cynthia Pederson's arm. "Go ahead," he whispered.
She shook her head.
Lee McGuire grinned and looked over at the Doctor and the Communications Officer. "Okay, what the hell's going on with you two?"
Preston sighed. "Cynthia has been organizing a ship's symphony and was going to ask if anyone played an instrument."
Pederson smiled. "I've been trying to contact everyone from the ship while we were here on Gamala in case anyone needed to get an instrument."
Tamika nodded. "Well, I do play an instrument, but since I'm not assigned to the Chamberlain, I guess that doesn't help you much."
Falco twisted in his seat toward the woman he had his arm around. "What instrument do you play?"
"I've played the violin since I was five," Tamika said.
Cynthia smiled at her. "Too bad you're not assigned to the Chamberlain. I've had a hard time finding enough violin players."
Paul Falco turned to McGuire. "You play an instrument, Lee?"
The Flight Deck Commander grinned. "Does a tricorder count?"
Cynthia shook her head. "I doubt that will help."
Their waitress returned with two pans of hot steaming pepperoni pizza and passed plates and forks out to everyone. She took orders for more drinks as the group tore into their food. A moment later she walked away.
"Can someone explain to me what all the transports and shuttles are doing up in orbit?" Falco asked as he picked up a large slice.
Preston turned to him as he cut into his own piece of pizza with a fork. "I know you've been away for a bit, Paul. But you had to have heard about the Archaeology Conference."
Falco shrugged his shoulders as he washed down a mouthful of pizza with some red wine. "I heard something about some conference, but I've never seen this much transport traffic for one of those."
Akala Wilmarza usually did her best to block out the thoughts of others at social gatherings like this one, but her telepathic abilities picked up a definite reaction to Preston and Falco's comments. She glanced about the table searching for the source of the strong emotional response she sensed.
Lak Negev picked at his pizza with a fork. "This conference is to take up the issue of the planet Hel'yra."
Falco frowned. "You mean that speck of dust I guarded for a month and a half?"
McGuire grinned. "You didn't know you were protecting something that important did you Paul?"
"It’s a worthless piece of rock if you ask me."
Akala felt a definite burst of thoughts to that. She was certain the strong emotions she detected were from one of the males at the table, but she still couldn't decide who from. Then she realized, whoever it was had the ability to hide their thoughts from her. But she was positive no one present had that capability.
McGuire took a long drink from his glass and leaned forward. "Guess who's at the center of all this Hel'yra garbage, Paul."
Falco shook his head. "I have no idea."
Lee smiled wide. "She's married to one of your favorite people in the Galaxy."
Paul rolled his eyes. "The captain's wife?"
Akala was certain now. Whoever was blocking her was good, but the statement by Falco almost broke their concentration.
"Our plucky Lieutenant McCall is giving the keynote address tomorrow," Lee stated.
The Commanding Officer of the starship Abdiel looked at Duncan Zachary. "So why aren't you the one giving the address instead?" Falco asked.
Zachary frowned. "I have no interest in giving support to delusional theories. I have yet to see any conclusive evidence of these Ancient Progenitors that Mei-Wan McCall is so excited about."
"What the hell's an Ancient Progenitor?" Falco blurted out.
Several at the table chuckled. Negev turned to him. "Supposedly they were a race of creatures that seeded much of the Galaxy about five billion years ago resulting in the wide dissemination of humanoid lifeforms."
Falco laughed. "You have got to be kidding! People actually believe crap like that?"
Zachary smirked. "Mei-Wan McCall certainly does."
Taylor Preston looked at Falco. "It's been a major issue in archaeology for the last eight years. Get ten archaeologists together and you'll hear ten different theories about the Ancient Progenitors."
Falco shook his head. "Sounds like some silly fairy tale to me."
Cynthia Pederson spoke softly and said, "Sometimes I don't think we have enough fairy tales and tall stories anymore."
Lee McGuire's eyes widened slightly. "I think that's a good thing. A lot of blood has been shed over the years because of strange notions of where we come from and what our purpose is."
Pederson sighed at McGuire's response. "Well, we'll find out more about the Ancient Progenitors over the next year or so. Starfleet is sending an expedition back to Hel'yra in about a week or so."
"Back to that cruddy planet?" Falco asked. "I'm glad I don't have that assignment."
Zachary grinned. "But Lieutenant McCall does. She's been asked to lead the expedition."
Negev watched Zachary carefully. He knew their Science Officer didn't get along very well with the captain's wife and suspected it must have been difficult for him not to have been asked to lead the mission back to Hel'yra.
Falco smiled wide. "Please tell me that means our captain will be transferring out!"
Preston shook his head. "I'm afraid not."
Falco's smile collapsed into a frown. "Damn."
Tamika Hayden turned to Paul Falco. "Jack McCall is your captain?"
"Lucky us, huh?"
Tamika shook her head. "I hear he's a mess. My CO told me that half the admirals in Starfleet thought McCall should never have been given another command after being locked up in that prison camp."
Falco raised his glass into the air. "I'll drink to that!"
Negev frowned. "Captain McCall is a competent commanding officer."
"Oh come on, Lak," McGuire said. "You're on shore leave. You can drop the faithful Exec routine."
"I'm serious Lee," the Andorian replied.
McGuire chuckled. "Well you haven't been the target of one of his inquisitions yet. Just wait. McCall will get around to everyone at this table eventually."
Taylor Preston looked over at their ship's Counselor and saw her staring down at the table. He guessed Akala was thinking the same thing he was. They were the two people most responsible for keeping an eye on the captain's physical and mental health. Preston knew they would probably be required to force him into some sort of therapy with her soon.
Akala Wilmarza might have shared the same thoughts as the doctor if she wasn't focused on the mental projections of someone else at the table. The individual was skilled at blocking her gentle probes into the nearby minds. Normally she wouldn't do such a thing, but in the last few minutes she had felt such strong emotions that whoever she was looking for was consumed by anger and rage to such a degree that she feared they might act on those emotions.
McGuire looked out at the rest of the bar and lowered his voice as he leaned back toward the table. "I heard the ship that'll be assigned to that expedition is the Ravenscroft."
He leaned further forward and lowered his voice to a near whisper. "And guess who I heard was being almost too friendly with the CO of the Ravenscroft yesterday in a café on the other side of the city?"
Most everyone at the table simply shook their heads. Paul Falco, however, started to grin wider than perhaps he ever had before. "The captain's wife?"
McGuire smiled as he nodded. "I did some checking and this guy, Kyle Hoffman, was in charge of her section on her first assignment out of the Academy."
This was almost too good for Falco. His mind raced with all the salacious possibilities. "Well, perhaps she's doing more than just transferring to another ship. Sounds like a transfer of sleeping arrangements if you ask me."
"Just because a woman gets assigned to a ship commanded by someone she used to know doesn't mean she'll end up in his bed," Cynthia said. "Come on guys. Give her a little more credit than that."
Falco snorted. "I'm not saying it to criticize her. Hell, ending up in this Hoffman's bunk would be the best move she could make. Anything to get her away from Jack McCall."
Lee McGuire nodded. "She needs to get away from him before he self-destructs. All of us do."
Akala turned to look at Lee McGuire and slowly and subtly looked at his mind. She knew he had a lot of animosity toward the captain. Could he be the one she was looking for?
