A Blast from the Past

Posted on 06 Jul 2016 @ 7:51pm by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler

2,074 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: History
Location: Deep Space 9
Timeline: Prior to Unity

Admiral Temprid brushed at his thick black hair for the fourth time and looked at himself in the mirror as he straightened his dress uniform. Finally, he curled his lips back and looked at his large, square teeth before he smacked his lips together and looked over at Lieutenant Corwin and her K-9, Rico. "Are you certain that the K-9 officer is required, Lieutenant?" He asked. "I don't want hair on my uniform when meeting with the Paradan Ambassador. They have valuable assets and I would not want to make a less than favorable impression."

It was one of her last assignments before moving on to life aboard a starship, and Joey had to admit, she was going to miss everything that came with being a Close Protection Officer. She'd formed life long friendships with many of those she served to protect, and for some reason, she decided to let it all go for a chance at stability. Life on a starship wasn't going to be so stable, or so she'd been told, but it did mean she'd have the chance to rest her head on the same pillow every night.

"We've been through this before, Admiral. Rico's my partner, and he has to go where I do," Corwin said as she smiled at him. For six months, she'd been assigned to Temprid, and had to admit she was going to miss him. "I assure you, he isn't going to get hair on your uniform. How many times have you looked yourself over now? Five... six times?"

"Five and there's a reason that I have looked myself over so many times," the Admiral said. "The Paradan's are masters of genetic replication and they can take a single hair and make a new person, complete with all the memories and everything. Do you want to have a clone of yourself or Officer Rico running around with all that you know?"

Joey coughed. "No, I can't say that I want that, but I don't plan to let anyone get close enough to any of us for that to happen." She didn't want to take any chances, though, so she ducked underneath him and in front of the mirror to make sure there wasn't a hair out of place on her head.

Temprid laughed and took a step back. "That's what I thought, Lieutenant," he said as he allowed her to check herself. "If Officer Rico is shedding, I recommend giving him a good brushing down now."

"Thankfully, he isn't at the present moment," Joey said, turning toward him when she was satisfied with her own appearance. "Are you ready?"

"Admirals are born ready, Lieutenant Corwin," Temprid said. "In fact, we're born as Admirals full grown and ready with three plans of action and two back up plans. Come on." He turned and headed out of his quarters as if he didn't require her protection at all.

Joey eyed the man as he walked out of his quarters, then gave a sigh. This man was going to be the death of her. She followed behind him, grateful they'd built a friendship over the months they'd been working with one another. "Admiral Temprid... if Starfleet didn't think you needed to be assigned protection, they wouldn't have put me with you." She didn't want to get angry with him, but it was hard not to when he took so many unnecessary risks.

"If Starfleet had listened to me in the first place," the Admiral grumbled as they began to rehash a conversation they'd already had several times. "I give up, Joey," he said with a dramatic sigh. "No one has a better CPO than I do. I'm still alive to prove it. Shall we get to the runabout?"

"It's about time you came to realize that, Admiral," Corwin said with a grin, slowing her pace when she fell into step beside him. "Let's get this over with so that we can get you back here safe and sound. Are you ready?"

Temprid grumbled again. "I am. Let's go show them what Starfleet has to offer in the way of the best so they can forget about the rest. I suppose you want to check the runabout, the airlock and everything else before I enter?"

"You already know the answer to that." She gave him a side-long glance and smiled. "Rico will wait here with you while I check things out. He'll let me know the second someone approaches." She handed the leash over to Temprid and eyed him for a moment as if to say 'behave yourself'.

"Yes, Dear," Temprid grumbled with a roll of his eyes. He looked at Rico. "How do you put up with this day after day, you sock thief?"

Joey cracked a grin. "Rico knows when he's got it good. It's a shame you're coming to realize it so late, though." She turned toward the hatch in front of her and mentally prepared herself before opening it. Soon, they'd be on their way, and she had to admit... she was going to miss Temprid.

When she entered the room, she saw the Danube runabout which had been assigned for the Admiral, a Bajoran Security officer stationed near the hatch, a couple of workbenches lined with tools and the lift which the runabout was on.

Turning her attention to the Bajoran Security officer, Joey found herself sizing him up momentarily. In situations like these, she didn't trust many people save for the one she was supposed to protect, and for some reason, she was just getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She did a quick survey of the area before she turned to make her way back toward Temprid. "Something's not right. I don't know what it is, but I've just got a feeling." She took Rico's leash from the Admiral and removed it from his collar before she took the Admiral's arm with one hand, then pulled her phaser with the other. "Do not even think about leaving my side. If you do, I'll kick your ass myself."

She dropped the leash, giving Rico the German command to flank the Admiral on the opposite side of her. The moment the canine received the command from his handler, he immediately moved to Temprid's side. He was fully alert and looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary as they moved toward the hangar. It was safer having him with her as opposed to being a sitting duck without her. Her job was to protect him, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

The Bajoran officer came to attention when she came in and eyed the dog with her, then the Admiral and finally her. "I am Bajoran officer Alenis Etilen," he said as he lifted a PADD from the runabout where he had set it. "Security Chief Baladar assigned me here to watch the runabout and to anticipate Admiral Temprid's departure from Deep Space Nine. The Aldor has been fully checked out and is ready." He moved to hand the PADD to Joey.

Rico's muzzle curled back to show teeth when Etilen came toward them, a warning growl coming from him. That was all it took. Joey kept the phaser in one hand, and held onto the Admiral with the other, but didn't take the PADD that was offered to her. "Anticipate his departure or arrival?"

"For his departure, of course," Etilen said. "If he were arriving, we would not be standing in this room while the runabout landed unless we could breath vacuum."

Rico snarled at the man, sticking by Temprid's side, but putting himself just in front of him so he'd be able to get between him and Etilen if he decided to feel a little froggy. Joey gestured toward the runabout. "Go open the runabout."

The Bajoran officer turned as if to open the runabouts hatch, setting the PADD back where it was. With the left side of his body obscured, he spun back around with a Cardassian blaster in his hand and started to aim at at the Admiral. "Die!" he shouted in Cardassian, his finger starting to tighten.

Using the hand that was on Temprid's arm, she shoved him to the side and grabbed the wrist that was holding the blaster in it. With the Admiral out of the way now, she was free to do what needed to be done. Balling a fist, she thrust it upward to his elbow. Rico took his handler's cue when she gave a command to him in German. The canine flew forward and leapt through the air, going straight for the offenders throat. There was enough force to knock him off of his feet and put him straight on his back. It wasn't a kill bite, but there was enough pressure there for Etilen to know it he made one false move... game over.

As Rico took him down, Joey trained both his weapon, and her own, on him. "Who sent you?"

The Bajoran, or whatever the man was, screamed in pain and dropped the blaster and then went down when the K-9 jumped on him. Desite the lock the dog had on his neck, he reached with his right hand and pulled a jagged dagger from somewhere on his uniform and tried to stab at the dog with a snarl of anger and hatred.

The second Rico felt Etilen make his move, the canine bit down with two hundred and thirty-eight pounds of force, which was more than enough to effectively crush the throat of the man who wanted to kill him. Joey holstered her phaser and kicked the blade from Etilen's hand, then gave Rico the command to stand down. He quickly moved away and settled down next to his handler.

Joey moved over to Etilen, still holding his own weapon, and crouched down to feel for a pulse. It was a moot point really, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Without turning back to look at Temprid, she spoke. "So, do you still want to leave him behind?"

The man was indeed dead and whoever he worked for or his reason was now beyond their ability to question. The Admiral sat where he was on the floor watching it unfold in stunned disbelief, then shook his head. "No," he said as he leaned forward and slowly removed his boots. He took off one sock, then the other and held them both out. "These are for you, Rico. I may not be able to promote you or your companion, but I can give you what you love the most." He looked up at Joey as he did so. "If that is okay with you?"

Unable to help herself, Corwin laughed. "It's fine with me." She watched as Rico went forward to collect his new socks. Her canine companion was a weird one when it came to his obsession, but he'd proven himself worthy of being able to handle himself in tough situations. She reached down to help him up. "We still have a meeting to get to, then you'll be off to your next one."

"Yes, Sir!" Temprid laughed as he put his boots back on and came to his feet as other personnel came in, this time legitimate personnel. The Admiral paused to explain what had happened before they took the body away and turned back to her. "I'm going to miss you, Joey. If you ever need anything, get ahold of me. Use the code word Sock Thief and it'll get through to me any place and any time."

"I'm going to miss you, too," Joey said, moving forward to hug him. "I'll keep in touch."

"Ah crap," he muttered as he returned the hug, his voice thick. "Now the Paradan's are going to make a Corprid clone of us and it'll be running around giving orders to protect itself."

"Let's go get this meeting over with." She held on to him for a few more seconds before she finally let him go. Her emotions were running high, but she was doing her best to keep them in check. "I promise we'll see one another again in the future."

"That," Temprid said. "Is a promise I plan to hold you to. Now let's get out of here. Get your sock thief and let's go."


NPC Admiral Temprid and Bad Guy played by Camila

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