PNPC Captain Madeline Whittaker: A Mother's Sixth Sense (Zinna)

[Michael Meir-Wright]

( Theo Whittaker's Apartment - Starbase 118 )

:: Stood on the balcony of her son's apartment looking across the skyline of the station's commercial sector, Madeline Whittaker frowned to herself and checked the chronometer again. It was now past 1800 hours, over two hours since Theo and Baylen were supposed to have returned from their holodeck jaunt. Theo had always been punctual, making sure he was ten minutes early for anything- a trait he had inherited from Josiah.

For the fourth time she had the computer confirm her son was still in Holodeck 7. Once it had done so, she felt another twinge of worry that she could not quantify. Her mother might have called it "women's intuition" but Madeline had never believed in such a notion, but either way- she was sure that something was wrong.

Her hand hesitated as she was about to put in a call, but she forced herself to do it. ::

M. Whittaker: =^= Captain Whittaker to Counsellor Zinna. =^=

Zinna: ?

M. Whittaker: =^= I'm so sorry to disturb you, I was just wondering have my son or Baylen paid you a visit? =^=

Zinna: ?

M. Whittaker: :: frowning :: =^= Oh... I see. It was a long shot, but I thought it best I try. =^=

Zinna: ?

M. Whittaker: =^= The computer claims he's still in Holodeck 7, but he was due to leave at 1600 hours. It's not like him to be so late. =^=

Zinna: ?

M. Whittaker: =^= That's a good idea Counsellor. I shall be keep you in the loop. Whittaker out. =^= :: she tapped her comm badge twice, activating another comm line while closing the original :: =^= Captain Whittaker to Ops. =^=

Ops Officer: =^= Uhh, who is this? =^=

M. Whittaker: =^= Captain Madeline Whittaker, USS Orb of Prophecy & Change. I'm looking for my son, Commander Theo Whittaker. =^=

Ops Officer: =^= He's in Holodeck 7 I believe ma'am. =^=

M. Whittaker: =^= That's what the computer says but he should have been out over two hours ago. =^=

Ops Officer: :: optimistically :: =^= Perhaps he's just having fun? =^=

M. Whittaker: =^= You haven't served with my son before have you? He's a stickler for punctuality. Can you attempt to contact him? =^=

Ops Officer: =^= Standby please. =^=

:: There was a chime, indicating that the comm line was muted. She waited for at least a minute before the Ops came back to her and she knew straight away from their tone of voice that something was definitely not right. ::

Ops Officer: =^= Uh, Captain Whittaker?... I'm afraid that their seems to be some sort of issue with the communications system. I can't raise the Commander. Or anybody inside the  holodeck for that matter. =^=

M. Whittaker: =^= That settles it, I'm on way to you. Whittaker out. =^= :: beat, tapping her comm badge twice again. :: =^= Whittaker to Counsellor Zinna, meet me in the Operations Command Centre immediately. =^=

Zinna: ?

:: She called Mason from his room, told him to stay exactly he was and after activating the holographic nanny programme Theo had had installed, swept from her son's quarters, determined to find out just what was going on. ::

--

Lieutenant  Commander Theo Whittaker
Executive Officer

Starbase 118 Operations

C239203TW0