Artemis: Troubling Message
Dori
Patricia was busy unpacking a few boxes and making her new quarters more like a home, ready for her and Emma to move into in the next few days. She had just finished putting away all her clothes and Emma’s in her room, making it feel more homey.
She was putting her books and photos up on shelves in the main room when her terminal beeped with an incoming message. Putting the last book on it’s shelf, she headed to her terminal and sitting down, brought up the message. The computer displayed it and suddenly Patricia paled and stumbled backwards off the chair, looking horrified. Her hand shaking, she reached up and hit her combadge.
“Piper... Piper to.. Fairchild...my new quarters... please...urgent...”
On the screen was a simple message.
‘Next time, you won't be so lucky.’
Destiny was at the door in minutes, although it felt like a lot longer. She could hear the panic, feel the panic across the decks. She rang the chime, although she wanted to override the controls and run into the room.
“Come..come.. In...” Patricia was staring at the terminal, her face pale, from the other side of the room.
“What is it? What’s happened?” Destiny asked, moving quickly across the room.
Patricia just pointed at the terminal, her hand shaking.
Destiny studied it for a moment before scowling. “Did this just come in?” she asked.
Patricia just nodded, still unable to take her eyes off it.
Destiny made an angry noise in the back of her throat. “I’m going to call the Captain. He needs to see this. Is that ok?”
Patricia slowly nodded, her whole demeanor was one of shock.
Destiny tapped her commbadge. =/\=Fairchild to Captain Henna.=/\=
“Henna here.”
=/\= Could you please come down to the XO’s quarters? There’s something we need you to see.=/\= she told him.
Patricia looked up, suddenly frightened.
"Emma! Shit. Emma! Is Emma safe!" Patricia tried to scramble to her feet but she was shaking so bad she fell over. She looked pleasingly at Destiny. "Emma!" Was all she could get out.
The Captain overheard the last part of the altercation “I’m on my way.”
“Sit there. I’ll check on Emma.” Destiny replied, moving to the rooms off the main one. She opened up her senses, checking for any intruders in the rooms, but felt nothing out of the ordinary. She could feel Emma, sleeping behind one of the doors, but opened it just to make sure. Patricia would want visual proof. Sure enough, the girl was sound asleep on a bed in one of the rooms.
Destiny turned back to the XO. “Emma is sound asleep, alone in her room.” she replied soothingly. “There would be alarms if anyone got on the ship unauthorized.”
Patricia breathed a sigh of relief and tried to calm herself down.
"Shit." She took a shaky deep breath. "Sorry, didn't know who else to call."
“It’s ok.” Destiny said, trying to sooth her. “I’m a good person to call for this. I want the Captain to see what you got, and then I’m going to try and trace it. This is... very unusual.”
Patricia managed to stand, albeit shakily, and promptly sat down again.
“Just, just so unexpected. I mean, it’s scary. That means, well, that almost confirms it, doesn’t it.. They were after me...”
The captain reached the door and rang the bell.
Destiny glanced at Patricia. “I’m going to get the door.” she said. “You stay there.” she walked over, letting the door slide open; she didn’t think it would respond to her voice command.
The Captain had to admit to being a little surprised when the door opened, and it was not his XO standing there. “Commander Fairchild?” He managed “what’s going on?”
Destiny’s face was troubled as she moved to let him in. . “Commander Piper got a communication, sir. She was... extremely troubled. She called me. I wanted you to see the communication so my explanation could perhaps be clearer. It’s on the console there.” she indicated. Her gaze moved to Patricia, concern written in the lines on her forehead.
The captain walked into the room and moved to the monitor, moving Trish out of the way slightly as he did. He read the message, then took a second to process. “Do we know where this has come from?”
“Not yet,Captain. I wanted you to see it before I started digging.” Destiny replied. “If it’s not up to my abilities, I’ll call in Kyr or engineering.”
“Engineering?” Henna asked “I’d call this a security issue.”
“I have no doubt we need to call security about this.” Destiny agreed. “But they may not be able to find out where the message was sent from. Commander Piper is convinced it was sent from the person or persons who attacked the shuttle where Lt. Collard was killed. Would you like to look, sir, or shall I?”
Henna looked across at Trish who still seemed to be in shock. He positioned himself in her frame of vision so her focus was totally on him. “Commander?”
Patricia looked up and took a deep breath.
“Sir. Sorry, it was... a shock. Emma’s okay, she’s asleep.” She tried to pull herself together but it was a struggle. She took another deep breath and straightened up. “I called Commander Fairchild, when it came through, about ten minutes ago. I think.”
“Both you and Emma are safe.” He assured her “How do you want to proceed?”
Patricia looked at him, her expression suddenly turning hard.
“Find them. Find whoever did this.” She took a shuddering breath and then her expression softened a bit. “Let Destiny do her thing.”
The Captain nodded and pulled away from her. He took Destiny slightly out of ear shot. “Only people that need to know Commander. While I’m hoping this isn’t one of the crew it can’t be discounted. Have the bridge keep a constant transporter lock on both Trish and Emma. First sign of any danger, have them beamed to a secure location. I’ll leave it to you as to where.”
Destiny nodded. "Yes sir." She looked over at Patricia. She had never seen anyone so scared before. She could feel the emotions coming off her, although she tried not too. She would have to tell her friend later; she hated having that kind of knowledge over others.
“Captain,” Patricia spoke up softly, looking up at him. “Find these people. Find them, they took her from me.. Throw the damn book at them.”
The Captain reached out and took her hand. “If they are aboard we’ll find them.” He said “You need to carry on as much as normal for Emma. The crew will handle the rest.”
Patricia squeezed his hand and nodded.
"Aye sir. I will."
“Fairchild, contact Starfleet security and intel. A threat against the XO of the federation flagship is something they need to know. Keep me advised.”
“Yes Captain.” Destiny replied.
Patricia watched the Captain leave and sighed, leaning back against the chair. She rubbed at her temples, trying to calm herself down.
“Well. This sucks. Just when things were starting to settle down.”
“I didn’t expect they would stop.” Destiny said, scowling. “I want to make sure you can’t be transported off this ship if the shields drop for any reason. The only place that has transporter blocks is the brig, but there are portable ones you can set up anywhere.” she paused, biting her lip as she thought. “Do you have a place you’d like to go?”
Patricia thought for a moment and looked at her friend.
“My office. We can set one up there, and perhaps it might be a good idea to have a transponder in both me and Emma.”
“I want it to be someplace public.” Destiny said, shaking her head. “Perhaps we should consult security about this. They would know best.”
Patricia nodded.
“Actually, that’s a good idea. How about instead of my office, the Arboretum? Or the security office?” Patricia sighed. “I don’t know. Can you ask please? My thoughts are all over the shop right now.” As soon as she said that, Patricia put her hand over her mouth. “Oh god, my thoughts are all over the place - that’s not causing you harm or distress is it?”
“Not distress, but I could feel all your feelings. I’m sorry. I tried to block them but they were very strong.” Destiny replied uneasily.
Patricia swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
“I’m so sorry. Give me a minute or two to calm down, I’ll try not to be so loud. I should know better, after all those months of living with Tamaris.”
Destiny walked over and sat down beside her. “Don’t be sorry. You were very upset. The captain thought you had gone into shock, you were so still and quiet there for a few minutes. You didn’t bother me, I’ve felt emotions like that before, and I know how to handle it. I just wanted you to know I had felt them, because that’s what I do - I’m sure Tamaris told you too. It’s a cultural thing. If we inadvertently feel emotions or read someone’s mind, we let them know.” she said soothingly.
Patricia leaned against Destiny, drawing comfort and strength from her.
“It’s okay. I just was so shocked, and scared.. So scared.” A tear ran down her face.
“No one is going to let whoever killed Chantel get to you.” Destiny reached over and wiped away the tears. “You’re safe here. Their arrogance will be their undoing. Why don’t I call security up here and we can talk, and I can see if I can find out where this message came from?”
Patricia nodded.
“Please. I’m just going to sit with Emma for a few minutes, calm myself down.” Patricia stood up and looked at her friend. “Thank you.” She moved into Emma’s room and sat down on the bed with her, watching her sleep.
“All right. I’m going to call Starfleet right now, and then I’ll call the ship security.” Destiny told her as she got up to go into Emma’s room. Then she sat down at the console on which the message had come in on, and did just that.
End