[Prologue] Captain Addison MacKenzie - One Big, Happy Fleet
Addison MacKenzie
(( Captain’s Ready Room – Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))
Addison sat
staring at her desktop monitor’s screen, a scowl started to form on her face, pulling
the corners of her cheeks down so far she suspected they’d likely hit the deck
plating. She leaned forward, crossing one arm over the other on the surface of
her desk and she put her weight on her forearms, her eyes narrowing as she
reread the message. She’d only made it halfway through this time before she
picked up an idle PADD and started to tap the corner of it on the surface of
her desk. A sign of her growing agitation, the persistent tapping would have
been enough to drive anyone mad by now.
Except her.
Because she really wasn’t focused on the sound anyway.
She rolled her eyes and hit one of the buttons, the message on the screen was suddenly
replaced by Starfleet Command’s logo. Her feet pushed the chair back from her
desk slightly, then turned her to face out the window behind her. There, Deep
Space Nine’s massive gray docking pylons were visible, reminders of the
Cardassian-built station to which the Artemis was attached. In the
distance behind the station, the wormhole opened, showering her face and ready room
in beautiful hues of blue and yellow before it quickly disappeared again.
She wondered if she could just say she didn’t get the message… blame it on some
kind of interference from the wormhole. That was plausible?
…right?
Addison used her toes to lean back in her chair, folding one arm over the
other, the scowl further deepening the more she thought about the message.
The orders.
It was common practice for her to receive orders from Starfleet Command.
Dissemination of information and instructions from leadership was a regular occurrence,
so much so that she barely gave this transmission a second thought when it came
in. She was also never one to defy orders – as she knew from her experience in
the center chair, orders didn’t always make sense to subordinates, and it was
her right as a CO to not need to explain every decision she made. Starfleet Command
was no different.
Even when the orders they issued were stupid.
Okay, maybe not stupid, but these orders definitely seemed to be a waste
of time and resources.
…a lot of time and resources.
Frontier Day.
They were being recalled to Earth for Frontier Day.
And not just them – the entire fleet.
The. Entire. Fleet.
Whose idea it was to recall almost the entire fleet?
Of course, Frontier Day was always worthy of celebration – the found of Starfleet
was a big deal, after all – but what could possibly have warranted a decision
that would recall many of the ships from their posts throughout the galaxy?
250.
It wasn’t just Frontier Day, it was celebrating the 250th
Frontier Day.
AND there was to be a demonstration of Starfleet’s new fleet
formation mode.
She scoffed audibly to herself.
What a waste of resources. It’s not as though the galaxy was in great shape and
they could afford to withdraw many of the ships just to celebrate…
She tapped her finger on her chair’s armrest.
Maybe they could get out of it?
Some global crisis that needed solving?
“Oh, sorry, we can’t make it – too busy managing this crisis in our corner of
the galaxy…”
Yeah, right.
Addison shook her head again, peering out the window. She hoped the wormhole
would make another appearance, but much like their chances of getting out of
this obligation, it was fading fast... She sighed audibly, pursing her lips again. At least they still had time to
enjoy more of their shore leave before they needed to start the voyage back to Earth.
…maybe she still had time to squeeze in some shopping…
TBC…
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Captain Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A
Captains Council Member at Large
V239601AM0