COULD IT BE

Posted on Sat May 13th, 2023 @ 12:07pm by Admiral Deela T'Lar

757 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 116 - "A Bounty of Trust"
Location: Jim's Temporary Quarters
Timeline: MD1 - 1045hrs

Deela needed to check on Jim now that he'd been released from Starfleet. He was staying in one of the guest quarters until he decided what he wanted to do. She rang the chime and waited for him to answer,

The door opened and there stood the image of her deceased husband, "Deela, what are you doing here?"

"I heard that you were being released. I'm surprised that you came back here. I thought, now that you have a new identity, that you'd be living somewhere else." Deela waited for him to invite her in.

He motioned for her to come in. He handed her a glass of wine as they both sat down, "As long as your husband is still missing, I'm staying close. They can still get to you and they will try."

"I don't need rescuing. I can take care of myself." Deela never liked depending on a man to keep her from harm.

"Too bad. I'm staying." He was adamite.

"Fine. Stick around." She took a large gulp of her wine.

"I need to tell you something. There is something brewing in the mirror universe. I heard form someone I'm still in contact there and they told me that there are people from there heading this way. That is another reason I'm staying. Who knows more about that world than anyone else here."

"Are you sure?" She would need to tell Bremer of it was true.

He shrugged, "I don't know for sure. I'll keep my ears open. He told me that he would warn me when it begins."

"Good." He looked at her with concern, "So, what has been happening since I've been gone?"

"Jack's sister came to see me. She wants me to declare him dead and I refused. Until I have proof that he's dead, I'm keeping the faith that he isn't. And then there's the kids. Some punk kid decided that it was okay to reprogram the replicators in the classroom. And because my son ratted him out, this kid decided to disable the safeties on the holodeck and raivyn got hurt while playing a game."

"Knowing you, I'm sure you didn't let him get away with it." He smiled at her.

"Stop." She smiled back, "Okay, I did do something. I scared him. I doubt if he'll do it again."

"I bet." He laughed, "So, what did you do?"

Deela laughed a little herself, "I gave him the taste of his own medicine. I made him believe that I turned off the safeties and locked him in while the program played. He cried like a baby.

"Good for you."

Deela added one more morsel, "I forgot to say that he's half Klingon. If his mother found out that he cried instead of fighting the trolls like a warrior, he'd be flogged for it."

"Ah, I see. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. It would have been sweet."

"It would." She set her empty glass down, "Hopefully, I won't get in trouble for doing that."

"And if you do? I'm sure you'll handle it like you always do." He remembered her from the past, how she was.

"True." She poured herself another glass.

"I know this is a delicate subject but I was wondering. What if it ends up that Jack never comes home?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I didn't want to talk about it to his sister and I don't want to talk about it now." Deela was upset now.

"I'm sorry but it is a possibility. You need to face it. It's been almost two years."

"Two years, four years, I don't care. He's my husband and I can't lose faith that he is alive somewhere in that universe of yours." Deela stood up, "I need to go. I have two kids that who knows what mischief they are getting into." There was something telling her that he was alive. She shivered for a brief moment. This had never happened before.

Jim looked at her with concern, "Deela, are you okay? You went somewhere for a moment then you shook, like a gust of cold wind hit you."

She exhaled, "I don't know what happened. I just know that Jack is alive and he's coming home." She stood up, "I need to go and get back to my quarters." She didn't wait for a goodbye, just walked out in a hurry.

"Deela? Wait!" He watched her hurry away. He hoped that whatever was coming, that Starbase 400 could handle it.

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