Cmdr Ridire

Thank you to Commander Ayers for posting that when I was having computer trouble.

Out of the corners of his eyes, Aidan notices most of the bridge crew looking in his direction, surprised by his display of anger. He forces himself to relax then focuses his attention on the Captain as he says "Sir, I have a...concern that I would like to talk to you about..." Aidan glances briefly at the Ready Room doors and adds "....in private." Fred nodded slightly and walked towards the doors, entering and quickly moving behind the desk. "What's wrong?" Aidan follows the Captain and stops before the desk. He quickly composes his words. Finally he says "I am curious as to what you plan to do with the Cairo and the bodies of her crew? The reason I ask is because I feel they deserve a proper funeral." Aidan clenches his fists in some frustration and relaxes them before he adds "I think I owe you an explanation on why it's of such concern to me. It's more then that they are fellow Starfleet officers and more then they are comrades. One of the people who died over there, a medical officer by the name of Fiona Nashawryn, is...was a close friend of mine from my prior posting. In fact right before I left the Venture for my assignment here she had mentioned that she had gotten an offer for a posting on some other ship, the Cairo evidently. I was too busy at the time worrying about final preparations for my departure from the Venture to really pay that much attention other then to point out that her career prospects would not be improved by switching ships. She was next in line to be CMO on the Venture and the assignment to the Cairo was for the same position she held on the Venture. I thought she took my advice so I really didn't think to check up on it. And I've been busy adjusting to this ship and the last few missions so I really haven't had time. In fact I had completely forgotten what ship she had mentioned the assignment was for until I saw her body on the Cairo's bridge. And now..." Aidan shrugs and goes silent. The Captain frowns ever so slightly and slides into his chair, leaning back slightly. "Well, I suppose a lot will depend on whether or not the bodies can be safely removed. For those remains which can be brought aboard, they will be given full honors as is appropriate. Since we're so close to a Starbase, we might even be able to send some home. Not really my call." he says softly. Tilting his head Fred raises an eyebrow, "You sure that's all that's bothering you?" Aidan frowns slightly and says "Thank you for answering the question. As for yours, not so much as bothering, just dredged up old memories. Just that walking on that ship reminded me of my small role at the Battle of Wolf. I was part of one of the rescue teams sent over to look for survivors on the Melbourne. We didn't find many, same as here with the Cairo. Fiona was the medical officer on the same team I was on. And I guess part of me is feeling guilty that I couldn't protect her and the other part of me realizes there was nothing I could have done even if I had been there on the Cairo. If I may be dismissed, sir, I want to go get cleaned up and get some rest before I check in with Sickbay regarding the survivors." The Captain nods slightly, though it is clear he wasn't buying his First Officer's story. In many ways he can understand. Not more than twenty minutes earlier, Fred had blown up at Mr. Garnoopy and Mr. Goad for a seemingly difference of opinion on how to proceed with the investigation. Aidan returns to his quarters but instead of getting cleaned up and getting some sleep he only stays long enough to retrieve a case from a storage bin. He then heads to one of the holodecks, knowing that he isn't going to be able to get any rest until he's worked through the anger and other emotions he's burying just under the surface.

Aidan stops to catch his breath after climbing down the Jefferies Tube. His gaze locks onto the body of the Bolian a deck and a half further down the ladder. He sighs and mutters "Once was enough." A memory floats before his minds eye, a memory from the last time he had to explore a dead ship. USS Melbourne Location: Wolf 359 7.8 Light-years from Sol Sector 2366 AD, Less than an hour after the Federation-Borg Battle Lieutenant Aidan Ridire adjusts the phaser rifle cradled in his arms as he leads the rest of his away team down the near destroyed corridor of the USS Melbourne. His ship, the USS Venture, had arrived as part of a reserve force that were currently securing the area while providing what rescue efforts could be done. He and the two other members of his away team had been beamed over to the Melbourne to search for survivors. "I'm picking up faint life-sign readings up ahead to starboard," says the silver-haired fellow Lieutenant bringing up the rear of the away team. Aidan glances back and asks "Are they one of ours or are they Borg, Nick?" He watches the other Lieutenant try to fine tune the readings that the tricorder was reporting. Finally Nick says "Can't determine for sure, the damage this ship took is interfering with the tricorder, especially the ruptured EPS conduits. If the life-signs are Borg...." Aidan notes the grim determination laced with anger in the other man's voice and cuts him off "If it is a Borg, we will take care of it. Let's hope it's not though." "Of course, Lieutenant," the other man replies. Fiona says "Well, with the Borg ships destroyed there shouldn't be any drones operable." Nick half growls "You're probably right, Doctor Nashawryn. May our luck hold." Aidan glances at Fiona who shrugs as if to say they had better things to do then worry about how Nick meant that last comment. They both know the depth of the anger that the Borg could create in Nick which was the mostly the reason that the Captain had put Aidan in charge of the away team despite it being Nick's turn in the rotation. Privately Aidan thought Nick could be trusted to rein in his temper but then the subject of the Borg was pretty much the only subject that could rile Nick out of that sometimes patronizing serenity that he maintained. Which was understandable, all things considered. The away team heads in the direction of the life-sign readings. After a few minutes and a detour around a pair of emergency bulkheads protecting the corridor from a breach in the hull they arrive at one of the secondary. As they force open the door they hear a small yelp from inside. As they advance cautiously into the room they can't help but notice the bodies of two motionless Borg drones laying on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Aidan notices Nick raise his phaser to firing position. He also notices Nick's hesitation when Fiona says quietly "They're dead." Aidan frowns "I heard a yelp..and Borg don't yelp. There's someone else here." Privately Aidan wishes the Borg would yelp when injured or scared, at the least it would make them seem less malevolent. Nick lowers the phaser and glances around as if searching for something. As Nick looks at Aidan, Aidan has the distinct feeling that Nick doesn't look at him so much as looks through him. Nick nods towards a supply closet "In there. Something very frightened is in there, it's almost palpable." When they approach the closet they find a woman laying across the floor in front of it. Fiona says "Her life signs are very faint. We need to get her back to the ship." After the woman is beamed to the Venture's sickbay, Aidan turns his attention to the closet. He manages to force the door open and finds himself looking down at two preteen children huddled as far back into the closet as they can go. He barely has time to register their wide-eyed white as ghosts expressions before Nick gently pushes Aidan aside. As Nick kneels down, Aidan notices the attention of the two children focus on the phaser that Nick is carrying. Nick hands the phaser to Aidan as he says "They're scared nearly out of their minds. They think we're with the Borg." Aidan watches as Nick reaches a hand out to the two children as he murmurs soothingly. He feels a tug on his arm and turns to find Fiona there. She quietly says "What do we do with the bodies of the drones? Starfleet Intel or Starfleet Medical might want to study them." Nick says over his shoulder "I don't want those....things on the same ship I'm on. Let them rot here." Aidan glances at Nick, noting the contained fury in the other man's eyes. Aidan shrugs "This is a decision best left to the Captain. If you want to, Lieutenant, you can make a suggestion to him regarding these bodies. Come on let's go. Let's get...." Aidan pauses, not wanting to treat the kids as if they weren't really there. He's trying to decide how to ask them their names when Nick says "Their names are Dariel and Ashiel. Their mother was the woman we beamed to Sickbay. They're very eager to..." Aidan nods and says "Let's get them back to the ship so they check on the status of their mother." He had nearly asked how Nick knew but then the answer to that question was rather obvious....the same way Nick had known that they were hiding in the supply closet in the first place. Privately Aidan decides that if the worst had happened to their mother it was still better to keep the kid's hopes up until it was known for sure. Hope, as his father, Mikel, had once remarked, was the only thing that kept the universe in one piece. Aidan shakes his head slightly, banishing the trip down memory lane. He glances down at the Bolian again before turning to follow after the others. Aidan didn't know much about Bolian physiology but he knew enough to know that a Bolian's neck, like the neck of any human, was not supposed to be at that angle. He sighs to himself and mutters "One more shred of hope cut away."

The USS Reaent continues to explore the mysterious explosion that happened aboard the USS Cairo.

Aidan lets his gaze sweep the bridge of the USS Cairo as he feels his stomach sink to his feet. He circles around the tactical railing as he gingerly steps over the bodies of the bridge crew. He steps down to the central area of the bridge and moves to check whether the two people at the Helm and Ops survived or not. He finds them dead, burned nearly beyond possible recognition, so he turns his attention to the center seats. As he steps towards them the other members of the away team fan out around the bridge, checking the bodies and the stations. As far as Aidan can tell there were no survivors on the bridge, not even the Captain and First Officer who both got impaled by a largish piece of metal that, judging by the placement, had come from the viewscreen or behind it. He ignores the gaping wounds in the Captain's chest and the First Officer's neck as he closes their glassed-over eyes. He taps his commbadge and says "Ridire to Captain Michaels. We've reached the Bridge. All the consoles are blown out and everyone here looks to be dead. There might be survivors among the Bridge crew that are unconscious but from the looks of it, it would be a blo....miracle. Both the Captain and the First Officer are dead, they got caught by something exploding." He glances back at the viewscreen which looks like something took a bite out of it. He adds "Judging by the looks of it, they got caught by part of the support for the main viewscreen." He sweeps his gaze around the bridge and his attention focuses on the face of the body nearest to Tactical, a face that had been out of his line of sight when he stepped down to the forward part of the Bridge. He stumbles backwards and nearly trips over some debris as he feels his heart and stomach sink to his feet. Distantly he hears the Captain's voice prompting him to continue the report. Tonelessly he says "Captain, stand by," as he reaches to tap the commbadge again, cutting off the transmission. He steps next to the body and lowers to one knee as he gently turns it over. He finds himself looking down into the glassed-over eyes and face of someone all too familiar. He reaches down and gently closes her eyes, finding the accusation he sees in them much too hard of a pain to bear. He closes his eyes against the sudden assault of tears and emotions as he murmurs "Dammit, Fiona, I told you to stay on the Venture."

Aidan sighs to himself as he watches the Captain pace around the Bridge. It wasn't a sigh of disapproval as Aidan would have liked to have engaged in some pacing at the moment just so he could feel like he was doing something but it wasn't exactly healthy for crew morale if the two senior officers were seen in an agitated state. Especially in situations such as this. Aidan shifts his attention to the viewscreen which is currently showing the crippled USS Cairo floating almost lazily across the backdrop of stars. Even without a specific education in Engineering, it was easy to see that the Cairo had suffered an internal catastrophe. The only question remaining was what exactly. The usual suspect, a Warp Core breach was clearly not the culprit as the hull breaches near the main area of the engineering section were not sufficiently large enough nor would the ship have survived a failed scramming of the core. Besides, that failed to explain the damage done to the forward and dorsal areas of the Saucer section nor to the very stern of the Engineering section for that matter. If Aidan didn't know better he'd think that he was looking at the result of a very massive ammunition explosion from some 20th Century Aircraft Carrier. He sighs again and inwardly berates himself for attempting to play Engineer when he doesn't have the expertise Jabbing a finger down on the intercom button on his armrest he says "Engineering, Sickbay, Security prepare for an away team mission. We're dealing with large scale damage suffered to the USS Cairo and likely significant casualties so prepare accordingly. Lieutenant McLean, I want you as part of the away team." Aidan pushes himself to his feet and turns to address the Captain as he says "With your permission, sir."

Aidan closes his eyes as a gust of wind runs over him bringing the smell of mixed wildflowers to him. He remains standing there for a few minutes as the wind takes on an ethereal haunting wail as it rushes over the landscape between the hill of Rathcroghan where Aidan is currently standing and the cairn of Carnfree 4 kilometers to the South. Opening his eyes, he stares at Carnfree as the wind's wail takes on a banshee like quality. Even in hologram form the area manages to exude the not so distant touch of the spirits of his ancestors, even if it was only through Aidan's memory of a childhood spent exploring the area. He picks his way up Rathcroghan until he reaches it's flat top. A smattering of ruins surrounding a large stone marker is all that is left to betray the fact that this simple and yet strangely imposing hill is the burial site of Irish kings and Celtic royalty. Aidan had spent his childhood exploring Rathcroghan, Carnfree as well as other places such as the nearby Castle of Rindown, the places his family and clan held so much sway over. So when he had left for the Academy he created a perfect holo-representation of the area, down to the flowers, the sounds and the smells. It was the one place when he was growing up that he was felt total peace at and in the bustle and complexity of life in the 24th century such things were to be treasured. He kneels down to examine a stone with a jagged groove bit out of it, the action of either a sword or an axe taken to the stone. As he brushes the grass aside he remembers that while this place was peaceful to him, it was drenched in just as much blood and violence as it was in ceremony and royal grace. As his mind briefly focuses on the unresolved situation with the Mji the sense of peace starts to slip away. He knows the Captain and the Admiralty were right, that if the Mji didn't want the help, the Federation could hardly force it on them. And yet, that is hardly a situation one found easy to accept. He mutters "Needless suffering due to pride on one hand and greed on the other. Amazing how little the universe has actually changed."

Aidan keys up a sensor readout of the Poy ship on the repeater display to his right and quietly studies it. Knowing that sometimes the best thing a First Officer could do was to stay quiet and let events unfold as they would while the Captain acted as the primary point person wasn't one of the things they taught in the Academy's Command courses but it was usually one of the first things learned nonetheless. A ship couldn't have two heads, figuratively speaking. And truth to tell, Aidan is still a bit uncomfortable as to the exact boundaries of his position with regard to the crew, especially to the Captain. He had served most of his career aboard the USS Venture and she and her crew had become his family away from home. Though he never served as the USS Venture's First Officer he knows he would have been a lot more comfortable in the role because of time he had already spent there. Which isn't a slam against the Reaent or her crew, just that some things took time to sort out. "Speaking of old shipmates and new positions, I wonder how Nicholas is doing," Aidan muses to himself. A brief smile flashes across Aidan's face, having just found a way to put himself and his situation in perspective. As uncomfortable joining a new ship has made him, he knows that Nicholas would have a tougher time. The crew of the Venture had gotten used to Nick's genetic heritage and the personality quirks it lent to Nick. "Or rather," Aidan considers as a frown replaces the earlier smile as he considers the thought, "Nick had gotten used to not feeling the need to interact with the others with his emotional shields raised because of his heritage." Aidan gets distract from further musings by an incoming report from engineering.

Aidan steps forward into the central area between the two forward consoles of Ops and Helm and the center chairs as he finds himself staring at three apparently hostile Starships. He isn't one to consider fighting the first choice and deep down the fact that it's apparently going to come to that bothers him a great deal. He growls low in his throat as he thinks "Damn fools. They're a bunch of children throwing a fit because they can't get what they want when they want it." As the three Mji warships accelerate out of their holding patterns, someone reports that their weapons systems are locking on. Aidan risks a quick glance at the Ambassador seated at the chair to the left, briefly wondering what is going on with him as well. He glances up at tactical "Let them fire first before you even consider returning fire." Shifting his attention back to Helm he says "Helm, evasive maneuvers at your discretion."

Aiden hadn't had the chance to meet the manager of Freedom Station when he was waiting for the Reaent to arrive earlier and now he's glad that opportunity hadn't presented itself. Perhaps it was the fact that the Manager didn't like a Starfleet away team mucking around on his station as the Captain had indicated or perhaps it was just a general disdain for "Fleeters" as Manager Grep was calling them. Either way, Grep was quickly proving himself recalcitrant and stubborn like an old earth mule that Aiden had a bad encounter with when he was a child while at a petting zoo. Aiden focuses his attention on the short heavyset humanoid as he tries to rein in the urge to orally take Grep down several pegs. With his earlier reference to walking on eggshells rattling around in his mind, Aiden says with as much calmness as he can "Again, Manager, I politely request that you increase the security and activate the protocols that should be activated. If the supplies the Mji have provided are stolen I doubt they will be pleased. And as the supplies are being stored on your station..." He lets the rest of the statement go unsaid, hoping that the Manager will listen to reason. "Perhaps Lt. Shamor is correct." Aiden muses to himself.