End of the Trail?

[Annabelle O'Halloran 0]

"...in summary, while the overarching condition of the freighter and its crew seems to suggest either negligence or misdemeanor in the conduct of its mission, my (admittedly limited) interaction with the Juno personnel suggests that a fair percentage of them were kept from details of the situation and intention of the ship and are, really, as confused as we are about its purpose, and should be granted a certain amount of leniency as further investigations proceed. Specific psych review evidence, such as currently exists, will follow in a later report."

 

Leaning back in her seat, Caroline switched off the PADD she had been writing on and drummed her fingers against its edges thoughtfully, rereading it quickly before letting it fall onto the desktop in front of her with a thunk. Pretty good morning's work... she thought to herself with some satisfaction, picking up the bagel which was sufficing for lunch today and taking a large bite out of it. I'll go over the psych reviews tomorrow before Crewman Duran's appointment and that will just about wrap up my end of this business.

 

If she was to be completely honest, she really didn't know whether or not these reports would actually turn out to be necessary; she wasn't sure of the details of any investigation into the Juno's explosive freight, and as such couldn't be positive that the little insight she had been able to gain into the ill-fated freighter's crew would actually be of particular use. But she was more in the mood to get it out of the way and focus on other things; it had been a tense situation for everyone, and she couldn't help but think that the more quickly they could get closure on it, the better.

 

"I see I'm too late," Anna announced, giving Caroline’s bagel an aggrieved look. As she'd walked up the corridor, she'd been pleased to see that Caroline's door was open, which generally meant the counselor wasn't in the middle of seeing a patient, and in turn, this would mean that her friend was probably available for lunch. She knew there was no hope of Will getting free at this time of day, not with how things were going on the flight deck and had to content herself with waiting to see him after his shift was done. She'd missed him terribly for the three days they'd been off the ship.

 

Caroline looked up at the voice from the doorway and smiled as she saw who it was. "Hello, Anna...come on in," she said cheerfully, gesturing at one of the chairs next to her desk. "Too late for what?"

 

“Too late to see if you wanted to go get some lunch with me. That bagel means you’re determined to keep your nose to the grindstone,” Anna replied, deliberately making it sound like a peculiar behavior rather than the sign of a dedicated work ethic.

 

Caroline laughed. "Well, you're welcome to half of the bagel, if you want. Actually, I could probably be convinced to accompany you anyway...today's particular grindstone has been more efficient than expected; you arrived just in time to miss me slaving over a hot PADD, and I could probably use the change of scenery." She pushed herself to her feet, leaning lightly on the tips of her fingers against the desk edge. "Besides, you need to tell me all the latest Benecia gossip," she added with a grin. She'd heard in passing that a small group, including the science chief, had been dropped off at the colony as part of the Juno investigation, but she hadn't heard any details after that.

 

“That bagel looks woefully inefficient for my needs,” Anna answered with a grin, “but thank you for the thought. Since you seem willing to be persuaded, I think I will shanghai you off to the mess—and you can be the judge of just how exciting Benecia is.” Her tone didn’t indicate that it was anything to get overly excited about.

 

*******

 

"So you're moonlighting as an undercover agent now?" Caroline said, leaning back in her seat with a thoughtful grin as Anna finished explaining, in between mouthfuls of eggplant lasagna, how she, Wade Knight, and Jon Shamor had ferreted out the Juno's illicit contact in the Benecian trading infrastructure. "Certainly a change of pace from your run-of-the-mill science work, huh?"

 

Pretending to be shocked, Anna gave Caroline a reproving look, while saying, “As if anything on the Reaent could ever be called run-of-the-mill. Honestly, Caroline, where have you been for the last few months? I would check your forehead for fever but I would have to set down my garlic bread to do it.”

 

"God forbid," Caroline answered with a laugh, raising her hands in mock-surrender. "You've got a point -- we seem to get all sorts of experiences not covered in the job description." She leaned forward, spooning up a sip of the tomato soup which she'd ordered, and then asked curiously, "So did you get all the proof you needed? I imagine you were dealing with pretty slippery characters..."

 

“Actually, it was very businesslike. Jon somehow convinced Angstrom—the Juno’s CO?” When Caroline nodded, Anna continued, “Jon managed to persuade him that his only hope was in cooperating and he gave up his contacts at both ends. We know who supplied him with the Triceron from within Federation bureaucracy, even though, as we all know, his ship wasn’t in any shape to transport that kind of material and he told us the contact at the disposal end, the Federation approved site that was supposed to take possession and handle the destruction. We had a fake order from the same department under the name Angstrom had---as well as a load of ordnance that Jon arranged for and after that, it was a fairly simple matter to get a certificate of destruction from the disposal facility where the only thing that actually got transferred was a nice chunk of latinum which was transferred into an anonymous holding account we were given. Jon and Wade handled the transaction; I really was just along for the ride.” Anna took a long swallow from her glass, and then looked at Caroline over the top of her glass. “Commander Ridire has everything he needs if he wants to press forward with the investigation.”

 

Caroline smiled. "Sounds like excellent work to me; I'm glad it went smoothly and you didn't run into any trouble. I admit when I heard we were sending a team down to Benecia I was a little skeptical as to how much we'd be able to learn at this stage in the game. God knows their crew haven't been very revealing; I don't think all of them even knew what was going on."

 

“I guess you’ve been talking to them? It’s not easy to keep information secret on a ship like that and you’ve heard how ill maintained it was. They were either getting a higher grade of pay than normal or they had no hope of signing on to anything that was better than a derelict. I doubt that the hiring standards were too stringent on the Juno.” Anna pushed her nearly clean plate to the side and leaned forward, resting on her folded arms. “The only thing Jon couldn’t get out of Angstrom was who he was going to sell the Triceron to. He wouldn’t budge on that.”

 

"Yes, I don't get the impression they were taking on the quadrant's best and brightest. As for the intended buyer...I guess the fact that the shipment will never make it there makes that question slightly less critical," Caroline answered, eyeing the demolished remains of the lasagna with some amusement. "You were hungry."

 

"One shipment that won't make it there," Anna replied evenly. "Out of how many? I really wonder who was in a big hurry to purchase destabilizing Triceron."

 

"True," Caroline answered thoughtfully, stirring her soup in a slow, pensive circle for a moment. "Well, whatever happens no one can say we haven't put in effort to find out."

 

Anna stood up, stacking her dishes on the tray. "No, you're right about that. I just hope something comes of the investigation."

 

"Well, 'hope is the physician of each misery,' as they say," Caroline quoted with a smile noting that Anna seemed somewhat less than sanguine about the possibility of the investigation uncovering all the details. "You've done your part…the rest will no doubt take care of itself at higher levels."

 

"Hope, eh?" Anna picked up her tray to take it to the recycler but paused for a moment, a sudden gleam of laughter sparkling in her eyes. "Officially, Reaent's motto is 'To Learn all that is Learnable', but unofficially? I'm pretty sure it's 'Hope for the best but prepare for the worst'." She waited a beat before adding, with a wink, "It's worked pretty well so far."