"Orion's Musings"

[Guest Laarell]

From the door of her office, Laarell looked over her Lab with a refreshed (and fresh) eye, and slumped.

 

In spite of the basic repairs Camelot's engineering staff had managed, the Lab -- the whole ship, really -- still looked worse for the wear. There were creaks when there shouldn't have been creaks, two failures on the sensor grids in fifteen minutes... and gods knew what the harried rumblings from a few enlisteeson the other side of the room were about.

 

Stellar cartography was still struggling with realigning some sort of nav array, and it vaguely disturbed Laarell that she honestly didn't care -- as long as they made it to Earth in one piece, the Orion felt frankly indifferent. Once back to home base, they could rip apart half the sensors with a great deal more ease than at Camelot's comparatively limited facilities.

 

Still... damn. They'd taken one hell of a beating.

 

What the brass had planned for Excalibur now was going to be interesting to watch. It seemed a shame to pull them from Gamma, after all their experience, but... if they determined that their brand of "cowboy diplomacy" when contact with Command was unforgivable? They might be permanently pulled from duty in that area. Or, at least, the command staff might be.

 

Damn.

 

She let the door shut behind her, and headed back into her office. A hefty bundle of communiques from home -- apparently her lack of contact over the few prior months had the effect of making her all that much more interesting to friends and family. Not that Laarell minded her younger sister writing her to on a near-daily basis by any means, but it was now proven -- absence did make the heart grow fonder. Then again, Laarell already knew that, what with the almost-ten days she'd been away from the orange blob happily perched atop her console.

 

Her friend-Horta, Kahrak was practically bouncing in the vid-communique it'd sent. Laarell was going to be home! Laarell would have to go see him! Laarell had to show lots of photos from the Gamma Quadrant! Laarell had to go fly and see Kenya, where he'd found her Citrus! Laarell had to bring Citrus (of course she would, anyway)! Laarell had to spend all of her free time with Kahrak, who missed Laarell very badly!

 

... again, she wasn't complaining. She missed her Horta.

 

So, getting back to Earth for the first time in years would be pleasant enough. There were many... friends... she was planning to look up when she was there. And yes, much Horta time.

 

Much Horta time. Who knew? Maybe she'd take more of her greatly-accrued leave time and head somewhere exotic. Vulcan, maybe. Or Bajor. Or Risa.

 

Yeah. She and Kahrak could go to Risa. He'd love that.

 

Once, of course, she knew she wasn't getting fired for anything.