Breaking Bones

Chapter 17: John Harrison

Upon making their way onto the Enterprise, all crew members went their separate ways to evaluate the ship before departure. Leonard followed Jim around in an attempt to finish his medical exam, but Ana knew that that would eventually become a lost cause. After the incident with Olsen on the Enterprise's first mission, Anatalia was now the only CSO for the ship. It carried a lot more responsibility, but Talia almost preferred it this way because at least with just her in charge she knew everything was being done up to standard. After doing her inspections of the weapons bay and artillery lockers, Talia made her way to the security deck to meet with her team. Still reeling from losing Kenshi, Anatalia had yet to determine who from her team would become her new second in command. Hopefully once she had all of her crew in front of her the decision would be more easily made. 

As Talia entered the security dock, all members of her team stood at attention. Given the parameters of this particular mission, Kirk had requested additional security as a precaution in case things became a little messier than they currently anticipated. The sight of one face in particular made Talia let out a massive sigh of relief. Evans. 

"At ease. Welcome aboard the U.S.S Enterprise. For many of you this is not your first assignment on this ship; for others it is. I wish I could say this mission will be just like any other, but I'd be lying. Many aspects of this mission are personal to various members of this crew. We are hunting down John Harrison, a rogue Starfleet officer responsible for the attack at Starfleet headquarters just a week ago. He is responsible for the death of our former captain and friend, Christopher Pike, as well as my former second in command, Lieutenant Kenshi." Many bodies stiffened at hearing Kenshi's name. Kenshi's death hit just as hard for all of them as it had for Talia, and as selfish as it might have seemed, Talia was relieved to have members of her team who could fully understand her emotions regarding the loss. Leonard did what he could to comfort her, but he didn't have the same relationship with Kenshi that she did, the other women of her crew did. 

"Further details regarding mission parameters and your individual assignments can be found on your arm PADDs. As usual, everyone remains in groups of two, everyone patrols a specific area of the ship, and area assignments rotate every two hours at random. Your patrol partner can be seen on your PADD as well. Evans, you're my new second." Talia felt a moment of Deja vu as the lieutenant looked up at the CSO in shock before uttering the only word that would come to mind, similar to how Kenshi had three years earlier.  

"What?" 

"You're my second. I told you if a spot ever opened up on my team it'd be yours. While the circumstances of Lieutenant Kenshi's loss are tragic, they are real, nonetheless. Her spot is yours if you'll take it." 

"I'd be honored, commander. Thank you." 

"Good. Do final checks of evacuation pods, then meet me on the bridge. Everyone else, to your stations. We takeoff in ten minutes. Dismissed." The room cleared out quickly with Talia the last one to exit as she quickly made her way to the turbo lift. The lift stopped short of her destination to the bridge and Jim quickly stepped on to join her. 

"Hey Ana." 

"Hey Jim. Everything okay?" 

"Fine, thank you." The shortness of Jim's response was out of character for the captain, but Talia had a feeling it wasn't her place to pry. 

"Actually, Scotty just quit. And your boyfriend is determined to annoy me with that stupid medical scanner of his even though I'm quite obviously fine. Physically, anyway." 

"If you'd just sit still and let him do the exams, you'd have been done a week ago." 

"Can't you take my side against Bones just once?"