=TF XO's Office=
=Starbase UNITY=
After leaving sickbay following the birth of his nephew, Trent had thought about going back to work. At the time, he hadn't realized how late it was. When he got to his office his aide, Denaria Loto, was finishing up a few things.
"Why are you here so late?" Trent had asked.
"I could ask the same of you," the beautiful Katarian female responded.
Trent fought back a yawn.
"I just got back from sickbay. My sister-in-law just gave birth."
"Well, congratulations," she said with a smile. "Would you like for me to order some cigars?"
"Cigars?"
"It use to be an old Earth tradition," Denaria responded. "Since you're human and all."
"I know that, but wasn't it the role of the father to hand out the cigars?"
"Yeah, but from what you've told me about your brother... He's probably not the kind of person to think of such things."
"No thanks," Trent said. "Even if cigars were not technically illegal, I still can't stand the smell of them."
She shrugged, "Your loss. I kind of like 'em myself. Anyhow, I was about to call it a night. I had some paperwork from various department heads to organize for you by the morning and I wanted to get it done tonight."
"Is there anything urgent for me to take of?" Trent asked.
"No. Nothing that can't wait."
"Good. I'm going to call it a night myself. Sitting around a sickbay waiting room tends to make one exhausted for no reason."
"Good night, captain," she said with a smile.
"Good night, Denaria," Trent replied as he walked out of the office and out into the corridor.
A few minutes later, he arrived at his quarters. When the door opened, the room was dark.
"Computer, lights," Trent ordered.
The room remained dark so Trent repeated the order.
"Computer, light," someone else in the room said. Instead of the entire room illuminating only a small white light shined on a chair on the other end of the room leaving the rest of the room dark. It took a moment for Trent's eyes to adjust. When they did, he noticed the figure sitting in the chair.
"Hoack," Trent muttered with distaste, reaching for his phaser.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hoack said, pointing his own weapon at Trent.
"How in the hell did you get in here?" Trent asked.
"That's not an important question. The important question is 'why am I here?'"
"To kill me I would imagine," Trent said.
"Well, yes. That's obvious."
Trent just shook his head.
'Screw this,' he thought.
"Captain Rodgers to security."
"Don't bother. I've temporary blocked all comm links to your quarters," Hoack said.
"Then why don't you just shoot me and get this the hell over with."
"What would be the fun in that," Hoack said, revealing a knife of some sort. "I want to enjoy this. I want to watch you suffer and this knife if tipped with a poison which will result in a slow, painful death."
Hoack leaned forward, "Not only am I going to kill the one person in this entire galaxy I hate the most, but I'm going to become wealthy in the process."
"I take it your after the praetor's bounty on me?" Trent asked and Hoack nodded. "You know that there's no way in hell he can afford to pay a hundred thousand bricks of latinum?"
"I know. But whatever he does pay me will be worth it. After all, I'd be willing to do this for free."
"And it puts you back in the good graces of the Romulans," Trent added.
"That is a definite bonus," Hoack said.
"There's just one problem with that."
"What would that be?" Hoack asked.
"You have to kill me first," Trent said, quickly drawing his weapon before Hoack had time to respond. But someone else did. From the darkness on Trent's right came a large figure who crashed into the starfleet officer. Trent's phaser went flying to the deck.
Trent noticed that he was now fighting a Nausicaan who was, at the moment, getting the best in this fight. Hoack stood from his seat and slowly walked over to where Trent and the Nausicaan were fighting. Trent noticed this and threw his large foe off of him. He was not fighting both the Nausicaan and Hoack. When the Nausicaan tried to hold Trent for Hoack to stab him with the knife, Trent managed to get away. He was fighting off his two adversaries the best he could, using whatever he could find in his quarters as weapons.
It was when a second Nausicaan appeared that Trent realized he was in serious trouble. Unable to find his fallen phaser, Trent attempted to make it to his bedroom where he had a backup phaser along with his d'k tahg. Unfortunately the large Nausicaan's kept him from his goal as one. All three pounded on Trent, who was now a bloody mess with internal injuries.
The door to his quarters opened and someone else quickly entered.
'Oh, great. Like three on one wasn't bad enough,' he managed to think, trying to fight off the Nausicaans and Hoack.
Instead, one of the Nausicaans was pulled off of Trent and slammed against the nearby bulkhead. This allowed Trent a moment to get away from the other Nausicaan and Hoack and to his feet. One of the Nausicaans had fallen to the deck, apparently it's neck broken. The door to Trent's quarters opened again and four security crewmen entered, firing their phasers at the second Nausicaan and Hoack. The two fell to the deck, putting an end to the fight.
Trent attempted to gather his thoughts through the obvious pain that had been inflicted upon him. He leaned his back to the nearest bulkhead and slid down until he was sitting on the deck.
"Sir, are you OK?" one of the security crewmen asked.
"I'll live," Trent answered.
"Well, a medical team is on its way."
"Good," Trent muttered, then looked up to see who was his initial savor, the one that managed to snap a Nausicaan's neck. "Hello Denaria."
"Captain," she responded as she slid down to his left.
Trent just shook his head as security went on with their work.
"You lied to me," he said.
"About what?"
"When you said you didn't know Admiral Jefferson. Back when I was interviewing you for the job."
"Oh, that," she replied.
"Yes, that."
"Well, he knew you wouldn't hire me if you thought for a moment he was sitting you up with another bodyguard."
"He's right about that," Trent said, feeling a bit dizzy. "Somehow, I always knew that you were more than just a clerk. Anyhow, thanks for the save."
"No problem."
Something wasn't right. Trent was feeling more and more dizzy and now, even a bit nauseous. He looked over to his right, near where Hoack laid, and saw the Nenon's knife. And what was that on the knife? It looked red.
'Oh, damn it. That's blood,' Trent thought as if he was amazed that blood somehow found its way on the knife.
He looked down to the right side of his abdomen and saw a place where blood was slowly seeping out of his uniform.
'Oh, crap,' he thought, realizing that Hoack had managed to stab him sometime during the fight.
The room was spinning so rapidly now that he fell to his right and passed out.
Captain Trent Rodgers (npc by Rick)
XO, 1st TF, SSF Command
XO, SB 234: UNITY
and
Denaria Loto (npc by Rick)
1st Task Force XO's Aide
and
Hoack (npc by Rick)
Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.