It was very late, and truth be told, Jesa would rather have curled up in her bed rather than complete what she knew needed to be done tonight. The woman was beginning to feel numb, numb from all the emotional turmoil she had been put through today, and so very tired for all of it. She moved back to the ready room in a very mechanical fashion; nodding in approval as she entered at the packing boxes she had ordered to be moved there earlier.

There were other things she had to attend to, first, before actually getting to packing. Jesa lowered herself tiredly into her office chair and brought up the display of messages. She raised her eyebrows at one that contained the subject line "Victor Tyne", and quickly displayed that one. Her eyes quickly read through the report, and when she was done she just shook her head. Jesa might have mustered up the energy to be angry at commands' refusal to give her at least an iota of useful information.

'Once again the stupidity of command has failed to surprise me.' She thought, then tapped her comm badge. "Callen to Faulk."

"Faulk here..." he said, sounding a little tired. Jesa checked the clock and hissed at herself, it was later than she thought. "Sorry for disturbing you Doctor Faulk, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm taking LAURA offline and I'll be transferring her off the Isannah, so don't attempt to activate her."

"Hm? Oh, okay." He said. Jesa was sure she had awakened him from a nap, hopefully not on his desk as he was supposed to be finishing moving out some delicate samples of biological material.

"Alright. Callen out." She said, shutting off the system. Jesa settled down to her desk and rerouted the information to the office she would have on the Starbase. Then she sat back, and looked around this office. She hadn't bothered to redecorate it from when Richards used it, and somehow it still seemed to be his office. Without much imagination, Jesa could still see him sitting on that couch, or in the chair she sat in now.

The red-haired woman got up and walked around the table, just looking around, brushing her fingertips on the desk. She sighed; knowing this would be the last thing she'd remember of him, this desk, this office. Jesa turned and looked at the chair, and for a moment she could see him sitting there. Her friend, and Buck's. At that moment her console beeped, and she turned it around, tapping the display. To her amazement a recording flashed on, and it was Richards' face.

"Jesa. First of all, I want to apologize for how I acted when last we spoke. I know you are going through a rough time right now and I did nothing to help that process. I also want to give you my condolences about Buck... he loved you so much, Jesa. And I know you loved him."

"I still remember you as that rather antagonistic young ensign on the Starbase, and him as that naive officer, ready to serve, full of energy and enthusiasm. You both came so far together. I am secondly sorry to leave you at this time. The call of duty to my friends and Starfleet, and the call of duty to my family has been a hard one to choose between... but I have chosen."

"I hope that you can understand this, Jesa. Keep your friends near to you; you have more than you know. Farewell. Richards out." And the recording ended. Jesa just stood there for a moment and then spoke. "Computer, save recording and route it to my Starbase databanks." The computer beeped in response, breaking the silence in the room. Jesa returned to her seat on the other side of the desk, thinking about Richards.

Jesa jumped as the computer beeped again, rousing her from her thoughts. Almost out of habit she tapped the screen, before realizing what she was doing. "Commander Callen here." She said, realizing she didn't know the face of this lieutenant in Security yellows looking back at her. "Yes, Commander. I'm Lieutenant Jameson, Starbase 118 Security."

She nodded, cordially. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" she asked, her mind wondering what business she'd have with a Lieutenant in security on the starbase. Maybe one of her officers started a brawl. 'For goodness sake, that would be a wonderful thing to happen on my first command.' She thought. Jameson, completely unaware of her thoughts, continued. "I'm calling to inform you we found some residue of what looks like the discharge of a disruptor weapon, the DNA we found matched that of one of your officers."

The woman sat up straighter, giving her full attention to the Security Officer. "Who?" her tone left no room for finagling or other nonsense.

"An... Ensign Drake, Deck Officer, I believe."

Her eyes narrowed, leaning forward. "What happened?" Jesa believed in short to-the-point questions.

"We don't actually know yet, we're still going over it. Apparently there was someone out in the hall that your medical staff picked up. I want him officially transferred to a base facility, especially since you're due to be prepped for refit tomorrow... er... later today." He grinned sheepishly, obviously having checked his chronometer.

Jesa nodded, speaking the words she was expected to speak. "I understand, but don't think I won't come down there personally for answers if I receive none. Your officer is probably already transferred, as a transfer of the patients was scheduled earlier today. I will send that information to you when I receive it."

Jameson nodded. "Thank you. Security out."

As soon as the officer ended the transmission, Jesa tapped her comm badge. "Callen to Sickbay."

She received no response. "Commander Callen to Sickbay, come in please."

Still, there was no answer. "Callen to Faulk."

No answer. Jesa thought this most strange.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Faulk." She commanded.

"Lieutenant Joseph Faulk is not aboard the USS Isannah." The computer asked in its ever cool voice with its perfectly measured tonal qualities.

"Did he log out?" Jesa queried.

"Affirmative. Lieutenant Joseph Faulk has left the Isannah for Starbase 120 for the duration of the refit. He requests you forward any communiqués to his office located on leve---"

"That's enough." She quipped at the machine.

"Callen to Dixon."

"Huh? Wha--- Dixon here." He mumbled, and a yawn could be heard in the background.

"Dixon. There was a patient brought from the Starbase earlier. Where is he now?"

"Huh? Patient... they're all on the Starbase now. Thought..." he yawned "thought it was Drake... but it wasn't." He burped; Jesa rolled her eyes. "Sorry."

"Thanks, Dixon, that's all I needed. Callen out."

She sat down with a frown. Every ounce of her instinct wanted to move on this. Every bit knew that this latest development had to do with what he was investigating, which either meant that it was something regarding information on Tyne or on Niederst and that made it her responsibility. Yet, the shackles of command clearly prevented her from doing anything worthwhile, and there was no one she knew in her own security department that she was sure she could trust.

Jesa was troubled; she quickly hit another button to call someone. Her attitude was, if she was up and troubled, the rest of the ship might as well be too. Thank goodness she didn't decide to declare a shipwide announcement at that hour. In a few minutes her ready-room door chimed, and upon letting the victim---er---crewperson in, she pointed to the boxes. "Please get this stuff packed up, and have it shipped to my quarters on the Starbase."

If Jesa had been less preoccupied, she might have noticed the woman's expression regarding the lackey work, but she gave no utterance of complaint, only a salute and a nod. Jesa then called back over her shoulder while leaving the room. "And be careful with that clock! I want it to still be working when it gets there!" And the door shut behind her. The petty officer just sighed and shook her head. 'Does she think I'm planning on bouncing it around the room a few times to test the mechanism or something?' she thought, and then placidly got to work.

Loaded: 03.10.2004