He tapped his comm. badge. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Becknar Gear."

After a slight pause the computer responded, "No comm. badge has been logged with the identification of Lieutenant Commander Becknar Gear."

'Of course not,' Lysander thought to himself, banging his desk to loose some of the pent up frustration he had been experiencing, sending several padds falling to the floor.

"Fine, then. Computer, locate Commander Jesa Callen," he said simply, confident this would get more results anyway. If Buck was back, he would talk to Jesa first, and she would know where he was.

A few seconds passed before the computer returned and answer. It was always that way with starbase requests, the amount of people it had to search through was staggering compared to a starship. And when you factored in the increased demand for computer requests, it wasn't very surprising it took a little longer to answer. "Commander Jesa Callen is currently located in the Burgundy Gardens officer-only restaurant."

Silently, Ethan cursed the computer, racking his brain trying to remember if he had ever heard of that particular restaurant and figure out the way to it from what he remembered of the Starbase's layout. "Computer, is that within the perimeter of the Arboretum in the Observation Dome?"

Once again the computer remained silent for a few seconds, allowing Ethan to imagine giant cogs and gears powering the computer in some faraway room. The thought, utter rubbish that it was, amused him all the same and a thin smile was forming on his face when the computer replied "Affirmative."

That was all he needed. Getting up he took up a swift pace through the corridors. Ethan, surprisingly, didn't even contemplate who Jesa might be with. His only interest was Buck at this point. With only a few levels more to go, Ethan's pace geared up to a trot, then, to the amusement of those around him, to a sprint.

Then a general alert sounded, "General Alert, General Alert. Alpha red security personnel report to the Burgundy Garden. Alpha green medical first-response personnel report to the Burgundy Garden, upper level."

The alert was repeated twice more, Ethan redoubling his pace in urgency. When he got closer to the restaurant, he was forced to slow down due to the amount of people around. Trying to sort out the confusion of all the people milling about and gossiping, he could only ascertain that some kind of explosion had taken place.

With judicious application of his rank and an air of importance, he managed to arrive at the scene of the explosion. It had been nearly ten minutes since the first blaring sound of the general alert had rung out. Medical personnel were tending to the injured, while security was attempting to seal off the area. Glancing around quickly, Ethan tried to find Jesa's face in the crowd.

He was unable to find it and feared the worst. Ethan grabbed the arm of the nearest security officer as he happened by. "Officer, what happened here?" he nearly barked at the man.

"Bomb, sir, locator one from what we can tell. It was propelled towards the balcony, not placed there. Luckily there have been no fatalities, only about a dozen minor injuries. Sorry, sir, but I have duties to attend to. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, officer, thank you," Ethan replied.

Nodding, the man moved off, questioning people and attempting to sort out the gawkers from the actual witnesses. A flood of relief swept through Ethan. 'No fatalities,' he thought. That meant Jesa had to be alive, and upon closer examination of the surroundings. She probably slipped off before anyone had a chance to detain her for questions. That seemed like her style.

He raised his hand to tap his comm. badge, intending on querying the computer again as per Jesa's location, but then when he looked around, he felt guilty. Buck was alive, he was relieved about that. But these injured people needed help, and the way the security officers were haphazardly trying to keep people both in and out, it looked like they could use a hand as well. And what type of officer would he be if he failed to offer his assistance? He'd just have to catch up to Jesa later, somewhere.

Loaded: 05.21.2004