Refuse, By Any Other Name

[Chirakis 1]

Personal Log 2386.07.25

Cdr Chirakis Kirel, SI-5

Executive Officer, Sky Harbor Aegis

 

Refuse, By Any Other Name...

Kirel's knuckles pressed white against the deep ochre of her desk as the Aegis logo replaced the face of Captain Krittenden on her office view screen. Kirel stared a few moments longer, unable to shake the image of the Starfleet captain, along with her ship and crew, writhing for all eternity in the fires of Gre'Thor.

 

While filing her nails as she swiveled the command chair to and fro, Krittenden had made it abundantly clear that this was her last trip before retirement, that the civilians she had transported were no longer her problem, and that if "the good commander had a grievance she was welcome to file it with V. Adm.J'a'jek, Director of Military Transport Services."

 

Dark bands in the ochre desk beneath her pressing fists turned to crimson rivulets of blood from a screaming Starfleet captain. The adopted Daughter of the House of Ghorr reared her head in a Klingon battle cry, arms raised to Sto-Vo-Kor to invoke the wrath of fallen honored warriors....

 

But as the echo faded, she caught sight of the MacIntyre as it made a sharp turn into a cloud of putrid effusion recently ejected from the Midway's septic systems. Could Commander Brown have had better aim?

 

"Captain Krittenden for you, Commander." Brown's voice on the comm cut through her thoughts.

 

Speak of the...

 

"Tell her I am... not available," Kirel replied, her tone somewhere between a laugh and a sneer. "And... assign a long, winding exit vector through the asteroid belt." With any luck they'll set off the defense grid. "Inform the captain that we are in the midst of radiation cleanup and if they do not navigate precisely their ship and crew will be at extreme risk."

 

"Aye, Commander." His tone. Was he... grinning?

 

With that, Cdr Chirakis handed the conn to Brown as she exited her office to enter the turbolift on her way to the Midway. Assessing the damage herself would give her the needed fodder to sling through the right Starfleet channels and postpone Captain Krittenden's retirement - or negate it altogether.

 

The scene that met her as the doors opened on the mezzanine walkway was all she expected it to be... and more. The garbage dumps in which she had hidden as a child to escape marauding Cardassians had nothing on the smell that assaulted her even before the lift doors opened. That taken into account, Kirel wrapped her hands around the railing to observe the cleanup from afar while she did her best to ignore the snide comments of passers-by.

A few hours ago, Captain Krittenden of the USS MacIntyre had opened the floodgates to 400 mostly civilian passengers who, without direction or containment, had swarmed onto the Midway and thrown it into utter chaos. Thanks to the swift reaction of Centurion Dabi and his security teams, the rest of the station had been spared, but the Midway and its facilities had been taxed to the breaking point and was now swimming in septic overload. Engineering had again been drawn from their more important duties to help maintenance clean up the spill. Medical personnel, in addition to running requisite physicals, had to test both incoming and present residents for hazardous waste contamination.

 

The station was still on power rationing. Sonic showers would soon be fully functional. Medical's needs were being supplied, but public water and replicators were at a premium. With atmospheric scrubbers at maximum it would take a while. Venting the initial onslaught into space had helped - and had led to sweet retribution. By turning her ship more sharply than she should have to show her defiance, Captain Krittenden had inadvertently become part of the refuse of Sky Harbor Aegis.

 

Refuse on the Midway. Refuse in space. Refuse on the bridge of the MacIntyre. By any other name, it smelled.