==== Starbase Legacy brig ====
After having spent an hour and a half sitting and lying on the bunk-bed in the holding cell Zoteke startled as the lighting brightened from its night level into its day-cycle. To his reckoning, the time should be somewhere between 07:00 and 08:00 am. Not an unreasonable time for the day shift to come on line which he suspected was taking place at that moment on the other side of the door.
He got up from the bunk and did his best to straighten his uniform and tame the hair on his head into a little less chaotic state. Without a mirror, he was not very sure he was successful. He yawned and stretched once more shaking his head into full alertness.
I'd like to ask everyone to take a look at my sponsors, as they've for content for you that you do not want to miss out on!
In his mind, he was wondering if Ahrund had woken up already and hoped that when he finally got the attention of someone in charge he'd be able to explain the whole misunderstanding quickly so he could get back to his kid. A few seconds later the door swooshed open and a Lieutenant strolled into the holding cell area.
The security chief scanned his apprehended quarry, even though he'd been observing him via camera while Ensign Peterson gave his report.
"Good morning, Mr. Madwan." said the Security chief, speaking in his clipped British English accent.
Zoteke frowned at hearing the Lieutenant address him by his name.
Reading his surprise, Lt. Cho continued.
"Yes, we know who you are. It's standard procedure for us to take a sample of your DNA during beam-in, to identify you." Cho also noted Madwan's thirst, glancing at the steaming cup of Chinese tea in hand.
"Would you like coffee or a beverage?"
On instinct before thinking Zoteke blurted out his worry for his son
"If you know who I am you know I have a son. He's alone in our quarters and I want him taken care of!".
Only then did his mind process the fact his identity was known but was not released from his incarceration.
"Oh, yes. Your son is with a counselor at the moment - Warrant Officer Glaysen, as I recall. He's in good hands." He shook his head as he went on, the strong forcefield between them.
"You broke into a restricted hangar bay which you were not cleared for access yet. Ensign Enpeesea thought you were attempting to steal a high-end piece of Starfleet hardware. I won't have special treatment, I'll have to throw the book at you - indeed, Starfleet officers are meant to hold themselves to a higher standard." he ended with a note of derision.
"Oh god, the security chief's a walking rule book. Just my luck" Zoteke thought, forcefully suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.
Nevertheless, Zoteke decided to plead with the man to settle the issue amicably, being colleagues for the foreseeable future and all.
"Oh come on! It was the middle of the night, and I couldn't sleep. When I learned the Sparrow might be on this Starbase, I got carried away perhaps, but I AM the station's Squadron leader. What harm could there be in having a look at my equipment?" Zoteke said and threw the chief his most innocent expression.
Then, unable to resist the urge to point out a point that would sting the man's ego, if he was any good at his job he added
"And besides, I never once encountered anything to stop me from going into the hanger, nor did I see any posting of regulations telling me I was breaking regulations, or that I was in an area under security restrictions."
"You should know better than that, you have the capacity for common sense and logic, don't you? I don't care what the reason is, 'Squadron Commander' - you broke several security regulations, and for all, I know you could've made off with that Sparrow."
Letting out a deep sigh Zoteke realized there was no use in arguing with the man, so he resigned himself to whatever the man on the other side was no doubt already determined to do. The man was gonna go by the book no matter how much talking Zoteke did, so it was best to just get it over with.
"Alright, you've caught me. I'm in your jail.... now what?" Zoteke asked.
"It's not up to me. In this case, I simply make my recommendations - Captain Teron will be here shortly to speak to you. Not the best way to introduce yourself to your commanding officer - that is, if you ever enjoy that privilege again."
Captain Teron entered a few moments later, looking none too pleased at having been called down to the brig at the beginning of a day already filled with far too many briefings and conference calls.
"This had better be good Chief," he said to Cho as he entered the brig area of the station's security office. It was then that he noticed Madwan sitting in the holding cell Cho was standing in front of.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! " he thought to himself.
"Report."
Cho frowned even harder while giving his report to the Captain. The knowledge that this Madwan was displeasing not only himself, but his commanding officer also, soured his speech even more.
"..caught him red-handed in the Sparrow and had him beamed directly to the brig. If it weren't for Enpeesea's good-timing he could've taken off with it anywhere. In summary; illegally gaining access to a Starbase hangar bay, attempting to steal Starfleet hardware, plus conduct, unbecoming of a Starfleet officer. That's three very serious counts, Captain. I recommend he be stripped of his commission - allowing him to continue as SC [Squadron Commander] would be a continuing, ever-present security risk. He's lost my trust at least before he's even started his job." ending in a condescending tone.
Zoteke didn't know if they were aware that Zoteke could hear every word they were saying, but at that point, Zoteke just couldn't contain it.
A snort of sorts escaped first, then a muahahaha. But then he broke down into a complete and uncontrollable belly laugh.
The two silent glares that cut through the space between the looks and the sight like a Dreadnought's spinal phaser-lance that his outburst earned him brought him back in control of himself quicker than he'd liked though. He looked at the both of them with undisguised wonder.
Seizing the silence to explain his point and slowly but surely getting more and more p$#@#d off, he started to believe that the Security chief was actually not kidding, Zoteke started saying;
"Come on! ...either you're yanking my chain now or you have a lot of practice to do on observational skills Chief.…"
Taking the silence as a queue they were at least listening and prepared to hear him out he quickly went on talking.
"I couldn't have taken off with the Sparrow, and I couldn't have gone anywhere! You see as a standard operating procedure for vessels with no planned duty scheduled they are ‘defused’ as the engineers call it. All volatile substances and energy, or reactant chemicals, are removed from the vessel completely." Zoteke explained hoping not to come across patronizing the two officers telling them things that, in all honesty, they should know.
As the silent stares had changed very little he trudged on in frustration, talking faster little by little.
"The Sparrow's engines and power plant are completely cold. Shutdown and no antimatter are in its systems to fire them up. The power the ship's operational systems runoff comes from its umbilical to the station's wall." he finished, at least with that part of the explanation.
The next part would, he decided to throw down the gauntlet, and have things come to an end one way or the other; he was fed up with this ludicrous situation.
"But, second of all, and really, really obvious and very hard to miss, there is a row of other ships blocking the Sparrows way to the hanger bay doors which is about 5 rows deep. And, if you missed it the Sparrow isn't equipped with a bull-bar to shove Peregrines, Danubes, and transport shuttle-craft out of its way like a snowplow!"
Zoteke had now started to raise his voice and his anger now laced every word with either contempt or challenge, depending on the listener's interpretation. He finally ended his monologue in no uncertain terms, his gaze locked with Cho's;
"If you read anything more into all that you found me doing than an enthusiastic fighter pilot reunited, with the ship he loved to fly most, after a long time, and one who didn't want to wake anyone up in the middle of the night and make a fuss about it.... "
Zoteke paused and then with his voice suddenly flat, low, and significantly lower in volume,
"then if it was up to me, and to the decades of duty in the Marines, and in Starfleet, you are not qualified to be a security officer, never mind being a chief of security on one of Starfleet's newest and most important starbases."
Zoteke then sat down adding a mumbled "Sir" for protocol.
"Gentlemen, please!" Nick said suddenly to head off the petty bickering before it started.
"Mr. Cho, your concerns are noted, but right now we have bigger problems than an ill-timed breach of protocol," Nick added and slapped the control panel for the forcefield.
"Mr. Madwan, go look after that child of yours, but I expect you in my office in exactly 2 hours. Now get the hell out of my brig."
James could not hide his astonishment just letting Madwan go like that - especially after that obnoxious tirade about the Sparrow, which was certainly not the issue, and not what mattered in the slightest.
He was starting to think he was mentally unstable, somewhat. However he bit his tongue and followed the lead of his commanding officer - he just hoped Teron wouldn't live to regret it.
"If he thinks he's getting away with this, he certainly picked the wrong Starbase to do it. He'll commit crimes again, no doubt about it. And I'll be there to catch him and take him down when. if there's not a deadly crisis afoot."
==Starbase Legacy, Councillor's office, and Madwan family quarters.==
The captain needn't have bothered with ordering Zoteke out of the security office area though as Zoteke had started moving at the word “Mr.” and the door swooshed shut behind him halfway through the word “brig”.
It was seconds after that when the computer answered him with the location of Ahrund which then was, followed by taking his son into his arms and hugging him half breathless only 15 minutes more. The counselor, once Zoteke's identity as the father was confirmed, had no option, but to say bye and blink before the two had left his eyesight and found himself open-mouthed and stuttering with the questions the counselor wanted to ask stuck in his throat.
In all the time that'd passed between the vanishing of the forcefield releasing Zoteke and the father and son duo seeing the doors to their quarters slide shut behind them couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes, which left Zoteke with 90 minutes in which he could answer all the questions and worries that the past night and morning had to have provoked.
When the both of them impacted the couch's cushions though, to Zoteke's surprise and wonder, Ahrund's first question was
"Did Ahrund make computer people angry again?" [see this short story]
The expression in the kid's face telling Zoteke the concern for that question was genuine from which Zoteke could deduce that there must be something that, in Ahrund's opinion, he had done something that the "computer people" did not approve of.
Zoteke smiled at that and decided that, for the moment, there was nothing the little child could do to make him answer that question with anything else then
"Naaah... you did fine honey. Daddy did something that made the red uniform people angry. Daddy went to jail for a while and now daddies punishment is over and everybody is friends again"
The abruptness and dryness with which Ahrund thought on that for one second and then, before going off to his "stash" of toys, without a second glance answering
"Oh... Ok..."
left Zoteke doing a double-take in surprise.
Then the heavy ex-Marine turned fighter jock shrugged and decided he could use the time, which Ahrund being blissfully happy, and playing with his toys, provided him with. He could use it to think about the meeting he would soon be having with the Station's commander in Chief, Captain Teron.
To be continued
Thank you for reading! Stay safe, and stay happy!
Love it.......lol dude is always with u.....