Lost and Found

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 4:36am by Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Sasha Vieers (Deceased) & Ignatius & Raven Mattel & Ensign Dorian Rochester (Deceased)
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:27pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: After "An Afternoon Stroll"

ON:

"My shoulder's sore," Raven complained as she and Ignatius hobbled around the Recreation Deck looking for Dorian Rochester. The Ensign had literally run into the two while rushing to the Holodeck and knocked them both over onto the ground. After he hurried off again, Raven had found a pair of gloves and now the two were begrudgingly searching for him to give the lost possessions back. However, they were also starting to feel the effects of being bowled over by the brutish young man, not to mention the social embarrassment of the incident.

"If that oaf has torn my jacket, I will have him thrown into the Brig!" Ignatius huffed, concerned more for his appearance as usual. "It will be a week until I can show my face on the promenade again."

"He definitely owes us a drink," Raven replied with a nod. She had one hand holding on tight to her wide-brimmed sun hat so it didn't blow off while they quickly walked, while her other hand was slightly holding up the long skirt of her sundress so that she didn't trip over. One fall to the ground was enough for today, she didn't want to cause another.

Fick had been busily trying to decide on a present for K'Laus. He felt that the Klingon deserved some sort of trinket for all of his patience with the young pilot. He had been wandering around the recreation deck for quite awhile now, he had even wandered toward the holodecks. He didn't stop there, especially after he saw Dorian Rochester over there. Regardless of how Fick felt about the existence of the bubble universe, the sight of Dorian Rochester still turned his stomach. He was fighting off his emotional turmoil when he spotted Raven and Ignatius. Once again, he was here in front of Raven, a brilliant performer, and one of his personal favorites and he didn't have his autograph book. He still managed to stammer, "Good morning, Raven. Ignatius," at them as they moved closer to him. He wasn't sure it was morning, but it was what came out when he attempted to speak, so he just let it ride.

“Uh, not quite,” Ignatius replied distractedly as he peered around the corridor still, his greeting a little more blunt than usual. As much as the clothier enjoyed Fick’s youthful spirit and exuberance, he didn’t want to risk losing Rochester in the crowds by getting stuck in another conversation, and potentially prolong this rude interruption to his day.

“Sorry, darling, Igs here is less cordial than usual.” Raven smiled, raising her eyebrow in her typical fashion. “We’re on the hunt for Dorian Rochester. He shoulda just come this way, have you seen him?”

“Bloody oaf,” Ignatius muttered at the mention of Dorian’s name.

Fick jabbed a thumb over his left shoulder. "The jerk just went into the holosuites," he informed them. "What's up?" He was super curious. Anything that could get Ignatius' panties in such a bunch had to be serious and they were talking about Dorian Rochester. The man who killed their captain.

"We're doing a good deed," Raven said with a firm nod.

"Not sure why," Ignatius interjected, folding his arms across his chest.

"Because we're good people," Raven replied gently, placing a hand supportively on his shoulder. "This way, was it Mr. Fick?" she asked with a smile.

Fick nodded. "Yeah, he went into the second one on the right. I'm not sure why either, Ignatius." Fick decided he was going to go along with them and make sure they found him, even if it was for a good reason and Fick didn't really feel like being nice to Rochester.

The trio started to walk around the next corner where the holodecks were located. They needn't have worried about losing Ensign Rochester, however, as the closer they came to his location, it became clear Dorian was in the midsts of a heated argument. Standing in the doorway of the holodecks, Rochester was involved in an altercation with his superior officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Vicuno, Assistant Chief of Recreation Services. He was a particularly officious Bajoran/Human, with a reputation on the Pandora for his strict organisation and the many, many memorandums he sends out to the ship-wide comms systems on the appropriate ways to have fun.

"You were late, Ensign." Vicuno insisted, "You should know the rules."

"Five minutes!" Rochester complained loudly, his tone raised in protest.

"Seven," Vicuno replied quickly, as if that extra two minutes made all the difference in the world. "I know you're new to this department, Ensign, but we run everything to schedule in Rec Services. And even if you're destined to be dumped off-ship at the next star base, I still expect you to adhere to our regulations," the older officer stated, the superiority clearly evident.

"I'll take less time on the program, please!" Dorian cried, practically begging now. "But I really need this today."

"Rules, Ensign." Vicuno shrugged, the slightest of smirks on his lips. "It's what stops us decent officers from falling into anarchy and... chaos."

Standing back and watching the scene, Raven bit her cherry red lips with consternation. She looked to Ignatius and Fick with a frown. "I know he's not everybody's favourite person but this is just... unseemly."

"Yeah. Not okay. Hey!" Fick called out. He stepped away from Raven and Ignatius and made a beeline for Vicuno and Rochester. "What's the problem?" he demanded.

The junior Lieutenant caught a glimpse of Fick and there was a slight moment of concern washing over his face. Even if Vicuno and Fick were the same rank, and the Bajoran was several years older, he still knew that Fick was a Department Chief and part of the Captain's senior officers. The politics of position dictated that Fick was his superior, even if Vicuno didn't particularly wish to show it.

"A departmental matter," Vicuno replied testily, as if trying to bite his tongue. "I was dealing with an internal staffing issue."

For his part, Dorian's head was dipped low now, visibly retreating within himself. He had thought it best to adopt this position whenever he came across anyone he had spent time with inside the Bubble universe. It just seemed to make things easier, even if Dorian himself still maintained he didn't deserve to hold a guilty conscious, he still felt the need to bow his head.

"Seems you were makin' an awful fuss to embarrass the boy," Raven piped up, neither concerned about anyone's rank or position in the least.

Fick knew he held the senior position. "Oh... I see." He folded his arms over his chest. Both Starfleet men were taller than he was, but Fick never cared about that. "So you just yell at him, unprofessionally, I might add, in the hallway? Don't you have an office? I think all that made it everyone's business."

Vicuno scowled slightly, "I have a schedule to maintain and the Ensign was the one arguing with me, when he should know we don't allow exceptions to the rules."

"I just wanted my time in the holodeck." Dorian added sullenly.

"Then you should have been on time!" Vicuno immediately returned, flashing an angry stare back to Rochester for speaking. "With respect, Mr. Fick, please allow me to do my job without interruption."

"Uh... how long is his time?" Fick asked.

"The Captain has approved one hour per week until we reach Carnwennan Station." The Bajoran replied, hoisting his chin in the air. "We're trying to ensure everyone on board has equal time to relax after the stressful period we've just been through. But as I noted in my crew-wide memo last Thursday at zero-seven-thirty, all crew members must present to the holodeck within five minutes of their allotted scheduled time or it will be given to the next person in line. Ensign Rochester breached his grace period." The sneer came back. "Not that I'm surprised."

"Wow... so you're telling me that everyone gets equal time, but you're not giving him any? That doesn't really seem fair and did the next person in line show up in that two minutes?" Fick asked. His tone suggested that he already thought he had this argument won.

This caused a pause of awkward silence as the Bajoran cleared his throat hesitantly. "As soon as I saw the Ensign was not present by his scheduled start time, I... contacted the next person in line."

At this moment, and of course it was at this very moment, the doors to the holodeck opened. Ensign Sasha Vieers appeared before them, wearing a black cocktail dress with a bouffant skirt and a dark-haired bob-cut wig. Her shoes seemed to make an unmistakeable tapping noise as she walked forward towards the group. She innocently enquired, "Vic, what's taking so long? Mr. Astair and Ms. Rogers are waiting."

It was Vicuno's turn to hang his head. "A mere coincidence." He offered, weakly, as he attempted an apologetic smile.

"Oh, honey," Raven muttered with a derisive laugh, while Ignatius added a slow "tsk, tsk" in support. Dorian meanwhile was now staring with a quiet rage between Sasha and Vicuno, his lips curled up in anger.

Sasha merely gave a slight shrug of her shoulder, as if to say 'You had your chance', before grabbing hold of Vicuno and pulling him into the holodeck. Her shoes tapping away until the sound was muffled by the close of the doors.

"Hey, Rochester," Fick said over his shoulder. "You can have my slot."

Dorian had turned and started to walk away, but he stopped at Fick's offer. It was clear there were tears welling in his eyes, and he was trying to hide it. "Don't do me any favours. Nobody here will like you for it."

"I don't think that's true, besides Ms. Raven was defending you too. So who's not gonna like me? I'm sort of hard to resist," Fick joked. "Look, I don't care... just use my slot. In twenty minutes that holodeck, right there..." Fick pointed. "... is mine for an hour and a half. It can be all yours."

The Ensign bowed his head, "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Raven stepped forward now, holding out the gloves. "And before you go running off again, you dropped these earlier."

Dorian initially went to receive the item but when he looked at it closely, he shook his head. "Sorry, Miss Mattel, but they aren't mine."

"But they must be," Ignatius said with a stern look. "We think they fell out of your bag when you ran into us."

"And I'm deeply sorry for that, again, but they aren't mine. They're too small." Dorian replied earnestly. "Sorry folks, but I want to make sure I'm at the Holodeck before my time."

With that, the young man jogged off towards the next set of Holodecks, where he promptly sat himself down on the ground in front of the door. He wasn't going to risk losing his spot again, or have another argument with Vicuno.

"How odd," Raven remarked, still holding the gloves limply in her hands. She tossed them over to Ignatius and shrugged. "Mr. Fick, for your heroics and generosity today, how about I fix you a drink at Mindo's?"

"I could certainly use one," Ignatius complained, as he stuffed the gloves into a pocket.

"That sounds great," Fick replied. "I'm not sure how heroic I was. I didn't really want to go to the holodeck anyway, so everyone wins." He also thought that maybe it was time for him to move past his "bubble" ordeal and let things go. It made him feel pretty good to have been able to help Rochester, even though he had been holding a grudge against the man.

Raven placed both her hands to her hips, making a large loop for Fick and Ignatius to wrap their arms through. "Everyone wins!" She declared as the trio headed off towards the bar.

OFF