>Kitanya, > I wanted to do something for you to show how much I appreciate your trust, loyality, and service to me since coming to Starfleet Command. While we have not always seen eye to eye on matters, your opinions carry great weight. So here is the token. > > On this PADD you will find transfer orders for a few admin folks. I have taken the liberty to select a dependable budget analyst and a great auditor. I am sure that you know what to do with them. All you need do is have your aide file those orders with personnel and they will be yours. Their service records are included for your review. > >I have also had "copies" made of all of your mate's logs while he was on tempory assignment. There was not much that you don't already have, but I thought that you deserved to have it all. Intell was able to recover some debirs form the facility where Admiral M'Rrell had been working. One of the things recovered was his foot locker. I could not spring the foot locker, due to radiation exposure. However, the locker shielded it's contents, and the holos, robe, uniform, and a book or two that were in there are yours. I hope this helps. > >The last bits are in the PADDs that are banded together. They contain both a summary and a detailed accounting of the 'secret' investigation that Starfleet is engaged in. I promised that you would be kept in the loop, and here it is. It is still on going, but much has been found. > >As I said earlier, please keep this quiet. It is not yet time to let this cat out of the bag. But it soon will be. > >Many thanks. > >SL
She put the PADD down and looked through the box, pulling out what was most important to her just then. She pulled out the things that had been M'Rrell's and sat down, holding the robe in her hands. She knew every item intimately, but she had thought they were lost long ago. She clutched the robe to her, hoping that there might be a faint smell of him left in it, but it was long gone to time and travel. It had been said of the Mikan that their tears had formed the ocean, so many of their kin and loved ones having been lost over the ages, the protectors of Cait giving more than all other clans combined. They gave and asked for nothing but respect and to be left alone with their pain. It had been a long time since she had cried her tears, but they came again unbidden, and she wept into the robe that her mate had worn often in his off-duty hours, the one she remembered a smiling, happy, loving mate wearing. Her fingers traced over the uniform, running over the fabric, then to the books. He loved books. But her eyes couldn't stop looking at the holos. One was of her, something he'd taken when they were on a holiday to Cait, in the southern rainforests. She had fallen asleep on a branch in a tropical ba'fra tree overlooking the ocean, and he'd always loved it. One was of them, his arms around from behind, chin resting on her shoulder - his sister had taken it at their home. He was even wearing the robe that she held, and that made it all the moe poignant. The robe was empty and the holo was all that was left. The tears came harder then, and she hugged the robe to her as a child would a favorite blanket, hoping it would ward off the pain somehow. She wept for her lost mate, knowing, having to believe he was still alive somewhere. That thought brought her back and slowly the tears subsided. He was not dead. She refused to believe that was so. She would know if he were, and she did not feel that break in their bond that would tellher of that fact. He had the same gift she had, and so he would not die of old age or sickness, and she knew he had not been killed. So although her heart ached with longing for him, she would not weep as though he were dead. Carefully she folded the robe back up and returned it and the other things to the box. She was a soldier, and she would not dishonor him by mourning his death when it had not happened. She knew the demons would come that night, hot and fierce, but now was the time for work, and she had much to do. She told Naraht via comlink about the budget analyst and auditor and had him submit the transfer orders. She didn't want him to see her right then because of her damp fur and red eyes. He might be a Horta, but he had been around carbon-based life forms enough to know when someone was upset or hurt and she didn't want him to know she'd been crying. Then she turned her attention to the report of the secret investigations, reading it thoroughly, letting her mid focus on work. It took a bit, but she did it, and read it completely. By the time that was done, she looked somewhat more presentable, and a bit of work with a brush and damp washcloth cleaned her up to be ready for her meeting in San Jose. She was still in a fierce mood, though, so she pitied anyone who got in her face at the big meeting that night. If she had the time, she would have gone to the holodeck, taken the safeties off, and beat the crap out of some programmed felinids. But she didn't have time for that, so she just hoped that this meeting was civil tonight, or there would be blood on the floor. She closed the box and put it into her locked cabinet in her office and then headed out to San Jose to meet at Scott's Grill. She was early, and the waited seated her. She ordered a drink - she needed it. (resp?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God.... I could be eating a slow learner! --Lynda Montgomery
