Edie strode through the corridors of the Lone Star with a tad more stomp
in her step than usual. There was a certain glare in her eye, a mixture
of anger and disbelief. It had not taken long for word to get around on
the demotion of Greer McKenna, her dear friend and colleague of the
past four years. She wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, as there were
several different stories that had disseminated through the lower ranks
of the crew. So, the old Chief Engineer had elected to pay her friend a
visit in person and get the story directly from her – with several hard
liquors in tow, tucked away securely in a satchel.
A few moments later, Edie arrived outside of Greer’s quarters. She
tapped the entry request indicator, “Tonx... it’s Edie. I come bearing
gifts.”
Part of Tonx wanted to tell Edie to go away, but the CSec knew the CEO
well enough to know Edie wouldn't be refused. She was more stubborn than
Tonx, but only just, which meant she’d stand there and keep ringing the
chime, or banging on the door until McKenna acquiesced and let Edie in.
“Come in, Edie.”
Edie walked in to the quarters and directly over to Tonx. She could tell
immediately just by looking at her that the ‘talk’ around the ship
wasn’t just that, this demotion had certainly taken place. “Oh my
dearest.” Edie walked straight over to the taller woman and embraced
her, in a sisterly-motherly-grandmotherly way.
Tonx was still amazed that Edie was in Starfleet, much less on the
Lonie. The older woman had become a matriarch of the ship, of sorts, and
for Tonx, a dear friend and mother figure. She welcomed the hug, and
melted into the CEO’s arms . . .in a mother/daughter or
grandmother/granddaughter sort of way. “Thanks for coming and checking
on me, Edie,” she said, sounding somewhat defeated.
“What the hell happened?” Edie stepped back now, contemplating the
various scenarios she had running through her head. “And wait. Who the
hell even demoted you? I can’t imagine Felix would go for this!”
Tonx motioned for Edie to follow her to the ‘den’, which offered the
best view of the arboretum. The den was roughly 20 feet by 20 feet and
had windows from floor to ceiling, giving a 9 foot but 20 foot view of
the arboretum. There was one very large sectional, two chairs and
numerous beanbags for sitting and taking in the view.
Tonx collapsed on the sectional, motioning for Edie to follow, “Truth be
told, without Felix, I’d likely be in jail. Apparently, sleeping with
an admiral’s wife, when said admiral ignores his family for that job is a
dangerous career move. . .at least when that admiral is deputiy JAG or
whatever the fuck the prick was.”
The CSec smirked after a bit...her wicked smirk, “His wife was amazing,
though, and she sought my company twice more after our first encounter.”
She rolled her eyes playfully, “I should have known better, I guess,
but no regrets. According to Felix, he saved my arse.”
Edie plopped down on the sectional as well, curling her feet behind her.
"I see." She had been ready to go give Felix a piece of her mind over
this but was even more glad now that she had waited to speak to Tonx
directly. "So let me get this whole story right. You slept with someone.
Who happened to be married. And some Admiral, some man, used their rank
and position to ensure you paid for it?" The woman had always been
rather impressed with Tonx's escapades and sexual drive in general, Edie
couldn't quite comprehend where all the energy came from.
Tonx laughed softly, “Yes. . .some man used his rank and position to
punish me because he couldn’t keep his wife happy.” She loved Edie’s
easy manner of seeing things as black and white when it came to abuse of
power. In many ways, Edie was a woman out of place in time and space
given she would likely have fit in with the hippy generation of the late
1960’s from Earth. It was that, and Edie’s warm spirit that drew Tonx
to her in forging the close friendship and kinship the two women shared.
"What a pig." Edie threw her hands up in the air. "What right does he
think he has to muck up your career because his own relationship has
issues?" It wasn't right - it was an abuse of power and position in her
viewpoint. "Oh my dear Tonx. I always knew your tastes would get you in
trouble some day. What a bastard." Edie kept going back to the thought
of this Admiral.
Flashing her characteristic smirk, Tonx shrugged, “No regrets, Edie. No
regrets. My tastes will likely get one in trouble again, but I love my
life. You told me Karma is a bitch, and so I expect the admiral to get
his in the end. It may well mean I ask if a person is married before
just jumping in the sack. Perhaps a little caution would be good.” She
wiggled her brows, “You mentioned you had treats?”
"Perhaps a little." Edie gave her an empathetic look before jumping to
her feet and grabbing the satchel she had brought with her. After
reaching in briefly, her hand revealed a neat bottle of scotch. "I was
saving this for a special occasion. I guess a demotion and not going to
jail is a just cause?" She tossed the bottle at Tonx using a light under
throw.
The CSec caught the bottle, her smirk growing, “Oh you know me so well.”
She pushed herself off the couch to move to a small bar she had set up
off on the side, and grabbed two glasses. Sure, they could have sipped
directly from the bottle, but good scotch deserved a glass. Setting the
glasses down on the table, she poured out a goodly amount for both of
them before sitting back down and offering one glass to Edie. She
cradled her own glass as she sunk back into the comfort of her couch.
"So. Do tell me who this Admiral is? And what exactly he does?" There
was an apparent innocence to the question but Edie had already set the
wheels of motion in her head. Karma would be getting a little help and
one way or another, the pig that did this to her friend would pay.
Tonx snorted, “You know, I wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t made such a
big deal of this. He is Admiral Theo Rosignal, and he happens to be
Deputy chief honcho type of the JAG Corps. You’d have to ask the Captain
to find out exactly what the schmuck wanted to do with me before he was
talked off the edge. According to our dear leader, I was a stone’s
throw from prison, as I’ve mentioned, and likely a dishonorable
discharge.”
She paused to take a slow sip of her Scotch, and closed her eyes as she
savoured the peaty flavor, “Oh my, Edie. This is amazing.” She licked
her lips and looked back to her friend, “And yeah, so I can’t leave the
ship thanks to that jackass, and I can’t itch that itch. . .all because
of one jackass of a man and a loser of a husband who doesn’t realize he
has a gorgeous wife who is dying for attention.”
"Like you said. Karma." Edie raised her own glass and the two shared a
toast. For the next several hours, the they shared in some laughter and
general banter. If anything, Edie was glad to have helped relieve the
distress of the overall situation some, in her own way.
~~ Some time later...
"Commander Harlow. It is so good to see you again." Edie gave the old
bald man a wide smile and an enthusiastic wave through the comm channel.
She remembered a time when he had been rather dashing and handsome -
age, children and the stresses of running logistics for multiple sectors
had clearly gotten to him over the years.
"Edie Freelove." There was a twinkle in the man's eyes as he acknowledged her. "It's been what. Eight years?"
"Probably closer to ten. One decade seems to just roll into the other
now. Listen.. Henry... I wish I was calling for pleasure but I need a
favour. I'm cashing in for Genova IV." During her description, Edie had
encrypted their channel and moved it to a safe and untraceable realm.
She had also sent him some brief and encoded instructions.
Henry looked over the limited details - simple, effective and rather
cryptic but he got the overall meaning of the instructions. "Edie. You
seriously want me to go through with this?" He raised a brow as he
looked back up at her.
"Without a doubt in my mind. Make it happen Henry. And make it
untraceable. I'll make sure to stop by for a drink next time I'm near.
Freelove out."
As the channel went blank, the screen reflected the wrinkled and grinning face of Edie. "Karma."
~~ Some time later...
"Did you hear what happened to Admiral Rosingal?" A young Bolian officer
with a rank of Ensign talked to her junior counterpart with a lowered
voice as the two worked on scrubbing some plasma manifolds.
"No? What happened?"
"Somehow his uniform got laced with denobulan itching powder... He had
welts and everything. I heard he scratched his balls so hard he gave
himself testicular torsion!"
"No way!" There was an abundance of laughter in the corridor now. "The guy deserves it. He is a prick!"