SIM:LtJG Msafiri Bakari: Uninvited Guests
The events in this SIM occurred on stardate 238711.02. ((Outside the Twilight's Edge)) ::It had been weeks now since Starfleet had retaken Deep Space 17, and still the sight of clean corridors filled with healthy Starfleet officers was unsettling to Msafiri Bakari. Six. That was how many days Ayelet had told him they had left. Six days before their supplies ran out and the survivors would be forced to surrender to their Vaadwaur captors. Or rather six days before the survivors would be forced to engage in their final sacrifice to stop the Vaadwaur at all costs. Surrender was never an option. The survivors had seen how those who had been captured had been tortured and experimented on by the Vaadwaur. Their captors had been able to control their prisoners with the use of insect-like devices. They had seen too many former colleagues reduced to pathetic automatons. Too many friends whose very will had been broken. All the more satisfying, then, when it was instead the neck of a senior Vaadwaur scientist that was broken during an ambush by Msafiri and the others. They freed three of their comrades that day. Three out of hundreds who remained captive, most of whom did not survive the prolonged occupation or the final battle to retake the station. If only they had had more time. As Msafiri continued to walk down the corridor, a large foam cylinder with a stalk of dangling eyes chuckled loudly and waved its arms at him. Instinctively, his fists clenched.:: Gunt: Hoo-hoo-hoo! I'm Tubby the Happy Tube Grub! ::The mascot did his best to hand out a flyer, though he seemed to struggle with the gloves on his hands.:: Gunt: Come to Gunt's House of Latinum! Opening soo-soo-soo-soon! Hoo-hoo-hoo! Bakari: ::rips the flyer out of Gunt's hand:: Do you have a permit to litter my station with your trash? Show yourself! Gunt: ::hesitantly:: Hoo-hoo-hoo!!! Bakari: ::grabs the mascot and lifts him in the air:: Either you tell me what I want to know, or I'll rip off this costume right here and find out myself! Kadosh: Msafiri! What are you doing? Put him down! ::Msafiri and the tube grub mascot both turned to see Ayelet Kadosh, the station's "chief" medical officer standing nearby with her arms crossed and a look of disappointment on her face. Msafiri gave a sneer at the mascot before putting him back on the ground.:: Bakari: If I get *any* calls of harassment from *anyone*, that would make me *very* unhappy. Understand? Gunt: ::in a duly chastised town:: Hoo-hoo-hoo... ::As Msafiri stepped away from the mascot, Ayelet put her arm around his shoulder and started walking with him. She looked at her friend for a minute or so before she spoke.:: Kadosh: Was that show really necessary? You could have hurt that poor man. Bakari: Well then I guess it was a good thing you were there if he needed medical attention. ::Ayelet didn't find Msafiri's sense of humor particularly amusing, and truthfully she was a bit worried about him. While the other survivors had slowly become reacquainted with how things worked again in an ordered Starfleet, Msafiri seemed increasingly agitated as that sense of order was rebuilt on the station. That agitation had been building up especially after word had quickly spread throughout the station that the senior staff of the docked USS Independence was to take over most of the station's leadership positions. Ayelet was looking forward actually to handing off duties to a fresh set of hands. While the survivors had come to call her "doc", she had actually been on the station's nursing staff when the particular medical facility she'd been working in was overwhelmed by Vaadwaur. Several of the doctors and nurses had been slaughtered outright by the soldiers, but Ayelet and a few others were kept alive to take care of the captured prisoners. That is, until one of the Vaadwaur guards seemed develop a fascination with Ayelet herself. Though she was prepared to defend herself, she was fortunately rescued by Msafiri, who delivered a rather unfortunate end to the guard. Msafiri took her back to his holdout where he and a handful of security officers, several of whom would not survive to see Starfleet retake the station, hid and planned an insurgency. Week by week, they did their best to stall the Vaadwaur's progress, but they were outnumbered and outmatched. She hadn't known Msafiri, a low ranking security officer, before the occupation, but she soon saw how protective he had become over the survivors who remained on the station. For a lieutenant junior grade like Msafiri to become the senior officer on the station meant that he had witnessed many of his superior officers--his teachers, mentors, and friends--killed or worse. He promised those whom he saved that they would not be abandoned, but two months into the occupation, he had confided to Ayelet one night that he felt Starfleet had abandoned them all to face death alone.:: Kadosh: Believe it or not, I'm not always on duty. In fact, I was going to check out a celebration I heard the new station management was throwing. ::smiles:: I thought perhaps I could throw in a good word for some people looking for a job. Myself, for instance. ::Msafiri didn't smile back.:: Bakari: You needn't have bothered. They requested that the event be strictly for the Independence crew and their families. ::turns his head to look at her directly:: As in not you. Or me. ::Ayelet frowned.:: Kadosh: Come on. You can't go into this already making up your mind about these new people. Bakari: They don't understand what we've been through. They don't belong here, and they certainly don't deserve to become our new senior staff. Kadosh: Msafiri, you know as well as I that they suffered their own fair share of casualties. Bakari: And how many of our people did their fighters needlessly kill instead of try to save? Kadosh: They couldn't have known... Bakari: No! They didn't bother to know! They didn't care. Kadosh: Msafiri... Bakari: If you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to finish before I meet with the Independence crew over the next few days. ::The nurse replied with a sad smile. Finally, the security officer seemed to lower his guard.:: Bakari: Get some rest, Ayelet. And let me know if their medical staff doesn't treat you right. Perhaps *I* can put in a good word for you. ::He gave a small but genuine smile, which Ayelet returned happily.:: Kadosh: Good night, Msafiri. Bakari: ::nods:: Good night. ----- Lieutenant JG Msafiri BakariSecurity Department |
