138: Exit

By Avery Breaux
80207.03
15 Years Before Taking Command

-=San Francisco, California, Earth=-

Angela Nolan and Avery Breaux stood at the base of Coit Tower and waited...and waited.

"You know this Intelligence work is really poorly named," Breaux commented as he stared into the incoming fog.

Nolan, one foot up on the bulkhead that surrounded the monument didn't look back at him. She was all too familiar with her partner's idiocyncracies.

"Yes, I know...it should be called 'Waiting' instead of Intelligence...we seem to do more than our fair share of waiting don't we boyo?" She tossed her back with a flick of her head and craned her neck to see down the winding street that led to the tower.

"You don't think we were given misinformation, do you?" Breaux knew he had asked Angela no less than four times on the way to the location of the meet, but nonetheless, he asked again.

Nolan didn't bother to answer. She knew Avery always got a bit edgy before meets. You wouldn't know it to look at him, which is one reason she enjoyed having him as a partner these past several years.

A long silence was punctuated only by the sounds of gulls circling below, and finally a confession by Nolan, "I'm going to apply for that damned Captaincy...I've had enough of this skulkin' around and all the t'ings that go with it." She was testing the water.

Now it was Breaux's turn to remain quiet.

After what seemed an eternity Angela broke the silence, "Jasus Avery can I get a damned, 'that'll be great Angela'...or '...it's high time you got out of this mess..."

Breaux moved toward her and sat on the bulkhead, so that he could face her. "I've told you I think you should work toward the rank-you'd be an amazing starship Captain...I'm glad you've decided to pursue it."

She sat down next to him, straddling the bulkhead so that one of her legs dangled precariously over the edge, "And...you'll be comin' with me..." She paused..."...you follow?"

Breaux smirked, "You know I don't think I could take life on a ship...the same ship...I'm afraid we're going to part company...at least for a time."

Angela was visibly struggling with continuing, "It's not like that boyo...they've decided for us, they have."

She waited for Breaux's predicatable explosion...it didn't come.

Breaux simply folded his hands in lap and stared up at the tower. "You could have told me," was all he offered.

She countered, "It wasn't up to me...I was told today...over lunch..."

Breaux nodded, "Ahhh...the meet in Chinatown today...it was Starfleet."

Nolan answered, "They told me to come alone...they feel we've been out long enough...you're assigned to Engineering...the vessel is the Erasmus."

Breaux shook his head, "I've been assigned?...An Engineer?...that'll be the hardest cover I've ever done...they couldn't at least let me finish the medicals? Those bastards."

Nolan stood, "They said they have their reasons-who knows what they are-but it's a command, and we both can come in...you should be able to finish your meds down the road." Bittersweet was the mood at this juncture, she couldn't even sound convincing to herself. "So we close this Barbary Coast deal and it's over...done with it, eh? You'll not leave me hangin'...you never have before...and they are bastards...as long as we both realize that, we stay alive, eh?"

Breaux knew that the shipment would be easy to handle and they could give the signal and many would be taken into custody-and then...off to an Engineering Department. He shook his head in disbelief. "You realize York is screwing me over because of what happened on Argelius?..." No answer, yet an understanding existed between the two.

They both turned their heads as the sound of footsteps could be heard coming not from up the road, but from behind the tower.

The phaser fire tore through the fog above their heads...

Lt SG Avery Breaux
Engineering Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012