Food for Thought

Posted on 10 Oct 2021 @ 1:43am by Ensign Adam Morgan

Mission: Picking up the pieces
Location: Ten Forward - USS Andromeda
1361 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

As he walked down the corridor of deck 10, Adam Morgan had a lot on his mind now since the rescue of the traders from the debris field. At first it was easy to get through the mission at hand to scan for any idea of the planet explosion and head home to analyze any results that the runabout had scanned, but that all changed due to the distress call that came from the traders vessel.

Morgan remembered on how battered the old ship was and had to wonder if it had been that way for a long time or damaged by the planetary explosion. He sighed on that thought when he entered into the Ten Forward lounge of the Andromeda. He hadn’t really eaten much since the away mission so after returning to the ship, he decided to get something to eat after his shift ended on the bridge. He walked up to the replicator and spoke,

"One cup of Bolian Spice Tea and one bowl of Chicken Soup with pasta, hot."

As the replicator came to life, Morgan looked around to note not too many people were in the room. He noted a couple officers in one corner in a conversation and couple single tables occupied but not much more than that as most the crew were on duty. Guess this was the way he liked it, nice and quiet. The whirling stopped from the replicator and Morgan took his so-called nutrients and walked towards a table that was near the viewport.

Morgan sat looking towards the stars and he took a sip of his hot tea. As the warm liquid entered into his body, he could feel the thoughts from the mission come upon him again. He had noted that the ship that was now sitting like a derelict when the runabout approached it and Morgan had to wonder at the time if anyone really survived onboard. His thoughts went to the two traders and he had to admit that it was hard to believe them and their stories that they seem to give.

Morgan was about to take a second bite of his soup when a figure approached him to his right. Morgan didn’t pay attention as it may have been another crewmember looking for a seat but a voice came with the distraction, "May I join you?"

Morgan looked up to see the person he hoped not to see again until he was sure it was the same man. He watched as the male trader sat down across from him without any permission as if his request was more of a statement. The trader had a tray of his own that held a glass and food of his own that looked like a wrap. He spoke again as he looked at Morgan in the eye,

"Been awhile, hasn’t it?"

Adam looked across to the now familiar face and spoke as he placed his spoon to the side of the bowl and spoke not sure if he was in shock or surprise, "How is this possible?"

"The question you should ask would be, 'why didn’t you contact your ship' or 'check on the rest of the crew', beside leaving the rest of us to die," the male trader responded in kind.

"Durke," Morgan stated with a small breath. Then continued, "Dacto Durke." Morgan sat back and had to wonder how this was possible. He looked at his old friend and spoke again, "How is this possible? The ship was destroyed when it went down."

Durke looked at Morgan and spoke after taking a bite of his wrap, "Hasperat....It has been sometime since I enjoyed the taste of any Bajorian food." He put his wrap down and spoke, "Like I said, you should have checked on us when you made it to the surface."

Morgan looked at Durke into his light blue eyes and spoke, "We tried to contact the ship, but there was no response. Before the three of us who were on the team knew it, we realized that it would have been too late for the ship as we had been transported into the future."

Durke was watching Morgan intently and took another bite of his food when he chose to mouth out the words, "Well, to answer your inquiry, yes, we all were going to die. The captain ordered another away team to the surface since the materialization had been complete and only after we hadn’t heard back from your team, Adam."

Morgan could feel the dislike and contempt in the way Durke said his name and he sat there only to be troubled. He took in the words when Durke continued on with his tale.

"I beamed down in a second attempt with another couple officers, but to our surprise, according to the old logs of the Olympia, the anomaly field around the planet fluctuated more rapidly when my team was halfway through the process." Durke took a sip of his drink and continued with his now contempt in his voice, "That damned anomaly decided that our fate was much greater than a doomed starship Adam! We found ourselves in the future as well, but further into the Gamma Quadrant!"

Morgan spoke, "I wish the ship never encountered that planet but we can’t change time Durke." He continued leaning forward, "We need to look to the future and I did just that. It was hard for me as well, but I’m here and..."

"You had your future ahead of you as you were found by Starfleet not long after you transported," Durke stated interrupting Morgan. He spoke again before Morgan had the chance to say a word, "We gave up because Starfleet gave up on us! Starfleet is a joke, Adam. The sooner you realize it, the better off you will be."

"Better off like you? As a trader hopping through the galaxy with the lies you carry now?" Morgan stated right back.

"Well to be honest Adam," Durke stated. "I’d rather be a drug runner. Better hours," he stated with a smirk.

Adam looked at his old colleague and spoke, "Why not come back to Starfleet, start a new road?"

Durke placed his food back on his plate and spoke, "I can’t Adam. I can’t do that and we all know that." He looked at Morgan and spoke again, "When we never heard from Starfleet again, we tried to see if we could get back home. We didn’t know where to go, who to go to as well. We were lost. Misfits and wandering for a good couple months. We didn’t know if Starfleet was still around at that point, so we decided to go our separate ways." He stopped mid-sentence, "But that’s a story for another time."

Durke stood and Morgan watched as he started to make his way from the chair he sat with his tray in hand and spoke, "Listen Adam, I’m here to reclaim what could be a friendship with you." He spoke again, "It was good to see an old comrade after all this time."

Durke then walked off and Morgan wondered on how his old comrade had survived all these years. He was about to follow the man to find out the answers but decided not to. All Morgan could think was what to do now. He now had some information on the one trader and had to think if he needed to contact the captain on this new discovery. Or was he going to keep this to himself for a while until it decided to come up.

Morgan took a sip of his tea as it now was barely hot and he had to wonder one other thing on his mind. Why did it take Durke so long to come to him if he was looking at the historical records for his information? He stood and took his tray to the replicator as his appetite was now lost and wondered if he would ever get a good meal down the road during this mission...



Ensign Adam Morgan
Chief Flight Control Officer