A Friend Indeed

Posted on Sat Sep 16th, 2023 @ 10:49pm by Commander Riko McCord & Captain Isabella Perry & Verrana Nemis

1,233 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Rescue
Location: WV Nomad Bridge
Timeline: MD 6, 1130

Riko McCord was seated at her console in her role as XO, prepared to handle anything the captain threw at her. Unfortunately, she wasn't throwing anything, so that left Riko with boredom or pondering things from the past couple of days. She glanced at Perry to her left. The woman was relentless in pursuing tasks, and apparently had unbounding energy. The first officer covered her mouth as another yawn popped open. It was a good thing she'd had a couple of naps that afternoon.

Then she glanced at the console where Nemis sat. What was her problem with that woman? She'd not liked her since the day she stepped down from her transport ship, with her high and mighty voice demanding someone take care of her luggage, and her. It was an attitude, definitely. But what was she covering up by using it? Riko moved her eyes around the rest of the crew on the bridge. No one elicited such high emotion levels in her. She leaned back slightly, took a deep breath, and remembered the day Verrana had arrived on the starbase.

The spy had stepped from the dock and breathed in the air of business, as she already seemed to be planning to make an opportunity out of nothing here. She had to know if Isabella, of all people, were calling her to the Starbase to ask for a favor, the situation was dire. Although McCord believed she genuinely thought of Isabella as perhaps her only friend in the known universe, she wasn't the type to let a chance pass her by to make as much latinum as she could from the situation.

McCord had struggled with her assignment to find a place for the Romulan to stay. It wasn't because there weren't plenty available, but because Riko was already having trouble trusting, let alone liking the woman, enough to care if she lived with rats and roaches or in a fastidiously clean, amicable environment.

However, the first officer's beliefs in the Church of Elvis emphasized being kind and dreaming of a better world.

"There must be lights burning brighter somewhere,
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue.
If I can dream of a better land, where all my brothers walk hand in hand,
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true?"

Even in her memory moment, Riko felt calmer thinking of the hymn she'd had in mind on that day. Glancing at Isabella, she wondered what her boss was thinking. There was a slight smile on her face, so she wasn't nervous or worried. That was a good thing in a leader, and Perry was a good leader, no matter what else she had turned out to be.

Returning to her memories of the past, Riko remembered that after the hymn, she had tried her best to be her best, to live the dream of Elvis. The housing for Verrana Nemis could be no different. Finally, she had settled on a two-bedroom in an apartment block on deck 1558. It wasn't rich, and it wasn't poor. It was neat, perhaps a little impersonal, but there were lovely gardens, as befit the name of that section of SB109, Perry Gardens. She thought it also fit Isabella's description of nice, but "not high-on-the-replicator list". She had made the appropriate financial arrangements before heading back toward Nomad.

Remembering the next words was something McCord was reluctant to do, even in memories. Still, she needed to go over all the memories and try to find a point of trust with the Romulan.

"Riko, wait up!" Isabella had said as she jogged down the Starbase corridor. "How's the apartment hunting going?"

"I was just on my way back to tell you. I found a nice 2-bedroom apartment that's in a one story building, sort of in the center of planned gardens. In fact, the area is called Perry Gardens. Do you know of it?" she had asked. "It has its own shopping and restaurants and wasn't really expensive, but it's nice.

"Wow! Perry Gardens? Are you kidding me? Did they name it after Henry?" Isabella had responded. "Verrana will get a kick out of that I am sure. You ready to meet her?"

"I don't know how they picked the name," McCord had shrugged, "but I'm definitely ready to meet this woman, see what she's like in person. I'll try not to be too annoyed by her attitude."

Isabella had chuckled and replied, "She grows on you Riko, I promise. Just don't let her goad you. Wait, there she is." Her boss had thrown her hand up in the air and waved to get the attention of Verrana.

Verrana had spied Isabella and made her way toward the two Starfleet officers. As she approached, she smiled when she saw Riko standing by Isabella's side.

"Well, hello to my lovely wife!" Verrana had announced loudly, turning the heads of dozens of patrons in the area.

Isabella had appeared chagrined but went in for a hug from her friend. "Hello, Verrana, you look well. I see you have been taking care of yourself."

Verrana had looked at McCord and given a coy smile, as if she had put something over on Riko or Isabella ... or maybe it was only a joke of the universe.

"And who do we have here?" the Romulan had asked. "Is this the infamous Commander Riko McCord of Broken Drive? My, you are shorter in person!"

Riko recalled that as the exact moment when it became difficult to live her own admonitions to follow the Savior about whom Elvis sang so often. She had kept her face bland as she replied. "Same height I've been for the last, oh, twenty years or so. Did you have a pleasant trip?"

"Pleasant enough, I guess." Verrana had nodded towards the transport she arrived in, her tone making it sound as if she thought it had been one step above a garbage scow searching for construction crumbs to sell. And then came the memory of what the Romulan had said which put McCord off completely.

"Commander McCord, please have someone retrieve my bags from the transport and have them taken to my quarters. I trust they will be up to my standards?"

Her comment about her baggage had been said with a "please" McCord remembered. She'd barely heard it because of what followed!

"Depends on what your standards are," Riko had replied. "If you're a prima dona or princess, probably not."

She wasn't used to being ordered around by anyone, especially someone she didn't think she'd ever feel comfortable being around. She was tempted to tell the woman to get her own bags, but she glanced at Isabella and saw a minuscule shake of her head, so instead, she said. "Aye, Aye, Ma'am, I'll get right on that. I'm sure there's someone around here ... somewhere."

Verrana had pulled on Isabella to guide her further down the corridor, but Isabella had stayed firmly in place and said, "Verrana, stop it. You're acting like a spoiled brat. You will treat Riko with the dignity and respect that she deserves. Am I understood?"

Hearing her defense by the woman she admired greatly brought her first officer down a little from the mountain of good intentions rocks she had been climbing. She'd rather use them as weapons for target practice ... at Verrana's head!

 

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