Security - Keith R. A. DeCandido [7]
Kim’s cheeks flushed again, and Rennan couldn’t help but feel the young man’s embarrassment this time. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“Caitano did his job, kid.” Makk’s voice had hardened, all the friendliness drained from his demeanor, making his eccentric style of speech sound downright scary—though Rennan supposed that he was feeling it more strongly, both telepathically in Makk and within himself, too. Ken was good security, and he deserved better than the senseless death he got.
Makk continued: “He hadn’t been on board for more’n a couple days when he put his keister on the line to save the ship. Turned on one of the engineers’ doohickeys. He hadn’t done that, we’d all be worm food. And then a couple days later, he died from some weapon made by a Vorta who belonged in a rubber room.”
“Our job’s to protect the people on this ship,” Rennan added. “That’s a duty we all take very seriously.”
Makk stood up. “It’d be real swell if you got your head outta the clouds and remembered that every once in a while. Otherwise, we’ll be buryin’ you next to Caitano—or worse, we’ll be buryin’ the guy you let die ’cause you were too busy droolin’ over Corsi to do your job right.”
With that, the Iotian went over to sit on the starboard side of the security office, with T’Mandra and Andrew.
Kim’s regret was washing over Rennan in waves. “I didn’t mean anything by that, honest, I just—”
“I know you didn’t,” Rennan said in as soothing a voice as he could muster, “but you’d better get used to it. Every new assignment in security usually means you’re taking over from someone who died in the line and serving alongside that person’s comrades. This ship’s had it particularly rough this past year, and with only about forty people on board, people tend to get close. And the work is very intense. My first couple of weeks here, we explored a city inside a small ball bearing, helped terraform Venus, stopped a Ferengi time traveler, salvaged an alien ship, and went into a black hole. And that was a slow month. Not everyone can handle it. The person Caitano replaced was named Frank Powers, and he transferred off because he couldn’t deal with it. Now—”
The door to the security office opened, and Corsi came in—still, Rennan noted after a moment, with the pointed ears from the Coroticus mission. Ellec Krotine, Madeleine Robins, and Vance Hawkins walked in behind her.
Indicating Kim, Vance said, “Commander Corsi, this is Tomozuka Kim, our newest recruit.”
Kim stood up at attention. “It’s an honor, ma’am!”
Corsi let out a breath. “At ease, Kim. Why?”
Relaxing hardly at all, Kim asked, “Why what, ma’am?”
“Why is it an honor?”
That seemed to surprise Kim. “The commander probably doesn’t remember me, but we’ve met before—ten years ago on Izar. My mother is Officer Soon-Li Kim.”
If Kim’s earlier embarrassment came in waves, Corsi’s anger and hostility came like a slap to Rennan’s face. It happened as soon as Kim mentioned that he was from Izar. What the hell—?
“Sit down, Kim.”
If only Rennan noticed Corsi’s fury before she spoke, everyone caught it in her voice now.
Baffled, Kim took his seat. “Uh, yes—yes, ma’am.”
Corsi then looked out at the rest of them. “Here’s the drill. The Runabout Missouri, carrying Doctors Elizabeth Lense and Julian Bashir, has gone missing. It hasn’t been seen since departing DS9 two weeks ago. Since the conference they were to attend was to go on for twelve days, no one was the wiser. The Defiant has been dispatched to begin the search, and we’ll be joining them. They’re tracking the runabout’s path from DS9—we’ll be backtracking from Kel-Artis, the station where the conference was held. Everybody’s on alert status until we determine what happened to the Missouri and its passengers. Lauoc’s out of commission for at least a few days, so we’re on beta formation, with Kim in Powers’s—or, rather, Caitano’s spot.”
Rennan blinked. That was the second time since Ken’s death that Corsi had done that. Andrew rather stupidly called her on it then. Nobody seemed willing to brave that particular lion in its den now.
“Kim, since