Old Friends, New roles

Posted on Fri Oct 31, 2025 @ 12:51am by Lieutenant JG Anson Lee & Lieutenant Commander Jason Haines & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro

2,546 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Time After Time
Location: Dusty Dragon Lounge: Deck 472
Timeline: Day 17 1930 hrs

On:

Annora entered the lounge, glad to see it wasn’t empty. About a quarter of the tables were in use by personnel in and out of uniform. She even spotted a few from other departments enjoying the locale: engineering, science, and even one from medical. The relatively quiet atmosphere was a welcome relief from the controlled chaos of security drills.

Her body ached slightly from the hours in tactical gear and sparring with opponents both real and holographic. She rolled her neck a bit while approaching the bar.
“Evening, Ma’am,” Hanou said from behind the counter. The Rigelian grabbed glass from behind the counter in anticipation.
"What can I get for you?”


While familiar with the menu, she still paused to consider her options.
“I’m in a Fall mood tonight,” she said after a beat. “Let’s go with a nice cool mug of apple cider and a plate of nachos. Did Sam take the night off?”

Hanou nodded toward the back room.
“Cider and nachos, coming right up. Sam’s over in the Spur, showing some young crewman the finer points of bowling. I can get him if you want.”

Annora waved a hand dismissively.

“That’s not necessary. Just curious.”
Once she received her order, she took a seat at a table off in the corner, underneath a picture of an ambassador-class ship orbiting a large planet. She leaned back, savoring the sweet cider and the cheesy nachos, while the others laughed, talked, and unwound. Just as intended when setting aside the area for the Dragon. Not even five minutes later, the doors slid open, and in stepped a familiar face.

Jason looked at the doors to the lounge. It had been a while since he had been in a lounge. To be fair, it had been a while since he had been an officer.

He entered and went to the bar. Even though it was synthohol, Jason wanted a drink before talking to Annora. They didn't have a bad relationship, but it had been a while since they had worked together as officers.

He found her after scanning the room for a few minutes. He took his glass and approached.

"Buy you a drink?", he asked her.

While all were welcome to the lounge, Jason was not someone she expected to pay a visit to the establishment. What was more surprising was his red trimmed uniform with the rank insignia of a Lieutenant Commander. She considered his offer.
"Wasn't planning on a second drink, but if you're buying. I'll take an Andorian Icewine thanks."

She waited until he returned with the drink and sat down across the table from her.
"So what do you think of the area? I tried to go for a nice mix of vintage and modern."

"I like it", Jason replied. "I grew up in a household that was a mix of vintage and modern. My mom was vintage Irish. If it was made after the Eugenics war, it was crap. Except for surgeries, most of her medical work was old school."

He paused and took a sip of his drink.

"My dad was more modern. Being black ops, anything that could take out the enemy, blow crap up, or gather intel quicker, easier, or more lethal, he was all for."

"That must have made for an interesting time growing up." She motioned to the decorations around them. "It's modeled after the real life location but figured I should add some 24th century flair."

Anson was slowly, systematically working his way through the various social spots of the station. Tonight was the Dusty Dragon Lounge. It was good to be out of uniform. Not that he wasn’t proud to wear it. You just couldn’t live in it. He looked around the place, taking in the atmosphere, the clientele. He caught sight of Lt. Tessaro at a back table and waved a hand to catch her attention. Just when she turned his way, a man in command red sat down at the same table. Awkward.

No sooner had Jason left to get her drink order, than the doors opened again to admit Anson. While curious what the former Intel officer was doing now, she saw no reason her direct subordinate could join the conversation. Returning his wave, she motioned towards an open chair. Annora then caught the eye of Hanou.

"Can we also get some pretzel bites and a pitcher of lemon-water. Thanks." She figured it would be good to have some extra items on the table.

As Anson approached, Jason stood up and extended his hand.

"Jason Haines", he said.

"Anson Lee." He glanced over at Tessaro out of the corner of his eye while he shook the other man's hand. "Good to meet you?"

"Likewise", Jason said. "Join us."

He sat down.

Annora decided to continue with a bit more detailed introductions.
"Jason was our resident spook for a while before being promoted to civilian status. It appears he's back in uniform in a new capacity."

She gave a questioning look towards Jason as she continued.
"And Anson comes to us courtesy of Utopia Planitia. He had the misfortune of a TDY to DS5 right before the Cardassian attack. Thankfully we didn't scare him off and he agreed to take the role of assistant security chief."

“My previous commanding officer has informed me that they’ve already reassigned my quarters, so I’m not allowed back,” Anson said.

Jason chuckled, took a sip of his drink and said,"Welcome to the party. I know for certain Lieutenant Tessaro can use the help. It's hard to keep people like me in check with the staff she had before the attack."

Anson's eyebrows raised. "And should I? Be keeping you in check? Sir."

"Let’s just say I haven't seen eye to eye with Starfleet and have skirted the line of conduct unbecoming a few times", he replied before finishing his drink.

"Depends on what you're doing. If you're stealing, or selling us out to the Romulans, or harassing the civilians, then, yeah, Lieutenant Commander or not, we've got a problem. If you're neglecting your duty, or lying on reports, or whatever, the Commodore can take care of that," Anson said.

"Petty theft and treason don't become my family. Me and trouble just seem to find each other", Jason replied.

Anson didn't point out he hadn't denied anything with the harassing of civilians. He'll get the inside scoop from Lt Tessaro later.

Jason then placed what looked like a slip of latinum on the table. After a moment, both officers recognized it as a white noise generator.

"Sorry for the apparent paranoia, but what I have to let you know will impact Security and I don't know to what extent yet.", Jason said.

Sitting back, Annora enjoyed watching the banter between the two men. She had to agree that trouble seemed to find Jason, but one could make the same argument for her career. The white noise generator was unexpected.

"The room is safe from bugs Commander. While not an official secure area, I figured with the average clientele being Security and Marines it would be best to treat it as such. You say you have important intel to share? Let's have it."

"I've been assigned as the head of the Commodore's bodyguard unit", Jason said. "Normally not a big deal if the assignment had come from Security, but it came from Intelligence and they did it in a real round about manner."

There was no reason to be mad at Jason, he was just the person selected to fill the role. Although that still didn't fully explain all the Cloak and Dagger behind the announcement.

"I see." She finally responded, half a dozen scenarios running through her head in regards to this new information.

"Not opposed to a bodyguard. Although, as you mentioned, the handling of it is unusual. Did they give any reason for bypassing the Security department?"

"They only said someone above them said my knowledge of the planet. That's bs. There are only two things related that could be of use. First, my skills with Quantum and Temporal mechanics, but T'Gan is much better. The second is I am part Fae. Other than you two, only three others know and I'd like to keep that knowledge as quiet as possible."

He paused and looked at Annora then continued with a smile.

"Remember that poker game a couple of years ago where I died, but showed up alive the next day? A fae rescued me and gave me the opportunity for another day."

"You died?!" Anson asked. He could feel his face grow hot when he realized how loud it had come out. He didn't want to test the limits of the white noise generator.

Jason replied with a smirk at the reaction, "Yes, but as you can see it was a temporary condition. As it was explained to me by my Fae associate, I actually didn't have a counterpart in the dimension, so it essentially kicked me out. I'd still be dead had it not for my Fae friend."

"Well, glad you got better, I guess," Anson said.

"I've been through worse", Jason answered half jovially and half seriously." There were things that were indeed worse than death.


Who 'they' were, was as of yet unanswered. In the long run, it probably didn't matter.
"That was quite the poker game. Still not entirely sure what happened, but everyone survived which is the important part. I probably have as much experience in time travel as you do, so I'm guessing the Brass felt your other skills and connections made you the right choice for the job. Regardless, it's nice to see you back in uniform again. I'm sure you know to reach out should you need extra help."

"Well, hopefully the brass in intel doesn't pull a card or two from their sleeves this go around", Jason answered. "As far as help, I actually could use some. I have a unit on its way, but they won't be here for about three weeks. Can I borrow two people per shift to help out? They'd have to be the same people though, so they can learn her ways."

Anson tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling as he mentally shuffled schedules. They're getting more people, to help with the losses from the recent conflict, but getting them up to speed takes time and pulls existing staff away from their posts. "Can you manage with one person when she's asleep, with another on call?"

"In theory, yes", Jason said. "Depending on if she sleeps like a Vulcan or a Betazoid we may have to recalculate. For now 1 on third shift and an on-call."

"As long as she stay put in her quarters, does it matter if she's awake or not?" Anson asked.

"Well, those with Vulcan heritage tend to not need as much sleep", Jason replied. "So, we can't tell if she'll be in her quarters all the time at night. I wish we could. It would make the job much easier, but I am not going to tell a flag officer they can't wander the station at 2 am if they chose to."

"That's what the person on call is for."

There seemed to be an increased demand in other departments wanting to borrow personnel from Security. Annora wondered how that would how that would play out if she decided to pull a bunch of engineers to supplement security. As long as it didn't expand beyond the current taskings, she wouldn't push-back.

"Commander Thibideaux pulled two crewmen to help patrol the shipping lanes and now you're pulling two for bodyguard duty. How much experience do you want them to have?"

His answer would help in deciding who was picked for the mission.

"I'd prefer they have actually bodyguard experience", Jason said, "however, high marks in diplomacy and etiquette will do."

There likely wasn't too many people in the department with that experience. Annora ran through a list of candidates in her head.
"I can loan you Niven and Locklear. I'll talk to them in the morning about augmenting as bodyguards."

"That is much appreciated", Jason replied, doing some mental calculations. He wished there were more, but one per shift was better than him being the only one and the commodore being less secure.

"I will get them back to you as soon as possible. "

"Thanks. Hopefully no one else wants to borrow people from me."

Now came the question of how to get Jason alone for a minute to ask him a question.
"Unrelated, I want your opinion on a proposed mural for the back-wall."

There was talk of painting a mural, so her ruse wasn't totally uncalled for.

"Paintings huh", Jason said with a moment of thought.

"If you have ideas for a mural, I'll take them. But that's not what I really wanted to ask you. Now that the attack's been stopped and things seem to have stabilized, have you noticed any lingering temporal effects? I've dealt with Temporal Investigations before, so I'm not worried if they do decide to show up."

"Wish I had more of an eye for paintings", Jason replied. "My only involvement in painting is not to be repeated in polite company. As to your question, I can't tell if my temporal effects are part of what we did or my fae nature. Everything that I have done related to the fae has all been about time and space. I used to frustrate my instructors at Academy because I could do numerous complex time/space interactions in a moment, but it took me forever to write out the math and systems use to make it happen. I think there may be some of both in the picture as there are things that happened before the redo that I still remember."


Somehow she wasn't surprised by his response.

"Well thanks anyway. I took as many classes on time travel as they'd let me at the Academy, but the more complex equations were over my head. Actually met my alternative self before the attack, took a gamble they would exist. Haven't seen them since, so either they merged into the new timeline or slipped off the station and started a quiet life on some remote planet. We'll continue to proceed on the assumption that no one else is aware of what happened."

"I think that is a good idea Annora", Jason answered. "If anything unusual happens, I'll let you know right away."

She walked back towards the table.
"Nice to talk with both of you. I'm going to take a nice soak in the tub and turn in for the day. Feel free to stick around, the Dragon is open 24/7 barring Station-wide emergencies. There's a game room in back if you're interested."

"I'll have to take a check on the games", Jason said, "I've got more stuff to do to get the rotations with the Commodore done. I will have to come back. I haven't played a good round of domjat in quite a while."

(Tag/Off)


Lieutenant Commander Jason Haines
Commodore's Bodyguard
DS5


Lt Annora Tessaro
Security Chief DS5

Lt. jg Anson Lee
Asst. Security Chief
DS5

 

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