[Backlog] JL RAdm's MacLaren & Hawk | "Whiskey River"

Posted on 241708.13 @ 9:30pm by Rear Admiral Sidra MacLaren & Rear Admiral Indi Hawk

Mission: Reconciliation & Reconstruction [Fleet Plot]
Location: San Francisco, Earth

=/\= San Francisco, SFHQ =/\=

Indi stepped through the entrance just far enough to let the doors slide close behind her. There was a bustle of activity going on on the ground floor of HQ, and she had little or no interest to join it. She had little choice however as she'd been ordered to report to the fifth floor to get officially back into business. One or the other bored Captain would process the orders which Admiral Scholtz had sent on. Why she had to come here in person, in this day and age, was far beyond her.

But here she was, and to the fifth floor she would go.

Sidra MacLaren had just been dropped off in front of the main headquarters building by a car that had taken her from the shuttle landing on the bay. She forgot how beautiful and crisp San Francisco could be, Stephen had worked here for a number of years and she'd come lunch with him often. She stood in front of the headquarters building at the crest of a hill, looking out at the contrast of bright blue sky and gray mist that still hugged the bay in the mid morning.

She resisted tugging on her collar, it had been a number of years since donning a uniform and she'd forgotten how much she disliked the collar and the weight of her rank sitting there against her neck. With a sigh, she headed into the building, eager to get done whatever necessary processes they wanted to run her through to be officially re-enacted into Starfleet.

MacLaren stepped through the entrance, provided her thumb as entrance and forgetting that the young crewman working security were standing at attention for her. "At ease, where am I headed? Fifth floor correct?"

She got her confirmation and headed towards a lift, stepping in right before the doors closed with a smirk before looking around. A smile spread across her face, but she held back her excitement for a moment, waiting for the woman to recognize her. Sidra tried to remember the last time she'd seen Indi, it must have been their old stomping grounds on Raven, or maybe it was Aurora, it didn't matter, they'd had a lot of good and bad memories together.

After having convinced herself to cross the crowd towards the turbolift, Indi had stepped in the turbolift when it arrived. She'd briefly considered letting it go and taking the next one, but she had found her resolve just in time. With a sigh, she stepped back against the far wall, wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a smile forming on the face of the woman standing next to her. Giving it the attention she felt she should, she looked over and saw a familiar face staring back at her. "Sidra?! What the hell are you doing here?" she exclaimed with enthusiasm she hadn't felt in a long time. She hardly remembered the feeling, and looked around sheepishly as she realised that the others in the turbolift where now all staring at them.

Sidra laughed as Indi looked around and saw the others. MacLaren didn't give one rats ass about them since not one had enough brass on their collar to protest the flag officers demonstration of excitement. Sidra had realized rather quickly how few from her class, her generation of officers were still around. She had retired at the right time by pure luck and didn't want to consider what would have happened if she had not. There were so few times in her career that she had been selfish, but raising her son had been one of them. She was beyond excited to see that Indi was still around and here now. Just a few days ago, Sidra had inquired about her friend and received no information about her current whereabouts.

In a display that would have been unusual for them even in the height of their friendship, Sidra grabbed Indi by the shoulders and hugged her. "What are you doing here? I couldn't find any information about you just a couple days ago."

Indi was surprised by the gesture and managed only by sheer will and the fact that she was stunned, to not pull back from the embrace. The hug had come and gone before she could react to it, something she wasn't altogether opposed to. Saved by the bell, almost ready, she stepped outside as the doors slid open to reveal the fifth floor. The lift quickly departed again, leaving the two of them in a mostly deserted corridor. Only now did she steel another glance at Sidra. She really was glad to see her friend again, it had just caught her very unaware and with her guard down. "I.. well, I wasn't exactly on the radar a few days ago," she spoke hesitantly.

Sidra grinned, knowing she had thrown Indi off, "Don't worry, I wont hug you again. It was awkward enough." She wondered about her statement about being off the radar. She asked, without probing too much, "Have you been in all this time?" She was careful with her question, her brows reflecting her slightly concerned thoughts.

As Indi'd been relieved of most of her secrecy, she saw no reason not to tell Sidra what had happened. "I've been undercover for the past few years. Wrapped up quite a few weapons dealers throughout the quadrant," she spoke for the first time about the assignment she'd nearly not come back from. It sounded.. futile.

MacLaren looked at the time, "I gotta do a bunch of paperwork crap here, getting reinstated. I took a position as Beta Quadrant Security Commander."

Indi snorted at that, it felt good to laugh again. "Beta Quadrant Security Commander, eh?" she grinned and pointed at herself. "You're looking at the new Alpha Quadrant Security Commander. I guess we'll be seeing more of each other in the time to come."

They headed to the desk together to check in and Sidra chuckled, shaking her head. "Well doesn't that just figure? I guess you'll be mainly hanging around here. I'm getting shipped off to Cold Station Theta, way the hell out there." She smirked, telling the clerk what they were there for. "I would imagine most of our collaborations will be over a comm channel. You wanna go catch up after this?" She asked, smirking at the last time they played catch up. "No brig this time, Stephen would probably leave me there."

"I'll see you in The James later tonight? How about 2100?" Indi nodded. She wasn't looking forward to catching up in a bar, but she felt like it was the thing to do. With Sidra along, she was sure it'd be fine, and if all went well, it would even be fun. Having received confirmation from her friend, they parted ways for the moment.

=/\= 2100, The James =/\=

Indi was apparently first to arrive. She asked for a table for two, somewhere near the back of the bar. Having taken a seat, she already ordered her coke and sat back, waiting for Sidra.

Sidra strode into the bar after a call to Mac to explain that she'd be home late. She had smirked and promised not to end up in a brig or in any other situation she would need his legal advice for. Her eyes got used to the lower light and located Indi at a table in the back, drinking what appeared to be a Coke. It had been years since she'd had one, probably since she was on Raven, or maybe a trip to Mexico with Stephen.

She slipped into the seat opposite Indi. "Hey." She smirked slightly as said, knowing how hard the last assignment could be, "So.... years undercover? That's pretty crazy."

"Isn't it?" Indi shrugged slightly. She wasn't sure what exactly she was doing here. She wanted to be in her room, pulling the blankets over her head, and not come out until morning. Or did she? Is that really what she wanted? She couldn't deny that something in her mind was enjoying the moment, catching up with an old friend, drinking a coke in a bar on Earth. Perhaps she should have done this a long time ago. It was too late for regrets though. She had to deal with her choices and consequences. And she would.

"What about you? How come you were back in the reprocessing facility at the same time I was? It can only mean that they pulled you either out of retirement, or out of MIA?" she asked, not really wanting to talk about herself.

Sidra could see Indi was having trouble with the present and that was understandable. She also wondered if she could finish this evening while keeping her promise to her mate. She didn't mind diverting the conversation away from Indi's assignment. A waiter came and Sidra ordered a coke for herself and bought a bottle of scotch after some resistance from the waiter to sell her a whole bottle, she persuaded him otherwise.

"I volunteered to come out of retirement." She sighed, there were two people in the entire galaxy that knew her full story about her abduction and Indi was one of them. Starfleet ended up getting the cliff notes version from her. She pondered telling her that pull to come back came from never being able to figure out the location of her capture. The waiter came and Sidra uncapped the bottle and poured it into Indi's coke without asking, giving herself a healthy dose. "I have a mission to finish, been avoiding it long enough and its been haunting me."

She clinked her glass against Indi's, "Let's forget about all that tonight, we haven't done this in too long."

Indi raised one eyebrow, very Vulcan style, at Sidra's move to get her drunk. She considered objecting for one (very) brief moment, then decided she didn't care. As they raised their glass, she downed it in one go and ordered another one for the two of them. She acknowledged Sidra's attempt to steer the conversation away from anything serious, but she still had to get used to this. She didn't have to mind every word she was saying, every move she was making. It was hard. "Yeah, let's forget our lives for the night."

A few hours later, lots of coke and scotch later Sidra went to stand and had to grab the edge of the table to steady herself. She felt her head swim and closed her eyes, but decided that was worse, her vision was blurred and her head felt like it weighed at least three times more than it had before she came here. "Aye Sidra, yer damn mortal." She said to herself, a Scottish expression for being very drunk. They were both still in uniform from going through processing earlier in the day and MacLaren tugged her uniform jacket down, stretching her neck away from the collar. "Not very flag officerish...officering... officersomething Indi..." She smirked hearing her own slurr and accent coming out more than ever and knowing she'd never get to the shuttle center and back to Scotland in this state.

"Are ye staying here in the city?" Sidra managed to get out, wondering how far Indi had to go.

Indi had made an equally futile attempt to get up and stand steady. Upon Sidra's question, she screwed up her face in an attempt to remember. And came up blank. Completely blank. There were worse ways to come up with, she figured, so it was alright. Staying in the city? Which city was that again? Ah yes, she'd arrived in San Francisco somewhere late last night. Were they still here? She could only assume so. But where was she staying? "I have nooooooo f*cking idea," she drawled in response to Sidra's question. "We can just stay here on the floor?"

The question made Sidra laugh, but she was just sober enough to shake her head, "No, 'fraid not. You're still in uniform... come on. I got a free pass to get out of here with no fleet." She was slurring and wasn't even sure how much Indi caught, but she grabbed her elbow, hoping they would both stay upright as MacLaren went to a public comm station in the bar. It took her a minute to remember where to call at Dunross headquarters, but she managed to get someone on the line at headquarters, it was early morning in Scotland and she slurred out to the young man, "I need two cars here, one hotel room in the city and one private flight out of the shuttle terminal to my damn house." She nodded for emphasis. The man seemed pissed and confused, he recognized her, but wasn't sure he could do what she asked. Sidra saw his hesitation, "Go ahead and not do this, my next call will be to Alistair." It was a complete bluff, she'd never call him for this or let him see her like this, but the bluff worked.

A few minutes later, Sidra and Indi were outside when two black luxury cars came to a hovering stop at the curb. They were leaning against the wall and Sidra pushed off and told Indi, "You gotta let this guy take you to a hotel. You good for that?"

Indi hugged Sidra in what wasn't the first of uncharacteristic moves between them that day. "I'm good," she nodded, then decided against that because it made the world spin even more, and instead just stared at Sidra for another moment. "Really."

She smirked, "It was good seeing you again friend. Take care, say hi to Cin for me when you see her." Sidra stuck her head in the window of the car and told the young man who was piloting the car, "You make damn sure she gets to her room lad."

Sidra got into her own car, heading for the shuttle facility, barely staying awake to get on the shuttle and not at all remembering the trip until she managed to climb into her bed, waking Stephen up, who just sighed and said, "You are drunk." Sidra chuckled and said as she closed her eyes, "Aye, but not in the brig luv."

--

RAdm Indi Hawk
Commander,
Alpha Quadrant Security

&

RAdm Sidra MacLaren
Commander,
Beta Quadrant Security