Commander Gavin Jeffreys sat down in his office. Lieutenant Valdago sat on the other side of the desk.
"I'm not one to beat around the bush. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Sir, I believe dat I've come down vith Luk's Syndrome. I vas feeling wery..." but Valdago didn't finish. He was cut off.
"Bull! I can smell a con man a mile away I and your reek of one. Why did you abandon your post?"
Jonathan realized that he wasn't dealing with an inexperienced man. He remembered the stories about Jeffreys during his Academy days. The man knew everything. Hell, he probably knows about my involvement with Section 31 during those days.
"OK, I'll be honest. I couldn't stand it anymore."
"What?"
"Deep space. I guess I got a little home sick. I realized dat I had missed so much, and dat my family had missed so much. I mean, look at me! How can I explain dis to my mother?"
Valdago was right. He had become 50% Kirusan, a race that was entirely unknown to the Alpha quadrant. He had heard rumors that he could even use his eyes as phasers, although Gavin thought that was a greatly exaggerated piece of gossip.
"I can understand. I too left my starship post for a safer, closer to home job." Gavin showed sympathy on that point, but came back strong with his next. "But I went the the proper channels. I requested a leave and waited until I was reassigned before I left. I DID NOT abandon my post." Valdago dipped his head. Even a non-telepath could sense his shame.
"I must ask, how did you manage to get off the Virgo and get this far without being detected?"
Valdago had prepared for this question. In reality he had asked Garek for his help when he learned about the transfer, but if Valdago said that, Garek would surely be disgraced and held accountable. "Sir, I managed to use a sensor inhibitor to hide my life signs onboard de Lambda Flier. I hid in one of de Jeffries tubes." For a second Valdago realized the correlation between the creator of the Jeffries tube and Gavin's name. Gavin saw the question forming, as he had a million times before, and shook his head in disagreement. He even emphasized the plague that showed his name and that it was spelled differently.
"Vell, as I vas saying, I hid in a Jeffries Tube until ve had traweled for two days and figured dat at dat point it vould be impossible to turn back since de Flier vould not only have to travel at least four days to get to vare de Wirgo vas at dat point, but it vould also have to track it down. Lieutenant Commander Loran had no choice but to continue on." Valdago worked hard to hold back his pride for the simple explanation that would save his friend.
"That's very interesting," said the Commander, "However,"
With those words Valdago's smile faded away.
"I could see that you two were friends and that Garek bared no hatred to you or anything to show me that he was forced to bring you along. I also know that a man of your size would never be able to sit in a Jeffries tube for two days undetected. This is not just my opinion, but that matter has been reviewed by Starfleet officials."
Valdago didn't like the sound of that.
"I am to inform you that you are to be court martialed. The Lambda Flier will be held here on the station as evidence and both you and Mr. Loran will be relieved of duty until such time that you can prove your innocence."
Valdago swallowed hard. "Vut if we can't prove our innocence."
Garek looked straight into Valdago's eyes in an attempt to make his mess his uniform. "You will both be removed from Starfleet with a dishonorable discharge." His attempt almost worked.
Gavin let Valdago stew in that for a moment. While he most likely had no fear of his own job, Gavin knew that the last thing Valdago wanted was to hurt a friend.
"Or," added Gavin just before Valdago broke completely, "you could retire now. If you do that the court martial will be canceled and Garek will be off the hook. You will loose all your benefits of retirement, but I've checked up on your family records." Gavin punched up a chart on his screen and turned it to show Valdago. "They weren't poor when you left and have only gotten richer since. They own the rights to one of Risa's moons and are receiving a 10% payment from all gross income they make." Valdago's eyes widened. "That's a pretty large sum of latinum."
"Noting vill happen to Garek, right."
"Jon," said Gavin, falling into the father figure role, "I wouldna hurt that lad for nothing. He helped a friend out and I can't blame him. I don't doubt that he's a fine officer and I'd appreciate it if ya did what ya could to save his career." Gavin had found that no one listened to him yell with his accent, but if he turned it on when he was trying to be persuasive, he couldn't lose.
"Jonathan stood up to speak but Gavin shushed him with his hand. "Don't speak, just send me your resignation or your statement for the court martial in the morning."
"Yes, Sir." Jonathan began to walk out of the room.
"And laddy," said Gavin. Valdago turned around and looked back. "You owe me one."
The man, soon to be civilian, nodded and stepped out of the room.
Gavin let out a huge sigh of relief. Well, if every meeting with crew members goes that easy I'll be able start taking antacids before lunch, thought as he tried to mentally untie the knots in his stomach.