After spending the last several hours being examined by the doctors on Serenity, Jim and his team had finally be declared fit for duty and released back to the SAR building, the landing pad outside which was now empty. Watson, Fisher and Hedley were all in the crew room passing the time away and no doubt thinking about the two people they had just lost on the mission. Stone was in his office, having just spent twenty minutes debating with a Starfleet Logistics Officer about getting a replacement craft.
Starfleet had already sent a number of personnel to add to the team's numbers, including a former Starfleet Marine, they were enroute and should arrive within a matter of days, the replacement shuttle or runabout would hopefully be sorted out as soon as possible and delivered within the same timescale otherwise the team would be useless.
Stone got out of his chair and walked from the office onto the balcony and downstairs to the crew lounge. As he entered he noticed the three members of the team lazing around in various places and addressed them all.
"Right," he began. "Time off, shore leave, whatever you want to call it, you're all having a rest, I'll expect number one dress for the 8th when we send our colleagues back to their families for the relevant ceremonies, other than that you're resting until further notice."
Rich sighed and got to his feet from the sofa and walked out of the room without saying a word. The other two nodded in acknowledgement and after a few moments followed Rich out and headed for their rooms. Jim left the lounge and walked upstairs to where his and Rich's accomodation were situated. As he approached the door to Rich's room it was still open and he stepped inside, tapping on the wall as he entered.
"Are you ok, bud?" he asked.
Rich looked around, he could hear the sincerity in his leader's voice and the look on Jim's face showed the same emotion. They had only worked together a matter of month's but already he and Jim had built up a relationship where either could tell if the other was not feeling up to spec.
"No," Rich replied shaking his head. "We've lost two people and a ship. We're crippled."
Stone nodded. "I know. I've been sorting out a ship and apparently we've got a couple on their way here already."
Rich nodded professionally, accepting the replacements as a must. He turned around, picked up his tunic which he had dropped on the bed and folded it neatly and then turned back. "Why did it happen?" he said, thoughtfully.
"We were doing our job. Jonas and Mitch both knew the risks involved in our team's mission," Stone replied, sounding slightly drier than he intended.
"I know. We all know the risks," Rich said with an annoyed tone. "We just don't expect them to happen!"
Stone shook his head, no end of training or equipment could have prepared them for what had happened, the team had coped with the situation extremely well and that was a credit, losing two team members in the process however was Stone's worst nightmare, and quite clearly Watson's too.
"There's no one at fault except the corvette that attacked us," Stone said. "Clearly it was intended to lure a starship into the system, but why we'll never know."
"If we find them, I intend to deal with them personally," Rich said, still annoyed.
"You aren't the only one," Stone said. He turned to leave.
As he stepped through the door he looked around. "Remember, Rich, I'm here if you need to talk."
The door slid shut as Stone left and walked to his office, his team was, at the moment, in disarray, had they still had the runabout they could have got on with their lives, but sitting around made contemplation all the more apparent and encouraged people to show their emotions a little more than they normally would. Rich was clearly upset by the whole occurrence, but Stone could think of very little he could do that Rich would agree to.
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