Where is she?

Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 10:37pm by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Dean House

1,542 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Pirates!
Location: Officer's Mess
Timeline: Current

Dean had been cleared from Sickbay finally and given light duty, which frankly was boring. Of course it was to him, well, not all the time. He was still pretty sore, particularly on the one side. There was a bright part to his days when the chance gave it. Spending breakfast, lunch, or both with Jennifer.

Adorning a fresh uniform, and stepping into the Officer's Mess. Moving over to sit down at 'their' table. Setting the duty PADD down to pick up one and start looking through it for what he might want to eat. Probably something a little lighter on his stomach, if that was even possible.

Nearly twenty-five minutes had gone by and still no Jennifer. That was unlike her, or at the least she'd usually let him know if she was running late or just couldn't make it. He understood if she warned him ahead of time or was on an Away Mission. Neither of those were the case. Finally he tapped his Comm Badge, "Dean to Jennifer," the Computer knew which Jennifer he was calling.

Jennifer meanwhile was elbows deep in a console adding a virus chip and a creative rewiring solution designed to fail at the opportune time. She froze, breath catching in her throat. No-one was supposed to be missing her, the intel said her duplicate was the model officer. Soooo...what had changed.

"Ahhh...yes?" She replied hesitatingly, not entirely sure of communication protocol.

"Ahhh...yes? You're late darling." An eyebrow lifting a little bit. Nothing to be worried about right now, just, curious. She should know his voice.

"Late...ahh...sorry I got caught up, where was I supposed to meet you?" Jennifer stammered, having no idea her duplicate was in an intimate relationship with the Commander, and definitely didn't know she was suppose to be meeting him for lunch. She jammed the wires back in the console and resealed the unit, reinitializing it and hoping that she'd scrambled the sensor logs enough to cover her tracks.

"Where we always meet for lunch.." Dean raised an eyebrow. That shouldn't have been something she would forget. Maybe she's just over worked lately, it was still odd. "If you were busy, why didn't you just let me know?" Said into his Communicator.


"I..ah...I got caught up and lost track of time. Sorry. Umm I'm on my way to where you are" she stood and drops the sleeves she bad rolled up, realizing she was still wearing the jumpsuit. Things were slipping. "Computer, locate Dean."

"Please state which Dean"

"Ahh....the one I was just talking to. Show me the way to where he is." MU Baldric stammered, feeling her face flush, this wasn't as easy as she thought it was gonna be.

The Computer replied, "Commander Dean House in in the Officer's Mess."

That was another read flag, her having to say where he was. She knew where he would be. Is she drunk? Dean didn't know her to do something like that.

MU Jennifer jogged along the illuminated pathway to the Officers Mess, looking very much un-officer like as she thumbed entry and was infinitely glad that the door opened for her. She looked around, thankfully it wasn't busy and there was only one table with one person at it. From her scant look at the crew manifest it resembled the Dean House she was apparently supposed to be meeting. Flicking her hair over her shoulder she tried to appear composed as she approached him.

"Sorry - I lost track of time."

He had no problem with seeing her a little bit disheveled, Particularly when he knew she was going to be busy. It was just an allure to him when she was like that. Giving that visual state, the pushed back the question for a moment.

Standing up when she got close enough to the table, also moving to the side to pull the chair out for her. Leaning to kiss her cheek when, or if, she decided to sit down. "Some lot of time, what were you working on? We have engineers for that."

MU Baldric sat awkwadly, resisting the temptation to slap the man who was showing affection. She shoved the reflex down and bit her lip hard enough to almost draw blood.

"I had to upgrades to do, I was supposed to do them last week but we got busy" she stammered to answer his previous question without giving too much information. She felt uncomfortable, her mind racing to work out how to fly under the radar in this universe. She hadn't anticipated relationships.....

That was another cue that stuck out, just how ridged she was with the affection. Jennifer never shied away from that, in fact she enjoyed it when Dean did it out in the open for all to see. Not all the time, but some of the time.

Right now, Dean felt that, the pull, the hesitation. Maybe she was having a bad day, but it still felt off. Another thing he happened to notice. Her stammering. Her confidence was out the window.

Considering that they had been dealing with the Mirror Universe, it was pretty easy for him to deduce that was his Jennifer. To many check marks she didn't check. Though at least now what, and if his suspicions were right, he could play into it.

"You are aware and you usually keep reminding me, that is not our job. We have people for that. Let them do it, and just make sure to in passing tell them they are doing a good job." Dean sighed and altered what he wanted to eat. Just as a waitress came by.

"I would like Water, keep it coming, and mozzi sticks as an appetizer, then the bacon wrapped t-bone, Medium."

The Holo-waitress turned to Jennifer, "And you ma'am?

"Ahhh..."Baldric froze, having no idea what these Starfleet people actually eat on a regular basis. "Can I have a coffee, and a bagel?" Not her usual order but it was all she could come up with by looking around the room.

The Holo-waitress nodded and to go put in their orders and get those out to them. Dean looked at Jennifer again curiously, "That's it?"

"Was it wrong?" MU Baldric blurted, feeling self conscious about just about everything right at the moment. She took a second to compose herself and remind herself that this was NOT something she could screw up. "I just wasn't that hungry."

Dean didn't chime in on the 'Was it wrong.' There should be no reason for Jennifer to even asked that, much less the way she did. "I guess not then. What were you working on that so got your attention?"

"Just some stuff I got behind on. You know what the Captain is like if you don't submit your paperwork on time" She tried to cover the true cause of her inattention - sabotaging the ship.

There was a shake to his head, "No..not usually, you know that. Particularly depending on what's going on." He let that slip on purpose, also testing something, just after their orders were set down. Reaching and taking hold of her hand to see what she'd do. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Jennifer flinched, senses hightened by years of survivng. Her heart raced, her mind recognizing the rapidly approaching train wreck that should couldn't avoid. Damn them.for putting her here with next to no preperation and expecting a perfect replacement.

"I...I'm.fine, just tired" she stammered, picking up the bagel and being thankful it was real food and not the slops she got fed on her Sunfire. She knew Dean had twigged something was up, and now felt desperate to get out of his enquiring gaze.

"Well, then I did my job last night," he gave her a toothy grin, even if it wasn't real, it should seem it. That was yet another test for him to keep in mind. Dean knew this answer, and it was certainly a good way to weed out his growing suspicions. The innuendo was certainly on purpose.

" Say what?" Jennifer looked utterly confused, brows furrowing as she attempted to put the pieces together. Was he referring to... wait no.... no way... She paled as her brain tried to catch up with the obvious.

As she did so, a security team entered the room, looking around for someone or something. Unable to keep still any longer, she pushed her chair back and bolted.

"Computer, force field Officer's Mess." He wasn't going to chase her, he didn't need to.

Baldric bounced off the forcefield as it snapped across the opening doorway. The security officers converged, levelling their weapons at the woman impersinating their commander.

"You are under arrest for impersonating a Starfleet officer!" They announced as they advanced. The others in the mess hall scattered and watched with mouths agape.

"I AM a Starfleet officer you idiots" Baldric retorted, not budging. She was stunned for her efforts, dropped by a phaser as she tried to charge the security officers.

"Three to beam directly to the brig" The security officer tapped his combadge, and the two of them, plus Baldric, vanished.

TBC

 

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