0800 HRS
Derek Lowe was sitting on the chair across from the computer desk in the guest quarters, still staring at the now blank screen. Everything in him had gone numb. Did he just hear what he thought he had heard? Or was this all a dream... a terrible, horrible nightmare?
His brother Damon had jumped up the moment the message had been over and was now pacing restlessly around the room, trying to make sense of it all. What were they going to do? They had to do something. They had to find out all the details. They had to talk to their father... right away.
"Come on, bro," he addressed his older brother impatiently. "We don't have time for you to blank out. We need to contact the Washington."
Derek didn't move.
"Derek!... DEREK!" Damon yelled at him. Derek shook his head, as if waking himself from a hypnotic spell, and finally looked up at his brother. "Let's get a move on, bro. We need to talk to Dad. Start requesting a subspace connection..."
Just then the door opened and a computer technician entered the room. "I need to reset the replicator in this room," he explained his intrusion and started walking toward the replicator unit.
Derek peered at him with curious annoyance. "Does that have to be done right now?", he began, sounding rather stressed.
"Yes, sir. We're on a tight schedule. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Derek's face was starting to turn as red as his hair. Damon watched worriedly, knowing that he probably had to step in before his brother would explode on the technician.
"Bro, come on. We can just go over to McKinley Station and use a computer console there. Then we won't be in the way of all these workers," Damon prompted.
Reluctantly and still eyeballing the technician unhappily, Derek finally stood up and followed his brother and Liam to the door.
=/\=
Just short of the turbo lift, Captain Ronovsky commed them once again.
"I take it you have received the transmission," he began. "What was it about? If you don't mind me asking."
"It was about our mother...," Derek sighed heavily, "... she's missing."
"I'm so sorry," the Captain sounded shocked. "Will you be needing anything?"
"No, thanks, Captain," Damon, his Tactical Officer, replied. "We've got to contact the Washington as soon as we get over to the station. We don't know all that much either. We haven't talked to our father directly yet to find out the details."
"How much details could there be?" Derek mumbled sullenly, hanging his head. "She's gone..."
Liam comfortingly laid his arm across his cousin's shoulders.
"Are you going to be ok, Lieutenant?", the Captain asked, picking up the extremely sad tone in the Engineer's voice.
Derek raised his head and nodded silently, as if the Captain could see that gesture.
"He'll be fine," Damon answered for him, smiling appreciatively. "Thanks for asking, Captain."
"No problem. I hope, things will turn out alright," Captain Ronovsky replied somberly.
"I hope so, too..."
=/\=
Shortly afterward, Derek, Damon, and Liam entered Transporter Room 2. They silently stepped onto the transporter pad and prepared to beam over to the space station.
"Energizing," the Transporter Chief stated routinely.
Derek had been in deep thought all the way to the transporter room, and his mind had been repeatedly replaying bits and pieces of that fateful message: '...mother not rendezvous with us...shuttle disappeared...don't know what happened yet...started investigation...will keep you up to date...contact me when you receive this message...' He had barely even noticed that they dematerialized on the Centurion and materialized on McKinley Station.
=/\=
A few minutes later, he found himself walking next to Damon and Liam, not knowing where they were heading. Not really caring, either.
"Let's just go to the lounge on level three and use a computer console there," Damon addressed Liam, completely ignoring his brother, figuring he wasn't 'with' them at the moment anyways.
"Can't we go somewhere with more privacy?" Derek grumbled, letting them know that he was still listening.
"I know a place," Liam interjected. "Let's just go to one of the Vulcan meditation chambers, they're not far from here. Noone will interrupt us there."
"Vulcan what...?" Damon cocked his eyebrow and started laughing.
"Trust me. It's the best place to go," Liam assured him. "The Vulcans would never allow anyone to interrupt somebody's 'meditation' without due cause."
Damon nodded in agreement, but Derek just shrugged. He didn't care, as long as they would find out more. 'Maybe, they have already found her...,' he dared hoping. 'Maybe, she just got herself lost... maybe...'
=/\= - =/\=
0830 HRS
First Lieutenant Derek Lowe took a deep breath, as he pulled out the Comm PADD from under his uniform jacket. He sat down in front of the table in the meditation chamber and set the device against a water carafe. Forcing himself to concentrate on the task at hand, he tapped the touch buttons, striking it a bit harder than he had meant to, and then instructed the computer to initiate contact with the Washington.
"Please stand by. Initiating subspace frequency connection to USS Washington," the computer acknowledged.
Damon and Liam crowded around him, as they were waiting for a reply.
"It shouldn't take too long," Derek assured them, "the Washington is just inside the Gamma Quadrant."
"Well, hopefully, Uncle Dan has good news for us," Liam sighed.
"And, if not... we'll just have to deal with that, too," Damon stated firmly. "Whatever will happen, we will deal with it... deal with it like men!"
Derek rolled his eyes at his brother's bravery-speech, then he focused back on the screen with his heart pounding into his throat, hoping for a quick response.
'Think positive, Derek. Think positive.'
=/\=
"Captain Lowe, sir, incoming communication from McKinely Station," the Communications officer, Lt. Hellenski, informed his Captain. "It's from your sons, sir."
"I'll take it in my ready room," Captain Daniel Lowe replied and rose from his seat. "Commander D'Aljair, you have the conn." He turned and marched toward his office's door. "Dean!"
"Yes, sir."
"Come on!" He commanded his oldest son with a flick of his head. "I want you there, too."
"Be right there, sir," Dean quickly grabbed a data PADD and followed his father.
Daniel Lowe sat down at his desk and turned to the computer screen. Dean stood behind him, at attention. The screen came to life and Daniel was looking into the face of his second-oldest son, Derek. Damon and what seemed to be their cousin, Liam, were standing behind him.
"Father," Derek straightened up in his seat.
"AT ATTENTION!" Captain Lowe boomed at them over the computer. Damon and Liam snapped to attention in an instance. "What kind of laid-back attitude has your Captain let you get by with?" Dan shook his head. "You always stand at attention for a senior officer! I ought to have a talk with that man..."
"Dad! Don't...," Derek started.
"And you, Lieutenant... you don't even think you need to get up?"
"Dad!" Damon interrupted impatiently. "We're not on official business. And, we're certainly not in the mood for this..."
Daniel raised his brows at his youngest son, Damon, and for a long moment the other three were holding their breath, wondering if those two would get into an argument again.
"Is that a challenge?" Captain Lowe asked, an intimidating hardness in his voice.
Damon was holding his father's stare with determination. "No. Just... an observation about the situation we're dealing with." They had much more important things to discuss than proper protocol toward senior officers. But, he was not going to cower, if that was what his father thought.
The situation remained highly charged for a few more seconds, then Dan relaxed and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his chest. A simultaneous sigh of relieve could be heard from Dean, Derek, and Liam.
"Very well," Captain Lowe replied with a smirk. "At ease! All of you."
He held out his hand and Dean gave him the PADD that he had brought, containing all the information they had gathered so far during their investigation. Daniel looked at it, analyzing the data for a moment, and then slowly raised his head. His brow furrowed.
"We have a lot to discuss, boys. And... it isn't very good news, either."
Derek's face went pale and Damon's muscles tensed, as their father gave them a brief summary of the whole scope of the situation and what they had discovered so far.
