Ten-Forward was usually crowded and loud, as different shifts use it to relax, but it never fails to empty out for a couple of hours, starting around three in the morning. Therefore, when the door opened and Ezra slip into the room and frowned when he saw the figure at a small table in the corner of the room. With a curse on the fact that Travis had made sure both Vin and Buck were gone from the ship. Ezra, took a deep breath, entering into the room, and breaking the stillness that hung over it. "Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?"

"I'm not tired and a night of loss of sleep isn't going to hurt."

The Security Chief shook his head, and pulled out the other chair on the table and sat down and look at his Captain. "Really, for who? Last time you didn't get any sleep, Buck and Vin tag-teamed to keep you from killing anyone. If you notice, they aren't here. So, again, why are you sitting here in the dark, glaring at space?"

"I'm not glaring at space."

Ezra roll his eyes, he really must remember to write Travis about not having both Vin and Buck off the ship at the same time, he shouldn't have to deal with Chris. "This nothing, does it have to do with what you said down in the bar to Buck?"

Not even bothering to look at Ezra, Chris sigh. "No, it went as it was planned."

"Then why are you hiding in the dark?"

Growling softly, Chris shook his head. "I'm not hiding, just can't sleep and wanted to be alone."

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Ezra was quiet for a minute, and then finally asked, "You want to tell me why you two were so unhappy about Buck having to work under Admiral Belton?"

For a long second, Ezra didn't think that Chris would answer. Just as he was about to give up, Chris broke the silence.

"It was a mission a long time ago. Belton was in charge of it. It was supposed to be a simple meet and greet. Go to a few parties, make the locals happy, and sign a treaty. It was supposed to be a great learning experience for the junior officers on the command track."

"I take it; it didn't turn out to be a nice little easy trip."

A half grin ghosted on Chris's face. "No, it didn't turn out to be an easy learning experience. I don't know what exactly happened, Buck never talked about it, and it was classified well beyond my level back then and even now. "

"What happened to them? Even failed missions aren't classified that high. What were they trying to cover up?"

Taking a sip of his whiskey, Chris shook his head. "I don't know. By the time we were able to beam the group back up to the ship, the conflict was gone. Buck almost died of his wounds, the other inexperienced officers were walking wounded and the Admiral didn't have a bruise on him. Belton ordered that none of the officers give their statement to anyone but the Starfleet Investigator that showed up. The only thing to come out of it was the Admiral given a warning, demoted some and shoved in a glorified clerk position. Buck became a Lieutenant Commander out of it. But he has never talked about it."

Ezra frown, "It isn't in his files?"

The Captain shook his head. "No, just a note that he was promoted after an incident on the planet and that was it. Nothing else."

"Mr. Wilmington never mention anything else about it?"

Shaking his head, Chris sigh, "No, he'll let things drop out by accident, but nothing that you can follow without the whole story. What I do know, is that the injuries that happen to him, took time to do and they weren't accidentally. Someone did the injuries on purpose down on the planet, and I bet you this ship Belton had something to do with it."

Frowning for a second, Ezra shook his head. "You never look into the whole thing? Never drag the whole thing out of Buck?"

Grinning slightly, Chris shook his head. "It was classified above my pay grade even now. As for Buck, you can't get anything out of Buck, he doesn't want to share. And he doesn't want to share this." Seeing the look in Ezra's eyes, Chris shook his head. "No, don't go looking into. If Buck wanted us to know, he would tell us. I don't need you getting people in trouble to find out about this. Besides, we're going to have our hands full with our new, shrink and ops officer. "

Ezra frowned at the mention of the two officers. "Yes, Commander Steve Redson and Lieutenant Jack Parks, and Dr. Luke Bakerson I trust none of them further than I can throw them. Even that might be too far."

"You might be right. You are going to need to watch them even closer. Redson from what I can find out about him is a by the book, inflexible thinker who should never be on a ship and in charge of people. Lieutenant Parks thinks this position is a long time in coming and doesn't understand that he really doesn't have the skill for the job. As for the Doc. Don't know how he got involve but I think he will be the easiest to break."

"Whatever made Travis think this was a good idea? From looking at their files, I hope we don't have anything but avoiding every planet and ship we could come in contact with. I don't think any of them would be able to do anything but make this situation worse."

Taking the last swallow of whiskey, Chris placed the now empty glass on the table. "We're just going to do our best and make sure they don't blow of the ship or cause the crew to throw them out of the nearest airlock."

Following the Captain, as he got up from the table and headed to the door, Ezra shook his head. "We'll be lucky if we can keep the crew from throwing them out of the airlock and storming Starfleet to get the missing crew back."

Chuckling at the idea, Chris shook his head, "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I don't want to think what the report for explaining that would look like."

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Staring at the clock, Vin knew he had a few minutes before his class showed up, and to be honest, he was nervous about it, but he was also worried about Buck. The Commander was supposed to have shown up last night to pick up his stuff, but he hadn't shown.

Vin cursed the fact that he couldn't have been in that bar with Chris and Ezra and Buck. The Vulcan just knew that no matter what Chris and Buck had said about the play-acting an argument, whatever said had brought up unpleasant memories for both men.

Making a note to try to find a way to check on Buck after class, he drew from those thoughts at the noise of his class heading into the room.

Watching as the group of Starfleet personal file into the classroom, Vin took a deep breath and let it go. He didn't know if he was ready for it, but he didn't have a choice. Looking at the group of beings in front of him, Vin reminded himself, that this was just like the classes he taught on the Maverick. He could handle it. When the last person took their seat. Vin stood up and broke the silence that had fallen in the classroom.

"Welcome to survival training 203. You all know why you are here, either to requalify or just to qualify to be able to go on an away team missions. This isn't going to be an easy course, it will force you to gain the skills that you may need on an away mission. You don't have to be perfect to pass this, but you do need a passing grade, and I am the one that will decide if you pass. If you don't get something, let me know and we'll walk you through it again. Now the first lesson of the day, Forget everything you know and every rule you've heard others say. I'll teach you how to live and how to get your team and you back to the ship in one piece."

Seeing that the group seemed more relax, Vin grin, it wouldn't be so hard as he thought.

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A couple of miles away, at Starfleet Medical, Josiah settled down in the office that he was given. Already, there was a pile of files, which he had to look at and give his opinion. Eyeing the files for a long second, Josiah shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

He had been sent down with Vin, and was happy to find that the two men were going to be living in the same apartment complex, he was less to thrilled to learn that Buck was going to be living a few miles away in a lower rent district in an apartment that a bed and dresser barely fit in.

There was almost no way for Josiah and Vin to be able to contact the Commander, without raising suspicions. Which didn't sit well with anyone, but was needed if they were going to be able to pull this whole thing off.

Then there is what is happening on the ship. From what he had been to overhear and asked about Luke Bakerson, he learned that the man had been brilliant then his wife had died and something had happened to the man. He wasn't the same man. Something was broken in him.

Once he learns about that, Josiah was worried for the crew on the ship. No one on that ship suffered fools and it sounded like Bakerson wasn't in any state of mind to deal with the Maverick's crew.

Closing his eyes, Josiah let out a deep breath and open his eyes. There was nothing, he could do about any of his worries. They needed the information to act, and he was in a position at least to answer some of the questions that they had. He wouldn't get those answers by worrying about what could go wrong. They needed the answers and they needed them now.

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Staring at the three men that were going to replace, Buck, Vin, and Josiah on the ship for the duration of the sting, and Ezra had to stop the urge that he had to reach for his phaser and save everyone some trouble and shoot them. Instead, he cleared his throat and greeted the three men. Looking at the three, Commander Steve Redson, Lieutenant Jack Parks and Consular Luke Bakerson. All three men looked like very poor replacements for the three men they were replacing. Taking a deep breath, Ezra let it out and spoke. "Welcome to the Maverick. Captain Larabee sends his regrets but something came up that he wouldn't be able to meet with you. Instead, I'll show you to your quarters, and after you have been settled, then I'll take you to meet the Captain."

Commander Redson frowned, "I would think that whatever came up could have waited long enough for the Captain to greet his new first officer."

Gritting his teeth slightly at the snide tone of voice, Ezra plaster a fake smile on his face. "The Captain wished he could, he knows how first impressions are. Unfortunately, the Admiral he was talking to wouldn't let him leave."

Steve nodded. "Well, I understand. Now, I believe you were going to take us to our quarters?"

Trying his best not to roll his eyes, Ezra nodded. "Yes, I'll take you there. You'll find some information about the duties and shifts that you'll be working on. For the next few days if you have any questions please, feel free to contact me. Now, please follow me."

As Ezra led the group out of the transporter room, he could see the Ensign, who was operating the transporter rolling his eyes at the three men. Ezra sigh, he just knew that this wasn't going to end well, and if Chris doesn't kill the three men, it would be a miracle.

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Entering the floor that held Mission Operations, Buck took a deep breath, he wishes he had gotten more sleep last night, but instead of the nice dreams, he could only dream of what happened last time he was put under Michael Belton's command. Exhaling his deep breath, Buck squares his shoulders and walk fully into the office. He could handle whatever Belton would throw at him.

Walking through the lines of desk and cubicles, Buck made his way to the lone office in the area and announced himself to those in the office. After a few minutes of standing there and no answer, Buck was about to knock on the doors, when they sprang open and the man that had the feature in his nightmares. Standing at attention, Buck snapped out like a good officer. "Reporting for duty! Sir!"

The Admiral let his dark brown eyes rank over Buck for a long second, then he snorted. "Commander Wilmington, I see Captain Larabee finally got tired of you riding his coattails around. From what I hear, your luck finally failed, and he realized how useless you really are. Somehow, I got stuck with you. At least shuffling reports shouldn't ask too much of you. I'll have Vice Admiral Thomas Pruka show you your duties and where you will be working. Unlike other commands, you might have been under, if you have problems talk to Pruka first. If he thinks it is a valid problem, he'll bring me in; otherwise, you need to fix it yourself"

Buck gazed at the shorter man that looked like he had eaten one too many donuts in his life. "Sir?"

Vice Admiral Pruka frowned at the taller man and didn't like what he saw. "Follow me, the man that you are replacing excel at his job, if you can do a quarter of what he did, it would be great. Now, here we are with your desk. Don't bring in any nick-knacks or other items, we don't allow our people to personalize their desk. You are responsible for your work, we expect you to work until you are done. You should be here at 5:00 am in the morning and expect to work at least until 6:00 pm in the evening. Then if only the missions that you needed to work on are done for the day, you can leave. Do you understand?"

Gritting his teeth, Buck nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good, we'll be watching you work for the next few days. Any mistakes and you'll redo the request and whatever other tasks we want you to do."

With that, Pruka walked away, towards his larger office space that was overflowing with personal objects. Tearing his eyes away from the man, he hated on instinct, Buck looked at the small cubicle. It was barely big enough to hold him. Looking at the drab beige walls, he looked down at the stack of Padds on the desk. Staring at the desk, he wasn't sure if he was willing to bet that his desk wouldn't splinter into a bunch of sticks if he touched it.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a deep breath. He could deal with this. He might not get any sleep but he could deal with it. It wasn't permanent. With that thought, he opens his eyes and dives into the work. Hoping to keep his mind off the Admiral and his minion.

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Seating well away from the crowd in Ten-Forward, Ezra stares at the drink in his hand, the day could have gone worse, but Ezra wasn't sure how. After showing the new arrivals to their quarters and managing to drag Chris down to meet his new first officer, all that the new arrivals have done was complain.

They didn't like their quarters, the fact that the Captain didn't praise them enough, that the ship wasn't that great and that it should be kept cleaner and the crew should look sharper. It was enough for Ezra to show them to the airlock and push them out of it.

Finally, he was able to leave them to settle in their quarters, and now he was allowed to relax for a little bit. Taking a sip of his whiskey, he frowned when a plate appeared in front of him. Frowning at the food, he looked up and saw Nathan settling himself across from him.

"I didn't want company."

Nathan shrugs his shoulders. "I figured that much, but you need to eat and I knew you wouldn't. Not after what I heard you had to deal with."

"It was worse. These three should never be allowed off a planet. They didn't like their quarters, they were too small, the crew doesn't look picture perfect, everyone attitudes was wrong, and the Captain didn't spend enough time with them. I was ready to shoot them."

"They sound great. So, should I worry about them tomorrow during their physicals?"

Snorting slightly, Ezra took a bite from his dinner. "No, they are the type that will arrive for the physicals on time and ready for it. They'll behave better than we do normally."

Snickering at the usual behavior Nathan had to deal with to get people down to do their physicals, the Doctor took a bite of his food and frowned after a second. "Surprise Chris didn't glare them to death already."

"The infamous glare was well hidden. Chris didn't want to have to fill out the paperwork and he would make me figure out how the glare would work as being the cause of death."

Grinning at the thought of the report that would explain it, Nathan sigh. "You don't like this plan do you?"

"Do you? This is stupid. We have no clue what is happening at Starfleet and no idea how long this will be. This puts our ship in danger."

"I have to agree with you. Nothing ever good happens with splitting us up. Do you the story behind Admiral Belton and Buck?"

Ezra wince slightly, "You saw that too? I think Buck thought he hid that reaction pretty well."

"He might fool others, but with the number of injuries you guys hid, I've become very adept at spotting your tells when you all try to hide something you don't like. So, what is the story with them?"

Taking a few more bites of his foot, Ezra finally put his fork down and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know the whole story, even Chris doesn't. Seems Buck and Belton were on an away mission together that went wrong. Buck came back mostly dead and Belton came back without a scratch on him."

"And we let Buck work under him?"

Grinning slightly, Ezra shrugs his shoulders. "We didn't have much choice and I have a feeling this conversation took place already. There isn't anything we can do about it now. Unless you can look at his medical file and find out about it?"

Taking a bit of his food, Nathan shook his head. "No, I've seen his medical it doesn't mention anything like that. However, I wonder. You remember when Kirak took over the ship?"

Ezra nodded. "Yes, and I remember we almost lost Buck over that."

Nathan nodded in agreement. "Yes, but there was something that Buck let slip, I think it was to keep us calm, or maybe he just hurt too much at the time. At the time, we were talking about how to get me out there with Buck. As we ran through how to get them to pick me to go next time. Buck woke up enough and told us not to worry that Kirak would make sure to grab me next time so I could see firsthand what would happen if I didn't talk. I asked him how he knew, and he just chuckled and said that it wasn't his first rodeo. At the time, I thought he was just referring to being capture or one of his many missions. What, if he had been in a very similar situation? One where he was being used as an example?"

Looking down at the crumbs of food he had left on his plate, Ezra was quiet for a long moment. Just as Nathan thought to say something to make sure that the Security Chief was still awake, Ezra looks up at the CMO and spoke. "I think you might be on to something, if you take what he said then, and what Chris had dropped, he must have been torture to make a point. A point that Belton did to make Buck and others understand something. "

"If that is the truth then how did Belton not get thrown out of Starfleet?"

Snorting softly, Ezra took the last sip of his whiskey. "I don't know. But we don't know enough about what happened between them."

Looking down at his own plate and seeing it empty, Nathan sighed and looked at Ezra. "I hope you are wrong, I don't want to think what Belton could do to Buck. Now, that he has him back."

Ezra sighed. "I hope you are right, but I have a feeling that we aren't going to be that lucky."

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As his replacement came, JD handed off his station and almost bolted for the door. The last shift had been the worse he had ever experience. The bridge was tense and quiet during the whole shift. You could feel Chris's dislike for replacement officers. When Chris wasn't on the bridge. Any talk beyond flying the ship was frown upon by the new Commander. Forget working on any projects, they were strictly for working on in your on your own time.

Anything that wasn't listed in the Starfleet manual your bridge station was forbidden from being even touched. Talking was frown upon by Redson. Not that the Lieutenant that replaced Vin, Jack Parks, was talkative. The one good morning, JD had said to the man, was returned with a glare and a do not talk to me growl.

It did not help that Jack might have read on how to work his station, but the man had no understanding of his job. JD shudder to think if they ever had to be in a situation that didn't conform to the training book the man must have memorized.

Lost in his thoughts about what could happen with the replacements on board and the ship had to fight, JD wasn't watching where he was going until, he ran into something.

Reaching out to steady the man he ran into, JD looked up and cursed. It was the third person in the trio that had come abroad. "Counselor Luke Bakerson? Are you all right? I'm sorry; I wasn't looking where I was going."

The older man grins slightly. "It's alright, we all get distracted once and a while. Would you like to talk about what has you so distracted?"

"No, it was just a long day so far. It's tough to get used to working with new people. I'm sure it'll work itself out."

Eying the much younger man, Luke frown. "I think there is more than that. While it is hard to get used to working with new people, I think there is more than that to your distractions. Does it have to do with the people that left? From what I understand, there were problems with at least the first officer for a long time here. Is it tough to work under a Commander that knows what he is doing?'

The young ensign opens his mouth to defend Buck then stopped, if he did then the ruse might be up and they would not know who the traitors are. With a sigh, JD changes what he was going to say. "I…it all just so fast. One day they were here and the next they were gone. I think it'll just take time for me to adjust."

Frowning, as he still felt he was missing something, Luke sigh, he knew replacing a popular counselor would be hard, but he was having many problems breaking the cold shoulders he seemed to be getting. "I can understand that; just remember sometimes it helps taking things out with someone who wouldn't know the situation. Rather than letting it bubble underneath your skin until you explode."

Grinning slightly, JD nodded. "I'll take that under advisement, but I think I just have to get used to the change of leadership and styles."

Bakerson nodded, "Yes, you are right, it will take a while to get used to the new leadership. But if you find you are having problems please see me."

JD grinned. "I will, and thanks."

With that, JD headed more slowly to Ten-Forward and paying more attention to where he was going. Luke watched him go, and frown. He wished he had taken his own advice when his wife died. Now, he would not have found himself betraying everything he knew and used to believe in.

7777

Looking around at his Ready-room, Chris's eyes landed on the blanket that covered the back of the couch in the room. Walking over to it, he had to smile slightly at the western theme blanket. Chris still wondered where Nathan and Buck had found it, to replace the one that was ruined.

Moving his eyes off the blanket, he eyed the door to the room. His new Number One didn't seem to understand the idea that the Captain didn't need an update every fifteen minutes on what was happening out on the bridge. Last time Redson had come in, he growled and glared at the man to get his point across to him. Chris would never admit to anyone, but he was rather proud that Redson hadn't dared to show his face since.

Just as he thought that his door open, turning to look at it, he stopped the growl that was going to escape, when he saw it was Ezra. "Haven't killed them yet have you?"

Grinning at the question, the Chief of Security shook his head. "No, not that I haven't been tempted. I've never seen JD leave the bridge so fast, or any one of the bridge crew leave it so fast after their shift."

"I really wish I knew why Travis through this was such a great idea. Those two fools know nothing about how a ship works, and if those three fools are here too long, the crew might kill them or they might get us to kill."

Taking a seat across from Chris Ezra shrugged his shoulders. "The crew knows what to do if something comes in that we don't think they can handle. They won't be allowed to kill us. Have you heard from a trio?"

"No, but I'm not surprised. None of them will be able to reach out until they are in their apartments. And even then they have to make sure no one is watching them."

Nodding, Ezra nodded in understanding. "You think Buck is handling working for Belton?"

For a long moment, Chris said nothing. Finally, with a short sigh, he shrugs his shoulders. "I believe Buck thinks he can handle Belton, and whatever that man throws at him. Will he come out of this fine? I do not know. Something happened down on the planet last time those two were together, and no one talks about it. All three of them are supposed to check in every other day, so if he or any of them miss more than one call in, we're heading back to earth and finding out what is going on."

"That would be the smart thing to do, and if it comes to that, I'll make sure that our guest here, are suitable detain in their quarters so they don't stop us."

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TBC