Pieces Parts

Posted on Sat Oct 10th, 2026 @ 4:13am by Warrant Officer Loren Baro & Technician Tahlina Yanez-Tahli

764 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Home Waters
Location: Cargo Bay

A part of Loren was still stunned as she made her way to the cargo bay. She had felt much the same when the Cardassians left Bajor the first time. After 50 years, the Bajorans had fought, but not everyone expected to live to see a successful end result. Some didn't believe it would succeed but wanted to ruin the Cardassians' day any way they could. You fought because it was right, not because you expected to win.

The Maquis and DMZ felt much like that after the speech. Now that the end result was here, she found she'd been surprised again. At least the Bajorans had been a government and a people before the Cardassians, so the basics of organization remained. The DMZ took what random people and equipment existed and pulled something out of whole cloth. The Bajorans shared a common enemy, as well as a common culture and society. The Maquis and DMZ had common enemies; that was about it.

She knew what had to happen, but wasn't sure what path this fledgling government would take to solidify into a space-going power. She stuck her hands in her pockets as she entered the Cargo Bay, a small smile on her face as she rather looked forward to finding out how it would shake out.

As the woman entered the cargo bay, a man passed by her, giving her a simple nod.

Tahlina double-checked the equipment and a few other things, making sure everything was just so. The words of the colonel, mission advisor, or whoever the hell he was, were still ringing in her ears and mind. "What now, you got some more pearls of wisdom for me?" Tahlina said, not snapping, but not thrilled that the man was back.

Loren blinked, and before she could stop herself, replied, "Wise man says never pay full price for late food."

"What? Shit, sorry, I thought you were that mission advisor guy coming back; you passed him when he came in. He said some real weird cryptic shit. Anyways, is there anything I can help you with?"

Loren smiled. "Yeah, he lives for that. A human friend called him 'Gandalf,' which apparently is some wise Earth mythological magic user who loved being cryptic. She shrugged. "I don't know the source material, but it seemed to fit." Then she addressed the second question, "Yes, I was told there were some tac supplies ready for pickup, so I thought I'd escape the sudden pile of paperwork."

"Supplies? Whatever supplies we have, we have already dealt with back at Deep Space Nine." Tahlina said, walking over to a console and looking through the manifest, "but we haven't picked up any new supplies since we left Deep Space Nine."

Loren frowned in thought and pulled a PADD out of a pocket, tapping a few keys. "By the Prophets, I'm tired." She rubbed her eyes. "I meant we're ready to pick it up." She showed her the report from an officer from Deep Space Nine. "There should be a box of small arms spare parts."

"Not sure who approved this, but from my understanding, we are not stopping back at Deep Space Nine, but instead heading straight for the DMZ," Tahlina said, handing the PaDD back. "The trip back to the DMZ is at most a week, maybe closer to two, and we are good on supplies."

"Oh, right, I see the problem. It was from our last stop at Deep Space Nine; we couldn't offload it out of the cargo bay as we were making room for all the changes..." She shrugged with an apologetic grin. "Everyone got distracted."

She was right. According to the log, it was still onboard. Tapping a few buttons, she quickly scanned the cargo bay. "It is right over there," Tahlina said, leading the other women to the crate. "Hopefully this is it. If it is not, I have no idea where it is."

Loren checked her PaDD. "This is it. Thanks, Tahlina; with you around, I figured it had to be here somewhere." She said as though it couldn't be anywhere else; she put the PaDD away and checked the weight. "Bit hefty..." She mused, considering.

Tahlina shrugged. "I mean, if this is your crate, it is what you ordered."

"It is." Loren replied, "Just deciding how old I feel." She put the PaDD away and did a test lift. "Ha. Not old yet." She lifted it carefully. "Thanks, Tahlina."

Thalina just nodded watching the women leave before getting back to wrapping up some tasks before calling it for the day.

 

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