Chapter 6


The clock on the wall was not changing fast enough for Amy. She had left a sobbing fourteen year old girl in her room which, would have been bad enough under normal circumstances but, Shannon had been doing her best to try and act like a three year old after she got the news. Amy had a hard time dealing with the news herself and Shannon's tantrum was not helping. Amy had to wonder if she was supposed to bare the burden for both of them. If it were true then she knew she could not take it.

That was why Amy wandered up stairs to operations. The place looked as sloppy and run down as the rest of the building but, it had two advantages. One was the row of windows that let you look out on the ocean and, even in the worst of times, that had always had a calming effect on Amy. The other was the rows of computers that sat beneath those windows. Right now any distraction was welcome and, events seemed to be helping out here.

Normally, pulling com-watch was a complete and total exercise in boredom. Very little happened at night that would prompt someone to call the Ranger Station. In fact, very little happened in the daytime either. Mostly, the only emergency calls they ever had were from fishermen who got out to sea and had a mechanical breakdown.

A lot of times the boat crews would have the problem fixed before anyone from the station could even get there. Even the ones that did not usually would call a private contractor for a tow before they would let the Rangers do it. No, the only people that really wanted the colonial government's assistance, these days, were those who were too cheap to pay for real help or a few that simply could not afford it.

This morning was proving to be the exception to the rule. Amy was not so sure if this was a good thing or not. She welcomed the distractions but, it was the nature of those distractions that was making her blood pressure go up. She only thought it typical that the biggest crisis they ever had to deal with was their own! By the time anybody else actually bothered to show up for work, Amy was very ready to not only leave but, quit as well.

Shannon had been constantly stomping up the stairs and nagging Amy to take her down to the hospital. Cal had been calling in and nagging about Norm. How was Norm supposed to call in without his phone and wouldn't she call Cal if that happened? Then Tony was calling and sobbing about loosing the new boss. He too was hoping for some words that would cure his problem. What was Amy supposed to do about that? This new boss guy had just come from another planet! How was he supposed to call in and say he was lost? The guy probably did not even know how to do it on this planet!

When Garcia and Johnson came strolling up the stairs, Amy had never felt more relieved. Then she saw how they were dressed. Her face distorted when she asked them, "why are guys wearing ties?"

Garcia promptly flopped down in one of the roller chairs and Johnson went over to the printed logs that he casually began to flip through. It was Garcia who answered, "what? A guy can't dress up every now and then?"

Johnson asked his own question, "the new boss here yet?"

Amy got it real quick, "you're both a couple of kiss asses, do you know that?"
"Hey," said Garcia taking offense, "I'm not a kiss ass! I just think we should put our best foot forward. Know what I mean?"

Johnson was still busy thumbing through the print outs. He did not even bother to look at Amy as he raised his hand and, in a matter of fact way, proclaimed, "he's just trying to look slick. I'm the kiss ass."

The headset that Amy was wearing began to beep before she could say anything else. She looked down at one of the computer screens and gulped when she saw who was beeping her. It was the Colonial Governors Office. Amy had been half expecting the call. It was about the right time too. She could see the staff over there wandering in and starting to check their messages. They had probably just finished reading the one about Danni and was now calling to bitch about the impending hospital bill.

Amy practically stabbed the computer screen with her finger as she answered. If on cue, both Garcia and Johnson began blabbing away with each other as she tried to listen to the person on the other end of the phone. She yelled at them, "would you please shut the hell up!" Then Amy had to go into damage control, "no not you! I'm sorry, say that again please?"

Garcia just rolled his eyes at her. Then he swiveled a full three-sixty in the chair before picking up a basketball, that had been left by the window, some time ago. He started bouncing it on the floor and waited till Amy was off the phone. Then he asked, "what's up with you this morning?"

Johnson finally finished with the print outs and then casually strolled over to the windows as he asked, "yeah and for that matter, what are you doing here? I thought you were off today. Didn't Danni have the watch last night?"

"Guys," Amy growled at them, "Danni's been shot. She's in the hospital, in surgery, ok!" Amy began pacing in a circle wondering what to do next. When she saw the file from the Governor's Office pop up on one of the computer screens she wondered what in the hell she was supposed to do with it? Barbara was gone. Norm was missing, Cal was being a dick, and now she was supposed to handle this?

She also ignored Garcia and Johnson who were now pounding her with questions about Danni. Amy just raised her hands to her ears and yelled at them. It had little effect. They both only quieted down on their own. At that point Garcia took the floor exclusively and said, "I guess this new dildo American guy we're getting from Earth is going to have his hands full."

Amy only wished the guy was here to have his hands full. Then she finally looked away from the computer screen and saw a strange man standing at the top of the stairs. The guy looked rumpled. His suit was probably expensive but it looked like it had been through the mill. He also had a thick layer of mud on his pants and shoes. Some of it had actually splattered all the way up one side of his coat.

Amy was a bit startled to begin with but she quickly forced a recovery and said, "can I help you with something?"

The guy came strolling in without answering her question. His shoulders were square and he walked in a particularly up right fashion. His eyes were narrow as he seemed to take in and memorize every little detail in the room. Garcia stood up and in a forceful way he demanded, "hey buddy. Who the hell do you think you are?"

The man looked over his shoulder with a side glance and replied to Garcia, "I'm the dildo American guy."

Garcia gulped. Johnson slumped and just mumbled towards Garcia, "way to go hot shot."

The guy squared off with Amy who was starting to look like she wanted to crawl right out a window. He then said, "you look like you might actually know what's going on around here. I'm Deputy U.S. Marshall Jacob Barton."

Amy adjusted her shoulders and then quivered before saying, "I'm Agent Amy Hiller. I was just… well, um… we sent somebody to pick you up!"

Barton began to slip off his jacket and Johnson quickly ran over to take it but, Barton would not let him. Barton then commented, "that's a hell of a driveway you guys got coming down here."

Garcia gulped again and then noted, "you must have tried to drive thru that big puddle. You kind of got to go around it."

Barton ignored him and tossed his dirty jacket over the back of an unused chair that was already filled with junk. Then he began to work at the buttons on the cuff of his shirt as he asked Amy, "I just came over here from the US Consulate. I was having breakfast with this Whitman guy, you know the head cheese over there. He got some kind of note and the only good thing I can say about that is, it interrupted a rather pathetic breakfast that included eggs that tasted something like cardboard. He also wouldn't bother to tell me what the note was about but, said somebody over here would."

Amy shivered and just said, "I have no idea?"

Jake finished rolling up his sleeves before stating, "well it must be something important cause it ended our meeting. Anything big happen around here this morning?"

Garcia mumbled, "that would be an understatement."

Amy thought she was about to puke. Then she saw the next person walking up the stairs and she could not a remember a time when she was ever so glad to see Norm. As he got into the room he took one second to notice Garcia and Johnson. In a semi angry way he rhetorically asked, "what you two supposed to be, clowns?" He then walked right past the new boss, and Amy, and began calling up files on the computer.

Amy quickly cleared her throat and said to him, "uh, Norm, this here is Deputy Barton, you know, our new boss."

Norm never looked up from the screen. He did manage to raise one hand, in a wave, as an afterthought, "how you doing Barton. Be with you in one second." As he kept right on looking for files he did manage to say to Amy, "I lost my phone Amy, I need somebody to burn me another one real quick."

Amy meekly and nervously answered, "Cal has it. You left it at the hospital."

Whatever Norm had been looking at he quickly closed and then he finally made eye contact with Amy, "call him and tell him to get back over here. I'm probably going to need him."

"Um," Amy just tugged at his sleeve and pointed back to the new arrival, "boss, new, here, now."

"I got that from top Amy," he told her as if it were of no consequence to him. Then Norm looked at the guy.

It was Jake who spoke first, "so are you the guy in charge? Funny, you don't look like a Barbara."

Norm laughed that off in a way that made it clear that his humor was both disingenuous and annoyed. He told the guy, "she's not here right now. She's up at our station at Valley. I kind of run things when she's not around."

Garcia mumbled, "and when she is too." Norm looked to Johnson who promptly slapped Garcia in the back of the head.

Norm went on after that, "I'm Agent Scoggins, and you'll have to forgive us. We had an officer down last night. It's had things in kind of an uproar around here."

Jake just looked at all of the faces around him and then asked Norm, "so is that the big emergency that has the US Console in an uproar?"

Norm just shrugged, "maybe. I kind of doubt it though and, to be honest with you Deputy, I really don't give a shit what has Whitman's panties in wad. He's not the most popular person around these parts."

Amy began tugging at Norms sleeve again and pointing to the little file icon on one of her computer screens, "we just got that from the Governor's Office!"

Without ever breaking eye contact with the new boss, Norm asked Amy, "is it about the hospital bill?"

Amy quickly replied, "no."

Norm made his decisions without even thinking, "then send Tony."

"Um," Amy gulped again, "he's not here. He's out," she gestured to Jake and said, "looking for him."

Norm then answered without so much as a blink, "where's Cal right now? Send him."

"Um," Amy was getting even more nervous and meek, "I don't know? He's out, um, kind of looking for you?"

Jake broke into the conversation with a very authoritative but, somewhat sympathetic sounding question, "what's the governor want Agent Hiller?"

Amy let out the breath she had been holding in, "there was an explosion over at the west end of the L-5 just a little while ago."

Now Norm sounded agitated and he actually looked at Amy, "that's the fire departments job. Why are they calling us about it?"

"It's not a rescue mission Norm," Amy finally bit back. "Some people were killed and they want us to look in to it."

Now it was Jakes turn. When Norm locked eyes with him again, Jake broke into a bemused smile and told him, "sounds important Agent Scoggins. Since you don't seem to know where any of your people are, maybe you and I can go out and have a look."

Rising to the challenge, Norm replied, "yeah maybe we should Deputy Barton."

After the two men vanished down the stair case, Johnson called after them with just enough volume not to be heard, "you know some of us are sitting right here!"

Now Amy went from meek to commanding as she began to walk out, "which is exactly where you're going to stay Bob. I have to take Shannon over to the hospital."

As Amy descended the stairs Garcia got up and ran after her, yelling back over his shoulder, "sorry bro, but you just got tagged it!" He was gone before Johnson could even protest.