Unwanted Overtures

Star Traks: Waystation
Episode name	Unwanted Overtures
Season	Stardate 58---
Episode number	6
Writer(s)	Alan Decker
Year	2381
Stardate	Unknown
Chronology
Previous in series	Everything Right Is Wrong Again
Next in series	Rise Of The Machines
Previous in timeline	Everything Right Is Wrong Again [WAY]
Next in timeline	Rise Of The Machines [WAY]

At long last, graduation day has arrived. Yeoman Tina Jones is on the verge of becoming Ensign Tina Jones. And somebody's got a graduation present for her that she wants absolutely no part of. Too bad they aren't the type to take no for an answer.

Summary

After two years of course at the Starfleet Academy Annex on Waystation, Yeoman Tina Jones graduates and is given the rank of Ensign. At the subsequent graduation party in The Gravity Well, Jones is surprised to see that Bradley Dillon has come by to congratulate her before he leaves the station for his first debate with Kathryn Janeway. They speak in the corridor outside of The Gravity Well, and then Bradley leaves. Moments later, Jones vanishes. The command crew discovers her disappearance half an hour later, and they contact Bradley to see if Jones is with him. Bradley is concerned, and, over the objections of Donna Lymon, orders his ship back to Waystation.

Commander Walter Morales immediately concludes that Bradley is responsible, even after Bradley comes back and beams right into the middle of Ops demanding to know what is happening. Bradley's ship is the only one that has left the station since Jones' disappearance, he was the last person seen with Jones, and Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter believes that Bradley is the one who has been sending Jones anonymous gifts over the last year. This is the first that Bradley has heard about the presents. To clear himself, though, he allows a search of his ship, while he goes back to his office to mobilize his own resources to find Jones. He also realizes that he feels quite close to her and is somewhat hurt that she never told him about her secret admirer.

Using his presidential access to Waystation's computer banks, Bradley pulls up Jones' logs and reads all of the entries concerning the anonymous gifts. He locks onto the car that was put in front of the Welcome Center several weeks earlier and discovers that it had been taken out of Waystation's deep storage cargo bays, where station residents' put their belongings that would not fit in their quarters. The car belonged to Phillip Harper, who had not yet had it moved to his new residence on Earth. Looking for additional clues, Bradley goes to the deep storage cargo bays near the bottom of the station. While there, he finds that several storage containers have been moved and opened. He is then attacked from behind and knocked unconscious.

Bradley awakens in a small maintenence room next to Jones. They have both been bound to chairs. Soon their captor shows himself. It's a humanoid robot built from bits of paneling, conduit, and other found items. The robot's chest panel opens, revealing a tiny little man operating controls inside it. He introduces himself as Fructos, a name that doesn't ring any bells with Jones, but Jones does remember his species. He's one of the Mathastelbroans who visited the station a year earlier. During their visit, Fructos fell in love with Jones and remained behind when the rest of his people left. He's spent the last year in hiding and building a body worthy of her so they could be together, all the while sending her presents to show his affection. Bradley intercedes and goads Fructos into fighting him. He can do little against the robot other than try to avoid it, which doesn't work out well. Soon the robot has hoisted him into the air by his ankle. While Jones shouts for Fructos to stop, Bradley is able to reach a bit of exposed wiring on the robot's body and yank it out, cutting the power.

Fructos is taken into custody, and Captain Beck decides to try to return him to his people. Morales thanks Bradley and says that they are even now (referring to the favor Bradley said he owed Morales back in All Ahead Full). Jones realizes that Bradley has missed his debate because he was rescuing her. Bradley tells her not to worry about it. There will be other debates. The truth, however, is that missing the debate without explaining why has hurt him severely in what AWN calls the Dillon Debate Debacle. Janeway has taken the opportunity to speak to the public without Bradley there to counter her. Despite the damage to his campaign, Bradley feels that he made the right decision.

Featuring

• Captain Lisa Beck
• Commander Walter Morales
• Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter
• Lieutenant Commander Sean Russell
• Ensign Tina Jones
• Dr. Diantha
• Colonel Martin Lazlo
• Bradley Dillon

Also Featuring

• Stephanie Hodges
• Ih'mad

Author's Comments

I've never seen Bradley Dillon as a villain. Certainly there are stories where he can be an antagonist, but that only occurs when his goals are different than the crews'. He just comes at things from a fairly self-serving perspective, not that he would necessarily describe it that way. Things get a bit more complicated when he lets someone get close to him, as evidenced by his actions in this story.

The actual plot of the story is the culmination of the secret admirer storyline that I started threading in early in the last run. To be perfectly honest, when I started it, I didn't know exactly who it was going to turn out to be. The Mathastelbroan angle occurred to me a few stories before this one and seemed to make the most sense, particularly considering the timing. Also, I just liked the idea of Bradley fighting a tiny man in a robot suit.

Originally I wanted to write this entire story in incredibly over-the-top heightened language. I wanted it to be operatic. That didn't quite happen, but some bit of the concept remains in the confrontation between Bradley and Fructos. In retrospect, a whole story of that would have been a bit much. I did lift a little dialog from the musical of "The Phantom of the Opera" to get the point across, though.

Links

Unwanted Overtures