Author's note: This story takes place buring the episode "Exposed." The following scene has long been one of my favorite UFO scenes, and I've always sort of wondered exactly what Straker meant when he said 'Sometimes it gets pretty close to home.' It wasn't until today that I figured out he must be talking about losing his wife and son because he couldn't tell Mary about Shado.
I hope you enjoy this. I'm no author, I know. Constructive feedback would certainly be welcome. Oh, and as usual, my sincere appreciation goes out to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and the entire UFO cast and crew. No copyright infringement is intended.
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free to contact me.
STRAKER: That last entry. Did you send it?
FORD: Yessir.
STRAKER: A refueling schedule. Transmitted on security code B?
FORD: Sorry, Sir.
STRAKER: How long you been with us Ford?
FORD: Just over two years, Sir.
STRAKER: Two Years. Long enough to know how important security is to Shado. Now look. This headquarters, controlling moonbase, the satellites and a fleet of submarines, is eighty feet below a film studio, right? Now four hundred people work up there, and not one of them knows all this exists. I have to play games, pretending to be the studio's chief executive. No one even dreams what my real function is. That's what security's all about.
FORD: I'm sorry sir. Sometimes it's pretty difficult. . .
STRAKER: Difficult? So you think it's difficult, huh Ford? Well, I'll tell you when it gets difficult. Have you ever thought about the victims of ufoe incidents? Have you ever considered their parents? Brothers? Sisters? What do we tell them? They can never know the truth. So they live in agony for years, praying that someday their loved one may turn up. Clinging to a thread of hope. Don't ever tell me that security's difficult. Sometimes it gets pretty close to home.
Lt. Keith Ford let the commander's words run through his head again and an involuntary shiver ran down his spine. He'd been hearing these words over and over since he'd crawled into his bed three hours ago. He now lay staring up at the ceiling tiles, utterly frustrated. His girlfriend of two years slept peacefully beside him, totally unaware of the conflict racing through his mind.
He had been wrong to transmit that refueling schedule with the wrong code, he knew. And the Commander had been right to call him on it. The commander hadn't said anything Keith hadn't already known, of course
The thing that bothered Keith was that it had been the Commander who called him on this mistake. Keith could have accepted the reprimand from Col. Freeman, vowed not to let the mistake happen again, and then promptly forgotten about the whole thing. Coming from the commander, though, . . . .
Keith sighed heavily. It seemed he was destined to fail in Straker's eyes. Ever since completing his training and being assigned to HQ, Keith had tried to live up to Straker's example. Like most Shado personnel, Keith held a great respect for the man, and did not want to disappoint him. Sometimes it just seemed that the harder he tried, the harder it became to do everything correctly.
He sometimes wondered why he was still working in HQ. Straker must think him to be totally incompetent by now. Even this afternoon, when the UFO got past moonbase and was heading to intercept SeaGull X-Ray and the eutronics equipment, Straker had had to remind Keith of his duty by snapping 'Well don't just sit there. Warn Skydiver. And get me Alec Freeman.' Again, it wasn't that Keith hadn't known what was needed. But with Straker standing right behind him . . . he just hadn't been thinking straight. He knew by now he should be used to the man standing behind him. It seemed to be Straker's favorite place to stand in times of crisis. Normally, concentraiting on his duties, Keith was able to ignore the formidible presence. But on days like this, when he felt the Commander was watching every move for possible mistakes . . . .
Of course, Keith had known how concerned Straker was about Alec Freeman. The Commander might like for everyone to think he was cold-hearted and calculating, but anyone who had worked in HQ for any length of time knew just how close Alec and Straker were. You'd have to be blind not to.
Maybe he wasn't cut out for this job. He'd been working for Shado for a little over two years, and he did love the job. And he was working with some of the best people on the planet. Still, at times Keith wondered just why he had been chosen. There was nothing special about him. Nothing at all.
Sighing again, Keith tried to push those thoughts away. He had been chosen because he was good at his job. It was that simple. If he wasn't up to the job, he never would have made it through the training. And if he didn't stop thinking like this, he'd end up spending much more time with that weasely Dr. Jackson than he was entirely comfortable with. Holding on to the thought that Straker wouldn't keep him around if he couldn't handle the job, Keith rolled over, wrapped his arms around the young brunette sleeping beside him and finally drifted off to sleep.
Tomorrow would be a better day.
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