Just What Happened?

Posted on Tue Jan 19th, 2021 @ 7:17pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Chief Operations Kendra McIntyre

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: Captain’s Ready Room
Timeline: MD01 09:00
1018 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Holding a PADD like it contained some terrible secret, Kendra made her way to the Captain’s Ready Room. During her time in this new time, she had dedicated herself to researching history. The time until the 2270s had been a lesson in hope. Mortal enemies coming together in mutual alliance between the Federation and the Klingons. It had read like a golden age for the quadrant. However in the time since the Dominion War, history seemed more like a cautionary tale much akin to the old Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Standing outside the door to the Ready Room, Kendra gathered her feelings. With a sigh and a quick hair check, the communications specialist pressed the door chime to request entry.

A voice behind the door let out a swear word before allowing entry. The door opened to reveal the reason for the swear word, Gregnol had tipped over a Jug of water on himself and his desk. "I was not expecting anyone McIntyre," he admitted sheepishly.

"I can come at a better time, or help," Kendra offered. She was not too sure if she should step in or turn around and pretend that she did not see anything.

Gregnol looked at the woman stood there patiently and indicated for her to come in. "Please come in Ms McIntyre. Could you pass over that towel." It was already damp from a previous spillage but it would fix this mess that he added to the mess.

“Sure,” Kendra replied as she reached for the slightly damp towel. She tossed it to the Captain before grabbing another. Kneeling beside Gregnol, she could not help but think about the mess and how it related to the current situation in the Galaxy and how she had always seen her duty as a Starfleet officer.

As she placed the towel on the spilled liquid, she gently pressed down on it to better absorb. Kendra had never had trouble communicating, it was why she had become a communications specialist. Yet, she had trouble trying to think about how to ask her question. “How long were you with Starfleet, if you don’t mind me asking,” she bluntly asked.

Reuben looked at the woman helping him and blinked a few times at her as she asked a question he had not expected. For a moment he was stood on the USS Victory staring at the expanse of stars before he blinked and he was crouched cleaning up the mess that had been created for a second time. “I was in Starfleet a decade before I ended up outside the commbadge and out here.” It felt like a completely different life if he was honest. He tried to not think about it often if he could, it felt like it was someone else’s life. "What about you?"

“Eight years out of the Academy,” Kendra replied as though it was something she regularly thought about. For a moment or two, the communications officer focused on cleaning up the mess at hand. It was not that she was satisfied and quiet, her mind was a storm of ideas and thoughts that she needed to tame before she opened her mouth.

“What happened to Starfleet?” Kendra finally spat out rather bluntly. Not quite looking at Gregnol but towards the viewport, Kendra realized that she probably should have asked the question more diplomatically. “When I was on active duty, all you had to say was ‘ we are Starfleet’ and people understood.” Furthermore, she stated as if it were a core belief that no longer applied to the galaxy at large, “We are torchbearers, cast in the light so we may see our path to lasting peace.”

Reuben felt like he understood what she was working up to asking but it was difficult to hear despite all the years he had been without the commbadge on his chest. He still felt like he held himself to the moral high ground. “Wars mostly. The Dominion War wiped us out worse that I think any other war in any of our individual world histories. It drained resources and people and when they needed us we were not willing to share and assist.” Gregnol said moving to sit back at his desk. “Starfleet is a façade. Do not get me wrong there are some very good people out there in Starfleet willing to live up to being torchbearers.” He said thinking on Fenruse and Ehestri for a moment before he carried on. “But more have forgotten.”

Taking the chair opposite her Captain, Kendra nodded her head as she tried to understand. During her time with the Starfleet, there had not been a real war between any of the powers. The Romulans remained hidden behind the neutral zone and the Klingons were embroiled in their own civil strife. “I supposed the attack on Mars didn’t help things,” Kendra thought aloud. She looked down for a moment and ran her hand through her hair as she sorted her thoughts. “I just. I thought the future was supposed to be brighter,” she let out at a level just above a whisper. “I think that’s the hard part being gone for so long.”

Gregnol winced. He had forgotten about mars for a moment. How he did not know but it was something that went a lot deeper than he had thought. He frowned and shook his head, he could not remember where he had been the news had come through but he could remember making the ship-wide announcement and the way the ship had fell deathly still. He could remember the way that Jeassaho had silently engulfed him in her strength when he had finally gotten to bed that night. “Mars is definitely a big part of it. It took a bit of us all.” He admitted before taking in her question. “I can put you back if you want to wait for the future to get better?” For a man who did not say much sometimes, he was certainly talking there and then.

TRUNCATED