All Our Tomorrows (Part 6)

Posted on Wed Apr 8th, 2015 @ 5:50pm by Commander Patrick Leroy

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: USS Sybil - Alternate Universe
Timeline: Thirty years in the future

“We’ve made a great job so far” Biko exclaimed with satisfaction. Padds were strewn everywhere in the Engineering laboratory and Biko had even requested two ensigns to get some help with the whole thing.

“Crossing my fingers. I’ll tell this once it has worked” Patrick replied checking the last calculations on the Padd.

Leaving the device on the desk he moved closer to a console to have a look at the computer test results. Deeming everything in order he turned to regard Biko immersed in checking a quantity of other parameters.

“If you excuse me I’ll take my leave for a while. A little walk in relaxation will help me match the last pieces of the puzzle”

“Yes, of course,” Biko responded “Oh! Wait a second.” He added hastily vanishing in the other locale.
Patrick perked a furry brow in puzzlement but his waiting for an explanation wouldn’t have been long.

Biko got back with a long duranium bar and, from what it it seemed, a handle on one end.

“Oh. A walking stick.” Patrick appraised sternly.

The smile on Biko’s mouth died down “Er… Yes. It’s strong, duranium league. Fortunately we had some in our cargo hold”

“I will accept the gift. It seems that my increased limping of the last hours didn’t escape your attention” Patrick replied smiling as he retrieved the stick from an embarrassed Biko’s hands.

Patrick tried his weight and walked a few steps with the stick “Not bad. This was really what I needed.” he nodded in satisfaction. “Better for me to have my walk now and… I think you’re a good man Steven” He ended patting him on the shoulder.

That said Patrick worked his way through the doors at a determined gait, if not speed.

***** Senior Officers Deck *****

Patrick stopped leaning on a wall his breath heavy. Even the minimum exertion had become costly for him and the pain in his chest, negligible at first, was growing in intensity. Feverishly his hand reached inside the coat to check if his Starfleet badge was still there. His fingers gripped it tight, the only thing remaining him of his reality, the only thing that linked him to those he loved:

Please… Please. Let me finish this thing. That I may come back…

Wiping his forehead he stood again leaving the safe support of the metal wall. The Captain’s lodgings were not far now and he really had to brief Faye on the situation and ask for an official start of the operation.

Time was of the essence.

Lost in his thoughts he came just in front of the doors leading to the Captain’s quarters. In his haste to reach the objective he hadn’t asked for a formal meeting.
He hoped that Faye would have shown patience due to the situation, still he hesitated. Uncertain.

Suddenly the doors opened showing the massive figure of Lieutenant Steiner, Patrick stepped back in surprise. The uniform and face of the Chief of Security stained with red blotches and dripping with liquid.

“Did I interrupt something?” Patrick asked recovering composure.

Steiner just glared angrily at him then strode past in the corridor directed to the turbolift.

Patrick leaned a bit on the stick watching inside the locale preventing the doors from closing. Inside the room Faye stood, arms crossed, looking out of a portal.
Her back was to the door and she seemed oblivious of everything. On a table in the center of the room rested a glass of wine, untouched, while another one still rolled lazily back and forth on the white surface, wine spilled all around.

Patrick couldn’t hold back a smile: Same temper as the mother it seems

Harrumphing loudly he made his presence known. Faye turned, an icy look in her green eyes.

“Maybe I should come back another time?”

Faye’s expression eased a bit “No. Come in.”

With her hair worn long and flowing the resemblance to Aleksandra was even more evident to Patrick. He stepped inside and saw that the locale was tastefully furnished with a blend of art objects and more mundane ones. His gaze lingered around until it came to a corner where he could see pictures and objects he found strangely familiar... A sense of uneasiness taking over him.

“I just wanted to report all the work done with the precious help of Mr. Biko and let you know that everything is almost ready for operation”

“I’m glad to hear that” She replied with a smile moving closer. I see you’re interested in those objects, are you? “

“Indeed I am” Patrick responded looking at the old spanish guitar attached to the wall. Its strings gone and slightly burned on a side. Under the guitar on a small table rested a weathered chessboard.

His fingers brushed gently the worn wood as he looked the pieces set in an orderly way, only one missing, the white king.

“I take it these are mementos.” Patrick asked, well knowing the response.

“Yes” Faye nodded sadly “These all belonged to my father. Things that my mother had been able to recover after the Archadian’s attack on SB900 of thirty years ago” She paused an instant before continuing

“The King missing from the chessboard was my fault when I was about two years old, so I’ve been told. I hid it somewhere never to be seen again. Father wasn’t happy but didn’t say nothing that I can remember. Accounting to my mother he could have readily used a replicator to substitute the missing piece but he chose against it saying that in any case without the original it would never been the same again…”

Patrick nodded in acknowledgement as his lips tightened as he would have thought the same, the sense of gloom becoming thicker on his mind. His eyes went over to another small table to see a framed picture. In the picture he… Well, his other self and Aleksandra held each other smiling against a bucolic landscape, Aleksa’s right hand resting on her womb.

“These are my parents.” Faye remarked following Patrick’s stare, “Mother always said that I too am in that picture…”

“Perhaps I’m stealing too much of your time. I did not want to intrude...” Patrick stated his uneasiness growing.

“Don’t worry, my evening is free as of now. You said that your name is Francis when we found you back on the station… How odd, that was the second name of my father... Patrick Francis Leroy.”

“The universe is full of coincidences” Patrick replied avoiding direct eye contact “I see that you’ve made quite a career.” He continued, trying to change the subject as he pointed the many Starfleet awards hanging from the walls.

“Ah, yes.” She chuckled softly “Hard earned commendations. Military life is tough for a woman even in Federation”

“I don’t doubt that. Isn’t your pride stirred by these achievements? They’re real no matter how hardly gained and, from a certain point of view, the harder they’ve been to earn the more value they should have” Patrick replied hoping his point wouldn’t prove so weak to her as it seemed to him.

“In all honesty? No” She responded crooking her mouth in a faint smile “My first try had been Science branch but I wasn’t made for it. No matter how hard I tried I could not master the subject” She paused a while as if making order in her thoughts “In the end I had to leave Science and applied to Command branch as a backup option. Not a great success I would say”

“Science is a difficult field and the other branches are equally important if one looks at the whole that Federation has to be…” Patrick said tentatively hoping to ease her mood but he knew already what was to come.

“My father was a scientist of some renown albeit still young and, as my mother recounted me, often looking with contempt to those not of the ‘field’. Torn between Science branch and Command I chose the latter in the end. And I’ve ever wondered since, if my father would have disapproved... In my heart I’m quite sure he would have”

“I’m sure he would be proud of you, instead” Patrick stated. He would have said more, he would have said all, wouldn’t have been for the regs and for the standing order of Admiral Wegener about keeping secret the knowledge of the alternate universes.

“You’re kind and I thank you for that. The fact is that I’ve lived my life thinking how would have it been to have a father to back me up. To get you on your feet again after a fall or to keep you in line, sometimes. To advise you and provide a guide. Mop you up when needed” She sighed “My mother had to suffice for everything...”

Silence fell between them. The sense of constraint becoming almost unbearable for him. His mind struggled to find something to say but long before he could come up with a solution Faye interrupted his flurry of thoughts.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you with such kind of personal matters Mr. Francis. Most inappropriate. I’ll contact Mr. Biko at once and if everything is ready you have my permission to proceed and, indeed, I look forward to have you back home, safe”

hands draped behind her back with chin raised and stern look, despite the elegant evening dress and long flowing hair, the captain had returned.

Patrick simply nodded with her statement. He moved to the doors, leaning on the walking stick, his heart heavy.
The doors hissed open. He stood there for an instant then, looking over his shoulder, he addressed her one last time before leaving:

“Do not bear this burden… He would have forgiven you everything”



Patrick Leroy
SB900 CSO Abroad