All Our Tomorrows (Part 8)
Posted on Thu Apr 16th, 2015 @ 5:28pm by Commander Patrick Leroy
Mission: Breaking New Ground
“Time has come”
The fright of battle well behind his shoulders Patrick regarded all the people of the bridge one last time. The Sybil had returned to the Ialnalyn station and repairs were already undergoing on the damaged nacelle, it was time to get back home.
“Don’t worry. We have everything under control.” Biko said gesturing to the flickering consoles “The projector is working as the main deflector of the Sybil. I think I can accompany you to the transport room…”
“I’ll do that.” Faye intervened stepping forward “It would be a pleasure”
Patrick smiled nodding “Lead the way, not too quick though, for my legs are aching a bit”
“Don’t worry we aren’t in a fret anymore.” She smiled moving close to the doors enough to have them open for him.
With a last nod to the crew on the bridge Patrick exited the room leaning heavily on the stick, followed by Faye.
***** Corridor to the transporter room *****
“I have to thank you” Faye said as they walked down the corridor “A ‘standard’ engagement in battle could have cost many lives and we made it with the mere loss of equipment…”
Patrick sniffed with an inward smile “Oh… That’s nothing. Just a trick I learned… Somewhere. And if I proved wrong there wouldn’t be complaining now.”
“Any improvement in memory so far?” She asked.
“Not yet.” Patrick responded avoiding to look at her. He stopped then turning to face her.
“Would you accept some advice from an old man?”
“Why not?” she encouraged him.
“I see that life hasn’t been kind to you. Still you have all the qualities a grown woman should have and more than that… You’re a Starfleet captain and for what I’ve seen, your crew love and respect you… Someone even too much. Forget the past. It’s no use, it will only bring shadows on your life.”
He paused to let his words sink in.
“That’s not an easy thing…” Faye demurred, her smile becoming uncertain.
“I never said it is. Concentrating on a loss makes us vulnerable and in our striving for a worthy substitution we can incur into errors… Like mistaking brute force for security and protection…”
A knowingly smile lined her lips then “I know what you referring to. That situation is solved… Permanently”
Patrick nodded, surprised by the relief he felt in that moment “Cherish your memories and look forward.” he added gravely “We may never know what lies behind the curtain... Don’t you think that your father, by strange ways of destiny, could be watching on you to help you in one way or the other?”
“Just popping up at the right time to save her precious little daughter from peril?” She smiled cocking her head “Are you suggesting a ‘thereafter’ belief?”
“Kind of.” Patrick shrugged smiling.
She shook her head “You’re a strange man, Mr. Francis.”
They resumed their walking down the corridor each one lost in strange thoughts. After a few steps, though, she quietly slid her arm under his, the silence around them interrupted only by the sound of the walking stick on the floor.
***** Transporter room *****
Patrick Left his walking stick against the wall “I won’t need it where I’m going” he said. Then he stepped, helped by Faye, on the transporter pad. “I’m fine now” he nodded, Faye left his arm and took position behind the console.
“We are ready Mr. Biko. Waiting for a ‘go’ ”
=^=Anytime you want=^= Biko’s voice came through the intercom
Patrick nodded and Faye started issuing all the needed parameters in the transporter.
He regarded her now, busy around the transporter console, a strange feeling creeping again inside his chest. Was that right to hide the truth? Images flashed through his mind when he had held her in his arms, a less than three years old imp, even if it had been for a brief time and only a few months before, now for a strange twist of Fate he could behold what she had become.
In that moment all regulations and orders that he would have never questioned seemed a terrible constraint, a lump formed in his throat…
“Faye, I…” he started in a croaking voice
She looked up from the console an interrogative look on her face “Yes?”
Patrick stared at her, tightening nervously his lips as if on the verge of the abyss. His mind stormed with all the things he would have liked to say, to explain... The struggle tearing his soul for long instants until, in the end, he lowered his eyes.
“I am ready.”
Faye nodded with a faint smile “Good luck”
The usual shimmer engulfed him and he knew it was over. In a gesture born of frustration he tugged sharply at his coat oblivious of the small object clattering on the floor and in a moment he was gone, the shimmer fading away to nothingness.
A sigh escaped Faye’s mouth. Folding her arms she moved towards the door stopping when a glitter out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
Walking back to the transporter she knelt to pick the small object regarding it with curiosity
A Starfleet badge? Of older design it would seem…
“Computer” She prompted standing, the usual chirping sound indicating readiness for input. “Can you link to this badge and read the information within?”
The computer chirped again for a while before relating with its impersonal voice:
=^=Starfleet badge… Owner: Leroy, Patrick Francis… Rank: Lieutenant Commander… Assignment: CSO on Starbase 900... Effective from date…=^=
The computer went on reciting the numerous informations contained in the badge while Faye looked, mouth agape, at the now empty transporter.
********
The sensation was one of falling, lights and shimmering colours all around him for what seemed forever. Patrick prayed for his theories to be true lest finding himself in a nightmare worse than the one he’d just left.
No one can say if his skills and knowledge had been good enough to reach his objective, despite the lack of time and pressure. Or if some undefined power stuck his finger into the matter at a defined time to get to the desired result… Perhaps, and most probably, some people are simply born under a good star…
He found himself lying on a floor. First came the light, then the sounds. The sounds became voices… When he opened his eyes the worried face of Jinn was upon him, many others liyng in the hazy background.
“Mr. Leroy… Mr. Leroy, how do you feel? Can you hear me?”
Without answering Patrick raised his hands to check them on one side and the other clenching fingers. Then he stood, quickly striding to the main console where the dark glass panel mirrored back a face, his ‘old’ face…
A sigh escaped his mouth his lips lined into a smile that turned into a long full-hearted laugh while Jinn, the Prime Researcher and all the others around him, totally ignored, exchanged puzzled glances.
***** SB900 Galileo Center --- The Present *****
Ensign Samara hummed a low melody as in her mind a picture formed about her upcoming shoreleave. Fresh breeze, sun and the soft sound of the surf were all the ingredients she needed to be happy right now while waiting to be happier.
“Samara have you heard what I said?” Rutheridge voice suddenly brrought her back to reality.
“Er… Yes.” She responded sheepishly hoping this to be enough to fool him
“Yes, sure… Commander Leroy is back on 900. His runabout landed a few minutes ago.” He paused with a slight grin giving her time to realize, then reprised “Seems we’re out of luck because Commander Kh’ali is away from the starbase, so he’s coming straight to Galileo. He can be here any minute now. Hope the project you were assigned to is up to date as per schedule”
“I’m ready.” She answered slightly piqued “Just have to make a final check… That I was already doing by the way”
“Good. I would check the photonic dampening variance if I were you, though. That is a delicate matter albeit seemingly a minor one”
“I’ll do that.” Photonic dampening… Hmph! I’ve been loaded as a mule with this project and now I have also to be lectured on a useless variance...
“Indeed. I know that you’re going on shoreleave to Archadia in a few hours but deadline for this project is…” Rutheridge paused looking at the padd in his hand “...Tomorrow.”
With Rutheridge gone Samara returned to her console still running one of many tests. Just a matter of instants before the music and sounds of a wonderful beach bathed in the sun coming back to her mind.
The doors of Galileo Center hissed open and Samara could see Commander Leroy sauntering in, giving only slight nods to the members of the staff who greeted him a lour look on his face, making him seem as callous as ever.
No matter, Samara resolved herself. She was due to leave in a few and the simulated tests for the project had just concluded with positive results. She took the padd with all the data and deftly skirted around her colleagues, intent on their consoles, intercepting Commander Leroy half-way from his office.
“Welcome back Commander.” She smiled although the back of her skull prickled as if something was amiss “I have the final data about the project Zeta-Sigma-four-two-one. Would you care to have a look?” She ended offering the padd.
Leroy’s scowl did not change, he took the device from her hand. The prickling sensation increased as he started to look into the data.
The variance! Samara’s eyes widened as she mentally slapped herself. She had totally forgot.
It was such a small parameter confronted to the rest of the project, perhaps it would have gone by unnoticed. She started twitching hands, her eyes going from the padd to Leroy and back several times out of anxiety.
Leroy slowly, almost lazily, kept scrolling down the information on the small screen, considering, evaluating. Yet nothing could be read on his face. Small sweat pearls formed on Samara’s forehead.
More instants passed seeming hours to her until Leroy’s brow furrowed his finger tapping gently on the padd and she knew... In Samara’s mind the splendid picture of the beach, sun, palms and surf shattered like glass.
“There is a deviation in the variance parameter regarding the photonic dampening.” Leroy stated his face impassive as he focused on an invisible spot in the distance “You’re due to shoreleave today. I’ve checked the roster on my way here.”
“Y-yes sir” Samara stammered dying inside.
“Give this to Rutheridge.” Leroy said handing back the padd to her “He’ll assign another member in your absence”
He started to walk again then stopped looking over his shoulder “Enjoy your time, ensign. Make the best of it.”
Samara, slack-jawed, watched him walk away all the distance to his office until the doors hissed close behind him.
She turned then to Rutheridge, not far away, a mute question in her bewildered (yet relieved) eyes.
He just shrugged waving his hands in a clear Don’t ask me gesture.
*******************
Patrick Leroy
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