The Death of Victoire Griffin

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 8:24am by Cailus Griffin
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:44pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Counselor's Office/Holodeck
Timeline: Current

A Mission Post by Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Mera Richmond MD
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Counselor's Office/Holodeck
Timeline: Current
Fri Oct 20th, 2017 @ 11:30am


If there was one aspect of life on a starship that Cailus had come to dread, it was meeting the counselor. He wasn't a fool, of course. Cailus knew full well that such sessions were necessary, especially for someone with as much emotional rubbish as him. As much as he loved Shae and as much as he was starting to welcome new friends like Nyx and Owen, relying on them too much wasn't healthy for any of them. Counselor Richmond was, he grudgingly admitted to himself, the best person to help, and in any case, the captain's suggestion to go see her had been spoken very much like an order.

Thus after his regular duty shift, and having left his phaser in the Armory, Cailus stood at the counselor's door, feeling oddly unsettled. He was half tempted to just mill about for a couple of minutes since he was early, but Cailus shook the temptation off and, reluctantly, tapped the chime.

The lights in the counselor’s office were low and Mera was seated on the leather couch looking out into space, lost in thought. Cailus’s history was unlike anything she had seen outside of a few few vaguely related case studies she read at the Academy. She had been up most of the night preparing, but hadn’t come up with a plan of attack. When the door chime rang she let out a heavy sigh - she would have to face it ill-prepared.

“Come in, Lieutenant.” she said as she walked over to the console and adjusted the lights. “Thank you for coming by. I hope that the Captain didn’t have to twist your arm too much.”

"An order is an order," Cailus said with resignation as he walked in, but found himself flummoxed at where to sit and simply stood in the center of the room. "Besides, it makes sense. I should've gotten this over with months ago."

“Can I get you anything before we get started? Coffee, tea, cider maybe?”

Uncomfortable, Cailus shrugged; it was to be expected that she'd done her research and knew he liked cider, but it was still unsettling. "Tea, thank you. Le Dammann, if the computer has that pattern."

Mera smiled, “I have spent some time expanding the programming to include some of the more exotic beverages that I got accustomed to on the Mercy. Let’s see if I carried that one over. Feel free to take a seat wherever you like. I am partial to those beautiful leather couches, but we can stay my desk if you think you’d be more comfortable there.” Mera pressed a few buttons on the replicator, “Ah, here it is.” She took the resulting beverage and got her own soda drink.

Cailus considered the desk longingly, but forced himself to sit on the couch instead. Mera was right; the leather was blissfully comfortable, but it had an odd effect of making him even more uneasy. He shifted himself on the cushion, trying to find a position that felt right, before finally surrendering, crossing one leg on top of the other as his back was embraced by the couch.

"I take it you've looked up my record," he said stiffly as Mera walked over.

“Compiling a fastidious patient history is a habit I picked up back in my days as a neurologist. As I am sure you know, knowledge is power and there is a lot to learn from what a patient does and doesn’t tell you. Usually I wouldn’t be so obvious, but you have already spent so much time in counseling that I doubt you want to rehash it all.” Mera handed Cailus his tea and took a seat on the other couch perpendicular to him.

She took a sip of her drink and picked her PADD up from the coffee table. “Besides, I am more interested in how recent events are making you feel. Walk me through the day that the Pandora entered the Inconnu Expanse.”

Thus encouraged, Cailus began reciting the events of that day. He glossed over Emilie's own experience, feeling that it wasn't his story to tell, before finally moving on to when they came across the phantom of his dead wife. He talked about her appearance in detail, from the strange spidery metal threads over her hands to her new hairstyle, and talked reluctantly about how Harriet had tried to convince him that she was real.

"When I...ah...refused, she began to change," Cailus said slowly, looking out into empty space as he spoke. "The Borg. Do they have a kind of black armour? Extensive cybernetics? Tubes over their bodies? Arms rep...hell. Arms replaced with cybernetic enhanced limbs, and eyes replaced by...whatever the hell that was. Is that what they do to people?"

Mera squirmed in her seat. She found no joy in the recounting of such heart-wrenching events, and the subject of the Borg doubled her discomfort. “As nightmarish as all that sounds, it’s true. The Borg assimilate organic life into their collective and install cybernetics for whatever function the host has been assigned.”

She turned to looked down at her PADD, unable to look Cailus in the eye while discussing something so disturbing. “There aren’t many who survive an encounter with them, to be so blatantly confronted by the corrupted form of their own species, without being traumatized.” More than anything else, the Borg disgusted Mera. Maybe it was the unnatural methods they used to advance themselves, maybe it was the bastardization of her own work in brain-machine interface research, maybe it was simply the terror she experienced as a child during the attempted invasion of Earth; but she had never encountered anything as fundamentally offensive.

She drew her focus back to her crewmate. “I believe that you were in cryostasis during the invasion - has anyone caught you up on the Federation’s history with the Borg?”

"I am aware of certain aspects," Cailus said. "I know Harriet was taken on New Providence. I know that Vic...Victoire...was taken at Wolf 359. I know that the Borg ship that did it was destroyed over Earth." He paused, frowning, as a thought struck. "Were you on Earth when it...ah...happened?"

Mera’s eyes grew wide and their focus seemed to stretch further away as she thought back. “I was. I was a child when the Borg took orbit around Earth. I will never forget the feeling of helpless and the fear in my mother's voice as she coordinated security forces for her constituency back home.”

“It wasn’t until I entered Starfleet Academy that I understood how dire the situation truly was and the level of devastation that took place at Wolf 395.” she blinked a few times trying to shake off the dark memories. “I suppose that, as our Chief Security Officer, you should be well educated about the Borg especially if there is a chance that they are already in the Expanse. Has the Captain given you any recommendations on how to get caught up?”

"No," Cailus answered simply, shifting uncomfortably. "I just need to know how to fight them, Counselor. I'm not interested in Borg society or art or any of that other junk."

"Well, I think the word society is a bit generous, but I get your point." She said making subtle quotation gestures.

Mera paused for a moment as a thought crossed her mind, and then made a few swipes at her PADD. "I have an idea that might provide a two pronged solution. I have here a holodeck program from the Academy that would allow us to walkthrough several scenes from the Battle of Wolf 359. It may seems a bit aggressive, but I believe that the next step in your progress towards coping with the loss of your wife and daughter is to confront what happened to them so that you can work towards true acceptance. I understand that you have found new relationships, but I fear that you may still be repressing your feelings." She reached down to pick her tricorder up from the coffee table. "It will also give you a good introduction to the nature of the Borg and tactics that the Federation used against them. What do you think?"

A tense silence followed. Cailus looked back at her, plainly conflicted, his eyes hinting at a complex roiling of thoughts within.

"You're suggesting," he said quietly, his voice a dull monotone, "that we watch the battle where..." His voice trailed to nothing, unable to form the words. Cailus found a sick fascination within him, and he put it to words. "I know the ship she commanded," he said slowly. "Is the holoprogram accurate enough to show her...uh...her ship? When she was..."

At that, Cailus stopped, his eyes widening in horror at his own thoughts. "Dammit, no, that's...that's bloody insane. What kind of twisted bastard would want to know that? I know how she died, I don't need a fucking play-by-play..."

"Believe me, I understand your unwillingness. Please don't think that I am a psychopath who wants to watch people experience the greatest fears of their lives." She looked down and started pressing his index fingers together, embarrassed for evening bringing up the idea. "I just believe that, sometimes, seeing exactly what happened, having the same experience, can provide some relief to the nagging depression in the back of your mind. If you are anything like me we sometimes jump to conclusions when we don't have the facts."

They shared another short pause as Mera decided where to go next. "How bout we do this?" She picked a small sensor up from the table and pressed a few button on her tricorder. "You may already know what this is." She held the sensor out so show Cailus. "It's a neurocortical monitor which will profile you neural functions and alarm if there is an anomaly. Now, I usually use this device to profile patients during our meetings to kind of get a background, but I am going to ask you to wear this full-time, both on and off-duty. I think it will make you more aware of when your subconscious is triggered, and if it is happening a lot we can discuss solutions."

Cailus looked at the sensor with unease. "It's smaller than I remember," he said awkwardly, knowing full well that Mera was trying to change the subject. He took the sensor and stood up, pacing up to the wide viewport, rolling the small device in his hand. The stars looked to be streaking by in the vast black as the Pandora sped onwards to Sylvaxe, and the grim Martian watched them for a long moment, thinking hard.

"Holodeck," he said firmly, turning back to Mera. "You don't know this, but one of my daughter's friends tracked me down a few months ago and she told me exactly what had happened to my family. I don't know what would've happened if she hadn't forced me to confront it...but I know I would've been a lesser man for it." He tossed the sensor back at the counselor, his expression cold and determined. "Keep the sensor, counselor. It'd shred my authority if people see me with that thing. We'll go with the first option."

Mera caught the sensor with a disappointed look. She had heard the authority excuse from dozens of officers before, and it annoyed her to no end. Not only was it not logical to her as a medical officer, but she had never been able to convince them to change their minds. “I mean this with no disrespect, but I think that attitude is foolish.” She stood up and walked to meet the Security Chief with determined intensity. “Grief, depression, anxiety; these are diseases that we can treat. No different than a broken bone or Tarkalean flu, but we need data to do it properly. What do you think would be more damaging to your image, of few days with a small device behind your ear or the next dark matter attack turning you into a blubbering mess on the job?”

She did not like having to be so confrontational with her crewmates, especially ones she regarded so highly such as Lieutenant Griffin. She looked down at her hands then back up with a calmer demeanor. “We all have different weaknesses that we are dealing with, but we have an opportunity here to empower you. A few days with this little thing could save lives.” She held the sensor out between them, closed one eye, and focused on its small silhouette. “Think about it.”

She walked back to her desk and put the sensor and tricorder in a small equipment case. “Do you have time to go to the Holodeck now or do you need a break?”

Somewhat amazed by the counselor's blunt honesty, it took a moment for Cailus to recover. "I suppose we can do it now," he said awkwardly. "If you have time, anyway."

"I have all day, Mr. Griffin." she said sternly without looking up from packing her case. The Security Chief struck her as logical and she hoped that she had gotten his attention. Even if she despised doing so, being blunt had proven to be extremely effective.

She shut the equipment case and moved towards the door waiting for Cailus to catch up. "Let's get going. Hopefully one is available. I hate having to commandeer them."

"Very well," Cailus answered reluctantly, following her out into the corridor. He immediately regretted not making some excuse, pretending that he had to pick up Aoife or that he had some drill scheduled, but even setting aside how wrong it was to outright lie, he suspected that the counselor was rather apt at detecting deception. No. Better to just dive in and get it all over with.

Dr. Richmond stepped into the turbolift, "Deck 5, please." They had only just started moving before she felt the need to break the tension she had caused with Mr. Griffin in her office. "Turbolift, hold, please" She took a quick breathe in while choosing her words. "Cailus, I hope that I was not too harsh. You do not need the added stress of being dressed down by a new counselor that you had only just met."

Cailus shook his head kindly, although he was still standing in a very formal position, his hands behind his back. "Counselor, I was at the Bozeman Institute on Pacifica for three months after the Romulans rescued us. The doctors treated me like a damned egg that they were afraid to break. Harshness, by comparison, is preferable. I would never have gotten together with Shae, or come here, if she and others hadn't forced me to stop being an idiot." Glancing upwards at the lift ceiling, he added, "Resume."

They arrived on the Recreation Deck and made their way over to the open holodeck. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to kick anyone out. Dr. Richmond approached the arch control panel, took out her PADD, and started to prepare the program. "Now is a good time take a moment and prepare your mind. Try to clear out any distracting thoughts. Right now, this is about you." She emphasized the last word. "I can show you some techniques if you are having trouble."

"No need," Cailus said. "I am aware of certain Vulcan mental techniques. Just get it over with. Please."

"Alright, let's do it." Mera said quietly to herself. "Computer, begin program Wolf 359, Scene 3."

The gridded walls of the holodeck disappeared into a void of blackness. Distant stars began popping in to view, one-by one, culminating in the appearance of the infamous Wolf star system. Forty Starfleet ships were rendered in solemn detail forming a blockade several meters high. Nothing but desperation filled the vast space between them.

Mera stepped away from the console and out into the middle of the hologram. "This is just before the Borg Cube arrives. Forty ships are lying in wait." She started walking to each ship individually trying to recall their names. "Now, do you remember what ship Victiore was stationed on at the time?"

Cailus didn't answer immediately. He was silent for a long moment, his eyes running over the lines of bright, shining starships for a long, long minute. Finally he settled upon one of the very smallest ships at the bottom left corner of the fleet, and he moved up to it. It was a tiny, pathetic thing compared to the larger and more powerful Excelsior and Ambassador-class starships. The small saucer was connected by a thin neck to a single, lone nacelle, seeming far too fragile to ever risk in battle.

"This one," he murmured, pointing at the ship in front of his head. "The USS Firebrand." Glancing around the fleet again, their running lights twinkling in the black, Cailus sighed. "You know, by the standards of my time, this is an extremely powerful armada. Even when we retook Menelax, we only had seven ships. I've never even seen more than a dozen starships in one place before."

"That's a testament to the admiralty's desperation. An entire colony had been destroyed, I am sure they would have had every ship in the fleet there if they could." She walked around reaching out and touching some of the ships. She had seen this holoprogram several times before, but standing in it with Cailus was causing a whole new sense of gravity. "If that's the ship then we will pay attention to it."

The blockade of cruisers were listing nervously, waiting for the confrontation. Soon a cluster of stars disappeared in the distance. The void growing larger and larger by the second. Before they knew it the Borg Cube was nearly 2 meters tall and looming over the two officers and facing down the Starfleet armada. They had arrived.

The sight of it...the sheer size of it! Cailus couldn't help a shiver of fear at seeing the monster, even knowing that it was just a hologram, and he put his hands behind his back, the left gripping the right with painful strength. He'd heard the fear in Sophia and Shae's voices when they talked of the Borg, had heard the barely-controlled terror in his subordinates at even the vague possibility of encountering the Borg, but only now did he understand.

More than that, as the Cube approached them with a silent, graceful menace, an entirely new fear gripped him. He was about to see it. He was about to see his little girl die. Victoire, who had danced every chance she'd gotten at the age of five, who had pleaded for bedtime stories every single night, who had giggled at her mother's ridiculous jokes...she was about to die.

"Damn," he whispered in a broken voice, frozen in place before the oncoming Cube.

She walked over to her stunned friend and stood beside him. Their two shadows eclipsed by the Cube. "This is it. I am going to stand right here with you." She put one hand on his shoulder and kept her medical tricorder in the other.

Cailus nodded dully, his hands curled into fists, and they watched as the Borg approached. Suddenly, two starships left the Federation fleet and advanced on the Borg Cube, followed quickly by two more. Cailus realised numbly that he recognised the tactic; the first two ships would hit and run, to be replaced by the next two ships in the line, then the next, then the next. It was a textbook tactic, with each new pair of starships bearing fresh shields and weapons while their fellows recovered, wearing down their larger foe with a continuous assault and ensuring that the Federation ships would sustain minimal casualties.

It failed.

The Excelsior-class USS Melbourne approached first, with the smaller Miranda-class USS Saratoga close behind. They opened fire, but their phaser fire seemed utterly inconsequential against the immensity of the Borg Cube. The Melbourne was caught immediately with a tractor beam and in the blink of an eye, half its saucer section was broken off, leaving the rest of the ship burning and drifting, utterly crippled. Cailus was reminded horribly of the Churchill's final moments, when he'd watched from the escape pod as the saucer had burned in much the same way.

The Saratoga was caught next, and while she lasted a few moments longer, Cailus saw the tell-tale flickering of her shields as they failed...and then a thin golden beam pierced right through the hull, inflicting horrendous damage. Two powerful starships were out of the fight in the space of a minute, having accomplished nothing except their own deaths.

Thus it continued. The Federation ships threw themselves against the Borg ship with wild, desperate courage, but it was all utterly futile. Ship after ship after ship was consumed, their broken wrecks littering the battlefield while their comrades maintained the assault. Cailus kept an eye on the tiny Firebrand at all times, but his daughter's ship stayed far away from the battle, instead picking up the escape pods and shuttles that escaped the Borg's wrath. As the battle raged on, Cailus found himself hoping irrationally that Victoire would survive, would retreat, even though he knew full well what had happened. He prayed that someone had been wrong, the records had been screwed up, the Firebrand had survived, she couldn't be dead, she can't be dead...

But Victoire didn't retreat. Only a dozen ships remained now, some of them with visible damage on their hulls, and they gathered outside of weapons' range, the battle coming to a brief pause The Borg Cube seemed damaged too. Thin, visible scars could be discerned on its dull grey hull, with large craters scattered at various points, but the damage seemed irrelevant compared to the sheer size of the thing. The Cube spun and suddenly a fresh, undamaged side was facing the Federation survivors, as if mocking them for their impudence.

"She should retreat," Cailus said hoarsely, watching the Federation ships reorient into a new formation, plainly preparing for one, final attack. "She should run..."

The two watched as the last few scattered ships started to regroup for one last stand against the Borg. Tears started to well in the counselor’s eyes while the fleet approached for the final salvo. The only thing keeping the guilt from pouring out of her was the hope that Cailus would find closure. Ship after ship fell to the Cube’s phasers. Their broken hulks floating listlessly into the void. She couldn’t take it any more. She regretted bringing him here, for even entertaining the idea. There had to be better ways to cope.

“Computer, end program.” she said with a shaky voice. Mera did her best to hide her tears as the ships disappeared one by one and the gridded walls of the holodeck returned light to the room. To pour salt in the wound, the massive Borg Cube was the last object to phase out. “This is where the official record ends. Everything after this is unconfirmed speculation.”

The two stood silently in the empty holodeck for what felt like hours. Mera placed her hand on the officer’s arms. Cailus’s stunned expression ripping the heart out of her chest. She wished she could find the words to make everything better, but the physical comfort was the only thing she could muster. “I think that’s enough for today. Let’s meet again later this week.”

She looked up at Cailus’s face. Her large eyes sparkling with the tears she was struggling to contain. She squeezed his arm and left the holodeck.