Not A Time For Heroes

Posted on Sun Jan 17th, 2021 @ 3:58am by Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Captain Nycolas Temple & Cailus Griffin
Edited on on Thu Jan 28th, 2021 @ 7:38am

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Nyx's Quarters (USS Pandora)
Timeline: Just before the costume party

Shae stood in front of the mirror and adjusted the fez that sat atop her head. Nyx was hosting a costume party to help brighten the mood and lift spirits. There was no obligation for her and Cailus to go as they were grieving, but Shae wanted to at least try to be part of this moment. She had chosen to be Doctor Who and was wearing a tweed suit with a gaudy bowtie, and topped all off with circular rimmed glasses and a fez. Cailus was going as a character from the same show, Osgood, and she put together a sweater vest with a lab coat for him, and an insanely long scarf that she had knitted herself. She was quite proud of the costumes and thought they would go over well at the party, assuming anyone would get the reference.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a chirp from her desk, alerting her to a message from her contact. Sighing in exasperation at the expectation of yet another rejection, she was understandably surprised to see coordinates. So shocked was she to finally get the answers she had been seeking that she just stared in stunned silence.

"Cailus!" Shae finally called out when she snapped to her senses. "Cailus, I have it! I have her location, I know where she is!"

Waiting in the main room (and feeling like quite an idiot), Cailus glanced back at Shae in surprise. He stepped towards the desk only to stumble with the particularly long and garish multicoloured scarf as it got caught between his legs. "Blasted thing..." he grumbled, trying to get the misbehaving garment under control. "How do people even...Shae?" He looked at her, trying to gauge her. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?"

"I'm verifying it now," Shae said as she quickly keyed in a response to her contact. Almost immediately she received confirmation and a warning that they would be disavowed if they were caught, but Shae had no intentions of getting caught. "The coordinates are good, and last I checked the Talarian convoy is still in range; this is the ideal time, so if we're going to leave, then now is the time to do it." she said as she transferred the coordinates to the shuttle they had prepared.

There was something faintly ridiculous about discussing such a thing with a fluffy-tailed fox-woman wearing a tweed suit and a fez. Tying the scarf off more securely, Cailus stepped up to Shae, looking her in the eye. "This is it. This is really it. Are we ready for this?" He paused. "We're about to throw away our careers, love. We might never come back to this ship again, never see anyone here again."

Shae nodded. "We should say goodbye to Nyx," she said softly. "I know as our CO he would be obligated to stop us, but he's done right by us and been a good friend, he deserves a goodbye at the very least."

"Right," Cailus agreed. He stepped back, taking one last look at their quarters. The toys Aoife had played with (still not tidied away), her books, the pictures of all three of them, the cot where Aoife had slept, the couch where he and Shae had spent many an evening watching her beloved old 21st century shows. It had been a home, and a good one, but it was now time to go, probably forever. With a sigh, Cailus nodded to himself, then on a whim, bent down and kissed Shae gently.

"Let's do this," he said quietly, smiling grimly. With that, he led the way out of their quarters, not looking back.

They didn't have far to go to get to the Temple quarters, and when they were standing outside the door, Shae took Cailus' hand and gave it a squeeze to steel their resolve, then she reached out to press the chime.

[A short while later]

Nyx was sat at his kitchen table, Thor costume half-assembled. His heart was racing with the emotions of the news but his head was only repeating the same questions around and around again. Resting his hands upon the table and holding his fingers into a steeple, he stared down at them as if they would help to calm his anxious thoughts.

“So you’re telling me.” He began slowly, carefully considering each word. “That there’s a possibility that your daughter is alive somewhere and that the Aoife who died was a clone?”

"Yes," Cailus said, purposefully leaving out the 'sir'. He caught himself fiddling with his comically oversized scarf and forced his hands to his sides. The outfit was stifling, presumably having been made for cold British winters, and he resolved to get the thing off the first chance he got. "She was still Aoife, clone or not. The original Aoife was never with us. She doesn't know me, you, this ship, any of it."

"Aye, her feelings for us were just as real as our feelings for her and we still grieve her loss, but we can't turn a blind eye to the suffering child that's still out there," Shae chimed in. "And there's no 'possibility', only certainty; she is out there and we will find her."

"No matter what," Cailus finished with resolve, his eyes hard.

“Of course.” Nyx nodded gently. “So this mission you’re going on, you know where you’re going?”

"We do," Shae replied softly. "Well, we have coordinates, we're not sure what we'll find when we get there. We just wanted to say goodbye before we left in case, you know, this means the end of our careers..."

Cailus grasped Shae’s shoulder, squeezing it gently before looking back at Nyx. “We don’t know what will happen next, but you deserved an explanation before we left. As our captain, and our friend.”

Nyx paused as he considered the reality of their proposal. In the silence of the moment he could hear Emilie down the hall, giving William a bath. Katrine was helping out, which mainly consisted of her introducing each and every bath toy to the baby one at a time, giggling and laughing as William splashed happily with every new object. Temple’s mind has been a swirling mix of emotions but hearing his family brought a tear to his eyes.

He slid his hands across the table, reaching out to Shae and Cailus. “Go get her. I understand and I will handle Starfleet. You need to do this.”

Tears swelled up in Shae's eyes as well. "Thank you, Nyx, but please don't put your own career at risk for us," she said, her voice breaking slightly from the overwhelming rush of emotions. With a sniffle, she wiped at her eyes. "I would be forever grateful if you were able to clear things, but I would never be able to forgive myself if it came at the cost of your own status."

Nyx shook his head. “After the shit they’ve put us through lately, Starfleet owes me a favour. A few, in fact. I was hoping to use it to gain a month’s holiday and a new yacht but they’re going to have to just deal with this instead. Aoife is your daughter, and a Federation citizen, and a member of this crew. We have an obligation to rescue her.”

Sighing, Nyx said, “I’m just sorry that I cannot send the Pandora to help you. As soon as we have delivered our Intel and Admiral Thac to the Federation, we will come help you, okay?”

Cailus winced, sharing a worried look with Shae. Nyx didn't understand, but then again, how could he? Glancing in the direction of the bathroom, where the merry sounds of a mother and her children came from, Cailus leaned onto the desk, looking Nyx directly in the eye.

"Captain," he said firmly, "you don't understand. After we leave, you cannot try to protect us. Report us to Starfleet immediately, and tell them the exact truth. Hide nothing. Disavow us. Try to catch us, if Starfleet order you to. It is critical that you are not under suspicion in any way. The people who did this, the people we're going after..." he hesitated, a brief look of furious disgust crossing his face. "If they suspect you of helping us, Captain, you will become a target. Not just you, sir. The ship, the crew." He glanced in the direction of the bathroom. "Your family, even. The people we're hunting don't give a damn."

Cailus stood straight, looking as severe as he’d ever been.. "We have a shuttle prepped, sir, and we'll be leaving the ship soon. This will probably be the last time you see us, at least for a long while."

Nyx squinted his eyes as he looked to Griffin. He was used to the Security Chief’s unflappable seriousness but his warning was especially dire. Temple had to imagine the grave nature of their mission and the stress he was under. Still, he had a question. “If I make a lot of noise about your departure, won’t it just signal to these people that you’re likely coming for Aoife? What if you’ve slipped away in the chaos of our journey back through the Expanse and I simply don’t know why?”

"Then do what you feel is best," Shae answered. "We didn't want you throwing your career away trying to protect us, but you make a fair point, so do whatever keeps us all safe and afterwards we can sort things out. Agreed?"

“Very well.” Nyx nodded. He knew the conversation would have to end but he also knew what that would mean. “There is an Admiral on Carnwennan Station, Audra Milne. I haven’t known her long but she is trustworthy. If you run into too much trouble, you can go to her.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Cailus answered. Laughter from the bathroom interrupted the awkward silence, none of them quite wanting to say goodbye, but nevertheless, it was time. He stepped around the table and extended his hand. “Whatever happens, it’s been an honour serving with you, Captain.”

Nyx took the hand, trying to hold back his emotions so as not to alert his family to the heavy conversation. "It's been an honour serving with you both, as well."

"An honor and a pleasure," Shae emphasized with her own handshake. "We'll see you at the party," she said, but just as Cailus had lied, so had she. They would not make it to the party; in fact, less than an hour later, a type 11 shuttle would fly out of the shuttlebay and off into the distance, its passengers being the two broken parents desperately seeking closure by saving their child, not to mention seeking a little wonton revenge.