Possibility of Hope

Posted on Thu Feb 25th, 2021 @ 4:05am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Admiral Gordon Francis
Edited on on Thu Feb 25th, 2021 @ 4:05am

Mission: The Gauntlet
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: current

ON

The Pandora crept through the Iconnu Expanse at the mercy of the impulse engines while warp drive was still not fully online. It had been over a day since the Talarian attack, and Francis knew every hour away from danger was a blessing. During the battle, Admiral Francis had been on the promenade, and had helped several officers and their families to secure locations.

Nonetheless, he'd been thrown about as well, and once was thrown off his feet and landed crooked on his leg. It hurt only a little, but medicle found nothing broken, just a bruise on his knee. That bruise had grown, but Francis was not a stranger to such pain and was able to walk on it just fine.

During the calm, he thought it a good idea to visit Captain Temple. If it were up to him, Temple would have a medal for all this, as would his first officer Owen Nash, who'd rescued the sturdy Admiral from that hellhole Delavi Station. Admiral Gordon Francis had been in Starfleet for almost four decades, but never in that time had he faced something as physically and emotionally taxing as his abandonment on Delavi.

But he'd only managed to jump out of the frying pan into the fire, and he hardly knew the man charged with the impossible task of getting them home. Francis did not envy Captain Temple. Nor would he insist on using his rank to take command. Francis had commanded starships for twenty-five years, thank you very much. He had no desire to get back into the Captain's chair.

So here he was, standing on the Bridge in front of the Captain's ready room, hitting the chime command announcing his presence.

"Enter!" Came Nyx's voice, a little lighter than it had been for a while. There had been tension and frustration in his tone since they had left Hesiod - but now, with a safer path through to Paradise, he could allow himself to relax for a while. He could never truly feel at ease until they were back with Starfleet command, and perhaps not even then, but for now the Captain was allowing himself a chance to release the strain in his mood.

The doors parted to reveal the Admiral in uniform holding a bottle and two glasses.

Seeing the Admiral walk through the door, Nyx was surprised. But it was a happy one. "Admiral Francis! It's good to see you."

"Feeling's mutual." The Admiral nodded in greeting and welcomed himself to sit down, setting the bottle on Temple's desk. It was a bottle of Danish Akvavit.

"My goodness, what a gift." Nyx smiled, taking the bottle in hand and recognising the label. "You shouldn't have."

"It's synthehol of course. Don't want a drunk Captain on duty," Francis said. "I'll get you the real thing when we get home." He poured their drinks and held up his glass. "Cheers!"

"Skål!" Temple called out, downing the drink in one gulp.

Admiral Francis did the same.

Enjoying the warm sensation, though noting the synthehol could never replicate the exact heat of the real spirit, he smiled appreciatively. "Thank you, Admiral."

"Don't mention it," Francis replied. "So... 'Stop the Pandora.'" The Admiral downed his other drink. "I've read the logs by you and your crew, but I still can't make sense of how you got in this mess."

"To be honest, neither can I." Nyx remarked. "We were supposed to return to Carnwennan station several weeks ago. I should be on holidays by now." He gave a slight shrug, "For some reason, Thac decided to drag us into his little schemes. Maybe he thought we wouldn't find out what he was up to? Maybe he didn't care if we did? But he is responsible for pulling the Pandora into this mess."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Francis replied carefully. "The Pithos facility didn't start with Thac. It just appeared to end there." Francis downed his drink before speaking again, thinking to himself that he should've brought the real thing after all. "I don't have any solid evidence, just a hunch. But I believe Thac was assigned to impersonate me. And your involvement was no accident."

Temple leaned back in his chair, taking that thought in. He had felt a sense of relief recently knowing that the Pandora was back on the path to Federation territory - where they could dump Thac onto the right authorities, hand over their intelligence, and move on from this tangled web of lies. But perhaps they had just stumbled into a clearing, a respite in between the cobwebs, before they found themselves ensnared once more.

“Unfortunately the only other person who can tell us anything has died mysteriously.” He remarked, referring to Fleet Admiral Vincent’s apparent suicide, “So we only have Thac’s sort-of confession and data files from Pithos to piece together the story. I doubt it’ll be the whole truth either way.”

"It won't," said the Admiral, waving his hand. "Curious though, how Vincent dies and yet Starfleet isn't bent over backward for your rescue and safe passage. Someone's still out there pulling the strings. I want to know who." He took another drink. "I'm going to do everything in my power to clear the Pandora, and you, from this hogwash. Your service in the Expanse has been very noble and valuable. Not everything you did here had negative effects. You've done wonderful work. I wish Pithos and Hesiod Green had never happened."

Nyx tried not to show the emotion that he could feel swelling inside of him; he just gave a short nod and used the opportunity to take another drink. In truth, he felt relieved to have someone in their corner for a change. It had felt like they were fighting off the Alrakis Pact aggression and Starfleet mendacity all by themselves. To have an ally in the field of battle, especially one so respected as Francis, would go along way to helping the Pandora clearing their name. This gave him the slight hope, perhaps, that they could come out of this situation somewhat okay.

"I appreciate that." The Captain said after a moment, staring into his drink. "I have been perfectly honest with my crew about how I'm feeling, but it hasn't been the whole truth. I am struggling to make sense of what's happening around us."

"You're doing what you can for your crew," Francis said. "But sometimes the life of a starship Captain is a lonely one. Even family can seem far away at times..." Francis took another drink. "I understand you're twice a father now."

This caused Nyx to smile widely, "Yeah." He said softly. "My boy was born a couple months ago. My daughter is five. I'm very lucky to have my family onboard the ship with me, helps make it a little less lonely."

Francis nodded to that. "When my children grew up, I stepped down from the chair. It just wasn't the same without them with us. So I accepted promotion and they sent me to Intelligence, my original stomping ground. Since then, my personal life has been pretty quiet. My wife and I live on Aramis, not too far from the Romulan Neutral Zone, a short walk from here. Pithos was going to be a temporary posting, and I was told I'd be coming back within a year. My wife decided to stay on Aramis since I had every intention to come back..." his voice trailed off for a second, and his gaze turned out to the porthole, into the endless stars.

"My wife and I haven't talked in over six months," he said quietly. "Starfleet has blocked all communications to her. Thac probably sent her notification of my death." He paused again, but when he spoke his voice showed no vulnerability. "I was set to be a grandpa about three or so months ago." His voice trailed off again, and there was a stinging moment of silence. Finally the gruff Admiral looked at Nyx with full resolve. "Thac is going to pay for what he's done. One way or another. I'm not blowing smoke up your keister when I give you my praise. Thanks to you and your crew, I get to hold my grandbaby."

Nyx quietly nodded, and he replied with emotions tinged on the edges of his voice. “We’ll get you home to your family, Admiral. Even if we have been brought together by that traitor’s lousy schemes, it feels now as if we were meant to find you and bring you back. Whatever silver linings this whole disaster may bring, knowing that we could do that for you will be a proud achievement.” He gave a short, rueful laugh, always prone to a little self deprecation. “Assuming I can get you home, that is.”

The Admiral laughed too. "We're out of the frying pan into the fire, and now there's hell to pay."

Smiling as he leant back into his chair, he let out a short sigh. "This whole captaincy thing is quite a challenge. How do you know, Admiral, if you're doing it right?"

"Simple," the Admiral said with the utmost confidence. "When an officer follows an order you give, you're doing it right."

Nyx laughed, "It's that simple, huh?"

"The answer is simple," Francis said with a chuckle. "But it's easier said than done!"

"As it usually is." Temple remarked with a nod. "I want to thank you for your advice, Admiral, this has been a very uplifting talk. But tell me, how do you think this all ends? I feel like we're battling for the soul of Starfleet right now and I don't know if the good guys can pull it off."

Admiral Francis leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply. "This won't end well for Starfleet. Someone's going to end up swinging from the gallows and it better not be me. Or you for that matter. We need to know exactly who is trying to stop the Pandora. Find the source of the signal. Maybe from there we can start figuring out this whole mess."

Nyx nodded, "We definitely should, I've already spoken to my Engineering and Operations department about it, but I'll make sure that it's a priority." He smiled, "Don't suppose you have any more good advice?"

"Yes," said Francis. "House of the Dead 2. I've been to your Chief Engineer's establishment with all the games and hoo-ha. I highly recommend 'House of the Dead 2.' It's a great stress reliever."

This caused the Captain to laugh out loud once more, "I will check it out, Admiral. Thank you for the chat today."

The Admiral stood and grinned. "It was my pleasure. You've been more than accommodating to me while I take a rest here. I'll buy you a real drink if we're both still around after the trial!"

"I'll hold you to that, Admiral." Nyx replied with a grin. "I have renewed hope." He held out his hand to shake with the senior officer. "Thank you, sincerely."

Francis took Temple's hand and shook it. "Thank you too," he said. "From my grandbaby."

Nyx nodded solemnly as he watched the Admiral depart, feeling a sense of warmth in his body that he hadn't for some time. It wasn't just the synthehol talking, it was the possibility of hope.

OFF