Those Left Behind

Posted on Mon Dec 2nd, 2024 @ 11:56pm by Emilie Temple & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Commander Caradan Eunidas

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Earth - Denmark
Timeline: Afternoon

ON:

In the midst of Copenhagen's historic Sydhavn district, a small civilian shuttle was slowly descending onto a landing pad on the ground. Once landed, the doors to shuttle lifted open allowing Emilie, Kat, and William Temple to exit from the craft. Inside the cabin, Emilie lifted up two heavy canvas bags onto her right shoulder with a labored sigh. She hoped that William felt like walking home, but he immediately raised up his arms; the tired three-year-old preferring to be carried instead. With another sigh, Emilie lifted her son onto her left shoulder and stepped out of the transport. Kat had already begun skipping away, heading off the shuttle landing pad and to the street.

"Not too far!" Emilie called out to her daughter, causing Kat to freeze in her steps. Emilie turned back to the transport and saw the pilot was giving her a polite smile. "Thank you!" She called out to him. She tried to wave but her arms as a gesture of goodbye, but they were full. She gave a firm nod instead.

Emilie moved away from the transport and walked down the gangway to where Katrine had dutifully stopped to wait. The shuttle gently lifted off again behind them. Emilie took a moment to readjust the canvas bags before starting off down the gangway. It had been her idea to show the kids a real market place, instead of just replicated food or holographic toys. She wanted them to see and touch and learn what it was to have real people making real things. And she wanted to give them something that would distract them for a while. It had been such a nice idea, until this very moment when she was carrying bags of groceries home.

"Mummy, can I watch my shows tonight?" Kat asked earnestly.

"Of course," Emilie replied with a smile. "Come along, it's almost dinner time."

The family made their way down to the cobblestoned street, the modernity giving way to the historic as they walked past colorful terraced houses with their recreated brick facades and paneled windows, the gentle lapping of water in the canals nearby, a cyclist making their way home for the evening. In some of the buildings were cafes and restaurants, where people dined and laughed together. Inside their houses, people began to turn on their lights as the sun was setting on another peaceful day on Earth. Emilie just kept a neutral expression as she walked her kids back to their townhouse a few streets away.

As they arrived, Emilie heard the announcement, "Please step back. Transporter arrival in progress," followed shortly by the shimmering blue whine of a transporter. Two people in Starfleet uniforms materialized in front of the house. One of them appeared to be a child. Mindo perhaps? The other she did not recognize.

The small form began to float to Emilie's height, and she indeed saw it was the Pandora's former Chief Engineer, now with a full three pips on his collar. Emilie was startled at first, taking a moment to fully comprehend who he was, before she gave out a relieved laugh, "Oh, Mindo, hello!" She exclaimed.

The other was someone Emilie had never seen before, but apparently had the little one's trust. The stranger a was covered head to toe in garb. In addition to her Starfleet uniform, the woman likewise wore silk gloves and an al-amira head covering. Only her face could be seen. And her face seemed a bit pasty and featureless. The woman was not too keen on making eye contact. She too had three pips on her collar with the third being embossed, making her one rank under the little one.

"It's good to see you again, Emilie," Mindo said with a smile. "This is Lieutenant-Commander Caradan Eunidas. I've temporarily taken command of the Pandora crew while Captain Temple is elsewhere, and Lieutenant-Commander Eunidas has agreed to fill in as First Officer. May we have a moment of your time?" There was warmth in his voice, but also a sense of urgency. This was more than just a social call.

Caradan said nothing. She did notice Mindo's use of the word 'elsewhere' and wondered how long it would be before Emilie sought to ask just what that meant.

"Ah, well, nice to meet you." Emilie replied to the Lieutenant-Commander. She noticed the difference in Caradan's appearance but tried not to react. Emilie figured if this person was a friend of Mindo's, then she was okay to speak truthfully. Even if Emilie hadn't been a Starfleet officer on Pandora, she still held those who were in high esteem. Mindo wouldn't have brought around a stranger to her house to discuss Nyx if Mindo didn't trust her. "I'd shake your hand but mine are somewhat full."

"It's OK," said Caradan. She was about to indicate her aversion to shaking hands but left her words where they had ended.

"I got the door!" Kat called out as she entered their access code, and their door slid open. Seeing home, William started to wriggle and Emilie knew to let him down. She struggled to lean over far enough to let him drop, hopefully without also dropping her bags. William landed on his feet and scrambled inside to follow his sister.

Righting herself again, Emilie put on a smile, "Won't you come in?"

Caradan was the first inside. It was both her Security training and the duty of the XO to be the first into any situation before the captain. She looked around and took a quick survey of the area as Emilie and the family were moving about. She gave a nod of affirmation to Mindo eventhough he had already came in behind her.

Mindo gave Caradan a reassuring nod as he caught eyes with her as he hovered in.

They were now standing in the small vestibule entryway of the Temple residence; on the right wall was an over-filled coatrack and a series of shoes neatly lined up underneath, while on the left side there was an eclectic collection of eight photos in varying picture frames hung on the wall and a small wooden hall table. Just beyond this was the Temples' quaint lounge room with its exposed red brick wall and dark wood floors, an oversized comfy couch facing a fireplace, Nordic themed rug on the floor, an entire wall covered in a fully stacked bookcase, and not a screen or sign of technology to be seen anywhere. It was this pseudo-20th century English country cottage style that had recently gripped interior designers in Europe; escaping the modernity of the world outside.

Emilie had slumped her heavy bags onto the floor in front of the hall table, trying very hard to ignore the question of why two physically trained Starfleet officers couldn't offer to help carry them. With hands free again, she leaned forward and tapped on the middle picture frame on the wall. The photo disappeared to reveal a security LCARS panel. There was an alert for unknown persons in the house - a security measure from Nyx, of course - which Emilie dismissed with the entry of her code. She swiped across to access the house settings and turned on all of the necessary lights.

"Have you heard from Captain Temple recently?" Mindo asked Emilie once they were inside. He tried to sound calm and unworried, but didn't know how well. He was still assimilating into his role as a figure of authority and knew that sometimes being nonchalant when you're also acting cryptic might ease the news of... well, of whatever news he and Caradan had to give her.

Emilie side-eyed into the living room as Katrine and William were making their way upstairs, eager feet bounding onto the wooden stairs as they did. Thankfully out of earshot.

"Why do you ask?" Emilie responded, raising an eyebrow in that annoying way that Nyx always did.

"He was taken from us," Caradan spoke up immediately. "We do not know how, or..."

Mindo was shocked at Caradan and cut her off. "Recently, the USS Pandora has gone missing. Someone, we don't know who, claims to have found it. This mystery person led Captain Temple and the rest of the Pandora's former crew to Risa. Apparently, Captain Temple was given orders, but before he could disclose them to us, he was abducted by this mysterious person in front of the entire crew. We have no solid information, but I believe the Captain is still alive. This mystery person seems to enjoy playing games and I strongly doubt he will kill or harm Captain Temple, especially if he expects the rest of us to find him, which I believe is part of his game. Finding the Pandora is also a highly possible objective, since mystery man seems to know its whereabouts. I've reenlisted into Starfleet and have been given command of the Pandora crew with unofficial orders to find Temple. That is the extent of the information I am permitted to report to you. So, I need to know, have you spoken to Nyx recently?"

Caradan accepted Mindo's act of cutting her off. She admitted that he, perhaps, had more tact than she and waited patiently for her response.

Emilie demurred a smile, "In a way, yes. You should see this..." Moving over to the hall table and opening the drawer, Emilie removed a neatly folded piece of paper from within, and she held it out to Mindo. "I found this letter on the table this morning. It's his writing, so I know he left it for me," She nodded slightly to the security panel on the wall, "Only he could have."

Mindo and Caradan followed as Emilie guided them. They walked into the dining room where Emilie picked up a folded piece of paper from the table and handed it to Mindo. Mindo opened it and saw it was a letter, presumably from Captain Temple.

The letter read, 'My love, I have been recruited to perform a dangerous mission and will be out of contact for some time. It gives me unending pain to not be with you and the kids. Please trust that I am doing so to keep you safe. Know that I am missing you with all my heart, and I will return to you as soon as possible. Love, N.'

'This makes no sense,' Caradan thought. Temple had been taken by the Mystery Man. Whereas she was met with White-Eyed Watcher who told her of an adversary that was working against this fragile fabric of ordered events. If Mystery Man was the adversary, then how could Temple have been doing well enough to have written this letter? Caradan's first thought was to announce this a forgery, but that would dash the hopes of everyone present. She could not do that. She also pondered the possibility that White-Eyed Watcher could have been the adversary, pulling her strings ever so slightly. Either way, the only conclusion was that some perverted game was being played. And Caradan swore, long ago, to Mindo himself even, that she would never allow herself to be used as a plaything ever again. This whole development angered her and, though she did not show the emotion, her entire being involuntarily reddened only a little. Thankfully, she was fully covered, save for her face.

Mindo read the letter twice over, looking for any hint of a clue, but not finding any. "You found this letter this morning?" he asked.

"Yes. Oh, there's more on the back," Emilie pointed out.

The reverse side of the note continued, 'Should old friends ask, tell them I am safe. Should anyone else ask, tell them nothing. Burn this letter once you have read it - as I will burn the stars themselves to be with you again.'

...as I will burn the stars themselves to be with you again, Mindo read, thinking he'd have to remember that line. He handed the letter to Caradan for her to inspect.

Caradan looked at the letter, read it, twice, and scanned it with her eyes. Her tricorder, stored in her head was right behind those eyes, was doing the real scanning. "Burn the stars," she said hoping Mindo would pick up on her let's-talk-about-this-later tone.

"Someone had to deliver this personally. May we see the logs from your security system?" Mindo asked. He knew Emilie would probably already have checked them, but Mindo knew a few tricks to gather more information than just the standard logs, and he knew Caradan did as well. Even if they had been tampered with, the dual expertise of an engineer and a security officer would no doubt be able to get past that.

"And do you have any other writings of his?" Caradan asked Emilie. "Notes, letters, anything handwritten?"

Emilie nodded, "You're free to check the logs, Mindo. I looked myself as I was a little taken aback, but there was nothing there. Not even a blip. Which, knowing Nyx, wouldn't be at all unexpected." She paused and considered the thought. Nyx with all of his training would have no problem erasing his presence from his own security system, but she wondered why he would leave a letter and then try to erase his visit? At this she frowned, "Unless... he knew you'd come and want to look at the logs too..."

"I'll see if I can work my magic," Mindo said as he got cracking on the security system. It had been a while since he'd done a job like this and he couldn't hide his enthusiasm with the task.

Emilie turned to Caradan and smiled, "I can show you some of his prior letters but I know my husband's handwriting. This is from him. And I know because he's also referenced some things from our past. It took me a while to recognize the references at first, but now I do."

"I understand, ma'am," Caradan said. "I only want to make triply sure." She followed Emilie to where more of Nyx's writings were and started looking over and scanning.

Emilie handed over to Caradan a birthday card from Nyx that was on the mantlepiece above the fireplace. "I don't know how much of my husband's career you're aware of." She explained, "We met when he was a security officer for my colony on Lucis V. But, he would also participate in operations for Starfleet Intelligence. When he was called away to a mission that he had volunteered for, he would say he was selected for a dangerous mission. When it something he really couldn't discuss, something... more in the grey, let's just say, then Nyx would say it was a training course." Emilie looked back to the letter which she held tightly in her hand, "I know that he is safe, and wherever he is, he is choosing to do this."

Caradan knew that being beamed away, leaving his crew without a captain, was something the captain probably did not choose to do. She could not put it outside the realm of possibilities that he did choose, however, to continue once he saw the scope of what was at stake. Whatever the case, Caradan was assigned to Captain Temple and he was suddenly snatched away without warning and without her having even a chance to protest, much less fight back. Whatever the case, this did nothing to calm her anger. "What the reports I have seen, ma'am," she started as she took her attention off of the card for a moment, "Captain Temple and the crew of the Pandora have been through much worse. I am confident your optimism is not misplaced." Caradan went back to scanning the card among other things the captain had written.

Meanwhile, the house's security system was clean as expected. No records of entry past Emilie securing the property around 10pm the night before. To most, this would seem as if there could have been no letter delivery made by unexpected visitor - not even one with the keys to the house, as that access would still have showed up on the register. There was nothing. But an Engineer, especially one as skilled as Mindo, would instead notice a fluctuation in the routine patterns. Around 1am, the living room sensor sweep was delayed by an additional thirty seconds as the system performed an unscheduled recalibration of the air filtration sensors. And there was a log file attached to that recalibration.

Mindo opened the log file with great curiosity.

Hidden within the log file, deep amongst a lot of numbers and benign information, there was a reading for the house's air filters that contained a whole of list of things that really should not have been there. The list included apparent readings of dark matter, neutrino particles, electromagnetic energy, the colours indigo and green, chronitons, singing crystals, and gojiric radiation. There was no possible way that the filters had actually detected these particles in the room, not without causing a hazard alert.

Finally, hidden amongst a final series of numbers, there were more words that, when read together, gave a more exact message: "Find these, you'll find a beacon. The beacon brings her back."

Mindo's eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat. He knew it would be pointless to check the filters. If those particles had actually been there, the entire planet would be a smoldering rock by now. The message was concise and very straightforward, the way the Captain would have kept it, especially if he only had a thirty second window.

Mindo knew there would be nothing else to find in the house. The Captain had been there, left both notes, and left in just half a minute. It also meant the Captain was alive, and probably well. Mindo hurried into the living room where Emilie and Caradan were sifting through various notes and writings.

"Emilie, thank you for your time. You have been a very big help." Mindo turned to Caradan. "Commander, you are free to stay here to look for more evidence, but I believe we have found everything of use that we can here." Mindo needed to hurry back to San Francisco, where he could give this information to Greep and his team. Given the lack of Starfleet support surrounding their mission, if anyone could find those particles, they could.

"I can find nothing new here, Captain," Caradan said as she stepped up to him. "This note is done in his handwriting as Emilie claims. Though paper indentation suggests he wrote quickly and with an additional 50% pressure, on average. This indicates he wrote this message under duress. Most likely duress of time. Wherever he needed to be, doing whatever he needed to do, Captain Temple had little time to do it here." Caradan looked at Emilie. "But he made the time regardless."

Emilie nodded to Caradan, thankful for her comment. She looked to Mindo with hopefully eyes, she could feel a sense of professional excitement in both of the officer’s tone now, there had been a change. She put a hand to Mindo’s shoulder and regarded the Commander with a smile. “Bring him home, Commander. I know you can.”

Mindo smiled and took her hand. "Everyone seems to think I can," he said. "I'm beginning to believe it myself. I promise I will never give up."

The quiet moment was broken with a crash coming from upstairs, quickly followed by Katrine crying out, “William!” loudly in protest.

Emilie sighed, “Now to keep these two distracted long enough so they don’t notice.” She commented. “Please, officers, go find Nyx and your ship. I’ll do what I can here and I’ll let you know if I happen to hear from him again.”

OFF