Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Posted on Fri Jul 5th, 2013 @ 2:07pm by Captain Alexsa Kendrick & Captain Elsie Halliwell

1,102 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Rumours, Promises, and Lies
Location: Briefing Room, USS Ranger
Timeline: Mission Day 7: 0515 hours

As the two officers and guest walked in to the breifing room in silence, Kendrick took point at the opposite head of the table to where the captain's usual seat was while Reisha walked over to gaze out the window, the leading edge giving a glimpse to the world she knew as home below--somewhere she felt the need to return to. Alex remained uncharacteristically pensive and quiet.

Through her locked gaze, Elsie rounded the table to the head, her back to the window Reisha was peering through, and slumped heavily into the chair. She'd seen enough of her ready room of late, and craved the less confined and more formal atmosphere of the briefing room. Perhaps it was the psychic edge to her mind, enhanced by the obelisks below that afforded her such a perception, but Elsie knew something was up. And that she wasn't going to enjoy it. "Go on," she said, her voice litled with a hardened edge.

Alex paused slightly. What was to follow was simple enough, but it almost seemed difficult to say it, the past week's experiences and emotional pangs drawing on almost every thought. "When Reisha returns to the planet to activate the dampening equipment, I'll be going with her." She paused slightly again to take a breath, "And it's entirely possible that I will not be coming back again."

Elsie remained silent and rose from the table, standing next to Reisha as they both looked out at the vista beyond the glass. She turned, leaning casually on the frame of the window and re-crossed her arms. "I can't imagine that you've given this a lot of thought, Captain," she broke with; her voice neither disappointed nor angry. Then she raised her right brow and glanced to Alex. "I don't presume to think that I have any sway with you to reconsider, do I?"

The first seemed an of the moment, off-handed comment, the second had the air of a rhetoric question. Alex decided to answer both, not without stealing a quick glance toward Reisha's back, "While only a short time, I have been considering it since I saw..." she paused and caught herself quickly from revealing the truth of what she had seen, or what she thought she had seen in her quarters. "For a couple of days," she went on, "that doesn't seem long enough to make a life decision, I've spent most of that life making quick and tough calls. The truth is, captain..."

"The truth is captain," Reisha cut in, "that through whatever fortune, Alex has found her people. She need not be alone any more."

Noting the look on Elsie's weary features, Alex continued, "This is my decision, captain. Of our past time together, you know that I will not be coerced or swayed on anything. As Reisha says, my line of work has left me isolated for much of my life, and I have not made many friends. Now I have a chance to continue my life in surroundings a little more closer to home. In our time together however, I have grown to value your opinion. Perhaps even trust it, which is not an easy thing."

Elsie heaved herself up from the window's edge and slowly walked to Alex, placing a hand on her shoulder in comfort as she faced her squarely. "I won't pretend that we've been great friends since your posting here, Alex. We can hardly even refer to ourselves as allies, but I do care about your future and your life; beyond someone who has served with me." She relaxed a little and seemed just as uncomfortable as expected. She lowered her head and then looked up through her dropped brows. "But you still have responsibilities here. On the ship. And I'll be damned if you're leaving me to face Command alone. Having to explain what happened here."

The corners of Alex's mouth upturned slightly, and briefly, probably the most she'd smiled, if a solemn one, at Elsie since they'd met. "My previous assignment on this ship captain, proved to command that you are in the right place, and that you can face whatever may come your way--including a board of pompous admirals with too much time to push pencils. Explanations are a formality, and one that I have done my best to leave you, but I cannot go with you to explain in person."

Alex sighed. "Captain... Elsie, we both know that someone has to stay, and the Ranger needs her captain. I'm the best and only person on board this ship who can stay, who wishes to stay. Who needs to stay. You may not know this, but there are very few Emarryn out there, or at least known, and by chance we've found an entire colony of my own people, a further link to a somewhat fragmented past."

"You'll be walking away from your life, Alex," Elsie replied quietly. "Your commission. Everything you've accomplished."

With an uncharacteristic kink in her usual bearing, Alex's shoulders dropped slightly as she turned away, took a few steps then turned back to Halliwell. "Elsie, I don't want to resign my commission having worked hard and suffered much for it, but at the very least one colleague to another, please, I have to do this."

Elsie arched her neck back and grabbed at the back of it to relieve tension. She of all people understood the need to return to one's home. To look upon the rolling vistas of her home country. Let alone her planet and culture. She took in a breath, and shot a look to Reisha, before slowly returning her gaze to Alex. "I think that you're making the wrong decision, Captain. But being human, my culture and species are everywhere. My ship is a prime example of how ubiquitous we are. And I don't dare to dream what it would be like to come from a vagrant, scattered community. I would never hold you here, on Ranger, and deny you that right to seek out what you've never known about yourself. But just know that there'll be a place for you on this ship should you ever need transport back to the Federation." Elsie paused slightly, then added, "If you are certain this is what you want."

"I am." Alex stated resolutely almost before Halliwell finished the sentence. She was ready for this, but there was still one more thing to say, "And thank you, Captain Halliwell." she said extending her gloved hand. "For what it's worth, I hope to see you and the Federation again. Till then, captain."

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