Epilogue

Posted on Thu May 29th, 2014 @ 10:19am by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor

1,441 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Landreah
Location: USS Ranger
Timeline: After Everything

ON:

When she was pushed into this role, Cattmor knew there was always a chance of this, as she played the message from Starfleet around in her head. They lost and subsequently rescued Captain Halliwell, however instead of picking up her command where she left off, and pushing T'mpest back to her own XO spot, she put in her resignation. Starfleet accepted. And now the Ranger was Commander Michaels ship, and she was asked to select her permanent Executive Officer. Her first tenure of posing as the XO of this ship had gone all but smoothly; all members of her away team had suffered injuries, however minor, she'd lost one of them, a trainee at that, for several hours, and she almost felt as dirty as the late Admiral Jubb, in using her thoughts to kill - something she'd vowed never to do again. It was easy to push it under the convenient euphemism of self-defence, but that didn't make it feel any better.

It was late on the Ranger, but after identifying that T'mpest was in her quarters, and still awake, Rylie needed to talk. Pressing the button to request entry, she hoped that now was at least an acceptable time.

Her nightly meditation finished, T'mpest was carefully putting away her candles. When the door chimed she said "Come," without turning. She put the last candle up and turned. "Commander Cattmor, please come in. How may I help you?"

Rylie said very little in response at that point bar a polite nod, but when the doors closed, it gave her almost instant reprieve from the multitude of inward voices on the ship - all was quiet, apart from the few non-descript murmurs T'mpest always had, thanks to the dampening field of the room, and T'mpest's high quality of training. Rylie cleared her throat lightly, "Do you have time to chat, commander? I don't want to intrude."

"Of course," T'mpest replied. "Would you like something to drink?" The woman was clearly agitated and the half-Vulcan hoped a drink would help her relax. She indicated a sofa and overstuffed chair. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you but no." Cattmor said simply as she sat down on the side and edge of the sofa. "I saw the message you forwarded from Starfleet Command." Cattmor continued, getting right to the point, if a little unsure of where to go from there, to broach the subject of her career. "I understand if you want to get someone else for the role."

T'mpest sat down in the chair opposite Rylie. "I'm quite satisfied with you," she said simply. "I have no wish to replace you."

"But," Cattmor stammered quietly. She frowned slightly, picking up more feelings than thoughts at this point; T'mpest was serious. "But I failed." She said matter-of-factly, before quickly reeling off the points, "The team was disbanded, captured, Lieutenant Miral was almost killed, and Sehra Vahn was abducted, and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't protect the team, and I didn't protect the ship, and I didn't collect any of the information we were sent down there to get. How can you be satisfied with that?"

"By that same logic, I failed as well. I was put in command of the Ranger after losing both the Captain and the Ambassador. Both away teams were captured and an Admiral was killed. My failure is no less than your own."

Cattmor took a breath and sighed, she could see that one coming. "Perhaps. So, what, we came out on top. You really think the ends justify the means?" T'mpest was about to say something, but Rylie got in there first, "A long time ago, I swore that I would not use those means again, to kill with a thought; I failed. I vowed again working with my home world's government, and because of the nature of the occupation, I failed. I wanted to put that life behind me, commander, as much as I can remember, and on this mission, again I failed." Cattmor took in another sharp breath, willing the emotions away as the markings around her eyes began to flare, "Have you ever killed with your mind, sir?"

"Ma'am," T'mpest corrected. "I prefer ma'am, or T'mpest." She paused for a moment, leaving Rylie blushing slightly, even more so around the eyes. "My father is Vulcan. It was his greatest wish that I follow in his footsteps, both in my dedication to higher learning and my devotion to Surak and logic. For a while, I tried. But I am also the daughter of a very human woman who believes that, as long as you're careful, it's okay if you buy antiquities with a, shall we say, dubious origin. I am too human for my father and too logical and law-abiding for my mother. In many respects, I failed them both. In other respects, I am a product of both their teachings." She paused. "We all fail. Failure is a natural result of growth. I do not see you as failing. I see you as learning from a very difficult situation. Yes, you chose a method abhorrent to you, but you did the best you could under the circumstances. That is not failure. As long as you learn from the experience, you have grown."

"I thought that I had learnt from the past, ma'am." Rylie said somberly making sure to keep the formal title corrected as T'mpest preferred it. She wasn't familiar enough yet to be on a first name basis, so it was just a safer a option for now. "I don't think that I can make that promise again, not even to myself." She stood from the couch, only to take a few paces and take a seat in the lounger chair and went on with an attempt to make light of her own inner demons, "I guess that's just a part of growing as well; how does the saying go, to accept the things I cannot change." she said with a slight smile.

"So, if you're not replacing me as the Executive Officer, and Mister Wells moving back Earth-side, who's going to be taking my place in Engineering?" Rylie asked changing the subject.

"Starfleet has assigned us a new Chief Engineer. We'll pick him up at DS9," T'mpest said. "As for learning from our mistakes, sometimes it takes a few tries before the lesson sticks. None of us are perfect." There was a distinct twinkle of humor in her eye with that last comment.

Rylie smiled further, belying her true thoughts; she knew exactly what T'mpest was talking about. She had also already picked up vague thoughts about a family vacation and alone time talking about people moving on, T'mpest's thoughts revolving around one in particular, "And the captain? What about her, and her daughter?"

"A long vacation for both of them." This time T'mpest smiled. "Time to get to know each other and become a family. After that, I do not know. But from the looks of things, a happily ever after ending."

Happily ever after, yes of course, Cattmor thought to herself careful not to project at all. Even despite the gaps missing in her mind, she knew that she had a stable upbringing, if not an altogether standard one. She'd lost her parents what seemed like an age ago, but there wasn't a lot of difference in her and Anaia's ages, and she couldn't really fathom 'almost' losing your parents on every mission they were assigned. Today was as close as Anaia got to losing her mother, and while she didn't have to see it, to get her back previous only to lose her again a second time, was hard to take in. "Well I hope they find that happiness," Rylie said finally, "they deserve it."

"Agreed, but the Captain will be sorely missed." They were big shoes to fill and T'mpest still asnt' sure how well she'd fill them.

"Well," Rylie said as she stood, "it's getting late ma'am, and if there's not going to be any changes, I have some unpacking to do."

"Of course. Unpack and settle in -- again," T'mpest said, her eyes sparkling with humor. "Relax while you can as well."

"We should be arriving back at D-S-9 by this time tomorrow; I'll see you on the bridge in the morning?"

T'mpest nodded. "Yes. We'll bring on the new crew and give everyone a few days shore leave." She stood and smiled at Rylie. "I think we will make a good team."

OFF

Commander T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

 

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