Forthright

Posted on Tue Mar 3rd, 2009 @ 9:47am by Captain Elsie Halliwell

1,454 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: In The Dark
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Current

ON:

Larkin paused for a moment outside his CO's door. He was somewhat uneasy about what he was about to do, but Lane had shown a good deal of faith in him. He appreciated this greatly, and he wanted to prove himself worthy of it, so he was going to do this. Letting out a deep breath, he straightened his uniform, and pressed the call button at the door.

“Come in,� Lane announced through the sealed doors, placing down the latest sensor reports of Citadel Prime onto his desk.

Lieutenant Larkin became awash with the glow from the room as the doors breathed open before him. Commander Lane smiled as entered, genuinely pleased to see his CSO. “Ah, Mr. Larkin,� he said. “I have just finished reading your latest sensor sweep of the planet. Fascinating data, I have to admit.�

Larkin's thought train was broken by his CO's comment, and he had to switch gears. "Yes, Commander," he paused. "My geology specialists are very happy with the sensor sensitivity. They're currently taking a looking at that rather large continental fault line which runs across the northern polar region. They're quite enchanted with it; the shear size is something of a rarity."

“It is indeed, Mr. Larkin,� Lane replied with a smile. “A beauty of an example if ever I saw one. And I have to say, I commend you, Lieutenant, on how the Science department has come together in the last month. You’ve really done a remarkable job with it and it is a credit to the Arch as she stands.�

Larkin, somewhat nervously, took a seat in front of the CO's desk. "Commander, I actually came up to talk to you about something that doesn't really have anything to do with the science department. I'm not," Larkin paused in mid-sentence. It was clear that whatever was on his mind was uncomfortable for him to talk about. "I'm not sure how relevant it is to the ship, or to our mission, but it's something that I feel you have a right to know about."

The Commander shifted his weight in his chair and the smile dropped from his jaw, shattering on floor beneath him. His rugged face fractured into a concerned expression, as fixed his ocean eyes on the man before him. “Take a seat, Lieutenant,� he said as he motioned with his arm to the chair before him.

Speaking in a soft and compassionate tone, he then continued. “Mr. Larkin, my door is always open to you. What seems to be the trouble?� He leaned forward a little and lifted the upside-down mug that was placed on the crisp, white cloth as it covered the silver tray on his desk. He then opened the metal jar positioned next to the spare mug with his strong hands and poured out a stream of hot, black coffee from it, sliding the mug as he did so in front of his Chief Science Officer. A sharp nod followed to indicate the beverage was his to take.

The CSO stood up again, and began to pace about the room as he spoke. "You see, sir, I've been having some rather strange dreams lately. Dreams which lead me to believe that," he paused again. "...that I might be starting to remember bits and pieces of what happened on the Dragoon. None of them have been clear enough for me to know if there is anything coherent in there, but I've seen things in them, which suggest that something of a memory of what happened is in there somewhere, but then again, they could just be dreams. I don't really know." By the time that he had finished, he had fallen back into the chair, apparently rather relieved to have that off of his chest.

“Have you discussed these ‘dreams’ with Counsellor Carter in any detail, Mr. Larkin?� Lane asked, wary of what this all meant for his Chief Science Officer. He leant back in his own chair, also, considering how to proceed with this obscure situation.
"No, Commander, I haven't. As of now, the only person outside this room who knows about them is Master Chief Vrel; she sensed me waking up from the first, and came to see what was up. She's offered to use her talents to try and help me remember, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go down that road just yet."

“Well, Kevin, I appreciate you coming to me with this, and that decision is completely yours to make alone. Please, don’t feel coerced down any route you are not ready for. I can only hypothesise what damage that could result in� he replied, allowing the conversation to take on a more personal tone. “And as you have said, it has not begun to affect your duties onboard; however, this concerns me greatly for your own sake.� He sighed as he looked at the delicate young man before him. “Would you like to tell me of what you dreamt that’s caused you to believe that it was more of a memory than a simple nightly dream?

"Well, the first thing I can remember seeing is one of the Dragoon's status display panels. It was showing massive damage across the ship, which seemed far too detailed to just be a dream." Larkin lied a little. He hadn't really seen this in a dream, but wasn't quite willing to admit that he might have had a hallucination. "In another I saw an image of Commander Daniles, the Dragoon's XO. He looked like he'd been through battle, and I never actually experienced him looking quite like that. It was less the content of the dream, but rather the detail and vividness of the dreams; mine aren't usually like that."

“Well, that all sounds rather intriguing, Lieutenant, merely for your own discoveries.� The Commander leant back forward again and rested his heavy head onto the palm of his hand and held Larkin’s eyes with his. He rubbed the gruff skin underneath his chin and took a quick intake of breath through his teeth.

“I wouldn’t like to tell you, Kevin, that there’s any more significance to your dreams than you already think. In fact, I have no idea what it really means for you. I will, however, advise you against taking Ms Vrel up on her telepathic assistance; for the time being at least. We have an appointed ship’s counsellor and I think that you should utilise Ensign Carter’s talent’s first. With her training, you can at least make some attempt at an in-road into what this means for you.�

"If you say so, Commander, it's just," Larkin hesitated. "Well, I guess I'm still a little afraid of what I might find out. It's ridiculous, I know, but I can't help thinking..." He couldn't bring himself to finish his thought. His head fell to stare at the floor for a moment. When he met his CO's eyes again, there was a renewed resolve in his eyes. "I'll speak with Ensign Carter, sir."

“Kevin, this isn’t an order,� Lane said, softly. “I am just concerned about your own well-being... If you feel that your fragmented memories are surfacing naturally, then by all means, allow them to. I just think that it would at least be prudent to bring our Counsellor in on this. We don’t know what may happen and I wouldn’t like to think that should anything deteriorate with these memories, Ensign Carter and Lieutenant Mabren would have to start off in the dark. Just talk to her, that’s all I’m asking.�

Larkin nodded his head and took in a deep breath of air. "I know, Commander. I'll do that. Thank you for your time, sir, and your indulgence."

“Not a problem, Mr. Larkin,� Lane replied. “My door is always open to you.�

Kevin left the CO's office. He wasn't quite sure whether or not he felt better about the whole affair. He was glad that he'd gotten that off of his chest, even more so that Lane had seemed quite understanding about the matter. On the other hand, however, he now felt for the first time since the Dragoon's destruction that he was on the road to discovering what had happened, and he really wasn't sure how he felt about that. He couldn't believe that he could ever have been responsible for the ship's destruction, but the part of his dream about his old XO, which he hadn't mentioned to Commander Lane, still hung heavily on his mind. 'I know what you are.'

OFF:



Commander Coltan Lane
Commanding Officer

AND

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Kevin Larkin
Chief Science Officer

 

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