1LT Charlotte Thrace's Personal Log - When the Universe owes you one
Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 3:28pm by Major Charlotte Thrace
Edited on on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 3:29pm
1,072 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: Obsidian
The following is a personal log from 1LT Charlotte Thrace.
I've never been the biggest believer in destiny, coming from someone who was raised within the Bajoran culture that's probably going to sound surprising to some. I've always said you make your own luck, you do what you believe to be right and let the dice fall where they may. I rolled those dice years ago when the Zaj came calling and I knew that regardless of how they landed on the first roll I was always going to roll snake eyes on the second. I knew I'd be kicked out, I knew Hannah would be kicked out, I knew Maddy would be out, Bailey would be out, Rhyth, Alaho... everyone who sat in that meeting on Veridian Three was putting themselves on the line and putting their careers in Starfleet in the shredder. It's almost sacrilege to have sat in the saucer section of the Enterprise-D wreck, to have sat at that conference table, to have sat in the seat where the greatest Captain in Starfleet history sat and to then throw the rulebook out of the window, to in the darkest moments turn not to words or understanding or diplomacy but to the barrel of a gun, to build a gun, to build a weapon that makes the Xindi Probe that attacked Earth and the Doomsday Machine Kirk's Enterprise encountered look like toys that belong to children. I didn't get into Starfleet to kill people, I got into Starfleet because I wanted to get out among the stars, even as a marine that was always an option given Starfleets preference for stationing marine detachments on the frontiers. Giving all that up wasn't easy, it's the hardest decision I've ever made, my Kobayashi Maru, my no win scenario - despite the likely protestations and feelings of others on the crew it was either my career or theirs, someone was had to pay the price and someone was going to get to do the job they were born to do. And I chose them. And I've never doubted the choice I... we made, we took the hit and they kept their jobs, we never spoke about it, I never gave them a chance especially Jordan because I know if I'd confided my intent to plead guilty he'd have tried to move heaven, earth, stars, wormholes, comets you name it to get me out of it. That couldn't happen the reckoning had to happen.
In the years since I've never once asked the question "what happened to them?" because ignorance is bliss, you never want to discover that your sacrifice was in vain. In truth I would have given good odds that both Marius and Jordan would have thrown in the towel on their careers in the aftermath of it all turns out I'm a rubbish gambler then and I couldn't be happier about it. I had a look through the crew manifest I could have called Josiah's resignation a mile off, Marty and Stokes's separation was something I didn't expect, I feel a little sorry for Joel as I'm about to kick him out of an office and job he's more than capable of doing for the second time. Celine as a diplomat? Well that's interesting, then there's the Intelligence officer that hauled us back into this whole thing, she's a puzzle piece, the rest of the crew looks like a good mix and seeing Yujas was special, though I know Hannah enjoyed that more than me. But at the top of the tree there's always those three musketeers - Marius, Jordan and McMahon, not quite sure which one is Porthos, which one is Athos and which one is Aramis but I'll work it out eventually, heck maybe one of them's D'Artagnan and I'm in the mix somewhere, after all I was practically their conscience and common sense last time I was anywhere near them. It comes to something when your XO has ideas that the marine CO finds a little on the extreme side of crazy, scuttlebutt is that Jordan's mellowed a little - I'll believe that when I see it, still haven't decided how I'm going to surprise him but I'll find a way, there's no way I'm passing up the opportunity to see the look on his face, maybe I'll get Hannah to craft a holo image of his expression for posterity. I do know one thing though he's still got the same mischief in him, the quarters assigned for my post on the USS Arcadia had this egg left outside them with a note and I'd wager a lot of latinum that Jordan's responsible for it.
But all joking aside I'm looking at a crew that's on edge, that's to be expected, the station isn't operational yet it's basically a glorified paperweight, that alone would explain why the Captain hasn't had a good nights sleep in a while and I half suspect Jordan will be the same, but it's almost like they're over eager, that's nothing new they were always spoiling for something back on Ghost usually some sort of fight. Against the Zaj we turned to weapons, this time it needs to be different, violence only begets violence. And the weird thing is I think Starfleet Command knows that I mean just look at this situation they repurpose an E Class starbase and give Pontmercy command of it, by itself that wouldn't mean anything but add in the Haines's, add in McMahon, Celine, Erin, Marty, Chambers and then optimise it with the new members and you've got a crew that's used to being in and around the Romulans and has the experience to back it up. Having spent the time since losing my commission running supplies to worlds that a little over a half century ago were part of the Romulan Empire I know first hand how isolated, desperate, vulnerable and left behind those worlds are, and then by some stroke of whatever we want to call it destiny, fate, fortune I end up bringing my ship here and running into this family, this crew that combined likely has more experience dealing with the Romulans than any other in the fleet and part of me looks at them and looks at how this jigsaw of a crew has all fallen together again and I wonder whether Starfleet and or the universe is trying to tell us something.
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