Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Captain’s ready room

Posted by Lieutenant Julien Smith (Doctor) in Captain’s ready room

Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Captain’s ready room
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

He watched her looking out of the window and understood why she did that. His glance followed hers, out into the vastness of space and in his mind’s eye he saw the wreckage parts of the old Genesis floating around aimlessly as if it had been yesterday. Vividly he remembered his own thoughts back then, his gut-wrenching feelings… had they found all bodies? Could he have done anything differently to prevent it? Had been his fault?
He looked back at her and took a deep breath.

“My first thought when we lost the old Genesis and some crew members was a very egoistic one that I never told anybody. I wished I was one of the casualties.” he said. “I just wanted to be free of it all, and in those seconds I’d have given my life for that.” he lowered his glance and shook his head slowly.

“You don’t act on such thoughts of course, you just feel guilty for them.” he said. Did she want to tell him what weighed so heavily on her mind? He didn’t knowm, all he could do is give her the opening. If she wanted to there were ways to make the classified information safe with him that a normal human being did not have.
He was also curious about the story of her pervious XO, a being not entirely unlike him, and one he would have loved to meet. But he was gone and his disappearance was classiefied as well*.

• Julien Smith
  OOC: *I suppose it is

OOC: That was the plan.
IC:
“Yes,” she said in agreement, finally shifting her amber gaze back to him. “It’s harder now. It’s difficult to admit that, but when it just 100 people on a tactical destroyer there was a certain understanding about the dangers inherent in the type of missions we went on or were dragged into. So much death, Julien,” she said, hearing the own ache in her voice. “But now, I wander the corridors thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ Because it feels like there is a perpetual target on my ship regardless of its mission profile and crew. By the Ancestors, Julien, there are families and children on this ship. And we’re still going about the galaxy like we’re on perpetual red alert and our weapons are hot. It’s been necessary, but damned if I don’t feel guilty.”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

He caught the fear between the words and inwardly came to alert, raising his eyebrows. “I know that feeling so well. My son stayed on the ship as a baby before La’kia left with him and when there was a life-and-death situation on the bridge, it took all I had to not loose it with the fear for him. Loosing crew is bad enough but children is even worse. To be honest, when she left one part of me was devastated and another part happy. Again something nobody can really fully understand. So… you do believe that somebody has painted a target on the Athena, don’t you? The Conclave? It would help me to assimilate those mission logs, becuase I have a suspicion…” he said.

• Julien

“I will have to see. I think under the circumstances it shouldn’t be a problem, since that’s what you’re here about, even if I’ve been told to handle it as I see fit. What that really means is, ‘We’re going to turn a blind eye and let you pursue this, but don’t complain to us if things go wrong,” she said a bit bitterly. She wasn’t given oversight and restrictions, but she also had to find her own resources. This was, after all, not an officially sanctioned operation.

Julien nodded. He had already suspected as much after reading the reports that existed in Starfleet Command about the Athena and her mission orders - those that were unclassified even for Fleet Captains. Not all that she had just hinted at.

Rising to her feet, Ghubari moved away from the sofa in a motion that clearly suggested she wanted to pace. “It’s not just the Conclave. There’s been a perpetual target on my ship from the day I took Command. The Borg and Species 8472, the Romulans, an unknown agent working for a group experimenting on my entire crew, the Romulans again, then The Conclave and then just recently, Time itself.” She rubbed her face. The last years had taken their toll and she had fought hard to find and claim her joy, even if it came to her in small doses sprinkled sparingly. After all, no one would want her to get used to it or anything.

“Do you have any idea why? I mean, the involvement in time anomalies adds a whole new level to this investigation. Some factions could have a target on your ship for something that hasn’t even happened yet.” he mused. He got up as well, with the impulse to offer her a hug. But then he remembered that she was married now and therefore had somebody for emotional support, so he suddenly felt like maybe she didn’t want that from him and just casped his hands behind his back as he usually did.

Turning back fully to face Julien, Koraia looked determined. “Right now though, you have the opportunity to help me dig deeper. Kallen Reese died in an altercation that shouldn’t have happened, because The Conclave was messing about in things they shouldn’t have. Just like they did back on the Venture. Is it a coincidence that it’s my ship and crew that have gotten involved in their messes? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. I’m not so egotistical to think they sought me out for some unknown reason. It’s not like I was moving against them all those years ago. Hell, I helped them, Julien. Unwittingly, but I did. But I do know that Israel Price accidentally killed Kallen Reese because she got too close to finding out he was with The Conclave and likely compromised as a Starfleet Officer. And Israel’s sister is the one who fed me the information on the Venture during the War that saved a situation but still led to the death of a man that never had the opportunity to face justice for his crimes. It’s all weaving too closely and I’m in danger of getting lost in it. I need a fresh perspective, Julien. That’s why you are here. I need your help. Help me get justice for Kallen, please.” Her pale amber bore into him, desperation so clearly evident.

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

He caught her glance and held it, hiding nothing in the way he looked at her and putting all his resolve into it. “I will Ghubari, you can rely on me. I do need a few more information though. Namely the details of the mission that brought him on your ship in the first place and anything he said to you that stuck to your memory.” he said. By now it was easy to put one and one together and even though the mission had been classified, he knew that wouldn’t stop her when it came to avenging Kallen. Because that’s what it really was that drove her, and he understood the feeling all too well, and the need to voice it in a way that was acceptable for a Starfleet Captain.

“Ghubari, I’ve had not one but two missions with the Genesis in the last five years that involved time travel and my CSO is …was actually a time traveller from the future. There is nothing more vague and complex at the same time… well the mirror universe maybe … but I know very well how it can mess with your head and there was nothing that made me doubt my own decisions as a Captain more than the danger of messing with the timeline or creating a paradoxon. And that is the real headache, when you are expected to make decisions in the blink of an eye, but at the same time you know that whatever you decide is a shot into the blue, because it’s impossible to look at a decision from all angles, when one angle is the future!” he took a deep breath. “It took my counselor quite some time to help me understand that. We are Captains, not the Q. Do you understand that?”

• Julien