Posted by Lieutenant Commander Adam Magnusson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Adam’s Quarters - Short Reprieve (Open)
Adam entered his quarters after the briefing regarding the teapot, he needed a change of uniform and a moment to gather his thoughts before returning to work and helping with repairs. He unzipped his jacket and tossed it in a clothes bin to the side of his replicator where he could later on recycle his uniform or put it through the standard cleaning cycle, he didn’t want to waste power on something so luxurious right now. He sat behind his desk, opened the cabinet and pulled out a small bottle of water from a collection he always had prepared in the small cooled storage compartment. He took a deep swig of water and exhaled.

The revelation that the woman he’d suspected to be one of their assailants turned out to be a future version of the XO’s child had been a shock. He hadn’t interacted with the child much despite his great fondness for children, he still felt that the Leviathan was an unsuitable place to raise a child. He thought back to that look she’d given him at the captain’s quarters, almost sadness he’d mistaken for nervousness or fear. He wondered if she’d known him in her past, his future. She looked young, maybe twenty or so years older than the Hazel he knew. He’d be in his late seventies to her, an old man. Thoughts turned to her father, Commander Loughty. Last he knew the XO and his team had been approached by a Romulan signal just before things went to hell and he wondered what happened to them, something big must have occurred for her to be a temporal agent especially one if her rank of commander under thirty was true. He thought about the logistics of Temporal recruitment, did they recruit people from the past or had something occurred that forced the young woman, the child, to the future?

He sighed deeply and tapped a few commands on his console starting a recording “Annabelle” He started, putting on a rare smile, he spoke in his native Icelandic as he did in all messages recorded to his daughter “It’s been nearly a week since I composed my last message to you, you should have started your next semester by now, I think that by the time you get this, it’ll be halfway to yule and we’ll already have met. Things have been hectic on my end, lots of paperwork and endless meetings.” He always said the same thing ever since she was a child, she knew he lied and he knew she knew, still, they went on ignoring that fact.

“Come to think of it I haven’t told you much about my crewmates in the past few years. Captain Henao is still the same although I should say that she’s settled into her command nicely. I took your suggestion to be less critical of her to heart, I also stopped sneaking up on her… mostly” He chuckled at that, Anabelle as a child loved his stories about startling senior officers, then as a teen she found it embarrassing and now as a young adult she secretly enjoyed it but joined her mother in disparaging him his moments of levity. “My XO Commander Loughty, I mentioned him a while back, good man. Cut from the same cloth as me, same tired old generation.” He sidestepped further mentions of him or his daughter “Well the rest I haven’t gotten to know much better” He raised his hands defensively “I know I know I promised I’d do better at the interpersonal relationships, I’m working on it. On a side note, I heard from the old man, his offer to visit Oed still stands, he’s inviting his kids over and it’s been a while since you’ve met your cousins, during the holiday break go visit, it’ll be good to leave Earth and get some proper outer colony culture” He looked at the time, he’d spent more than he’d planned on the message, it would be saved both on the ships central computer and his personal Black Box hidden in the deepest confines of the ship “Well in any case I love you and I look forward to seeing you. My best to your grandparents, both sets” He smiled then ended the message.

Adam leaned back in his chair and sighed, taking another sip from the water bottle before standing up, removing his yellow undershirt and tossing it in the bin followed by the rest of his uniform then opening his closet and grabbing another set.

CIO

Hazel walked up to Adam’s door, her heart heavy with the burden of her thoughts. She hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to bridge the gap between their timelines. With a deep breath, she pressed the chime, the sound echoing in the quiet corridor. This Adam was different from the one she knew; he was younger, perhaps more naive, and she wasn’t entirely sure how he would react to her presence. The warmth and mentorship she remembered seemed overshadowed by the uncertainty of their situation. Yet, she needed a familiar face, someone who had once been her ally and confidant, to help her navigate this chaotic moment in time. As she waited for him to respond, she wondered if he would see the weight of her experiences or if he would simply see a stranger standing at his door.

Commander Hazel Loughty
Starfleet Temporal Agent
USS Leviathan