The Last Report

Posted on Thu Jul 25th, 2013 @ 11:29am by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant Rose Cooper

Mission: Remnant Part 1
Location: Ready Room

"The autopsy report is done," Rose said to Benjamin, after she was allowed into his office. She placed the padd on his desk with a sigh. They had of course all been there to witness the time and cause of death, but regulations required her to make an official report. She had done it a couple of times before, but it never became any easier. Especially not since he was murdered in such a cold and unnecessary way. "Did you manage to contact any relatives?"

Ben reached up and ran his hand down the lower half of his face, as he tried to absorb the last few minutes. "I've just finished speaking with his parents," he answered after a few minutes silence. This was by far one of the worst duties of a commanding officer; being responsible for informing the families of those who served under of when they died in the line of duty. It was usually only made harder on the families by the fact that the sheer distance involved meant that it could rarely be done in person. The only worse duty that Benjamin could think of right now was that of ordering a crewman to carry out a mission which he knew would lead them to their death. "I'm not quite sure how they took it."

"Badly," Rose started to say, "as any good parent would. People aren't meant to survive their children." She dropped down in a chair and looked at Benjamin. "In the same way that most commanding officers dread the day they have to give a message like this. You witnessed his death, you apparently knew the woman who killed him. That was a tough day for you. And now this. How are you doing?"

Ben stood and paced to the window looking out of his ready room to space, leaning against it with both hands as he stared out at the streaming starscape of warp travel. He was silent for quite a few minutes before answering. "I've lost people under my command before," he said at last. "If it were just that, then I would be able to cope with it. But T'Marl... complicates things."

Rose patiently waited for his words and listened to what he had to say. "Why does her presence complicate things? Who is she?" She had seen something going on between the two, but didn't know Benjamin well enough to know of his history with the Romulan woman.

Benjamin let out a sigh, knowing that it was time to tell the story. It was on record in his service file and the logs of the officers involved at the time, but even so, it was a time which had made him feel so embarrassed, and useless as a security officer that it wasn't exactly a tale he relished. "T'Marl works - or at least she did, I have no idea what or who she affiliates herself with now - with the Tal Shiar. About twenty two years ago, she was under cover on the Pacific as a science officer. I was young - only a couple of years out of the Academy, but serving as the ship's chief of security after the death of my predecessor. We became involved, and she used my access codes to steal classified information about our tactical capabilities and fleet deployments.

"Eventually, when she was found out, she stunned me with a phaser and escaped. I hadn't seen or heard of her since until Gamma Firaxa."

"Ah.." was all Rose had to say for a moment. She was the child of a similar affair and absolutely hated that side of her heritage. "They come from a strange culture. They do what is best for them and don't care who they hurt in the process. I'm sorry you had to go through that and now have to be reminded of it again. I can only imagine what that must be like." Her own mother hardly talked about it, since she had been ashamed so bad when everything came out, but Rose had always felt her mother's hatred towards her father. "Do you think it's coincidence that you ran into her again?"

"I don't know," he confessed. "I can't see any reason why it shouldn't be coincidence - she's obviously been operating in this region for some time - possibly since the end of the war - and we were only recently assigned here. She seemed surprised enough to find me in command when she captured us. But I wouldn't put it past her to arrange something like this."

Rose nodded. Romulans were cunning and once they had found a 'weak spot' they weren't afraid to try again. And space was pretty big, so two people meeting on a planet like that could hardly be coincidence, yet stranger things had happened. "I guess we'll have to be careful, but what's new there?" she said with half a smile. She got up and leaned against the wall next to the viewport. "Strange isn't it? We've been in space for centuries now and some things just never seem to change."

"I honestly hope that some day they will," the captain responded. Though he was looking out the same viewport, he gave the impression that in his mind's eye it was a wholly different view than the one the doctor saw. "I fervently believe in the mission of the Federation; that all races can one day live together peacefully. Without all of the conflict, the deceit and the borders. Civilisation has come a long way since Earth first began its fledgling United Nations between the nation-states; if we can gather as many planets and races together on one coalition, then one day civilisation will evolve to do the same with empires."

Rose sighed and nodded again. "I hope that too, but I doubt it will happen any time soon. There are simply too many species who do not believe in unity and peace. As long as we've been in space, we've never truly had peace with the Klingons, the Romulans and so on. The Dominion War has shown that there are many species out there who only want power and can be easily persuaded to fight it they are promised just that. And not to mention the Borg. Who technically seem also want unity, but definitely not in the way we see it." She shrugged. "I guess we'll never truly know if it will work to unite everyone, but at least we can try."

"That's what we're all out here for," the captain agreed. "Nothing ever comes of anything if you don't even try."