The Stars In Their Courses

Posted on Sat Sep 3rd, 2022 @ 4:14pm by Captain Samuel Woolheater & Crewman Adelaide Kirkby

Mission: Season 5: Time Warp
Location: USS Elysium - DECK THIRTY-TWO - MARDET ADMIN OFFICE
1756 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]



DECK THIRTY-TWO - 00:00 HOURS - MARINE ADMIN OFFICE

First Lieutenant Woolheater looked up from his desk to see Adelaide standing there in the office, "Hello Adelle, you're really early for work?" He continued looking at the PaDD he was working on and when she didn't respond, he looked up again. She looked sad, "Hey? Is everything alright?" Adelle was dressed in her uniform but it looked like she hadn't been to sleep yet. She had the alpha shift and so Sam was surprised to see her. She seemed somber and withdrawn. Sam set the PaDD down and watched her walk into the office. She had a PaDD in her hand. "Hi Sam. Do you have a minute lieutenant?" Sam sat back in the chair relieved that there wasn't a problem. Addy smiled sweetly and took a seat in the chair at his desk. There were a few other marines here and she cast them a glance. Sam picked up on the queue and said, "Hey? Guys? Can I have the room for ten minutes?" When the others had cleared the area and they were alone she said, "I want to apologize to you."

"Apologize to me?" he said. "For what?" he asked kindly.

"Do you remember when you were telling me how you got here? And that your transfer orders were messed up. There was that whole unusual travel accident with the merchant ship and Starfleet got the bill?" she said.

Sam grinned and said, "Oh that. That's old news I'm not worried about that. And Starfleet can bill me" he said in mock indignation. His smiles didn't seem to change her demeanor and she said softly, "And the death of someone you know?"

Sam stopped smiling.

Adelle activated the PaDD and placed it on the desk in front of him. She said, "I was doing some checking. To get your transfer orders fixed and so that they would be correct. I fixed the Starfleet error on your arrival and they're calling it a shipping anomaly and you won't have to pay anything. Its covered under a rather large, generous, insurance policy. I'm not sure who this S'hib officer is. But the policy doubled when he came aboard some time ago now. I only wanted to make sure that you were getting a fair shake and I was looking into the death benefits. I didn't mean to pry, you understand, I was only looking to see how the Marine Corps was going to handle your benefits. Did you get enough away time and were there any survivor benefits that were stuck or mired in the beuracracy?"

As she spoke, Sam read the file. It was a briefing, a redacted memo. The bulk of it was marine corps mumbo jumbo and lots of four letter acronyms. But four lines stuck out like a dagger,

"Starfleet Intelligence believes that sometime in the next week, Masonitic pirates will attempt a large scale attack on Federation assets in the core worlds and including Earth. However, it is Federation policy not to draw attention to vaugue threats and so our posture will remain unchanged and neutral. Should an attack be made on any Federation or civillian targets, the matter will be under Starfleet Security jurisdiction. We recommend that this information remain a closely guarded secret to avoid creating a panic in the general population."

Adelaide said, "Lieutenant, Sam, Starfleet knew of the threat and they didn't do anything about it. I know about Emily Hope. And I know that Starfleet and the Marine Corps..." she stopped and then said, "...they didn't help you. They didn't do all that they could. And they buried this."

Sam read the summary report and then, in shock, laid the PaDD on the desk in front of him. He sat back in the chair and with his left hand, stroked his chin as he thought. It was a moment and Adelaide said, "I'm sorry Lieutenant." Sam raised his hand a little to acknowledge her and silence her, "Yeah." She looked at him and was sad for him. Because she also saw that in the record was his request for an honorable dischare from the service. And the dates were the same dates that Emily Hope was scheduled to arrive on Titan. She left that out and didn't tell him that she knew that part. He could read it. "You must have loved her very much" she said softly. He pursed his lips and he closed his eyes in pain, "Yeah." He opened his eyes and shedding no tears he sat in silence a bit more. "Is this all you wanted to tell me then?"

She nodded after a beat, "Yes"

He said, "OK, thanks." He was hurt and angry. Angry that nobody did anything to look into the threat and nothing was done to pursue the pirates. He looked at her with an annoyed look. He was a private person and this felt like a violation. She said as she reached for his arm and he withdrew it, "I'm sorry Sam." He withdrew, "You can go now. OK? Thank you."

Adelle was hurt too. She felt compassion for him and hadn't expected him to be angry with her. She nodded and got up to leave. He shoved the report in his desk and slammed the drawer shut. He was rubbing his forehead and the bridge of his nose. She turned and left the office.

She made it all the way to the turbolift and got inside before he caught up to her. "Adelle?" he said. She stayed inside the turbolift and took a step back into it. He ssaid as he held the turbolift doors from closing, He hesitated, and then said, "Listen. I'm sorry. I'm angry and...I don't...feelings are hard for me. I don't know what to say and I can't ever find the words. About how I feel and I feel so stupid when I try and talk. Like now. I'm mad at them. Starfleet and the SFMC. Please don't go away hurt or mad at me. It's not you. Please talk to me a couple more minutes? Please?"

Adelle nodded and stepped out of the turbolift. "Thanks. Uhhh...Thank you for doing all that work. I really appreciate it. I'm...sorry about how you found out. It's just easier for me to not deal. Not talk about Emily and what happened. I wasn't prepared for that. And I don't like surprises. You asked if I loved her? I did. I was going to tell her too when I saw her."

Adeleaide finished the thought for him, "But now? That's not going to happen. I think you have every right to be angry, furious with what happened. If they had simly told people then extra precautions could have been taken. I'm sorry. May I ask how you found out?"

"It was the final day, the test. My spotter and scored really well too. Not the best, but in the top. So, y'now, I was really happy. I was so happy. Go out with a big finish. I was going to see Em that night. Go out, splurge, stay in afterwards and just...be." He inhaled and sighed, "Two MP's picked me off the range. Put me in a hovercar and then thrust the...thing in my hand. I sat there, in the back seat...gutted. I felt sick. Dizzy and numb. Like frozen numb. I felt nothing. For the whole ride back...nothin'."

Adelle said, "You were in shock. My dad used to say, 'the stars in their courses'".

"What's that mean?" he asked.

"It means, that no matter what you did, this was going to happen. You couldn't fight it no matter what you did. Anymore than you can stop the stars in their courses from running. Something like that?" she said.

Sam nodded, "Shrink says so too. Anyway. They open the door and, I can barely walk. I get out, I think and...I could feel my heart break. And...down I went. I dunno how long. I didn't care. I let out...this..." he shook his head and couldn't finish and looked down at the ground. Adelle just nodded. "Its hard you know? Guys like me...we think we're indestructable. Nothing can touch me. Other people. Never me. Never anyone I...love. It's just hard. I try not to think about it now. Cause all I end up with is angry and hurt. But, I...if I stop thinking about her; it's all I have left. And if I let that go then I got nothing. So....I just keep her in my back pocket."

Adelle said to him, "It doesn't mean that you'll ever love her any less. Or that you'll forget her if you don't think about her. You just find a way to live without them?"

Sam said, "You sound like you've had this talk before?"

"Mmmm...once or twice? I have a big family. Lots of aunts and uncles and nephews. When I was a kid and one of them passed? I would be sad for days. My mom and dad, they never scolded me for that. Never made me feel weak or...weird? Even if I hardly knew the person. They would just talk to me about how I was feeling. And, you know, after a while, it got easier to talk about feelings."

He shook it all off and said, "Yeah. Well. I should get back. I'm still on duty." Adelaide nodded and she gave him a hug. "If you want; you can talk to me?" Sam smiled and nodded, I'd like that. OK. You're a good listener."

She pressed the call button for the turbolift and got inside. Sam turned around and once again stopped the doors, "Adelle?"

"Yes?" she said.

He started to speak and then no words came out. he started again with, "Would you go with me to the Captain's wedding? I'm part of the saber ceremony. So, you'll get a good seat and Captain's always have a good spread. You know...not a lot of 'Top Ramen' in the Captain's cupboards. And...I don't want to go alone."

She smiled and so kindly said, "I'd love to go. Thank you. Send me the invite?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah. OK. Thanks!" He smiled,, stepped back and the doors closed.

[OFF:]


1st Lieutenant Samuel Woolheater
“Saepius Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas”
Division VI, MARDET 62nd Company "Spartans", 1st Platoon CO
=/\= USS ELYSIUM - NCC-89000 =/\=