"Pursuit" - Part 3 of 3

Posted on Mon Nov 4th, 2024 @ 6:13pm by Captain Samuel Woolheater & Captain Garrett Lovejoy [ Taylor] & Kyle Cragen [Reece]

Mission: Back Home
Location: Galaxy Station - Home Port for Elysium
Timeline: Today
1637 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

And now the conclusion Part 3 of 3


=== GALAXY STATION - CONFERENCE ROOM ===

"I respectfully disagree Emma. Without hope you have despair and hopelessness and we here are not full of either. We have hope that we will reach the Elysium. We accept the challenge before us. When Samatha was lost to me, I had hope that she would be returned to me. My hope my belief and a way would be found for her to return to me was answered. It didn't happen overnight and neither will this, but it will happen. Hope can survive anywhere Emma. Hope is what keeps us going when it would be so easy to throw in the towel and say, 'Well the Elysium is out of reach." and forget about them. Two and Four haven't forgotten about them, Mr. Cragen hasn't, and I certainly haven't. You speak of hope without action. Where? Not here. We're acting everyday just because you don't see results today doesn't mean you won't tomorrow or the next day." Garrett finished.

Emma shook her head, her frustration growing sharper. "You think I'm ungrateful. You think I don't see all the work that you have already done?"

Captain Hammond attempted to intervene, "Emma, I don't think..."

Emma gave him a look which silenced him as she said, "Well Captain Lovejoy, I do see the work that you and your team have done and are doing. Akin to find a needle in a haystack and the haystack isn't on the farm next door, not even in the farm in the same country and not even a haystack on the same planet or the same galaxy. I am not ungrateful and I do recognize the significance. I’m not saying hope isn’t important, Garrett. I’m saying it needs to be built on something real—something I can see or hold. I get it, you all believe that we’re doing everything we can, that hope is keeping you going, but how am I supposed to hold onto hope when I have nothing to grab onto? You’ve all been telling me the same thing for weeks—'we're working on it, we’re trying.' But every day that passes without Sam coming home, it feels like we’re just spinning our wheels."

She met Garrett’s eyes, her voice lowering but filled with emotion. "You talk about action, but where is it, Garrett? Where’s the progress? I need to know we’re getting closer—that there’s a plan, something concrete that’s going to bring him back. Because right now, it feels like I’m just supposed to sit here and wait and hope while my son is trapped out there, and I can’t live like that. I need more than words. I need to see the path forward." She held up her hand to stop him from speaking and said, "One more thing before you say what you're going to say."

She laid her hand on the table and said with great compassion and tenderness, "Of all the people the President chose...he chose you and your team to send us to. Why did he do that? I've been thinking about that on our journey here. The President knows you and more he trusts you. He knows the loss that you faced and he knows that it was the Elysium that reunited your loved one to you. And because you have had this happen to you, you most of all, know how hard it is...how your heart is torn out of you when you lose someone and can't do anything at all to reach them. So, before you say that I don't care or I don't recognize that you have done more than any starship captain or marine commander up to this point; let me assure you that I do see that you care. And I see that your team is doing everything they can. But, I know that the President, the families and myself need you to do what everyone else has been unable to do: Launch a rescue operation, in earnest. And give us something to hang on to that's real."

Garrett waited for Emma to finish. "I never said you were ungrateful Emma." He said softly. "I know you appreciate what we've done and accomplished. "Nor did I say you don't care." He paused, his eyes meeting hers and locking on to them with a fierce intensity. "You ask what hope needs to be built on something you can see and build on. Hope is built on faith Emma. Your faith has to be built on Two and Four, on Mr. Cragen, and on me that we will deliver. that we will find, no." He corrected. "Not just find but contact the Elysium and once that is done work on recovering the ship and crew and launch the rescue operation. However just as the early space missions didn't go to th moon and Mars but instead worked out kinks and improved in both safety and engines and only after countless tests and simulations were the moon missions approved." he paused for a moment. "Emma, I, we know what we're asking when we say be patient when you want to throw caution to the wind. But be patient, we need time. We've given you hope and something real. We know where the Elysium is, we just have to work out reaching her."

Cragen spoke up at this point. "The Captain speaks true, Missus Woolheater. It will take time. Anything worth doing correctly, always does. I feel the same as you do right now. I want nothing more than to get them all back safely. My ex-wife is aboard Elysium, with our daughter, who, if they both survived the crossing, will have been born by now. I wish I possessed the power to snap my fingers and have them all here right now, so I could hold them both." He paused a beat, then continued. "Something you don't know about me, I'm an El Aurian. My species is very long-lived, by most standards. I was born, in Britain, in the 1400s. I have borne witness to what humanity can do, if they are motivated to do so. There was a time that sailing across the oceans was a nerve-wracking event. They didn't know if they would sail right off the edge of the world, or if they would ever see their homes again. I have watched as the Humans grew from sailing wooden ships across those very oceans, to sailing across the stars." He paused to take a breath, then continued.

"While that journey seems to have gone quickly, in my lifespan, I do know that it was fraught with catastrophe and loss. However, not once, in all these years, have I ever seen humanity stumble or reach an obstacle, and decide that they would not try to overcome it. Unfortunately, progress takes time. It also takes having the right person, with the right background, who has the right idea, to be in the right place at the right time. For all we know, that person could already be on Elysium, or someone that they will meet there, in Circinus. I promise you, on my daughter's life, we will not stop until either we are gone or they are home." He shook his head slightly, his mouth in a tight frown, one that only a parent could give, one that speaks volumes of knowing the odds are high, but they are searching for the way through to safe their child.

There was a moment of silence; Captain Hammond offered to fill it with, "I think everyone here can appreciate the challenges that this situation creates. It sounds like everyone at this table understands the pain of separation. And the strong desire to bring our people home."

Hammond watched and Emma nodded, "It is...a difficult situation" she said. Hammond noticed that as her voice trembled a bit, she busied herself by straightening the PaDD in front of her. Turning the glass of water and setting it more center on the coaster and laying her digital pen straighter on the horizontal as she composed herself. Hammond got an idea and said to Captain Lovejoy, "Captain and Mister Cragen? With your permission Captain, the Hale needs to run a few checks on our NAV system. I'd prefer to do a thorough check while we're here in case the diagnostic brings anything to light?
Better here than out there. So, we'll be here at least a week. Perhaps there is something that Emma could do? To help? Even keeping the families informed by sub-space conferences would, perhaps, help you out some? Maybe something along those lines?"

Garrett nodded at Hammond's suggestion that there might be something for Emma to help with. " Of course." He replied graciously. "We could use some help. in fact, I have just the job for Emma. She can do if she agrees can send a news feed to the families an update by showing them what we are doing to bring the Elysium home, and she can also add what she already knows. As I said if she agrees."

Bob was grateful that Garrett had picked up on the unspoken words. He turned to Emma and asked her, "Do you think you can take that on for us? Keeping the families informed, especially coming from someone they know and trust would go a long way. Allow the search team and the sciences to focus on the problem. Hale will be here for a week anyway. What do you say?"

She knew what they were trying to do. Give her something to do. "You're very kind. Captain's both. I'll do my best!"


[OFF:]