Capt. Shayne: The Swing Of Things
Randal Shayne
((Deck 1, Captain’s Ready Room, USS Khitomer))
If he’d thought the workload after a mission was usually difficult, this latest outing was a wakeup call and a half.
Requisitions and reports and updates and more reports and permissions and more reports, read, submitted, reread, resubmitted, filed in triplicate, written by him, written by officers- the work was absurd. And this was with a more than competent XO taking on a great deal- indeed, perhaps, the majority- of the bureaucratic hullabaloo. Now, however, he was playing catch up in addition to everything else- catch up he couldn’t blame on a kidnapping by the Maquis, or an injury he was recovering from. If he didn’t get with the program now, he’d be late for his own retirement party, so dire would be his deficit.
Shayne: oO No more experimentation with happy pills! Ever! Oo
Disappointed, she’d said. She was disappointed. That word still hung heavy on his heart, pulling the organ down from the ventricles that kept it vital. It was difficult to understand how a single person’s single opinion could leave him so passionately destitute in self-respect, but if nothing else, each reply of the biting memory added another brick to his growing monument- a promise to deal with issues, not push them away any longer.
The door chimed.
He smoothed his grey vest, sat up straight, grabbed a new PADD, and spoke.
Shayne: Come on in!
The doors parted, and he looked up to find a familiar, friendly and welcome face. He smiled a tired but heartened smile.
Shayne: Ayemet! What can I do for you?
A. Dewitt: Response
The captain placed the PADD down, its contents now paling in importance to the topic at hand.
Shayne: Pull up a chair. Coffee? Tea?
A. Dewitt: Response
The replicator whirred, and Shayne turned back round, staring intently at his counselor.
A. Dewitt: Response
Shayne: You deserve an answer- but first I want you to fill me in. How are you? How’s the crew? This has been the longest I’ve been away from Starfleet in a decade.
His jaw tightened at the last word. Until that moment, it had been a matter of shame and regret. Now he realized the simple, ugly truth; his ridiculous choices had pulled him away from the purpose of his life, and it could not be permitted again.
A. Dewitt: Response
Tag/TBC…
Captain Randal Shayne
Commanding Officer
USS Khitomer
NCC 62400
G239202RS0