Winds of Change
Posted on Fri Nov 6, 2020 @ 9:44am by Civilian Jason Haines
1,194 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Pangaea
Timeline: MD1, 0900
[ON]
"...You still are blind if you see the winding road.
Coz there is always a straight way to the point you see
Don't try to live so wise.
Don't cry coz you're so right.
Don't dry with fakes or fears.
Coz you will hate yourself in the end."
Wind by Akeboshi
Jason paused and took off his blindfold and looked at the practice dummy he had been working his staff skills on. The dummy, actually a thick tree section, had seen better days. Over the past month on the beach he had worked out in many ways and the dummy had been his sparring partner so to speak. There were numerous dings, bark removal, and blood stains on it. He smiled a bit as he was thinking it was about time to return to life so to speak.
It would take him a couple of days, but he was going to go to Alanna’s place on the planet and spend time with her. He felt he was ready for that now. Maybe he would still need to go with her to the counselor T’Lul, but at least he felt he could face that now. After that, he would return to the station and talk to the PCA. He had an idea he wanted to run by them for a possible business on the promenade.
It was at that moment he grabbed his staff, hit the button that released the blade from the end and stabbed backwards.
“Woah, woah”, a man’s voice said.
Jason turned around to see a short man, maybe 5’7” with dark hair and eyes who wore a yellow Starfleet uniform and had a small satchel with him. He held his arms out to the side, looking down at the staff blade that had stopped a couple of inches from him.
“Hey, I’m not here to give you trouble”, he said taking and putting the satchel on the ground.
“Who are you?”, Jason asked suspiciously.
“I’m just the delivery guy”, the man said. “You’ll have to talk to the boss.”
With that he tapped a small device he had been wearing and he disappeared, and the device fell to the sand. Jason looked at it and shook his head.
“Damn, holoemittter”, he muttered.
It was a that point the holo-emitter reactivated and Jason was looking at an Andorian male. It was a remarkably familiar Andorian.
“Mister Haines”, the Andorian said. “You are looking rather rough about the edges.”
Jason smirked, “And you Captain Phralan are looking rather blue.”
The Andorian Captain, his last CO before Soran, shook his head and replied, “I’m glad you noticed. First, my condolences. I heard about your father.”
Jason winced a little, the memory of his father’s death was still a bit raw.
“Thank you”, Jason said with a nod.
“I didn’t know him personally, but there were tales”, Phralan replied with a smile.
“So, you said that was the first thing”, Jason remarked. “So, what’s the next on the list?”
The Andorian’s antennae twitched some and he replied, “We need your help.”
Jason laughed.
“So, after burning me when I could have used some help with the Vulcan fiasco”, Jason said. “you have the guts to come ask me for help. Wow, Captain, you have some brass balls. Go get some other sucker.”
“I could just conscript you back in”, the Captain said.
“And I could still just say no”, Jason answered.
“Well, then I get to throw you in the brig”, Phralan replied.
“I’ve been there a couple of times since we last saw each other”, Jason said. “It isn’t as bad as you might think.”
“Yeah, but you never got to the long-term prison part that comes after”, the Andorian replied a neutral expression on his face.
“I know you replaced me on the station”, Jason said. “What is wrong with them doing whatever little job?”
“Well, they aren’t as good as you and they were recalled”, Phralan answered. “We needed an in-person debriefing.”
“So, I get it, use whatever asset you can. Just exactly what it is that you need me to do or find out?”, Jason asked, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe he was actually still listening.
“We aren’t 100% certain”, Phralan replied. “The science teams there are making interesting discoveries, but we feel that there is more, beyond what they are looking at. All the temporal flux patterns in the atmosphere and near the station, just don’t seem to fit the models right and once again the simulations…”
“Simulations are showing some sort of egregious event is going to happen in the near future”, Jason said, rolling his eyes.
“Something like that”, the Andorian said. “Your replacement couldn’t find anything or come up with any theories and so I thought of you. You always have unique perspectives when it comes to temporal and dimensional studies.”
“So, what’s in it for me?”, Jason asked.
“Beyond protecting one of the most powerful phenomena of the galaxy?”, Phralan replied.
“That spiel won’t work. The whole serving the Federation and Starfleet thing when out when TI burned me and Soran essentially black-mailed me into taking a Captain’s mast”, Jason said. “You are going to have to do better than that.”
“Well, what is it that you want?” Phralan asked.
Jason thought a moment and then said, “Ok, this is how I see this working. You conscript me and restore my rank. Hell, give me a promotion if you want. Admiral would be nice. Then, I will investigate things here, but I will do it my way. Then, when I am done, I am going to retire again. TI is never to contact me again. My family will be left alone. The science team studying the portals and planet will be left alone and data not stolen unless there is a crime or some real egregious event.”
“Is that it?”, Phralan asked. “I thought you were going to ask for more.”
“Yeah, one last thing”, Jason said. “Get my father’s rank of Captain re-instated. I don’t know the details, but I know he ‘took one for the team’ about ten years ago. He did a lot for Starfleet. At least give him that back.”
“Done”, Phralan said.
“What’s in the bag?”, Jason asked.
“Oh, a bit more modern set of tools than what you have on hand”, the Andorian said.
Jason nodded.
“I will send you an update roughly once a week”, Jason send. “1 means I need to talk to you. 0 means wait until next week. If we get to three weeks without contact, we’ll have a chit-chat.”
Phralan nodded.
“Let’s do us both a favor”, Jason said. “Soran hates TI and I am not her most favorite individual. Let’s keep this arrangement between us.”
“Very well”, Phralan said. “Until next week agent.”
With that the projection disappeared and Jason just shook his head.
“What the hell are you doing Jason Haines?” he asked himself. “What the hell are you doing?”
[OFF]
Jason Haines
Beach Bum
DS5
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