Cold Hard Truths

Posted on Fri Nov 1st, 2024 @ 8:58pm by Captain Rylan Gray & Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knox

2,116 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: A Silence of Friends
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: Md001 - 2400 Hours

Possums did have a bit of a nasty for getting into things and causing a ruckus, a primarily nocturnal creature at that. Likewise, Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knox found himself most anxious and stirring at night. Typically, his evenings were spent from time to time socializing with his friend and current superior officer, Captain Rylan Gray. This changed significantly after the latest away mission blunder. It did not stop him though from carrying the weight of a quadrant or two on his shoulders as he stood outside Rylan's quarters pressing the door chime.

Would Rylan be thrilled to see him? Unlikely. At least that was Knox's presumption. Though after what happened when Harrison had taken leave aboard the starbase, there was really only one person he could turn to. It sure the hell was not Captain-Commander-whatever-she-was-now DeVane. She had already burned Knox with bad intel, caused a years long friendship to be rocked, and he was not about to damage things further.

Fresh off a chess victory with Mitz, Rylan had showered and changed into a pair of drawstring pajama bottoms and a robe which he hadn't bothered to tie. He fixed himself a cup of tea and was settling into a wing-back club chair with a matching ottoman and 19th Century French Empire Marble Top end table and lamp. It had become his reading corner and a good way to begin the process of winding down in preparation for bed. The chime sounded just as he was putting down his teacup and picking up his book. He put the book aside and rose to his feet, tying his robe shut as he called out, "Enter."

Knox did as instructed and entered the quarters, catching Rylan's line of sight fairly quickly. "I know," prefaced the previous First Officer. "You may not want to see me right now, but we need to chat. It's an important matter, Captain." Harrison Knox made his way over towards where Rylan was seated. "Just give me a bit of your time. You may find what I have to say worth it."

"Alright," Rylan said as he gestured for Knox to take a seat. "I'm listening."

Taking a seat as close to Rylan as he could, Harrison sat. "DeVane," the name came out of his mouth swiftly. "We have a problem. I don't know what she's up to, Ry, but one of her goons sat down next to me at a bar when I was on the starbase. It sure the hell was starting to sound like a recruitment pitch."

"From what I've been hearing," Rylan said, "that's happening more and more. Maquis sympathizers probing weak points in an attempt to gain supporters. How do you know this person was connected to the Commander?"

"I do not believe in no damn quinkydinks," quipped Knox. "This gentleman spoke like a used shuttle dealer. Him coming to me and wanting to talk about what happened. I called him out on it, about going back to DeVane. He said I should request leave, see her myself."

Knox looked at Rylan. "I told him I wasn't interested and I'm not. Her intel screwed everything up, the away mission, my career, our friendship."

"What was this goon's name," Rylan asked as he rose from his seat and headed into the area set aside for his home office. "Let's see what we can find out about him."

Harrison shook his head. "Saved you the trouble. Allgaier, Lieutenant. I've gone over Allgaiers Lieutenant and otherwise. I couldn't find one that looked like him and none serving aboard starships this way of the quadrant." Lieutenant Commander Knox rubbed his eyes. "The whole thing is a mess, Ry. A headache wrapped in a nightmare. Us. There's a silence of friends and I'm not a fan."

"Oh they're talking," Rylan said. "Just quietly. Now, let's see if we can come up with a facial likeness." He gestured toward the console. "See if you can explain yourself well enough for the computer to render an image. If that doesn't work, we'll find an artist on board that can draw what you say."

Knox headed over to the console but looked at Rylan. "I was drinking, Ry. A lot. I tried to avoid looking at him," noted Knox. Still, he entertained the request.

"Uh Computer, composite a rendering of a male, Human in a Starfleet uniform. Operations division, rank Lieutenant. Make him approximately 5'8" in height...slender build, frail looking. Shaggy reddish brown hair." Knox wasn't too thrilled with it. "Change the eye color to blue" he added. "Mmm sunken looking." Knox took a few steps back. "Rough. I believe Stormy has some art skills, but I'm not sure I'm going to be that reliable of a witness."

"I see," Rylan said quietly. "Well then, where were you doing all this drinking?"

"Not here and not with you," stated Knox. "So, it was not my preferred watering hole, but the Starbase had a decent one. Simple bar, but a decent old fashioned."

"I believe there's more than one, so what was the name of the one you were in," Rylan repeated. "It's a simple question but if you need to be convinced to give me an answer, this individual might be remembered. Or even a regular. It would certainly be worth checking out."

Knox smiled. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about that. It didn't have a very spectacular name or nothing, just ye ol tavern or some generic thing like that, Ry," commented Knox. "The guy looked like a rodent if I had to describe him like anything. Short, wiry, sunken eye little rodent man."

"Well, it's a start at least," Rylan said. "I'm not sure that it counts as a problem though. You showed trust in her, in her beliefs, so it's not a surprise that either she or a co-conspirator would seek you out. Now that you've turned them down, I doubt they'll pursue it further but, on the off chance they do, it's probably best that you don't go off on your own for a bit."

Harrison chuckled a little. "I'm not sure. I've been told I've been irresistible before," the Lieutenant Commander quipped. "Turned them down may be a bit of an over statement. I showed no interest and walked away. I guess you could say I played the hard to get card, but maybe that will just make me more attractive. Regardless, you probably won't want me going off on my own for a bit."

"My mistake," Rylan answered politely. "You said you told him you weren't interested. But no, I think it best you stay out of those situations for now. At least not until I have enough information to make it worth doing."

"No, maybe, possibly" Knox shrugged. "I know I did not say yes, but I figured it was best to just walk away from the little rodent. If you say stay away from all of that, then I'm staying away from it. I'm still licking my wounds from the last time."

"I have no intention of joining the Maquis," Rylan said flatly. "My loyalty lies with Starfleet and with the Federation."

Knox looked at Rylan, he was not an overly emotional guy. He was taught to keep his walls up, don't be fragile, and all that crap. Some even said he had the emotional complexity of a teaspoon. He got grumpy, angry, and flustered but the softer emotions were kept private.

"Look at me," he said to Captain Gray. "Yeah, with those large dark gray clouds you have for eyes. I'm not joining no damn Maquis. So, despite what I did, I still stand by everything I have since putting on a Starfleet uniform. I know you don't go around tapping into that Betazoid mumbo jumbo empathy stuff, but I'm being honest."

"I never believed, for a moment, that you intended to join the Maquis," Rylan said. "DeVane kept you in the dark about her demotion, that's clear, and now hopes to recruit you. Spend too much time with her, or her ... co-conspirators ... and you could end up with real problems. Starfleet is not going easy on the ones they find."

Harrison sighed. "She can go back to Australia for all I care or a Federation Penal Colony. I have no interest in being tangled up in her web of lies and deception. The only Captain I want to spend time with is right here trying to save my ass."

"Then start acting like it," Rylan snapped. "I'm your friend. Have been for awhile now but it's painfully obvious to me that you don't trust me. Not as your commanding officer. And that has to change."

"Ry," Knox said addressing him informally as a friend. "Wasn't ever about not trusting you. She gave me intel and I listened. Maybe I was dumb for doing that, I know it was wrong, but switch our positions. If Captain was still alive and while catching up with him he gave you the same bit of information would you not have taken it to heart?" Knox looked at Rylan, the golden boy. "He was like a father to us both."

"He was never my father," Rylan corrected. "A mentor certainly and I learned a lot about strategy from him. You weren't just catching up, you went to her for advice on the mission. That's what you said. And, rather than bring that advice back to me, you acted upon it. That's where the lack of trust comes in. Even tonight. I asked you a simple question that you didn't answer until I explained my reasoning." He sighed quietly. "We are rehashing old ground and there's no point to it. I can't make you trust me and I shouldn't try. You've a right to your own opinions."

"But to answer your question, no," Rylan said quietly. "I would have done things differently and I know this because of how I've behaved in the past. I very rarely take what someone says at face value. And I certainly wouldn't act upon it without bringing it to the attention of my superiors, if I thought it had merit. Captain Walsh taught me that. Drilled it into me ... investigate for myself ... question ... consider. So, that's what I do."

"No, I don't want to rehash things, but I did not go to her for advice on the mission. I went to her for advice on me. On being First Officer. I didn't doubt you, Ry. I doubted myself. She just took the opening and fed me the information."

Knox had apparently taken more of a fatherly figure from Walsh than Rylan had. "You are the Captain. My Captain and I will obey that chain of command. I'm sorry, I can be a bit thick skulled for my own good."

"Yes you can" Rylan said with a slight shake of his head. "Alright, I've got some thinking to do. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

I miss this thought Harrison. They were talking. That was something at least. "Then I will leave you to think. I'm sorry for ruining your night."

"Not at all," Rylan said politely. "As ever, I would rather know that not know. It's a bit like playing a game of chess and then a third Knight appears; you realize you're playing two games rather than one. Bit of adjustment in thinking but necessary."

"I'm not chess player. Captain Walsh always beat me," commented Knox. "I don't want to play two games, I just want to serve on Thunderbird and be left alone."

"I am," Rylan said. "Just leave it to me."

"Play away, Captain," said Knox as he proceeded to exit the man's quarters.

Rylan relaxed in his office chair and stared at the closed door for some time. "Oh, I'm not playing," he murmured. "This is way to serious for that. Computer, get me Admiral Walsingham and secure the call."

"Setting up an encrypted call," the computer responded in its neutral male voice. He was in the minority in this respect, having requested the voice changed from female to male for his command.

Within moments, Aldrich Walsingham appeared. With tousled black hair, shot through with silver, that never seemed to lay down no matter what time of day or night he was contacted and faded blue eyes, the admiral was a living reminder that one should never judge a book by its cover. Rylan and he had known each other for some time and so, the admiral's habitual frown was replaced by something more neutral. "Report."

A Post By:

Captain Rylan Gray
Commanding Officer
USS Thunderbird

and

Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knox
Second Officer
USS Thunderbird

 

RSS Feed