After the Storm Part 2 MISSION END

Posted on Wed Dec 9th, 2020 @ 3:37pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Ensign Michael Sloan

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Deck A - Ready Room
Timeline: Day 100, Month 4, 22:00
617 words - 1.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth nodded at his thoughts, they could have lost so many more or not be there at all. The last 100 days had been the hardest the woman had ever experienced personally and professionally but she was feeling ready. The woman leant out for the pips and finally picked them up. The weight almost nonexistent but it mentally it was the heaviest thing she had ever experienced. "I think I am ready." She said before smiling at the man. "Ironically I have something for you." She turned away from him for a second reaching for something and looked at the package she had wrapped up in a cloth to give to him.

"You deserve it," Michael reiterated. In a hundred days, he had gone from a prisoner who would have been executed a few decades ago to being given phase pistol privileges again, in an emergency. He watched as she took the pip from the table. Losing himself in thinking about Leah sacrificing herself for them as well as the happenings of the last 100 days, the man almost missed what Beth was doing.

Michael looked down at the cloth that was presented before him. His right hand removed the covering as his left hand ensured that the contents were not scattered. As the cloth was unwrapped, Michael’s hand froze. Before him was a box that he had seen, and certainly one that he had given out during his time as a Department Head. It was the box that normally contained promotion pips. “Is… is it?” he asked, hesitation gripped as he could not bring himself to open the lid.

Beth watched him carefully. Was she wrong? Was he not ready for it at all? It was not a now thing, it was an offer for the future. One day she knew he would be mentally ready to be the man who could lead but until then it was a sign of the promise. "It is for when the time is right," Beth said gently putting her hand over his slowly opening it to reveal that it really was the pips he would need to be Commander. “I cannot be Captain for long mind without my Commander back.”

Letting out the breath that he had been holding, Michael saw the pip sitting in the box. "I haven't earned them back yet," the man honestly stated. Staring at the glimmer of the commander pips that were arrayed in the wooden box, Sloan felt like he needed to do or say something that would make the gesture real. He took one out and held it in his hand as he thought about the meaning of everything, the gesture, the future, and the past. That is when an idea struck him. He placed the one single pip on his uniform and place his hand back over Beth's to close the box. "I am now Ensign Michael Sloan," he offered, "I want to earn each step back until I'm worthy of being the First Officer to Captain Bethsabée Leroux."

Beth looked at his hand on hers and nodded. It made sense to her and she understood his thoughts around it perfectly. He wanted to learn to trust himself and the people around to be able to do it without a hint of doubt. She pulled the box from his hands with a nod and moved to her desk and put it in there waiting for the day when he was ready. "So how do you want to go from here Michael?" She asked honestly settling back into her previous position leaning forward to look at him properly.

That was the million dollar question. Where did any of them go from there??