It's Been A Long Road MISSION END

Posted on Tue Sep 20th, 2022 @ 7:54pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Commander William Gerhard

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: Captain's Ready Room - Deck A
Timeline: Day 303 - 0930 hrs
Tags: I
2156 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

William stood outside the hatch to the Captain's ready room. This was his first day back to full duty, and he rubbed his chest slightly before pressing the call button. The bruising had gone down considerably, but he occasionally had to catch himself when he was taking deep breaths. The past few day's he'd been going over reports and double checking the manifest. The unfortunate news was two of their MACOs had been taken by Smith to wherever he went. William could hardly fathom what those two men were going through. It had been a serious blow to the morale of the MACOs aboard, and William had been encouraging his department to keep them included. Recent events had the whole ship coming closer together, relying on each other and watching out for each other. He reached up and pressed the chime button and waited for the response.

Beth looked up from a cup of coffee that she was enjoying and she tried to look through the crew listings and how they were going to manage. She needed to work out a plan forward before the senior team meeting that was going to happen in the afternoon. Some people were going to feel relief from what she was bringing to the table and others not so much at the change in their duties and the fact they were going to be doing more even if temporary until Gerhard was back fully fixed duty. “Come on in William.” She called and watch does the door to the compartment opened.

William stepped over the threshold and stood infront of the small desk. He stood at attention as the door shut behind him. "Lieutenant JG Gerhard, reporting for duty ma'am. I got the all clear from Dr. Avira to return to full duty," he said smartly before he smiled slightly and placed his hands behind his back. He knew that the captain was not a stickler for protocol, but he always showed her the proper respect her position demanded. "Frankly, I've been going stir crazy being on restricted duty," he said.

“Did you really? From what I gather you were told to work Alpha shift only and for everyone to keep an eye on you because you’d had CPR performed on you three days ago.” Beth commented indicating the seat. “Sit before you fall William.” She said lightly.

William did as he was ordered and let out a breath of air when he was settled. "Well, she may have mentioned something about Alpha shift," he said conceding the point somewhat. He looked back up at her, "I was able to pull our manifest and confirm that Corporal Jeffers and Private McGinnis are the two missing marines. There's been no trace of them." His tone was somber as he saw Beth rubb the bridge of her nose.

“I also believe that she mentioned half of alpha shift.” Beth said steadily rubbing the bridge of her nose. The headaches were leaving but they were making it known until then. “Are we even sure they existed?” Beth said honestly. She was not sure sometimes what was real and what was one of the delusions that Smith had create.

William nodded in response. "From what we can gather, Smith never had access to our manifest. I think he figured that we'd all be dead, and no one would be able to check our records. There are personal affects for the two men in the MACO barracks as well," he said before sighing, "The MACOs have taken it pretty hard. They are our shipmates, but they've lost the most people to date. I think its time we revisit the idea of absorbing them into the Armory division."

Beth nodded patiently despite how she wanted to scream that it was not fair, it would never be fair that anyone was out here but the little voice at the back of her mind told her it was enough to just survive some days. Beth held out one of her PADDs with a to do list on and fourth on the list was MACO to armoury. “It is something I would like to discuss with the rest of the department heads.” She admitted.

Taking the proffered PADD, he looked it over and saw the item on the list. "And here i was thinking i had come up with that idea on my own," he said lightheartedly. He then stopped and looked at the top item on the list. He looked up at Beth and gave her a quizzical look. "Captain, whats this first item on your list: 'Gerhard Promotion'," he asked. He knew that as second officer, he was the acting XO until such time Beth decided to replace him.

“Well originally it said Gerhard demotion but I think that would be a kicker when he has just been brought back from the dead.” Beth reached behind her and picked up the pips. “These are yours.” Beth said not giving him a chance to decline or resist.

The metallic sound reverberated in his ears as he stared down at the three silver pips infront of him. Commander, he thought to himself as he looked back up and saw her grin. He let out a surprised gasp of air before he looked at the captain again. "But, two jumps in grade," he started to say before she held up a hand to stop him.

“I need to get the ship into some type of order again. And I need your help for it.” Beth added. She needed to promote all the department heads to maintain some type of chain of command again.

William nodded and reached out to pull the pips towards him. He looked down at them in his hand and smiled to himself for a moment. "I'd given up hope that I'd ever get a set of my own," he said before trailing off. He set the pips back down on the table as he looked away from her gaze. "I'm not sure I'm worthy of them now,"

"Of course you are William," Beth said in a no-nonsense tone as she took him in. There was something she was missing here, this man was normally the embodiment of a career climber. "What is going on?"

He brought his eyes back up to meet Beth's before he looked away out the viewport. "I'm not the man I was before, captain. Smith took that from me. You know when I was out of it, I could feel myself slipping away. And...," he said trailing off. He looked back over at her before continuing, "There was a part of me that wanted to let go, to slip into the unknown."

The silence that hit the room at his words was heavy but Beth eventually stood up and moved around to sit next to him in the small space and shook her head. "But you did not allow yourself. For all that Smith has taken from you in regards to your identity, he can not take the new person you want to be now. I do not believe any of us will be the same after all of this." Beth admitted as she pressed the pips into his hand. "Choose your new path."

He looked down at his hand and the shiny pips within before Beth closed his own fingers around them. He caught her gaze again and something passed between them. Her words rang in his ears, and he thought about them for a moment. She was right of course. William's life to this moment had not been an easy one. Being so far from home, for once he felt free. He could choose who he wanted to be. He offered a nod before speaking, "Aye captain, and...thank you for always believing in me."

“You have a lot of people who believe in you William. The most important person who needs to believe in yourself is you.” The woman said pointedly. She knew some of his past from his record but it did not

Taking the pips, a smile came over his face as he remembered something else. "And speaking of new paths, there's something else I feel I should share," he said before giving her an upraised eyebrow.

“Oh?” The woman wonder pushing herself to her feet and sitting back behind her desk. It had to be something good or at least slightly more positive from the look on his face. “Tell me?”

William looked down as he felt himself blushing slightly. "Well you know Lexi..., I mean Ensign O'Connery and I, we have been seeing each other and ... well ... we decided that we want to get married," he said as he let the weight of the statement sit between them.

Beth had been dreading what he was going to say when he started well you know Lexi, of course, the woman knew the woman, hard not to when she was her department head before it all happened. "Married?" She questioned smiling. Well, it was bound to start happening sooner or later, but she was not sure she had been prepared for the gut-sinking realization in her stomach over the fact that people were thinking long term and the people onboard.

He returned her smile, but took note of something in her eyes that changed. "I know what your thinking," he said giving her a knowing look.

“Oh?” Beth said quickly sitting up more trying to hide the look in her eyes where she was trying to think through stuff.

"I decided that I didn't want to go on without her being in my life. If being out here has proven anything, its that we will have a long and arduous trip home. I've noticed from some of the other crew that the reality is starting to set in," he offered in explanation.

“Yeah…” Beth said quietly thinking that his declaration whilst adorable and not at all like him had knocked the woman for six in realization. “I believe it had set in for me now.” Beth admitted safe in knowledge that it would not go much further than him what she had revealed.

He nodded in response while giving her a reassuring look. "In light of that fact, perhaps a shipboard marriage could be a huge morale booster for the crew," he said before putting a hand up in mock surrender. "I know I'm the last person you'd expect to be suggesting morale-boosting activities, but in light of recent...developments...I feel it's appropriate," he said while he fingered the pips in his other hand.

"And what does the future Mrs Gerhard think?" Beth wondered. It was going to be an adjustment to call Lexi Ensign Gerhard or would she keep O'Connery? There were so many questions but all of them were down to the couple. "You very much the last person but it gives me a little bit of hope if even you can change so can other people," Beth said relieved that the changes in the relationship between them as Commanding Officer and Executive Office were allowing them to connect better.

"She is all for it, so long as we have your blessing of course. She essentially put this decision to come to you in my hands," he said with a laugh. He looked back up at her when she mentioned his changing. "Hope is what we need now more than anything," he offered.

"William," Beth said quietly. "I am going to try and do better for you than I did for Samantha. She drifted and I could not stop it but I need this closeness to continue for all of us."

He nodded in response before answering. "You have my word Beth, you have my full support along with the rest of the crew. I will do all I can to support you. I know how important it is for you and I to work together. You don't have to shoulder the burden alone anymore," he said. By using their first names, the roles between them had changed. William squeezed the pips in his hand slightly as he knew the gravity of what had transpired. It was vital for the ship now that he and Beth worked together as a team. He would support her in what ever decisions she made, and he would do his best to give her the best advice and courses of action.

Beth nodded. It was all she needed to hear to be able to trust him and move forward from the mess that was the last couple of days where things had gotten between the cracks in the senior team. Beth wanted to make sure something like that never happened again. “Good. Shall we prepare for the meeting with the others now?” Beth said carrying on with the rest of why she had requested him there. She could work on sharing the burden better now.