Late Night Musings

Posted on Sun Feb 5th, 2017 @ 6:03am by Captain John Theisman

784 words; about a 4 minute read

John had stopped pacing the center pathway that circled the middle of the arboretum and had finally settled down enough to sit down and try to force his mind to at least slow down somewhat on the endless train of thoughts that occupied his brain. The events at the dinner on Romulus were still playing through his brain loud and clear, along with the senator’s warning: There were some who were not happy with the fact that the Hyperion was being allowed access to Romulan territory. The fact that the Empire had been allowed to dispatch a science ship to explore Federation space was a mute point, although John was certain that there would be those in the Federation who would feel as equally unhappy in return.

It was nothing more than the accumulation of decades of war, mistrust, and hostile tensions. In technical terms, the Federation and Romulan Empires had recently ended two cold wars and that had only happened because of special circumstances. John had to wonder what would have happened if the suspected assassination of that Romulan senator by the Dominion hadn’t occurred, or if Shinzon and the Remans hadn’t staged their coup. Would the Romulan Empire have been so willing to open up to their neighbors then? Granted, the Romulans and Klingons still didn’t get along very well, there were those who doubted that a steady alliance would ever happen there. There were more questions than there would ever be answers, and for a career officer such as John, who had spent a few years along the Romulan Neutral Zone, it was doubtful that any of the answers would be satisfactory ones.

With a heavy sigh, John stood and unzipped the torn and blood splattered dress uniform jacket he still wore. The fight and the reasons behind why the Romulans had initiated it bothered him, and he was certain that there would be even more disturbances like it in the future. Folding the jacket over his arm, John slowly started walking towards his quarters. It wasn’t a very long trip from the arboretum to his quarters, but somehow John managed to turn the short trip into a twenty minute walk.

It was fairly late when he finally walked into his quarters. As the doors closed, he had to stand still and blink a few times in order to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. Mara favored the dark, and she preferred it even more when she was asleep. As his eyes adjusted, John could tell that his wife had already gone to bed. Deciding against waking her, John took his boots off and quietly snuck across the main room of their quarters and through the bedroom. Closing the bathroom door, he stripped his dress uniform off and tossed it into the clothes recycler bin. Setting the shower setting, John took a quick hot shower before he toweled off and pulled on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt.

Carefully making his way back into the main room of his quarters, John sat down at the desk and activated the computer station. “Computer, access Captain’s Log files and begin recording. Audio only,” he said. When the computer beeped softly to acknowledge that it was ready to begin recording, he leaned back in his chair.

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 249402.05. The Hyperion arrived at Romulus earlier this afternoon. After making contact with Senator Tavik tr'Kellian, the crew engaged in standard duties for the afternoon. A formal diplomatic dinner was attended at the Senator’s estate house by myself, Lieutenant Commanders Mira Jayde, Daniel Divaro, Velah, Tristan Balor, Lieutenants Elan Val and Zhara Rynn, and Warrant Officer Kaiyo. A fight broke out between the Romulan Galae officers and all Starfleet personnel present which the Romulans initiated and my officers and I responded to. The incident was dismissed by Senator tr’Kellian as a test of the resolve and combat prowess of Starfleet officers. I have a feeling that the incident was a test, perhaps even a way for the Romulans to try to take a measure of our capabilities. Before I returned to the ship, I was introduced to the liaison officer who will be assigned to the Hyperion by the Romulan government. She will board the Hyperion in the morning before we depart Romulus. Hopefully, the rest of our exploration mission will be easier, but somehow I highly doubt it.”

Rubbing his eyes, John shook his head. The quicker that Sevena t'Dhvael came on board, the better. “Computer, save recording and add to file,” he said before he stood. Sneaking back into the bedroom, he carefully crawled into bed and settled in before closing his eyes.

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