Fleet Log || Adm. Red & Adm. Hark || "What Dreams May Come" Part 1

Posted on 241502.28 @ 2:33am by Admiral Alexander Hark & Fleet Admiral Blyx Red

Mission: Reconciliation & Reconstruction [Fleet Plot]
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== USS ILLUSTRIOUS ==

Aboard the Admiral's magnificent overgrown yacht, Blyx couldn't help but feel the longing for uninhibited travel and exploration. Cold Station Theta was nothing more than a floating half-way point out in the black where the only exploration was done through PADDs and crates full of materials being shipped in and out in constant succession. There were new faces daily, treating the station as if it were the last rest stop for hundreds of miles on some dark desolate desert highway, and in many ways it was, but that didn't stop the woman from longing for the adventure that came at the ready with an actual ship.

She turned to say something about it to the Admiral. It would have been something smart and cheeky about trading places if he was really so concerned about Cheydinhall coming back under control, but it died on her lips the moment she took in an eyeful of the man. He wasn't there. She could see it in his eyes that he'd disappeared to some far away place, a dark and dreary corner of his mind that she couldn't begin to slink into. Knowing where he'd likely gone off to, she wasn't sure she wanted to. The ready room remained steeped in silence as Blyx left her seat and made way to the replicator to order ice water and coffee. The former found itself deposited in front of Hark, the latter cupped in her hand, and the raven maned woman perched on the edge of his desk to assume the role of quiet guardian.

---
May 28th, 2387
DEEP SPACE NINE

Susan Ivanova was in a rush, her duty shift had run longer than expected thanks to a pretentious Ferengi's attempt to smuggle in the extract of a rare flower. It wasn't just the fact it was an extract twenty times more potent than morphine, or that it wasn't on the shipment manifest, it was the fact that the little son of a bitch had lied to her yet again after swearing that the last time would be just that; the last time. Now she knew better and it had cost her ten minutes with Xander. "I'm sorry!" the Commander called as she jogged the promenade towards the statuesque man. "I know I'm late, but you can blame a certain bat-eared swindler for it." She added, meeting him with a happy kiss and the brightest of smiles and quickly laced her fingers with his. Around him she was putty, a ball of happy energy more reminiscent of a school girl than a sharp tongued security specialist, and she really couldn't have cared any less who knew it. They'd never been of the mind that their relationship needed to be hidden, there really had never been a point in sweeping it under a rug. Together they were a stunning pair, the perfect combination of tact and glee and were well aware of the not so whispered talks of an anticipated official union before the year was out. A certain 'bat-eared swindler' had even made official odds and had started a betting pool over it.

Their fingers unlaced and Xander wrapped his arms around the woman who had thrown herself at him, the one he intended to build a relationship with after their years together, the woman who bore one of his class rings as a promise of his intentions, and for whom he wore a pendant around his neck constantly. She made every facet of his life brighter and had been his most consistent supporter as his career as a Starfleet Officer began to take off. Ever since their eyes had met on the promenade of Deep Space Nine, Xander had felt that she was going to be special to him, "I wouldn't trust any Ferengi as far as I could throw them."

"Neither would I, but this one swore blue in the face and seemed so damned convincing." She sighed with a shake of her head, basking in the warmth he provided her. She could feel the cold metal charm pressing against her cheek as she lay it against his chest. Even under his uniform it was perfectly apparent that he wore her close to his heart. "How something so little could be so evil is completely beyond me." Susan shuddered against him at the thought of the sharp toothed little bastard's play at innocence, smile and all. He could play it again later, right now she was content with him cooling his heels in the brig while she made 'merry' with her better half.

Around them, life on the promenade continued as usual as it always did when they met, but for the two of them time seemed to stand still as they drank each other in, "I've received word on my next assignment," the young man announced as the smile remained fixed to his face as it always did in her presence, "Within the month I'm to report to Earth, the First Contact Office," he added as he gestured up towards his collar where a fourth golden pip accompanied the three he had borne the morning he had left their quarters.

That was just the thing… Life didn't stand still for people like Susan and Alexander. If they so much as blinked they would have missed some pivotal moment in time and never been able to press rewind to catch and capture it for themselves. The better part of her youth was done and gone for, just the month prior she’d crested thirty-three. People were living longer, their lives prolonged by medical science and the whatnot, but their biological clocks were still the same. Thirty-three for her was far different than him setting on the cusp of thirty even no matter how hard he tried to tell her different. Pulling back from him, she smiled genuinely at the sight of the brand new shining pip. “My my.” She tutted softly, “Let me be the first to congratulate you, Captain Hark.” He’d always been the shining star, the one to watch as he burned and left his mark across the night sky, and she had always watched him with avid wonder and respect.

Wonder and respect were slowly crumbling to gut wrenching fear that hit her core like ice water.

There was one thing standing in the way of Alexander Hark and his resplendent career. Her. Susan had heard the whispers of his coming promotion and his relocation to Earth, the same way she’d heard that by early next year she’d be in command of her very own vessel. Choices needed to be made and she’d made up their minds nearly four weeks prior. “When do you leave?” She asked, her voice steady and lilting. This had been the part she’d stared at herself in the mirror and rehearsed in a nearly endless song and dance routine, doing everything she could to hide the shaking and the tears she knew would come at the end. Covering her tracks had been simple enough, their schedules often broke them apart long before dawn and gave them a quick lunch, dinner, and the night together. For everything else there were ginger teas and hard candies, even sliding a small slice of the raw root in her mouth did what it took to keep up appearances and no one seemed to suspect anything – at least not yet, but it wouldn't be long until they did as her uniform was already fitting snugger around her belly.

It had to happen tonight.

"Given the speed of the ship they're sending to collect me, I'll need to leave within the week," Xander replied with a slight sigh as he regarded her carefully. Her eyes betrayed nothing of what was going through her mind, as always she was stalwart and unknown to him as much as she could be. Even the years spent together had not yielded all of her secrets to him, but none of that mattered to the young Captain, this was the woman he loved. While his career burned bright the only thing that filled his mind was her.

There was a saying about all good things, though, and how they always had to come to an end. Susan nodded as she absorbed the information he offered and knew that bitter end had approached and seized the day. "Come, walk with me so we can find somewhere quiet." She offered him a smile and tugged on the hem of his tunic to convince him forward, but under her cool exterior, she was cracking and breaking apart. She felt sick as she knew the charade she'd created was about to be ended and that dream of happiness she'd coveted was about to come slamming to a violent halt. She'd done things she wasn't proud of, worked to conceal something that she cherished and now? Now she'd weave the greatest lie of all simply to save a man from losing the future she'd helped him build. It was selfishness and selfishness alone that demanded she not simply give up her own career to join him on Earth, or so she'd tried to tell herself. In the great reality of things, she knew that her stance on so many topics would have pulled him down and held him back. No one wanted a smart mouthed broad sitting next to the most powerful man in Starfleet. It was bad politics, poor form and she didn't have to be a diplomat's daughter to know it. Instead she'd break both of their hearts and send him off on his way by using something exquisite and precious as the proverbial knife to cut their ties.

"What's wrong, Susan?" Xander replied as he was pulled forward under her guiding hand on his tunic, she was the bright light that he came home to, that he worked to balance with his career but tonight she seemed to burn dimmer. Even on the cusp of a big move like the one he was about to make he found time to bring her into his life and her shift in demeanor troubled him.

Ducking around a nearby corner, and down a row of shops that were already closed for the evening, Susan would have sworn to anyone who'd have asked that her heart was about to explode in her chest. While she'd rehearsed it close to a million times, saying it to herself in a mirror was a piss poor substitute and coach for saying it to him. She loved, needed, and cherished him with all of her heart and now, with trembling fingers, she was about to crush him with the one thing that would have, and should have, given him wings. "You know when I went out with Marcus last month?" She started, stopping and looking up at him. It was easiest if she wasn't touching him and as such she wrung her hands together as she began to repeat the well rehearsed lie. "I had too much to drink and..." She could turn back, walk away and twist it into something bright. The cost, however, would be too great. Careers would end, focuses would shift. She couldn't allow it and couldn't ruin him, not when he was poised so carefully for a shot at greatness and she would be the anchor that kept him from missing his mark. "One thing lead to another and..."

(To Be Continued in Part 2...)

Admiral Alexander 'Xander' Hark
Commander in Chief of Starfleet
United Federation of Planets

&

Admiral Blyx Red
Commanding Officer / Quadrant Commander
Cold Station Theta
Cheydinhall Sector