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Post 5

Posted on Mon Jul 21st, 2014 @ 1:46pm by Commander Dewitt Cayne

Mission: Begin with a Bang
Location: Dewitt Cayne's Quarters
Timeline: May 11th, 2155 - 0100 hours

Commander Dewitt Cayne sat in quiet contemplation with only the sound of his drink rolling around in the glass for company. His view of the Earth below was obscured by one of the giant struts of the drydock which completed his solitude. The engineering and maintenance teams had shut down their operations at twenty-two hundred. With officers now on board ship, they were too nervous to disturb the slumber of potentially tetchy astronauts.

Cayne wasnit sure whether any of his colleagues were actually sleeping on the ship. Most, he assumed, would take the two hour shuttlepod journey back to the surface and wile away the hours in one of San Franciscois obscene number of iwatering holesi. He definitely couldnit hear anyone but, he thought to himself, he could just be in a quiet section.

He glanced over at his bunk, where he had turned out almost all of his belongings looking for a photograph, before turning his attention back to the coldness of the glass. There was something to be said for the Cargo Boomers who went days on watch without seeing another soul. It was peaceful, tranquil even. It reminded him of Jupiter Station.

While he had been there, for six long months, he had spent his days monitoring the stocks of the armoury. Officially he had been assigned as an armoury officer but he was held at armis length during his stay there- something which defined two years of his life. They didnit like the idea that he might carry a weapon but they were perfectly content to have him count them.

It all went back to that day in San Francisco. In the Presidio, one of its many parks, then-Lieutenant Cayne had happened across a gang beating seven shades out of a defenceless man- an Inclusionist as it later transpired. Unable to alert the authorities and heavily outnumbered by an armed mob, the Lieutenant unholstered his phase pistol and ordered the group to stop.

He could hear the cackling of the ring leader as he raised his weapon to shoulder height, allowing him a clear shot. They had told him that they had no problem with him but that the man they were reducing to a fine powder was a danger to Earth and to humanity. The mob mentality had long-since set in, leading to whoops and cheers from the assembled gaggle of morons.

Cayne didnit care who the man was, although he had no problem with Inclusionists who saw fit to open Earthis borders to aliens, all that mattered to him was that he couldnit defend himself.

One more kick. One more grunt from one of the anonymous mass and one more blood-curdling squeal from their victim.

The Lieutenant fired his phase pistol, aiming just over the ring leaderis shoulder and imposing a burn mark in the wall behind him. Still, it didnit stop him. His thumb fumbled with the setting, flicking it to stun before he let off another shot, this time catching the ring leader square in the chest.

There was silence and the mob dissipated quickly as sirens bellowed out in the distance. Their instigator eventually staggered onto his feet and made off, leaving Cayne and the bloodied Inclusionist alone. Cayne was led away by police in full Starfleet uniform and interrogated about the goings-on, later being pulled up in front of a senior Starfleet disciplinary panel and told that his actions had disgraced the uniform.

He took a swig from the glass and chuckled as he looked back on that one. "Disgraced."

Two years later and here he was, First Officer on an NX Starship, about to go out there after being stuck in the backwater. He had tried to save a manis life and been vilified for it, first by the civilian police and then by his own superiors. The solitude made him realise that even with the consequences, he would do it all again in a heartbeat.

 

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