| Author | Message | ||
     Cdr. Velorna Tal |
Dust swirled in little twisters about his ankles. The winds swept across the great open plains before him, and he smiled sadly. "You know, Vel, it was on a field just like this that I proposed to marry her a long time ago." The plain was open and grassy, with small patches of dirt and dust scattered about. It did resemble certain parts of the Camelynians' world ships, such as the one whose name he had long since forgotten. Many hypothesized that the Camelynians had lent their technology and assistance in the construction of Xanadu. But that was in the past. Or the future, depending on one's perspective. "You've told me the story many times, sir. But you've never really told me why it was that she never married you." He nodded. "We grew apart. It was shortly after that day that our lives grew extremely hectic. We really began to drift when..." His voice trailed off. "When the Hunter incident occurred." Silence hung prengnant between the two lone figures. "It wasn't my fault, you know. Not totally, at least." She stood tall and silent. "I could have stopped it, I'm sure. But they played on my natural paranoid instincts. Hunter threatened us. I had to stop them from hurting us. For my crew. For her." "Twenty-five years, Dad. Twenty-five years of life and love and serving together, and you threw it all away. Just like you threw her away, in the end. Because you can't TRUST people, Dad! Because you're a goddamned paranoid neurotic who can't find it within himself to trust a single goddamned person in his whole miserable, pathetic excuse for a life!" Her breathing stayed slow and regular, but her words were low, sharp, and as cold as ice. "You think I ENJOY living a life without trust? You think that I look at my life and am PROUD of what I am? Of what I've become? Dammit, Child, I do what I do - I am what I am! - because no one else will. No one else will do what I do, no one else will BE what I am!" "You can't save the universe, Dad. You can't be all things to all people. You're just a man. Sometimes you fail. You just have to have faith that things can work out without you." "Faith, my dear, is not something you have. Faith is something you do. If you claim to believe something, but you do not act upon it, how seriously do you think people will take you? How honestly do you believe what you say? No, Vel, faith is not something you possess. Faith is that which is reflected in your actions. If you believe it, then you will do it. Faith without works is DEAD." "Faith, Admiral, is dead without works. But if your faith is misplaced, then your works are in vain." Without another word, she turned and headed off across the open field. The older man snorted and turned back to staring out into the mind-boggling void in the distance. ==== Three thousand cycles. An instant. An eternity. Hell would be preferable to this. ==== Christian D. Clem '01, aka "Aggie" Cdr. Velorna Tal, Excutive Officer U.S.S. Coronado NCC-97901 RAdm J.D. "Dev" Wallace, Commanding Officer Defender Taskforce 85.2 "Defiants" Cdr. J. Darek Smith, Former Excutive Officer U.S.S. Coronado NCC-97901 (Deceased) |