[2009: SEP-OCT] Starfleet Priority Two

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Starfleet Priority Two

STARFLEET PRIORITY TWO - NEW SHIP ASSIGNMENT

USS REVOLUTION-B

CONGRATULATIONS, MARINE CAPTAIN! YOU ARE TO REPORT TO THE “USS REVOLUTION-B” DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AND BE PREPARED FOR DEPARTURE WITHIN THE NEXT 72 HOURS.

THIS IS A DEEP SPACE MISSION OF THE GREATEST….

He had stopped reading after that and so had she.

The Marine sat on the edge of the bed, clasping his hands in front of him, elbows balanced precariously on his knees. Every now and then his hand went through his short hair to the back of his neck then back down again, resuming his original pose. It was the body moving around in the bathroom that he was listening so intently to. There was a loud sniff as emotion was drawn back from the brink again, though the noise hadn’t come from the green Marine.

Words had been exchanged. Words had been heated and hurtful. Actions had been deceitful and devious, though unknowingly, as he’d now found out. He’d jumped to conclusions he never should have and make accusations that weren’t true. He was still learning, still waiting, still trying to reach that tip where he knew without doubt that he was right.

Others had disappeared into the darkness, faded away into the background and he couldn’t be without her now. She was all he could see, all that was in his vision, the only one that ran through his mind at any given time. What was he asking for? A second chance? A chance to do all this again? To go through this again? Would it happen again?

Would he end up alone?

She moved out of the bathroom, wearing the same look she’d been wearing when she’d walked in. Tears had been falling and the slick streams left behind gave her soft skin a dampened sheen. He looked up and their eyes met. Was it still there? Did she still understand? She looked away, dropping her gaze to the floor and moved past the bed to the doorway.

For a moment, she lingered there, one delicate hand poised on the doorframe. Her head turned slightly, her lips pursed as though she was about to say something. Her finger drummed on the metal.

“I can’t go through this again.”

Her hand released and she was out of the bedroom. He heard the sound of the door open… and close.

She was gone.

His head dropped again and his hands curled into his short hair. One arm shot out, picking up the padd from beside him on the bed, hurling it into the wall. It shattered into liquid and splintered pieces of metal machinery, launching themselves over the floor. He screamed loudly, a low guttural scream wrenching from deep inside his body, lurching up through the body of skin and bones and out into the cold room.

The light of his life was gone.

He was another nameless Marine in the sea of millions.

She was gone.