Chapter 6 - What The Thunder Said
Jack enjoyed the warmth of her body atop him. Even in the dim torchlight from the garden outside their window, her beauty still entranced him. Jack had been in love many times, but Melissa was different. This love consumed him at the same time it gave him the strength to press forward to face whatever life brought his way.
She smiled, bathed in the flickering red light from the garden. "You seem happy tonight," she whispered. "I'm guessing there's more to it than just the sex."
He chuckled. "Being here with you is all I need to be happy."
"Liar," she said with a laugh.
"Really? And what else do I need?"
Melissa stared into his eyes. "Your ship."
"I could have been up there tonight, but I chose to stay down here instead."
She rolled off of him and walked to a nearby table, grabbing a bite of the meal neither of them had finished more than an hour earlier. "I'll always have to share you with the Chamberlain, or whatever ship you command."
He sat up in bed. "No, I'm not like that."
"It's a part of who you are, Jack. I knew that about you the first time we met." She glided back to the bed and fell into his arms. "It's one of the things I admire the most about you."
"I don't know..."
She put a finger to his lips. "That's what Mei-Wan never understood about you. You're a man who is constantly seeking the unknown, and striving to make the world a better place. It's what drove you to push Chalush to stand up for his people."
"That was more desperation than anything else."
Melissa pushed him onto his back. "You can tell more about a man by what he does when he's desperate than when he's sitting safe and secure in some lecture hall." She ran her hands over his bare chest. "You fired that weapon at the G'voda when it was hopeless. That told me all I needed to know about you."
Their lips joined and Jack felt himself sinking back into the sea of delight they'd momentarily surfaced from.
But he wanted to do something first and this seemed the right time and place.
He nudged her away from him.
"What's with you tonight?" Melissa asked, leaning into him, pressing her breasts against his chest.
"What do you mean?" He tried his best to act innocent, not something he was ever good at, as he reached for the nightstand on his side of the bed.
She frowned. "The way you made love to me tonight, it was different."
"Different how?"
She ran her hand across the side of his face with a gentleness that pleased him. "It's hard to say exactly. More passion, but more relaxed too."
Jack smiled. "Maybe I'm..."
Just as Jack had the small box in his hand, a loud, deep tone signaled there was a visitor waiting just outside their Fashod quarters.
Melissa fell back onto the bed with a soft flop. "Let me guess, a gaseous anomaly needs to be charted and you're the only captain who can do it."
"I doubt it's anything that important," Jack said as he rose from the bed. He grabbed a robe and made his way to the double doors of the bedroom. "I'll be back."
Jack closed the bedroom doors and slid the object he'd been holding into one of the robe's pockets just before approaching the main door to their suite. "Enter."
The doors parted and the crooked smile of Cyrus Wakernaggle greeted Jack.
"It's so very good to see you, my boy!" Wakernaggle didn't wait for Jack to invite him in. "I do hope I'm not interrupting."
Of all the things Jack had been through the last several weeks, this wasn't life threatening. At least that was his hope.
"What brings you by at this hour, Ambassador?" Jack asked as Wakernaggle slid into one of the ornate chairs in the main living room of his and Melissa's suite.
"I came by to see how you were." He forced a smile. "You've been through quite an ordeal and come out the other side so much the better."
Jack sank into the chair across from him. "I guess that depends on your point of view. I wasn't able to keep the Vedala and the Volmvas from destroying each other. I don't see that as something to celebrate."
Wakernaggle shook his head and chuckled. "Always looking at the cosmic picture, aren't you Jack?"
"I set out to stop them and I failed."
Wakernaggle settled back into the lush comfort of his chair. "Then I assume you're unaware of what's been brewing in the Federation these past few weeks."
"I have been a bit out of the loop."
That was an understatement.
When Starfleet finally showed up in orbit of Fashod ten hours earlier, Admiral Grant had given Jack and the others only a short briefing about what had transpired after the battle at Nybiros.
The G'voda, the Vedala, and the energy beings known as the Volmvas were gone. Along with them the planet Nybiros had vanished in the vast release of energy that had hurled the Abdiel across several star systems.
Grant had shown them the results of recent scans of the Nybiros system. The destruction seemed complete with the exception of the system's star, though there were a few odd readings coming from it, but that would be left for a science team which was already on its way there.
More than anything Grant had seemed happy to find out they were alive and safe.
"That was probably for the best considering," Wakernaggle said.
Jack had other things on his mind right now. Listening to the ambassador prattle on about political intrigue wasn't how he wanted to spend what was left of the evening.
"But I assume you're going to tell me all about it."
Wakernaggle gave a short nod. "You were right my boy. The people of the Federation are not at all pleased with the way the Council kept them in the dark about the threat from the G'voda and the Volmvas. Neither are they pleased about reports of Starfleet having secret dealings with the mythical Vedala."
Jack couldn't help smiling. "Then they finally know?"
"In far more detail than anyone would have ever thought possible." Wakernaggle paused, appearing uncomfortable. "Apparently, someone in Starfleet Command leaked substantial information about the Vedala. As a result, Admiral Hancock is being brought before a special tribunal. His career is unlikely to survive."
"That's too bad," Jack said, unsure how he felt about that news. Hancock had been a mentor, but had treated Jack more like a puppet than a fellow officer.
"And he's probably not the only one. There have been major protests on Earth, Andor, Tellar, and even Betazed demanding the Federation Council be more accountable to the people they represent."
"That sounds like a very good thing to me."
Wakernaggle smiled. "I'll admit when I'm wrong, Jack. You understood them far more than the rest of us did."
But something about Wakernaggle's smile didn't appear very humble to Jack's eyes. There was an almost palpable arrogance to the cadaverous looking man across from him.
"I hope the right lessons are learned," Jack said.
"As do I," Wakernaggle replied. "The Council will certainly go through a number of changes over the coming months."
Jack stood. "It's late, Ambassador. If that was all you came to..."
"I've saved the best for last."
Jack didn't sit back down.
"During the two weeks you were missing, you've become something of a hero for many in the Federation."
"Based on what?" Jack asked with a laugh. "My inability to get out of the way of a blast wave?"
"People were drawn into the search for you and the others. Never underestimate the worth of lost heroes to people whose lives are devoid of any real dangers."
"We aren't heroes," Jack said. "We were just doing our jobs."
"As do all heroes," Wakernaggle said with a wide smile. "When they hear the tale of your two escapes, and freeing the Fashod from G'voda domination, your star will rise even higher."
Jack let out an irritated sigh. This was the last thing he wanted.
"Just as with your escape from the Glazyalan prison camp, you've become a symbol of what Starfleet and the Federation are all about."
"I'm sure the public will find something else to be interested in before too long."
Wakernaggle's voice took on a tone of urgency. "You're quite right. This sort of thing has a short half-life. But I, and others, can help you cultivate this, turn it into something which can help bring the Federation back to the ideals we all believe in."
Jack shook his head and laughed. "Right now, all I want to do is sleep. I think we can discuss this at the reception tomorrow night, don't you think?"
Wakernaggle rose to his feet. "Of course."
Jack escorted him to the door.
"Do give this some thought, Jack. You have numerous possibilities standing before you. The future is created by those with the courage to take the opportunities within their grasp."
With that, Wakernaggle left.
Jack noticed the draperies framing the doorway to the porch tossing about. He stepped over to close the doors, but instead walked out to take in the night.
He gazed up at the sky.
So much had happened in the last couple of years. So much had changed.
But standing on this alien world, looking at the stars, Jack McCall realized Melissa was right. There was something deep within him that sought what wasn't known, that fought for what might be.
The place from which to accomplish that had always been different depending on the time and place for men like Jack. In his world and his century, that place was the center seat on a starship. It was from there he could do the kind of good that his heart told him needed doing.
But there was another part of his life that needed tending to first.
Jack took a deep breath and walked back into the suite, then to the bedroom doors. He pulled out the box and opened it. The small gold band and the jewel set in it both exhilarated and terrified him.
Another breath entered his lungs.
Some hero I am, he thought. I'm scared to death she might say no.
A final breath and he opened the doors and walked over to the woman he loved.
***
The next evening, a reception was held on one of the upper levels of the Fashod imperial palace. The hall was a mile wide, yet was more crowded than any place Mei-Wan had ever been.
With all the activity, one could have easily gotten the impression of life and vitality, but not Mei-Wan. Perhaps it was the formality of it all. Officers stood in obvious discomfort, wearing their dress whites. Ambassadors flocked about the hall like vultures, seeking their opportunity to pick some morsel off the carcass of this new ally, the Fashod. Admirals chattered away in hushed tones, most likely discussing how the vacuum left by the destruction of the G'voda could be easily filled by the Fashod, who, because of Jack, appeared more than a little enamored with Starfleet.
The Federation had poured onto this world, dangling the carrot of membership before Chalush, the new emperor, and he had, as any starving man would, gorged himself on it.
Where had the ideals which had drawn her to Starfleet gone?
She took a sip from the drink she'd been cradling in her hand for the past hour.
One proof of life did exist in the hall, however. Jack and Melissa had been beaming all evening long, and based on the ring Melissa wore on her left hand, Mei-Wan had a good idea why.
To her surprise, she was happy for them. But at the same time it saddened Mei-Wan. Not because of a desire to still be with Jack, or over her past feelings of betrayal. Those were gone now.
This came from deep within her, from a place where she hid all the parts of herself she didn't want to acknowledge, all the parts she hated.
This private little hell had frozen at its lowest circle a beast named "what if" which tormented Mei-Wan with all the possibilities she'd missed, or not taken advantage of, or were kept from her.
Fortunately, Lak Negev interrupted her mood by introducing her to an Andorian ambassador who had traveled with Wakernaggle to the Kel-j'na Region. Mei-Wan only half listened as he asked her about the work she'd done on the Ancient Progenitors. But before too long the Andorian interjected questions about the Fashod, seeking her impressions of them.
Mei-Wan kept hoping she'd run into Natalie Fowler and some of her other friends from the Chamberlain.
They probably know better than to attend a gathering like this, she told herself.
The ambassador continued his questioning.
So much has changed.
It had started during the Dominion War. New worlds were viewed on the basis of what they could bring to the Federation. If political or military advantage could be had, membership was almost assured for the world wishing to join.
Questions of rights and governing philosophy had become secondary.
Mei-Wan hated the lack of respect for new worlds and their cultures which was part of this dance of seduction. The ambassadors would smile at the newer members, all the while expressing nothing but disdain among themselves from deep within the bowels of the white tombs they called offices.
Finally Mei-Wan excused herself and made a hasty retreat to a balcony overlooking the city.
She used her fingers to pull her long black hair tight so that the warm night breeze could blow through it. For some reason that had always felt so relaxing.
She looked out at the distant mountains surrounding the city and watched a bolt of lightning arc from one set of dark clouds to another. A number of seconds later, a sharp clap of thunder rolled over the city.
Suddenly a thought struck her like a diamond bullet through the forehead.
More so than any other time in her life, she was free--- free to make her own choices, free to make her own life in whatever way she wished.
She peered up at the stars in the night sky. The constellations were different from those she'd grown up with, but just like those stars, these called to a part of her soul that she had rarely listened to. Just as the jungle she'd fought against had stirred some slumbering spirit within her, the stars above did that and much more. It was as if a song had been playing in her mind all her life, but only now did she understand the words.
Mei-Wan Lau knew where her life was headed, and for the first time she was ready for it.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Dark Horizon Story and Characters Copyright ©2006 Michael Gray
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