From: Lord Ihcalam (swiften_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jan 07 2008 - 14:25:19 PST
============
"Footnote"
============
Location: MEDUSA station
Star Date: 2423 [2.8] 0102.1557
Scene: Ready Room
Like everything on MEDUSA station, the table was state of the art. It's
horizontal surface had no visible means of support. Bursting with pride, the
CEO had explained the clever use of technology. It was, in fact, entirely
liquid in its construction. Without the constant influx of zero-point energy,
the whole table would be nothing more than a strange puddle on the floor.
Thanks to the wonders of Starfleet Engineering, it was solid. It resisted the
pull of gravity and the weight of elbows, coffee cups and PADs.
Although the Ready Room was far from any exterior wall, a realtime image of the
MEDUSA Nebula appeared on the glass-smooth surface of the table. The
phenomenon was a constant explosion of color.
Although the table was at the cutting edge of technology, Captain Sharpa's
chair was ancient. It was made of leather, and it creaked softly as the
Captain sat down. "Sisyphus," the Child of Tama sighed. Refering to the
figure of Greek legend, Sharpa repeated, "Sisyphus, his shoulder to the stone."
The sublime table held a stack of extremely mundane reports. Sharpa turned his
attention to the first. With the eyes of a veteran officer, he scanned the
display screen. Satisfied, he signed the report and entered it into the ship's
archive.
About a third of the way through the stack, the Captain read something that
made his heart sink. <<From the Office of Starfleet Personnel. Deceased: Gene
McInnis.>> In less than ten words, an entire life was brought to an end.
"Arlington," Sharpa murmured. "White markers in tidy rows."
There were no details in the report. Sharpa wondered if his old friend had
suffered.
The Captain ran his dark hand over the smooth surface of the table. "Viewer
off," he instructed. The table went dark. In his lifetime, the veteran
officer had seen great strides in technology. Starfleet engineering had
produced miracles. But it wasn't technology that made Starfleet into a great
power, Sharpa mused silently to himself, it was people like McInnis. Even if
technology failed, people like McInnis would find a way to succeed -- to do the
right and necessary thing.
"Arthur," Sharpa intoned like a blessing. "King Arthur, carried across the
mists to Avalon."
Rising from the table, Sharpa opened a storage compartment and withdrew a dusty
bottle of Scotch. Returning to the table, he pushed the reports aside. The
Captain poured the amber liquid into two glasses.
Slowly, he drank from one glass and thought about the man who should be
drinking from the other.
-------------------------
NRPG: In memory of Gene McInnis.
--------------------
NRPG: Mike Huber played the inimitable Captain Sharpa, Gene's first commanding
officer aboard the USS SUTTNER. I am gratified beyond words that he took the
time to come back to me with this post. Thank you, Mike. You always were one
of the good ones. -- Kenneth
====
Col Bret Maverick
Company Commander, 3rd Recon-Tango Company
USS Patriot NCC-5781-A
====
V Adm Adam Heyting
Public Relations Office
San Francisco
====
Maj Hunter Williams
2nd Batallion, 5th Regiment Commander
USS Vincennes NCC-82559
Task Force 44, Group Shadow
====
The entirety of pain, the finality of death,
and out of the darkness he is born - All Mail is ©1999-2007
____________________________________________________________________________________
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