I really must try decaff

[Atragon9 0]

::Pacing in his Ready Room::

 

Damn, Damn DAMN!!! Through my stupidity and my lazy sense of duty, I attack the Vern family again!

 

Just a simple mission, so simple... find out the source of the energy emissions from Mars. Heck, it's in our own backyard! Drop a few sensor probes, take some readings, have a good night's sleep and go on home. ARRGGGGHHHHH, why is nothing ever simple for Manticore?

 

So the probe goes dead and we send a shuttle down. Then it gets attacked and we even lose a member of the crew, so what do I do? Do I pack up our tents and leave? Nooooo, that would make sense!!! That would be the best course. Put a lid over it with a big sign that says "Keep Away."

 

::long pause::

 

::Quietly, in measured tones:: So I let my Command Staff convince me that we need to send down a team in EVA suits and that I should send down the Command Staff itself! Why did I listen? Do I think we're all invincible? Ensign Hayden wasn't invincible, was she? And now Sovak... now Sovak is lying in Sickbay in some sort of a coma. I've gotten the report from the team - and I bit their heads off for good measure ::sigh:: I guess I couldn't yell at myself in there - I just need to learn to keep my rage in check sometimes. I remember when they were calling me Ahab when I was on the quest to get Melville, I bet they'll dust off that title again after that "briefing."

 

So now Sovak lays unconscious and I keep flashing back to his brother, sitting in the Command Chair while I went out for the joyride - his brother dead when it should have been me on the deck that day - and now this!

 

And now the energy transmissions have stopped and I get this ... Order! ::throws the PADD he's been clutching across the room:: we are to "return to the Chasma and investigate the source further," now that it's gone silent. Oh Fercryingoutloud!!!

 

::long pause::

 

::very quietly:: This time, I go myself...