On Regents and Memories

[Cptn Jack DeChevel 0]

Captain Jack DeChevel sat in his Ready Room looking at the monitor which had faded back to the LCARS screen. As a half-human, he'd worked twice as hard as most of the crew of his ship to reach his position, and he hadn't done it by being uninformed or fool-hardy. He wanted to know everything about Regent N'Dak that he could, especially with the less than idle threats the Elasian hurled at the commander of the Agincourt.

 

Harper stood a few feet away from him, reporting as ordered. She glanced at the captain, looking him over; the communiqué with the Lord Regent had obviously upset him.

 

He motioned to the chair opposite him. "Have a seat, Colonel."

 

Charlotte settled herself comfortably in the seat, crossing her legs and letting one hand dangle languidly over the armrest. She worked hard to repress a smirk. It was always good to have the non-humans and half-breeds reminded of their true place in the scheme of things -- tolerated at best, obliterated at worst.

 

"Something I can do for you, Captain?"

 

Jack looked her over a few times; she was a typical pure-blood. Disdainful of half-breeds like himself. That very word annoyed him, and it had become a death sentence to say it on the Agincourt since he took over. "What do you know about the Lord Regent?"

 

"Quite a bit, actually," Harper replied, "but I assume you studied the Empire-Elasiaan Treaties in school just as I did." She smiled disarmingly.

 

He nodded. "I was actually assigned to the Danteri Sector shortly after conquest, but I only heard of the man in rumors, and the one time I met him, it was little more than a passing handshake."

 

"Ahh..." She leaned back in her chair, exhaling in pleased memory. "Then you've missed a spectacular sight, Captain. Spectacular."

 

Lifting an eyebrow. "Really?"

 

"You heard about Remus, naturally."

 

"I heard about it," he said. "But at the time I was aboard the Gideon, out past the old Gorn Empire."

 

He paused for a moment. "You were there, weren't you? At the Battle of Romulus?"

 

A rare true smile lit her face. "I was. And I was on an orbital warship long enough to watch the bombing begin."

 

"That must have been... amazing." A note of true interest in his eyes.

 

"Awe-inspiring." A hazy look entered her eyes as she thought back. "We discussed it at the briefing, of course. The Elasian fleet was to obliterate Remus first, then lay down orbital bombardment of Romulus with more conventional weapons. But until you see..."

 

"Mass Drivers," Jack said detached. "I've always wanted to see that in person... my mother was a weapons engineer."

 

"At first," Harper said softly, momentarily feeling a kinship to the man, "it seems so flat. Disappointing." She glanced out the viewport as though she could see it there. "A flash of light from the kick-accelerator, and a blur you can barely see without scanners that's the asteroid. But then... oh, then there's a bright light, like a comet, in the planet's atmosphere, and a dark plume behind it. And as another falls, and another, the whole globe becomes a ball of roiling smoke and flickering fires... 'Nothing besides remains,'" she quoted softly.

 

With eyes of a child at Christmas, Jack looked a bit hazy. "A once in a life time chance indeed."

 

"Indeed." For a moment Harper looked at him with the eyes of a comrade, and smiled.

 

"Well," he said finally. "We'll have to make sure we don't draw his ire to much. From what I could tell, we'd be no match for the Soltok, would you agree with my assessment?"

 

"Absolutely," she replied at once. "Agincourt is a match for the average Elasian cruiser, but the Regent's flagship is a floating weapons platform."

 

Another nod. "So I can see. He seems a bit..." She waited, lifting one brow curiously. He couldn't find a word. "Jumpy? No..."

 

Harper chuckled. "The Regent has a well-developed sense of healthy paranoia, Captain," she said. "He earned his position on it, after all."

 

Jack laughed slightly. "I suppose... or kept, anyway. I was recalling what he did to the Danteri. He has no mercy, that's for sure."

 

A one-shouldered shrug. "Mercy has no place in leadership."

 

Holding a thought back. "I suppose not, a lesson I'll have to keep in mind in dealing with him."

 

"Wise," Harper agreed, inclining her head gravely. "But so long as we complete this mission quickly, we should have no trouble with them."

 

"Agreed," he finally said. "I want the Marines on the planet ASAP. Find out what the bloody hell is going on down there. Kill every one of those stinking lizards if you have to."

 

"With pleasure, Captain." A wicked grin danced on her lips.

 

He waved his hand dismissively.

 

With an easy grace, she stood and saluted before leaving with a light step.