I will not fail.

[Cassie Granger 0]

I will not fail. *

Johnson-Granger Joint Log

 

It was a hot, sticky night on the Florida coast, but that didn’t seem to bother Kimiko too much. The neighborhood for the most part was peaceful, save for the occasional pops and crackles from leftover fireworks some of the locals were setting off. Quietly sitting on the front porch of the team’s safe house, a cold bottle of beer in hand, the Major looked out into the night’s sky. The faint glow from the artificial lights of the Kennedy Space Center blended into the background.

 

“Beautiful sight, ma’am.” Cass pointed the neck of her beer bottle in the direction of Kennedy Space Center as she lolled against the railing. She’d come out to the porch with apparently the same intent as the major: relax and take in the view, enjoy what little time they'd have off.

 

Most of Delta was imbedded with NASA security and other federal agencies, so they were gone, but they stayed in contact, contingency plans in place for whatever might happen. Only Tasha Hammond, Delta’s hospital corpsman, was at the safe house. She’d been assigned in a similar capacity with Cass, the major, and Cmdr Rinax - making the boys look good and feeding their egos by doing most of their work while they took all the credit. Of course, doing most of the work for the big boys let “the ladies” into all kinds of secure nooks and crannies, which was always a good thing.

 

Smiling, Kimi looked over at the Marine Captain. “Yes it is. Shame we don’t get very many nights like these being crammed on a starship.” She ran the cold bottle along her forehead briefly. “Too bad the air has to be so damned sticky. I’m not a fan of the Southeast coast. I’m more of a West coast girl.” A small thud is heard in the distance, followed by a burst of light in the air.

 

Cass watched the bottlerocket burst, spraying colors every which way then melting away to nothing. "Stars don’t twinkle in space,” she said wistfully, “something I miss all the time I’m deployed. Bertaria colony, where I grew up...” she waved a hand across the horizon... “broad, crystal-clear skies most of the time, the climate being closer to west coast or southwest North America. So I’m with you on the ‘so damned sticky’ part. Guess if you grew up with this kind of humidity you'd be used to it." Shrugging, she emptied her bottle and looked around for the recycler, finally realizing she wouldn’t find one in this era.

 

"Some time when you have a minute I'd like to discuss some things, ma'am."

 

Kimiko smiled as she reached down to the side of her seat, grabbing another ice cold bottle and offering it to Cass. “I have time now. What’s up?”

 

After a two-pointer into the trash bin, Cass settled next to the major and popped the top of her second brew.

 

“First off, my name’s Cassidy Ross, and I’ll be your interrogator for the evening.” Her grin dissolved as she took a sip then dangled the bottle between her legs as she stared across the bay.

 

“Seriously, ma’am,” she began quietly, “we were both thrown into this mission blind. I burst into your territory on Challenger with Delta just before the time jump and we’ve not even had a chance to properly introduce ourselves. Figure this is as good a chance as any, and if we really get to know each other we might be able to sidestep crash and burn on this mission, if not avoid it altogether.”

 

“Well Cassidy,” Kimi started as she too looked out at the bay. “I’m not much of a crash and burn kind of person. We simply don’t have an option on this one. We either succeed or we end up failing and alter the timeline.” She leaned back a little, her hands lightly tugging at the hem of her gyms shorts. “I know that we’ve all been tossed into a new situation with a new team, and hell, I doubt the majority of us have even thought of time travel before. But we just have to believe that we will make it.”

 

"Oh I always believe we'll make it, Major, I’m just worried about how and in what kind of shape. I'm wondering if we have a contingency plan if things go south, especially if we lose the ship. What’s the exit strategy, where do we go to survive in this era if we don't get out? If we don't have a plan, now might be a good time to figure that out."

 

“Well,” The Major thought for a minute, taking a sip of beer. “I imagine if we fail or are unable to make it back to the ship, we would acclimate ourselves into society and live out our lives here without contaminating the timeline.”

 

"I imagine that's a good way of putting it," Cass conceded, “living our lives out here would be easy for some, not so easy for others. Our corpsman, Tasha, has relatives in the southwest she could hook up with. Same with a few others. Me? I was born offworld and don’t even know who might be here now or where.

 

“My thought? Going to known family could create more questions than answers. It might be better to stay away from everyone and form our own colony so we can both help and keep a watch on each other. Knowing what the future has in store could lead to a lot of unintentional slip-ups. It's going to be hard to not contaminate the timeline regardless. A casual mention of Starfleet, replicators, transporters... hell, anything we take for granted now could present a real problem.” Suddenly her beer didn’t quite taste the same.

 

“All the more reason we can’t fail this mission, Cass.”

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*From the US Navy SEAL Creed

Edited March 10, 2013 by Cassie Granger