First Officer's Log: A Private Retreat

[Cmdr Ridire 0]

      Aidan closes his eyes as a gust of wind runs over him bringing the smell of mixed wildflowers to him.  He remains standing there for a few minutes as the wind takes on an ethereal haunting wail as it rushes over the landscape between the hill of Rathcroghan where Aidan is currently standing and the cairn of Carnfree 4 kilometers to the South.  Opening his eyes, he stares at Carnfree as the wind's wail takes on a banshee like quality.  Even in hologram form the area manages to exude the not so distant touch of the spirits of his ancestors, even if it was only through Aidan's memory of a childhood spent exploring the area.  He picks his way up Rathcroghan until he reaches it's flat top.  A smattering of ruins surrounding a large stone marker is all that is left to betray the fact that this simple and yet strangely imposing hill is the burial site of Irish kings and Celtic royalty.  

 

      Aidan had spent his childhood exploring Rathcroghan, Carnfree as well as other places such as the nearby Castle of Rindown, the places his family and clan held so much sway over.  So when he had left for the Academy he created a perfect

holo-representation of the area, down to the flowers, the sounds and the smells.  It was the one place when he was growing up that he was felt total peace at and in the bustle and complexity of life in the 24th century such things were to be treasured.

 

      He kneels down to examine a stone with a jagged groove bit out of it, the action of either a sword or an axe taken to the stone.  As he brushes the grass aside he remembers that while this place was peaceful to him, it was drenched in just as much blood and violence as it was in ceremony and royal grace.  As his mind briefly focuses on the unresolved situation with the Mji the sense of peace starts to slip away.  He knows the Captain and the Admiralty were right, that if the Mji didn't want the help, the Federation could hardly force it on them.  And yet, that is hardly a situation one found easy to accept.  He mutters "Needless suffering due to pride on one hand and greed on the other.  Amazing how little the universe has actually changed."