The Report - A McFly Log

[McFly 0]

Matt had been distant ever since the fleet arrived on that abandoned planet in the Neutral Zone. The fighting stopped, the danger was gone, and now Matt had nothing left to distract his mind. Everything finally rushed in, the guilt, the pain, the frustration. Everything to tell him how wrong he had been and how tired he was of fighting. Not just of enemies but of loves.

 

He loved Kansas but had grown weary of her disrespect. Years ago, when he was a security grunt, when he was the assistant to Precip, then becoming chief, back when he was the second officer, he used to think he could never live without her. But now... now as Captain, now that he's the one she's disagreeing with instead of the one she's just venting to, now that he has to worry about her insubordination in the eyes of the crew and not just be able to step back allowing "the brass" the handle it, now... he doesn't know. Maybe it's not worth the trouble anymore.

 

But then, the problem that taunted him every time his anger built up thinking about Kansas. Every time he thought about how she fought him, how she quite literally fought him, undermining his command decisions and nearly killing the entire crew. Every time he feels he can't control the rage and the only outlet is his fist through a wall, the problem laughs in his face and taunts him like a child... She was right. Had he only listened to her... to his son, the entire mission could have ended completely differently.

 

Matt sat in a debriefing room trying to think about what he was going to tell Jaffee. But every time he tried to focus on the words all he could do was replay the events over and over again in his mind. Flashes of regret assaulted his mind every time he closed his eyes. The choices he should have made differently stabbed his chest with every heartbeat. Then he opens his eyes to the sterile, grey room he was told to wait for Jaffee in. What would she even believe? 

 

The sound of the automatic doors whooshing open distracted his train of thought. He watched Jaffee sit across from him then scroll through a padd. She told him how serious Starfleet was taking the situation and that his career was depending on the testimony of the entire crew. 

 

It's not like he was the first Captain to lose a ship. Hell, he wasn't even the first one to lose a ship within the last 12 months. But he didn't have the prestige of Captain Picard to get off by saying "we did everything we could."

 

So he tells the story, as he knew it. About stumbling across a derelict runabout whose pilot ended up being his son from the future. Except it wasn't actually his son, it was the son of Kansas and Jaenke whom his future self seemingly adopted. He told about the warning his son brought from the future that Matt heeded but with a grain of salt. Was it arrogance that made him think he could save everyone and still change the future? He wasn't sure but that's what he did. He wanted no one to die and in turn hundreds of people did... of his own crew.

 

He also told about his second officer, how she was desperate to appeal to him with making the decision to do the hard thing that he was desperate to avoid. How in her desperation she resorted to extreme tactics to do what she felt was necessary. 

 

His final confession was that everything he tried to avoid happened and everything he was warned about also happened. With the exception of that bad timeline. At least, they think it hasn't happened. With no evidence to corroborate any of it his expectations for believability were low. 

 

And that's when he watched Jaffee pull up a file on the large wall display. His mouth slowly gapped open as he saw small snippets of data that had been retrieved by the USS Kieran just before they detonated the self-destruct on Manticore. 

 

"They don't have a complete picture," she said, "but it's enough to prove everyone is telling the truth." 

 

The display cascaded scans of Nathan's runabout, the genetics data from sickbay, the scans Bren took of the weapon then finally ending in a report from the USS Vertical of the debris field where Starbase 23 once stood. Signatures from Starfleet, Romulan and Jem'Hadar all chrono-dated to modern day. Nothing else existed. 

 

He sat in complete disbelief. He knew for certain no one would take their story for anything other than a desperate captain clinging to his command. 

 

"One final thing," Jaffee said as she clasped her hands and leaned onto the desk, "your report about Commander Kenickie concerns me. Not only because of your closeness to her and what I feel is a compromise of your decision-making abilities but also a concern about her affect on the crew as well as a threat to the ship."

 

"Hold on," he snapped up saying, "everything she does is in protection of that ship." He heard himself as he spoke, realizing he was still defending her. Maybe Jaffee was right, he thought. His decision-making skills are sorely compromised when she's involved. He chuckled inwardly to himself. 

 

"I understand," she said as tactfully as possible trying to avoid a conflict, "regardless, your own report and that of others state otherwise. But... all her other attributes speak volumes as well. So, I'm giving you the choice. What do you recommend we do about Commander Kenickie?"

 

"...I, uh... Maybe..." He stumbled over his words as if Jaffee just asked him if Vulcan and Romulan meat tastes the same. 

 

"I can give you time to think about it-"

 

"No." He said cutting her off. "I think... I think... maybe now's the time to offer her a new assignment."