"Unresolved Issues"

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

"Unresolved Issues"

Commander Elias Moore

Fleet Officer's Starlog: June 1, 2154

 

Doctor Macey stared across the wide marble table (and the heavy silence that hung over it) at her patient. Another one of her Starfleet officers. The wider Earth's space program expanded, the more her clientele grew (as did the ratio of Fleeters to civilians). The space program was bringing wonderful technological advances to the people of Earth, there was no doubt. But space travel just wasn't the ticket to psychological well-being.

 

"How are you feeling today, Elias?" Doctor Macey broke the silence as it was clear that the Commander was not going to initiate the discussion. He was too busy staring out the window at the ocean, probably lost in one of his warp-induced daydreams. Whenever was Starfleet finally going to start assigning qualified therapists to their starships? "... Commander?"

 

Elias snapped his attention back to Doctor Macey. "Oh... fine... wonderful. Enjoying life as a Commander, undoubtedly." He lifted the datapad that he had been holding at his side and slid it across the marble table. "My first command orders."

 

Doctor Macey lifted the pad and read. "Ah, you're returning to the orbital construction yards. This was your first Starfleet assignment, correct?"

 

"That's right." Elias nodded. "Same thing. Warp Five Drive."

 

"Which means you'll be working under your father again?"

 

Elias laughed and grabbed the bridge of his nose. "Nope, nope, not this time. He's been promoted. He's now a Senior Project Leader ... mostly paperwork, forming schedules, dealing with Fleet Command--more of the bureaucratic aspect, really. I'll still send my reports to him and his colleagues, but the two of us will mostly be out of contact. I'm replacing him as the Warp Drive Project Leader."

 

"Ah, so this will be your first serious command assignment." Doctor Macey smiled. "You must be excited."

 

Elias signed and rose from his chair. He walked to the window and resumed his staring. Of course, Doctor Macey thought, he isn't staring at the ocean at all. He's staring at the sky. A typical trait of her experienced Fleet officers ... they all felt out-of-place when there was Earth beneath their feet. "Four months. They want me to oversee the construction of a Warp Five Drive, a construction that was originally slated to reach completion over a year from now ... in four months. And that doesn't just include the construction itself. It includes exhaustive testing, meticulous safety inspections, and the eventual installation. Apparently, Starfleet's gone into some sort of emergency mode after the attacks on Earth, so they want the ship launched in September. And after everything I'll have to go through over the next few months to meet their deadlines, they sure as hell better give me the chief engineer post this time!"

 

Macey stifled a sigh and looked down to straighten out a wrinkle in her skirt and to hide any expressions of annoyance that might have shown themselves. Here we go again. "You're still upset about being left off the Enterprise roster?"

 

"No!" Elias shot a look at her and lapsed into his old tone. "Not left off the roster! They offered me an assistant position. An assistant position! As if I was going to take it. The chief position, Charles Tucker got. Or was given ... by his good buddy Archer. And now he's out there ... with my Warp Five Engine! The engine that I was slaving over in the trenches. There wasn't an officer in the fleet who knew more about that engine than I did, who deserved to be its caretaker more. But pretty boy got the position." He looked back at the window and mumbled something inaudible, most likely about "Earthers sticking together," Macey was sure. Martian patients were rare, but she got one from the Academy every now and then, so she knew them well enough.

 

"But your prospects of earning the position on this ship, the ... " Macey glanced at the datapad. "The Challenger are significant, correct? And you'll be working on the warp drive for this one as well. Isn't it basically the same thing?"

 

Elias shook his head. "It's not. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want out of the Solar system, I want to be out there exploring, and this should be my opportunity. But it will only be the second ship launched. There's a big difference between the frontiersman who takes the first steps into bold, new territory ... and the one who just follows in his footsteps."

 

"Your choice of words there is interesting." Doctor Macey remarked. "'Follows in his footsteps.' You still look at an assignment like this as an opportunity to prove yourself to your father."

 

Elias let out his trademark derisive laugh again. "There you go, twisting my words around again. I have nothing to prove to my father. So he broke the Warp 4 threshold. So everyone who works for him respects and admires him. So his name's been mentioned in one science journal after another. So what? I'm a Commander in Starfleet. If I have to prove anything, it's to the baboons running Starfleet that I should have gotten the Enterprise job, not Pretty Boy Trip."

 

Doctor Macey raised an eyebrow at him. "It's very easy to unleash your animosity on someone you don't know very well personally, when it's someone who's much closer that you won't admit is the cause of it."

 

Elias turned away from the window and narrowed his eyes at her. There was another moment of silence before he pulled away and headed toward the door. Halfway through, he stopped and faced her. "I leave San Fran for the fleet yards tomorrow. This is probably the last time you'll see me. Your assistance has been invaluable, Doctor. I'll transfer the funds for this session before I leave."

 

"You've confessed a lot of yourself to me, Elias." Macey cut him off before he could shut the door. "During our sessions. Because you needed someone to talk to, and it's my job to listen and keep what you say between us. But once you're out that door, you'll climb back into your shell. You'll bury your feelings again."

 

"And do my duty." Elias responded. "It's required of a Fleet officer."

 

"I'm not so sure of that. I don't know Starfleet well, but I know that times are changing, and even the military must be changing with them. If you do find yourself outside of our star system, I hope there will be someone on your ship in whom you can confide yourself, as you've done in this office." Elias didn't respond. "Good luck up there, Commander."

 

"Thank you Doctor." Elias nodded and stepped out the office, half wishing he could have spent more time with his therapist, half resenting that he exposed himself to her ...