Ruminations

[Cptn Corizon 0]

“I’ve paid my dues, time after time. I’ve done my sentence, but committed no crime.”

 

Mr. Pilot, launch the shuttle.

 

That sentence. Those, combinations of nouns and verbs and grammatical devices; it was the hardest task he’d ever faced. But the thought process to come to this place, it was no different than had he been deciding between eggs or bacon for breakfast.

 

Infact, after he gave the order, he didn’t feel anything different. Which stuck him as, odd. Afterall, it had been the first time he’d actually given orders to someone that could get them killed.

 

Sure, he’d planned battle strategies in the Dominion War. But somehow, he’d never carried that with him as burden, he’d never had blood on his hands. Sure, he came up with the plan that killed men, but ultimately, it wasn’t his fault.

 

So, it struck him odd, that at long last when he did give an order that could possibly cost lives, he felt exactly the same about that choice as he did any other.

 

They took the same oath I did. We’re here to protect the Federation, and if I die to do that, then I have made the ultimate sacrifice. He posited to himself.

 

He flicked his ears to either side, listening to the hum of the bridge as he waited for the next action in the galactic game being played out before his eyes. If Graham and Chen’s plan failed, then they would be dead. And the Excalibur would not have the luxury of trying again—if they failed, war would no longer be just rumbling beneath the surface, war would erupt on a galactic scale. And in all likely hood, he’d be responsible for it.

 

Most people would be torn apart by that consequence, not for some reason, Windu didn’t even consider that scenario. In his head, he focused solely on the task at hand, and what his immediate next move.