From t'Rogora, With Love

[Brian Graham 0]

Chief Security Officer's Duty Log

Lieutenant Commander Brian Graham Recording

USS Excalibur

Stardate 200507.16

 

The beamdown and been pretty uneventful as far as Brian was concerned. They had made it to the coordinates they needed to, Chen was able to get everyone onto the planet safely and the team was now making their way to the Romulan garrison, about five kilometers away. The trick was to get there without being spotted. At this point that danger was remote, as they were far enough from the base that a foot patrol wasn't practical. However, statistically, the danger of Romulan eyes (or disruptor beams) finding the awayteam increased with every step the awayteam took toward the Romulans. Scanners shouldn't be too much of a problem either. The environment the Romulans put their base in was thoroughly jungle. This allowed for the unprecedented amount of wildlife which provided enough natural sensor noise to pretty much mask their whereabouts.

 

Covert insertion, covert reconnaissance, covert extraction, foreign powers, license to kill. It was practically a James Bond movie that Brian had watched with his dad in the years of his adolescence up until he had left home for Starfleet. Being a devout admirer of the days when "Rule Britannia" and "For Queen and Country" were still household terms, before "that whole Earth unification business" his father had put it became reality, Brian temporarily reflected on those days, pretty much summed up by the old Union Jack flag in the front lawn and the way the Bond collection practically had a spot at the dinnertable. Though the Bond stuff didn't really catch his attention till he was about 15 seeing as the plots were a little too involved and the movies too long to hold his attention, after that they were always something to look forward to watching at home on breaks from the Academy and catching up on things with his dad before the break would end and he would head back to San Francisco.

 

It was those images of the fictional series that somewhat invaded his mind at the moment, except for the fact that he was in a Starfleet uniform instead of a tux, carried a Type I phaser instead of a PP7 pistol, was walking instead of driving an Aston Martin, and the only woman for miles was Doctor Delgado.

 

Arg, get back to reality, Brian berated himself for the irrelevant piece of nostalgia. If he didn't keep his thoughts on the here and now the repercussions could be unthinkable. The things that would transpire in the next few hours could end up in the Academy History classes of the future alongside Pearl Harbor or the Tiernar V Confrontation. Good heavens, if there's an Academy left after this...

 

More thoughts to be banished. Everyone on the awayteam would do their utmost to prevent such a thing and behind them every person in the Federation if the worst did happen. Such was the truth surrounding such things as galactic espionage.

 

Moments before, as the team had been planning, Brian had looked at everybody just to remember who was with him as well as to get some perspective over what was at stake. He had been trained to be a protector, it was his duty, and with Brian, nothing came before duty. Just to remind himself, he had mentally cycled through everybody. Chen, of all the people here, Chen was the one Brian worked with the most so far. Mostly because the current mission had required the coordination of Science and Security. Irregardless, Brian respected the guy, despite some of the prejudices he had encountered at the Academy. The Science cadets tended to look down on most of the other divisions, especially Security. Many a lounge brawl was broken up with a blue-tinted uniform in one corner and a gold-tinted uniform in the other corner. Situation was always the same too, Science guy had thrown some words, something about sub-standard cranium or whatever, but Security guy had thrown the first punch. Brian had heard the same story a thousand times the semester he did his Security internship his final year and grew to dread Saturday nights. Sometimes he just saved time and waited outside the lounge instead of waiting for the call to show up. Delgado, showed up at the last minute, but it never hurt to have a Doctor around on a mission like this. All Brian had seen of her was routine check-ups and attention from work-related Security dealings and the occasional Senior Staff meeting. Not much to go on with her personally, but her profession said a lot. Doctors, despite doing a job that was completely opposite of his, were an admirable corps. Usually non-combatants, they still went into combat for the purpose of helping those who did and putting themselves in the same dangers just because they wanted to help people. It had been done for centuries and would be done for centuries more. Their field of study was pretty intense and they usually just went through the motions of combat training, passing but giving it the least attention just because it went against practically all they stood for. Then there was Baund. Brian knew the least about him since they had only met when Baund had been rescued, and at that time Brian had considered him a threat, just because there was the possibility. Even though he had no real knowledge of him, and hadn't got to know him, Baund wore the uniform and that was all Brian needed to care.

 

If the Romulans did injure, or worse, kill any of the awayteam, Brian would tear them all to pieces, and enjoy it. Well, at least till the disruptor beams hit me. That would be how it would end, but Brian wanted to take a few with him.

 

Leaving the violent and impulsive thoughts behind, Brian continued to move through the assorted branches and undergrowth making up the path, hoping the last five minutes of his brain wanderings were just that.