Subject: Grail:"The Great Brightness"-'Support'
Grail:"The Great Brightness"-'Support'
by:
LtCmdr. Janice Hargen
<<Stardate: 47307.30- 09:ish>>
<<Observation Lounge>>
Janice held Epic close to her, trying to soothe the anger, the fury within
him. She
was no empath, she knew, but it didn't take one to know how furious he was.
It
frightened her a little, seeing him like that... seeing his eyes turn so
white. She
would never be able to drive that vision from her mind. That someone could
be
driven so terribly mad...
She wanted to hate everyone who had done this to him. Everyone who entered
this
blasted meeting, everyone who turned against him. He had tried so hard, so
terribly
hard, and nothing was good enough for them. Nothing. She wanted to hate
them...
but she didn't. She couldn't. At least not now.
Her heart was too full now with sympathy, with caring. She wished she could
just hold him like this forever, and make everything all right. But even
as
she thought that, he pulled away from her, if only a little. She didn't
speak - she couldn't. All she could do was listen to him; it was what he
needed most of all now. To be listened to, finally.
"We will fail, Janice," he finally said. "I don't know how to move them, and
I am a fool and a weakling if I ask their aid. The only winning move is not
to play that game."
Janice's heart flew out to him. He sounded so despondent, so dejected. She
wanted to tell him that they wouldn't fail, that they would make it. They
were stronger than everything. But still, she listened, even when she had
so much to say to him.
Finally, he released her completely, standing straighter, as if coming to
a
decision. Resolve set in his eyes in place of the forlorn look before.
"They will all do as ordered. I will brook no revolt. And if your assistant
still objects to participating, allow her to abstain. We... I.. need no one
whose heart is not in this."
It tore Janice apart to hear him change that last phrase. Just the simple
word - 'I'. As if he was alone in this endeavor. She didn't know why,
but
she felt something towards him. She cared for him. Perhaps because he was
the first person whom she had opened up to in her life. And hadn't
destroyed her life as he so easily could have done. He had cared enough
about her to keep her secret. And she owed him everything because of it.
She would support him until the end of creation - as she would Eve, if it
came down to it.
Finally, she nodded. "I will tell Kait that she need not collaborate in
this endeavor. But Epic, please listen to me." She gently turned his head
so that he would look directly at her, into her eyes.
"We will not fail. We are greater than that. The crew is still new to
this, Epic. They still feel that they can run home if the going gets
tough. They still feel the hatred for being here, the anger. They haven't
yet accepted the truth of our situation. Not fully. But you are right.
We
need allies. We need people to help us fight the Borg - and fight we
will." She wished she could lend him her confidence in him, her faith.
She had heard rumors about him being an 'emotional vampire' and sucking the
emotions out of a person. She didn't believe it for a moment. But she
suddenly wished it were true, that he could take the confidence, the trust
she had in him. So he could return to being the strong Epic she knew.
"We will succeed, Epic. Don't give up before we have begun. Faith that we
will return, that we will prove all those Starfleet bureaucrats wrong -
that's all we've got left now. Don't ever lose that." She hugged him
quickly, and when he looked at her again, she was smiling.
"Now get out there and do what you do best. Lead us. And remember," she
added, her tone becoming serious again. "You are never alone."