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."