Subject: Grail: "Unexplored Spaces"-`The Edge'

<<Stardate: 47307.18- 18:00>>

<<En route to Sickbay>>

Captain Epic Terrakian stood silently shaking in the unmoving turbolift. Blood ran down his chin and his back throbbed with pain. He had made a terrible mistake.

He had figured that if he could confront Brinn on her own playing field, if he could show her that he was willing to do whatever it took to win her over to his side, she would finally find some way to be what he needed her to be. Some way to work with him.

But, no.

She was determined to do all she could to ruin him. He had shown her strength, and she mocked him. He had shown her compassion, and she mocked him. He had shown her duty, and she had done her duty. But she mocked him. She had no reason. She had no right. But, she had done it anyway.

He was condemned to this mission by a system that did not want him. He was condemned to this command by a father he did not even know he had until it was too late. And now, he stood bleeding and furious and in agony, his tongue teasing the nerves of his broken teeth. And why?

Because the one person he thought would be strong enough to help him succeed had driven him to the point of violence. The one he had thought for sure had the knowledge, skill, and experience to be his partner against the Delta Quadrant, was an irrational and psychopathic drunk.

Her sense of duty precluded Starfleet. She thought herself superior. She thought her Corp superior. But, it had always been that way with the Terran Marines. They had always thought themselves better than those who fought and died supporting them. They proclaimed honor above all. But that wasn't so. They were self-serving. If it suited them, they were the best. If it didn't. you couldn't count on them.

Because they had Duty. Honor. For whom or for what? Epic had no idea.

And he had failed against Brinn because he wasn't like her. He could have employed other methods to subdue her, but he refrained. He could have simply taken her mind from her. With her telepathic prowess, it would have been difficult. But, Epic had prowess also. But, he wouldn't do that. He did not want to hurt her soul or her spirit or her mind.

He just wanted her to help him bring these people back home. But, he sighed, she wasn't going to do that. And if she did, she would do it completely at his expense. Epic shook his head at the senselessness of it. The things she did, she did for no reason.

So, now what? There were no recourses left. She could not be reasoned with. She could not be befriended. She could not be controlled. She had no respect for his authority, his compassion, his courage, his strength. She was like a machine who was programmed specifically to ruin Epic Terrakian.

Why?

He was never going to know that answer because she would never tell him. She would never tell him because that, too, would make things easier for him.

And she wasn't about to do that.

Because she hated him.

And maybe that wasn't the complete truth. She didn't even think enough of him to hate him.

She simply hated.

"Sickbay.", Epic commanded the turbolift, pain flaring as his tongue touched the nerves of his raw mouth.

<<Little help, Doctor Ramius?>>