“Captain’s Log, Stardate 63849.1. It is my deepest regret that my attempts at negotiations with the Annecta have failed. My hope was that a truce between the two worlds could be established, but the Annecta are angry and unforgiving. After considerable contemplation and deliberation, and perhaps against my better judgement, I have made the decision to support Captain Santiago in his plan to deploy his chemical weapon against the Annecta. As much as I place the full responsibility of this situation on Jerad and the other irresponsible leaders of Draloos IV, I simply cannot allow any harm to come to the general populous. My major challenge now is a personal one…admitting to a man like Santiago that he was right for developing a weapon in the first place.”
Seth nervously approached Santiago’s Ready Room shortly after boarding the Excelsior. He was surprised by the nostalgic feel that he would experience as he walked across the archaic bridge. The design was older than even the Steamrunner-class starship that he had served on most of his life. Seth then felt a certain silliness for having felt nostalgia at such an age; any other captain or Admiral would laugh at him. Seth pressed the door chime.
“Come in,” Santiago said aloud in his Ready Room.
Santiago looked up from his desk, allowing only a grimace to creep up on his face. “What is it you want, Darren? You didn’t want me aboard your ship; I don’t want you on mine.”
“Alan…” Seth started, “Look, I wanted to tell you that I’ve decided to support you in your plan to use the toxin against the Annecta.”
Santiago looked suspicious, but still managed to turn his grimace into a half-smile. “What made you change your mind?”
Seth didn’t want to tell him. It was certainly a number of factors. But truthfully, it had mostly to do with the conversation that he had earlier with Santiago’s first officer, Commander Ariele – who Seth found could be very persuasive. “Dr. Min has so far been unable to synthesize an effective vaccine,” Seth admitted. “You are right. I am putting the entire human population at risk by waiting.”
Santiago stood up from his desk. “Well…if it means anything, I won’t say, ‘I told you so.’ Look, Darren, I’m not an idiot. I know that deploying a weapon that could destroy a newly discovered species is hardly an ideal choice. Admiral Kim is certainly going to have my head for this…but, weigh that against a billion human lives, and the choice becomes clear.”
“This wasn’t how I imagined my first mission would go. I certainly didn’t want you here with me.”
Santiago took some offense to his comment. “And what if I had not been here with you? Would you have developed the weapon on your own?”
“Of course not.”
“Then, had you reached this point without me, you would have been completely out of options.”
“You can’t say that. We don’t know what would have happened had we approached this mission differently.”
Santiago paused. “Darren, I have something that I need to admit to you. It has never been about trying to control your mission. I wanted to work together on this mission, like we did in the Academy days. Remember? You and I were…unstoppable.”
“I remember,” Seth replied.
“I still remember our rugby team winning the Federation championships against a team of Klingons…and you the one to lead us to that victory…with a sprained ankle, I might add. You were in the infirmary for a week after that game.”
“And it was the Klingons who called it a child’s game,” Seth said, unable to avoid laughing at the memory. “They certainly weren’t happy after that game.”
“There is something else,” Santiago said, pausing carefully before letting another word come from his mouth. “Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this, but…the Dragonfly…you didn’t just get her by chance. I convinced Admiral Roth that you deserved to command her.”
Seth was stunned.
“I laid out for him your extraordinary service record to date. Admiral Roth was swayed, but not convinced, in part because you were so young. But I told him that I was exactly the same age as you, and reminded him of my own performance as captain of the Excelsior, and eventually he agreed with me.
“He reminded me that there was a severe shortage of good captains nowadays, especially since enrollment into Starfleet had dwindled as a result of the Dominion War. I made sure that he understood that you were the right man to lead us into the new century. I put my name on the line so that you could have the Dragonfly.”
Seth didn’t know what to say. If there was one thing Red Squad-ers were not good at, it was admitting that they were wrong. And admitting something to a man like Santiago made it all the worse. “I’m sorry…I didn’t know. I regret some of things I said to you earlier.”
“Look, let’s just put this behind us. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“No, really…I feel like a fool now.”
“I said, don’t worry about it. I’m going to the laboratory to check on how Dr. Centress is doing on the weapon. Do you want to come?”
“No, that’s alright. I’m going return to my ship to talk with Dr. Min,” Seth said to him. “Alan…there’s one more thing that you should know.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“When I talked to the Annecta earlier they indicated to me that they knew about your weapon,” Seth warned.
Santiago swallowed. “…And?”
“They want your head.“
“And that didn’t deter you from deciding to help me? They might come after you now.”
“Look, just be careful. We know how vicious the Annecta can be.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” Santiago said. “And hey, Darren.”
Seth turned. “Yes, what is it?”
“It’s good to have you back.”
“Good luck.”
