03-21-2025, 04:03 AM
All things considered, the fact that Tyra didn’t immediately judo throw him to the ground and start beating the snot out of him was a good sign. In fact, Nathan took it as a small victory. Though he still felt the anger and rage that was within her even as his arms had enveloped Tyra, the embrace had affected her; bringing everything from a full roil to a simmer.
When he had released her and pulled just the slightest bit away, Tyra had grabbed his elbow. Nathan looked down at the gesture before looking back up to her face. It was clear there was confusion written in her expression. That only made Nathan keep going with his information. However, the further he went the more that Tyra seemed befuddled by it all. That addled expression changing and morphing as he went on, and the rage that he had initially quelled began to rise up again. Nathan could see it in her eyes. Though as he finished, Tyra displayed her inner flame loud and clear with her jaw grinding against some unseen bit.
Once he finally shut up and let Tyra get a word in edgewise, she spoke. It didn’t sound like she had much of any answers either. Starfleet had sent them out here, but the way that Tyra had said it made it seem like it was a random errand and not specific to what was going on; even less likely that she was sent to find him. But her next words poured gasoline onto the already burning dumpster fire of trust that Nathan had in Starfleet Command. Something was happening behind the scenes, he knew that much. Something rotten.
Tyra took a stride, but kept her body turned towards him so that they were still engaged face to face. The tug of her long braid yet another outward sign of her inner turmoil and frustrations. It unnerved Nathan slightly, but it also shot a pang of concern through him too. He hated seeing Tyra like this. Even when he was a Midshipman, and provided her no shortage of moments to see his new lows, it was her disappointment and frustration that hurt him the most in those days. Right then he could feel those same feelings and it hurt no less than it had back then; even if, perhaps, he wasn’t the cause of it.
"No, I didn't know…”
Now it was Nathan’s turn to show some frustration. Had they left him out to dry? It wouldn’t have surprised him, as that was something he had considered when he initially took the offer. That they were sending him on a one way mission. It was why he’d made provisions for that possibility too. But the Artemis finding him was far better than his backup options.
“...We only engaged it because, frankly, I was tired of playing with sensor buoys. Shocking, I know.”
At that, Nathan openly chuckled and shook his head.
The more things change… he thought to himself.
“Hell, I'm not even suppose to be here, much less in command.”
There was a pause from Tyra as she moved, and Nathan wondered if it would have been nice to be a Betazed in that moment; to be able to read her thoughts. It had been one of his primary concerns after learning that the Artemis had indeed picked him up, that Crawford could have been removed from command. It was why he’d hedged so much on dropping her name. The relief that Nathan had felt, knowing she was still the one running things aboard the ship, would have been palpable to anyone who’d been in his presence.
As Tyra settled on the transporter pad, Nathan cracked his neck in response to her next line of inquiry. There was so much that he could tell her, though he wasn’t sure exactly how’d she take it. Nevermind that in the process of trying to wriggle his way out of things, he’d broken his usual rules of honesty that he rarely made exceptions for. Tyra probably wouldn’t care, Nathan considered. She might even congratulate him on taking yet another step away from his moral idealism.
“Oh good, you are sitting for this,” he joked.
“Look, a long story short. Or, at least shorter than it can be.”
“I had sent your message to Logan. Was about to leave for the Crusader, after rapidly packing my duffel bag. Opened the door, and there they were waiting for me. Armed officers in Security uniforms. Basically, I was informed that I was going to be charged and going to court martial. The list of charges was long. Longer than they had any right to be, with a lot of trumped up bullshit thrown into the mix of some that were… well, a couple of them were pretty on the money. Especially the stuff related to Pomn. They threatened me. You. Ben. Basically anyone who might have remotely been involved with the whole thing.”
Nathan rubbed the back of his neck and began to pace, keeping himself turned out slightly so that Tyra could still see his face and expressions. Pomn. What a cluster that had been. Nathan felt so stupid for even having done the whole damn thing, and even stupider for considering that - if he had to do it again - he probably would. Differently though? Certainly.
Have I even really learned anything?
“It did feel rather shadowy. Nobody would give me their names or who they were working for. So I clammed up. Asked for a lawyer. When they finally gave me one and I figured out that they, the lawyer that is, was legitimate, I loosened up a little. But I stayed aloof and vigilant.”
Nathan paused his pacing for a moment, formulating and condensing information into something more manageable than telling Tyra about his entire ordeal. Then his random walking about continued.
“The lawyer helped me negotiate with them, and eventually got them to make me an offer. They’d wipe my slate clean, provide me with full amnesty from the charges they had, and anything else that might come up from revelations in the future about Pomn. In return, I had to provide some information, with specifics about the Klingons we had faced on Pomn, and the cartel. I also had to agree to do this mission…”
Nathan sighed and paused again.
“...that felt like a trap. I argued, of course, against having to do the mission. They didn’t relent about that part at all. I just didn’t see a way to avoid getting shitcanned out of Starfleet.”
His face fell downward as he looked at his boots, a pained look crossing his face momentarily. Nathan’s hands turned to fists, released, and repeated. After a few cycles of that, he finally looked directly at Tyra with solemnity.
“Just when I had finally felt like I was building myself up on the Crusader,” a brief smile dawned and faded all in one swoop.
“Felt like I was actually contributing instead of being a hot mess express the whole damn time. I know I wasn’t always terrible on the Getty. Or the Artemis, with you. Mostly not terrible, with brief but spectacular interludes of terrible. But being on the Crusader had been freeing. A fresh start. A different era without the baggage. I was taking what I had learned from all those mistakes, all those talks and heart to hearts with you, and I was actually putting them to good use.”
There was a silence that spanned a couple of moments, as his eyes drifted off target and just stared at the back of the transporter pad wall.
“It felt like I had to at least try to save it, right? Or else, what was it all for?”
Nathan cleared his throat before returning to the tracks he was beginning to make on the floor of the transporter room.
“So, I made them draw up the agreement and assurances before I said anything. Plus, I asked for you to be removed from the whole affair. That you had nothing to do with it all and that you should stay in command of the Artemis. The lawyer looked at it and nodded. I told the rest of them I needed to read the whole thing, which pissed them off, but I was adamant.”
“I scoured that thing, and finally found a name; buried not at the end of the document, but somewhere in between. Far enough in that they probably hoped I wouldn’t see it, and in a spot that wasn’t obvious. The person who had the authority for it all. Who might have started this whole damn witch hunt.”
Through clenched teeth, he spat the name out,
“Admiral Yegorov.”
== right back 'atcha ==
When he had released her and pulled just the slightest bit away, Tyra had grabbed his elbow. Nathan looked down at the gesture before looking back up to her face. It was clear there was confusion written in her expression. That only made Nathan keep going with his information. However, the further he went the more that Tyra seemed befuddled by it all. That addled expression changing and morphing as he went on, and the rage that he had initially quelled began to rise up again. Nathan could see it in her eyes. Though as he finished, Tyra displayed her inner flame loud and clear with her jaw grinding against some unseen bit.
Once he finally shut up and let Tyra get a word in edgewise, she spoke. It didn’t sound like she had much of any answers either. Starfleet had sent them out here, but the way that Tyra had said it made it seem like it was a random errand and not specific to what was going on; even less likely that she was sent to find him. But her next words poured gasoline onto the already burning dumpster fire of trust that Nathan had in Starfleet Command. Something was happening behind the scenes, he knew that much. Something rotten.
Tyra took a stride, but kept her body turned towards him so that they were still engaged face to face. The tug of her long braid yet another outward sign of her inner turmoil and frustrations. It unnerved Nathan slightly, but it also shot a pang of concern through him too. He hated seeing Tyra like this. Even when he was a Midshipman, and provided her no shortage of moments to see his new lows, it was her disappointment and frustration that hurt him the most in those days. Right then he could feel those same feelings and it hurt no less than it had back then; even if, perhaps, he wasn’t the cause of it.
"No, I didn't know…”
Now it was Nathan’s turn to show some frustration. Had they left him out to dry? It wouldn’t have surprised him, as that was something he had considered when he initially took the offer. That they were sending him on a one way mission. It was why he’d made provisions for that possibility too. But the Artemis finding him was far better than his backup options.
“...We only engaged it because, frankly, I was tired of playing with sensor buoys. Shocking, I know.”
At that, Nathan openly chuckled and shook his head.
The more things change… he thought to himself.
“Hell, I'm not even suppose to be here, much less in command.”
There was a pause from Tyra as she moved, and Nathan wondered if it would have been nice to be a Betazed in that moment; to be able to read her thoughts. It had been one of his primary concerns after learning that the Artemis had indeed picked him up, that Crawford could have been removed from command. It was why he’d hedged so much on dropping her name. The relief that Nathan had felt, knowing she was still the one running things aboard the ship, would have been palpable to anyone who’d been in his presence.
As Tyra settled on the transporter pad, Nathan cracked his neck in response to her next line of inquiry. There was so much that he could tell her, though he wasn’t sure exactly how’d she take it. Nevermind that in the process of trying to wriggle his way out of things, he’d broken his usual rules of honesty that he rarely made exceptions for. Tyra probably wouldn’t care, Nathan considered. She might even congratulate him on taking yet another step away from his moral idealism.
“Oh good, you are sitting for this,” he joked.
“Look, a long story short. Or, at least shorter than it can be.”
“I had sent your message to Logan. Was about to leave for the Crusader, after rapidly packing my duffel bag. Opened the door, and there they were waiting for me. Armed officers in Security uniforms. Basically, I was informed that I was going to be charged and going to court martial. The list of charges was long. Longer than they had any right to be, with a lot of trumped up bullshit thrown into the mix of some that were… well, a couple of them were pretty on the money. Especially the stuff related to Pomn. They threatened me. You. Ben. Basically anyone who might have remotely been involved with the whole thing.”
Nathan rubbed the back of his neck and began to pace, keeping himself turned out slightly so that Tyra could still see his face and expressions. Pomn. What a cluster that had been. Nathan felt so stupid for even having done the whole damn thing, and even stupider for considering that - if he had to do it again - he probably would. Differently though? Certainly.
Have I even really learned anything?
“It did feel rather shadowy. Nobody would give me their names or who they were working for. So I clammed up. Asked for a lawyer. When they finally gave me one and I figured out that they, the lawyer that is, was legitimate, I loosened up a little. But I stayed aloof and vigilant.”
Nathan paused his pacing for a moment, formulating and condensing information into something more manageable than telling Tyra about his entire ordeal. Then his random walking about continued.
“The lawyer helped me negotiate with them, and eventually got them to make me an offer. They’d wipe my slate clean, provide me with full amnesty from the charges they had, and anything else that might come up from revelations in the future about Pomn. In return, I had to provide some information, with specifics about the Klingons we had faced on Pomn, and the cartel. I also had to agree to do this mission…”
Nathan sighed and paused again.
“...that felt like a trap. I argued, of course, against having to do the mission. They didn’t relent about that part at all. I just didn’t see a way to avoid getting shitcanned out of Starfleet.”
His face fell downward as he looked at his boots, a pained look crossing his face momentarily. Nathan’s hands turned to fists, released, and repeated. After a few cycles of that, he finally looked directly at Tyra with solemnity.
“Just when I had finally felt like I was building myself up on the Crusader,” a brief smile dawned and faded all in one swoop.
“Felt like I was actually contributing instead of being a hot mess express the whole damn time. I know I wasn’t always terrible on the Getty. Or the Artemis, with you. Mostly not terrible, with brief but spectacular interludes of terrible. But being on the Crusader had been freeing. A fresh start. A different era without the baggage. I was taking what I had learned from all those mistakes, all those talks and heart to hearts with you, and I was actually putting them to good use.”
There was a silence that spanned a couple of moments, as his eyes drifted off target and just stared at the back of the transporter pad wall.
“It felt like I had to at least try to save it, right? Or else, what was it all for?”
Nathan cleared his throat before returning to the tracks he was beginning to make on the floor of the transporter room.
“So, I made them draw up the agreement and assurances before I said anything. Plus, I asked for you to be removed from the whole affair. That you had nothing to do with it all and that you should stay in command of the Artemis. The lawyer looked at it and nodded. I told the rest of them I needed to read the whole thing, which pissed them off, but I was adamant.”
“I scoured that thing, and finally found a name; buried not at the end of the document, but somewhere in between. Far enough in that they probably hoped I wouldn’t see it, and in a spot that wasn’t obvious. The person who had the authority for it all. Who might have started this whole damn witch hunt.”
Through clenched teeth, he spat the name out,
“Admiral Yegorov.”
== right back 'atcha ==