Coming Clean

Posted on 17 Apr 2018 @ 9:38pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Thiago Teixeira

1,508 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Crossing Over
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 36 || 0930 hours

Harvey sat behind his desk. For once in his captaincy, it was actually completely clean. Well, Mila was known to clean it on multiple occasions, practically every morning, when she delivered the departmental reports. But this was the first time he'd performed the task himself. A pile sat off to the right side, a stack of padds that were marked to be returned to the department heads and other points around the ship. To Harvey's left was his desktop terminal and a smaller pile of padds, ones that he still had yet to review, or were other notes for the various things on his mind.

In the middle of desk... was it. The mysterious note from the future. The very one he spent two months brooding over, and somehow managed to spark his forgetful self into action when the observers were aboard. He'd kept it close to him, out of sight and out of everyone else's mind; at least until he haphazardly left it on his desk during the crisis, allowing his wife to find it hours later.

Even as he stared at it now, he wondered if the torture he'd put himself through over the last few months was worth it. The message saved the day, but it nearly cost him his wife, and his own sanity.

Rather than put it back in the fish tank, he decided it was high time to take care of this once and for all. Tapping his combadge he said, "Geisler to Commander Teixeira."

Thiago had been enjoying a casual lunch when the Captain's voice interrupted. "Yes sir?"

"Commander, can you come to the Ready Room?" Harvey simply asked.

"On my way," he replied. With the comm channel closed, he took a last bite of his sandwich, picked up his glass, and started towards Geisler's office.

While Harvey waited, he rose from his desk and slipped into the head. He stood over the sink and looked at his reflection in the mirror. It was, in fact, the first time he'd really looked at himself in the last few weeks, and it wasn't a face he recognized. Weeks of stress created lines where there had been none. Lack of sleep had produced bags under his eyes. Harvey immediately decided to avoid sickbay during the next few days in fear that Doctor Kij would immediately relieve him of duty. Perhaps he could still pull himself back together soon, a hope he solidified by splashing a bit of water on his face.

He approached the doors and touched the announcer.

"Come," Harvey said, exiting the head and crossing the office to the replicator unit.

"Reporting as ordered," he said jovially. He set down his glass on Geisler's desk. "Don't mind that. Just wanted to finish my juice."

A glass of tepid water materialized on the replicator grate, having been ordered by the push of a button. It was one feature Harvey did like about the replicators, being able to establish a few presets for preferred drink. If only he could use the button for coffee more often. "I don't mind at all," Harvey noted, skipping the chance to offer a drink to his Executive Officer. "How are things with the crew?" he asked as he moved back over to the desk.

"Adjusting. We're a bit more remote than usual. For many of the younger crew, this is their first deep space mission."

"That's as well as can be expected then," Harvey remarked, sitting down and taking a sip of his water. The glass was then placed on a nondescript coaster and pushed aside. While he did enjoy talking with Thiago, Harvey felt the longer he engaged in small talk, the higher the chance that he'd never come forward.

Therefore, he began. "Thiago." Harvey sighed as part of himself failed a final chance to abort this confession. "I'm afraid I have not been entirely forthcoming these last couple of months."

"Oh?" he asked. Although he considered Harvey to be his friend, he didn't expect the Captain to tell him everything. "What sort of things have you kept from me?"

"With the mission. With things professionally and personally." Harvey picked up the padd that sat in front of him on the desk. Rather than hand it over to Thiago, Harvey turned the device onto its side and tapped it on the tabletop a couple of times. "Ever since the briefing on Deep Space Nine... well, I'm sure you've noticed I haven't been the same."

Geisler had been acting more distant, more troubled than usual. "I have. But you don't need to tell me anything you don't want. Especially on the personal front."

"I'm not sure if this can be defined to a specific front," Harvey said, thumbing the screen on. It was facing the Captain, and Harvey was able to verify that what he wanted Thiago to see. "Other than the weird and unusual."

"We seem to experience that a lot," he teased. "The weird and unusual, that is."

The moment of truth had arrived. Harvey inhaled softly, but made no effort to empty his lungs. "It's best if you see for yourself," he said, handing the padd over to Thiago.

Taking the PADD, Teixeira turned it around and looked at the words on the display.

= = = = =

From: CAPT Harvey Geisler
To Harvey

Trust no one. The Federation depends on it.

= = = = =

He pulled his eyes away from the strange message and fixed his gaze on Harvey. "What's this?" the Executive Officer asked, holding up the device. "Where did this come from?"

Harvey simply shrugged, unsure of any other way to answer the question besides, "The future."

The future? he thought. It sounded crazy. But then so did many things that he'd seen or experienced in his career. Although this was the strangest one. So far. "How was it delivered?"

"Evidently, it was embedded in a separate signal that the probe was transmitting when it was recovered," Harvey explained. "Code three-nine, scrambled for Task Force Senior Staff. Turns out it was just a way to make sure they'd get the message to me, and only me."

Teixeira sat there, trying to figure out how to respond. "This was the only message? What is the warning about?" he finally blurted out.

Harvey nodded. "It was the only message. Up until yesterday, the damn thing had me perplexed for two months."

He wasn't sure how he felt about this. Certainly, Geisler was entitled to keep information from his XO if he wanted to, particularly if there was a security concern. But, until now at least, Thiago had seemingly been in the loop on everything pertinent.

"Suffice it to say, that little message was enough to kick me in gear." Harvey leaned back and adjusted his jacket. "That message kept us all from being in alien cargo holds and possibly never seeing the ship again."

"For which I am grateful," Teixeira replied honestly. "Thank you for bringing me in on this info." A thought popped into his mind. "Does your wife know about this message?"

Harvey opened his mouth to respond, and then it occurred to him. The first person, besides the ship's captain, to know about such valuable information should have been the XO. He wondered what sort of hit to their trust would ensue. "Only by accident," he confessed. "And no, she hasn't known the whole time. She only has a couple hours' head start on you."

"She's your wife," he replied. "And the Intelligence Officer. I expect that there are things she knows that I don't. Or won't."

Harvey barely smirked at that response, though he still felt like he'd slighted Thiago, and the rest of the crew, in all of this. "Well, at least we were able to get past this unfortunate incident. We need to look into what we need to do for our return trip, and figure out what went wrong this go round."

Teixeira nodded. "We've got a science department for just such a reason," he responded. "I'll have Djinx get his people going."

"Have Lieutenant Hawthorn run through our systems as well. He might be able to come up with some safeguards to at least get more than emergency lighting on the next go-round, assuming it comes to that."

Nodding, Teixeira stood. "For now, I think I'm going to put the crew evaluations on hold. Given the current circumstances."

The captain couldn't argue with that. "Understood. After all, I think we all have plenty to focus on for the time being." Noting that Thiago had stood, Harvey felt compelled to ask, "Anything else on your mind?"

Lots, he thought. But you've got enough going on already, Harvey, so I'm not going to bother you with any of it. He took a swig of his juice, finishing it. "No, sir," he said, standing up. "We've got plenty a head of us."

"That we do indeed," Harvey confirmed. "Well, I'll let you get back to it. Thanks, Thiago."

"A pleasure," he said before heading for the door.

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