BACKLOG - JL | Cmdr Grant, Capt Neyes - "What Dawn May Bring"

Posted on Fri Mar 6th, 2015 @ 6:14am by Captain Landon Neyes & Commander Logan Grant, PhD.

2,354 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: Before Leaving for Current Mission

The clicking of a cane against wood acted as a herald as they rang against the babbling of the koi stream and the chirping of birds as synthetic fall began to dip into synthetic winter. The unnatural nature of the noise his apparatus created seemed so wrong. It was enough to make the sore and tired counselor stop to set it against the railing as he approached, even if the frosty air waged war against his impaired femur. Finding Landon Neyes at one of the most infamous spots on the entire ship seemed hardly fitting, but far from surprising. Hell had happened hear during the last few plucky days of summer and the raw planks beneath their feet were still stained with evidence of the teensy red Captain's struggle for her life, let alone her modesty. The faint smears of bronze and umber wouldn't be sanded out and stained over until the investigation was complete and a verdict ruled over the parties responsible.

PontBrillant... Mikkal... As far as Logan was concerned, they could both fry for their individual stupidities and likely would one way or another. He'd done his piece, written his reports, and now all there was left to do was pick up the pieces, move on and pray people were awarded their just desserts. Part of moving on meant taking a step back, providing a sense of restitution and retribution for the victims. Like it or not, Landon was another victim of Mikkal's power thirst induced attack. The red Queen would suffer her emotional scars and Landon would undoubtedly pay a small penalty as she sorted herself out. At least that's how it played out in the counselor's mind.

"All the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men." The Kiwi rumbled with a chuckle and set to lean against the railing. The clicking stopped with a final dull thud of the dark walking stick meeting the side of the bridge. "I knew you'd find your way here and into this part of the story soon enough. Kept tabs on you knowing you'd likely need some sort of..." He paused, searching for the correct word, "Explanation? Closure? Alibi? Pick your poison." He grinned in an attempt to gauge the other man's mood.

"And those are things which you can provide? Poisons come in many forms, Counselor." Landon replied questioningly, standing at the height of the small bridge, looking out over the glittering peace of the arboretum. The preponderance of events and information since he'd returned to the Vindicator had not eased the former Captain's nerves as he attempted to rejoin the crew, or at least live among them. Neyes expected his brother's colleague to approach him sooner rather than later. Now while reflecting on the details of Rochelle hazards and struggles, the two men seemed poised to discuss it out of natural coincidence. "I would be interested in those you are familiar with."

Landon harbored no love for the intruders who had threatened his family on board the Vindicator. Including his family's killers, there were few he held in a damning regard. With Rochelle's involvement, however, he had considered allowing those in number to increase. He took his hands off the railing and turned to address Grant, standing nearly a head shorter than the Human officer. Sizing Logan up wasn't really Landon's first interest, but he hadn't met the man under ideal circumstances either, and knew an even less ideal amount about him or his wife. Landon knew only the two had a familiarity with Rochelle that could only be identified as family.

"I can offer a fine cocktail of all three and more, Captain." Logan nodded as the Trill turned to face him. Landon Neyes was an impressive sort of man. What he lacked in height, when compared to the witchdoctor, he made up for in spirit and charm. In the weeks that had passed since Tristan had first made the harrowing discovery among the Romulan survivors, Logan had made a heavy point to immerse himself in research surrounding the man the crew had mourned and the new Captain had, and did, love. One could never be too careful. "I can tell you, though, that the people responsible for this particular mess are long gone and their lives have been ruined in turn. A trip to Atlantis Prime, however, will need to be made in order to end whatever coup Mikkal's followers, if the moron has any, may try to pose." He shrugged. and toed at the stained wooden panels with the foot of his lame leg. "Tell me what you've heard and I'll fill in the blanks and we can go from there."

Being one of the oldest running consciousnesses of his people, Landon was responsible for many, but was also responsible for making sure certain individuals knew the condition of his circumstances. As a result he had a broad network of 'people', who kept tabs on things. Many of them he trusted implicitly to act in his best interest, and to know what that meant. Finding information was easy enough, even if he wanted to know something without the commission's knowledge. "You can assume I know a great deal about what happened on board this ship. I know what the Federation knows about Atlantean culture, and I know about the circumstances surrounding the attack on Rochelle." He paused.

"I know less about the attack itself." Landon eyed the stained blood at Logan's feet. "I also know about Rochelle's coronation, which to be honest wasn't hard to discover."

"Ah." The green eyed Kiwi nodded and folded his arms with a bit of a furrow to his brow. Landon would likely never cease to surprise him. The cocky Trill was many centuries old and still so young all at the same time. It came as quite the riddle and the counselor was lazily plucking away at solving it. "She doesn't want the crown, but she doesn't have a choice." He drawled with another shrug. Landon was the least of his concerns when it came to defending Rochelle's honor, he knew the former Captain would draw up arms without hesitation if it came down to her needing protection.

Logan sighed and shook his head, what the other asked for was a picture he didn't know how to paint. "The reports are choppy, as I'm sure you've noticed. Star Fleet will hide a lot of it and the Atlanteans will do the same in order to save face, but, there was another Commander who wasn't taking no for an answer and was sending her all kinds of little love notes. She received one and set down here to end the whole thing once and for all, turns out Emissary Mikkal used it as a lure to isolate her from everyone else in a remote part of the ship and attempted to rape her." The Kiwi's eyes darkened, their pretty emerald more muddied and olive as he spoke and watched the Trill absorb the story. "He wanted her to bare him an heir, bond with him and basically be his puppet while he ruled the empire. The rest is summed up by his broken neck, broken jaw and missing eyeball." He mused with a grin most macabre in nature.

"She's a clever girl, Captain Neyes, as clever as she is beautiful, but even she isn't infallible and there will be others waiting in the shadows to cut her throat. Romulans because she's bested them and freed you, Atlanteans who despise the fact that she's human, Trill that despise the fact she protects you and Tristan, Civonians who have battled and hated the Atlanteans for longer than the human race has been a thing, Cardassians because that's what they do and she's Starfleet's rising star." Again Logan toed at the stained deck, gesturing to it with a hand, "This? This is only the beginning and you had a bit of a taste of it on Notura with her being kidnapped and that was without a crown and without being a Captain. You need to ask yourself whether or not you're willing to live at her side or wash your hands of it." While Neyes may have been centuries older than the relatively young Maori half-blood, Logan's wisdom ran soul deep. He watched the peculiar gentleman he'd help play necromancer to with a familiar glint once again shining in his eye. He was sure he already knew the answer; that Landon's ties and love for the little red Queen ran far deeper than the staining on the planks beneath his feet or the strange blue mark that marred the creamy porcelain skin of her wrist.

Neyes eyed Logan. The man was by far the most brazen of the crew he'd met thus far. Very few of the crew even ventured far enough to be within speaking distance for some reason. While Neyes was anything except unapproachable, there had always been an unspoken understanding he was not available for chit-chat. Upon meeting the others once regaining consciousness on the Vindicator, Landon quickly realized Rochelle had managed to acquire some very powerful minds and voices as her inner circle. Surrounding herself with a fiercely loyal circle of close friends and fine officers. He was not surprised, though. They were like hawks in the visible distance, giving him space, yet still letting him know they were watching.

"Nothing is just beginning, if I can wax philosophic on you for a sec, Doc. I've learned enough to know this all started a long time ago. Starfleet assigned her to me, and I accepted her. In turn she helped everyone else accept me." He paused. Neyes could describe the series of events which had led them all to this point, and why that was important to him, but he didn't really care to bother. Logan seemed smart enough to figure it out on his own, and the less fodder he provided to the psychologists the better.

"I will be whatever she needs me to be, and what we decide we are. I am here to stand at her side." Neyes turned toward Logan, both showing his commitment and his defiant irritation at the question. The Grants, Waterhouses and the others were all new players to Landon. He understood their perspective as longtime friends of the woman he loved, but he felt it necessary to ensure their understanding of him as well. "Nothing less, Mr. Grant. You're right to say Notura changed what that means to both of us." His words were calm and direct, spoken with intent. The subtext, however, conveyed the intent to allow nothing to stand in his way of those things. Landon would rise above, or bury, anything as he deemed necessary.

The tawny 'hawk' made no move to counter the speckled Trill as he came about to proxy his position. The only movement the man made was the lifting and falling of his head in understanding and agreement. If one thing was correct, this had indeed started so very long ago. Longer than either one of them had realized. Andrea would have puked if she honestly knew just how much faith Logan had in 'kismet', 'karma', and the occult. Life was a series of choices, make one and certain doors would open while others would close up tight. There was no re-do button, but everything was designed around those decisions. It was fate, tailored by circumstance and held out in seed filled palms to bring about the birds to do with what they would. Landon, however, set alight only long enough in Logan's hand to make his position in life known before winging off with a wary eye once again. "You have no reason to trust me," the counselor said with a smile, "But I will say that you have no reason to fear me or question my intent. We play for the same team." He chuckled in good humor, and relief. The Trill wouldn't be departing the Vindicator any time soon, and if he did it would only be at Rochelle's side. "I hope that Notura will prove to be nothing more than a bad dream, and that goes for the both of you."

Neyes' gaze listed to the side for a moment, before returning to scan the kiwi again. To simply accept the man was out of the question, but Landon held Rochelle's judge of character in high regard. If there was going to be trust between the men, however, then it would certainly be earned over time. Neyes had seen too many people take advantage of himself or his friends. Actions spoke louder than words, and for a counselor the two often intermingled. Grant would either prove to be the exceptionally crafty, friendly young psychologist, or he would prove to be a difficult hurdle on an already painful track.

Landon relaxed a little, the fine edges of his mouth curving subtly upward. "Notura isn't something I really remember all that well. There's what happened early on. A stabbing disappointment in our diplomatic failure... Then just a lot of hurt, honestly. Something tells me the real victims are Rochelle and my brother. They're involvement isn't going to settle, I'd imagine. At least not for a long time.

"Myself, I'm more interested in keeping those problems the only ones they have to deal with. If you have some insight into how we can make that happen, then I'm all ears."

Neyes smiled a little, he knew the kiwi was a man of his word. He ultimately trusted them all to look after the woman he loved with care and devotion. There was a time coming all too soon when he feared he'd need to test their devotion to her once again, and their understanding of him. Something was lurking just outside his reach, and it was flicking in the shadows developed by his recent adventure. Sometime soon they would come for him, for Tristan.

"Making things happen is what I do best, Mr. Grant... Whether I want it or not."

=/\= END LOG =/\=


Captain Landon Neyes
Former CO - Unassigned
USS Vindicator

Commander Logan Grant
Counselor
USS Vindicator

 

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