A new beginning

Posted on Tue Feb 13th, 2024 @ 10:40pm by Lieutenant Commander Alessandro Lupo

684 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Genesis
Location: Deep Space 14

Laying back in one of those oversized leather chair, facing the large viewport on the port side, Ale was half-asleep, midway through another reminicing episode of his time past with Arielle. She did, after all, changed him forever. Some of it good, most of it not so much.

Alessandro Lupo is a broken man in recovery. He smiles at strangers, but his eyes always seem to be frozen in indifference. He laughs, but his never for long, never deeply. He remains calm in the chaos, pragmatic and stoic to adversity. The once energic, happy, passionate man became a survivor, a runner, a fickle minded man.

"This needs to stop", he muttered to himself, slowly awaking. It has been 2 years. 2 years of trying to work through the toxic venom that Arielle injected into his heart and soul. 2 years of repeating himself "This needs to stop", while continuing to relive his past life.

A few weeks ago, he had enough. As usual, he shared a cup of strong, italian roast coffee with his beloved CO, Commodore Michael "Skipper" Aubé, a eggregiously gentle man of good values. An asset for the Fleet, no doubt, a mentor for Ale and for so many before him. But that day, the conversation had to be different.

=//= Ready Room - USS Princeton =//= A few weeks ago

"Skip, I need to share something...", Ale said as he sat down, mug in his hand, looking quickly at the man in front of him, sitting on a couch, gazing at a daily report on his PADD.

"What's on your mind, Alessandro?", the man asked, gently.

"I... I think I need to go..." said Ale, staring at his hot, steaming coffee. "I can't do this any longer..."

The older man, the mentor, slowly put the PADD down, taking a deep breath. He already understand everything, he has seen Ale suffer, morph into something who was not the young man that he had promoted twice already. He slowly turned his body to face his Chief Operations Officer.

"I am so sorry, Ale, that it came to this.", said the man.

"Thank you sir.", Alessandro replied.

"Of course, I will assist. I knew this day would, unfortunately, come.", replied the mentor.

"Thank you sir.", Alessandro repeated.

The Commodore stood. Ale placed his cup on the side table, next to his chair, and followed suit. The old man approached the younger, and took him in his arms, offering a gentle, yet forceful hug.

"It's been a pleasure, sir... an honor to serve under you.", said Ale.

"And it has been an honor to once be your father-in-law.", replied the Commodore.

The two men stayed there for a few seconds. No further words were needed. The Commodore tapped Ale's back, cleared his throat, and left the Ready Room, leaving the young LtCmdr on his own, standing in the middle of the Ready Room, silent, stoic.

=//= Back to present, DS14 =//=

That day, Ale's heart completely fell down to the abyss. He hasn't felt the same since. Both from a perspective of making the decision, ripping the band-aid, as it was once said in the America's.

From his half-asleep state, Ale heard a tone. A sharp, yet muttered tone. Repeating. Repeating. Repeating. Ale slowly opened an eye, noticed the visual activity on his PADD.

Boarding alert for Shuttle Firebird 2A. This is it, this is the last leg of the trip.

Ale slowly stood from his chair, moved to finish his (now) lukewarm coffee, grabbed his dufflebag and made his way to the shuttle bay.

On site, he quickly found Firebird 2A, and headed to the standing PO.

"Lieutenant-Commander Alessandro Lupo, reporting.", he said to the PO, extending his PADD.

"Right, heading to...", said the PO, looking down his PADD "USS Vindicator?"

"You got it.", replied Lupo, with a hint of enthousiam in his voice, but without any physical indication of such.

The PO waved, Ale nodded, stepped in the Shuttle, threw his bag on a seat, sat on the next, leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes.

"This needs to stop.", he muttered to himself, one more time.

 

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