When Preservation is Painful (Back post)

Posted on 22 Dec 2017 @ 4:05am by Fleet Admiral Sho'Thor

857 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Admiral Thor's Office, Star Fleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: ED5: 1645

Thor was sitting behind his desk, it was after the order had been sent out and he was less than enthusiastic. He knew there would be some major blowback and was bracing himself for what he knew would be a rough few days.

Shora walked through the halls feeling the discontent of the people around her. She needed to meditate, but she couldn't do so with so much turmoil coming from her brother. Walking in, she settled into the seat beside his. "What is wrong?"

"He raised an eyebrow and looked at her "Do not toy with me sister, my mood is not the best." he said fully expecting her to know about the orders he signed earlier that morning.

"I can't imagine that you are in the best of moods.."

He raised an eyebrow and handed her the PADD with the orders "So your telling me you wernt made aware of this before?"

Shora read the orders, and then her dark eyes traced back to the start of the PADD to read them again. "I cannot believe that you signed your name to this drivel."

He raised an eyebrow "Are we not at war?" he asked simply.

"We are, but what happens if the separatists hit a colony world?"

He looked at her and the stoniness of his face expressed the flawed logic of that argument "Which is more likely, the loss of entire families because they were on a star fleet ship going in to battle or because they were on a stationary colony world?"

"I would think that the officers in question would have wanted to make the choice for themselves." she said softly as she reached out and covered his hand with hers.

"They don't get to, they have to go into harms way. Their husbands, wives and children do not have go to into harms way."

"And those officers that are wedded to other officers who may have children together?"

He coughed "Second order." he almost cringed as he knew that one would be the most likely to cause her emotional control to crack.

Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "How could you do that to all the families of Starfleet? Not to mention your own family?" Shora's voice quivered a little bit "After all they've been through?"

"Better they go through this than all perish because they were assigned to, or lived on the same ship. I don't want a repeat of the Yorktown, I don't want to go look at a mother and a father and explain to them why their grandchildren are dead because I let them stay on a ship that was unsafe. Would you take that duty off of me to reverse that order? Would you look at them and know that you could have saved even a part of their family?"

"Would it be worse than what the girl went through when she thought he had died?" she countered hearing the request to take that duty away more as a request to ease his conscience than anything else.

"And if I have to stand in front you, sister, and tell you that Azura his bonded and your grandchild are dead? Did you feel no hope when you learned that he had a child and she was safe even when you thought he was gone? Would you not want to offer that hope later to other families at the expense of a little pain now?"

"I...was a fool those days 'Thor and you know it. I destroyed any chance I would have had of hope when I denied that the child was his." Her eyes flickered with pain before she looked at him. "If they die, I am certain they would rather be together..."

"Would they?" he raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you honestly think Azura or Keisha would want their child to die with them on that ship." his eyes were steely as he spoke "This is the logical thing to do to preserve the most lives that don't need to be placed in harms way. Azura, Keisha and all the other officers and crew of every ship signed up to protect the federation, their families did not. We have a duty to protect those families."

"How...are we going to prepare for the orphans?" she asked him softly her eyes flickering down to the desk. She didn't want the thought that she had in her mind to drift into his.

"I have the Office of Enlisted and Officer Affairs looking into that situation and I've a meeting with the President to talk about how the Federation will care for those that have been orphaned. I hope that these orders, as distasteful as they are will allow us to have as few orphans as possible." he paused "Otherwise I've caused pain for no reason and marred Star Fleet's legacy as well as my own."

OFF:

Sho'Thor
Fleet Admiral
Chief of Star Fleet Operations
Star Fleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth

&

Shora
Admiral
Chief of Star Fleet Medical
Star Fleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth

 

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