Wait For It
Posted on Jun 29, 2016 @ 11:48pm by Commander Jacob Crichton
Edited on on Jun 29, 2016 @ 11:49pm
Mission: Fortress: Earth
= Wait For It =
(cont’d from “Teach Me How To Say Goodbye”)
LOCATION: Point Bonita Facility, EARTH
SCENE: Leonard Cagney’s Office
STARDATE: [2.16] 0629.1941
The office appointed to Admiral Edgerton’s personal aide was not even half as lavish as the one set aside of Edgerton himself, but the old man had given Leonard some leeway in furnishing it. Leonard had taken the opportunity to make it feel more like home. He’d started by having the L-shaped cherrywood desk from his home down to the Point Bonita underwater facility. The desk was a gift from Stephen, Leonard’s longtime partner, and a framed photo of the couple sat atop it, next to Leonard’s computer station. In the photo, Leonard and Stephen are holdings hands. Stephen is laughing. Leonard, less prone than his partner to such effusive outbursts, is only smiling, but it is a real smile, not the facsimile he has lately been forced to so often wear instead.
Leonard Cagney sat at the station now, his eyes not on the framed photo but on the lit-up screen of his computer. An incoming call had pulled his attention from the service reports he’d been reviewing, and when Leonard clicked over to see who was calling, he recognized the name immediately: Stephen, likely calling to chastise him for again missing their scheduled date at Stephen’s favorite luncheon spot. At first, Leonard debated whether he should take it; he felt guilty about missing so much time with Stephen, but he also didn’t think he needed Stephen’s help to feel *more* guilty. Stephen was usually understanding about the demands that Leonard’s high-profile position made on his personal time, but they had been fighting more and more lately about Leonard’s ever-expanding workload. Leonard had an idea that wasn’t what they were *really* fighting about, of course; Stephen still hadn’t come right out with it, but he was obviously unhappy with the way things had been going on Earth over the past two years. Words like “dictator” and “tyrant” now seemed dangerously close to the surface whenever Stephen and Leonard argued. Leonard understood why Stephen felt that way, of course, but Stephen wasn’t close to the situation like Leonard was. Leonard knew Edgerton. He’d worked with him for more than 10 years. He *trusted* him, and he agreed with him about the ways the Federation had failed it’s own citizens. Leonard’s own brother had both been killed during the fighting in the 2nd Dominion War, a pointless and bloody conflict that never should have escalated the way it did. Edgerton would never allow Federation lives - *human* lives - to be thrown away so needlessly.
Except…
Well. There was the Aegis Network, wasn’t there?
Leonard sighed, then accepted the incoming communique. Immediately, Stephen’s image filled the screen. Leonard recognized Stephen’s surroundings immediately; he was at the home they had shared, until Edgerton had ordered Leonard to accompany him to live at Point Bonita full-time. “Until the crisis has passed,” is what Edgerton had said, but that was starting to sound more and more open-ended as the Siege of Earth dragged on.
“Steve,” Leonard smiled wearily. “It’s good to see you.”
{{You weren’t at the restaurant today,}} Stephen said.
“I know.”
{{Again,}} said Stephen.
“I know,” Leonard repeated. “I’m sorry. You know I can’t get away so easily these days. I wish you wouldn’t wait there every day for me. You’re only forcing me to disappoint you.”
{{Or I’m giving you the opportunity to surprise me,}} Stephen said.
“Two sides of the same coin,” Leonard said.
{{I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,}} Stephen said. {{The only surprises we’ve been getting lately are bad ones.}}
Leonard knew what Stephen was referring to. The Aegis Network, coupled with the traffic restrictions around Earth, had caught everyone by surprise, even Leonard. The public-relations arm of Edgerton’s Federation had managed to massage public opinion, placing blame for the shield’s existence on the traitor fleet that surrounded Earth, but Leonard would be a fool to think that discontent among the population was growing rapidly. Of course, there was nothing Leonard could do about any of that. In fact, there was nothing he could period if he was too busy arguing with the love of his life.
“I don’t want to fight,” Leonard sighed, rubbing his eyes. “It’s been… it’s been a day, Steve.”
{{Quit,}} Stephen said suddenly, insistently. {{Just walk away. You don’t need to be there, Leonard. The old man can find someone else to carry his PADDs for him.}}
This brought on a flash of anger, which Leonard immediately tried to tamp down, with minimal success. “That’s not--” he started, then breathed, then began again. “You know that isn’t what I do.”
{{Organize his information, then,}} Stephen said, rolling his eyes.
“It isn’t that simple,” Leonard said. “I… I know things, important things. Edgerton trusts me, he *needs* me, he can’t simply put out an ad for a new personal aide.”
Leonard didn’t say the rest of it - how he was increasingly concerned about Edgerton’s mental state, how he was worried that if he left the admiral’s side now, in the middle of this crisis, there may not be anyone to talk sense into him if….
Well. If.
{{Leo, I don’t even know where you *are*,}} Stephen said. {{I haven’t seen you in days. Military officers still get regular leave, and you’re not even a military man. He has no right to keep you locked up like this.}}
“I’m not locked up,” Stephen said, sighing again. This was turning into another fight, and it wasn’t what he needed right now. His eyes drifted away from the screen and towards the framed photo on top of his cherrywood desk, and he thought wistfully of simpler times.
{{Then prove it,}} Stephen said, a satisfied smile crossing his face. He’d obviously maneuvered Leonard towards this point in the conversation, and was ready to spring his trap. {{Take a night off. Spend it with me.}}
“Steve, you know--” Leonard began.
{{I *don’t* know,}} Stephen interrupted. {{I need you to *show* me, Leo. I need to know that I’m still somewhere on your agenda, that I’m not always going to be pushed aside whenever Richard Edgerton snaps his fingers.}}
Leonard frowned. “That sounds like an ultimatum.”
This caught Stephen off-guard. His eyes dropped. {{It… isn’t,}} he said finally. {{I was just hoping it didn’t *have* to be.}}
“I’m sorry-” Leonard started, but Stephen put up a hand.
{{No,}} he said. {{Just… don’t say that word. I’m so sick of that word.}}
Leonard gave a weak shrug. “It’s all I have,” he said.
Steve’s eyes flicked up again. {{And it isn’t enough, anymore.}}
Leonard frowned again. *That* was an ultimatum.
“You’re infuriating sometimes, you know that?”
{{All I’m asking for is one damn night,}} Stephen continued. {{The next day, you can go right back to whatever hidey-hole he’s got you stashed in. That fleet isn’t going anywhere.}}
**That’s the problem,** Leonard thought darkly. He knew he could refuse Stephen’s request. Stephen would be angry, of course, but this wasn’t the first time they’d had this fight, and it wouldn’t be the last.
But Stephen was right. Leonard had stood at Edgerton’s side through this whole ordeal, almost never making any request for himself. He deserved at least one night. Edgerton owed him that much. And the truth was he needed it.
“I’ll ask,” Leonard sighed. It was the best he could do, but Stephen seemed to understand this, and he smiled.
{{The mad admiral will keep for one night, at least,}} Stephen said.
Leonard’s eyes widened. These calls were almost certainly being monitored, probably by Edgerton himself. So far, Edgerton had not taken steps to seriously threaten the Federation’s standards of free speech, and in truth Leonard had no real reason to believe he ever would. And yet, Stephen’s joke gave him a feeling in his stomach like the floor beneath him had suddenly dropped away.
“Steve,” he started. “You shouldn’t-”
{{Only joking, Richard, of course,}} Stephen said, winking at the screen. {{Love your work!}}
Despite himself, Leonard felt a smile spreading across his lips again. Despite all the doubts about where he was and what he was doing, doubts that crept in and seemed to multiply like tribbles, Leonard had never once doubted his love for Stephen Flass.
“You’re going to get me in trouble,” Leonard said, but he was smiling as he said it, and he was still smiling a few moments later when Stephen made his goodbyes and ended the connection. Then, he returned to his work, and it did not take long for the smile to leave his face once more.
=[/\]=
SCENE: Edgerton’s Office
Leonard was one of the only people in the galaxy with the codes to enter Admiral Edgerton’s office unannounced. Leonard didn’t used to find this fact troubling; Edgerton valued his privacy, after all, and it was something of an honor to be inside his inner-circle. Lately, though, when Leonard stepped over the threshold into one of Edgerton’s private spaces, he had felt more and more like he was stepping into the chamber of some incomprehensibly hungry beast.
Edgerton was seated at his desk - dark mahogany, and larger than Leonard’s own by an impressive margin - his attention focused on a stack of PADDs that had accumulated over a few days. He was wearing his half-spectacles, and his eyes shift up to look at Leonard over the glasses as Leonard approached.
“Sir,” Leonard said, smiling amiably.
“Leonard,” Edgerton said, then dropped his eyes back down to his PADD. “We had some weapons discharges from two of the Aegis satellites this morning.”
“Yes sir,” Leonard nodded. He knew this already, he’d been the one who’d forwarded the report to Edgerton. “Should we increase security?”
“Don’t bother,” Edgerton said, waving this off as he tossed the PADD aside. “Marxx probably has his people poking around the network, looking for weaknesses. Let them look, they won’t find anything.”
Leonard blinked. It was true that Edgerton had seemed increasingly unstable as the Siege of Earth dragged on, but Leonard had never before known him to be outright *stupid*. Dexter Marxx was one of the most celebrated Starfleet officers in history, and he sat at the head of a fleet of warships more than powerful enough to bring the Neo-Essentialist experiment to a fiery end. Then there was the PHOENIX, that ship that had harried their plans from almost the very beginning. Who could guess what that madman Kane might try if left to his own devices? And yet, here was Edgerton, who not only was concerned about these reports, but barely even seemed to *notice* them.
**It’s hubris,** Leonard thought distantly. **And it’s what’s going to bring him down.**
“With respect, sir,” Leonard said. “The traitor fleet is up there, unopposed, with more or less full access to run any kind of scans or sweeps on our satellites that they can think of. Can we really take these reports so lightly?”
“Lightly?” Edgerton asked. He tooked the half-spectacles off and set them on the desk, then steepled his hands together on the desktop. “Is that what you think I’m doing, Leonard? Taking them lightly?”
“Well,” Leonard said, suddenly feeling like a disruptive student standing before the headmaster. “It just…”
“Just what, Leonard?” Edgerton asked. “Come on, now, spit it out. You’ve never had trouble saying what you mean.”
Leonard took a moment, composing his response in his head before trying it out for real.
“With respect, sir,” he said, slowly. “I don’t understand our strategy.”
“You’re not one of my military advisors,” Edgerton said, automatically. “It is not necessary that you do.”
“But I am *your* advisor, sir,” Leonard said, trying to keep the pleading tone from creeping into his voice anymore than it already had. “And I can’t advise you if I…I…”
Leonard trailed off. Edgerton gave a wry half-smile and finished the thought for him:
“If you don’t know if I’m crazy or not?”
“Of course I don’t think that, sir,” Leonard said. Inwardly, he noticed how automatically that response had come, and realized he hated himself a little for it.
“With everything I’ve done, you’d be a fool for it not to have crossed your mind,” Edgerton said.
“It isn’t that, sir,” Leonard said, not sure if he believed himself or not. “It’s just that this is so uncharacteristic for you. You’ve worked so hard to get us to where we are, and now you seem like you’re just standing still.”
Edgerton absorbed this without a word. Then, he abruptly rose from behind his mahogany desk. He walked over to the replicator mounted into the wall, order two glasses of scotch, and brought one over to where Leonard was standing. As he did this, he continued to speak.
“I know I haven’t been entirely forthright with you, regarding my plans for the defense of Earth,” he said. “That is because military strategy is not where your specialties lie, Leonard, so I hope you don’t take it as a rebuke of your years of dedicated service.”
He held one of the glasses of scotch to Leonard. Leonard hesitated for a moment, then accepted it. Edgerton looked satisfied, then continued.
“The truth is, I *want* them to scan those satellites,” Edgerton said. “I want them to get a good, long look if that’s what they want. The network is impregnable, my engineers have assured me of that. Oh, given enough time, Marxx might find some way around them, but it will take *years*, and I don’t think he’s prepared to wait that long, not with Earth up for grabs. All the time they spend up there is time we can spend down here, fortifying our position, turning the tide of public opinion against them, and Marxx knows it. He wants this over and done with, quickly. So let Marxx scan those satellites, Leonard, and find out exactly how hopeless his plans to overcome them are. Then let him come crawling back to the negotiating table, where things can begin again on new terms. *My* terms.”
Edgerton finished his scotch in three quick drinks, then turned to smile at Leonard. In Leonard’s opinion, it looked like the rictus of a madman, still grinning in death.
“So you see, Leonard,” Edgerton continued. “I’m not standing still. I am lying in wait.”
Edgerton kept staring at him, kept grinning, until Leonard felt compelled to at least try and return the admiral’s expression. Edgerton looked satisfied again (though somewhat less so than before, Leonard noticed) and turned back to his desk as Leonard finished his own glass of scotch.
“I’m sure you didn’t come in here to talk strategy,” Edgerton was saying as he resumed his seat behind the mahogany desk. “What can I do for you, Leonard?”
“Sir, I-” Leonard began, and for a half-second he was worried he’d lost his nerve, that Edgerton had overawed him and that he’d simply slink back to his office, call Stephen, and deliver the bad news. But the thought of Stephen gave him strength - it always did - and Leonard sucked in his breath and his courage. “I need a night off. Sir.”
“Impossible,” Edgerton said, not even looking up at him. “We’re in the middle of a crisis, and I need you here.”
“With respect, sir, but you just said we’re biding our time,” said Leonard. “Surely you can spare me for 24 hours. Stephen is upset that I hardly see him any more, and it breaks my heart to have to keep disappointing him.”
Edgerton looked up at him, frowning. He drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the desktop as he considered Leonard’s argument. Then, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
“Alright,” he said. “I suppose things are unlikely to change in a day, are they? But make it twelve hours, Leonard. Your Federation needs you.”
Stephen wouldn’t be happy about cutting their evening short, but Leonard supposed it was the best he was going to get.
“Of course, sir,” he nodded, sounding sufficiently grateful. “I’m sure Stephen will thank you too.”
“Right right,” Edgerton said, waving him off. “I’ll have security make the arrangements to return you to the surface.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“And give Stephen my love,” Edgerton said, but his attention had drifted back to the stack of PADDs, and Leonard knew Edgerton didn’t really care if Leonard said word one about his love for Stephen Flass. That was probably for the best; the thought of Richard Edgerton actually *noticing* Stephen filled Leonard with a species of vague dread.
Leonard left Edgerton’s office, and realized he now felt immediately better whenever he left the admiral’s presence. He tried not to dwell on this realization as he returned to his own office to give Stephen the good news.
=[/\]=
NRPG: The date’s been set, Leonard’s coming up for air, but Stephen didn’t mention there’d be company along for their night out on the town. Will Selyara be able to cultivate his growing doubt for Edgerton and turn him into an ally? And do you think Edgerton’s likely to send his unofficial aide-de-camp to the surface without some kind of chaperone? Nobody’s heard from that Mr. Johnson fellow lately… ;-)
Shawn Putnam
A.k.a.
Jake Crichton
Chief Engineering Officer
USS PHOENIX