Return to Service

Posted on Tue Aug 20th, 2024 @ 2:09pm by Lieutenant Camille Lévesque PhD

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Forests of Ketram
Timeline: A few days before the memorial service

Two weeks of freedom from responsibility. That's what she had been granted. A two week window from her departure from USS Pennsylvania and her shuttle to the station from which her transport back to the Alpha Quadrant would launch.

Camille Lévesque, PhD and Lieutenant in Starfleet, had not taken the decision lightly. Part of her wanted to continue active service among the friends she had made, especially Vespa. But also things had soured. The last encounter with the nebula that had many of the crew so scared had affected her relationships with most of her crewmates. In truth, she no longer knew with any certainty that she could trust them with her life, and she suspected they felt the same of her with theirs. And then there was also the desire to go home. To reunite with Nicole. To see all of her other friends again.

And so she had decided to tender her resignation and request to be deposited somewhere convenient. The Captain dropped her off on Ketram and wished her well. She would keep her commission for the time being, if only to facilitate booking transit back home. She wouldn't write home yet. It would be a surprise.

Ketram. It was the planet where she had first met the Penn crew. Where she had come aboard and help rescue Vespa and Addie after they were abducted. It was a planet rich in diversity, which she would spend the next two weeks exploring.

She was midway through a nature hike when the news came. Her PADD beeped, indicating a text message.

A transmission from Starfleet Command, routed via the local Ketram contact.

USS Pennsylvania had been declared missing.

...

...

...

All those people. Her friends. Missing, lost, possibly gone for good.

Her legs could no longer support her. She found a fallen log to sit and let herself grieve. Tears flowed and her heart ached, all while her mind raced at warp speed.

Two weeks. She had only been away two weeks. Had she delayed her departure...

When the tears stopped, she caught her breath and decided to compose some messages.

First, to Nicole. Camille had not had a chance to notify her that she was leaving the Penn. It would not do for her to receive a next-of-kin message when she was alive and well. But what would it say? Salut chère, don't worry, I'm alive but all my friends are gone, coming home soon?

Was she coming home soon?

Maybe this was a sign. She needed to do more. The mystery of her missing former crewmates needed resolution. And Starfleet, having just lost a ship and more than seven hundred crewmembers, could use every soul it had.

She remembered the conversations she had had with other Starfleet officers after the incident on Odraiclite. There were other ships with openings, including for senior officers.

Camille Lévesque would compose her letter to Nicole. But first, on the fallen log in the middle of the wilderness of Ketram, she would write to Captain Abigail Laurens, and ask for an opportunity to remain in service and do right by her fallen crewmembers.

And never forget the names of Dirk Taggart, Henry Castle, Vespa Kale, Adora Hart (...) (...) (...)