Some Serious News
Posted on Tue Jan 15th, 2019 @ 2:02am by Fleet Admiral Gregory Maddock & Senior Captain Connor McKinney M.D. PhD & Captain Brady Dering M.D., PhD & Captain Madeline Sanchez
Edited on on Tue Jan 15th, 2019 @ 2:03am
Mission:
The First Step...
Location: Connor's Apartment
Timeline: 2388/08/26 1600 (August 26 2388 4:00pm)
Connor was in his apartment, not only getting ready for the ceremony banquet that was still almost two hours away, but keeping an eye on top of it's preparations too.
He was walking up to his desk, thinking about Maddie, who was due back anytime, and buttoning his dress uniform cuff when the comm to his computer went off. Pressing a button and seeing who it was, he quickly pressed another and the image of the recent CO of Magellan Station appeared. "Yes, Sir, Admiral Maddock, what can I do for you?"
"Captain McKinney -" Greg took in a deep breath slowly so as not to be overtly obvious. Despite how much he hated these sort of communications he kept a steady voice. " I suggest that you sit down for this."
Connor's chest suddenly tightened, an alarm going through him. Staring back at Greg intently, he did as suggested and slowly sat down. "What's this about?" he asked.
"We have received word that the Armstrong was destroyed." Greg didn't miss the shift of alarm in the other man's eyes and quickly added, "It's believed everyone got off on time. Escaped in pods and a few environmental suits. Most of the crew has been collected but some remain unaccounted for." He paused, hating this part the most. Especially for someone like Connor. "Your brother is among that few. Zulubase is on top of this and they're still searching."
Maddie had gotten straight off the shuttle the minute it had landed and virtually ran over to the apartment building, eager to see Connor. She had only been away from him since this morning and already she was eager to see him. Arriving at his apartment door, she tapped lightly on it to announce herself before letting herself in, stopping as she saw that he was on a call.
His heart pounding in his chest, at first Connor could only stare back at the Admiral. Until his hand went to his mouth and he leaned onto his desk. He stared down at it's surface, not really seeing anything. A part of him had heard Maddie's tap on the door and was aware she had walked in, but he couldn't think about that. His mind was racing too fast. "What is the chance they're still alive?" he asked, looking back up to the admiral.
Those words wiped the smile off Maddie's face as she realised that this wasn't a social call and that Connor's pained expression meant that something really bad had happened. Silently she hurried to the side of Connor's desk so that she could better hear what was being said.
"There's a number of planets in the system. They could have landed on any one of them. Don't give up hope, Doctor. We're not."
Running his hand over his mouth and chin, Connor pushed himself slowly back in his chair. His hand was shaking. "Can we keep this from reaching my family?" he had to ask. "Until we know something more I don't want them..." Unable to finish, Connor got out of his chair and still with in Greg's sight, walked across the room running a hand over his head.
"I'll do what I can." Greg replied firmly, his voice getting a little louder, making sure Connor could hear. "I can give it at least a couple of days..." he looked away for a moment as he thought about it, "and wormhole transmissions aren't exactly stable right now."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Maddie asked, moving into the field of vision. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that they were talking about Connor's brother given the mention of his family and she knew she'd do anything and everything to help out the man that she loved.
Greg stared at her for a moment. "I'll let you know. Magellan's SAR Teams are on standby. What you can do is get through that swearing-in ceremony. And I think you should be made aware that also among the missing are Captain Carter Hall and Lieutenant Commander Austin Houston, family to two of your cadets. But let's keep it under wraps for now."
"We'll be ready for whatever you need us to do." Maddie assured him as she moved to Connor's side, needing to provide some form of comfort to him.
Greg took that in with interest, and he nodded, "Later," ending the transmission.
Continuing to swallow hard and taking in deep breaths, Connor stood there, one hand akin to his hip, the other running down from behind his neck. "Did you hear the whole conversation?" he asked her.
"Enough to work out what's going on." Maddie replied quietly, resting her hand on his arm and adding "He'll be okay you know. He's your brother and he's resourceful."
Connor shook his head. "But I DON'T know." Remaining where he stood, he looked over at her, really struggling. "Maddie...his ship...was destroyed. He..." The door chime rang, interrupting him, and he didn't say anything more. Instead, with a tormented expression, he looked down to the floor.
"I'll get it." Maddie replied softly, reaching up to kiss his cheek before moving to the door and opening it.
"Hi...Maddie..." It was Brady, and he looked worried. "I just... heard what happened." he said as his eyes went from her to Connor in the background.
"So did we." Maddie replied with a welcoming if sad smile, "We've literally just finished talking to Admiral Maddock. Come on in." she stood aside to let Brady enter.
Slightly nodding and gently laying his hand on her upper arm, Brady walked in. He looked back at Connor and went over to him, angling his head at him as he spoke to him softly, "Why don't you have a seat, Connor?"
Silently, Connor obeyed, looking lost as he sat down on the couch. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his legs, and leaned his face into his hands.
As he sat down next to him, Brady looked up at Maddie, "Can you get him a glass of water?"
Feeling totally helpless, Maddie nodded and headed to the kitchen. She didn't know Alex but she knew Connor and the pain he was feeling right now was going straight to her own heart too. Pouring a glass of water for him, she headed back out to the men and handed it over as she said "Did you want me to leave?"
Brady gave her an appreciative look and turned back to him. "Connor, it's up to you. What do you want?"
Connor leaned back with his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then opened his eyes and looked up at her. "I don't want you to leave, Maddie."
"Okay." Maddie replied with a tentative if sad smile and took a seat opposite them feeling totally and utterly useless.
His eyes followed her and then he leaned forward placing his elbows on his legs and rubbed is forehead. "Oh god," he breathed out, "this can't be happening..." He flew off the couch and started walking around.
Recognising what was happening, he'd seen it many times before, Brady stood and asked him, "What's going on, Connor?"
"The ocd...It's telling me..that this is my fault." his eyes starting tearing up, "That I wanted this to happen. But I'm not listening. I don't have to think about it. I'm not mad at him..'n' if I was I would never have wished it on him." then his brow furrowed more with anguish, "It still feels like it's my fault."
"Then step back mentally and think about what really needs addressing, Connor." Brady walked over to him, "Don't get into a battle of logic in your head. You 'know' that if you try to convince yourself of how illogical your thoughts are, you could end up getting very frustrated because you'll have a hard time being certain about anything. You'll always find a thread of doubt you can follow if you keep going along that path...right?" he asked him, having gotten Connor to look at him. "So don't get caught in that trap."
Hearing the thoughts repeat themselves at first, Connor hesitated. Then he stopped walking, and not really looking at anything, ran his hand over his mouth. "Yeah." he said, nodding over to Brady, and he swallowed.
"Okay." Brady nodded, feeling relieved, "Let's address the symptoms, not what their saying. Okay?"
Connor nodded again, and ran a hand through his hair, "Maddie, please...please get ready for the ceremony." He looked over to her, wanting to tell her he was sorry, for seeing him this way, he should have allowed her to leave. "I'll come get you."
Taking it that he wanted her to leave after all, Maddie replied a little dejectedly "Okay...if you're certain." The passionate woman inside of her wanted to angrily cry out "Why? Why are you punishing me for this? It's not my fault he's gone." but the woman who loved him wanted to please him, to make things as easy as they could be for him right now and she was pretty sure that a yelling Puerto Rican wasn't what he needed right now. Standing up, she walked over to him and tenderly touched his cheek before saying "I'll see you later."
He looked uncertain at her words. "Yeah." he forced himself to say, and his damp eyes searched hers, "I have to be there 'n' I don't want to be late."
Brady tore his eyes from the two of them and looked at the time. "Yeah, we're cutting it a bit close...Maddie..?"
Maddie stopped and closed her eyes. She should have known that Brady would pick up on her behaviour.
He directed her to walk with him to the door. And when they got there and she walked out into the hall, he leaned down to her. "Maddie, tonight's important to him and he's going to need us both to get him through it." and looking into her eyes, he found himself worrying about her, "Are you okay?"
"Not really." she shook her head and flashed him a shaky smile, "I want to be there for him, to take away his pain but I just don't know how." she looked at him with a pained expression.
"I know. You can be supportive. Keep him busy." Brady said, wanting to explain more, but he needed to get back to Connor. "I'll explain in more detail later." he gave her a supportive smile, he understood this wasn't easy for her, "He'll be down to get you shortly. See you in a bit."
"Look after him for me?" Maddie called after Brady as she headed back to her apartment feeling suddenly bereft and alone.
Determined to do just that, Brady closed the door.
Captain Madeline Sanchez
XO/Assistant Dean
Magellan Campus
Doctor Connor McKinney
Dean
Magellan Campus
Admiral Gregory Maddock
CO
Magellan Station
Captain Brady Dering
CO of the USS Solace
Former Zulu Psychiatrist
Magellan Campus guest
