<USS Avalon> A reason to succeed

Josh sighed as he stood carefully, mindful of Annabelle still sleeping beside 
him, and headed for the replicator for coffee, shaking off the last memories of 
the dream as they faded. Parts of them tugged at the back of his mind now, even 
when waking. The sounds of the screaming, the smell of the smoke and burning 
flesh. The softly accented voice insisting he remain unseen. Since the 
unsettling dream of someone named Daniel they'd been more focussed, more 
demanding that he remember them, it seemed.
 
Not now, he thought, as he pushed the unsettling images away. He had so much to 
do already, he dared not let such pointless distractions interfere. 
 
He headed for the shower, setting it to it's hottest tolerable setting and 
stepped in, scrubbing until his skin was pink and nearly raw then just standing 
there a moment, allowing the heat and pressure of the cascading water to wash 
away the last of the dreams. 
 
Stepping out, he towel-dried and dressed quickly, silently so as not to disturb 
Annabelle, and exited the room. 
 
They'd have entered the badlands by now, meaning he'd have to be much more 
focussed from here on out.  He couldn't afford to be as lazy and unproductive 
as he'd been over the last few days. The Avalon couldn't afford it, either. Not 
with so much at stake.
 
He forced himself not to sprint all the way to the shuttle bay, instead walking 
quickly, as quickly as his long legs would carry him. He sealed the bay door 
behind him to prevent interruptions, encrypting and re-encrypting until he was 
certain not even Mac or Annabelle would get past them unless he himself opened 
them. He checked his shuttle carefully, smiling slightly as he let the reality 
of its ownership wash over him once more. It really was his. He enjoyed that 
thought for a brief moment before it a second thought struck him. It would most 
likely be destroyed in this, and very likely him with it. The margin for error 
was virtually non-existent. One mistake...
 
He sighed, shaking his head. It would be far too easy to die here. 
 
Entering the shuttle at last, he began checking and rechecking everything, from 
basic structural integrity through the modifications he'd made, while accessing 
the Avalon's sensors as well to monitor the progress and ensure nothing was 
overlooked. Just to be sure. He owed it to them....to her, he amended as 
Annabelle's peacefully sleeping image lingered in his memory.  The others would 
barely notice if he were there or not. That was part of what made him so 
perfect for this mission, though nobody ever voiced it. He had all the 
prerequisite skills, with more than sufficient enough expertise in each area to 
ensure at least a possibility of success wehre few if any others aboard could. 
But, and perhaps more importantly, he nothing left to lose. Even Mac would be 
fine if it came to it, he believed, remembering how many friends he'd lost when 
the Santa Ana was destroyed. His loss would have been negligible enough. It 
would have, had it not been for her. He redoubled his efforts, m
 aking
 minute changes here and there as he prepared to leave, determined as he had 
not been before that he would not only succeed, but return safely as well. His 
survival was no longer a negligible concern. He had to. 
 
For her.

                
---------------------------------
 Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

Other related posts: