Far Over, The Highland Mountains, Cold - Part Six

Posted on Wed Mar 18th, 2020 @ 3:22am by Fleet Admiral Heather Duval & Commander Ethan "Hardcase" Duval & 1st Lieutenant T'Kera "Demolitions" Duval

Mission: Mission 98: Building Our New Home
Location: Deneva - Highland Mountains
Timeline: 1230Hrs - June 17th, 2393

Whatever Ethan was about to say about T'Nae or anyone else wanting to meet him just quashed when his communicator beeped at him. Duval pulled it off of his belt. "Duval here, go ahead?" he asked in a flat tone of voice, the answer came back. "Ethan, we have a storm warning for your area, I'm sorry old buddy but your not gonna make it to Pike's Peak, not today."

"Understood. I have two others with me, can you beam us back?" Duval inquired.

"Yeah, stand by." came the response as Duval felt the wind starting to rise and blow from out of the north, the clouds also rapidly began to thicken over as well, while the first flakes of snow splattered the three people gathered here.

The transporter haze took them as the stormfront crashed overhead, washing over the trail and advancing towards its destination. The three people appeared in one of the many transporter rooms the monastery used for emergency evacuations of the trails and the surrounding areas when storms appeared.

Heather Duval sighed. "Well, that was brief," she commented evenly. Duval didn't answer as he placed his communicator back onto his belt. "The walk was therapeutic and I enjoyed it." he turned to the two women before him, he could easily see T'Nae's face in the younger female before him. "Come on, let's go eat some lunch... Since as you are here. I will hear more of what you have to say about Starfleet." Jefferson commented quietly.

"Alright. After you." Heather Duval commented.

Ethan turned and led the way off of the transporter pad and out the door. "Thanks for the save Michael. That's another one I owe you," he commented to the transporter operator.

Michael smiled. "Not a worry Ethan. At least I was able to grab all three of you guys," he answered. "That's one hell of a storm brewing out there."

"Still, Thanks, all the same, my friend." Ethan Duval commented with a nod.

"No worries," Michael answered as he beamed in another group of evacuees from elsewhere down the same trail. Duval nodded before he led the two women in his party out the door and he turned left to head down the hallway. K'Tera smiled. "I'm going to head on down to the hanger and make sure the Runabout we brought with us is at a hundred percent." the Vulcanish-looking female explained. "I'll call you with my progress."

"Okay, be safe," Duval said to her niece as she turned right before she started moving off down the hallway, towards her own destination.

"So, if I were to come back to Starfleet, what would I do?" Ethan inquired of the older female before him, he ignored the younger female as there was nothing for him to really say on the matter. "Tell me about your Starfleet.?"

Heather Duval took a moment as she brushed her long silvery hair back out of her face, as she took a moment to pull her hair back into a simple but effective ponytail. "Starfleet is a quasi-military organization. We handle the exploration of space and the defense of the Federation, however, we don't handle the military aspects, the marines handle that with Starfleet and the starfighter corps handles the new starfighters. The Starfleet defense force looks after the defense of the various Federation worlds and Starfleet bases. We're still working out the fine details of everything and I suspect some will be for a long time to come." Duval admitted.

Ethan processed all of this in silence. "So, assuming I went back with you, what would I be doing?"

"Well, you are in luck as I anticipated your question and I already got an assignment for you, one suited to your rather specific talents. Admiral Lasky will find you most useful with the building of his command. I'm going to assign you to command the USS Gaarni." she commented. "She's one of the newer Heavy Cruisers entering the fleet these days, you might like her but if she does not meet with your approval, I will see what else I can find for you."

"Lasky requested me, huh?" Ethan paused. "Its thanks to him that I have been able to find some peace in this world." he paused. "I owe him one."

"Well." Duval smiled brightly for a moment. "Starfleet has been screwing him around on commanders for his squadron. He needs experienced people and had you decided to come with me, I was going to assign you to him because I had a feeling you could be of great use to him." the older female explained.

"I will go with you," Ethan answered. "I'll take this assignment as offered and help Lasky, he was one of the few people in this world who did anything good for me, he did not need to help me the way he did after how things went down between us but he sent me here because he knew I needed help." Ethan paused. "Had our paths not crossed, only Odin knows where I would have ended up, dead or worse... I owe him."

"Good. I will handle your paperwork myself. So there are no mistakes and." Duval slowly smiled as she spoke. "If I'm not being too presumptuous. Welcome back to the service, Commander Duval. I'll have the quartermaster handle your various needs as you'll be based from Vanguard and not roaming around the galaxy. Utgarde Four is a lovely world and I'm considering settling down on that world myself."

Ethan was surprised, the look on his face said as much. "Utgarde... In the Taurus Reach?" he regarded her with a sad look as he spoke.

"You know it... From your previous reality." Duval had always refused and still, she refused to refer to Ethan's home reality as his original reality. "You know of it?"

"I do," Ethan answered quietly. "In my previous reality, it was a blackened cinder of a world, a Tholian force glassed the world to prove a point, that was before the Federation exterminated half their species in response. "It was a dark time."

"Well not here," Duval answered in a subdued tone of voice. "Here the Federation is still what it was in your youth, we are not the misogynistic fools you left behind."

"Good," Ethan answered quietly. "I find myself, oddly looking forward to this idea actually, commanding a new Federation ship of the line has its appeals.."

"You will encounter T'Nae sooner or later," Duval explained, referring to her sister in law. "What will you do with her?"

"Nothing. This T'Nae is a completely different woman to the monster I knew." Ethan answered quietly. "I will deal with her as needed, but I won't make things hard, as I don't need to do so. She will seek to know me and thus, I will let her. This T'Nae deserves a chance to know me... This is a different reality as you have pointed out, your very presence tells as much.."

"You said I died.." Duval explained. "I have four children and eleven grandchildren," she explained with a gentle smile. "I am very happy with my lot in life as I have a great deal to be thankful for and now I have another brother in addition to Jeff." she then slowly grinned at him. "Besides. Life has been good to me and to you too," she added with a bright smile.

"Yes, Deneva is my homeworld and these people are my friends. But I do feel my destiny lies out there... I had thought of rejoining Starfleet before but, yes I will go with you."

"Excellent Ethan. What do you say we go have lunch and we can get to know each other. You remind me of Jeff in so many ways and not like him in others. Maybe I can help you."

"We shall see Heather." as Ethan turned, before gently taking her hand in his, he then led her down the hallway towards the messhall.