Chapter 55

Two Men Walk Into A Bar...


Aboard USS Wildstar

December 1, 2377

10pm

"What'll ya have, gov'nor," said Ian Bailey, head cook of the galley.

Captain Ashcroft and Bailey went back a long way, all the way back to the Arcadia. It was Bailey that had pulled Ashcroft out of the way of the falling bulkhead that claimed his wife and son, and who pulled him to the life pod to prevent Ashcroft from playing the hero.

"I'll have the special.," said Ashcroft.

"Coming right up, cap'n! Had a tough day, have ya?"

"Sort of. We're still having problems intergrading the Legendoran tech in with our own systems, and with all the battle damage we've suffered at the hands of the bloody Tholians..."

"Yeah, those bastards have changed a bit since Arcadia. I noticed from the chatter that they were using new tactics this time around."

Coming into the galley was President Hollifield, who was staying aboard this ship temporarily while Hercules returned to Earth to drop off Deanna Troi for treatment at Starfleet Medical. He looked worn out and beat, just like he was. Their jobs may be different, but their attitudes ran along similar lines.

"Evening, Mr. President. What'll ya have," said Bailey.

"I'll have whatever he's having. You know, us politicians are supposed to make decisions all the times, so having the chance to go with the flow once in a while is a good thing!"

Bailey laughed as he went back into the kitchen to get the two men their meals. Ashcroft and Hollifield took their drinks back to a table in the corner of the galley, where they could talk. Ashcroft had to go through tons of red tape to have the galley put in, because Starfleet bureaucrats thought just having replicators would do the job. Ashcroft argued that having freshly prepared food aboard the ship was important to the well-being of the crew, and the social environment of the galley would help with morale. In the ten years he had helmed this ship, he had noticed the effects of the galley on the crew, and had been successful in persuading Starfleet in adding them to new ships coming into the line.

"You know, I was just thinking. We have a lot in common. We've both been widowed twice, fought in wars, served our time in hell...among other things.," mused President Hollifield.

"All too true. And, we both went to Carolina, which is all the more important," replied Ashcroft as he raised his glass for a toast.

"Damn straight! Those Dukies think they've always been better than us, but look at what we've accomplished. Not bad for the oldest public university back in the States!"

Ashcroft nodded as he knocked back his iced tea. "So when do you head back to your Earth?"

"Couple of weeks, maybe sooner. Depends on developments. This damned war has paused for now, but we both know that we're going to have to break into Cardassia and free that world if we want to defeat the Ragendora."

"Yeah, them having a beachhead like that in our universe makes our job a lot tougher. It would have been even harder if we had to deal with Centauri Prime as another beachhead."

Hollifield sighed and admitted, "I still worry that the Ragendora may try to take that planet again. Their military is still very strong, but they're thin across the galaxy going after the Drakh. I've tried to tell Mollari that he should do more to help us out with the overall campaign, but he's too damn stubborn and his hatred for the Drakh..."

Ashcroft snorted, "Sounds like some Ferengi I've known. Hell, sounds like some Klingons I've known, and if you tell them that, I'll have your head on a silver platter!"

Hollifield laughed and said, "No thank you! I've got enough people who want to kill me as it is, and, besides, you'd probably succeed where they failed!"

The two men laughed as their dishes were brought to their table. Both had heaping plates of beef stroganoff before them, with accompanying breadsticks and a vegetable medley side dish. "One thing I'll say about this ship: you've got a damn good cook! The gal on the Hercules was good, but Bailey just seems like he's much more creative than she was."

"Indeed. He used to be a Starfleet officer long ago, and he served with me, but he lost his wife at Wolf 359 and resigned his commission. He puttered around his native Manchester for a few years, getting a culinary degree. I visited him one day when we were finishing up on this ship and he said he was getting tired of being Earthbound. So when I suggested that we needed a galley, he was the guy I had in mind to run the place."

Hollifield nodded and said, "Yeah, he had that look of someone who's been under fire. Lord knows we've been through seeing those we loved ripped from us."

"Yeah, I still remember when my dad was killed in that surprise attack from the Tholians. He was just on a routine mission aboard his flagship when the Tholian raiders hit his ship."

"Sorry to hear about that, Steven. I'm sort of lucky my dad's still around. Although there have been times I wished he hadn't survived the Dilgar War."

Ashcroft turned to his friend with a puzzled look on his face and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Hollifield sighed and leaned back against his chair, resting his head against the wall. Finally, he said, "My dad was a pilot who flew troop transports for the Earthforce Marines. When they arrived at Balos, he saw what the Dilgar had done to the native population. Their most monstrous War Leader, J'Hadur, had implanted machines in the minds of several races in the non-aligned worlds sector, and when he saw the remnants of those who survived..."

Ashcroft nodded, "Sort of like when the Allied troops freed the concentration camps as the Nazi regime fell apart."

Hollifield closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall again. "It shook my dad seriously, but he repressed it because he had a job to do. He saw many more scenes like it before the end of the war, which came suddenly when the sun in the Dilgar system suddenly went nova. After the war, Earthforce gave him a bucket load of medals, but it didn't make up for the psychological trouble he went through. That, and the fact that his wife and only son both were discovered to be telepaths."

"I take it you aren't too fond of your mother."

Hollifield shook his head, "No, I remember the woman she was before she got her 'blessing'. She was loving, gentle, sweet...but when she got her telepathy and went into the Corps, it was like she turned a complete 180 on an emotional level. When I got my abilities a few years later, she made sure I didn't have a chance to get away and I was brought into Teeptown. It was the worst two years of my life."

Ashcroft sat back, then said, "But how did you get out of the Corps?"

Hollifield took another bite of his stroganoff, swallowed, then said, "One night, they came for me. They took me to a shuttle and we took off to Mars. We landed at the not-so-secret Psi Corps base on Syria Planum. There, Mr. Bester and his associates, with the full permission and cooperation of my dear mother, pumped me full of drugs to boost my telepathy beyond where it was humanly possible.

"For a brief moment, I could see everything, hear everything, and feel everything. Then, like a door, my mind slammed shut. I believe I had a stroke of some kind, but I'll never know.

"Then, a day later, I was abducted from the base by a strange being. As we walked through the halls of the facility, I found that all the guards had been sedated. We left on an alien ship, and I was sedated myself. When I woke up, I was on the Vorlon homeworld."

Ashcroft's eyes went wide, and he said, "My God! What was that like?"

Hollifield said, "To this day, I can't adequately describe it. One of these days, when we have some free time, I'll try to replicate it in that holodeck of yours. But anyway, while I was there, I was adjusted."

"Adjusted?"

"Like with Lyta Alexander, but they had more time with me. So, about three months later, they dropped me off in Munich, and I was taken back to Psi Corps. They tested me, because they suspected the Vorlons had been behind what happened to me. They found that I had no abilities any longer, and they reluctantly let me go back into the general population."

"Reluctantly?"

"Because Mr. Bester, back when he was a young, up-and-coming officer, pressed his superiors to have me euthanized and dissected, but Director Johnson decided to thwart the bastard and set me free. Granted, I was closely monitored for years, secretly, or so they thought, but they never suspected I still had my abilities."

Ashcroft sighed and said, "Why do I get the impression that Johnson wasn't a nice guy?"

"He wasn't. He did it specifically because he had a grudge against Bester and telepaths like him. According to EA law, the director of Psi Corps has to be a normal, and Johnson filled that position well. He mainly got it because he was a teep-hater."

"Ah, politics. Something that supposedly doesn't exist in this universe.," Ashcroft said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I have some idea of their quarrel, but I don't know the whole story. I do know that Bester was responsible for his murder, but Santiago and I made sure that any information of the deed was suppressed. At that time, we considered Johnson a bigger threat than Bester."

Ashcroft leaned back and drank some more tea, then said, "I don't know if I could survive in the world of politics, especially in your universe."

"Trust me, there hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't regretted letting them run me out of the service. I joined up because I needed that kind of regimentation in my life at the time."

Ashcroft nodded as he finished a spoonful of the vegetable medley, saying once his mouth was empty, "Same here. My dad hated my decision,but I always felt drawn to the uniform."

"Exactly. My uncle was the same way, as was my dad. But they didn't interfere with me getting in, albeit that they did their damnedest to make sure I didn't get a combat assignment. That's why I got that blasted honor guard duty."

"So that's why you're out here? You struck me as a hands-on kind of guy."

Hollifield finished the last of his tea. "Yeah, that and the fact that I was off Earth during the plague. I couldn't stand to be behind a desk,
so I hopped on ships and lead from the front. It makes my vice-president's life hell, as well as my chief of staff, but I'm the president, as well as a war hero, so they let me slide. Besides, what better way to get me killed than in combat!"

Ashcroft laughed again, "Yeah, from what you've said in the past, the late and unlamented President Clark still has some buddies who want some revenge."

"Uh-huh, but they figure, since I'm going headlong into combat, why bother trying to kill me?"

"So there is a method to your madness after all?"

"Of course," replied Hollifield. The two finished their dinners and then ordered desert. Both had peach cobbler, and both remarked that Bailey had somehow stole their respective grandmother's recipe.

Once they had finished, Ashcroft said, "Listen, you wanna come back to my quarters and watch the Carolina/Duke football game? They're playing for the ACC championship in football tonight!"

Hollifield looked shocked. "Duke contending for a championship in football? Now that I've got to see! They haven't won the ACC title in my universe since 2111!"

Ashcroft laughed and said, "Well, they are a little better here. At least my senior class doesn't have the indignity of losing to them!"

"Hush your mouth! My senior year, we lost to those bastards in the ACC AND NCAA tournament finals, and I still haven't been able to live it down to this day!"

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