A Second Chance

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WolfofWords
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A Second Chance

Post by WolfofWords »

Kane Thalek paced the waiting room outside of Superintendant Josephine Schweitzer's office. He paused to look out over the San Francisco skyline and found himself balling his fists just a little too hard. He looked down at the little half-moons his nails had made on his palms. He tried to take a deep breath to center himself. He tried to slow his heart rate but it was so hard. It was so damn hard. This was probably his last shot at getting back into the academy and it would be a miracle if this worked.

His father had been furious when Kane had been forced to return home from the Academy. Kane's mother had been understanding about the whole thing. However, his father was Commander Thalek and could not and would not be so forgiving. He had communicated his displeasure at length and repeatedly from the USS Requin. At that point, Kane had been glad to be far away from him back on Coridan although he had found himself restless. After tasting the Academy, he had no passion for a normal life on Coridan. He wanted back in.

The problem was that he had absolutely blown his chance but he would not have changed a thing even if he could have gone back and done things differently. Everything had been going well until word had gone out that the Dominion was going to attack Coridan. He walked out of his next class and packed his bags. He and two other students, Tracy and Bastian, had hopped on the first shuttle to head out to defend Coridan. The other two had no connection to Kane's home planet but they did want to fight the Dominion.

All three of them had ignored an order to return to the Academy and had joined the crew of an unauthorized ship in the defense of one of Starfleet's largest sources of dilithium. He had served well and had personally operated weapons that had fired on Dominion forces. When the dust settled, Coridan was still free but, unfortunately, so was Kane. Instead of heading back to the Academy to petition for some sort of forgiveness, he had been informed that he would no longer be welcome at the Academy.

He had resigned himself to a relatively quiet life back home but it had been tough. He knew that it was only fair but it did not take away the sting of having lost his chance at service. It had been a whole year now. A whole year passed before he had received a communique from the Academy summoning him for a conversation. He had tried not to get his hopes up but he had been elated and extremely curious. Why the sudden change? It had been a surprise to Kane's father as well so it was not his doing. It was strange.

The door opened and Mr. Gerrold, Ms. Schweitzer's secretary stepped out of the office and sat at his own exterior desk. "The superintendent will see you now," he said. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Kane said with a small smile and then took a deep breath and headed through the door and into the superintendent's office.

The superintendent was seated and looked up without smiling. "Please sit down Mr. Thalek," she said. "I'll keep this brief."

Kane sat down across from her and kept his mouth shut. No pleasantries would break the tension in the room. It was best to just let her speak her mind.

"It has been a year since you left this Academy," she said. "Unfortunately, do the chaos during the time of your departure, the Review Board was unable to accurately review and process your expulsion."

Kane looked confused. "Excuse me, Ms. Schweitzer, but what does that mean?" he asked.

"It means that you did not receive the due process that others get following disciplinary measures," she said. "I apologize for that. Normally, you would be allowed to plead your case but you were denied that opportunity."

"So we have a trial now?" Kane asked. "I get to plead my case?"

"The Academy has decided to forgo any trial," Ms. Schweitzer said. "I have personally spoken to your teachers and they all spoke at length on your behalf. You were a second-generation student and your father's service record shows that, if you were to follow in his footsteps, you would make a fine officer. The reason for your departure, while insubordinate, was noble and somewhat understandable. I had the same impulse during the Battle of Wolf 359. In short, we are prepared to accept you back into the Academy on a probationary basis."

Kane fought not to let out a cheer and somehow kept a straight face. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"Even one minor slip up and you will be in front of the Review Board again," Ms. Schweitzer said. "Reports from Coridan said that you acquitted yourself well in battle."

"I suppose I did alright," Kane said with a smile.

"We all expect even better things from you in the future," Ms. Schweitzer said. "And no more insubordination, please."

"Of course not," Kane said. "I wouldn't dream of it, ma'am."
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Re: A Second Chance

Post by WolfofWords »

Kane Thalek held the pool cue in his hand more like a club than an actual tool. "It just pisses me off," he said. "I never asked my dad to pull any strings for me. In fact, I asked him not to after I got kicked out of here. It's not my fault that he's an Admiral." Kane liked to think he got in and back into Starfleet Academy on his own merits. He might have gotten in the first time on his own but it was increasingly doubtful that he was readmitted legitimately. The thought made him feel kind of sick and not only because his instructors and fellow classmates were not being subtle about shoving it in his face.

"Could you not brandish that like a club?" Soske Treji said. "This is a classy game. I wanted to teach it to you to make you breathe and focus. Calm down." Treji was pretty much the only instructor who seemed to empathize with Kane's position. This was a typical after-hours one-on-one lesson. Treji liked to play games and knew that Kane liked competing.

"Sorry," Kane said and took a deep breath. He rolled his neck to get the tension out and then leaned over the table to aim his shot. "They say it enough times and it drills into my skull."

"Who cares how you got here," Treji said. "We both know that you're qualified. It's what you do with it that matters. What do you want to do with it?"

Kane took his shot and barely managed to sink one of his balls into a corner pocket. "I want to get back out there," he said. "When I was fighting on Coridan, I knew there were ships up there trying to protect us. I wanted to be on one of those ships. Badly. There will be other planets out there in the same spot. They need defending." He missed his next shot.

"What would your ideal posting be?" Treji asked, starting to size up his next shot.

"Something in a Saber-class," Kane said. "I don't need or want anything cushy or comfortable."

"You're definitely not the normal Admiral's kid," Treji said. "Take a lesson from this." He took his shot and sank three balls. "Take your time and wait for your shot. You'll do great. You might not get what you want but you just have to make the most of what comes your way."

"I guess," Kane said. "I just want to serve. I don't want a boring post on some big ship."

"No Enterprise for you then?" Treji asked. "You don't want to work your way up to senior staff on the ship of ships? Maybe some Galaxy-class ship?"

"I'd just keep hearing all of the stuff about my dad pulling strings," Kane said. "I'll pass. Send me to the front lines somewhere. Put me in the action."

"For glory-seeking?" Treji asked, goading the young man a little.

"No," Kane said. "You know that's not it." He took a breath and smiled, realizing what his teacher was doing. Leaving to fight against the Dominion had been impulsive and he did not regret it. He had accepted the consequences even though it had led to years of punishment even with him returning to the Academy. He had started to learn to be less impulsive and he was going to have to follow the rules if he was going to get anywhere. This was his second and last chance.

"I think you've learned my lessons fairly well," Treji said. "Do you want to play a round of Springball before calling it a night?"

"I'm tempted," Kane said. "I still owe you from last time but I have to get some studying in tonight now that I've calmed down."

"Tomorrow night maybe," Treji said.

"Maybe," Kane said with a smile.
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Re: A Second Chance

Post by WolfofWords »

Kane Thalek walked into the bar flanked by his friends Etiva Xankath and Calvin Bastian. The place was dimly lit and full of miners. The three cadets looked fairly out of place since their training had made them easy to pick out as military from their bearing. They were also the youngest in the place. On top of all of that Bastian and Xankath were the only non-Coridanites in the place and a human and a klingon definitely stood out. Kane took the lead because this was his homeworld. These were his people even though he had been guided away from the mines at a very young age by his father.

Kane headed over to the bartender and ordered shots of the local whiskey for him and his friends. He then looked around before he leaned in conspiratorily.

"Tell me, friend," Kane said. "Where can a few young people get involved in the fight against the Dominion?" It was blunt but he figured why beat around the bush when he could just dive in and get to what they wanted.

"The Dominion?" the bartender asked. "Why would you go picking a fight with them?" The man behind the bar looked absolutely baffled. You would have thought that Kane had been talking backwards while tap dancing from his expression.

"The Dominion are coming here," Etiva said in an almost hiss. "The people here should really be ready to fight." There was urgency and anger in her voice. She always had a temper.

Calvin tried to cover for Etiva's aggression. "We're here to help with that," he said. "Any way that we can." Calvin had a cool head and a serious demeanor when it suited his purpose. He was often the voice of reason and logic between the three of them.

"I don't know anything about that," the bartender said gruffly. "I just serve drinks to these simple workers, men and women of the land."

A hand clapped onto Kane's shoulder from behind and a strong voice sounded. "No need to play dumb, Salta," the voice said. "These aren't real Starfleet, they're just little puppies."

Kane and his friends turned to see a tall Coridanite man flanked by tense-looking fiends of is own.

"We may not be full officers," Kane said. "but I think we can do some good here."

"Uh huh," the man said. "They keep telling us that Starfleet is coming. Starfleet will protect us. Trust in Starfleet. I prefer to hedge our bets. Starfleet can't do everything."

"We're not here as Starfleet," Kane said. "We're here as fighters. We want to help. If you can tell us how to do that, we're yours."

The man laughed and the sound was not kind. "I might be able to use a handful of Starfleet pups," he said. "but you're going to get your hands dirty. No stun setting, you understand?"

"We understand," Kane said. "No mercy for anybody who would attack Coridan."

"No mercy," the man said with a nod of agreement. He looked at Etiva and Calvin who also nodded their agreement. "And you'll be alright dealing with, shall we say, less than savory citizens? Some of the people I work with have had a few run-ins with Starfleet and the local laws."

"A fighter can't exactly be picky in a war," Kane said. "The Dominion are doing far worse than a few criminals in the ranks of freedom fighters. We're not interested in what your people have done in the past. We're interested in fighting for Coridan's future."

"Fair enough," the man said. "Welcome to the Red Pickaxe, we'll get you situated and armed and in with a squad."

"What's your name?" Calvin asked, Kane shooting him a look.

"That's not important right now." the man said. "Maybe you'll learn it when I trust you more. For now, you can call me The General."
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Re: A Second Chance

Post by WolfofWords »

Personal Log. Ensign Kane Thalek.


My assignment to the Baltimore started off on a good note but it's only a matter of time. Paging through crew files, it seems that this is a ship of misfits which is probably why I am here. More punishment. The Captain is included in the misfit category and also seems very angry. I guess I'm familiar with that particular chip on my own shoulder. The crew is weird but they seem competent. The file that caught my eye the most was the Bajoran who also fought in the war.

We have been assigned to repair and investigate a freighter crashing into a communication beacon, taking out communication in the whole area of Typhon Sector and beyond. I'll leave the repairs to the engineers but I'm looking forward to a good mystery. As one of my teachers used to say: "The game is afoot."

Personal Log. Ensign Kane Thalek.

Things are a mess here at the Corvan Conflux. Besides the devastated communication beacon, the Corvans have become far too trusting. They hired out Orions for supplies for the repairs. Huge mistake. Big red flag. They have a Cardassian as our contact on the investigation. That should go well. The investigation was predictably assigned to me but also to Dellaria, who talks a lot and can read minds. I wasn't sure at first but she seems to be pretty smooth as a distraction and another set of eyes. A good partner, maybe.


Personal Log. Ensign Kane Thalek.

Things are getting worse. Somebody out there has technology to hijack ships that they used to crash the freighter into the beacon. Nasty little trick. On top of that, the Ferengi and the Breen are having border issues nearby which is most likely connected to communication disruptions. We're being denied further access to witnesses and possible suspects by the government. Very suspicious and very frustrating. I have decided that I never want Dellaria to read my mind. There are things there she wouldn't want to see.

Personal Log. Ensign Kane Thalek.

Case Closed. It was the goddamn Orions. Of course, I solved everything through dumb luck. Dellaria, Beolvoch, and I got caught talking to witnesses which, again, was a big no no. I slipped away. I don't do well in custody. In the middle of continuing the investigation, I got my phaser pickpocketed by a damn kid. Chasing that down ran me smack into the Orions in the middle of some sort of coup. One of them nearly took me out and I couldn't shoot back. Still, I saw the final clue and discovered the device that was hijacking ships. It was part of the coup. Then it was back to the ship to shoot down the Orion ship and make then board them to make the arrests. I wished I could have also made the arrests on the ground but it's hard to be in two places at once.

Personal Log. Ensign Kane Thalek.

I got my damn phaser back. The kid probably dropped it when the shooting went down. I'm honestly lucky it wasn't used to commit a crime. I guess it's on to the next job after this.
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