Beginnings

 

Office of the Voice

"Teldyne, looking back to the event which led to the death of Rodger, and Chandler. What judgment do you think should be passed on all responsible parties?" the Voice asked Teldyne.

"Personally, the only answer I can give is death for all involved. However, Rodger asked me to save as many lives as possible. Those not directly involved or who left willingly need a more fitting punishment." Teldyne said to the voice.

"Logan, as chief engineer and one of the few commanders left on the ship your thoughts?" the Voice asked quietly.

"Sir, I will only trust those who stayed at their stations. Those who attacked me they can rot in hell for all I care. Those who killed or helped kill Chandler and Rodger need the slowest most agonizing death available and then be brought back to life and repeat until they can't be brought back anymore." Logan stated still looking to the floor. "Lucas is still in critical condition, he stayed at his post making damn sure the life support systems remain operational."

The door chime stopped further talking from occurring.

"Enter" the Voice stated to the thin air.

As the doors slid open. In stepped Marky.

"Oh, I am sorry Voice. I can come back if this is a bad time." Marky said looking around the room.

"Nonsense, come on in. How are they doing today Marky?" The Voice asked while making circles on his desk with his fingers.

"Shay is still livid. My best advice for him is he needs something to do for work." Marky said while holding a steady gaze on the Voice. "Chandler has been imaged as best we could with what was left. Hal is currently stuck in a loop. He keeps asking why Chandler did it, didn't he know it would be easier to repair a holo-matrix than him. Then he has a repeated rage and replays his destruction of Admiral Nance followed by his ethical subroutine resetting him back to an operational state prior to the incident. My opinion on the matter is we need to bury the memory for a short time like five to ten months, so he has more time to build up his emotional control."

"Logan, just so you know Lucas will be released in approximately six hours. The artificial kidney should be ready for install by then." Marky said after a brief pause. "Rodger is a different matter. We have been able to make a full copy of him. However, I require permission to create a Holo-matrix for his backup to run from." Marky said, hoping the Voice would take the hint.

"Marky, I will not authorize for him to be activated…"

"I need him back! He knows more about the tech and all of the other projects…" Marky stops to see the Voice is using the universal hand signal for stop.

"Marky, I wasn't flat out saying no to your request. I was trying to say it would be best to give everyone a time to morn and heal from these events." Voice said with glistening tears rolling down his face.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were just going to totally shut me down." Marky said while looking at the floor. "Teledyne's system is ready to transfer back to the headquarters mainframe."

"Speaking of Teledyne, his program is being transferred temporarily to the Saratoga until such time as we can trust the entire crew." Voice said diplomatically. "We could try for ten months to have Hal as the HQ system until his program is stable again. I really think it would help him and us."

Marky stood stock still and thought it over. "It could work, but I would prefer to have Project Devaintre to watch out for him during this test."

"Devaintre? What is Devaintre?" Voice asked confused.

"Devaintre is Rodger." Teledyne said quietly from the ceiling. "He was given a code name in case there was anyone left from Nance's regime. "

"Good Idea, Teledyne."

"Not my Idea!"

"Well, who's idea was it?" The Voice asked gently.

"Mine" Marky said looking timidly at the voice.

"Doctor, excellent Idea! Do not be shy around me, I don't bite. Unless you're into that sort of thing." The Voice said with a smile.

The room grew quite as the full body blush formed on Marky.

Marky, cleared his throat and asked quietly "Voice, how is Charlie doing?"

"Charlie is currently at HQ in the Medical One, he is heavily sedated since he tried a failed escape attempt and tried to murder anyone, he could find who hurt Rodger." The Voice told Marky.

"Could we visit him? Medically it might do him some good." Marky said in a wavy barely controlled voice.

"Teledyne, see to setting them up for visitation access to Charlie. Oh, and Teledyne level is unrestricted." Voice said looking toward Logan with a smile.

Charlie's secure room two hours later

Logan waited for the door to open all the way and the forcefield to drop before entering the room.

"Charlie, are you awake?" Logan asked worried he would wake Charlie.

"Hey Logan, come on in the room." Charlie said while waiting for an attack.

"Our last conversation before the attack, was about bringing them into the fold" Logan spoke remembering Charlie probably thought he was going to be attacked.

"Father said we should not bring them into the fold" Charlie said as the tears began to roll down his face. "Come in brother."

Logan walked into the room slowly. Walked straight up to his little brother and wrapped him in a smothering breath-taking hug. "Father has finally admitted he was wrong. He only did it to protect you."

Charlie stepped out of the hug and sat down on the bed. "Logan it’s a little late for it to help. I have lost Rodger. He was a part of my soul."

Logan sat down beside Charlie. "Father has arranged for you to have visitors. They are going through the final checks for visitation right now."

"Really, I don't think this is going to help much. I mean yes, I miss them, but I miss Rodger so bad. We wanted to get registered as a couple." Charlie said looking down at his hand noticing his brother was holding it with both his hands.

"So, they should be here shortly." Logan said right as the door chime went off. "Do you want me to stay or go?"

"Brother if you will let them in then you can stay." Charlie said watching his older brother get up to answer the door.

"Marky, when we last spoke you said Devaintre should be present" Logan said waiting for the correct answer.

"You said it might be difficult but would be best." Marky said looking at Charlie sitting on the bed.

"Come in guys, who did you bring with you?" Charlie asked looking at Hal, Marky, Lucas, and a new guy who looked familiar.

"He should tell you, but you won't believe him." Marky said with a twinkle in his smile.

"Charlie, when we get another house. It will have night lights and sensors to turn on the lights to prevent accidental redecoration of the house." Devaintre spoke softly.

"No…" Charlie said and promptly passed out.

"Guess we overloaded his processor" Marky said while whipping out his tricorder. "Looks like he will be fine and awake in a minute or so."

"Guys, please don't break my brother, again." Logan said with mirth in his voice.

"Sorry, we thought he could take a surprise." Lucas said looking around the room.

"Logan, we asked to have Devaintre active while Hal is stationed here." Marky said looking at Logan. "But he believes it would be best if Hal was here at HQ and Devaintre and Charlie were on the Saratoga."

"Teledyne will be on the Saratoga. Shay will be at HQ following Teledyne's playbook. Marky, Voice is trying to protect everyone, but things may change a bit more to ensure the safety of the group." Logan said looking at his younger brother who was starting to wake up. "Glad you could join us Charlie."

"Guys, can we have a few minutes alone." Charlie said with tearful eyes staring straight at Devaintre.

"Got it" Logan said looking at Charlie. "Don't break him, Devaintre!" Logan turned to look at Devaintre.

"Guys, let's go!" Lucas said getting everyone rounded up. "Remember no funny business while were gone."

 Author Notes:

This chapter is much shorter than the normal but this is the appropriate place to stop. There is much more to come.