Personal log.
Acting Captain, USS Tycho Brahe.
He wasn’t supposed to die.
It was supposed to be a simple mission. Beam down. Check for contraband. Beam up.
I’ve watched people die before. I’m a doctor. I’ve seen incurable diseases, crippling injuries, accidental deaths. But to see someone I’m responsible for walk into their death on my orders is something I never bargained for. Of course, I’ve done the training. Every command cadet goes through the obligatory courses, the Kobayashi Maru scenario, the psychological screening. None of it even begins to prepare you for the stark reality of a man’s blood running from his throat and lying dead at your feet. None of it prepares you for the knowledge that it was your order that sent him to the front of the team, your order that put him on the away mission in the first place. None of it prepares you to deliver the news to his parents that their son, their 22 year old son, is dead.
To do no harm, that was the oath I swore as a doctor. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to repair all the damage I’ve done.
Mercy – whatever powers might be listening out there, just a moment of mercy.
