Chapter 47. Remembering Felik, the savior
The sun hung high in the sky, shining ruthlessly and hotly on the treeless city. The temperature is so high that everyone is avoiding being outdoors. It’s the height of summer, and the thermometer climbs to new record heights every day. Otis hated the heat here, the temperature was obviously too high for the Sindy race. It makes sweat pour from every pore and slows thoughts to a crawl. He knew exactly why the Council had chosen this planet to meet. No race of Sindy wants to own this planet. This is not surprising at all. It consists mainly of high temperatures, dry deserts and blazing winds. Who would voluntarily live here? Luckily there was air conditioning inside so it was bearable. And on such hot days, usually no one leaves indoors.
Otis, however, desperately needs to get out. Get out of the building and get some fresh air. He felt as if the walls were crushing him, taking his breath away. Although he found the heat outside making him more breathless, he still felt free and relaxed. The news he received never got better. He still has not heard back on how many years he has served in Parliament. It was a constant stabbing needle in his heart and there was nothing he could do about it. There is also the strange race on the border of the Cindy Empire. Finally, after years of hard work, they finally learned the identity of this mysterious race. He no longer hopes anything like this will happen again. Regardless, it was a success, albeit a small one. Because the intelligence services don't know much about this race.
This race calls itself Demon Flame. They are reptilian creatures and their distinguishing feature is their eyes. They have insect-like compound eyes, which is actually a typical feature of insects. It's an unusual combination of features and a testament to the creativity of life and evolution. But this is all they know about this race. They have no idea of their size, skill level, or attitudes toward other races. They now only know a name, nothing more. However, the name is just a myth.
Worse than this insightful nothingness, however, is the fact that so many mishaps occurred during the investigation. The investigation into these accidents is not complete, but there are growing signs that the Cindy insect race intentionally sabotaged the investigation. If this were confirmed, it would be an incredible act. The insect race is one of the five Sindy races. They are tall, upright insects that are relatively intelligent and aggressive. They developed at the same time as all other Sindy races, but are not only different from other Sindy races in appearance. Their generational turnover is rapid and their lifespan is less than twelve years, making them more adaptable than other races. Furthermore, their belief in individual personalities is not particularly high. For them, nation comes first. They are to serve and protect the nation. If individual Cindy individuals must be sacrificed to do so, they will do so. They form a collective similar to a swarm of bees. All their actions are guided by this. So if they do undermine the investigation, it's not an act of personal ambition but appears to be an act of necessity for the insect community as a whole. This makes the whole thing even more mysterious.
For Otis, validating this act of destruction is also a personal goal. He has always dreamed of uniting Cindy and leading them towards a common future. But if Cindy had undermined each other, the gulf between them was wider than he thought. He never thought something like this would happen. It's one thing to refuse to cooperate, but it's an entirely different thing to intentionally harm another person. He worries again that maybe uniting Cindy won't be possible. Perhaps they are like children who, although born and raised in the same nest, must now go their own separate ways. independent of each other. He hoped this was not true, for such division would be a loss to every race.
But there is good news. He learned that humans had successfully escaped the control of the demonic flames. They sailed their ship back. Maybe they will avoid this area of the universe in the future. In this way, the confrontation between Cindy and the Federation is temporarily lifted. This is good news anyway.
Tiny stood alone in front of the viewing window of the Earth-orbiting space station, holding a glass of champagne in her hand and staring out the window. They arrived on Earth a few hours ago. On the way they were met by some frigates. Most of the crew transferred to these frigates to receive better medical and psychological support on Earth. Only a few remaining crew members remain on board, responsible for bringing the spacecraft back to Earth. Noah was determined to complete this task himself, and he did not want anyone else to do it for him. This is his ship and he is responsible for it. Therefore, only he would take it home. Tiny stayed with him.
Now, the Republic has been severely damaged and needs a thorough inspection by experts. It's unclear whether it's worth repairing. Even though she's not a crew member, she hopes to fix the ship. In just a few months, the Republic has become a kind of home to her.
She hasn't thought about her future and how life will go on. All she knew was that after everything she'd been through, her life would never be the same again. And what the future will look like, she is not interested now. Over the next few weeks, she will receive counseling to get her life back together. She couldn't process what happened on her own.
Now she was replaying the past few weeks in her mind. It was a hellish experience for her, but she had to remember it alone first and then process it with a psychologist. The betrayal of her friend Pike. She still couldn't believe it. Her dear friend, the one she loved so dearly. She had been sure that he loved her too. Being betrayed and sold, that's the real truth. If Hogan hadn't saved her, she might have been doomed. Who knows where in the galaxy she would be sent if she was sold. She may never be free. Hogan exchanged his own life for her rescue. Just like Felik. She missed him the most. He was the great officer who brought her to safety. And he died in her arms. because of her. She began to recall the long dark passage again. He walked ahead of her. It's a pity she didn't get to know Felik better. She really felt sorry for that. How she wished she could go to dinner with him, just like she promised him. But now this is no longer possible.
"I thank you, Felik," she whispered, with tears in her eyes, as she greeted the stars. "I will always be in your debt. I will always remember you."
She raised her glass and toasted to the stars.
...
In the west of the sky, the last ray of sunlight shines on the horizon. The sky and the gathering clouds were stained blood red. The entire western sky glowed with different shades of red. It almost feels like the sky has opened its doors to show people all its wisdom and mercy. However, this beautiful sight came like a moment of magic and the illusion soon disappeared. The colors gradually lose their vividness. Darkness crept across the horizon, until eventually only the faint glow of what was once a bright and glorious scene was left. As the night falls, a cool breeze blows gently through the streets and squares.
It was an early spring day, a harbinger of the coming weather changes. It's already quite warm during the day, but as soon as the sun goes down it immediately feels cooler.
On a chestnut tree right in front of you, the last few autumn leaves were blown by the wind in the square in front of Starfleet Headquarters. They dance in the wind. Sometimes they seem to be suspended in the air like clouds, swaying gently and dancing to the ground. Then they are blown up by the short wind, suddenly rising upwards, and finally slowly falling back to the ground.
As the door to the headquarters slowly opened, there was a slight squeal that seemed to indicate that it really needed a little more fuel.
Noah, the captain of the Republic, left the building in a hurry. His short silver hair shines in the entrance light, contrasting with his bronze complexion.
After walking a few steps, he stood not far from the chestnut tree, put his hands on his hips, and took a deep breath. He felt the uniform tightening against his chest. Deftly he loosened the top button.
"Hey, do you want some fresh air too?" He heard a familiar voice. He saw a man emerging from the shade of the trees and walking towards him.
"Hi, Daisy," he greeted her without looking at her. Taking another deep breath, feeling the cool air enter his lungs. "If I stayed any longer, I was going to explode."
"so serious?"
Is there a hint of humor in her voice? Noah turned to look at her. In the dim light, he saw her curls, but they looked dark now. The copper color of her hair had been swallowed up by the darkness. Only the uniform still showed some traces of red. Her rank gleamed in the dim ambient light.
"If I had to attend a modern leadership officer seminar, there would be a bloodbath," he muttered. The cool air brushed against his skin, restoring his body temperature, at least outwardly.
"As a captain, you have to know all this," Daisy responded, this time with a definite edge to her words.
Noah snorted. "If I do what these so-called experts say, you will definitely be the first to complain." He took another deep breath, then smiled and said, "What class did you take today?"
Although it was late, he could see Daisy frowning. "Risk management." Her voice betrayed disdain for the course. “How to identify and reduce risks in the work environment so that you can be more efficient.” She cites the core content of her course. "If I work as they say, we won't need the Klingons anymore, and even the Tralites can kill us. Who do they think they are?" she said angrily. "Has everything we've been doing wrong? These generals and their advisors are acting as if everything we've been doing is wrong. How can these self-righteous guys tell us how to do our jobs? These guys They have never left our solar system. They have no idea what the outside world is like. What kind of process optimization sounds really funny!"
Noah listened silently. He had nothing to say about it. What could he say? They had discussed this topic many times over the past few weeks. His chief engineer was right, but there was nothing he could do now. When they returned to Earth from their conflict with the Demons, he heard about these new work optimization concepts and thought about taking action to make them truly practical. He talked to relevant officials and generals. He worries that future academy graduates may become specialists in a specific field, unable to react and act in times of crisis, endangering their own lives and those of their colleagues.
But no one shared his concerns with him. Gradually, people stopped even listening to him. Today, Starfleet is controlled by bureaucrats. Risk management, quality management, organizational management. This is clearly the trend of the times, and those who master these skills will have a future. Noah doesn't like this, he may find the job too boring or stubborn.
"Even Vulcans aren't that stubborn and stubborn," Daisy continued. “When are we going to start again and put this madhouse behind us?”
"You know best when it comes to ship repairs," Noah responded.
"In two weeks, Republic will be back to combat capability," she said. During the battle with the demonic flames, the ship sustained significant damage. The spacecraft has been repaired and updated for ten months.
"But no battle orders have been received yet," Noah said, quelling her sailing hopes. "Obviously we haven't done all the training yet."
Daisy sighed. "Please don't talk about this anymore. Come get a drink with me. My treat. This is a technique I learned in seminars on how to suck up to your superiors."
They left the Starfleet base together. As they walked through the streets of San Francisco, they also had some conversation about the various trainings and workshops they had attended over the past few weeks. Daisy vented her frustrations about the projects, while Noah remained silent. His brief moment of anger had dissipated, and now he realized that as a superior, he could not oppose these actions of Starfleet. This was an order from above, and Starfleet was a military institution after all, and he had to obey orders. He must convey to his subordinates his support for the training, even if he also questions their significance. He can say this to his superiors, but in front of his subordinates, even if they are good friends, such as Daisy, he cannot say anything. He didn't actually have to say anything, she had known him for a long time and knew what he was thinking.
As they stood in front of the bar, they hadn't spoken for a while. As time passed, Daisy's emotions calmed down. She was angry enough and the anger was gone. Coupled with the fact that the weather was getting cooler as the night fell, not only did her anger dissipate, but she also became calmer inside.
"Let's get in quickly," she said, opening the door for Noah. “Hopefully we can still find an opening.”
