Editing Epic of the Hugo & the Templar (section)

==Part 2==

Stardate 2407.01.10

(Starbase 23 – Personal Quarters – CO Eva Kollantai and Henri Li – 23.30)

“Where are you going?” asked Henri as he stared at Eva packing.

"Where do you think I'm going?"  Eva retorted back snidely.

"Did you see the same thing that I did?" asked Henri, stunned at her reply.  "They are threatening to pull out of the Federation"

"No, I'm not certain I SAW the same thing you did," Eva started back, her temper starting to flare.

"-Because what I SAW was not someone who is threatening to back out of the Federation.  Instead, I SAW a people protesting the revocation of their rights and freedoms within a dictatorial regime.  That's what I SAW
-- protest from within a democracy that was silenced not only through words, but also through provocatory behaviour and posturing with weaponry."  Eva accentuated the last of her statements as she threw several off-duty clothing articles into the case now holding the majority of her belongings.

“That’s insane!  We’ve seen the problems the Federation has experienced in recent years.  You’ve seen the same reports I have and the President did what had to be done!” he answered back passionately.

"NO!"  Eva remarked livid.  She stopped throwing clothes out of the closet, turned around and took a step towards Henri.  The fury from her face dissipated and was left with a cold, even resolve.  "No, Henri."  She said emphatically, "he did NOT do what needed to be done.  Yes, we have seen the same reports, but I doubt that we have seen the same things in them."

Eva pushed past him and reached for her most prized possessions of all: her book collection of Terran cold war history's primary documents.  Spies, treason, political posturing and manoeuvring -- all in the name of the 
nation.   She looked from her books to her former-lover and said nothing.

“Then what have you seen!” Henri bellowed back. 
“The security of the Federation is paramount to our way of life.  Without it, we couldn’t explore the galaxy in peace.  We would spend all our time worrying about of homes, our family, our loved ones!  This had to be done!”

Eva did not respond at first, instead she laid her books lovingly down in the case where they belonged.  "I, Henri, have looked into the face of evil calling itself democracy and freedom, and I choose to step away from it."

It looked as if he was about to speak or retort back, but instead, Eva held up a hand in the manner that he knew full well meant -- don't say another word, I'm not done yet.

"Our homes, our galaxy, our way of life -- in short -- peace, cannot exist under this regime he proposes.  It cannot and never will.  It starts with one small move, and then -- the next thing you know, we are at war, at war for defending our way of life.  A way of life, which, if properly respected in the first place, would have had far greater success than this will-be war ever would or will."

"No social grouping exists without some conflict, there is no pure space of peace.  Instead, there are ways to appropriately manage and guide conflict to resolve and reconcile for the best for all.  This, Henri, is not one of those ways.”

“Not now, not in the past, and most certainly not in the future.  That, Henri, is what I have seen." Eva answered almost calmly, but all too coolly for it not to be an act.  Inside, she suspected her heart to be breaking, but she could no longer go on living the Lie that she had seen within the context of what Doenitz was doing. No longer.  Even if it meant this.

She closed the second case.  Reaching for her third, she examined the hologram that sat on the table in their sitting room.  The two of them, in one another's arms -- Risa, the cascade falls.  She bit her bottom lip and did not make a move towards the hologram. Instead, she sought out what else was hers.

Henri stood in the door way, his mouth gaping in a silly manner, while his arms were akimbo.

~What can she be thinking, ~ he wondered, even as she told him exactly what she was thinking.  But his heart pounded furiously as he felt himself torn in two directions.  Loyalty to his leader and to his love.

“So do you think Lincoln was wrong for going to war with the South?  We both know it wasn’t about slaves then!” he said accusatorily, when he had slightly recovered, hoping the despair that was threatening to enter his voice was not showing on his face.  He suspected that this was a battle he could not win.

"No."  Eva replied, two could play at this game, "No, it wasn't about the slaves, but it was about something that was later known to cause another form of slavery and in fact, one of the reasons why slavery was so attractive to many of the large plantation owners in the south. 
Economics.  That's right, someone had something to gain economically." Eva paused.

"Now, I know you are going to retort back with the fact that economics as they existed in ancient history no longer exist here in the current socio-political context of the federation. However, I will remind you Henri, that economics stood-in for something much greater.”

“That's right, economics were bedfellows with power.  And power, Henri is what we have here and now, and power is what is motivating the "PRESIDENT" of our empire.  Economics and war for economic reasons still exist, and we are standing idly by while innocent people are killed because they protest the blatant appropriation and misuse of power being wielded by their overarching structure."  Eva finished.

"Today it was Andoria, who will it be tomorrow? 
Today it is them and we are US, tomorrow, what happens when we are the THEM and the US no longer includes or appreciates our eye colour or the way in which we choose to organise ourselves politically?  What happens then?”

“Or is your strategy to be one of those who are on the inside who gets to decide who is US and who is THEM?  Do you seek to repress others only as a form of elevating yourself to the ultimate levels of power within this new regime? It does seem, Henri that the power is up for grabs now-a-days."

Eva couldn't go on.  There was so much more she wanted to say, so many angry words that had pent up over the past few months where she had witnessed the actions of Doenitz and for some reason, saw her former-lover follow deeper and deeper into Doenitz's footsteps and plans and with him, she too, was being dragged.  Playing a part in this new presidential retinue was not on her to-do list.  Instead, Andoria had been the last stand -- she would stand up, she would walk out.  And that is precisely what she was in the process of doing.

“He’s a good man, Eva.” Henri said.  “We trust our leaders to know what is best for us.  Yes, they wield power, but they do so because we ask them to make the hard choices.  We’re captain’s.  You know what the job is like. It doesn’t get any easier higher up the chain.  It’s harder and you should know better.  Even if we don’t always agree with what our leaders are doing. We don’t just walk away because we disagree we work it out.  We compromise and sometimes, we follow orders!”

He paused, hoping his words might be having some effect.  She was always hard to read, even to those who knew her best.  So he continued, “This change in power has nothing to do with making one group special over the other, it’s about the needs of the many. Security for all.  Not just some.”

Eva looked at Henri.  She stepped closer and closer to him, their noses nearly five millimeters apart.  Her green-brown eyes stared intensely into his black ones.  She considered the miniscule lines that formed his iris, and how the colour of black seemed etched with lighter and darker shades to provide the depth and texture of his eyes which were supposed to be windows to his soul.

She did not speak for a moment, instead considering the eyes before her which saw the world in such a different fashion. Those eyes perceived the blatant disregard of the rights of humankind as being akin to the keeping and upholding of safety and our rights.

Those eyes, whose perception was so different from her own.  The two of them had reached a point where they could no longer see eye-to-eye.

Not saying a word, Eva broke her long, silent eye-to-eye contact.  She had seen the future for them, it was bleak and non-existent. Without saying another word, she went and amassed the rest of her belongings.  As she took the three cases out of what had been their quarters on the base, she looked one last time at the hologram on the table of them in Risa.  Those times had been different, and joyful.  These times were anything but.

Leaving the hologram there, and without another word or glance at her surroundings, the doors hissed closed behind Eva Kollontai.

Henri collapsed on the couch that had been theirs.  His head fell into his hands in despair.  His mind raced trying to search for the words that might change her mind. It was pure propaganda that was reaching them now about the damage done on those worlds.  There was no way that the President would allow such an atrocity to occur.  But all that came to his were here emerald-brown eyes staring deeply at him. He wished there was some way to show that he was still hers.  His heart ached to find some way to prove it.  But he knew that to win her, he had to betray all that he was. There was no way he could betray that.  He would not be worth her love, if he did that.  He turned around to stare at the Hugo.

He should contact Star Fleet Command. But he didn't.  This one thing he could do for her. 
Although he doubted she'd want anything more to do with him.

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(Posted by Kat and Kaweo)