Diamond in the Rough

Posted on Fri Apr 3rd, 2026 @ 6:14pm by Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Moriarty & Sergeant Jace Morven

2,098 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Holodeck, USS Guinevere
Timeline: Early 2389

The holodeck walls had reasserted themselves. No more broken skyline, no dust hanging in the air. Just the clean grid now, humming faintly, the overhead lights too sterile after the smoke and movement of the fight. Programme over. Weapons disarmed. Armour still hot. Squad dismissed, already having half run out after saluting the Lt. Colonel, eager to get into sonic showers and some chow.

Jace stood near the arch with his helmet clipped to his thigh plate, fingers hooked through the catch. His other hand flexed once at his side, the glove creaking slightly as he opened and closed it. Holodeck usually made him feel like this, tension under the skin...the holodeck not tricking the part of him that knew the scent of real combat. He hadn’t stripped off the armour. Not yet. Just the helmet. His dark hair was damp at the temples and stuck in short, flattened ridges along the sides, the longer top raked back with no real care. It made the sharp lines of his face more prominent. Jaw square, high cheeks drawn a little tighter than usual. There was a streak of dirt just beneath one eye where he must have wiped sweat with the back of a glove and not noticed.

His eyes went over to Moriarty and he gave him a nod. "They held...not perfect, but nothing is," he said, eventually. His voice wasn't flat, but close. Assessing, still in the moment. He shifted his stance slightly, boots planted square, weight even. No rest in it, just a kind of stilled readiness, as if the walls might dissolve again and he'd have to move fast. "Kelen broke formation. Twice." His tone tightened fractionally. "Second time would've got him clipped if I hadn't dragged him. Harkness missed the mine. Heel caught the outer ring but the programme didn't trigger detonation." He was reporting what he had seen, the mistakes...even if he was sure Moriarty had noticed them too.

And what Jace had truly noticed was how easy it had been to fall in line under the Lt. Colonel. How natural it had felt to watch his flank.

Jesse Moriarty nodded, catching a breath before wiping the back of his hand over his clammy face, his fingers teasing the dark curls back into a neater style. "He's lucky, probably would have taken a leg off in real life," he added grimly, but he agreed. They hadn't done badly considering the youth of many of the soldiers. "Reyes stepped up though...maybe a bit too much at points, but she was definitely not afraid to take the wheel."

Jace gave a nod and unclipped his canteen, opening it up before he offered it wordlessly to the Major. And then he let out a breath. "Corporal Trelan sticks to her side. Holds her back before she crosses over to being dangerous." He paused, eyes distant and face still as he replayed it in his mind. "I had to hold Bralk back on two occasions. He didn't scowl. It's improvement. When I first came here, he almost drew a punch when I did it. He's learning."

Jesse took a mouthful before chuckling softly at the description. "Sounds like you are too," he said lightly. Because he was impressed. Both at seeing Jace in action, and just how much attention he paid to his troops.

Jace blinked with surprise before he let out a breath. "I had a good teacher. Showed me what a good Sergeant looked like." The words were awkward, hesitant. But Sergeant Vel still, to this day, made something inside of Jace twist. He pushed it aside, straightened, rolled his shoulders. He moved his fingers on his left hand, then right. "I don't inspire. But I want to make sure they stay alive."

"I'd call that pretty inspiring," Moriarty corrected, slapping his shoulder in a comradely fashion. "Well, they're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think they'll be going down in a blaze of glory on their first drop..."

The impact made Jace blink. He let out a slow breath. He'd seen that kind of gesture before, between other troopers, other squads, but it still caught him off guard when it landed on him. Still, he didn't flinch. Just shifted his weight slightly, considering. "You lead well, Colonel," he said at last, voice steady. It wasn't flattery. Just fact. He'd followed enough poor leaders to know the difference. And this one...this one had moved like someone who knew what he was doing. Someone who watched the whole field, not just his own weapon. Easy to follow someone like that.

"I can't afford to make mistakes," Moriarty replied quietly but honestly, running his hand through the dark curls of hair to take it back from his face. "I make mistakes, other people pay for it. That's not a price I'm willing to pay."

Jace gave a nod in acknowledgement. "I used to go ahead. Break formation, go into it alone if the odds looked right," he glanced at him, before his shoulder pulled in a shrug. "I didn't know how to lead, just knew I didn't want anyone to die unnecessarily."

Jesse looked across to him, searching his eyes for a long moment at hearing it. There it was again, that glimpse of recklessness. Just a glimpse. "You know what I'm going to say to that, right?"

Jace looked at him and straightened slightly. He suspected he knew. Had heard it before, from Sergeant Vel. Not that he'd followed it. Not when the body was still warm and instinct and standing orders were all he had left. He exhaled and gave a small nod. "Suspect I do, Sir," he said quietly. "Different time. Different situation." He paused, and for a moment something else moved behind his eyes. Just a flicker. "Won't promise not to do it if it lines up right. Sometimes it's the only viable choice left."

"I can live with that," Jesse replied with a small, wry smile, seeing the recognition in him. Good. He'd wanted to make him think about it. "So long as it's not the first choice."

Jace looked at him at the words, jaw tense for a moment before he decided just to speak. "Last time it was, I got sent to Echo Company. Intensive mandatory counselling, NCOs and Officers watching my every move." He paused, taking a deeper breath. Looked mildly annoyed for a brief moment. "I learned my lesson."

Jesse watched him in silence for a moment, his eyes narrowing in thought as he tried to read between the lines. "Did you learn why you shouldn't do it? Or learn why you shouldn't get caught?"

Jace considered it, rather than giving him a knee-jerk response. He took a deeper breath and exhaled it, and for a moment he almost looked wistful. "I learned that if I let go of the control, I end up scaring people more," he glanced at Jesse and then shrugged. "So maybe a mixture of both."

"I get that," Jesse replied softly, but honestly. And oh did he know what it was like to live with that fear. "I do. But just so you know...I don't scare easily."

"No. You don't," Jace agreed as he looked at him, taking him in. He recognised the shape of a survivor. "Why don't you?" the question was blunt, without any social nicety or real...read on it. Just a genuine question why the man before him didn't scare easily.

"When you've stared into the eyes of monsters, you tend to get a thicker skin," Moriarty replied casually, as if it were normal. Because to him, it was. "My colony was taken by the Cardassians before the war. And then I joined the Maquis to take them down...which was fire fighting fire. Then the Maquis broke, followed by the war, and I earned a pardon by signing up. There's many kinds of monsters."

Jace looked at him, considering it for a long moment. He nodded. "I saw what happened to the colonies run by Cardassians," he finally said, a slight pull between his eyebrows. He was counting. "You'd have been young."

"So would you," Moriarty countered before giving as much as a shrug as he could in the armour. "I wasn't young for long," he replied honestly, but with meaning.

"Survivor," Jace said as he studied his face, the way he moved. "You survived it. Don't regret it. Even if it meant you weren't a kid for long." He moved a hand to run through his own hair for a moment, thinking, before lowering the hand. "Did you get closure?" the question was awkward...the word clearly absorbed during a counselling session, now an idea being awkwardly tested out.

"Closure?" Moriarty repeated with surprise before his expression became thoughtful as he realised what he was asking. He was silent for a long moment, giving the question the consideration it deserved. And he never lied, it wasn't his style. "I....wouldn't even know what closure would look like for that. Best I've done is learn to live despite it."

Jace gave a small nod, thinking about what he was saying. Learning to live despite it. Was he learning to live? Was this what life looked like? He considered it, his head tilting slightly to the side with it. "You didn't just lose something," he finally said. "You got something back. It's the thing that makes you move when others don't...the thing that makes it impossible for you to surrender."

Jesse gave a soft, wry chuckle at the words, watching him knowingly. Oh, he knew he was right. But he also knew it was something that made people like them uncomfortable for others. And it was definitely a 'them' scenario, he knew the other man had been formed in that same crucible with the same outcome. "I have a friend who used to worry about that part of me," he said quietly. "It's a double edged sword, Jace. It makes some people uneasy, and others will want to use it."

Jace gave a small nod of acceptance at the words. "I knew someone who...liked to remind me that I was more than just my survival instincts. Even when they were wrong," he said, a slight frown pulling his eyebrows closer together.

"I'm...not so sure they were wrong," Moriarty replied easily, honesty in his eyes. He was being straight forward, not empathetic. "I've seen plenty more."

"Must be getting soft in my old age," Jace said, but awkwardly, like he was saying something he knew others said, but couldn't find anything that resonated with it. But he did still try, glancing over at Moriarty to check his reaction.

Jesse gave him a small smile, seeing what was going on, seeing through the borrowed words. He gave his elbow a tap, shaking his head lightly. "People like us, we can't ever just be one thing. It takes carbon, pressure and heat to make a diamond. The end result is unique and more than its parts. But you don't get a diamond without all three."

Jace blinked at the words, a slight frown coming to him as he considered it. "Thing about diamonds..." he said, and there was a roughness to his voice. "If it isn't perfect, the right tap can make it shatter." He gave a nod though, because he understood what he meant. That they were more than the whole. Like...flavours. He was starting to learn that. "I...think I know what I am. And then some days, something happens and...I don't know as much as I thought I did."

"That's the smartest thing I've heard all week," Jesse laughed, unable to help it at the wisdom he was pretty sure the other man had stumbled across. He slapped his arm, urging him to walk with him. "Computer, arch."

Jace followed him, back straight, eyes focused ahead as he considered what he had said that had made the other man laugh. He stored it way, somewhere deep, because right now it did not matter. His feet took him on the route back to the Ground Forces area of the ship. "I'll drill them again on this, Sir. See if I can get them to watch the terrain more."

"You'll get them there," Jesse said with certainty, reaching to tap his elbow warmly, watching him with honest eyes. "You'll get them there."

---

Lt. Colonel Jesse Moriarty
CO Federation Ground Forces
USS Guinevere

Sergeant Jace Morven
Platoon Sergeant, Alpha Squad, FGF Detachment
USS Guinevere

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