A Tactical Retreat: Part 1/2

Posted on Sun Mar 29th, 2026 @ 6:29pm by Lieutenant JG Electra Drake & Sergeant Jace Morven

1,991 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Deck 14, USS Guinevere

Deck 14 had the advantage of being relatively quiet. A few large rooms, some storage, mostly just the patter of people using it to transit as opposed to linger. It had nooks and crannies, including a part where the view to the nacelles was both a distraction and a reminder of the ship's lifecycle. A bench had been made, making it appear almost like a large windowsill. Someone had put a blanket there, knitted, imperfect. If you knew the signs, you'd see the various people who had stopped and sat down, thought and moved on. From the comfort to the simplicity of a ration bar tucked away in a panel, it was a slice of Starfleet life.

Not that the man who occupied the space would have thought that as he sat there. In fact, few thoughts crossed Jace Morven's mind. He had been on deck 13, with his squad, with the other Ground Forces troopers. But when the troopers got bored and started arm wrestling, laughing and betting...Jace had found it too loud. So he had slipped away. He still wore his uniform, combadge ready in case he was called back to deal with something. But for now, there was just the hum that travelled through the ship from the warp core two decks away. A little louder than in the barracks. Like the ship was breathing.

His hands weren't still though. No. He was carefully engraving a piece of metal, taken from an old tricorder. He had spent time a few days ago shaping it. Oval. Smooth edges, not sharp but...softened so you could run your thumb over it and just feel the warmth of skin heating metal. And now, into it, he was making lines. They flowed smoothly, a pattern, but there was no pre-drawn designs. It was in his head.

The seven year old girl approached silently, looking around with wide, curious eyes. She wore a simple burnt orange dress, her long dark red hair braided neatly out of her face. Her hands were almost fists, but not quite, and they were held close to her sides. Because Lucy Drake hadn't been here before, and in truth...she had no idea where she was going or where she had come from. "No breadcrumbs..." she murmured.

The voice and the movement made Jace's eyes snap to her. He stayed still, frozen in place. Humanoid. Young...a child. Alone. He glanced around out of habit. No one else here. No one to go to her and pull her close, to guide her. He looked down at the engraving. Frowned. Put it to the side. He didn't know what to say. What did you say to...youngsters? "Where are you going?"

Lucy's head turned to watch him in very much the same way he had looked at her. "Big," was the first word that came out of her mouth, watching him with wide blue eyes.

He watched her before he nodded. A memory of being the same size as her, learning not to flinch. "Not going to hurt you," he said in response. He took the same case and put the engraving tools back, slowly, telegraphing his movements as if he was close to something that might bite him.

"Whatcha doing?" Lucy moved over with curiosity, trying to peer into the case before it was shut...because he was putting lots of interesting tools in there.

He stopped, stilling at her being close. He opened the case again. "Carving patterns into metal," he said, even if he knew there was a better word for it. His voice was...not harsh, but more clipped. Like he was translating himself from one language to another in real time. He hesitated before showing her what he had been working on. Spirals, almost like vines, but with dots too, like stars.

"Oooo..." she watched with awe, her blue eyes filled with it as she reached out. Her little fingertips moved close to the pattern, as if tracing it, but didn't quite touch. "Like a starmap..."

He swallowed, watching her before he looked down at it. "I...yes," he said, realising that she wasn't wrong. His eyes went to her face, studying her for a moment. She looked familiar. He wasn't sure why.

"You make starmaps? I like starmaps," the young girl said quickly, biting on her lip as she looked at the other pieces of metal he had. She liked the patterns, they made something inside of her happy.

"It's...I don't think they are maps. Just things that...look right," he said as he watched her. He took the tool again, continuing, but aware she was watching. He stopped. Picked up another piece, smaller, again with soft edges that didn't cut. He thought for a moment and started, carefully carving out lines...intertwined, like tunnels or roads.

Lucy looked to him with wide eyed surprise that became a soft smile before looking back to his work. His fingers looked too big to make such pretty things, but they did. "Clever hands..."

"Sit," he said, not an invitation as much as a statement of what she should do. He continued, frowning slightly at the sensation in his chest. Not fear. But he was tense with the child here. And he realised he...hadn't been around any before. Not like this. Not since he was the same size. "You alone on the ship?"

"I live with my Mummy," she struggled to pull herself up, but managed, wriggling to sit properly. "I was in school."

"Was?" he asked, eyes flickering to her face for a moment, but more to check she was settled than anything else. He looked down again, carving slowly so she could see. He wasn't sure why he did it...but he knew sometimes watching others do something was...not calming, but distracting in a positive way. He had spent time watching Elen's hands knit something while not listening to the stream of words from her mouth.

"Well...now I am here..." Lucy gave a firm nod, certain in a way that only a young child could be.

He gave a small nod at that, finishing and putting the tool down. He blew gently on it, to make sure nothing was stuck in the lines, before taking a cloth to polish it. "Why?" he glanced at the little girl before he offered the disc he had made to her to inspect.

She took it carefully, turning it over in her hands, enjoying the feel of the patterns. She continued to play with it even as she answered him. "Shouldn't fight at school."

"You fighting, or others?" he watched her for a moment before he took out a thin leather string, putting it to the side before taking another piece of metal...but this time to polish, to prepare to work on it. His eyes went to the girl again, studying her. Now and then his eyes scanned the area around them, just to make sure it was safe. What it was, except for the hum of the core, was quiet.

"Others. Not meant to fight, 'gainst the rules," she sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve, frowning at the idea of it. "Didn't like it."

He watched the movement before he nodded, a slight frown coming to him. "Got too loud where I was," he finally said, before he put down the metal. "It's quieter here."

"I like quiet too," Lucy agreed softly, looking to him thoughtfully, wondering if that meant he was her kind of friend. "My new friend, she's making me a warpcore noise machine."

He let out a huff of breath...close to a chuckle, but not quite. "Smart," he said before he glanced at her, then at the disc of metal in her hand. "I can put that on a string."

Lucy nodded enthusiastically, offering it back so he could do it. It was so unfair, adults could do all the smart things. "Can I keep it?" she watched him with hopeful eyes, silent for a long moment before adding a very delayed, "please," at the end, as if it took her a while to remember she was meant to say it.

He nodded, reaching for a tool to drill a small hole, for the leather string. "Yes," he said, his voice quiet with it. The please registered and there was a slight twitch. He wasn't used to hearing that word. "You got a name?" he put the tool down and used a fine cloth and his finger to make sure that the hole wasn't sharp...that it had the same feel as the rest of it. That it wouldn't chew through the string with ragged edges.

"I'm Lucy," she declared with that, a shy smile even tugging at her lips as she watched him, swinging her legs gently. "Lucy Drake. But Mummy calls be Luce sometimes. How 'bout you?"

"Jace," he said, glancing at her face. Drake. So that was why she looked familiar. Blood showed...the red hair, the set of her jaw. He glanced down again, taking the leather string and pushing it through the hole. "Your...Mummy...does she know where you are?" the words came awkward, hesitant...new sounds and shapes to string together.

Lucy's feet stopped as she just watched him. She clearly hadn't thought about that. "Er...."

He tied the string, tugged it, before holding it out to her. His eyes didn't quite meet hers, but he watched her face. Counsellor Electra Drake's daughter had done a tactical retreat to deck 14. Her guardian...mother...should know that. Be told that. He took a deeper breath, tilting his head a little. "I can tell her," he said, voice quiet, not flat just...still. Not judging, or telling. Just offering it up as a tactic.

The girl drew a knee up to set her chin on, a slight pout forming on her lips as her fingers played with the pretty metal. "Mummy says I gotta go to school. Too many rules that don't make sense."

Jace nodded, not touching his combadge. Instead he looked at the tools on the bench with him and the girl. "I get that," he said, taking a deeper breath. He obeyed rules...but most of them made little sense to him. SEPP hadn't. The softness of Starfleet training versus ending the fight quick.

"I like learning. But school stuff is ...heavy," she tapped her head with her fingertips, frowning thoughtfully. "I can learn from books and computer. That's better."

He glanced at her at the words. Gave a nod, more to show he had heard her. "Never could learn from books," he finally said, because it was true. He learned by doing, being shown and adapting. Sometimes by trial and error. Books...reading them...it was something he wasn't capable of doing. Not with how he was wired. "Other voices can be confusing. Groups where some do something and some something else and...it doesn't make sense."

"Too noisy," Lucy looked to him with a wrinkled nose. She looked like she might blow a raspberry with it, but didn't quite. "Don't like noisy. 'Specially empty noisy."

"Gets loud," he agreed and glanced at her, nodding. He understood that. Empty noisy too...when for him it felt like voices and noises going past him, muddling his hearing and vision. Pressing too close to him. "Find a way to adapt. Not you. The stuff around you." He had always adapted himself to the terrain, except for when he couldn't. But this child...this was meant to be a better place. It was what everyone always told him. So. The terrain should adapt to her. And...well, he understood why the girl had left the school. Same reason he had walked out of the barracks.


To Be Continued...


Sergeant Jace Morven
Platoon Sergeant, Alpha Squad
Federation Ground Forces Detachment
USS Guinevere

Lucy Drake
Civilian Child
USS Guinevere

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