Shadows cast by a final salute Part 1

Posted on 20 Sep 2026 @ 5:42pm by Captain Alexandria Somers

2,121 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Various
Timeline: Stardate 237401.01

[ON]

- Somers Residence 5 days later –

Still attending her sessions, Alex was working a desk job while she was recovering and on her days off, she wandered around her house like a zombie. Her sister Karyn tried to get her to interact, but nothing. They even called her boyfriend, Paul Sharpe, over to see if he could shake her out of her self-imposed solace. He could not; she barely acknowledged him when he was visiting. He never visited again and had said, “Let me know when she is ready” With that said, he gave her space.

Standing in the back with her father watching her elder sister sitting ramrod straight on an ornamental bench looking at nothing in particular, “You know, Daddy, I worry about Alex. This is not like her. Did you manage to find out what happened to her on her secret mission?” Karyn asked.

“No, sweetie, I did not. The only thing they would say is that she lost someone close to her and broke down for a short time on the mission,” Samuel Somers answered.

Looking at her father, “Was she not very close friends with a girl called Annabelle Graves?” Karyn Somers asked. Then it dawned on her what the issue was “Daddy, will you go get us a glass of blood wine and water for me? I think I know what her issue is,” Karyn said and walked over to Alex and sat next to her.

Sam saw his second daughter say something for a spell when Alex turned to face Karyn and grabbed her in a tight hug, and Samuel heard heavy sobbing coming from Alex. It was here he decided to get those drinks for the girls.

- Seedy Bar -

The next day at 0700 hours, Alex was in one of the few remaining seedier areas on Earth; she was in a bar that served the real deal alcohol. Alex was knocking back the Andorian Ale when she finished the bottle. She called the bartender over “I want a bottle of Romulan Ale. I know you have some in stock,” she said. The bartender was hesitant, as she was still in her uniform.

If not for her green shirt, the bar would have emptied long ago, but she had been to this bar enough times in her uniform, so the regulars knew her.

“It is expensive,” he said. She replied by dropping a lot of Latinum onto the table, bring me a bottle of your best Bloodwine too,” Somers said. She looked at the Bartender; he had a scarred face, and she knew he too was former military.

He had sustained his injuries during the Dominion War and had left the service when it ended. “Tell me, barkeep, when will the pain end? I keep drinking, but the pain is still there,” she asked.

“What pain?” he asked; the bartender was curious as to what troubles this young woman with a severe buzz cut hairstyle.

Alex looked at him with red-rimmed eyes “Loss,” she simply said in response to his questions.

Now he knew why she wanted to get drunk “I could spout all the nice platitudes, but you strike me as someone who prefers reality. *pause* I cannot tell you it will go away; I can only tell you that it will get easier, as long as you take your loss and make it a strength, but most of all you grieve and move on. I will get you those bottles now,” he said, pocketing the Latinum strips and leaving her to finish the drink she already had.

For hours, she got wasted. Over the following hours, she was in a section of New York that had not caught up with the present times. The area had plenty of seedy bars and served real and old-style alcohol; there was a scattering of non-humans in the area, but it was one of the few places that humans outnumbered the aliens living on Earth. Finishing up in one pub Alex stood up shakily and steadied her and headed out, she was heading to another pub when she was jumped by some thugs, who took a few nasty punches, drunk she may have been but she was still a marine and put up an a good fight, but drink had slowed her reflex and before too long she was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked and punched her, when they had finished they left laughing Alex was in a foetal position covered in blood, eye swollen shut blood all over her face and quite possible some internal bleeding a broken rib cage and other injuries.

Then she saw a glow and looked up. It was Annie, who was in her dress uniform, the same one that she had been cremated in, Alex stood but she was not actually standing up her physical form was still curled up on the ground, but she stood and Annie with a big smile hugged her, Alex suddenly realised something was not right as she separated from her friend and with a puzzled look.

“Annie!! How is it I can hug you? Am I dead and have you come to take me to the afterlife?” Alex asked, curious.

Giving Alex a smile that seemed filled with light, “Curiosity killed the cat,” she said, looking at Alex.

“But satisfaction brought it back,” Alex quickly riposted, and both laughed lightly. After both had stopped laughing, Alex became serious.

“To answer your question, no, you are not yet dead, Alex. You were badly beaten and left for dead, but you have a bright future ahead of you if you want it; you only have to choose,” Annie said.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, looking around and then at her hand; she was semi-transparent, and as she looked down, she was standing in her body but not disturbing it and bypassing what Annie said. “So if I am not dead, then what am I? It seems like I am a spirit to me!” Alex said.

Walking over to Alex, Annie looked down “What a mess. You have a big question to answer: what do you have to live for?” Annie said, and suddenly Alex was transported to her home, where she saw herself as a child.

“This is your past; you were brought up in a loving family and looked after- good times for you”, Annie said, and next Alex found she was looking upon a newly minted Corporal Alex Somers with Annie celebrating their promotions. “Again, the past, but not long after we met, do you remember how quickly we became friends?” she asked.

“Yes, I do, but what is the point of this?” Alex asked, clearly puzzled by being taken on a trip down memory lane.

“You are being shown that you have love and friends in your life, okay I may be dead, but you have others you can go to,” Annie said as they arrived at the Second meeting Alex had with Paul Sharpe, back when both were young officers; it was clear both loved each other. “See, you have someone in your life,” Annie said. Then they were back in the present, and Annie looked at Alex expectantly “I will ask again: what do you have to live for?” Annie got a puzzled look; she studied her friend closely “Hmm, the lights are on, but no one is home; perhaps your concussion is too bad!” She flatly said and got a dirty look from Alex.

“Okay, let me show you this,” Annie said as both were now in the present and at her home. She saw her family looking very worried about her, as it was still not long after the funeral and events that happened at Arlington.

Alex saw her mother crying, being comforted by a still pre-teen Karyn and the little toddler Kathryn, who was crying out of confusion until her big brother picked her up and held her.

“Where could our girl be, Jen?” Samuel Somers asked, pacing like a cat on hot coals.

“How come we have not heard from S’arila, yet?” Jennifer said.

Samuel looked at his wife as he paused his pacing and tilted his head in the same manner Alex usually did when such a question was asked. “S’arila will contact us when she has found our girl; that woman is nothing if not efficient,” Samuel said, and then they were back at her body.

Alex looked at Annie “Are you doing a Scrooge intervention on me? If so, why?” she asked and got one of Annabel’s genuine smiles “Finally, light dawns on marble head, so you have seen your past and present, and what have you learned so far?” she asked.

Tilting her head to one side, much like her father did, “Let me see, I will be missed and that I am loved?” Alex asked, and Annie only nodded.

“So if you have all that, why have you given up on life, Alex?” Annabel asked, honestly curious, “Because what I have seen so far is you have love from the first day we met, you have people who would miss you, so why are you in a seedy bar getting blind, staggering, stinking, falling drunk and getting beaten to within an inch of your life?” Annie asked, and Alex heard something.

“Is that my heart slowing down?” She asked aghast, as she did not want to die “I do not want to die!” she added.

“I do believe it is, Alex. You say you do not want to, but that is just a reflection; it is currently not what your heart wants. Speaking of what does your heart want?” Annie asked.

“I and my heart do not talk these days, not since you died on that Operation that Starfleet intelligence screwed up”, Somers said.

“Ah! Finally, we are getting to the truth of the matter. What you said to me that day at the cemetery was a lie?” Graves asked.

Looking at her with sudden loss, Alex did not have to say anything; her face said it all; she had not truly gotten over Annie’s death.

With a resigned smile, “I guess it is to the future with you. Now be warned, this is only a preliminary of what your future could be; should you choose the right things, you do not have time to visit all the choices you make, so off we go,” Annie said, and both vanished from their current location.

From the other side of the room, hidden by a hood, was a figure whose face was hidden, and all that could be seen were her red glowing eyes that drank in moderation. She was looking at the drunken form of Alex via infrared vision; there were parts of her body that got redder and parts that then became room temperature. She watched as the woman placed a lot of Latinum on the table as she talked to the barkeep. At this moment, she put her special glasses on; she wanted to see her quarry in normal vision.

Suddenly, Alex and Annie reappeared in an unfamiliar setting. She was on a ship she knew, and it was the bridge tactical station. The ship was shaking, and there were explosions; her corporeal self was firing the ship's weapons at Dominion ships.

“What is the Stardate, Annie, and how are we still fighting the Dominion?” Alex asked.

“2375.01 is the date, and you are at tactical. This is your last frontline duty station for several years. Where we are now is a few years, give or take a month, away from the war's end. Notice how you are acting and behaving; you may still be a Second Lieutenant, but by this time and like many other young Officers and enlisted personnel, you are a veteran; you are a tactical officer. Marines were few during this time, but they did exist, and at the peak of the Dominion War they were used in such positions to fill the gaps left by personnel lost in combat,” Annie said.

Suddenly she was transported away “Relax, you survive the battle, but you must make the right choice,” Annie said, and when they stopped moving again, she found herself this time on a lower deck, and the wall display showed a Sovereign-class ship. Alex looked at Annie.

“Where are we now?” She asked as she followed Annie down the corridor into the shuttle bay where twelve Marines were doing PT, with her taking them through it.

[OFF]

2nd Lieutenant Alexandria Somers
Marine Officer

Corporal Annabel Graves [P: Somers]
Marine NCO
Deceased

Colonel (Retd) Samuel Somers [P: Somers]
Ambassador to Kronos

Jennifer Somers [P: Somers]
Mother and Diplomatic Aide

 

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