FIC: A Night Watch
Wall Series
Fandom: ST:ENT
Pairing: Malcolm/Hoshi
'Something there that doesn’t love a wall that wants it down'
'Before I build a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out'
- from "The Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
The ship was re-commissioned of course; A galvanized fortress of alloy and plating.
The Romulan threat was such that Starfleet could do nothing else but haul us in and completely refurbish the weapons and other armaments to meet it. I know it’s a rather grimly romantic notion, but I can’t help but enjoy the allusion that the greatly expanded and restocked Armoury gleams with deadly intent in every harsh titanium angle, speaking in its own way of its singular purpose and grail. A flight of fancy that I know no one else would believe me capable of, but you always did bring out my love of beauty.
I’m glad you’ve opted to stay on Earth for this one, Hoshi. Not because I doubt your brilliance under pressure, as I’ve watched you turn that once-scared-Ensign into an officer to be reckoned with, but rather because it will be one less worry on my shoulders. Like those knights of old that you once laughingly compared me with, I’m not supposed to worry about any one comrade over the others; supposed to remain devoutly neutral and committed to ship, but I failed in that my thoughts have rarely strayed far from you in danger. In that way, you have always been a breach in our defences, in the walls I have so carefully maintained for so long, I wasn’t even aware of them until you were already inside.
The new bunks are no wider than the last - I feel it part of a conspiracy to keep us sharp on duty, as there is no incentive to relaxing with beds that are at best, the softness of oak planks, and as wide as a park bench.
They gleam, too.
I shall have this sent out with the quartermaster, before we leave space-dock. I don’t know if I shall be able to send anything else for a long time, once we reach deep space -
And the Romulan front line.