Semper fi

Posted on 13 Sep 2016 @ 11:34pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander
Edited on on 14 Sep 2016 @ 2:49am

2,857 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Callisto Bar
Timeline: MD 02 0200

[ON]

Miraj had tossed and turned, and turned and tossed, and rolled around, and read some more of her Bloodbeard book, and when that failed to distract her from the burning humiliation of the days before she gave up, threw the covers off, and went in search of a different distraction.

Miraj walked into the bar in her orange and purple striped satin pyjamas and putting her hair back into their usual bunches. Callisto bar was almost deserted. There was no barman she could see, just one of the crew, she knew he was ops but couldn't remember his name.

Ryan hadn't been able to sleep. With the ship en route to the Recluses last know position, and Ryans little CubeSats currently being produced he had been busy. But with how important his little Cubes might become in the coming hours and past memories troubling him, sleep eluded him this night. And like any good Marine who was having trouble sleeping, he want to the bar for a drink.

He was sitting alone, a small bottle of real Scotch, was resting near him. Ryan gently grabbed the bottle and refilled his glass, making it neat. He looked at a photograph that was in front of him, a group of 5 Marines smiling and laughing. A small smile spread accross his lips as he tilted his glass to it, before taking a sip. He turned his head at the sound of the Hatch opening. It took Ryan a moment to realize it was the Flight Control Officer, Ensign Derani. He had seen her many times on the bridge, but had never had the opportunity to really interact with her. He looked at his watch and smirked seeing what time it was. "Guess I am not the only one having trouble sleeping." He said as he reached over the bar and grabbed a small glass and set it down next to him.

"Bad dreams?" Miraj asked. "Or too much thinking?"

Ryan forced a smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes. "A mixture of both I think. Care for a drink?" He asked holding up the small bottle filed with a brownish liquid.

"Oh yes please!" Anything to help her sleep and take away the monumental embarrassment. "What is it?"

Ryan nodded. "Its Scotch Whisky, an Earth alcoholic beverage, a originating from Scotland. This isn't syntheol, it is the real thing. It was given...uh...never mind." He said pouring her a little. "Its a drink you sip, and enjoy." He said, not knowing she would react.

She looked at it Warily. Scotch wasn't a drink she was families with. She drank rum. Mal drunk whisky but she'd never been tempted to try it. But now seemed like a good a time as any. She lifted the glass and sipped out a tiny amount. There was a moments pause as she tasted it then swallowed. It wasn't so-

She coughed as it took her breath away and left an not unpleasant burn for a moment. "That's strong." She took another sip. It still burnt but she was prepared for it and this time she could taste the flavours of berries with a smokey edge. "But good"

He smiled weakly. "Yes, it is." He said before taking a sip himself, enjoying the feeling of his drink cascade down his throat. He sat quietly for a moment, looking down at the picture in front of him before turning his attention back to Miraj. "What brings you out this late at night?"

She sighed. "You ever do something stupid. I mean really stupid. So stupid that its only a matter of time before it comes back to bite you in the bum?"

Ryan nodded. "Yes, I have. More than once even." He said pausing for the moment to consider his line of questioning. "What has come back to bite you in the bum?"

"I thought someone liked me. But they don't. Not in that way. I kind of made an idiot of myself. I'm expecting to get a talking to any minute. One I will not enjoy." She drank more of the whiskey, feeling it beginning to tingle her senses already. "What about you?"

"I am sorry to hear that. Well if it is any consolation, I am sure they don't know what they are missing." He said trying to cheer her up. He didn't know her very well, bur she seemed nice and he was sure she was pretty good company. "I made a mistake. And it cost me one of my best friends." He said taking a breath, looking at the liquid still in his glass. He hated talking about it. "It was a when I was still in the Corps, we were...on an operation, and I had found a...lead." He paused, turning to her. "Much of the mission is still classified, but long story short, a my best friend was killed, due to my mistake. We swept the Zhukov when it was in port, but I missed the micro-explosive on a plasma conduit, I was distracted trying to locate our High Valued Individual. We caught the...HVI in the act of transmitting highly sensitive information to their source. Needless to say, after a prolonged engagement we found the individual in engineering, where they detonated the charge. The last I say of my friend...well, I am sure know what happens to organics and plasma." He said, wanting to be angry, but taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. "Its been 7 years, and most days I can lie to myself that it wasn't my fault, but I can still see his face..." He said trailing off.

Miraj winced a little. After that her own worries seemed so petty. "I'm sorry. I didnt mean to bring up bad memories." There was a long pause. "isn't the whole point of microexplosive that its easy to miss?" She had no idea, never even heard of it, but if it was for booby trapping then logic dictated it would be hard to spot. and she had to try and make him feel better. Especially since she'd put her silly childish worries on the same level.

Ryan shook his head. "I asked yours, so it is only fair that I tell you mine." He said, taking a drink of scotch. "Normally yes, we had special equipment that looks for that sort of thing. I went and looked at the equipment after the fact and noticed that it was slightly out of alignment, which is why we didn't pick anything up." He sighed. "I guess the reason it hurts so much is that he Cliff was going to be married once we finished the op." Ryan looked down at the picture in front of him. He got quiet for a minute. "Sorry. Please don't let my sour mood affect you. If you don't mind me asking, care to share why you think you are going to get a talking too, and why you don't think that this individual that you care for doesn't feel the same way?" He said trying to change the subject for a bit.

Miraj had another drink. There wasn't much left in the glas now, and she felt warm all over. "Becuase throwing yourself at a senior officer never ends well? Especially when they're..." she wasn't sure what to say without giving it away. "Wise in the ways of the world, and I'm barely out of the academy, and don't have a clue."

"Don't sell yourself short. Wisdom is something that is earned, never given, and just because they have been alive longer, doesn't mean they have traveled as many light years as you have." He tried to encourage her, before taking a ship from his drink. "If you really care for this individual, I would keep trying. Just because the rebuffed you once, doesn't mean they wont change there mind later." He said with a shrug. He looked at her and smiled.

Miraj's shoulders slumped. "I think they're awesome. But I think its all one way. Theyr'e ancient. at least as old as my brother, and he's thirty. And they've definitely ravlled more light years than I have. I've barely been more than a dozen meters a way from a conn in my life." It was her turn to shrug. "I'm probably just imagining it. There's a gazillion other women on this ship all more sophisticated and less obsessed with flying than I am." She drained the last of the whisky, a bit too fast and ended up huffing with shock as it burnt all the way down. "You know, if your equipment was out, then it wasn't your fault either."

Ryan nodded, the faintest hint of a smile touching his eyes. He gently squeezed her shoulder, not meaning too, but doing it purely on instinct. "Thank you, I needed to hear that." He removed his hand and finished the last of his scotch. "You shouldn't be worried about being obsessed with anything, especially flying. Passions are hard enough to find in this universe, and from what I have heard, you have a passion for flying that people can only dream about. I was on a shuttle that you flew, and you made that thing dance. I am pretty sure that many are envious of that level of skill, I know I am."

She looked a bit surprised, shocked even, that anyone would be envious of only being able to pilot a ship. "But you can do so much! You were a marine, so you're brave, and resourceful, and you can fight, and all manner of impossible things. And now you do ops stuff. You know so much. Can do so much. I can't compete with that."

"Yes you can. You just do it with a starship. I saw the maneuver you did with Galileo, the precision you had when you moved it so close to the Wolf. I don't think I saw the Admiral ever get so nervous. Given time, I might be able to do half of the things you can do with a starship, but I will never have the raw talent that you have. That is something I can't compete with." He said with his first real smile of the night.

She shrugged. "its all I've ever wanted to do. Its what I enjoy most. Its easy to be good when you don't do anything else. You're good at what you do most, aren't you?"

Ryan shrugged. "In some cases yes. However, some of a natural gift that no matter how hard one tries to emulate, or practices, others will still be better. I have spent more hours on the range than I care to admit. I would like to think I am a great shot, but I know people that can still out shoot me, and have put in half the time and effort." He shook his head. "No , you have a gift, and it would be a shame if you ever sold yourself short."

She thought about it. "I guess it just goes to show that it doesn't matter what happens, people are never happy with the outcome. even if they can't change a single thing."

"I guess, at least to a point." He said looking shifting in his seat. "But there is a whole person concept that also be looked at as well, one is usually not just defined by how good they are at one thing." He said, though a sudden thought just crossed his mind. "Please dont' take this the wrong way, but I have noticed that you take your shoes off everyonce in awhile while on the Conn, why is that?"

"Oh," She blushed a ittle. She had hoped no one had noticed. "Thats so Galileo and I can talk better. You can tell so much more when there's less between you. And since I can't strip off on the bridge, i do what i can, which is take my shoes off."

Ryan shook his head in disbelief. "Wow, that sounds pretty amazing. What does Galileo tell you?" He asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Everything," she shrigged. "When he's hurt or sad. When he's happy, or playful, or thinks he can go faster." Her eyes glaxed over for a moment. "Right now, we're cruising at warp five point five, the nacelles are operating perfectly. We're in the middle of some sort of extra solar material, maybe heavy element ions, because the deflector shield is fractionally higher powered than standard void space, and there's a gravity cell on the lower decks thats about to fail. There's an intermittent tickle vibrating, its tiny, but strong enough that its down here, rather than on a higher deck."

"That...wow..." Ryan didn't know what to say. "That is really impressive, you are amazing. When did you discover that talent? Being able to be a conduit for the starship?"

She laughed. "I'm not a conduit. Its just something you get to know. When you're on a ship you have to listen to it, feel it, learn its rhythms and its sounds, sense its breath. Hear its voice. Spend long enough with a ship and you can taste when an air scrubber needs replacing before anyone else. Or if the impusle engines are out of tune from the stutter when you use thrusters, or if you're not going fast enough you can feel the strain across the hull of holding back." She put her hands on the bar, fingers spread, and absorbed the sensations travelling through it. "You just have to be open to them, most starships are chatty buggers, if you stop and listen."

Ryan nodded and smiled. "I can't speak for others, but I guess I get so reliant on sensors and instruments that I forget our natural aptitudes of for detecting changes in our environments, or even within ourselves. I guess I had forgotten that. Thank you." He said, feeling better than he had in while.

"its nothing." Miraj smiled at him, and got up, adjusting her pyjamas a little as she wobbled a trifle unsteadily on her feet. "Ooh, thats strong stuf. straight to the brain."

In a flash, Ryan stood and moved to help her, but stopped before actually touching her. "Uh, sorry. Scotch will do that to you." He said with a smile. "Do you need some help getting to where you are going?" He asked, not wanting to have her get hurt because of him.

"I'll be fine, there's a turbo lift round hear somewhere." She turned for the door, caught her hip on the back corner of the bar stool and hissed in pain. "I think i might need you to walk in front, waving one of those red flags they used to have," she clutched at her waist, which was now throbbing.

Ryan smiled. "Alright, I don't have any flags, but I think I know a way to help. This way." He said moving in front and turning, walking slowly backwards towards the turbo lift, moving his arms like airplane ground guides from the 21st century.

She laughed, which made her bruised hip twitch, but she followed him into the turbo lift. "So marine hero, computer whizkid, and now aircraft marshaller. Is there anything you don't do?"

He too laughed as he pressed the button for Deck 2. He was about to respond, but paused, giving it a moment of thought. "I don't sing. Well, I do sing, just not well. Not well at all." He said as gravely as he could without smilling.

Miraj grabbed for the wall as the turbo lift went up. "If they do karaoke here, I'll test you on that. You can sing drunken sailor with me."

Ryan tensed, about to move to catch her if she fell, seeing that she was holding her self up, he relaxed. "I would enjoy that, I might have to be a drunken sailor. Though I am fairly certain that I would be scaring away half the crew, or I might break some glasses." He said with a laugh and an easy smile.

"That I have to see," she giggled. The turbo lift pinged. "Deck two, this is me."

"Anytime that you have trouble sleeping, feel free to give me a call. I would be more than happy to help. And I really can't thank you enough, Ensign Derani. I will see you on the bridge..." Ryan looked at his watch, "...in a couple of hours. Have a good night, and sleep well." Ryan said, feeling better than he had in awhile.

"Hells bells. Don't say that," The though of having to get up for alpha shift made her wince, and that turned into a yawn that had Miraj stretching almost to the point of pulling something. "At least I'll sleep until then. Thanks for your whiskey."

"You are welcome, and I would enjoy having a drink with you again. Sleep well." Ryan said, moving to press the deck 4 button so he could go back to his own quarters.

[OFF]

*******

Ensign Ryan Alexander
Operations
USS Galileo

&

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

RSS Feed