You Really Shouldn't Eat Alone ...

Posted on 05 Feb 2017 @ 11:11pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Chief Petty Officer Torgeir Naes & Chief Petty Officer Crispin Snow
Edited on on 11 Feb 2017 @ 10:03pm

2,843 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 13 - Rogue
Location: Kreanus Colony - Corridor, Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 01 - 2300

[ON]

Torgeir remembered being helped to the infirmary, his mind balancing between clinging to returned consciousness and trying not to wallow in the reignited pain in his thigh. The latter had been tended, with an admonishment about almost ruining the work done before and caution to keep off the leg as much as possible for the next day or so, and to eat more.

Foolishness, really. They were stranded on a damn rock in the middle of nowhere and it wasn't as if he had the luxury of sitting around doing nothing. As soon as he had a clear shot, Terje made his way out of the infirmary, limping down the corridor and seeking out the dining hall, which seemed to double as something of a dining area for the remnant of the Galileo crew, among others. He wanted to find Ensign Derani, and if she wasn't there, then perhaps someone would know where to find her.

Snow appeared out of a side corridor, holding a small crate with several bottles in it. "Moose!" he said jovially. Then he took a good look at his room mate. "What happened. Not another Klingon?"

"Ah ..." Caught off guard, Terje stumbled to a stop, balancing himself against a grimy wall. He still had the bruise on his jaw, seeing as that had been anything but detrimental to his day-to-day existence. "No. Romulan, I think." He shook his head. "Have you seen Ensign Derani about? Pink hair ... pilot?" He added at a look of confusion on his friend's face.

"No. Have you tried the Dormitory?"

The ... "Ah, no." Of course it made sense to look there; Terje's mind was still locked on the scene in the dining hall. "I just left the infirmary," he explained.

"What happened? Did the little buccaneer try and broadside you?" Snow asked with a laugh.

Again, Terje found himself shaking his head. "No ... not her. She ..." His brow furrowed as he gave Crispin a somewhat abbreviated accounting of the events in the Dining Hall, ending with the quite unsatisfactory conclusion. "Last thing I know, I was going down. When I regained some semblance of awareness, I was half-way out of the hall and on my way to the infirmary with no sight of the Ensign or the Romulan."

Snow raised an eyebrow. "Romulans hit hard. they look like normal people, you did well not get you nose broken. But I'm sure if anything bad had happened after you were knocked out I'm sure it would be all over the colony by now. News travels fast round here. Want to go check on her?"

Terje nodded, pushing himself back upright. "I do." He couldn't explain it, really ... this need to make sure she was unharmed. At least, no more harmed than she had been before.

"Then we'll go find her. I need to put these away any way." Crispin lifted the crate to show six bottles of brown glass.

They headed off to the dormitories where the Galileo crew slept. There were several people there, sleeping on the hard bunks.

Moving along the corridor, Terje kept a casual hand to brush along the walls, steadying himself as he moved. "What are the bottles for?" A better question may have been where they had come from, but it didn't really matter to Terje - Crispin had his ways, and he was more concerned about locating Miraj before the Romulan could again.

"Its some of the local homebrew. It could use some work. I'm going to try running it through a still and blending it with something else."

"You have a still." It was something between a statement and a question as Terje peered down at his friend. "How have I lived in the same quarters with you and not know you have a still ..."

"I don't have a still yet. But I did a favour for a guy, so this time tomorrow..."

They came to the dormitories and Crispin paused to slide the crate under the bunk he shared with Terje. "Right. Who have we got here?" He looked around, didn't see her in the handful of occupied beds and pointed across the corridor to the other dorm.

There they spotted the young ensign, given away by a small amount of pink hair poking out of a bundles of blankets in the far corner.

The humor faded some, genuine concern coming to the fore as Terje approached the nest. "Ensign Derani?" He paused a moment, racking his brain before he added, "Miraj - are you well?"


There was a silence, then a muffled voice came from under the blanket. "I'm fine I guess."

Kneeling down would be painful, he knew, but all the same Terje found himself putting a hand down to the bunk and lowering himself to sit on the edge. His mouth twisted into a wry smile, regret in his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

Miraj put her head out. “What do you mean? You were right there? Of course you helped.” She looked very confused.

Terje grimaced. “Aye, but last thing I remember I was going down and that bastard was still standing.”

Miraj gave him a small smile. “I guess you made so much noise going down that everyone noticed what was going on. I think about half that room was about to pile on him and he did a runner.”

Crispin covered his mouth to hide a smile, and over the top of the girls head he gave Terje a knowing look. “You’re noisy going down?” he mouthed, eyes light with merriment.

Slanted hazel eyes narrowed at the man, but he otherwise ignored the remark as best possible. “Would have preferred the ass stay around to get what he deserved,” he growled somewhat under his breath before adding, “I’m usually more capable in a fight, but even not, I’m thinking bastards like him would be less likely to target you if you’re not alone.”

“You mean he’s going to be...looking for me?” she asked, wide-eyed and slightly panicked.

Mentally cursing himself, Terje shook his head. “I don’t know that, but …” He glanced at Crispin again before adding, “I’d rather not give him - or any man like him - room to think that would be a good idea.” His smile returned as he ducked his head closer to hers. “Maybe if I’m with you, they’ll reconsider.”

“You want to hang out?” she asked,

That … Terje wasn’t sure if that sounded like where he was headed. “If you would prefer someone else … but ja … I’d like to spend time with you.” Especially when she didn’t have others around to ensure her safety.

Snow took pity on his roommates fumbling explanation. “What moose means is, that in case that Romulan comes sniffing around again, you shouldn't go anywhere alone. He's offering close protection.”

Which, he supposed, sounded a bit closer to reality. Terje shot Snow a wry grin of thanks. “At least, as much protection as I might be able to offer.”

“Oh. I see.” Miraj sniffed, and wiped her nose with a tissue. “Thank you. Do you really think I’ll need it? I mean if anything happens to me, there won’t be that many suspects will there?”

“I hope not,” Terje offered. “But better to not need it than wish you had it.” Thinking of how far the situation had escalated by time he got there, Terje could only hope that having another presence with her would stymie any further attempts.

“So you just take me places and be company when there’s no one else around?” Miraj asked wanting to be sure. It didn’t sound too bad.

Terje nodded. “That’s the gist of it.” She looked a little less intimidated now, so that was a relief.

She looked a little relieved too. The whole incident had left her shaken. She laughed suddenly. “You might regret it. I think I’m turning into bad luck.”

He grinned at that. “Better bad luck than no luck at all, jah?” Terje patted the bed beside him. “Bad luck doesn’t frighten me. You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law, no? What can go wrong will? Helps take some of the stress away at times.”

Miraj Sighed. “In the last three months I’ve been slammed face first into a tree and then nearly killed by a bunch of smugglers, I find someone I really like, but before they can tell me that they liked me, we get blown out of the sky and now he’s gone, and then I get my clothes stolen, and now this. I’m a bit of a disaster zone right now.”

Terje’s brow furrowed in sympathy. “You’re here,” he offered quietly after a moment’s silence. “It’s not always what one sees at the best option at the end of the day, but at least it means you survived the battle and the war is not won yet.” It was what his mother had told him and his siblings after leaving their home world, and what he had told himself from time to time over the years. “As for clothes? Talk to Snow - somehow he has managed to secure alcohol - surely clothing is far easier to come by.”

“Easy as pie. I can get you a new shirt.” Snow agreed.

Miraj nodded her thanks. She missed the warm layers of her uniform, no doubt already thrown away for recycling by the General. “Thank you, too.” Miraj said. “For coming here. Did he hurt you badly?”

He grimaced some at that. “Nothing worse than I had from the Klingons already. Damn nerve pinch was worse than anything.” Terje shrugged. “To be honest, it was my own fault. I saw him hurting you and went in hot headed without thinking.”

“I’m still very glad you did it. It could have gone very bad.”

He was aware that he was still sitting on the edge of her bed, hunched over to compensate for the bunk above him, the position more than a little awkward and painful. Debating on whether he should stand - indicating that this was just a drop-in … which, in a way, it was he supposed - or not, Terje slid to the edge of the bed and lowered himself to the floor, his back now resting against the edge of the frame. He was still more or less on a level with Miraj as he leaned forward, arms across up-raised knees. “What did he have against you anyway?” Maybe if he could figure out the issue, it would give him a better idea of what to look out for.

She went bright red. “Its embarrassing.”

“Ja … usually is, but doesn’t justify what he was doing in there.”

Miraj sighed. “He thought I’d agreed to sleep with him if he told me about my mother. But he’d been so vague I never realised what I’d agreed to. So when I said no he got angry with me.”

The calm, comforting tone Terje had tried before crumpled under the admission. “He ... “ It wasn’t the question of who her mother might be that gave him pause - who she was had little or no bearing on who her daughter was unless it mattered to Miraj. “Bastard … Now I want to find him. Maybe take a few ‘friends’ along for the party.” He glanced up at Miraj again with a half-smile. “Get a kick in to his nuts while you were at it?”

She grinned. “I did, right in the fork. I don’t think it bothered him as much as it would have bothered a human guy though. Not that it matters now.”

That definitely garnered a chuckle. “Probably because there wasn’t anything there to bother …” He tilted his head, regarding her. “I meant to ask - why pink hair?”

“I was born this way. Does it look weird?” Miraj asked, a little bit anxious.

“No, it suits you. But … suppose I’m not familiar with …” He frowned, unsure how to explain before pointing to his brow to mimic the ridges on her own. “I know you’re not quite human, but I wasn’t sure if it was part of who you are, or just something you chose for yourself.”

“Boslics run from pink to blue with violet in the middle, the way humans go from blonde to black.” Miraj explained. “I didn’t choose it for myself.” there was a hint of imp returning to her features as she relaxed a bit. “But it is kind of cool.”

Terje nodded, relieved that he hadn’t insulted her - he hadn’t meant to, after all. “My older sister went through a color phase herself. I can’t remember how many she moved through before settling on this blue, black, violet shade that our mother hated. Last I saw her, she was still wearing it, and got our little sister to join in. Not sure if Lukas managed to escape unscathed or not. Fortunately, I was away so … no pressure.”

“I don’t think you’d suit pink hair.” Miraj decided. “Or black.”

“True,” he laughed, shaking his head. “I think I lack something in the … moral rectitude to carry off that look.”

She laughed, more of a giggle, but it was a start. “More likely too much. It's something for the rebel and the bohemian.”

“What - I’m not rebel enough to pull off pink hair?” His nose wrinkled in amusement as Terje twisted to face her better, Crispin forgotten for the moment. “Does it take more or less than it does for black, or maybe branch off to some other shade?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never even thought of dying my hair.” Miraj said.

“Moose is the very paragon of The Man, being a security officer. They’re all straight laced.” Crispin said. “And I’m sure you’re boss will be thrilled.”

“Aye, well I’ll probably find other ways to rebel, all the same, if it comes to that.” She was laughing, now … almost relaxed. “They just give that impression … keep the ship guessing. I’d tell you about after-hours, but then I … ah, they’d probably disown me. “He was going to say ‘I’d have to kill you’, but really … in light of MIraj’s latest experience, that wasn’t the best to say just now. “I’ll just settle for sentient shield for the moment.”

“He maybe overstating the sentient thing,” Crispin warned her with a smile. “They don’t hire for brains on the other side of the yellow section.”

Terje glared up at him. Crispin couldn’t know how close to the mark he hit on that one - the man would never purposefully try to be hurtful, at least, he thought. Still, his tone cooled some. “You’d be surprised; fortunately, Galileo is a bit more particular in choosing her Security team. Me,” His gaze moved from Crispin to Miraj. “Operations my first few tours. Would still be there if I didn’t realize Security got to have more fun.”

“Well that is true.” Snow admitted. “Though some people find wading through waste reclamation to be quite exotic.”

He relaxed some, his assurance in the man’s nature recovered some. All the same, you can be grateful our Security team has a somewhat equal balance of brawn and brains … most times,” he offered at the last, as something of a caveat.

“I think you’re all pretty nice,” Miraj said.

Terje did chuckle at that one. “You haven’t seen us on poker nights. Helvete, it can get down-right criminal.”

She laughed. “Sounds like a good night.”

He winked at her, content to be past the momentary rough patch, as it were. “Consider yourself invited next time it rolls about. If any of the others give you trouble, just point them to me.”

“I’ll do that. I guess it will be easy if you’re going to be my shadow for a bit.”

Resting a hand stop her bed, Terje nodded. “Even if I weren’t you’re still invited.” He smiled, and slowly - somewhat painfully - levered himself back to his feet. “As for shadowing you - I can only consider it an honor to one who managed to put that Romulan bastard in his place.” Her face, though less troubled now, was still impossibly young. Not fragile, per se, but certainly not unbreakable all together. “I should let you rest, though.”

“Sleep is good,” she admitted. “But thanks for coming back.”

Reaching down to grip her shoulder, Terje gave a gentle squeeze before standing upright. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Miraj.”


[OFF]

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

PO2 Crispin Snow
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
NPC Derani

CPO Torgeir Naes
Security
USS Galileo

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