Miranda, Part 4
Posted on Fri Jan 25, 2019 @ 12:10pm by Commander Caleb Ryan
1,337 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Doors of Perception
Location: USS Peacemaker/Theta Tau Nebula
Timeline: MD01 1400
Eve stood in the center of the small bridge of the USS Peacemaker as it exited the main shuttlebay of the USS Nemesis. The ship was small, smaller than a Sabre-class, but it took up the entirety of the Nemesis main shuttle bay. There were no other ships visible on the considerable long range sensors of the larger ship, so there was no need for the superclassified Peacemaker to use its phase cloak to maintain secrecy. The cloak would be relatively useless once they entered the nebula anyway.
“Approaching the nebula,” Anzio Mira’ni announced from the helm.
“Take us in,” Eve ordered, and soon the viewscreen was swirling with charged nebula gases and exotic particles.
“Sensors are fouled. Compensating,” Irissa Toma said from the Operations station.
“I could really use those navigational beacons right now,” Anzio said, his voice light, but with an underlying tension. “Sort of flying blind here.” As if to emphasize his point, the ship shook as it hit a gravitational eddy.
“Hold your horses,” Irissa said testily. “Selin, a little help?”
The Trill science officer tapped away at her station. “There. That should do it.”
“Sending ping now,” Irissa told Anzio.
The forward screen switched to the sensor readout and a red dot pinged on it. Anzio adjusted course, winding around another eddy.
“What is that?” Rilasa asked Ash quietly from where they stood with Myru Jera at the back of the bridge, out of the way.
“The Theta Tau Nebula is basically unnavigable,” Ash explained. “That’s why it’s such an effective border control in the Neutral Zone. But we managed to map out a manageable pathway and mark it with passive navigational buoys. You won’t know they’re there unless you ping them with the proper frequency of theta waves.”
Ash turned his attention back to the screen, though soon he was staring at Eve’s tight bottom in her uniform. This had to be frustrating as hell for her. She was never a patient woman, and this was going to take some time.
“I’ll be in the back,” Eve said. “Boo, you have the conn.” She turned to exit the bridge and nearly ran into Ash. They stared at each other for a moment before she said, “With me, Danrisa.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Yes, sir,” he said, and followed.
Rilasa scowled.
Myru Jera smirked. “Come, Graeca. I am sure we can find something to do to pass the time.”
Ash followed Eve down the central corridor of the Peacemaker. There wasn’t a lot of privacy on the ship. Quarters were just hot bunks lined up down the corridor with little more than a curtain for privacy. Jera and Rilasa settled in a small common room with a couple tables and chairs and pulled out padds to study the files on Moia Ilmater, but Ash and Eve went into the modular space in the rear of the ship. Normally the space was fitted out to carry a contingent of twenty or so Marines, but for this mission it had been converted to cargo space and filled with pallets of supplies. The front part of the space had been left open, however, to provide a bit of an exercise area for the crew.
Eve started to strip off her uniform jacket and undershirt, down to her Starfleet issue athletic bra. Ash leaned against the wall and admired her form.
“Don’t just stand there staring,” Eve said, gesturing to the heavy bag as she pulled on some gloves.
Ash sighed and went to hold the bag. “You know you’re just going to put me on my ass.”
“I’ll hold back.”
“Tell me that when you’re picking me up off the deck.”
Eve punched the bag and Ash flew back and hit the deck with a grunt.
“Sorry,” Eve said non-apologetically as she yanked him to his feet again.
“Sure you are.” Ash rubbed his rump and put his shoulder to the bag again as Eve started a combo again, this time holding back.
“Why are you so peeved?” Ash asked.
“I’m not.”
“I know you, Eve. Better than you know you.” Ash found himself on the deck again.
“I’m fine.”
“it’s Moia, isn’t it?” Ash asked, picking himself up.
“I don’t like her.”
“That’s why she’s here,” Ash reminded.
“I don’t like that you sleep with her.”
Ash blinked. “How do you--”
“I can smell her on you when you beam back. Augment, remember?”
Ash rolled his eyes. “She’s trapped alone on a planet. I think getting laid a couple times a year is, like, mercy or something.”
Eve punched the bag and sent Ash flying again.
“You’re one to talk. You hooked up with Nestor.” Ash hobbled over to the bag again.
“So? Doesn’t mean anything.”
“And it does with me? I remember you saying more than once I’m nothing more than an itch scratcher.”
Eve didn’t say anything, focused on beating the stuffing out of the bag.
“You never had feelings for me when we were a...thing,” Ash pointed out. “You made that clear. It would get in the way of your career. You didn’t have feelings -- I knew that was a lie.”
Eve glared at Ash, and he wiggled his fingers. “Touch telepath. Empath.”
Eve punched the bag into his nose.
“Ow!”
“Look, Eve, I get it. We had fun together. You don’t do the things we did and not get...attached. And then the mission to Iawu and me getting captured. You thought you might lose me. And then I…”
“You left,” Eve said pointedly. “You abandoned ship, bailed on the team, the family. Just like Caleb. Just like Tan. And Megan.”
Ash shook his head. “They--we all had legit reasons to leave,” Ash reminded. “Caleb was hurt, he’d lost his wife, he had a daughter. And he was never completely comfortable with what we did. Tan...well, did you expect him to stay AssOps his entire life? He’s got his own ship now. And after Megan’s transporter accident, it’s a wonder she managed to not get a medical discharge.”
Ash stepped around the bag and grabbed Eve’s shoulders. She glared at him, feeling the touch of him in her mind through the skin contact. “No one is abandoning you, Eve,” he said quietly. “Caleb, Tan, Megan, your sisters. Any of them would come running if you called. The crew here, your father. They all love you.”
Ash took a breath. “I love you.”
Eve’s expression didn’t soften. Her gloved hands grabbed the front of his uniform and yanked him down for a hard, bruising kiss as she slammed him against the bulkhead.
***
Rilasa looked up at the sounds coming from the rear of the ship. The edge of the padd cracked where her hand gripped it.
Jera snapped her fingers in front of Rilasa’s face. “Focus, Graeca,” the Bajoran woman said with a sympathetic smile. “We need to learn this backward and forward.”
Rilasa took a breath and nodded. “I have it committed to my neural net,” she said.
“Well, some of us don’t have that luxury and do it the old fashioned way,” Jera said. “So you can help me then.”
Rilasa sighed and started playing some music in her head to drown out the sounds.
TBC
Ltcdr. Eve Three
Commanding Officer
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Lt. Anzio Mira’ni
Chief Flight Officer
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Lt. Irissa Toma
Chief Operations Officer
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Lt. Selin Maht
Chief Science Officer
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Ltcdr. Ash Danrisa
Intelligence Officer
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Rilasa Graeca
Intelligence Asset
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Myru Jera
Intelligence Asset
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
Lt. Bubasti P’Rurr
Chief Tactical Officer
USS Peacemaker
NPC Caleb Ryan
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