Twin One, Twin Two (Part 1)

Posted on Sat Jun 25, 2016 @ 12:39am by Captain Andrew Reynolds & Civilian Thereen Tera

1,387 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Interlude - Day 1
Location: Promonade
Timeline: MD2 14.30

ON:

So this is where you have been hiding, Jon Reynolds mused as he beamed aboard Deep Space Five. Around him several of his crew were excitably making their way to start their shore leave. A couple of his senior officers had suggested meeting up. Jon had said he would get back to them. He had explained his twin lived here now, not mentioning they were at odds, of course. He was hoping that he and Liam could bury the hatchet. Charlotte had left him. But he would be dammed if he was losing his brother completely too.

Waving at the party he beamed off with a smile, he made his way over to a public computer panel, scratching the civilian shirt he had not worn for quite a while. It was amazing how infrequent these days he got to be out of uniform. “Computer, locate Liam Reynolds, diplomat.”

Lieutenant Reynolds is on Deck 60 in his office.

Hmmm so he was on shift. If he hadn’t taken any of his calls for the last six months, he was unlikely to be pleased at him just showing up at his office, he thought. Jon did a quick calculation. His brother was either on alpha or beta shift, meaning he would be free this evening. He just had to find something to do to occupy his time until then.

So he decided to check out the Promenade.

Tera sighed as she stared at her shop window, straightening her minidress. While she was away at lunch, someone had spray painted TRAITOR in Bajoran in bright red letters. The security officer had just left after having taken her statement and assured her they would look into the matter and check the security feeds, but Tera knew it was unlikely the culprit would be found easily. There were no security cameras in this little offshoot from the Promenade. Tianys had been here long enough to have some pull and gotten the cameras taken down, “for the privacy of her patrons”. After all, the Lotus Lounge, while a high class place, still wasn’t someplace many people wanted to be seen frequently patronizing, as pleasurable as the experience was.

Tera wasn’t unprepared for this. It wasn’t the first time it had happened. She put her long hair up and then went into her shop. Pulling on an apron she wore when working in the back, she filled a bucket with cleaner and water, tossed in a sponge, and grabbed a scraper. If she got to it quickly enough it wouldn’t be as hard to get off.

Pulling out the sponge, she started scrubbing at the window, using the scraper to peel back the paint, trying to be careful not to scratch the glass.

Jon pottered round the deck, having bought a giant bag of sweets and having been told to check out the place called the Lotus Lounge. But not only that he wanted to know what was this place his brother had kindly opened an account up in his name and spent some money, causing one of the two largest arguments with his soon to be ex-wife.

He spotted the pretty Bajoran woman looking miserable attempting to get some horrible graffiti off her window. "There's a better way to do that," he suggested, walking up behind her. Taking pity on the stranger he knew would be at that a long time, he tapped his comm. badge.

“Engineering. Can you beam me down a flask of hydrobriatimonite?” If his crew were confused at his order while on shore leave they showed nothing. Jon grinned.

"Step back," he said proceeding to spray it over the red paint. It disintegrated away. "Here, you keep it."

Tera blinked. “Oh…thanks, Liam,” the Bajoran shop owner said. She blushed a bit and didn’t meet his eyes. “I didn’t have time to wait for Security to put in a work order and Engineering have time to get to it,” she said. “So…” she said, standing there awkwardly as she pulled off her rubber gloves and put down the bucket and the graffiti remover. “I guess you’re wondering why I haven’t returned your messages.” She gave him a small, sheepish smile as her large blue eyes finally rose to meet his. She tilted her head a bit. “You got a haircut or something. Something’s…different.” She smiled. “I like it,” she admitted.

“Thank you,” he smiled warmly. “But I’m…“ He found himself stopping speaking.

She was very pretty, more so now she pulled off the ugly rubber gloves. And she was attracted to him. Well, Liam. It was nice. He hadn't felt anything nice like that since his wife had left him. Actually it was more than that. Something had happened between his twin and her. That much he could pick up. But she was also wary and a little bit angry at him. No, at Liam, he reminded himself.

“Messages?” he found himself saying despite himself. He should come clean now, but he was curious about his brother’s life now. On this station. “Yes, what happened?”

Tera reached up and pulled out the tie holding her hair, shaking her head and sending the thick, luxurious brown locks cascading down again. “I’ve been dealing with some…personal issues,” she admitted. She gestured to the now-clean window. “As you can see, what I told you about at dinner has kind of…stepped up a bit,” she told him. “I actually stopped my messages for a while because of all the threats. And my latest shipment of goods from Bajor hasn’t come in yet, so I’m worried about what I will have in stock for the next month.” She ran her hand through her hair and her eyes glistened a bit, her full lip quivering. Clearly things were stressing her and she was a bit on edge.

“I’m sorry, Liam. This isn’t your problem,” she told him with an attempt at a smile, wiping at her eyes.

~Oh nuts~ Jon thought. She looked like she was going to burst into tears. He should come clean but she was in a state. Now she had said those words her emotions, the ones he could cut through from the pioneers of the lotus lounge were frightened and upset.

“You look like you could do with a stiff drink. Come on let me take you somewhere. We can talk it over,” he suggested. That’s what Liam would have done. Be supportive. “Maybe I can help.”

“Thanks, Liam,” Tera said. “Let me put up the sign.” She took her supplies back into her shop and emerged a moment later without the apron on. She’d washed her face a bit so her eyes wouldn’t be puffy, straightened out the black minidress that hugged her generous curves, and hung up a sign on the door indicating she would be back in an hour. She locked up and rejoined Liam.

“Ready.

"Come on." Jon smiled. "How about here? It’s right next to the shop and you can keep an eye on things.” He led her into the Lotus Lounge. Seating her at a table, he asked, "What will it be?"

Tera had to smile. “Do you know anything about this place?” she asked him with a chuckle. All around them naked green aliens strutted, serving patrons who seemed half off in other realities. “A Samarian Sunrise will do,” she told him.

At the bar, Jon asked the Rowa’ni for the drinks and then said, "I understand I have a tab open. Jon Reynolds," he said quietly. "I’d like to pay that off and close it down, if I may. I'm going to be out of town for a while after shore leave."

The pretty Rowa’ni with Vulcan ears nodded. She was as naked as the others. She consulted a padd and took Jon’s credchip. “If there is anything you would like, just let one of us know,” she told the handsome Human in that sultry voice all Rowa’ni seemed to have. There was a lot of promise in that word “anything”.

TBC

Thereen Tera
Bajoran shopkeeper
NPC Caleb Ryan

Captain Jon Reynolds
Liam's twin
NPC Liam Reynolds

 

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