From: Erik and Kim (kimtoussaint_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Mar 31 2007 - 12:56:41 PDT
"Saturday" ( continued from my "Arrests" post ) ________________________________________________ Location: PATRIOT Scene: Corridor Time index: Just before the Australian Opera, from my post "Angst" StardateL: 2.70331.1355 _________________________________________________ Ben had his nose buried in a Comm padd, reading the usual daily reports, when Mav appeared at his side. "Have a nice visit with your son?" the marine seemed strangely happy. Ben didn't look up from his text. He simply asked flatly. "Something you need, Mr. Maverick?" "Yeah." Mav smirked. "I thought we should have a chat about your girlfriend...." "My personal life is none of your concern." Ben glanced at him, giving him a look of warning. "Now that you might actually have a chance at having one...." Mav teased shamelessly "Beyond the occasional performance as a "part time Daddy".... I think it is." Ben's lips pressed together tightly and he took a deep breath, struggling to keep his calm. "If you have a point to make, then...make it quickly and be done with it. What are we talking about?" "We were happier when Daisy was here. Both of us. So, show me you're actually worth a damn as an XO and get her back." Mav demanded flatly, easily keeping stride with Ben. "Her career is her own. She's got a good job on a supply ship...." Ben almost laughed, still walking. "I can't just snap my fingers and have her transfered here. She's an XO now..." "She lied to you." Mav boasted with glee. Ben froze and took a step closer to Mav, his face contorted with both annoyance and concern. "Excuse me?" The Marine's eyes widened and he sniggered with amusement. "Ooooooh ! There is someone home in there..." "What are you talking about?" Ben demanded. "My clearance is higher than your's..." Mav gloated. "Remember? I know this "Shameran" she talked about. It's not a supply ship. I can't tell you what it really is...that's classified. But, it's a bad place to be, Kenta. Couldn't you see that? How it's changed her?" The color drained from Ben's face and Mav twisted the knife a little more. "I'm sure you were terribly romantic and noble about devotion to duty and coping with maybe not seeing each other again for a couple years or so...and she promised you she'd be safe from harm, didn't she? " Mav mocked him with a change in his voice so it sounded feminine. "It's just a supply ship, Ben. You're the one usually in danger...not me, I'll be fine...don't worry..." "Be quiet." Ben whispered coldly. "She only left us because she was trying to save her marriage to that idiot, Zuri..." Mav replied back...just as coldly. "She finally got smart and divorced him and that should have been enough to bring her back, to bring her home. It wasn't." "And what do you expect me to do?" Ben demanded. "We lost Selyara. Do you really want to lose Daisy, too?" Mav asked calmly. Ben sighed awkwardly. His chest rose and fell as what Mav had thrown at him began to sink in. Then, he abruptly shoved his comm pad into Mav's hands and said, "Take my meeting with Engineering in half an hour...." A grin formed on the crusty marine's face as he watched Kenta heading towards the transporter room.... _______________________ Location: SB1 Stardate: 2.70331.1341 Scene: Holosuite 5 rather than the Transporter room as Mav expected... Time index: Later __________________________________ Ben stared across the mat at his opponent. His breath was quick and deep, his pulse fast. He wiped sweat from his brow, and nodded, signaling he was ready for an attack. The other man nodded back, and the fight began again. The other man was better than Ben. He was stronger and faster, and programmed with mastery of every style Ben was aware of. He'd always preferred training this way. It forced him to learn quickly, and kept him sharp. One day, he would consistently beat this program, and then it would be time to design a better one. Today, though, he was struggling more than usual. He was still young, but his physical prime was making a slow transition to a thing of the past. He was still in much better shape than almost anyone he knew. Constant conditioning and years of habit made his body something a great many younger men would envy. If there had been an audience, no one would have noticed that age was starting to take its tole, but lately he could feel it. His limbs felt slightly heavier, moved slightly slower. His muscles burned with exhaustion after less time. His lost his breath sooner. The change would be imperceptible to anyone who hadn't watched him train his entire life, but to him the reality of age struck him harder in these sessions than the blows of his opponent. It was the start of a battle against an opponent that could not be beaten. An opponent who would someday rob him of all his strength, endurance and mobility. It would reduce him to a frail, feeble thing kept alive only by the grace of the artificial, plastic joints that allowed him to walk, anti-grav units that kept his own weight from crushing his brittle bones. He had seen men like this, and watched them struggle to do the simplest tasks, happy only to still be breathing. For him that fate was still far off, 100, perhaps 120 years down the road, and only if he lived that long in a dangerous profession. Still the thought was a terrifying one when it struck him, and all he could do was resolve to fight against it for as long as he could. That is what kept him fighting, training, conditioning far above the minimum Starfleet requirements for someone of his rank and age, far above the minimum even for the young enlisted men and women. That is why he took physical evaluations twice a year though Starfleet would settle for a token exam done once in five. It was his way of defying time. That wasn't his purpose here today, nor his problem. Today he was blowing off steam, and clearing his mind. Maverick's revelation had ignited a flame in him that he was eager to snuff, though not the one the marine had intended. Ben knew Mav had only been too happy at the opportunity to inflict a wound of any sort on his old rival. That his primary goal was to see Ben in pain at the knowledge of what he had called a lie. But Ben didn't call it a lie, he called it duty. He and Daisy shared a career that required secrets. He had spent he last seven years of his life keeping secrets from the people he cared about because it was his job. It was her job to, and he understood it. His only anger was at Mav for violating that duty, if only in spirit not letter. But he also saw another purpose in Mav's provocation. He wanted something it was beyond his power to achieve. He missed Daisy, and he wanted her back in his life, as badly as Ben did, but he knew he could not persuade her to come back. So he had tried to manipulate the one person he knew that might be able to convince her into doing it for him, and it that he had failed too. Ben had no intention of trying to talk Daisy into coming back to the PATRIOT, and never had. She had another home, another crew, where people depended on her. He wouldn't ask her to give it up, and even if she volunteered, he would not let her serve under him. That conflict was not something he could accept. He knew already he could not give orders that might send her to death. He did not want to deal with the temptation of favoritism, or the accusations which would surely come whether they succumbed or not. It was a battle he was not prepared to fight. Ben wasn't sure what had made him deceive Mav into thinking he had succeeded. Some cruel form of pity perhaps, but though he felt it was wrong, he could not bring himself to regret it. It served him right. Both the PATRIOT and Daisy's ship, whatever it was called, would soon be given new assignments, and their other commitments meant they had very little time left for each other. Ben didn't know how the next meeting would go, but he knew he would never reveal he suspected she was going anywhere but to a supply ship. She would feel better if she thought he had no reason to worry, so he would give her that. He felt the sting of plastic on his face as he hit the mat, he had not expected that move, but he wouldn't fall for it again. He wiped a trace of blood from his lip as he rose once again to his feet. He stared across the mat at his opponent, and nodded. ________________________________________ Location: USS PATRIOT Scene: EXO's Office Time Index: Later that day ________________________________________ The doorchime brought an unbidden smile of satisfaction to the EXO's face. He knew who was coming. "Enter." Maverick walked in on heavy feet. "I didn't expect you back so soon, did you talk to her?" Ben thought he sounded as if he was trying to sound gruff and non-commital. "No, I didn't." Ben said, not looking up for the PADD he'd been reading. "What!" The Marine almost roared with incredulity. "You were supposed to go convince her to come back." Maverick glared at him. "I'll do no such thing." Ben replied flatly. "She's made her choice, and I'm not going to interfere." "Oh, great...." Mav roared. "Just let her go off on that god-forsaken ship to get herself killed.... what the hell is the matter with you?" Ben finally put down the PADD and looked MAV in the eye. "People die in Starfleet every day, Colonel. Even our ship has it's fair share of casualties, and we've been lucky since you came on board. You weren't at TERRANA, or CARRAYA, or CALDERA. If you want Daisy to be safe, convince her to quit Starfleet, but I won't." "But you don't understand the nature of her assignment." Mav continued, clearly angry. "And I don't want to." Ben replied brusquely. "It's classified information, and I would appreciate if you followed the relevant protocol." He knew that remark would bother Mav more than any insult he could say. "Dammit, Kenta..." the marine groaned. "You're a fool" "You're dismissed, Colonel." Ben answered, returning to his PADD. For a moment the Marine didn't move, but eventually he turned and moved to the door, trusting his purposeful omission of the response protocol demanded to irk the Commander. As the doors closed behind him, Ben added "Thanks again for taking that meeting..." ____________________________________________ Location: Starbase one: Feredir Dhinen ( The personal ship of Drake ) Scene: Just outside containment area Time index: Just after my last post _____________________________________________ Foster's voice could be heard. "Why is any of this necessary? It was a joke and she deserved it!" "Be quiet." Matthew groaned, annoyed. "Is Lynette ok?" Peter asked, concerned. "She'll be ok." Daisy sighed. Maddie materialized and approached as close to warp speed as her legs could manage. She was alarmed to see how three of her senior officers were already back in uniform and looking grimly serious. To concerned by indications of some type of "Emergency" to bother with formalities, she still wore civilian clothing as she confronted her XO... "Daisy - what's going on? And how could you let me leave on a vacation without telling me about Harper?" Peter perked up and asked, "What about Harper?" Maddie and Daisy both turned in unison and quickly replied, "Nothing." Peter blinked, confused. "Ok...." "The charge I've leveled against Cade Foster on ' Lynette's behalf is misdemeanor assault." Daisy began calmly. "This is a joke..." Cade protested. "It has to be." "No, Foster..." Daisy snapped, annoyed . "You crossed a line..." "Fine" , he snapped from behind a containment field. "Then I expect the privelages due a civilian. Drop me off with the local authorities. I"ll do my time in a civilian brig and be gone from your precious little crew. " Maddie studied both Cade and Daisy as her XO stepped closer to the containment field and gleefully boasted. "I'll do no such thing with you. Our ship and our crew are both classified which means any civilian privelages you get are at my discretion. " Cade blinked. "What does that mean?" Maddie burst out laughing as Daisy promptly replied, "It means your ass is mine. You're coming back to the ship with me and for the one morning you took it upon yourself to pull such a vicious and humiliating prank on Lt. Ryan - you'll spend 30 days sitting in my Brig." Cade turned to Maddie and pleaded. "Can you talk her out of this?" "She's going easy on you." Maddie laughed in his face. "Drag me into this and I have a feeling you're looking at more than 30 days....so maybe you should sit down and be quiet..." Foster meekly sat down and sulked. Maddie started to smile at Daisy...who just turned and stomped away...still furious.... __________________________________________________ NRPG: Taylor, Margie...Erik...Peter...Jamie...Phillip... EVERYONE - Tag! :) Kim Toussaint - AKA Commander Daisy Byrne Davidson, M.D. USS PROPHECY FRPG website archivist http://www.youth.net/frpg/ KimTvideos at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=KimTvideos --------------------------------- We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Feb 17 2008 - 03:10:47 PST