MEMORY 3/3: When you think several moves ahead

Posted on Sat Nov 16th, 2024 @ 9:52pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant JG Zai

1,869 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: Somewhere out in space.
Timeline: Past

ON:

"That's right. I vented my entire crew, including the Starfleet spy."

"Merde," she let the words fall from her lips. Adrianna was going to be reprimanded for this, no doubt, "someone needs to stop him. Nothing happened -- I'm fine. I jumped onto the ocean from the cliff. I would have been fine if I had just been a bit quicker in swimming. I'm not worth innocent lives. Gawd, I'm not a fan of Romulans or Fleet, but this seems excessive." She grabbed a PaDD and started messaging Vance in a way that she knew would pop up on his screen for his eyes only: "Don't do anything stupid, amore mio. I'm fine. I went into the water on my own accord. I'm not hurt. I should have been swimming a little quicker. No-one deserves to die today. Do not risk us all for revenge for something that never happened. Please. Your crew is terrified."

Vance glanced down at the arm of his chair then back up at the two men. "So Mr. Starfleet and Felix you two decided to work together to fool me I assume the diamonds were to be back in Felix's hand after all this?"

"Vance just give up." The Starfleet officer of the tiny little ship said.

Vance raised amused eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you in any position to demand this?"

Felix snorted. "We out number you two to one and you have no crew."

Vance laughed. "I think I outnumber you."

He opened a third channel and a Klingon appeared. "Captain Takor welcome! Why don't you say hello, formally." He looked back at Felix and the Starfleet officer. "I have back up plans for everything. You all should know this."

Just then seven Klingon ships decloaked. Vance smiled. "Captain Takor the Starfleet ship is yours to do with what you like. Felix and his crew are free to go. This was just a way to show him not to double cross me. I'll even return the diamonds to him once you have the Starfleet ship secured."

Takor smiled. "As we are speaking."

There were noises from the Starfleet ship as the bridge erupted and several Klingons raided it.

Adrianna watched the Starfleet ship and went a little pale, feeling somewhat guilty. She looked away, trying not to make a big deal out of it. To most it would just look like she just didn't want to see people get hurt. She was tough, but she still flinched at watching others get hurt.

Takor spoke again, "The ship is secure."

"Then I will transfer the diamonds to Felix. Felix be a dear and lower your shields." Vance placed the diamonds on the ground and activated the transporter. "Ready?"

Felix gave a nod.

Back in the mess Val groaned. "He did the diamond trick again didn't he?"

It was a Vulcan medic who spoke. "Oh yeah. Everyone brace!"

The crew dropped to the ground.

Adrianna took the cue and dropped to the ground along with them, her eyes turning back to the screen, trying to gage what was happening. Whilst she was angry that he'd hurt Starfleet, she understood reasoning. Equally, this kind of ploy, it was good intel to help save others.

The ship lurched forward into forced warp and in the back screen Felix's ship shattered into a million bits. Several tense minutes later the ship stopped and shields dropped.

Takor's face came back on screen. "Vance Adams remind me never to double cross you."

Vance laughed. "Oh I will. Starfleet ship?"

"Intact and the crew is safe, we'll take them to Kronos and process maybe Starfleet will return some of our own for their own. I can't guarantee they won't be bruised but they will be alive."

Vance snorted. "Don't care. Happy Return Captain."

There was a pause. "You didn't really vent your crew did you?"

He snorted. He reached down and hit the buttons on his chair panel. "Thanks to your cloak tech they are safe as you can see."

Takor laughed. "Well! Creative. Safe Travels then."

He gave a nod. "Bye." He shut down the screen and then collapsed into his chair feeling tired beyond anything.

Val looked at the Vulcan medic. "Go check him. He was wounded during the whole thing and hasn't been looked at.

The Vulcan gave a nod and stood.

Adrianna stood up and walked out, silently. She was angry, but knew she couldn't show it. She needed to calm down. In fact, it wasn't only anger-- if he did this for her then a little part of her thought it was sweet, in a dysfunctional kind of way, but it showed that he loved her. She locked the door of her quarters and found her hiding sport for her encrypted PaDD. She sent a very brief update to her handler about what had happened, but confirmed her safety. She briefly explained the tech used and what happened-- if anyone else knew of the it, the harm they could do.


--- Few Hrs Later---

Vance was patched up, the knife wound in his side was closed up but still hurt and he'd have a scar but he didn't care. He headed to Adrianna's quarter and rang the chime.

Adrianna had finished sending a full report. Right now she was looking at her personal PaDD whilst curled up with a blanket, feeling somewhat of a chill from her plunge into the ocean. She was shivering. "Enter," she looked over to the door, turning the screen from her PaDD off. Seeing it was Vance, she looked down into her lap, pulling the blanket around her a little tighter.

Vance came in looking haggard and tired. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Why do you suddenly care?" She murmured before looking back at him, "got time to ask me that now?" She paused and took a breath, "I feel better than you look, but I feel like death and just as cold."

He walked over grabbing the spare blanket on the chair and sitting on the bed he wrapped it around her. "I do care Adrianna but in hot situations like that I need to think about you, and the crew, the ship, and twenty moves ahead if I want us to stay alive. Damn it! Don't you think I wanted to stop and make sure you were alright. I had to do what I had to do. I monitored your readouts on my panel and I trust my medic crew to keep you safe medically so that I can keep you and the crew safe physically." He sighed resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

Adrianna sighed and nodded. She moved closer to him and nudged him to encourage him to hold her seeing how he looked warmer than her. She may have been mad at him, but she was cold and he looked warm. "It takes two seconds to ask if I'm ok-- two seconds just now would not have changed the outcome," she sighed, "I am many things, Vance, but I am still human. Is it wrong of me to want to be a man's first thought? I cannot read minds. I need to be told."

Vance turned and grabbed her shoulders. "Damn it Adri you are always my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night. You on my mind twenty four seven whether you know it or not. And yes it takes two seconds but two seconds could mean life and death. My sister was killed in 1.5 seconds the 1.5 seconds that I turned away. I know about seconds. I balance and count every god damned second in my life."

Adrianna was taken back by him admitting what he did. She heard his confession about his sister and it took her a moment to comprehend it fully. "Vance, I didn't know-- I'm sorry," she looked genuinely upset by It all, her heart breaking a little for him, "I didn't know." She wrapped her arms around him and cuddled up in his lap. She needed his warmth, but also, she wanted to comfort him where she could.

He brought the blanket around her and held her. "I live every day in seconds Adri. I know how many seconds it takes to brush my teeth, how many seconds it takes to walk from my quarters to the bridge. Since she died I live by seconds." He sighed. "She was the only family I had." He closed his eyes. "But this little event has proven something to me. We do have a Fleeter on board. The captain was scanning for someone I couldn't pinpoint who but there is someone. That will have to be figured out."

"I'll help however you want me to," she replied even though she could end it all now by just telling him the truth, "but I'm not sure how." She paused and returned to topic, "just so that you know, or to remind you, it took you 90 seconds to call me your future wife. It took me about 1209600 seconds to fall for you. It will take more than seconds for me to leave you. I want a life time, amore mio. I don't know how many seconds that equates to, but equally, I'm more impressed that I know what 2 weeks were in seconds. Any idea how long it will take for you to warm me up? I need a new tally mark."

He sighed as he leaned his forehead against hers. "Take a nice warm shower to warm up. Let's leave the tally for tomorrow since we're both exhausted and as for helping me find the Fleeter? Don't. I don't want you hurt. The last fleeter they sent to monitor me was the one that got my sister killed and I don't want you in harms way. So just stay sharp until I figure out why they are here. If it's to observe I don't care. If it's to try and hurt my crew that's when I care."

She nodded but wasn't ready to let him go just yet. She could feel herself warming up in his arms, "alright-- but if you need help, I'm here, amore mio." She paused, cuddling closer, "can you stay here for a little while longer?" Her voice seemed to trail off as her eyes got heavy from exhaustion.

"Tell you what, go shower, hot water, I'll make tea and we'll eat and then I'll stay the night, nothing nefarious just...sleep. Deal?"

She groaned, not wanting to move but know that she had to if she didn't want to die of hypothermia. "Your quarters, not mine. You have a double," she agreed, reluctantly letting him go, "no funny business. Just sleep. I need warmth. Italians are not built for the cold." It wasn't just the bed size, she didn't want him discovering her identity and equally, this seemed like a good opportunity keep him off of the scent. After all... What Starfleet officer would go as far as loving him and being in a compromising position with him, even if it was just sleep?

OFF:

 

RSS Feed