Did I Ever Come Close?

Posted on Sat Feb 1st, 2025 @ 8:27pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami

2,487 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well

“I've got to admit, I'm enjoying the nostalgia,” Vance smiled, “Looking back, I know there were a few times that you almost told me– but was there a time that I almost caught you?”


“A few actually,” Adrianna nodded as she started serving up dinner for the pair of them, “the thing is, you were my first real mission. I went straight to Freecloud after I graduated. Madonna, I was learning as I was going along.”


She shook her head in amusement, “it was on the first run after you hired me. You had given us all shore leave. I went back to my place to debrief with my handler and you just randomly showed up at my door, needing me. Genuinely– thought I was going to have to kill you.”


***Some Years Ago***


Adrianna sat at the small table in her Freecloud apartment, her encrypted Comms unit in front of her, listening to her handler’s voice through the secure channel. The report was straightforward– checking in after her brush with death thanks to a hazing prank and a glitter bomb, general observations, patterns, nothing too detailed yet, it had only been a few weeks. It was still early in the investigation. For now, she was exactly what Vance Adams believed her to be: a freelancer, hired to translate for his crew.


A knock at the door pulled her from the conversation.


She muted the call and straightened, casting a quick glance at the compact phaser resting within reach. She grabbed it walking up to the door.She wasn’t expecting visitors.


Another knock, steady but unhurried.


Adrianna took a breath and turned her expression into something neutral before unlocking the door and pulling it open slightly, her phaser out of sight, but aimed at her ‘guest’.


Vance stood on the other side.


For a brief moment, she said nothing, taking in the unexpected sight of him. He was dressed casually, but there was a weight to his presence– a purposefulness that told her he wasn’t here for pleasantries.


“Madonna, Capitano, you’re not supposed to be working tonight,” she pointed out.


“Neither are you,” he countered, then gave a half-smile, “but I need a favour.”


She didn’t step back, or invite him in, there was too much on display, “What kind of favour?”


“Translation,” he said simply, “Betazoid dialects. This deal won’t happen without it and you are my translator, are you not?”


Adrianna arched a brow using his own turn of phrase against him, “You gave your crew shore leave– that includes me, does it not? You could have called in someone else.”


Vance exhaled, as if he’d already run through his other options. “Most of them are halfway through drinking their weight in Romulan ale or blood wine. You’re the best choice and you're my translator anyway– plus, I should probably take the future Missus Adams on a date.”


It was amusing to her how much he was playing on the joke of him marrying her one day. It was a joke, right? That shouldn’t have pleased her, but a flicker of something unfamiliar stirred before she pushed it aside. This was just a job. And he was just an assignment. Still, she didn’t let him in. The console, the encrypted call, the weapon– all of it was still within reach. She leaned lightly against the doorframe, “Who’s the deal with?”


Vance held her gaze, “someone who doesn’t trust Standard.”


Not an answer.


Adrianna sighed and looked at him skeptically. Regardless of being on shore leave, this would be a great opportunity to continue her investigation and perhaps get out of this sooner rather than later. She considered it for a moment, then nodded once, “give me a minute.”


Without waiting for a response, she pulled the door shut, unmuting her call, she switched to Italian, knowing her handler would translate and would understand the code that she was around someone within Vance's circle, or Vance himself, “I've got to go, but I'll be in touch soon, Mamma.”


She secured the console, slipped the phaser into her jacket, and did one last glance around the room to be certain nothing would give her away. Then she opened the door again, face unreadable, “Let’s go, Capitano.”


Vance didn’t move right away. Instead, he leaned slightly against the doorframe, arms crossed, eyes flicking past her for just a second– like he was checking for signs of why she had taken so long. “You know, you’re not exactly easy to find,” he said.


Adrianna shrugged, locking the door behind her as she stepped into the corridor, “It’s the way I like it– being a translator isn’t always safe work. Some people don’t like the middleman.”


“Mhmm,” his tone was dubious, but he let it go for now. As they started walking, though, he tried another angle, “Who were you talking to just now?”


Adrianna kept her pace even, her tone casual. If he had heard her talking, he would have heard ‘mamma’ at the least, “My mother.”


That got a reaction. He glanced at her, something unreadable behind his expression, “I know that you speak fondly of your family, but you don’t strike me as the type to check in regularly.”


She shot him a sideways look, somewhat amused, “What type do I strike you as, then?”


Vance smirked and norted, “hard to pin down.”


Adrianna didn’t let it show, but she was already making mental notes– his curiosity, the way his questions weren’t quite casual. It wasn’t suspicion, not yet, but he was perceptive, and that was dangerous. She gave a light sigh, like she found this whole conversation tedious, “she worries and I am close to her.”


That, at least, wasn’t a lie.


Intelligence ops were told to keep lying to a minimum, which was an amusing concept. Ops were seen as ‘liars for a living’, but the truth was, it was more that ops would omit specifics rather than lying. The less you lied about, the less you had to remember.


Vance studied her for a second longer, then nodded, apparently satisfied, “right. Well, let’s see if this deal was worth tracking you down for.”


Adrianna just smiled, as if she wasn’t already planning how to stay three steps ahead. Adrianna gave a small shrug, keeping her expression carefully neutral. “I told her about the glitter bomb incident– she’s been extra protective since.”


Vance’s steps slowed just a fraction, “Glitter bomb? Why on earth would you worry her by telling her?”


She smirked, “Well, it was enough to put my mother on edge. Ever since then, she’s been convinced I need a safer job. She hates that I work with mercenaries. She always has.”


Vance’s expression flickered with something unreadable, “then why do it?”


Adrianna glanced at him, choosing her words carefully. “The same reason you do– Because I’m good at it and it pays well.” Which wasn’t a lie.


Still, Vance seemed more interested in her family than the job itself, “So what did she want you to do instead?”


A dry laugh escaped her, “Starfleet.”


That got a reaction. His brow lifted slightly, the curiosity sharpening, “And you didn’t want that?”


She hesitated, just for a second, then shook her head, “It’s not for me. I don't want to be tied down by a rule book.”


Again, not a lie. Starfleet Intelligence wasn’t Starfleet in the traditional sense. It was different. Necessary. And, most importantly, not something she could ever tell him about.


Vance studied her for a beat longer before looking ahead again. “Guess she’s still hoping you’ll change your mind?”


“Every time we talk,” Adrianna sighed, as if it exhausted her, “she’ll say ‘Adrianna, why do you want to put me in my grave’. She knows me too well to think she can push me into it though. I think she's just proud that I am actually having adventures and using my skills. She's never left Earth.”


Vance smirked, “Sounds like she knows you pretty damn well.”


Adrianna only smiled, letting the conversation drift to other things. He didn’t need to know how right he was.


***


“I thought I heard you speaking Standard just before I knocked,” Vance chuckled, “any others of note?”


Adrianna considered it for a moment. There were a few times that he'd almost caught her, but they were at the beginning. When Fleet began to realise that she didn't require as many check ins, it had made her life a lot easier. “I mean, when we got pulled for a random stop and search after a crew member sent a drunken distress call posed as Santa. We were searched on an Intel base. I'm surprised that no-one screwed up my mission inadvertently. Thankfully, the one person that recognised me, could keep it together.”


Adrianna thought a little harder, “ah, there was one time. She sipped some wine pausing her eating, “it must have been a few months in, maybe even a year. The crew had all gone to bed, and as usual, we were the last two awake, sitting on the bridge after a mission. You'd been reminiscing about gawd knows what and it was like it had triggered something for you– you were like a dog with a bone.”


“It's funny, looking back, intel ops are told not to lie a lot, and I never really did. I think I'm the whole time of knowing you I only lied a handful of times. Merde, I mostly skirted around truths– kept things vague.” She shrugged in amusement.


***Some Years Ago***

Vance had always been sharp, but that night, he had been relentless. They had been sitting in the cockpit, the hum of the ship’s systems filling the silence between their words. It had started as an easy conversation– Vance joking about the ridiculous job they had just pulled, Adrianna teasing him about how he always managed to talk his way out of trouble. But then his expression had turned thoughtful, his eyes dark with something that made her uneasy.

"You know," he had said slowly, his fingers drumming against the console, "I’ve been thinking… You showed up at just the right time. Too good to be true, almost."

Adrianna had arched a brow, forcing herself to smirk, "Flattery will get you nowhere, amore mio– I will not be going back to repay my debt to the Ferengi. I don't care how much you like that casino.” She paused and grinned, a flirtatious look in her eyes, “Are you always this suspicious of a woman who enjoys your company? It may explain a few things.”

"I am only suspicious when she knows a little too much about things she shouldn’t," his gaze had been piercing, weighing her every reaction. There was no flirtation or humour in return to hers, "You ask the right questions, Adri. You pay attention to details most people wouldn’t– and every time I try to pin down your past, you slip right through my fingers."

Her stomach had clenched. He wasn’t letting it go this time. She shrugged, leaning back in her seat like she wasn’t feeling the heat of his scrutiny, "Maybe I don’t like talking about the past. Ever think of that, Capitano?"

Vance hadn’t blinked, "I have but you talk around it, not away from it. Like you’re hiding something."

“What would I be hiding?” She chuckled, “Thanks to that thing at the Casino, oh, and when I stole your shirt on Betazed,you have seen enough of my skin to know that I'm not secretly a man.”

There had been a long, tense pause. Vance wasn't letting this go, in fact, he didn't even smile, his gaze just turned more suspicious. She had known she needed to give him something– just enough to satisfy his curiosity without giving him any real reason to doubt her.

“You really want to know why I do not speak of my past other than when I was cazzo-ed up on painkillers, or dazed from a glitter bomb?” she sighed, her fingers tracing patterns on the armrest. Her eyes flicked to his and then down to her lap, as if the words were difficult to say.

"Fine. You have heard my tales of my childhood and little parts about my life growing up. It is not as perfect as it seems, but an Italian without their family– that is unheard of. My family– well, most of them– don’t talk to me anymore." The words had come out quieter than she had intended, but that had only made them sound more real, "They always believed in doing what was right. That’s how they raised me. When I walked away from what would have been a good career as a translator on Earth, in favour of the pay boost and started working with mercenaries, they cut me off."

Vance’s eyes had softened slightly, but he was still watching her like he was waiting for a tell, "all of them?"

"Not my mother,” she glanced away, exhaling like it was a sore subject, "she still checks in every so often. Pretends she doesn’t, but she does. As does one of my brothers. They keep me in the loop of everything. Every time I am near Earth, I visit. I try to make amends. Most of the time, it will just be a coffee with my mother or brother, but it helps. They ground me, you know?"

Vance had leaned back, considering, "so that’s why you don’t talk about home."

She had given a small nod, barely noticeable, "si. Not much of a home anymore and not much of a family."

It had worked.

His suspicion had eased just enough, and he had nodded, the intensity in his gaze fading, "Family is difficult, Adri. Ask anyone on this ship– we all have our own problems. Just know that you don't have to hide it ok, no-one judges here. Plus, the Pendragon is basically a family– dysfunctional, but everyone looks out for each other."

He stood up and walked over to her. Reaching out, Vance pulled her to her feet, “for what it's worth, I love the fact that you work with mercenaries.”

He ran his fingers through her hair, as if to kiss her, his lips coming dangerously close to hers. Adrianna's heart pounded in her chest, she couldn't pull away, but not did she want to. Just as they were about to kiss, someone cleared their throat, “cap, there's a leak down in the engineering room again.”

Vance sighed and pulled away, “duty calls. Get to bed, Adri. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.”

 

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