Intermission – Little Ship of Misfits Pt 4: Compromise
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
ON:
Jarred had returned from a morning run, he was sitting on a chair, the bio-mechanical parts and intricate web of circuitry visible in his left knee, his right arm had a similar web, which extended to just below the neck, a product of the mountains of recovered Borg technology. To the casual observer it looked like Jarred had some kind knee brace, but up close it was clear that this was a heavy duty knee repair. He had tossed his towel on the back of his chair, and sat down to drink a coffee and have breakfast, a Marine NCO stood next to the cart that had been rolled in minutes earlier, Jarred smiled as he felt a young mind enter the room, "I think there is some sweet rolls of some kind on the cart, plus there is some kind of juice here."
"Argellian doesn't like you." The statement, precise and totally ignoring the food available was accompanied by a slight smile. "My mother says that you can read minds so we should be careful what we think around you. Are you Tal'Shiar?"
Eviess spoke in Rihannsu, her precocious command of language every bit as blatent as her approach. A challenging stance that could dissapate in an instant as soon as her four year old attention was caught by something more interesting than a grown up.
"Hardly, I spend my time chasing them down." Jarred replied in his best attempt at Rihannsu. "I have twins that are about your age, they might enjoy playing with you sometime."
"Are they girls?" she asked. The only other person her own age Eviess ever had regular contact with was her brother. Conversation about history and the Empire and just about everything else bored him almost as much as his constant pestering to run and play at war bored her.
"One girl, one boy actually, they are living with their mom on the Corsica colony at the moment." Jarred shifted the micro-circuitry in his leg glowed a little as he shifted "That happens when I'm in pain from the implants in my leg."
"What did you do to it?" Eviess asked as she reached for a pastry. "Argellian fell out of a tree and broke his arm. Were you climbing?" she continued as she took a small bite.
"Some men shattered the bone beyond repair so it was replaced with this collection of servos and circuitry, the same was done with my elbow, my eye is a synthetic replacement" he gestured to the web of scars the ringed the greyish blue eye.
"Why?" By any standards Eviess' upbringing was idyllic - a peaceful house, a rambling garden, tutors with the patience to answer the most probing infuriating question and a mother determined that her children should inherit a world.
By Rihannsu standards her live was paradise. There was no dark prospect of D'Sora as she approached her fifth birthday, though she would be under no threat of failure. There was no rigid adherance to the traditions of the ancient Great Houses. Hers was a lesser house. One named after the father she had been missing since before she was born.
"Did you know my father?" she asked reaching with her free hand towards the exposed knee.
"No, I know of him, but I've never met him." Jarred looked down at the child, "but I think I want to be a better father to my own right now."
"Eviess, you should have your breakfast and stop bothering Mister Wallace."
Isha had arrived on silent feet, and she really had no idea what her precocious daughter would choose to share with the agent.
"Its quite alright Isha, I think she was a bit frightened by all the neural circuitry." Jarred said as he stood "The last of the repairs of the ship are done we can leave in a few hours."
More likely she wanted to prod it to see what happened, Isha thought, one she kept to herself.
"It will be a shock," she said, "more for the good crew of Deep Space Five than myself. I wonder how some of them will take it."
"Well from what I was told the funeral was a real tear jerker, so there will be some anger too," Jarred decided to explain the reason behind his faked death "There are agents for the pirates still on the station, with me dead the groups can get back to smuggling and occasional raids, that supply what ever it is they are really up to. I was on to their leadership when things went bad, and I was caught so when the marines found me they were told I was to be reported as dead and then put into stasis and taken to earth to be hidden until I could recover from all of my injuries."
It wasn't quite what she had meant, but it was very revealing - a few knots that brought threads together.
"A challenging situation to return to," Isha agreed. "Is there anyone there who will take the deception to heart?" she asked.
"I know Claire will, someone told me that the XO was really shocked at the loss, but I think my return will shake up a large number of people, but considering that you seem to be more accepting than most makes me think that given enough time people will get over it."
"Well, we'll both have something to deal with. I don't want you to think of me as an enemy, Jarred, even when our objectives appear to conflict. I think we've more to gain through co-operation, don't you," Isha said.
"I think we already have started." Jarred said with some irony.
"I agree, but once we're there it is probable that others won't see it the same way. Eviess!" At that Isha scooped the girl into her arms quelling her exuberance with a stare.
Her own memories were very clear from that age and she was not about to dismiss the experiences of her daughter.
She rested Eviess on her hip, and spoke Rihannsu . "We're going to live among friends, but understand, if you are ever threatened - Isha used that term, rather than if you are afraid - come to me, or come to Mister Wallace, but speak Rihannsu. Other times speak Standard."
"Jarred?"
Jarred switched back to Rihannsu "The station is a marvelous place, but you still have to be safe, so if you need to speak to men and women in either gold or grey colored starfleet uniforms they know how to find me and your mom on the station." Jarred hoped he had gotten the pronunciation of the colors right.
Isha knew that Eviess would share this with Argellian, but also knew that if she told him tdirectly he message would be ignored.
"I think you're both old and paranoid," Eviess replied as she wriggled down from her mother's hip. She grabbed another pastry and exited.
"I don't believe I knew the term 'paranoid' when I was four years old," Isha said with a shrug.
"We live in interesting times." Jarred said quoting an ancient Chinese curse.
"That we do," Isha replied, "But we seem to be on the same side."
"I think we are." Jarred seemed more accepting of the idea as he said those words.
End (to be continued)
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
| Title | Little Ship of Misfits Pt 4: Compromise | |
| Mission | Intermission | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Commander Karen Villiers | |
| Posted | Sun Oct 13, 2013 @ 9:01pm | |
| Location | Torbin Colony, Auxilary base, VIP building; common room | |
| Timeline | *36 hours later* 0700 (sd 72) |
Jarred had returned from a morning run, he was sitting on a chair, the bio-mechanical parts and intricate web of circuitry visible in his left knee, his right arm had a similar web, which extended to just below the neck, a product of the mountains of recovered Borg technology. To the casual observer it looked like Jarred had some kind knee brace, but up close it was clear that this was a heavy duty knee repair. He had tossed his towel on the back of his chair, and sat down to drink a coffee and have breakfast, a Marine NCO stood next to the cart that had been rolled in minutes earlier, Jarred smiled as he felt a young mind enter the room, "I think there is some sweet rolls of some kind on the cart, plus there is some kind of juice here."
"Argellian doesn't like you." The statement, precise and totally ignoring the food available was accompanied by a slight smile. "My mother says that you can read minds so we should be careful what we think around you. Are you Tal'Shiar?"
Eviess spoke in Rihannsu, her precocious command of language every bit as blatent as her approach. A challenging stance that could dissapate in an instant as soon as her four year old attention was caught by something more interesting than a grown up.
"Hardly, I spend my time chasing them down." Jarred replied in his best attempt at Rihannsu. "I have twins that are about your age, they might enjoy playing with you sometime."
"Are they girls?" she asked. The only other person her own age Eviess ever had regular contact with was her brother. Conversation about history and the Empire and just about everything else bored him almost as much as his constant pestering to run and play at war bored her.
"One girl, one boy actually, they are living with their mom on the Corsica colony at the moment." Jarred shifted the micro-circuitry in his leg glowed a little as he shifted "That happens when I'm in pain from the implants in my leg."
"What did you do to it?" Eviess asked as she reached for a pastry. "Argellian fell out of a tree and broke his arm. Were you climbing?" she continued as she took a small bite.
"Some men shattered the bone beyond repair so it was replaced with this collection of servos and circuitry, the same was done with my elbow, my eye is a synthetic replacement" he gestured to the web of scars the ringed the greyish blue eye.
"Why?" By any standards Eviess' upbringing was idyllic - a peaceful house, a rambling garden, tutors with the patience to answer the most probing infuriating question and a mother determined that her children should inherit a world.
By Rihannsu standards her live was paradise. There was no dark prospect of D'Sora as she approached her fifth birthday, though she would be under no threat of failure. There was no rigid adherance to the traditions of the ancient Great Houses. Hers was a lesser house. One named after the father she had been missing since before she was born.
"Did you know my father?" she asked reaching with her free hand towards the exposed knee.
"No, I know of him, but I've never met him." Jarred looked down at the child, "but I think I want to be a better father to my own right now."
"Eviess, you should have your breakfast and stop bothering Mister Wallace."
Isha had arrived on silent feet, and she really had no idea what her precocious daughter would choose to share with the agent.
"Its quite alright Isha, I think she was a bit frightened by all the neural circuitry." Jarred said as he stood "The last of the repairs of the ship are done we can leave in a few hours."
More likely she wanted to prod it to see what happened, Isha thought, one she kept to herself.
"It will be a shock," she said, "more for the good crew of Deep Space Five than myself. I wonder how some of them will take it."
"Well from what I was told the funeral was a real tear jerker, so there will be some anger too," Jarred decided to explain the reason behind his faked death "There are agents for the pirates still on the station, with me dead the groups can get back to smuggling and occasional raids, that supply what ever it is they are really up to. I was on to their leadership when things went bad, and I was caught so when the marines found me they were told I was to be reported as dead and then put into stasis and taken to earth to be hidden until I could recover from all of my injuries."
It wasn't quite what she had meant, but it was very revealing - a few knots that brought threads together.
"A challenging situation to return to," Isha agreed. "Is there anyone there who will take the deception to heart?" she asked.
"I know Claire will, someone told me that the XO was really shocked at the loss, but I think my return will shake up a large number of people, but considering that you seem to be more accepting than most makes me think that given enough time people will get over it."
"Well, we'll both have something to deal with. I don't want you to think of me as an enemy, Jarred, even when our objectives appear to conflict. I think we've more to gain through co-operation, don't you," Isha said.
"I think we already have started." Jarred said with some irony.
"I agree, but once we're there it is probable that others won't see it the same way. Eviess!" At that Isha scooped the girl into her arms quelling her exuberance with a stare.
Her own memories were very clear from that age and she was not about to dismiss the experiences of her daughter.
She rested Eviess on her hip, and spoke Rihannsu . "We're going to live among friends, but understand, if you are ever threatened - Isha used that term, rather than if you are afraid - come to me, or come to Mister Wallace, but speak Rihannsu. Other times speak Standard."
"Jarred?"
Jarred switched back to Rihannsu "The station is a marvelous place, but you still have to be safe, so if you need to speak to men and women in either gold or grey colored starfleet uniforms they know how to find me and your mom on the station." Jarred hoped he had gotten the pronunciation of the colors right.
Isha knew that Eviess would share this with Argellian, but also knew that if she told him tdirectly he message would be ignored.
"I think you're both old and paranoid," Eviess replied as she wriggled down from her mother's hip. She grabbed another pastry and exited.
"I don't believe I knew the term 'paranoid' when I was four years old," Isha said with a shrug.
"We live in interesting times." Jarred said quoting an ancient Chinese curse.
"That we do," Isha replied, "But we seem to be on the same side."
"I think we are." Jarred seemed more accepting of the idea as he said those words.
End (to be continued)