Posted by Lieutenant Miranda Martel (Chief Engineer) in Deck 5- Hiding Out

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Deck 5- Hiding Out

(snip)

Miranda reached out at the same time to do the same, paused only a moment then went through with it. She didn’t know Shara all that well, but .. she’d been trhough a lot. They all had.

Shara baely paused, even as she was acutely aware of the touch. Instead she focused on her next words, on getting the story out.

“I figure I will do what I can to get dem out, but I had to be careful, because I couldn’t compromise my cover. Dat would get us both killed. Calloway shifted her attention to Miranda. “You have ta understand that when Bethy here comments that people like me don’t normally live as long as I have, she ain’t exaggeratin’. I’d dat good. But nothing, no training, no ‘sperience, could prepare me for the moment they bring me in to look over de prisoner and get baseline readin’s and I am gazin’ down into the eyes of my own daughter, Faye.”

Shara tipped her head up, forcing herself to breath for a moment before she continued. “Nine months,” she whispered. “Dat’s how long it took me to get her out of dere. And meanwhile they were doin’ dese esperiments. Dey implanted a device in ‘er brainstem dat would cause pain if she became emotional. If she was calm, all good. If she feld anger, or fear, or hell, even amusement, bam! Her body would feel like it was on fire. And dey made me dose her with all kinds of drugs, testing responses and thresholds. Sometimes when we took ‘er back to her cell, I could give her a mild sedative to give ‘er a break, buuhh… she wasted away in front of me day by day until one of my attempts to get help worked. Long story short, I got ‘er to a shuttle, gave ‘er something to sharpen ‘er senses a bit and she got the hell out of dere. Buuhh she didn’t know it was me. All she knew at the time was that Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant and den I disappeared. We only juss got reunited and I had to tell her in the middle of a crisis that I had been dere, that I knew what she had gone through and now I have PTSD,” Shara said, her voice cracking. And before she knew it tears were slipping down her face. “I’m not supposed to be doing dis! Psyc wouldn’t clear me for field work. But I can’t walk away. Dey say it’s a choice, but it’s not, because if I don’t stay people will die and I won’t be responsible for dat! And I don’t know what to do. All I know is when de counsellor started crackin’ jokes I snapped and all I wanted was te punch ‘im in the face. Would ‘ave at least been in character I suppose.”

~Shara, Drunk CIO

Bethany slipped to her side putting an arm around her. It was a horrible story, but not the first she’d heard. But not one ever quite like it either. She held onto the woman. She couldn’t imagine what would make her come back, not after that. But telling her they were all responsible for themselves, she didn’t hold the power to stay death, wouldn’t help. Instead she let her cry for a bit.

Miranda was on the other side, surrounding Shara without trapping or restricting, but simply being there, supporting. Shew asn’t alone. Even though the woman was decades her senior. It was a hell, even with what Miranda had gone through, she could barely fathom.

After the silence, Bethany began to laugh. “Well someone else is likely to beat you to it. That Pikelsimer fella, man he almost decked Paddy in the conference room. Ya missed it. Blue had ta hold him back. Don’t know why he got all riled up. But after you left, Pikelsimer told Paddy to go wait for em in his office. I wanna be a fly on da wall ta see how long it takes ‘fore that metal arms punches Paddy through a bulkhead.”

Slightly raised eyebrows followed Shara’s snort. “Great,” she said flatly.

She tipped her head in thought, “I’ll wager five bags of fresh coffee beans it’s less than 20 minutes. I think Pikelsimer is the kind to toy with his food.”

Gadi, CoS

A slightly off and perhaps even goofy grin hit Shara’s face. “Yeah he is,” she said, before laughing. “Oh Gods, dis whole ting is ‘errible, in so many ways. But I’m commidded and I’ll see it d’rough. I’ve run away enough in m’ life, I’ll not do so now. Y’all are stuck wi’ me, so tough cookies.”

~Shara Calloway, Drunk CIO

“I don’t think anyone could accuse you of runnin’ or being a coward,” Miranda said quietly. “Or me, I suppose.” For the time being she simply stayed where she was, then took another drink of the shine. She’d probably regret it later. But at the moment she was at least buzzed, and her body was flushed with heat. Walking back to her quarters would be fun. Though it might involve crawling more than walking. She made a mental note (which she would probably forget) to check on Dacascos and make sure she didn’t roll onto her back, throw up in her sleep and aspirate.

Worries for another time.

Miranda

“Well you’re stuck with us too, so get used to it.” Bethany tipped her head back and looked at the ceiling and then rolled her neck to the side staring out at the stars. Letting her mind wander for a moment. She’d run, right up into the mountains acting like some crazy animal child raised by wolves or bears or something of the like. Then she’d run to the Academy to get as far away from Earth an her father as she could. “We all could be accused of running at some point. But walking away from a situation that wasn’t going to get us anywhere isn’t running, it’s smart. She picked up the jar and took another long swallow. She was so going to pay for this in the morning. “Ohhh…cookies! Cookies sound amazing right now. Who thinks they can make it to the mess and back?”

Bethany