Posted by Captain Willow Taylor (Commanding Officer) in Lounge - Side Sim

Posted by Civilian Melaia Reez (Scientist) in Lounge - Side Sim

(snip)

Melaia nodded slowly, absorbing the rather huge tidbits of information that Taylor had just dropped. “Cai will understand at some point, if he chooses to. But there comes a time when you just have to make the best decision under the circumstances. Following your instincts is not a bad thing, Willow. Trust me. It’s saved my ass more times than I care to count, and that includes letting a holographic character fire a phaser rifle at me at point blank range with the holodeck safeties off. I shouldn’t even be alive! Over and over again I wake up in Sickbays wondering how The Four Deities managed to let me live. But I’m here and so are you and Cai. And you’re not alone. Jon and I aren’t going anywhere and we can stumble through together. So, one day at a time, okay?”

~Melaia Reez

Willow smiled again. “I’m really sorry. I don’t normally just…offload like that. You are ridiculously easy to talk to you know.” With a tilt of her head she blinked. “Hold on, back up, holographic character…what?”

Willow Taylor

She couldn’t help but be greatly amused at Taylor’s reaction. “Well, first off, we Betazoids have a natural ability to make small talk that turns deeper. Never met one yet that couldn’t if they wished to. And as for the other, well…” It wasn’t a particularly funny story but at the same time, when you considered the story that she had just told Willo about losing her first ship, this next one was even more astonishing.

“So, after the Apollo was destroyed, there was the standard inquiry. I was cleared of any wrong doing and then commended for my actions. And then they gave me the Apollo’a replacement ship, the Endeavour. So, first assignment after we get on board is to do a quick test run. We go to leave spacedock and soon after we do, we realize something is wrong. By then it was too late though, the ship had been highjacked! So myself and my skeleton crew are now fighting for our lives and trying to take back the ship. Eventually Jonathan and I found our way to the holodeck where a simulation was running. Long story short, we needed to shut down the holographic warp core before it exploded, because there was a sabotaged set of programs that had tied it to our actual warp core. If the holographic core exploded, so would the ship. But… this program had the misfortune of being a Dominion War training program, complete with officers on the lookout for Changelings. We ran into an armed officer in Engineering who was convinced I was a Changling. I managed into prepare the core shut down, but the guy shot me and when he realized that I clearly was not a Changeling, he finished the core shut down. The program then ended and Jon had to get me to Sickbay before my cardiovascular system shut down. At least the cadets on board at the time got some emergency medical training,” she deadpanned.

Leaning in, Mel’s dark eyes held amusement. “Face it Taylor, you got it easy,” she teased.Even though she knew quite the opposite, she hoped to remind Willow she wasn’t alone in this, ever.

~Melaia Reez