Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brigette Marshall (Chief Engineer (CE)) in Side Sim - Baiting The Bear, or, What Do We Have To Lose? (CE)

Posted by Lieutenant Solomon Kane (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim - Baiting The Bear, or, What Do We Have To Lose? (CE)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brigette Marshall (Chief Engineer (CE)) in Side Sim - Baiting The Bear, or, What Do We Have To Lose? (CE)
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

The gym was empty, just the way he liked it. The CMO locked the door and set the lights to his preferred setting: mostly yellow hue, like old fluorescent lights. Dropping the bag he carried onto the floor, he took a position on a mat and began to stretch.
He was dressed in loose fitting clothes, somewhat threadbare, with sweat stains and small holes here and there. It was clean and didn’t smell, thankfully, but it was obviously well used. He began with basic stretches, and then moved into yoga.

Kane, CMO

For three days Bridie had been considering what she had learned from Taggart. And she had been following the Doc, so to speak. At least, she had been following his work out pattern. It was similar to hers. Late nights, quiet times, little to no people around and easier to commandeer the single gymnasium on deck 6. Tonight he was later than usual. It was the perfect chance.

Grabbing up her towel, and water bottle, she stepped into the hall and made her way down to the gym. Her soft shoes made no noise on the deck as she moved swiftly. Her sweat pants hugged her body but gave a bit more breathing room than slim fitting leggings and her top was a full shirt instead of her usual crop top. She wasn’t out to seduce him, merely get him to talk and not kill her.

When she got to the gym she smiled. He had locked the door. Lifting the wall plate off from beside the entrance panel, she reached in and switched a couple wires. She then replaced the wall piece and palmed the door. It slid open and she stepped in and keyed in her password to override the lock once more so no one else could get in. Without a word, she moved to the far corner from him, set her bottle down and quietly began to stretch.

Lt JG Brigette Marshall
Chief Engineer

When the door opened, Kane looked up. Seeing the auburn hair, blue eyed Engineer, his perpetual scowl deepened. “The door was locked for a reason.” and he left out of the pose he was in, and made to leave the mat and grab his bag to leave.

Kane, CMO

“I know,” she said non chalantly. If you check, I usually lock it about this time.” She looked up at him over her shoulder as she stretched to the side to touch her toes. “Am I so offensive you can’t even bother to be in my presence?” Her face was blank and then she looked back down to rest her forehead down and stretch more. “I’m not offended with you here.”

“And for the record, I locked it, again. It’s overridden from outside and password locked. Shall I unlock it so you can leave?” She hadn’t looked back up as she sat up then stretched the other way over her left leg.

Bridie

Kane looked at her and said “Yes. You are. You’re nosy and you have a big mouth.” and he went to the door controls and tapped a few commands. The door slid open. Turning, he said “Medical override trumps your password. Now you can go. I was here first.”

Kane, CMO

“Well if those are your only reasons, stop talking and I’ll keep my big mouth shut.” She pulled both of her legs together and reached down to grab her feet, tucking her head down to stretch her spine. “Unless you are afraid I’m here to steal your workout routine…”

Bridie

Kane glared at her and then took a deep breath. “What the hell do you want? You obviously want something. So… spill it. And then get out.”

Kane, CMO

She pulled her heels close and looked up at him. “Why do I have to want something? I’m starting to think you want a fight.” She looked up at him and cocked her head. “Did it ever occur to you I just want to work out and seeing you here, I’d rather have your company than someone else’s?” She wrapped her arms around her knees a moment. After looking at him a long second she asked, “Why do you hate me?”

Bridie

Kane looked at her for a long moment, predatory blue eyes stalking her through the unkempt hair falling over his face. He watched her for a long few moments, then smacked the controls to door, locking it again. He then turned and keyed in a code. Secondary locks clicked into place… the engineer would know those were used for medical isolation. Turning back, she could see his jaw muscles working as he ground his teeth.

“You looked into my file, my personal life, for no reason. You spit details of that life into the Sickbay with no regard for my privacy. And you asked inane questions about something I told you I had no desire to discuss, and pestered me and pushed me to help you when I said no.” His voice was a low growl, and his hands were curled into fists… but he didnt move towards her. He stood, back to the door, just glaring.

“I dont ‘hate’ you. I dont even know you. But from your first impression? You are just like the rest… walking around… with blinders on.” and he scoffed. “You cant see past yourself, what is important to you, right now. Oh, you talk a big game, I’m sure.. ‘Team work and crew and loyalty and we are a family… blah blah blah’. But you dont mean it. You have no idea what it means… or even how to earn it.”

Kane, CMO

She watched him, careful not to move. “I looked into your open file that any Department Head has access to. It’s not irresponsible. It’s the opposite. Why would I bring you people you couldn’t treat? I’ve served in places where someone in charge of medical couldn’t tell a plasma burn from a phaser stun on a good day. And you being a firefighter isn’t a big secret. I actually knew before I read your file. Things like awards, commendations and work histories precede us when we move ships. Someone ‘always’ looks… and makes sure everyone knows.”

She looked at him and shook her head. “And I am guessing, from your reaction to me, you never read my file. Cause if you had, you would know my last station was on Mars. Station 26.” She let it sink in a moment before beginning. “I was part of a small team, about ten of us, who were responsible for retrofitting one of the first Mars colony locations.” She couldn’t do it anymore, she looked away first. Suddenly the tips of her toes were vastly fascinating. “After a year, there were six of us. The old systems, they weren’t meant to carry the technology they wanted to install and link up. It would have been safer to just rebuild the places.” She looked up at him.

“Maybe we weren’t as close as a fire team, but we were close. I held bodies as they died, and I ran from the screams to save myself and the person I was carrying.” Her voice started to shake on the edge of anger as she barely managed to keep the growl out. “So you will forgive me if I tote safety, and family and loyalty, and it saves a life cause someone sees the man beside him as his brother instead of some stranger in a uniform he has to work with, then go ahead and poke me, punch me or whatever else you want to lash out and do. But don’t you dare tell me I don’t know what the real universe is like.” She managed to spit out the last before she started yelling completely. “And if I ask for your help for some dumb ass science project, did it EVER occur to you it was because I may respect your opinion and think YOU were the best one to help?”

She shoved her legs out straight and grabbed her feet once more, her head bowing down to keep her face from him. Her shoulders were shaking. She knew he had seen worse, but she was no softy from the Academy. “Work out or don’t… I don’t care…” Her voice was steady. Thankfully, at least to her, she didn’t sound defeated. And, thankfully, the edge of her growl was gone from her words.

Bridie
CE

Kane’s growl was still there as he spoke. “No, that didn’t occur to me because it makes no sense. You dont even know me. You had met me, what? Once? When I did a five minute physical on you? And sorry for not holding up a sign praising you for the ‘trauma’ of losing four people in a year. ” and he shook his head and an almost laugh came from him. He looked up, past her, as if he was seeing something else. “Right.... four in a year. Woman, I saw ten times that die in single shift. And you lost yours ‘cause tech was incompatible?!” and this time he took a step closer to her, but not aggressively. “Try losing a full daycare of kids because the landlord found someone who would pay ten extra credits a month in rent so he just..” and he made a twisting motion with his finger, “… turned on the gas. So no, you don’t know what the real universe is like.” and he close the distance between them so he was less than a foot away, looking down at her. This close, his bare arms showed the tattoos, but also something else not many had seen on the Chernov… scars. More than a few. His voice dropped to a low rumble, his eyes locked on her.

“I dont care that you dont know how bad people can be, girl. It may surprise you, but that actually makes me happy. Because if I can go one day… just one day… being the worst thing that somebody has happen to them? Well, they get a day of blissful ignorance then, dont they?” and he move back to his mat, his back to her, and putting his legs and feet together bent at the waist all the way forward until his chest and face pressed flush against his legs; and he then wrapped his arms around his legs and squeezed.

Kane, CMO

She met his eyes as he stalked towards her. And the word was appropriate because the man didn’t walk. It was a purposeful movement meant to pounce at the end of. She managed to keep eye contact this time till he broke it.

When he went to stretch, she murmured. “You’re right. Blissful ignorance. Got it.” It bordered on snide, but that was fear creeping in once more. Cause he did scare her. Deep down inside, he scared her to her very core. But she was ignorant… so she poked the bear again.

She stood up and spread her feet till they were move than comfortably apart. She then lunged to the right, her left leg stretching out beside her, her foot still flat on the ground so her ankle was nearly at a 90 degree angle. “But in five minutes of a dumb check in exam, I knew you had skills that would help. And despite having seen horrors even the Captain’s movies can’t touch, you still care. You still save. You still heal. So why wouldn’t I ask someone with your skill to assist in helping me make something others could benefit from physically?” She used her hands and half crawled to her left till her right leg was stretched out. Her head was down letting her neck stretch out. She had seen his scars. She had a few of her own, but they weren’t anything compared to him and knew better than to even try.

Bridie

He inhaled and exhaled deeply. Then he released his legs and put his palms flat on the floor. Slowly he walked them away, until his body was at an almost forty degree angle. Slowly, he raised one foot off the ground and then reached back with the opposite hand and grasped it, pulling it up to the middle of his back. And then arching his back. It looked painful, but somehow he held the same acerbic expression as normal.

“Maybe because the first time you asked I said no and you should have dropped it there.” he replied, his voice softer… but probably because it was hard for him to breathe holding that pose.

Kane, CMO