Posted by Lieutenant Kalika Darz (Chief of Security) in The first night

Posted by Ensign Tath’ihl Sharvi (Security Officer) in The first night

Posted by Lieutenant Kalika Darz (Chief of Security) in The first night
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

Kalika sighed mentally. She had those feelings, too. But she hadn’t expected the newcomer to voice them as well. Thankfully, the room he indicated drew her attention and saved her from needing to respond. Frowning, she nodded. “Yeah… it’s supposed to be empty. The lights aren’t the only thing erratic. Sometimes the atmospheric controls go out deeper down the hall. There is a barrier set up at that perimeter though.”

She moved forward and was about to palm open the door when she looked back at Sharvi, “Ready?” she mouthed to him.

“Ready” he said, as they raised their phasers up, she opened the door. They entered the room, and there was a ghostly appearing male in the room with his back to them. He pointed to her, and then disappeared. “Ok, you know what, no disrespect, but before we continue, you and I need to talk.” He said to her.

Kalika froze as the image pointed then faded. Her phaser was down and she blinked a couple times as she tried to brush it from her mind. “No…” Came the barely audible whisper from her lips.

It took her a minute to register that Tath had spoken. “What? Yes. Ok. Talk about what?” Despite looking at him now, her eyes kept flickering to where the ghostly image had been. It couldn’t be ‘him’ because he was dead on a planet in another portion of the quadrant. Obviously the ship was just playing with her again.

Kalika looked back at Tath, but this time there was a hint of fear and uncertainty there.

“I will be honest with you, I don’t know what is going on with this ship. Last night a weird thing happened and I’m pretty sure I seen him last night. Do you know who he is,what he wants with us?” The Ensign didn’t know how to fully ask what he wanted to know, wasn’t sure if he should reveal all of what happened last night.

Kalika shook her head. “He looked like that?” She pointed to where the ghost had been. Her first instinct was to tell him everything. After all, he just said he had seen the ghost as well. But then her protective shell kicked in. “It’s nothing. My old Department Head. He’s dead. Died on an away mission.” She started back for the door, trying to go around him as she made two failed attempts to holster her phaser before succeeding. Her words were clipped, sharp, she didn’t want to get into this with him. Everyone she got close to got killed. She had to focus on protecting them. That was all that mattered.

“Ok, then we should move on. Looks like we have a long night of checks ahead of us.” He said as they turned the light off in the room and closed the door, making sure it was locked.

Kalika sighed. “I’m sorry, Tath. You deserve more. Let’s finish our rounds and I will tell you. For some reason, this ship has tied us together. You deserve to know why.” She looked at him and tried to smile. “Is that all right?” She wasn’t sure if he would agree to wait, wouldn’t have blamed him if he stood his ground this moment. This was the most honest, most vulnerable he had seen her. It was for just a second, just a moment, but he’d see it if he had been looking.

“That’ll be fine, Ma’am.” He said nodding his head. He saw how shaken she was by all of this, and wished he could hug her, but he thought better of it, considering she was his superior officer. They started walking down the hallway again.

“And Tath… call me Kalika, unless we are on official channels or others are around in official capacity.” She tried to smile as the moved on to the next room.

**
A couple hours later, they had finished the sweep. Flickering lights where there was no power anywhere else, a sound system that activated music when they entered then suddenly stopped, and a couple more shadow chases that ended in empty areas were all that they ran into.

As she called a stop to the rounds, she looked at him. “Let’s head back to the office. I’ll try and answer your questions.” She turned and moved towards the corridor. Once there, she sealed the room’s door and then lead the way back. They reset the barrier to the off limits area and took the lift down to the brig. She didn’t say anything on the trip back.

Once there, she set her phaser on her desk and turned to a small cabinet behind the desk. “Come on in and have a seat.” She pulled out a bottle of Andorian Ale and smiled as she produced two glasses from the same cabinet. As she closed it, if he looked, he would see three other bottle in there. One was easily identifiable as a special Klingon drink, but the other two bottles weren’t so easily made. “It’s funny. When this arrived in a cargo container, I thought it was kind of odd. Perhaps it’s a sign.” She poured them each a half glass and sat down behind her desk as she waited to see if he would take the seat opposite and take the offered drink.

Kalika
CoS

He sat down and took the drink. “That was an adventurous first night.” He said. “Ma’am, observing you, and that whole ordeal yesterday with reading your service record, I think you are being too hard on yourself.” He said after a few moments of silence.
Ensign Sharvi
Security

Kalika had expected may questions, but that statement completely blindsided her. “My service record! How did you get a hold of my serv…” she shook her head and closed her eyes as she realized she had stood up in her moment of rage. “The computer… you read the report, didn’t you. About the Away Mission gone wrong?”

She couldn’t sit back down. Her drink ignored, the bottle and glasses on the table between them, she turned to pace the small space behind her desk. “I… it’s not the whole story, Tath…” she shook her head and finally looked back at him. “He was my lover, and he had asked me to be his mate. He was full Klingon but didn’t care that I was half Orion. I was strong, he said, more than enough for his desires and definitely enough for his mind.” She was suddenly blurting out the whole story. “The Away Mission was to an unexplored asteroid with planetary ecosystem. An anomaly to be sure. He wanted me to stay behind because I could pick a bug off a plant in someone’s hands with the transporter and never move the leaf. I kept insisting I should go. He was my supervisor, I was his Second. It should have been me protecting his back. Something happened. Out of the eight that went down, only one came up. It wasn’t him.” She shook her head and clenched her fists. “The Ensign barely survived. And only because Tar’no forced his comm to beam him up before he died. I had to leave, transfer. The memories, and guilt were too much. I thought the Viking, the furthest post from Earth I could get, would be a place to heal. But the ship had other ideas. I see him, his ghost, wandering my quarters, the halls, every room I am alone in. He says if I had been strong I would have forced my way onto his team. Since I bowed, I was weak. His death was my fault. I wasn’t fit to save, or even serve, anyone. That the only reason folks follow me is because I use my Orion persuasion. Otherwise, everyone would lock me up for my inability to do my job. He says I should take my own life.” She hadn’t meant to admit the last, it was just rolling out of her so quickly.

“Now he wants you to know, I imagine. That I’m not fit… that people under me die… That’s why you see what you do.” She slumped back against the locker behind her, she couldn’t run this time. The room was too small and Tath was in a chair almost completely blocking her way. She looked at him and waited for his departure. She expected he’d probably tell the Capt about her crazy, insane outburst. She was expecting a lot. Kalika half held her breath as she waited for it to happen.

Kalika
CoS

“It sounds like he kept you from that away mission for your safety, not because you are weak. I don’t think you are weak. I think you being too hard on yourself and this ship has a way to haunt you that, I’ve noticed.” He said, he had drank everything in his cup. He picked her back up and hugged her. “You are not weak, Kalika.” He told her. He never realized he didn’t call her by rank. Sha fought against the hug, but he held tight.
Ensign Sharvi
Security

When he grabbed her into a hug, she hadn’t been prepared. She tried to struggle, aware in the back of her mind that it wasn’t an enemy and was careful not to hurt him. But his strength won out against her will and she finally stopped fighting. Her hands were stuck between him and her, palms on his chest when she finally became still. “Tath…” the word was simple, but held a sound of someone trying to make him understand he was wrong. Shaking her head, she tried to convince him. “If I had truly been strong enough, I would have set someone else on the transporters. I would have been at his side. I could have saved him.” It had occurred to her on more than one occasion that she also could have been killed. It had been an ambush from above and behind. They hadn’t stood a chance. But she couldn’t make herself believe that.

She bit her lip and tried desperately to rein in her emotions. The pheromones were beginning to leak from her pores. It wasn’t intentional and she took a couple deep breathes trying to keep it in check. Tath would get a slight sense of calm, of compassion, perhaps even desire. But it would feel ‘wrong’. It wasn’t strong enough to affect him to the point he would believe it was his own emotions, but just enough to make him feel it none the less.

Kalika
CoS
“All due respect, you would have tried and you would have failed. You would be dead with him. From my perspective, you are not weak, he made you stay because he loved you, and didn’t want anything to happen to you. I’m getting the vibe he knew something bad was going to happen and he didn’t want you there if it did. You did the best you could, its like you said only one barely survived and that’s because your fiance chose to make you to take the ensign instead of himself. Your Fiance trusted you, and died to protect you. He was a klingon, the council would say you fail and dishonor him by blaming yourself like this. There was nothing you could have done different that would have turned that situation around, Kalika. But there is still time to heal from the wounds you suffered from losing him.” He said all this wiping tears from her eyes. He eventually realized he was no longer using her rank, but he felt this conversation went past starfleet regulations hours ago, and if she was going to punish him, he will take it. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to find a way to let her know it would all be alright, if she would let go of her guilt.
Ensign Sharvi
Security

Kalika listened to Tath, but it wasn’t till he mentioned the Klingon High Council that she finally, actually, heard him. “I could never dishonor him!” Her voice cracked but it was with indignation that anyone would think she’d do such a thing.

She felt him brush her tears and pressed against his chest. ,”Tath.. you shouldn’t… It’s the pheramones…” She was almost shaking with the apology. He’d hate her tomorrow. They always did.

Her thoughts went to the need to heal as he said. “The ship won’t let me. It won’t let me forget. It won’t let me heal. It isn’t going to let me go.” She knew it wasn’t rational, her sudden breakdown. She was stronger than this. She endured more, been thru more, survived more. But she’d also done it by keeping everyone at arm’s length. With Tath breaching that barrier, something had shattered. She bit her lip… “Some supervisor ‘I’ am…”

Kalika
CoS

“It is actually not the pheramones, I do sense them, but I’ve been trained as a warrior harder than normal klingons to shut out my emotions when I need to. That’s what helped me survive during the war. I also think if you truly were weak, the captain would have relieved you of your duties as chief of security, you are a fine supervisor, Kal. I will help you overcome this, together we can make the ship stop haunting you about this.” He said.
Ensign Sharvi
Security

Kalika looked at him and shook her head, “Why are you doing this? I may be a strong leader, in your eyes, but why help me? We’ve had other Klingons on ship and they always said anyone who let’s this ship control them deserves it. It means their minds are weak.”

She slid slowly from his grip and leaned back on the locker. “Some DH check in you’re getting, huh?” His comment about overcoming the computer made her eyes widen. “Don’t fight the computer, Tath! Please! People disappear too easily. Just ignore it, if you can. But don’t fight it.” There was serious fear on her face as she set her hand on his chest for emphasis.”

Kalika
CE

He put his hand over hers. “Kal, you worry too much.” He told her, noting the fear in her eyes. “We will be fine. Trust in yourself, and trust in me. I know you assigned me to work beside you so that you could keep an eye on me from seeking honor for my house, but because of the ship, this has grown into more than that. I have accepted that. The ship will lose it’s power over you if you stop giving in to the guilt, stop blaming yourself for what happened and the computer has to give up. If you move on, the computer will have to find something else to torture you about, and it probably will. I think you have been punished enough for what happened and you should be free of it, and I want to help you.” He placed his hand on her cheek and guided her to face to let her look into his eyes, “Kal, I said I would have your back while on duty, I want to protect you even when we are off duty.”
Ensign Sharvi
Security

As he spoke of her ignoring the computer as she’d told him to do, it struck her as something that hadn’t crossed her mind. Seeing ghosts and hearing the accusations was something she’d come to accept as something she’d deal with as long as she was here. “It’s not that simple,” she heard herself confessing. Oddly, as she said it, she remembered others on the ship saying just that to her in conversations shared in common areas. Everyone on the ship was being haunted in one way or another. Some worse than her, some without the intensity. But everyone in the Viking’s shell was being bombarded in one way, or another, by the sins and mistakes of their past.

But then his confession of wanting to take care of her off duty hit her ears. “Off duty, too? Sounds like a full time job. You need to see to your own sanity as well, Tath. This ship takes everything you have, and twists it. If you spend all your time seeing to ‘my’ well being, when will you take care of you? You deserve a life, even on this floating nightmare.”

It didn’t occur to her that he was interested in her. After all, no one except the Captain had even hinted at offering her comfort if she wanted it, much less anything else.

Kalika
CE

“That’s not what I mean, Kal.” He said, and he knew she would try to blame her pheramones, but he knew how he felt, he knew his emotions were in check. He still had his hand on her cheek, he leaned in and kissed her.
Ensign Sharvi
Security