It's Not That Complicated...

Posted on Fri Sep 29th, 2023 @ 8:55pm by Ensign Peter Novak & Lieutenant Shinobu Miyake

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 4: Through a Glass, Darkly

It was the end of Peter Novak's shift guarding their "guests" from this parallel universe in sickbay and was waiting around for the pass on meeting. Normally a simple matter but given the sensitivity of the situation they had to report directly to the chief.

The burly young man leaned again the bulkhead, waiting for Lt. Miyake to come get him. He could hear her screaming at someone over the comm, probably Osbourne... He smirked at that thought.

=Look, I don't care if you had to take a piss! You should've done that prior to the start of your shift! If those officers had escaped because you walked away for a few minutes, then the Captain's going to be having my head over it! Do I make myself clear?=

=Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!=

=Right, then; I'm holding Ensign Novak up to discipline you, so I'm going to cut you loose for now. But let me reiterate: until we know more about these guys, you are not to be letting them out of your sight unless there's another security officer present, no exceptions! Anything you need to get out of your system, either do so before your shift, or hold your peace!=

The transmission terminated shortly thereafter, leaving Novak blissfully alone to his thoughts....

For three minutes, at least.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Ensign," Shinobu sighed as she stepped into sickbay. "It would appear that Lieutenant Osborne left our guests unattended so he could use the restroom, which I know would've resulted in Captain Faust chewing me out for it, hence why I had to take a moment to discipline him..."

Ensign Novak nodded, "Understood," he said, "In his defense the two had been sedated for hours... No one was expecting them to wake up. And there were complaints from the nurses about us hanging out in the room while they worked."

"Well, they can complain all they want, but it's certainly not going to change the fact that these two are affiliated with an alternate Starfleet that is confirmed to have a history of barbarism," Shinobu remarked. "So until we can ascertain the threat they could pose to our ship by having them here, Captain Faust isn't taking any chances."

"Understood chief," Peter responded, "Fortunately Dr. Amato is alright and can hold his own. I just wonder why the sedation wore off... Even then it's clear these officers are incredibly dangerous even unarmed."

"Which is exactly" why we can't leave it up to chance," Shinobu responded. "Speaking of Amato... wouldn't happen to know if he's turned in for the night?"

"I'm not sure chief," Peter responded, "He's been pulling some odd hours ever since we lost the other two doctors... Just down to him and Dr. Kitchner again."

"Oh, for God's sakes," Shinobu sighed. "This is a Constitution, not a dinky little Daedalus; you'd think we'd be able to get some medical staff around here, rather than just leaving Doctors Kitchner and Amato to pick up the slack..."

"Well we have many nurses, but not enough doctors again," Peter explained, "And command of course cut our complement of cadets ship wide since they all graduated... So everyone is scrambling."

"I swear, those cadets probably paid better attention than Osborne ever did..." Shinobu chuckled, before a thought suddenly came to mind. "Say, speaking of cadets... I heard that Larant was on the transfer list. Are you...?"

Her voice trailed off, as if she were hesitating to articulate the question.

"Done," Peter responded with a sigh, "Not my choice." He let his guard down slightly, which was difficult for him to do on duty.

The two of them just sat there in silence.

"I see," Shinobu finally spoke up. "Well, if it's any consolation, Ensign, I've probably been there at one point and time myself..."

"I was very much blind sighted but she left hints that once she was commissioned she was out of here," Peter continued before sitting down in one of the random chairs. Technically a no-no for his current assignment but he felt a weight pound down onto his chest. "She and I were clearly in it with different goals, but I thought just maybe she'd come around to my line of thinking," Peter responded, "I was in love, she was just in it for the good time..."

"Been there, seen that," Shinobu sighed. "I once had a... boyfriend who I found out was stooping an Orion girl; I confronted him about it, told him it was going to either be me or the Orion... and he chose the Orion. You can only imagine how much of a worthless afterthought I felt after a revelation like that..."

"That's worse... Definitely," Peter responded, "In this case she chose the uniform over me... Which I can understand... Although it's been killing me inside for weeks."

"You kidding?" Shinobu remarked, her tone switching to one of bitterness- not necessarily at Peter, but rather for him. "It's 2268; if she'd really wanted to, there's half a million ways she could've at least tried to make a long-distance relationship work, and instead she up and dropped you, just like that? It sounds to me that you were only worth her time when it was convenient to her."

"She and I have... Had similar issues, just manifested in different ways," Peter said frankly, "The colony she was born in and her family was wiped out... Me... Well same thing." He smirked, "With her it was live now since you could be dead tomorrow... That's the life of a Red Shirt..."

"Hey, we all know the risks when we put on this uniform," Shinobu was quick to point out. "You knew this, she knew this... I knew this," she paused for a second or two to gesticulate to her own uniform. "But if you're implying that she wasn't willing to make the commitment just because she was afraid of losing you, then she's looking in all the wrong places."

"I have no idea, never really broke through entirely," Peter said, staring at the bulkhead, "There were moments she let her guard down, but not often."

"Well, perhaps it just wasn't meant to be, then," Shinobu sighed. "A relationship, at least on principle, requires both parties to place their trust in one another. If she couldn't bring herself around to trust you, then shame on her."

"Ah well, I can't make her the scapegoat, it just didn't work out," Peter responded, "Just hurts, that's all and the wound still feels fresh."

"I get the feeling," Shinobu smiled. "When my... boyfriend left me for that woman, I thought my life was over; everything I'd been building up to was all but gone out the window. Of course, I was 17 going on 18, and once I got over my teenaged jealousy, I decided it wasn't worth moping over for the rest of my life. I started looking for new ways to lead a more productive life, and that led me..."

She motioned around herself. "Well, here."

The young man nodded, "Well it's the end of my shift and that's all I have to report on," he said, standing up, "If it's fine with you, I'm in the mood to get a shower and pass out."


Shinobu nodded. "By all means, don't let me hold you up, Ensign; and remember, if you need someone to talk to... I'm always available."

"Thanks, chief," Peter responded as he started to head towards the door, "Our guests should be no trouble, for now..."

 

RSS Feed