Little One In A Big Wide World

Posted on Mon Nov 2nd, 2020 @ 4:01pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: Crew Bar
Timeline: Pre Mission
1193 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Being a stellar cartographer and sometimes pilot on a ship that was non-federation had all the excitement and then other times it bored her to tears as she sat in the crew bar after everyone had gone to bed. Her only companion in the small compartment was Krynn the captain’s enforcer/bodyguard/muscle, it was not unusual but normally the Captain was there as well. Indigo mused about him a bit longer as she always did their telepathic abilities, pointed ears and their forehead patterns, were all in agreement with a genetic relation to the Romulans/Vulcans but no one ever owned up to it.

“Do not often see you without your body to guard.” She teased finally across the small area as she took a long drink from her bottle.

"Hmph." Krynn knocked back a small tankard of blue-coloured ale. "Romulan women sleep lightly. Few people on this ship would be foolish enough to try something." After all, they weren't in the Galae any more. The Thrai was a ship of convenience for most of them. They'd all lost something, even the muscular Reman. "Sometimes I wonder if she's the one doing the guarding."

Indigo grinned and rose from her seat moving to one across from him taking him replying to her that he wanted some company as much as she wanted. "If they were foolish enough they are in the wrong place." She assured knowing that if anyone went for her Captain they would have at the very least her to deal with. "So what could you need guarding against then dear Krynn?"

"More things than you would imagine, little one," he snorted, refilling the old metal cup from the bottle. "We Remans have a reputation as mighty warriors. Does not mean we have fears, just that we hide it better than most."

"You call me little one but you are fully aware I am not that innocent or anything," Indigo said holding out her cup to him daring him to not share. She got away with a lot due to her youngness but she knew they were all aware that looks could be massively deceiving in her way. "Everyone is scared of something. Just depends on whether you stand up when it scares you or hide."

"I've done enough hiding for one lifetime," he replied, recalling the time he'd spent as an adolescent crawling around the dark mines of Remus. "Fear is not a state of being. It is an emotion; one that can be faced and controlled. So tell me, little Indigo, what are you scared of?"

Well at least that had similar views on fear. With him not pouring her the drink Indigo just poured her own. “Mister telepathic you can’t tell me?” She wondered innocently.

"We don't do that here," he growled, as though the notion was offensive. Indeed, he actually found listening to others' thoughts nausea-inducing. Non-Remans were so...repulsive. "Kaylin trusts you to work on her crew, so that is good enough for me. But don't assume I would invade your mind like some common Tal Shiar interrogator."

Indigo just giggled and ducked her head avoiding his gaze. She knew that after so long together. It was just amusing to get him disgruntled more than normal. “I know.” She finally said with a wink. “You are not like the other telepaths.” It was true and why she sat there just talking with him.

The others hadn't spent their childhood in a Reman mine, Krynn surmised silently. He continued to tolerate her bright positivity; it contrasted sharply with the plain reticence he felt to simply talk to another person. The big Reman was content alone, drinking. "Then you are fortunate," he simply remarked.

"I am," Indigo assured quietly having hoped to cheer him up but it looked like she had made the situation worse. Despite her tough life, she was luckier than a lot of people, a lot of people on the ship had, had it a lot worse. She knew that a lot of the telepaths on board who did not keep to his rules or even there own rules but Indigo knew how to deal with them.

Taking a slow breath, Krynn glanced at the young woman. "So? Isn't this the point where you give me your long and tragic backstory?" he asked.

Indigo raised an eyebrow at him surprised by his question for a moment before she looked around. "Who says I have a long and tragic backstory?" She wondered. "Is that a precursor to joining the ship? Can I not just like kicking peoples ass and driving ships that are unique?"

"People don't just join the Rangers." Krynn lowered his drink. "Between the Tal Shiar, the new Romulan Free State, the local warlords and the Federation...people don't just decide to live this life for no reason. There's no glory to be had, nor is there any wealth to be made." He looked at her through pale, almost sad eyes.

Indigo just stared back. She knew that but it did not mean that some people were not just good or wanted to do the right ring. "Some people do not need any of those things." She had grown up where all of that was how you measured yourself and the people around her even in the lowest of society. "Some people do genuinely want to do good in the world no matter what people think of them."

Krynn snorted a little, amused at the notion. "Young and idealistic," he smirked, rising from his stool. "Maybe you should have joined Starfleet after all, little one."

“No sponsor and no one wants a kid from the ghettos there.” She laughed a little with a shrugged. She did not need to mention that her arrest record was not exactly clear enough for them either. “So how come you stick around then Krynn? What makes you want to do this life?”

Standing tall now, and towering over her, Krynn barely skipped a beat in his response. "If you had seen Remus before it was destroyed, then you would understand why I remain." Silently, in his mind's eye, he recalled Kaylin, then a young Romulan subcommander, pulling him out of the pit of hell he'd been left to die in. A new purpose had been born in him that day; but not one he would ever discuss openly. He slid the last of the bottle of ale across the table so that it rested in front of her. "Good night, little one."

Indigo looked up at him as he towered over her and just smiled sweetly. She knew he did not mean to intimidate her and she was not taking it as that but any lesser woman who did not know him would have been terrified. ”Goodnight old one.” She called after him. It was not until she watched him leave that she realised he had left her his booze. How very thoughtful of him, she mused. She could leave it but she was not that type of person. Waste not, want not was the Earth phrase that sprang to mind.