New Allies...

Posted on Tue Feb 2nd, 2021 @ 8:56pm by Chief Helmsman Dixoho Saa (Mirror) & Executive Officer Kyle Reece (Mirror)

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: ISS Fenrir, XO cabin
Timeline: 2396
3102 words - 6.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Kyle was lounging in his new cabin. While it was not as luxuriously appointed as the quarters he had back on Starbase 80, he felt that it would do. Micheal had already scanned for, found and destroyed a dozen different listening devices and boobytraps that had been hidden in the large cabin. Between the two of them, and the Klingon in Kyle’s runabout beaming their gear to them, the cabin was now completely isolated from any electronic eavesdropping systems.

While Kyle was relaxing in his bed chambers, Micheal stood, on guard, out in the corridor, making sure that no one disturbed his master.

Dixoho had been returning to her quarters when she spotted the man standing two doors down from her own and frowned. She approached, keeping her distance as she tried to think of the words to say to the man who she had thought dead after his betrayal had been discovered by the butcher and Kita. "You are alive?" She finally said taking him in for the first time properly.

Silent, Micheal turned his eyes to take in the beautiful helmsman. Instead of answering her, the doors that he was guarding slid open and Kyle’s baritone voice could be heard. “Please step inside, Miss Saa. We have something to discuss.”

"It's Lieutenant Saa, Sir." The woman countered, her hand instantly going to her dagger but she followed the man inside looking around the familiar quarters that had once belonged to her husband. There were subtle differences now like the bed was moved but everything else seemed to be like she had left it.

“Forgive me,” Kyle said with a grin as he stepped into the living room area of the cabin. “You have earned that rank and the right to be spoken to with it. I will not make that mistake again.” With his right hand, he gestured to the couch and chairs. “Please, have a seat.” He then waited, allowing her to choose where she wished to sit.

"Please do not misjudge me because I am Trill." She said. Imperial Starfleet had changed in the last twenty years to allow other species in to bridge the gaps and needs of the fleet but no matter the rank thy would always be second class citizen, fighting twice as hard. The woman looked around surveying her option for a second before she sat down on one of the couches crossing her legs looking at him. "A man who uses, please. How... quaint." She observed.

Kyle nodded again as he sat in the chair furthest from Saa, the coffee table between them. "You can trust me at my word that I will never misjudge you, Lieutenant. Most of my closest allies are non-human. As sad as it is, aside from a very select few, I find the majority of my species, well, revolting and backwards." He raised a finger. "Before you get too uncomfortable, I have already ensured that our discussion will never be heard by anyone outside this cabin." He noticed Micheal still standing and then grimaced. "Where are my manners?! My apologies, Lieutenant, may I call you by your given name?"

"Half the bugs never worked and it's not the bugs you should fear on this ship," Dixoho admitted with a smirk. She had never feared the bugs when there were more interrogators then any other ship she had ever been on before. "You can call me Dixoho of course." She said glancing at Michael.

Kyle nodded. “Yes,” he responded, a dark shadow briefly crossing his face. “That is something have wondered, over the years. The Butcher of Betazed having so many of its inhabitants aboard his vessel.” The statement hung in the air briefly, then he broke into an easy smile. “So, Dixoko, what would you care to drink?”

The Trill looked at the man and then looked at Michael. Has he not told him? Has he not told his new master? She let out a small pearl of laughter before she sobered up and shook her head. How could this man not know who the butcher's wife was? “Because his wife was Betazoid? Surely you knew that?” She said with another shake of her head as she realised he had not done his homework well enough to not know that little tidbit. “Honey whiskey.” She said simply by the way of what she wanted to drink.

Kyle kept a level gaze on Saa and was silent for several beats. Then a small grin creased his face. "Oh, I do, Dixoho. I know a great deal more than I have let on." The words were spoken.with a heaviness of truth and well-earned power. Reaching forward, he lifted the tall potted plant that was on the center of the table, revealing that it was, in fact, hollow. Inside was an old bottle of Betazoid honey whiskey. The date, though very faint, still read 2291, which was one of the best years ever in the drinks bottling history.

"Micheal," Kyle said, in a friendly tone. "You won the bet." He chuckled. "Grab us three glasses, please."

The woman raise an eyebrow looking at him confused for a moment before she shook her head again and settled back into the chair. It had always been her favourite. She was surprised by his good nature and by the way he seemed to be friendly even with his bodyguard. “What bet?”

As Micheal brought the glasses over to the table, he continued to stare at Dixoho for a few beats, then, the smile that he saved for only her filled his face. "I bet him twenty bars of gold pressed Latium that, not only could he not charm you with his act, but you still wouldn't trust him."

"And it's a bet," Kyle spoke pleasantly as he poured each of them a drink, "I'm glad I lost. It tells me something about you, Dixoho." He handed both of them a glass, then lifted his in a toast. "To new beginnings."

“What that I could still slit your throat or that I am not as easily swayed as most people. I’m not an interrogator. I do not need protection.” The Trill smiled back at the man who she had thought dead until an hour or so before. It was such a surreal moment that she just could not do anything other than stare and try to take it all in. She had so many questions. Her red hair falling in her face for a moment before she looped the stray strands behind her ear revealing her spots. “Well of course what did you expect. Did you expect me not to attempt to slit his throat? Did you think that you would be able to charm me so easily in my former quarters?” She wondered as watched Kyle out of the corner of her eye as she stared at Michael. She ignored his toast other than raising her glass to him in a mock salute.

Micheal kept his eyes locked on Dixoho’s. There was a hunger in his eyes, a deep, smoldering hunger that was boiling right under the surface of his eyes. Even his red artificial eye seemed to be pulsing.

Kyle seemed unimpressed with Dixoho’s attitude and threats. “You wouldn’t be the first to threaten to kill me. Nor would you be the first to attempt it either. But,” he downed his drink in one gulp, then put down his empty glass. “I know I won’t ever convince you of anything. So,” he looked at Micheal, then Dixoho. “I know you two have something to discuss, so, feel free to make yourselves comfortable.” He turned and headed towards the door leading out into the corridor. “Perhaps later, we can talk.” He stepped out and the door slid shut and locked, leaving Dixoho alone with Micheal, with only the coffee table between them.

Micheal was visibly trembling. “Hi..”. His voice was a whisper as if he was afraid that he was in a dream, and didn’t want to wake up.

Dixoho turned to look at Kyle as Michael said nothing and stared back. She knew she was not the first or the last but was the one currently threatening him which was enough for her. "Hi?" Dixoho demanded quietly the burning anger and confusion evident behind her eyes. "Is that all you dare say?" She wondered.

For a few tense seconds, Micheal didn't respond, didn't dare breath. "Di..I know...how I left...was painful. I can't imagine the pain I would feel to watch you die." He paused briefly, then continued. "And I was, for all intents and purposes, was dead. The last thing I remember is flying towards the Fenrir's bridge, to kill him," he didn't need to mention the Captain's name. "Then, the shuttle was pushed away from the ship then fired upon. I saw my death at hand. I closed my eyes and silently begged for the Almighty to watch over and protect you." His whole body was visibly vibrating from all of the emotion and tension he held inside.

"The next thing I know, I wake up in some kind of fluid-filled container. I didn't know where I was, or even who I was! For what seemed like an eternity, I kept passing out and waking up in the same container. But each time I awoke, I could see and feel that another part of my damaged body had either been repaired, or replaced with some kind of circuitry.'

"I was rebuilt and am both stronger and faster than I was before. My left arm left eye and both of my legs are now cybernetic implants, along with a few internal ones as well." He paused to let what he said sink in. Then he added, "My heart is both still one hundred percent organic...and one hundred percent still yours." He lowered his shoulders slightly as he finished, "That is, if you wish to have it."

Dixoho slowly rose and threw her dagger at him missing him by an inch as it flew past his ear. "You flew at the bridge where I was," She reminded him angrily. She had not been trying to think on the other universe. "I do not know what I want the last year has not been good to me. I do not know if I can even love anymore." She said trying not to think about first his death and then Nathan being murdered.

To his credit, Micheal did not budge a millimeter where the razor-sharp blade sailed past his face. He knew that he deserved every bit of her fire. Hearing her location, his face blanched. “I..” his eyes finally fell, shame crossing his features. “I can only hope that, one day, you can forgive my brashness. I never meant to hurt you! I hope you can believe me!”

“You were so intent on killing the butcher, you never thought for a second all the other people that been friends of you, depended on you looked after you, loved you, were on that bridge as you were so determined.” She sighed. Really who worse did he expect to be on the bridge in the middle of a battle. It was one of the few reasons she was not dead was because of that skill and no one else having it. She looked up at him, really looking at him trying to work him out. “Really flying your ship at the bridge? You were lucky someone liked you and had enough power to drag you back from death.”

Feeling appropriately shamed, Micheal nodded slowly before raising his eyes to look into the eyes that made his soul sing. "I am sorry, Dixoho. If it takes the rest of my life, I will prove to you just how much." He paused, hoping it didn't sound clichéd. "I love you."

Dixoho had dreamt of moments like this but the reality was she was not going to melt into his arms. She was not something to pick up and leave when the mood took men or women. “I do not need those promises. I have spent this year being haunted by your whore in Fenruse and my husbands whore in Agrax. All of you have haunted me and I’m done with it at the moment.” She said drinking the last of the drink before pouring another big glass.

Realizing that a new chapter was both starting and needed, Micheal took in a deep breath and then replied. "Okay. That is understandable. If you are willing, I'd like to start fresh. I'll do whatever I can to show you that I am not the same rash-acting idiot that I was before." He paused and then continued. “However should you desire to end things here, i will respect your wishes."

The helm officer stopped drinking her honey wine and looked at the man. She sighed deeply and put the glass down. Did she really want a fresh start with him? This man had captured her heart so long ago that she couldn’t remember it being held by anyone else apart from her now deceased husband. “I just don’t know.” She admitted with a sad smile. This was everything she’d wanted but now it didn’t seem right. She let out a pearl of laughter and shook her head.

Micheal arched an eyebrow slightly. "Whats so funny?" His question had an air of hope in it.

“All I would need us for Nathan to return from the dead and this would be perfect.” She laughed until the sound turned bitter and she stopped.

While Micheal was happy, in some small fashion, that Dixoho's husband was no longer in the way, it killed him to see the woman that he loved hurting so. Though his next words may have come off as a bit awkward, he hoped that she picked up the true sincerity in them. "I'm..I'm sorry for your loss, Di. I wish I could take that heartache you feel and bury it in the heart of the deepest blackhole, never to hurt you again."

“No, you are not.” The Imperial officer said shaking her head as the final remanence of the laughter faded from her. Leaving her as usual a shell of her former self. “ Look Michael, I'm fed up of talking about me. What about you? How did you end up as his bodyguard?” That had to be a more interesting story. I had to be a lot more interesting than her sorry excuse for a love life.

Though it hurt Micheal the Dixoho didn’t believe him, he didn’t let it show. Instead, he went into the story of his resurrection. “Well, as I said earlier, I was rebuilt into the man you see before you. I didn’t know, at the time, who my benefactors were. It wasn’t until. Three months after my apparent death, when I was finally released from that container, that they introduced themself to me. It was the Black Phoenix Group. That ultra secretive merc organization that we always heard rumors about. Apparently, whenever there has been a crossing to the other universe, one of their agents isn’t too far behind, taking sensor readings or samples of whatever came over. When they took me, it was a near split second before the shuttle that belonged to my double was destroyed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soon enough, but, I guess I should be glad just to be alive.”

He took a breath and continued. “Anyway, the group was created and is currently run by the paternal grandfather of our new XO. While I don’t know everything about them, what I have put together so far is that they answer directly to the Emperor or Empress, whomever is on the throne. They ack as shock troops, doing things that even Starfleet wouldn’t do.” He shook his head, shocked still. “The Captain may have obliterated a whole planet, but, these guys, they’ve decimated at least two star systems, maybe more. Now, after they rebuilt me, I was given a choice. I could either become one of their expendable shock troopers, or, after some retraining, become Kyle’s personal bodyguard. Apparently, he has several bounties on his head. His grandfather is grooming him to take over command of the Group. He just needs seasoning. Don’t get me wrong, Kyle can certainly take care of himself. I’m just here to allow him to focus more.”

“When he and I first met, he asked me one question. ‘What is it that moves your soul?’” He chuckled softly and looked directly into Dixoho’s eyes. “I told him that it was you. Without hesitation. He then thought about it and told me that we would have to get me back here, to you.” He shrugged, having told everything he knew. “That’s everything. You now know everything I know. I will never keep anything from you again. I made that mistake once before, and I nearly lost you forever. Or, I hope that it was just nearly?”

She had no comments for most of what he said because it would take time to process. "Things that Starfleet won't do..." She snorted. Imperial Starfleet was not exactly known for having limits but she had heard of them. They were like the boogie men you told Cadets who were too big for there boots. "Let's hope then that he knows how to impress the Emperess then if he wants to take over." Dixoho was not impressed by the name at all. She was loyal to her Captain, he had been the one who protected her when no one else had.

Micheal nodded in agreement. "Especially if I'm attached to the hip with him." His eyes took a far off look. He didn't mention that Dixoho hadn't responded to his question. "I need another drink," he muttered as he stepped back to the table and reached down to the bottle. "Want another?"

“Sure.” She threw back the drink that she had and held out her glass now empty glass.

Taking the empty glass, Micheal turned back to the bottle and poured two, rather generous, glasses of the strong amber liquor. Straightening up, he turned back and handed one to Dixoho. “To the future.” He raised his glass towards Dixoho, for her to touch glasses in salute of the toast.

“To whatever it might hold.” The woman answered deep in thought. It was going to need a lot of thought.