What We Became

Posted on Tue May 21st, 2024 @ 8:13pm by Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Richard Hale
Edited on on Tue May 21st, 2024 @ 10:50pm

Mission: Fractures
Location: SS Mary Rose
Timeline: Fracture
1855 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

The sudden lurch of shifting between fractures was disconcerting. One moment Rick had been running along a corridor to see to some damage caused by their engagement with the Temperance and the next the whole hallway was spinning and he virtually crashed into Kali at the intersection.

"Watch where you're..." The moment of annoyance slipped out before he could catch it, and quickly turned to self-admonition as he saw that he'd nearly managed to wipe-out the smaller Romulan woman. He offered a hand he doubted she would take. "Sorry about that, let me help you up-"

Kali was already on her feet, in fact, one hand suspiciously near her hip but not actually drawing any hidden weapons once she recognized who she'd run into. "What the hell...this is not where I just was." Her eyes flicked around at the same damage Rick had noted. "Looks kinda the worse for wear, honestly."

"One of those 'fractures' the others were mentioning?" he pondered. "Difficult to know where and when we are. I've not been on the ship long enough to really know. Any ideas?"

"Honestly?" Kali shrugged her eyebrows and shoulders. "We should find a place to hide until it shifts again. If we dunno if it's the past or the future, we want to avoid altering the timeline if it's the past; or getting into it with some unexpected...situation...if it's the future. Bonus points if it's a spot that lets us keep some sort of situational awareness." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Supply room off the mess hall or the lounge might work, if we could get in without being seen. Lots of people probably in and out of there to eavesdrop on and glean information from."

"State of the supply room should give us some sort of idea of the 'when' as well," he mused. "Those pointed ears of yours are probably far better suited to doing the eavesdropping than mine are though," Rick added with a little teasing wink.

"Then you get be the guard." Kali took it rather for granted that just like herself, hidden somewhere on the man was at least two weapons; it was the sort of thing one had ingrained in them hanging around the Syndicate as much as it was the sort of thing one had ingrained in them growing up Romulan. "You've probably spent more time than I have patrolling the ship, so pick us a spot and a route that's less used to get there."

"Aft. There's a workspace behind the turbolift junction that almost nobody uses. That'll let us cross over to the starboard side of the ship. Might get a bit tricky once we reach the galley though," he said, motioning back along the hallway. "Surprised you don't know about it yourself. Surely you've found all the little nooks and crannies by now?"

"All of them? No way." She laughed softly. "Honestly, part of the reason why most Romulan personnel Federation folks ever interacted with seemed like they had insane levels of knowledge and skills is because we were meeting the more seasoned ones, trusted to interact with us; and they'd usually had decades if not a century-plus to both fuck around and find out, and then store any knowledge gained for later. It'll take years to really learn all those little nooks on any ship. Besides, since I'm the one responsible for not putting it nacelles-over-saucer into a planet, I've kinda focused most of my efforts on class-specific piloting knowledge and simulations."

"If you say so," Rick replied, a faint twinkle of amusement in his eye. They approached a section of the bulkhead near the turbolift, where he started to peel back a section of the plating. "Comes off easier than I remember. Not sure if that means we're in the future rather than the past..." he muttered, motioning to the cramped workspace beyond. "Think you can fit in there?" he asked ironically, making a little jab about her height.

"I'll fit fine. I'm honestly shocked that you'll fit at all though..." Kali muttered, climbing in.

"You'd be surprised the places I can fit into," he retorted, following close behind. Indeed, the workspace left little room for them both, their immediate issue being a need to work around one another before either of them could move forward; an uncomfortably unspoken moment of touching one another in almost inappropriate places before they wrangled into enough space to shuffle along the workspace. "Shouldn't be far. Second bulkhead on the left."

"Great. When we pop out of it, where will we be and how exposed will be be in terms of either line of sight or easy hearing from anyone near it at the time?" Kali, maneuvering rather more easily in the space than most standard-size humanoids or vulcanoids could, had a tiny set of tools out already, in case the panel on the other end didn't come off in reverse quite as easily as the entry point had.

"Not much cover, sadly," Rick responded, following her close behind. "It's not a busy intersection though. At least...not usually; who knows what this time period is like." He positioned himself on the near side, again uncomfortably close together, and slid his fingers up and into the latch he knew was there. "Hear anything?" he asked quietly, deferring to her more acute sense of hearing.

Kali leaned against the wall, eyes closing as she focused intently for a moment. "Nothing. How close does it put us to the galley at that point once we hop out?"

"Twenty feet, if that. Can slip in the back way," he said, sliding the latch open and aside. He let her move first before sliding it sharply back into place behind them. The corridor was indeed silent as they made their way into the back area of the galley. Fortunately it was also unoccupied, though there were faint voices from the next room over; the mess hall space where some people were likely eating. Rick glanced at Kali as they ducked behind a storage cabinet. "Let me guess, you want to go listen in?"

"Unless you just wanna stay in there, yeah." Her voice lowered to a level probably barely perceptible to human ears. "If nothing else might give us a better idea of where to hide longer term if we have to."

Although a little reluctant, he joined her in moving to a position nearer the voices, so they became audible to even his 'inferior' hearing. He didn't recognise either of those speaking, though they seemed in reasonably good spirits. He gave her a shake of his head as if to communicate he wasn't familiar with the voices.

Kali didn't recognize either of the prior voices, either; but she did recognize two of the next ones to filter in, and raised an eyebrow at the sound of their voices. She waited a moment, until it sounded like 'she' had taken a seat, and then very quietly and carefully angled a mirror just barely around into a spot to let her view the room beyond. It was a quick glance and a small image in her little pocket mirror, but from what she could tell she didn't really look any older; though a few others she could half-see did. So: Probably at least ten years ahead, but not more than twenty or thirty.

"I can't believe we finally caught up to them..." one of the voices was saying. "I can't wait to see the look on Nyx's face when we tell her what happened to her boyfriend."

"Yeah. Think there's a few people who can't wait for that. He was on the ship for such a long time, can't believe he tricked us all like that..."

Rick continued to shake his head at Kali, unable to pick up the details of the conversation in the same way she could.

Kali tapped one ear, then jerked a thumb towards the unseen room beyond: If she could hear them; then at this range the...other her...could almost certainly hear them as well. She leaned over awkwardly till her mouth was basically against Rick's ear, and dropped her voice to a level barely audible even then, and therefore hopefully not to anyone further away. "They're talking about some chick named Nyx; and also some unnamed dude who seems to have been on the ship and...not what he seemed."

"Got what he deserved in the end at least. Which is more than you can say for a lot of bastards in this part of the universe."

Kali wasn't sure she was ever going to get over the weirdness of hearing her own voice disembodied like that.

"What do you think, Kali? You were friends with him for months. I'd have thought you would have picked up on the whole 'pretend spy' thing?"

Unable to hear the details, Rick shrugged again at her, waiting for some sort of explanation or clarity.

Yeah well, that's why I'm the one that killed him. But no, he was seriously skilled there; my aunt would give him bonus points on it. Before she also killed him, that is...

"Apparently I've gotten more willing to shank people." Kali whispered in Rick's ear. "And more cynical."

He nodded back, a faint smile on his face.

"Well, we're glad you did. The ship's a lot better off without that slimeball traitor Hale..."

Silence fell. Rick hadn't heard the observation. He continued to watch Kali's face, expectantly wondering if there was anything of use coming out.

Many people over the years had been surprised upon learning Kali was a fairly skilled gambler; given how open and forward she was with many of her thoughts and emotions in other areas of life. No one would have been surprised had they learned it at the moment though; because the same sort of on/off skills and behaviors that snapped into place at the gaming tables did so now, and not only would it have been hard to pick up on anything relative to what she'd actually heard; but her face forced itself into a cover expression of sorts, an abortive eyeroll.

"Everyone else has gotten more comfortable with my stabbing people too, it seems." She whispered. It was not, technically, a lie; it had been implied in the response. It just wasn't the most significant part of the statement; which she was damned if she was going to share with the target of it, especially while they were in close proximity in a small space with no witnesses.

Rick smiled faintly at that. Then made a motion with his thumb. A sort-of 'lets go' signal, suggesting they were outstaying their welcome.

Before either of them could move more than a few inches back the way they'd come, however, they instead faded from the room - and that spot in the timeline - entirely.

 

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