Does It Always Hurt The Second Time?

Posted on Thu Apr 25th, 2024 @ 11:58am by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Captain Sebastian Deauvuex (*)

Mission: Fractures
Location: USS Ishimura
Timeline: Past
1945 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie stayed hugging Jake for a lot longer than should have been appropriate that when she opened her eyes, she realised that they were no longer in the brightly lit corridor of SS Mary Rose but in a darkened corridor with emergency lighting. She stepped back from the man sliding her hand down to keep him connected to her as she realised that they had moved through time together. That was not something she had considered but it made sense now that she had been confronted by it.

“We have changed.” She said her voice husky as she tried to find her centre to be of use in this new situation. She would mourn the what ifs and what nots when she got a moment to consider it all once they stopped shifting through time.

"More like the ship has...we're still ourselves. At least, I hope so, right?" he checked, glancing down at her to make sure he wasn't holding on to some alternate version of Cassie.

“Well yes but… we moved together.” She pointed out squeezing his hand. “Physical contact must make it harder to separate as me and Liha did not travel together.” She concluded as she blinked a couple of times to try and get some night vision sorted.

"That makes a little sense. Not that much of this does," he nodded. "We still need to work out a way we can get to the source of these fractures without ending up stranded, or in some nightmarish historical timezone where there are death-zombies or gigantic macro-viruses or something. Does anything look familiar? Or at least - something to get our temporal bearings from?"

Cassie said nothing for a long time as she moved along the corridor and found a console interface. She did not need to touch it to find any information as she instantly knew where she was. “It looks familiar.” She admitted letting go of his hand to activate the nearest console. “Computer who am I.” She demanded.

“You are Ensign Ka’see McAvoy. Stationed on USS Ishimura as Chief Science officer.” The computer announced bringing up her record on the screen.

"Ensign McAvoy, huh?" Jake eyed her with a faint smirk. "Nice ring to it, 'Chief Science Officer'. So, what does that tell us about when and where we are? And what do we need to watch out for?"

"My maiden name," Cassie murmured with a shrug. It had been a long time since she had been known as that but it had been dragged up a lot in the last day as if the universe was telling her it was okay to reclaim it. "And you knew I was Chief Science Officer. People keep being surprised by it." She admitted before closing her eyes. "It means we might be in the final days of the USS Ishimura."

"The final days? My knowledge of that time is pretty sparse, aside from you and some others entering the transporter..." He paused. "What happened?"

“The Dikironium cloud creature.” She reminded him. “That’s what happened in the final days.” She could feel the growing sickness in her stomach as she knew she was safe but Jake was human and full of iron rich blood. “It can throw itself out of time sync and it wants you if this is those days.”

"Never heard of one of those," Jake shrugged. "Sounds pretty nasty though. And if it's also affected by time sync then let's hope it can't follow us through those fractures." He paused, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be fine. Just got to keep moving."

When this was all over they needed to have a proper conversation about things that they had been avoiding over the last few months. “I do not want to lose you.” She told him firmly. “I .. l…”

“Ensign?” A voice interrupted from down the dark console and Cassie looked up to see Sebastian Deauvuex. Cassie in all her time travelling had not yet encountered the man in any of her stream. The man looked haggered and lowered his weapon.

“Captain.” She said slipping her hand from Jake’s cheek to his hand.

Jake fell silent, almost moving slightly behind Cassie to let her lead the conversation rather than himself; although he'd met the Captain before, he had no idea whether the time-slip would trigger memory or not.

Sebastian looked at the woman and then at the man with him intently and then someone triggered in his head. “You… you were part of the group that came from the future?” He demanded. “I had forgotten that.” He said confused as Cassie looked on concerned that they were in a situation that she did not want to watch unfold again.

"He remembers. A little, at least. That the memories aren't sticking is maybe a good thing," Jake said quietly in Cassie's ear. He straightened up and nodded at the Captain. "Yeah. Guess we got turned-around somewhere. Miss...McAvoy here was trying to help me catch my bearings."

“That was three years ago Mister Ford.” Sebastian commented looking at Cassie again. “You are your crew members were like ghosts but none of us remembered after you left but several of you have appeared over the last couple of years though i did not expect any of you to appear now.”

"That's...useful to know..." Jake murmured.

“That is not Ensign McAvoy. She looks far too human to be my science officer.” He said smiling sadly at the woman. “I do not know how any of this happened to you Ka’see but I am happy to see that you survive.” It was a welcome relief to know that someone somehow survived.

“The dikironium cloud creature?” Cassie asked taking Jake’s hand again. She did not want to be separated.

“The dikironium cloud creature yes. Appeared off our Starboard hull 12 hours ago.” The captain explained.

"Sounds bad," Jake nodded, glancing between the two of them. "Don't mind me, you go ahead and do...Starfleet stuff."

“You have been Starfleet too.” Cassie hissed as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck sticking up. She glanced around but saw nothing out of the ordinary for where they were.

“It wants our blood.” Sebastian said quietly. He hated how much the last 12 hours had changed him. He had seen far to many of him crew drained of blood where they fell.

"Of course it does..." Jake sighed.

Cassie closed her eyes for a moment. She would have given anything for that time and place to not be the time and place that she was. She did not want to repeat the trauma of that day. She had spent the last 3 years getting over it and spending her time moving forward to being the best of both cultures. The sensation of the hairs being back on her neck made her whirl around as she smelt the blood in the air suddenly and saw the dikironium cloud appear to Jake’s left. Without hesitation, she threw herself in front of him and the cloud entered her.

“Run,” Sebastian said grabbing Jake’s arm to tug him.

"But...Cass-" Jake started, as the Captain yanked him backwards. He wasn't sure what to do about the situation; he didn't want to leave her, and getting separated whilst back in time was probably the worst idea, but at the same time he knew that staying was probably just as dangerous. He retreated just enough to feel a little safer from the cloud creature and glanced at the Captain. "Will she be okay? What's it going to do to her?"

"It does not like Vulcoid blood and will try to phase with her before realising that it cannot. It will leave her alone, she'll be okay after a little bit." Sebastian smiled at the man as he looked torn between going back or forward. "She will be fine." The Captain promised as he heard Cassie's scream of pain before it stopped suddenly.

"I can't just listen to her pain..." Jake protested, looking at the Captain. "We can't just leave her there."

Sebastian frowned, he hated listening to it too but it had stopped before he got to a decision despite knowing Cassie would not be happy. He slowly started back along the corridor. He glanced around the corner where neither Cassie nor the cloud were any longer. “Neither of them are there now. The cloud does not like Vulcan blood. Something is different than ours.” Sebastian explained.

"Well, where is she?" Jake demanded, following his look. "You're saying it's taken her somewhere? I thought it didn't want her blood?"

"I am not saying it has taken her. You have assumed that but if she is gone then she has gone back to where you are both from." Sebastian said calmly. It was most likely the only possible thing that could have happened to him and the cloud could not hurt her permanently.

"Right..." Jake nodded. That made sense, at least, rather than her just being scooped away by the vampiric cloud. He glanced awkwardly at Deauvuex. "Here we are again, huh?"

Sebastian looked at Jake confused. “You look at me in a way I cannot describe. What have I done to offend you?” The Captain asked finally finding the words to ask that he had not been able to ask the last time he had been alone with the man.

"No, don't get me wrong. Nothing to offend me. I just, uh, heard a few stories about you is all. Eden used to speak pretty highly-"

“Eden?” Sebastian questioned wondering why he was being asked about her. “My wife?” He answered glancing up the corridor as he heard several soft voices going into the the transporter room.

Jake winced a fraction. "Yeah. Well...she told me a few things about you. Just little stories. She...really liked you." He shrugged, trying not to let slip more than that. "Looks like some more of your crew made it to the transporter."

“Liked… past tense.” Sebastian took a deep breath as he glanced to where the whispered voices were coming from. “So you know what I am planning to do to whoever is there don’t you?” He said sounding resolved in what was going to happen next knowing that some of his crew were safe for whatever they were facing now in some future where he had been successful.

Jake looked at him. It was strange, to know the future of one man's choice. "Yeah," he answered quietly, walking with Sebastian towards the transporter room door. "If it helps, you should know that it works. You save them. They remember you as a hero."

Sebastian nodded, that did not factor into his choices or the plan he had formulating for hours. It was his job to save whoever he could on his crew. They deserved that opportunity to thrive and have life’s. Sebastian held out his hand to the younger man and shook it firmly. “It does not help at all but I appreciate you saying it. Look after her.” He said quietly not letting on who the her was as he stepped inside the transporter room only glancing back with a nod as the door closed.

Jake stayed outside of the room for a long, considered moment. He knew what was going on on the other side. He thought about offering Sebastian that chance for himself; he could walk in there and offer to put the Captain into the same state as his crew. But in some ways that might diminish the man's sacrifice. So instead, he turned solemnly and walked away.