A Second Conversation

Posted on Fri Dec 1st, 2017 @ 1:07am by Dixoho Saa (*)

Mission: Mission 5 - Liberation
Location: Shuttle ALEXANDRIA
Timeline: MD -27 02:30
1634 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Micheal stumbled slightly into the shuttle bay. He was a little drunk and he wanted to sleep it off in his shuttle, as opposed to his assigned quarters. There was just something...spooky... about his quarters. The few times he had been in them and it was quiet, he would swear that someone, or something, was watching him.

As he approached the ALEXANDRIA, the port side hatch opened, allowing him entrance. "Good Evening, Micheal," Rebecca began as her three-dimensional image came to life. "Did you enjoy the party?"

Forgetting to close the hatch, Micheal simply dumped his large frame into the pilot's seat. "Let m'see 'em," he commanded, his speech slurred slightly from the drink.

The avatar's face took on one of concern. "Micheal, do you really think..." she was cut off by his large fist being dropped on the console in front of him.

"I said," he growled, dangerously. "Let..me..see..them."

Rebecca sighed. Her memory engrams reminded her that once Micheal got like this, it was best to give him what he wanted. "Very well," she replied, a hurt look could almost be seen on her computer generated face.

Rebecca's avatar vanished, to be replaced with a three-dimensional rendering of his wife, holding their infant children. She was slowly swinging on the side porch bench swing, softly singing a lullaby to their babies.

"Baby mine,
Don't you cry...

Baby mine
Dry your eyes...

Dixoho had seen the man leave the party and knew exactly where he would be going, she had watched him do it several times whilst drinking in the Ward Room. This time she stumbled after him instead of just getting the Computer to follow him. She stood in the doorway of the small ship looking unsure as she saw the hologram.

"You should listen to your computer?" She hissed from the door thinking Markus would only notice her not being at the party still for so long.

Upon hearing the new voice, Micheal slammed his left palm down onto the controls for the projection, causing the image to blink away into nothingness. As he did so, he spun in his chair and glared at the intruder. "Who the hell..." he began, then stopped himself when he saw who was speaking. A mix of emotions ran over his face in a matter of seconds. "What...what are you doing here?"

Rebecca flashed back into the physical world, an annoyed look on her face. "Micheal! That is not how we greet a guest!" She turned to face Dixoho and smiled a pleasant, honest smile. Ms Saa, may I call you Dixoho?"

"Ms Saa?" Dixoho asked ignoring the man as she spoke to the computer instead of him. No one called her Ms before her surname especially something that she was sure was illegal I some type of treaty. "But yes you can call me Dixoho."

Rebecca smiled warmly at the reply. "Thank you. Now, Dixoho, please allow me to apologize for Micheal's..outburst. We are a few days away from the anniversary of...well.." she shrugged slightly, hoping that Dixoho could connect the dots.

Dixoho could connect the dots easily but everyone on the ship had something like that in there past. She didn't want to think about the price on her head or the fact the man wasn't looking at her like he wanted to kill her anymore.

"I know it's not a reason to behave rudely, as does he. It's just that, he's in a lot of pain right now. Perhaps, you could let this incident go? I'd hate to have your perception of him as a person be based on this."

"Oh, my opinion was bad way before this. I am his mark on the ship. I think I am the reason he is staying around." She reminded folding her arms again as she looked at him.

Rebecca nodded slowly. "Ah..yes...that. Well, as I know he told you, he isn't going to collect on the bounty. In fact, if you are willing, he and I have come up with a way to make it seem as if he did, while keeping you alive and uninjured in the process. Then, when the payment comes in, he has already instructed me to deposit it into any account that you choose."

"I haven't done anything wrong. I did what I did to save a people, I don't feel guilty." She murmured softly stepping into the shuttle a little more. "I have a clear conscious." She poked his shoulder trying to get him to defend himself instead of the computer. "You are the one sat here haunted."

Micheal watched Dixoho enter his ship and move to stand in front of him. He was actually suprised when she poked him. Looking down at her, he replied, his eyes still bloodshot from both the booze and the tears. "I never claimed you weren't innocent. In fact, you are one of the few people I know who's conscience is clear." He started to say that it was one of the things that he found attractive about her, but stopped. The very thought felt like a betrayal to his dead wife.

“But you were willing to take me.” She hissed softly not scared for once as he stood there looking down at her. He was a good foot taller and had weight on her making him deadly if he wanted to. “So don’t look at me like that.”

Micheal shook his head slowly. "You didn't hear a word I said that night. I told you , even though there was an open bounty on you, I didn't, and still don't, agree with it. Do you really think, if I truly meant you harm, we would be standing here, in my shuttle, this close to one another, right now?"

Dixoho shrugged, she didn’t know the human well enough to say one way or another. “I don’t know.” She said looking at his wrist where the information he had on her was held. “It could all be a ploy... but I don’t think you’ll do anything as drunk as you are right now.”

In a flash of movement, Micheal's right hand moved up and gently cupped Dixoho's left cheek. There was feeling of danger in either his eyes or his touch. "Believe me, it would take a lot more than what I drank tonight to truely inebriate me." He looked deep into her dark eyes and spoke softly, nonthreateningly, as he leaned toward her slightly. "I will not harm you, Dixoho. You have nothing to fear from me."

Dixoho froze at the sudden movement, her arm was raised to defend herself but as he touched her cheek she found herself tensing even more. "Of course i have things to fear from you. You are like a jack in the box." She whispered.

After a few quiet beats, Rebecca made a soft throat clearing sound. "Um, Micheal," she interjected calmly. "Perhaps the best way to prove to Dixoho that she has nothing to fear from you would be to show her exactly how we plan to save her life from your competitors."

Blinking as if he had just been brought out of a trance, Micheal slowly moved back from Dixoho. "Uh..y-yeah. Pull up the file, please."

"Dixoho, if you would like to make yourself comfortable? Should you care for a beverage?" Rebecca gently motioned towards the copilot seat.

"I am going. I don't care... i just came to check you weren't going to throw yourself off a walk way or something. That blonde said someone needed to go check on you." Dixoho said watching him carefully. His behaviour was certainly strange compared to the cocky so and so she met in Department Head meetings.

Rebecca nodded. "I understand. However," she tilted her head to the left slightly and stared off into space for a beat, then turned to the pilot's console and picked up a PADD that was sitting there. Turning back to Dixoho, she handed the device over. "Please take this. It details the plan. If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer them." She then stepped aside, allowing Dixoho the path to leave, if she still wanted to.

Dixoho just looked at the pair and shook her head. She knew she was being stubborn, but she just wanted to get back to the party without any more issues or suspicions about where she had been.

Micheal simply looked into her eyes, his features completely void of any sign of threat or danger. "Look over the information. If you don't want anything to do with me afterwards...I'll resign as Security Chief and leave immediately. You will never see me again." A new look crossed his weathered features, one of a longing to protect.

The redhead took the PaDD without looking at him. "I have to go. You are Armory Chief, not Security." She said simply disappearing out of the hatch cursing the blonde that had asked her to check on the man. The man was a conflict, to say the least and she didn't enjoy the conflict at all.

Micheal and Rebecca both watched her leave. Once they were alone in the shuttlebay, Rebecca commented, "You do know that when we found her, my programming for the job was such that a status report was automatically sent to the clients?"

The Texan grunted. "Yeah, I know. We are running on borrowed time here. Either she allows us the chance to save her, or, sooner or later, another hunter will come sniffing around. That happens, all hell will break loose."

OFF::

Micheal Robertson
Armory Chief / Bounty Hunter
SS Mary Rose

Dixaho Saa
Chief Navigator
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)