Guilty Enough For Two

Posted on Mon Mar 5th, 2018 @ 5:26pm by Dixoho Saa (*)

Mission: Mission 5 - Liberation
Location: Deck 4 - Senior Officer Quarters
Timeline: MD 04 20:00
3074 words - 6.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The voices got heated and heated as the noise level got louder and louder coming from the Chief Navigators quarters as a male voice got annoyed. It was normally quiet with the soft noise of voices. Nothing like the noise that was coming from there now. Dixoho was tired enough from searching the ship earlier, to be listening to her faults.

“Just leave,” The female voice said softly. She wasn’t listening to it anymore when she felt guilty enough as it was.

"Just leave?!" Marcus spat back. "OH! I get it! You want me to leave, so you can go run back to him!"

Dixoho shook her head as she went to the door and pressed the door release opening it. "There isn't anyone," Dixoho said something. She and Micheal were never going to work but it just proved that she and Markus were going nowhere.

"Aww, don't give me that crap!" He shouted. He then moved towards Dixoho and the door, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back into her quarters. Marcus then reared back and was about to slap her. However, his right arm suddenly wouldn't move. Glancing back, he quickly saw why.

Micheal had been walking by, doing his normal patrol of the ship when he heard the argument spill out into the corridor after Dixoho's door was opened. Before he could say anything, he saw Marcus yank her back into her quarters. The Armory Chief broke into a run, entering her quarters unnoticed by both occupants over the cacophony of the fight. His eyes grew and he was filled with rage when he saw Marcus about to strike her. Instinct and training took over. Without a word, he lashed out with his right arm and wrapped the fingers of his right hand tightly around Marcus' outstretched wrist. When the other man tried to swing, he was met with a strength one only learned growing up on a cattle ranch in Texas. Micheal's grip, strength fueled by his rage, was as hard as steel.

“Just stop Markus. Just leave. We are definitely over.” The woman said wincing at the grip on her arm as she tugged it back stepping back away. She didn’t want anyone in her quarters anymore, she wanted it over.

"You heard the lady, " Micheal said in an eerie calm. "Time for you to leave."

Marcus tried to wrench his hand free, but the big man's arm barely budged from the effort. "This has nothing to do with you, Cowboy," Marcus spat back, using the derogatory term that he had heard Braden use to describe the ridiculous man.

Micheal sighed slightly. He was starting to lose his patience. "Actually, as Chief Armory Officer, I'm the closest thing to a security chief that this ship has. So, yeah, this has everything to do with me. Now, I'm only going to give you this choice once more. Are you walking out of here, awake? Or will you be carried out of here, unconscious? The choice is yours, but make it now." To emphasize the word, Micheal squeezed Marcus wrist a bit tighter, causing the sounds of his wrist bones being rubbed together to be heard plainly in the compartment.

"OW!" Marcus exclaimed. "Okay! Okay!" He pleaded next. "I'll leave! I'll leave! She's not worth my time and energy anyway," he spat the words at Dixoho as he turned his head back to glare at her. Before he could say, or do, anything else, however, he was yanked out of her quarters by the large, angry, Texan.

Once both men were in the corridor, Micheal pulled the other man to him and whispered, "I suggest, if you know what is good for you, that for the remainder of your stay on this ship, you avoid Miss Saa at all costs. If I receive word that you are harassing her, in any way, you will see me get very angry." He then lifted Marcus off the deck a couple inches. "You don't want to see me angry."

Marcus' eyes grew to the size of saucers when the Armory Chief lifted him up with apparently very little strain. Wordlessly, he nodded his acquiescence. Micheal then lowered him back down to the deck and released him. He didn't need any further urging. Quickly, Marcus scurried away, already thinking about that job on Melvida VII that he had heard about, hoping that it was still available.

After Marcus was gone, Micheal stood there, alone in the corridor, trying to calm down. Once he was cooler, he stepped back into Dixoho's quarters. "Di?" He asked quietly. "You okay?"

Deep inside, she considered herself guilty for what had happened then. She had left it far too long with telling Markus. She hadn't wanted to break his heart. But it with Micheal, everything seemed so much easier around him now. “I’m fine. I’m sorry you had to see that.” She moved to curl up on the couch.

Micheal's heart broke for Dixoho. All he wanted, was to wrap his arms around her and hold her until she felt safe again. However, out of respect, he asked, "May I sit with you, or would you rather be alone?"

“You can sit, sure.” The automatic door release closed the door leaving them alone in the room. “I fucked that up.” She whispered gripping her aching wrist. It just added to the aches and pains.

Micheal moved into Dixoho's quarters and carefully sat down on her couch next to her. He put his left arm behind her, allowing her to move into him if she so chose. "No you didn't, Di. He did. You told him how you felt, and instead of him accepting it like an intelligent adult, he threw a temper tantrum."

She looked at the wall for a while, thinking of something further to say, a casual tidbit or light-hearted snippet, something that wasn’t awkward. Closing her eyes she could feel him beside her on the couch, picture in her mind the way he sat with her his arm behind her. The man was in a state of continuous ease, she envied him for it at the moment.

Slowly, Micheal moved his left hand forward, until it rest on Dixoho's back. He could still see the bruises on the back of her neck that she received after falling through the rusted deck plating the other day. Slowly and gently, he began to rub her back, trying to comfort her. "Is there anything I can do?"

"You're awfully good at this." She said finally, breaking the silence drifting between them and threatening her tenuous grip on the small amount of relaxation she felt. "What were you doing here? I thought you would be guarding our guests?"

Micheal smiled slightly at the compliment. "Thanks, I've had practice doing this. As for our guests, they're guarded by my people. I was just doing my daily walk through of the ship. Thankfully I was walking by when I did."

"I can imagine you have," she whispered, turning a little to look at him. "I need a drink," she murmured, moving away to grab the bright blue bottle on the coffee table. Her shirt rose higher as she stretched to get the bottle. The shirt looked more worn the closer you got to it.

Micheal saw Dixoho's flesh and instantly felt the urge to caress her. However, he stopped himself before he even moved. While he longed to hold her, he would wait until she was ready. He would never take advantage of her.

"Would you like some?" She asked, getting up to find glasses. For some reason her quarters was in a bit of a mess after the last few days of trying to organize the space for the astrometric bay and then the appearance of voices and then the eventual cause of the voices.

"Yes, please," Micheal replied. "Thank you." As she moved through her quarters, he asked, "How are you feeling from that fall the day? I saw the bruising on your neck. How's your back and ankle?"

The woman slowly leaned forward and lifted her shirt to show the violent bruises that crossed her back. "Medical is not happy." She breathed, glad that most of the aches and pains were dull now.

Micheal's face screwed tightly with concern. "Oh, Di! I'm so sorry that you got hurt. If I hadn't been so focused on that blasted corrosion, I might've been able to catch you." His eyes turned down to the deck. "I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling that he was at fault for her getting injured.

"Not your fault at all," Dixoho commented on lowering her shirt back down. "Was just my luck and I bruise easily." The woman moved across the room to where the glasses should be, but only found mugs. One day, she would find the gumption to be less of a coward, but for now, she was glad Micheal certainly was not one. "It is Nectar... " she said simply and poured a small glass, passing it to the man afterwards, letting him sip before she explained about Betazoid Nectar.

Micheal sniffed the thick fluid in the mug. He then took a small sip. Raising his eyebrows when he tasted the highly sweet taste. "Wow! That's like drinking honey straight off the comb!" He smiled, remembering doing the exact thing on his family ranch, back in Texas.

"It is sweet... Betazoids use sweet things like chocolate as aphrodisiacs." She teased a little before sitting down next to him. Dixoho winced a little as the sweetness of the nectar coiled down her throat like thick treacle as she took a deep drink. "I am sorry you saw that earlier. He has never been anything other than sweet before." She repeated, feeling bad that it always seemed she needed rescuing.

Micheal listened as he took another careful sip. "I didn't know that about them. Does it have any effect On Trills?." Another sip and then he put the mug down on the coffee table. Sitting back and looking at the beautiful woman in front of him. If he was honest, he actually was feeling more amorous now than he had earlier. "Don't worry about him any more. He will never bother you ever again. You have my word. I won't allow any harm to come to you, now or ever again."

The Trill shook her head. "It is just a favourite drink of mine." She shrugged. She never really felt that Trill as she had never grown up on the Trill Homeworld or ever been there before. "The ship I grew up on had everyone on it. Very much like this one." She turned a little to look at him. "I do worry. He is an Engineer and could cause issues." Everyone knew not to upset Engineers on ships.

Giving Dixoho a deadly serious look, Micheal stated, in a tone that left no misunderstanding whatsoever. "He will not be a problem for you, ever again."

The redhead shook her head, trying to loosen the thoughts that erupted with force at those words. She was just starting to feel able to talk to him, She didn't need to ask such a blatantly stupid question. There were somethings she knew it was better not to know, better not ask, that had been one of them. "Okay..."

Changing gears, Micheal's face softened, as did his eyes and voice. "So, since we have kissed, rather seriously, more than once, I'd like to know more about you. Who is this Dixoho Saa, who has captured me so securely?"

"Too many bad things have happened for you to know about Dixoho Saa. I've got into too much trouble...." She waved her finger, cautioning her mind against traversing down the road of her past.

Chuckling softly, Micheal spread his arms and arched an eyebrow. "First off, did you forget who I am? And second, I don't want any secrets between us. I will answer any question you put to me."

"I'm all right with the person I know now. I like to think things develop naturally." There was some apprehension in her voice, though the statement was not an all out lie. "How do you think I ended up here. I don't want to be that person even if I did it for the right reasons."

Nodding slowly as he considered what she said, Micheal responded. "Okay. Fair enough. You want to be a blank slate with me, then I will respect your wishes. My offer still stands, however. "

Somewhere in the recess of her mind, calling out like an old ally, was the voice of the redheaded reason. This man already knew what he needed to know about her. She needed to figure stuff out in her head properly. She turned back to her drink, drinking some more of the liquid. "You already know a lot about me. You've read that file on me." She hinted softly.

Nodding, Micheal replied. "True, I have read a few different files about you. Your personnel file here, on Rosie, the bounty file on you that was provided to me, and what I've seen of you during my time here. You wanna know something? I've learned more about you from the latter, than the first two. There is so much more to you than is written on a tiny chip. I would just like the honour and privilege, to learn more. I will not press if you say enough. You have my word, Di."

"Ah huh, but I don't think I will, despite everything telling me to run." She told him. He was the most important person to her right then and there. "Does my file tell you that I once tried to seduce the Captain whilst drunk? Nearly died three weeks after coming onboard and was patient zero when the crew got a virus?" She wondered, telling him by default all her embarrassing incidents on the ship.

"Aside from the first one, yes," Micheal replied with a soft, confident, smile. He figured there had been something between her and Reuben, after watching them together. Whether anything had actually happened was none of his business, unless she felt like he should know.

"Yeah... I've had some spectacular moments on this ship. Why the Captain keeps me, I don't know." She said shaking her head as she blushed at the memory of turning up at his door with nothing but a shirt on. He had been nothing but a gentleman to her which had infuriated her the next morning.

Micheal chuckled. "We all have had our fair share of moments that would be better off forgotten. However, those moments are the ones where we gain the most strength." He reached for his mug. "And Reuben kept you on his ship because you're a damn fine pilot."

The woman nodded, she had a sneaky suspicion that he kept her onboard as he knew about the bounty on her. In the year that she had known him, it seemed there wasn't much that the man didn't know, if she was honest. "Would you like some more?" She wondered softly, thinking they needed to get off the Captain of a subject, Micheal didn't need to know how she turned up at his cabin in nothing but a shirt. She had just wanted him to know that tidbit.

"Yes please." Micheal held out his mug and waited patiently for Dixoho to pour more of the nectar. He was glad that they were getting closer. Those first couple weeks, after he revealed the bounty on her, had been very uncomfortable. Knowing her as he did now, he was very glad that he had listened to his gut and not collected the bounty. Of course, the bounty was still outstanding, as was, he was certain, one for him, for breaking the contract. But, they would cross those bridges when they got to them, hopefully together. "So, anything you want to know about me?"

The woman poured the man a huge amount of the nectar with a shrug. "Not my intention to get you drunk either." She said lightly, trying to tease him a little more to get him to smile. She was pretty sure he drank as hard as she did sometimes, thinking back to the night that the ship had had the crew party.

"Why not?" Micheal asked with a mischevious grin. "Don't you want to take advantage of me?" Hos eyes filled with the same mischevious glint that his tone had shared with his smile.

"I wouldn't know where to start." She admitted with a smile. It was true. She had been winging it with the Captain and before that, it had been a quick fumble in an Engineering Office.

"Oh," Micheal retorted. "I'm sure you're better than you think. You've already been doing just fine with me, so far." He placed his left hand back on the couch back, opening his side up to Dixoho, should she want to sit closer.

"So far..." She murmured, taking another deep swish of the nectar. "What exactly would you like me to say? 'Cause I am not very good at this. Seriously, Markus and I had made out and that is about it." She wondered, looking up at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

Micheal's head tilted slightly to his left, as he moved his left hand to gently trace small patterns on her back with his fingertips. "Di, all I want is for you to be yourself. That's what I find very attractive. Even sexy."

She stayed completely still, saying not a word, wanting all time to freeze so she might never blush. If she could turn to stone, then and there, she would have. Her hand cupped his cheek softly feeling the stubble underneath her fingers. "I can do that. At least I think I can." She whispered. She needed to do that, but, being herself was harder than she thought possible.

Micheal closed his eyes and nuzzled against Dixoho's hand. He relished the warmth that came from her flesh. He then sighed a contented sigh. He was so comfortable here. It had been so long. So very long indeed. "That's a great start, sweetheart."

OFF::

Dixoho Saa
Chief Navigator
SS Mary Rose

Micheal Robertson
Chief Armory Officer/Bounty Hunter
SS Mary Rose/Shuttle Alexandria