Explore the Stars

Posted on Fri Sep 13th, 2019 @ 4:23pm by Lieutenant Selina Fenruse (*) & Executive Officer Valiyi Uhin

Mission: Mirror Mirror
Location: ISS Revelation
Timeline: 2396
1896 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Selina stirred slowly barely aware of where she was for a moment before she woke up properly and sat up clutching the sheet to her as she looked around the large suite of rooms. This was the Captain’s quarters. Yes, that was right Asahi had made Captain and pretty much took her without a second word to anyone with him. She glanced around in the semi-darkness confused. How long had she been asleep after her duties on Fenrir had left her exhausted and barely able to function?

“Asahi?” She called softly not sure where the man was at all and she was almost too anxious to move.

At the sound of Selina's voice, a soft light clicked on from the room nearby. Soon, the form of the young Captain stood in the doorway, alarmed expression masked by the light behind him. The outline of his new Captain's uniform was apparent, and while he fit in it, the outfit itself did not sit well with him. "Selina, is everything alright?"

The woman slowly calmed down as she saw the man stood there in the new uniform. He was safe and sound even if he didn't look at all happy. "How long have I been asleep?" The woman wondered sweeping her hair out of her face as she looked around for something to wear.

Asahi readjusted himself in his uniform. "I'm not sure, but definitely longer than a day. I was about to call the doctor to make sure you were alright." As he took steps into the room, the lights flickered on, revealing his well-kept appearance. It was likely the cleanest she had seen him in awhile, though he did not look relaxed. "I had just enough time to stop by the planet we were setting Aunt Tajima off on before I was able to make it back here. Looks like I made it just in time too."

"I've been exhausted for days." The woman whispered feeling how on edge the man was. He looked better than she had seen him in a while but nowhere near calm. "What's happened? You look stressed." She moved to where a robe was and pulled it on rising on shaky feet. She hadn't felt like this in years since the Butcher burns Betazed.

He laughed. "I just had a few refugees probe my head to make sure I wasn't about to take them all to a camp or a culling block." Asahi closed the distance between the two of them, sitting himself on the bed nearby. "I get the distrust, but apparently half the crew thought it was wrong that someone 'stepped their toe out of line' with me. Having to hold them all back is something of a feat."

Selina blinked a few times. She was missing part of what was going on she was sure. "Refugees probing you?" She asked clueless to the connections. Asahi hasn't told her much before she had crawled into bed with extracting from him a promise to explain the whole situation to her when she was awake. "Why you surround yourself with loyalty after all." She told him.

"Yeah, Betazoid refugees." Asahi rubbed his temples, letting out an exhausted sigh. "I promised that I would take the refugees with us to our destination if they promised to help Aunt Tajima recuperate. But seeing me in an Imperial uniform isn't exactly the most easy thing to see." As he continued, he flopped into the oversized bed with a huff. "So I had to improvise before the shooting started and we ended up with no refugees and a whole lot of angry 'not so loyal' types."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Selina wondered as she gently reached out to his mind trying to work out what was going on. She hadn't been told stuff as she would never have come along more than she was protesting. The Blonde wanted to know what was going on and wanted to be involved if she was on this ship now.

Asahi stared up at the ceiling, arms splayed out as he finally let himself relax. Whatever he had in his head was her's to see, as far as he was concerned. "You were sleeping. I don't want you as exhausted as you were on the Fenrir. That level of stress could have killed you."

"And you would have to find yourself another Interrogator." The woman countered in a whisper as she realised what was going on. This ship was transporting Betazoids to a colony out of the way to allow them to be free. She raised an eyebrow. "How did you get caught up in this?" It wasn't like a Kita at all. It had been one of the things that had attracted her to him originally before things had developed further.

"Caught up in what? I planned it." Asahi grinned over in her direction. "Turns out the Butcher pisses off enough people and all they wanna do is get a little revenge. It also helps Aunt Tajima was sowing seeds of dissent on the Admiral's ship too. And now we've got the fastest ship that no Imperial ship can follow after, going off so far from all this destruction that they won't even realize what's going on until Robertson's less of a thorn in their side. Hell, I don't even know if Grandfather cares. I've got the Ops team on ship trying to unclassify some of the logs in the files of this thing too. Can you imagine what we'd have if we had their technological advancements at their fingertips? You can outfit a ship all you want with weapons, but think, Selina... think of all that science..."

The woman sat back down on the bed trying to think through everything properly. "So what you are saying is you really did want to take me out of that old life." The woman said smiling slightly at the thought of all the science. This ship had seemed impressive on her way to the quarters but she hadn't really taken much more notice as she had been so exhausted. "How did you plan all of this seriously? I didn't know at all."

"Interrogator Uhin's been in the family an eerily long time," Asahi pointed out, tapping his temple. "When you've always had someone that invasive in your head, you learn how to turn off certain thoughts at certain times. I couldn't risk telling anyone, not even you. Even the Butcher has his ways of learning things. But maybe he'll think twice now about mistreating his interrogators in front of his armory officers."

The Betazoid didn't know whether to be annoyed or not so shrugged. "I guess you had your reasons." She mused finally wondering just how much she didn't know about him now. "It won't. He is the Butcher for a reason." Selina reminded him softly as she made a move away from him

Asahi sat upright, frowning at Selina. "I don't hide that much from you. Just this. Why would I put you in harm's way knowing all that? What if Captain Butcher was suspicious enough to investigate everyone and found you were working on this? I wouldn't be the only one dead in that scenario. I had safeguards, but I wasn't going to risk your life any more than I had to."

"He can't kill me. Order 201." Selina reminded with a small roll of her eyes. It was illegal to kill Betazoids, Imperial Starfleet needed them for the war efforts. "But I understand your rationale around it." She finally considered with an annoyed look in his direction.

"I didn't say he would kill you." Asahi reached over, poking at her shoulder. "There are other ways to get under your skin than to take your physical form and snuff it out. He'd make it so you were useful to him and only him - no one else. Now you're free to be yourself. For the most part. We can get you to a safe place, and you can go wherever you want. With or without me." He gave her a serious look, expression neutral. "I know what I want, but I'm not the only one between us here. You're your own person. Just tell me what you want and I'll do whatever I can to make it happen. I got a whole starship now - I bet I could move asteroids for you."

The words that spilt out of the man warmed places inside Selina she did not know existed anymore. The affection of it, the satisfied pleasure at the turn of events, the genuine comfort at his intimate presence; it both tempered and encourage her eagerness all at once. “I think that might be the most romantic thing you have ever said to me.” The woman finally said allowed taking the hand that was poking her shoulder and held it.

"Nuh uh." He knew she was telling the truth. One wasn't allowed much in the way of romance when there was a secret tryst going on on a ship that would have had his head. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight it, at least playfully. He sat upright, positioning himself so he was seated in front of her, taking both her hands in his own. "I guess I'll just have to make up for all that by saying more of them."

"I would like that." The woman admitted. It might sound silly to want that in the middle of what pretty much was a cold war when her and her people were used as weapons but she did. She wanted something real even if it was celestine and it secretes but it was well known that Captains used Betazoids to warm their beds, even his Grandfather had done it.

"Good." He flopped himself back down onto the bed. "We've got some time before we manage to get to the planet. Maybe we'll have time to nose around the worlds we haven't conquered yet and just... look. And explore. That's what this ship is for, after all. Exploration."

"It is?" The woman wondered moving to lie against him. The thought exploration interested her, she had never as an Engineer or as an Inquisitor served on something other than a vessel of war.

Asahi smiled. "Yeah. It's a big ship, so I think it might have been meant to be utilized for long-range travel, and it has defenses, but... It's nothing like what we're used to on our ships. That's why it took so long to piece it together. We had to re-outfit it... or Grandfather thought it fitting to outfit it with 'up to date' weapons. Which is fine. I want to be peaceful, but I'm not going to be so naive to think the rest of the universe is going to follow me."

"Where would you like to explore first then?" The woman wondered unsure where this would lead to after New Betazed.

"As far away from the war as possible." Asahi's answer was vague, but it was the one he had. That was the point of exploration, after all. "Doesn't really matter where, so long as it's away from the fighting... and it's with you."

OFF::

Lieutenant Commander Asahi Kita
Commanding Officer
ISS Revelation
(PNPC Uhin)

Selina Fenruse
Chief Inquisitor
ISS Revelation
(PNPC Gregnol)