Mistaken Identity (part 3)

[Jaden Praxx 0]

this log takes place a few hours after "Mistaken Identity (part 2)"

 

Praxx walked down the corridor towards B'Etor's quarters wanting to talk to her about what had happened down on the planet earlier this morning. He stopped in front of the door to her quarters and hit the door chime going over in his mind what he was going to say to her. The door opened and B'Etor stood there, smiling towards someone in the other room. Her gaze moved to the person who rang the chime and her smiled faded, and a look of confusion crossed her face. Her hair back in a ponytail, she looked down the hall, then back to Praxx, blinking. "Can I help you Mister...Praxx?"

 

"Can you...ya you can help me dammit, you can tell me what the hell got into you down on the planet and what in the world is..." he stopped as he heard a man's voice coming from the adjacent bunk room. "Is someone here?" he asked incredulous and shouldered his way past her and into the main living area of the quarters making his way back toward the bedroom area.

 

She heard him and her face shifted into a look of complete puzzlement. She looked towards the living area, and was moved aside by Praxx and she looked at him like he was insane. "What…of course, what business is it of yours?!" When Praxx came into view of the couch, he saw Ensign Hinklin sitting there, sipping a glass of blood wine. Hinklin looked at Praxx and smiled to him. "Praxx! Have a seat!"

 

B'Etor shook her head, moving in front of Praxx, her head shaking repeatedly. "No! He is not joining us! What is the meaning of barging into my quarters and just... walking in here like that!" She was obviously flustered at what Praxx thought he was doing. Putting her hands on her hips, she tapped her foot, looking up at Praxx, in annoyance, waiting for a reason why he would just…barge in to her quarters.

 

He stood for a moment staring at Patterson his gaze a mix of rage and shock. Finally he narrowed his eyes and through gritted teeth spoke to her in barely a whisper. "I would have expected better from you." he said, practically seething at her. He then turned and stormed out of the quarters.

 

"Better from…You barged into my quarters!" She went after him, grabbing his arm, spinning him in the doorway. "What the hell is the matter with you?! You barely even acknowledge me and you get all weird because I have a man in my quarters?! What are you, my father?" She stared up at him, wondering what his problem was.

 

He stood there, his face contorted by rage and remembered the bizarre encounter he'd had with her down on the planet. he assumed that this was her way of getting even but even for her this was way over the line. he jerked his arm out of her grip and stared her down feeling such a torrent of emotions cascading through him he couldn't organize his thoughts enough to say anything coherent. "Save it." he said again through clenched teeth and then turned and walked away down the corridor.

 

She rolled her eyes, letting out a deep sigh. She walked back into her quarters and paused, realizing she didn't really care. She and Praxx weren't friends, they didn't even look at each other in the corridors. "Hope he fixes that disorder..."

 

Praxx stormed down the corridor towards his own quarters and walked through the doors punching the bulkhead as he crossed the threshold. "What the hell is going on around here?!" he asked himself aloud. First he and B'Etor had gotten into a huge argument down on the planet and she'd been talking about things that he'd said to her that he obviously hadn't since he hadn't even been there. Then he pays her a visit in her quarters and she acts like she barely knew him.

 

"Who's there?" he heard a voice ask him from the bedroom. The voice sounded eerily familiar and he was sure his mind must be playing tricks on him. He walked across the shared living space and headed into the bunk room and froze, his eyes growing so wide he thought they might pop out of his head. He blinked a few times as if he were hallucinating and trying to clear his vision. He turned around suddenly pulling a phaser out of the dresser next to the door and turned back to the man sitting on his bunk and leveled his phaser at…a pile of rumpled sheets. The man was gone, and again Praxx found himself standing there blinking his eyes as if trying to clear an illusion that his brain was trying to fool him with. “He was there…” Praxx said to himself out loud. Then it hit him, it was the only explanation that made sense. The argument down on the planet, the encounter just now in her quarters, all of it. There were a few details that still didn't fit, but it was the only explanation he could come up with, save perhaps for him having lost his mind down on that planet, which given what had happened with B’Etor could be just as likely. He’d have to put that off until later though, because if his first hypothesis was correct, the ship was in imminent danger. He shifted the phaser to his other hand and slapped his combage. “Praxx here, intruder alert!”