Back to the Barracks

[Samantha_Kent 0]

Brian stepped onto the hovercraft, glaring at one of the guards that had given him a shove, then walked to the back of the cabin and sat near a window.

 

Sam staggered as another of the guards pushed at her shoulder, but shook off the violent hands and walked by herself into the shuttle, then collapsed tiredly into a seat near Brian, still feeling the aches and tiredness from having taken the workshift right before they left.

 

Brian looked over at her. “That didn't really work out for the best, did it?”

 

Sam rolled her head over so that she was facing him and grinned dryly. “I would say that's something of an understatement.”

 

Brian couldn’t help but return her smile. “Think I shouldn't have told Al to plead guilty?”

 

Sam considered this, her eyes narrowing, then shrugged tiredly. “I think we didn't have much of a choice...the cards were stacked against us from the beginning.”

 

Brian noded slightly and looked down at the floor. “You are right. But right about now I am second guessing everything I did from when we returned to Arcadia. I am not used to being responsible for anyone other than me.”

 

Sam reached across the aisle and gave him a reassuring sort of squeeze on the shoulder. “Well, you're doing a fine job at it, I'd say.” She chuckled. “Given that none of us has any clue what's going on, second-guessing seems a little bit futile, wouldn't you say?” She leaned back into her seat and shut her eyes. “Prophets...” she muttered. “I just wanted to be a scientist...if I'd wanted to get caught up in diplomatic incidents, I could have stayed with my father and saved myself the trouble...”

 

Brian looked over and studied Sam's profile. “Your father? What did he do?”

 

Sam shrugged. “He was a diplomat...wanted me to be too, I think, but I wanted to join the fleet and see the universe.” She gave him a gallows-humor sort of grin. “That's worked out awful well, huh?”

 

Brian threw her a lopsided smile. “I've seen a part. It wasn't all its cracked up to be.”

 

Sam eyed him sidelong with an expression of curiosity. “Sounds like a more interesting life brought you to the academy.”

 

“ You assume that yours wasn't interesting. But you are right...I didn't follow the standard path to the Academy.”

Sam laughed. “Mine had its interesting moments, I suppose...’interesting’ tended to follow Bajorans around in my youth. But your dropping hints is making me curious...” She raised an eyebrow, inviting him to continue.

 

Brian stared at Sam a moment, as if deciding how open he should be. “It all started with a girl...and a sunset on Risa.“ The edges of his mouth curled in a slight smirk. “I know...it sounds like a cheesy romance holovid.”

 

Sam chuckled. “It does, and maybe you're pulling my leg. But go on...” She leaned back in her seat. “If nothing else, the story'll take my mind off things...” This was the first thing her natural curiosity had had to light on for several weeks and she grabbed at it like a drowning man for a raft.

 

Brian raised his right hand. “I promise that everything I tell you in this story is the truth...only the names are changed to protect the guilty. Back then I was a good pilot, and a better student. I was on Risa attending a History seminar for extra credit. Then I met the girl. I was entranced by her, she was exotic and intelligent and sensual...” He cleared his throat, embarrassed that he might've gone a little too far.

 

Sam grinned at his embarrassment. “Sounds like you had a good time.”

 

“Much more than that. I left with her; she needed a pilot and I had found what I thought was my greatest lover.” His gaze shifted to look out the window. “I was both right and wrong; she was a great lover...but she was using me. To her, I was a tool. And when she was done she discarded me.”

 

Sam swallowed, not liking to imagine that kind of betrayal, and looked at Brian with sympathy. “I’m so sorry...”

 

Brian looked back at Samantha. “Wait...it gets worse. Naive Federation boys don’t belong out on the fringes of civilized space unless they have a starship backing them up. I was all alone and had to make some hard choices to stay alive. I sold my skills to some bad people...and I learned all I could in the process. The problem is when you start working for that kind of people...you always seem to be owe them something. There is always one more job, one extra risk you need to take to stay even.”

 

Sam raised her eyebrows and sat up with interest, her mind now effectively taken off their current plight. “Wow...”

 

“Anyway...a couple years into this loop, I devised a plan to break free. I'd get my own ship...be my own boss. I knew just where to go.” He frowned slightly as he remembered. “Chin'toka.” He took a deep breath and looks down at his hands. “Well over a thousand Federation starships were lost in the Battle of Chin'toka during the Dominion War. Hundreds of thousands of men and women killed. And that was just one battle, Samantha.”

 

Sam nodded very seriously at him, her eyes narrowed with interest. “You were at Chin'toka?”

 

“I was at Chin'toka...well after the battle. It’s been over ten years and there are still starships there. Starfleet designated it a reclamation facility and is slowly recovering or recycling the derelicts. No, I went there for my ship. Death doesn't look any better after a few years in the vacuum of space. I searched through the wrecks until I found a ship I thought I could fix...a Sabre class. And that was where I was caught...trying to steal a Starfleet vessel. The USS Pharris.”

 

Sam listened with interest, her expression deepening as he continued. This wasn't where she had thought this story was going. “Ah...I can't believe the fleet took kindly to that.”

 

“Nope. I spent a year in the Penal Settlement in Auckland, New Zealand. I think the judges took my family history into account and decided that the structured life of the Academy might do me some good. And by many accounts it has.” Brian looked over at Sam with a lopsided smile that seemed to wipe away the anguish that was just in his voice. “What do you think? Are my rough edges smoothed by this uniform?”

 

Sam looked him up and down contemplatively. “Must've done something, ‘cause I wouldn't have pegged you as a con, myself...but I guess I'll have to keep my eye on you now.” She smiled at him and then shook her head. “I was right, though...not sure I have any stories that could match that one.”

 

“I kind of enjoy your eye on me anyway.”

 

Sam pulled back a little bit from him and laughed out loud at his directness. “Ahh...didn't take you very long, did it?”

 

He looked at her, amused. “I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve.”

 

Sam chuckled, shaking her head again. “Nothing wrong with that, I suppose.” She leaned back in her seat again, staring up at the ceiling, then glanced over at him. “Do you think Arcadia is coming back for us?”

 

Brian crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. “I am sure they are. But I am not sure what they can possibly do. We played for as much time as we could and we ran out.”

Sam sighed, her good humor slipping a little bit. “There's gotta be a chance still...we have to find a way out of this.” She turned her gaze back to the ceiling then shut her eyes again. “There's so much we left behind, and still so much to see.” She opened her eyes again and examined the rusty ceiling of the hovercraft with a slight grin. “Sorry...I don't usually dip quite so far into naivete...I'm usually more practical, but when the other choice is giving up...” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

 

“The last thing we can do is give up. I'm not sure we should place all our faith in Arcadia though. We have to start looking for our own way out.”

 

Sam smiled at him, feeling a little more energized from his determination, and sat up in her seat, looking from him to their captors at the front of the craft and back. “I'm with you,” she said, and rubbed at the itching device in her neck, a constant reminder of their captivity. “Whatever that may end up taking...we have to get out of here...”