(Pickup) Lines & Tigerhawks & Derrières, Oh My

[Ethan Hawke 0]

A Joint Effort by myself & Captain Ayers

 

 

Amnor taps her commbadge after receiving communication from an incoming fighter. "Captain Ayers to Shuttlebay One. M&M is on her way in. I thought you might like to meet her there, sir."

 

Nick glances up from the book he's been reading as Amnor makes the announcement. Trying to read really..he had been on the same page for five minutes now and even with his eidetic memory he couldn't honestly recall what was written on the page, at least not without more concentration then he was able to muster right now. He was there physically, laying on the couch in the main room of his quarters but his mind was elsewhere, hundreds of lightyears away.

 

He sighs as he swings into a sitting position on the couch and moves to stand. He taps his commbadge and says "Thank you Commander. Ayers out." He reaches for his uniform jacket as he heads for the door.

 

A few minutes later he arrives in shuttle bay one just after the fighter arrives. He stops and frowns darkly as he regards it. M&M, as Amnor called her, was here to help Nick shield the memories of the incident with Ethan from her when she returned. And M&M was also here to help Nick learn to shield the darker memories in his mind from Ethan in case they might trigger the same sort of reaction in her. Letting someone inside his mind was not something Nick had ever taken lightly. Outside of family and the people that helped him learn to control his abilities, really the only person he had ever allowed inside him like that was Ethan. Part of him did not like the thought of letting a near stranger inside his mind but then the alternative..being unable to ever reforge the mental link he shared with Ethan was something he dreaded far more.

 

The fighter canopy opens, revealing the pilot, though not much of her, with the armor and helmet obscuring the majority of her features. She removs her helmet, revealing dark hair. The pilot stand, and swings down from the fighter. With the boots that were part of her armor, she stands all of 5'6". The diminutive woman walks forward, smiling. "You must be Captain Ayers. You're cute." Stopping in front of him, she snaps a jaunty salute, "Lt. Megan Marshal, single, at your service, sir."

 

If Nick had been in a better mood he would have blushed and chuckled at the complement. As it is, he arches an eyebrow and says "Thank you." He hesitates then smiles faintly "And yes you're right..I am Captain Ayers...taken. However, please call me Nick." He gestures to the doors behind him and says "If you'd like, I will show you to your guest quarters."

 

Undeterred, Megan grins further, "I'd rather you show me to yours... but taken, eh? Hmm... If I'd like.... what are my other options?? To be honest, a place to strip and get something to eat would be higher on my list. I've been in that stinking Tigerhawk for a day and a half.... You owe me a shower, and a dinner, I think... to start with."

 

Nick's smile settles into a smirk as he considers the rather flirtatious Lieutenant. Under other circumstances she might be an interesting path to explore but those circumstances were not the ones that existed. He nods slightly "Very well, I'll show you to your quarters and then I'll show you to Drankum's." He shrugs "He doesn't have the best cuisine but it's got to be better then whatever you had during your trip in your fighter." His smile disappears as he adds "And thank you for making the trip. I do appreciate it." With that he turns and strides across the hangar towards the doors.

 

Megan, making far less noise than one would expect from someone wearing full armor, takes two quick steps to catch up with Ayers, reaching out one hand to swat his rear end as she falls into step next to him. "So, I hear from Amnor that you don't have any fighters.... With all due respect, what the hell is wrong with you? Or have you not noticed that you are on the 'wild frontier'?"

 

He blinks and clears his throat when she makes her flirting bolder. Glancing sidelong at her as he says "It has been something I have been mulling. Even made inquiries concerning it but Starfleet is being its normal bureaucratic itself." He steps into the turbolift when it arrives and after she enters he orders it to take them to the guest suites. As the turbolift starts to ascend he turns to regard her as he leans back against the wall of the turbolift. He says "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly has Major Day and Commander Amnor told you about the situation here?"

 

"Why don't you assume I know nothing, and tell me what you think I should know," she replies, her demeanor changing as they get down to business.

 

"Approximately two and a half weeks ago a very large probe, shaped as a humanoid statue, arrived in system through means that have yet to be determined. It's been surmised that it can create its own wormholes. We attempted to scan it and it replied by accessing the station computers and downloading a portion of our database before we could even attempt to stop it. After it stopped, an away team was sent over led by Commander Quark, the Station's chief of Security. Eth...Commander Hawke was a little upset as she thought I sent Quark because Hawke was adamant that I not leave the station despite my curiosity about the statue. While most of the away team was beamed aboard, the statue somehow and for whatever reason prevented the security guards from beaming aboard. The away team, what there was left of it, proceeded to investigate the statue. When one of its members reported that he thought he was being telepathically communicated to, Commander Hawke, with permission, attempted to beam over to the statue. She was also blocked from beaming over by the statue. When the guards had been kept from beaming aboard they apparently had some sort of mental assault where they were made to see or relive their worst memories. The same thing apparently happened to Commander Hawke and she was also forced to relive or see her worst memory. Because of that she attacked Dr. LePage and held him hostage in transporter room one. With some effort Commander Hawke's cousin, Ensign Shephard, and I managed to defuse the situation long enough for her to be taken to sickbay. After Sickbay checked her out I attempted to have her escorted to her quarters and intended to station guards outside her quarters but she insisted on being taken to the brig. The rest you probably know."

 

Megan nods, following Ayers out of the turbolift and down the hall to her quarters. "Okay, so that tells me what happened... but that doesn't really tell me why I'm here." Stepping into her quarters, she starts to remove her armor, carefully, deliberately setting each portion on the table with almost loving tenderness. "Why don't you tell me about that over dinner? Mind if I wash up quick?"

 

He follows her inside as he nods "Go ahead. The washroom is attached to the bedroom which is through that door to your left." With that he turns and walks over to the windows which shows the planet and the stars behind.

 

"I'm familiar with the standard StarFleet layout. You navy types are so predictable. Care to join me?" she asks with a wink, then scurries off to the bathroom, seeing that he is already deep in thought.

 

 

 

He watches the stars for a few moments quietly before closing his eyes and sinking into his own thoughts. To be honest when T'Loren said she would send someone, he had been expecting a Vulcan or at least someone reserved. What he wasn't expecting was to have T'Loren send a...well someone like Lt. Megan Marshall.

 

Barely five minutes, and a poorly sung song, later, Megan emerges from the bedroom, dressed in a standard Marine uniform. Striding over to her armor, she pulls out a Phaser pistol, her sidearm, and pushes it securely into the holster under her uniform jacket. She retrieves a couple of additional small items from her armor and tucked them into her uniform. Looking up, she can see Ayers still looking out the window at the stars. Very quietly, Megan walked up next to him, "Nick? Are you okay?"

 

He sighs quietly and shrugs as he says "Yes..and no. I am...off balance right now..not wholly myself. A lot of it has to do with the reason you are here." He blinks his eyes open and glances down at her as he adds "Come on, you must be starving so lets go tend to that. And I will explain why you are here while you eat. I do have to ask one thing. What I am going to tell you is personal and private. And I want it to remain that way. And that also applies to what you will learn through the reason you are here. There are things I keep buried that you are going to learn about and that can't be helped."

 

Megan gives him a gentle smile, "Would you prefer to tell me somewhere less 'public' than Drankum's, then? And don't worry about what I will 'learn'. I have trained myself to forget things like that. By the time I get back to my ship, I would have to seriously meditate to recall any details from your memories. Did you think Paradox would send someone that you couldn't trust?"

 

He shakes his head and smiles "No, Drankum's will be fine. The fact that it is public will actually be helpful. No one there is going to be listening in as really no one there is going to be interested in it. And to be honest, being what I am, the crowd will help settle me. As for Major Day..by the way you can explain that nickname for her sometime please as I doubt I will get it out of Commander Amnor..the fact that she does trust you is the reason I am willing to extend you mine." He gestures to the door leading to the corridor 'If you are ready, lets go tend to your dinner. And while you eat I will engage in something of a passion of my people..story telling." He smirks and adds "Though I am afraid that it will not be a terribly long or interesting story."

 

She steps out, following his lead, they walk back to the turbolift. "Which nickname? Paradox? That's her callsign, not a nickname. Like mine is M&M. Why Paradox? Because she is one--a living, breathing paradox. She's an emotional Vulcan, and before she turned Marine, she was a scientist. Can you think of any more fitting description?" Stepping out onto the Midway, Megan looks around. "Gosh, I feel a little out of place..."

 

He smiles "Ah, I should have figured. And yes, as little as I know about her, that does seem a rather fitting callsign. Though it doesn't seem quite so incongruous for a scientist to become a marine. After all, I know one that became a Captain which is not really that much less of a stretch." He follows her gaze as she looks around the Midway. His smile broadens at her comment "To be honest, I still have not quite gotten used to this section of the station either. I suppose its all the incoming and outgoing people, the shifting voices and the differing minds." He guides her through the crowd to Drankums. Entering he heads for a empty table in the back corner, away from the majority of the other people. He pulls out a chair for her and waits for her to sit down before moving to the chair across from her.

 

"Ah, such a gentleman. How rare a thing these days." She smiles kindly at him as she sits. "I'm not quite used to seeing so many people unarmed, though. I spend most of my time with the other Marines in my unit, so we're always armed to the teeth." A mischeveous look comes over her face as she looks around, "I suppose 'net checks' aren't considered appropriate here...?"

 

He smirks "No..it's not considered appropriate. And we only allow the security guards or those on duty to be armed on this station. We are quite stringent about that. The last thing we need is, for example, a Klingon deciding to shoot a Cardassian over some drunken dispute. As for my being a gentleman, thank you. Mother was a bit...old school about that." He smile inwardly, thinking that there was very little old school about his mother..at least not in the common definition of the term. "So what did Major Day tell you about why you are here?"

 

"Essentially, it sounded like you're paranoid... that you have a dark, mysterious past and that you're afraid your memories could trigger the new block in Ethan's mind to fail again. Even though those same memories, which I presume she probably touched previously, didn't cause the first block to fail. You also want to shield the memories of her actions in the transporter room, so she doesn't get curious. You know that T'Loren will give her a report of what she did... it won't be from Ethan's perspective, of course, but if she knows that it happened, she is fair less likely to go hunting in her own mind than if we all tried to pretend that nothing happened in the first place. So, she will have book knowledge of the incident, without the true experience... But the fact that she went berserk once has you all worried that you will do her harm in the future by the sheer fact that you haven't had a simple, perfect life. That pretty well sum it up?"

 

He waits until the waiter has come and taken their order before he replies to what she said. "Not paranoid no..but fearful yes. And no..Ethan has not touched the memories that I want shielded. We have gone..."fishing" as she put it but I've kept certain memories out of that. The memories that I am worried that could trigger something are my memories of the Battle of Wolf for one. Though my ship wasn't directly involved in the fighting as it was part of the reserve fleet, we were involved in the last stages of it and also in the cleanup. I was on one of the teams that was sent to inspect the dead Starfleet ships for any signs of survivors...and any sign of the Borg. There were things there that I never hoped to witness or sense. People being captured...and "assimilated."" He says that word with a particular darkness..."by the Borg. There is one thing worse then feeling someone die..it's feeling them die inside but keep on living..in a way. And I already before then had a particular loathing for the Borg. I can't say that I was entirely in control of my emotions at that point in my life. And it was only through the watchfulness of two close friends of mine that I didn't go do something stupid...that I didn't act similarly to how Ethan did. And the other memory I want to be able to shield if need be is the destruction of my people's homeworld and the near extinction of my race." He shrugs "I do not have a dark mysterious past as you say. But there are things in my mind that I do not want becoming common knowledge, things that only my family and those closest to me have any right to know about. Ethan is one of those people but I do not wish to potentially harm her by whatever darkness exists within me."

 

Megan nods, "I still think if she can handle a full mind merge with T'Loren, she can probably handle almost anything. But, it's not my call." She pauses as their meal is delivered, waiting until the waiter departs. After taking a bite, she continues, "Paradox sent me, I came. I am here to do as you wish. Just don't sell her short because you're being overprotective. And I suspect you have that tendency.... 'manners' can easily become controlling protectiveness if one isn't careful. NOT that I'm saying you have that problem, but I sense you might lean that direction on occassion. But, if you want to shield them, we shield."

 

He takes a bite from his meal as he considers what she said. "Does that..tendancy exist in me? Yes, that I will admit. If I had to do it over again I would have taken her to the brig from the start instead what I did do. I did not need T'Loren chiding me on that, I had already recognized that one myself. I am mindful of that possibility within me and I know where it comes from and why it exists. And my memories of the Battle of Wolf and the destruction of my people's homeworld are my darkest memories. I cannot honestly say that if the opportunity arose where I had the option to wipe out the Borg in a heartbeat that I would not be willing to do that..and damn the cost. All I want is the ability to shield those memories if I need to. As it is now, she can break through my shields if she tries to. She's done it before. I do not want to keep that part of me from her, a relationship is built on trust and communication..especially between telepaths..but I do not want that harming her either."

 

Megan smiles, "I think we can manage that... After dinner."