The Klingons, The Breen, and a lovely little lady

[Travis Kroells 0]

“The Klingons, the Breen, and a lovely little lady” A Kroells and Miral production

 

Perplexed: To make confusedly intricate; complicate.

 

Travis Kroells was perplexed. He was confused, frustrated, angry, and half-drunk. He stood by one of the massive windows in the lounge, staring out at that damned system that aggravated him so. Between the ruined UFP fleet, the Breen attack, and now the discovery of this mysterious Klingon ship, it was enough to drive a man to drink.

 

...Which was exactly what he was doing.

 

Its not often in you career that you’re attacked by a newly discovered species. Up until today, most people believed the Breen to be a myth. Frozen monsters parents told their kids for a good scare. A good scare, heh all he needed to do was go down to the flight deck and watch the tech crews put his fighter back together. He sighed as he took another sip of his Guinness.

 

Then there were the Klingons.

 

A species that had all but been wiped from the Galaxy by Duren and his predecessors fascism. Neither him, his father, nor even his grandfather had seen a Klingon in the flesh. The last registered Klingon ship had been destroyed when his grandfather was still in grade school. So one would be naturally confused when a Klingon ship, larger then any seen before suddenly pops up.

 

“We always have to be the lucky ones don’t we?”

 

Travis let out a small sigh again as he put down an empty bottle by three others and quickly opened another Guinness, wondering what could go wrong next...

 

Kestra walked down the corridor, barely looking up from the PADD in her hand. She had been caught completely off-guard on the bridge and wasn't about to let it happen again. Reading up on the Klingons seemed like the smart thing to do, and she could catch a quick meal while she was at it. Walking absentmindedly into the mess hall, she paused for a minute. Something felt wrong.

 

Travis was well into his fifth Guinness, and was staring off into the space beyond the glass of the lounge windows. He furrowed his brow as his thoughts continued to trouble him.

 

Grabbing a sandwich, Kestra turned to look for a seat. And saw him. She walked past him to the far end of the hall, opting for a small empty table to the side.

 

As deeply as he was thinking, and as much as the alcohol blocked his rational thought, he instantly remember her scent, a flood of memories hitting him. He could hear her footsteps fading away from him, causing him to let out a small sigh. "Just going to avoid me today Kes?"

 

"Just looked like you would be better left alone." She stopped and turned to face him.

 

He turned around, and locked eyes with hers. "I think you're the one who would rather be left alone." He gave her a look that let her know he had more then noticed her little reaction on the bridge

 

She shrugged her shoulders and walked over, setting her PADD and sandwich down on the table. "How have you been?" She asked easily, sliding into the seat across from him.

 

He sighed at how easy she made it look. It made him doubt if any of it was real. "Ok." His eyes almost instantly gave away his lie.

 

"You look awful," she stated matter-of-factly. "Does Kaylee know you haven't been taking care of yourself?"

 

"She doesn't talk to me much anymore. She's too wrapped up in her little Agent gig." He quickly took a swig of his beer.

 

Kestra nodded. "I haven't talked to her since I was transferred." She glanced at her PADD as he drank his beer. Some things just didn't change. "Listen, it's been great seeing you again and everything, but I've got some material I wanted to cover."

 

A hurt look crossed his eyes, as he quickly hid it. "Yeah, you must be busy and such...You shouldn't waste your time on me."

 

She didn't need to look at him to sense what he was feeling. "It's nothing personal, Travis." The words came with barely any hesitation. She looked up at him and grinned. "We can't all be fighter pilots after all. And when I'm on the bridge, I want to make sure I know what we're up against."

 

He nodded at her, and then quickly grabbed her hand. "These past four years sitting on this heap were a mistake. Leaving you on Betazed was a mistake. Leaving you was a mistake, one that eats away at me every day."

 

Covering her surprise, she strained to carefully choose her words. "That was a long time ago, Travis. And you already made your decision." She glanced over at his beer. "Maybe we should talk about this another time." She looked away for a moment, willing herself not to speak, and then withdrew her hand and stood up.

 

He sighed, and looked over to his bottle of Guinness. "This doesn't speak for me. But, I'm sorry. I shouldn't burden you with these things..." He stood up himself, albeit a bit shaky, ready to leave himself.

 

Suddenly angry, she picked up her PADD and the sandwich. "See you around, Travis," she said as she turned and sought to put some distance between them. Was she supposed to feel sorry? For him? Unbelievable. She threw the uneaten sandwich into the waste unit and disappeared into the corridor. He sighed and sat back down, feeling defeated in every sense of the word. He looked down and took another sip of his beer; four years of hurt dug up by four minutes of conversation.