Facing the demons

Posted on Sun Jul 4th, 2021 @ 6:21pm by Lieutenant Samantha Leyton

Mission: Mission 4 - Eden
Location: Shuttlebay
Timeline: 1230 Hours
633 words - 1.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Shuttlepod Odyssey was still listed as disabled from the incident with the Vrav. The pilot's seat held a lone occupant that slumped back into it's seat with their feet drawn to their chest. Dressed in a grey Starfleet t-shirt and sweat pants, Sam stared out of the cockpit viewport. Beyond the viewport was the bulkhead of the shuttlebay but she was seeing something different. She was busy recalling the last time she and Aurelius had spent extended time together. It had been just after the ship's Christmas Party

"See. that's why you deserve this job more than me. I wanted to fly because it could get me far away. You wanted to fly because you loved it." He smiled and took her hands. His were rough, the skin having healed over his injury a little unevenly and he'd asked that it remain that way. No corrective surgery. "Uh what kind of . . . . courting traditions does your family have?"

"Um...the usual I suppose," she replied with a shrug. "Dating, and then if all goes well, engagement, and then marriage. My family was never big on such traditions--they only cared that each person respected the other. Though my sister tried more than once to set me up with guys," she laughed as she recalled those horrible dates.

"Uhuh," Aurelius said thinking it over. "Well, at least you didn't find someone. I mean," he quickly explained. "Then you might now have come, not that I want you stranded out here. But if you hadn't come we wouldn't have met and that would have been a real shame."

Samantha couldn't help but smile at him. "I suppose that's true. So what about you? Any courting rituals on your side?"

"Nah, my family tend to have big weddings, obviously that won't be a problem for us. I mean uh, you know if we get to that point. Otherwise, nope, just normal humans who get to know one another by dating."

Aurelius' comment made her raise an eyebrow before noticing that it was getting late from her chronometer on her nearby desk. "So," she paused, looking at the deck and then at Aurelius. "Are you staying the night?"

Aurelius coughed at the unexpected question. He didn't know why but Samantha made him nervous. "Uh, do you want me to?"

"Only if you're sure about it and us," she said looking at him.

"Let's . . . let's just sleep if that's okay. There's the whole birth control issue and being so far away from Earth. I don't want to have to think of any of that. Cuddling with you and sleeping sounds wonderful."

"Sounds good to me," she replied, smiling.

Sam blinked away the tears that streamed down her cheeks. Now he was gone...all because of that damned ship. Just the thought of the ship and seeing Aurelius' body laying there, filled her with rage and her fists smashed down hard onto the control panel, causing a screen to crack. "Why?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She repeated the action, causing more screens to break under her assault. In that blind fury, pain was an afterthought as screams filled the shuttlepod and bay. A minute later, she slumped back in the chair, spent from her tirade. Blood dripped down her hands from open wounds and onto the deck plating.

Despite the the pain in her hands currently, she felt better as she blinked away the tears, knowing the pain of Aurelius' loss would not go away anytime soon but she felt better since learning of Aurelius' death. However, she had to press on and help solve the mystery of his death and make sure whoever did it faced justice. Standing up shakily, she made her way out of the damaged shuttlepod and towards the shuttlebay entrance.