Baiting the Hook - Part 2

Posted on Thu Oct 12th, 2017 @ 5:17pm by

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Karen Walker's Quarters
Timeline: Immediately after Baiting the Hook - Part 1

ON:

OLD:
"Nothing was wrong with THAT ship, but the one she was named after was a hard-luck ship." Seeing her puzzled look, he continued. "The original Edmund Fitzgerald was a steamship that existed on Earth over 400 years ago. She was a Great Lakes ore freighter that disappeared in a storm on Lake Superior on November 10th, 1975. To this day, no one knows for certain why she sank. She might have split up, or she might have capsized. She may have broke deep and took water. Her wreckage was found on the bottom of the lake a year or two later, just fifteen miles outside of Whitefish Bay. If she had made it into Whitefish Bay she would have been safe, but she didn't - and no trace was ever found of the twenty-nine members of her crew." He shook his head slowly. "Bad juju to name a ship after one that's gone missing. It's as bad as if they'd named a ship 'The Flying Dutchman, or Titanic, or..."

NEW:
"Or Botany Bay?" she interrupted before letting out a short laugh. "You don't really believe all that bullshit do you? That's superstition."

"I don't know," Charles said slowly as he sipped his drink. "Look what happened to Kirk after he found the wreckage of Botany Bay on Ceti Alpha V. The deaths of those scientists on Regula One, Captain Terrell committing suicide, Khan and his followers...then Kirk's son David being murdered by Kruge on the Genesis planet in the Mutara Nebula. You gonna sit there and tell me those were all coincidences?"

"Yes...no...hell, I don't know. But you're a scientist, and as a scientist you know that superstition has no place in the scientific world."

"I suppose you're right," he admitted. "But I'm still glad to not be there any more. So what have you been doing?"

Karen noticed that he had not mentioned Laurana as he recounted his past and she debated as she answered him whether or not she should broach THAT subject with him. "Well, after I left the Phobos I was assigned to the USS James H. Doolittle. I spent three years there then transferred to the Hyperion as assistant Astrometrics Officer. Then, three years ago I got drafted back to the Academy to teach Astrometrics 101. Can you believe that? Me? A TEACHER?? Screw that - not bloody likely! I'm a scientist, not an academic. That's why, when I got the notice from you about this position, I jumped at it." What she DIDN'T say was that he was the main reason she wanted the position. She sipped her drink in silence for a bit, turning things over in her mind before finally making the decision.

"So what happened with Laurana...?" she asked.

He had wondered when THAT subject would come up. "Not much to tell, really," he said, wondering if he should really be discussing this with her. "We had been aboard the Richard about a year. I returned to quarters after shift one day and she was packing her things along with Levi's. I asked her what was going on and she told me she was leaving and going back to Trill. She left and six months later I got a Dissolution of Marriage document sent via subspace and validated by the Federation. Seven years down the fucking tubes, just like that..." he said, snapping his fingers.

"So do you ever hear from her?"

"Not really..." he admitted. "I hear from Levi occasionally. He's almost 14 now and says he plans to apply to Starfleet as soon as he's old enough, but as for her, no. Evidently after the dissolution, she went back for her doctorate and is concentrating on her career as a linguist."

"Sorry..." she said quietly, although if the truth were told she wasn't sure that she was sorry at all. This could prove to be good for her in the long run, but she was careful not to let any of that show. She just gave thanks to the Great Bird of the Galaxy that Charles was not Betazoid, otherwise he would have known what she was thinking and this entire deal would have blown up in her face.

Charles shrugged slightly at her statement before answering. "What can I say? Shit happens sometimes and when it does it all runs downhill. Just a bit of bad luck I guess."

"Well who knows - maybe your luck will change one day." She had said this before realizing that she had spoken aloud. When she realized it, her first instinct was to watch him to see if he had any reaction. 'Don't stare,' she thought to herself. 'That will tip him off for certain,' she added as she willed herself to look away.

"So what about you?" he asked after a moment. "No marriage for you in the past?"

"Why the hell would I want that?" she responded, trying to put an indignant tone in her voice. "I mean, why should I tie myself down to one person when I can have my fun with them all." She shook her head slightly, then continued. "Came close once but I thankfully came to my senses before it happened. Good looking Orion it was too. Got down on one knee and all that, but I told her nope, I wasn't interested in getting tied down. I just wanted a bit of fun. She didn't like that too much and everything ended not long after that."

'SHE??' he thought to himself. Had he heard right? Was it possible that she wasn't into men? Maybe he had misjudged her, but if that were the case, what about all those times back on the Phobos when she had hit on him? Or maybe was it that her tastes ran both directions? He didn't know what to say so for the moment he said nothing at all.

"Oh well - water under the bridge..." she said.

Deciding that it was time to change the subject to something he felt would be safer, he said "Isn't it about time you showed me the things you wanted me to see?"

"Absolutely..." she answered as she set her glass on the table, glad for the opening he had just unwittingly provided her with. "They're in the bedroom." With that, she stood up and motioned for him. When he stood, she pointed to the door. "In there..."

She followed him in, then stepped back from his view. He looked around, not seeing any type of plants in the room, then said "I don't see any plants in here."

"What I want you to look at is right here..." she said from behind him.

Charles turned quickly, only to find her standing behind him - naked from the waist up.

To be continued...

OFF:

Lieutenant Charles Damian
Chief Science Officer
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Karen Walker
Science Officer/Astrometris Officer
USS Wellington