Something Wicked This Way Comes

Posted on Thu Jan 4th, 2018 @ 12:30am by Major Hailey Weston & Lieutenant JG Siobahn Fallon

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Hailey's Quarters

Siobahn had long finished her shift and even managed to fit in a little study before getting herself ready and making her way to Hailey's quarters. If her appearance could be described as having any particular style, it would be eclectic at best. She wore a knee length boho style dress, but then on her feet she had a pair of black almost knee high cowboy boots. Her long red hair fell freely, but the only 'jewellery' she wore was a hair elastic around her wrist.

Not even 100 percent sure if she was early or late, she reached out and hit the door chime, just waiting for Hailey to answer.

It took about thirty seconds for the door to open with Hailey at the entrance, barefoot and in sweat pants and a t-shirt with the saying 'He who laughs last, thinks fastest' on it. She took one look at Siobahn and barely stifled a laugh, turning it into a cough instead, "Well, good evening."

Handing Hailey a deep dish container that was emitting the most delicious spicy smells, Siobahn explained, "My Momma told me it was rude to go to someone's house empty handed. Flowers and chocolate seemed wrong, so I bought wings. I hope you like them!" She said with an easy grin.

"And here I had prime rib already made up, with baked potatoes and green beans." Hailey's face was serious for all of two seconds, then she burst out in laughter, "Wings are better than whatever I'd been thinking, which had been basically anything from the replicator." She took the wings and walked further in, expecting Siobahn to follow, "Please, make yourself at home." She freed a hand and waved to the room, custom rifle on a stand on a long table, automatic in front of it. A dress uniform bedecked with medals hung in a corner, and then just a few momentos of various things scattered about the otherwise empty room, "Not much to speak of, really."

"Now that you've said it," Siobahn replied with a grin, "The prime rib actually sounds pretty damn fine!" She moved across to the couch and sank down onto it, leaning into the corner, crossing her legs and watching Hailey as she fussed around. "So how's your friend tonight?" she asked, deciding that the safest bet was to opt for small talk. "I imagine her high would have come down by now."

"Oh, rest assured she has, but I have someone watching her for the night and it's really hard to be angry with Eries even under the worst of conditions. And, I think wings sound better myself, I was just talking out my ass about the other thing." Hailey smiled, "But unless you really, really want to talk shop about medical stuff, I thought tonight was supposed to be more um... Recreational?"

"Oh, believe me, I welcome the recreational, especially if it comes with copious amounts of dark rum!" Siobahn shot back. "I did my shift, I fit in a few hours of study today, now I'm on MY time, and I intend to absolutely enjoy MY time," she grinned again and kicked off her boots. "I say lets get this party started!"

"The only rum I've got would be replicated, I regret to say. I really don't keep much real stuff like that about." Hailey was a touch embarrassed to say it, given Siobahn's apparent delight, "Let's see, what to do, what to do." She grinned, "Hells bells, we barely even know each other's names! But I snooped on you during the day, so I know what's in your official file at least."

Siobahn opened her mouth with mock alarm. "You looked me up? You snooped my file?" she asked, trying hard to maintain a straight voice before she just started laughing. "There isn't much to tell. I'm an Ensign, just graduated the academy, this is my first assignment, my record is far too vanilla to be interesting in any way!" She paused, looking at the highly decorated dress uniforms. "Yours on the other hand..." Siobahn raised one eyebrow questioningly.

Hailey grinned ferally, "Anything BUT vanilla. Let's see, I'm currently in my eleventh year of active duty, of which nearly seven have been spent in Raider special operations teams. My first year and the three the Corps sent me to the Academy to get my medical degree are the rest. I can't even tell me a lot of what I've done. I'm not cleared high enough! Needless to say, sharp end of the stick." She winked at Siobahn, "But I'll tell you anything I can tell you that isn't too classified. There isn't too much that's that highly classified, though, so we should be good."

Standing up, Siobahn padded across the room in her bare feet, standing in front of the uniform, running her fingers lightly over the medals. "What was this one for?" she asked, pointing to one of the medals, turning to Hailey with a questioning expression.

Hailey chuckled, "The Silver Star? Well, I have four of those." 'Seven, really,' she thought to herself, "God.. Tell you what, I'll spread those one out at a time, but my very first was for an action just inside nominally Cardassian space. My team was on a straight up recon mission looking for a weapons facility for improved munitions. We found it all right, but we also found a base that had two hundred heavily armed troops whose only purpose was to guard the factory."

The marine smiled, "We decided to take it out and infiltrated the perimeter without getting counterdetected, well, four of us did, the other four were on overwatch, set the explosives and ran into a patrol on the way out. Taking them out set off alarms, so we had to shoot our way out. Benitez took a hit to the leg and I ended up half carrying him out of there after plugging his leaky leg." Hailey chuckled, "Other than that, one chemical weapons factory taken out. And to think, I was just a Corporal at that point."

Siobahn's eyes widened slightly. The thought of having to carry out medical procedures WHILE under active attack was a concept that was just completely beyond her ability to imagine. She shook her head as she walked back over to the couch, sitting down and continuing to watch Hailey. "So what's the scariest thing you have ever done on duty?" she asked, genuinely interested in her experiences.

"That is a loaded question." Hailey said quietly, "But I would say one time we lost our extraction shuttle while we were being hunted by fanatical Jem'hadar holdouts. They were a part of a splinter for a Dominion faction that didn't believe that the war was over and kept breeding warriors. That turned into a two week evasion while our emergency signal was able to get a ship to us. I would say we eliminated about two hundredish of them, but only three of us got out." She cringed at the memory of the seven that never made it off the jungle world. "There's something about really being hunted that sucks, especially in a jungle."

"Ooohhhh..." Siobahn breathed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories... which, is why I should have known better than to ask such a stupid question... I'm sorry." She paused for a few moments, lapsing into silence. In truth she found Hailey's experiences to be incredibly interesting, as someone who had never even seen anything even close to resembling the front line, to be there, sitting down and talking to someone who had been there, done that, got the medals, and most likely the battle scars as well, was awe inspiring.

Hailey recovered into a smile, "No, don't be sorry, please. Yes, it hurt and still hurts to have lost them, but remembering them is doing an honor to them, it means they still matter." She stood up and headed to the replicator, "Raiders, the organization of us, have a saying, 'The last hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety.' Our job isn't safe and we know it and we accept it knowing that if we are the ones out there, then we're helping save people even if they don't know it." She brought back a glass of rum each, handing one to Siobahn, "Never feel bad for us, Siobahn, we're all volunteers several times over and we know what we're getting into." She raised her glass in a salute, "Absent Companions."

Holding up her glass, Siobahn smiled. "To absent companions," she said quietly. "I admire you," she finally said after another moment of silence. "To have been through everything I can only begin to imagine you must have endured to have been awarded all those medals, and yet to still sit here and tell me not to feel bad for you... Something tells me that you would be the one who keeps rushing back into the fray even after others have long given up, even knowing how much you would be risking." She took a sip of her drink, grimacing slightly at the taste and then looking back across at Hailey. "Would you ever give it up?"

Hailey amiled in amusement as she pondered, "I wouldn't be me if I did." A shrug, "Someone has to do it and I'm good at it. The trick is to actually enjoy it, for me it's the challenge of it. The craziest thing I've ever done, to be honest, was performing an open heart surgery with lung complicatuons with a half battalion of very angry Jinuan trying very hard to find and kill me after my team wiped out the rest of their REGIMENT."

Siobahn's face clouded with confusion. "Isn't a regiment and a battalion the same thing?" she asked, completely unsure of why there was any emphasis on the different words. "Both just bunches of people running around with weapons trying to kill each other?"

"Nope, a typical regiment is around twenty-five hundred to three thousand troops, battalions average around five hundred or a bit more. This regiment had just been in the line against the Second Marine Division and had taken a bunch of losses, brought it down to about twelve hundred or abouts. My team had just been in their rear doing, um..." Hailey searched for the right words, "Command and Control Disruption." She really meant the closest thing to assassination of their senior officers, "We were extracting to our lines when we quite literally ran into them. Had a running battle while setting up ambushes and brought them to about two hundred, give or take. Dead, wounded, ran away, it was worthy of a song." She laughed.

"So there we were, lost Hanson, but a thousand to one loss ratio? Then they were roaming in disarray, Staff Sergeant Nico and I stayed to cover the others with our wounded as they made it to our lines. We were starting to move when Nico got hit with four rounds and I had to get us to cover. Had a couple of their squads coming in after us while I cut him open to do a quickie fix on his nicked aorta, chest tube to help with the blood in his lungs and got a seal on the entry/exits." She grinned, Nico made it, a couple of the team came back to find us and get us out. That blue one?" She gestured to the first medal on the uniform, a pale blue, "Got that one for the action."

"Wow..." Siobahn said quietly, reflecting on what Hailey had just told her. She finished the rum and set the glass aside, shaking her head slightly. "I honestly can't even fathom being in that kind of situation, let alone performing in field heart surgery while under fire. You must have nerves of steel!"

"Nerves of steel? Maybe, but it was desperation, Nico had a kid and a half to get back to and I wasn't gonna let him die if I could help it. Pissed myself I was so scared, though, almost lost him when two Jinuan found us. And the fastest I ever worked. Only took twenty minutes inside him, but couldn't seem to hole up that well afterwards. The two that came back even took an hour to find us." Hailey took a deep swallow of rum and sat back, bringing her feet up underneath her, "Someone thought it deserved to be recognized, but all I was doing was my job."

Shaking her head slightly, Siobahn disagreed. "It's more than that," she said easily. "You went above and beyond, even *I* can see that, and lets be honest, I know nothing about being on the front line!"

"And I hope you have to be." Hailey said seriously, "It isn't pretty and I'm not going to kid you, a lot of docs I have known crack up when a combat casualty comes in. The best thing to do is to look at the injury, not the person. Forget they exist, focus on the problem. Your nurse will give you the information you need, you just need to identify and fix the problem. It is totally the opposite of what most teaching docs say, they think being 'one with the patient' is the way to go."

With a grin Siobahn shook her head quickly. "As a general rule us 'mere medical officers' don't tend to make it to the front lines." she replied easily. "We're good with sniffles and broken bones, but heart surgery while under fire is not something that we're all that good at."

"So, we've been talking an awful lot about Hailey Weston at the moment." She stood and went back over to the replicator and brought back a decanter of rum, refilling her own glass and offering it to Siobahn, "Why don't we talk about Siobahn Fallon for a little bit?"

Taking the decanter, Siobahn refilled her own glass and set the decanter on the table. "But talking about you is most definitely so much more interesting!" she said with a grin. "Honestly, there's not that much to tell. I've been on the ship for a couple of days, this is my first assignment, I'm just a lowly little medical officer, there isn't much more to say! I don't have any awesome tales of battle exploits or amazing acts of gallantry to tell, and the closest I have ever come to being hunted was by campus security!"

"Hey, campus security can get twigs up their asses at times!" Hailey objected, "What did you do to make them come after you, huh?" She leaned forward in anticipation.

Taking a mouthful of her rum, Siobahn leaned back against the end of the couch, colour flushing her cheeks slightly. "So, it's the night before our third year finals for xenobiology four delta, which was goin' to make a huge part of our grade for the subject for the whole year. A few of us were studyin', (which largely translates into drinking), running on caffeine and lack of sleep, as you do... someone, who definitely was NOT me, decided we should go for a swim... so we end up going for a swim in the Academy Commandant's private pool. Would have been all fine except one of the boys decided to break into his house and stole one of his prize bottles of Aldebaran Whiskey. Campus Security comes. We all climb out of the pool wearing naught but our knickers and go runnin'. They're bigger and faster than I am, so I decide the easiest way to deal with it is to hide under the hedge around the library. Unfortunately I fell asleep and woke up just after sunrise with a bunch of first year cadets out doing hand to hand maneuvers in the quad. So there I am, in my knickers, holding the stolen bottle of whiskey, and somehow had to try and get back to my dorm room without being seen so I could at least hide the whiskey and put some clothes on. I nearly missed my exam, I spent half the time picking twigs and grass out of my hair, and when I was walking out of my exam campus security showed me a lovely shot of my ass and asked me if I knew anything about the break in. Thankfully no one ever realized it was me, I somehow passed my exam and I still have the bottle of whiskey." She grinned as she took another mouthful of her rum. "So, there you have it."

Halfway through her speaking, Hailey's mouth opened halfway and she listened to the rest of the story and mouthed 'son of a bitch...' At the end, she took another large drink of her rum, then shook her head with a smile and a half-laugh, "One of of the reasons, I do think, is because they picked me up the next day when I was laughing over the article. Security knew I took night walks and I freaked a couple of them out a few times for the hell of it, nothing they could do about it. And it just so happened that I was seen walking by the Commandant's house shortly before the alarm went out. So they came and took me in and really interrogated me about it, even put me in the brig for the day and I MISSED an exam, and it was the same class... Xeno Four Delta, I'm just glad that when they couldn't prove I'd done it, Commander Veral let me make up that test."

Siobahn visibly paled at the revelation. "Oh... My... God..." colour stained bright red against her paled skin. "Please tell me you're kidding?!" she exclaimed, feeling visibly sick. If Hailey got caught up in that mess because of her, it was going to be all over. Her eyes widened. "I'm going to have to leave the ship..." she said quickly... shaking her head. "That's it, I'm gonna have to leave the damn ship.. As ucht Dé, Ná Bí Ag Iarraidh Cluain An Chacamais A Chur Orm..." she slipped into her native Gaelic, not even willing to look Hailey in the eyes.

"You are not leaving the ship." Hailey's Command voice announced, then softened, then a deep laugh came out of Hailey, "Holy shit..." she couldn't stop laughing, "Of all the coincidences that could happen, I would never have bet on this one."

Siobahn stopped ranting and looked across at Hailey, her eyes wide. "You're not angry?" she asked, somewhat incredulously. "Because, seriously, if that were me, I'd already be looking for a way to jetison my body out of an airlock!" She sighed softly and covered her face with her hands momentarily before looking back at Hailey again, trying to find a wan smile. "If it's any consolation, the bottle of whiskey is still in my quarters, I never touched it. You can totally have it!"

"How about we split it for the next date night?" Hailey suggested, "Maybe even a hot tub in the holodeck? But hell, they couldn't have done anything to me even if I had done it and or they could prove it. My father is the CO of the Third MarDiv, he was even then, and I know a lot of the marine brass." She was leaning back on the couch again, "I just never knew whodunit, now I know!"

Starting to relax for a moment, suddenly Siobahn sat bolt upright, a look of complete panic crossing her face. "Oh... My... God..." she finally said softly. "They showed the security image didn't they?" She covered her face again and shook her head. "Oh my God... one of the most senior officers on the ship has seen my ass... I definitely need to leave!"

"Why? It was such a cute ass." Hailey's face was suddenly smacked by her own hand, "In a medical way?" She tried to save.

Siobahn burst out into laughter, unable to help herself. The ludicrousness of the entire situation suddenly struck her. "Of all the ships to end up on, in the entire universe, I have to end up on a ship, in the Delta Quadrant, with you..." She cascaded into giggles, largely symptomatic of her fear dissolving into uncertainty and nervousness. "Seriously, what are the odds?" she finally asked through her laughter.

"I'm a doctor, not a mathematician!" Hailey protested, "But really, really low." She laughed again, raising her glass for another toast, "Coincidences just mean that we were meant to be together." Another hand of hers smacked into her own forehead, "You know, I should stop talking now" Her face reddened.

"Well, if this is fate's way of showing her hand, I certainly won't argue," Siobahn finally replied with a smile. "After all, I have it on good authority that your friend Cally approves." She paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to recover from this situation gracefully, while she poured herself another rum. "So..." she said, offering the decanted to Hailey. "It's our first date and you've already seen my ass, where do we go from here?" As soon as the words had escaped her mouth, Siobahn groaned. "And I have no idea why I said that, I am so sorry!"

Hailey refilled her glass again, knowing she shouldn't. She was already feeling the rum, but what the hell. "I think both of our mouths have exceeded our brainwidth." She laughed, "But fair's fair. I've seen yours, if you want to see mine, you just have to ask. Then we'd be even."

With a grin, Siobahn raised an eyebrow slightly. “Oh, I will definitely hold that offer up my sleeve,” she said with a laugh. She watched Hailey for a long moment as she took another sip from her glass. “Ughhhh...” she finally murmured quietly. “Something tells me getting up early and going for a run isn’t going to happen!”

"I still intend to, but only two miles this time.." Hailey shook her head, it spinning, "And coffee, lots of coffee."

“Mmmmmm.... coffee.... coffee gooooooood....” Siobahn laughed. “Coffee may just help, preferably double raktajino strength...”

Hialey grinned evilly, "Sounds good. I'll wake you up at oh six hundred bearing coffee and we'll go for a run."

Siobahn’s eyes widened. “But.... but....”. She stammered before pouting slightly. “Fine, just make it an easy run.”

"Sure." Hailey agreed, "Just corridors for tomorrow." She made an emphasis on the last word, "And at a nice humane pace."

“So we’ll be walking then?” Siobahn looked hopeful. In all honesty, given how much rum she had consumed she was pretty sure that the first thing she was going to have to deal with was the poundin head and the dry mouth, if Hailey managed to wake her up it would be nothing short of a miracle. “I suppose if we are getting up that early I should go back to my own quarters and let you get some sleep...”

"Hey, I'm used to running on no slep, starship life is luxurioud in comparison." Hailey dashed all hopes of just a walking pace with those words, "Just depends on how much sleep you feel you need."

“I got through medical school on a steady diet of sugar and caffeine, sleep never rated highly,” she shrugged. “I can hold my own, you don’t need to worry about me.”

"Then we're all good." Hailey glanced at the chrono on tbe wall, "It's twenty-two hundred," She put down her glass, "Yup, time to stop and let the liver get to work. So... Staying or going?" She raised an eyebrow.

“Is that an invitation?” Siobahn shot back quickly, setting her glass down and looking across at Hailey. Holding up her hand before Hailey could reply, Siobahn shook her head and reached for her boots. “On second thoughts, I don’t want to know,” she replied with a grin. “Something tells me you would Big all the covers.”

“So, oh six hundred and you bring the coffee, yeah?”

Hailey snorted and held her tongue, Siobahn might have been surprised at the answer; Hailey did have a perfectly comfortable couch after all, or of course... ""Of course I'll bring the coffee, sleep well!"

With a wave over her shoulder, Siobahn disappeared out the door, boots in hand. Something told her sleep was not going to be her friend tonight.

OFF:

Marine Captain Hailey Weston
Marine CO
USS Wellington

Ensign Siobahn Fallon
Medical Officer
USS Wellington