BFtP: The Whole Story

Posted on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 5:11pm by Major Hailey Weston & Lieutenant JG Siobahn Fallon

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Hailey's Quarters
Timeline: Shortly After Seeing Ghosts

The return trip to the ship had been... well... interesting to say the least. Initially Hailey had remained stony silent, just gripping her hand tightly as they walked, her eyes constantly darting all over the place. In truth, Siobahn had never seen her so on edge about anything, let alone meeting an old friend. Once they had entered Hailey's quarters it was like a switch had been flipped and all of a sudden she started pacing like a caged tiger. Sitting on the couch, Siobahn tucked her legs up under her, more so to make sure that they weren't a trip hazard to Hailey, and waited.

Hailey paced back and forth in front of the couch where Siobahn was seated, not sure where to start the whole story. "Start at the beginning..." She said to herself, but shook her head and grimaced. "You are about to learn more about me than you want to know." She admitted, "I'm not scared of losing you, I just want you to know that this is the truth, all of it."

"Alright," Siobahn said quietly. "Just so long as you know nothing you say will change anything from my perspective."

With a sigh, Hailey slowed her pacing, "He called me Ima, that's because my 'maiden' name was Ima Hooker." She gave a chuckle, "My father was an asshole and he was actually sober when he picked out my name, so I heard. But he and my mum were horrid parents, one did drugs, one did booze, neither of them gave a solitary shit that they had a kid. He died when I was nine, no great loss, mum still didn't care, so I left when I was twelve. Spent about a week by myself on the streets before the man you just met found me and gave me a home. Yeah, there were a bunch of us kids, but he treated me ten times better than my own parents, fed me and everything."

"So there I was, young and impressionable, since I felt I owed him, I became a thief, then a drug mule. I transported the crap that my father died doing for that asshole and felt perfectly fine doing it, because he treated me better than my parents." She shook her head, "I was a true member of his gang. Then we were attacked by the Websters, our biggest rival in London. They had killed a lot of our people when I got 'home' from a delivery, had Carlos there tied to a chair, gun to his head. Two of them.. My first time with a gun, took all six shots to kill one of them, then... Stab, stab, stab!" She had to laugh at that one a bit, following it with the stabbing motion. "I lost my mind."

She finally perched on the edge of the chair, clasping her hands together in front of her, "So I became his enforcer and assassin. And lover. Fourteen years old, dropped out of school and a gangbanger. Hell, it was easy, I mean who would suspect a girl in a school uniform walking with a backpack on? Of course she's going to school, right? Or going home from school? Counting the two from that one night, I had twenty-one kills as his enforcer, often times using that very disguise. And by the time I turned fifteen? Hell, he needed me to sleep with someone? Wasn't a big deal. got the target's guard down rather nicely, too."

Hailey leaned back and looked to the ceiling, "Then I fucked up. I don't even remember the guy's name, just the face, but he owed Carlos money and didn't want to pay, so I got the tap on the shoulder to teach him a lesson. Didn't realize his secretary was going to come by for some reason or another, but she caught me right in the middle of it and called the cops. I left the gang two days later and walked into a Marine recruiting office, told them I was seventeen and a half and they believed me. That only lasted six weeks before the Commandant called bullshit on me. Ended up confessing the whole thing to him and the JAG and gave them evidence to use against Carlos in return for enlisting in the Marines when I did actually turn the right age." She gave a genuine smile, "And now I actually call that General my father, Giovanni Weston, right now in command of the Third Division. And I took my middle name instead, and I think that Hailey Weston sounds much better than Ima Hooker."

Siobahn had fought to keep her expression devoid of emotion as Hailey spoke, but quickly realised that she was fighting a losing battle. Even if she was able to keep her emotions off her face, there was no way she could hide the horror or anger in her eyes. "Oh Hailey..." was all she could say at the end. There were a million thoughts racing through her mind, a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but she didn't know where to even begin. Instead she glanced down at her hands that were clenched on her lap, so tightly that her knuckles had started to turn white. "Is there anythin' else?" she asked, her voice sounding almost strangled as she spoke. "Are you plannin' on leaving StarFleet and going back to them?"

“There is no way in hell im going back to him, nor do I plan on leaving the Fleet!” It came without any hesitation in the slightest, “If I’d had a parent worth a damn, I would probably never have joined him in the first place. I was out on the street for a few days, seen him walk by a couple times before he came up to me, so the concern he showed me made an impression so I went with him. When the General found me out, I thought I was just going to go to jail for a long time, but he and that Ensign conspired to keep me out of it. Then he went above and beyond by acting is my guardian for a couple years and even after that adopted me. He and the Corps have given me a structure, support, hell, a FAMILY. If I went back to him, I’d be throwing that away.” Hailey shook her head again, “But he’s dangerous, Siobahn, very dangerous, you need to stay away from him, especially now. He knows I’m in the marines now and if he has any suspicions... He wants me back, especially with the combat training I’ve had, experience too.”

Siobahn nodded slightly, still not sure what to say or how to respond. She stood up from the couch and walked across to the view port, leaning against the bulkhead as she stared out, trying to formulate something resembling words. She could feel her own blood pressure rising and unclenched her fists, closing her eyes and taking some slow deep breaths before she finally turned around and looked at Hailey as she leaned back against the bulkhead. "Is that it?" she asked quietly. "Is there anything else you haven't told me yet? You're not secretly a member of Section 31 or a Cardassian spy under cover?"

"Sweetheart, you know what my morning job, my afternoon job and my evening jobs are already! I don't think I have the TIME to be a member of Section 31, much less a Cardassian spy." Hailey couldn't help but have a couple dry chuckles, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it. You don't want to hear about most of my war stories, they're primarily 'And we sat there for a couple days' and 'We walked across half a continent.'"

Siobahn sighed softly and spent a moment just watching Hailey in silence, trying to quell the sense of anger rising within her. "I'm sorry,"she finally said reservedly. "They were stupid questions."

"There is no stupid question except the one not asked." Hailey pointed out, "People asking 'stupid' questions save lives in the Marines, hell, saved my life at least once, probably several times. You can't take anything for granted when lives are on the line."

"I'm not talkin' about the marines, hell, I'm not even talkin' about Star Fleet! I'm talkin' about you Hailey... YOU!" Siobahn's voice raised for the first time since Hailey had stopped speaking. "This man used you in the most despicable way, he abused your trust, he abused your situation, he took advantage of you, and now after throwing all of this at me, the only thing you can do is tell ME to stay away from him? What about YOU?"

That was like a knee to the gut to Hailey. She wasn't used to someone worrying about her, only the other way around. "What about me? Yes, he used me. Yes, abused me, too, it would have been called rape by anyone with half a brain even though I was willing. What can I do about it? What should I do about it? Should I take the next shuttle or transporter down, walk up to him and a put a bullet in his brain? If he puts a hand on me again, I'm going to do just that. If he puts a hand on YOU, nothing can save him, nothing can stop me from giving him a slow death and you know I know how to make it last."

"Just tell me you aren't goin' near him," Siobahn said quietly as she walked toward Hailey, reaching up to rest a hand on her face. "I can deal with you being in the Marines, I can deal with you leaving for that... but to go back to him, in any way... Darlin', I love you with all my heart, I will tolerate a lot because I love you, but I can't deal with that."

Warmth flooded into Hailey's heart when she heard Siobahn say she loved her, "I have no desire or wish to even give a passing glance at him. I know I can defend myself from him, I can defend you from him if I'm there, but what if I'm not there? I know what he can do, what he would do if given even half an opportunity. I'm more worried about you.."

"You don't need to worry about me, I'm not your responsibility." Siobahn forced a faint smile. "Honestly."

"You are, though, because I love you, too." Hailey smiled genuinely, "And that means that part of my job is precisely that."

Siobahn slipped her arms around Hailey's waist, resting her head on Hailey's shoulder and closing her eyes, sighing softly and not responding.

Hailey's arms went around her as well, "I'm not going to do anything stupid, I promise you."

"That's all I need to know," Siobahn whispered quietly.

OFF:


Major Hailey Weston
Marine CO/2nd Officer
USS Wellington

Ensign Siobahn Fallon
Medical Officer
USS Wellington