Ghosts

Posted on Tue Nov 20th, 2018 @ 9:12pm by Ensign Andrew Gervais & Lieutenant JG Siobahn Fallon

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: Aft Lounge

There were far fewer crew from the Icarus aboard the Wellington than Siobahn had expected, not that she was complaining, it had given her a chance to actually really talk to some of the crew. They had already faced so much and so many of them bore the scars of their battles, both physical and mental.

She had had a few moments break after dealing with her last patient so she took a chance to grab a hot chocolate from the replicator and took it back to the table she had set up at.

Paul was sitting by himself, still in pain but worth it. There was almost a peace here he hadn't felt since he joined the fleet. But something seemed odd about it. For what they had just been through, nobody seemed tense or on edge... Nobody seemed entirely hardened by the realities of life out here. It was strange.

She was about to sit when Siobahn noticed him sitting by himself. Grabbing her mug, she walked across and slipped into a seat across from him, offering a friendly smile. "I don't think I've met you yet, I'm Siobahn, medical officer from here on the Wellington. I just thought I'd say hi... and make sure you were okay."

Paul was almost surprised by this. Counselling was certainly not always something available on the Icarus when they were getting repeatedly shot at. "Nice to meet you. I'm Paul." he said... "You all seem pretty calm for getting shot at."

Siobahn laughed softly. "Well, I guess when you're locked away in medical you don't really see a lot of the action so I suppose technically we didn't get 'shot at'. We were just dealing with the bloody and the broken while the ship bounced around a bit. But that could just be my perception, I'm kinda new to all this."

"I wish I wasn't..." Paul said "This has been my life most of the last year. I just want it to all be over. Get the Shalti and the other guys beaten and have some kind of normal existence again. My partner was killed 3 weeks ago aboard the... Wait. What did you say this ship's name was?"

"We're on the USS Wellington. I'm sorry about your partner, did it happen in the line of duty?" Siobahn leaned back in her seat watching him closely.

Paul looked a bit perplexed. They were destroyed 3 weeks ago... What was going on here? "He was... The ship was attacked by Shalti raiders and it never stood a chance. It was destroyed. All gone. There wasn't even anything to salvage, hardly any bodies to bring back to base."

"Are you okay?" Siobahn asked, her voice filling with concern. "You look a little pale. Can I get you something?"

"Maybe it's just the attack getting to me." Copeland said. "Or maybe they renamed this ship. I just... I had a silly hope that maybe he was alive still."

"Who?" Siobahn prompted, still watching him carefully.

"Andrew." he replied. "My partner. Probably just a silly idea though."

Andrew was on his way towards the aft lounge to follow up on progress. The Commodore and the Captain had sent him down and were expecting at least some kind of an update. By the sounds of it, Temporal Affairs wasn't happy but... What were they supposed to do? Not that he understood the entirety of what was going on yet, anyway.

He walked into the lounge, looking around, not seeing what would have been the most obvious or shocking thing to see. He simply walked in and looked around. He could catch a crew member's attention in a moment.

Siobahn looked up as the doors to the aft lounge opened, her eyes widening momentarily as she realised Andrew was walking in. She didn't quite know what kind of janky messed up thing was going on, but it didn't take a genius to realise that there was no way in Hades that this was going to end well. "Excuse me for a moment Paul," she said, standing up and walking toward the door without even waiting for a response.

"Andrew," Siobahn's expression was clearly concerned. "I didn't think anyone else was meant to be down here, I'm not sure it's a good idea..."

The determination on his face made it clear that there was no point her objecting.

"Don't worry, I'll be quick. Commodore Myers just sent me down here to check on everything and report back. How is everyone?" he said as he continued, confused as to why she would have tried to block him off in the first place.

"Everyone is fine, there's nothing going on down here, please feel free to go back and tell them that it's all good, the Icarus crew are in good health and good spirits." Siobahn moved slightly to put herself in his immediate line of sight again. "Was there anything else you needed?"

Andrew looked at Siobahn rather confused. "That's.... all." he added. "Though, you seem very intent on me not seeing something. There's not something on fire somewhere is there?"

Siobahn laughed, perhaps a little too readily. "No, I can say with complete honesty that there is nothing on fire down here! I'm sure you have plenty of more important things to deal with so I won't waste your time."

"Well, I mean I guess it's not some kind of a surprise celebration, so... I suppose I'll take your..." he paused a moment. 'It can't be' he thought to himself. The Commodore had briefed him on what had gone on, but.. this just seemed too coincidental.. "Ummm..." he added, feeling almost like he had been hit in the stomach

Paul looked over, seeing the man that Siobahn was talking with. If he believed in ghosts, it would be the spitting image of Andrew. The two locked eyes immediately.

Andrew could feel his heart racing a bit. As well as a mix of shock, relief, confusion... A lot of things came back to him he had buried the past few months. But it only came out to Siobahn as one word. "Paul..."

Siobahn reached out, resting a gentle hand on his forearm. "Andrew, it's not your Paul," she said quietly. She drew in a sharp breath. "You have two choices, you can turn around and walk away now, or I can walk over there with you, and proverbially hold your hand. It's up to you." She kept her voice low enough that no one else would hear her words as she spoke. "What do you want to do?"

He couldn't just walk away. "I... I don't think I can walk away." he said. He saw the way that this other Paul looked at him... He had been told by the Commodore there was some temporal mess up, and he knew that he could get busted back to Cadet for what he was about to do, but... He couldn't leave it. "I won't say anything if you don't."

With a silent nod, Siobahn agreed. "Here, give me your PADD, I'll fill in the report so you at least have something to hand in when you go back." Taking the device from his hands, Siobahn activated it and walked away, settling into a seat near the door so she could see anyone else who walked in.

Andrew walked towards Paul.... This day just got weirder....

=END=

Ensign Andrew Gervais
Adjutant to the Task Force Commanding Officer
Starfleet Command

Ensign Paul Copeland
USS Icarus

Ensign Siobahn Fallon
Medical Officer
USS Wellington