Getting Lost Part I
Posted on Mon Jul 24th, 2023 @ 1:20am by Captain Edmund Merrick & Petty Officer 1st Class Kaylara Loran
Edited on on Mon Jul 24th, 2023 @ 8:46pm
1,591 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 14 - The Poseidon Adventure
Location: Starbase Poseidon Various
Timeline: MD008 1900 hrs
Kaylara wasn't sure how long she wandered the station. She ran until she felt like no one would find her, then slowed to a walk. She covered multiple decks, getting on a turbolift when she came to one, getting off when it stopped.
She was born a Romulan in the Federation and had to grow a thick skin at an early age and so had no idea why someone like Stefan could upset her as easily as he had. The fact that he had upset her upset her more. She had to be growing soft; it was the only logical answer.
At last, she found herself outside one of the doors to the arboretum. It was the perfect place to be left alone. She wandered around until she found a bench in a quiet spot and sat until she could get her head on straight.
Stefan was angry once again, he had gotten a call from his adopted mother, Aunt Tatiana. She called him out for not coming to see her after the Breen attack. She'd been trying to meet with him and he had been avoiding her. He knew she would have questions and he may not have the answers for her. With a disgruntled groan, he stepped inside the Arboretum, hoping to quiet down his emotions. He normally could just let things slide off his back but today just didn't seem to be that day to do so. He walked around in the Arboretum, he first stopped in the upper area of the place, walking along where there were containers which had various plants in them, several of the plants were in bloom. He made his way towards the bottom, wending his way through the paths there, feeling his irritation and stress start to recede. He found a spot which was fairly secluded, and had a bench underneath an arbor, which had red climbing roses. and behind that was a tall hedge which divided the pathways that wound its way through.
Stefan sat heavily down upon the bench, buried his face in his hands dry washing it. He leaned back against the cushioned back of the bench, whispering quietly. "Stefan, you have certainly mucked things up royally. Good going, bravo..." his tone dripping with sarcasm, as Stefan clapped his hands, quietly mocking himself.
Stefan looked at one of the roses, which wasn't too far away, and began talking to it. "So, my beautiful rose, how shall I approach Kaylara and make amends? I don't know much about her except she is beautiful, feisty, dangerous, and hurt right now due to my stupidity."
Kaylara sat on the other side of the hedge, calling herself a number of choice--and colorful--names. She heard someone sit behind her and froze. Why had someone come here, of all places? Hopefully, if she sat quietly, whoever it was would leave. But then he began to talk...
Muck things up? He'd definitely done that. But then, if she were honest, she'd let herself get upset. She knew he wasn't interested in more than that one adventure.
His voice grew louder. Was he talking to the rosebush? She groaned. He was nuts...or she was hearing things. Probably the latter. Yes, he liked feisty pirate women--but only until the adventure was over. That slap in the face about wanting to ask her out again was more than enough for her ego.
"No." She was not going to think about him. She came here to get away from him and all thoughts of him. She clapped her hands over her mouth when she realized she'd spoken out loud. The last thing she wanted was some stranger thinking she was talking to him.
Stefan froze when he heard someone say 'No.'
Stefan's eyes widened realizing that he had been talking way too loudly, fuming out his regrets to a flower. A quiet sigh, Stefan decided he had better leave. "Sorry" he said quietly towards the person he had disturbed. Not knowing who it was. "I'll leave you be." he stated and moved from the bench he had occupied. Perhaps he should try to contact Kaylara. Stefan didn't know when or if they would come across each other again.
Moving away from the bench, Stefan tapped on his communicator, "Computer please send a message to Kaylara of the USS Pioneer and this is my message. Please meet with me in the Arboretum, I really need to speak with you, I hope you will meet with me. -Stefan"
Kaylara's combadge chirped loud enough to be heard by Stefan. She hadn't changed her settings as she rarely got any messages and then they were generally from her department. As all of them were currently on the station, she didn't think it necessary.
She tapped her combadge to hear the message. Arboretum? She thought the voice she heard was familiar, but...no. It couldn't be Stefan, could it? She peeked around the bush. It was Stefan. But did she want to talk to him? Yes. No. Maybe... With a sigh she stood and stepped forward.
Stefan had turned his back for a moment, waiting for a possible answer of no, get lost, from Kaylara. Or maybe she'd give him a chance? He got the uncanny sense that someone was behind him, it’s not like he had ESP, or even empathic abilities, but with the sort of work he did, an 'alert' tended to become evident. Swiftly spinning on his heel, Stefan realized it was Kaylara there. He was dumbfounded seeing how quickly she had arrived.
"Okay did you teleport here? You move quite quickly." a relieved expression showed in his face. "You got my message. Thank you." Stefan exclaimed.
"No. I was already here." She sighed, not sure what to say. "And yes, I got your message."
"And I am very glad that you decided to meet with me." Stefan began, for some reason his feeling of awkwardness started to leave, being able to see Kaylara. "I was way out of line in how I spoke to you. I am not usually so boorish, and so rude. And normally I do not make a scene at a gathering." he puffed out a breath of air, "Can we go talk somewhere a bit more private besides here where someone may overhear our conversation?" there was a pleading look in Stefan's eyes. "I just need to make things right between us. I know we didn't agree to anything more between us. In fact, I didn't broach the subject. Just please, I won't do anything to you." his shoulders drooped. "Just please, let me try to make amends."
"Why?" Why did he want to see her. Why did he want to make things right if he had no desire to even talk with her after this? Just to ease his guilt about being a boor in public?
"Because I like you, and you are right I shut myself off from even connecting to anyone, due to my search for my brother. There is a story behind the search, behind why I am how I am. I just keep things to myself, I put up barriers. I didn't want to be too vulnerable." Stefan stopped there. There is an intensity to his piercing green gaze. "I... realized I was stupid in not getting to know you outside of our first meeting."
"Stupid, yes," she said, not softening the bluntness of her response. "But not because you didn't ask me out again, but because you seem to think that refusing to open up to anyone in case you get hurt and behaving like a jerk is somehow going to bring your brother back. What if he never comes back and you end up a bitter, withered old man who lost any chance of a life for himself?" She shook her head. "Yes, I'm blunt. It comes from being Romulan in the Federation. But do you honestly believe that your behavior is going to make him come back? Or make him want to come back? Look, I like you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here now. But you really have to consider the consequences of your behavior."
"Touché'" he stated. "And I agree. However, old habits are hard to break especially when a person has to be on guard quite a bit. We almost lost him completely, due to a damned attack at the research facility he was at, on an icy planet that had geo thermal activity. Does something to a person. And yes, he went on his own, away from us. Him becoming rather dark, dour, sliding in a depression, due to losing a loved one. And him not remembering. So yeah, maybe we became mother hens."
Stefan gritted his teeth "We are all that we have of our family line. Horatiu, would like nothing more than to wipe out the memory of our father and mother, who he had murdered. " he looked away, it had registered on Stefan that Kaylara said she liked him, hence why she agreed to meet him. He looked back into Kaylara's eyes, just to see what was there.
A Joint Post By
Petty Officer First Class Kaylara Loran
Data Systems Analyst, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Stefan Zamfir
Field Agent, Poseidon Station
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