Getting Lost Part III
Posted on Thu Jul 27th, 2023 @ 12:11am by Captain Edmund Merrick & Petty Officer 1st Class Kaylara Loran
Edited on on Tue Aug 1st, 2023 @ 9:53pm
1,702 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 14 - The Poseidon Adventure
Location: Arboretum - Center Core Deck 77 - Poseidon Station
Timeline: MD008 1800 hours
"Not when the family ends up becoming part of intelligence. Also, Horatiu even if he is imprisoned, he still has connections. We did come out of hiding so to speak but we all joined Star Fleet. First started in intelligence then Lucien went to Science, Camelia went into Operations and well, Aunt Tatiana and I, we stayed in Intelligence." Stefan stated. There was no indication of him lying. All that he was saying was truth.
She understood the complexity, being in intelligence herself. "Why did he murder your mother when she was already convicted?"
"Kaylara, we were born in prison. He killed her after we were born. Aunt Tatiana, she broke into prison to save mother and us. she was there when we were born. And that is what happened." Stefan replied
"Yes, but do you know why he chose to kill her after you were born? Was it just to take you away from her?"
"From what Tatiana had gotten from those there, Horatiu loved the fact he had my mother in his power. He wanted her to die knowing that he had her babies. Sadly, it hadn't been known at that time that her iv fluid had been changed and she died it had been found out afterwards. Tatiana's mind had gone into save us as Horatiu had people coming for us. There was a power struggle there. She had gone to check on us, and from what had been figured, that was when the IV had been changed. Tatiana isn't in medical. How would she have known that it had been changed? Tatiana not only smuggled us out she took mother's body as well. She wasn't going to leave her sister there. After all, Tatiana had promised she was going to get her sister out of prison." Stefan answered.
Kaylara looked at him for several moments, taking in what he said and processing it. "I'm sorry. That's not something a child should have to live with. And what of your brother? What happened to make him feel like he had to leave?"
"It is hard to say, he went into science, we know he met a girl after he had graduated from academy. We never found out her name. Comes from the territory when a person gets pulled into the intelligence world. Star Fleet needed the brothers who looked alike to work undercover. Aunt Tatiana and Camelia were needed elsewhere. Lucien once we rescued Tatiana and Camelia in an extraction for them. We went our separate ways, him going back to his beloved science. Then we lost contact with him. We found him shattered at the colony I had previously mentioned. We had found him, got into a fight as we were worried about him. Then I guess he decided it was time to just disappear. He is pretty intelligent and with his skills in knowing how to disappear, he utilized it well. We do know that he adopted mother's last name. And went by the name of Dragos. then he disappeared once more. I got slapped by a few women who thought I was him. This is how I traced him. Following leads, and getting slapped. I and Camelia knew that he was in trouble hence us scouring the various quadrants."
Some of the explanation made no sense, but she wasn't going to push for clarification. She got the general idea. "It sounds like he disappeared to keep you from finding him as much as anything else. It could be that he felt that if you found him, he'd be in danger, or someone he cared about would. Or it may be that he simply didn't want to be pulled back into intelligence work. Especially if he disappeared after you found out where he'd been hiding." Her eyes narrowed. "And getting women to slap you to see if they met your brother, is a dumb idea. You could get both you and your brother killed."
Stefan went over what he had just said and winced. "No, I didn't purposely go where I could get slapped. It just became a pattern. If I went somewhere and some random female came up and either slapped me, or some guy try to kill me, it means my brother had been there... " He paused for another moment. "Well, I can see it from your point of view. But no, I didn't go out of my way to get slapped. I just went about my own business."
he went back to sit down on the sofa. "I ended up here, to just get away from looking for him, though I felt drawn. It could be, that thread that binds us and eventually we will be in the same place at the same time. Well, I hope that will be the case. Heck my Aunt, she is on the station, as if waiting for something to be happening."
"Something may happen, or it may not. The universe is a big place--if he's even here. He could have gone to Alpha Centauri to really get away," she said. "I don't know. I only know what little you've told me. But from what you have said, it sounds a lot like you're putting your own life and happiness on the line until you're reunited with your brother. And if that's true, it's not going to do you or your family any good. Look for him, yes. You're in intel, you know how that works. But if he's undercover or hiding, you won't find him. You have to accept that possibility. And you have to live your life while you can."
"And you are right, I can't keep my life on hold. As I said, when you are so connected to your own family, at the extent of how we are so interwoven. Well guess I am not the only one who has put their life on hold. The prime example of that is my Aunt, my, mom. She's definitely got the mother instincts rather strong." his voice growing soft with definite fondness and love for his aunt.
"And I probably should make sure I talk to her, of which I will be doing so, soon. At this moment though, I wanted to make amends with you. To somehow repair the damage, I did to you. And I did, I hurt you and it wasn't my intention." Stefan was definitely feeling regret about a lot that has happened.
She shook her head. "You promised me a pirate adventure, and you delivered. Anything more than that is on me, not you."
"Think of it is, you were more to me than a one night stand, and I let you in. Closer than what I normally do. As it stands with all of this, I don't actually know what to do now. I would like to see you again, while you are on the station, would like to keep in contact with you." Stefan stated. "I do like you, not that what I did could prove it though."
She stared at him, temporarily lost for words. She thought he'd just thrown that in her face to hurt her as that had been her experience. "You do?"
Stefan slowly nodded, "Yes I do like you and I do want to see you again. That is the truth. Hopefully I am not too proper for you..." a playful smile lifting the corners of his mouth. It might be the wrong thing to say but it was the only thing that came to mind.
"Too proper?" That made her laugh. "If I thought you were too proper, I wouldn't have agreed to go on the holodeck in the first place." She had enough proper at work, she didn't want it off-duty as well.
Stefan threw his head back and laughed with relief. Then he held out his hand towards Kaylara. "Do you want to spend some time with me while you are here? You never know what might happen here at this station." he giving a flash of a smile.
She considered the offer for a moment, then put her hand in his. "Yes, I think I do." She smiled back. "I like the unexpected."
Stefan gave Kaylara's hand a squeeze, "I don't know where this path is going to take me or you, but I want to see what happens. I do not have any preconceived notions of expectations however, I do not think this will be boring at all." he paused, then commented. " When you are comfortable in telling me, I'd like to find out more of your family."
Now was as good a time as any. "My family is rather boring compared to yours," she said, chuckling. "My grandparents migrated with a small group of Romulans to Mars. I was born there, but we moved to a colony when I was a child because they were no longer comfortable there."
Stefan gave a nod as he listened, "Ah the colony life. I used to live in a colony, my aunt made certain that we were a useful part of the colony life. Where did you move to, after you left Mars?" he was attentive to what Kaylara was talking about, honestly interested in hearing about her.
"Pallas IV. It's a medium-sized colony with an active spaceport--and not much trouble. That's what my parents wanted. And, considering how things turned out on Mars, it was a good choice." She shrugged. "It gave me the opportunity to learn new skills. I worked on a merchant ship for a while, then did security on the colony before I decided to move on to other things, which ended up being Starfleet."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Junior Grade Stefan Zamfir
Field Agent, Poseidon Station
Petty Officer First Class Kaylara Loran
Data Systems Analyst, USS Pioneer
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