The Other Side Of The Coin
Posted on Tue Aug 28th, 2018 @ 7:47pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Edited on on Thu Sep 13th, 2018 @ 4:40pm
2,593 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: Breyet Nor, Badlands - Station Commander's Quarters
Timeline: MD003 0400 hrs
Tyler and Makeba had the radio telescopes aimed and primed. If all went well their short alliance would come to an end in a matter of moments.
For Tyler he learned that there was a lot more to this woman than met the eye, and if this plan of theirs worked than he would see to it that she was treated better. Side by side Tyler Malbrooke and Makeba Brown stepped into the swirling blue vortex and as they did they hoped that it would be the end to all of this.
May 30 2394 0130 hrs (relative time)
It happened again just as he and Makeba were breaking through he blacked out. There was an intense pain in his head and everything he knew, everything he thought he knew was a blur. He shot up and realized prior to that he had been laying down on a bed. "Damn, did it work... Why won't this pain go away?" His vision cleared and he realized that he was in officer's quarters on the station. "It must have worked and I am back on Empok Nor." He whispered and rummaged for his comm badge.
Slowly and seductively, Elloma sat up and put herlself behind her husband. Her hands snaked his rock hard abs, as she presented to Tyler, his combadge. She had grabbed it, realizing what he wanted. "Of course it worked." She said with a warm smile on her face.
Tyler took the comm badge, and when he heard the voice of Elloma he jumped, he had expected his wife. "Sorry I just thought Kat would be here." He reached down, took Elloma's hand and kissed it. "Not right now I have to figure out what the hell is going on." He got up and went looking for his uniform, but found nothing but plain clothes in the closet.
"Kat?" Asked Elloma, as she shoved Tyler away for a moment. And got out of bed. "Why would you expect another woman in our bed?" She asked Annoyed. Her hair was short, and little punk like style. Her night gown was low cut and short. It was designed to keep Tyler aroused on her. She did not like hearing her husband, was expecting another woman? Did she do something wrong? Was she not pleasing him enough?
Tyler slowly turned around and looked at Elloma his eyes wide. I'm not home, S&%T he thought. "Elloma is this Empok Nor?" He smiled and began to dress, he suddenly felt a little awkward in front of the woman who was not the woman he knew intimately.
Elloma was still pissed off by the comment of another woman. She wanted to find this woman, and put her in her place. "Is that where that trash lives, on Empok Nor?" She asked, as she noticed he was trying to leave the room so early. She walked over to him. "What does this Kat have, that I don't?" She asked, feeling upset inside and jealous. And in a strange way, curious what she needed to do better.
Never before has he expressed interest in another woman, she was not use to be second seat. She hated it. Her race liked to be a genetic match. They were bonded. She felt a strong connection with him. But it was off a little. She blamed this other woman, but she had no idea it was because he was from another universe.
While Tyler dressed he formulated a response. He had to fall into whatever he did in this timeline until he could get out. "Kat is not another woman. Kat is simply that, a cat. I got you a pet my love. Ayala was supposed to deliver her but it seems the lazy oaf got sidetracked." He walked over to Elloma and hugged her. "Perhaps we should go find him, and your present."
Elloma collapsed in his arms. She wanted to believe him, but there was something he was holding back. But she decided at this very second, it was not a woman. He did not have time, and her being chief of security, nothing happened on this station without her approval. Tyler only thought he was in charge. She controlled all the little things. Leaving time for to focus on the bigger picture. "You trusted that buffoon Ayala to deliver a pet." She said, trying to make it clear, she would have rather gotten the feline pet from him. "Find the cat, and deliver it to my office, today." She asked in a soft voice, that was more of an order than a request.
He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Of course my love. I am thinking that perhaps we should have a bite to eat and see how our plans are coming along." Tyler had no idea why he spoke of plans, it was something that was sitting in his head. He got the image that the two of them; Elloma and he ruled this roost. However, he was still fuzzy on what roost this actually was.
Elloma moved slightly away, making sure he could see the big shiny rock, he bought for her. She was not sure what was wrong. But something felt off. Perhaps keeping an eye on him for the moment, would a good idea. "I choose the restaurant?" She asked, as she walked over and grabbed her clothes, the rank of Lieutenant Commander was on her collar.
He took notice of the rank although did not show the notice outwardly. It seems that my marriage is not the only thing that has changed around here. he thought. "Of course my love where shall we go?" Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the Maquis pips for Captain sitting on the nightstand. The puzzle pieces fell into place for Tyler Malbrooke as he placed the insignia on his collar. Whelp, this is better than a padded cell.
Elloma led the way, walking slow and provocative as she started to walk towards the door. It was bugging her. Something felt wrong. She could sense their bond, but it was not as strong as it should be. She reached out to hand, typically she would not hold his hand. But she felt that a genetic touching of hands, could help strengthen their love. She lead him to the promenade, and held his hand for all to see. She could not shake the feeling that something was off. She was going to work through the awkwardness of this moment. She was bound, to make him happy. Her race, was good at becoming the lover he needed.
Tyler took her hand and let her lead him through the station. As they walked he noticed something rather odd, he outranked her yet she got all the recognition from the stations crew. The other thing he realized was the more they walked the station the more he knew that they were Maquis. He sighed as the weight of this knowledge sat heavy within him. "So, my love where are we off to?" Tyler attempted to make small talk in an effort to hide his thoughts.
Elloma noticed the other crew, they were a little surprised how much pda she was showing. She was telling any potential mates of Tyler to stay away from her Husband, she was not interested in sharing. He was her's, and no one else's. "Stagg Bar N Grill, your favorite little grease hole." She said. As they started to make their way to the promenade. He liked a restaurant on Empok Nor called the White Stag, so she had a restaurant made in that honor called Stagg's Bar and Grill. It was a rowdy place, with some good style barbecue.
At the mention of barbecue Tyler smiled broadly. "Man, I would love some que." A guy could get used to this. Good woman, command and barbecue. But it is not Starfleet... Tyler thought.
They walked and did not bother to wait in line, perks of being the station commander. They had a special table set aside for them. It over looked the bar. The idea, was the station commander can always look down to his crew, while they look up to him. "I'll have the usual. She told the waiter.
"Gimme a half a rack, pound of brisket and some cornbread. Chipotle sauce as well. Yard of cider as well." Tyler ordered with zeal. No one knew but he hadn't had barbecue in years, not since he was back home in Oklahoma. "As much as this is pleasure, I guess we should get some business done. Hit me with the report on what Starfleet is doing in the area?"
"The anomaly you discovered last night. You really took a bump on that beautiful head of yours?" She said, as there food arrived. She was starving , she dove right in on the ribs. The taste was incredible. Even though this was place was made for Tyler, she loved coming here to eat. Soul food, she heard him once call it. Right now, it was comforting her soul.
Tyler took some ravenous bites of brisket and guzzled the cider. "I must have. Refresh my memory. What anomaly? In truth I don't remember much."
"You went to investigate a crashed federation vessel in the Denan System. You were trying to beat the Federation to the crash site. the destroyed planet, left unusual radiation signatures, but you were hoping to salvage the ship before the USS Pioneer could come in and scuttle the ship. During the salvage, the anomaly shifted cause of the radiation, and the entire salvage crew was injured, you took the worse of it. However not before completing your salvage, you were tempting to download the Falco's logs before the Pioneer arrived. Again you manage to complete, however you were unconscious by the time it completed. I had the away team beamed back to the station. And we left the area. You really do not remember?" she asked, wondering how badly he was hurt?
Tyler realized what was going on here. In this timeline he became Maquis as did Elloma apparently. "No but the name Pioneer rings a bell. Tell me is there a Makeba Brown serving on the station? I have heard great things about them from other Maquis commanders." The truth of it was if Makeba was here he would see to find out if it were the same Makeba from before. He would need help to get back home again, and now Tyler was desperate not to screw the timeline any more than it had been.
Elloma continued to eat, as she heard him asking about Makeba Brown. Elloma was not really a fond of that maquis commander. Elloma found her to be weak and vulnerable. Makeba took to many chances. "Makeba Brown, is small colony leader in the Freya System. She is reckless, why do you ask about her?" Asked Elloma, she was annoyed, that the was second female asked about since waking up.
"As I said I have heard a lot of good things from other Maquis commanders. If she passes muster I was thinking of bringing her here. But that would be something to look into later. What is on our work plate today?" Tyler dug back into his food. For some reason he had a vague recollection that he always asked Elloma what the agenda was.
"A few morning briefings with your department heads, a mission briefing with Admiral Leyton at 1400 hours, and tonight you wanted to return to planet, and investigate that planet. Pretty sure the Federation will take anything of value from their fallen ship. But we can still take some secondary items. Or so you tell me." She said, not really believing him. She thinks the Federation will salvage every item from the down vessel. "We have the logs, not sure what else you hope to find down there, and I am not sure the Federation will leave with that anomaly being opened." Said Elloma, hoping to reason with Tyler. She expected him to hold his ground. She was his consciousness, but the decision was still his.
Leyton, that name perked Tyler's ears up. Perhaps that could be the key to getting home. Was the former Admiral in charge of Starfleet Operations behind this whole incident. That would explain a lot of the goings on. "The meeting with Leyton see if that can get pushed up. I am looking forward to seeing him. Also, have the Science department start looking for any temporal anomalies anywhere in Cardassian space." Tyler spoke excitedly to Elloma as he forgot for the moment that she was from another time.
"I can push up your appointment with the Admiral, but you think there are more anomalies in the area?" Elloma, asked a little confused. She believed something on the USS Falco, caused this strange anomaly.
"Where there is one there is bound to be more. Once more I am wondering if this is an anomaly that would cause a breach in the parallel universes. Such as happened in the past. If so that can be used to our advantage. Perhaps a security check of all personnel is in order. This way we can find out if everyone is from where they are supposed to be from." Tyler knew that the final order was a double edged sword. On the one hand he could find out if anyone was displaced like he was, but on the other there was the risk that he would be found out.
"I'll do that, do you really think there are impostors here from another reality. What do they hope to accomplish?" She asked being a little suspicious, and not trusting of their intent, if there was impostors.
"The answer to your first question is absolutely. It has happened before, and will happen again. The problem is figuring out who and where they are. What do they hope to accomplish? Well conquest or the taking of resources." Tyler paused to take a huge swig of his cider. Not my normal table manners, but when in Rome he thought. "Before you ask why I think that. The answer is simple, it is what I would do."
"The question I have is, what was the USS Falco. doing that caused this anomaly, the sensor logs are still being decrypted." Said Elloma, as she was curious why her husband would say, its something he would do. She tried to brush it off. As she took a few more bites of her food.
"That is a great question and as soon as those logs are available we will know. It is pointless to speculate as you never know with the Federation. Let me know when that information is available. For now, we should prep the crew for anything." Tyler did his very best to answer Essu as any Maquis would. Deep within his head he hoped that she bought it.
A Joint Post By
Captain Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Ensign Elloma Essu
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
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