Time to move on, Pt. 2

Posted on Tue Jan 19th, 2021 @ 5:17pm by Major Ashley Rogers & Colonel Sehan t'Varis

2,357 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Chapter III: The Hunt is On
Location: Commander's quarters, I.R.W. Ourainavassa
Timeline: 238701.29

Over a week had passed since Ellie had reappeared out of the blue, and disappeared just as suddenly. Following the shock, Raven had finally cashed in a few old favours, and done some research. What she had found had shocked her profoundly. Although Ellie's story had checked out, she still had not been able to establish how she had survived the destruction of the Amelia - and why she had not informed the authorities. Indeed, Ellie's personnel file explicitly stated that she was presumed dead. And her contact in Section 31 confirmed that there was no Lieutenant Eleanor Greaves on their books, either. Whatever was going on, Raven was tired of the secrecy.

For most of the past week, she had only left her quarters in the middle of the night, to give Eavy some exercise in the hydroponics bay. The commander's suite was fully equipped with a generous bathroom, as well as its own, closed replicator system - a precaution against sabotage - so there was little reason to go anywhere, especially considering the Ourainavassa was still docked at Drozana.

And so, she had sat in her quarters, the lights dimmed low, trying to figure out what was going on. That had been her sole focus - she had survived off coffee and nutrition bars, she had not showered, or even changed her clothes. With her hair having grown out to her shoulders and tangled into a mess, her creased, dirty clothing, and her general unkempt appearance, she looked like a madwoman, or a hobo - except that she was sitting in an extensive, luxurious suite on an advanced, Tal Shiar warbird.

She had, of course, done as she had promised Hatham. The transit documents for all of the crew's family members were prepared and ready to be distributed. She had even contacted Ellie's "friends", to verify their identity - only to learn that those "friends", too, were unaware that she was even still alive. They had, however, agreed to the operation, and Raven had forwarded Hatham's contact details for them to iron out the exact plan. After all, she had promised to look after the families of her crew - regardless of Ellie's betrayal of her trust.

---

Ash had spent the week working with Hatham and Miguel through Renee.... it was awkward but there wasn't anyone else she would trust more with a mission like that. And in her spare time she was working with Mila to figure out the mysterious ship and its connection to Hobus. Quite frankly, she was exhausted... and realized she hadn’t had a chance to brief Raven on everything that's happening. It's easy to do when one is splitting one's time planning a side mission under the boss' radar and trying to deal with trying to unravel a mystery involving the boss' long lost love.

She definitely wasn't going to let Raven know about the rescue mission, but she has to let her know about Ellie. Maybe after having some time to deal with her disappearance again Raven hopefully may be in a good mental space to talk. But given that no one has heard from her... Ash wasn't sure what to expect. She knew the feelings... well, Renee knew that feeling...

Ash rang the chime on Raven's door. "Hey Raven, it's Ash... I know you're in there. I have some information that you'd want to know."

Raven looked up from the blank PADD she had been staring at for hours when the door chime rang. "Ash..." she said, quietly. "Yeah, come in."

Ash walked into a dark room. Oh this can't be good. "Raven? You okay? Computer, increase lighting by 30 percent," she said as she walked further in. Enough to not trip over something, but not too bright to blind them... but enough for her to see what Raven looked like. "Oh shit..." she muttered before she could filter her internal thought.

The colonel chuckled. "That bad, eh? Don't worry about me, Ash. Oh, since you are here, take that PADD on the table. It has all the travel documents and all that. For Hatham," she added. "What did you want to tell me?"

The increase in lighting had woken up Eavy, who raised her head and yawned, before taking a long stretch. Then, she quickly hurried over to Ash and nudged on her shin, eager for attention.

Ash took the PADD and furrowed her brow. It was everything they had been working on.... turns out Raven could be trusted after all.... and dammit it meant she didn't need to call in a favor from Renee. She pet Eavy to try to calm down... they did the right thing... its better to have back up plans.....

"Well... if you weren't already sitting... I'd tell you to sit down. You know that ship that Mila and I are working on?" She handed her PADD to Raven, with all if the analysis that Mila did. "Its from the future and apparently another universe. But that's not all.... I'm not sure if you're ready to hear this..." Ash tried to gauge Raven's mental state, but this will have to be a quick ripping of the bandage.

"One night about a week ago, I caught Ellie in the science lab, snooping on what Mila was working on. I confronted her and she claimed to be a Temporal Agent... which is probably why she doesn't exist in this time frame... in this universe... whatever. Temporal mechanics is not why you hired me. There's something about Hobus that warrants investigation...." Ash stopped to check on Raven. "Did you get any of that?"

For a moment, Raven was silent, not even showing any acknowledgement of what Ash had said. Then, she abruptly stood, and picked up the letter that Ellie had written. Without a word, she thrust it into Ash's hand, and walked off to a small cabinet in the corner, pulling out a sealed bottle of rum. "Next time I see that bitch, she'll wish she'd been dead," she finally said, before opening the bottle and draining it in one, big gulp, before throwing it against the wall, where it shattered. "This was one of the last gifts she ever gave me. We were going to drink it together when I finally got command of my own ship. Don't know why I kept it this long."

Ash ducked when the bottle came flying near her. It wasn't in danger of actually hitting her but stranger things have happened. She looked at the letter in her hand and started to read it... unable to to stop herself from thinking that she did this to Renee.

Leaving Ash to read the letter, Raven then began to take off her clothes, completely ignoring the other woman standing in the room. When she was completely naked, she walked over to the replicator, and threw everything in, where the device automatically recycled it into its component molecules. "Hope you don't mind me getting changed," Raven finally said to Ash, in a jovial tone.

Ash averted her eyes out of politeness but the change in tone from Raven was startling. "Talk to me Raven.... what are you thinking? If you're going to stand here with everything hanging out... I'd like to think I should also be able to hear what's going on in that head of your's. And maybe you should shower before you put on fresh clothes...."

"That is actually a good shout," Raven responded. "Read that letter while I have a shower. It will tell you why I am pissed off."

Ash finished reading the letter in her hand... feeling anger at Ellie. She knew exactly what she was doing coming here in this timeline... what a manipulative bitch. Ash may have walked out on Renee but she didn't deliberately hurt her like this... or maybe she did... she threw the letter down as she waited for Raven to finish showering.

Ash picked up Eavy, "How has Raven been, Eavy? This hasn't been a good week for her, has it?" She took note of the nutrition bars wrappers, not even put back in to be recycled. "Oh boy... where's your head at, Raven... because I don't think the next stage of grief is going to be pleasant for anyone..."

A considerable amount of time had passed until Raven finally re-emerged from the bedroom portion of her suite, which led to the bathroom. Finally, she walked out, wearing only a fluffy, white bathrobe, and a towel wrapped around her hair. She went to the replicator, and retrieved a double espresso, before turning to Ash. "I'm a horrible host. Can I offer you a drink?"

Ash is a bit hesitant, almost wanting to reach for her sidearm to stun Raven and drag her to go see Dr. Gable. "I'll take a coffee please. Black," she responded. "I read the note... where's your head at, Raven? And before you answer, I want to let you know that I did the same thing to my ex a couple of years ago. I left her with nothing more than a note and an apology. I didn't do what Ellie did to you. I didn't come back and tease her with empty promises... I actually did the opposite to her actually... I told her I couldn't live up to the promises I had made.... I thought that part of my life was over until you decided to hire her as the chef... so... what are you thinking Raven? Because I probably made Renee feel the same things...."

"Hey, she didn't put on her CV that she was the ex of my... well, of my you," Raven replied, with some indignity in her voice. "And spare me the shrink bullcrap, if I wanted a shrink I'd go see a professional," she added, as she returned to the table with the two coffees. "I'm fine. We have a job to do. Personal shit can wait, I shouldn't even have let it get me this far. She was my everything, once. But if she can betray me like that without even batting an eyelid, the Ellie I once knew really is dead."

She shook her head and knocked down her espresso, before getting up and walking back into her bedroom. "Give me a moment to put on some clothes, will you, Ash?"

Ash was getting frustrated with Raven, one doesn't just hide in one's quarters for a week without showering or properly eating and be fine. "Go put clothes on, but I'm not leaving. Not until I'm sure I don't have to shoot you to drag your ass to sickbay for a full evaluation. I'm in charge of the safety and security of this ship and crew... you gave me that job. And you know damn well that I take that job seriously..." Ash yelled back towards the bedroom. "And I'm not trying to be a shrink!" She called out before muttering to herself, "I probably need one myself..."

A moment later, Raven emerged from the bedroom, looking like a completely different person. She was dressed simply, in a white shirt and a tan skirt. Her hair, which had grown to shoulder-length, explained why she had taken so long in the bathroom - it was now dyed a faint pink. Still barefoot, she walked over to the seating area, where Rogers had been waiting.

As she was walking he colonel pinned her rank badge to the collar of her shirt. "Centurion Rogers, you know full well who's in charge on this ship," she said, giving Ash her best authoritative look. Me. If you try to drag me anywhere at gunpoint I'll have you beamed to space before you can say 'oops'." She shook her head. "I am fine, Ash. Pissed off, yes. But I'm fine. This is my ship, my crew. I'm not going to risk them over some bitch betraying my trust."

Ash looked at how different Raven looked and gritted her teeth as she sighed. "Yes, ma'am. I know better than to keep pressing the issue... but I'm concerned for you. Not Raven, our commanding officer... but Sey." She knew she was playing with fire, but she needed to know that the person under that rank was okay. "Fire me. Kill me. Do whatever you need. But I take my duties seriously. If we have to deal with these Temporal Agents again... I need to know that you're going to be making sound decisions for this ship and this crew and not because you're angry at some bitch."

"Never call me that again, Ash," Raven responded, after a moment of silence. "I never want to hear that name again. Ever." She sat down next to Rogers and took a deep breath. "I know you mean well. Since you've joined this crew, you've come as close to becoming a friend to me as anyone ever has." She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small box. "I couldn't do this without you, Major Rogers. Or would you prefer Subcommander?"

Ash was taken aback yet again, "Excuse me? I threatened to shoot you and drag you to sickbay for a medical evaluation. And you promote me?!"

The colonel smirked. "Yes. Nobody else would have had the balls to do that. You came in and shook me out of whatever had gotten into me. I need someone like that as my right hand. 'Number One', I think Starfleet call it."

Ash looked at the rank... and contemplated it. She was flattered and taking on more responsibility wasn't exactly what she intended to do, but maybe with more rank Raven would be less inclined to shoot her out of the airlock if she ever needed to question her. "Major is fine... thank you. You know this new rank is going to make me even more of a pain in your ass, right?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Raven replied with a chuckle. "Right, back to work. And I need to go find a new jacket."

 

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