STF

Like We Always Did

Posted Nov. 23, 2020, 8:33 p.m. by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) (Melissa Aragon)

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Like We Always Did

Posted by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) in Like We Always Did

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Like We Always Did
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Casela worked at the bag for hours, eventually leaving the tonfas and using bare hands and feet. The heavy canvas, ripped fibers, and sand doing a number on bruised and scrapped knuckles and feet. The Jem’hadar soldier holograms did nothing to help. She beat them bloody but it was an empty victory. Beating up a hologram, beating up the real thing, was not going to give Juliet her life back. It wouldn’t bring her Aunt and Uncle back either or the other families in the village that hadn’t fled into the hills and caves.

She knew Juliet was exhausted from before their horrid encounter and so she stayed away. Juliet wasn’t even sure she wanted to see Casela. And Casela had absolutely no clear headedness for this. She was emotionally involved, she knew it. She went and talked to Ziecast on Gamma shift. They talked, for awhile. This was something not within the section’s purview so she could talk all she wanted. In the end Ziecast agreed that Cas had to try or she’d never let it go, and it would haunt her. But Ziecast was concerned that she shouldn’t ignore Cobb’s advice either. Well she’d told Cobb she couldn’t avoid Juliet, but she wasn’t going to be her counselor. Someone else needed to do that and Remington or Cobb was going to look into everything else. Cas, too much, wanted her to be there just because she was. She should have told Cobb what happened. Actually, in the state she was in she wanted to talk to Ryder. He was always so frustratingly calm, but she needed that and he had a way of looking at things from odd angles that helped her think. The problem was his position and hers on the ship. And now that it was in the open they were dating she…she growled softly....she didn’t know if she should talk to him before it was worked out....why was this so complicated?

Instead after her next shift she put Niven in charge of a first aid review for the team and stayed away. She headed to the shuttle bay and Valkyrja. She stepped up and opened the door. “Miss Casela! Are we going out? I hadn’t seen anything on the ship’s manifest for it?” Alfred was obviously doing his job to make sure she wasn’t being impulsive.....She was going to have to get rid of him or change his program. If it was necessary for her to leave she couldn’t have him stopping her. “No Alfred I just came to get something out of the cargo hold.” She retrieved a small leather bag. She took one item out and tucked it into the inside pocket of her tactical coat, slung the bag over her shoulder, and locked Valkyrja back up.

Minutes later she was standing outside Juliet’s quarters where the computer had indicated she was. But she hesitated, gathering her resolve and then hit the chime.
Lt. Synthi-er

Her first shift haff been relatively easy. Learning the layout of the ship and those areas shed need in an emergency. She was glad because after yesterday, Juliet’s head certainly wasn’t all there when it came to work. She’d come back to her room and alternated between throwing things, thankfully mostly packing materials from her personal crate and hard objects that wouldn’t break, and crying. She’d slept little and been more quiet than she usually was while working.

After work, she’d come back to her quarters, showered and grabbed a snack. Now she was moving about the small rooms putting things away. Thankfully, she had a single small room to herself. If she’d had to deal with a roommate last night, she’d probably be in the brig right now.

In the bedroom setting a few things in the dresser, she heard the chime. Figuring it was her supervisor come to check on her first shift, she didn’t think twice about calling out.

“ENTER!” She called out from the bedroom. At the whoosh of the door, she called out with less force. “I’ll be out in just a second. Hands are full.” She was a slight lilt of awkward laughter at the end and soft sound of drawers moving.

Ensign Juliet Anders
“Jewels”
Sec/RTF

Casela stepped in breathing slowly, she was not going to screw this up. This was not an op. She looked around the room, noticing the thrown packing materials, the corner of her mouth twitching. Gods they were still so much a like. But Juliet’s room, even with only one night looked lived in, like it was her own. Casela’s quarters still looked empty, even after these months. Her office was better. At least professionally. The patient room she kept for herself was slightly better than her quarters. She often tossed her jackets or training clothes about the room after her shift. She felt most relaxed in Ryder’s quarters but those weren’t hers and there was nothing there that would indicate how much time she actually spent there. This ship, this situation was making her introspective and it needed to stop.

She waited for Juliet to return to the living area. She placed the bag on the nearest surface and opened it, maybe wanting Juliet to know it was safe she wasn’t hiding anything, she wasn’t sure. She looked at the bag and then at Juliet, “It was yours. I…I found it in your house after…well…after. I thought you might want it back.” Inside was a beautiful double edged dagger. Simple but beautiful in its craftsmanship. Made of Damascus steel, the handle of ebony wood and wrapped in soft braded black leather. The dark marron leather of the sheath stamped with the symbol of house Arur. A long leather thong hanging from the pommel. A titanium bracelet with black, purple, red, and orange gems woven into the piece was attached to the thong. The thong long enough to allow the knife to be used but still attached bracelet to prevent loss.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Juliet had walked back into the living space and stopped dead. Get body tensed and absently went to a ready stance as if awaiting an attack.

As Cas set the bag down and revealed its contents, the tension in Juliet seemed to slowed slip away like shadow moving with the change of light. “Thanks,” she said, then realized how insignificant that sounded. Her eyes moved from the dagger to the woman.

“Thought you were dead.”

Casela nodded, keeping her stance relaxed, not wanting to set off another physical confrontation, but hating herself for being ready if it should come to that again. Carefully she took out the matching one that was hers and set it on the table next to the bag. A matching set, just like them, or so Uncle had always told them. “They told us you were taken to an orphanage, but we never found you listed.”

Vocally, that’s the only thing she said. Four simple words spoken to encompass a near lifetime of decisions and trials. But her mind opened, just a crack, and she reached out as she had as a child, to speak the woman’s name.

Cas?

The query was a simple one. But the emotions that were entwined with it were anything but. Fear she wrong… hope it wasn’t… anxiety she was falling to a trap… and once more, fear that it wasn’t.

Jewels
Sec/RTF

I’m here Juliet. Always have been…well I tried, I didn’t do a very good job all these years did I? The fear for Casela was the same. Fear that some one had planted Juliet here because of her, caution so that she doesn’t fall for another section trick, or maybe one of the bounties on her head, hope that Juliet was here just as herself, and fear that she wasn’t. *I know you won’t believe me, but I never stopped looking.” It had been hard sometimes. Especially after she joined the section, she had to make sure they didn’t find Juliet before she did…
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Juliet stood there for a moment. She heard the, felt them as truth. And yet… “Seems we both did bad jobs, huh? I don’t know where to go from here, Casela.” It was stated like a matter of fact. Oddly enough, there was no other feeling with the sentence other than her admittance of lack of what to do next. “Mom and dad were killed. I killed several enemies and two Fleet Marines before I’m told they stunned me. They didn’t now mom was human. Thought I had her last name. System had me as Julia Gianni till a month later when I finally made the correction. By then I was on Earth and was told everyone in the village had died.” She took a half step back and settled on the arm of the couch. A slight nod to the chair by the table Cas had set the knives on was Brett only invitation for her cousin to stay.

Jewels
Sec/ RTF

Casela moved quietly and sat down, forcing herself to relax. Even under the best of circumstances this was a tense situation. Casela looked at her and the pain and guilt would be very raw as it passed from Cas to Juliet. Soul rending guilt. “It’s my fault. I didn’t get there in time. We heard there was a patrol. Dad sent me to get you, Auntie, and Uncle. The rest of the village that had stayed. I…I had to hide to miss another patrol. I…I was hours late. Everyone was gone when I got there. I tracked you for awhile but they put you on a transport and I couldn’t track that. After…after we found…we found them but not you.” She took a breath, “I’m sorry Juliet. It’s my fault. I am so sorry. I wanted to bring you your things.”

I wouldn’t want to talk to me either. If you ever get to go home, my parents have everything else. She was not going to cry…not out loud anyway. “I don’t know what to do next either.”
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Juliet nodded. “I’m sure you did what you could. We were kids. No amount of or dad’s trainings could change that.”

It’s all right, her mind whispered. It was a feeling if forgiveness, but the words wouldn’t come out. Not yet.

“We have to tell the Captain. And our Department Heads. At least them.” She looked down at her hands, fiddling with her nails. “I don’t know what else to do, either.”

Casela started to say she’d talk to the captain about it. But then she wanted to ask about Juliet’s name: Anders. She had to have changed it for some reason. Had she been adopted or was there some more nefarious reason for that? If so was it safe to put it to paper that they were related. If it was safe from Juliet’s end that didn’t mean it was safe for her from Casela’s end. Nothing, when it came to the section, was ever safe. And there was Shadow Man out there waiting for her to make a mistake.

She was the first to crack. A single tear, landing on her hands, made her look at it. Realizing what it was broke the tentative hold she had on control. It was an almost mentally audible crash as all her shielding fell at once. “I thought everyone was dead,” she whimpered, her voice cracking, as she covered her face, shivering with the tidal wave of emotions that slammed into her mind and gut all at once. Her sobs punctuated by small choking gasps as she tried to fight them.

Jewels
Sec/ RTF

She started to get up at her words, but hesitated. She wasn’t sure Juliet would want her to come closer. Then Juliet was sobbing and Casela couldn’t stand it anymore. She got up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around her. “I know, Sorellina, I’m so sorry. I should have done more.” Her own voice cracking as she began to cry. If she was wrong about Juliet then it was worth it. For her Sorellina it was worth it. Just like when they were kids she stroked her hair once and then pulled it back as if to put it in a pony tail. It’s okay. We’re both here now and we can only go forward. You can never go back. That’s what Dad and Uncle always said. Keep moving.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Juliet had stiffened in Cas’ arms as she felt them around her. Decades of training telling her mind she was being attacked or subdued. But the words broke thru the training and she soon went limp in her older cousins arms. Weeping like she had as a child with a nightmare. Isn’t that what this was? A nightmare? Moments spent just missing one another? Clerical errors the cause of being lost in the system?

Only then, to change her name and lose herself, almost completely, to a streak of destructive behavior. All of it leading to this, her and Cas SSI wrapped up in fear and suspicion that what should have been a happy reunion had been days of hell and pain.

After several minutes, Juliet managed to regain some sentence of control. She released the death grip she realized she had on the front of Cas’ shirt and tried to wipe her eyes. “What do we do now? Everything’s fallen apart. I’m supposed to be human. But too many people saw, and felt, yesterday. They’ll know we’re cousins, now. It won’t be secret for long. Ops will be furious. I screwed everything up yesterday. Maybe for both of us. I’m so sorry, Cas.”

She looked down at her hands and shook her head. “I need to ask for a transfer…” she whispered, thinking it was the only choice left.

Jewels
Sec/ RTF

Casela let go of her not wanting to make her feel trapped. The four gods knew she would have felt that way. But she listened and then she couldn’t help herself, she started to laugh. “Oh Juliet, you don’t need to do that. And NO ONE will think that was you. They all think it was me. I’m not known for my telepathic control. And everyone thinks I’m a reckless hot head that does whatever her temper tells her to do. No one thinks you are anything other than what you appear. The few that might suspect won’t say. This crew is....special.” Casela sank to the floor thinking. “Ops? Spec Ops? That’s where you’ve been?”

Juliet nodded silently.

Casela sighed, “Light years apart and still so much the same. I joined Section 31 after graduating the academy a year early. I’ve been running small team, but mostly solo ops, until I came here. I was on Triton, but that was just my cover. This ship is water tight. Ops doesn’t have to know unless you want them too. The captain and XO will back me on that. You don’t have to leave, unless you want to.” Casela did not want her to leave but she understood if she wanted to. Casela, before coming to Leviathan, would have followed that instinct without a second thought. But Leviathan, the crew, changed her, and though she wouldn’t admit it, she liked how she’d changed. “If it matters at all, Juliet, I want you to stay.”
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

She didn’t have to leave?

Perhaps the first good thing to come from so this, apart from Cas, herself. “Are you sure? The Captain and Doc know what I am. They always know, in case something happens. But the others? They won’t tell?”

She found it hard to believe that the group she’d staggered would melt think it wa Cas. She looked up at her cousin, a curious look on her face. “Yesterday, when I…” she didn’t want to say attack, “the was one person. A guy. He just… stood there. I don’t know how, but my guess is he knows it wasn’t you. What if he says something?” She didn’t know any of the others from last night. No introductions had been made and she hasn’t stuck around to apologize. Just as well, in hindsight.

Jewels
Sec/ RTF


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