Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Holodeck 3- A Long Way Down (and Up)

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Holodeck 3- A Long Way Down (and Up)

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Holodeck 3- A Long Way Down (and Up)
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

The waves rolled in and pushed back into the open ocean, a rhythmic sound that echoed her breathing. On the edge of her hearing there was a snapping sound, but it was muffled, so she couldn’t quite place it as the crackling of the fire. Low sounds floated through the air and their resonance was… interesting. Unplaceable but notable.

It was enough.

A familiar presence close next to her. Familiar music- if not by tune than by tone. Faye shifted her weight and pulled the blanket more tightly around her and let her head fall to rest against Alex’s shoulder.

~Faye Calloway

Alex put an arm around her and looked at Shara with look that said Here we go.

Shara simply nodded very subtly, but kept playing.

“So… I guess I don’t have to ask how your day is going then, hm?” he said softly.

Cochrane, CO

Resting more snuggly against Alex, Faye wasn’t sure she could ever explain the unease created within her when she found herself in a place she didn’t remember being. It was one thing when it likely happened often during her imprisonment with the Romulans. Then, it had been hard to know what was her retreating to the safety of her mind to avoid the pain, and what had been the drugs they’d give her that left her unaware of what was what. Here though, it was different. Here her last concrete memory of being in the garden and now they were at the beach. It naturally was the holodeck and her program. But the rest was uncomfortably missing from her usually excellent recollections. “Muir Beach?” she said softly.

“The nosy Intelligence officer in me. I hope this is okay?” Shara said softly.

Faye nodded. She knew the questions were coming but frankly didn’t want to deal with any of it. “I’m so tired,” she said at length, wondering of those few small words could even encompass all that it was meant to.

~Faye & Shara Calloway

Alex said “I know… I know… but we need to know what happened, Faye. You don’t have to go into details, but we need an idea.” He looked at Shara and said “When and where did this all start?”

Cochrane, CO

“I noticed the dissociation in the garden. Did something happen there, Faye?” Shara asked.

Her chest heaved as Faye pushed a breath out and sat up more straight. Then she pushed herself to her feet and, blanket still wrapped around her securely, she gazed out at the ocean, breathing in and out slowly. Finally she turned back to her mother and Alex and focused on Alex. “You were right. And I don’t know what happened between you, but Luke was pretty angry, and as much as I gently tried to pull out of our… arrangement, I don’t think it was ever going to go well. But he doesn’t get what I’m dealing with. I want him to, so we can be friends, but that is not what happened and I feel terrible. And it’s yet another thing I don’t know if I can make right.” She dug at the sand with the tip of her work boot.

~Faye & Shara Calloway

Alex simply nodded and said “I’m really sorry, Faye. If there was ever a time I wanted to be wrong… that was it.” Alex looked at Shara and said “Faye and Wyatt had… spent some time together. When Faye and I had dinner, she told me about it. I told her that it was a bad idea at the time. And Faye agreed. I’m guessing her explanation to the Lieutenant didn’t go smoothly.” and he sighed.

Shara nodded, though she bit on her lower lip, as if she already knew and he was simply confirming a suspicion. “I see.”

“Faye… I can’t begin to know what it is you deal with on a daily basis. But I do know that whatever happened in the garden can be handled.” He looked at Shara and gave her another look, but this one said ‘Don’t test me on this’. “I’ll talk to Luke. Don’t worry about that. Focus on doing what you need for you to get back on your feet. The test can wait.”

Cochrane

Well, if Cochrane thought Shara was the kind to go on the hunt and deal with a situation with her own particular brand of justice, well… he’d be right. But only under very specific circumstances and this was definitely not one of them. While the warning was accepted, it really hadn’t been needed.

Faye’s head dropped and she studied the sand. The damn tears were back and she felt a myriad of things she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Getting her feet back under her was definitely an apt way to put it because right now she felt like everything was spinning. “I don’t know how to do this! jasmine was right. I don’t think about others. I keep making decisions for me. But if I made the wrong decision there, how can you be right Alex that I made the right one too? How can both be true!” She shook her head, working hard to contain her anger. “That damn medal. It’s a joke, really. I mean, how can I even look at it again? Even just thinking about it makes me feel guilty.” Luke had said he was selfish, but Faye was seeing more clearly how selfish she had been and for a very long time.

“Unfortunately, Faye, a lot of things in life don’t fall neatly into good or bad. Sometimes they just… are,” Shara said softly. “I know it’s hard for you, but you deserve that medal, even if in hindsight you feel you could have done it differently.”

Her stomach churned and Faye braced her hands on her thighs, feeling once again like throwing up.

~Faye & Shara Calloway