Reassurances

Posted on Tue Apr 30th, 2013 @ 1:08pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

1,422 words; about a 7 minute read

ON

Sam woke up from yet another nightmare. She would need to stop by sickbay and talk to the doctor about a sleep aid. Or the counselor. But she wasn't sure she wanted to go into counseling and tell Malcolm that she kept dreaming about Damon dying.

The one person she really needed to talk to was Damon. He would understand and maybe give her some perspective on what was going on.

So, hoping she wouldn't wake him, she went to her computer and initiated a call to Damon.

Damon sighed as he walked into the room. ~Long day~ He thought to himself. He never knew how taxing just sitting in a board room and taking notes could be.

"Computer. Play music. Light jazz. Volume 3." He commanded.

The silence of the room filled with a MIles Davis set.

~That's better.~

He was about to take off his uniform when his computer chimed. His eyes glanced over to the clock and noted the time. "Odd." He said as he made his way over to the desk.

The computer flashed in front of him and formed the image of his wife.

"Well, hello." He smiled, happy to see her.

Sam just looked at him, happy to see him looking well and strong. "Hi, love."

Damon looked over to the clock and back again. He noted how tired she looked. "Having trouble sleeping?"

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah. There's something going around the ship that's causing over half the crew to suffer from nightmares and it's starting to affect performance -- even mine. I don't know what it is. If I thought a human could catch a computer virus I'd suspect it was a carryover from the Borg virus, but so far there are no patterns emerging." She wasn't sure if she should admit what hers were, but she finally gave him a wry smile. "Mine all involve you. That's why I'm calling. Just to talk to you. You always manage to calm my fears."

He smiled back at her. "Well I'm glad I can at least do that. I'm sorry that I'm the subject of your nightmares." He shook his head. For the hundredth time since he was asked to assist on this project he regretted being so far away from Samantha. "Is Leanne coming up with any leads?"

"Nothing yet." She paused again to smile at him. "It would be a lot easier if you were here with me, but I know we can't always have a say in where we're sent." She smiled again. "This is the next best thing."

"There's something else that bothers me." She wasn't sure if she should tell him, but she'd never kept secrets from Damon and didn't want to start now. "It's Vance. While I was stuck on the holodeck something happened. Damion Wolfe left the ship with Ronnie Lancaster. When I asked Vance about it she lied. I pressed the issue and she lied again. I found a vid that was sent to Admiral Burke. Damon, it showed Wolfe killing Vance and kidnapping Ronnie. He forced her onto a shuttle. But Vance isnt' dead and Admiral Burke is away from her office right now on some murder investigation of Captain Woodhouse." She shook her head. "I don't know if I should confront Vance with what I found or wait and see what happens. And I don't think I can trust my XO."

Damon could feel a fire burning deep within him. Why hadn't he trusted his gut about her? "Damn that woman." He said, shaking his head. "Sam, I want you to relieve Vance of her position and confine her to quarters immediately. At best, the video proves that she was lying to you; in which case she will need to be tried by court martial under an article 92. At worst, that video shows Vance freed Damion and tried to cover her tracks, which is an article 96, 111, 108..." He stopped as he tried to think of all the laws broken. "...And many, many, others." He concluded. "Either way, her career is over and she potentially serves a lot of jail time."

She smiled. Damon had always been by the book, and she appreciated it. "Except for one thing," Sam said. "One thing I didn't mention. Admiral Hunter was there, too. So, whatever is going on, Covert Ops is involved. Vance was Intel. Damion's Intel." She wasn't supposed to talk about it to anyone, but she was so tired she wasn't thinking. "There's a covert mission behind it. But the fact that Vance thinks I need to be kept in the dark about what's going on on my own ship bothers me a lot."

"Unless it's a sting operation aimed at you, they are still in the wrong. Your ship and crew was endangered. A letter of complaint should be sent to the Admiral's desk. As for Vance, i'd still drop the law-book in her lap. If it's an Op, the Admiral may come to her defence, it's true, either way she will know exactly where you stand." Damon leaned back into his chair as he was known to do when stressed. "Sam, I think you should transfer her off the ship no matter the outcome."

"I'm tempted, trust me." She sighed, wishing again they were in the same place. It wasn't quite the same if she couldn't curl up next to him. But talking still helped her fit all the pieces together. And Damon was brilliant at finding the pieces she missed. "It IS part of a sting operation. The Calypso is part of it only in that Wolfe needs to make it look like he's a fugitive. Admiral Burke told me Wolfe was acting out so that it would look legitimate when he left. But I knew nothing about the 'murder' or the kidnapping. I don't even know if Ronnie knew in advance what was going on." She smiled at him again. "I know. More to put on the list."

She grabbed a glass of juice and came back to the computer. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Besides trying to find excuses to be sent back to the Calypso?" He chuckled. "There is a lot of pretty exciting stuff going on here. Mostly right now it's going over technical data and watching weapon demonstrations. There are a few things here that are going to revolutionize the way marines are deployed. So we are all pretty excited."

She raised an eyebrow. "Sounds interesting. Maybe I could ask for you to be assigned here. The Calypso would be a great place to test these weapons. We do have one of the best MarDets in the fleet, thanks to you."

"Actually the Calypso is one of the proposed testing beds once the new program rolls out. I think with the resent resurgence of the Borg they believe you may become the front lines in the future. Not that great a notion."

"Maybe not, but we beat them once. We can do it again." She gave him an impish grin. "Especially with you around. I don't think they're up to your style of military tactics. Seriously, though, I think the improvements will be a welcome addition to the Marines. I lost too many good people to the Borg. If updating our weapons and armor will save lives, I'm all for it."

"I am too. The timing is right for it." He sighed. "It just means that I can't come home for a while yet. The Ontario has a shakedown cruise coming up and it's starting to look like I'll have to postpone that as well."

"I'm sorry, querido. Maybe when the Calypso gets back to Athena Shipyards we can spend some time together." She hoped so. They alked for a while about the crew and how things were going but at last Sam knew it was time to say goodbye. "You look as tired as I feel. Maybe a hot shower..." That brought ack fond memories. "Te quiero, mi corazon."

Damon laughed. "Yeah I think a good shower would do me well. Stay safe, I love you."

Sam put her hand to the screen and smiled. Maybe a shower would help her, too. Well, not as much as if Damon were with her. She stayed where she was for several moments after the channel closed and then headed for the shower.

OFF

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Colonel Damon Raine
Mission Advisor/Fleet Advisor
USS Calypso/Theta Fleet

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