[AU] Ants At A Picnic

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 6:10am by Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Mauricio Arnaldo
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 4:57pm

Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Deck 3

A Mission Post by 1st Lieutenant Mauricio Arnaldo & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Deck 3
Timeline:

ON

Fick sat down, cross-legged, on the blanket they had spread out in their usual spot. There was a comfort in setting up the picnic each week and Fick was really enjoying Mauricio's company. They talked about everything that didn't involve their situation and over the weeks it had significantly improved Fick's attitude. Today he had brought rations, like most days, but he did like to pretend the rations were other things. He missed real food. "So, I thought today we could have sandwiches, hoagie style, with lots of meat and cheese and chips! I almost forgot about the chips. I think I was at the academy the last time I had chips." He lay out what food they had. "How about you? How are you doing today?"

Mauricio was splayed out on the blanket, as relaxed as he’d ever been. As the weeks passed he had allowed his demeanour to become more familiar and less rigid with the CFO, as the two became friends. He’d even dispensed with his uniform, now just wearing his singlet and training shorts. Over the past few weeks the pair had bonded quickly, with Mauricio talking more openly about his departed brothers, his life in the Marine Corp, and his traditions. Fick had likewise spoken about his partner, their interesting courtship, and general likes and dislikes. It was a firm friendship by this stage, which Mauricio appreciated more than he was willing to let on. He smiled to the Lieutenant and titled his head back, “Chip me, dude.”

Fick picked up a chip and tossed it at the marine with a grin and without hesitation. He had found that Mauricio was actually very talented at catching things, even when he wasn't expecting whatever Fick was throwing at him.

The Marine caught the chip in his mouth and crunched down enthusiastically. “I’m pretty okay today. Had a good chat with El Capitan, we’re going to start training together.”

"You're going to work out? I want to work out!" Fick put his hands up like he was in a strongman competition, flexing his muscles. "I might be tiny, but I'm fierce!" He tossed another chip to the marine and laughed.

"Let me see." Mauricio asked as he crunched his chip, reaching out to grip his hand around the Lieutenant's arm. "Firm, but could use some definition." He declared in a serious-but-cheeky tone.

Fick pushed him away playfully. "Oh yeah? Well no one's offered to work out with me!" He didn't mean for it to sound like he might be jealous of Mauricio's proposed workout with the captain, but it did come across a little like that. "It's been a month... I went from working out every day to not working out at all." He sagged a little.

Mauricio nodded knowingly. “Yeah, that was my problem too, got stuck in a funk I think. Until we chatted, that is. After that, I got back into my rhythm and my routine. I’m sure the Captain won’t mind if you join us, I promise it won’t be some soft Starfleet training though. We’re talking hard core Marine business.”

Fick nodded and grinned. "I'm down for some hard core Marine business. I think that would be best for getting back into it. Sometimes you gotta go hard." He looked down at his food. He didn't really want it. He picked it up anyway and tried to force himself to eat. He sat back and looked up at the blackness around them. As he was looking at the blackness something seemed different. There was a little thing in the blackness. He wasn't sure how else to describe it. It was also hard to tell if it was the shield or if it was actually out there in the blackness. His brows furrowed as he continued staring.

The Marine wasn’t looking into the blackness for once, he was staring at the officer next to him. “Yeah? Sometimes that’s okay.” Mauricio never discussed his sexuality; as a military man he was okay with servicing needs in whatever way was convenient and present. And it became evident from his shorts that the need was present at this moment. He reached out again and touched Fick’s arm. “We could do some exercise right now if you’d like?”

Fick turned away from the blackness and blinked at Mauricio. He looked the marine over and grinned. He had wanted the opportunity to jump the marine, but it hadn't come up. For Mauricio to actually suggest that they do something aside from eat and talk was amazing and out of the blue for Fick. "Oh hell yeah!" He moved closer to the other man until he was close enough to attempt to kiss him. "Hi!" he said with a grin right before he attempted to plant his lips firmly against Mauricio.

Mauricio leaned in as well and closed his eyes. He felt like his whole body was humming now. Though as soon as he did, he began to remember all the times young Fick had spoken about his boyfriend, the Klingon. No matter what his urges were, he had to make sure Fick was thinking this through. “Wait, what about your boyfriend?” he asked in a low whisper.

"He's not here..." Fick said, just as softly. "He may never be here again. I'm not going to just sit here and be miserable when there's a gorgeous marine that wants me. I don't think K'Laus would want me to be miserable either. So shut up and come here..."

Mauricio gave a shrug and decided to allow Fick to throw caution to the wind; even if he felt a pang of guilt from helping the man stray from his relationship, it was Fick's relationship to deal with. Or not, as the case may be. Besides, Mauricio never believed in coincidences and it could have been that maybe this whole situation had been leading to this moment all along? Who was he to tell the spirits they were wrong? If it weren't meant to be, they wouldn't be here.

So with that in mind, Mauricio closed his eyes and leaned in again, and at that exact moment, the ship started to rumble and shake. At first Mauricio thought it was just the excited rhythms of his body, but soon the plates and dishes spread out on their blanket started to rattle audibly as well. The Marine pulled away and looked at Fick with a worried stare.

Fick looked back out at the blackness. The thing that he had been staring at earlier had definitely gotten larger and he suddenly realized, with each shudder of the ship underneath him, that what he had been looking at earlier was actually a tear in the shields. He had never seen anything like it, but it was definitely getting larger. He pointed, struggling for words and made an urgent sound. "We gotta get out of here!" He grabbed a hold of Mauricio and got to his feet.

As the two made their way towards the unfortunately closed doors, they began to feel a constant pulling force dragging them backwards. The food and dishes on the abandoned blanket suddenly became airborne as they were picked up by the steadily increasing suction and sailed off into oblivion. The lights in the corridor flickered constantly as the very beams and bulkheads of the ship lurched and rattled, threatening to collapse around them with escalating power. From behind them, the blackness began to creep forwards as if chasing the two further into the Pandora, seeping through the shields and creating larger and larger holes in the only protective barrier that was keeping the two officers from being sucked out into space.

Mauricio made it to the door first but with the power fluctuating and the ship sensing the decompressing room, they refused to automatically open. He cursed in Spanish before ripping open the panelling on the wall and pulling hard on the manual release. The doors parted but only slightly - just enough for the two to get their hands inside.

"We have to force it open!" Mauricio called out as he dove his hand through the gap and started to use his strength to force the doors apart.

Fick nodded and gave him a thumbs up, but he was starting to have a hard time keeping his feet. He wasn't a big guy and didn't have the bulk to help him resist the pull. He grabbed onto the door though and braced his feet. He pulled with Mauricio. If they didn't get out of this room soon, they were definitely going to die, shot out into that blackness they were so fond of staring at. Even if it didn't look like regular space, it sure did act like it. Fick put everything he had into pulling on the door with the Marine.

"Come on you, Hijo de puta!" Mauricio groaned.

Slowly but surely the door began to open, and there was soon enough of a gap for one person to fit through. As he heaved his weight into keeping the door open while also trying to maintain his footing, Mauricio stole a look backwards. The force field keeping them inside the ship was failing. It was flickering off for longer periods as the corridor around the growing darkness continued to be consumed by the entrenching space. It became obvious that even if they both managed to squeeze through the door, there wouldn't be enough time to make it to safety; it would only be delaying the inevitable blow-backwards. That was, unless the door was closed again, creating a new barrier to the darkness and giving enough time for someone to enact a forcefield or at least escape.

Without thinking, Mauricio freed his left arm and wrapped it around Fick's waist. He leaned in for a moment. "Go find that boyfriend of yours. Promise me you'll get home."

Fick fought him for a moment. He couldn't help with the door if Mauricio had ahold of him like this. He stared at the marine as he spoke. For a moment his mind stopped working altogether. What happened next seemed to take an eternity for Fick.

Mauricio pushed Fick forward through the gap in the doorway and into the corridor outside. When he saw the Lieutenant was through, the Marine let go of his other hand keeping the door apart and it immediately snapped shut again. There was a slight cry out of Mauricio's voice and then... silence.

Fick stumbled into the hallway and turned just as the door snapped shut. He threw himself at the now closed door and tried like mad to try and pry it open. "No no no.... no no... NO!" When he couldn't pry the door open he pounded his fists against it, even though his mind told him that it had already been too long with the collapse rate. He inwardly cursed himself for being superb at calculations.

Unfortunately he didn't get long to think about too much. The collapse apparently wasn't going to stop at the door. Fick was leaning against the door, trying to breathe. For some reason he couldn't breathe, when the door made a creaking noise that sounded alarmingly like metal fatigue. Fick jumped back from the door. He wasn't safe here and now he wasn't about to let Mauricio have wasted his life by Fick dying now too. He backed off the door and took off down the corridor to attempt to find a force field that would hold or even activate.

OFF