Mama I'm In Love With a Criminal
Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 11:53pm by Sasha Vieers (Deceased) & Ensign Dorian Rochester (Deceased)
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:15pm
Mission:
Divided We Fall
Location: Deck 5 - Luna Eclipse
A Mission Post by Ensign Sasha Vieers & Ensign Dorian Rochester
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Deck 5 - Luna Eclipse
Timeline:
Mon Oct 8th, 2018 @ 1:54pm
A single table in the corner of the Eclipse Bar had been reserved for the meeting; a time negotiated and agreed upon over a series of short and terse messages. It was all well and good for this couple-that-had-never-been to organise this get-together, but now the moment had arrived and neither of them were speaking. Dorian Rochester looked across the table from Sasha Vieers, and she was staring blankly back at him, without a word being passed between them. A waiter came past and poured them both a drink, his eyes darting back and forth between the two with quiet consternation.
After the waiter scuttled back behind the bar as quickly as he could, Sasha leaned forward and took her glass, swirled the wine around a bit, then drank it down. Finally she looked at Dorian and sighed loudly.
"You haven't come to see me." She said, trying not to be too accusing in tone.
"It's been... weird." Dorian replied, giving a half shrug. "I haven't been out of my quarters much."
"Why?" Sasha asked.
Dorian gave her a "Really?" look, and shook his head. "Half the crew don't trust me. The other half probably think I should be thrown in the Brig."
"Not everyone thinks that way." She replied.
"Enough of them do." Rochester returned. "I know the Captain's contemplating our punishment, frak knows what he'll do."
"Temple will be reasonable." Sash said firmly, trying to convince her. "He'll be happy now that he's back with his family and everything's behind us. I think he'll just want to move on." She frowned. "I know I do."
"I killed him!" Dorian hissed, "Or have you forgotten?" His tone was harsh and eyes defiant; he didn't mean to argue with Sasha, and he knew he was just telling her exactly what he'd been telling himself.
"No!" She hissed right back. "I also haven't forgotten how you shot me, too, Dorian. After everything we went through?"
Rochester could see she was upset and he reached out to grab her hand. "Baby I had to, that Takada freak had you in a headlock. I knew by stunning you, she'd let you go. It was... the only option."
"You barely hesitated." Sasha retorted, unable to remove the accusation from her tone now. "After everything we had been through, all that time we'd spent together. And it meant nothing in the heat of the moment."
"We had a plan to fulfil!" Rochester protested. "You knew what we were doing was dangerous and that the rest of the crew probably wouldn't understand, but it would be worth it if it worked."
"We didn't know it would work, though." Sasha argued. "We were just hoping that this idea might do something."
"I believed in it." He said, leaning back in his chair. "I should be getting a god-damned medal from Starfleet, not cast aside like some kind of criminal."
"I had to live out the rest of my life treated that way." She replied. "I know exactly what you're going through now because that was my every day in the Bubble after you left."
Dorian nodded silently, clearly still seething. He began to concentrate on rubbing his fingers together, not looking at her.
"I remember our twenty something years together too." Sasha added, softly this time. "Or was that all just part of the plan?"
"No." He looked up to her, shaking his head. "That was real. You came along at the right time and gave me companionship when I needed it. I did what I did because I wanted us to have a real life again, not that bull dust alternative nightmare."
"I want to believe you." She said with a sigh, her voice choking just a little. "It's just hard, right now, when it feels like you've pulled away."
Dorian shook his head again, more firmly this time, "I feel like I have to protect you from being associated with me. There are going to be consequences from our actions, Sash, and the less you're around me the better it is."
A tear fell from the Trill woman's eyes. "I don't think I can do that." She whispered.
Rochester himself was trying to stay strong, but he could only do so by staring intensely at the table. "Our careers might be over, Sash. Everything we worked for in the real world, just because those high-and-mighty Lieutenants didn't think of the idea first. That's all this is really about, you know? Jealousy. Griffin, Brennan, Kaleri, Smith. They were supposed to be our leaders and they couldn't' come up with ONE IDEA to save us?!"
"Ssshh." Sasha hushed him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. She could tell a couple of the officers in the room were looking at him with concern. "Don't make things worse for us. If you're right, then the last thing we should be doing is speaking like that."
Dorian shrugged, "I feel like a prisoner again." He grumbled.
"We just have to prove ourselves as being loyal officers." Sasha insisted, trying to guide him back to a reasonable discussion. "Whatever Temple wants from us, we'll give it. And do so with a smile on our face."
He scoffed, "You really think it'll be that easy?"
"Maybe not." She said. "But it's where we have to start. Step one is re-earning everybody's trust."
Dorian thought it over for a moment, but just when Sasha hoped he would see sense, he shook his head and stood up. "That might be alright for you, but that plan won't help me. I have to think of something else."
"Think of yourself, you mean." Sasha snapped, "That's all you ever do, Dorian, is think of yourself."
With that, Sasha Vieers stomped out of the bar and left Dorian alone. He took a sharp drink from his glass but then slammed it down so hard onto the table again that it shattered. Two officers who had been watching the conversation decided to step forward. Dorian held up his hands, blood already flowing from where the broken glass had cut into his skin, and took a step back.
"You can relax, I'm going." He said with a bitter sarcasm. "Definitely going."
And he, too, left the bar.
OFF
