Could cut it with a knife...

Posted on 30 Apr 2014 @ 4:16pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark

457 words; about a 2 minute read

"Everything's so...tense around here..."

Gabriel shook his head with a frown as he leant back, sipping his vodka carefully as he considered the last few days.

"I get it, I mean, I do. We have people here who served during the war. I didn't though, so I guess it's different for me. But at the moment...I'm sort of worried that the stress might get to some people at the wrong moment."

He shook his head, pursing his lips as his frown deepened. "All you need is for a member of an away team to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and we have an incident. And security, one way or another, will have to clear it up."

Gabriel swirled the ice in the neat vodka, watching the slight ripple it made through the liquid, the ice cracking. "Don't get me wrong, I'm an all guns blazing type of bloke. But only when it serves, not just for the sake of it. I suppose I'm worried we've got a few sparks in the crew and we're about to go into a powder keg. Besides, I already don't like this mission...it's making me have to do department wide holodeck training. Which never goes without argument. Ever. It's just a headache."

He crossed his legs as he thought for a while, wondering why he didn't have as big of a problem with Cardassians as others seemed to. Even others the same age as him. "You know, I always thought it weird, when I was younger, when my father was doing some kind of business with Cardassians back during the conflict. A politician, discussing something behind closed doors with Cardassians when there is a conflict going on. You know what? I don't think I want to know what it was. And maybe it's safer that way. Maybe I can't be sent to prison then. Again."

He closed his eyes at that, running his hands through his dark hair, sighing as he stretched. "I'm dreaming about it again," he shook his head, swallowing hard. "Prison...and what happened back at home..." he licked his lips. "I'm supposed to go to regular counselling, it was the agreement when I was given my second chance in the fleet. I've managed to avoid it for a good while now. Let's hope it stays that way. Raking all that crap up...it just makes me think about it, it doesn't make it any better. It doesn't make it not have happened. So what's the point."

Gabriel frowned, silent for a long moment before taking a sharp breath and knocking the last of the vodka back. "One way or another, I can't wait for this mission to be out of the way."

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