The wounded warrior finds her heart - Part 1

Posted on 28 Nov 2024 @ 1:04pm by Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Amanda Turell
Edited on on 04 Dec 2024 @ 8:48pm

3,112 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: Regula I - Level 17, Promenade
Timeline: MD06 - 2200hrs

[ON]

Finding it as usual very hard to relax Amanda sat on a stool in the only bar on Regula one, strong drink in hand watching the people coming and going, it wasn't as busy as when all three ships were there but the place was still busy, some she recognised as others from the Galileo enjoying the brief shoreleave period, some as the staff of Regula one, others were completely new to her. She knocked back the last of the rum in her glass and reached behind her to put it on the counter wincing slightly as the awkward angle sent a twinge up her arm.

"Stealing from the bar. That's a prosecutable offense." A thickly accented baritone spoke from behind her. Sergei was coming in for his nightly drink (or two). The Galileo was back after some short maneuver out in the Pleiades. It meant more people on Regula one, and that alone meant more of anything besides monotony. Tonight, however, that meant someone he did not know was sitting in his spot. He liked that spot. It had the best view of the vid-screens.

However...on second inspection...long blonde hair, even longer legs...and bestill his beating heart! Sergei's eyes honed in on the verbiage on her shirt. 'Size Matters.' Did it now? Well that was an intro if he had ever seen one.

He sidled up to the empty chair next to her and hopped on up without so much ado. The bartender already had his vodka, neat, ready to go and placed it in front of him. "So...size matters? Show me yours and I'll show you mine, then?" He flashed a winning smile to the strange woman and then downed the vodka like it was water...which it was...water of life!

"Excuse me?" Amanda said at first then his words actually registered and she looked down slightly at the shirt she wore, having not really looked when she chose her outfit she read words that were positioned above a hyper detailed picture of a phaser rifle. She chuckled slightly. "Not my most glamourous outfit choice."

"Oh, I don't know...I think it's perfect." Sergei easily replied. "Size absolutely does matter. Wouldn't want a toothbrush for cleaning head floors. Much rather mop." He motioned to her empty glass. "What are you drinking?"

"Whatever takes my fancy and is real, right now it's rum." Amanda replied, she turned her stool to face the man. He looked like he'd came here straight from work, a black jumpsuit was tied off around his waist, the yellowy gold shirt underneath was very similar to the fleet uniform though his was partially unzipped and quite form fitting, the light hitting just right occasionally for her to see the definition of his chest muscles.

Sergei saw the woman's eyes glance about his form taking him in. He refrained from looking down at himself knowing that at least today there was no borscht staining his undershirt like yesterday. "Rum? Can't say I'm much of a rum guy, but who am I to judge?" He turned his attention to the bartender, and made a little gesture to get his attention. "I'll take another, please - and if you would get the lady whatever she likes. Put it on my tab."

"You haven't paid your tab in two weeks."

"Bozhe moy! You kill me with your words. I paid your associate yesterday. Check." Sergei then turned back to the still unnamed woman and leaned in conspiratorially. "Everything gets delayed out here...including pay. It's a joy and privilege to be stationed in bog znaet gde, God knows where...so, do you have a name? I myself, have been known to answer to 'Sergei.'"

"I'll take a shot of vodka too," Amanda said to the barman, it wasn't hard to tell what the first drink that man took had been, its smell was very distinctive. "I'm Ens... Amanda."

"Ah...Amanda, from the Latin I believe...worthy of love...and you drink vodka! Oh, this is too good to be true. Beauty and brains...a delectable combination." He smiled at her as the shot glasses were dropped and the liquor was poured in front of them. He raised the glass to her and announced in Russian, "Za vstrechu!" (To our meeting!) and held out the glass to be clinked.

Amanda chuckled at his 'brains and beauty remark' she took her glass and raised it up too. "Cheers." Clinking her glass with Sergei's she drank it down in one swift motion. "ooofff, been a while since I drank vodka."

He downed his second with the ease of a seasoned pro. "Worry not, sweet Amanda, vodka still loves you and wants you to be happy!" He laughed softly, well amused with himself. This was the most fun he had in months. "So what brings you to Regula 1, the gateway to the Pleiades?"

"A few days of shore leave, long awaited I might add." Amanda replied. "Keep it coming," She then said to the barman. "I'm security for the Galileo, wanted to get off the ship for a while."

"Ah, shore leave. Soon you will leave then. Such is the way of things. I too work in security. As you can see here, this is a lawless place full of dangerous characters...Pah!" He motioned over the bartender, "Just bring the pollitra...ah...hmm...the whole thing? I take what's left."

Turning his attention back to Amanda. "This place is worse than Siberia. I joined Starfleet to see the galaxy...instead I get stationed here. I would protest further except...is punishment for youthful misdeeds." He nodded his thanks to the bartender and took the bottle of vodka from him and poured them both another round. "You eat? We should have some food, otherwise the night will end very quickly."

"I grabbed a little bit before I left the ship, but if we're opening a whole bottle... might be a good idea." Amanda smiled. Something felt right about Sergei or the alcohol was already overriding her usual caution.

Sergei quickly ordered a small assortment of finger foods which would be delivered momentarily "You started right. Rule number 1; never drink on an empty stomach." He winked in a conspiratorial manner before tearing off a hunk of bread and smearing it with the butter provided and handed it to her on a plate. "Simple is best, da? I also have tiny pickles and some shaved ham if that would interest you?"

"Sure." Amanda took the plate unintentionally staring into his soft blue eyes for a few moments.

Sergei obtained his own portion and turned to regard her, catching that she was regarding him with an unblinking gaze...she appeared to be lost in thought at the moment, and he did not want to jar her from whatever she was puzzling out. It gave him a chance to observe in kind. Her eyes were cool, analyzing, even now in her distraction. Her light brown hair looked like it would be soft, and before he knew it he had reached out to tuck some of the strands behind her ear.

"I would apologize for touching you, but I wanted to see what your hair felt like. It is soft, like the silk I would see come through the rynok (market) as a child. You remind me of very exotic places now."

Amanda's first instinct was to grab Sergei's hand as it went to touch her hair but she fought hard against it and grabbed her glass instead letting this stranger close to her. "You are a bold one Sergei, I'll give you that." She gave him a small smile.

"I am Russian, and life is short. What is the saying, 'fortune favors the bold?' Or, perhaps, 'Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die?'" He winked at her before taking a big bite of the buttered bread and chewed thoughtfully. It had been months since he had seen anyone as lovely as the Starfleet officer--he heard her aborted naming of her rank...an Ensign--and Sergei was not about to let an opportunity to spend time with her go to waste. It was funny how the complex rituals regarding dating got distilled down to the important bits in the middle of nowhere. He had a name, he knew she was intelligent, and she was a sight to behold - all boxes checked in the yes category.

"A very good saying." Amanda said then ate a chunk of bread, she knew both the sayings. "Except I don't think there is much chance of you dying here, except of boredom maybe."

"Ah! You wound. But I'll have you know I had to break up a very aggressive argument between two botanists yesterday over some sort of nitrogen concentration discrepancy in fertilizer! I had to use my 'Outdoor Russian" voice on them. It was a sight to behold!" He ended dramatically, picking up one of the gherkins and crunched it with satisfaction. "Ah, who do I kid? I traded one Siberia for another. This is a gulag. You are fortunate, Malishka, (term of endearment) You have the opportunity to 'go' boldly. I can only imagine what you've seen, what you've experienced. I deal in drunken Klingons and angry scientists."

"Drunken Klingons can be a mixed bag, some get really rowdy and can hit like a bear; some are absolutely hilarious." Amanda laughed at Sergei's description of the incident. "Nausicaans are much worse, once they get enough booze in them they're hard to stop, got the scars to prove that one."

"A drunk Nausicaan? You take that on? I give up; I surrender!" Sergei immediately responded but was unable to keep the laugh out of his voice. This Amanda was stunning and bloodthirsty to boot. She was perfekt! He raised his hands in mock surrender, but couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"It wasn't an easy fight that's for sure, even before he pulled a knife, he slashed me pretty good with it but luckily when he tried to stab me it bounced off my rib and didn't hit anything vital." Amanda poured herself another shot. "Medical took their sweet time showing up, took a bunch of this to keep me on my feet." She knocked it back.

"Shit, woman. You are a goddess. Do not let anyone tell you different." He wasn't about to be bested by a female, warrior or not, and slammed back another shot as a punctuation of what he had just said. Sergei exhaled against the burn of the vodka, and popped a finger pinch of ham into his mouth. "I lived a life like that once...We did runs along the Romulan Neutral Zone after Hobus; they are nothing to fool with. The loss of Romulus and Remus only served to sharpen the Rihannsu ruthlessness in military and intelligence strategy." It had been six months of hell, all kept carefully under wraps due to the loss the Romulan Empire had sustained; but the truth was the infrastructure in their territory had fractured and crews were going hungry. Desperate people did desperate things.

Amanda listened intently to his story, she'd missed all the drama with the Hobus supernova and its aftermath. "What happened for you to wind up babysitting scientists in the arse end of nowhere?"

Sergei flashed her another smile, but this one didn't reach his eyes. "I touched when I should have looked." Resisting the urge to take another shot, this time to drown his 'sorrows', he continued, "I think I love this girl; a conn officer. Her mother comes to visit; a bloody admiral! This girl, I love, she moves in circles light-years from me. I did not know! The Admiral hadn't departed the ship a half hour before my transfer came in. What did you do to get shipped out to the Frontier?" He countered.

"ooffff, don't f--k with an admiral's family." She remarked. "To answer your question, I got shot, very badly, over a year on the shelf while they fixed me up, the 6 month trip here was supposed to be a nice easy assignment, they figured I'd be healthy again by the time we got here. But a group of Tholians had other ideas, destroyed my ship." Amanda's right hand began to twitch as she spoke. "Nearly killed me. Almost enough to drive a woman to drink." She grabbed her glass with her left hand and swiftly downed it.

"Fine mess we've gotten ourselves into." Sergei said it with a sense of levity, but his estimation of this officer went up. She had suffered, and if the twitching of her hand was any sign, still suffered. "I'm glad you lived, Amanda of Galileo Security, and made it out here to make a poor soul's day...say, have you plans? I think you'd like to see what the Botanists were fighting over."

"Only plan I had was coming down here and getting drunk, that plan is well underway." She picked up the bottle and shook it a little before putting it down, almost half of it was already gone. "Wouldn't mind a walk, never really explored the station last time we were here."

He stuffed another bite into his mouth and nodded to the bartender as took the bottle and pushed away from the bar. "Well come on then. You should see the plants." Sergei held out his free hand, mindful to put it in front of her left hand for her to take if she so chose.

Grabbing both the glasses in her right hand Amanda slipped off the stool, she took his hand. "Lead the way."

"It is the highlight of being stationed here. It shouldn't take too long to get to; just a few decks away - they made it multi-use. There is a running track along the perimeter...I spend a lot of time utilizing it." The words were just falling out of his mouth as the vodka began to kick in earnest. What a delightful turn of events.

"I can tell." Amanda said quite openly, the alcohol definitely beginning to affect her too. "If the highlight here is the plant life there must not be much else for you to do than exercise or use the holodeck."

Sergei raised a brow in a pantomime of a 'perturbed' Vulcan at her comment and then smiled at her honest observation. "So very kind of you to notice, Malishka. And you are also right regarding all of the amenities, but you forgot the bar. I also spend a lot of time at that bar."

They kept walking to the turbolift and took it to the deck where the arboretum was located, as the 'locals' called it, anyway. The double doors opened and they stepped into a huge space filled to the brim with various types of flora from Remidia. "Come, near the center there is a small man-made waterfall and a delightful carpet of mildly mind-altering moss we can sit upon...with the station orientation, you'll get quite the view of the planet."

"That is a lot of vibrant colour," Amanda said as they walked. "Never really had the time to appreciate plants and all that stuff, even when I was on the shelf and had nothing but time I was more interested in reading and games."

It didn't take long to reach the center, but the way the walkways were placed it made the walk seem longer and the place feel larger than what it was. They came around a bend, and the purple moss Sergei spoke of was planted everywhere as a carpet of 'grass.' A small, man-made pond was off to the side with the small waterfall creating pleasant ambient noise...but it was all of the varied plants that glowed in a riot of phosphorescence that were the stars of this little show.

Sergei couldn't help but smile softly as he watched her reaction to the place. "Well...what do you think? I come here sometimes with the head of engineering. We lay on the moss and drink and watch the planet go by. "

"It's definitely peaceful, I can see why you come here." Amanda walked onto the 'grass' and slowly sat down near one of the clusters of plants putting the glasses down by her side.

Sergei plopped down next to her, kicking up a glittering cloud of spores from the moss. "This stuff is pretty nice too. Just wait. Vodka sandwiches, and a roll in the moss. Life changing." He placed the bottle in between the two of them and leaned back on his elbow and studied the beautiful woman who was literally at his side with more than just a slight bit of interest.

Amanda let out a sigh, "It has been too long since I've been able to relax like this, the last few months have been crazy, a fight for survival some of the time, not enough time to enjoy life." Relaxing only a little she reached back and undid a couple of the bands that held her ponytail together.

"Well, now you are here. There is cheap vodka, a decent view, and I sit next to a beautiful, capable woman. This is the best night I have had in months."

Sergei rolled so that he was positioned to better look at Amanda. He was beginning to feel the effects of everything in earnest. "You know...I can think of another activity that is great for relaxation." He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he recalled the minute reaction that occurred when he reached out and touched her hair.

Amanda laughed. "So that's your plan, ply a girl with cheap vodka and some sight seeing and then try and get in her pants." Her tone was very light hearted though, it had been some time before the injury that shelved her for a year that she last shared a bed with someone.

"In the nutshell. Yes." Sergei readily agreed. "You're here on leave. I don't have the luxury of time, and they say fortune favors the bold." He shrugged in a 'what can ya do' kind of manner. "So...is it working?"

"Maybe," Amanda found herself saying, she lay down on the grass. "I may need a little more persuading."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Sergei Zaigraev
Regula 1 - Station Security
[NPC by S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor]

&

Ensign Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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