Imago, Part II: Into That Good Night

Posted on 13 Jan 2013 @ 11:07pm by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius

2,757 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Lamar's Quarters
Timeline: MD -02: 1600 hrs

[ON]

The day had been a long one, but they'd managed to leave Vega behind smoothly. Almost as though they'd never been at all. Droplets in a pond that would echo into nothing but memories. And memories were so very changeable. Lilou left the observation deck behind and continued onward. Alpha shift was over and that meant she might find Lamar in his quarters. She'd been studiously keeping track of his movements. His and Quinn's. Ever since the shift had reported all crew were on board and the departure had begun. Avoidance. Keeping her eye on the ball. Now the ball was in the air and she had no more excuses left to her.

Her footfalls were a heartbeat, steady and even; the flexible soles of her boots clipping and rolling against the smooth corridor. It was entirely possible that he wouldn't be there. And even more possible that he wouldn't be the least bit interested in seeing her. It didn't matter. She had a debt to repay, at the very least.

The door chime on his door hummed beneath her fingers as she pressed the red button and stepped back to wait.

Inside his quarters, Lamar was in the process of ironing several of his uniforms when the door chime sounded and echoed throughout his living room. "Come in." he called out absentmindedly, wondering in the back of his head who was paying him a visit. His thoughts immediately turned to Lilou whom he had not seen in many days. After spending a great deal of time and intimacy with her during their previous mission, she had been strangely absent throughout shore leave. Lamar knew that she had been promoted to chief engineer and as such had many more duties, but he had been a bit perplexed as to why she had seemingly disappeared for weeks at a time.

She stepped inside, her freshly shined boots making a soft 'thrump'. "You're going to take care of my shuttles, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

The newly-promoted warrant officer smiled as he saw Lilou enter his quarters, then quickly put down the iron and made his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her tightly. "I'll try, but no promises." he teased, then leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "Where have you been all this week?" he asked with a frown, wondering what she had been up to and why he hadn't seen her at all. Had she been avoiding him? Maybe it was something to do with their conversation about Marines that was still upsetting her? Lilou was a terribly complicated woman to figure out sometimes, Lamar thought.

It was a relief to be grappled so handily into an embrace again. She folded her hands between them to warm them and leaned up into his kiss when it was offered. "Oh, you know... fixing the hull, making us fly-worthy again, making sure there'd be oxygen to breathe, the usual," she answered airily, but when she opened her eyes to find him frowning, she sighed internally. Nope. Not getting by that easily, was she? "I... am sorry. I should have said... I don't know. Something. Before," she shrugged uncomfortably. "I wasn't handling any of it too well. The work helped me sort some things out. Was your leave pleasant?"

"It was relaxing more so than pleasant." he answered, then let his hands fall from her body and down to his sides. "I caught a shuttlecraft back to Earth a few days ago and spent some time with my family back in Philly...but aside from that, I've just been catching up on my flight qualifications. And I had a fun sparring match with our new Vulcan diplomat." he elaborated, then walked over to his couch and took a seat while motioning for her to follow him. "You know, you could have just told me you wanted some time to yourself instead of hiding in the Jeffries tubes..."

"If I weren't a complete coward," Lilou agreed, "yes, I could have." She wove her hands together behind her back, waffling before she followed him across the room. "I did have work to do. And thinking. Too much of both, really." She looked down, "I owe you an apology."

Shaking his head, he waved his hand to dismiss the notion. "No, it's alright Lilou...I know you've been stressed out, and so have I... There's no need to apologize for it, just...next time, maybe send me a text on my PADD?" he proposed with a raised eyebrow and a friendly glint in his brown eyes. "I really do care about you, and I get worried if I don't see you for a long time."

"Not-" she quirked her brows quizzically, "Well. For that, too, yes. For not letting you know that I was- But... I meant for my..." She made a self-deprecatory expression that looked a bit like how an ice-cream cone would anthropomorphically express its misery when toppling ice cream side down on hot cement. "Tantrum. I usually deal with stress much... that is to say, certain kinds of stress I handle well, but I didn't then. Haven't been for a while. Handling anything, really." She uttered a sharp, hollow laugh and shook her head. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for putting that in your vicinity. I'm handling it now. I'm working on it," she added, hedging slightly. No. She'd deal with it. One way or another. She blinked, suddenly and repeatedly, her gaze swiveling up to his face in strobe setting. "I'm sorry I worried you."

Hearing her somewhat confusing yet plausible explanation, he gave her a soft smile and put his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. He didn't know if she really needed comforting, but it made him feel better to be close to her and lend his support. "No harm, no foul." he said, repeating an old Earth adage. A long moment of silence passed after which he decided to change the subject. "So...do you like my new quarters?"

She wasn't sure what the phrase meant, exactly, but she appreciated the apparent sentiment. He was letting her off the hook for her insanity. Now she just had to make sure that it actually was temporary as she had claimed. "Very fitting," she murmured, looking around. "A few solid foreign atmo flights and you'll be in heaven coming back to quarters like this. Congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks, it's not quite as homely as the last arrangement, but I've only been staying here for a few days. I'll put up a few more decorations to give it that 'final touch'." he said, then paused to turn and look at Lilou.

"And speaking of atmospheres, I hope I get a chance to pilot our Waverider sometime soon...maybe I can find some sort of excuse to take it for a ride and test the systems...and you can be my accomplice." he added with a light chuckle. "Not sure if Captain Saalm would approve, but at least having a senior officer with me would cover my butt a little."

Decorations, she thought. She wasn't even sure what a 'final touch' was supposed to be. She'd been about to ask when he'd changed the subject and left her eyeing him archly. "Only in that she'd have to swat at mine before she could get to you." She rolled her eyes, "If you're good enough to fly the Waverunner, they'll ask you to. It's not as though this ship is overflowing with worthy pilots."

"Yeah...I suppose you're right." he confessed, realizing that his own ambitions had probably just gotten the best of him. With a shrug, he gave Lilou's shoulders an affectionate squeeze. "Well, I'll be happy with a Type-9, or pretty much anything that has impulse engines and thrusters. I got to admit, it's a bit of a load off my shoulders to no longer be the COB. I don't have to babysit the enlisted crew anymore."

"No. Now Quinn gets to babysit you," Lilou murmured, glancing down slightly. "I'm a little envious, to be honest." Shaking her head, she smiled up at him quickly. "I thought you liked Chiefing the boat."

"I didn't mind it at first because it was one of my first senior postings aboard a starship, but after a while..." he paused to shrug again and shake his head, "I sort of felt like I was...you know, ship-sitting the younger crew members. Some of them are only eighteen, nineteen years old and it was sometimes a challenge to keep them in check. Not that I don't mind a challenge, but I prefer something a bit more...tangible." he explained, wondering and hoping if Lilou understood what he was trying to say.

She nodded thoughtfully, her gaze skimming over the furnishings in the quarter lightly, as though she were mentally skipping stones across water. Tangible. She understood that. At least, she thought she did. Wanting to see a result for your efforts. Wanting to be an active participating in the mission of the Federation, rather than a field referee. The action and the risk would probably appeal to him on a basic level after years as a Marine. She felt the quake begin in her belly, panic, low and coiling. Clean, clear water. Gentle, even ripples. Echoes in tension and molecular plasticity. "You don't want to feel like you're on the sidelines," she wagered, glancing up at him. "You won't be. you weren't before, but you won't be now. Not on those shuttles. Not where we're going." She summoned a smile for his benefit. "I bet getting to fly all the time doesn't hurt either."

Lamar grinned at the prospect of being able to do the bulk of Galileo's support craft duties, but also knew that there were three other members of the flight team aboard the Nova Class. He was the newest and junior-most of them all, but still considered himself a valuable asset to the crew. "Well, we don't have many pilots on board, so I'm hoping I can log some substantial cockpit hours on this next mission. Hopefully it's not in another one of those Mutara-class nebulae that disables sensors and deflector shields...I like to be able to see where I'm flying."

"Beggars can't be choosers," Lilou murmured. "Besides, I think skimming through a nebula qualifies as extra merit badges, doesn't it?"

"I would hope so!" he quickly answered with a light laugh, then stretched his legs out and laid down on the couch, playfully pulling Lilou down with him and giving her a tender kiss on the lips. "So...how does it feel being a commissioned officer now?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"My collar got a lot lighter." She tucked her head against the side of his face. "And I keep waiting for someone to wander into Engineering and tell me this has all been an elaborate hoax."

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he stroked the small of her back in a soothing circular motion. "I don't think it's a hoax, Lilou. You're now chief engineer aboard a Federation starship...and personally, I'm very proud of you. There are probably a lot of engineers in the fleet who are envious of you." he whispered with much sincereness in his voice.

"That, too," Lilou muttered. "So far, it's just been repair work. That takes time and I'm good at it, organizing that kind of thing, but... making schedules and monitoring flux levels? I'd almost rather peel my eyeballs. Almost. I don't know how Quinn could stand it. At least I'll have correspondence classes to keep my mind off of it." She laughed, "Look at us. Living the dream. Right out of the nightmare."

Nightmares... Lamar thought, briefly recalling the events of their previous mission. Strangely enough, he had had a few of them recently, night terrors of varying types, but hadn't thought much of them until Lilou just gave them mention. "Hey, um...speaking of nightmares," he began to ask with a bit of hesitation, "Have you...had any recently?"

"Every time I close my eyes." She glanced at him. "You?"

Lamar was a bit shocked at Lilou's revelation but did a good job of hiding his surprise. Every time she closes her eyes?! he incredulously wondered to himself. Fortunately for him, his own nightmares weren't so frequent. "I've had a couple recently at night. They've been...really vivid, almost real. And there have been a few rumors going around the ship of others who are suffering from them as well."

"Rumors?" Lilou asked. "Not a very imaginative rumor. Whoever's spreading them should go to Willis. The stories he comes up with are far more interesting," she explained, dry as a brick in the desert. "We went from being a research vessel to an Intelligence operation, were brutally attacked by our supposed allies, and most of us had friends killed. I'd say it would be surprising if we weren't having nightmares. Wouldn't you?"

"Yeah...good point." he admitted, then let his thoughts turn to the experimental propulsion device which had recently propelled them across the galaxy in a matter of seconds. "We also, to my knowledge, are the first Starfleet crew to use the Sienna device...I mean, who knows what that did to us or our brains..."

"It didn't make me smarter. It didn't make me suddenly a viable candidate for joining. I'm not a telepath and I haven't grown any extra limbs. It got us out of harms way and closer to home." Lilou shrugged. "Aside from that, does it really matter what it did to us?" She eyed him, "You haven't gone and grown extra limbs, have you?"

"Well," he paused to think if he noticed any abnormal body parts growing in strange places lately, "Not that I know of." he answered with a grin and a shake of his head. "But I think it would be nice to have an extra set of hands every now and then." he added in jest.

"Only if you had an extra set of nerves connecting them to your brain. Otherwise, you'd just look funny." Lilou rested her chin on his chest, "What kind of nightmares?"

Lamar shook his head, unable to recall the exact details of his night terrors. They often came swiftly while he was in deep sleep, but by the time he awakened, he had only a fleeting memory of the events. "I'm not entirely sure." he answered in a quiet voice, "I don't really remember the details too well, but one of them had me stuck in the shuttlebay fighting against a swarm of Klingons and Nausicaans...I remember trying my best to fight them, but all around me the rest of our crew was trapped in there and getting slaughtered..."

She kissed the underside of his chin. "I'm sorry you had to fight alone."

"Lucky for me it's only in my dreams." he said, putting his hand on the back of her neck and rubbing her soft skin. "I'm pretty sure most of the crew would have the common sense to pick up a phaser in real life."

"Hopefully," she agreed. "If they could." Shaking her head, she sat up, catching his hands in hers. His skin was like fresh bread, warm and smelling slightly sweet and slightly salty. She brought his hands up to her lips, kissing the fingers before pressing her cheek against them. "Missed you."

"I missed you too." he replied, rubbing his hand against her cheek in a soothing motion. Not missing a beat, he slowly began to unzip her collar and tug on her uniform, wanting nothing more than to be with her on such a quiet and cozy afternoon in space.

She smiled, letting him take the lead. Luxuriating in it, actually; it was a welcome relief to give into his hands and desires. She knew what she was doing here, at least physically. More, she wanted him. And wanted the weight of responsibility off her shoulders, if only for a little while. Sliding her hands down over his chest, she felt a moment's flinch remembering the tattoos and smiled again, through it, murmuring, "Lights. Off." as she leaned down to kiss him.

[OFF]

--

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

WO Lamar Darius
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Lirha Saalm

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