Post by aoibheni on May 23, 2018 17:30:23 GMT
SFI Tony Adalberto and Freighter Captain Niamh Danann.
---
Tony stormed out of the Turbolift and down the hallway, the crewmen and officers giving way to the blackclad officer as he seemed to glide towards the end of the hall before he arrived before the large reinforced doors.
Brig.
Tony cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes momentarily as he took a deep breath, centering himself as he had been taught by those space hippies at the New Zealand rehabilitation center. Prison.
He opened the eyes and the doors were still there. For a moment he had hoped it would be a mistake. That he was just back on Earth...that Intel had never picked him up at that bar after his release and coerced him into service. That he wasn´t here to arrest and interrogate the only woman he had ever loved, and the mother of their late daughter. The woman he had abandoned.
He reached out and activated the door, and stiffened up as they slid apart revealing the large containment area, each cell containing some very angry looking men and women....and the back of a redhead with a familar form.
"Sir? Can we help you?" the Security officer in charge stepped forward to intercept him.
Tony reached into his jacket and retrieved a yellow datakey, handing it to the woman "My authorization. Please have Captain Danann transferred to the main interrogation room. Turn off the recording devices and leave the stuncuffs"
Danann turned reflexively at the sound of the familiar voice, her skin crackling with nerves. Her view of the man in question was obscured by that damned security officer, but she knew exactly who it was regardless.
"Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of my crew..." she said, but she knew that wasn't true. And part of her - a small, weak, sentimental part - didn't want this first meeting to have an audience, so she said no more as the security officer checked Adalberto's credentials and then deactivated the forcefield holding her in her cell.
Tony just looked over at her, his face betraying no emotion "I highly doubt that, Captain". He walked past the half moon command post and pointed at the guard "Bring her to interrogation" before activating the doors and stepping inside.
Niamh felt her heart race, and her stomach tie itself in knots. Fury and relief, indignancy and pride all wrestled for dominance in her already overwhelmed mind.
She barely felt the guard take her by the upper arm and escort her across the brig towards the interrogation room. She didn't notice Leeson's panicked yells, or see Winston's steady stare.
Suddenly, she found herself standing alone in a room with Tony Adalberto after all this time, and words, utterly failed her.
Tony leaned over the metallic table and entered a few commands into the small console, making certain that all monitoring devices were offline as ordered before looking up at Danann. "Nia, sit down."
A hundred half formed refusals flashed through her mind. His familiarity irked her after so long, the lack of respect for her rank, the fact that she was here at all... But instead, she held her fury at bay, shrugged off her targ skin jacket and pulled the seat out slowly. She tossed her jacket in the corner of the small room and let the chair's legs scratch across the floor as she held her gaze on him. Then, stepping around the chair, she finally sat and immediately threw her booted feet in the table with a thump.
"This better be good," she said, her expression flashing with distrust.
Tony sighed, his expression sorrowful as he grabbed his own chair and sat down. “Oh Nia, nothing about this is good“
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back, trying to gather his thoughts, while it felt like a tornado was tearing apart his mind in this very moment “I had no idea it would be you. Believe me.”
"If you think I haven't already found a way out of this..." she said, bluffing, her eyes betraying her real feelings clearly as they filled with tears, "... Nah, Tony”, she sniffed, “...you being the one to track me down is just the cherry here," she continued, shifting uncomfortably and settling her feet, "but I am just... thrilled... that this shit show is what forced you to finally surface, so please, carry on talking, yea? I'm dying to hear what you have to say to me... " she bit her lip for a moment "... let's see how many lies you get through before you hit the truth."
Danann blinked in surprise. “Are you kidding me?” she responded, her mouth curling into a tense, incredulous smile. Her green eyes burned into his. This, she thought, was the first time he'd laid eyes on her since she'd been abducted. The last time they'd touched, she'd been pregnant still, they'd had plans to settle down on Earth, among his people, to be a family, and now, this…? “You didn't race down to the brig, turn off surveillance, pull me in here just to ask me about some fucking medication, did you?” She'd imagined many variations of this conversation over the years; some ended with reconciliation, others with him begging for her forgiveness, some with mutual hatred. In some he blamed her for the loss of their little daughter, in some she agreed with him, in some they vowed to try again. In none did she imagine he'd arrest her for petty theft.
Tony didn´t flinch, despite the somersaults taking place in his gut. "I placed a tracer in your cargo.....the cargo. I had no idea you were our target...I.." he looked puzzled as the words stopped pouring out, and for once he was at a complete loss for words. He looked away, shying away from her gaze "I left because I got lost. Lost on my grief, and I did not know how to share it."
She pulled her feet off the table and watched him in silence. “That simple, huh?”, she said softly. “‘I didn't know how, so I didn't try’?”
"At first, yes"
Tony pushed himself away from the table, the chair groaning against the deck plating as he stood up and walked over to the bulkhead, leaning against it for support as he continued looking away in shame "Then it became fear. Fear of facing what I left behind, fear of failure and burnt bridges....then things became worse...but that´s a story for another time perhaps"
He finally looked back at her, finally taking in the difference. The tanktop, the leather and boots. The crows feet and malnutrition, added muscle definition....same hair, some new tattoos. "I´m glad you are alright, Nia. I promise that you will be treated fairly, you and your officers"
She chuckled softly.
“Babe,” she replied, her voice laced with a note of brutal truth, “you didn't know I was gonna be caught up in this, and it's clear, just looking at you now,” she cast her eye over his body language, “that you've got very little control over this situation… so you'll forgive me if I take that promise with a pinch of salt.”
She pulled herself to her feet with a groan and cleared the few feet to his side. Leaning her back on the bulkhead close to him with a thump, she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Careful not to touch him, she continued, “My crew has already been treated unfairly, Tony. You have no idea what horrors Starfleet have put some of them through, and now they're locked up for nothing, in a Starfleet cell. This is literally a nightmare for them… you've got no jurisdiction out here, we're an independent vessel, I've admitted to no wrong doing…” she opened her eyes and turned her head towards him, “Zeta Nine was owed that shipment... Those people deserve better.”
They stood there both, leaning against the bulkhead and for a moment he felt the urge to throw up. All that pain and guilt just came rushing back at him. So many things he wanted to say to her....but it was too much, too late.
"I know, and that´s what my report will read and undoubtedly what Sara´s report will say....I just hope Starfleet agrees..." he grunted angrily knocked the butt of his fist against the wall "I can´t stand this uniform Nia, I don´t trust them to do the right thing anymore"
“You sound like me.”
She reached out gingerly and picked at the black fabric at his shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat as her fingers made contact. There was no denying he was truly here, now. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the light fabric and all of a sudden he was real, and her mind filled with flashes of their time together. Intimate moments and loving ones, times apart and ecstatic reunions. “I love you”s and “I need you”s, and “I want you”s tumbled one on another. She let go immediately.
“I uh…” she scrabbled for something to say, focusing past the tsunami of memories, “...I'd fit you for something a little less… ominous, only I've all the engineers I need and, like, what freighter needs a tactical officer?” She huffed deeply. “What a fucking mess.”
"You wouldn´t want me anyway" he said with a sad smile "But thanks". He pushed off the wall, again putting up an imaginary boundary between them "Nia I don´t wear the uniform voluntarily. There´s stuff you don´t know, and it´s better we don´t go into that.....just know I had to bring you in.....Sara and Raq...Commander sh´Hruvek´s asses are on the line if I don´t do what they want".
He turned to face her, seeing the confusion and sadness on her face. "A story for another time"
He walked back towards her, the memory of her hand on his shoulder haunting him but stopped an arm´s length away "There´s so much I wanted to say before the Captain get´s here, I don´t know where to even begin"
“Want my advice?” she offered, not waiting for him to answer, “think it through and get back to me.” She bent and retrieved her jacket, slinging it over her shoulder. She let her attention travel over him, taking in the visible signs of age and stress, the lines around his eyes, the grey in his thick hair; neither of them had survived the last few years unscathed. “Not like I'm going anywhere…” she stepped past him, pausing when they were shoulder to shoulder “... and what's a few more days of waiting?”
Tony seemed to visibly gulp as she stepped closer, then reached out to the wall behind her, reaching past her as he did, and activating the doors. "Take her back!" he called for the guards.
He looked back at her and smiled softly.
"This time I'll be back."
---
Tony stormed out of the Turbolift and down the hallway, the crewmen and officers giving way to the blackclad officer as he seemed to glide towards the end of the hall before he arrived before the large reinforced doors.
Brig.
Tony cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes momentarily as he took a deep breath, centering himself as he had been taught by those space hippies at the New Zealand rehabilitation center. Prison.
He opened the eyes and the doors were still there. For a moment he had hoped it would be a mistake. That he was just back on Earth...that Intel had never picked him up at that bar after his release and coerced him into service. That he wasn´t here to arrest and interrogate the only woman he had ever loved, and the mother of their late daughter. The woman he had abandoned.
He reached out and activated the door, and stiffened up as they slid apart revealing the large containment area, each cell containing some very angry looking men and women....and the back of a redhead with a familar form.
"Sir? Can we help you?" the Security officer in charge stepped forward to intercept him.
Tony reached into his jacket and retrieved a yellow datakey, handing it to the woman "My authorization. Please have Captain Danann transferred to the main interrogation room. Turn off the recording devices and leave the stuncuffs"
Danann turned reflexively at the sound of the familiar voice, her skin crackling with nerves. Her view of the man in question was obscured by that damned security officer, but she knew exactly who it was regardless.
"Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of my crew..." she said, but she knew that wasn't true. And part of her - a small, weak, sentimental part - didn't want this first meeting to have an audience, so she said no more as the security officer checked Adalberto's credentials and then deactivated the forcefield holding her in her cell.
Tony just looked over at her, his face betraying no emotion "I highly doubt that, Captain". He walked past the half moon command post and pointed at the guard "Bring her to interrogation" before activating the doors and stepping inside.
Niamh felt her heart race, and her stomach tie itself in knots. Fury and relief, indignancy and pride all wrestled for dominance in her already overwhelmed mind.
She barely felt the guard take her by the upper arm and escort her across the brig towards the interrogation room. She didn't notice Leeson's panicked yells, or see Winston's steady stare.
Suddenly, she found herself standing alone in a room with Tony Adalberto after all this time, and words, utterly failed her.
Tony leaned over the metallic table and entered a few commands into the small console, making certain that all monitoring devices were offline as ordered before looking up at Danann. "Nia, sit down."
A hundred half formed refusals flashed through her mind. His familiarity irked her after so long, the lack of respect for her rank, the fact that she was here at all... But instead, she held her fury at bay, shrugged off her targ skin jacket and pulled the seat out slowly. She tossed her jacket in the corner of the small room and let the chair's legs scratch across the floor as she held her gaze on him. Then, stepping around the chair, she finally sat and immediately threw her booted feet in the table with a thump.
"This better be good," she said, her expression flashing with distrust.
Tony sighed, his expression sorrowful as he grabbed his own chair and sat down. “Oh Nia, nothing about this is good“
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back, trying to gather his thoughts, while it felt like a tornado was tearing apart his mind in this very moment “I had no idea it would be you. Believe me.”
"If you think I haven't already found a way out of this..." she said, bluffing, her eyes betraying her real feelings clearly as they filled with tears, "... Nah, Tony”, she sniffed, “...you being the one to track me down is just the cherry here," she continued, shifting uncomfortably and settling her feet, "but I am just... thrilled... that this shit show is what forced you to finally surface, so please, carry on talking, yea? I'm dying to hear what you have to say to me... " she bit her lip for a moment "... let's see how many lies you get through before you hit the truth."
"Your freighter was carrying stolen medical supplies. Supplies you stole from a Federation starbase." He continued without losing his stride.
"Do you confess?"
Danann blinked in surprise. “Are you kidding me?” she responded, her mouth curling into a tense, incredulous smile. Her green eyes burned into his. This, she thought, was the first time he'd laid eyes on her since she'd been abducted. The last time they'd touched, she'd been pregnant still, they'd had plans to settle down on Earth, among his people, to be a family, and now, this…? “You didn't race down to the brig, turn off surveillance, pull me in here just to ask me about some fucking medication, did you?” She'd imagined many variations of this conversation over the years; some ended with reconciliation, others with him begging for her forgiveness, some with mutual hatred. In some he blamed her for the loss of their little daughter, in some she agreed with him, in some they vowed to try again. In none did she imagine he'd arrest her for petty theft.
Tony didn´t flinch, despite the somersaults taking place in his gut. "I placed a tracer in your cargo.....the cargo. I had no idea you were our target...I.." he looked puzzled as the words stopped pouring out, and for once he was at a complete loss for words. He looked away, shying away from her gaze "I left because I got lost. Lost on my grief, and I did not know how to share it."
She pulled her feet off the table and watched him in silence. “That simple, huh?”, she said softly. “‘I didn't know how, so I didn't try’?”
"At first, yes"
Tony pushed himself away from the table, the chair groaning against the deck plating as he stood up and walked over to the bulkhead, leaning against it for support as he continued looking away in shame "Then it became fear. Fear of facing what I left behind, fear of failure and burnt bridges....then things became worse...but that´s a story for another time perhaps"
He finally looked back at her, finally taking in the difference. The tanktop, the leather and boots. The crows feet and malnutrition, added muscle definition....same hair, some new tattoos. "I´m glad you are alright, Nia. I promise that you will be treated fairly, you and your officers"
She chuckled softly.
“Babe,” she replied, her voice laced with a note of brutal truth, “you didn't know I was gonna be caught up in this, and it's clear, just looking at you now,” she cast her eye over his body language, “that you've got very little control over this situation… so you'll forgive me if I take that promise with a pinch of salt.”
She pulled herself to her feet with a groan and cleared the few feet to his side. Leaning her back on the bulkhead close to him with a thump, she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Careful not to touch him, she continued, “My crew has already been treated unfairly, Tony. You have no idea what horrors Starfleet have put some of them through, and now they're locked up for nothing, in a Starfleet cell. This is literally a nightmare for them… you've got no jurisdiction out here, we're an independent vessel, I've admitted to no wrong doing…” she opened her eyes and turned her head towards him, “Zeta Nine was owed that shipment... Those people deserve better.”
They stood there both, leaning against the bulkhead and for a moment he felt the urge to throw up. All that pain and guilt just came rushing back at him. So many things he wanted to say to her....but it was too much, too late.
"I know, and that´s what my report will read and undoubtedly what Sara´s report will say....I just hope Starfleet agrees..." he grunted angrily knocked the butt of his fist against the wall "I can´t stand this uniform Nia, I don´t trust them to do the right thing anymore"
“You sound like me.”
She reached out gingerly and picked at the black fabric at his shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat as her fingers made contact. There was no denying he was truly here, now. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the light fabric and all of a sudden he was real, and her mind filled with flashes of their time together. Intimate moments and loving ones, times apart and ecstatic reunions. “I love you”s and “I need you”s, and “I want you”s tumbled one on another. She let go immediately.
“I uh…” she scrabbled for something to say, focusing past the tsunami of memories, “...I'd fit you for something a little less… ominous, only I've all the engineers I need and, like, what freighter needs a tactical officer?” She huffed deeply. “What a fucking mess.”
"You wouldn´t want me anyway" he said with a sad smile "But thanks". He pushed off the wall, again putting up an imaginary boundary between them "Nia I don´t wear the uniform voluntarily. There´s stuff you don´t know, and it´s better we don´t go into that.....just know I had to bring you in.....Sara and Raq...Commander sh´Hruvek´s asses are on the line if I don´t do what they want".
He turned to face her, seeing the confusion and sadness on her face. "A story for another time"
He walked back towards her, the memory of her hand on his shoulder haunting him but stopped an arm´s length away "There´s so much I wanted to say before the Captain get´s here, I don´t know where to even begin"
“Want my advice?” she offered, not waiting for him to answer, “think it through and get back to me.” She bent and retrieved her jacket, slinging it over her shoulder. She let her attention travel over him, taking in the visible signs of age and stress, the lines around his eyes, the grey in his thick hair; neither of them had survived the last few years unscathed. “Not like I'm going anywhere…” she stepped past him, pausing when they were shoulder to shoulder “... and what's a few more days of waiting?”
Tony seemed to visibly gulp as she stepped closer, then reached out to the wall behind her, reaching past her as he did, and activating the doors. "Take her back!" he called for the guards.
He looked back at her and smiled softly.
"This time I'll be back."