The Long Journey (closed)

[slut_in_white]

Charlie winced. "Ouch." She was lucky she hadn't seen any major war wounds like that. It seemed unfair that he would have to suffer through medication like that. If he'd had access to proper medical facilities after sustaining the injury, he would have ended up with a perfect graft and no medication at all. But she supposed that's why they say war is hell.

She leaned back against the wall of the elevator, looking chagrined. "I'm sorry, that sucks. Need any help?"

 

[silvertongue217]

“Oh its some thing I have become accustomed to” He said smiling at her as the elevator opened on their floor “your more than welcome to join me however if you wish” H said gesturing at his room and beginning to walk. He had made it half way through when he winced and he began to hobble from the pain in his leg.

“Son of a bitch” He said cutting Samantha off with an “I know!” He gave his XO a small smile and kept going growling at the pain.

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie smiled at the invitation and nodded, admittedly curious about how the leg thing worked. Only then, he bit back a curse and started swearing at his AI, and for a moment she thought he was going to collapse.

She paused, surprised by the sudden outburst. It was only by chance that she spotted the marks. He had doubled over with pain the first moment it hit him, and his shirt had ridden up. She managed to ignore the glimpse of hard muscled abs in favour of spitting out her own curse at the sight of the black lines snaking up his body from his leg.

"Motherf...!" She managed to stop herself before she got into trouble for swearing at a superior. Glaring at him, she grabbed his arm and yanked it over her shoulders, supporting his weight. She gave him no option to argue or complain about it. "Fucking blood poisoning?!" She hissed, hitting the button to open the door to his quarters several times harder than she needed to. But she was pissed.

She hauled him into the room, sat him down on the bed and turned around to face the selection of his luggage still mostly in bags. "Oy, pretty AI lady, where's the injection?"

"Second bag on your left, in the front pocket," came the crisp, sultry reply from on of the speakers scattered about the room.

Charlie found it easily. She pulled the syringe out of the bag, handed it to him, and then stood over him, watching him inject it, her face ashen with anger. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! We're on the first day of a three year mission and you're sitting here gambling with your life for what, shits and giggles?"

 

[silvertongue217]

He raised an eyebrow at her reaction letting her finish before speaking

“Watch your tone” He said getting up and stretching his leg “I am still your superior officer” He reminded her.

“And to answer your question I had plenty of enough time” He said narrowing his eyes “that pain reminds me of where I got it and how I reminds me of the millions who died for this bloody war we just finished civilian and military alike”

He narrowed his eyes “I am not gambling with any thing I am merely serving out my penance both of them” He said pointing at his head scarf and the bindings. He sat at his desk fixing her with a steady glare.

“We all have our demons” He told her speaking plainly “we all have our things to live with how I choose to live mine is for me and me alone”

 

[slut_in_white]

Her eyes only narrowed when he told her to watch her tone. She planned on doing nothing of the sort. "You're not going to be my superior officer long if you keep this shit up and end up dead," she snapped, still seething.

Still, as he explained, she softened. She fought like hell against it - she didn't want to admit maybe she'd been a bit rash in her reaction, and she still thought it was reckless and foolish of him to wait so long for his injections. But she understood. Penance was something she understood intimately.

Her tone was softer when she finally responded, though it was still sharp with anger; just less anger than before. "I don't care how you choose to live with your demons, so long as you don't put yourself or your ship at risk with those choices." She looked seriously at him. "What if the pain had hit earlier? What if it had hit harder? What happens the first time you let it go far enough that you can't quite make it back to your quarters?" She was gritting her teeth again, her anger rising all over again. "What happens then? You die, and I get saddled with an entire fucking ship." She laughed, but it was bitter and cold. "I'm no captain. I'm not even a decent officer. I'm here because I have a skill, but my skill is not people." She pressed her hands down on his desk, leaning hard against it. "We are fucked if something happens to you. Get it? Fucked."

 

[silvertongue217]

He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose “and you are correct” he said finally admitting she was right “I will make sure to keep better track of this next time” He finally said begrudgingly.

“Now are you going to continue to yell and get angry or are you going to have dinner with me?” He said raising an eyebrow “unless you want to go eat at the officers quarters” He said already calling up the steward. He had him bring up two orders from the mess and sat back pouring himself a glass of mineral water.

“So hows it feel to be underway’ He asked his tone clear that they weren’t to speak about the moment any more “I think the crew performed well so far of course this is only the first day as time goes by this will get harder and harder” He said sighing and looking at the star charts.

 

[slut_in_white]

Now are you going to continue to yell and get angry or are you going to have dinner with me?

Charlie couldn't bite back the undignified "Huh?" that escaped her throat in response. It sounded, for a moment, like the captain was asking her out. On a date. A moment later, it occurred to her that they were just eating together to give them time to discuss the mission. Which made a hell of a lot more sense.

She took a seat next to him, eyeing the star charts. "I don't know, I think things might even get easier as we continue. I mean, right now, everything is new and foreign, and the people who don't want to be here are still aching that they're here and not back home. They'll get over it, and everyone will become used to their schedules, and the ship will start feeling like a home. We might encounter some difficulties, sure, but I don't know if they'll be enough to make it harder than these first disorienting few days."

 

[silvertongue217]

“Well we are heading deep into uncharted territory” He reminded her highlighting their path “it will be a fine balance we have to maintain keeping on our toes while relaxing we aren’t expecting to stumble onto any more space faring races but we could run into trouble” He said as their food came in.

“Thank you” He said to the steward and handed her a plat of fresh food “Thank god we have a garden in place and a cattle program” He said sitting down and pouring them both some water “or we would be having frozen food” He said waiting for her to start eating before cutting his own food in precise bites very methodical and military.

“I agree with you the more we go the more set in every one will be plus we have some worlds we might top and explore get our boots on the ground a bit” he said smiling softly.

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie chuckled at his observation about the food. "Oh god, imagine three years on a ship like this eating space paste." It was how most of the soldiers had eaten when on the ground in the heat of battle. Disgusting, but light, nutritious and easy to carry. Charlie hadn't minded it when she was in combat - it was better that lugging real food around. But she couldn't imagine having to eat it when otherwise surrounded by the relative luxury of the Aquilla.

He mentioned the possibility of getting boots on the ground and she groaned. "Ahhh, in 6 months' time, we're all going to be itching to get out, at least for a little while." She grinned back at him, winking. "Good idea, captain. See, this is why you're in charge and I'm not."

 

[silvertongue217]

“the joys of going on a long as mission” He aid to her smiling a little before looking black at the planetary chart “well there are a few planets our long range scanners managed to pick out that we could visit but for the most part we will be on the ship that is unless we find any thing super interesting” He said even though his tone said he doubted it.

“I any case I plan on getting us boots on the ground a often a possible” He said tapping away on the navigational charts “but our nearest point of interest is six months away like you said” He said inclining his head “we will get there but it will be a while”

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie nodded. "Six months is a pretty big stretch, but I'd say we'll make it without anyone going too stir-crazy. It'd be a different case if we were aboard a smaller ship, but this place is huge. I don't think anyone will be getting cabin fever any time soon. My only concern would be open spaces. Are the hydrofers open for the crew to wander? It's probably the closest thing they're going to get to going properly outdoors. Some of them might need it."

 

[silvertongue217]

“Of course” He said nodding “the command doesn’t want it happening all the time since it’s a fragile eco system but we can make it open and the like the hydro engines are as well which simulate a beach sort of it will at least give the appearance of being out and about” He explained finishing his food.

“Now the big thing is going to be fraternization” He said fixing her with a gaze “command doesn’t want it but I don’t see how we are going to stop it but if we start having crew members jut go off and get busy with one another we run the risk of babies….”

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie nodded. "Good, I'm glad we agree. Demanding people go three years with no sex is kind of insane. I mean, if there's no one on the ship a given person wants, then it's not different from at home. But three years in close quarters with someone you want and can't have because of regs? I'd explode." She smiled, shaking her head. "We should keep it subtle, and probably discourage fraternization between superiors and subordinates, but otherwise? Let them have at it. We'll just make sure they have access to contraception, should be pretty easy."

 

[silvertongue217]

“Well actually” He said rubbing the back of his neck “The command didn’t put any form of contraception on this bucket I am sure some were brought on but not enough more than likely they really didn’t want us all having sex apparently” He said speaking bluntly.

“I mean hell it’s a little known secret one of the reasons we are on this mission is to find more planets to colonize” He said sighing “the population is moving to fast people are really scared about this once we left they will be cracking down but they don’t want a ship full of babies coming back”

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie rubbed her face with her hands, clearly annoyed. "That's... crap. I mean, best we can do is discourage sex, but this ship is huge. There's no way we're going to be able to stop them from doing it if they want to." She frowned. "They seriously didn't send us with any hormone pills? Not even for the women who might have a medical need?"

 

[silvertongue217]

“they sent us pills to repress sexual desires if it gets bad” H said sighing “but its only some thing you I and our chief medical doctor is aware of I don’t want to do it either these people have given up enough I don’t feel right medicating them” He sighed rubbing his temples “I was just going to be honest and tell them they need to pull out” He said snorting at how ridiculous it sounded.

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie chuckled. "Well, it's more likely to work than medicating them. You want a mutiny on your hands? Drugging them into compliance is the surest way to ensure that's exactly what happens." She sighed heavily, shaking her head. "I can't believe this. The brass really thought there wouldn't be any fraternization? On a three year mission? What are they, fucking robots?"

 

[silvertongue217]

“There more afraid than any thing else” He said sighing “It’s bad the war effort costs us a lot of resources it was basically get to peace or die off even with all our resources pooled we are still facing a crisis of over population and on a galactic scale that’s one of the reasons we were rushed into this little expedition because they need more planets to terra form or settle on” He said nodding at the star charts.

“Believe it or not this mission is of vital importance its why we have representatives of every species here

 

[slut_in_white]

"I know. I just mean... they know we're all people. With hearts and desires. I can't understand why they would have thought that simply telling us not to have sex would actually work. Never in the history of humanity has that actually worked. I mean, even back when they used to stone people to death for adultery, people still did it. Did they think some angry words from you or I would be a more effective deterrent than that?" Then she scoffed. "Hell, I'm not even sure I could get mad at someone for fucking around. I'm not even sure I'm willing to avoid sleeping with someone during this mission, and I can't exactly yell at other people for a crime I'm willing to commit myself."

 

[silvertongue217]

He cleared his throat at her comment “You and I already know the truth I trust when you do engage in those things it will be with some one who you can trust and who is close enough to your superiority I don’t mind you fraternizing but it cant be with some one on your level above or below”

He shrugged “I know this is going to be hard that’s why I am not going to even bother trying to police this thing I just want people to understand that we cant stop them from getting pregnant and if they do well when w get back they could be in serious trouble for it I hope not but I don’t know”

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie shrugged. "Then I guess our men better get real comfortable with pulling out." Then she grinned at him. "And, dear captain, that's an announcement I am definitely leaving to you. No way am I going to go around making an official announcement about crew sex habits."

 

[silvertongue217]

“Oh I have no problem breaking the news” He said shaking his head “I don want to have to court martial any one if need be and we don’t have any baby stuff on this thing any ways” He said a small humorous smile crossing his face.

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie laughed, flopping back on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. "Well, have fun. I don't have an issue talking sex one-on-one like this, but I guess making it all official and announcing rules about it seems kind of weird to me, that's all."

She rolled onto her side, looking up at him with a playful grin. "So what about you, captain? Gonna be a good example and avoid fraternization or did you have some fun in mind for this trip?"

 

[silvertongue217]

“I haven’t decided yet” He said eyeing her body and shifting “I like to lead by example and I am not one for getting down and dirty with the crew members but I would be a fool not to realize that three years is a long time to long for even some one like me”

“So yes I probably will but I don’t know who could I do it with? I have overall command of this ship not really any one above me or below me who I could do that with and it not get weird”

 

[slut_in_white]

Charlie cocked an eyebrow, latching on to something in particular that he said. "Someone like you? What does that mean? You regularly go longer without sex than most people for some reason?" She couldn't imagine why. He had a body of hard muscle, a handsome face and a rare but incredible smile. What kind of woman wouldn't bend over backwards for a chance at that smile? And that wasn't even considering how hot she imagined the sex to be - a body like his could rock most women all night.