Sceneries

Posted on 30 Dec 2021 @ 7:20pm by Commander Indi Hawk & Lieutenant Commander Cintia Sha'mer

2,382 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Past Prelude
Location: Mirror universe
Timeline: The past

Her assignment on Ragnid III was coming to a close. Indi had received new orders and would be reporting back to HQ the day after tomorrow. All in all, she was very happy about this new development. If anything, this place had made her go almost insane. Almost. The almost was largely thanks to the one reason why she wasn't quite entirely happy to have to leave.

Closing down the message queue that held her transfer order, she left her office and headed two barracks over. A quiet knock on the wood indicated her presence, but she doubted if the woman inside hadn't already long known she was on her way over.

Sha'mer and Indi had been taking the walks upon which the former had insisted during their very first encounter. After that first walk, more had followed.

"Commander. Come on in." Sha'mer's voice called. She looked up as Indi walked in and a faint smile appeared on her otherwise stern face. It faded soon enough. "You have news?" She tended to stay out of Indi's actual thoughts after that first encounter, but the bright notes of her mind were impossible to ignore.

"Yeah, I'm transferring out of here tomorrow," Indi spoke as she sat down. She smiled somewhat, but the smile faded as she looked at the other woman. "For once, I'm really glad to have received a transfer order," she added. Yeah. Right. "This place is nothing short of a hellhole," another addition. Realizing she was babbling, she forcefully shut her mouth.

"I know," Sha'mer said dryly. "Congratulations." She, on the other hand, had never felt less in the mood for smiling. There had been one person in this whole place with enough brains and wit to talk with and she would leave tomorrow. Well, she would survive that as well. She had survived everything which life had thrown at her thus far and had the scars to prove it. Either at some point or another someone higher up would decide that a Mind Division would prove useful and send for her, or they would consider her a greater threat and leave her here. In that case, there were always other ways out. It would mean she'd have to start all over again, but even that wouldn't be the first time. Until then, she would be patient.

Or at least, try to be.

Indi shrugged. "Thanks." You didn't need to be a telepath to be able to read what was going on here. They were friends, and the ones keeping each other sane in this place. With her leaving, Sha'mer wouldn't have that person anymore.

"Any idea what you'll be doing next?" Sha'mer asked. Maybe she could look Indi up sometime, once she'd managed to leave.

"Assistant head of law enforcement for the Solaris Sector," Indi spoke dully. She had read that title a couple of times herself, so it was easy to recite it by now. "Apparently, somebody has decided I need to become a paper pusher."

"I'd almost offer you my condoleances, but it does mean you get out of the place." And probably not get sent to any worse ones, though you'd have to dig deep to find many places worse than this. "Want to go for a walk?" A last one, that would be.

Indi nodded in reply to the question and got her feet. Once outside, she waited for Sha'mer to catch up with her and dictate the speed at which they walked. "These walks are nice," she finally commented once they were a little ways away from the encampment.

"Yes, they are." Sha'mers voice sounded a little strained, as usual when they were walking – she was harder on herself than on others, and that was saying something. The words 'I will miss them' were a given and didn't need to be said. "Anyone waiting for you when you get back?" This was the first time she had ever asked anything personal about life beyond Ragnid III.

The personal question, the fact it was the first one ever that wasn't about Ragnid, the assignment or the Union, wasn't lost on Indi. "No," she shook her head. Her parents had long been dead. Her mother long before her father. She was an only sibling and so had her parents been. It didn't leave much. No strings, which was usually a good thing, but sometimes it could feel empty and lonely. "You have anyone waiting for you anywhere?"

"No." That wasn't to say there were no people who would gladly use her if they could find her, but they were far away and had, hopefully, more important things to care about than her. "None that I would miss a second of sleep over," she amended. "I have left all of that well and truly behind."

Indi shied away from anyone that wasn't 'family' to be waiting for her. Losing sleep over someone, leaving everything and everyone behind, being afraid that they'd still be waiting for her. No. Not here. Not now. Instead, she came to a rather sudden halt and looked over at Sha'mer once she'd had a chance to come to a stop herself. "I am going to miss you."

"And I you." Would she have done something different if she had known their time together here would end this soon? Spent more time together? Approached her sooner? Stupid questions. Senseless questions. Sha'mer looked around. They were halfway up the hill which sloped down to the encampment, not far from the open place which provided a great view of the surroundings. By contrast, the spot where Indi had chosen to stop was enclosed by high, bushy plants and strangely intimate. Half-consciously she massaged the bad leg with her free hand.

Following the movement with her eyes, Indi tried to figure out what she was feeling. The setting of the place where she'd subconsciously come to a halt, wasn't lost on her. It hadn't been conscious, but the intimacy was clear. That wasn't what she'd planned? Had it been? She wasn't looking for a relationship, not after... No. Not going there. She didn't need it. Didn't want it. Then why had she stopped? "We, errr, should probably be getting back," she finally spoke, even though they'd never turned back from reaching this far without going to take in the view.

Sha'mer wanted to say something along the lines of 'We should, yes', but what came out instead was: "I need to rest." What prompted her to say that? Yes, her leg ached, but it had never stopped her before, not if she didn't want it to. To show weakness in a place like this would have dire consequences and so she had trained herself never to show any – the fact that she even needed the stick to walk was bad enough. So why this? Was it a confession? Something more? Maybe, she thought, Indi was suddenly safe, because she would leave tomorrow anyway. The thought hurt somehow worse than her leg.

"Yeah, okay," Indi replied, a little bit too fast if it had been in real reply to the fact that other woman too tired to continue walking. Close to some of the high growing bushes, a couple of them had fallen--probably during the hot weather storm they'd had a few weeks before--and she made her way over to sit on one of the larger branches. "We can stay as long as you need."

Sha'mer followed and lowered herself carefully next to Indi. "Let's not," she said with one of those rare, brief smiles. "Wouldn't want you to miss the shuttle tomorrow."

That was a weird statement. Why would she need to rest that long that Indi would miss her shuttle? Oh. Right. Then it dawned on her that maybe she wasn't the only one with this weird feeling right now. Was that why she had to rest? No? Could it be? Could anyone? Would anyone? She had no idea how to say any of that though, so instead she ended up studying a low hanging leaf that was by no means interesting at all.

"I'm really trying not to," Sha'mer said distantly. "But it's hard." Belatedly, she realised that was an odd statement without any context, so she added: "Reading your mind, I mean. I promised I wouldn't. So I don't. But it's… like I have to stuff my fingers in my ears to stop hearing the shout." She demonstrated by actually stuffing her fingers in her ears. This was a different Sha'mer, the serious façade gone, a playful twinkle in her eyes. And then she lowered her hands and the moment was gone.

Not all that long ago, Indi had gotten very angry for Sha'mer to be reading her mind. Now though, she found that she didn't mind too much. And yet, at the same time, she wanted to shield in her thoughts so nobody would ever be able to read them. It wasn't safe. But then why didn't she mind right at this moment? At the silly motion, she chuckled. It was a side of her she hadn't seen before, but she liked it. She.. liked a lot about Sha'mer. "What am I shouting?" she whispered.

In reply, Sha'mer leaned forward and kissed her.

It wasn't a spectacular kiss, as kisses went. Just two pairs of lips brushing against each other. But for the duration of that touch, brief though it was, their minds touched, connected, searing like lightning.

The contact was broken when Sha'mer withdrew. "This," she whispered.

Indi was surprised and yet.. not. What surprised her most of all was the accompanying touch of her mind. She'd never liked any telepath close, had come down hard on this one the first time she'd pulled a mind reading stunt, and now...

As the contact was broken, she closed her eyes and found her mind reaching out for what she'd just felt. "That was...nice," she finished lamely after a few more seconds and with a deep sigh.

This time, it was Sha'mer who looked slightly puzzled. "That was… unexpected," she countered. "Not the kiss, but-" She touched the middle of Indi's forehead with a fingertip. An echo of that mental touch returned, a tingle instead of a lightning bolt. "I had no idea this was even possible…" She didn't seem upset by the idea, though.

Indi followed the fingertip as long as she could without going cross-eyed, wanted to draw back and away to safety, but didn't and kept still instead. "That what was possible?"

"Such a link beginning to form spontaneously between a telepath and a non-telepath." Sha'mer didn't remove the finger. "Right now it isn't permanent… but it could become so, given enough time. If you want it. If we want it." She looked into Indi's eyes.

"A bond?" Indi repeated, mostly to buy herself time. What bond? What would it do? Would she be tied down? Most people couldn't look into her eyes because of the implants, but Sha'mer had no problem doing so. The thought of the bond. The touch of the fingertip. The locked eyes. Indi let out a gasp and did draw back now, as far away as the bushes would let her.

A faint tingle remained behind where the fingertip had touched her, but it slowly faded… faded… was gone. Meanwhile, Sha'mer spoke, her voice soft, gentle. A stark contrast to the usual clipped tones she employed in the compound. "Connecting us. Across space. An awareness of each other, if we want it."

A connection across space. It sounded wonderful and overwhelming and frightening to Indi. Wondrously overwhelming. The softness of Sha'mer's voice drew her back to the clearing in which they were still sitting. "I...I...don't know."

"Part of you does know." The finger still hovered in the space between them. "Otherwise that first step of the bonding wouldn't have happened." That brief flash of lightning between them, that searing contact. Minds which had reached out to each other and which had connected, against all odds. "You could be on the other side of the galaxy and we still wouldn't be apart."

That didn't do much to help the feeling of being overwhelmed. They'd shared a kiss and now they would still feel other on the other side of the galaxy? Indi's mind couldn't keep up with everything that was happening. She wanted to run. She wanted to try that kiss again. She wanted to push away. She wanted to draw in. Instead, she ended up sitting frozen.

Sha'mer sat and looked at her, drank in the sight of her, engraved the memory in her mind. If Indi chose to leave, to run – and that was a very real possibility, here in that moment when everything hung in the balance – she wanted to preserve this memory. She would need it in the dark of the night, when the stars were out of reach and the world was filled with pain. Then she wanted to take this memory out and look at it again, to experience for one moment that touch between them, to relive the moment when everything seemed possible, when it seemed that a miracle could actually happen.

It was too much, sitting in the spotlight like this. She liked Sha'mer, but this was too much too soon. Indi got to her feet and avoided looking at the woman still seated. "I'm sorry," she mumbled before heading off at a pace that was impossible for the other to keep up with.

Of course. It had been too much to expect something more. But still, that one moment had been there.

If Indi had taken one last backwards glance, she would've seen that a smile lingered around Sha'mers face for a bit longer, turning from hopeful to wistful to a cynical sneer. Then the walls came back up and even the sneer disappeared. "Well, it was nice while it lasted," Sha'mer murmured and used the stick to drag herself up. She, too, left the small clearing, but she went up instead of down. Walls or no, she couldn't face the pressure of screaming minds around her yet, pounding against her mental shields. She needed a little more time for herself, to sort her thoughts and emotions, and pack them safely away.

 

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