Echo - Part One

Posted on Mon Feb 24th, 2020 @ 11:56am by Commodore Siaxx "Bluemoon" Dvald-Vaxx MD & Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan

Mission: Mission 11: Red VS Blue
Location: Various Locations - Starbase 400
Timeline: 1830Hrs - February 10th, 2390

Lieutenant Siaxx Dvald sighed softly as she was sitting down to dinner with Phoenix's parents and her sister, the woman who was actually Phoenix's daughter except Phoenix herself was absent.

"Pass the salt please." Siaxx inquired quietly.

It was Aryssa who passed Siaxx the salt, then just as quietly, ate on Dorothy's delicious tasting lamb-stuffed ravioli.

"How you feeling, Siaxx, Dear?" asked Dorothy. The older Sullivan woman looked more gaunt in the face, but still had a vibrant personality, despite the toll her illness was taking on her body.

"Oh... my eye is healing nicely... in a few days, nobody will know anything was ever wrong with me." the graceful Bolian explained.

"Seems stupid not ta let the docs patch the bruise up," Aryssa pointed out in partial confusing. "Why'd ya keep the bloody thin' anyway?"

"I actually don't know." she admitted. "I guess to punish myself for not ducking or not being fast enough." she paused. "I signed up for Master Sargent Duval's combat class... if anyone can teach me how to fight.. its him." the Bolian sighed. "Phoenix... is avoiding me."

"Jill don' rightly know how ta control herself," Blake answered with a grunt as he scratched his balding head - as if his answer explained everything.

"She don't come see us either," Dorothy spoke with high concern.

"Why we all worried 'bout that ass when it's Siaxx that needs ta be told she aint weak," Aryssa countered very bitterly. "Jill aint nothin' but a selfish prat."

"Jill needs a vacation, somewhere where she can get away and forget about things for awhile...." Siaxx paused. "its not going to happen though." as she looked at Aryssa in silence, she didn't have the heart to fight with her about Jill.

"It could..." Dorothy spoke with a small smile. "Doctor Brislan has her on leave for three weeks or so for mental fatigue... She's putting most her time into the cadet program to kill time though."

"Yeah.... She spends more time with Rachael than me," Aryssa spoke with envy.

"Now that's just ironic.." Siaxx commented. "Jill hates telepaths yet she's hanging around with Rachael." she looked at Aryssa. "I'm not quite sure how I feel about her now, considering she did beat the living snot out of me."

"You still love her. And she, you," Dorothy spoke with conviction.

"My luck with relationships has always been bad... " Siaxx shrugged. "I'll get over it."

"She's afraid to hurt you again, I think.... And maybe embarrassed to face all of us, after her outburst," Dorothy guessed with the latter. "If you attacked someone you loved and insulted everyone else in the room... How would you feel after finding you erred?"

"I would confront it directly but.... I'm not her, I'm not the warrior type..." Siaxx responded quietly. "I've always been more subtle about things.."

"So go to her and let her know you still love her. She's in her quarters now -" Dorothy began but was interrupted by Aryssa's sardonic tone, "But she's probably drunk by now. Passed out."

Siaxx looked at Dorothy and then Aryssa as both women said their peace. She nodded her head. "Alright... I will try..." she sighed as clearly she didn't think it would go anywhere.

"You aint weak, Siaxx," Aryssa reaffirmed. "No fightin' practice could of stopped that metal hand of hers. Klingons can barely brawl with her."

"And since when have you seen her brawling anyone," Blake spoke in a stern voice.

"I might of went lookin' for her, once, and found her in a pub, fightin' some guys that went ape on her and Oxly fer being Maquis," Aryssa admitted while uneasily scratching the back of her neck.

It was Dorothy that turned to Siaxx to explain, "Oxly is a philosopher that used to live in our village. And Jill used to be enthralled by his preachings of staying true to each other, in order to keep fighting."

"-Only, once we were all busted and sent to prison, Oxly took tha Nelson Mandela approach, and took to politics," Blake interceded. "Somethin' of a role model for her... But his peaceful protests against the government have usually caused a lot of trouble."

"That's more or less what happened...." Aryssa said as she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Oxly started ranting in the Black Ball, 'bout Federation fixin' their allies' problems, but ignorin' the lands and worlds the Spoonheads destroyed. Not fixin' their own problems first."

"...And Jill was right there with him?" Dorothy probed.

"Not exactly..." Aryssa did not like the stare of angry parents. It was enchanting, in a very bad way. Once caught in a lie, the teen found she had no way to save her skin through a thousand more. "She didn' really get involved, until some spacer attacked Oxly for calling the Fed government traitors, and the Maquis the heroes... Jill felt obligated to save his skin, but not before calling Security."

"Then she proceeded to beat the snot out of the spacer." Siaxx commented. "I would have done the same." a smile then appeared on the Bolian's face, from the look of things it was the first in quite some time. "I'd have stamped on his foot first, using my heels against him." she explained.

"And you begin to realize why you love her again," Dorothy smiled brightly. "She, like you, can't let injustice go unpunished... Which is all the more tragic for her, since she believes she committed an injustice to you."

Siaxx gently touched her eye, blackened and scared as it was. "I do.... dammit... I can't exactly just turn my back... even after what she did..."
Siaxx sighed. "I'll go pay her hovel...I mean her quarters after dinner."

"What happened will stay with both of you forever, but you'll never move forward if you can't forgive each other," Dorothy supplied.

"I told Tressa about it only because she could be trusted.. I told nobody else. Hell not even Torilla Yamaguchi and I normally tell her everything, hell... ask her and she'll tell you how I am." Siaxx explained. "Forgiveness is all well and good... but she needs to forgive herself before she can forgive me for anything." she then sighed quietly. "that goes both ways I guess.."

"I understand why you told the doc," Dorothy spoke very warmly. "Jill will too, in time... Trick is to communicate with each other better. Both ways, as you say."

Siaxx sighed. "Yeah..." she then took a bite of the food. "Can you teach me how to cook like this?"

"I've got a family recipe book that I can give to you... Was going to will it to Jill, but she doesn't cook much," Dorothy spoke in partial disappointment. "She does cook, despite what she puts on... but she doesn't really get into like you."

"I don' like cookin' either," Aryssa supplied. "Jill cooks a nice taco casserole though."

"I'd love that." Siaxx responded with a smile. "My grandfather was a Chef and he felt all his relatives needed to learn to cook... I was his only real success story." she paused. "I was just thinking how I met Phoenix.... at a wedding bachelorette party, when the three Q's visited the station."

"...Doesn't sound like something she'd go to, unless pressed into it," Dorothy laughed lightly. "I can only imagine her dreary self sulking in a corner."

"Actually she was at the bar... then Q brought in the strippers... there were a couple of children present but... Jill wanted one of the strippers but... she got one and I didn't so I decided to drown my sorrows.." she shrugged. "that's how we met.."

"She don' remember, does she?" Aryssa laughed lightly. "Bet she was drunk."

"Oh she was hammered." Siaxx responded. "Saith took her home...I was detained with a Klingon who wanted my time." she sighed. "He was rather.... how do I say this?" she inquired. "sloppy and boring."

"You two need ta go clubbin' then," Aryssa winked. "A night just havin' fun and dancin'."