Cold Comfort pt 4: Time Out
Posted on 28 Sep 2022 @ 8:09pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Command Master Chief Tāne HaiRoa
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:22pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: DSSO 717
Timeline: M3 - Backstory, following Cold Comfort pt3: Come Out, Come Out
2977 words - 6 OF Standard Post Measure
Calliope paused, not so far out from HaiRoa that they couldn't hear one another if needed, but far enough she was sure that he wasn't going to be catching any fresh wiffs of her. There was only the small green light of a little, steadily flashing LED on an environmental monitor unit a little bit down the shaft, and that was all she had for light. She shuffled around to lean her back against the icy cold wall and unstrapped the rifle. It was just barely able to be stood upright vertically in front of her, to form a post for her to smack her forehead against the barrel.
Stupid stupid stupid. How had she let Franks set up this plan and not made her own contingencies? How much trouble would it have been to have signed out a shuttle and some arms and asked for a couple of security grunts, just in case? It was her mistake, failing to think through the possibilities. She'd been so naive!
She imagined her fellow officers from the Scorpio right now with dignitaries at a ball. A warm one. With dancing and drinks and jokes and new games and live music and interesting people to meet. And warm.
Instead she'd lost half her little crew and was freezing her ass off alongside angry face-tat islander HaiRoa who had to have his way so bad, she was scared he was going to make a terrible situation deadly. She'd seen him around for a few months since he'd been transferred to the Scorpio but he'd never been so difficult before. Sure he raised his voice when there was something that needed setting to rights, and when he dealt with new recruits in the department, you could see the potential he had to be terrifying... but he was self controlled, generally jovial, and professional, as far as she'd seen. The damn pheromones always seemed to bring out the worst in the best guys... She shouldn't have curled up against him in her sleep, trying to keep warm. She should have slept alone, away from the guys, entirely. She should have had her shot.
With every passing hour without a dose, her pheromones would correct themselves back to their natural state. Her meds were only a couple decks above. She could picture the spot where Malmrose had stashed them in the wall. It would take less than two minutes to ride the lift and stroll in and get them, if there weren't Raiders turning the place upside down and taking hostages!
She should have pocketed a hypo when she grabbed the provisions. It just hadn't occurred to her in that moment to grab them, she realized. It didn't stand out to her as one of the hypothetical ten things you needed to survive. She'd gone for food and water and her gloves. But not the hypo. What else had she forgotten in the rush? Her memory searched back and settled fondly on that last hot cup of tea she'd brewed. She imagined the comforting steam... and then realized it was still hot when she had left it. Shit. She beat her head some more against the rifle. It was her. She'd tipped them off.
No. That wasn't productive thinking. Even if the hot tea had drawn their attention, there were lots of other signs, just like HaiRoa had said. They hadn't shut down the processor unit. They had the station powered up. The raiders would have been stupid not to have assumed someone was aboard.
But at least if she'd remembered her hypo, then maybe HaiRoa wouldn't have pissed of Malmrose, and maybe Malmrose wouldn't have been an ass and torn off in the opposite direction, and would have helped HaiRoa in time to have gotten this very rifle and one of them would have been able to shoot back at that Breen on the other end of the hallway... If if if.
But this was the situation, the one it was now. "Pull it together, Calliope," she told herself between teeth gritted against the cold. She was racked with shivering, and leaning the gun aside, pulled her hands into her coat so she could tuck her fingers into her armpits and turtle her face inside the neck of her jacket to keep the warmth of her own breath. She had to hatch a better plan. They needed to keep that ship from leaving and to recover Rowle and Malmrose. Her crew.
***
HaiRoa checked his chronometer, Zahn had been gone over fifteen minutes now. He'd had chance to cool down a little and reflected on the past hour.
He was not really sure why he was feeling so annoyed recently. First the thing with Malmrose, why the hell had he punched him? He was the senior non-commissioned rank here, striking a subordinate was a clear violation of regulations and a disciplinary offense. It might not rise to a Courts Martial, but he would undoubtedly have to answer for it back on the ship. He would probably be busted and lose his Boatswain's position.
And Malmrose had not deserved it in any event, the guy was just cold and tired like the rest of them and now a captive of the damn Breen!
Beyond that HaiRoa hated their situation. The cold was unpleasant, very unpleasant for a kid from the tropics; besides the stress, he felt grubby, unshaven and unwashed. He knew he was starting to smell a bit, the fear sweat had turned cold and clammy under his jacket. He dropped his chin, stuck his nose in the neck of his coat and sniffed. Yeah that was nasty.
He lifted his head and rested it against the conduit side behind him, sighed, and gave a long exhale, watching his breath form into a cloud before him. Then he inhaled deeply, trying a little breathing regulation to get some calm back. He settled into a pattern, breathing in through his mouth, holding it, blowing out through his nose. He'd had enough sniffing for a while.
He rested, feeling some normalcy return and let his mind wander for a while. He needed to apologize to Zahn, not because she was an Officer but because he had been out of line. His comments about Orion slavers had been totally uncalled for, she was not responsible for the acts of others of her species.
And she probably was just as scared as he was. He had been uncharitable thinking she was going off to cry. It must be a lot for her and so what if she needed some space. Funny though, he recalled hearing Orion woman were made of strong stuff, and despite appearances their society was more matriarchal than it looked...
She was not that bad to look at either, kind of cute with those freckles and nice eyes. He chuckled to himself; nice butt too, even in the cold weather uniform when she was crawling off. He could see how Orion guys let the women have their way at lot. Cuddling up with Zahn would be a lot of fun and one way to beat the cold!
He sighed again and took a deep breath through his nose this time, the cold condensation tickling his nose. Wait a moment....
He sniffed again. A memory of something was running around in the back of his mind, what was he missing here?
Something about Orions... Orion women in particular... besides them being pretty sexy .... not the whole pseudo slave girl holosuite fantasy stuff... something else.... Orion women and Orion men....
"Aww feck!" he slammed his elbow into the conduit wall with a thump. "Shit!" he heard the noise echo down the conduit, and he looked up and down the dim conduit guiltily.
"Of course! Orion pheromones! " That was it, the women put out these pheromones and it could cause all sorts of issues with your average red-blooded male.... male whatever! The effects were not limited to Orions, other species could be affected, certainly Humans could!
He rubbed his face, trying to recall the symptoms... irritability, anger, aggression, then becoming susceptible to suggestion... all probably some ancient mating ritual stuff and it fit the way things had been for maybe the last ten or twelve hours..? It was like when she had taken the rifle after he had told her to leave it. He had not objected at all, even though he had thought he would have been better controlling it, he had just let Zahn take it.
"So how to deal with this then?" He said aloud, trying to think though solutions. His thoughts were interrupted by a shuffling noise, and he saw Zahn come crawling back.
"Bosun, are you alright?" She'd heard the thump of the wall and it had brought her out of her contemplation, so she had hurried back, with the rifle slung in front of her, charge switched on, expecting he'd been found. She sighed with relief as he was still there and alone, and reached back to put the rifle into standby. "How to deal with what part of this mess?" She asked back.
He was pleased to see her, he realized. It had not been long, but he had actually missed her. He would kind of like to see more... No! Stop that!
"Hey... umm.. look we need to talk," he said quietly, feeling a little tongue tied for some odd reason. What am I some teenager on a first date? "But first I need to apologize. I was totally out of line earlier. I should not have struck Malmrose. I accept there will be serious consequences for that. And I was rude, disrespectful and insubordinate to you Ma'am. You are, off course, in command here and I fully accept your authority. Again, I understand there will be consequences for that behavior also."
That was a little easier to say than he had thought it would be, but it now seemed she was indeed easy to talk to. He could look at those big eyes of hers too...
Calliope's face quirked. He'd gone from dangerous to completely apologetic. She shook her head to try to catch up. "Apology accepted. And you're not going to have any 'serious consequences' over making Malmrose follow orders." She slid him the rifle. "Because you're going to get him and Rowle back, while I gremlin the scout ship."
"Ok.... I'm up for that! " He left the rifle where it was. "But... look... er kinda personal... so... Orion women have these ... er pheromones, right?"
Calliope's expression tightened in a grimace. It was a sore subject. But he seemed to be earnest, so she decided to be plain. "I'm half Orion." She hated that word, half, like it was something that could be sussed into separate parts. But it was an efficient description. "I've got pheromones like everyone else does, pretty much. Yeah. Just. Moreso."
"Umm.. would those... er... have an effect on... yeah....er. .. on me?" Damn he felt awkward.
"It seems to be doing, yeah." Calliope rubbed her face with her glove. "I take a hormone medication to limit my pheromones. My hypo is up on deck one." She pointed directly above them. "And I was already overdue for my daily dose when we tried hiding out. It's been a while since I skipped a shot. I mean. There's been a few times..." She looked embarrassed about it. "But it's not fair to anyone. I don't mean to do it."
Oh now you've done it! HaiRoa was overcome with guilt. He held up his hands. "Woah, no no, I didn't think you would have done anything on purpose. I mean it's sort of like sweat or breath right, not really something you plan on, it's just a physical function right...?"
Calliope's head drooped, weighted down with shades of shame while she searched for a way to explain.
She looked kind of fragile right now, he sort of wanted to give her a hug.
"It's never just a physical function. It undermines reason. It's difficult not to leverage it. And it always gets someone in trouble." She was whispering, not just to avoid detection, but more as a trusting confession. "I didn't know what to do with it, as a kid. Everything happened really fast. It was like... this dark, manipulative superpower that consumed me before I knew anything about anything. I didn't even know myself—"
Before he knew it, he had leant forward and wrapped his arms around her, she just looked vulnerable and upset and it was tearing at his heart.
"Oh... I... uh..." Calliope leaned awkwardly into the hug through the comically bulky coats. The man who'd practically scared her out of her wits a short while ago was surprisingly a softy. She patted his back, uncertain what she was meant to do.
Now that he had done it and was holding her, he was not sure what to do next. He needed to say something "Hey it's okay I guess it was just a bit unexpected, I was getting kinda annoyed and angry and wasn't sure why but er... I can see it must have been rough growing up." She felt nice and smelt nice too. Then he recalled he probably did not and felt really awkward.
"I... I never thought I'd figure out if anyone actually loved me or just, you know, liked how I made them feel. It's not something I usually talk about. It's easier to take the shots. I'm sorry you even have to deal with it." She patted him on the back again, the hug was reassuring, and the body heat they were starting to share wasn't so awful, but at the same time as it went on longer, she wasn't sure his intentions with it. It seamed like a wholehearted grasp. She tried to break it to him gently. "I'm sorry... But we have to focus."
"Right..." He was struggling now, he was at least ten years older than she was, enlisted and she was commissioned. "er...focus" He took a deep breath then realized he probably should not have done that so close to her and further realized he did indeed need to focus!
He let her go, although it did not feel quite right to do so. He cleared his throat and gave her a hearty pat on the shoulder, then leaned back to make some space between them and get some air.
He gave her a shy smile and a nod. "Ok what's the plan to go after the Breen?"
"Alright, listen." Shifting upright on her knees, Calliope came alive with a devious grin, motioning with both mittened hands out in front of her, as if clearing the field on an invisible planning table. "There isn't much time before the ion storm clears, if anything Lt. Franks told us still holds up. Which means we're going to lose our cover from sensor detection very soon. So, we split up, draw them apart. But first—"
He was listening but his mind was still a little on how she felt in his arms and her earlier words about how others felt towards her. He had to deal with that, or it would haunt him, how could there not be?
He held up a hand to cut her off. "Sorry, I just... ok I have to ask, and I know it's probably just the whole chemical thing.... I understand that but... what you said about not knowing if anyone ever really loved you? There must be somebody... right?" He half not wanted there to be, but knew that there must be, again, how could there not?
It seemed to her HaiRoa just needed to know, badly. It was both flattering to have his interest and difficult to have to let him down. Calliope pulled the glove off her left hand, revealing an heirloom ring. "Yeah, there's someone." Through chattering teeth, she smiled at the token of affection, turning it around her ring finger with her thumb. The cold made it seem a little looser than usual. "Lance. He's an egghead back at Utopia Planitia. Quantum Mechanics is his alphabet."
"A science dork?"
"Yeah." Calliope felt her cheeks warming thinking about Lance. But she also lifted her eyes cautiously, uncertain how pheromone addled HaiRoa was going to handle the news.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really." She readied herself for more pressure and questions about the relationship and braced even for the possibility of a jealous snap. "We've been together a few years. We met at Academy."
He sighed and shook his head, lowering it to his chest. Ok you've got your answer, exactly what you knew it would be, he thought. Deal with it and move on. He lifted his head and gave her a genuine smile, his tattoos emphasizing the grin. "Ok well he's smart enough to have made the right choice and he's one lucky son of a bitch!"
Calliope breathed a sigh of relief at his reaction. "Thanks." She actually wasn't used to being told Lance was the lucky one. She was engaged to marry a rich genius and pretty much everyone in Lance's family saw her as taking advantage. She looked down at the ring a little longer before pulling the glove back over her cold fingers. "I'm surprised you're not spoken for already. We need to get back home so she can find you."
HaiRoa snorted. "Yeah, well let's deal with one thing at a time, starting with the Breen! So, we split up, draw them apart. But first we -?"
"First—" The devilish grin blossomed again. "Do you still have that inventory PaDD?"
He rummaged in a pocket and held it up. "Sure do."
"Perfect."
