Hades Star System
Renaissance - Uliani's Quarters
October 19th, 2388 - 0730 hours
[ON]
A man on a mission, Scarlet briskly passed the starfleet personnel that were
just going to report for duty. He had to be quick. He wasn't about to track her
down at work. He came to the door and for a moment he contemplated just over
riding her security and letting himself in. She should be awake by now. No.
Instead he used his good hand and pounded three times on her door.
Uliani was awake and still feeling the glow of the previous nights amazing
lovemaking, she had been up just over an hour having seen Nestor out and was now
warming herself on her heated rock it seemed so much colder without Nestor
around. Uliani sat up when the door chime sounded she shrugged, wearing just her
dark green silk nightdress with the silver trim she called out come in figuring
it was Nestor back to collect something after all he was the only person she
knew crazy enough to be up so early. yawning she waited for the door to open.
Hearing the call, Scarlet clicked the door open. He walked in quickly. As his
eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, they focused on Uliani. "That the shrink
couch you use on the really bad ones?" He then took a moment to notice exactly
what she was wearing. "I guess so." Without really waiting for her to comment,
he walked over to her couch and sat down.
Uliani took a deep breath she hadn't been looking forward to seeing the Captain,
pulling on her robe she walked over to join him stopping briefly at the
replicator for a pot of coffee and a plate of raspberry cookies setting the tray
on the table she sat down to face him while pouring herself a cup then raised an
eyeridge at him to see if he wanted coffee.
As she did this Nemo bounced around her feet hoping for a cookie then he caught
sight of Scarlet and hid behind her legs. "So Captain to what do I owe this
pleasure" she said and was surprised when she found she meant it.
"What do you know about yesterday?" Scarlet asked quickly. His eyes stared hard
at her for a moment. "This is off the books. I find out there's any log or
report of this conversation I will take you up on that offer to spar in the
holodeck."
From the tone in his voice, it was obvious he was deathly serious now, and would
not hesitate to drag her kicking and screaming into the holodeck. "Well I know
you are back obviously, I know you took loses" she said then added in a quieter
voice laced with sadness "I know you lost Quinn".
A shadow crossed over Scarlet's face. "We did take losses. The mission was a
success, but I don't like losing people." He paused for a moment more. "Off the
record right?"
Then shaking the sadness away she said "I agree this is totally off record"
"This is my first active command. I've led squads into dangerous situations
before, but that was different. This... I hold the lives of my crew in my hands
alone." He shook his head and sighed. "I guess I've worked too long as a lone
soldier. Even when I was stationed on the Andfriend, it was still as a
specialist advisor to the crew. I told them what I knew, and they used it, or
not. The final decision was made by someone above me."
"I don't know what I was thinking sending Quinn in the way I did." Scarlet shook
his head slowly, replaying the events leading up to the mission in his head.
"She was a medic, she should have never been on the front lines, even if it was
a damn recon." He looked at Uliani then. "I should have made her stay on the
runabout with Keesmatt. Ghelor had enough of us around him, he didn't need the
personnal slave to pass himself off as a slaver."
"As far as we can tell, Ghelor has the same bug you had. Of course, we didn't
know that before the mission. When things went apeshit we didn't have our men on
the inside like we should have." He gritted his teeth. "But, I can't blame this
on Ghelor. He wasn't himself." He paused then and chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm
not blaming you either. We don't know where this bug started, so I'm not going
to place that on your shoulders. Hell, you might have caught it from him."
"It's just that... Quinn shouldn't have died." Scarlet said firmly. "If she had
been wearing body armour, the worst that would have happened is a few stitches
to the abdomen and she would have been back on duty within a few days."
Uliani listened to what he had to say and she could feel a little bit of pity in
her heart, she also knew he had not come there for that so she straightened up
and squared her shoulders choosing her words carefully she said "firstly I know
it's damn hard, but don't blame yourself for the losses that won't bring them
back and it won't do you a damn bit of good" She knew she sounded cold but she
hoped it would get through, somewhere in the gruff shell was a troubled person
she wanted to reach out to that person and help.
Scarlet couldn't help but smirk. "If you're going for an impression of me, I'd
have to say you're damn good."
"As for Mr Ghelor, Cardassian flu is untraceable unless you know what you are
looking for. At most Ghelor would've felt sleepy but Cardassians rarely show
such things even amongst themselves. As for him believing he was a real slaver
that is a rather ugly side effect that really could not be helped"
She looked Scarlet straight in the eye for the next bit. "As for Edna or should
I say Draxa Rul? well I have known her for quite sometime, in fact we grew up
together, she was a servant at home on Cardassia, but that is not the point, my
point is I knew the woman and I am saddened by her death. When we were on
Cardassia she was never an equal but one day she took a beating from my bitch of
a mother for something I did, I was also beaten when I tried to stop mother in
her rage by telling her to leave her alone.
Later that evening she came to me and bathed my wounds and we became friends as
fucked up as that is. I am once again straying from my point and I apologise,
Edna was a woman who put duty first, she knew the risks and excepted said risks
knowing there was a chance she would not come back"
Uliani had to stop there as her words caught in her throat it would look
unprofessional to weep right now she decided. Finally she said "ok David I have
heard the rumours and the things Nestor had to say on the subject you tell me
what happened"
Scarlet was about to speak, but stopped suddenly and looked hard at Uliani.
"Scarlet." He said firmly. "Don't call me that other name." He shook his head
then. "Rumours are one thing, they can't be stopped." His gaze became icy.
"Since this is off the books I'll forget that you said Calis told you anything."
He stopped then, standing up and walking over to the window, watching the stars
flash by.
"The things Nestor told me weren't to do with the mission they were about Quinn
and of a personal nature" she told him softly then added "that was how I knew
she was here after all this time apart most of the time believing her to be dead
already" she swallowed a sob but was unable to stop a single tear.
He had to digest what he had just heard about Quinn, that it had been Uliani's
family that kept her as a slave. "It could have just as easily been me." He said
cryptically. He looked back at her then. "How do you think I managed to get by
on Romulus for so long?" He paused then. "A slave. Behind closed doors, I was
free... but in public I was a slave. I wasn't worth the air I breathed. How
often I wanted to show them exactly what I was, for no other reason than to wipe
the damn smirks and scowls of their faces." He shook his head and smiled
slightly. "I learned to keep my head low and still see everything."
His mind went back to his days on Romulus. For a split second he could have
swore he smelled the exotic scents. "By the time I was pulled out, I was so used
to this double life that it took a long time to get back to myself. But I still
remember, the looks, the laughter, the hatred... all of it."
"So in a way this slave business still haunts you?" she asked.
"I wish it was that simple doc." Scarlet said with a sigh. "If I had been in
Quinn's place... if I was ordered to do what she did, I wouldn't have questioned
it once. I would have done exactly as was asked. Hell, even if the task was
asking for volunteers and I had a choice... I probably would have done it." He
smiled in spite of himself. "I would never order my crew to do anything I
wouldn't be willing to do myself."
Uliani nodded slightly, "A sign of a good commander of course however, with
command comes the added issue of needing to ensure everything else goes to plan"
she told him knowing full well he wouldn't want to hear it but simply that he
had to hear it.
He paused then. "But, it wasn't me." He shook his head. "There's a difference
when you die with a rifle in your hands. You're in the line of fire and it's a
risk you take. With Quinn..." His eyes snapped onto Uliani's as he growled. "She
was a damn medic... I should have NEVER put her in that position." He looked
back to the window and slammed his fist down onto the bulkhead. "I should have
never let her do it. I knew she would though, I knew she'd be good at it. Her
past, her attitude... I knew she could pull it off. She was the perfect choice."
Looking down toward the deck, he sighed and was silent for a long time before
continuing.
Uliani walked up behind him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Yes
Captain she would have been good at it and while she was a medic she knew how to
serve, she always did. Her past made her the perfect person for the job, you
knew that and I'm sorry but YOU are the CO which means you can't be in that
position no matter how much you wanted to be" She paused waiting for his
reaction.
"Yeah," Scarlet muttered. "I know that as well. But it still doesn't help with
this feeling that I should have done more. I'm just arguing myself in a circle.
I've been doing that all damn night." He looked back to Uliani then, there were
no tears but the expression on his face told the story. "If Quinn had died in a
firefight, I could be confident that I gave her the same opportunity as anyone
else. She didn't without any armour, without proper support... without anything.
I should never considered that part of the recon mission. Never."
"Captain what did happen, the rumours are a mine got her but somehow she still
managed to do her work besides being in agony, is that true?" she needed to know
suddenly, suddenly it mattered
"Yes." Scarlet said half to himself, running the images through his mind. "She
worked her best right to the end. It's probably because of her that the
operative survived."
"I swear that if anything is going to come out of his tragedy, it's going to be
that." Scarlet said firmly. He smiled slightly at the irony. "You're the only
person to ever punch me and not get what's coming to them. And it's you I come
to when I'm tired of beating myself up. Go figure."
Uliani smiled at this. "The offer of a spar is still there anytime might help
your frustration" then with a wink she added "I'll go easy on you"
The joking was brushed aside in seconds as she said "when is the funeral Sir?"
"Tomorrow." Scarlet said with a grim nod. "It'll be a ceremony for everyone we
lost." He looked down at his PADD and sighed. "I have to go."
"Thank you for listening Uliani." Scarlet said with a quiet nod.
Squeezing his shoulder again she said "A pleasure my door is always open for
off the record chats, just remember that ok"
Walking over to the door, he smiled slightly and turned back to face Uliani once
more. "You should congratulate Calis too." He pulled out his PADD to show her.
"Once Odos signs off on this, he won't be a private anymore."
Uliani smiled broadly at this, "I will congratulate him when I see him next"
then with a teasing grin "providing you let him have the time off for it I know
he'll be busier now"
Outside the councilor's quarters, Scarlet looked around and adjusted his jacket.
That had been the first time he had really opened up to someone in years.
Quinn's death was still on his thoughts, he probably would never be able to
fully forget the chaos back in Hades 4, but this was a step in the right
direction.
As her door slid shut, her tears began to fall, for him but mostly for Quinn.
Walking to a table she picked up her comm badge tapping it she said " Theska to
Dixon is there any chance I can come to see you Sir?" then she waited for him to
answer as she slowly started to dress for work.
[OFF]
Captain David Scarlet
Marine CO
Played by Austin
Ens. Uliani Theska
Counselor
Played by Becky
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