Breakfast at Tiffanys 2
Posted on Wed Aug 7th, 2024 @ 10:08pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Remal Kajun & Patin
Mission:
Character Development
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: Before Journey's Home
Jenna hung out, finished her breakfast before retiring for a good day's rest. Being that she was working the night shift but also had to be available for when the senior staff required a pilot at the helm, she was running on fumes.
Not a minute after the doors swished closed did Patin roll over and sit up. "Oy, you going to serve breakfast without me?"
Remal rolled his eyes, got up and returned a minute later with a plate he had pre-prepared. "If you insist on playing like you're sleeping, you might want to practice the art a little better." He said, calling her out on her subterfuge. "Besides Jenna's a friend, you didn't have to attack her."
"Phssh, that's between me and her hard as a rock skin." She shook her hand to show it still ached. "What is she made out of anyway?"
Remal smiled, "I guess you're just going to have to find out the hard way... oooorrrr you could just simply ask her."
Patin rolled her eyes then looked to Rhenora for support, "You trust her?"
"With my life" Rhenora replied simply, looking at the closed door Jenna had exited out of. " She's a damned fine officer, and a good friend. The universe chewed her up and spat her out and she still came back to us. Kinda like you"
"Hmmm." Patin sulked, looked away then began digging into her omelet without another word. As stubborn as stubborn can be, Patin was the self-appointed queen. Never fond of those she called 'Star Fleeters', this Jenna had somehow won the trust of her Nozzie and her Meat Bag of a man. While to normal people this would mean something, to Patin this introduced an unstable element to an already unstable chemical mix. She silently vowed a rematch of a different style.
Rhenora noticed Patin drawing quiet and the look in her eye. "She is not your competition" she replied kindly. "She is not your replacement. She is a friend"
"Says you." Patin rolled her eyes, "I'm just testing... conviction and maybe a bit of loyalty. Ya can't blame me for trying to be safe after all that's happened can you?" She asked as she flashed her 'I'm innocent and harmless' face. 'Did Patin even have an innocent side?'
"Don't be too hard on her" Rhenora warned, "she earnt my trust a long time ago, she only needs to earn yours. Give her time. " the words hung in the air for a few moments. "Now, what have you been up to the last few days, apart from trying to drink Jenna under the table."
Patin sat her food down and leaned back into the couch where she started to pull a cigar out of her pocket before thinking twice about her company. "Eh, you know, just biding my time. She's a big ship but I still feel, confined." Then she looked at Rhenora who had literally been confined to her quarters. "No offense."
"None taken" Rhenora replied, she understood Patin's need to be free and in the great open landscape she had called home on Bajor. She felt a distinct conflict building within her friend though. The desire to return home to her mountains and animals warred with the desire to protect her friend from a thousand year old Prophecy. "We will return to DS9 when we get back to Federation space. We can drop you at Bajor if you like? Remal and I will probably be heading there for a while as well"
"It's fine." Patin said while shrugging off her friend's desire to show she cared. "Besides you have a lot on your plate right now." She pointed at the whales just outside the ship. "Besides, how soon until you 'pop' again?" She gestured her flask, which had showed up from nowhere in her hand, at Rhen's roundish belly. Never one to put all of her faith in the Prophets, she was still planning on taking the vision she had been shown seriously.
She had taken the last few days to contemplate her own worth versus that of the child of her best friend and found her own life lacking. The child would go on to be a savior of the people, the next Emissary. A child was something Patin couldn't bring into the world, therefore she had determined it was destiny that she would lay down her own life to save the life of another, and day by day she was coming to accept her fate.
"Doctor Wilson reckons a few more weeks, although she takes great joy in reminding me it's not an exact science" Rhen rolled her eyes and shifted a little. "You want to hang at the cottage when we get there or go home to the mountains?" She eyed her best friend with a curious gaze. She knew once they returned to Bajor that Wilson would take the opportunity to make her take leave until after the baby was born. Deep down her gut told her this would be her last mission.
Patin shifted too, then caught Remal's eyes dart away as though her were avoiding getting involved in the conversation. Now directing her stare at Nozzie she addressed the elephant in the room. "I know what you're trying to do, and I want you to know it didn't work when we were in that camp back on Bajor and it won't work on me now." She directed while thinking about the time their squad had been captured and Rhenora, always the rational one, had talked Patin out of doing something that likely would have ended all of their lives.
"Galix-core was a completely different situation. I was, young, stupid, and inexperienced then. I get it now, not like before." From an outsider's perspective the ladies appeared to be having two different conversations. Remal knew differently.
"Tell me what's so different about it?" There was a challenge in the Captain's eyes. "The odds are about the same, the Prophets have made themselves clear on what's going to go down. So what's so different?" The gauntlet had been thrown down. "Why are you treating this so damned personal?"
Her jaw line visibly clenched as she fought for the right words. Remal took this as a sign to make himself scarce. Once he disappeared she spoke again, "The difference is at Galix, I was robbed of everything I was and ready to die because I had nothing left worth living for." She pointed her finger at Rhen, "You were the one that pulled be back from that edge, remember?"
"Now, now I've been given a choice. I've lived my life and I've been shown how high the stakes are and frankly, I've come to accept the decision I must make when the time comes." She looked out the window for a breath before looking Rhenora deep into her eyes. "I will not let them hurt you as they did me." Her jawline clenched again. "That's why this is 'so damned personal'." She was close, but would never cross the line in telling Nozz what the Prophets had shown her. For reasons only known to Patin, that particular visage was between her and her Gods.
There it was, the truth. Or as close as anyone was every going to get to hearing a straight truth from Patin. Rhenora was silent for a minute, allowing the adrenaline from the potential argument fade. They'd been through just about hell together during the occupation and now the final battle loomed larger before them, each slightly unsure of how much the other actually knew.
"Thank you, for being honest" the words were softly spoken.
"Sure." Patin pushed her food plate across the table, empty, and stood. There was a brief wobble as she felt the effects of the alcohol already in her system. "Thank you for breakfast, now, if you'll excuse me I think I need a drink." Her hand fell on her flask absently knowing it was almost empty.
"Hey, Meatbag!" She hollered into the adjoining room. "Take care of her until I get back will ya?"
Remal came around the corner and nodded, "With my life." His hand rested on Rhenora's shoulder. "Try to come back in one piece will ya?" He wanted to add that Patin was just as important as the rest of them and he would protect her with his life also, but somewhere deep down he knew she did not need to hear it. Somehow she already knew and that's why she instilled so much trust his way.
Patin nodded, then turned and walked out of their quarters leaving the couple alone once more.
"Well I wasn't expecting that in our living room this morning" Rhenora commented with a raised eyebrow. On duty or not, surprises always seemed to befall them.
"Neither was I despite always expecting the unexpected around you. Patin is a very unique bug who seems to have something weighing heavily on her as of late. Something I suspect she feels she needs to work out on her own, or the face of Jenna in this case." He said, concern for both of them evident in his throat.
"I worry for her, for both of them really. They are both so resilient yet so fragile at the same time, both trying to find their way in an environment outside of what they are comfortable with." Her gaze was drawn to the expansive windows and unusual stars. "Do you fear we won't make it back to Bajor in time?"
"I don't dare share most of my fears. No need to add to your pain right now, but..." He paused and gave her shoulder a small squeeze. "I would add that part of me hopes we don't return in time." He added while thinking about how it would make him feel if the Prophets were wrong. He imagined a peaceful future with no imposing fight to come and no death where he and Rhenora could raise their child without fear or worry. A pipe dream if ever there were one.
"It would be a pleasant change if they weren't entirely accurate, for once." She mused wistfully. How spot on could a thousand year old prophecy be? Sisko had proven things don't always turn out exactly as foreseen, and she hoped this would be the case as well in their story.
"Agreed. Now..." He moved around to face her, offering a hand out. "How about we take a nice walk, get some blood flow to those ankles?" She looked hesitant so he added, "Counselor's orders, to stave off cabin fever and boredom." He was prepared if she declined, to insist.
"That sounds lovely" she replied as she finished the second cup of coffee and grasped his hand, leveraging a little more than she was proud to admit to get to her feet. "A walk would do us good, well more me, than you, good. I feel like a beached whale"
He knew better than to comment the joke that ran through his mind. Instead he opted to point out, "The whales are out there. You're more like a mermaid, with her siren call, and might I just add, the prettiest beached mermaid I've ever laid eyes upon." He flattered.
"You flatter me in the face of the truth" She lightly smacked his arm then looped hers through it and they meandered down the hallway.
TBC
Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Commanding Officer, USS Sunfire
Commander Jenna Ramthorne
Chief Flight Control Officer & Mission Advisor, USS Sunfire
Remal Kajun
Counselor Aide, USS Sunfire
Husband of the Captain
Played By Commander Jenna Ramthorne
Patin
Friend of the Captain
Played By Commander Jenna Ramthorne
