News From the War front

Posted on Tue Feb 22nd, 2011 @ 6:52am by Captain Anna Johnson & Commander Raven Adams

1,372 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: Various

It was the end of her shift and Anna was at her desk in her office when a new list of injured, missing and dead crew came in. She was making a list of what family needed to be contacted when one of the names popped out at her. Ian Casey was on the list of those killed in action. Anna blinked a moment fighting back tears. She finished compiling the list and forwarded it to Fannin before sending Jana a message and heading to the nearest bar.

She sat down at the bar, "Irish whiskey and leave the bottle." She said her pain obvious to anyone that knew her.

====

Intel was usually aware of what went on. Especially when it came to Starbase personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty. Although she generally didn't pay much attention to the lists except to file them away, one name popped out. Ian Casey.

Raven sat back in her chair and reread the list. It wasn't even in the line of duty, technically. Ian was flying out to do some recon and simply crashed. So far there was no sign of a malfunction and no sign of any hostile activity. He just went down over rocky terrain and died on impact.

For several moments she reflected on the past. There were so many things she regretted -- he being chief among them -- but she never wished him harm.

Her second thought was of Anna. She would have received the same list Raven did, so would know by now that Ian was dead. She wouldn't be holding up very well.

She only had to focus for a minute to find where Anna was. Not surprising, she was in the bar. Raven shut down her computer and headed out the door.

She found Anna and took a seat next to her. "I got the word. Looks like you're not holding up so well."

Anna finished the drink she was working on and poured another. "I just talked to him a couple of days ago. He was looking forward to coming back and . . ." She let that thought trail off and shook her head then downed another glass. "I guess I'm just not meant to be in love." She said and set the glass down and stared at the bottle debating another glass full.

"I was thinking that a few weeks ago," Raven shrugged. "My string of bad luck with relationships rivals just about anyones. You've never had someone pretend to care about you just to gain access to your ship and then kill you. But recently things are... looking up. You can do better, too."

Anna shook her head, "Everyone always leaves one way or another." She said.

"True, but what matters is the life you have before you die. And the people you share it with. I won't speak ill of the dead, but you know how I feel about Ian and what he did. I've the possibility of something really good now. Something better than I've had before. There's always hope of a better tomorrow."

Anna poured another glass, "Every man I've ever loved has hurt me one way or another. I really don't know that I'm willing to try anymore." She said and downed another glass the bottle in front of her now one quarter empty.

Raven took the bottle and moved it out of her reach. "Ian didn't leave you. Not by choice. He died. It is a very different thing. Death is something we have to face every day as members of Starfleet. I've seen more people die in my lifetime than I care to. When you grow up on Bajor, you learn to accept death." She paused and looked at Anna for a moment. "You have Jana and you have the Starbase. You don't have the luxury of self-pity."

Anna looked at her, "I don't feel sorry for myself I'm just sure I'm going to die without a man in my life. I may as well buy another cat to go with Jana's." She said.

"Honey, that attitude is feeling sorry for yourself. And this is coming from someone who took a ship out into the middle of nowhere and tried to drown her sorrows in a mountain of chocolate," Raven said. "It was a good friend that talked me into coming back. Now, I'm telling you the same thing."

"I haven't gone anywhere." Anna said, "Tomorrow I will be at work just like every other day. I have no where to run to anyway. I'm just basing my thoughts on past experience. Since leaving the academy I've been in about six relationships. All of them have ended badly with me having to nurse a broken heart." Anna paid for the bottle and looked at Raven, "You are welcome to come back to my quarters with me if you want. I'm sure Jana probably has supper about ready by now." She said as she grabbed the bottle and replaced the cap and turned to head out.

"Anna," Raven said, stopping her. "I'm not going to follow you and watch you drown your sorrows. Not even to see Jana. You also need to remember that you can't truly love someone if you're afraid of being hurt."

"Then maybe I just won't give my heart to anyone else." Anna said. "I didn't say I was going to finish this when I got home. I just paid for it so thought I would take it with me. I don't want to deal with the consequences that would follow if I finished this bottle."

"I'm really not sure what I can say to you," Raven admitted. "Or if I even should." She honestly wondered if she should give Anna a few days to assimilate Ian's death before she tried to talk to her. Raven herself wasn't ready to listen to Anna right after the whole Ian debacle.

Anna looked at Raven with tears in her eyes, "I don't necessarily want you to say anything. I just need a friend around right now." She said. "If you can't do that then Jana will have to be enough." Anna said, "Unlike you I don't like being alone. I hate it with a passion. Memories of my father taunt me when I'm alone." Anna turned away and headed toward the lift her steps a bit unbalanced. She didn't look to see if Raven would follow or not but she wasn't going to continue this out in public where everyone could stare at her.

Because Raven internalized when she was hurt and preferred to be by herself, she had a hard time relating to the way Anna dealt with loss. As much as she cared about her friend, she didn't think she was the right person to be with Anna right now. So she walked out of the bar and turned in the opposite direction.

But Raven wasn't going to let Anna be alone. She called Jana and told her what happened, told her to expect Anna. Tomorrow, Raven would go visit her friends. For now, Anna was better off with Jana. They could go on a picnic or something.

Anna got off the lift and headed to her quarters. She stepped in and saw Jana wasn't there yet though she didn't know she was on the way that moment after getting the message from Raven. Anna sat the bottle on the counter and went into her room. She closed the door, leaned against it and sank down with her head on her knees tears falling down her face.

Jana hurried to their quarters she knew she had some planing to do and was going to have to get Anna out of their quarters. She could hear her in her room so she went about replicating everything they would need and making sure they had a reservation for a holodeck. She took the bottle from the counter and stashed it away. This was going to be a long evening. Luckily she had the next day out of school so they could test the younger students.

Captain Anna Johnson
Executive Officer

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer

Jana Johnson (NPC)
Concerned Sister

RSS Feed