Haunted

Posted on Tue Oct 5th, 2021 @ 5:01am by Lieutenant Vira Vemre [Whavi] & Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford

Mission: Season 5: Episode 2: Operation Save Humanity
Location: Damien's Quarters
Timeline: MD 8 0700 Following 'Five Step Process'
3993 words - 8 OF Standard Post Measure

A dark corridor. Damien looked around, his heart pounding. There were bodies everywhere. He wanted to look at them, but he knew what he would find if he did.

As he slowly walked down the corridor, he could hear voices coming from ahead. Taking hold of his phaser, he took a shaky sigh, stopping at the corner, and peered round, his heart dropping at the scene before him. Two of the boarding party stood in front of an officer, pistols aimed at her head.

Vira.

Damien tried to move, to step forward, to intervene, but it was like he was stuck to the floor. His legs refused to obey him. He tried to raise his arm, to fire his Phaser, but his limbs refused to listen. He was frozen to the spot, and he couldn't even look away.

His breath caught in his throat as he watched, unable to watch as one of them pushed his weapon to the side of her head. All Damien could do was cry out as the trigger was pulled, and a blinding flash filled his vision.

Damien cried out, sitting up in bed, breathing heavily, sweating as he looked around, desperate to make sure Vira was safe.

Vira was kneeling beside Damien, her hands gripping his shoulder in an attempt to wake him from the nightmare. "Damien its okay! Hey, I'm right here." She tried to sooth him by bringing his face to hers, forcing him to look at her. "I'm right here. Everything is okay. I promise." She said reassuringly. His tossing had scared her awake, and when he screamed her name she immediately tried to wake him. Vira wiped away the sweat from his brow, her face full of concern.

Damien's eyes were wide as he looked around, his breathing heavy and ragged. It had all felt so real that he half expected to find himself in the corridor cradling Vira's body. It took a few seconds, but eventually, he felt his breathing start to relax, and he realised where he was. Looking into Vira's eyes, he leaned forward, laying his forehead against hers, feeling tears start to fill his eyes.

“It’s okay, everything is fine. I’m right here.” Vira said again trying to be as reassuring as she knew how. She took a deep breath when the tension seemed to relax in Damiens muscles. Vira closed her eyes when his forehead met hers for a brief moment before shifting to wrap an arm around his shoulder and pulling him down onto her chest. The Risian hugged him to her. She wanted to take all the fear away she had heard in his voice and ensure he never felt that way ever again, a hopeless want but one she would try to accomplish regardless.

She ran one hand through his dark hair and the other up and down the length of his arm. They hadn’t slept long at all and she knew they had an eventful day before them but she wanted to keep Damien safe in her arms for as long as possible. To just close them off from the outside world and all it’s horrors. Her arms tightened around him.

Damien collapsed against her chest, his body still shaking, silent tears pouring from his eyes. Everything about the dream had felt so real. The atmosphere, the lighting. Even the boarding party. It was like they'd been plucked straight from real life. He knew they were safe, but part of his mind refused to accept that.

Curling into her, he forced himself to focus on the sound of her voice. The feel of her hand on him. The feel of his bedsheets against his skin. Anything that grounded him to reality. Part of him felt so worthless. His job was Security. He was supposed to keep the ship safe, and he'd failed.

Vira could feel the wet tears fall from Damien and with each one a piece of her heart shattered. She lifted his chin and what she saw crushed her. She could see the helplessness in the set of his features. Using a thumb she wiped away his tears trying her hardest not to fall apart at the site. “Shhhhh,” she soothed. “I promise everything will be okay.” It took her a moment to find the words she wanted to say, three simple words but words she seldomly used. “I love you.” Her lips lifted into a small smile before she leaned down to plant a kiss on Damiens brow.

Damien thought that he'd be embarrassed at the way he fell apart in front of her, but it just felt right. If there was anyone who was going to make him feel better, it was Vira. Her simple touch made his troubles melt away. Those three simple words were enough to make him smile slightly, but it soon faded. "I failed, Vira." He whispered.

“What!?” Vira asked confused, she had an idea of what Damien could be referring to but she hoped she was wrong. It’s tore at her to see him in such a state of despair. She lifted his face so that he was looking up at her. Keeping her own composure proved difficult when she saw the pain in his beautiful blue eyes. “You did not fail.”

He sighed shakily, unable to bring himself to look her in the eyes, feeling too ashamed. He sighed, shakily, taking a moment to try and compose himself, before speaking again. "I failed my duty." He whispered. "I'm supposed to protect the ship against threats like this.... and I failed." He took a shaky breath, collapsing against her again.

Vira sat up, forcing Damien to do the same. "Look at me." She pleaded. She took his hand in hers, intertwining her fingers through his and squeezing.

Damien took a deep breath, forcing himself to sit up, looking up into her eyes, squeezing her hand back gently.

"Though what happened was tragic, and the amount of life lost catastrophic, the weight of it does not solely fall to your shoulders. This is not your burden alone, if at all. You are one man, a great man capable of extraordinary things, " She paused to emphasis her words and their meaning. "but not responsible. It was not something you could have prevented."

Damien sighed shakily, looking into her eyes. He knew the truth in her words, and he knew it himself, but there was still that one small part of himself that refused to understand. But he had to move past this. He couldn't allow himself to get lost in grief. "Thank you." He whispered softly.

"You don't have to thank me, you just need to believe me." She sighed, "As much as I wish it weren't true, this will likely not be the last time we fall vulnerable. Sometimes there is only so much that can be prevented, but what matters now is how we pull ourselves together, how we rebuild." Vira searched Damien's eyes, looking for a small piece of the light he carried in him to make an appearance.

He smiled shakily, nodding. "I know. I know." He whispered. He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against hers. "My father warned me things like this would happen. I always thought when the time came, I'd be more prepared. But I don't think anything can prepare you for this."

Pulling back slightly, he looked back into her eyes, smiling at her. It was amazing how one person, with a few simple words, could make troubles melt away. "How did you get so wise?" He asked, chuckling slightly.

Vira winked at Damien, "Bar tending. You wouldn't believe the life lessons I learned at a young age." She laughed and rose from the bed, grabbing Damien's button down shirt and slipping into it, she swam in the fabric but only buttoned it in the middle. She was glad he seemed to be coming around. Vira knew he would be haunted by nightmares, keeping him distracted was suddenly the most important thing to her. Leaning back on the bed she kissed the tip of his nose. "Want some tea?"

He chuckled, nodding. "Oh, I believe it." He said, watching as she moved away. Okay. Yes, this was a very serious conversation they'd just had, and he knew that he should be more focused on making sure they were both okay... but damn it all, if she didn't look sexy as hell wearing just his shirt.

"Tea would be lovely." He said, smiling at her.

Vira hopped off the bed and made her way to the small kitchen area to boil some water for the tea. She knew they still had plenty to talk about but part of her wanted to shove all the mayhem and sadness into a closet and forget about it. Not very grown up of her, but Vira was naive that way. As she waited for the water to boil she glanced around the dark rooms. She was nervous to check the time, and by keeping the lights off she could pretend they had more time before they had to start there days. There was still so much to clean, and rebuild.

The kettle began to whistle. Vira removed it from the heated pad and set it aside while she gathered two cups and a couple of tea bags. Suddenly she relealized she didn't know how Damien took his tea. Something so simple she was clueless about. It bugged her, but she was resourceful nonetheless. Grabbing down a plate she gathered ingredients and put together a makeshift serving tray. She stacked the plate with a small container of replicated milk and sugar before adding the steaming cups.

Walking very carefully she reentered the bedroom and set the plate gently down on the bed. She stood back for a second admiring her handiwork. Then took her spot across from Damien. "I wasn't sure how you like it...."

Damien pushed himself up, leaning back against the headboard, running a hand through his hair, closing his eyes as he tried his best to try and relax. He knew there was a lot to do on the ship. Things to rebuild, places to clean... bodies to sort out. Shaking his head, he opened his eyes again. No. He refused to dwell on that now. He and Vira still had a few hours together, and he wasn't going to waste them worrying about things like this.

When she came back in, he smiled over at her. "It's fine." He said softly, reaching over and taking one of the cups, adding two lumps of sugar and a dash of milk. "Thank you."

Vira took a mental note of what Damien added to his tea and stored the information for later use. She picked up her own cup and played with the tea bag, pulling it up to let it drip and then re-submerging it. Her expression darkened as the question slipped from her lips before she could think twice about bringing it up. "Did you hear about Captian Carrington?"

Damien sipped his tea quietly, watching her over the rim of his cup, watching how she took her tea. His mother had always said you could tell a lot about a person from how they took their tea. Personally, he'd never seen it before, but to this day, he still took note of how people took it.

He paused mid-sip hearing her question, slowly lowering his cup, before nodding gently. "Yeah." He said quietly. "It's awful. I know she wasn't very popular with some of the crew, but still... No one deserves that fate."

Vira slipped three cubes of sugar into her tea, knowing her sweet tooth would be the death of her one day, and stirred the contents before sipping cautiously. "I actually really liked her... I mean I barely knew or saw her but she was really nice to me when I met with her." After a moment of reflection she shook her head, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up. We can talk about something else if you would like." Here she was trying to distract him but in reality bringing up the horrors from yesterday. She silently cursed herself and keep her gaze down at her tea, watching the steam lift in swirls.

He smiled as he watched her add the sugar. Another way they were similar. He really had to cut back on his sugar intake, but that was at the bottom of his list of worries. "I never actually met her." He said softly. "I only met Captain Lalor once, to be fair. It was during a department inspection." He chuckled softly. "Let's just say it was slightly embarrassing."

He shrugged softly. "What would you like to talk about?" He asked gently.

With a side smirk she said, "Well now I need to know about this embarrassing moment with Lalor? Did you forget to wear pants or something?" Vira laughed, the sound light.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Nothing quite so bad." He said. "Alright fine. If you must know my embarrassing stories." He ran a hand through his hair, before continuing. "I'd only been on the ship a little while, and we were due a department inspection. I'd been moved onto the Alpha shift because of an Away mission. Well, needless to say, I wasn't used to getting up early, so I was late. Not a great impression. But if that wasn't bad enough, I was wearing my old uniform, so it was creased and a little bit dusty. If that wasn't bad enough, I also forgot my rank pip. And on top of all that, it was in front of, not only Lalor, but Commander Taylor. Both Department head Taylor and XO Taylor. Luckily they were all quite good about it. Although Chief Taylor did tease me about it when I got back with a fresh uniform."

Vira bit her bottom lip hard as she tried to contain her laugh. She could picture the whole thing, even the blush that was surely coloring Damien's cheeks in that moment. She bit down until suddenly she couldn't hold it anymore and let out a laugh that caused her to clutch her stomach. "I'm sorry I shouldn't laugh..." she took several deep breaths to regain composure, "it's just I can picture it and I wouldn't wish something like that on my greatest enemy. Commander Gary Taylor is intimating alone, let alone his wife and the former Captain! You poor thing."

Damien watched her, smirking slightly, waiting for the inevitable. When it happened, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Yeah. yeah. Alright, laugh it up." Shaking his head, he nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. He was a good sport about it though." He took another sip of tea, before continuing. "Alright. Come on. I told an embarrassing story. Now it's your turn."

Vira blew out a breath, "Well actually, just the other day I got caught trailing commander Taylor." She palmed her face in embarrassment. She knew she needed to give him more context so she continued, "Okay so a little back story, I kind of...people watch for fun." She rolled her eyes, "Alright it might be borderline stalkerish but it's all good fun I swear. Well anyway, I was following Commander Taylor because the whole demotion thing and him staying assigning to the Elysium just doesn't make sense to me. So I wanted to know a little more about him then whats available in his file. Which by the way... is very little when you have the clearance of an Ensign." She took a breath and started talking again, faster then she normally did. Clearly feeling a bit of the adrenaline she had that day.

"Long story short, he caught me, confronted me, then offered me a position in the diplomatic department. You know so one day I can be a super spy." She raised both eyebrows once to emphasize.

Damien couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her story. "Soooo... I'm dating a stalker?" He asked, smirking at her. "Did you sneak a peek at my file?" He asked, grinning as he sipped his tea.

"Hang on. You're telling me that you're now also a member of the diplomatic corps?" He asked. "I mean, you're definitely got the charm and charisma to certainly be a diplomat."

Vira gave an exasperated sigh. "Yup. Ops officer, bartender, and now diplomat. Commander Taylor agreed that my free time should be spent...more wisely. Which I have every intention to do because that man is more intimating then my grandfather!" The risian took a sip of her tea before setting it down on the plate in front of her. "Which reminds me, when Arcadia opens up are you going to come visit me?"

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. You really are a jack of all trades." He said. "Sexy. Clever. Charming. Makes an amazing drink. Is there anything you can't do?"

"Of course I am. I'm assuming one of the perks of dating the bartender is free drinks?" He teased, winking at her.

Damien’s words made Vira smile, a giddy feeling growing that she couldn’t contain. It hadn’t been said out loud until now that they were officially dating. She knew they were but hearing the claim gave her such excitement. She took the plate that sat before her and moved it to the floor. Then gently took Damien’s teacup from his hand and placed it on the night stand. She brought her face close to his, her eyes dipping to his lips as she spoke. “One of the perks of dating the bartender is that you can have whatever you want.” She was close enough to kiss him but waited, she had come this far, now she wanted him to come the rest of the way.

As always, Vira's touch sent shivers throughout Damien's body, causing his breath to hitch in his throat. Letting out a shaky sigh, he reach a hand out to gently wrap around her waist, drawing her closer to him once more. Their faces were inches away from each other again, close enough that he could feel her breath on his lips. "Whatever I want?" He repeated. "I like the sound of that." His voice was quiet now, barely a whisper. He held her gaze for another few seconds, before closing the gap between them, pressing his lips to hers.

Vira let out a sigh when their lips met. She loved kissing Damien, and could very well get used to being able to kiss him whenever she wanted to. His lips slid perfectly against hers, like they were both halves of the same whole. She wrapped one arm around his neck while her other hand cupped his face. After a few long moments lost in the ecstasy his kiss created she pulled back, the pad of her pointer finger gently traveled from his cheek bone to his lips where she ran it along the bottom one. “I would give you anything in my power to give. Not only would I but I want to.”

Damien sighed softly, closing his eyes as they kissed, holding her close against him, moaning softly into her lips. The kiss wasn't as hungry as the one they'd shared the previous night, but it was full of just as much passion. When she pulled back, he opened his eyes, sighing softly as she ran her finger along his lip. "I know it's only been a few weeks Vira, but the last couple of days has shown me that life is precious, and we need to live each day to its full potential. I know that I love you, and if I could give you the world, I would, because it's what you deserve."

"I mean...you could buy me a planet." Vira giggled before settling in his lap. She laid her head on his chest as she asked, "Do you want to talk about the dream..."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't know what you Transporter Specalists are getting paid, but us lowly Security Officer's aren't nearly that rich." He chikcled softly, shifting slightly to make them both more comfortable, wrapping an arm around her, running a hand through her hair, sighing softly. He knew the topic couldn't be avoided forever. "It..." He trailed off, sighing shakily. "I dreamt they'd taken you prisoner. I tried to save you, but I couldn't move. Couldn't do anything. Just watch as you..." He trailed off, closing his eyes, trying to banish the image from his mind.


Vira snuggled into the warmth his body radiated. She had never been this warm in space, never this content. Damien’s embrace was a whole other spectrum of comfort Vira had never had a taste of. Even now she was greedy for it. Desperate to never let it end. The peaceful moment was disrupted by the reminder of the nightmare he had endured. She snuggled deeper into his arms as she said. “I’m okay though. All in one piece.” Vira knew there was little she could say to may him feel better about what took place in his dream. “If it makes you feel better, I would never go down without one hell of a fight.”

He smiled. "Safe and sound." He muttered. For how long remained to be seen, but for the next few hours at least, before work began on fixing the ship, they were at peace. Chuckling softly, he leaned down, kissing the top of her head. "I'd certainly be scared to come face-to-face with you in a dark alley."

"As you should! I'm a total barbarian! A ruthless monster that knows nothing of fighting with honor." She laughed and after a moment pressed her lips to the side of Damien's neck.

Damien laughed, shaking his head, his neck instinctively arching slighty under her lips, a gentle moan escaping his lips. "Mmhm. A terribly ruthless beast." He muttered, closing his eyes, allowing the contact for a little while, before eventually pulling back, opening his eyes to look at her. "As much as I'd to spend all day in bed with you, we should probably start to at least think about showering." He said quietly. He didn't want to. He wanted to enjoy this for as long as possible. Pretend the outside world didn't exist. That they were the only two beings around.

"Is your shower as small as mine? Will it fit both of us?" After a moment she spoke again before Damien had the chance, "Actually don't answer that, we'll make it work!" She gave him a mischievous grin before climbing out of bed and dragging him with her towards the sonic shower.

Damien laughed as she dragged him, rolling his eyes. In all fairness, his shower was pretty small. He hadn't been suggesting they share, but if she wanted to risk it... he wasn't going to complain. "And how exactly do you plan on doing this without both of us slipping and breaking something? Because that's a trip to the MedBay I could do without."

Vira glanced down at Damien's lack of attire and had to force herself to keep eye contact with him. "Fine, if you don't want to share then I guess you can just watch." She unbuttoned his shirt she wore and let it fall to her feet before climbing into the shower. Seconds later the hot water had soaked her hair.

Damien watched as she shed the thin layer of clothing, narrowing his eyes slightly at her. "Well. That's just plain cruel." He said, before shrugging. 'Carpe Diem.' He thought to himself, before jumping in after her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Whatever the future held for them, he was glad he had her by his side.

End!