Stolen Moments

Posted on Thu Jan 24th, 2019 @ 4:59am by Lieutenant Danica Kovitz

Mission: Season 2: Episode 3: Determination is not always a good thing
Location: Base Camp
Timeline: before Dorso's return
2140 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Anya was tired after a long day out in the city, having quelled a lot of unrest with the trusty assistance of her phaser, and a few knocks upside the heads of people who were a bit easier to restrain than with the use of firearms. Still, it felt like she was fighting an uphill battle. As the situation deteriorated, more and more people showed signs of odd behaviour, and violent tendencies. And unlike an opponent in a fight, she was supposed to restrain herself. That made things a lot harder.

But at least now she had a few hours to herself. She sat down on the ground behind the crew tent. It was a warm evening, the birds were singing in the surrounding bushes, and from where she was sitting, all she saw was some lights in the distance, and the aforementioned bushes. Almost peaceful, if it weren’t for the noises of all the activity going on around her. She opened the basket she had replicated, and took out two travel mugs of tea. It wasn’t much, but she hoped Dani would find the time to come visit her anyway.

Danica had been bouncing between the ship and the planet with increased frequency as their investigation went on. The tunnels under the main city were a growing mystery, but one she was keen to get away from briefly. Once she’d finally gotten off duty, she’d run back to her quarters to prep herself, and beamed down to the campsite. She knew Anya wouldn’t have had the time to get her hair and makeup all perfect, but Dani had a much less stressful situation and figured she could put the effort in. She finally found the woman sitting off behind the crew tent and slowly approached. “Figured I’d swing by since you were off duty,” she said softly, settling in next to Anya.

Anya smiled and handed Dani one of the mugs, taking Dani’s hand into hers as the mug was exchanged. “Little stolen moments, and it’s almost beautiful down here.” Anya’s hair was still tied back in a ponytail, so as not to be in the way on the job, and her uniform was dusty. Otherwise, she didn’t appear too worse for wear. At least none of them had managed to clobber her over the head with something, though not for lack of trying. The few bruises she had weren’t visible under her clothes, but then she hardly noticed them as she was used to having some pretty much always, considering her lifestyle.

“Stolen moments are the best kind,” Dani said with a smile. She let her hand linger in Anya’s. “You do have some excellent taste in views though. Hopefully the surface hasn’t treated you too poorly? I’ve been checking up on the reports. Sounds as restless as ever.” She leaned back, making sure to have her arm touch Anya’s ever so slightly.

“It’s nuts”, Anya admitted. “Wish I’d gone with the engineers. I don’t think they’d have taken Liorga with me around, ready to knock some heads in. But there was a riot, Fernando and I had to help out the Home Guard. They’re not trained fighters, you know? They can shoot well enough but they’re timid, and can’t stand to hold a line.”

“Yeah, that sounds difficult. I’ll try not to add to your troubles while I’m on the surface. I’m almost certainly more useless in a fight than the Home Guard, so I’ll try to avoid causing a second hostage situation for you.” Dani wished it was more of a joke. She definitely needed to brush up on her phaser training. She hadn’t taken any drills since before she left for the Grissom.

“That’d be good”, Anya said. “Though I’m pretty sure you could handle yourself, being tied up.” She winked. “We’ll get you some more combat training when this is done? Got to put all that armour we made to suit your fit physique to good use.”

Dani blushed a little at Anya’s joke, but kept it under control. “Somehow, I doubt that armor would be useful in this instance. But we’ll definitely have to give it a run.” She looked over toward the medical tent. “The doc doing any better?” She wasn’t expecting a yes, but it’d be a pleasant surprise.

“I think so”, Anya said. “At least she’s keeping busy.” She leaned in, smelling Dani’s hair. “You smell amazing, you get to live the good life while we’re down here in the dirt, hm?” She didn’t want to dwell on the topic. It was enough to have one woman around who drove everyone nuts, she didn’t want to be another.

“I may have swung by my fancy new quarters and put a little fragrance on,” Dani said with a wink. “I need to make sure I stand out compared to the surroundings down here. I can keep your attention better that way.”

“And if I should nod off, it’s not for lack of attention, it’s because I’m knackered”, Anya smirked. She took a sip of her herbal tea. It was soothing, nice and warm. “I’m glad you seem to have decided I’m worth keeping around.”

“You’re not so bad,” Dani teased. She’d found she quite enjoyed Anya’s companionship. The two were very different, but it seemed a complementary set up. “It is a shame you can’t even come up for a night. A good night's sleep would probably do you a lot of good.”

“True”, Anya agreed. “Got called up after just two hours last night, then sneaked in another four. But it’s okay, I knew what I was signing up for. The many good days more than make up for a few bad ones.” She smiled at Dani. “Though, it hurts to see some of these people think I’m the enemy. I keep telling them I only want to help them but they refuse to believe.”

“That’s what’s hard about this line of work sometimes. You’ve gotta be able to push through and keep doing the right thing, even when the people who need the help don’t see it that way.” Dani said with a sigh. “What frustrates me is that they lash out with violence. That doesn’t help anyone here. How does attacking or kidnapping our people help them? It’s not like we caused the issue. We’re just here to help.”

“And it’s not like they’re going to get preferential treatment as a result either”, Anya said. “I mean, those kidnappers, if it gets much worse and we really do need to start evacuating as many people as we can… they’re going to be the very last off this rock, if at all. I’m sure the Captain would see to that. But they don’t understand. It’s like they’ve been braindead for a while. Just listen to them speak, they can hardly string a couple of coherent sentences together.” That whole committing crimes for money angle, selling someone into slavery, that was so alien an idea to Anya that she didn’t even consider it as the actual explanation for their actions. She figured it was a scare tactic, to get Starfleet to do whatever it was they really wanted.

Dani leaned against her a little. “I know. It must just be that everyone is panicking in their own way. Otherwise, their actions make no sense. Regardless, I just hope we find our people soon. They’ve been gone too long already.”

“We will”, Anya said. “I’m sure of it. There are only so many places they can hide, and even with our sensors unreliable, our eyes are working.” She put her hand on Dani’s thigh. “We’ll be back to normal in under three days. Mark my words.”

“Good,” Dani said, resting her hand on top of Anya’s. “I’ve been missing you up there in orbit. I’ve got fancy new quarters to show off.”

“Gives me some time to look for a housewarming gift, at least”, Anya grinned. “Though, I’ve already got an idea or two.”

“I’ll be excited to see what you have in mind,” Dani said with a chuckle.

“Have you got a particular art style you’re especially fond of?” Anya wondered. There were many ways to design what she had in mind, and she’d end up getting it from the replicator anyway, but given the right knowledge, it could still be a personalised item, and therefore have value.

“That’s an interesting question,” Dani said, thinking for a moment. Art wasn’t one of the things she had particularly strong feelings about. She’d tended to look at real life images rather than created ones. But she appreciated the talent it took. “I suppose the post-impressionist period was one of my favorites. It had this interesting dream-like look to it that I’ve always enjoyed. Though honestly, I’m no art connoisseur. I just like pretty things mostly.” She laughed a little before nudging Anya with her shoulder. “What about you? What’s the artistic choice of a security officer?”

“The Renaissance”, Anya said, needing no time at all to think about it. “I mean, stylistically, at least. Lots of religious images that, well, they are a bit dated now, right? But they’re so pretty!”

“Interestingly enough, that makes sense,” Dani said, looking over at the other woman. She wished they had a lot more time like this, just sitting watching the horizon. “Hmmm....got a favorite color?”

“Red, like poppies. You?” Anya asked.

The blonde laughed, gesturing to the highlights in her hair. “Red, also. So we’re off to a good start there,” she teased.

Anya played with Dani’s strands of hair, saying, “And they’re the best kind of red, too.”

The science officer shook her head to flourish her hair. “I’m glad you like it. You’re welcome to admire it anytime.”

“You wouldn’t think I’m weird, obsessing about hair?” Anya wondered.

“Of course not,” Dani smiled. “I clearly put effort into my hair, so it’s nice to have someone also paying attention. For what it’s worth though, I do very much like your hair too. Always had a soft spot for brunettes.”

“Oh, so that’s why you let me get close?” Anya grinned. “And here I thought it’s because I have magic hands.”

“Well that certainly doesn’t hurt either,” Dani said. “By the way, you are welcome to give me one of those shoulder massages anytime. I think that’s something I would never turn down.”

“Soon as we’re back on the ship, I’ll treat you to the full programme”, Anya promised. She emptied her mug and put it to the side. She was too tired to massage Dani now, her hands had done a lot of work all day. “Right now, I’m really beat, I’m sorry.”

“I couldn’t ask you to right now. Especially given your situation down here,” she rested her head on Anya’s shoulder. “I still wish I could bring you back up with me. Try to be done soon, ok?”

“You’re the officer, request personal protection or something”, Anya teased. It really was out of her hands. Unless they found a way to deal with the cause of all this, no amount of policing the colony would make this end any sooner. But Anya would rest easier once her friend was back.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think they’d let me do that,” Dani said, pecking Anya on the cheek. “Besides, they need you down here. So I’ll just be patient.”

“But it’s good to know I’m being missed”, Anya smiled. She leaned over and kissed Dani. “I’ll make it worth the wait.” Sitting up, she moved over and knelt down to face Dani. “Count on it”, she whispered.

“I will,” Dani said, kissing her back.

Anya hugged her girlfriend, now much more confident about thinking in these terms, and stood. “I have to get some sleep, I’m afraid”, she said. “I go back on duty in five hours.” She’d really only stolen that moment because if she hadn’t, she’d be going nuts soon.

“Five hours?! And you let me keep you up this whole time?” Dani jokingly shooed her. “Go get some sleep. We need you alert. I’ll be back on Elysium when you’re done down here.”