With you, I am home

Posted on Tue Jan 24th, 2023 @ 10:40am by Consul Andrinn Orin & Captain Samuel Woolheater

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: DECK THIRTY-SIX
Timeline: MD03 - 0700
2503 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]


DECK THIRTY-SIX – PILOTS BRIEFING ROOM


With the communications system coming back online, so many calls were being placed throughout the ship. Marine captain Samuel Woolheater waited until everyone who wanted to make a call had that opportunity. And now, stepping away to a slightly more private area in the pilot’s briefing room, it was Sam’s turn. He didn’t even know if he would be able to reach Andrinn. It’s not like people wore comm badges to bed. Under normal conditions the comm system would use the audio center in the quarters or the terminals at workstations if one wasn’t wearing a comm badge. With internal sensors off-line it was a roll of the dice.

Sam had never been “good at” expressing his emotions. He, of course, had emotions and passions. But they were subdued by military necessity and practicality. Being emotional during a crisis got you dead faster than using your brain to figure things out. And, years of being a marine, he had internalized that. Perhaps too much? Perhaps too well? Because now as he stood in the corner hesitating to make a call, he realized he didn’t know what to say.

Everything he could think of sounded very dumb and sappy to him. ~Hello? Andrinn? So…how are you?~ he thought to himself and shook his head with a “no”. He tried to remember what Emily Hope would have said when she called out of the blue to talk to him. She would say, “I’ve been missing you” or “I’ve been thinking about you” and none of those quite worked here in this situation. ~Yeah, while I’ve been busy finding crew both dead and alive and surveying the damage to the ship – I’ve been thinking about you.~ Which sounded awkward and terrible. Emily always made these things easy. At least it sounded easy when she did it.

Sam put his hands on the wall of the briefing room. And he felt so stupid. He had this, feeing, this desire to talk to Andrinn. Not knowing if he was dead or alive or what – and dreading any of the possible negative answers to that question. And his heart, deep in his soul there was no issue. Just a feeling of desire and need to reach out. But as that travelled from his heart to his brain it got messy. There was a grey cloud in his head and the words got all jumbled, they all sounded wrong and idiotic and dumb. But h had to call. He had to know what was going on with Andy. And so, not knowing how this would go he tapped the button on his body armor and made the call.

=A= Woolheater to Orin? =A=

Sam rolled his eyes at his error. The main computer was not processing the COMM data. He had to be more specific so that if Andrinn were alive the call could be routed. He listened but there was just the chatter from other comm badges. Sam shifted his weight to his other leg and tried again.

=A= Captain Woolheater to Chief Diplomatic Officer Andrinn Orin? =A=

~Andy….please…if you’re…there. Andrinn? ~ Sam thought silently to himself. He waited and the seconds ticked by. There was only silence.

=A= Andrinn? =A= he said again a little louder.

Sam feared the worst. He closed his eyes. And silently prayed, ~Don’t take him from me. Not so soon. Not yet…not yet…~

=A= Has anybody…seen…Andrinn Orin? =A= Sam asked not really thinking he’d get a reply.


--Deck Two, Outside of Diplomatic Complexes--

Orin had just watched as the people that he had serving under him were...squabbling about anything and everything except for how to get moving to safety at one of the nearest shelters onboard. In the centuries that he had served in various diplomatic functions for various planets and governments, Orin was always amazed at how much or little could get done in the flick of a singular word or a simple gesture.

However, watching the people do their thing and slowly beginning their journeys through the bowels of the ship, Andrinn's commbadge began chirping. At first, it sounded much like various conversations throughout the ship as the computer was slowly coming back online in some fashion, allowing for communications to slowly start to filter throughout the ship.

The ship was having some trouble catching up with itself as several hundred people lived and worked onboard the ship. Andrinn knew that the ship's crew and company were working diligently to make sure that everything was fixed up as soon as possible. One chirp from the computer came through straight to Andrinn's commbadge though and the computer said, "Inc.....Incommin.....Incoming comm.....channel.....for Chief Diplomatic.....Officer Andrinn Orin.....Orin Orin Orin.....from....from Marine Country. Location....unable to determine...."

The computer wasn't making a lot of sense and it took Andrinn a few moments to realize that Sam might be alive! He didn't think...or didn't want to think about the possibilities that Sam might've died in the explosions throughout the ship, especially down in Marine Country. Another thought ran through Andrinn's mind, though. A much more somber and saddening thought. Was someone calling up from there to let Andrinn know that Sam had died and that he would have to let the family know that their child was gone. Andrinn knew that it was usually the duty of the Commanding Officers, but sometimes Diplomatic Officers relayed the information to the proper embassies.

Andrinn knew that he had to answer that comms. Tapping his commbadge, Andrinn said, "Computer, lock onto the channel coming up from Marine Country and reroute it to Diplomatic Conference Room Alpha-One. Include visuals where possible, but if not, just include audio."

Andrinn walked towards the open door to Conference Room Alpha-One and told the others to go ahead, as he would catch up with them in a few moments. God, it felt like an eternity and it was making Andrinn's skin crawl, waiting to see if it was Sam calling or someone else to let him know the bad news. The good news was that it didn't take long for Andrinn to hear Sam's voice over the open frequency and Andrinn said, "Sam, is that you? Are you okay?"

Sam's eyes opened on hearing Andrinn's voice over the COMM system. And the headache that he had been nursing all morning immediately left him.

=A= ANDRINN!? You're alive! It's me bud. It's me Sam. Yeah, I'm OK. Just worried as fuck for you. =A=

Sam closed his eyes and he was so relieved to hear Andy's voice. ~Thank you...for his life~ Sam silently prayed.

=A= It's good to hear your voice. Its...very, very good! Are you alright? Where are you? =A=

"I'm outside of the diplomatic complexes, currently standing in a diplomatic conference lounge. I've got an entire detail of diplomats and protection officers crawling around, trying to figure a way out and find out what happened to the ship. Lord only knows, but it was good to hear from you. I didn't....I didn't know what happened to you and I've been worried since the ship went down. It has been hard being away from you. I owe you a kiss or something when I see you again," Andrinn said with a small blush on his face as he looked over his shoulder, making sure nobody could see the Chief Diplomat blushing this hard for anyone, even if he was crushing for him hard.

Hearing Andrinn's voice come over the COMM system brought Samuel so much relief. To know that someone you care about and love is still alive and unharmed is some of the best news one can get. The place that Andrinn was describing was on deck two. And as Andrinn relayed his message, Sam knew that he was with other people, other diplomats and other marines from the CPD (close protection detail) and the man in charge was Captain Richardson. And that brought Woolheater relief as well.

=A= I've been worried about you too Andrinn. I......uh......I...... =A=

Sam's whole mouth and tongue felt thick. Like there was cotton padding in them. He licked his lips but found that his throat felt stiff. The muscles of his face and jaw, his neck and airway felt so constricted. His brain felt blank. And yet there was a whole part of him that yearned to talk. To tell Andrinn how he felt.

Sam nodded in silence and shifted his weight again. He cleared his throat and put his hand to his chin before removing it again to his hips. He nodded again and said, "...I..." He took an inward sigh, frustrated that he sucked at having feelings. He was blowing this. He sighed and made fists with his hands. "..........yeah..........". Sam stood there and tried to speak.

".........I..........miss you."

"I....miss you too. God, how I miss you so freaking much and absolutely freaking love you. I can't hide that away from the fact that you make my heart flutter and make me one of the happiest men on the ship!" Andrinn started to blurt out, slowly losing all of the cares in the world. One of the people that was attached to the protection team heard something come from the office that Andrinn was in and he came back to check on Andrinn.

"Sir, are you doing okay?" the young man said, wondering if Andrinn was okay or being harmed by something.

Andrinn saw the man stepping inside and replied, "Yeah, I'm doing okay. I'm just talking to someone very special. Just give me a couple more minutes, okay?"

The officer nodded and stepped away from the office, heading back to be with the rest of the team making their way to safety. Getting back to Sam, Andrinn just blushed and said, "Sorry about that. But, I miss you so freaking much. Where are you currently? The computer said that you were down there in Marine Country?"

Sam listened, the kind words reminded him that this is what made the vast emptiness of space worth exploring. At the end of the day, it was the people you loved that you come home to. Sam said, "I'm on deck thirty-six, going up in just a few. We found more survivors. Got to walk on the hull of the ship. And except for the gaping holes, it is a pretty awesome sight." There was a long pause where neither of them said a thing.

Without words, an unspoken verse, Sam said, With you, I am home

"I miss you too Andy. I can't wait to see you again. I...had work to do down here. I couldn't just go and leave. I wanted too. It's not because I didn't want too. Listen, I will find you. Somehow...someway...when this mess is sorted. I'll never stop looking for you. You are everywhere except right here...and it hurts! Be safe. I gotta go...do my job. There's more too....I want to say. It's hard to say. Just...please be safe OK?"

A marine entered the room and said, "Cap? On the COMM, 2nd Lieutenant Bryce requesting instructions...sorry sir."

Sam nodded, "I'll be right there."

When he was alone again he said to Andrinn, "I gotta go. I'll see you real soon. Andrinn.........." but the words failed him. He sighed and was about to get mad at himself when Andy spoke.

"Just....promise to come home, okay? Promise to come back to me?" Andrinn struggled to say, a tear running down his face. He knew what it was like to lose someone he cared about, but it was way more complex for him because of the slug in his gut. He struggled with various emotions because he didn't want to lose someone he cared about.

Andrinn was watching one of his worst nightmares unfold right now and struggled a bit to hold it together, but he found strength in Sam at that moment. Andrinn repeated himself, wiping away the tear from his face, "Please, come home safely. Promise me I'll see you on the ship or somewhere else."

Sam nodded, "I will find you. Andy...I...love you man." There; he said it. And the world didn't blow up. And then, being Sam he added, "So...don't fuck that up and get hurt. I gotta go. I'll see you soon."

Before closing out the comm channel and letting Sam go, Andrinn replied, "I...love you too. I've got a few diplomats to go and save, so take care of yourself and I'll find you."

Andrinn closed the channel and took a few moments to think about everything. About all the people onboard the ship that were lost or have been injured because of something that was out of his hands. He hated not having control like this, as he was the CDO and diplomacy was all about having it all together or at least appearing that way.

Andrinn was worried about how the ship was going to get fixed and how they were going to fix it. He worried about his fellow diplomats that were scattered throughout the ship, in their quarters and in various other locations. Andrinn wanted so hard to be there for them and help guide them to safety.

But, he knew that he couldn't do that and that's what allowed him to show off a little more of his true emotions behind the façade of the CDO and allowed him to show them off to Sam. "Be safe, my king," Andrinn whispered before heading back to the group he was with and where they informed him of a ship wide alert for people who were willing to pilot shuttles and various other crafts to and from the ship.

As he looked at one of his DPT officers, Andrinn said, "Are the transporters online yet? Even if they are shuttle transporters?" The young man replied that they were and he said, "Beam me to the shuttlebay."

BACK ON DECK THIRTY-SIX

Sam walked into the communications suite and then went to the panel to talk to 2nd LT. Bryce. There was still work to be done. But, at least for now, he felt a lot better knowing that Andrinn was alive and well. Safe? How safe everybody was would depend upon how the next phase of the rescue would go. After speaking with the Lieutenant, am closed the channel and asked, "We need pilots? And we need to see if any of these birds will fly."

[OFF:]

Captain Samuel Woolheater
“Saepius Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas”
Division VI, MARDET 62nd Company "Spartans", 1st Platoon CO
=/\= USS ELYSIUM - NCC-89000 =/\=


&

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium