Ghosts and Echoes

Posted on Sun Jun 7th, 2015 @ 12:47pm by Lieutenant Mikela Reyes MD & Commander Cor Cordale

Mission: Debts to be settled......
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: Evening

"It's quieter here, that's why." Cordale said, while looking out the viewport of the mess hall out into the infinite abyss. "There was an ... incident in the officer's mess, so yeah..."

The Thux stood near the viewport, a glass of some scotch-colored booze in his prosthetic limb, while on the table behind him were two extra glasses set as though to receive company. "But, that aside, we're out on another cruise. She's a good ship, I'll say that." he smirked, "And yeah, some of the crew are actually kinda cute."

As he carried on his conversation with people unseen, Mikela Reyes, Chief Counselor, limped her way into the Mess Hall. She was very hungry and feeling rather worn out after all that walking and all that reading, and her quarters seemed just a little too far away. Mikela paused as her gaze was suddenly caught by the viewport, showing an infinity of stars spread out on the void. It had been so long... not since... Her leg protested at the prospect of extra use, and she refused to let it make her decision for her. Mikela worked her way closer to the starfield, unknowningly closer to the Thux.

Cordale took a swig of sorta'booze, and shook his head, "This stuff's nothing like the stuff we had back in the mine. Though, at least this stuff has a name." he chuckled, then took another swig. "Damn I miss you guys. You'd love it out here." he then held that glass up to the viewport, "One of those dots is ours. Thuxsphere... or whatever the heck we'll call it." he chuckled again, then the chuckle died a bit, and he finished his glass before swapping it out for one on the table, "Sorry Cal."

Mikela did notice the rather odd... person... beside her now. It didn't take her long to realize that he was speaking to people who were not present... who might even be utterly gone. Something about his little conversation struck a chord with her, and suddenly she felt oddly, almost unbearably lonely. "Mind if I join you?" she asked him respectfully. This was how she did things. She solved her own problems. Didn't she?

The Thux turned to face the unassuming lady and he gave her a pleasant enough smile (No teeth, though. Folks got unnerved at the sight of teeth). "Oh, absolutely, please." and he motioned to an unoccupied chair. "I'm just... well, being crazy I guess it must look like. Anywho, Cor Cordale." he held out his living hand to the lady. "I'm the Chief Engineer." a pause, and then he gave his prosthetic a tap, "Don't worry, I didn't get this in an Engineering accident or anything."

"I'm just... remembering old times with old friends. Brothers, really."

Mikela couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she shook hands with the Thux. "Well, if you're being crazy, you're doing it around the right person, I suppose. Mikela Reyes, Chief Counselor. But don't let that scare you away." She took a breath, looking at the glasses, then back at him. "I think I understand exactly what you're doing. It doesn't sound crazy to me."

He gave a slow nod, "Good to meet you. This would be Sil Calban, and that Cal Mondalle." he then flipped up the dog tag that rested on the collar he wore. "We worked a Ferengi latinum mine. Lousy pay, lousier benefits, but... I couldn't complain about the health plan at the time." and he motioned with his head to his prosthetic limb.

"Cave in. Most of me made it out. Most." he paused, "Cal held me down, held me still. He fed me the cheapest booze he could find to numb the pain. Sil brought the heated edge of the shovel down. I woke up in the mine's infirmary, with this."

He paused, then his whole bodily posture seemed to straighten. "Sorry, you're off duty and don't need a MopeyThux telling you his problems." he then realized who he said that to, "I'll... probably make an appointment. Or one will be made for me." he chuckled.

Mikela shook her head. "It's alright, I don't mind, off-duty or on. I have my own story. Few people have stories like ours, thankfully, and I for one try to make sure it stays that way. Ferengi latinum... Cor, Sil, Cal... Oh. There wasn't much pay, was there?" she finished as tactfully as she could.

"They *were* Ferengi. So... No, especially after taxes, tips, duties, excises... you know..." he motioned with his good hand, as though the list did indeed go on. Then, in spite of the weight of the conversation topic, he smirked and sat down next to, well, everyone.

"Cal had this bright blue spot to his fur, right on his eye. See, we couldn't just call him Patch, cause there was a two slip re-registration fee for a non-standard name, so Cal and I we'd..." another chuckle, "We'd call Cal over, super important like. He'd show up like 'WHAT?' and we'd ask him to move a rock, or take one swing at the wall. He'd do it, and then we'd thank him for the Patch job." and the Thux actually laughed. Born into slavery, but he laughed. "We had most of a deck of cards, some access to the booze still, but we made it work." he smiled, just remembering the good times. Focusing on the good times.

"You've mostly recovered from it," Mikela noted with a smile of her own. "And you keep remembrance with a ritual. That's very healthy. I should consider... something like it." She started for one of the chairs. Unfortunately, her bad leg had had enough. Her left knee buckled. She planted her cane, hard, rebalancing. She managed not only to keep from falling over, but to do it while holding her hand up to forestall offers of aid. "Oops.. I've got it, hold on. I've got it."

The Thux did make a move to offer help, but out of courtesy. Her hand up to forestall further offers told him all he needed to, and he stayed on standby to help her, but made no motion outwardly. She'd see herself to that chair. "You know, there are a few nights where I wake up with a start. I never have nightmares about them being taken. It's always that cave in." He started back once she was a little more stable, as though nothing happened. "I used to take my prosthetic off before going to bed, just in case I broke something thrashing around. I haven't for a few months now, but I tuck that arm in very tight. I... I keep it on mostly because it feels weird to not have it. I feel... I don't know, incomplete. Broken. Wrong... and I don't like feeling that."

"If that makes sense. Rather ruin a bed than feel a bit off. Besides, being the guy who attaches his hand so he can coffee with the rest of them in the morning doesn't sound like the guy I want to be."

Mikela carefully settled herself into the nearby chair, which happened to have a filled glass in front of it. She gently moved it to the seat with the empty drink, as if she was avoiding sitting in someone else's place. She was silent for a moment. Cor's last words certainly had struck a chord. "I understand that. I could have had a hoverchair. But I didn't want to be the one who couldn't walk, so I do it anyways, cane or brace. If I'd realized how much walking I was going to do today, I would have used both. That's my mistake." She shook her head, annoyed at her own self, and bent down slightly to check the leg. "In a way, you're lucky to have that prosthetic. I'm allergic to the polymer they use. Oh, I can touch it, it won't hurt me, but I can't have it in my body."

He gave a nod. "This was their gift to me. We were saving up what little pay we kept in the hopes of, you know, buying out our contracts. Leaving. Together." he paused, "It took most of what we saved to get me this. In the end, this clunky thing has saved me at least twice. You ever realize, like, when you reach into something... once you're elbow deep, that's when you start thinking 'Should I have my arm in this stuff?' or it's only after you reach into the boiling vat of petrochemicals that you realize that it's boiling." he chuckled. "No touch reception. No pain. Of course, it's cumbersome to always have to pay attention where you're reaching, but... man, I'd be in trouble if I could feel."

"So I count myself lucky. Prosthetic or not, it's them keeping tabs on me from the AfterThux." he took a swig. "And hey, don't beat yourself up. We all misjudge just how much the day is going to ask of us. It's not just you." he reassured.

Mikela nodded, listening, taking a moment to think about what he had said. "Then they *are* gone, and not just absent." She leaned back in the chair, slowly flexing her injured leg, wincing. "You're further along the road than I am. This is... it's..." Mikela closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath. "It's the first time I've been in space since this happened. I lost Michael on the same day. He was my brother, my twin. I wasn't there when it happened."

"I take bigger strides is all." he covered, then reached across the table with his good hand, leaning forward so that she didn't have to lean in so much. "Hey. Getting back out into space, that took nerve. Facing your fears, telling life that you aren't ready to just sit on the sides. That's tough. Trust me, as the best looking Thux in the fleet, I know how hard life can be when it's rooting against you."

This time, Mikela did reach out for his hand, letting him help her. She remained silent for a long moment, but she didn't cry. "Thanks for understanding what this means to me," she told him, when she could fully trust herself to speak. She took a breath and made a smile. "I'm alright. It's just a lot, all at once. It's been a long day." She finally realized that her hand was beginning to tremble just slightly, but not from emotion. "I ought to eat something. Have you eaten? Would you like to join me for supper?"

"I can't recommend anything, it's all replicated... but I could go for a nibble." he smirked, and gave her hand a soft squeeze to ground it. "I... We'd love to join you... and if it's one things humans have impressed me with, it's that you put food on your food... and I like that." he chuckled as he let her take her hand back. "Meat? Put it on bread. Then put cheese on it, and more and more food. Peanut butter? Nothing without jam." he smirked. "So, that all being said, what do you want? Give your knee a break for a moment, and let me put this hard earned engineer's physique to work." he chuckled as he stood.

Mikela chuckled outright and took a moment to consider her choice. "Lamb roast, one serving, with gravy, accompanied by a New England "loaded potato" and a side of carmelized garlic cloves." She looked back up at him, smiling, nose wrinkling slightly, waiting for his reaction to her choice in all its detail.

"See! Food, with a side of food, with food sprinkles." he chuckled. "It's a wonder Earth isn't just a huge cheeseburger in space." he chuckled, though he gave her a nod. "I'll be right back." and the Thux padded off to one of the wall replicators to conjure a veritable feast into existence. He came back with two trays, one in each hand, and a bottled drink tucked in each elbow. He set the trays down first, then set the bottles down after. A bottled water from his artificial limb and her tray of foodstuffs were slid across to her, while he enjoyed his bacon cheeseburger, some gravy-covered fries, and a soda. "Doctor said I should cut back on beef intake, so I switched ships." he joked.

"That's what I would have done," Mikela quipped. "Thank you. This is perfect. I've eaten enough ration packs in my life, I think, and enough table scraps before that. When I can get good food, I make sure it's worth it. When all I can get is replicated, I up the ante. Speaking of food on food, I know you'll like this. The peanut butter ration and the pizza ration, stacked and toasted together, actually tastes really good. We... my squad... we went half and half..." Her smile died. Too much, too soon. "I'm alright," she said softly.

He gave her a nod, and asked no questions. "I did supply runs during the Dominion War. Nothing fancy, nothing heroic. Just running a speed spec cargo ship at one oh seven on the reactor, screaming through space. We used to joke that you could cook the noodle rations on the reactor plating. They weren't too far off." he remembered with a smirk. "We had spaghetti packs and chicken packs. THOSE... mixed well." he pointed out. "Unsung heroes."

"Unsung heroes..." Mikela shook her head, regaining her composure. "During the Dominion War, I was a Marine. I got my medical degree and Counselor training after my injury. I've seen a lot of stars, a lot of planets, many of them war-torn. You learn how to make the best you can out of what you've got. As 'heroes' go, though, I can't say I'm unsung. Starfleet was generous enough with 'you been there' medals."

Cordale nodded, "Doing what you can with what you got sounds a lot like Engineer training." he smirked, "Supply runners don't get medals, hell we didn't even get days off." he shook his head, and then took a chomp out of his cheeseburger. Sharp, pointy teeth loved cheeseburgers. "Though I have to agree, Starfleet really is generous. I remember when I was recruited, out in the edge of anywhere important, working as a grease Thux. Fixing motors, up to my knees in high grade transport engines. That mechanic depot was the best place I found after I got out of the mine." he paused, "Alone."

Sorry, don't mean to be a MopeyThux. With what money I had left after... after they were called away... I bought out my contract and was a free Thux. They gave me a pretty beat up POS shuttle as an incentive, but I realized pretty quick they never expected someone to do that... so they turned it into a profit." a pause, "So... that's where I wound up after some blind flying. Sorry, my story is all over the place."

"Well," Mikela commented, "you're probably the most cheerful 'MopeyThux' I've ever met. I think I can read between the lines here. You were willing to save up for all three of you, but they didn't make it... leaving you with what was left. At which point you, well, did with it exactly what they would have surely wanted you to do.

"My story isn't all that complicated. It sort of narrows down to one point and then widens out again. While my twin brother was back on my ship, which was getting blown to bits, my squad and I were fighting a brutal ground war on-planet. We were in full retreat when we came upon an evacuating town, so we set our teeth and held the line. All of us... falling one by one until there was only one person left... and I am not really sure how long I held that line on my own. Supposedly I was still fighting past the point where I don't remember. I found out after I woke up in a strange Sickbay that every single man, woman, and child got out. Not all of them made it through the war, but all of them got out, then and there, when we held the line." Mikela found herself able to speak detachedly, telling the story almost as if it was someone else's. "My ship, my family, my squad, and my fitness qualification, all in the same day. And ever since then, I've been building my way back. You had to deal with years of trouble and trial, but I think I managed to get most of mine done in one go."

She paused for a moment. "How did you get from mining to mechanic? If you don't mind my asking." She had developed another question in her mind, but she held it back.

Cordale gave a nod as he listened. He was quiet the entire time, but he wasn't still. The Thux seemed incapable of sitting absolutely still.

"You held the line, and that's admirable." he commented, then was quiet for a while. He couldn't think of anything to say, so he just stayed silent for the moment. Though, he fielded her question to serve as a passage beyond the quiet part of the conversation. "Oh, well..." he patted his mechanical limb, "Had to pick it up." he smirked, then gave the answer a more serious answer, "Mechanics just kinda came to me once I really got exposed to it. Back in the mine, when something broke I tried to fix it before we had to call over an overseer. I got good at a bit of jury rigging. Heck, I read up on the manuals for the systems on the Pork Chop..." he paused, "The shuttle they gave me." and then he continued, "And then I just immersed myself in mechanics. Engines and such came easy. Bit of a gear-head, I imagine." he admitted with a bit of a smirk.

"Pork Chop? I like that." Mikela gave an answering smile, a true and deep one. "I'm glad. I'm glad you made it out. I'm glad you were able to find your gift despite nigh-impossible circumstances. The universe is a better place for you having made it here."

He gave a smile, "A few years of that, and I'll be in good shape." he gave a nod, "Yeah, the universe is pretty cruel, but I couldn't just let their passing... their leaving... mean nothing. I had to survive." he stated. "As for Pork Chop... I can't take credit for that. Heard it from an Earth movie." another pause, "I learned to really love Earth movies."

"I haven't seen many movies of any sorts," Mikela admitted with a shrug. "So I haven't a hope, really, of figuring out what you're talking about. But it is a cute name... and yes, it's a powerful thing to give up your life knowing that it will mean something to someone else. I along with the rest of the squad, as soon as we saw that town in evac, we knew it was over for us. We were ready, and we were willing."

He gave a nod, "So here we are. Survivors." a pause, to take a generous 'Thux Nibble' at his burger. "I think you'd have liked them. Cal and Sil. Sil was the planner, the thinker. Cal was the joker, the goof off. Me, I was the do'er. We made a hell of a team."

He brought a napkin up to rub some space dust out of his eye. "Must be sitting under a vent." he muttered.

"Darn those vents," Mikela quipped wryly. She smiled, but the smile was a little tight. "I hope that one day I'll be able to do what you're doing here, with the ritual and the memories. Right now, I'm realizing that I'm not ready yet."

"One day, you will be... and I hope you have room for one more." a pause, "Okay, three more. Though, these two are terrible about just leaving good booze'ahol to waste." there was another pause, and the Thux straightened up, "Thank you, for taking a seat." he said after he found the right words. "I know the Engineering deck is a bit of a walk, but if you ever want a solid cup of coffee, my door's always open for a friend."

"Engineering and Medical are both a bit of a walk," Mikela chuckled. As much as she'd been hurt, her smile still came easily. She had no desire to live under a dark cloud. "I will probably take you up on that. And the Counseling Center will, of course, always be open for a cup of coffee. I've got my own office, and it's nearly the size of the old Marine shared quarters. I'll be using my brace with the cane for a while. Hey, can I ask you an outrageous favor right from the start?"

The Thux gave a smile, "You know, the Engineering pit on this ship is bigger then the whole damn Pork Chop." he then gave her a nod, "Go for it. Outrageous favors are the cement that hold brand new friendships together." he chuckled.

"Alright then," Mikela responded, going for broke. "My brace is Starfleet basic, and I mean really basic. I can touch the polymer they use for prosthetics, but I shouldn't have it against my skin all day. That's narrowed my options. What I've got now is basically just a flexible sort of hard plastic thing that reinforces the leg structure above and below the knee. I've had some ideas for something I'd prefer, but I have no clue how to turn them into anything real. Mind if I bring the brace by sometime soon - or later, if you're short on time in Engineering - and see if there's anything you could help me improve?"

Cordale gave a chuckle, "Oh come on, that's hardly an outrageous favor." he then cupped his chin in thought, "No problem, we can do a few virtual models in the holodeck, and then whichever ones feel the most snug, we can program them in as replicator patterns. I've... had experience replicating stuff like this." and he just gave his prosthetic limb a tap with some silverware, producing that universal *ting* of metal-on-metal.

Mikela finished her last bite of food as he spoke, and chuckled in response. "That would be excellent. Maybe we can meet soon, maybe even tomorrow sometime unless the universe goes awry, which tends to happen on Starships, and take a look. For now... well, it's had some rest. I should be able to make it back to my quarters. They aren't far. Hey.. I'm really glad I met you today."

The Thux delayed his response to take another nibble from his cheeseburger. Well, nibble was a conservative term... He did take a napkin to the corners of his muzzle before responding, though. Manners, Cor. Manners...

"Likewise. Someone down to ground, it's an interesting change of pace." he chuckled, "And absolutely, I'll pencil you in for an appointment tomorrow with a possible follow up." a smirk, "Sorry, I've always wanted to be the one to say that." he paused for a moment, "Well, hopefully the universe will allow you a moment of comfort before throwing us through a black hole or bouncing us too close to a supernova or something." and now he chuckled.

"Enjoy the rest of your night. Leave the tray, I'll police it."

"Thanks," Mikela said gratefully. She planted her cane, took a breath, and leaned on the table, glad that it was firmly attached, letting her tired but healthy leg do the brunt of the work, and rose without the use of her bad knee. She offered Cor one more wave before starting the long trip to her quarters.