Brynn Phytrelia Pt. 03

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Idris moved to go after her, but stopped, examining the skin where she had burned him. He winced. She'd managed to snap him out of his daze, and he was grateful. He shook the feeling off and walked to try to follow her, but she'd already managed to get into the refresher chamber and get it locked.

Brynn skidded a little at the threshold of the refresher room, nearly fell on her face and leapt in the shower, clothes and all. "Coldest!" She called out before she'd even been asked for a preference. She winced when the water hit her, but shut her eyes and let the icy drops pummel her skin. She tried to play the event back in her head, trying to recall how it had happened. What had she done to him? He was...he'd been...and she'd burned him...

Shivering, she tried to think of what to do. She'd hurt people before, even on accident, but no one she'd ever hurt had ever cared if she had meant to hurt them or not. They just wanted to hurt her. She felt herself shaking, but she was only slightly aware of how intense her trembling was.

Idris appeared next to the refresher unit. He looked down at Brynn, worried. He saw her lying on the floor, the water soaking her to the bone, clothes and all. "Terminate cycle!" He said harshly. The unit beeped in acknowledgement and the water stopped. He moved to the wall, retrieving a towel. As the shower opened, he helped her to her feet and wrapped her tightly in the warm fabric. She tried to struggle, but she felt weak.

"I'm...I'm sorry," His words came slowly, calmly. "But, hypothermia is not going to make anything better for you...or for me." He smiled at her as he held her. He saw that her skin was pale and that the color in her lips had started to fade. He smiled anyway, hoping to put her at ease. He knew she hadn't tried to hurt him.

She smiled, "I'm sorry that I panicked and...well, burned you." She winced. "Uh, well, she won't come back. I won't let her get near you." She tried to sound confident even though her teeth were still chattering intensely.

He smiled at her, warmly. He frowned and chewed on the inside of his mouth. "I..." He cleared his throat, blushing. "I think I'll...just leave you alone...so you can..." He looked her over, the hair sticking to her face and he forced himself to take his hands off her, trying not to stare at her disheveled appearance and the way her clothes stuck to her.

Already the color was flooding back into her face and lips and her shivering was tapering off. She dropped the towel to the floor and look at him. "Oh, right. Yes, I'll just...I'll get changed and...come out, once I'm dry."

He turned his back to her, clearing his throat. "Yes. That sounds perfectly fine." His head moved to try to steal a glance at her, but he forced himself to look away. He left the chamber, the doors closing behind him. She was alone again.

Brynn watched after him, mystified, then looked down and groaned. "Ophelia, how many clothes did you make?" She asked, raising her voice. "I don't think these are going to be much use. Can I have another set while these dry..." she grabbed another towel and began working on her hair. So, she needed to work on her control around Idris, apparently. She had never lost it so completely, but she started to think of him and...

Steam was rising off her now. "Oh, um..." She felt the moisture leaving her clothes as the water baked out of them. "Never mind...I guess..." She'd never seen it manifest this was, but she couldn't bring herself to complain. She stretched her arms in front of her and watched the fabric shrink in the heat.

Ten minutes later Brynn was completely dry. Her hair, unfortunately, had also dried, but it was a complete mess. She frowned and tried to pull her fingers through it. The door opened into Idris' room as she walked and she noted that the outer door was closed. "Ophelia..."

The image appeared at the edge of the bed. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Perhaps we could find a brush, soon? I mean, it's really not that important, but it'd be helpful."

The image nodded. "Certainly. I will see what I can do and let you know."

Brynn smiled at her and nodded, walking out into the hall and wandering to the galley, all the while trying to run her fingers through her hair.

Idris stood as she came into the room. "Brynn, hello. You're...dry." He noticed that she was wearing the same clothes he'd found her in.

She turned to face him. "Oh. Yes. I did." She watched him for a second. "I mean, I am."

Ophelia appeared at the edge of the table. "Mistress, I'm sure we can find something for you to use. Do you have any preferences?"

Brynn turned to her. "I guess...something that won't melt in my hand...?"

Ophelia nodded. "Of course."

Brynn frowned. "If I can't get this disaster under control I'm tempted to just cut it all off.

Idris looked at her in shock. "What? No." Then he stopped and tried again, hoping to answer with just a bit less outrage. "I'm sure we can find a better solution." He shook his head and looked at Brynn

"You know what I'd really like?" She said, stepping even closer. "I'd really like if you just tell me what is going on. I have next to no idea what's going on with this new ship, or the different people that might show up, and...I'd really like to know if...if people are going to treat you like that every time. If that's what we can expect, we should just ask very nicely to be taken to the nearest port, and we can think of some other way to fix Atalanta."

He watched as she moved closer, nodding slowly. "Well..." His eyes drifted over her, but he cleared his throat and looked her in the eye. "There are other individuals on this ship who feel that...who share Tsela's feelings against me." He frowned, sighing and looked back at the table. "And it has been a long time since I've been forced to think about it..."

"This place is toxic." Brynn said. "Why did they offer to come if that's the welcome we get?"

"Because they were the closest ship."

"Okay, but aren't these people...evolved? I mean, isn't it beneath them to.."

Idris let out a long breath through his nose. "It's...not that simple."

"I see."

Ophelia appeared again. "Mistress, I believe I have managed to produce what you are looking for. Follow me back into the living quarters and I'll show you where to get it."

"Thank you," Brynn said, smiling at her.

"Captain, you've got a call in the cockpit."

Brynn looked to Idris. "Oh, um, should I just meet you there?"

Idris nodded. "Sure. Go ahead."

"Okay, so why are we leaving the ship now?" The landing ramp trembled as its full weight rested against the deck.

Idris turned to her as they walked down the ramp. "I was instructed to vacate the ship so that repairs could be made. They have security here."

"Yes, they do. Security that let that...that trollop onboard as well."

Idris pursed his lips. "Yes, yes they did, but she wasn't there to sabotage my ship, she was there to..."

"I know what she was there for, and she got what she was looking for."

Idris sighed. "Look, it's not up to me. I am the captain, but technically, if UDI decided, it's not my ship. I'm just...the one flying it."

They walked along the deck over to a waiting transport car. Idris let her get in ahead of him and then sat next to her. "Right. So it's not like you can contest anything."

"Well, no, that's not what I said either." The car started moving, heading across the deck towards the closest lift.

"I know it isn't, but you didn't even put up a fight."

"Yes, but that is because I really want these upgrades, and I really DON'T want to have to fix everything all by myself. Nor do I have any desire to shell out a portion of my savings to pay for it."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess. So then, where are we going?"

"We're heading up to the living quarters to get assigned a room while we wait."

Brynn turned her entire head to look at him. "A room. By ourselves?"

It hadn't occurred to him until just then. "Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess."

Brynn smiled at him and then looked ahead again. "Alright..."

He turned to look at her, blushing. "No. No, it's not like that. I...if you need me to be in a separate set of quarters from you..."

"No, it's fine. We're not going to be there long anyway, right?"

He sighed. "No, no I guess not."

As the car slowed to a stop, he opened the door for her and let her out. They walked over to the lift and got in.

"Idris?"

He turned away from the doors to look over at her. "Yes?"

"Are all Gifted...like those people?"

His mouth opened a little, and he looked back at the doors, his mouth tightening. He shook his head. "No. So far as I have seen, Gifteds are not all that dissimilar from other groups of people. You have the...vindictive and cruel, like Tsela." He paused a long moment. "You have the arguably petulant and angry, like Captain Johansen. The apathetic like..." His sentence trailed off, and he quickly caught himself. "And-And, you have the...unpleasant, like...Thannatos."

"Right..." She looked over at him. "So...just like everyone else..."

He sighed. He wasn't really doing a very good job of this. "Well then, you have...the...um..." His mouth froze as he tried to find the right word. "Well, I mean..." He looked at the floor, scratching the back of his head, fidgeting. "Well, Aria...she...she was a good person. And...I've met people on this ship who are friendly. Some are even benevolent and selfless." He huffed. "Just, I promise, they're not all like that. We've just...you've just fallen into a bad batch, that's all."

"I didn't mean to..."

The doors opened and she practically leapt out of the lift. Idris followed behind her, walking alongside her. As another person passed them in the hall, Idris got their attention and stopped to talk to them.

"Excuse me, but can you direct me to assignments?"

He indicated, pointing, "If you take this corridor, you can get to the office of quarter assignments. Lieutenant Gartner is in charge and can direct you."

Idris nodded. "Thank you."

They kept walking down the hall as it curved to the right until it ended at someone's desk. The man looked up from his papers and spotted Idris. He stood and moved around from the desk to approach them.

"Idris CHARITON. Wow! I can't believe you're on Avenger again."

Idris laughed a little, smiling with equal sincerity. "I can't believe you're on Avenger STILL. When did you make Lieutenant?" He cocked his head curiously.

The man smiled back. "Just a few months ago, actually. Then I got moved up here and...well. Someone has to do this, right? It's nothing fancy, but, it's not a complete waste." He looked over at Brynn, and his eyes went wide. "Wow..." He took a step to her, holding out his hand for hers. "And...you are?"

Idris rolled his eyes, batting away his hand, playfully. "She's charmed, I'm sure."

Brynn looked over at him admonishingly and took the man's hand in her own. "I'm Brynn. It's nice to meet you..." Her voice trailed off. She had no idea who this guy was.

Idris turned to her and gestured at the man. "I'm sorry, this is Lieutenant Gartner."

The man laughed at him. "She's obviously not your GIRLFRIEND, Idris. At least...I certainly hope not." He looked at Brynn, smiling at her. "I would love to make sure that you and Idris have anything you need, so please, let me know if there is anything I can possibly do to make your stay more...welcoming." He took her hand, slowly, bowing to kiss the top of it.

Brynn smiled and saw Idris stiffen at her side as she allowed the lieutenant to brush his lips against her hand. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Idris stood there, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Right, well...speaking of..."

"The good Captain has seen fit to allow me to join his ship crew." Brynn said brightly. "Since I've mostly been planet-side, it is a bit of an adjustment..."

"I see." The lieutenant looked at her, trying to get a better reading on her. "So you are new to interstellar travel, are you?" He looked to Idris, his eyes suggesting something, but it wasn't apparent to Brynn.

"Yeah, yeah, c'mon Gartner, what kind of quarters can you find for us?" Idris moved between them.

He looked to Idris, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, ok, fine. Let me see what I have..." He moved to sit back behind his desk, searching through records. "Here we are: 217 and 219. Conveniently across from each other."

Brynn looked up at Gartner and smiled looking at Idris while she spoke. "I see, so you have two rooms for us?"

He nodded and held out his hand, indicating the scanning pad. "Just press your hand to the scanner and it will keep the room for you." His instructions were more for Brynn as Idris was already pressing his hand to the scanner.

"Oh...yes, thank you." Brynn put her own hand on the scanner and pressed down. "That's all there is to it?"

He nodded. "Our computer is sufficient to be able to open the door for you when you enter it, without having to key anything, but that way if you want your privacy, you can set the door to only open..." His tone changed, becoming slightly suggestive. "...Once you've managed to wave your hand over it."

"Oh." Brynn said, giving him a puzzled look that quickly changed to comprehension. "Um, I'll keep that in mind, how useful. The good Captain has promised to show me how large the ship is. I couldn't even think of being stationed on it...I imagine I'd get lost constantly." She put a hand to her mouth as she laughed, a sweet and shy gesture, her other hand hiding behind her back, afraid he might try to take it again.

The doors off to the side of Gartner's desk opened and five men came into the room. "Captain Chariton, I'm Chief Warrence. I've just come up from CIC. We need you to come with us. There's a contact about twenty million kilometers out that we've not identified. We suspect it might be the same ship that attacked you."

Idris spun and looked at the men. "Oh. Um...Alright." He frowned, turning back to Brynn, then looked at Gartner. "Can you show her to her room for me?"

"What?" Brynn asked, confused. "I can't come too?" She tilted her head, looking at Idris with pleading eyes.

Idris looked at Brynn and frowned before slowly turning back to Warrence. He shook his head. "I will be happy to return you to your quarters when we're finished with your help, Captain."

Idris sighed and then pursed his lips. "If you want my help, there is no reason why a single member of my crew cannot come with us. It's not as though there will be new information that she is not already briefed on."

Warrence hesitated but nodded. Brynn noticed that some of the others looked perturbed by this, but said nothing.

Idris nodded and motioned for Brynn to follow. He turned to Gartner and threw him a casual salute. "Nice seeing you again, Lieutenant."

Lieutenant Gartner saluted back, but his shoulders slumped as he watched Brynn walk away with Idris.

Brynn moved to stay close to Idris, who was already following Warrence. Idris noted that two of the men moved to follow behind them and frowned, eyeing the corridor as they walked through another bulkhead door. The door opened into a large, two-level room. They were towards the back of the room overlooking the lower level. To the right side, about halfway across to the back, was a large, semi-transparent information screen and on the left, at the back of the room, was a large image viewer, about seven meters tall. It light up the entire room with its display. Down to the floor below them where about a dozen crewman, with terminals, working busily to identify and relay the large amount of sensor data coming in. On the screen was a large picture of their vicinity or space. There was a green icon in the center, and a large, red circle up and to the right. The circle was blinking and moving towards the green icon of the ship with a number beneath it indicating the distance between the object and the green ship icon.

Idris frowned at the screen and looked to his right. Behind the window were several individuals, some officers, some not. Three people were sitting at larger terminals with the rest staring up at the screen, speaking to each other. Brynn was not able to hear the dialogue from so far away.

Warrence opened a door to led them behind the smaller screen. As the got closer, a terse dialogue came into earshot. The dialogue stopped when Idris got closer.

"Captain Chariton, I am Commander Kitchiss, head of CIC. It looks like a vessel, a vessel that matches the sensor readings that you provided Admiral Durron and we got our hands on, is about fifteen million klicks out to starboard of our current location. They are closing on us at a rate of approximately twice our top speed and we're not confident we'll be able to outrun them. I wondered if you could provide any information on the tactical capabilities of the ship that attacked you."

Idris frowned, shaking his head. "I'm afraid not, Commander. The ship caught us drifting after our sabotaged engines failed."

He nodded, looking to the screen and frowning. "That's what I was told."

Idris looked at the screen, watching the number slowly counting down. He looked back at Kitchiss and then turned to face him. "What are you planning on doing if they get here and start trying to kill your people?"

The room was suddenly quiet, other than the sound of the electronics. Every man in the room looked to face Idris, including Kitchiss. "Well, we have about a hundred fighters and a little over fifty tactical bombers. But if they get inside of fighter range, I am not sure how we'll fair against them. We could attack them from missile range, but they could come down on our heads and blast us to the void. We just don't have enough intel on what these new ships are carrying."

Idris nodded at him. "I understand. I'm sorry I don't have more to offer, Commander."

He looked at Idris and shrugged. "We should have considered that they dropped you here as bait to try to pick up a bigger fish. Why else would they have let you and your crew go?"

Idris' face filled with pain and he looked at the floor, nodding silently. He looked back at the screen, sighing. "Well, I just hope that your armament is enough to make a worthwhile attack."

Brynn suddenly realized what they were saying and while she kept her face as calm as possible, she felt as if ice had just been dropped into her stomach. She had been bait again? Her fists clenched at her sides and she held on to the cold feeling, hoping to stave off her hot anger. Idris faced the screen in front of the window, staring at the closing icon. A blue circle drew around the green ship icon, indicating Avenger's maximum missile range. He sighed, the words coming calmly and softly from his mouth. "If they close to fighter range, I would like to participate if I can." Idris turned to the Commander who looked at him, a little surprised.

Brynn spun to look at him, slightly angry. "Idris, you can't. They haven't even started fixing our ship."

He didn't look at her, just turning back to the screen. "It doesn't matter. I am sure the commander can provide me with a substitute." He turned to the Commander, his expression intense and determined as he waited from him to reply.

Commander Kitchiss looked back at him, surprised by the request. He looked at the screen and then back at Idris. "Um...well I suppose..." He huffed and turned to look at one of the men sitting behind the consoles. "Ensign, is there a chance we have a spare craft that Captain Chariton can borrow?"

The ensign didn't even look up from the screen. "Sir, Lieutenant Lorttan is still on half duty. Captain Chariton may be able to utilize his vessel. If he is familiar with the new Ukastic craft, of course."