Is, Is Not

Posted on Fri Aug 17th, 2018 @ 10:25pm by Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy

Mission: A Majestic Affair
Location: Chief Engineer's Quarters, Deck 10
Timeline: MD 7, 2300 Hours
689 words - 1.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

The Chief Engineer's Quarters had the distinction of being one of the only senior officers quarters not clustered on Deck 3 with the other senior officers. It was a good design choice aimed at giving the engineer quick access to his attached office and main engineering, just outside of that room. It was great for emergencies that popped up when one was off shift. It also made working long hours easy.

Lieutenant Murphy was a slave to the long hours. He liked working because it kept his mind and his hands busy. Eventually, though, even he has to go home.

He walked into the dark quarters from his office, the lights automatically came up to a quarter power just the way he liked and chords of an electric guitar solo began to strum in the background. He slipped off his jacket and boots and plopped onto the sofa to realize how extraordinarily exhausted he actually was. Though he didn't have to do a lot real engineering work following the refit, getting ready for the crew, organizing his own people, his ramble of emotional highs and lows following his personal leave had all taken their tolls. He reached comfortably for the half bottle of Kanar, a thick, brown Cardassian sludge in an ornate spiral-shaped bottle. It was repugnant the first time he'd tried it, but it went down easy now like smooth, liquid candy. It glugged as he poured it into a short glass on the coffee table.

Three glasses in, mind fogged sufficiently, the red-haired engineer felt himself leaving consciousness and slipping off into a welcomed state of sleep. It was a far better place to be than his quarters, alone, tormented, without the love of his life anymore. Though he'd met Patrick and their friendship was budding, he still carried an enormous amount of guilt and grief over the loss of Marty six months prior.

It wasn't unusual for him to have dreams and nightmares and on this night, his sleep thoughts were erratic and consumed with a work project that didn't make any sense. No matter how much he reworked it, it just never got done. It was a frustrating dream.

He was awakened by a light tap on the shoulder. "Murph."

He rolled over and tucked his head under his pillow and muttered, "God, no." Somewhere in his subconscious he realized that he'd moved from the sofa to the bed.

"Come on. I'll make coffee. You don't want to miss your run."

Who the actual f---, Murphy thought as he popped his head out to look at who was in his quarters through bleery eyes. He certainly didn't remember anyone coming over last night. He was still fully clothed so it wasn't a hookup. Very few people had security access to his quarters. Was it Pat?

The man standing at the replicator on the other side of the quarters came into focus. Short, dark complected, shaved head, with a slight build in an engineering jumpsuit. There was a familiarity about him that Murphy recognized immediately even through the sleepy haze. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. This was a hallucination or a dream or someone's idea of a cruel joke.

He wanted to yell. He wanted to scream. What are you doing here?! How did you get in here? Who did this? Words did not come out, only stunned silence. Slowly he got up to his feet and approached the man like he was walking up to a ghost.

The man turned around with a cup of coffee and smiled. "You look like crap. Maybe you should stop by sickbay instead of going for a run." He passed the coffee mug to Murphy and Murphy's hands brushed against the man. He reached for the man's hands before he could pull them away. He was physical. He was real. He didn't want to let go. Murphy let the coffee fall to the floor and explode as he pulled his ghost into an embrace.

"Marty, how is this possible?" Murphy whispered into his husband's ear.

OFF:

Lieutenant Murphy
Chief Engineer
USS Majestic