And again.
Posted on Mon Feb 4th, 2019 @ 4:59am by Commodore Jane Saulitis & Hak
Mission:
Run Afoul
Location: The Himalayan Region, Earth
Timeline: 2377, Flashback
2057 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure
[Continued from "The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth"]
Jane grinned and gently pulled the ring from the box. She slipped it on her left hand, it fit as if Hak had gone and measured her finger in her sleep, something she wouldn't put past him to do. It was simple but so elegant, rose gold in color but with a small vine pattern intertwining a sapphire, because blue was her favorite color. "It's beautiful," she whispered.
"It pales in comparison to the wearer," Hak admired with a broad smile as he took Jane's hand in his. "Now-- how about..."
As he went to say the words he paused and his expression looked as though he were getting lost in a thought. After a second, he shook his head, clearing the mind as though coming out of a day dream. "I just... had the strangest feeling." He stood up and walked over the doors leading out onto balcony, opened the sheer curtains and peered out into the falling snow.
Jane frowned slightly, it was most unlike him to suddenly change course, not to mention rigiht after a marriage proposal. "What's the matter?" She asked, getting up from where she'd been sitting and walking over to where he was standing.
"Like... uh... deja vu, I think you might call it," Hak said, turning to face Jane and becoming overwhelmed with the feeling of loss and anger. He winced visibly.
Her eyes got very wide, knowing that he could sense her emotions she put a hand on his arm. "You're starting to scare me a little bit." Jane told him. She resisted the urge to feel his forehead, maybe that only worked on humans.
He put his hand on hers and gripped it tightly. "We need to go." It was not a question. He was not asking. "Something's not right." He practically started dragging her toward the door.
"Hak," Jane said, wincing as he tightened his grip on her. "What is going on?" She was following him, though a bit reluctantly. She'd never seen him act this way, he was always very aware of how he was making her feel and therefore usually was teasing but gentle.
He barely acknowledged her question as he pulled her into the quiet hallway and looked in both directions. Stairs were on the far end of the corridor toward the left and the lift was to the right. He didn't know the right answer and he paused, the rush of blood seemed to crescendo in his ears as he paused to consider his options.
Jane decided that the best course of action was to just let him deal with whatever this was he was perceiving, some kind of threat obviously. Her heart was beating faster though she hadn't seen or heard anything that scared her except his odd behavior.
"I'm sorry. We're too late," he whispered as he leaned in to kiss her on the lips for what he knew somehow was the last time.
Neither of them actually felt the explosion that engulfed the top floors of the hotel because it happened in an instant.
Jane grinned and gently pulled the ring from the box. She slipped it on her left hand, it fit as if Hak had gone and measured her finger in her sleep, something she wouldn't put past him to do. It was simple but so elegant, rose gold in color but with a small vine pattern intertwining a sapphire, because blue was her favorite color. "It's beautiful," she whispered.
"It pales in comparison to the wearer," Hak said, feeling half-way through the statement like it was pre-recorded script. Though he was sure he never actually said those words before, it certainly felt like he had. He expression faltered and he shook his head. This time the emotional burst he felt was more nuanced. It wasn't all grief and anger, it was confusion and fear from Jane's previous state that lingered still in the air around her. "The strangest feeling," he said, echoing himself from what felt like moments before, as he shook his head to make sense of the confused jumble.
She frowned, "Are you all right?" She touched the side of his face, it was not at all like Hak to become distracted, especially during something as important as this.
"I'm not sure," he said, standing upright and pulling her closer as he looked into her blue eyes. He was inexplicably aware of the fact that he could spook Jane by playing too much into the emotions. He was also too keenly aware that time was of the essence. "Let's go for a walk. Yes, now," he said, anticipating the question as he started to lead her by the hand toward the door.
"All right," Jane said laughing, beginning to wonder if this was part of the proposal and what other surprises were in store for her. She happily followed after him though he was moving rather quickly out of the room. "So . . are you going to let me put skis on you?"
He barely heard her question, turned left down the corridor and pulled her into the stairwell. They'd descended less than a whole flight when he saw the package with the countdown timer afixed to a support beam. "There it is." He let go of her hand with ten seconds on the display. There wasn't time to evacuate. There wasn't time to run.
Any humor on her face about the situation instantly drained off. She briefly flicked the thought away that it could still be a joke, but Hak wouldn't kid about something like that and he'd instantly become rigid. She knew nothing about defusing a bomb. Was this it? Was their time up?
Hak stepped towards it, pulled the cover facing off to expose a tiny circuit board and a couple of wires. Blue wire, red wire. He looked back at Jane, but he knew she had as much idea of how to do this as he did. The color of her eyes stood out to him in that moment and he mouthed the words 'I love you.' to her as he pulled the blue wire out of its connection.
If he had a last thought about that, it might have been regret that he never took a demolitions class at the Academy.
Jane grinned and gently pulled the ring from the box. She slipped it on her left hand, it fit as if Hak had gone and measured her finger in her sleep, something she wouldn't put past him to do. It was simple but so elegant, rose gold in color but with a small vine pattern intertwining a sapphire, because blue was her favorite color. "It's beautiful," she whispered.
"It pales in comparison to..." Hak trailed off with sudden realization of the entire course of events. As though Jane would entirely understand, he lit up. "The red wire."
"What?" She said, glancing up at him, entirely confused. The ring wasn't red and it certainly wasn't made of wire.
Hak sprung to his feet and made a beeline to the door. "Are you coming?" he held out his hand.
"I guess so." She replied blinking at him but taking his hand as she let herself be pulled out of the room. "Do I get to know what's going on or is this some kind of surprise?"
"If we don't hurry, it's going to end worse than you want to know," Hak replied, leading her to the stairs and then down half a flight where he knew exactly where to find the bomb. He wasted no time in pulling off the cover.
"When . . . Hak, how did you know this was here?" From the timer she could tell there was no time to call anyone to diffuse it. "Do you know what you're doing?" She held her breath after that, not wanting to somehow set it off early.
"I'm learning through trial and error," Hak admitted cryptically as he isolated the wires with his fingers and held onto the red one. He pulled it out and the display went out. "I think... I think we did it."
Jane shivered involuntarily. In fact her whole body seemed to be shaking slightly. "What happened? Talk to me. How did you know this was here?" She repeated looking confused but also extremely worried.
Hak shook his head, glancing over to meet Jane's shaken expression. "I don't... I don't exactly know," he said truthfully as he stepped close and wrapped his arms around her, reassuringly. "It's going to be okay now, though. I know that much."
"We have to tell someone. Like right now." She had leaned into him but she was breathing fast still and her eyes were wide open. She shook her head, completely in disbelief about how this day had come together. "We can't tell them the truth, that you knew it was here. You'll be a suspect. We have to say we found it."
"There's room for the truth," Hak assured her. "I felt some terrifying feeling and we came to investigate. That's what happened."
She knew he had a lot of talents when it came to sensing emotions but this thing could have been here for hours with no one around. It didn't really explain to her how he'd known. It gave her an uneasy feeling but she also knew Hak would never hurt anyone unless in self defense or the defense of others. She finally pushed back from him. "Alright," she nodded.
He'd never not told her everything, never not shared his feelings, or what he was thinking, but this was just so much to process. He couldn't rationalize the experience to himself, let alone someone else, even Jas. It hurt him a little that the unknown was wedging itself somewhere between them.
"We're going to need to call this in," Hak said, composing himself. "It's probably going to ruin the weekend, but I wouldn't change anything."
"Not getting blown up is a much better prospect." Jane spoke softly, her body feeling tired from the adrenaline now leaving her body. "Yes, come on." She pulled him away.
The resort had been evacuated entirely once earth authorities arrived so that a full sweep could be completed and evidence gathered. Both Jane and Hak had been interviewed separately. Understandably, Hak's interview took much longer. When he returned to their room later, he was exhausted, but happy to find her there.
Jane sat up in bed when the door opened. "They finally let you go." She hadn't managed to sleep a wink, every time she relaxed enough to slip off her brain reminded her of what had taken place and worried for Hak she'd jolted to full consciousness again.
"Of course," Hak gave her half a smile as he peeled off his shirt and climbed into bed next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked her for the first time since the incident. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her tight against him.
"Yeah," she gave a simple nod. "Crazy day and I can't sleep. I don't know, somehow the Himalayas don't seem as inviting as they did before," she gave a little laugh and put her head down against his shoulder.
"Hey," he said softly as he caressed her shoulder, "I'm not going to let anything happen." He held her for a few minutes that way. "You know, if you can't sleep, we could always go down and check out a restaurant or find something to do. Or," he smirked a little, "what about the hot tub you promised?"
"I promised a hot tub?" Jane said teasing a bit, though she really didn't remember promising anything of the sort. The truth was she was completely worn out, she just couldn't make herself drift off. Maybe it was now possible with Hak here.
"Just stay here in this moment with me," he whispered, holding her tightly so that she didn't slip away from him again.
Even after she fell asleep, he held her.
"I'm never going to let anything bad happen to you," he promised quietly.
Hak
Mysterious Boyfriend
Ensign Jane Saulitis
Future Commanding Officer
USS Majestic
