Remembrance - Part II

Posted on Tue 21st May, 2013 @ 1:17pm by Colonel Horatio Drake

658 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Deck 27: Drake's Quarters
Timeline: MD-01: 0445 Hours

ON:

“Red Alert! We are being attacked by massive chocolate bars! Lieutenant Steele... fire the chocolate melting ray!”

Ashton burst out laughing. Patrick, who up until a few seconds ago had been lying next to him, had suddenly jolted up, thrown on Ashton’s tunic, which was lying on the floor next to the bed, and gone into one of his characters.

“Don’t be stupid” Ashton said in a mock stern tone “if we were attacked by giant chocolate bars I would fire the chocolate melting torpedoes... everyone knows the melting ray would do nothing...”

Patrick displayed a huge grin... he loved it when Ashton played along with one of his stupid characters... he loved the fact that they made him laugh so much... he leant over Ashton and looked deep into his eyes.

“I love you Ashton” He said, his voice quivering slightly.

“I love you too, Patrick” Ashton replied, embracing him in a tight hug after gently kissing him.

“Listen” he continued “I’m sorry I was late coming home on shore leave... the Liberation’s having a new type of phaser array installed and I had to be there to oversee the removal of the old one... you know what these starbase engineers are like... they’ll just as soon...”

Patrick placed a finger over Ashton’s lips... “Don’t worry... I know how important it is to you... what’s important is that I’ve got you now” He said, once again smiling... he tucked his head under Ashton’s arm and placed his arm over him.

Ashton smiled... but it soon disappeared... he could have sworn he saw a glimpse of sorrow in Patrick’s eyes... he had been gone too long this time... then, to top things, he had been four days late in his arrival.

Enough was enough... Starfleet wasn’t going to come first anymore... he couldn’t keep putting Patrick second... something had to be done... action had to be taken.

The smile returned and he held Patrick tight and they both drifted off to sleep.

==========

“The time is 0430 Hours” The computer’s dull, monotone voice broke his dream and awoke him.

“Urgh” the noise the produced was more guttural than anything else. There were a lot of things that Ashton was, but a morning person was decidedly not one of them. To top it off, he had probably only had an hours sleep.

“The time is 04...”

“Alright!” He yelled “I’m up, I’m bloody up!”

Ashton pulled himself up from his sleep – which should have been classed as a nap – and sat on the edge of his bed, getting his bearings. The dreams were a fairly regular event of a night; he was perturbed by them to begin with but they now lent as a reminder to the memory of Patrick.

He hadn’t done any courses in anything even related to psychology at the Academy so had no idea as to how the whole process worked. All he knew is that they were completely subconscious.

‘Did that mean Patrick is subconscious?’ he thought to himself. He didn’t even know what he was asking himself. All he knew is that parts of him seemed to be slipping away with each passing day but others parts seemed to remain just as strong as they were when he was alive. He wondered for a moment whether his behaviour over the past eight months had affected what parts he was remembering.

He suddenly remembered the situation that had just ended on Protector, the discovery of the chamber of horrors. He would shower and be out of his quarters within half an hour to face what new horrors the day was bound to bring. He glanced at his bed side table, two fingers worth of scotch remained in the glass bottle, now precariously balancing on the edge.

‘Well… shame to waste it’ he smiled and grabbed the bottle.

OFF:

 

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