[USS Ottawa] In an unofficial capacity

Posted on Thu Aug 23rd, 2018 @ 11:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Sharpe & Lieutenant Alyssa Walker

3,112 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: [USS Ottawa] S1, E3: The True Way
Location: Risa
Timeline: 05/31/2394 11:30

This was nice, going to your new assignment and finding out your new assignment was on shoreleaf on Risa. She had send her things on the ship and Alyssa Walker was standing on the beach. A nice breeze went trough her white and purple dress. Under her dress she was wearing a bikini. All purple. On her head sunglasses and in one hand her sandals and in her other her towel. She was thinking of taking a refreshing dive in the sea.

Gabriel Sharpe stopped to catch his breath. After leaving the main resort he'd decided to go for a run. Sweat ran down his face and currently bare upper torso. He took a drink from a water bottle he'd been carrying with him. He looked out onto the horizon for a minute. He was currently in something of a odd spot, He was a man that worked as much as he could, not to the same extent he used too, but he wasn't really used to relaxation like this. R&R wasn't something he's been into in the past, but he found himself enjoying himself. He sat down on a nearby stone barricade and looked out into the distance.

Alyssa had found a spot and put her towel down. Then took off her sunglasses and then took off her dress, revealing her bikini. She dropped her dress in the sand next to her sandals. She then walked towards the sea. She loosened her hair as she let the wind go through her hair, as she took in the salty air. She smiled. This was great. Just letting everything go for a moment.

Gabe stood up from the barricade and walked towards the dark haired woman.

"'cuse me Ma'am, ya may wanna find a locker for ya stuff, ya'd be surprised how many people around here are willin' ta steal a person's things, depending on the thief they may even try ta sell 'em back." He said.

Alyssa was a little startled about the man suddenly appearing next to her. She was so fixated on getting a relaxing swim she didn't think about her stuff. She didn't really had anything of value with her. She could have had the expensive sandals and the expensive sunglasses, that her mother gave her before she got here, but she donated that to charity. But still he was right. She laughed a bit nervous. "How silly of me, thank you." She turned around picked up her stuff. She noticed he was a human she tried to avoid his eyes. "I am Doctor Alyssa Walker, chief medical officer USS Ottawa." She introduced herself hoping he would do the same.

Avoidin' eye contact... interestin'. Gabe thought to himself as he gave Alyssa a smile.

"Funny ya should say that, Gabriel Sharpe, Chief engineer, same ship. Ya must be one of the new transfers ta the ship." He added, offering Alyssa a handshake.

Alyssa took his hand to shake it and couldn't keep her eyes from looking in to his. She immediately let go of his hand "Yea I am one of the new transfers." She was saying, but she was a bit shocked by the images that she was getting. She put both her hands on her head. "What....what was that?"

"Where I come from we call it a handshake." He replied, keeping his voice even so as to not sound like he was making fun. I noticed that she was holding her head with both hands and the pained look on her face. "Are ya Okay?" he asked.

Alyssa shook her head. "The handshake was fine." She was unable to shake the images away. "It's what I saw. I can see things when I look in someones eyes. Or feel. I can't control it, it's always random. With you I just saw dead bodies. I don't know what it means, it could mean anything and I am so sorry I must freak you out now."

"Ya'd be surprised how much it takes ta freak me out Doctor. What are these things ya see?, the past, future or is it more of a look into a person's soul kinda thing?" He asked, starting to understand why she'd avoided eye contact at first.

"The images I see are from the past. Mostly. Things the other person has seen before, and sometimes its thoughts or feelings, but these images.." She sighed. "I have seen dead bodies before on the Endeavour, but not like this."

He sighed, "Bloody brilliant." He muttered under his breath. "If it's the past ya see, then that'd be Starbase 205... It's a long story and not the fun enjoyable kind." He added, doing what he could to keep his face neutral, but he had no doubt he'd failed. "Seems ta be coming up a lot recently."

He did his best to push the memories away, they'd come back so many times in the last few days he was worried they'd start to bury him again. He controlled his breathing. In...out...in...out.

"Sorry to have brought back some bad memories with you." Alyssa was a bit shocked to see him like this. She didn't mean to do that. "Have you ever had counseling? It seems to me you could use that." She said looking at him carefully.

"Sorry Doc, ain't happenin'. I've managed ta come this far without havin' ta talk about my feelin's. Few years ago, sure but now... I've come too far and fought to hard to take myself back there." He did his best to keep his voice even.

Old memories and feelings flooded through his head. He closed his eyes for a moment pushed them all back. In his mind he ran through warp drive blueprints, the ship's manifest, anything he could think of to calm his mind.

He opened his eyes and held his head high, his shoulders square.

"I can deal with my past."

Alyssa smiled and nodded, as she said, "Of course you can, it was just a suggestion, I didn't mean anything by it." She looked to the stuff in her hands. She put the sunglasses back on her head. "You know what, I think I take a swim in the pool. I am here alone and you never know what might happen. Thank you, Chief, I think I will find my way back from here. Don't want to hold you back on your leave."

"I've been running for the last hour. Maybe heading back isn't a bad idea. I'd be happy to walk back with ya." He said, putting his shirt back on, though he left it open. "The choice is yours Doc, I was mostly just planning on sitting here for a while anyways."

She smiled and said, "I could use the company, maybe you could tell me something about yourself. Maybe something not so horrible." She grinned.

"Some would say I'm not all interestin' Doctor but i'll do what I can. What would ya like to know?" He asked, not exactly sure where to start.

"Maybe something about your work? Do you have a specialization? How did you rolled in to it?" She paused as to give him time to answer.

"I try to be proficient in as much as possible, something of a jack of all trades. I have a... gift for learning things as such I tend to have at least basic knowledge on a lot of things, the theory of things and skills. My mother was an Engineer and I was the only child on the ship she served on so I've been around engineers all my life, By the time I was seven I was helping out around engineering... I guess ya could say it's in my blood." Gabe replied.

"That's very nice," she said as they walked on to the pool area. "So, you want to come swim with me? Take a few leaps with me?"

"Sure, sounds fun, I could do with something to help relax the muscles after that run." Gabe answered as the pair made their way towards the pool.

"So how about something about you? It'd only fair after I answered ya question." Gabe added with a smile.

"That's fair enough," she said and then she started telling, "Well, my mom wanted me to be a big fashion icon like herself. I was going to as well, had it not been for my fifteenth birthday. That was when my life changed and I wanted to be a doctor. I turned from a total diva, to a total nice person." She chuckled. "Basically my life in a nutshell."

"From Diva to Doctor... now there's an autobiography title for ya." Gabe Joked, "Guess mine would be somethin' like... a boy and his books."

"I'm sure I'll come up with something better if I ever feel the need to write an autobiography... Doubt I ever will though, not all that much to say about me."

Gabe cleared his throat, "Sorry I guess I was ramblin'."

"It's alright," Alyssa as she started to put her things in a locker. "Would you like to make use of this locker?" She asked. She waited for him to put his things in.

"Thanks." Gabe said, taking off his shirt and shoes and placing them in the locker. "I tend to think out loud, a personal quirk. Dunno if that's a good or a bad thing, not sure I care either to be honest. Back on the USS Rook Chief Engineer Ramiw told me to stop doing it, said he found it annoying. I calmly turned to him, said I found his constant badgering and checking in to be annoying and at my annoying habit had an actual use. Got a chuckle of chuckles from people in Main Engineering, he didn't see the joke." Gabe chuckled, "Swore the guy went blue in the face, which for a Bolian is an interesting sight."

Alyssa chuckled at that, "I can imagine it must have been." She closed the locker and locked it. They then walked to the pool. "So how should we approach this. Slide in or dive in?"

"Can't say as I've thought that far ahead to be honest." He replied with a slight shrug, "... Ladies choice."

She sat down at the edge and put her feet in the water. She moved her feet around a moment, as to feel the water. And then she just slide in to the pool. She went head under and then came back out. She grabbed the edge and held on as she waited for Gabe to join her.

Gabe slid into the pool after Alyssa. He let the water flow over him, the warm water easing his aching muscles. He hadn't noticed just how tired his body felt after his run. He'd spend so much time on his run going over so many things in his head he'd not even noticed.

"Well that feels better." He said, floating himself around to face Alyssa.

As their eyes met again Alyssa suddenly saw the face of the colonel. She hadn't met the colonel in person yet. She only seen photos of her. She blinked a little. "I saw colonel Sheppard." She just said without being asked about it. She smiled. She seems nice. And yes this is is nice." She smiled.

"Guess she was on my mind, I spoke with her earlier about a problem, been going over it in my head for the last few hours." He replied, Hoping Alyssa hadn't seen too much. He'd prefer not to go into any deeper detail given the situation.

Really gotta be careful of catchin' her eye. he thought to himself, Now I get why she tried so hard to avoid eye contract earlier.

"Sorry, I'll try better to make sure I don't make eye contact to much... can't give away all my secrets too easily." He added with a chuckle.

Alyssa smiled. "It's ok, sometimes it's both a curse as well as blessing. You're not trying to hide anything from me that's currently going on on the Ottawa. Is it something I should know?" She looked over to him. This time she was actually trying. Something she later wished she hadn't. When she finally looked into his eyes she saw nothing. That never happened. Suddenly everything turned black and then she fainted in Gabe's arms.

As Alyssa fell lifeless into his arms, Gabe switched to reaction mode. He swam her to the shallower end of the pool, when he could touch the bottom he gathered her up in his arms and lifted her onto the side. He put his hands on the edge and pulled himself out.

"Someone get a medic!" He shouted as he checked her pulse.

Pulse strong but fast. Roughly 180 beats a minute.

She woke up laying on the floor outside of the pool looking up to Gabe. Her heart was racing like hell and she was breathing heavily. "Who is Umbra? She was here. There was no one but here. She touched my face." She put her hand on her cheek. "It was cold. She made me feel scared and angry at the same time. She wanted me to stay away from you. She said, stay away from Gabriel. And then she touched my face. She said I was pretty. She would want me too. Then she asked me if I loved you."

"Umbra?... Ya took another look didn't ya?" He asked, knowing the answer but not knowing how umbra fit into all of it.

"Umbra's a problem that's popped up recently... much more of a problem then i first though it would seem, as to what it is, i'm not sure ya'd believe me if i told ya."

Alyssa pushed herself up. "You know, if you had told me that back in high school, I wouldn't have believed you." She rubbed her eyes. "I looked yes, but saw nothing. This Umbra must have invaded my mind to create a vision for me. I didn't see her as you saw her, I saw her here, in the pool. I could hear her voice, saw her face and felt her touch."

"Well that's a trick I didn't know she could do..." Gabe said, stroking his beard. "Ya don't wanna see she the way i saw her, but that's another story for another time.... How do ya feel?"

"I am fine now." She tried to get up. She was still a bit dizzy but it was subsiding. "Maybe we should go back to the ship."

"Once I was sure ya were okay, I was goin' to head back anyway... I have a lot of plannin' to do." He said, his jaw set square and his voice taking a deeper tone. "This Umbra crap has to end as soon as possible."

Alyssa nodded. "Need any help?"

"Not sure I want ya dragged any deeper into this that ya already are. Umbra's unlike anything we've come across before, frankly i'm outta my element, havin' to learn as I go. That means a lot for margin for error."

She looked in thought. "She somehow used my ability to go in to my mind. She said she wanted us both. If I wanted to avoid this, I shouldn't have talked to you at all. But that is something unavoidable. We serve on the same ship. If she is something paranormal, she must be part of the ship now. Do you know how she came here. Cause I know the Ottawa-A is fairly new ship. But evil spirits sometimes attach themselves to people."

"I know exactly how it got here, all I need to know now is how to destroy it. That damn thing's caused enough death I will not let it get any more of a foothold in this reality then it already has. I have a fair amount of data from a more Paranormal reality, where this kinda thing is normal. As to why it's targeted me, ya guess is as good as mine, but I aim to make sure it regrets that choice."

"Have you asked her?" Alyssa wasn't sure what that would accomplish. "I mean right now she only seems to talk to us, maybe we should ask her what she want. Sometimes our reaction to the paranormal makes it more powerful. We may need to change our tactics. The more you know, right?"

Gabe stroked his beard again. Maybe Alyssa was right, in truth he didn't know. He wasn't willing to drag her into whatever this whole mess was, but it seemed Umbra had already made that choice for him. he didn't want to let her in on the details he already knew, hoping to keep Ellie's secret. He had to find a way to keep her out of it, use only general terms and hope things didn't blow up in his face.

He shook his head absently, he was starting to feel like he was getting in well over his head, but he couldn't let Umbra go unchecked. As far as he was concerned he had to deal with it and deal with it ASAP.

Stay away from Gabriel... Bugger, She's been targeted because of me... He thought to himself, pieces of the puzzle dropping into place. … I can't do this. I don't have the skills needed... I need to learn and I need to do it quickly, before anyone else gets dragged into this because of me.

"It wants death. It's killed before and will do again unless I can stop it... and I have to stop it otherwise the Ottawa will become a bloodbath." He said, as calmly as he could. "Death is the only way this can end."

"Alright," Said Alyssa, "Let's just hope it doesn't end in your death."

"Better me then someone else." Gabe replied, matter of factly, "But no, my death wouldn't be the end. She has to be stopped. We send her back to where she came from, the cycle begins again. She kills me, you, maybe even the entire crew, she merely moves on and the cycle begins again. She has to be stopped and it has to be soon."

"Well, you seem like a smart guy, you figure out, I am sure of it." She walked back to the lockers to get her things. She opened the locker. "So ehm, if you like got nothing to do or anything, would you like to go for a drink? I promise, off duty!"

"Luckily for you Doctor, I'm very good at multitaskin'" Gabe added with a slight wink, doing his best to remain calm and collected.

 

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