Finding Finchley Pt 2

Posted on Tuesday November 29th, 2022 @ 1:23am by Lieutenant Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Niali Deval Dr
Edited on on Tuesday November 29th, 2022 @ 1:26am

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: USS Oberon
Timeline: Post Shore Leave

[On]

Niali could hardly breathe and, for a moment stood in silence. Then taking off at a run she set off for her Counsellors office. Passing crew members in the corridor she shouted “coming past!” As she ran until she reached her destination several turbolifts later. She burst in to see Finchley sitting on the floor with a phaser next to him. “Karadis.…” she breathed, “you found him.” She gave the Klingon a thank you smile and threw herself down on the floor next to him. “Finchley?” She said and waited.

Karadis stood up "I'll leave you two to it."

"To what?" Finchley asked flatly.

"To work out whatever it is you need to" Karadis replied and walked off.

Finchley sat quietly for a long time, then looked at the phaser in his hand "Get up and walk away Ice Queen, after your performance on our return, I want nothing to do with you, so fuck off...Sir!"

She moved closer to him and removed the phaser lying on the floor next to him. “No I won’t fuck off, I’m here to stay to hear whatever you need to say to me and then you’re going to listen to what I want to say.” She paused, “go on I’m waiting?”

Finchley grabbed the phaser back, stood up and walked over to the other side of the room. He looked at the door, an exit he could freely take if he wanted to, but he stopped. He didn't turn around, he just spoke "You know what your problem is Sir, you lead with your heart, not your head. When Karadis and I returned, you had every opportunity to ask questions then, instead, you wore your heart on your sleeve...that ice cold heart. You wanted to make sure I suffered your displeasure, your hurt, hell, even your hatred at me leaving without having spoken to you. It never occurred to you to ask why...not that I could give you much information on why, suffice to say that I was given no option by the head of the SFI in this quadrant. Before you say anything, you don't have the Intelligence clearance to eve begin to find out, you'd be shut down in a trice. It wasn't my idea to come back here, that was the twisted minds of the Court Marshall officers...a bad joke you might say. Anyway, you had no compassion, you didn't even act like an Executive Officer, you just twisted the knife a little more to satisfy your own pain. Here's something for you to consider, the Counsellor in you is dead, whatever you have to say to me, save it, I have no interest. You mean nothing to me, and this...whatever this is means jack shit to me. I'm here as an Intelligence Officer, nothing more, nothing less. You can give me orders pertaining to this ship and/or any mission or Away Team I'm included in and I'll follow them, but that's all. My hatred of you and your sanctimonious coldness stands. Now, you can make any excuse you like, say whatever you like to put me in my place, but I'll still hate you. So, come on Commander, slight me, berate me, try and put me down, make me out to be sanctimonious or just try and plain make me feel bad...what've you got?"

“I don’t need to say anything to you, you are saying it all for yourself and I do not think you could feel any worse about yourself than you do. Yes I wish I knew what had happened to you to break you but something has. You didn’t want to return here you made that very clear when you left but you tell me you were forced to. So, why stay where you don’t want to be?” She sighed, “Finchley you are so full of self pity no one can get through to you until you want them to. Now, give me that phaser, you are in no fit state to have one. I want you to see the doctor and then go to your quarters. I am sorry but I will not let you go through this alone.” Niali held her hand out.

“If I leave, that’s my career over you idiot!” Finchley replied “And if you want this phaser, you come and get it, but be prepared, that’s all I’m saying.”

“It seems to me you don’t seem to think you have much of a career left anyway.” She walked over to him and held her hand out. “I am not here to cater to your self loathing, that will not help so all I can say is that you are relieved of duty until the doctor has seen you and you have had a mental evaluation from our Counsellor. Now give it to me that’s an order Lieutenant Kerr!” Niali’s heart was beating so fast she could hardly breathe. The last thing she wanted to do was push him over the edge but, even if he struck her she would not say anything.

Finchley reached out and knocked on the door "You can come back in now Karadis" he said.

The doors opened and Karadis came back in. She looked at Finchley and laughed asking "Well?"

"You were right" he laughed back "I owe you a barrel of Bloodwine."

"She believed you then?" Karadis asked.

"Oh yes, hook line and sinker" Finchley replied, "Even sounded almost like a true XO as well!"

"I told you she'd react like that, but oh no...you didn't believe me" Karadis giggled.

They both faced Niali and started to clap, Finchley even whistled, "BRAVO, BRAVO...WELL DONE!"

Niali thought she had been removed from reality watching the two of them standing before her laughing roundly. “What…I don’t…really…..what’s going o….” She felt the world growing dark around her as her eyes desperately tried to overtake her brain as she begs to slip into unconsciousness.

" I bet Karadis you didn't have the guts to be true to yourself and show you still had feelings for me" Finchley said "She bet you did and would...she was right."

He lobbed the phaser over to Niali "It's a dud by the way, a mock-up of a real phaser, all lights and sound, none of the hardware."

Niali stood. “All this for a bet?” She said bitterly, “well you obviously don’t have any feelings for me so it’s all one sided I can see that. I can’t help my feelings for you but, I understand now.”
She moved past them into the corridor. “Get yourself cleaned up and get to sickbay Finchley. As for you Karadis….” Niali threw up her hands then turned away unwilling to let them see the tears in her eyes.

Karadis turned and said "Maybe next time you'll act like an Executive Officer should, and be compassionate and not a hard arse Korial."

“Niali turned to face them. “No, it’s you that need to show some compassion. As for being a hard arse that’s easy. Neither of you have my compassion or my love. You both did once but this little act between you has shown you for what you both are. Finchley you need to get to sickbay and then you need a mental evaluation to ensure you are fit to be an officer on board this ship.”

"I see, you can't see the humorous side of this, but want to still be the Ice Queen" Finchley said "Ok, you want to end my career here and now, that's your choice, but you're not acting like an Executive Officer, or any kind of Officer for that matter, you're just hitting out because you have no idea how to handle this kind of situation, you can't see the funny side of things. The Niali I knew would have at one time, but you're no longer her, I've no idea who you are now."

“Damn it to hell Finchley, of course I don’t see the funny side of this. Karadis intimated to you that you were ready to end your life and I had to find you. In what way do you think that was funny for me. What more can I do than apologize. I love you, I wish I didn’t but I do. You both need to have a medical, but you can skip the mental Eval Finchley. If you ever feel like talking, you know where I am.”

"Then perhaps you should take a long hard look at yourself Niali" Finchley said in reply "You had ZERO! compassion for me when we came back, yet you were all over Karadis like a rash, or did that conveniently slip your mind. You had no problem showing me you had no time for me, that you were angry, so who's the hypocrite, eh? Before you go dolling out blame, before you go judging ANYONE on how they acted, you take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and tell me who set this whole thing off...because it sure as hell wasn't me! You had no right in acting how you did, but because I turned the tables now your upset? I loved you, but when we returned and were standing in your office I'd have been as well standing there with my legs open and a sign round my neck saying "Hey, kick me in the bollocks as hard as you want because you're pissed that I followed SFI orders! Sure, I'll go to Sickbay and get checked over, all that it'll show is that I had the living shit kicked out of me and was electrically tortured, but hey, what does that matter, you're in the clear because your upset that the tables were turned. I'll take that mental evaluation if you want me to, but just be clear, if I do and I pass it, you can come and find me and make amends for starting this whole thing off, I'm not going to be your emotional scapegoat!"

Niali sighed. “How I reacted was wrong I know, but you are never going to forgive me and keeping this in your heart will never heal you of what happened to you out there. Please report to sickbay both of you.” She turned and walked off down the corridor without looking back.

Finchley looked at Karadis and said "You heard the Executive Officer, let's report to Sickbay and get checked over."

Karadis just nodded, then added "Maybe the sign visual was a little too much."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Niali Alyssa Korial.
Executive Officer.
USS Oberon.

&

Lieutenant Finchley Kerr.
Intelligence Officer.
USS Oberon.

&

Lieutenant Shr’Nesh Karadis.
Infiltration Specialist.
USS Oberon.