An Evening Stroll

Posted on Sat Apr 9th, 2022 @ 10:36pm by Lieutenant JG Faith Vianelli & Michelle Erilin

Mission: Lower Decks

It was early evening when Faith returned to the starbase. Her hands shook with each step she took. She could feel her heart pounding with fear, but at least this time Briella was still safely aboard the Chimera and she would be safe, no matter what. This was something that Faith knew she had to do. She had to stand up to him, to make it clear that he was not welcome in her life, or in her daughters.

A cold shiver ran down her spine at the thought of having to face him again, but determinedly she continued to put one foot in front of the other. She had to do this for her daughter. For Briella.

Michelle had gone back onto the Starbase to visit some friends and had been on her way back to Chimera when she saw the familiar face, but something was wrong, the way Faith’s face was set, the lack of the little girl with her and that was what spurred her to half-skip to cut through the crowd and up to Faith, reaching out as if to put a hand on her, but stopping short, “Faith, is everything okay?” She asked.

Faith started at the sound of her own name, glancing around, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh..." She offered a faint smile. "Michelle, sorry, I was off with the fairies. I..." She glanced back toward the corridor she had just walked down, still surprised that no one stopped her from getting off the ship. "Yeah, I'm just on my way to do some errands before we depart. You heading back to the ship?"

“We’ll, I was..” The young civilian admitted, making the final move and slipping her arm into the crook of Faith’s elbow out of the feeling that the counselor needed some support for some reason, “But I think I’ll join you on your errands! I know the Starbase really well and can get you the best deals on what you need.”

The thought of Michelle tagging along really made her uncomfortable, especially as she knew what was about to happen. "It's okay, you don't have to... I'm sure you have plenty of other things you need to be doing and I need to go see someone first anyway."

Michelle made no move to let go of Faith's arm, "Not at all, I was going to curl up on my couch in my quarters and just watch a movie, but I can do that any time." She smiled brightly, "And I can certainly go with you to see your friend for moral support, sometimes it can actually be a bit sketchy on the starbase, no matter how well Security patrols on board."

"I noticed," Faith said quietly, drawing in a deep breath and resigning herself to the fact that it seemed, at least for now, she would be stuck with Michelle. Hopefully she would be able to find a way to distract the other woman before she found David.

Michelle had been chattering along as Faith led them towards well... Wherever they were going when suddenly her tone changed and her eyes kept going flicking back over Faith's shoulder and her voice dropped, "I think we're being followed.. Medium tall, dark hair.." Her smiled faded a bit, "I've got a small taser in my purse."

Faith shook her head, putting pressure on Michelle's arm and steering her around a corner. She glanced around behind her before looking back to Michelle again. "Listen, I need you to leave," she said quietly. "His name is David, he's... he's..." she realised she wasn't even entirely sure how to address him. "He's the person I need to see and he's not exactly a fan of mine. I don't want you involved in this, you need to leave, now."

“Nope.” Michelle shook her head at the demand, “If he isn’t a fan of yours, then it’s even more important that we girls stick together.” She was certain in her tone, transferring her purse to the hand booked in Faith’s elbow, reaching in to pull out the taser she kept there for self defense and checking the charge. A bit more than half, should be enough to at least distract him if it came to it. She palmed the device with a smile, “I’m sure Aunt Cally would want me to look after you if she knew about this.”

"She does know about this," Faith said with a sigh. "I wasn't meant to come to the station, and I certainly didn't intend to actually see anyone from the Chimera here." Turning her back to Michelle, Faith folded her arms across her chest and waited, knowing full well David would only be a few moments behind them.

Michelle waited as well, keeping her hand with the weapon hidden as the man following them came around the corner, his face turning into a frown as he liooked at Faith, then to Michelle and back to Faith, “Where’s Briella? You were supposed to bring her with you, Faith, and who’s your friend here?”

Faith cast a glance at Michelle. "This is Captain Skyie's niece, and we were just talking." She straightened her shoulders, drawing in a deep breath. "Briella isn't coming. She's safe, where you can't reach her, and that's how it's going to stay. You have no right to her and I'm not letting you take my daughter, so you may as well turn around and walk away because everyone is already looking for you. It's only a matter of time."

David’s eyes narrowed at her as he briefly considered her words and where they were, then reached out and slapped Faith hard across the face. Michelle’s eyes opened wide and she hesitated a fraction of a second before stepping forward to jab at him with the taser. It was a fraction too long as he grabbed her wrist before it could strike him and he squeezed hard, something crunching in the hand, weapon falling out of nerveless finger. He glanced at Michelle’s necklace and huffed, “You little whore.” Then released Michelle’s wrist and grabbed her by the back of the neck, “You both are going to come with me or they find her pretty little body in the corridor. After all,” He sneered at Faith, “I’ve got nothing to lose now, do I?”

Despite reeling from the shock of being slapped, Faith threw herself toward David. "Leave her alone!" she shouted, "She has nothing to do with this, just leave her alone!"

“Nothing to do with this?” David said heatedly, squeezing Michelle’s neck harder, eliciting another whimper from the young woman who was clutching her other hand in obvious pain, “You brought her into this! Now lower your voice or ‘Captain Skyie’ is going to need a new niece. Then start walking that way.” He pointed deeper into the hallway, “And don’t even think about trying to run away, you don’t want to have anything happen to this slut, do you?”

Faith saw the expression on his face, nodding slightly. It was an expression she recognised, even though she'd only seen it once it had haunted her dreams every night for the past few years. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Michelle as they started walking. "I'm so sorry."

“It’s okay, I’ll be fine.” Michelle whispered back, then yelped as the pressure spiked again.

“You two, shut up.” David hissed at them, “Take a left here, my rooms are a little ways away and I need to think.”