Getting To Know You/All About You

Posted on Sun Aug 22nd, 2021 @ 11:17pm by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant Commander Tyler Driskill

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Location: Cally’s Quarters

Calypso was there waiting. Tyler had commed her twenty minutes before and she hadn't had to even go anywhere or get re-dressed, because half an hour before that, she'd already done that. Something comfortable, she'd said, which in this case was a nice semi-silk gi with her purple rank belt of an intermediate level of her kick-boxing art form. She wasn't bad, she wasn't great.

She was kneeling in the middle of her quarter's sitting room area, head forward and chin resting on her chest, appearing peaceful, because she was. She'd spent the rest of the morning getting ready for what she was about to do, not because she was afraid he'd turn and run, but because she had to bare her entire self to him. She'd meditated on the deities, she'd thought about what her old Captain would have told her. She didn't even look up when he walked in, "Thanks for coming, please, make yourself comfortable." She said quietly.

"Everything okay?" Tyler asked as he sat down in front of her.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "Of course everything's all right. Need anything to eat?" Her voice had changed almost instantly, to something peppy and bright, "Something to drink? Because we are going to be here all day. You are going to know more about me than anyone outside my family, and possibly more than them in the process."

"I'd love some coffee" he said with a smile and stretched his arms up above his head, the black t-shirt pulling up over his jeans showing his amazing abs off.

In a single smooth and silky move, she rose to her feet without the use of her hands, padding her way in bare feet over to the replicator before returning with a steaming mug for him and a glass of tea clinking with ice before she sank back down into the same position she'd been in when he'd entered the room, "Take your shoes and socks off, but you're comfortable in that, right?" She asked, before continuing on, "Before we start, I just want to know if you've read my personnel file, or what else do you know about me? Just so I have an idea."

He slipped his shoes off and joined her on the floor "I haven't gotten around to reading your file, no" he looked her in the eyes and took a sip of his coffee.

"So you don't know much about me at all." A sly smile, "Which means you may or may not know that I'm Betazoid." She raised her free hand up just in case he reacted badly, "I'm about middling in my telempathic abilities, so I can read most emotions and depending on very, very specific situations and people, I can catch strong thoughts. But I don't use my abilities. At all. Not actively, not passively, I've got them locked down tight just about all the time." She gave a quivery smile this time, "You're going to find out why today."

Tyler wasn't exactly sure what Cally meant by that, but he gave a confident nod and made sure he was comfortable "lay it on me" he looked into her eyes.

“I mostly bring it up because it’s sort of important. Betazoid culture has a bunch of relevancy to the Fleet because there have never been any real wars in our world, until we got invaded by the Jemhadar.” She grinned, “But the precedent I’m bringing up is marriage, no, we aren’t getting married, but… Captain Taylor told me, ‘The Captain of the ship might be thrice married, but assuredly twice.’ What she meant was that there may be a spouse, but a CO is married to her ship and her XO.”

She took a moment to take a sip of her iced tea to moisten her mouth again, “Betazoid culture dictates that all weddings are performed in the nude, because in a true marriage, you can hide nothing if you wish it to work. Being naked signifies that you’ve got nothing to hide. Now, of course we could do it that way, but it would be a bit of a distraction to us, don’t you think?” She quirked a smiled at the rhetorical question, “So here are the ground rules for today: There are none. If you have any sort of question, you ask it, I answer it with the truth. If you think I’m lying, you tell me so and I will attempt to prove it isn’t. Since you aren’t a Betazoid, you can’t sense that I’m being truthful, but you have my word of honor as a Marine and as your Commanding Officer that I won’t lie. You will get the one hundred percent truth from me, no matter what you ask. Any questions so far?”

A smile grew on Tyler's face as he thought about them doing it 'that way' again. "I'll give you the same respect" Tyler gave her a nod, this was something new to him.

“Thanks.” Calypso smiled and heaved a large sigh, this was going to bring up lots of memories, most of which were not inclined to be fun for her, but it was important. “Let’s start off with why I won’t use my empathic sense, because as some Betazoids who have lost it have said, it’s like losing your arms. We use it like you’d use a hand to absentmindedly grab a ball out of the air that’s thrown to you.”

“During the Dominion War, the Marines we’re on the front lines and we took a lot of losses, especially to our fighter and shuttle units, because they were vulnerable in flight. I was just a rifleman then, but I’d scored high enough on aptitude tests that they finally recruited me for flight school. I got the call sign ‘Calamity’ after I’d crashed a fighter in training, but they stuck me in assault shuttles instead because I turned out to be good at flying those. Fortunately, the war ended right after I’d been redeployed onto the Quantico and we were sent out for planetary SAR operations.”

Her eyes turned away from his and looked at the ground between them, “I’m not sure how much people know, but the War also brought out ‘freedom’ groups that thought I’d they’d been apart from the Federation that they’d never have been involved, so they started homegrown liberation wars on planets, terrorism for the most part. We were sent on an assault drop, twenty-four shuttles, my copilot was a recent flight graduate named Jerry Silvestri, nineteen years old, when we were attacked in mid drop. Took out four shuttles including the drop commander.”

“My flight leader opted for our secondary landing site and I was the closest to the valley that led to it. 5000 meter peaks, would provide us with cover from the guns trying to kill us. We never expected them to have guns in the valley as well.” Cally grimaced at the memory, “They opened up without any sensor warnings, first few shots impacted the shields, then the screen took one and shattered. Next round hit Jerry, splattered him across the cockpit, his brains landed in my lap and I was covered in his blood. Next couple rounds exploded in the troop bay.” A tear fell from each eye, she couldn’t help it with this memory.

“I felt them due. I’d known how they were, there was fear at the unknown, then knowing we were getting shot at, excitement because well, this is what Marines did. Then all of the sudden, in less time than it takes a heart to beat, it was silent. Nothing at all. My systems operator was injured, but there was a hole where a whole platoon had been in my mind.” Cally shook her head and finally looked up, “I shouldn’t have survived but I somehow managed to get the shuttle down, without half a wing and only one damaged engine, it’s where I broke my leg the first time. I got out, got picked up by a SpecOps team that got me to an SAR bird, but during recovery, I found a Betazoid counselor who taught me how to shut down my telempathic abilities and except on rare occasions, I keep them shut down. I even started wearing blue contact lenses so people don’t realize immediately what race I am.”

"That's" Tyler paused looking at the tears running down her cheeks, almost frozen himself. "I can't imagine what" he still couldn't really even get it out "to have them ripped away like that, I never even thought what that must be like" he admitted, placing a hand on her arm and rubbing it softly.

"How to explain color to a blind person." Calypso nodded, reaching up with her other arm to wipe the tears away. She was vulnerable now, more vulnerable than she'd let herself be before in front of someone, "Going from all good to go to deep in an existential crisis in the blink of an eye, while flying." She had to laugh at that, in an effort to stop crying, "But that's why I don't use my abilities much. Every so often, when I would go onto the bridge of a ship, I'd let down the walls and just let myself feel whatever there was. Just a few seconds before the walls went back up."

She tried to collect herself, "I'm just beginning here, too... You know I fly fighters, but it's not official anymore. I went to fighters after I 'recovered', because I couldn't fly shuttles much more, though they'd put me on some easy SAR flights to try to get me back in the saddle, but they transferred me to fighters when the pilots started retiring. I even managed to make my landings match all of my takeoffs, except my last one. It was my last flight, got some battle damage, so did the Essex, so they couldn't use the tractor beam to bring me in. I hit short on my landing, completely wrecked the fighter and took off the same leg I broke right above the knee. Ever seen how much blood you can lose how fast when you do that? I've got the footage somewhere in my archives if you ever want to see."

"I think I'll have to pass" Tyler was still rubbing her arm trying to comfort her. "What you've been through sounds like hell Cally" he said taking the bottom of his shirt and trying to wipe her eyes, before just taking if off completely and helped to dry the tears.

"Poor Tyler, thinking that this is the outright worst of his broken CO." She got a chuckle out, patting his own arm after he wiped her tears away, "Let's see, I'd gone through OCS and was a First Lieutenant at that point. They tried to get me to accept a medical retirement at that point, while I was regrowing my leg and relearning how to walk, run, swim, the works." She was letting her guard down now, this was her 'coming out to the deities' moment, since she believed he needed to know as much as possible.

Cally heaved in a deep breathe, "But I didn't want to leave the Fleet, so since I couldn't fly and while I could still shoot a rifle, I probably wouldn't have made a good infantry officer, and there was still a way. I got into the Academy to learn what I needed to know so I could fly starships. Not as good as fighters or shuttles, too slow, not as maneuverable, but as a substitute? Sure. Besides, the variety of the coursework was expanded from my OCS courses when I turned into a fighter pilot."

"It did begin a few years of boredom, since the Hattery Bay was based out of Earth, never left a fifty light year radius in three years, and Jefferson was used for more general purpose missions, did a bunch of diplomatic transfers with her, got to see places and people I never thought I would. Then came the Spitfire." She quirked a smile, "I don't know how you handled five years with the Sting Ray, my year-plus in Spitfire was more than cramped. You know, when detached from a starbase or fleet group, they tend to keep Defiant-class assignments to about a year because of the lack of space and no holodecks? Good idea of theirs." She was rambling on because it was truly boring overall, "But that's where I was first an Exec, also headed up the Helm because of well... Lack of personnel."

She had to take a longer drink of her tea, ice melting quickly at this point, "Life on the Spitfire was intriguing, where I started getting into pirate hunting, which mind you is possibly my biggest weakness as you'll find out, but as you know, Defiants are nicely armed and fly much like a fighter. And it set me up for once I got to the Perseus with Captain Larson." Her eyes glistened as she smiled, "Margie was my mentor, truly, she met me right off the shuttle and took me under her wing and didn't give a shit that I had worn green."

"Remember when I told you that I wanted you to be a devil's advocate and question me whenever you felt the need?" Cally waited until he nodded, "It's because she did the same thing with me. Encouraged me to think of alternate plans, to never go into a situation without at least two ways of escape and at least two different ways of completing the mission that didn't obviate each other. A lot of the time, she'd already have come up with them, but still wanted me to come up with options on my own. The kind of commanding officer that someone would happy with being the second in command for, well, for forever, or until they got their flag and picked you to be their flag captain."

"I think I would have liked her" he said, Tyler liked her way of thinking. "It sounds like your bond and her trust in you was amazing" he smiled at Cally.

"Margie was easy to get to like and get to like you, as long as you tried your best." Calypso smiled, "Best teacher I've ever had, that's for sure. Until that last mission. We'd hunted down most of a pirate group, taking them in singles mostly, but the top of the band was still out there. We finally cornered him in an asteroid belt, hiding behind a large one when he bolted and we went in after him." Her tone went from somewhat excited to relatively harsh and bland, "It was a trap. He'd seeded explosives on a bunch of the asteroids, probably months or years before, for just this sort of situation. Our fighters had gone to play fleethund, flush him out, and the first round of explosions took out three of them, the fourth evaded clean, then the second round hammered us hard."

Her hands fell to her knees, gripping hard, "Enough rock will take down shields, believe you me, Tyler, because it did. Then it penetrated the hull and bounced around with predictable results. Took out our Security and Helm people, decapitated the helmsman, so I took that seat after moving the body. Then the third round of explosions went off. Broke my leg again after almost turning the ship enough. Margie didn't make it off the bridge, the yacht was destroyed and if it weren't for the Marine Captain we had waiting for word that the Skipper had made it out, the handful of us from the bridge might not have made it off. Tara had died, so they'd put Artemis in my arms to hold onto while they evacced me. One hundred thirty-eight survivors out of nearly five hundred on board, the ship got chewed up beyond recognition and the antimatter detonated about half an hour after we got off. Pirate's still out there and I hope we find him. I want his ass mounted over my replicator."

"That's horrible" Tyler had seen his fair share of battles in his time with the Federation, but it always hit harder when you cared so much about the people around you. He felt like he should just hold her, but at the same time he knew what she had said earlier and didn't want to violate anything.

"And after that, Starfleet Medical and Counseling took their god-damned time clearing me to return to duty. Apparently Margie said I was ready for my own command, but because she'd died, couldn't back up the report. Throw in my Greens and it was put off again and again while I shuffled papers." Cally ended with a laugh, "And that's how I got where we are now. Questions? Comments? General outrage?"

"Well I can say that if we get the chance that bastard needs to pay" he was pretty heated, he hated a coward "such a coward." Tyler didn't care anymore, he didn't want to see her as upset as she was. He could be friend with her, still care about her and giver her a friendly hug and that's what he did. He grabbed her and pulled her to him, holding her in his arms.

"Ack!" The ambush had been successfully executed, caught her off balance she had to wrap her own arms around her or else she'd have knocked them both over, "I'm just hoping that you're getting some insight into me from this!" She squeezed him hard before trying to pull back and bring a semblance of professionalism to things.

"I am" Tyler let go of her and moved back to the position he had been before. "Sorry that was just a friendly hug, I thought you needed one at the time" he gave a soft smile and reached for his coffee. "I can tell you that I have far more respect for you" he sipped his coffee "and I feel like your former Captains lessons will continue to help an up and coming First Officer" Tyler gave her a big smile.

"And now comes the part I've been hesitant to ask." Calypso said, a slight tremor in her voice, "As I've told you, I keep my empathic and telepathic senses locked down completely. You know why, now, and how it tends to be for those like me." She bit her upper lip as she had to summon courage for something like this, "I... Will you let me touch your mind? I won't be able to read your thoughts, I'm not that powerful of a telepath and empathy doesn't work that way, perhaps if you focused on a single word it might, that's just a theory, but not the purpose of this. I want to... Deities, what's the word for this? I guess it's I want to see you, get a feel for you, without barriers? By Betazoid law, I HAVE to ask and it's a very, very personal matter on both of our parts. If you say no, there's no harm, I won't judge you for it, I won't think badly or anything. It HAS to be your willing choice. Don't be afraid to say no."

Tyler broke eye contact for a second and thought about what Cally had just ask. He had no reason not to trust her and perhaps this would help her grow to trust him. After all she had just opened up to him completely, Tyler looked her in the eyes and simply said "I trust you."

She swallowed hard and nodded slowly. This wasn't a trivial exercise for herself either and she began to undo the mental walks she had learned to hold up without conscious thought. They served to keep all extraneous noise out of her head and in the beginning had terrified her and left her feeling alone in her own mind and body. Now, it was just natural and she began to feel background emotions, from herself, from him, from someone a couple rooms over very faintly. She shifted herself over closer to him and let her eyes unfocus as she did so, "I don't do this much, so please just bear with me. Don't do anything you wouldn't do, try not to unconsciously block me and just... relax. Be you."

Tyler closed his eyes and attempted to follow her instructions, breathing in slowly through his nose and out of his mouth. Tyler felt relaxed and very comfortable with Cally, he usually didn't trust someone as fast as he had her. He was having a lot of self doubt about being pulled back into the position of First Officer and wanted to earn the respect of his superior and crew. He wanted to keep everyone safe, that was his duty all of his career and he took great pride in that. As he took another breath in through his nose his parents came to mind and a great sadness washed over him, their death is one reason Tyler started at the Academy. There was also some anger that they gave their lives for Starfleet, he knew they would have no regrets but it wasn't fair.

For her own part, Cally was nervous but she tried desperately to not transmit any of it, whether or not he could even feel that from her. She’d made this sort of connection once before with a human and once with a Betazoid counselor, but this was different. She forced herself to relax and just drank it in, then got hit with anger, sadness, some nerves, but a general positive feeling suffusing it all. The sadness hit harder, and she automatically reached out with one hand to caress his cheek.

Tyler felt relaxed as she touched his face. He kept his eyes closed and smiled, he had never felt so much peace and let out a deep breath.

Cally smiled with her eyes still closed, then let her hand drop and began to withdraw, slowly but methodically setting up her mental barriers again, mouth moving with the mantra that her teacher had taught her as she did so. It took her nearly ninety seconds to finish that process and she blinked her eyes three times as she did, "Thank you." She said quietly.

Tyler reached forward and rubbed her right shoulder "I've never been that close to anyone."

Calypso giggled as she leaned forward into the rub, "You've never been a Betazoid doing that with another Betazoid.. Imagine having a memory of your first time, that you know is definitely yours, but of the opposite gender?" She shook her head and laughed, "It really gets confusing as to whose memory is whose."

"That sounds intense" he pulled her close as he leaned back on the front of the sofa. "Did you get what you needed?" Tyler asked still rubbing her shoulders.

She didn't resist as he pulled her forward, collapsing onto him and getting her own arms around his shoulders as she adjusted her legs, "I wasn't searching for anything." She admitted, "I guess I was sorta looking to see if you were trying to trick me into something, thoughts of deception and the like. I didn't expect to find anything of the sort, but paranoia is a constant companion. Didn't feel anything remotely like that, but I did feel some sadness." She leaned in closer, "And I want to see what I can do to banish that." She kissed him.

Tyler ran his hand through her hair and kept kissing her. He started massing her neck while he kissed her. "I want you" he said one hand in her hair the other holding onto the small of her back.

"We can't." Cally protested, her actions absolutely NOT matching her words, "Of course, no one's expecting to see either of us for the rest of the day, and it's... Four now.. We're in a strategy planning session." She grinned devilishly, "Alternative strategy is fun."

Tyler leaned in and kissed on her neck, sucking slightly moaning as he did. "Let me distract you" Tyler leaned back and smiled at Cally "last time." he said with a nod to assure her.

"Last time." She confirmed solemnly, though inside, she knew it was a lie.

Tyler smiled a smile that was pure pleasure and gave a nod to agree with Cally.