Back to Friends

Posted on Sun Aug 17th, 2025 @ 4:02pm by Lieutenant JG James Phoenix

977 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Wounds From the Mirror
Location: Phoenix's Quarters
Timeline: Current

Back to Friends - Sombr

The arboretum was one of the few places aboard the Washington that never saw large amounts of activity. Each time James went, there was always a sense of peace. He always had a soft spot for nature ever since he was a child. Perhaps that was the side effect of growing up around the forest.

The arboretum aboard a Sovereign class was quite large which contributed to the lack of people, in that if there were anyone else in the arboretum, you would rarely see them. Unless there was the rare instance where there was an unusual amount of crew in the arboretum.

James had a break in his schedule to clear his head. The last few days had been a hell of a whirlwind. The ship had been boarded by the crew's mirror counterparts, not even including the fact that they took control of another Federation Starship. This didn't even include the laundry list of casualties aboard the Washington. All of these were weighing down the young Lieutenant. He felt responsible, but he was making attempts to blatantly ignore that feeling. He feared that it would affect his duties.

He couldn't exactly see a counselor at the moment. Eislyn was dead, and Callie was likely dealing with her own scars from being captured. He did have Ashlynn, but they had only just reunited and it was brief, not to mention she would be dealing with her own scars, both literally and mentally. This didn't even account for the fact that she was due to return to the Saber and moment now, assuming the ship was finally secure.

He finally entered the arboretum and stopped in his tracks. To say it was bustling, was an ever so slight understatement. "Nope" he blurted out to nobody in particular before turning on his heel to leave.

[Phoenix's Quarters]

A little while later James arrived back at his quarters. He hadn't really slept in the last few days. He really shouldn't have tried to go to the arboretum. He was running on fumes. He didn't want to sleep for too long though; He didn't want to miss Ash leaving. Not that she'd let him.

He removed both of pips from his collar, and his communicator badge from his uniform and set them on his desk. He removed his uniform jacket and tossed it on the chair. After that he replicated a fresh uniform for later, and hung it up in his closet. He grabbed a fresh towel and toiletries and stepped into the shower, and set it to the 'water' setting. The sonic showers were convenient but for the Lieutenant, nothing beat fresh water. He didn't hear the door chime ring the first time.

After a while James stepped out and dried off before throwing on a fresh shirt and pants, seeing as he was off duty for a while now since the Terran threat had subsided for now. He started towards the replicator, but stopped when the view into the cosmos caught his eye. It was beautiful as always. There were times were the stars were aligned just right, that it would be mesmerizing. The door chime rang again.

Seriously, the wonder of the cosmos constantly spiked his interest. It would always remain a mere interest. He wasn't a scientist. Ashlynn was. He wondered if she'd been cleared for duty and return to the Saber yet. He'd have to ask the next time he saw her before she left. The chime rang yet again. James didn't hear it before he got distracted from the void again.

That's when the door chime started getting spammed. This broke him from his distraction. "Alright, alright!" he called out. "It's open."

Ashlynn walked in with a shit eating grin, while wearing a fresh uniform.

James gave her a deadpan look.

"You should answer your door more often" she teased.

"Funny" he quipped before moving over to the replicator. "Care for a drink?"

"Surprise me" she smiled as she plopped down on the couch.

James returned the smile. "Two coffees, cream and sugar" he said into the replicator. The device did it's thing and seconds later two warm cups of caffeinated goodness appeared.

He took the drinks and handed one to Ash before sitting next to her. He took a sip of his own drink before setting it down. "How are you feeling?" James asked.

"All things considered, I'm not doing terrible. I thought I'd be worse off. I think my counterpart was protecting me" she said.

"I heard she tried to kill you?"

"I think she wanted the honors instead of Mirror Shran or Deanna" Ash replied. "To be fair, she wasn't the only one protecting me."

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Your counterpart. If it weren't for him I'd be dead. Apparently he only wanted revenge on Shran and the others for what they did to my counterpart, who is now alive again, who-" she stopped herself. "You know what, I'm not risking the headache of trying to figure it out."

James chuckled before getting serious. "I'm sorry if I haven't acted like it's been a long time since we last saw each other. I just haven't processed it yet. To be honest, I kind of turned myself off mentally to avoid getting compromised."

Ash gave a sympathetic look and hugged him. "You never had to. You never stopped being my ride or die."

"F*ck Ash you're going to make me tear up" he leaned into her embrace as a few tears ran down his face.

After what felt like an eternity, they released from the hug and started catching up. There would be a lot more of that in the future but with Ash returning to her post, they said what they could in the time they had.

 

RSS Feed