Catching up

Posted on 02/01/2022 @ 8:53am by Colonel Jack Patton & Captain Brina Tracy-Hall
Edited on on 02/02/2022 @ 12:04am

3,000 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Mission 22: The Other Side of the Mirror
Location: The Herodotus Jack Patton's Quarters
Timeline: MD001 2000 hours

They were now on the ship that would take them to the other universe and Brina was unsettled. She also hadn't had a true chance to talk with Jack since well, since the explosion at Elysian Dreams. Time had passed by and there was something or some things that haven't been resolved. Brina went to Jack's quarters and pressed the chime, to let him know someone was there.

When the door was opened Brina stood there, and she said. "Hey Colonel- Jack- I think we need to maybe clear the air between us, before we get really involved in what will be happening. May I come inside and we can talk?" Songbird knowing full well that this conversation may not be a fun one.

Jack was just placing a picture of Aer on the nightstand of his assigned quarters aboard this tincan of a ship. The door chime went off and Brina stepped in. He knew this was going to have to happen sooner or later. He needed to have a talk with Meatball about breaking people our of the Brig as well. But that would have to wait. "Yeah come on in and have a seat. I reckon we should get this over with."

With a brisk nod, the Irish Marine XO came in further and took a seat. "You've got a good woman there." nodding towards Aer's photo Brina began then went to her original subject. "I'm not here to talk about her though, its more about the proverbial elephant that is sitting here in the room between us."

"Aer is the best the galaxy has and I don't deserve her. But you are right that is a digression. I could yell scream and ask you what your major malfunction is, but somehow I do not think that will get us anywhere. Save for me a headache and a sore throat. So I will simply start by asking why?" Jack crossed the quarters to the replicator and got a rachtijino and a tray with some tea and all the accoutrements. He set everything down on a small coffee table and sat down with his legs crossed. Something told him this was going to be a long story.

"Why the fight with Cara? Our fighting out in the hallway wasn't planned. We used to spar with the blades in the holodeck back in the day. I would know when something was wrong, and she and I would go work on our sword skill and she'd be able to destress." Brina pursed her lips together puffed out her cheeks then let the air out slowly. "That day, when everything went to Hell, was not like it used to be. We had words, she got mad at me for mentioning her beloved Fernandez. It was almost as if she was going into a jealous rage. She did something she'd not done before, she slapped me."

Brina rubbed her cheek at that memory, as that stung like crazy. "Sadly I didn't keep my temper and well, we agreed to meet. Neither of us were innocent of the whole thing. And yes, I should have kept my cool. People do stupid things, and I will say my actions were very stupid indeed. About got me skewered by Cara, and gotten her into trouble." she crossed on arm over her chest and supported her elbow with the crossed arm, and Brina rubbed her chin as she went into deep thought. "I am glad that Hiro stepped in like he did."

"Right so if I understand you correctly you and the Commander were sparring. Then something within the Commander changed and she began to take the sparring as a real fight. This proceeded until the Lieutenant intervened. Am I right so far?" Jack tried his best to sum up but he still did not understand it fully. He also decided to use ranks as a method to show Brina that this was not a friendly conversation. At least not at the moment.

Taking the cue Brina nodded, "Lieutenant Yoshida did indeed intervene at a good time."

"Ok then why did you go on the offensive. In that situation everything that the Corps teaches is to fight defensively and render the opponent disarmed." Jack continued with an air of lecture.

"I could not disarm her, sir. Not at that time, you see the Commander had been training with me for quite sometime, and she fought like a demon possessed. I did fight defensively, then I got a bit heated. That was an odd day to say the least." Brina thought back in her mind to that day. "Have you ever been around someone who might have radiated out their emotions and it affecting you? She acted like a jealous lover, claimed I shouldn't even be talking about Fernandez, that I had no right to do so. I could claim temporary insanity, but that would be a cop out. At least it would be to me."

Brina sat back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest. "I felt jealous that she wasn't allowing me to speak about our mutual friend. I just can't believe we fought over him, like two rivals quarreling over the same man, and I'm married! I feel rather embarrassed about that, even now."

Jack leaned back on the couch he had been sitting on as he considered for the moment. Cara Letsul was part Betazoid, and it is possible that she lost control of her empathic abilities, or they had otherwise been effected and she had been projecting on to Brina. However, Jack had no evidence of that and could not go on that. At the moment his was simply to decide if Brina's actions were warranted. He exhaled sharply through his nose, knowing full well that Brina knew him well enough to know what that meant. "Right, well now tell me about the injury. Everything up until now seems to be well within the possibility of things. But you injured a superior officer, and that cannot go unanswered." Jack wasn't about to tell her that Cara had already decided not to press charges, at least he would not tell her yet.

"She drew first blood, Colonel. Yes I know that isn't a good answer. Yes, I should have backed off. I couldn't, I didn't dare." Brina's mind going over the event. "Yes I scratched her cheek in return, hoping that the pain would bring her to her sense. It did not. We were to meet in the holo-suite, which is something we normally did when working on our sword skills. We didn't make it to the holo-suite when she attacked, her eyes were ablaze with fury. I have seen her angry in extremely rare occasions, she is normally rather in control. This was different than the last time we did our sword fight which was years ago. " her eyes getting a distant look in them. "I will admit I did lose my temper as well, I can take quite a bit of pain just.. that day was so... strange. Commander Letsul and I have sort of a mental connection, almost like fraternal twin sisters from another mother. Its nothing major, just something that developed over the years we've known each other. I'm only a few days older than she is." Brina giving a shrug.

"Maybe there was a bleed over from what was going on in her mind, I don't know. I felt there was something she wasn't telling me, I know you and I talked about it but.. I couldn't let it stay simmering, it went more into a boil. She is my sister from another mother, and I am a bull headed Irish red-head. One thing I am wondering is, why I've not been charged, why I've not been tossed into the deepest pit and the key tossed away." Brina moved her hands to her lap, clenching her fists. She was angry at herself, still.

Jack let his head hang low for a moment. He wasn't angry, just a little disappointed. Jack knew that had he been in the same situation he would have done the same. He just hoped that his people would be better than he was, well at least that was what he wanted for them. He lifted his head with a smirk. "I tossed you in the brig to let you stew for a moment in truth. But you should thank Commander Letsul. For reasons that no one can seem to understand she has decided to not press any charges. So that as they say is that. The only thing I can suggest here is to make sure that it damn well never happens again. But that is not the end of it, is it. There is still the matter of disobeying orders..." Jack already knew that he was going to let her off for this. He just liked to make people sweat a little. His father said that the first General Patton did the same thing of his people.

Brina nodded, "Well, the ball's in your court. Colonel. You have every right to bust me down in rank. Or even send me packing. I did disobey orders, and that isn't a good thing to do. And while I don't intend on that happening again. I still did disobey."

Jack sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "You are going to have to make sure you apologize to Commander Letsul. I am going to have to put a formal reprimand on your jacket. Also, I am not going to sugar coat anything here. It is going to take a little bit to get back to where we were heading. You are going to be on thin ice of sorts. The Kingsmen are the best that the Corps has to offer and to lead them means you have to better than the best..." He let his voice trail off for a moment as he thought of what to say next. "Most Pattons through the years have always relied on no one but themselves to lead. I intend to break that pattern." This remark was more a request than a statement.

"I do understand and I will make amends to Commander Letsul. Along with a sincere apology." Brina giving a confirming nod. "I don't really want to let you down again, Sir. I don't want to be a liability to you. And I certainly have a lot of making up to do." she thought over what Nicholas said to her when he found out what happened. It was a most uncomfortable conversation with her husband. He wasn't mean about it, didn't yell at her but, it wasn't pleasant.

Jack had wanted to say that he knew she would, he wanted to say that but couldn't. "I hope so... I really do. I think for the foreseeable future we should not mention it anymore. That is unless you give me reason to."

Brina nodded solemnly, her butt was on the line right now. "okay well this matter is closed for now. And I probably should let you rest up before we get to where we are going." she paused for a moment then said, "Colonel have you been in the Mirror Universe, or have had encounters with another alternate reality?"

Jack knew this question was coming, he would be asking the same if he had a different position. "The easy answer is no... I have never had a mission that dealt with anything like that. I was told that Marines for the most part were thankfully excluded from that sort of craziness..." He chuckled to himself as the thought that his unit may actually be the first to have to do this. "...The idea that there is another one of all of us out there doing and acting differently does not sit well with me. But, when we get there we will of course show them why we are the best of the best of the best."

"Aye that is only thing we can do, is our best. I do know that there are those that look like us but, don't act like us. Even though we are the best of the best, be mindful there will be a Damocles sword hanging over our heads as well. Or someone whispering in our ears to be cautious, not to be too over confident." Brina raising an eyebrow but having a solemn expression. "As I had spoken up in the briefing, I have had an 'experience' of an alternate reality. I hadn't gone into the details though. It body or a mind switch as it were, both myself, Commander Letsul, and also my husband experienced that. There were others on that away mission. This information though I am speaking of has been marked as confidential. I am letting you know of this as I feel that you needed to know."

Jack nodded that he understood the words spoken would never leave this room. "Go on... What do you mean body or mind switch? It is my understanding that in the mirror there could be people just like us who have made different decisions and grown with different circumstances. We already know that we are going to meet Jack Patton, and that he apparently works for a group that is rebelling against the Empire. From what I have learned about the Empire, I can say that on that fact alone I like that Jack already."

"Back on the other station that Commander Letsul and I served on, long before she became an admiral, an ancient way station appeared. Now we hadn't gone to investigate it yet, but we did fly by it and got a look at it. Then next morning we woke up, not in our bodies but, in another reality in bodies that were familiar but not ours. There was a brief brushing of the minds and we were able to tap into what the other person's history was. My counterpart, she didn't have a happy life and she had be hunted down on 'prime' universe and sedated as she didn't want to go back to her unhappy past. I will say this, that Brina was a heck of a fighter pilot."

Brina got a bit of a smile with his comment about his mirror universe Jack. "Well, it will be very interesting to meet him. I wonder if he's met my counterpart, if she is alive. And I am wondering if Commander Letsul has a counterpart and if so... what would she be like? And would she have the same abilities as the one in our Universe? The other Letsul in that other universe I mentioned, she didn't really have developed psionics. It fact she was downright scary." Brina giving a slight shudder in her remembrance.

Jack absorbed all that she had said. He was not ready to admit it, but the concept of universe hopping and time travel presented a interesting and unique challenge to Jack for the future. He would now have to strategize and plan for an eventual incursion. "Have you told Thorrin about this. I am sure that all of that falls right into his wheelhouse. In terms of any other versions of us. I tend to subscribe to what Adira said in the briefing. They are not so much mirrors as they are people who made different decisions, and faced different challenges. That said I am intensely curious to see if some of the Kingsmen are together and what the unit must be like." Something within him was a afraid of that concept, The Kingsmen in the Mirror would be something for anyone to fear, and Patton was afraid of that idea.

"You are the first person outside of the little group, that I have said anything to. And the only reason why I mentioned this to you, is due to the circumstances we are facing. This is what I term, a need to know basis. And also I have a lot of trust in you, Colonel Patton. Sometime I will speak to Thorrin, when the time is right but I don't know when that will be unless you think I should speak to him on this mission."

Jack laughed as the thought of playing Thorrin's own game against him occurred to the Marine. "The Captain of this vessel tends to share information when or if it is needed. Perhaps we should give him a taste of that medicine. If it becomes pertinent or critical to our mission then by all means tell him. If it is not then he can learn about it when you are ready... Trust is a good thing. A Marine is nothing without their unit and that reliance can only exist with trust... Oh, and its Jack or BlackJack if you like in private. Save the ranks for when people are watching." Jack loved that he was promoted but the weight of the silver oak leaf seemed to get heavier and heavier with every day.

Brina raised her eyebrows, "Okay, Jack it is" she almost added, until she was in the doghouse again, but she didn't. "Well, I will keep quiet about it, until the timing is right." giving a chuckle. "Well I had better be on my way back to my quarters, thanks for talking with me Jack."

"It is what family is for Songbird. We took an oath, and in the Kingsmen we don't take those oaths lightly. Enjoy your night, for something tells me we are all going to need our sleep." Jack replied with a smile.

Brina rose from the chair, giving Jack a bit of a smile. "We'll be busy and I hope this works out. Goodnight Jack and pleasant dreams." with that Brina left Jack's quarters, feeling somewhat relieved and in another aspect, still unsettled.

---

Lieutenant Colonel Jack "BlackJack" Patton
Commanding Officer, The Kingsmen
Poseidon Strategic Command
Poseidon Station

Marine Captain Brina Tracy-Hall
Executive officer, The Kingsmen
Poseidon Station

 

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