TEST DRIVE #6 - The Bridge and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprise's off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...





Option 02. The Bridge: Well, aren't you a lucky duck? You've found yourself in hallowed quarters. Wherever you were before, you're not there anymore. Now you're in a room that could be some kind of command center or control room; there's a captain's chair flanked by seats for his chief officers, computer panels and stations at each interior wall, and before you a broad viewscreen that shows the wide expanse of space rushing towards you. Have you ever wanted to be a starship captain for a day? Well, here's your chance. Feel free to roam around, but try not to touch anything shiny.


[OOC: The Bridge isn't usually available for in-game posts, so if you've ever wanted to play there, here's your chance!]

Comments

[intendant]

It doesn't take a second glance to know that this isn't her Julian. Not that, necessarily, she would call him hers. He had been fun to antagonize, of course, a spot of entertainment through her treatment at his hands, and he would make a fun toy in the future, when she could get her hands on him. 'When,' not 'if,' because she would pay him back in kind for his attentions during her stay with the rebels.

But this- this isn't that Julian. Not with that uniform, that sharp look to him, the backstep and curse. Oh no, this is something far more entertaining. Especially considering what he owes her.

"Well look what we have here. Julian, it's been so long since we last met. What a pleasant surprise."

[asklepian]

"I wasn't aware we were on a first-name basis," he shoots back, squaring his shoulders, facing her directly. He's a long way from the afraid and mostly alone young man he had been the last time they met, and he refuses to be intimidated, even if the last thing she'd tried to do to him was have him tortured and executed on the Promenade alongside that universe's Chief O'Brien.

Right now, she was the outsider, not him. He had all the advantages, the only thing she could do to him was try to play her mind games. The only threat she posed to him was with a phaser.

He wasn't about to allow himself to be toyed with again.

[intendant]

"We weren't, but I make it a rule to never forget the name of someone in my debt," she answered easily, her tone confident, indulgent. Her eyes bright, with a look that spoke of wickedness and remembrance. "The terms that we parted on? What you took with you when you left my station? Now how could I forget that?"

Her tinkerer. Her Benjamin. Her self. Losses that had led to an eventual rebellion, losses that had led to far too many other losses. Oh no, Kira Nerys' little friend had cost her dearly. Too dearly. And now- here he was! Gift wrapped for her, practically, on a beautiful ship on the other side that she had already decided to take for her own, in time.

"Shouldn't this reunion be cause for celebration?"

[asklepian]

Julian refuses to be cowed. Even if staring down the Intendant felt like staring down a cobra--he'd just need to be Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

"I owe you nothing." He's not going to clarify that, not going to give her the satisfaction. He has to know that Kira was still out there, fighting for her freedom--or in his own timeline, working herself too hard to make sure that everything on the station ran perfectly.

He needed to warn Captain Picard of more than the potential trouble having Jadzia and Ezri in one place could cause, it seems.

Julian raises his chin--looks her squarely in the eye. Terrans aren't slaves here--this is his home--and there is nothing he fears from her.

"Considering how we parted, no, I don't think it should."

[intendant]

Keep telling yourself that, Julian. That there's nothing to fear from her. She's never wanted to be feared. But she will be respected, and she will exact payment from those that are in her debt. And Julian Bashir- both Julian Bashirs- is severely in her debt, whether he chooses to realize it or not.

So she grins at him, letting his comment slide by. He need not acknowledge his debt. She knows of it, and that's all that matters. What she needs from him is;

"Oh come now, Julian. It worked out well for you, didn't it? You came to my side, learned all about us. Made a new friend, learned a new trade. Interfered in events that had nothing to do with you or your world. Incited good people into rebellion- a rebellion that has lead countless people to their deaths. And then you returned home! How could you be upset about that?"

[asklepian]

He's not about to do that either. And he still owes you nothing--either for himself or for the other him.

"I'm not," he said, flatly. The rebellion would have happened, with or without his and Major Kira's interference. He knows Human nature--he is one. No group of Humans have ever done well being subjugated.

The comment about learning a new trade very nearly has him spluttering in indignation--in some partitioned area of his mind, he is.

"If you think that the rebellion wasn't a good long time in the making, you're completely blind."

[intendant]

"And here I thought you said you were- what was it again?" She pauses, as if searching for the word. Oh she remembers quite perfectly, how could she forget? But where's the fun in being straightforward about it? "A doctor, wasn't it? And you're not upset about having all those needless deaths on your hands? Your hands are red with the blood of many, including your very own people. You must be very heartless."

There's an arched eyebrow for him, and behind the casual amusement that shines in her eyes is something much darker. But it flickers and is gone, buried or lost, it's hard to tell, especially as she laughs clearly, continuing;

"I should have suspected that, you know. Your counterpart, on my side, is just as heartless. He's very fond of torture- although he's not very good at it. I wonder if you would be."

[asklepian]

He prefers to think of it as pragmatism, thank you very much. He simply raises an eyebrow right back--he knows she's trying to get a rise out of him. She wants to make him angry and thoughtless.

Would he be good at torture? Oh, probably. He was good at many things he put his mind to. But that wasn't about to be one of them.

"I know what you're trying to do. It's not going to work," he says, voice cool. She wants power over him. Damned if he's going to give it to her--give her any advantage.