Heart to Heart

Posted on Tuesday, 5 July 2022 - 4:42pm by Lieutenant JG Hayashi Hamura & Ensign Oriana Skye Sety

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Sweet Spot of USS Standing Bear + Various
Timeline: 2396

ON:

After the meeting with the new Engineer and the CO Hamura was obviously in no mood. They rushed out of the meeting room and hurried off the bridge.

Oriana who’d turned to see Hamura rush out stood and watched as the lift doors closed. Something wasn’t right. She sighed and sat down hard. She was still on shift and couldn’t leave but she was worried.

The hours of her shift passed agonizingly slow and when the clock told her it was time to leave, she shut down her station and hurried as if the hounds of hell were on her heels. She called to the computer to find out Hamura’s location and wasn’t too surprised that they were in Engineering.

She hurried that way not stopping to change. The tension radiated off Hamura when they left the briefing room.

It didn’t take long for her to get to the location. “So, this is where you hang out when you’re upset,” she said struggling through the small port entrance.

Hamura looked down. “Crap, I forgot to turn off my locator.” Hamura signed. “So, you found me.”

She smiled, “Indeed.” The room, a typical slate grey was the center of the ship, the 0 G spot where one could float freely. “How did you find this place?”

“One of the former Engineers, Eyelaya, used to come and think here. I read her logs.” They did a little spin on the ceiling. Hamura pointed. “Can you stand over there?”

Oriana raised an eyebrow. “Why? I think I’m fine right here.”

“Come on Ori.”

She sighed. “Alright.” She moved to where Hamura had pointed to and as soon as she hit the spot she felt pulled up towards the ceiling. She gave a little shriek of surprise and closed her eyes.

She waited to hit the ceiling but instead felt two steady hands on her shoulder.

“I got you.”

She opened her eyes to be face to face with Hamura. It was in this position, this close to them that they saw the raw pain that was in their eyes and perhaps a little panic. Forgetting her own feelings, especially about floating and heights. She raised her hands and gently cupped Hamura’s face. “Hayashi…what happened?”

Hamura let out a shuddered breath. “They’re taking Engineering away from me.” Their hands gently traced down her arms and then wrapped around her waist. Hamura put their head on her shoulder and Oriana wrapped her arms around them.

“Oh Haya, I’m so sorry.”

“Ops…out of all the places ops.”

Oriana gently stroked their back. “It’s going to be alright. You’re going to make an amazing Ops officer.”

Hamura pulled back looking into her eyes. “I don’t think I can do this…I don’t think I can stay here. I’m an Engineer, not an Ops officer. I …” Their voice broke. “I can’t.”

She felt their pain right down to her core. She knew what Engineering meant to them and she knew how much this was hurting them. “Haya I’m so sorry.” It was all that she could say. She knew that it would take time and her own mind reeled at the thought that Hayashi would leave the Bear. She knew them well enough to know that it wasn’t an empty threat.

Engineering was their life and now it was taken from them. In that instant she felt helpless and a little ashamed that she was thinking of ways to make them stay because they had become a big part of her life and she couldn’t imagine her life without Hamura.

Hamura looked up meeting her eyes.

“Haya, I know I can’t do anything to change this but…please don’t leave the Bear. Please don’t leave me. I need you here with me.”

Hamura gently put their forehead against hers. “There is so much we have to talk about, so much we’ve avoided talking about isn’t there.”

She gave a nod not trusting herself to speak in the moment.

Hamura sighed. “Alright. Let’s get down from here. How about dinner in an hour, my quarters, and we can talk.”

Oriana gave a nod.

Hamura gently steered them to a half way point where gravity just started to take it’s hold and slowly, they floated down to the ground touching down gently as if they were mere feathers.

Oriana held onto Hamura for a moment longer and slowly pulled away. They left the area and found themselves by the turbo lift standing in silence. The weight of all that had to be discussed sat on their shoulders.

As the doors parted and they entered Oriana let out a heavy breath. “This will be a long night, won’t it?”

Hamura tried for a smile. “Yeah. I’ll see you in an hour?”

She gave a nod and watched as Hamura excited on the next stop. She proceeded to her quarters needing the time to get ready. She took a sonic shower, changed into tights and a t-shirt and took a moment to center herself the way that Soral had shown her.

She had a knot in her stomach that would not go away. This had been a long time coming, this conversation and with all else that was going on perhaps it wasn’t time but if one put things off then they would never happen.

Once she was feeling a little more secure, she headed out. The new layout of the ship was interesting to her. It wasn’t much bigger than the previous ship but still there was more room. She wondered how all this would play out. Would Starfleet learn from this ship and start building many like her? It was odd all the thoughts that ran through her head. Perhaps her brain trying to delay thinking about the evening ahead and what she and Hamura had to talk about.

She knew for a fact that there would not be much sleep tonight.

“Well, there’s always coffee.” She mumbled as she entered the lift and gave her destination.

The ride seemed to drag but was in reality only a short one. When she was heading down the hall to Hamura’s quarters she found that the knot in her stomach was starting to release. Maybe this was her body’s way of saying a burden of the unsaid would be lifted tonight. This could all turn out to be a positive experience.

To be Continued…

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