Character Background - Just Like That, Part 1
Posted on Sat Nov 9th, 2013 @ 9:34am by Lieutenant Augustus Deakin
Mission:
Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Hopevale, Hesperia
[ON]
The pub was quiet even for a Tuesday night and that suited him just fine. It was freezing outside, with a chill wind and a threat of snow. That probably explained why there were only four others in there, not counting the barkeeper. None of them were anywhere near him as he settled into the shady booth at the end, the farthest one from the entrance.
Kipper, the barkeeper and owner of this establishment, had fixed him up with a bottle of Chvias Regal and a glass. It was bloody rare outside of Earth let alone outside the Federation and it was bloody good scotch. He planned to get drunk tonight; he may not have another chance.
“You’re a legend, Kipper,” he had said.
“I save the best for you, Gus,” the ruddy publican had replied as he meandered back behind the bar, grabbing a few empty glasses along the way.
After about ten minutes, the door opened and in walked a face from Gus’s past. Not his recent past, either, but way back in what was really a previous life. The tall Trill with short black hair walked with an air of authority to the bar and started talking with Kipper. He was asking questions and Kipper clearly wasn't giving him the answers he wanted – good man.
The barkeeper’s obfuscating didn't seem to deter the Trill, though. He shook his head and looked around the pub, his eyes scanning each individual in there until they settled on the hairy, badly-dressed wreck of a human being in the far booth. He had his target.
Dammit, Gus thought as the Trill approached.
“Gus Deakin?” he asked as though he couldn't quite believe it.
Gus shook his head in disbelief, “You know it is, Zee,” he said, using the old nickname he knew him by all those years ago. “No sense in pretending otherwise. Have a seat. Do you want a drink?”
Zee, whose name was Azan Pytaan, sat down but shook his head at the offer of a drink. “What the hell are you doing in a place like this, man?” he asked, leaning in close as he spoke.
Gus shrugged and smiled through his dishevelled beard. “A place like this; a guy like me. We just kind of fit.”
“Not the guy we all knew and loved back on the Discovery,” Pytaan said, sitting back. “What are you doing here, Gus?”
“A better question, Zee, is what are you doing here?” Gus said, pausing to take a sip of the whisky. “Starfleet officers tend to stand out when they come to Hesperia. We’re not in Federation space and the people here are usually here for just that reason. So ... what are you doing here, Commander?”
Pytaan looked around the pub again, his body language acknowledging that Gus was right and that just by being here he was putting himself in danger. There must have been a good reason, Gus surmised.
“I heard you were with Starfleet Intelligence now,” Gus added after he didn’t reply straight away. “Would that have something to do with why you’re here?”
The Trill nodded, “It has everything to do with why I’m here, Gus,” he said, leaning in close again. “You’re in great danger. I want to get you off this planet and out of here.”
“Just like that, huh? And why would I want to leave this winter wonderland?” Gus said, ignoring the first part of what he said; he knew he was in danger. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be in Kipper’s pub trying to get drunk.
“The Red Dogs are moving in,” Pytaan insisted. “They are going to take down Telan and you with him and if you don’t come with me there’s a very good chance that this time tomorrow you’ll be dead.”
Gus took another sip of his drink and let the silence linger, he was fond of silence and used it whenever he could in conversations. “I know,” he said eventually before taking another drink. “That’s why I’m here.”
“So let me get you out of here,” Pytaan said. “I can extract you right now, if you’ll come with me. I have a ship in low orbit that will take us back to the Federation.” This time Pytaan used a pause and Gus could feel him watching him while that sunk in, no doubt waiting for some subtle sign that he was getting through.
For a short time, Gus was tempted. Of course he didn’t want to die – who does? But this is where he belonged now and if Telan was going down, he should go down with him. Shouldn’t he? What was there for him back in the Federation? Nothing, that’s what. Besides, he and Telan had been in worse predicaments and come out stronger. There was still an even chance that they would get through this.
He had left Federation space about five years ago and worked all kinds of jobs, none of them that would be considered legal back in Fed-space. In fact, there was every chance that as soon as he crossed back into the Federation, he’d find himself arrested and locked away at some penal colony for the next fifteen years. That might not be such a bad thing, actually. A lot fewer Nausicaans in a Federation prison.
He downed the remainder of his glass and started pouring another. “I’d love nothing more than to go back with you and magically pick up where I left off. Hell, I’ve thought about it plenty of times. But there’s nothing for me back there, Zee,” he said, replacing the cap. “You know that.”
“That’s rubbish,” the Trill said immediately. “There is plenty for you back there. I know you miss Emily, we all do. But would she want you out here looking like hell and dealing with devils like this?”
“Of course not!” Gus snapped. “But she’s dead! And with her, my life ended. If I die tomorrow, it will only mean I’ve finally caught up to when I really died back there on Ja’Hran VI.”
Pytaan’s shoulders slumped. He almost looked like he was giving up, but Gus knew him too well. He wasn’t the type to give up. That expression was his ‘I need to regroup and come up with another plan’ face. Though the first attempt was now clearly over, there would be a second, maybe a third and if need be, a fourth.
“Have a drink with me,” Gus said, waving for Kipper to bring another glass. “Let’s reminisce like old men while your brain figures out another argument to convince me off this rock. You can pick up where you left off in the morning.”
The Trill smiled and accepted the glass. “Man, have I missed you.”
END OF PART 1
[OFF]
Augustus Deakin
Civilian
&
Commander Azan Pytaan [NPC: Deakin]
Starfleet Intelligence
