Darwin Takes a Holiday

Posted on Sat Mar 12th, 2016 @ 11:34pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & Ensign Ian Bren & Ignatius Reilly
Edited on on Mon Mar 14th, 2016 @ 7:05pm

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Galileo Science Center / Archadia

Shortly after Sakkath’s memorial service, and after he’d expressed his condolences to Li and her family one more time, and chatted with the Admiral briefly, Darwin retreated to his own quarters and made plans for his vacation. He had the option of taking Edana with him; for now, he didn’t take that option. Instead, he sent her a message telling her that he’d be out of comm range, most likely, for a few days, but would see her towards the end of his vacation.

He packed lightly - actually, he didn’t pack at all, he simply dressed casually, for him this meant slacks and a silk shirt instead of his uniform, and headed for the transporters. Along the way, he stopped by Sciences to see Ignatius. Ian Bren, smiling coyly, took him into the Entomology lab and called out, “Iggy! You have an admirer present!” He smiled broadly at Darwin, flirting without saying a word.

Do I? Oh! I do, I do! Darwin, how are you? Ignatius rose from her self-induced stupor and put her front legs on the glass. In rapid-fire Iggy fashion, she started chatting at the two men, I am so happy to see you. Well, I saw you at the memorial, but Ian hushed me and told me not to draw attention, so I stayed silent, well, fairly quiet, for the most part, and oh, my, that was so hard to do! Pick me up, Darwin! How are you? Have you been alright? I heard from Oralia that you have not been yourself lately and that you slept with Li. That was good of you - you comforted her, did you not? I am sure you did. If I were a biped, I would have done the same. As close as I can come is offering my condolences, though I am not quite sure what those are or when I got them, but Li thanked me for them. So did Admiral Hawke and the Big Kahuna. The BK offered me a sip of his beer. It was rather hoppy; I find that I like malty beers over hoppy, but, really, either works just fine and quenches the thirst nicely. Oralia offered me wine. I am not so sure I like wine... Look, it stained my hair. And there was a new fellow at the service - a Maxym? He has links to Reva, did you know that? I miss Reva and Ian tells me that she is terribly upset at having missed my return from being a Borg. He says she wanted to help. I look forward to her returning. So does her mate, Riley. According to Maxym, Reva’s father and grandmother are here; they were not at the memorial, though. I gathered from his memories that the grandmother is not very pleasant, to put it mildly - that is how his thought classified her, ‘not very pleasant’. It is an interesting phrase, is it not? Darwin, you are so quiet? Are you feeling well? Ian? Is Darwin okay? Speak to me, Darwin!

She’d have chattered on but both Ian and Darwin started laughing. Darwin had picked her up in the middle of her chatter and now managed to get in a word edgewise, “Iggs, I’d have talked, but you were holding court rather nicely all by yourself. Shh... wait... I stopped by because I’m heading to Archadia for a while. We’re going to miss our movie night, so I apologize for that. Next month, we’ll have two movie nights to make up for it, okay?”

No movie night?, Iggy practically wailed in disappointment. I so look forward to our movie nights, Darwin. The beer, the insects, the movies... what was this month’s selection going to be?

“Ah....” His original pick had been “Ice Spider”, but, considering the ice planet adventure, that was now off the table. “I hadn’t picked one yet, actually. But we’ll think about it when I get back, okay?”

Okay. I accept that proposal.

Ignatius seemed about to launch into another fast paced monologue, so Darwin interrupted her, “Okay, I’m heading to Archadia and I’ll see you in a week or so.” He stroked her back, feeling where the nanites had repaired her exoskeleton with small metallic plugs, before putting her back in her terrarium. “I see Jerry is here, too. Have fun, but not too much fun with him.”

I have been having fun, as you say. I bit him and injected him with nanites earlier. I am interested in whether they will help him evolve, she said, calmly, sounding almost like a scientist.

Ian shrieked, “You WHAT?? Oh my god... um... hah! Oh this is bad!”

Trying not to laugh, knowing that the situation wasn’t actually funny, Darwin said, “Okay, now that that’s on the table, Iggy, Ian, I’m leaving. Bye.” He turned and left, leaving Ian freaking out about Jerry and pulling the male tarantula out of Ignatius’ enclosure to scan him.

Further on, almost to the transporters, Gilroy caught up with Darwin. “Figured you might head out tonight. Where will you be?”

Darwin eyed Gilroy and shook his head. “Oh no, if I tell you, I may as well take a holodeck vacation since you’ll be keeping an eye on me and liable to appear at any moment. Where I’m going is under strict confidence.”

“Huh. Fine,” Gilroy nodded. “Look, enjoy your time off.”

Darwin stopped walking and turned to look at Gilroy; he turned suddenly serious. “I’m sorry you drew the short straw, Gilroy.” He held up a hand and shook his head, “Not in getting a vacation; you can take one next month. But in going after Oralia, encountering the Borg and... seeing what you saw.” He knew Gilroy had witnessed Sakkath being shot and carried guilt from not having been able to stop it. Suddenly he hugged the big guy, surprising both of them. “See you in a week or so.”

Unused to being hugged by his best male friend and coworker, Gilroy nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. See you then. Training sim when you get back.”

Darwin rolled his eyes but nodded and smiled. “Yeah, yeah. Can we do the train robbery? That’s a good team builder.”

Gilroy nodded and stayed put while Darwin headed off for the transporter.

* Archadia *

Darwin let his head drop back on the pillow and sighed. He’d been trying to sleep for over an hour now. Physically, the doctors said he was fine, but he felt exhausted - it was all mental. He looked forward to his time away from everyone else. For the moment, though, with sleep not coming, debated continuing to try for sleep or giving up and going out for a drink. He had just this one night till his boat was ready; in the morning, he’d finish provisioning it and set out for a string of remote islands.

Days of quiet solitude faced him; he grinned and stood, deciding to have some companionship tonight - one last reminder of why he wanted to be away from people. He went out and wandered till he found himself outside of a bar called Marsey’s; from the name of the facility and its proximity to a brothel, he could guess who the owners were. He went in and took a seat near a wall. A server came around and asked his preference. He ordered a bourbon, chilled but neat, and sat back, appreciating the comfortable vibe in the place. The music wasn’t loud, the chair was leather, soft and deep, the table was a comfortable height; once his drink came, it was easy to slowly turn the glass, letting the bourbon warm slightly before he sipped it.

Several minutes passed, letting him sip the bourbon half-way down before someone approached him. Darwin smiled and nodded, “Have a seat. Let’s talk.”

“Gladly. Station personnel, I can tell. They don’t make men like you down here. We sure do appreciate men like you down here, though.” The look Darwin got was assessing and covetous. “Anything I could do to make your night better than it has been?”

Darwin chuckled and shook his head. “There’s no need to talk so much, for one.”

A brow rose and a smile spread. “I see... a man of few words. I can work with that.”

“Good... I’d rather be a bit passive tonight,” Darwin admitted and sipped his drink.

“Passive but unrushed? Or passive and hurried?”

Darwin thought about that. “We can do both,” he finally said, nodding, “And I probably won’t stay passive.”

“So noted. Is this what you want?”

Darwin leaned forward slightly and eyed what his companion was showing him. His brow rose and he finished his bourbon quickly. “Absolutely,” he nodded and signaled for his bill. Paying it, he stood. “I have a hotel room nearby and I’m shipping out tomorrow morning. We have till then.”

“Mmmm, yum, I do so love you sailors,” Darwin’s companion grinned and stood as well.

Laughing slightly, Darwin nodded and directed the man out of the bar.

*******
Lt. Cmdr. M. Darwin
Lt. Cmdr. Gilroy
Ignatius J. Reilly-Zeferino
Ensign Ian Bren