Of Two Minds

Posted on Fri Oct 5th, 2018 @ 5:46pm by Lieutenant JG Jaya Maera Garlake & Lieutenant Colonel Storr Garlake

1,433 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: S1E2: Half Past Dead
Location: Memory Theta (Overwatch), Deck 8, Commandant's Quarters
Timeline: MD 2; 2200

Storr sat in the overstuffed tufted leather chair, staring at the far wall and its picture of the Ponte tower. Classical architecture was a close second to nature in the man's artistic rankings and he couldn't help but feel a deep tug of his roots due to the subject's location. The building had been both a crowning achievement of his people's handiwork and a forgotten husk in the troubles that followed in the Eugenic's Wars. It stood now as a hologram in downtown Johannesburg, not an original stone left atop another as a reminder of the glory of days past, a rallying point for the people of South Africa, and a reminder as to the darker forces that belied an artificial (rather than a real) object in the skyline.

The Commandant's reflective thoughts suddenly swirled and livened, leaving their introspection and adopting hues of deep blues and sensual purples while lilting and seductive melodies tickled his ears. A warmth began radiating from his shoulder that spoke of attraction and desire barely repressed which was quickly countered with emotional (and physical) reactions. Lt Col Garlake brought his hand up and placed it over Jaya's, looking up from his seat into her infinitely deep eyes. He could get lost in there (and nearly had, several times) and smiled; her entrance was quiet and her outfit...suggestive.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Vrou?

Jaya slid her head to one side to emphasize her bare neck and shoulder. "Owe? Pleasure? My, my. Your empathic senses are definitely on the rise." She slid one hand across his neck before grasping his shoulder. Her other hand settled opposite, and together they worked away tension to fan the flame of desire. "You're troubled, though." Her ministrations coupled with her own empathic acumen to unlock the strongbox that was her husband's heart and soul. She wanted him. Just him. And, at the moment, if there was a third wheel in his mind, there was a multitude.

Jaya would not suffer distractions. Not if she wanted this monogamy thing to last.

"You wanna' talk about it?"

Garlake's satisfied sigh at her initial touch and playful banter was cut short as his brow furrowed as demeanor followed his lips' downward trajectory. "It's Mrazak. Akiva asked me to lead the Article 15 investigation into his...frankly embarrassing and sadistic treatment of two junior officers during the last mission brief." Storr's fingers began to strum on the chair's armrest as he continued, deeper in thought. "I've been a part of my fair share of discipline in the Corp but this feels...different, in all the bad ways."

Jaya faltered in her massaging for an instant at the mention of Mrazak. That Vulcan reminded her so much of...of...

"He's not Saalkan," she said absently. It was but a moment that her equanimous serenity had shaken. She forced peaceful feelings to surround her, chasing away cold night terrors like a warm blanket.

"Why does Akiva need your help?" Her deft fingers continued massaging, though their circular motions were more teasing now than soothing.

The mention of the madman's name caused Storr's neck to flex, albeit momentarily thanks to Jaya's deft touch. "No, thankfully he's not." His left hand reached out to the side table and grasped the sweating cut crystal glass and swallowed the remaining amber fire in one gulp, his eyes burning for a moment in pleasurable pain.

"He needs my help because frankly, it's my job and falls squarely in my wheelhouse. That, and...I don't think that Akiva has the stomach for it, honestly. I've seen him have to look at evil in the face and if I can keep my friend from it, from what it makes him...then I will." He leaned back, glass still in hand and closed his eyes as the Deltan's fingers began slowly massaging his scalp, a soft moan easily elicited.

"You are quite an unstoppable force." Jaya allowed herself a chuckle as she recalled the time Acting Captain Akiva tried to relieve himself of duty after some rather harsh command decisions. "Akiva is lucky to have you." She leaned down to kiss him on the neck. "As am I."

She paused before adding, "But what of Mrazak? If there's an immovable object around here, he would seem to be it."

"He would," Storr retorted. "I'm afraid, though, of what I might find and what...I might have to do." Wait, who was he kidding? This was to be a simple administrative investigation, nothing more.

"Like what?" the lilting voice asked with the reverberation of echoing crystal.

"Like shoot him in the face, like I did the previous Facility Administrator!" Storr bellowed at Jaya's begged question, his body jerking upright in the chair and his breathing coming in heaving gasps. Looking around, the room re-focused like a tunnel and he was stunned momentarily by the look on his beloved's face as she had not asked the question he thought he heard. Garlake groaned and flopped back into the seat, his palms pressing into his eyes which shot in white fireworks of protest.

"I'm sorry motjie, I...suppose I didn't give you the full story of my arrival here, did I?" He chuckled darkly. "Then again, I suppose you just got the abbreviated version."

Jaya crossed her arms across her chest and arched her brow. "I should think I'd remember a tale as sordid as that." She regarded him with a keener look than before. Her womanly wiles collapsed quickly and cleanly into a clerical and therapeutic disposition. "I don't doubt it was justified. But I wonder that you do."

That wasn't all she wondered, but it would do for a start.

Storr sighed. "You know...can't we just start over? I liked where this was going previously." After a few beats of no reply, he shook his head as he rolled over on one shoulder to look up at his bride. "Alright, quick elevator pitch: He had a device that held the station in his thrall. I had to feign compliance to get close enough. The only way to disrupt the tech was to...violently end his life."

Garlake rolled back over in the chair as he spoke towards the far wall. "Now we have a murderer in charge of an investigation of a sadist. Sounds like a barrel of laughs...what could possibly go wrong?"

"Murderer?" Jaya favored him with a coy smirk cast through a sidelong look. Men. Such silly creatures. Fortunately, the Universe provided a solution, and her name is Woman. "Is that what humans call someone who puts down a mutiny?" She slid her legs over him in a mounted straddle. "Sounds more like a hero to me." Her voice dropped to a husky breath just over a whisper. "My war hero." She played with the hair on his temples, twirling the short stubs with her fingertips. Soothing empathic energies flared from her nervous system to his. "I think you're just the man for the job. Nobody is braver." Her lips brushed against his ear for the faintest of whispers. "Or stronger." She circled the end of his nose with her own before leaning into his other ear. "Or more honorable."
After a playful nip on the lobe of his ear, she shifted backward to look him full in the face. "So are you going to take me or do I need to submit an order in writing?"

Storr wrapped his arms around the nubile form on his lap with a smirk, his self-confidence and virility caught up in a mutual accession...while he knew that some of it was his wiley wife's pheromones and the mutual emotional bond they shared, he also knew now how Eve was so able to overcome Adam with the fruit. "It's a good thing, too, with all this evil afoot in the station...what would a little woman like you do all on her lonesome?" He chuckled at her finishing jibe, arms akimbo and for all the world looking as if to play the stilted wife. He was onto her game. "While I would love to see that form, I think a verbal authorization is good enough for me."

With that, he summarily scooped the Deltan up in his arms and bore her towards the bedroom, her soft, playful squeak hastening his steps. His last lucid thoughts as he crossed into the dimmed room was how could he have expected to survive this assignment without her...

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