Reaper: Scenes From A Memory

Stardate: 20531.2349
Title: Scenes From A Memory
Author: Nelson Reaper
Time: After "The Yin and the Yang"
Scene: Auxiliary Control, Bridge

"Well well... long time no see, Blue." Nelson looked long at the woman before him, and did not try to hide the predatory accents in his voice. "Ever since that night at the bar... what was it? Omar's... of course." He undid her gag.

"So good to see you, Sonny. Who would've known you'd make it so far," she looked around her, presenting the ship with her eyes, "...Captain."

"That was a long time ago," Nelson replied simply.

"But the best time in your life... or so you said to me once," Blue answered snidely.

Nelson laughed out loud and moved directly in front of her, sitting on a fallen chunk of desk before her. "Fifteen years, and you still haven't changed. Still the same sweet Blue. How is it we meet again here? It's a shame, you know. It could have been so much better."

"It still could be, Sonny. Chances are that bug you let loose will take out all but our shapeshifter within 24 hours. The ship is yours, if not now then very soon. Just mosy them all over to the nearest starbase for questioning, and I'll escape with my ship... no harm done."

Nelson shook his head and smiled. "Now Blue, you know any other Starfleet captain wouldn't even take the time to talk to you."

"But you're not just any Starfleet captain, are you? You and I... we're special."

"WERE special, Blue. Sophomore summer off from the Academy was definitely a time to remember, and those eight long weeks in San Diego I'll never forget. But that was a different time... a simpler time."

"We were both a lot younger then," Blue said, seeming far away. She shook her head and looked at Nelson. "You have to believe I never meant for it to end that way. That night at Omar's was... I dont' know. I never really figured out why I left like that. It never would have worked anyway."

"It doesn't matter anymore. I moved on because I had to, I wanted to. I had so much to do then. We had different places to go."

Suddenly, Nelson saw just out of his peripheral vision as Blue's hands came out from behind her and reached for the weapon of one of her fallen comrades. The bond of sincerity that had seemingly been forged suddenly came apart as Nelson realized she'd probably meant to kill him all along. She raised the weapon-- he knew it would stop at his chest. He instinctively drew his own phaser and fired nearly point blank. She did manage to pull off the shot, but it just missed his shoulder and hit somewhere behind him.

The look of pain on Blue's face was matched in intensity by the look of betrayal on Nelson's. She dropped the weapon and fell against the bulkhead. She opened her eyes slowly and looked... but not at Nelson, behind him, just over his shoulder. She smiled as if satisfied, and visibly surrendered to her injuries.

Nelson turned around just in time to avoid being fallen on by the body of a man. It was the pirate captain, Ratagan, and he'd been weilding a knife meant for Nelson. It fell on the deckplate with a thump, and was immediately covered with his corpse. The telltale mark of a secondary phaser burn on the center of his back meant Blue's aim had been true. She hadn't betrayed him, she'd saved his life.

Nelson turned and dropped the phaser, and reached for Blue.

"Sonny..." she coughed up black blood. "In the hold of my ship... they are there for you. All along... I saved them, for you."

And then she was dead.

Captain Nelson Reaper
Commander
USS Carpathia
NCC-17499