The ABCs of a Poison Arrow

Posted on Sunday June 24th, 2018 @ 3:04pm by Major Andrew Weaver

3,112 words; about a 16 minute read

Location: A table in the far end of the lounge of the DFS Lavie, currently en route to a safe haven.

It had been several hours since he had fallen into a very fitful sleep in the arms of Hitomi, the news of what fully had transpired between her and Seleni still echoing through his brain along with the thought of what the living warship had done still weighed heavily in the thoughts of the time tossed man as he took a sip from his mug as he watched from the privacy of the back of the room.

Question upon question heaped themselves upon his weary head such as did Seleni care about the fact how it would affect not only his and Hitomi’s relationship but her own budding relationship with Hitomi by forcing her to carry a child, did Hitomi really not understand that it was not only possible but with the kind of technology that could create a living warship could do such a thing, why didn’t Hitomi care enough to even verify the data of it even being possible, would Hitomi confront her other lover about what she did, was this an attempt by Seleni to make Hitomi solely hers, did Hitomi actually still want to be with him or this was her way of trying to force him to leave her, and so many...many others.

One of those thoughts-if Hitomi still want to be with him or was this her way of trying to force him-was met with the counter thought and memory of her quickly grasping his metal hand and gripping it for dear life like he was the only thing keeping her from drowning as he saw both the love for him *AND* the fear of losing him in those eyes...but that didn’t change the fact that his heart hurt and while his trust in Hitomi had been shaken, his trust in Seleni was completely destroyed and he had been looking forward to living with Hitomi on the other ship, just the two of them and everything would be fine...but Seleni had shattered that.

As he took a much stronger pull on his mug this time, the thought of how could just go and confront Seleni popped into his mind before it was suddenly shattered by the mental shout of “OH, LIKE IT WORKED SO GREAT THE LAST TIME!!!”......

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Flashback: 12-02-4557

Location: Terran Federation Military Penal Asteroid “Fort Leavenworth”, exact location <CLASSIFIED>

Newly minted Major Andrew J. Weaver walked through the corridors of one of the most secure military prisons in the entire Federation, escorted by two of his squad members and no less than four prison guards as they went deeper into the asteroid until they reached the Delta Block of cells and he was escorted into a particular room after handing over his weapons and a device was placed onto his right arm to keep it in a locked down status during the conversation to come.

After a few minutes of waiting, Andrew felt his rage rise highly in him as former Colonel Dwight Devereaux  walked into the room like he owned the place and was still his commanding officer because right when he saw Andrew standing there, he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the other man to come to attention and salute him like he hadn’t been stripped over everything.

“If you are waiting for me to salute you of all people, then you are very mistaken.” Andrew said plainly as he gave his former commanding officer a hard look.

“You have to, Captain Weaver, because no matter what I’m still your superior.” Devereaux said as he continued to wait for the other man to know his place and do what was expected of him.

But Andrew didn’t budge on the matter and simply shook his head, “You know it is that arrogance that landed you in this place with no family to speak of or chance to see the outside of this prison for the rest of time considering that you are serving six life sentences, one for the major that you murdered and the five for the marines that you gave up in order to set up Major Grayson.” he explained like he was talking to a child before motioning with his flesh and blood hand at the other man. “But what I don’t understand why you did all of that...you stole another man’s wife while you were married, force promoted her so that she could stay by your side, almost had a child with her while she believed that you only had eyes for her when in fact you were also seeing my future wife...so the question is why did you do that, destroy so many lives and dreams like that?”

Devereaux simply chuckled as he shook his head, “Because I’m from the core worlds, Captain Weaver, and because of that I have every right to do whatever is my right because of that, Lori understood that because her family comes from the core systems as well and she only married that Rimworld trash husband of hers because she didn’t know any better at the time and thank god she met me so that I could show her the...benefits of being with a superior man.” he said in a proud tone before adding in a confident tone “Talia surely agrees with me that I’m of a superior breed.”

If that was meant to bait him, Andrew didn’t care as he walked over to the colonel whose confidence slowly started to vanish from his face with every step that Andrew took towards him until finally he was within punching distance of the younger man and the arm that was supposed to be offline due to the device on it moved with a fluid ease to bring a single finger in front of Devereaux’s face. “That won’t work on me, Dwight, if you think that such a shallow attempt will force me to my knees and cause me to weep...no, it won’t because in the grander scheme of things you already killed my trust in her and any remaining love that I might have to Talia Madison.”

Devereaux blinked as he looked into the cold blue eyes of the older man as he visibly attempted to get out from under his gaze.

“Let me tell you what I think, Dwight. You think that you’re better than me because you’re from Jupiter, one of the oldest colonies that mankind has and because of it you think that you’re superior when in fact you are nothing more than a pathetic little worm of a man who forgets just exactly where I was born over two thousand years ago.” Andrew said in a harsh, flat tone.

“Yes, I know that you were born on Earth but you gave up that status to go and be a Manticorian rim rat…” Devereaux started to say when Andrew simply put the index finger of his metal hand into the middle of the ex-Colonel’s chest and started to push forward at which point Devereaux started to scream in sheer pain as his sternum was being pushed in!

“No...you don’t get to talk.” Andrew said as he then began to explain everything to his former commanding officer…

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A week later in the capital city of Asgard, New Alexandria, the door to a very lavish apartment slid open to allow the lithe and trim figure of Talia Madison strode into the living room portion of the large apartment, tossing her ID and what not onto the counter as she started to go through the living room when her mind noticed that something was out of place and drew her eyes to it.

Sitting in a chair in front of the large bay window was the last person that she expected to see right then and there which was Andrew. His dark hair, which had been kept short and neatly groomed before, was now longer and unchecked and his dark eyes glittered in the low light from the dying sun of the day.

The two didn’t say anything for a few seconds before Talia crossed her arms over her ample chest and simply asked “So, are you ready to talk then?”  

Andrew didn’t say a word or express any form of emotion for several moments before finally saying one thing:

“Why”

Talia blinked as her mind was hit by the realization of what he had said as it wasn’t said with the emotional weight that she’d been expecting all of this time, it was said in such a calm, flat, emotionless way that it actually shook her a little bit as she moved to sit down in front of him, carefully taking enough time to smooth out her black business skirt and making herself comfortable and forcing him to wait. “So, what exactly was the question again?” she asked in a bored sounding tone to which he simply said one thing again:

“Why.”

Talia slowly nodded, “Why what exactly? Why did I agree to marry you if I was also screwing your superior officer, why did I fall in love with you or why did I fall out of love with you, why did I stay with a serial cheater when I knew he was screwing that Grayson bitch on the side?” she asked in return, sounding even more bored before she looked over at him.

That’s when she noticed the biggest and most profound of the changes in him, something that actually caused a glaicar chill all the way down into her very bones and core as he simply fixed her with a look that asked the question again flatly instead of speaking.

Talia swallowed lightly before slowly nodding. “For the record, I didn’t ever fall out of love with you but I needed something more than your gentle caresses, Andrew.” she said, her tone betraying a faint hint of nervousness as she spoke. “Dwight simply took what he wanted and he *WANTED* me in ways that I wanted *YOU* to do with me. I wanted to be ravaged, to have a carefully made dinner swiped off the table with utter abandoned and my ass totally destroyed as I cried tears of pain and orgasm, I wanted that and so much more from you but instead of taking me properly like *MAN* should’ve, you were kind and gentle...like a coward.”

If that last part was meant to bait him into an emotional reaction, he didn’t show it as he kept his gaze focused on her and listening to how little she valued him and his love for her.

Talia noticed that and then leaned forward, “But now that everything's out in the open and Dwight is in prison, we can finally get married and have that life together as I promise that I’ve gotten it all out of my system.” she said.

“No.” was his only reply.

“No?”

Andrew shook his head slowly, his bangs moving ever so slightly. “No, Talia, because I know for a fact that the moment that Dwight went to prison and I wasn’t in the picture that you choose to visit Alex van Halen of Hermes TeleComm instead and that’s where you’ve been staying for the last few days at his second home away from his wife and three children.” he calmly said, keeping his gaze fixed on her the entire time. “So you can consider this the end of our relationship because you haven’t really been mine since our engagement began have you?”

Talia blinked in complete surprise as she wasn’t sure how he found out about Alex or where she’d been for the past few days since he’d been offworld somewhere but to hear him say those things with such a flat conviction in his voice…

“So when should I expect your things out of my apartment?” Talia asked, quietly enjoying the fact that she didn’t have to do this “dance” with him any longer… but another, much smaller part of her was actually sad about everything as she honestly did care about him.

Instead of an answer in a defeated tone, there was a dark chuckle which made her blink before he said “I really don’t think that you have to worry about that.” before he leaned forward and fixed her with a very hard look. “Before anything happens though, Talia, I want to know two things with the first one being did you honestly have anything to do with Major Grayson’s death?”

Talia listened to his question and then slowly shook her head back and forth for a moment before fixing him with a steady look. “No matter what you may think of me at this moment and I know that I have no right to use this word, Andrew, but you can trust me when I say that I didn’t know that Dwight was actually planning on killing Major Grayson. I mean yes, I’m a cold hearted bitch but even I draw the line at somethings.” she explained in a quiet voice before she reached out and gently placed a hand onto his right hand, feeling the slightly warm metal there. “I also didn’t know that you were hurt in it.”

Andrew’s eyes never left hers as she slowly withdrew her hand from his before he slowly got up and started to walk to the front door  but then he stopped and said “I actually believe you on that, Talia….so that might help you in the end.” before he pressed the control as the door slid open and three security officers walked into the apartment.

A Vulcan who was apparently the squad leader moved to stand in front of her. “Miss Talia Madison, you are here by under arrest for possible actions in the murder of Major Lori Calimar-Grayson and the attempted murder of Captain Andrew Jordan Weaver. Will you please come with us?”

Talia simply nodded and stood up before being lead towards the door, a thought suddenly hit her and she stopped right next to Andrew who hadn’t looked at her since he had stood up. “Andrew, you said that you had TWO things that you wanted to know?”

He nodded, “Yes...did you ever actually even love me?”

Talia looked at him and then slowly nodded, “Yes, I did…” she started to say.

“Then why did you betray me like that?” was his only question in return.

She couldn’t find an answer before she was gently prodded out of her home as the door closed behind her, cutting off her last look at Andrew’s face...and the singular tear that was sliding down his cheek..

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Andrew blinked once as the painful memories of that time were banished from his field of vision at which point he saw a man with short dark hair and a bemused look on his face in a naval uniform sitting across from him at his table. “You know Andrew, if you wanted to get shit faced on rum and a crappy soda there is better choices than Nuka Cola.” the man said, his tone light and easy.

“...but I like rum and Nuka Cola, LJ.” Andrew growled as he tried to bring mug up to his lips only to find it empty at which point he went to stand up only to find the other man stand up at the same time and gently push him back down into his seat.

“Um barkeep, how many of these has he had?” LJ called over his right shoulder while holding up Andrew’s empty pint mug.

“EIGHTEEN!” the owner of the Lavie’s lounge called back.

“Eighteen...yesh, that’s enough even to get Thoruf’s boat floating down the river.” LJ muttered darkly before setting the mug back down. “So what’s go you so down that you’re drinking that much?”

Andrew arched one tired eyebrow and went to start explaining the situation before suddenly LJ held up his hand started patting down himself before finally finding something and slapping it don in front of the drunk MACO.

It was a small metal tin of Fixer.

Andrew’s eyes tiredly glanced up and he tried really...REALLY…*REALLY* hard to glare at his friend.

“Nope, no blithering about relationship problems while drunk...I already learned that lesson from fucking Austin.” LJ said with a slight smile while shaking a finger at the other man. “Now take your Fixer and let’s talk over some proper drinks like Vim Captain’s Blend!”

Andrew’s face fell as he realized that he wasn’t going to win this fight…

...yet.

<TBC>

 

 

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