Banging it out (Backpost)

Posted on Mon Dec 6, 2021 @ 11:01pm by Commander Cullen Walker
Edited on on Tue Dec 7, 2021 @ 12:02am

798 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Archangel
Location: Holodeck Two

Walker was using the holodeck because he could reproduce a forge here, but he was actually forging real metal. He had been working on this a few hours a day. He had people in the labs working on it behind Camille's back. That woman was hard to get around in her own labs. However, he was just about done with his project. He tapped his comm, "Walker to Anderson. I need you double time in Holodeck Two." Considering the programs he had on file, it could be easily assumed he hurt himself.

Nicole let out a huff and put down the bag she'd been trying to pack. "On my way," she said, grabbing her black bag. She ran out of their quarters and down the corridor.

A few moments later she stepped into the holodeck, blinking at the wave of heat that hit her. "Commander?" she said. "Unfortunately, I'm low on time. What can I do for you?"

Walker answered, "Look in the case." In the case was two sheaths for short swords. They had protection runes on them from Heathen Culture. "Computer reset to laser lab set for a forge." The forge changed. He programed the Terminal to laser etch runes into the blade. Then he put the swords in and let the computer do the work. He walked over to her. "You're my best friend on the ship, by the laws of my faith, you're my sister. I've been working on something for you and Camille." He wiped his eye. "You tell anyone I have emotions other than horny and angry, I trip your vagus nerve."

Nicole's eyebrows raised up to her eyebrows. She unsheathed one of the blades, flipping it and giving it an experimental swing, admiring the balance and the smoothness of it. She put it back in the sheath and took a breath. "Cullen, I don't know what to say," she said, honestly moved. "I'm honored." She gave a bow. "And I know if Camille were here, she would be as well." She walked up and stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for your gift, and for watching out for us." She looked at him carefully. "Can I call upon that honor once more?"

Walker nodded. She was one of the few who called him by his fist name. Everyone else called him Walker.

"I know that you care for Penny," she said, "and I am entrusting you with her safety. Can you assure me that you will look out for her, no matter what?"

Walker answered, "With my dying breath. I will keep her safe. I will do all those violent things she doesn't like to keep her safe. She is softer and kinder than this world deserves. I guess we all have our programming." Walker wasn't stupid, far from it. While he was the jock playboy, he was more than that. Some things weren't discussed. "She has a way to take care of herself in the ways I can't?" Anyone who knew Walker in passing would assume he was talking about sex. He wasn't, Nicole knew him better.

Nicole's eyes narrowed, but she chalked it up to his unique turn of phrase. She knelt down and opened her bag, mumbling a few choice words, then stood up with a padd of paper and a pen. She quickly wrote a phase and folded the paper, carefully making it a self-sealing envelope and handing it to him. "Keep this at all times," she said. "And when things are darkest, when death is imminent for either of you, read it to her. But until then, keep it sealed."

Walker pulled off his rune pouch and opened it. He rearranged some stuff in there. He put the note next to the picture of his exwife and kids. He loved his kids. He loved his exwife. He had taken this post for them, but it was a little too late. He put the runes and picture and envelope back in the pouch and put it back on next to his moljnir necklace, "With me at all times."

"As I with these," Nicole said, holding the sheathed blades.

Walker grinned, "Every Culture in our database has something that offends them. I replicated a microscopic sample of each one and I forged it into those blades. If you have to kill, be an offensive bitch."

Nicole nodded, then shook her head and chuckled. "Always." She stepped back and gave a salute. "Rom-halan Cullen Walker."

Walker grinned, "When you and Camille decide to have kids, keep me in mind. I know Taggart is my competition in that department." He saluted back, "Wind at your back."

"And in your eye," Nicole said, rolling her own and leaving the holodeck and heading back to her quarters.

 

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