A Brig Decision

Posted on Mon Oct 10th, 2016 @ 6:53pm by Captain Carter Hall & Cadet Freshman Grade Benjamin Hall & Cadet Freshman Grade Waco Houston
Edited on on Wed Sep 12th, 2018 @ 5:37pm

Mission: My Place In This Universe
Location: Starbase Tiberius/Beta Quadrant
Timeline: 2388/07/01 2353 (July 1, 2388 2353)

Captain Carter Hall stood in the brig cell, leaning against the wall, arms crossed as he watched both outside the cell and the two somnolent forms occupying the slide out bunks. One awake and groaning, the other out cold.

"oohh..." Groaned Austin, holding a cloth to his nose with one hand and rubbing the back of his head with the other as he lay on his side, eyes closed, "I tink I deed a docdor.."

"You are the doctor." Carter reminded him dryly.

Almost muttering to himself, though his cellmate was sure to hear, "Ib dare was any jusdice in da uniberse, when I oben my eyes, the cabtain of the U ez ez London will be here delling be I god da job..." he squinted one eye open, and sighed, "whistful dinking.."

With much moaning and colorful cursing, Austin pulled himself into a sitting position and pulled away the cloth to see if the blood flow had stopped. It had, for the most part, but he put the cloth to his nose again and said with much sarcasm, "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." Then he smirked through the cloth, "Any movement from the other bunk yet?"

"No," Carter answered quietly. He started walking around slowly, keeping his eyes on the young Xenexian. "He'll be fine..."

"Are you bleeding?" Austin asked, squinting through his black eye and noting the red spatters along with a large area of blood on Carter's shoulder.

"Not mine."

"Oh." Then wiping his nose again, "Sorry 'bout that.."

Carter glanced back at Austin and gave a slight shake of his head, "Not your fault..." his eyes returned to where they had been. After a moment he went over and grabbed a hold of one leg of the unconscious form sprawled out on the bunk, and yanked him hard to the floor.

Landing on the floor, and suddenly wide awake, the young Xenexian grabbed his head, "Ahh gahh! What the....?!" cursing a Xenexian word that couldn't be translated.

Austin tried to raise an eyebrow, but it hurt his blackened eye, "Ow.." then, "Sheesh Carter, what if he's injured? I don't have a surgery here to put him back together, ya know." Not that he moved or tried to help or anything. He knew Carter was ticked and he wasn't about to get in the way of any further flying fists.

The young Xenexian looked up, realized where he was, and then who he was with and cursed again in Xenexian, words that translate to male offspring of an incestuous female canine!

Carter growled, "Watch what you say about your grandmother!"

Austin's eyes widened, which made him wince, when he realized who this must be, "Wait a frakin' minute! That's Betrice's kid?" He looked over the unimpressive rumpled kid on the floor, "Wow, I haven't seen him since he was a mewling welp whining for his momma's teat!"

Carter turned on Austin at that, "Watch how you talk about my sister!" But he turned immediately back to Ben, "What the hell do you think you're doing anyway?"

Ignoring Carter and the youth for a minute, Austin racked his brain, saying out loud, "How the hell do you pronounce that again.. B'jer'men.. No, not enough growl... B'rrrrrrrrr'jerrrr'MINE!" Aw cow puckies.. I should be able to get this.."

Without turning his focus off of the kid, Carter growled at Austin, "B'n'j'min!" Making both other men (man and youth) wince.

"Right, I should have known!" Austin then reached over, and still ignoring, and hoping to defuse by doing so, the tension between uncle and nephew, "Nice to see you again, B'nnn'j'minne." Well, it was a closer attempt than before..

Without taking his eyes off his imposing uncle, and snubbing the held out hand, the young man sort of straightened himself out down there on the floor and offhandedly said, "Call me Ben.." His eyes were nearly slits as he glared at the taller Xenexian.

"Well, hello Ben. Nice to see you again. Of course I'm sure you don't remember me. But I'm a friend of your uncle's. So what brings.." Austin was cut off by a quick hand gesture from Carter.

"Enough of this than chips! (Xenexian version of bull shit)", and he quieted his voice, "What the hell were you doing in that bar?"

Finally Ben's expression changed, not for the better, it was an angry, bitter smirk, "Stealing your woman," he said snidely.

There was a flash of amusement, but only a flash, as Carter said, "Oh really?"

Ben's expression now hardened as he got to his feet, trying, in his youthful way, to appear in control, tough, and threatening, "Yeah. First, your woman. And then everything you love. Everything that makes you you. I'm going to make you as miserable as you have made me!" He didn't stamp his foot at the last word, you could almost see it though. He jutted out his chin, and stood there sideways in an aggressive stance.

Carter was flumoxed, but it only showed for a microsecond. He turned to look at Austin for a moment, who looked far too intrigued. Then he turned back, "I made you miserable?" A curse and an affirmative were his answer. Completely unable to reconcile this kids misery with anything he had done, especially since he hadn't set eyes on him in over eight years, he changed tactics. "Does your mother know you're here?"

Ben's expression turned mullish and he looked away, "I don't see where that's your business," he muttered.

Now Carter was a little ticked, "In other words, no. So like a child you ran away from home to come make me miserable because I.. what? What the hell did I ever do to you?"

The sneer was back, "You know exactly what you did!"

Austin blew his nose loudly, and immediately winced, "Uh, hey, how about telling me, Ben, because I haven't got a clue what's going on. Though the Xenexian stand off here is quite interesting." Carter shot him a quick glare, to which he returned a grin.

Ben ignored the exchange and turned on Austin, "You want to know what he did? I'll tell you what he did. He denied me my future. The same one he took for himself."

"Well, that makes sense.." Austin said genially, "What future are you talking about?" Pointing to Carter he asked, with all seriousness, "He's keeping you from being a farmer like your father?"

"No!" Ben yelled, "He's MAKING me become a farmer!" Carter looked stunned again, but Ben, who was focused on Austin now, missed it.

"I see... No, wait. I don't see. You don't want to farm?"

Ben used a particularly nasty Xenexian curse word, one that Carter would want to wash his mouth out for using, then nearly spat, "I have no interest in digging in the dirt! I have always wanted to go into space, as HE WELL KNOWS!" He jerked a thumb in Carter's direction, then addressed him directly, "You refused, REFUSED! to sponsor me! REFUSED to give me a letter of recommendation! You won't let me join Starfleet!" Everything was out now, and he stood there, huffing his breath as if he'd just run five miles.

Austin and Carter looked at each other. Austin interested, Carter confused. But he was starting to catch on. He turned to his nephew, "Your mother told you I wouldn't sponsor you or give you the recommendation?" He stalled as he put things together in his mind.

"Yes, she told me. After months and months of me bugging her, she finally told me that you said I should stay home where I belonged and help rebuild our world and work the family farm. You didn't even have the guts to tell me to my face! You told my mother to tell me."

"I never spoke to your mother about this." Carter replied matter of factly, "Although I have to agree with her, you belong on Xenex..."

Ben's eyes flashed as he interrupted, "Are you telling me she lied to me?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I am doing..."

*Ben went at him in a burst of speed that most would have had great difficulty getting out of the way of, but Carter was quicker as he stepped to the side and slammed his knee into Ben's midsection. Ben gasped and Carter slammed him in the back of the neck, sending Ben to the floor.*

Austin was not surprised at Ben's reaction, he was, after all, a hot headed teen with big issues, but the way Carter reacted kind of shocked him. He sat there with his mouth gaping open, but didn't even try to step in. He knew that Xenexians were like this, but he had rarely seen his friend act this way. He trusted Carter, though, to do the right thing and not just smack the kid around for smacking's sake only. And you couldn't say he didn't get his point across, immediately.

Ben layed there, momentarily stunned until he saw his uncle's hand reaching down to him. He accepted it, grabbing onto Carter's arm as Carter grabbed onto his. *"You're fast.." he managed to say as he was helped up.

"You rushed it," Carter replied as he pulled away from him, "and allowed your anger to control your actions."* He then waved his hand in a 'never mind' gesture and walked around, looking the young man over, suddenly amazed at how time had flown by. "How does your father feel about this?"

Ben put his anger in check, for the moment, as he answered, "He wants me to follow in his footsteps. But it's not what I want." He leaned back against a wall and placed his hands on his legs, never taking his eyes off of Carter. "You were around my age when you left. Why was it okay for you, but it's not for me?" he asked bitterly.

Austin hid a grin, for the most part anyway, and said, "Yeah, uncie Cardy, why?" Oh he was going to pay for that, but he couldn't help it.

The glare he received was expected, so was the innocent smile he gave back, too bad Carter missed it as he turned back to the kid.

"I had to.." Carter started to answer, and then caught himself. There was no way he could get Ben to understand. Times were different, and Carter had done what was more than forbidden for young Xenexians now. "This isn't the time or the place for me to explain. But I can tell you this much, my reasons were far different than yours."

Ben looked incredulously at Austin, his anger returning, "So was your reason for joining the same as his?!"

Austin, had to laugh, "Uh, no, young gamecock, not in the least the same." He smiled. The he put it to the point, "Seems to me.. He's here. You're here. Why don't you ask your uncle for what you want now, in person, rather than let someone else be your go-between. Uh.. No matter how trusted the go-between is." He added the last so that neither Xenexian would turn on him for besmirching Betrice's name.

Ben's gray eyes narrowed for a moment as he looked back to him. "Alright, I will." he nodded, managing to stand up straight, and folded his arms in a manner so like his uncle. He looked at Carter levelly and said, "I read your old letters to my grandmother...I know far more than you give me credit for. I may not completely understand your reasons, but to be true to myself, more than anything, I want to explore, but for a cause that stands for something. I want to join Starfleet."

"Rebuilding Xenex is a cause that stands for something."

"I know! But farming?! It's suffocating me. Why can't anyone understand that?!"

Carter went quiet for a moment as he studied Ben. "I suppose if I put you on a ship heading out towards Xenex, you would end up somewhere else." He knew with his new orders to the Delta Quadrant, there was no way he could make sure Ben arrived back home, nor that he would stay there.

His jaw tightening, Ben didn't answer but looked down to the floor.

"Well!" Austin said with far too much enthusiasm, "Now that THAT's settled, why don't we take the ship on a little side trip and escort the lad to the academy? I could use a little real planet-side sunshine and there's that fascinating secretary to the dean of medicine at Starfleet Medical.." He was already on the beach with the beauty, her in a tiny little shimmery bikini, he with an umbrella drink in hand, laughing.. smiling... oh, a few other things as well..

"It's too late." Carter looked over at Austin with his hard, purple eyes. "We're weeks away. He'll never make it on time...", and at Ben's expression, he continued, "But the Armstrong is to report to Star Base 893, which is the new SCE hub out in the Delta Quadrant. It's a Colony-class starbase on a Class M planet where Starfleet recently built the new academy campus, which is, " he gestured out a hand to Ben, "meant for those on this side of the wormhole in the Beta Quadrant, as well as potential cadets already living in the frontier. Word is extended testing is being done at Starbase 659, just on the other side of the wormhole..." and then it hit him like the blinding light of a supernova, and he turned and stared back to Austin. "You said earlier at the bar...Waco's on Risa..."

Shaken from his daydream, Austin wasn't paying attention, but he caught the last bit, "Huh? Oh. Uh, yeah, they're on Risa. Surely you don't think we should drop your nephew off there? I mean, Betrice nearly killed me once before, I don't want to give her cause to carry out her threats to skin me with a spoon.."

Carter continued to stare at him, then shook his head. Obviously, all through his explanation, the good doctor had still been with the secretary. "No," he smiled, "we'll be picking up Waco."


***************

Captain Carter Hall
CO
USS Armstrong
Played by Kim

Doctor Austin Houston
CMO
USS Armstrong
Played by Andrea

Ben Hall
Carter's nephew &
Future Academy Magellan Campus Cadet


*A couple sentences paraphrased, inspired from the Peter David Book, Dark Allies.