Board Thread:The Mech Bay Bar'n'Grill/@comment-24930445-20140526230330/@comment-98.234.206.44-20140603190332

Discussion

Hours later, Kat and LaeAnne were at a table in the forward galley when Travers approached and set a cup of coffee in front of her.

“Can we talk?”

Kat gave LaeAnne a pointed glance, the look telling her friend very clearly that she was not to leave. LaeAnne rolled her eyes then shook her head slightly and returned to the salad that had only been partially eaten.

“Nope.”

He sighed heavily, but remained standing to the side of the table. “You’re being childish.”

“Yep.” Kat caught LaeAnne's smirk and nudged her under the table.

“Kat, we really need to discuss this.” His frustration was clear and LaeAnne stood, picking up her tray.

“You two are disturbing my digestion. I need to set up security anyway. Get this out of the way so the rest of us can carry on, will you?” She smiled softly down to Kat, then nodded to Travers as she turned from the table.

Kat glared up at her, muttering “Coward.” as she watched her friend drop her tray off then walk out the door.

Without an invitation, Travers sat in LaeAnne’s vacated chair, setting his own coffee cup on the table before him. Kat’s response was to lean back in her chair, giving him the distinct impression she was trying to get as far away from him as she could given the confines of the table. She hadn’t even acknowledged the coffee he had presented as a peace offering.

Sighing heavily, he began. “It was wrong, Kat.” Her snort interrupted him. He knew she was not going to make this easy. He could only guess how deep the hurt was.

“Y’ betrayed me, Trav. All o’ye. Y’lied ta me.” Her voice was soft, though he didn’t miss the use of the name she had begun calling him when they had finally become friends.

“To be fair, Kat. We never lied to you. We just.. kinda kept important information from you.”

“I dinnae see the distinction.” Absently, one hand had reached out and begun toying with the coffee cup as she listened to him. “How long hae ya know?”

He sighed, staring into his own cup. “Since you gave me Krita. Joke had been taking side missions… I didn’t realize he had been running with Jack until Gypsy arrived one day with a.. shipment.”

“Gypsy?”

Travers nodded. “Jack’s freighter. The one you found on Krita just before… “

She shook her head and muttered. “Knew somethin’ was wrong aboot ‘er. So y’ve known fer nearly ten years now.”

Travers nodded. “I wanted to tell you from the start. We all did. We knew you’d be happy… but he had changed. I had the comm open, but he closed it. He never told me why, but he was insistent that you go on believing he was dead.” His attention was suddenly drawn to a space high up and over her left shoulder and Kat knew immediately that Jack stood behind her. Instinctively, she changed position, sitting up and away from the man behind her.

His voice was soft, the Irish lilt sending shivers up her spine. “I watched you die, Kat. On Le’Riahan. I was there and watched you die. Do you remember our conversation in your last moments?”

She didn’t turn to face him, but merely stared down into the coffee cup, her knuckles white. She heard him sigh, then move around to sit in the chair to her left. Still, she kept her eye glued to the depths of her cup.

“You told me you wished you could see ‘his’ face one last time. I thought you meant me, but then the images came and, with it, your feelings for the man. Ryax. He was the one you thought of as you were dying. Not me. I saw him as you saw him. I saw your family. I didn’t want to jeopardize that so I stayed dead.”

The look she gave him when she finally did glance up was cold, Ryax’s own words from weeks ago taunting him. “Full o’yerself much?”

Travers has picked that moment to sip from his coffee and nearly spit the contents across the table at her question. Choking, he waved them off, though neither of them had made a move to assist him.

“I had nearly seven years wi’ my husband at tha’ pont, Jack. Seven years o’ love an’ friendship, o’ truth an’ trust. He’s m’best friend afore all else, Jack. Nae ye or annaone else will ever destroy tha’. It would hae been nice ta hae my other friend back… my family, but no. You took tha’ away from me Jack. In yer selfish, cowardly way, y’ robbed me of the only family I had ever known as a child. At least Darrak’s intentions were clear.”

The last jab struck hard and she watched the men flinch both mentally and physically.

The whispered “ouch” from behind her let her know that yet another member of the Raiders had come to explain and she sighed. “Welcome to th’ party, Joke. Hope ya brought some helium. M’thinks I jist deflated yer commander’s over inflated ego.”

Again, she verbally kept herself apart from what had once been their family and she flinched as Joke’s hand gently rested on her shoulder. She felt his hesitation, then the hand was gone and he had taken the fourth chair.

“Bit harsh there, girl. Wouldn’t ya say?”

Her single eyed glare turned to the man she once thought of as a father. “No, Joke. I wouldnae. Thinkin’ yer crazy all these years because ya keep seeing a ghost o’ someone ye use ta love… o’ someone y’thought loved ye. Tha’s harsh. Finding oot tha’ yer friends an’ family help perpetuate a lie. Tha’s harsh. He’s merely gittin wha’ he deserves.. that’s wha’ I’d say.”

Jack’s voice was soft. “You’re not going to let this go, are you Kat?”

Her head snapped to his face, her look dark. “Let this go? Are ye serious? Ya want me ta just wave a hand an’ nae feel the pain and betrayal? Y’want me ta jist forget all the times I wanted ta tell ya something.. ta share somethin o' me life wi’ ye and I couldnae because ye were dead? Oh wait.. tha’ s right, y’werenae. Y’ were hidin like a coward.” Her voice had risen, drawing attention from those at the tables surrounding them.

It was at that moment, Ryan Devlin made his appearance. “Kat, LaeAnne needs you in the security office. She says we may have a small glitch in the plans you were discussing earlier with her.”

Jack’s growl was directed at the security officer. “She’s busy.”

Kat knew LaeAnne had sent Ryan to defuse the situation. LaeAnne knew her nearly as well as Ryax. Besides, they hadn't been discussing plans. Standing, she glared at Jack. “Aye.. I’m busy.”

He glared back at her, his anger and frustration returning like daggers in the face of her own. “Do you want me to leave, Kat?”

She growled back at him, trying to ignore the pain in her chest at the thought of him being gone again. “Wha? Run like a coward agin? Travers needs ye. Th’ Raiders need ye. Stay as long as ye like, unless y’ plan on abandoning them as well.”

With that she turned and strode out of the room, Devlin at her back.

“Kat”. Travers and Joke tried to stop her. She heard the chairs scrap across the floor even as she heard Jack’s soft “No. Let her go.”

In the hallway, Kat threw herself against the wall, bending at the waist with her hands on her thighs to support herself as she hyperventilated. She felt Devlin’s hand rubbing her back gently. “You ok?”

She laughed shortly, then took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it out in a woosh. A few more deep breaths had her calmer and she slowly stood, smiling at Devlin. “Thanks for the intervention.”

He smirked at her. “LaeAnne didn’t want to have to detain you for assault… at the very least. She told me to stand by and to step in if you got carried away.”

She laughed. “Oh sure. If I got carried away.”

“Well you did, didn’t you?” He tried to look innocent, but the twinkle in his blue eyes ruined the effect. She laughed again and shook her head.

“Yeah well.. thanks.” She patted his arm before turning and heading to Heaven and her family.