RP: 188604 A Deal Struck

The Pumpkin Eater

Aashi had started staying on her own ship and was making herself at home in the galley, wearing nothing but her lacey blue underwear and the black fatigue shirt Ulysses had let him borrow. She sung an impromptu song as she cooked for herself, revelling in the power of solitude. She had asked Ulysses to come by the ship that day, but felt at ease enough with the man to know he wouldn't cause her any discomfort. The ship had no passengers aboard save for herself and her famiiar, who was again in a sink, happily soaking.

She stroked her familiar's spine when she heard a familar voice, saying in her mind to the creature, "Your friend is here."

Werner walked up the ramp of the ship and stopped at the hatch. "Permission to come aboard?" He spoke at threshold, in his formal fassion. He was dressed in his fatigues, jacket, and beret.

"You can always come aboard my ships," Aashi said with a happy tone. "How are you today? Ready for a mission?"

Werner smiled and removed his beret and entered the ship. "I'm fine. There was an emergency on the..." As he rounded the corner and saw Aashi, his face went beat red.

"Oh, an emergency, hmmm?" Aashi said, sliding an egg inside of a piece of toast on a plate and then pulled up another plate and did the same to the second one. "Hungry?"

He nodded. "Uhh... yes please." He said taking the plate with a nod. "Thank you Aashi." He said recomposing himself. "Yes, a crew member was hurt moving equipment. I had to go a open an internal investigation of the incident. Wait..." He said looking over at Aashi again. "Did you say ready for a mission?"

"We're going shopping, this time. Shopping, only," she said with a wink, an unusual behavior coming from her. "Shopping for something to help out your friends. I only assume Cyrusl is your friend and as he was on one of the same missions as you, and is now on the same planet. His friend is in need of some things. Would you say 'friend' when referring to him or am I mistaken?"

Werner shrugged. "I have actually never met the man, but I will escort you on your trip." He said smiling back at her warmly. As he did he heard splashing and looked to the sink. "Hi A." He said softly dipping his hand in the water, setting the plate of food aside. "How my little buddy doing?" He said stroking the manta like body.

The familiar flipped around in the water, brushing against his hand several times before mellowing out. Aashi laughed, she rarely saw the creature with others and it was nice to see it enjoying her own friend's presence.

"Bring that to the bridge, this way," she said after she had made it apparent that she was looking at the food, then to the door. He followed suit without much question and they made their way there. On a chair there was her violet dress and she took off the black shirt to put it on, instead, not looking to see if Ulysses was aware of her near-nudity or not, though he had been turned away at the time. She sat down at the chair to the left and said, "Take the captain's chair, I always pilot this thing, anyway."

Werner grabbed his plate and took a bite. "That is so good Aashi!" He said savoring the taste. He held out a hand for A to follow. He padded through the ship to the bridge and sat in the Captain's chair. "Letting me captain your ship?" He asked finishing his sandwich.

"There's not mcuh to mess up and, besides, I don't doubt your capabilities." She turned systems on and watched as lights appeared on the holotable in front of her and the controld were ready to be manned. As they were taking off, she hit the thust buttons and overrode thrust at maximum to het them out quickly, wasting hydrogen but doing a fair job of getting them off planet. She brought the thrusters down once momentum was gained and turned off inertial dampers, thrusting gently to get them out of atmosphere. When she could, she set coordinates.

When done, Aashi said, "We're at FTL speeds now, going to the Iruotl System."

Werner nodded adopting the captain role. "Helmsman, is autopilot engaged?" He asked in his commanding voice.

"Autopilot is engaged," Aashi said with a more professional tone than the cool casual one she often had.

"Helmsman you are relieved." He said looking down to her and smiling. He looked back down the hall and called. "A! Are you coming or what?"

Aashi stood and saluted, standing. "Would you like to watch the first half of a movie while we get there?"

"Sure. I'd love to." He said standing.

"Professor Yuko and The Secret of The Tomb is pretty good," she replied, getting a few pillows from a cabinet in the hallway and came back through the double doors with a smile on her face. The two sat on the pillows after she had gotten the movie going and during the opening credits, Ulysses' hand found hers. They both sat comfofrtably for a good length of the movie, commenting on the movie and spectating together. Aashi looked to Werner with delight in her eyes as they watched and talked and only when the autpilot was ready to be disengaged did she realize just how much fun she had been having with him.

"I'll go back to the controls," she said when she had paused Professor Yuko and The Secret of The Tomb.

Werner sighed. "I'll go back to the Captain's chair..." He said standing and following behind her. Aashi didn't have to enter atmospher and could simply put inertial dampers on fully, ease the thrusters down, and glide into the organoid substructure built around an asteroid of the separatist Iroma's. She set out landing gear after she had requested clearance for landing on the massive living biosphere.

She got up from the chair and looked to Ulysses, asking, "Ready?"

Werner nodded. "Lead the way." He said standing.They walked down The Pumpkin Eater's hall together and Aashi's familiar was out the hatch as fast it could go once she had opened it.

"Ulysses," Aashi said, "this is one of my people's homes. It is very special to me to be here. I hope you love it as much as I think you will. Now, let's go find the storage selling house."

Werner looked to Aashi. "If it is special to you then I will treat it with the utmost respect." He said straightening his beret. Werner smiled down at her. "Lead the way."

They made their way through the effervescent, vividly growing streets and alleyways until she had made it to the back of one that had only a sign on a door that read, "Parcels." She knocked over and over again, not stopping until the door swung open and a tall-standing, red horned Iromakuanhe man opened it.

"AASHI!" he exclaimed.

"What kind of backwater asteroid are you inhabiting, now?" Aashi asked as they hugged.

"You know it's not that bad here," he said.

"I know, I'm just jealous you get to live where they live," she said, referring to the organoid substrructure of the asteroid.

"Come in, come in!"

They walked into the expansive warehouse and walked past the smell of fresh crates being pakced onto and older ones being received. There were several Iroma at each station, workingin similar ways to one another, all laboring to get the shipments out of and into the building.

"How're the operation going?" Aashi asked the red-horned Iroma.

"Which ones?" he asked slyly, under his breath so that Werner couldn't hear, but the former Nepleslian soldier had hearing better than the Iroma expected.

"All of them," Aashi said with a dubious smile.

"Up here," he said before he could answer. They all walked up a metal staircase that led to a windowed room that oversaw operations of all below it. They were ushered in and before looking at the Iromakuanhe man that owed her so much money in goods and services that she had lost count, she sat down and beckonned Ulysses to sit next to her.

The sailor did as he was told and sat down next to Aashi.

"Ulysses," she said, looking at her friend, the Nepleslian. "This is-" Aashi was saying before being cut off.

"Just Neela, if you won't mind. While I'm happy to meet any friend of Aashi's, i'm in the kind of business where it's best not to give too many personal details." His chair swivled around to reveal a well dressed Iroma wearing the standard suit you think would be more appropriate for a captain of buisness or a lawyer, rather then a man on the other side of the law. "And what a pleasure it is to see the fabled Lord of Smiles waltzing into my office at the moment. To what do I owe this honor, Aashi?"

Aashi fanned a hand out in the air and closed her eyes, a show of faux bashfulnees she knew Neela would know was more of a joke than embarrassment, and said after he was done, "We're in the business of looking around for something we might need. A few of the same thing, actually. We're looking for someone on this sphere that has molecular furnaces, Neela. Any will do, though we'd like them large. The largest grade you have got."

The bald, bespectacled Iroma lifted a single eyebrow after she made the request, hands steepled together. "That's quite a request Aashi. I mean, to be fair they are commercially available to civiliains, though I do understand why you might have quite the difficulty getting this sort of equipment through offical channels. Obviously the largest ones require licensing from the government which creates too much of a paper trail for my taste in these dealing, but I might have a line on someone willing to let go of a large Solan Starworks module at market price. Nice family I loaned a bit of a money too, bit off a little more then they can chew and are starting to sell off assets. I could part with it for....I'd say around 750,000 KD, give or take. And of course, i'm sure you'd have no problem jailbreaking from only producing Solani designs."

"Though I must say Aashi..." He leaned back into his chair, appraising both of his guests. "I do find it a tad odd that someone in your...occupation would be looking for one of these. The last ime you came to me for this kind of industrial hardware was...what was it, over a decade ago? The Third OSC? It does cause me a degree of...let's call it professional curiosity."

"Right now what I think you should be more concerned about is what your ex-partner and son took from me. You remember that, don't you, Neela Hetho, don't you? That was over 2 million in VANDR models and equipment, not to mention three ships that I had loaned them that never got returned to me." She stood, turning her head one way, then another, black and blue hair swiftly moving with her. "Do I see them here? Will I find them if I lift up enough tarps and break open enough boxes?" she asked, looking back at him, both hands on her hips. "I will, you know."

The man couldn't help but let out a sigh at the reaction, leaning back into his chair. "Now now, Aashi, there's no need to be so difficult. I understand that my son has caused youa certain degree of....loss, and though Dipak method of making deals means he is sadly no longer with us, I have no plans on reneging on his debts. While I am afraid that certain events have left yours goods beyond my reach at the moment, perhaps we can work out a trade? Their's no reason to let bad blood ruin such a long, profitable relationship like the one we've had."

"There is no reason at all, that is why I am making you an offer. You lend us, say, ten of the furnaces. Nay, ten," she said as she saw the horror splash across his face. "Find five for me and bring them to my ship and I'll be able to make a trade. What you want isn't easy to ascertain, I'm afraid, and can only guess that what you will be looking for things that you can not procure from these official channels you speak of. You know how connected I am to the speratists and what my ship is known for," Aashi said, expertly glossing over the fact that her ship was lost to her, and continued, "and-" and was then cut off.

"Excuse me..." Ulysses said finally opening his mouth.

"Yes, my friend?" Aashi said, keeping his name out of the conversation.

He looked to Neela. "I will leave my former profession and how I know the connection out of the conversations, but that being said..." He steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair. "I have contacts throughout the criminal underworld. People who know how to procure things, people who know how to kill people, who know how to steal things..." He said rolling his hand as if to say etc. "I can get you the connections to some of the smugglers and suppliers I know in exchange for what we need, and what ever we need in the future." He said crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair. "It is a win win. Aashi get what she needs and you get new suppliers, smugglers, what have you." He added.

"Does that sound like something you can accomodate?" Aashi asked Neela, face stoic.

"Hmmmm." The older Cuordatl scrutinized the two before him with eyes that looked like they were ready to b. ore into the Nepleslian's skull. "I will admit that my organisation has had a bit of trouble penetrating into foriegn markets, and that there is a great degree of profit in a better relationship with my peers in the other stellar nations. Both in imports AND exports. I'll tell you this." The man stood up and turned around, hands behind his back, looking out his window into the manufactories below. "Attaining five molecular furnaces of the degree of precision and ability to process that Aashi desires on such short notice, doing the neccesarry work to make sure this little bit of buisness isn't traced by authorities like the VIA, getting these sorts of installations onto transports we can trust...it is all a considerable imposition on my time and resources. That being said..."

Neela drew a cigar and a lighter out of his coat pocket, lighting it up. "I do own the lord of smiles a great debt, so if you were able to put me in contact with these people and I can ascertain that it would be as much a net benefit on my end as I believe that something could be arranged."

"Something can," she said, putting extra emphasis on the next word, "always be arranged. Such as timing. We'd like to leave as soon as possible, but if you're going to spend the time getting in contact with your new people, we may be here awhile, won't we? We'll put you in contact with the right people and places and come back to you tomorrow. Do you have something for Ulysses to input the information you desire?"

Neela nodded to Aashi, then to the red-horned Iromakuanhe that was outside of the door, standing at attention and called out, "Bring the Nepleslian one of the encytped IroCom's, the one hooked up to the WildNet. Make it sure doesn't have anything useful on it and that it isn't one of the one's we've let the ISA bug, then bring it to me. Meanwhile, I trust that ou guests will be properly accomdated while I spend the next few days acquiring their goods and making the appropraite deals."

Werner took the device and nodded, immediately getting to work. "Your will have there information soon." He said as he continued to tap away.

"Thank you," Aashi replied, standing. "You've done more for me than I could have ever imagined. I can only give you my sincerest thanks." She pushed her hand forward to shake Neela's and looked to Ulysses with a smile before she was out the door.

"Always a pleasure, Aashi. I'm sure this venture will be as profitable for the both of us as all our past one's have been."

Werner bowed slightly and followed Aashi as he continued to type away.

Iruotl System

At the door for a second time in three days after receiving a ping from Neela, Aashi knocked repeatedly on the sign that read, "Parcels" before someone came to open it. A different Iroma, stockier and wider in the face than the red-horned man that had greeted them with ease the last time, this one was full of barraging questions. Only when he had gained copious amounts of information from the pair did he escort them to Neela's office.

"Hello again," she said smoothly as she entered and sat down, looking to Werner as he spoke.

Werner nodded. "Did my contacts go through?" He said cutting to the point.

"I apologise for any impoliteness on Raghu's part, but I'm sure you can understand why someone of my stature can't simply let anyone walk into their office at any time. Even esteemed guests. Now, let's get down to buisness." This time it seemed Neela was partaking in a glass of Mazrit brandy, a wide grin on his face. "I can say that after a great deal of discussion regarding the procurement of goods and the pecularities of shipping without running afoul any tariffs or taxes, I and your associates were able to work out a satisfactory deal that will be beneficial for everyone Involved. Very beneficial."

"Now, as for that other matter....I've had to call in a favor from a friend in the Veyrinite processing industry who was able to part with five furnaces as to your exact specifications after I made it quite clear how crucial getting them would be to my, and in turn his, financial livelihood. My employees should be ready to transport them to your ship and whenever your ready you can simply talk to Red."

"Red will get the molecular furnaces from your warehouse to our ship?" Aashi asked, saying, "The Devata has no cargo room for an order of this size and we've taken The Pumpkin Eater here, instead of her."

"Of course, of course. All though I have to say their is something about the Devata that has piqued my curiosity.Now normally, I wouldn't seek to pry into your buisness. It's usually best that I don't know the specifics of your operations however...No sightings of it or your crew members, no talks of your handiwork on the shipping lanes blasting on the ADN, a lot of chatter in the vangaurd just as confused as the rest of our...wider little subculture we both belong too, has been. Not the first time the Devata has ever gone dark for a little while in the past few centuries, but it has been quite a while."

In her head, Aashi's mind went cold and devoid of rational thought as her worst fears were assuaged, only to be replaced by something greater and more incomprehensible. Her ship hadn't mutinied, but it didn't sound like it existed, anymore, from what Neela said.

"Not the first time," Aashi said, "and not the last. Never is it the last," she said, reconciling with her emotions as she said that, hoping for it to be the truth, but not knowing what really happened at all. "But I'm sure you know about that. We'll talk to Red and get the shipments out, and Neela?" she said, saying only when the other Iroma made contact with her sapphire eyes, "thank you. Contact me if you ever need a thing or if you get in an ounce of trouble."

He returned a uncharisticarlly warm smile to the woman, leaning back in his chair. "I won't hesitate too, should anything come up where I might need your expertise. Till then, may the saints watch over us and bless everything we do."

"Everything we do," Aashi repeated back to him before she ducked her head and left the room, going down the stairs with Werner. The Nepleslian nodded and followed Aashi down the stairs and out the building.

Outside, they were in the open air of the bioshere on the asteroid. It was habitable because of the many different living organisms the Iroma had grafted onto the rock and only colonized because the Iromakuanhe wanted a reliable place to mine for matter to put into some of their molecular furnaces, stopping the destruction of their homeworlds.

Aashi loved smelling the crisp air and turned to Werner, to gauge his expression.

Werner's expression was blank as it normally was. However, Aashi had been around him enough to pick up on his subtle clues. He sniffed the air and his body almost seemed to relax while his face remained neutral. "So...that went well." He said after they were out of earshot.

"Better than expected, actually. I thought I would have to pull a few tricks to get us what we needed. Did you enjoy yourself?"

Werner smiled. "Hanging out with you is its own reward." He answered without skipping a beat.

"Then thank you for being around someone else, though it was a rewarding meeting," she said. "I can't wait to do more things with you, Ulysses. Everything I've done so far with you has been more fun than anything else I've seen since-" she paused, then said, slowly, "-since I left my ship."

Werner moved and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He poured love through the empathy link they shared. "Aashi. I know you didn't just leave. It sounds like you love your crew too much to leave." He paused, debating if he should ask this or not. Finally he whispered. "What happened Aashi..."

Aashi turned her face away from him as they walked for a moment, then realized who she was with when he held her. He wasn't just anybody to her and talking to him, opening up to him, seemed more than a safe thing to do. It seemed like a smart thing to do.

"I remember nothing, really. I was..." she said, opening the hatch on The Pumpkin Eater and trailed off as she saw Red. "Load them on in," she called out to him before Red busied himself with ordering five bulky Iroma men about, watching as they moved the furnaces slowly, but efficiently.

She turned back to him, stress pulling at the corners of her eyes as she squinted, working on improving her memory of what had happened. "I was with him... with Ravana. A young boy. He and I were dreamwalking, if I am remebering correctly..." she trailed off, then looked back at Ulysses and was given the strength to continue, "we were dreamwalking and in his dreams, I saw soemthing real. He-he woke up before me and he... did something. Oh, I don't know, I don't know," she said, putting her hands under her eyes as she bent her head.

Werner moved and held her. "Shh..." he said pouring as much love as he could throught the link. "Come with me Aashi." He said half carrying her into the ship, softly cooing to her.

Aashi was swept up in his arms and shuddered quietly as he did, then remained placid and calm, comforted by his touch.

"O-oh," she muttered, without thinking, "that means..." she whispered, "so much to me."

He softly placed his forehead against hers, pouring a new wave of calm and peace through the new touch. He continued to craddle her as he walked, finally entering her room. Werner sat down on her bed and laid her down, so that her hed was resting on his lap, his hand softly rubbing her head. "Your okay Aashi. I'm here now."

Aashi lay down in her bed, exhausted emotionally.

"I shouldn't be like this," she said, "just from talking... what happened to me?"

He continued to rub her head. "Pulling up traumatic memories can take it's toll Aashi. It can drain you both physically and mentally." He whispered softly. "You can not open the flood gates until you are ready for what waits on the other side." He added softly.

"I'm..." she said, conflicted. "I'm not ready, not if it hurts half as much as it does just to recall small details. It is too much."

He lifted her from her postion on his lap, to being held again. His arms firm, yet gentle. "That is why I am here. It's what I want to do. To help you fight your demons." He said pouring sheer willpower through their link.

Aashi was overcome with desire to let it all loose and cry into his shoulder as she had before, but she had supressed the urge to and was breathing in rapidly and breathing out in short little whimpers. In her head, she was trying hard not to imagine the horrors her crew had encountered, but there was no way she could get past the visuals her night terrors had given her.

"I want to..." she said, unable to put a finger on what would truly make her feel better. Her mind went to what her people did in situations like this- dreamwalking. But the thought of it made her tumble into a succession of tears. She was calmed by him and soon her body was relaxed and comforted when she allowed the link between them to fully envelop her.

"I want to... I want to go to the bridge. I want to go. It's..."

"Go Aashi. I am here. I will be here for you." He said softly wiping away her tears. He felt of her fear and sadness, but he fought the feeling away. He tried to take away her fear and replace it with his courage. If he had to fight her emotion alone he would, to make her feel safe. He would take all her pain and suffering away. The fear was starting to get at him to, but he just kept fighting on, like he was trained to do.

"I want to, I want to..." when she had gotten enough energy to continue, she said, "I want to watch the rest of the movie and I want to pretend like," she stopped, then said emphatically, "like none of this ever happened. I want to pretend this is my ship. The Devata. It has so much on it that I worked so hard for, its centuries old, I need it back... but what Neela said.... it's," she stuttered, "it's lost."

Werner just nodded. He turned his head away so she couldn't see his own tears begining to fall. With his free hand he wiped them away vigorusly, as he still poured his own love, hope, and courage into her. He slowly became light headed as he continued to fight. "Aashi."

She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth and pushed her other hand against the bed to prop herself up. She hugged Ulysses Werner, face buried in his shoulder for a moment, before sniffing and looking into his grey eyes. She felt like a thanks wasn't enough and, besides, that wasn't their style. She wrapped her arms around him again and nuzzled into him. Then she stood and extended her hand for him to grab hold of and get himself off of the bed, too.

"I want you to, uh," she said, still emotionally exhausted, but when she had enough energy to speak, she did, saying, "take care of Red and the furnaces. I'll go to the bridge and wait for you there, if that doesn't bother you."

He took her hand and shakily stood. That empathy session knocked the wind out of his sails. Still he fought to put a soft smile on his face. "O...Okay. Go...go ahead. I'll take care of the...rest." He stammered. He gave her a warm hug. But as he broke it and tried to take a step he fell, hard. He passed out and smacked his head against the floor. His mind couldn't hold out from the onslaught he had put it under and it finally gave out.

Aashi jumped back at first, then flew towards the fallen Nepleslian, in a manner of speaking, with speed and little grace, fumbling on top of him. She immediately understood what had happened when she got close to him and had checked his breathing. She ran out of her Captain's room, asking her familiar to guard his body hurriedly in her mind.

"Red!" she yelled out, "Red! Rohk'so, on the double!"

Red turned to her, mouth agape, then started barking out questions to his workers. One of them came forward and handed her something he had procured out of his bag and the team of workers followed her out of the cargo bay and into the hall, then her quarters. She put the spice Rohk'so on her fingertip and held it up to his lips and opened them with her other hand.

"Steady now," Red said.

"What if he-" one of the workers began.

"Sshhh!" Aashi snapped. Then, in a quieter voice she said, "Come on, come on. Work, work..."

As Werner passed out, all the fear and saddness that he had taken into himself began to ravage his mind. He had his own nightmares come to life, trapped in his mind. He was alone, scorned by everyone he knew. He was truly alone and he was afraid. He was curled up in a ball, about to snap when he heard. "Come on, come on. Work, work..." As if from far away.

Werner's physical form stirred. "Aashi?" He murmmered. "Aashi don't leave me alone... Please don't leave me alone..."

With releif smeared across her face after concern had pushed her brows together and made her mouth tight, her eyes lighted up to hear him speak.

"All of you, back to work," Aashi said to the crew as he stirred. "Back to work!"

The Iroma, Red, said, "We're done, Miss."

"Fine then, Red. Do you have some prajna?"

"Er..." Red said.

"Here's some money," Aashi said, pulling all of the KS she had and putting it into the Iroma's hands. "Speak of this to no one."

"Aye," the Iroma said as he asked the workers who had prajna and two of them gave her what they had before Red said, "Goodbye, Miss."

"Ulysses," she said, turning her attention back to him, "Ulysses, you're fine now. I'm here. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

In Ulysses mind he stood still surronded by darkness, but he heard Aashi's voice. He followed it, at first walking cautiously, then in a full out spint towards the echoing voice. "Aashi. I don't want to be alone anymore." He murmmered again, his body fidgeting.

"Oh, Ulysses, Ulysses," she repeated his name, spreading her hand against his cheek as she did. "You're going to be alright, I'm here for you, I am. You're not alone. You never will be, again. I promise. You're going to be just fine."

Werner kept running, then he fell...

Werner gasped. His eyes searching the room in a terrified frenzie. "Where, what happened...?" He said looking up and seeing Aashi. His eyes began to swell with tears. "Aashi..." He said, a hand reaching up to her.

"Oh, Ulysses," Aashi said as she grabbed him in a deep embrace, holding his head up to her chest as she rocked back and forth, "Oh, Ulysses... I pushed you too far, I made you feel too much of my pain, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done that at all, I forgot about you, what I could do to help you. I shouldn't have pushed you so far. You're fine, now. You're in my room. You're absolutely safe here. I should have protected you from my own fears. But you were so brave," she said, pulling him closwer to her. "So brave for me."

His tears fell as he pressed his head into her chest. "I wasn't strong enough to help you. I failed..." He said after regaining his senses. "Aashi I am sorry. I wasn't strong enough to help you with your own demons..." He said between stifled breaths. " I failed you..."

"You failed me in no way," she said. She then cooed a few times to him under her breath before saying to him, "You didn't fail me at all. I'm better, you made me better, I'm only better because of you, see?" She titled her head down to put her mouth to his ear, "You made me all better."

He reached out and grasped her hand, his fingers intertwining with hers. "Aashi...I..." Then he felt A nuzzle up agiainst him. He petted the creature softly. "I'm sorry buddy. Did I scare you?" He asked softly. He turned back to Aashi and rested his head against her. "I was all alone, but I heard your voice calling out to me... I heard you Aashi..."

"I was here for you," she said, "I'm always here for you. You don't have to worry about that. I'll always be here for you. Can you stand?" she asked.

"Yea...Yeah..." He said sitting up slowly. He then tried to stand hesitantly holding on to the bed as he did so. "I'm sorry I scared you..."He said once he had his feet under him.

"Remember never to say sorry with me, I'm thankful you're alive. Here, have some prajna," she said, taking a dab of it out of the container and putting it to his head. That should take a minute to heal if you have a headache and about 10 days if you have hemorrhaging. You will be fine, I promise you that. Here, walk with me, unless you'd rather lay down?"

He looked to her. "I just want to lay down for a bit, if that's okay?" He asked looking to her, tiredly. "I can go lay on the couch if you want me to..." He said pointing out into the hall.

"No, I want you here. I want you here with me. Here, lay down," she said, prepping her pillow and sheets for him. "Lay down."

"You don't have to do this for me. I don't want to impose."

"I know you don't want to, I know," she said as she eased him down onto the bed. When he had laid down, she thought to lay down with him, to help ease his pain, but the thought of being in the same bed as someone made her remember the flashback to the night she kept dreaming about and quickly decided against it. "I'll be right here," Aashi said as she pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, elbow on her thigh as she held her chin with her hand. "Right here."

He got in the bed and let his head sink into the pillow. He reached out with a hand. "Aashi..." He said, as his eye's fought to stay open just a few seconds more.

"I'm right here," she repeated as she moved to hold his hand, thought better of it, then controlled her powers of empathy to hold back this time and to just touch him without it. The warmth from him made her releived, just knowing his blood was pulsing was enough to give her comfort. She watched him drift away from wakefulness and into a dream state.

Aashi had fallen asleep next to him, head slumped down onto her gold chained neck and hand still holding Ulysses Werner's. When he stirred, so did she, propping her head up quickly to look at him, confused as to why she was seeing him asleep on her bed, instead of the other way around like she had become used to from the last time they saw one another. This time was different, though, and the two of them had gone through another troubling episode of delving into Aashi's past. Soon, she realized what had happened and put her other hand to his temple.

"Ulysses," she said in a cool, soft voice. "Ulysses, my dear, you're alright?"

He looked around for a moment, then remembered what had happened. "Yes... I'm better. What about you?" He asked sitting up in bed looking concerned. He rubbed his head and the bump that was there was gone now.

"Only as good as you are," she said, ecstatic that he was feeling fully well. "I am happy you're fine, though I have to apologize... I know we said we wouldn't, but I have to. For having you go so deep into my past. But I still think you're stronger than me. You were able to absorb all of those feelings whereas I try to deflect them. Next time we are feeling better, I want us to try again, to fix the wounds."

He reached and gingerly took her hand. He shook his head. "Open the link, please?" He asked. His eye pleading.

"Open the..." she said questioningly until she saw it in his eyes, knowing what he was saying, then.

He looked to her and nodded. "I want you to feel what I feel right now." He said. A warm smile creeping across his face.

She nodded and let it all open up for him to explore inside of her feelings, the budding feelings she was finding for him as well as the past feelings of confusion and sadness all mixed into one. She noticed her feelings for him masking the feelings for her past, easily, and was nearly delighted to share with him how she felt.

From him she could feel a massive wave of compassion, love, and thankfulness had completly flooded her mind. It had crushed all the fear and sadness that had consumed him. As if he grew stronger from what had happened.

Werner moved and pulled her into a hug. "Aashi..." He said with a soft smile.

"Ulysses," she said back to him, closing her eyes and feeling what it was like to feel inside of him all of his love and kindness. She could feel the fear and sadness within her being stripped away by his overhwelming gratitude and affinity. "Ulysses," she said, again, while the bond was still open. "You mean so much to me, already, thank you."

"Aashi...My sweet Aashi." He said, his steel grey eyes down into her soft blue eyes. "It is I who owe you everything." He whispered softly.

She leaned forward and pressed her cheek to his, her teal lines pressing against his jaw. She held her hand around his shoulder and they stayed there for a few moments before she released him and sat up.

"I've gotten so close to you so fast, I feel like..." she hesitated, "I haven't been this close to anyone in a long, long time. The young ones that were on my ship, sure, I was, but not like this. This is," she again hesitated, then said, "different."

"I have never felt this way before either." He said placing a hand on her cheek. "But I love the way it feels when I am with you." He smiled.

They were with one another like that for quite some time before Aashi raised her eyes away from his and looked towards the door.

"Should we go?" she asked coolly. "If you're ready. I would like to leave a place that reminds me of what once was..."

He reached down and held her hand. "Come on. Let's go." He said standing and moving to the door.

"Only if you're ready," she said before standing, but when she could tell he was, she got up and followed him out and to the bridge. Lazily, she went about manning the controls and getting them off the rock and into space, pushing through FTL speeds before popping the lights down and setting the movie back up. "Ready to keep watching?" she asked.

"I'd love to." He said following her back to where they had their pillows set up. They sat down and resumed the movie. Werner's arm wrapped around her waist pulling her in close to him, resting his head against hers. Aashi was surprised to have his hand where she didn't expect it and her eyes popped open, but they soon relaxed when he pressed his head against hers and she enjoyed the movie with him. Only after many more minutes did autopilot disengage simultaneous with when they finished the movie. Aashi sighed out, not expecting the good times to end, and squeezed his hand gently before getting up, turning back on controls, and bringing them back down to STL speeds.

She looked to Ulysses, asking, "How do you feel?"

He squezed her hand this time. "When I am with you, you take all the pain away." He said softly, sitting down next to her instead of in the captains chair.

"The same goes for me when I'm with you," she said before she got them into atmosphere, then down near the Osman City Landing Fields. She had landing gear ready and they touched down just as she squeazed his hand back. "The same always go for me. Does The Necromancer need you back on it or can you stay awhile?"

He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I can stay awhile longer. The XO can handle things." He said with a smile.

"O-oh!" Aashi said lightly, then a deep red blush came over her brown skin cradling her nose and upper cheeks. After a moment, she fumbled with words and said, "Let's go see where the crew is and have them unload these furnaces before we do anything else fun."

"Sure. Come on." He said offering his hand to help her up. "Let's go see the crew." He said tilting his head. Looking happy more happy then Aashi had ever seen him.