ten_fwd_meme | TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

Option 001. Trapped in a Turbolift: This space travel thing is new to you, and you're starting to think the ship is purposely out to get you. A turbolift is just a grandiose name for an elevator, which should be the safest way to travel after all! But someone out there is out to get you, you're sure of it. Because the next thing you know, the lights flicker and the lift grinds to a stop. You're trapped, with whomever was unlucky enough to be in the lift with you.

It could be hours before you're rescued. These turbolifts span the entire massive ship, and don't just travel straight up and down. No, they can travel horizontally, vertically, sometimes even diagonally. You could be stuck between any deck now. There is a small access panel on one of the smooth walls, but how good are you with getting these things to work? Let's not forget that sudden stop tossed everyone around a little, and people could be hurt. Time to put your emergency thinking cap on, and make friends with the people beside you fast. You could be the only way back to freedom.

Conversely, you could slide that pack of cards out of your pocket and start a rousing game of gin rummy. Really it's up to you.

Option 002. Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, minding your own business, and now you're on a spaceship in the middle of a crowded room! It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens, and some of the food is looking rather strange too.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward. A long bar with barstools and a bartender span one side of the room, with a bank of strange computers on that same wall. It looks like people are ordering food and drinks from them. Tables are sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but floor to ceiling windows with a view out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

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The emotion is there, as swift as if he had punched her in the gut himself. Dax's eyes flash -- pain, fear, worry, loyalty, and all of those conflicting emotions rush past her eyes, the very same ones that he saw when she returned. And just like that day, she can't fully look at him. Kira was right about the whole thing. Killing had changed her. It was hard to explain, even to Benjamin, why she had gone and why she regretted it just as surely as she would have regretted not going.

When Dax lifts her eyes again, there's steel behind the depths, mostly so Jadzia can hold herself together. Dax still shows the pain of that loss and the blood oath that followed. For Dax the symbiont, the Klingon son's loss will never be forgotten.

"The Albino killed him."

And a lot of things had happened later, none of which need to be said unless Benjamin still doesn't believe her.

He felt like a heel, but it was the only way that he could be sure. The Changelings were good at many things, especially infiltration. They had skilled interrogators. Hell he'd almost been tricked by the one who pretended to be O'Brien on Earth. But one thing they could not portray, could not hide, was genuine emotion. He might not have approved of when she'd run off with Kor and Kang and Koloth, but he could understand it. And if he had to be honest with himself, truly honest, if Q had given him a chance to go back to the Battle of Wolf 359, and given him a weapon that could kill Locutus of Borg... he'd have had to thing long and hard about avenging Jennifer.

The Ben Sisko that had arrived on Deep Space Nine not long after her death would have rushed off in an instant. So full of grief and rage over it. The Prophets spoke true when they made him face his pain, recognizing he existed for so long at the place of her death. So in turn he could sense the pain he'd driven her to, as he stepped forward and placed his hands hesitantly and gingerly on her shoulders. "You brought honor to your godson's name." He remembered when she'd died as well, and the trials that Quark, Julian, and Worf had gone through in the hopes to make sure she made it into Stovo'kor. Part of him, the young ensign who'd revered his mentor Curzon, regrets not joining them. "I've missed you so much, Jadzia." There were tears in Ben's eyes as he spoke, as now he got the memories of missing her as he stood over her casket, the utter dispair he'd been driven to by not having his friend there.

Honor. In the Klingon sense, yes. She had brought honor to her godson's name. That knowledge she can hold onto despite the pain of everything else. Dax understands why Benjamin asked her that in particular. Emotions. It makes sense. That doesn't make it hurt any less.

Jadzia isn't a weepy person by nature. She doesn't cry at the drop of a hat. And Dax certainly doesn't, either. But neither facet of her self can help letting a couple of tears fall. Maybe it's the memory of that godson. Maybe it's remembering Kang and Koloth's honorable deaths because of the Albino. Maybe it's knowing what she does of her future. Her lack of a future. Dax lives on, in someone named Ezri, someone Jadzia has already come to mentor in a way. Dax survives. She'll have to be content with that.

Whatever Benjamin might be expecting in response, Jadzia just meets his gaze, finally nodding as she purses her lips. "I've been here a while, Benjamin. I've missed you, too." And despite this welcome, she really means that. It's been weird to have Ezri and Garak here, to know that they are from her future, that Julian also knew about Ezri. It's harder still to know that Benjamin apparently also is from a time where Ezri is Dax. Jadzia can tell just by his words.

So she decides to spare him that trouble. "I know about Ezri. I've met her. Here. The only thing I don't know... is how. And I'm not sure I want to know."

He tried to blink the tears away, calming down some as he saw she wasn't about to lash out. He deserved it, making her remember such things. But he knew she was intelligent and would figure out the reasons why. Once she mentioned Ezri though, he tensed a tiny bit before slipping into the familiar role of her Captain.

"The Temporal Prime Directive will be maintained as best as possible." It was his way of telling her that unless she specifically asked, he would not tell her the circumstances of her death. "As for Ezri, I hope that you are taking her under your wing you did for me back on Romulus. She didn't go through the Commission like you did." He had faith that Jadzia had taken things well in hand, but he had to ask anyway. After all not all hosts get along with each other, especially in this sort of situation where both had their own bodies.

Oddly enough, Ezri is a much easier topic. Jadzia had known that Benjamin would take this stance on the issue and she's very grateful. It's hard enough knowing that she dies sometime soon; she doesn't need to know how. Hiding behind Starfleet protocol makes it so much easier to handle.

But along those lines... "The last thing I remember is my wedding to Worf. In fact, I was brought here still wearing that dress." It had certainly made her arrival very... memorable.

The topic of Ezri brings light back into Jadzia's eyes and her smirk slowly returns. "I could tell. She was looking pretty green under her spots. I took her to sickbay so Julian could give her a hypo before she got sick all over my dress." Joking aside, she has taken to Ezri. Jadzia wants to help her, since apparently there's no choice for the poor girl. "I know the risks involved with helping her, but I think I'm the best option. She needs guidance from someone who understands."

And no offense to Julian or Benjamin, but they can't understand being Joined the way that Jadzia can.

Thinking back to Worf and Jadzia's wedding did bring a smile to the man's face. "That was a good day." He then gave her a playful glare. "The start of a whole new batch of paperwork for me."

It did his heart well to know that Jadzia and Ezri were getting along. As Jadzia had brought up he remembered being the vessel for one of her hosts. Ezri and Jadzia were polar opposites: Introvert to Extrovert, Trying to fit in to life of the party, and in a way each took a interesting relationship path between the man who wanted Dax from the start, and the man who grew into being with Dax.

"With your constant bucking of Trill tradition, it should help her as she never learned what those traditions are. I've got the utmost trust in you both." He then settled in, taking a seat across from her with his raktajino. "So you've been here for some time. It reminds me of the Enterprise." She could tell that Ben didn't have alot of good memories about that ship, or more specifically about her captain.

Jadzia laughs then, her smirk returning fully, the one that's always clearly spelled trouble. "Admit it: you like it. I keep you entertained and on your toes." Or kept, really, but who wants to go down that path?

Instead, Jadzia focuses on her amusement and then on explaining the situation. There are things Benjamin needs to know, things that will be easier to swallow coming from his friend Dax and not some stranger. She has to do this a certain way, come to it from a specific angle. Otherwise, things will get very, very ugly very, very quickly.

"That's because we are on the Enterprise," she begins carefully, watching him closely for any signs that he's figuring her out. "Benjamin... we're agreed that no matter where we end up or how or even when, we're still abiding by the Prime Directive?" Jadzia gazes at him seriously. The expression in her eyes should be enough to tell him that whatever she has to tell him, whatever reason she has for saying this, is very important. "Starfleet's rules and protocols are always in effect. So there's no telling me or anyone else about the future. Minimal interference."

She will explain. But first she has to ensnare him. And he likely knows both Jadzia and Dax well enough to smell a trap when he sees one. Knowing what she knows about the timelines... well, she suspects she knows what's coming and it's going to be hardest on Benjamin.

TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

no, he just broke her heart ;;

Feel free to slap him if you must.

he's safe. for now.

Well you have a free shot in the bank then

/files that one away :3

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