Part I - Talk to your Brother

Posted on Sat Jan 31st, 2026 @ 9:29pm by Lieutenant Commander Sabastian Walker & Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami

966 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave - Starbase 1

ON:

Adrianna was staring at her PaDD. The will of her parents stared back at her. It felt like it was taunting her. She couldn't accept her parent's wishes. Not when she finally had Vance in her life, otherwise perhaps their fates had been for nothing. Hearing footsteps, she quickly shut the screen off.

Vance walked in. "You alright love?"

Adrianna nodded, "just some stuff Giovanni sent through. He is on base at the moment." It was not really a lie. Giovanni had sent through everything, demanding Adrianna action everything and also asked her for a drink. Adrianna just didn't have a response or want to talk it over with Vance.

"Are you going to see him?"

Adrianna looked at the blank screen and then up at Vance, "I should. I will. I know he is hurting too."

"You can always set boundaries love. Let him know that you will talk of nothing but your grief and as for the rest you will handle it when things are less raw."

"Vance, there's a lot about what happens after the matriarch and patriarch of this family passes. I can't go through with it all. I don't want to talk about it, but I need to tell Giovanni to reconsider. But I need to see him to check I'm with him or else he'll send someone."

Just as she said that the door chime rang.

Vance raised an eyebrow. "Spooky."

Ade couldn't help but snort in amusement, "once again, saved by the chime." She looked to the door, "enter."

Sabastian came in. "Hey, just checking up on you." He gave a nod to Vance.

Vance gave a whistle. "If your hands look that bruised what does the other guy look like."

Sabastian grunted. "Not nearly as bad as I want."

"I assume that means that they are still breathing," Adrianna looked Sab over, "I can make you disappear if they aren't. Myself and Vance are good at that.

He snorted. "Fang is fine. Broken nose, a few ribs, he won't be so pretty for a while but he's fine."

"Oh, I know," Adrianna grinned, "he stopped by earlier to say goodbye. Good job, by the way. I came close to adding to the hits, but I couldn't risk my job for making a civilian cry."

He laughed. "Far from civilian. He's not the Engineer on that Andoria expedition." He sighed. "What's done is done." Holding up a bag and placed it in front of Adriana. "Zai wanted you to have this. He was..." His voice cracked a bit. "He finished it when we arrived on Vulcan."

It was a carving of Adrianna and Vance on their wedding day. He blinked a few times to keep his eyes clear.

Adrianna looked confused, but opening it she smiled softly. "Wow, when did he have the time to." She stood up and placed it on the centre of the dining table before walking over and hugging Sab, "I'm sorry I did not come today. I raised a glass to him though. Vance said that all things considered , it was a nice send off until the... explosive end. Are you ok?"

He hugged her back. "No apologies. I know you're going through a lot. Zai would have wanted you to focus on sorting through everything." He sighed. "I was alright until the end. I had no warning I just... lost control. As good as knocking Fang down was I shouldn't have done it." He shook his head. "Thank the Gods for the new Lieutenant he stopped me." He shrugged. "Then I made a fool of myself by thinking he was Zai so maybe this counseling thing...I may give it a shot."

"I'll send you a copy of the CCTV," Adrianna darkly commented, suggesting Sab may enjoy watching him beat Fang a few more times. "I do have a lot to do, but everything could be a tomorrow problem for someone like Zai. And good luck with counselling-- my counsellor is rather helpful and eye opening."

Vance coughed and pointed to a near empty bottle of grappa, saying flatly, "mhmm... Helpful... Eye opening."

"I'm off duty and I like to make up for lost time," Adrianna shrugged, "but also it's a taste of home."

“Just don’t taste home too much okay? Adri.” He paused. “If you need anything, I’m here for you. I told your brother the same thing.”

Adrianna groaned a little, "how does he look? He's begging me to see him this week. Wants to talk but I know what he wants."

"He doesn't look good. He's stressed yes but he's grieving. I think you two need to talk at least about that part of things. He needs his sister."

"No, he needs his sister to sign papers and do something she doesn't want to do so that he can continue living life in luxury whilst I have the joys of being miserable," Ade corrected, running her fingers through her hair, "it's not something that I have spoke with Vance about properly, because I'm trying to find an alternative before making a real decision." She looked at Vance, "sorry."

"He's not. He wants to make sure your okay and he's not okay. See him. Don't talk about things you don't want to but at least talk about your parents. be there for one another."

"Do not take this the wrong way, Sabastian, but I know my brother better than you do," Adrianna growled s little, "I know what he wants and whilst, yes, we absolutely need each other and would talk about my parents, he will turn the topic."

"I could go with you and keep him on topic."

Ade looked him up and down for a moment, "he told you, didn't he?"


To Be Continued...

 

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