Chapter Text
-.. .- -.-- / -----
Fade was a good sailor. She woke up, did her job, and went on her merry way. She arrived right on time and didn’t linger longer than she had to. Unlike most of her fellow sailors, she preferred to be alone, which was one of the reasons she loved her job. She could do her work without too many distractions or interruptions, and when the day was over, she headed home to a good book or show.
On particularly good days, she would grab a quick dinner to-go and take the short drive to the local cat shelter off base. No words were exchanged, not even with the young woman who ran the shelter. The bell above the door would ring, and the two would share a mutual nod before Fade bee-lined for the back.
She sat on the ground cross-legged with the more eager kittens finding a space in her lap. Sometimes a cat would sit on the counter beside her and just watch the sailor from above. Others would pass by and rub themselves along her thigh or arm before finding their own space. Most, though, paid little to no attention to Fade. And she had no problem with that.
It was one of those nights where everything was just a bit quieter, as if she was trying to savor it. Her meal was finished beside her, but she made no move to leave. She leaned her head back against the wall as she watched the cats meander about. One of the older cats, an orange Persian with a beautiful coat, crawled into Fade’s lap. The cat’s purrs hummed against Fade’s chest as she looked down with a bittersweet downturn of her lips. She gently ran her hand along its back.
“You’ll still be here in a couple months, yeah?” She murmured. The first words spoken in the shelter in weeks. The cat just rubbed itself further, as if trying to get under Fade’s skin. Silence covered the shelter once again as the cat settled down for the night in her lap.
A curse left her lips when she checked her watch. The shelter should have closed over an hour ago. She moved the Persian as carefully as she could to one of the nearby cat beds before scrambling to a standing position. She tossed her to-go container in the trash can on the way out to the lobby where the owner of the shelter sat behind the desk with a singular lamp lighting a book in her hands. The woman’s head popped up when she saw Fade.
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t realize the time- I didn’t mean to keep you here-”
The woman just closed her book with a soft smile. She nodded her head towards the window, “Saw the submarine in the dock. Figured you could use the extra time.”
Fade shifted uncomfortably with her hands by her side. She pressed her lips into a thin line as she searched for a response. Ultimately, she just offered a stiff nod of the head, “Yeah. Thanks.”
“How long?”
“Three months.”
The woman glanced towards the door where the cats resided and back to Fade. She offered a warm smile, even when she knew it likely wouldn't be returned, “We look forward to seeing you then.”
Fade offered a curt nod as she made her exit, “Goodnight. And again, sorry.”
The bell signaled her departure and silence once again fell over the shelter.
-.. .- -.-- / ...--
The shuffling of two commanders at the command station caused Fade to release tension she didn’t even realize she was holding. Her shoulders lowered from their rigid position, and she let out a low exhale as she exchanged her tight grip on her pen for an idle twirling of the writing device between her fingers.
She glanced at her watch. Ten more minutes before her relief showed up. She glanced behind her to see the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer exchanging pertinent information about their latest mission. It was a relatively simple one to start the deployment- collect intelligence of the waters they currently reside in and identify any threats.
Fade returned to her work diligently, finishing up any final notes while continuing to listen for any anomalies. So far, nothing of interest popped up. The occasional larger marine life popped up on the sonar, and Fade identified the creatures immediately.
More shuffling indicated the end of her watch, and a pat on her chair caught her attention. She looked up to see her replacement offering an easy smile.
“How’s everything looking?”
“Nothing exciting, but that’s a good thing for now,” she muttered while taking the headset off. Fade and the other sailor exchanged a few more words just as everyone in the control room did with their replacement. The itch to seclude herself grew the busier it became in the small room. It had been a while since she had to be around a lot of people, and even longer within tight spaces. To say it was a readjustment was an understatement. Her eyes kept glancing towards the door as sailors trickled out. Her relief kept speaking about their shift change, albeit it wasn’t imperative information.
With a sharp inhale, Fade offered the sailor a curt nod towards the headset, effectively cutting off the small-talk, “Good luck with the shift. It’s a stiff one.”
She heard the sailor chuckle as she rushed towards the exit, although slowly due to others also attempting to leave. About thirty feet out into the narrow hallway, she heard someone call for her.
“Petty Officer First Class Eyletmez.”
The voice was commanding, yet held no bite.
Fade looked over her shoulder to see the Executive Officer standing a few feet away from the entrance to the control room staring right at her. Her sharp features and piercing emerald eyes zeroed in on the sonar technician, holding her chin up high to maintain eye contact as sailors flooded past them. Once most of the traffic had passed by, Fade turned around fully to meet the officer halfway in the hallway.
The commander offered a hand out, “Commander Callas. I don’t think we’ve worked together before.”
Fade pressed her lips in a thin line as she shook the woman’s hand but didn’t display any more of her confusion. She was used to flying under the radar, not being noticed.
“I can’t recall a time either. It’s a pleasure to work under you,” Fade forced through a professional breath. She didn’t know the woman, and it’s barely been seventy-two hours since the start of their deployment.
Viper let out a sharp huff, “Please, you barely know me. Save the formalities for when they’re really needed… You seemed quite comfortable at your station. How long have you been a sonar tech?”
“About six years, ma’am.” Fade tried her best to not shift her weight between her feet. Not because of the commander’s powering presence. Rather, she just hated small talk and wanted nothing more than to disappear into a random corner and decompress for a few minutes before she goes about the rest of her duties.
Viper seemed to relax slightly, allowing her weight to fall onto one foot with her arms loosely crossed in front of her. She hummed as if to calculate her next words.
“You’re doing an excellent job. Keep it up.”
Does she think that will make me feel good? It made Fade’s skin crawl. She would never not be proud of her work, but she didn’t deem it worthy of praise and attention. Fade chewed the inside of her cheek before attempting an appreciative smile she hoped didn’t come out as a snarl.
Before she could respond, a sailor stepped out of the command center, “Commander Callas, Captain Byrne is requesting you- oh.”
The woman’s eyes lit up, and her lips formed a smirk. Her magenta eyes looked between Viper and Fade several times before she took her time to look Fade up and down.
Her eyes then shifted back to the commander. Viper immediately shifted her weight back to both her feet and let her arms fall to her side. She cleared her throat, “Petty Officer Second Class Mondragón, as you were saying?”
Reyna’s eyes danced between the two women in the hallway a few more times before addressing the commander, “First engineers, now sonar techs? Didn’t know you had a thing for good listeners. I thought you preferred the more… unpredictable ones.”
Viper cleared her throat at the same time Fade coughed into her fist. The sonar tech looked away from the two sailors, but she couldn’t help but take a peek at Viper’s reaction.
The commander had turned towards Reyna fully by now. She completely disregarded the woman’s comment, and the icy unreadable expression she had during their watch shift returned. She waited for Reyna to speak up again. Hopefully, with important information this time.
“Captain Byrne needs you back in the control room for a few more minutes.”
Viper nodded and walked past the woman towards the control center where the captain waited. Reyna hovered in the doorway as she turned her attention back towards Fade. A playful smile danced on her lips as she tapped her fingers on the metal doorframe.
“Looks like you’re in for a fun few months, Cariño. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
Reyna slipped back into the control room with the click of the door behind her.
Now even more confused and perplexed, Fade swiftly turned on her heel to find a secluded corner.
“O da neydi öyle?” she muttered to herself. (What the hell was that?)
-.. .- -.-- / --...
“Novikov, you’re up. Let’s wrap this first week up strong, shall we?” Brimstone prompted. He finished writing a quick note and turned his attention towards the junior officer.
The other officers turned towards the operations officer as well, now that he was the last to report. Viper kept her hands folded on the table, choosing to summarize her notes at the end and give the reports her full attention. She glanced towards Brim’s stack of notes, thankful for her excellent memory.
“Comms are fully operational now. Fortunately that was an easy fix. As for sonar, no technical issues here. The new sonar techs are mixing in well with the team. They have adapted well to how we do things on this ship while bringing innovative strategies and solutions,” Sova reported with calm confidence. He then checked his notes. Viper watched him carefully. He paused towards the end of his page before clearing his throat and looking around the table, his eyes landing on Brimstone at the end, “No immediate concerns.”
“As opposed to other concerns?” Viper questioned with the slightest tilt of her head.
The room held their breath. Some eyes glanced between Sova and Viper while others kept their gaze forward. Brimstone had caught the pause from the operations officer but said nothing. If he wanted to bring something up, he would. On the other hand, Viper preferred to know everything no matter how minuscule. She didn’t like unknowns.
Sova cleared his throat, glancing at the same place on the page before meeting Viper’s stare, “One tech seems quieter than the others- more reserved. That's not to say she doesn't get the work done. She's sharp, focused. But doesn't linger once the work is done.”
“Is that interfering with progress?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then where is the concern?”
Brimstone set his papers down and looked at Viper. A warning. She briefly caught his look and settled for a controlled exhale before Sova could respond, “If it starts affecting her work, report it then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That concludes our first report. Thank you everyone, you are dismissed,” Brimstone interrupted before the tension could rise. Chairs scraped backwards, and the junior officers filed out one by one. The two senior officers stayed rooted in their seats. Once the silence settled over the table, Viper opened her folder and began her notes.
Brimstone watched her work. She stayed composed, sharp- too sharp. The only sounds that breached the silence were pages turning and the strokes of the commander’s pen as she did not look up once.
“You pushed more than you normally would,” Brim finally spoke.
“I don’t like it when people hide things from me,” Viper stated factually. She didn’t lift her head as she flipped the page and continued her notes.
“You don’t like being blindsided. Which I get, but too much information can be a detriment to your judgment.”
Viper didn’t respond, but she let the words sink in. She finished her notes with a click of her pen and rounded the table to stand beside the captain.
“I saw you changed the watch rotations before the meeting. Anything I should be made aware of?”
Brim shook his head, “Nothing major. There were some conflicts with watch shifts and maintenance schedules that weren’t caught before we left port. Everyone is accounted for now.”
Viper hummed in satisfaction.
“Speaking of maintenance,” Brimstone fully faced her with his arms across his chest, “Electrical. I’m surprised you green-lit the roster.”
Viper reached for one of the reports sitting on the desk, “It’s out of my hands.”
Brim nodded, “Ultimately that is true, but your words do weigh a lot when it comes to assembling this team... Are you sure you're okay with it?”
He eyed her cautiously. The Sabine he knew was so far locked behind the commander facade now that he wasn’t quite sure if she was still there.
“Well we’re a couple hundred feet underwater and off the coast- a little too late for changes wouldn’t you say?” She returned with a minute frown at the corner of her lips. Still, her eyes stayed on the report.
“Right. I just wanted to make sure you're ready for this,” Brim backed off. He took a small step away and picked up his coffee.
“I wouldn't be a commander if I wasn't, would I?,” Viper still bit. Her eyes finally raised from the paper, now watching her captain with a steady stare.
"That's not what I meant and you know it,” he challenged. If he had to chip away at the commander to find the woman underneath, then so be it.
“We're both professionals. We'll manage.”
“Yet you’re still deflecting.”
“We have a job to do, Liam. And I am making sure I do my part.”
“And we can’t do our job if you’re overworking yourself and holding yourself together with threads of ‘I’m fine.’ I need the commander, yes, but I need you here too. Can you promise me that?”
Viper’s walls started to crack. She placed the file she blankly stared at down with a resigned sigh.
“I’ll be there when it counts.”
Brim deflated- that’s all he could ask for. Not another word was spoken between the two senior officers as Viper silently took her leave.
She walked to the mess hall, hoping there was something more than fruit left after the meal hour.
“Commander Callas, we figured you would want a plate.”
Viper tore her gaze from the clean buffet line to find the head chef holding a plate out for her.
“Thank you,” she nodded with appreciation as she took the plate of pasta. Viper moved to the coffee station where she topped off her mug. As the caffeinated liquid flowed, she spotted Fade sitting in the back corner of the mess hall. While small and packed, it was obvious she was trying to find as much solitude as possible. Her hand drifted between pen and fork, a notebook of sorts sitting beside her plate. Her head sat in her other hand, almost shielding herself from the rest of the commotion.
She left as soon as her mug was full, seeking solitude of her own. Her shoulders relaxed as the door that separated her from officer’s country came into sight. Her mind raced towards the privacy those doors brought her, but her strides continued even and unhurried.
Just as Viper tucked her mug under her arm in order to open the door, a sailor stepped out of an adjacent room.
“Commander Callas.”
“Böhringer,” Viper acknowledged with a sharp nod, not breaking stride.
The two sailors crossed paths just as any two sailors would. But once the commander arrived at arm’s length to the door, she paused. Her hand rested on the handle, and she willed herself to not look back. She waited just long enough to hear the unchanging footsteps fade into a door creaking open before shaking her head and pushing down on the handle.
Now away from prying enlisted eyes, Sabine hurried her steps to her stateroom and closed the door with a firm thud. Her shoulders sagged as she stood with her back against the door for a moment, collecting her thoughts.
Eventually, she placed her plate and mug on her desk, but instead of sitting down to eat, she sat at the edge of her bunk. Her fingers gripped at the edge of her mattress as she shook her head with a self-deprecating huff.
“Come on, Sabine… You’re better than this.”
The past half-hour’s events aligned just perfectly to pluck the thread that could cause Sabine to unravel. She willed herself not to. With not another moment to spare, Sabine hopped off her bed and slid into her chair to work.
She ate as she scrolled through the endless electronic documents, mentally categorizing their urgency. Yet even here her mind still wandered. Endless papers could only occupy so much of her mind. As soon as the electrical schedule appeared on her screen, the thoughts took over.
Time and space could only heal so much, and every look towards KJ reminded her that these two methods could only do so much. Their time together had reached a closed door- one she had closed herself, but she couldn’t help but think there could be more behind it. Not more treasures or memories, but cobwebs she needed to clear.
Sabine reached for her communicator at the corner of her desk and navigated to Killjoy’s contact. Her fingers hovered over the name as she thought of what to even say.
Commander Callas: Can we talk?
Too forward. Deleted.
Commander Callas: I’m surprised you took this job.
Lie. Both her and KJ knew they could only control so much.
She dropped the communicator back into its charger and rubbed a hand across her face.
“It wouldn’t change anything,” she muttered.
Filled with an unfamiliar unease, Viper stood up and grabbed her tablet. She tapped her way through to the schedule and started towards the first item on the list. Surely they didn’t need her help or supervision, but the busier she was the better.
Leading a ship was the one thing she knew she couldn’t mess up, and so she began the tireless duty of just that.
-.. .- -.-- / ----.
It was six days after Fade personally met Viper when they ran into one another again outside of their shared watch shift.
“Excuse me, may I take this seat?”
Fade looked up from her sketchbook to find Viper standing at the side of her booth with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a plate with two pastries in the other. The sonar tech glanced towards the open seat in front of her before scanning the rest of the mess hall.
The booths were packed, but quiet. Some sailors ate in silence while others held small groups playing a variety of games from chess to hand-held console games. Other sailors took the time to get caught up on their continuous training or other duties.
Her eyes met the unreadable emerald ones once again as she cleared her throat and sat up a bit straighter, “Yeah. Go ahead.”
Fade looked between the executive officer and her sketchbook a few times as the woman took her seat. Her lip downturned slightly in confusion as Viper took a sip of her coffee. Officers had their own room to eat and relax, and with space being such a luxury, surely Viper would have preferred that room over a mess hall flooded with enlisted sailors.
“You seem upset with my presence,” Viper observed as she took a bite of the first pastry- a strawberry danish.
“No- not, upset. Just,” Fade paused, trying to find the right words that won’t upset the second in command, “It’s rare to see officers spend their free time here.”
Viper hummed as if to agree with her statement, “I’m only taking a few minutes for a quick bite to eat. So there’s no reason to go all the way to the wardroom.”’
Thorough excuse, Fade thought. She figured the senior officer had an ulterior motive to sit with her. She wasn’t immune to the woman’s gaze. Every watch she could feel those emerald eyes drilling into the back of her head, more than any watch lead had in her past deployments. When she made her routine checks on the sonar station, she always stood behind Fade’s chair- hers wasn’t in the middle. She even caught Viper’s gaze passing through the crowded halls as they went about their duties. There was no acknowledgement, though, only charged eye contact that broke as soon as either made it to their next destination.
A silence fell over the two sailors once Fade hummed in faux satisfaction of her response. Fade resumed her sketching while Viper leisurely ate her danish and watched people come and go from the mess hall. Now that she was close to the sonar tech, it seemed the commander didn’t feel the need to watch over her.
Viper cursed under her breath and turned her body to face more towards Fade. She let her hair fall like a curtain as her freehand met her forehead.
“What-” Fade looked up at the sudden movement and looked over to where Viper had just been looking. She was just about to question the officer, but the answer passed through the room. Magenta hair flashed across the room, and the owner was gone as soon as they entered.
“Are you trying to hide from Petty Officer Mo-”
“Shhh!” Viper sent a sharp glare towards her tablemate before lasering her eyes back into her half-eaten plate.
Fade almost laughed in amusement. A senior officer hiding from an enlisted sailor whom she commanded. The sailor threw taunts and flirts at the officer whenever they switched watch shifts, and Fade could only imagine when Viper would lose her patience on this deployment.
She was then taken back to the… interesting interaction that had occurred when she first met Viper. She glanced between the door where the woman had just left and Viper a few times before speaking up, amusement barely hidden. The barest hint of a smile danced at the edge of her lips.
“She’s gone now.”
A sigh of relief left Viper’s lips as she ran a hand through her hair. She eyed the door herself before making eye-contact again with the sonar tech. Her tongue darted out to lick the sweet crumbs off her lips as she furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head.
“Yeah, about that. I’m sorry about what she said the other day.”
“It wasn’t you who said it,” Fade dryly replied. A hint of amusement lit her eyes and betrayed her nonchalance as she sat back with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn’t know Viper at all, but she could tell that the woman was not used to acting so ashamed, especially about someone else’s doing. It piqued her curiosity as to what exactly the other sailor was insinuating.
Viper groaned lowly at Fade’s entertained look. She looked around to make sure nobody was paying attention to them before leaning forward on both of her elbows. Her hair acted as a curtain once again as she spoke in a low tone, “Just to clarify a few things… Reyna- Petty Officer Mondragón, and I along with many others on this ship have deployed together before. It just so happened that I- chose to spend my free time, for lack of better words, with the lead electronic technician on the ship… I think you can put two and two together. I can’t even remember how she found out, but it’s one of the things she likes to point out for god knows why.”
“So she thinks I’m your type?”
Viper scowled. She took a sip of her coffee as if that one question offended her, “I- that is none of your concern.”
Fade raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless let it go by throwing her hands in surrender. Another beat of silence passed between the two before Fade’s curiosity got the better of her, “So, that electronic technician… Is she on the ship?”
The officer promptly stood up and shoved the plate with the untouched second pastry towards Fade. She avoided eye-contact as she took a large gulp of her coffee and made her exit, “Apricot danish. I’ll see you at the next watch.”
-.. .- -.-- / .---- ..---
Viper tucked the stack of papers under her arm as she shouldered her way into the dimly lit room. Her eyes scanned all the sorted bins filled with new and old sonar equipment as she walked through the tight aisles of sonar equipment. Just as expected, the sonar logs sat neatly at the center of the worktable in the back of the room.
She closes the distance, and her fingers flip through the pages. A low hum of satisfaction left her as she found every page complete and signed. Before she could add the documents to the growing pile of logs under her arm, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye.
In the corner of the room, Fade sat perched on a storage bin. She balanced a book on her knees and twirled a pen between her fingertips. Viper scanned the sonar tech from the bottom up to find Fade already watching her.
She parted her lips slightly and furrowed her eyebrows as she tucked the papers under her arm.
“You’re still here?”
Fade watched her for a moment longer. Eventually, she stretched her back from its hunched over position and leaned against the metal wall, “Call it a cheat code, but I can get about a good half hour of silence back here if I finish early. The next tech should be here in ten minutes.”
“Not cheating. Resourceful,” Viper commented. She paused, looking around the room once more. She spotted the three bins Fade had listed in the logs all filled to the top with equipment, “You finished all this early?”
Fade shrugged, and her pen tapped lightly against the page, “Doesn’t take long if you know what you’re looking for.”
Viper glanced between Fade and the workstation. Not a single piece of equipment was out of place, and Viper knew that the logs were thorough from previous days. Her eyes landed on the book- she could barely make out the pen strokes. She lingered only a moment longer, her jaw locked and fingers tightly gripped around the papers. She inhaled sharply.
“I’ll see you at tomorrow’s watch.”
She turned on her heel and walked towards the exit without waiting for a reply. Viper kept the logs tight under her arm as she closed the door and walked towards her next collection point. Yet she didn’t do so without a final glance towards the door.
-.. .- -.-- / .---- ---..
Viper entered her stateroom to find Sage pouring over Excel sheets at their fold-out table. She lifted her head from her handwritten notes to give the executive officer a tired wave before returning back to her work.
“How was your watch?”
“Fine. Reconnaissance of our dedicated region is almost over. We should be receiving new directives in the next few days.”
“I bet the fireteam is getting a bit restless.”
Viper huffed a laugh as she took a few steps towards her bunk. She lifted her bedding and grabbed a t-shirt to trade for her current working uniform top.
“I actually have the less rowdy bunch of fire control techs on my watch, believe it or not.”
Sage paused her work once again and turned towards her bunkmate. She offered an amused upturn of the lips, “So Reyna is on Brim’s watch.”
It was no secret that the proficient lead Fire Control Technician, Zyanya Mondragón, tiptoed the fine line of teasing and professionalism whenever she got the chance. Despite always getting under the executive officer’s skin whenever she got the chance, Viper had actually hand picked her for this deployment. When it came to engaging with enemy forces, there was no one else more tactical and confident as Reyna. Fortunately for Viper, she only had to deal with the woman in passing unless something urgent arose.
Once changed into something more comfortable, Viper took a seat at her own fold-out desk to go through some documents.
“Unfortunately, that doesn’t save me from her.”
“She always finds you in some way or another, doesn’t she?”
Viper dryly hummed in agreement as she focused on the documents. A silence fell upon the small room as both officers went about their duties. There was nothing of particular interest within the documents the commander held. Most files held the most recent watch reports while others held historical data that could aid her and the commanding officer with their decisions while on the ship.
She reached the sonar section, and her finger hovered over the corner of the page. She flipped past a few more pages and before she had realized what she had done, she was face to face with a familiar name at the top of the page.
Hazal Eyletmez.
This wasn’t the first time she had read one of the sailor’s files. As the lead of a watch shift, Viper took it upon herself to learn about every other sailor she would be working with. She knew most of her crew going into the deployment, but Hazal among a few sailors at the control station were new to her. There wasn’t much to go off from her file. Hard worker with a clean record. Never requested leave. Tested the top of all of her classes. She was even referred to officer school, which she had declined. That was the first thing that caught Viper’s eye before she even met the woman.
Against her better judgment, she closed the folder and sat it on top of the other documents she still had to go through. She turned her body to partially face her roommate who was still focused on her own paperwork. Viper watched her for a couple of moments, and when she felt as if the junior officer was finishing a particular task, she cleared her throat.
Sage immediately looked up to meet the commander’s eyes. She saved her work before giving Viper her full attention, “Is everything okay?”
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Do you- have you… does the name Hazal Eyletmez ring a bell?”
Sage raised her eyebrows in mild curiosity, “I have met with her once, yes. When everyone was required to meet me in the first few days to discuss any important medical information.”
Viper hummed as she stared at the tiled ground. She didn’t think she’d get an affirmative answer, which was foolish of herself considering Sage is the only medical professional on the ship. Of course Sage would at least have seen everyone’s names and faces on paper and met with them once.
“Why do you ask?”
The senior officer met the junior officer’s eyes once again, and she paused. Why did she ask Sage about the sonar technician? Sabine didn’t think she even knew the answer herself. Yet she was trained to think fast on her feet, and she gave the most logical answer, “One of the new sailors on my watch shift. I was hoping you may have some insight.”
Sage’s lips twitched. She’s lived and worked with Viper long enough to know when she was hiding her true intentions.
“Okay,” Sage said with a knowing lilt in her voice, “What are the names of the other new sailors on your shift?”
Viper froze.
The ghost smile on Sage’s lips grew into a knowing smirk. She turned back towards her desk and pretended to be interested in the random file she picked up as she continued casually, “There’s not much I can say about her. She’s more on the quiet side. Just like you, Viper. She also seems to keep to herself a lot. She’s found some quiet places that I haven’t even seen you in. Maybe you should…”
Viper groaned and stood up as Sage continued. She picked up the remaining files and her Navy pullover before making her way towards the door.
“I’m scheduled to meet with her in a few days. I’ll let you know if I find out…”
“I’ll be in the wardroom if you need me,” Viper muttered as she opened the door.
“Just let me know beforehand if you invite her to our room. I would like to avoid what happened with that engineer-”
The slam of a door successfully cut Sage off. Viper shook her head as she heard Sage’s muffled giggle while walking away.
-.. .- -.-- / ..--- .....
Fade glanced up from her sketchbook when she heard the door creak open. She tapped her pen to the steps- fourteen to be exact. She caught Viper’s eyes before the commander had a chance to spot the logbook, and she offered a small nod before returning to her sketchbook.
She could feel Viper’s gaze on her with every stroke of her pen. Silence surrounded them, and Fade counted in her head. Twenty seconds-
“What could you possibly be drawing in here? It’s all metal pipes and wires.”
Fade tilted her head when she looked up. Usually Viper would have grabbed the logs and left without another word. She glanced towards her current sketch, the newest cat at the shelter, and back up to Viper.
“I have a good memory,” Fade shrugged.
Viper continued to watch her for a couple seconds before collecting the logs. She scanned them with a flick of her thumb and tucked them under her arm. Fade watched as Viper turned towards the door, but paused halfway. Their eyes met once again, and Viper opened her mouth as if to offer something.
The hesitation was fleeting. In a fraction of a second, Viper turned fully towards the door and cleared her throat.
“I’ll see you at midrats?” Fade questioned before Viper could take her first step.
Viper paused, and her fingers gripped the edges of the documents under her arm, “Hm. Midrats.”
And then she was gone.
Fade let out a small huff as she let her pen fall into the crease of her sketchbook once the door closed. It wasn’t a confirmation, but it wasn’t a complete denial either. She looked over towards the worktable where the logs sat just moments ago.
Reyna’s taunt and shifted glances between her and the commander at shift changes entered her mind. Fade shook her head immediately. She shouldn’t entertain such drama if she wanted to survive three months around the same people undersea. Yet, the image of Viper’s hesitation lingered in the back of her mind.
The silence that echoed without Viper’s presence felt heavier than normal, and part of her wondered if it had grown large enough to hold two.
-.. .- -.-- / ..--- ---..
“I’m starting to think there’s other reasons as to why you don’t spend your free time in the wardroom,” Fade muttered with the barest hint of a smile dancing at her lips.
The sonar tech was halfway through her meal in the more secluded corner booth when a plate in her periphery had caught her attention. Her gaze followed the arm attached to the plate up to see Viper placing her own meal on the table. This time, she didn’t ask if she could sit with the sailor.
Viper scowled with no true malice as she took her seat and started her meal. The two women had an unspoken understanding that the other preferred to be alone when possible, yet they somehow gravitated towards one another when in the same room.
Fade had also eavesdropped a few times around her fellow enlisted whenever the senior officer’s name popped up. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to learn about the woman from said endeavors. Most sailors just spoke about their times working with her in past deployments. Similar to Fade herself, it sounded like Viper preferred to do her job and not linger around too long. The difference was Viper’s job required her to hang around from time to time.
“How was your watch?”
Fade raised an eyebrow, “You were there for it, weren’t you?”
Viper shot her an unimpressed look, “Humor me, why don’t you?”
“It was good,” Fade conceded, “Quiet.”
“Quiet? That’s… concerning.”
Fade suppressed an eye roll and was just about to explain what she meant, but she looked up to see an almost playful look in the commander’s eyes. Her face was deadpan, but her eyes shined with a hint of mischief she’d never seen before. The corner of Fade’s lips inched upwards in a lopsided ghost smile. She set her fork down and leaned back with her arms crossed over her chest, “So the commander knows jokes.”
Viper mimicked her posture with the slightest tilt of her head, “And who said I didn’t?”
Fade opened and closed her mouth several times while scrounging for a reply. Before she could come up with an adequate response, Viper cut in with a low voice, “I see. So… You’ve been listening to what the others have been saying.”
The commander had lost her playful touch, turning slightly into herself and dropping her gaze towards her plate. One hand reached for her coffee. Her fingers wrapped around the handle, but she made no move to take a sip.
“I didn’t listen-” Fade bit her lip to prepare her next words. She didn’t know why she was defending herself against someone she barely knew.
“And yet your job is all about listening,” Viper countered, making eye contact again.
Fade was confused. And confusion was an understatement. Viper took a jab at her job again, yet nothing in her posture or tone screamed “joke” this time. There was no hostility in the commander’s tone either. The sonar tech felt as if she was in a landmine with mislabeled and missing flags.
“Sonar is different,” Fade took a deep breath through her nose, “And… hearing is different than listening. I hear what they say, but I don’t listen to them.”
Viper adjusted her grip on her mug, but still didn’t take a sip, “And why don’t you?”
“Sonar is always accurate. People aren’t.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Whether Viper was questioning the accuracy of sonar or Fade’s faith in honesty, her answer was the same.
“Yes,” she replied with a little too much conviction.
Viper’s fingers now tapped lightly against her mug. She let a silence hang over them as they both reflected on the answer. Her gaze dropped towards the steaming liquid, “I used to think the same.”
“About sonar?”
Viper shook her head. Finally, she took a sip, “About people.”
“But you don’t-”
“Seem like someone who understands others?” The commander raised her eyebrows, but there was no accusation, just facts. You do listen to the rumors. She continued swiftly before Fade could defend herself, “People are… scarily accurate. They don’t lie. Not entirely. They can lie with their speech, they can lie with their body language, but never at the same time.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Experience.”
Fade wanted to ask questions, but she bit her tongue. She figured this was where the conversation ended, so she returned to her meal.
Viper let the silence settle over them once again. The only sounds being cutlery scraping against plates and the hum of other sailors conversing around them. She gripped her mug tighter as she glanced towards her barely touched plate. It was probably cold by now, and she didn’t quite have the appetite either.
“I thought I was good at reading others back then.”
Fade glanced up in surprise. She half expected Viper to finish her meal in silence or take her leave. Instead, she spoke with a low caution, as if it was her first time breaching the subject.
“I heard her sometimes, looked at her at others.”
Fade didn’t have to ask who “her” was.
“But I never listened. I never saw. I believed what she said even when her actions said another because I couldn’t even see them past her words.”
Another pause, and Viper met her eyes.
“And then, I started to watch more closely. I saw the smiles that didn’t quite meet the eye. The firm handshakes that didn’t show respect. The laughs to cover judgment. It’s all there when you know what to look for."
Fade hesitated, “And her?”
Viper nodded, “I finally saw her, once it was too late.”
“I’m so-”
“Don’t be. I don’t regret that it ended. I regret how I didn’t see the signs sooner and handle it accordingly.”
Seeing that the sonar tech was nearly done with her meal and she wasn’t going to eat hers until she found the time to reheat it, Viper stood.
“Thanks for the company.” The irony wasn’t lost on either of them, but it was sincere.
Fade nodded and let the corner of her lips turn upwards slightly, hoping to share a piece of odd appreciation, “Anytime, Commander.”
“It’s Viper outside watch and official work.” She gathered her plate and mug. “And… Thank you for listening.”
She was gone before Fade could even form a response.