SEASON 2: EPISODE 01

NO REST FOR THE WICKED: Part Three

  “Another one, barman,” ordered Jonathan.

  The barman grabbed a clean glass and put it under the tap and filled it up with beer before handing it to Jonathan.  Jonathan thanked the barman and took a sip of his drink.

  “Drowning your sorrows, Jonathan?”

  Jonathan turned and saw Susan Core standing behind him.  “Susan, what are you doing here?”

  “I was on this side of the planet and decided to drop in,” said Susan as she sat next to Jonathan at the bar.  She motioned to the barman for him to bring her the same as he had brought Jonathan.

  “This isn’t exactly close to the popular night spots.”

  “True.  But you get that if you but a pub in the middle of the Australian Outback.  So how’s your break been?  Or don’t I need to ask, you are in the middle of nowhere drinking on your own.”

  Jonathan appeared to ignore that last statement and changed the subject.  “I use to come here a lot when I was younger.  It was and still is a nice place to go and have a few quiet drinks and think about things.”

  Susan took a big sip of her beer.  “Like what kind of things?”

  “Past friends, current friend, the future, that kind of stuff.”

  “Oh,” said Susan slowly.  After a few seconds Susan stood up and grabbed Jonathan’s shoulder.  “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

  Jonathan reluctantly picked up his drink and followed Susan outside.  They walked away from the Pub into the black surrounds.  The pub was really in the middle of nowhere.  There were no other buildings in the area, nothing but untouched rugged Australian land or the outback as it was called.  So the only other light source at night was the moon and stars.

  As they walked Susan spoke.  “I thought you were over this kind of reflection?”

  “You can never get over this kind of reflection, Susan.  But I don’t let it dominate me.”

  “Then why are you drinking and thinking?”

  “I helped my mother out today at one of her classes.  I talked to the Cadets about been a Captain and that kind of thing, it just got me thinking again.”

  “Has anyone told you that you think too much, Jonathan?”

  Jonathan smiled and nodded.  “Yes.”

  “Well you do.  You think too much with this.” Susan tapped him on the head.  “You know what you need?  A love slave.”

  Jonathan burst out laughing.  “A love slave!  That’s a good one, Susan.  That would fix my problems right up.”

  “It couldn’t hurt.  Or if you don’t want one, get one for your First Officer, who works tirelessly to keep you out of trouble.”

  “I’m afraid Starfleet Command frowns on its command officers having ‘love slaves’.  But I get your point; I need a distraction or hobby.”

  “A love slave would be both.”

  Jonathan rolled his eyes in mocked exasperation.  “There is not going to be a love slave on the ship, Susan.”

  Susan put up her hands.  “Okay, I had to try.”

  “So how’s your break been?  Or don’t I need to ask, you are in the middle of nowhere stalking your commanding officer,” joked Jonathan.

  “Just family stuff.  Checking up on my little sister, Emily and brother, Austin and my mother.”

  “So how are they?”

  “They’re all well.  Emily is starting to date and my mother is all frantic about it.”

  “She should be after what you’ve done.  Oww!”

  Susan punched Jonathan playfully on the arm.  “Anyway, they’re all happy.  I even wonder if they realise there is a war going on out there.”  Susan pointed up at the night sky.  “At least they’re not too overly concerned about it, letting it affect the way they live their lives too much.”

  “I wish I could just forget about the war, but I can’t forget it and what it has done to my life.”

  “You can’t change it, Jonathan.  So why dwell on it?” asked Susan.

  “I wouldn’t be sure of that, Susan.  The Enterprise has a proud history of travelling through time.”  Even in the dim light Jonathan could see Susan’s frown.  “I was joking.  I know I can’t change things and I shouldn’t dwell on it, but it is easier said then done.  I am so use to it, the depression from loss, that I sometimes crave it and embrace it when it comes, it was like an addiction,” said Jonathan.  He was sharing things he would never normally share but he needed to tell someone.

  “And addictions are hard to break,” added Susan aware of importance of what she was hearing.

  “Exactly, but not impossible.  I know I can do it and I will.  Just give me some more time.”

  Susan stepped closer to Jonathan and in the dim light Jonathan saw a look of compassion on Susan’s face.  “I will,” she said as she put her hand on Jonathan’s shoulder and squeezed.

  Jonathan noticed Susan shiver a bit and he realised that it was quite cold.

  “Its pretty cold out here,” commented Susan.  “Let’s go back in.”

  Jonathan gave Susan a nod of agreement and the two close friends headed back for the warmth of the pub.

  It was the early hours of the morning before Jonathan left.  He and Susan and stayed and drank together but Susan had left hours ago, leaving Jonathan on his own.  Jonathan wasn’t overly intoxicated since he had really slowed down after Susan left and had taken something that helped clear up the effects of alcohol, though he would still have a headache later on.  Jonathan wondered why they didn’t mix in something to ease headaches, but you needed something to remind people that consuming large quantities of alcohol wasn’t good for them, even if the effect could be negated with the swallow of a pill.

  As Jonathan headed for his shuttle, thankful that it would be able to fly itself back home so he could maybe get some sleep, he saw a lone figure standing in the scrub.  Jonathan decided to head over and check if the person was alright.  As he got closer he saw that it was a woman.

  “You know you shouldn’t be standing out here on your own,” said Jonathan.  He obviously startled the woman as she jumped when he spoke.  “Australia is full of dangerous and poisonous creatures that just hate humanoids.  You need to look out.”

  The woman looked Jonathan up and down.  “Are you one I should be looking out for?”

  Jonathan shrugged.  “Sure, I could give you a nasty bite.  But luckily beer has dulled my senses enough that I won’t do that.”

  The woman laughed.  Jonathan was now close enough to make out a few specific details about the woman.  She was about a foot shorter then him and dark hair that dropped below her shoulders.  She was an attractive woman with a well defined chin.  Jonathan couldn’t quite keep what colour her eyes were, but why her hair colour and her slightly tanned skin tone he guessed that they would be brown.  She looked somewhat familiar, but he was sure he didn’t know her, she just reminded him of someone.

  “So what are you doing out here on your own?” asked Jonathan.

  “Just waiting.”

  Jonathan looked at the woman, but she had returned to staring off into the distance.  Jonathan looked out where she was looking, trying to pick out anything.  He finally realised that they were facing east because the sky was lighter here then anywhere else.  Jonathan then checked the time.  “Ah, you’re waiting for the sunrise.”

  “Yes,” confirmed the woman.  “They say the Australian outback sunrise is one of the most beautiful things on this earth.  Have you ever witnessed one?”

  “No,” admitted Jonathan.  “I can’t say I ever have.”

  The woman turned and faced Jonathan.  “Do you want to watch one with me?”

  Jonathan looked into the woman’s eyes and smiled.  “Sure, it sounds like fun.”

  Jonathan and the woman stood there for a while and watched as the blazing sun broke over the horizon and poured light into the once dark desert.  It was indeed one of the most beautiful sunrises Jonathan had ever seen.  It was awe inspiring and as it lit up the outback it was like there was no one else in the entire world.

  “It’s beautiful,” said the woman.

  “Very,” said Jonathan, who wasn’t really looking at the sunrise anymore but at the person next to him.  He thought she was attractive in the dim light, but in full light she was just like the sunrise, awe inspiring.

  The woman turned to face Jonathan.  “You glad you stayed to watch?”

  Jonathan nodded.  “It was very…rewarding.”

  The woman motioned for them to head back towards the pub.  As they walked back Jonathan asked the woman’s name.

  “You can call me Nat.”

  “You can call me Jon,” said Jonathan.  “So, Nat, do you have a way back to wherever you’re from?  I can give you a lift in my shuttle if you want?”

  “It’s okay.  I was just going to put a call in to Heathrow and get them to beam me back to London.”

  “Okay,” said Jonathan not trying to sound too disappointed.  “So, do you come here often?”

  Nat shook her head.  “Not really.  I was mainly just here for the sunrise.”

  “Oh,” Jonathan couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice.

  “But I had a good time here, so I’ll probably come back,” said Nat in a way that gave Jonathan no doubt she would be coming back, if she had incentive to do so.

  “So any idea when you plan to come back?”

  “How about on Friday?” asked Nat.

  “Fridays are good.  Would you be around here say about 9 PM, local time?”
  “Quite possibly, who knows we might run into each other again.”

  “We just might,” agreed Jonathan.

  They reached the Transporter station, which was just outside the pub.  Since most people didn’t possess personal transporter systems Earth had Transporter Hubs, which were mainly places that were major trans-continent transportation hubs before the invention of transporters that serviced parts of the world.  All someone had to do was put in a request to one of these hubs and they would transport the person from where they were to their destination in the blink of an eye.  So many places had ‘Transporter stations’ to do this.  The naming wasn’t strictly correct; most stations were really just a system to relay requests to hubs for transportation and didn’t do any transporting themselves.  This made travelling around the world very easy.  Since the pub was in the middle of nowhere it had a small station that could handle two requests for transportation.

  Nat put in her request at the console and got confirmation that her request had been accepted.  Nat turned to Jonathan.

  “It was nice meeting you, Jon.  Maybe we’ll meet again one day,” said Nat with a wide grin.

  “It’s possible; it is a small planet after all.”

  Nat gave Jonathan one last smile and turned back to the transporter and pressed the button for the system to start transporting.  Nat turned back to Jonathan once more before been beamed away.

  After Nat disappeared Jonathan wandered to his Shuttle, which was at the pub’s shuttle landing area.  His shuttle was one of the last shuttles still there.  Jonathan got onboard and powered up the ship’s systems, setting up the computer to fly him home.  Soon he was cruising through the atmosphere back home.  Jonathan relaxed in his seat and let sleep take him, thinking of Friday.