A Smiling Face, A Hidden Knife

Posted on Thu Sep 1st, 2022 @ 8:18am by Lieutenant Christoph Ivers & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: After 11
Timeline: Mission Day 10 at 1930
1559 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Christoph was preoccupied with his own thoughts. He knew he shouldn’t be, but he found himself once again wondering how far Andrei had taken things with Madeline. He couldn’t say he was surprised that the other man would target her, she was beautiful and naive and wanted people to like her, she just wasn’t very good at that. The problem was that Andrei Petrov was very good at that. Too good. He took a sip of his drink and stared down into it. Madeline would be off early tonight after he had pulled some strings to make it happen in the name of getting more experience for some of the other young officers in his staff. Since they were not in any danger while orbiting the pleasure planet, there hadn’t been any fuss or fighting to make it happen. He was so preoccupied he didn’t notice Madeline walk into the lounge nor walk up to his table.

“Christoph?” Madeline asked, her voice soft and concerned. “Is everything alright?” She stood at the other corner of the table from him, guarded for good reason.

“Ah, Maddie.” He stood and smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I was just thinking. I’m so happy to see you.” His smile grew warm and he moved around the table as if he were going to hug her, but he saw her shift uncomfortably and instead moved his hands to pull out her chair. She was still in her uniform which was a bit disappointing, but he understood. Smoothing out his black silk shirt, he took his seat again. “Starduster?”

“Like always.” She confirmed and gave a bit of a nervous smile as she settled in her chair across from Christoph and put her hands in her lap. The two sat there awkwardly for a long moment which was thankfully broken by the server coming over. Christoph ordered Madeline’s Starduster and a refill of his own.

“Maddie.” Christoph finally began, reaching a hand across toward her; it was simply there as an offer. He waited until she managed to look up at him to continue. “Maddie, I am so truly and terribly sorry about what happened. My temper and jealousy got the better of me. It is no excuse and I am trying to work on it not only for myself, but for you. You deserve the best version of me and I must give that to you.”

He watched her mull this over and felt a wave of relief wash over him when she lifted one of her hands and placed it on top of his.

“I know, Christoph. I understand…” Maddie sighed and rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand. “It was just… scary.” Gods help her.

“I know, and I don’t want you to ever have reason to be afraid like that again.” He turned his hand over so he could squeeze her gently. “I promise I will do better and never put you in that kind of position again.”

Truthfully, if anyone but Christoph had done that to her, their head would have rolled across the deck plating without any question, but she had plans for him tonight. Finally. The past thirteen years… “What? I’m sorry, I was in my head.” Madeline apologized and gave a guilty smile as she realized Christoph was looking at her expectantly.

“It’s alright.” He smiled. “I asked if you were hungry and wanted to get dinner.”

“Sure.”
Christoph’s smile grew and he squeezed her hand. When the drinks were brought back, he ordered a couple of flatbreads for them to share and then just began to talk to her, taking things slow at first and speaking of the people in their department, the goals they had in mind for them to improve efficiency as a whole. Then the topics drifted to more personal things, home, friends, family.

“Truthfully, I am grateful I am out here. I really wasn’t ready to settle down with a wife yet despite my father’s urgings. Joining the Fleet seemed to placate him for a while. Little did we know that I would meet quite an ideal woman here on the Vengeance.” He took her hand and kissed it, running his thumb over the backs of her fingers.

“Me?” Maddie looked down shyly. “Christoph I don’t have that kind of position.”

“Nonsense. Your family is respectable and rich. You are beautiful, young, and poised. My parents would love you and you make me happy.” He assured her with a smile. “Trust me.”

“Well, if you say so.” She said and fidgeted a bit.

“I do.” He said with conviction and sighed. “The problem is… I have some concerns about getting home in one piece.”

“Because of Andrei?” Maddie asked and looked up to him slowly.

“Yes.” Christoph confirmed solemnly. “He will not leave us alone, Maddie. He is hell bent on trying to hurt me or worse and I’m afraid he is going to use you to do it. Not that you’d do it willingly, but he doesn’t have the reputation he does for no reason. He is charming, manipulative, and dangerous.” He spoke to her almost as if he were trying to educate a child.

“I understand.” She nodded. Oh please… please let him ask what I think he is about to ask.

Christoph leaned in close over the table pulling her to do the same so it looked like they were having a more intimate conversation which in a fashion they were. “It is not an ideal situation, but I think we need to remove the problem. He is dangerous and not only to us. Having someone around that unpredictable and with that much influence could be catastrophic. I can’t do it alone though, Maddie. I need your help. You said you had my back once… will you have it in this?”

Madeline was grateful for their closeness as she was having a bit of trouble containing the amused glee that she felt bubbling up in her core. He was serious. This was hilarious. The man had absolutely no idea. She took a beat to make sure her voice was even and spoke. “Christoph are you asking me to-”

“I’m only asking you to help me get him into a room where he wouldn’t suspect anything going wrong.” He said and kissed her cheek. “I would not ask you to do anything more than that. I can take care of it from there.”

“I… I don’t know what to say, Christoph. I know he is a loose cannon but he is Terran and the captain’s son.” She pointed out. If Andrei found out about this he’d laugh for days.

“I know, Maddie, I know, but he is going to kill me at some point. I can feel it.” Christoph sighed and sat back.

“Well,” her expression became slightly strange and unreadable, though enough to be unsettling. “We can’t have that, can we?” She looked to Christoph, fighting off a smirk. “Alright, Christoph, I’ll get him into a room for you. What happens after that we will leave to fate, won’t we.”

“Yes, we will.” Christoph agreed and then sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t really want to bring that up now but with everything going on, I thought it would be prudent to do so. I hope I haven’t ruined our evening.”

Madeline tilted her head slightly. “Well, the evening isn’t over.” She reached out to take both of his hands and squeezed them. “I’m yours, Christoph. Let me… let me prove that to you. Will you let me stay with you tonight? See how things go?”

Christoph’s eyes went wide and his pulse quickened. His hands closed around her hands tightly and he had to consciously make himself loosen his grip. “Maddie, do you mean that?” He asked, his body already aching for her and reacting in the typical way to such an offer. He searched her dark eyes, only seeing words spoken true there.

“I do.” She demurred, smiling shyly then bringing her eyes back up. “I don’t want you to feel jealous anymore. There is no need.”

Not that you’ll be feeling anything much longer.

Christoph stood then, eager, and pulled her to her feet. “A thousand times yes, Madeline.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, not caring that the few patrons still in the lounge would see. Most anyone who wasn’t on duty was down on the planet after all. Maybe he would be able to convince her to go down and stay with him for a few days. He kissed her again with that thought in mind and took her by the hand, leading her out of the lounge and toward the turbolifts.

They stepped on together and he pulled her tightly to his body. Unbeknownst to him, Madeline slid her hand into her pocket and activated a small device to trigger a much anticipated message to be sent out. Come to me. I'm waiting.

Christoph's hands moved over her body, he kissed her again. Her fingers dug into his back.

Tonight it would end.

OFF