06-03-2024, 09:30 PM
==Okay, Now it’s an idiot sandwich timeline==
For a moment – just a moment – Benjamin was happy to see Nathan walk in the door, and sporting two pips, no less. Evidently the curse that seemed to have afflicted his career had been broken.
Then his friend laid into him with only slightly less gusto than his CO had. “Is this why I’ve had so much brass up my ass that I’m spitting up pips?” Nathan asked as part of the harangue. “Somebody mentioned our long ago ‘friendly’ vacation?”
Nathan showing up seemed to have made Tyra happy – only for a moment, of course, but it was still good to see. And then she was back on the attack as well. Which was just as well; it was just better that way. “No, I didn’t—” he started, but she never heard him speak.
“Because while I understand you two share a single brain cell capable of making good decisions and I’d say it’s fair to say that Nathan has primary custody at the moment,” she filibustered, “even your dumbest brain cells, devoid of all common sense, should be able to see how stupid each decision you’ve made has been.”
She was absolutely right, of course. He one hundred percent could see that, at least now. Hindsight is a terrible thing, he thought. Benjamin had absolutely no trouble looking back at the chain of decisions he’d made over the past month – damn, had it really only been that long? It felt like a year – since he’d acted like a total idiot upon seeing Cera and Dayune together. It had been so innocent, and he’d been such an idiot ever since. Even recognizing that he’d been an idiot had only made things worse, as he’d gone from one bad decision to the next to the next, not stopping to rest and gather himself before considering his actions.
And now here he was, and his friends were paying the price for his stupidity.
Tyra continued, shifting closer to the forcefield as she did so, her voice pitched low. “So I’m going to ask you this once,” she said, her suspicions creeping higher and higher, “and if I found out that you lied to me here, I will bury you so deep that you will wish the Federation practiced executions.
“Are you selling someone down the ******* river? And I don’t mean me but if I found out you’re taking him, or Cera… or even Damian or Jenny on a ride with you, I will ******* end you.”
That did it. He hadn’t been sure anything could, with how far he’d dug himself into this depressive hole and tried to pull it in after him, but he felt his blood boil. He’d taken the fury and the anger from his friends because he knew he deserved it. Some part of him had welcomed it as his due. But this?
“Tyra,” he said in a low, burning voice, “I will stand here and let you question my intelligence, because you’re damn right that I’ve been an idiot. I will stand here and let you question my choices, because you’re absolutely right that I’ve made every last one of them wrong.
“But I will be ******* damned before I stand here and let you question my motives. Every last thing I did was an attempt – misguided, sure; not well thought out, I can agree – to protect you all. You are my friends, my family when I needed it most. If you truly think that I’d do anything other than give myself up to protect you, then you can get the hell out of here right now and sell me out to that damned lieutenant out front.”
He didn’t know when he’d stood up. It wasn’t until the static cleared from his fake eye that he realized he’d been seeing it in his good eye, too – the forcefield was mere millimeters away from his face. He took a step back and nearly collapsed onto the bunk, what little energy he had had expended.
His face hung down into his hands, and Benjamin wept.
==Tags!==
For a moment – just a moment – Benjamin was happy to see Nathan walk in the door, and sporting two pips, no less. Evidently the curse that seemed to have afflicted his career had been broken.
Then his friend laid into him with only slightly less gusto than his CO had. “Is this why I’ve had so much brass up my ass that I’m spitting up pips?” Nathan asked as part of the harangue. “Somebody mentioned our long ago ‘friendly’ vacation?”
Nathan showing up seemed to have made Tyra happy – only for a moment, of course, but it was still good to see. And then she was back on the attack as well. Which was just as well; it was just better that way. “No, I didn’t—” he started, but she never heard him speak.
“Because while I understand you two share a single brain cell capable of making good decisions and I’d say it’s fair to say that Nathan has primary custody at the moment,” she filibustered, “even your dumbest brain cells, devoid of all common sense, should be able to see how stupid each decision you’ve made has been.”
She was absolutely right, of course. He one hundred percent could see that, at least now. Hindsight is a terrible thing, he thought. Benjamin had absolutely no trouble looking back at the chain of decisions he’d made over the past month – damn, had it really only been that long? It felt like a year – since he’d acted like a total idiot upon seeing Cera and Dayune together. It had been so innocent, and he’d been such an idiot ever since. Even recognizing that he’d been an idiot had only made things worse, as he’d gone from one bad decision to the next to the next, not stopping to rest and gather himself before considering his actions.
And now here he was, and his friends were paying the price for his stupidity.
Tyra continued, shifting closer to the forcefield as she did so, her voice pitched low. “So I’m going to ask you this once,” she said, her suspicions creeping higher and higher, “and if I found out that you lied to me here, I will bury you so deep that you will wish the Federation practiced executions.
“Are you selling someone down the ******* river? And I don’t mean me but if I found out you’re taking him, or Cera… or even Damian or Jenny on a ride with you, I will ******* end you.”
That did it. He hadn’t been sure anything could, with how far he’d dug himself into this depressive hole and tried to pull it in after him, but he felt his blood boil. He’d taken the fury and the anger from his friends because he knew he deserved it. Some part of him had welcomed it as his due. But this?
“Tyra,” he said in a low, burning voice, “I will stand here and let you question my intelligence, because you’re damn right that I’ve been an idiot. I will stand here and let you question my choices, because you’re absolutely right that I’ve made every last one of them wrong.
“But I will be ******* damned before I stand here and let you question my motives. Every last thing I did was an attempt – misguided, sure; not well thought out, I can agree – to protect you all. You are my friends, my family when I needed it most. If you truly think that I’d do anything other than give myself up to protect you, then you can get the hell out of here right now and sell me out to that damned lieutenant out front.”
He didn’t know when he’d stood up. It wasn’t until the static cleared from his fake eye that he realized he’d been seeing it in his good eye, too – the forcefield was mere millimeters away from his face. He took a step back and nearly collapsed onto the bunk, what little energy he had had expended.
His face hung down into his hands, and Benjamin wept.
==Tags!==