What's My Name Again

Posted on Fri Jul 15th, 2011 @ 3:51pm by Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries & 1st Lieutenant Lukas DeVries

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: DeVries' Quarters - Arizona
Timeline: Following 'Secrets in the Garden'

Crossing the threshold into her living quarters Lieutenant Colonel Stace S. DeVries methodically removed her 'street' attire from the day before's festivities and opted instead for a pair of shorts and matching tank. Though she was beyond relieved to be 'home' the events that had transpired below on the planet had left her angered and confused. Most notably was the disappearance and ultimate death of Harrington... most likely at the hands of Gipson and his goons. And speaking of Gipson... everything about the man was wrong. Wrong in ways she couldn't even begin to describe.

Sighing deeply, she lethargically made her way towards the small study she kept for when she needed to concentrate on work outside of the office. Sitting down, she slowly inched her hand in the direction of the bottom drawer and pulled forth a small bottle. The last of her precious Skagaran whiskey. The years she had spent carrying it around was damn near ridiculous... but what was rare was rare... and if nothing else she appreciated a fine drink. Removing the cork, she inhaled the liquid for a moment before taking a small sip. She had almost forgotten the taste of it. Oh how it ignited such vivid memories. Memories of a different place... a different time... a different girl.

"Computer... access records from the USS Phoenix NCC-79621 and cross reference them to personnel file Anastasia Shantoa DeVries."

"Access granted," the monotone voice chirped.

Taking another tiny sip of the dark amber colored liquor, Stace leaned forwards toward the computer screen and closed her eyes as she burned the displayed images into her brain. "Hello old friend..." she whispered as she slowly opened her eyes and once again resumed glancing over the file. She had combated this before... Anastasia versus Stace... Vandergrift versus DeVries... but perhaps the biggest match up was blonde versus red. The Valkyrie and Big Red. When would she stop running from herself?

It was the chime of the door that gave the woman a quick reprieve from her internal scolding. Calling out a stern 'enter', Stace rose to her feet at the sight of the figure coming through the door. "It's late..."

"I know... but I wanted to check in on you," the voice of Lukas S. DeVries explained. "Are you o..."

He stopped suddenly in mid-sentence as the silhouette of his mother slowly came into view. At the sight of her he wondered if it had perhaps been a bad idea to pay her a visit. It was not like there had not been moments of uncomfortableness with his mother considering the very slim age difference between the two... but nothing compared to what he was experiencing right now. It was as if for the first time in his life amongst this parallel existence he truly noticed her.

"Am I what?" she questioned with a puzzled look upon her face. Aside from the fact the highly potent alcohol had given her a slight buzz and she was still supporting around the adrenaline from below... she had no doubt something was causing the young man to have a brain lapse. "Do you need to sit down?"

Realizing he was making an ass of himself, Lukas quickly shook his head - feeling a bit of red from embarrassment crossing his cheeks. "No... sorry... I was just... well... it doesn't matter. How are you?"

"I'm surprisingly... well," she admitted carefully. "For perhaps the first time in a long time. I'm not quite sure how to explain it."

Raising an eyebrow, he made his own way towards the nearby couch and plopped himself down upon it - resisting the urge to put his feet up upon the coffee table as he use to. Again, something about the way his mother was acting was causing a knot to twist within his stomach. Surely, the events on the planet hadn't effected her that much. It sounded heartless to say that, but he knew she had experienced far worse many times over. Still... something had happened. "What was it?"

"I met someone down below," she began as she moved towards the chair opposite the couch. "He use to work for the section years ago... kind of like our Sweeney if you will. He was hard working... I'll give him that... but he lacked real street smarts. In fact we use to joke about how the only way he'd ever become a field agent was if he had a brain transplant."

Lukas winced a bit. "Poor guy. Bet that made him feel real good... but I guess he got better over the years if he was on the planet."

"That's just it... I don't think he did. I think he got that brain transplant," she muttered as she rubbed her temples. "I ran into him at a bar... he didn't recognize me... but I thought maybe it was just part of the act. Shortly thereafter I met him again at the prisons... and I realized it wasn't an act at all. I could see it in his eyes. He didn't know me."

He felt his brow raise again. "Maybe he just forgot? Maybe you've changed a bit since then?"

Stace wanted to argue with him. To point out that she saw this man every day for almost a year... bitched at him repeatedly for his misspellings of her reports... but something he said gave her pause. "Come... let me show you something..." She rose from her seat and made her way back towards the desk she had been occupying before his arrival. Still displayed upon the screen was an image of what appeared to be an old starship crew. "A bit of history if you will..."

"What you got for me?" he questioned as he slowly came up behind her and halted in his steps. "Wow..."

She smiled and nodded - knowing exactly what he was thinking. "Your father hadn't changed a bit... aside from perhaps growing a bit more arrogant."

"He looks so carefree," Lukas expressed sadly - the thought of his father's death weighing heavy on his heart. "Who's the tall man beside him? He looks familiar too."

Stace felt her smile grow wider. "Times were simpler for him then... less of a burden on his shoulders. As for the man... his name is Mekar. He was a great asset to your father during those times. You probably recognize him because his daughter is aboard the Arizona now.... sciences I believe. Though I have yet had a chance to speak to her."

He nodded as he continued to browse the photograph, several times coming back to a figure near the front. He wasn't quite sure what it was about the figure that drew him in as he didn't readily recognize it. "I feel like I'm seeing a ghost I haven't seen before. Does that make sense?"

"You mean the woman," Stace continued for him as she indicated the very same individual. "That's me."

Lukas felt his eyes bulge slightly at her admission. There was no way in hell that could be his mother. "Er... what?"

"I said, that woman is me," she repeated a bit louder as she ran her fingers through her hair. "That there is the real Anastasia Vandergrift... in all her glory."

Not being from this particular timeline Lukas had only heard of his mother's 'glory' days... but to actually bad witness to photographic evidence was something entirely different. Why had he not seen any of this before? Had she blacklisted it? Glancing back to the image, he felt his heart and mind race at what he was seeing. The most obvious difference was the hair. Instead of her trademark fiery red locks he spied honey gold wisps. Even her eyes seemed different... no longer the chaotic hazel but instead a bluish-green that resembled the hardness of the purest diamond. This... this was his mother?! "Er..."

"The red grew fainter once I left the academy," she began. "By the time I had joined the section it was almost non-existent... but I was alright with that. I wanted to be different. I thought the section could offer me things beyond anything that I had ever imagined. Growing up on Bajor... the occupation... I never experienced anything outside of war... death... suffering. I was naive... anxious... putty in the proverbial hand. I thought what the section was doing was important and needed. In reality, all I was doing was killing people just to kill them."

Lukas felt his blood run cold at the nonchalant manner in which she told her story. He didn't think it was too cool to have a serial killer as a mother. "But you changed..."

"Eventually," she replied. "The photo in front of you was from the Phoenix... it was my first command after leaving the agency. I was still struggling with myself at that point. Who I was... who I wanted to be. I knew I needed to change... I just didn't know how... or to what. After the destruction of the ship, I figured it out. This," she said, indicating to herself, "is what you got."

"And father?" Lukas pried.

Stace smiled faintly. "Meeting your father again for the first time since the Phoenix was... interesting to say the least. He hardly recognized me... but it didn't matter. Not to him. Not to me. From that day forward I never gave much thought to my old self."

"Not until the planet," the male marine concluded as he ran his hand over his face. "That Gipson dork."

"Computer, shut this mess on down," Stace ordered as she moved away from the desk and turning on the boy. "You know me. I'll do what needs to be done. That will never change. Now... you go on and get out of here. I got some things I need to do. We'll talk later."

Puzzled by her sudden need to brush him off, Lukas frowned a bit but made his way towards the door. "Alright. I'll see you then."

Waving at his passing, Stace remained utterly still until the door secured itself once more. Now, alone again, she knew what had to be done.