[Scorpion 10] A Captain's Confession

Commander Kaile Emmerson
Executive Officer
USS Scorpion

and

Captain. Aaron Golding
Commanding Officer
USS Scorpion

She leveled her eyes on the man, now sitting on the ground with his back against the wall and legs stretched out before him.  When she’d met Aaron Golding, she had such a giant crush on him.  Though his hair tinged with grey, he had bright eyes. They were the eyes that had seem so many things of the galaxy but still wanted, no yearned to see more. There was a strength in his body, the way he walked, the upright way in which he would lock eyes with you when you spoke with him. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed, when his lips tugged upward in a smirk. But the man sitting on the ground was a shadow, a fragment of that very handsome, very sane man. 

“Captain,” she called. 

He didn’t look up at her. He simply sat there, head down, eyes closed. He was so still, for a moment Kaile thought he was sleeping.

“Captain Golding?”

“Still, Kaile?” his voice was rough—so much so, it cracked on her name. “After all that’s happened, after all I’ve done, you still call me captain?”

She bit her lower lip. “Until they take your pips, you are my Captain.”

He lifted his head then. When their eyes met, Kaile felt her heart broke. 

“I always tried, Kaile…I desperately tried to be the man that deserved you,” he whispered.

“Captain you…”

“No..let me finish. I saw the way you looked at me. I knew it—I was old enough to figure it out. At first I simply thought it was a crush so I let it go. But as you moved from Lt to Ensign on board my vessel I just—you were strong, daring, intelligent. I had to fight, daily to keep my hands to myself and to hide my feelings from you.”

“Why…why hide them?”

“You know the rule…I was your captain.”

Silence reigned between them filling the empty spaces between unspoken words and broken hearts. It pulsated through the force field at Aaron for he shifted and eased backward even harder to the wall.

“I was a fool,” he finally spoke, breaking the torturous quiet wrapped around them. “I betrayed my heart and left my hatred for one person break me. You are the Scorpion’s next Captain Kaile and you will be an even better commanding officer than I was.”

“I don’t see how that is possible.”  She hung her head.

Aaron moved them, closer to the force field and eyed her. “Look at me…”

She looked up. 

“I know they asked you to take command,” Aaron explained. “I am not that far gone. I know you so I know why you are here. You don’t need my permission.  Because I was an idiot and screwed up, doesn’t mean your life ends. Because I wanted you so desperately that I messed up any chance we may have…let this all go, Kaile…I only ask that from time to time you think of me as I used to be…not like this.”

Kaile eased from her seat and smiled at him. “I promise…”

“Go,” Aaron said, moving back to his spot against the wall. “And tell Seungo that I am truly, truly sorry…I know it won’t mean much but please…tell him?”

Kaile stepped closer. “I will…good-bye, Captain.”

“Aaron.”

Her cheeks heated but she kept her eyes locked with his. “Aaron.”

He smiled then, closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall.