A Tale as Old as Time

Posted on Wed Apr 15th, 2020 @ 12:00pm by Ashe Zachariah & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers

Mission: Dead Moon
Location: The Raging Deity Lounge

The amber contents of the bottle disappeared in a scant few gulps. Buck added the empty to his collection and signalled the barman for another. He removed the cap himself and tossed it into the recycler furthest from him behind the bar with a casual flick of his wrist, barely glancing it its direction.

Ashe walked back into the rear of the bar from the kitchen just in time to see Will flick the bottle cap. Setting the order she was carrying on the end of the bar, she signalled for her assistant to deliver it while she walked across too Will. "Awww, you havin' a bad day darlin'?" she asked as she leaned against the bar next to him.

"One way of looking at it." He shrugged then shook his head. "We got off pretty lightly. No-one died."

Pouring herself a drink, Ashe set it on the bar before handing him another then pulled up the stool. "Wanna talk about it?" she asked quietly, her eyes etched with genuine concern.

"No." Buck didn't look at the bar tender as he downed the last of the drink he'd ordered. He was quiet for a moment as he took the drink he'd been offered. He didn't need a friend. He didn't want a friend. He didn't want to talk about it. "They keep telling me humanity's different now. That we're past greed and hate. But everywhere I go it's people acting the same we did back then."

There was clear confusion on Ashe's face as she listened to what he said. "Back then?" she asked. "I mean, darlin' I get that you've got that ruggedly distinguished thing happening, but I'd hardly think you'd be part of the walking twenty miles uphill in the snow to get to school type crowd." Her words were clearly intended to try and lighten his mood.

"You have no idea." Buck laughed. "How old would say I am?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say maybe late 30's early 40's? If you tell me you're in your fifties or sixties, then darlin', I *need* to know your skin care regime!" she said with a teasing grin.

"Add an extra zero to that second guess and you'd be in the right ball park." Buck laughed again, brighter this time, more like his usual self. He sampled the drink Ashe had poured him and waited for her reaction.

Ashe laughed. "We all have days that we feel like that," she said, resting her hand on his forearm and patting it gently. "A few drinks and a good night sleep, and tomorrow will be a better day."

"You don't believe me." It was a rather redundant statement given Ashe's reaction. "I'm not talking metaphorically. I was born in 1968. Just."

There was something about the look on his face. She sank back into the stool and leaned forward. "You're serious aren't you?" she asked quietly, confusion clear on her face. "But..." she paused, moving fingers quickly as if she were counting. "Math isn't my strong point, but that'd make you like.. four hundred and twenty something years old..."

"Yep." Buck didn't feel the need to be pedantic about his specific age. "Most of the time was spent it cold sleep."

"Wow...." she picked up her own drink and finished it in one hit. "What's it like?" she asked softly. "To wake up with everything so different?"

There was a shake of the head. "Like something out of a nightmare. To be fair the defrosting was a mess from the start. First thing I saw when I woke up was an andorian yelling something I couldn't understand at a bolean."

"I can't even begin to imagine," she said quietly. "Hang on a second darlin'," she stood up, quickly serving the couple of customers that had accumulated before grabbing fresh drinks for both of them and a tray of wings from the kitchen. Sliding them in front of him, she returned back to her stool. "What about your family? Have you looked any of them up since?"

"Nah. I don't think J.J. would have kept my memory alive even if they could track down any of his descendent."

Ashe fell silent for a long moment, picking up a wing and tearing parts of the meat off the bone. "At least you've got this crew," she said with a smile. "I know it's not the same, but they're good people, they're a good family to have. They'll have your back."

Buck helped himself to a chicken wing. "Space exploration hasn't really changed in that respect."

"So what do you miss the most about back then?" Ashe asked, genuinely curious about the whole thing.

"The flying." Buck replied, nostalgia shading his words. "It's too safe now." He chuckled. "Too automated."

"You mean like, actual aircraft?" Ashe asked, eyes widening slightly. "Manual control aircraft? i've seen stuff like that on holoprograms but never tried it. It doesn't seem safe to me, putting your life in someone else's hands like that."

"Those hands were usually my own." He shot the lounge owner a grin. "I'd offer to take you up, but most of my planes only had one seat."

"Maybe you can find a good holodeck simulation?" Ashe suggested. "You know, with safety protocols properly engaged and all?" She poured them both new drinks and watched him for a moment in silence. "Was it bad back then?"

"Compared to now? Yeah." Buck nodded his thanks for the drink and knocked back a hearty measure of it. "I don't miss having choose between paying for heating or paying for food if I couldn't get a shift at the bar."

"I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like, how scary the uncertainty would have been. I guess we have it pretty easy now my comparison." Ashe picked up her drink and took a sip. "Do you miss it?"

"Sometimes." It felt strange to say it out loud. "Everyone gets a little homesick now and again, right?"

Ashe shrugged slightly. "I don't know, I never really had a home I stayed in long enough to build any kind of attachment. But, it is what it is, right? What doesn't kill us makes us stronger? And look at you, you're probably the best looking four hundred and twenty something year old I've ever seen! Well, you're the only, but still..."

"There's a few of us about. I'm not even the oldest living human. Yet."

"Were they all in stasis like you?" Ashe was genuinely curious about the whole thing. "What was it like when you woke up and you were told what had happened?"

Buck nodded while he finished his mouthful of chicken wing. "Bought places on a cryosat hoping that they'd be defrosted in a future that had a cure for whatever disease was killing them." Buck teed up the bone he'd picked clean and flicked it into same recycling unit with almost casual indifference. "First thing I did when I woke up was to beat an Andorian and a Bolian unconscious with the door of my cryo pod. Once I'd recovered from being phasered and they'd told me where and when I was..." he shook his head slowly. "It was both wonderful and heartbreaking. None of the rest of my crew had survived and obviously no one I new from home would have lived that long. But so many of things wrong with my time were gone now. How could I not be excited by the possibilities?"

Ashe laughed. "Well, I for one am glad you're here darlin'," she said with a warm grin. "Life on the Astraea just wouldn't be the same without our very own Captain America." She winked as she pushed away from the bar. "Another drink?"

Buck nodded his ascent. "I preferred Thor."