Amaya looked at the tray of food that was set in front of her, noticing all the food looked exactly what her mother cooked.  Just the small cup of soup was brimming with red gumbo and the side of a crummy cornbread biscuit.

Her eyes darting up immediately to see Brystal in front of the glass containment. And Amaya's eyes did not deceive her from telling her this was Brystal Pike. She'd recgnoized her by her family's iconic face that meant 'let's get down to actual business.'

Amaya wasn't the least surprised to see her in a Starfleet uniform, yet not quite like the women's, it was more of a catsuit. Her mind began to wonder on why even Brystal would wear such a thing. Just reading her insignia of Second Officer was what made Brystal important to the Enterprise.

"I already told the first guard, I'm not hungry," Amaya spoke through clenched teeth.

"We like to treat our prisoners with a welcome and that may be all the food you're getting out of this. So either be hungry and starve your body or eat," Brystal responded, quickly.

"Witty as ever, are we now?" Amaya smiled, ever so slightly.

"Let's get to the point, shall we?" Brystal asked the criminal, "You have committed dozens of crimes, killing innocent people, and not to mention burned down some of Starfleet. Do you have any say to defend yourself against all these accusations for your crimes?"

Amaya's nose flared, angrily, "Now I see.....this is just a game of Let's Remember Every Tragic Thing That's Happene To Us."

"That game is somewhat of a distraction from the point," Brystal countered, "How will you plead to the accusations?"

"I think you're avoiding a nice game of remembering, but as always....not guilty," Amaya huffed.

"And why would you plead that?" Brystal questioned Amaya.

"Because it's not a crime to fight for Recreations who are in need," Amaya replied.

"By that you killed innocent pedestrians and food vendors with explosions and detonations," Brystal tried not to seem surprised as she read through Amaya's criminal record, "Some of these explosives damaging civilians homes and industries facilities."

"Why must you counter everything I say like I'm not right, Bry?" Amaya practically hissed the nickname at Brystal.

Brystal's hand around her datapad, slightly clenched in anger. Her teeth, not visible to Amaya, hardened in her mouth. After all these years, and Amaya acted  like she had some right to be so smug and call Brystal by her nickname?

If she could, she would've punched through the glass and slapped Amaya, maybe even had strangled her. But her body calmed, her mind telling her to focus on the interrogation. She couldn't let Amaya get to her head.

"You lost the right to call me that years ago," Brystal stated, "How could you defend yourself with pictures and footage of theses bombings? Evidence that's highly valuable to anyone who could come up with a reason for you to be sentenced to ten years of life imprisonment."

"It's some sort of setup! It's not supposed to look like that!" Amaya tried again, her face slightly showing worry.

Brystal couldn't exactly pinpoint if Amaya was faking her stress or not. It seemed palpable enough to be faking from the looks of the woman's expressions. She was looking like a therapy patient that Aera Callius had everyday.

If she could, Brystal would've rather had Aera do the interrogation. Aera was always so calm and peaceful, and she didn't quite let Amaya get under her skin. But that was impossible to bema hers from earth that was light years away.

"Set up or not, were you the one handling these highly explosive bombs?" Brystal questioned Amaya, her eyes looking at the woman who had sat herself up against a wall of the prison cell. 

"I think you're avoiding something," Amaya told Brystal.

"Your starting to have a habit of not being on point on what the actual issue is," Brystal countered.

"You're avoiding what we should actually be talking about," Amaya fired back, calmly.

"I suggested you stay on topic of the situation at hand. You have been convicted of several charges and video record of images showing you at every scene of the crime. Yet, you come and decide it'll be a nice trip to talk about memory lane," Brystal retorted, flicking to another video footage of Amaya's crimes.

To much of Amaya's dismay, clear footage was shown of a burning building. Rubble crumbling down the ground as civilians scampered around, frightened. The distorted sound of cry's of terror launched out of the datapads small speaker.

Amaya stared at the datapad, just watching as she stood by and watched the rumble fell. Slid onto her left shoulder was indeed a sack of bombs that would've been able to trigger the building to crumble to the ground. For a moment, Amaya felt defenseless for once in her life.

Just seeing herself being described that way was even worse than having to see her father soon. The video lasted a few more seconds. Leaving Amaya with dread crushed into her soul.

"These are seen as an act of terrorism if I may remind you. Starfleet will have no choice but to choose their verdict as guilty if you can't counter your actions correctly and efficiently," Brystal reminded Amaya.

"Then why do you keep ignoring the real facts we should be talking about?" Amaya countered.

"I am ignoring nothing. I am simply putting it behind me so I can focus on getting information to your head," Brystal fired back.

"No. All I have to say to you is to remember-" Amaya was cut short by Brystal.

"Whatever it was.....it was forever ago," Brystal responded.

"There you go again! Deny everything that has happened all because you allowed my father to classify records. Your parents probably praise you for this new Starfleet officer they had managed to make. A perfect little daughter for all to see.

And does your little boyfriend know the truth of what people are like when they were part of the Renegades? That they always shot to kill and they never miss," Amaya practically taunted Brystal as she stood up from the ground of the prison cell. Her voice felt like it was spitting hot venom into her face.

Hot, primal rage surged in Brystal's body, like flowing magma within her. Amaya wasn't wrong on any of the accounts she had just spoken. and that was what caused her anger to boil into an inferno.

She knew just as much as Amaya to what a Renegade was and what they were trained to do. Trained to defend the galaxies and uncharted territories, to be able to wield a sword and a phaser as their defense. Kill the enemy if needed.

The smug look Amya was taunting her with.

They never failed on orders.

Amaya was now picturing her like a crueler type of James Bond.

"For your information my parents are dead and have been for almost a year," Brystal managed from her mouth.

"Pardon me?" Amaya froze in front of the glass, her eyes filled with shock.

"If you didn't hear the news across the Galaxy, they were killed in the Khan and Marcus attacks. Shot to death, both of them," Brystal spoke, bitterly. 

Her body led her away from the room. Despair neatly choked her just reminding herself of those events. Just another thing she'd have to learn to live with.

Amaya slid back down to the floor, her stomach roiled and tears threatening to fall. The news catching her completely off guard, sending grief running through her veins. Had it really been that long since everything happened?

Had it been that long since she'd seen the Pikes?

Did she really cause that much damage?

Did she really hurt Brystal more than she thought she did?

Jim was the first to see Brystal enter her quarters, abruptly, hair falling in front of her eyes. Her face was mangled with stress and annoyance probably from Amaya Callius. But was that the only thing that was strange.

No. It was the fact that Brystal was taking a small break, an actual break for once. For as long as Jim had known her, she was not one to take off breaks from her job so easily.

Her breaks were rather different than anybody on the ship. It was either she'd be practicing some fencing with Sulu when she could or shoot at cutouts with her phaser. She always had to be doing something so she wasn't bored.

Maybe it was all from the training Callius made her do when she was younger. Always restless and ready to fight at anytime she could. Resting wasn't really on her agenda these days after all the nightmares she usually got.

Hearing the voice of a computer came as he stopped by the door, "Ma'am would you like me to survey the man outside your door?"

"No, thank you. I don't need you seeming like a pervert to who ever outside," Brsytal voice told her computer scanner.

"A pervert. A person whose sexual behavior-" He computer scanner tried to correct her, Jim tried his hardest to stifle back a laugh.

"Alright! Alright! I get! I need Addy to fix you next time I see her, I can't stand a computer correcting me," Brystal sighed as the door opened, "I'm so sorry about Addy's computer scanner, it's annoying as hell and I need her to fix the damn thing."

"Or is that because you don't want a computer correcting you?" Jim raised an eyebrow, teasingly.

"And that to," Brsytal nodded, her nose scrunching slightly as she shrugged it off, "It's what I get for allowing Addy to add a security defense to my room if there's an enemy on the ship. Which has happened......like that Squire of Gothos and that one probe droid named, NOMAD."

"Addy's a very smart women. Even though I only met her once," Jim commented.

"Like for twelve hours to be precise."

The two had settled for a few drinks before going back on duty. Knowing they didn't get much time together, except later in the days on the Enterprise. Their duties as captain and second officer were always quite tiring.

2 months deep into the five year mission.

The strangest occurrences always happened when they visited a planet. New species and new threats that always seemed to appear. Though for once, Brystal wished nobody threatened to kill her.

Sitting on one of her two matching black couches, discussing over missions and incidents that had happened recently. Liking to hear each others opinions on the vents and how they were solved.

"How've you been since the whole earth that was stuck in the 1960s?" Brystal asked.

"Honestly, that was pretty terrifying," Jim answered. 

"Which part? Those maniacal children or that one teenager that was obsessed with you?" Brsytal inquired. A cheeky smile on her face as she remembered the little girl.

"Can't I say both?"

"Fair enough," Brystal shrugged, taking a sip of her whiskey.

"How about that one female Romulan commander who took a liking to you?" Jim teased, holding a back a chuckle as Brystal's cheeks turned red.

"That was so not funny! Literally putting me in that situation as you grabbed the cloaking device all because she thought my physique for a half human and half Recreation was more interesting than a Vulcan," Brystal tried not to seem to offended, "Truly, I think you guys made me wait longer on purpose!"

"Maybe we did," Jim chuckled, only to be playfully elbowed by her.

"Oh, you better not have," Brystal teasingly warned him, a smile slightly on her face.

That was something he always liked to see from her and knew she rarely smiled too much, but it was just another thing that made her beautiful. Not that he'd also admit her blush was beautiful or even her just being flustered.

"It would be worse than.....than what Amaya used to do," Brystal's smile shrunk.

"What was that she did?" Jim swallowed hard, hoping he didn't make her remember a terrible memory.

"It was after I told her my sexuality when me and her were thirteen, purposely showed me a revealing dress and said she was going to wear it. Of course I freaked, got flustered, had a full on 'gay panic attack' as Olivia calls it. So I had a bit of a grudge against... Amaya after that," Brystal told him, having a hard time saying Amaya's name.

Why was there still that singe of pain when those memories came to mind?

Why did her heart ache so much?

Why did it turn to her final moments with Amaya?

How did that memory find its way back into Brystal's mind?

"What exactly happened between you two? After the incident?" Jim didn't dare to call it anything other than the incident.

"She betrayed me, I should've seen it coming. She left and became a scavenger, a criminal, and an outlaw throughout the galaxy. The seems to like to taunt the fact that my original dream as a child was to be a Renegade, and that was always my top priority, but Callius ended the, because he had no choice against Marcus then," Brystal explained, trying not to choke up, "So the Renegades ended and I joined Starfleet. And I guess......it just hurts to know that she would do something like that. It hurts so much."

"That's what memories do. They either hurt or they don't," Jim said, gently touching her shoulder, "But that doesn't mean you have to keep it all in. I'm there for you."

Brystal knew look he gave her all too well. The one full of love and understanding, the kind of comfort she needed. Just being able to know he understood was enough to make her immediately love him a bit more.

Amaya was just trying to weave her way back into her brain and manipulate her. But Amaya had done that enough, so Brystal knew she could block Amaya's words out of her brain. They weren't true about her as much as Amaya wanted to paint her as the villain.

Brystal was no villain.

Her hand reached up to the one on her shoulder, gently take it into hers. Allowing a slight warm smile to creep onto her lips, directly looking him in the eye.

"I know," she replied, softly before giving him a quick peck on the cheek.