There is balm in Gilead

Posted on Sun Oct 4th, 2026 @ 6:30am by Legate Andrinn Orin & Captain Samuel Woolheater

Mission: Season 6 - Episode 8- The Price of Home
Location: Zyphera Prime/Andrinns Quarters and Atrium
Timeline: Stardate 75610.7
4643 words - 9.3 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Sam signed the last report. He read it once more before closing the file, leaned back in his chair and looked around his spartan office. He'd finished the corrections and bodycam footage for the last AAR. For once, there wasn't another one waiting.

That almost felt suspicious.

He stood, collected the few things he needed and stepped out into the Marine spaces on Deck 32. Someone else had the watch. The Nightwatch Marines knew their jobs. And, for the first time since Elysium had entered the Zyphera system, Sam had nowhere he was required to be.

"Watch Commander? I'm done for the day." He started toward the exit, then stopped. "Call me if you need anything."

He meant it. Sam always meant it.A few minutes later, the lift doors closed behind him. Only then did the obvious occur to him. He was off duty. Actually off duty. Outside Elysium was an alien city unlike anything he had ever seen, and Sam suddenly knew exactly who he wanted beside him when he saw it. His destination changed. The chime sounded at Andrinn's quarters, but Sam knew he no longer needed to wait at the door. He could come right in, and he did.

Andrinn was busy. A diplomatic call, from the sound of it. Sam caught Andrinn's eye, gave him a small gesture that said take your time, and made sure he was out of the pickup's field of view. He settled into a chair and waited. He hadn't come here with a plan. Not really. And from the way Andrinn was talking, Sam wasn't even sure tonight was going to be a good time. Hell, fifteen minutes ago he hadn't known he wanted to go anywhere. So he listened.

Andrinn's voice was always so calm and measured. Unflappable was the word that came to mind. Sam could listen to Andrinn read the instructions for installing a replicator and he'd probably still love it. Andrinn had a way of turning a heated conversation into just a spat. Not by manipulating anyone, but by disarming them. Listening. Finding the common ground.

Sam listened and watched. There was something about watching Andrinn work that Sam liked. The attention he gave whoever was speaking. The intelligence behind those eyes. Those tiny changes of expression as he listened and considered before answering. He had a great poker face, although Sam didn't know if Orin even played poker. Sam knew that face. He knew those eyes. He knew the man beneath all of it in ways the people on the other end of the connection did not. And sitting there quietly, with nothing demanding his attention and nowhere else he needed to be, Sam simply let himself look at him.

Did Andrinn have any idea just how handsome he was?

The call ended. Silence replaced the distant voices. Sam didn't immediately get up. He looked at Andrinn for another long moment from the chair. He waited until Andrinn met his eyes. Whatever he'd intended to say when he came here disappeared.

There was a beat, and then, quite unintentionally and completely unguarded, Sam said what was in his heart. "You're the most gorgeous man I've ever seen." A pause. Sam's voice had gone softer. A moment that seemed longer than it actually was. He spoke again, "You're the most beautiful man I can imagine." Another silence. There wasn't a trace of teasing in Woolheater's expression now. Only something open, honest, awed and precious. "Everything about you is beautiful." Sam swallowed. A tiny smile appeared, but his eyes never left the man. "Andrinn..." Another breath. "I could write you poems." His smile grew just a little, he shook his head just once, "But they wouldn't do you justice." This pause was a bit longer, because next came a question. Sam let the silence remain this time. Then: "Will you let me take you out tonight?"

Andrinn had been so entrenched in the call that once it ended and he looked up to see Sam standing there, it almost stardled him. Not badly, but enough for a little bit of a jump. Then, he heard Sam start speaking. As Sam spoke, Andrinn got up and walked over to him as Sam kept going on.

He wrapped an arm around one side of Sam's waist and used the free hand to stroke Sam's cheek for a brief moment. "Is that my favorite marine coming to ask me out on a....date?" Andrinn asked, pretending to gasp at the gesture. "I'm going to have to think real, REAL hard about that one, mister," Andrinn said before gently kissing Sam. "Yeah, I think I'll have to accept the date. Anywhere Prince Charming has in mind for our date?" Andrinn asked.

Sam leaned into the hand against his cheek. Andrinn's arm came around his waist and Sam's found its way around him in return.

~My favorite Marine.~

That made him smile. Then Andrinn kissed him. Sam closed his eyes and kissed him back. For a few seconds, Zyphera Prime, the summit, the Marines, the AAR he'd just finished...none of it existed. Then Andrinn pulled away.

~Prince Charming?~ Sam looked at him. He could still hear his own words hanging somewhere in the room. Maybe he'd said too much. No. Sam pushed that thought away almost as soon as it came. He'd meant it. "I meant all that, you know. That's the way I feel. I guess it just took me a long time to connect all the words together." His thumb moved once against Andrinn's side. "Every word." Sam held his eyes for another moment, then drew a breath. "And where am I taking you?" That finally brought the smile back. "I have no fucking idea." A quiet laugh escaped him. "I hadn't gotten that far."

Fifteen minutes ago he'd been sitting on Deck 32 correcting an AAR. Then the work had been finished. Someone else had the watch. For once there had been nowhere Sam Woolheater needed to be. And outside the hull was an alien city. "I got off duty and realized I've barely seen any of that place except through a viewport." He nodded vaguely toward Zyphera Prime. "And I thought, I want to go see it." Sam looked back at Andrinn. "And then I thought about who I wanted to see it with." There it was again. He really was doing this without a plan. Woolheater smiled. "So, that's what I've got. You. Me. An alien city neither of us knows." He leaned closer. "We walk until we find something interesting. Find somewhere to eat. Try something we've never had before. Maybe get lost." Sam intertwined his fingers with Andrinn's and gave him another kiss. "Ready you stud?"

Andrinn playfully slapped Sam's arm before saying, "I'm a dapper gentleman! Thank you very much! You're the handsome one over here!"

However, Andrinn hadn't thought much about it either. They had arrived to this new place? What was it called, again? Zyphera Prime? But, he hadn't had much chance to go down and figure out the 'Best Places to Go' or anything either. Might as well be a good time to check it out, right?

Andrinn looked into Sam's eyes and said, "Why don't we pick a major area and take a look around? Maybe, we could find a nice place to eat or a hole in the wall? Is that the human phrase?" Andrinn couldn't help but chuckle as he thought about that idiom that he had found from some time prior.

Sam laughed and squeezed Andrinn's hand. "Yeah. Hole in the wall. You got it right." He gave him a suspicious sideways look. "Although now I'm wondering what the hell you think it means." Sam reached for the door and held it open for him with an exaggerated little flourish. "After you, dapper gentleman." He was still grinning when he followed Andrinn out.

For once there wasn't anything else. No rifle hanging across his chest. No platoon waiting for orders. No casualty reports. No map with somebody's best guess about where the enemy was. Nobody was calling him Captain. Someone else had the watch. That thought returned again. Someone else had the watch. And the strange thing was that the ship continued to function perfectly well without Samuel Woolheater standing somewhere inside it being useful.

They made their way toward the transporter and Sam let Andrinn choose where they would start. He didn't particularly care. As long as it was with Andrinn. That was unusual too. Sam usually wanted a map. A destination. A route. A backup route. Some reasonable idea what the fuck he was doing when he arrived.

Tonight the plan was apparently go down there with Andrinn and see what happens. And somehow that was enough.


[[ Zyphera Prime ]]

The city swallowed them almost immediately. Sam stopped for a moment after they arrived and simply looked. He had seen Zyphera Prime through viewports. He had seen reconnaissance imagery, maps and tactical displays. He'd read reports about it.

None of those had gotten it right.

There was movement everywhere. Strange architecture rose around them beneath an alien sky. People Sam couldn't name hurried past speaking languages he couldn't understand. Somewhere nearby came music...or something close enough to music that his universal translator apparently didn't feel obligated to explain it. His eyes did what they always did. He scanned for entrances. Elevated positions. Crowd density. Places somebody could hide. Ways out. Sam caught himself doing it. He looked over at Andrinn. Then deliberately stopped. He slipped his hand back into Andrinn's and intertwined their fingers.

"So. Major area. Check." He looked around them with exaggerated seriousness. His stomach chose that moment to contribute to the planning process. Sam looked down at it. "Looks like team leader is calling the shots. Apparently Marine Corps Command would now like to amend the mission objectives." He glanced back at Andrinn.

"Food."

There were restaurants, or at least places that seemed to be restaurants...everywhere. Some looked elegant enough that Sam suspected there were rules concerning which fork to use. Others were tiny storefronts with tables spilling into the street. One particularly busy little place caught his attention. Sam couldn't read half the signage even with the translator, and whatever was cooking inside smelled completely unfamiliar.

He pointed, "That one? Whatcha think?" Then he looked at Andrinn.

::beat::

"Yeah, lets do it. It actually smells really good. Almost....almost like back home," Andrinn said as they looked and listened to everything that was happening within the immediate area. However, Andrinn did notice that Sam was a bit distracted for a moment. He let Sam have his moment though, hanging a step behind Sam with a small smile forming on his face as he watched the other man get lost in his mind and the crowd.

Andrinn said something beside him and Sam turned his head to listen. A group passed them going the opposite direction. Somewhere ahead somebody laughed. Something smelled wonderful. Andrinn's fingers were warm between his.

And for several minutes Woolheater wasn't thinking about tomorrow. Not the next duty shift. Not Circinus. Not the next time somebody put a rifle in his hands and pointed him toward someplace dangerous. Not whether someday one of those places would be the place from which he didn't come home. He was hungry. He was walking through an alien city. And there was a ridiculously handsome man holding his hand.

Sam smiled. Not the little crooked grin he used when he was teasing somebody. Not the reassuring smile he gave frightened Marines when he needed them to believe everything was going to be all right. Just a smile. He looked at Andrinn for a few seconds. "Hey?" He tugged gently on their joined hands until Andrinn looked at him. Sam leaned over and kissed him.

There wasn't any urgency to it. Nothing demanded anything after it. He simply wanted to kiss Andrinn, so he did. When he pulled away, the smile was still there. "I'm having a really good time."

Andrinn kissed Sam and got lost in the kiss for a moment. Once Sam pulled away and Andrinn saw the smile on Sam's face, he reached up and gently stroked Sam's cheek. "You okay? You just seem.....lighter for some reason. Not that I'm complaining. I'm enjoying seeing this side of Sam for the first time in such a long time," Andrinn said as he looked into Sam's eyes and smiled himself. Bigger. Brighter. Just glad to have some R/R with Sam.

Sam's eyebrows went up. "Lighter?" He thought about it for all of two seconds. Then he looked at Andrinn. Really looked at him. At the smile. The hand still against his cheek. The man standing close enough that Sam could lean forward and kiss him again without taking a step. A decidedly less innocent smile slowly spread across Woolheater's face.

"Well..." Sam turned his head just enough to kiss the palm against his cheek. "I'm off duty. I'm walking around an alien city with the most beautiful man I've ever seen. You're holding my hand. You keep kissing me." His eyes moved briefly down Andrinn and came back up. "And I'm smiling right now because I can't make love to you right here."

Sam laughed and caught Andrinn around the waist, pulling him closer for another kiss. This one lingered a little longer than the last. When it ended, he stayed close. "I'm having fun, Andrinn." Sam's voice softened, but only a little. "That's all. It's been such a long time. Look where we are! A city and station made...of...light!"

His thumb moved affectionately against Andrinn's side. "I'm here with you. There's nowhere else I have to be. Nothing else I have to be doing." Then the grin returned. "And you are ridiculously fucking handsome." Sam gave him one more quick kiss and released him before his amended mission objectives became considerably more amended. "Now come on. Feed your Marine before he decides we're going back to your quarters."

Andrinn playfully slapped Sam on the arm as he replied, "You're going to get us in trouble and I have new diplomats that I have to brief here soon, I think. But, food. You and me on a space station made of pure light, along with the City. The first time in so freaking long. I love you Sam and I love that we get some R/R for the first time in forever."

Andrinn's hand slid down and found Sam's again as they started to walk forward, looking around at all the places that they could go. "What are you feeling like having, mister?" Andrinn asked as he stopped at what appeared to be a flower stand for a moment.

Sam opened his mouth to answer, but Andrinn had stopped at the flower stand. That changed his priorities. Sam's eyes followed Andrinn's outline and he made the "scrumptious" face. He stepped in behind Andrinn and slipped both arms around his waist, drawing him back against his chest. Sam rested his chin briefly near Andrinn's shoulder and looked over the display with him. “I don't know,” he said. “Something I can't get out of a replicator.” One arm remained comfortably around Andrinn while Sam lifted the other and pointed across the display.

“You sure that those are flowers, right?” His finger shifted toward a particularly strange cluster of curling violet things. “Because...just saying...probably better not get anything that's going to hatch in your quarters.” Another caught his eye farther back. Smaller than the others. Deep blue, fading almost to silver along the edges. “That one.” Sam's arm lowered around Andrinn again, and he gave him an affectionate squeeze. “That one's you.” He considered what he'd just said. “I have absolutely no idea what that means.” A grin. “But I stand by it.”

Sam turned his head enough to kiss Andrinn lightly near the temple before looking toward the vendor. His stomach chose that moment to remind both of them that flowers had not been the original mission objective. “Sorry, just hungry I guess? We better eat soon or I'm a start grazing.” He pointed toward the restaurants with the same arm still draped around Andrinn. “Something weird. Something local. Something I can't pronounce.” He glanced sideways at him. “You pick.”

Andrinn couldn't hide his smile now. "It'd be like when that one delegation came onto the Enterprise-E back near the end of the Dominion War. Started to eat the floral arrangements. So, wouldn't be a first, nor would it be a last for anything like eating the floral decor. But, food does sound good."

Andrinn took Sam's hand and guided the other man throughout the next little stretch of restaurants and local eateries. He couldn't tell where he wanted to go or what he wanted to eat until something finally caught his nose. Andrinn led him and Sam over to a nearby street vendor offering up stuff that could almost be described as Earth burgers. Andrinn pointed at something on the menu and asked, "I'm sorry. We're not from around here. Mind telling us what this stuff is?"

Sam stood beside Andrinn while the vendor began explaining the choices. Or attempting to. The universal translator handled the words well enough. The problem was that half the ingredients apparently had no useful Federation equivalent. Sam listened with increasing amusement.

One was some kind of local grain. Another was a protein whose translated name meant absolutely nothing to him. There was a sauce involved that the vendor seemed particularly proud of, followed by a lengthy explanation of a vegetable Sam was reasonably certain had just made the translator give up. He leaned slightly toward Andrinn. “I understood ‘grilled.’” Sam nodded seriously. “I feel pretty good about grilled.” And then he looked at Andrinn.

The smile started small, just at the corners of his mouth. A soft breath escaped through his nose, almost a laugh. Sam dipped his head and shook it once, but there was no hiding it now. When he looked back up, the grin had spread from ear to ear. His cheeks lifted. His eyes narrowed slightly at the corners and somehow seemed to be smiling every bit as much as his mouth.

For a few seconds, Sam simply glowed. His fingers tightened gently around Andrinn's hand. Half an hour ago he'd been sitting behind a desk reviewing bodycam footage from Marines who had gone into a fight because he'd helped send them there. Now he was holding Andrinn's hand while the two of them tried to order dinner from a street vendor in an alien city. The absurdity of it brought another little snicker from him, mostly breath and smile. Sam shook his head again. Goddamn, he was happy.

That was it.

Nobody needed Captain Woolheater to make a decision. Nobody was waiting for him to finish eating so they could brief him. Nobody was bleeding. Nobody was calling for extraction. He was just hungry and horny. And Andrinn was standing beside him. Sam's thumb moved slowly across the back of Andrinn's hand. He could get used to this. The thought came so easily that it caught him off guard. His smile softened, but it didn't disappear. Sam looked at Andrinn for another moment. Not the city. Not the vendor. Him.

He could get used to this.

Maybe that was what Andrinn had seen earlier when he'd called him lighter. Sam let his shoulder settle gently against Andrinn's. “Okay.” He looked back toward the vendor and pointed at one of the things that looked vaguely like a burger. “I'll take that.” His eyes narrowed at it. “Whatever the hell *that* is.”

Andrinn said, "Yeah, make it two please!"

However, Andrinn was a bit lost in Sam for a moment. He looked back as the person who took our order put it in and started making it with a smile on their faces. But, Andrinn pulled Sam in for a moment while they made the food. "Good company today, if I say so myself," Andrinn said as his arms went around Sam's waist.

"What's my favorite marine thinking about?" Andrinn said as the cook was getting through making the food.

My favorite Marine. There it was again. Sam looked at Andrinn's arms around his waist and then back into his eyes. The grin hadn't entirely gone away. If anything, being caught apparently made it worse. Another little breath escaped through his nose and Sam shook his head.

“You.”

It came out before he could dress it up into anything more sophisticated. Sam laughed softly at himself. “I was thinkin' about you.” His hands settled comfortably against Andrinn's waist. “And this.” He glanced around them. The vendor. The unfamiliar street. People moving past them beneath the light of an alien city. Somewhere behind him, somebody was apparently cooking something that both he and Andrinn had just agreed to eat despite neither of them having the slightest idea what it was. His eyes came back to Andrinn. “I was thinking about...how much I like this feeling. Like, I could get used to feeling like this. I think.” There was no joke attached to it this time. “That's what I was thinking.” His expression softened. “Just...being here with you.” Sam held Andrinn's eyes for another second before the grin slowly returned. “Although, full disclosure, there may also have been a thought or two about getting you back to your quarters later.” His eyebrows rose innocently.

“I'm like a Marine Swiss Army knife...I'm multifaceted.” Sam leaned in and gave Andrinn a quick kiss. “And apparently hungry enough that I'm about to eat unidentified grilled wildlife with you.” He glanced toward the cook. “So if this kills us, I want it noted for the record that this was a fantastic date.”

"Well, I'm glad that I could just take up so much of your thoughts and mind that it brought us here. But," Andrinn said as he laid his head gently on Sam's shoulder. "If you are taken out by some weird meat nectar, totally putting that in your eulogy. Sam Woolheater, my favorite marine, was taken out by some weird sweet meat nectar from an alien world. May he rest in pieces. Yes, pieces. And in peace. I don't know," Andrinn said as he started to break character and laugh from his belly.

They were getting closer to getting the food done. But, Andrinn lifted his head and kissed Sam on the side of his cheek. "Love you, my favorite marine and I'm glad that you're here. Like, really glad that we had the time to go out here. I've missed the quieter moments that we've had like this. It's good to have them."

Sam turned his head and kissed Andrinn's forehead. “Love you too, handsome.” He kept his arms around him for another moment, enjoying the simple pleasure of having Andrinn's head resting against his shoulder. He'd missed this too. More than he'd realized, apparently. Not the grand romantic gestures or the stolen moments between duty shifts. Just being together without a clock running somewhere in the background. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I've missed this.” Sam gave Andrinn an affectionate squeeze.

He reluctantly released Andrinn and turned toward the counter, accepting the two portions with considerably more enthusiasm than he'd shown for most of the meals he'd eaten aboard Elysium lately. He handed one to Andrinn. “Okay. Moment of truth.”

Sam examined his dinner. It looked like a hamburger. Or a hockey puck. More or less. There was something resembling a bun, something resembling a patty, and a generous helping of the sauce the vendor had been so enthusiastic about. Whatever else was in there was probably best left to the imagination.

He looked at Andrinn. “On three?” Sam held up his dinner. “One. Two...”

Andrinn had picked up the hamburger look alike and held it up as Sam counted down. When Sam got to two, Andrinn said, "Three." Then, he took a bite of the meal and chewed it, especially savoring the almost salty and sweetness to it. It was hard to describe entirely. But, it was almost like a sweet and sour sauce that the Humans made for some of their meals of Asian cultures, Andrinn thought. He wasn't entirely sure, but it was good nonetheless.

Andrinn picked up a napkin and cleaned off his face as he looked at Sam. "How was it? Or have you tried it yet and wanted to see the diplomat try it for?" Andrinn said with a small smile. He took another bite or two of his meal as he waited for Sam to answer.

Sam was already chewing. He gave Andrinn a look that suggested the accusation was deeply offensive, then took another bite. “Actually? Pretty damn good.” And that settled the matter. They ate.

=== After Dinner===

By the time they tossed the wrappers away, they'd wandered several blocks farther into the city, stopping wherever something caught their attention and occasionally having absolutely no idea what they were looking at. Sam didn't care. He'd stopped checking the time somewhere around dinner. Eventually the crowds began to thin. They found themselves on a broad elevated walkway overlooking the illuminated city, the noise below reduced to a distant murmur. Sam stopped at the railing. For a while, he simply looked out over Zyphera Station. Then he felt Andrinn beside him. Sam slipped an arm around his waist and drew him close. “You know what the best part of tonight has been?”

He turned toward him.

Andrinn's head found itself on Sam's shoulder as he listened to Sam speak. "What's that? That we got to eat weirdly exotic food on a far off space station that basically looks like the biggest light show of our lives?" Andrinn asked with a small huff and chuckle.

A small smile appeared. “We didn't accomplish anything. Didn't save anybody. Didn't solve anything. Didn't even know what the hell we ate.” He gave a quiet laugh. “We just...had a night.” Sam looked back across the city. “I think I needed that more than I knew.” His hand moved gently against Andrinn's side. After a moment, Sam looked at him again. “So.” The mischievous little grin returned. “Your diplomats still expecting you, or do I get to keep you for tonight? There's...stuff...we could do.”

"No, nobody is expecting me anytime between now and the next probably two duty shifts. What'd you have in mind minster?" Andrinn said with his own little mischievous little grin on his own face.

Sam slowly turned his head and looked at him. "Two duty shifts?" The grin disappeared. Not because Sam had suddenly become serious, but because an entirely different thought had apparently taken possession of his brain.

"Oh."

He looked back across the city for perhaps two seconds, as though giving Zyphera Prime one final opportunity to compete for his attention. It lost. Sam turned, slipped both arms around Andrinn and pulled him close. "I was thinking I take you back to your quarters."

He kissed him, slowly this time. When he pulled away, he stayed close enough that their foreheads nearly touched.

"Pour us a lil' bit of that Romulan Ale you've got tucked away behind the Aldeberan brandy? Oh yes, I saw it. Snipers have good eyes you know? And then, after a drink...and...fooling around....and then I'm going to spend an absolutely irresponsible amount of time reminding you why I'm your favorite Marine."

The grin returned. Sam took Andrinn's hand. "Come home with me."

"Okay," Andrinn whispered as he took Sam's hand and they started back to Andrinn's quarters. "Also, we'll have to talk about those sniper eyes of yours later," Andrinn said chuckling.

[OFF:]