Reunion

Posted on Thu Feb 16th, 2023 @ 6:05am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Captain Mattias Richardson [Reece]

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Timeline: MD4 07h00
1477 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

As the crew awaited word of where they would be evacuating to, word came down to Mattias that Phoenix was safe and well and he was beamed to the Lethe to see her.

Phoenix was sitting in the rear compartment with her arm in a sling and the EMH had told her to rest.

When he had received word that his wife was injured, he was immediately worried. Then, after, when he was told that she was safe and had been transported to the medical shuttle, he put Miran in charge of watching over Tristi and the twins, then stood ready to be transported to the shuttle as well.

After materialising on the small pad, he made his way aft, his heart in his throat with worry about how he would find his wife.

Entering the aft compartment, he saw her sitting on a chair, her arm in a sling, and she seemed to be staring into nothingness. He also noticed that she didn't seem to see him, even though the compartment was small.

"Phee.." he whispered when he reached her side, carefully putting his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.

“Matt,” She said softly and she leaned into him. “Oh Matt!” Phoenix nuzzled his shoulder. “The kids... are they safe?”

Holding her close to him, Mattias nodded. "They are. All of them. Tristi got a small cut on her head, but other than that, no injuries. I left all four in the Emergency Shelter, leaving Miran in charge." He slowly released his hold on his wife and started to look her over. "How are you? How bad is the arm?" He then noticed something was off. "Look at me…why aren't your eyes focusing?"

“Concussion, Erisian physiology. It will pass.” Phoenix said softly. “A few hours more and it will be fine. And my arm is healed, I just cannot use it for a few days.” She raised a hand and touched his face gently. “Thank you for keeping them safe.”

Lifting his own hand to gently cup hers as she touched his face, Mattias closed his eyes and gently placed his forehead to hers. "You never have to thank me for keeping our family safe, my love." He took in a breath and added, quietly, just for her ears. "I won't lie…I was worried I'd lost you. What happened, sweetheart?"

“We hit something or it hit us. A quantum filament is best guess. It was attracted to our warp core and QSD..” Phoenix said softly. “Miraj tried her best to get the ship free of it... next thing it is let’s fly across the bridge. And you know the rest.”

He nodded carefully, doing his best not to shake her head. "Yeah. From what I've seen, the ship is in a bad way, and I can only imagine how many souls we lost. Had a hull breach in our quarters. Had the emergency forcefields not kicked on when they did…" he didn't want to think about the terror in Miran's eyes as he held her with a death grip, to keep her with them.

Phoenix nodded. "It's Andromeda all over again." She sounded defeated. "That time was horrible... this sounds worse."

"Well," a small grin threatened to fill his face, despite how he was feeling. "Not completely worse. I'm here with you now, afterall." He chuckled softly.

Phoenix gave a small smile at that. "True" she brushed her lips across his cheek. "Thats a very good point." She paused. "I made Gary take command."

Mattias smiled at the kiss and nodded again. "It was the right thing to do, Phee. You can't lead your people, if you can't see. If there's anyone, other than you, that I trust to keep this ship and crew safe, it's him." He then lifted his head up slightly and gently kissed Phoenix's lips.

She smiled as their lips touched. “I am glad you are safe, Love” she whispered. She leaned into him. “It's what keeps me going” She was content to rest against him. She knew soon enough she would have to go out and face the crew and the disaster they were currently in. But right in that moment, she felt safe and secure with him.

Putting his arms back around the woman he loved, Mattias started to feel at peace again. They had certainly been through adversities before. So long as they had each other, and the children, he knew they would always succeed. "Amin mela Ile, Phoenix."

'Amin mela lle Mattias," she responded. "Have you seen your sister? Can you tell me about others? Who have you seen?"

Relaxing his hold on Phoenix, Mattias sat back, moving his hands down to hold hers lovingly. "No, I haven't. Things have been too busy for me to start looking." He let out a breath of worry. He didn't want to think about the idea that his sister, his beautiful little niece…or even Malakai being injured…or worse.

"As for any others, I was able to get back up to the Diplomatic quarters and found Josh and Anna. Josh is okay, but Anna hasn't regained consciousness yet. I also brought the Sequus delegation and our Chief Ambassador, plus a couple other of my department staff, down to the Emergency Shelter. That's when I was told about you, and was beamed over."

Phoenix nodded. "Malakai is fine. He went down to the Shuttlebay. He was not injured in the accident. I am sure he will look for Kara, who is probably helping out in medical." She hoped.

Mattias nodded. He knew that if Kara was okay, she would be helping those in need.

After a few beats of silence, he asked quietly. "So, what do we do now, sweetheart?"

"Gary has a plan I think, I am not across it. The EMH will release me in a few hours or so, but I doubt I will be making my way to the Evac shelter... did Miran grab the evac bags?"

Furrowing his brows slightly, Mattias responded. "Why wouldn't you go to the shelter?" Then he started to think about it a bit more. "....to keep the level of your incapacitation from the crew."

Phoenix nodded. "Crew morale is important at times like these." Phoenix replied. "If they see me like this it could cause issues and we don’t need that."

Nodding, Mattias reached up and gently caressed Phoenix's right cheek with his left hand. "Whatever you feel is the right thing to do, you know I am always going to be on your side, my Queen."

Phee smiled at that. “I know. We have survived this, we can survive anything.” she blinked slowly. “I can at least see light now. Before it was pitch black.”

This news caused Mattias to grin happily. "That's great, sweetheart!" He leaned in and gently kissed her lips again, before sitting back. "Is there anything I can do to help you be more comfortable?"

She shook her head. “No, I am fine here. The EMH is taking good care of me.”

He chuckled softly as he replied. "You trying to make me jealous, my Queen?"

“Who me?” She asked curiously. “Never.” Phee leaned against him.

As she leaned into him, Mattias wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close, giving her what energy he could to help her. "I love you, Mrs Richardson."

“I love you Mr Richardson.” She clung to him for a moment. “You need to be with our children, with our family.”

Mattias hesitated to release his love. However, he knew that she was right. Chuckling softly to himself, he thought that she usually was. Finally, after a few more moments, he relaxed his embrace and released Phoenix from his hold. "You're right. Though, I don't like leaving you in this state."

"I've had worse," Phoenix said softly. "And we both know it. Give kisses to William and Elizabeth and make sure Tristi is ok. Miran is strong but she needs support as well."

Nodding silently, Mattias finally relented. "Okay. But mark my words, young lady, if you don't return to us in the condition you left us in, there will be consequences!" He then chuckled softly, before kissing Phoenix again, tenderly. "Amin mela Ile," he whispered.

Phoenix smiled and nodded. “Amin mela Ile,” she said softly. .

After a few more precious moments together, Mattias finally released his hold on Phoenix and stood up. "We will all be together again soon, my love." He then turned away and left the shuttle, his heart breaking slightly as he left the love of his life behind.

He knew that Phoenix was right of course. As much s they both wanted to remain in each other's arms, right now, his place was back in the emergency shelter, protecting the rest of their family.