Can I help you?

Posted on Wed Jun 21st, 2023 @ 7:40am by Lieutenant Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen [Taylor] & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar

Mission: Season 6: Episode 2: Survival
Location: Science Complex
Timeline: One month later
1324 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

One month on the planet, and Arrianna was a very quiet woman. Reclusive and she talked to few people. And it was that time again. At least work gave her a chance not to look towards her. At least exploring this planet gave her the opportunity not to look towards her. It used to be in the first weeks she'd keep on asking about her. Now it was just work.

"Can I help you Counselors?"

Alicia had arrived with Savar to see how Arrianna was coping. She smiled as she greeted Arri. “Hello Arrianna, We came to see how you’re getting on?”

"Trying to bury love with work." Arrianna noted. "Trying to tell myself she needs time, but it's easy to give up any hope I had before. Who am I kidding. Do I really expect her to love me back after all this. Maybe I should see other people. But I can't do that to her until I really know. Until we heal and she tells me so, Counselors." Arrianna noted. "But it's painful to catch glimpses of her, and have to look away. I shed tears... every single time."

Alicia nodded. “I can imagine, I know how I’d feel if it was us.” She looked at Savar, before looking back at Arri.

"Indeed. Alicia is correct Commander. You are not alone in how you feel. It is a feeling we can all relate to." Savar answered as he looked to Arri and then shifted his gaze to Alicia.

"I'm trying to be social but.." Arrianna noted. "This place sucks all the joy out of you. The good thing is I may be exploring a place no one had ever seen before. When I get back, I'm going to be sending more discoveries and data in that will get me awarded the Nobel Prize or some other commendation. The geological discoveries are fasinating." Arri mentioned. "This planet is in a eccentric orbit with it's moon. Every nine months both planets come within one hundred thousand kilometers of each other. It's like a dance, every nine months this planet re-enters the system's habitable zone, and the ice starts melting. It also causes the ice sheets on this planet to melt and buckle themselves like a deck of cards. And that's not the only thing buckling. The surface is doing the same thing whenever this planet and its moon each the shared periopsis of their orbits, causing the crust the buckle and shift due to the tidal forces of the moon. And the tidal forces here are tremendous. We need to be gone in five months." Arrianna noted. When the ice melts, fissures also open in the crust, Volcanos erupt melting through the ice to deposit sulfur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The Sulfur and the CO2 combine with melted water in the atmosphere to form sulfur dioxide, and then it will start raining Hydro-sulfuric acid. Then the planet has a toxic atmosphere for at least four months until it leaves the habitable zone and everything drops below -70 degrees Celsius. The Sulfur Dioxide clumps into a layer of ice, volcanic corrosives, and only the nitrogen and oxygen remain in the Atmosphere for the next cycle." Arrianna noted. "We just arrived during the period life is possible on this planet when the atmosphere is, for all intents and purposes, warming up."

She then stopped talking science.. "Alicia... Savar.. I have to be loyal to my mate. It is expected of an Alindari, I honor my people's ways. When we love each other. It is with the utmost, complete, and unwaivering loyalty. I hope her feelings for me still exist, because I will look at no other man nor woman." She noted. "I am faithfull to her... Until the end of time. And I have waivered in that faith. I should trust her. I should've had more faith in her. I am a terrible mate."

“No, you’re not Arri.” Alicia smiled warmly. “You’re in pain, So is she, so much has happened it’s pushed a wedge between you that may take some time to disappear. There’s nothing wrong with having hope.”

"Let me know when we can be friends again, I miss her.. Terribly. I want to start from scratch, but do it right this time. I don't want it to be trauma induced." Arrianna noted. "Nor do I want it to be like what Cragen tried to do. Torture her into becoming his bride." Arri mentioned. "She's given so much for me.. And he tortured her and me anyway. I don't want to carry hate for him around, I don't want revenge.. I don't even want what we had.. I want what we will become." Arri noted. "But, We can't be together, until she recovers and tells me." Arri noted "Honestly. Was it love, or a fling? These humans are so cheap with affections, Alindari are not. It was how we survived the Borg. I will not go down this path again if it's not real."

“I’ll speak to her when she’s ready Arri, right now she’s not. I’d rather not risk it right now” Alicia offered a caring smile.

Arri sighed. "Let's not talk about Josephine until there's something to talk about."

"it seems we are making progress." Savar added dryly.

Arri goes back to work on some Magnetic Field scans. For a moment a tear runs down her cheek. 'If I ever love again, I am never letting go. I will die before this happens again.' She thought to herself, her private thoughts dwelling in her mind.

'It's what they want.. It's what they all want.. me alone.. solitary. Then why do they care so much. They're not supposed to care.' Arri spoke to herself. "Do you have any more science related business with me right now?" She asked.

Alicia offered a shake of her head. “No, nothing science related Arri.”

"Then I have work, Counselors." She noted as she went back to a nearby console.

"Savar watched Arrianna go to a nearby console. "Come Alicia. Let us give Arriana the space she requires."

Arrianna sat at the desk and began crying. Feeling her sleeve with tears. She then turns and speaks. "Counselors. Help me. I don't care how many years it takes. Help her. Help her discover who we were. Who she is. She pulled a ring. I can't do anything to hurt her. I can't push her away, I can't have her. I love her with everything I am, but I can't tell her. And I have both of you telling me not to. Sometimes I want to be free of this pain. I nearly ended my own life over it, but someone told me make her suffer. I have to trust you and her that one day. Everything will be alright. It's so difficult Alicia."

"You ask for help Arrianna but then you find fault in what we tell you because it is not what you want to hear. We say what we to not to criticize or find fault but to make you aware of your behavior so you can change it." Savar replied with Vulcan calm.

She turned around and began working again. She took the ring and put it in a drawer. Arri was becoming more reserved. Introverted. 'If I feel nothing, I cannot feel pain.' Came another thought. 'No.. I'm here.. She's here.. We're together but seperated. Is there still hope?' She paced while talking to herself. 'If it was never meant to be, they would have told me to leave and never come back. but I am here.' She started having a silent conversation with herself. 'Josie would not want me to act this way. She'd want me to be the Starfleet Officer who defended her at that damned inquiry. She'd want me to be who I was.'