Bargaining

Posted on Sat Jul 22nd, 2023 @ 10:23am by Crewman Adelaide Kirkby & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani

Mission: Season 6: Episode 2: Survival
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD01 1030
2631 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Crewman Adelaide Kirkby was happy to be useful. So many of the crew were shocked when they heard that Ensign Miraj Derani. And many more were angry about the attack. It seemed like ancient history after the young pilot had spent a month unconscious while her body healed carefully, and now in the warmth and quiet and bright lights of sickbay, rather than the cramped and cold conditions of the planet, the doctors were hoping for change.

It was about ten when Captain Woolheater brought Adelle a cup of coffee to the little sideroom where Miraj had been put. It was only six ounces, but it was the good stuff. It was hot and there was cream and sugar. They got to talking about recent events and Adelaide offered to sit a watch if she would be permitted to do so. It would be no different if a family member were present. But they were...family. They were still a crew family and that had to count on something.

Adelaide had been shown where the call button was for a doctor or a nurse. It was something she could do to help. Being a marine records clerk was not as glamourous as it might sound. But here and now; she could help.

Adelle stood a few meters away from the biobed with apprehension. She slowly approached. She got a good look. There were so many machines hooked up to her frail body. Adele put her hand to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. She wiped a few away and kept silent.

The beep of the machines and the computer made it all the harder to bear. The woman she had known now lay before her, nominally fixed, but as unmoving as the grave. And there was no one here? Adele scolded herself inwardly. Knowing that they were protecting Miraj by keeping her isolated and under the watchful eye of Security. Even so...were there no one who loved her? Where were they?

Adele took a tissue and dabbed away a tear. When she'd first seen her a few weeks ago, Miraj had still been black and blue in some places. Even now the worst, the mark of someone's foot across the pale skin of her throat, hadn't completely healed, still a stripe of faded yellow green. Where patches of hair had been shaved away where they'd inserted the medical nanites to save her brain, it was growing back in, now a fingers width of pink fuzz, the scars from the incisions turning pale. They wouldn't bother with the dermal regenerators until her recovery was further along. She looked so pale. Someone so pink shouldn't be this pale. Then, she thought she heard Miraj say something.

Looking closely, she could see a soft pull between her eyes, the flares of her orbital arches unable to frown as much as a full human could, but it made the base on the trident crease deepen, and Miraj's cracked lips moved slightly, soft sounds forming slow and slurred. "Bones... ocean... bones..."

Adelle heard her stir and looked at her and saw her lips move, "Ensign Derani? Can you hear me, Ensign?" Adele asked as she looked at the overhead monitors and gently reached for Miraj's hand.

To Miraj, consciousness came back like a slow record coming up to speed. And suddenly she had to move, move, get away, run, shout, anything, everything. In a jerk of frantic desperation, she threw herself to the side, trying to get away, to get under the shuttles, to -

With a shriek, she fell onto the floor of the sickbay , and scrabbled another six feet before her conscious mind caught up with interrupted flight response and she could feel the cold on her rump through the thin hospital gown.

The medical machines made a whine and an alert sound, but Sickbay was large and there was no way to know who had heard it or if they even had In fact, Security which was just outside the door to the side room didn't hear the commotion. It was just as well though. Guards charging at her, nurses pulling at her and doctors barking orders would scare anyone back into a coma.

Adelle was startled and her heart was pounding. Adelle spoke gently to her, despite the adrenaline coursing through her, "Ensign!........ Ensign........ ensign....... ssshhhhhh...... it's OK honey. Please don't hurt yourself."

Miraj seemed to get a hold of herself. At least she stopped her contorting movements. Adele kept her eyes on her, making sure that Miraj was always in her sights and thinking quickly about what was to come next.

"SShhhh... shhhh... shhhh..... it's me sweetie. It's me....... I'm Adelle. You're safe Ensign. You're safe Miraj...... that's good..... oh honey... you're safe..... you're the camp hospital. Shhhh...... you're safe now...... Miraj? Oh, Miraj...... I'm so sorry about what happened to you. Miraj? Can you look at me sweetie? It's me.... Adelle.... Miraj? I'm here for you. It's just me.... shhhh... shhh.... shhhh..... it's just me....... I'm here for you Ensign...."


Miraj's eyes were wide and wild as she looked around. Where was she? What was she doing here? Where were her clothes? Why was she trying to get away? She'd scuttled back into the small nook made by the wall and the space under the biobed out of sheer panic, but what was she afraid of?

And then Adelaide appeared at the foot of the biobed, talking to her like she was a spooked animal. "What's happening?" Miraj replied. Or at least that’s what she tried to say. Her voice was little more than a rasp, her throat feeling like it was made of cheese graters.

The words were barely understandable. More like a raspy grunt. Adelle tried to put herself in Miraj's place...which was not possible. She simply could not imagine what her friend was going through. And it took all of her willpower not to cry. Shed tears for her nor cry out in anger at who did this to her. Adelle tried again, "Ensign Derani. You are in sickbay. You were attacked... but you're safe now honey. Do you remember me? I'm Adelaide... Miraj?"

She looked cold and she was nearly naked. She was frightful to lay eyes on. Adelle looked on the foot of the bed and pulled a neatly folded blanket from the bed. She unfolded it and drew closer. "You're cold, because it is cold. You're hurt because you are hurt. Here, Miraj.... take this. It's too cold for you on the floor. Please? Do you remember... anything hon?"

Miraj pulled the blanket around her, "I..." she had no idea how she was here. "I remember sitting on top of Acheron and drinking rum." It was a place to think, and she'd done a lot of thinking, and she'd remembered the aurora across the sky. Her mind supplied her with a few bars of Bones in The Ocean, but when she tried to think of after that, it all slipped away. "But not after that. I don't ... There's nothing there."

Adelle scooted a bit closer and sat down close by but not under the bed. She looked at Miraj and tucked the blanket in a few spots. "It's OK Ensign. It will come back to you. The floor is kind of cold don't you think? I can move a space heater closer? I can try and get you warmer? Do you feel thirsty hon?" she asked. Adelaide knew that Miraj was no longer getting the IV fluids she needed. And in those IV were probably medicines keeping her together. Miraj's face was so pale. It was like the life in her was a ghost of what she normally was. Adelle didn't know what to do next. But she thought, one step at a time. "Want something to drink?"

Despite the blanket, Miraj was still shivering. "My throat hurts." Not just her throat. the adrenaline of her awakening was fading, leaving behind a bone deep ache all over her body, her legs, her guts, her head. "What happened?"

Adelaide could see her eyes flutter, "Miraj? Let's get you back in the bed ok hon? Let me help you please Ensign?" Adelle extended her arms to her and scooted a bit closer, close enough to see the broken blood vessles under her soft skin. Close enough to see that she was shivering. In cold? In fear? Maybe both. "C'mon...that's a good girl. The floor is cold. I'll tell you everything you want to know....there we go....after we get you tucked in and your IV's going."

A security guard poked his head in as was routine and was surprised and came to them, "What's going on here?"

Adelle answered, "Get Doctor Sthilg. He worked on her and she trusts him. Go. Now. Get doctor Sthilg please."

The security guard left and the second guard came in to watch and helped Adele as he was able while they waited for the Doctor. Adele comforted the guard and said to him, "I'm so glad you're here. I didn't know what else to do. Having you here makes me feel better.

Sthilg returned with the first guard a moment later. A smile spread over his face as he walked over to Miraj. He snatched another one back from the bridge of eternity. " Welcome back to the world of the living my friend. "He said calmly as he knelt down to look at her his arm running a scan over her body. "Let'sss get you onto a bed you ssshoudn't be up in your condition."

She let herself be meekly led, too sore and cold and confused to resist as they settled her again. Just a few moments of activity had exhausted her and she slumped back into the pillows.

Adelaide recounted everything that had happened and everything that Ensign Derani had said. "She is very confused right now, I think we should give her some space? Do you want us, security and myself, to wait outside the door doctor?"

"You ssstay Adelaide the guards can wait outssside." The doctor replied as he wrapped Miraji in another blanket. When the nurse returned with a drink he offered it to her. "Here you go my dear. Sssmall sssipsss." He told her calmly.

Adele waited a moment after the security had left. Miraj had taken a few sips and Doctor Sthilg spoke comfortingly to her. Adele came around to the other side of the biobed. Not knowing what to say, she turned to a familiar topic and said, "Your ship is fine, I think you must be worried about it? In your sleep you asked about it. It's fine. It's under security all the time now."

"What happened to Queen Anne?" There was panic building up now. She was cold and sore and had no idea what she was doing here, with a croaking voice and stiff limbs. "What happened to me?"

Not wanting to stir her up she tried to deflect with, "Is there anyone on the Elysium that I can contact? I've heard that you have a brother...somewhere?"

"Mal's..." Miraj shook her head. "He never tells me where he goes. Says its better that way." She grabbed Adelaide's hand. "What happened?"

Adele looked at Doctor Sthilg and then to Miraj, "Ensign. Miraj honey....you were attacked. Someone hurt you, just outside your ship. That's where they found you ensign. By the Quene Anne sweetie. But you're safe now. And so is your ship."

"What?" That didn't make sense. She'd remember that. Wouldn't she? She'd know. But she couldn't remember getting down from the Acheron. "Are you sure? I could have fallen, I was sitting on Acheron. I don't remember getting down."

Adele kindly waited, she knew enough that this was not going to be easy, "It's OK Miraj...you will remember in time. There is absolutely no hurry hon. Everyday you've been getting stronger and a little bit more aware." Adelle took the drinking cup from Doctor Sthilg while he continued his examination and she held it up for Miraj to drink from as she wanted. While this was going on she said, "I think this is the longest you've been awake in days...in case you were wondering, you've been in here weeks. And you're making marvelous progress. So many of the crew are worried about you." Adelle softly brushed a stray lock of pink hair back behind Miraj's ear. "Do you think you could eat something?"

Thinking about it made Miraj's stomach roil, and she hunched over, dry retching thin yellow bile onto the blankets. "Not yet?" she offered.

Adele agreed with a sorrowful smile, "Not yet for sure" and she helped remove the soiled blanket.

=A= Crewman Adelaide Kirkby, please contact marin command center. Adelaide Kirkby, please contact marine command center. =A=

Adele smiled as she returned from disposing of the soiled blanket and a fresh washcloth and towel. She handed them to Miraj and then said, "Excuse me? Let me see what that's about?"

She tapped the COMM panel and asked, "This is crewman Kirkby, I'm with...a friend at the moment."

The call was about work and Adelaide answered the questions. She said, "I can be there in an hour?"

Miraj grabbed for Adele, face even paler, eyes wide. "Don't go. I don't know..." What had happened, who to trust, who was safe. She gulped in a lungful of air. "I don't want to be alone."

"You have me my friend. " Sthilg said giving her a reassuring shoulder squeeze as he returned with a fresh blanket.

Adele finished the call with, "On second thought, Make that two hours." And she ended the call for work. Turning back to Miraj, "I'm happy to stay with you as long as you like. Whatever you need; I'm here for you." She smiled gently and warmly. She brought up a chair closer to the bedside and said, "We can talk about anything you want too. Or we don't have to talk at all. After what you've been through, well, I think it will take some time."

"Can I still fly?" As long as there wasn't any permanent damage, and she could fly, everything else she could cope with.

"Off course you can still fly, little one." Sthilg said gently. " Jussst asss long asss you get plenty of ressst firsssst."

The hybrid squeezed Adelaide's hand tight, relieved at not losing her essential nature, and frustrated she couldn't jump in the nearest conn seat. "How long?" Yes, everything felt sore and she wanted to sleep for a week. But she felt exposed here, and she wanted a proper spaceship wrapped around her, Lethe felt different parked up compared to inflight, and it didn't feel right.

"When I clear you fit for duty little one." Sthilg replied calmly. "I need you to lay back and ressst."

Adele squeezed back, "You've been through a lot. Please listen to Doctor Sthilg?"

She didn't want to rest, she wanted to get into the nearest shuttle and accelerate until she hit orbit. But even just trying to bunch her muscles to get up and protest left her feeling weak. She slumped back on the pillows. "Yes Doctor."

"Good. Now get sssome ressst." Sthilg said warmly, his patient already drifting

Adele waited and watched as Miraj drifted off again to sleep. She came alongside to stand near Doctor Sthilg, “Seeing her like this; it makes me angry and frustrated and…I feel weak…” she shook her head. “Are there any suspects?”

"A few security isss invessstigating. " Sthilg replied doing his best to remain calm.

Adelaide exchanged a look and then excused herself. She would be back in an hour.


[OFF:]