Awake

Posted on Sun Jan 21st, 2024 @ 8:38am by Crewman Adelaide Kirkby & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG T'Kek [Naxea]

Mission: Season 6: Episode 4: Memory Lane
Location: DECK TWELEVE - INTENSIVE CARE UNIT #3
Timeline: MD05 - LATE
2217 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]


Adelaide woke with a start. A sharp, inward breath that caught her by surprise and startled her awake. Her eyes popped open, but she couldn't focus on anything in particular. Everything looked like a Monet painting and so she shut them and tried to move, “Ouch!" she said. Her right side felt like she had been stabbed. ~Oh, wait. I was. ~ she thought. She stopped moving and sighed. She would need help to sit up.

"Adelaide?" Said a familiar voice, Miraj standing from the chair she'd been reading in. "Back with us?"

That sounded like the voice of Lieutenant Derani. Adele looked over in the direction of her voice and saw that it was Miraj. Her eyes, slowly coming into focus and the fog lifting a bit. "Miraj?" she said. Her voice was cracked and sounded raspy and crackly. Just like what she imagined an older Las Vegas waitress named 'Flo' might have sounded like after years on her feet, chain smoking ciggies and having to deal with cargo and freight captains and crews on long haul runs. Her mouth was parched, and her lips were cracked. She licked them, put her hand to her head. "Hi?"

"Hi! Hang on." Miraj threw a small padd on the bed and poured out a cup of water. Then she helped Adele to sit up and offered her the cup. "Not too fast."

She was grateful for the help. She took a few sips of water and then a few more. The water was cool, and it took the terrible cotton taste out of her mouth. Someone had put a recovery gown on her. She looked at Miraj and sat back against the bed in it's reclined position.

"Thanks, I couldn't manage that very well without help" Adele said with a grateful, but weak smile. "You're...Lieuteant Derani. I recognize you. Am I still in sickbay? What time is it?. I've got so many questions."

"Still in sickbay. About twenty-two hundred." Miraj reached for the button the call the doctor. "How are you feeling?"

Adele reached for her wound site and opened the gown up so she could see the wound. The only mark was a faint red circle where the skin was still tender and the flesh beneath still repairing. "You'd never know I had an injury" she said as she looked back at Miraj.

"It’s good isn't it" Miraj grinned. "All fixed. You gave us a bit of a scare you know."

She was quiet for a moment, "I'm sorry. I just feel all out of sorts. I'm confused about what happened. Alicia was here earlier. So was Savar. I appreciate you being here. But, I just feel very confused."

"Hey, its okay." Miraj gave Adele's hand a squeeze. "We all go at your pace. Do... Do you remember anything?"

She squeezed back, "Thanks" she replied after the briefest of moments. She drew her legs and arms closer. As if her whole body was pulling inward. As if she were suddenly cold. "Yeah...I remember the whole thing. Well, up to the part where Doctor Sthilg was there. Then it all kind of fades." She held onto Miraj's hand; she didn't realize that she still was until she noticed that she was. Adele said, "I don't -- feel -- anything? I'm not angry. I'm not sad. I'm not really scared. I guess I just feel..." she searched her feelings.

The steady beats and the pings and dings from the medical equipment formed a kind of background sound. In a way, it was comforting. The regularity of it. The normalcy of it. Then she said quite slowly, "Have you..." she looked at Miraj, "What happened to you was much worse. You were attacked by someone who wanted to really hurt you. And I'm here for a different reason. What happened to me was an accident." She didn't release Mairaj's hand. It felt good to connect, kind of grounding in a way. With her left hand she put her fingers to her mouth in a nervous kind of twitch as she thought about what was going on inside her mind. "Is he...ok?" She met Miraj's eyes again. "Is Sam OK?"

"Um?" Miraj looked back over her shoulder, to one of the shadowed corners. "Igor?"

There was movement, and a rather large security officer with CPO's stripes moved into the soft light of the reading lamp. "Captain Woolheater is fine. Happy to be with us, almost. He is no trouble. Very sad about what happened. I think he is scared, also. He knows he is dangerous man. Worried for his handsome fiancé." He gave Adelaide a soft look. "Worried for his friend."

Adelaide let go of Miraj's hand with a start, "Oh! I didn't see you there!" She was startled. She let out a short, musical laugh, "Oh, my...whew!" She looked at Miraj, "Does he follow you everywhere? Are they any closer to finding...to finding...". Adelaide got such a look on her face. She turned pale. "Miraj? Could it have been..." she looked at Miraj, afraid to even give voice to the thought. She silently said, "...Sam? "

Miraj bit her lip. In an infinite universe, all things were possible. But Igor stepped in again. "He is on cleared list. Means he has alibi, or other evidence to say it could not be him." Igor coughed a bit. "Besides. If it was him, I think he would have cutthroat, or snapped neck. Quick. Efficient. Dispassionate. What happened to you was...not."

Miraj looked a bit green around the gills. "There," she said with a bravura smile. "Can't fault that logic. He only has to worry about you. Which I'm sure is more than enough guilt for one man."

Looking at CPO Igor, Adelaide says to Miraj, "He has a unique way about him huh?"

Miraj sighed. "I’ve got to used to him."

Adelaide addressed herself back to the issue with Sam, "I still don't know why he did what he did. What should I do? I was just talking to David, Captain Tonnelly and Sam earlier today. This morning in fact. And now this. What's going on around here?"

"I've got no idea." Miraj said, "I think the lack of sleep is getting to people. All the nightmares. Everyone's crabby."

"Have you been having nightmares too? You have a reason to; you were almost killed. Oh, Miraj, thank you for coming to see me."

"Me? No. Once I woke up, I got a prescription for improvaline. I'm out like a baby every night." Her face softened, and she squeezed Adelaide’s hand. "And of course, I'd come see you. What are friends for? And I'll stay as long as you need."

"You're so kind to me. Thank you. I feel so out of sorts. I have been having nightmares too. But, I don't sleepwalk or attack people when I wake up. I am worried about what's happening to us. To all of us. I didn't put this together until now." She remembered a few dozen details and they frightened her. She continued, "You say we're all getting crabby? I think you're more right than you know. I've seen more fights in the barracks. Shouting matches, Marines even when on duty are more. I don't know...aggressive? Short-fused is better. And I don't think they were this wound up even on the ice planet? I'm sorry if my mentioning it brings back any bad memories for you."

"Pfft, one good thing of the whole situation, still no memory." The pilot considered things.

"There might be a reason for it. The nightmares, not my big black hole. One of the away teams brought something on board a few weeks ago, when you all went salvaging stuff. Commodore wanted thrown off ship, but I think Science are still poking."

Adele considered what her friend was saying and offered, "How are you doing? Really Miraj. I gather you have no memories; that's the mind's way of protecting you. But...when you first woke up, like I did not too long ago, did you feel anything other than pain? Is it normal to feel...just...nothing?"

Miraj hooked her chair with her ankle, trying to pull it over without letting go of Adelaide’s hand. Igor took pity on her and moved it, before retreating to his corner. "I don't know about normal, but I didn't feel pain. But I was asleep for so long. And waking up was just." terrifying, disorientating, overwhelming "a bit confusing. And I know people think I should be traumatised. But without memories, and thanks to a lot of lovely, lovely drugs, it's like it happened to someone else. Maybe we just need time."

She nodded, extended her hand to try and help with the chair bit, but never let go. She squeezed her hand a bit at the end and offered a smile. "I'm so glad you're here. That's how I feel. Like I'm supposed to be feeling more and I can only muster up ten percent. I know, I think I know that I'm supposed to be traumatized or need...I don't know...some big therapy session or form a women's battery group. I can sense like...all around this hole of nothing...but I can't see into it. And people are going to ask me how I'm doing. And the truth is...I'm fine. I'm just not feeling anything at the moment. I want to get out of here and I want to stay. I want to return to my job...my job..." she shook her head. "Well. One step at a time. Physically I think I'm well? I think I'd feel better in my quarters. The Colonel is going to need someone to help. I guess it will all have to wait. There are other people there that can help her. I'll make a call to one of the other co-workers. I need to anyway, so they don't worry."

T'Kek tapped a few commands into a medical PaDD he was carrying as he headed for Adele's room. She was currently the only patient with physical injuries. The rest were fatigue and sleep deprivation related. Even though Vulcans could go without sleep longer than many species, the lack of sleep was beginning to take a toll on even him. He couldn't imagine what it was doing to others. He gave a polite knock as he reached the door. "You rang?" he commented light-heartedly, recalling the catch phrase of a 20th Century television character by the name of Lurch.

Adelaide looked to see who was knocking and noticed T'kek. She had forgotten that Miraj had pressed the call button minutes ago. She glanced over at Miraj and then said, "Lieutenant, I'm feeling better. Thanks to all of you. I was just wondering if it might be time for me to go? Perhaps I can rest in my quarters? I'm feeling much better now, thank you" she said with a middage smile.

"Ah, is my company that boring?" T'Kek teased as he entered, setting the PaDD down on a medical tray as he approached Adele's bed, glancing at the vital readings which were all in the green. "Greetings, Miraj," he nodded at the woman with a slight nod and grin.

Miraj seized a bit inside, trying to think of something intelligent to say with all the blood rushing out her brain and into her face. "Hi."

Adele saw her go from pinkish to paleish. Imperceptibly, Adele was delighted and a little bit surprised. Surprised because even though T'Kek was Vulcan he was one of the easier to ge to know type of Vulcans. Having emotions and controlling them through a disciplined approach was one thing. She had seen T'kek before and even seen him smile, joke, and laugh and be with people. Fully present; not just warming a chair. And not just the Vulcans took this approach. But they were certainly known for it. Adelaide answered back to give Miraj some time to gather her thoughts and prevent catastrophe, "No, not boring at all. In fact, you've been the most attentive nurse I could ask for. Only Lieutenant Derani here has given you a close showing." She smiled and meant it as a compliment as he worked. She added, "But there is no place like home and I'm really feeling so much better. I want to be around my plants and wrap up in my own jammies and just be for a while."

T'Kek walked around the biobed. "Well then, let's take a look at your wound," he said removing a Medical Trim order from his waist holster. The muscles were healing but still weak. "Your wound seems to be healing well." He paused as he pondered his decision. "Very well. I'll approve of your discharge but you are on bed rest for the next two days. Can't have the healing muscle tissue tearing again."

She beamed happily back, "Oh T'Kek! You're fabulous! You're an angel. I promise, I'll be good. Miraj will help me be good."

Somewhere, somehow, someone gagged and coughed *bullshit* but the direction just seemed to be all around them. Adele shrugged it off sure that just must be the ship settling.


[OFF:]

 

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