Aftermath

Posted on Tue Sep 15th, 2015 @ 8:42pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Lieutenant Raj Amani & Ensign Reva Madhava & Robart & Desta
Edited on on Wed Oct 7th, 2015 @ 1:38am

Mission: Further Challenges

* OSN Kyllini *

The Kyllini’s medbay was quiet one moment, then filled with activity the next: first, a lone female was beamed in; within moments, Reva and Riley were there as well. The lone female, Desta, saw Riley and immediately cowered from him. Reva, covered in sticky, brown, nearly dry blood, was torn between being ecstatic that Riley had saved her, screaming because of Fisher’s cruelty and the gore covering her and crying because Riley had saved her and the experience was over.

“Riley,” Reva repeated his name again, as if making sure he really was Riley and not a figment of her imagination. She stopped herself from touching him, though, not wanting to sully him with the blood (of the woman whose death I caused) on her hands.

“Reva.” He took hold of her shoulders gently and spoke, his voice soothing. “It’s really me. It’s over. I promise. It’s all over. I took care of it and now I’m going to take you home.” The thoughts in her mind were making him sick and angry by turns. How could someone do that? He gently wrapped her in his arms. “I don’t care about the mess,” he whispered.

Shaking, she said again, “Riley.” And then flinched, eyes wide, as another man was beamed into the medical bay: Raj Amani.

The transporter sounds and the sudden appearance of the second man was more than Desta could take: she screamed and tried to flee like a cornered rabbit. The noise level rose as Reva shouted, “Desta!”, and, making eye contact briefly with Riley, went to the woman. “Desta! Shh! We’re safe. Riley saved us,” she said, grabbing Desta’s hands as she flailed at her. “Shh!”

The shifter struggled with Reva, then read her thoughts and finally calmed, slightly. She stopped screaming and reversed her tactics with the Orion: she held onto her, pulling her close. The one, Amani, he found me, she thought to Reva.

“Amani?” Reva looked at the newcomer and reassured the woman, “It’s okay, Desta. No one will hurt you now.” She remembered the collar and, still tangled with Desta, unlatched it and let it clatter to the floor. "I promise," she held the woman tightly.

Raj smiled as he looked over the people in the medbay. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get busy. Reva, do you have any major injuries I need to deal with before we clean you up? If not, Riley, get her to the shower. I think she’ll feel much better and then I’ll check her over.”

Shaking her head, Reva said, "No, just bruises, a cut from... just now." She meant the fight in the cargo bay. Reaching for Riley, she let him take her to a shower.

Once they were gone, Raj turned back to Desta, who still sat curled up in the corner and completely naked. “You are safe now, Desta. No one is going to harm you here. Those who took you are gone for good. Do you understand?” Raj’s Kriosian ability to say just the right thing, to appear to be just what another wanted or needed was certainly going to come in handy, he knew. He didn’t approach her yet, but waited to see what she would do.

She nodded but kept her head tucked down and didn't make eye contact with him. "What do you want of me?" She didn't dare shift to her usual appearance, not yet, not until she knew what was expected from her.

Knowing the circumstances in which they’d found her, the question didn’t surprise Raj. He moved closer and knelt down so he wasn’t towering over her. “Well, first, I need to know if you are injured so I can fix it,” he answered. He then reached behind him, pulling the loose top sheet off the biobed and held it out to her. “Would you like to cover up?”

Nodding, she snagged the sheet from him and hid under it completely. "I am not injured," she told him then slowly pulled the sheet down so she could see him again. "I've been on that ship a long time. I know how to behave and avoid being hurt."

Her statement pierced Raj to the core and he closed his eyes a moment. The urge to transport back over and kill all of them all over again hit hard. And while this young woman may not be physically injured, the emotional pain was hitting Raj so hard he had to rest a hand on the floor to steady himself.

“I see,” he managed to say. “Would you like to get up off the floor while I find you something to wear?”

She nodded and accepted his hand to help her stand. With that contact, she read him and visibly relaxed. "You are Federation," she looked at his outfit - it was decidedly not a Starfleet uniform. A slight smile curved her lips. "Reva said the Fleet would come for her."

“Reva was right.” He gave her a sheepish smile. “Uh...ignore the outfit. We weren’t sure what sort of war zone we might be jumping into. I clean up pretty well, though.” He motioned to the biobed. “Why don’t you hop up there, I’ll find something for you to wear that looks better than what I have on, then we’ll run a scan.”

Cautiously, she did as he told her to do and eased onto the biobed, holding the sheet at her neck. She was ready to drop it the moment he told her to. What she wasn't ready for was the voice over the intercom:

'All stations prepare for jump to warp. It's gonna be bumpy.'

Her eyes went wide and the ship shuddered then rocked.

Raj steadied himself against the biobed with one hand and clamped another on Desta’s shoulder to keep her from being tossed off. “Hold on,” he ordered.

His touch and thoughts were novel: he didn't want anything from her, he simply wanted her to be safe. She held onto the biobed as the ship steadied. "This is real, not a dream? I dreamed of rescue, when I was first taken. And then I thought that, maybe, the Orion would get us off that ship. But..., she didn't."

“You mean Reva?” The ship steadied and he let go of Desta, making sure her sheet was in place. A touch on the control panel brought up the scanner. “This will take a few minutes.”

"Yes. Reva," she nodded. "They didn't use our names. What has happened to them?" She found herself not wanting to use their names.

As she asked the question, the medbay doors opened and Robart entered. "They - Fisher and his crew - have been dealt with. Their ship exploded, which is why our jump to warp was a little bumpy." He looked at the woman and frowned, unintentionally looking fierce. "She is not Cyllene." It was his way of asking who she was and where Reva was.

“She’s in the shower washing off the remains of her stay,” Raj answered. “This is Desta. We found her there with Reva in the grip of a Kazon who had no good intentions. Reva should be out in a few minutes.” He held up his hand to keep Robart back. “Stay over there if you don’t mind. She’s not too comfortable with strange men.”

Indeed, she wasn't. When Robart had entered, she'd tensed up, making the biobed beep as her vital signs reflected her stress. But Raj's easy manner with the Orion eased her fear; she looked at Raj.

"I will bring clothing for them," Robart left the room again.

“That was easy enough.” Raj turned his attention to the scanner and did a double take. Her readings were not at all what he expected. “This is a surprise. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered someone like you off of Daled IV.” It certainly explained a lot where Fisher and his crew were concerned.

"An allasomorph? Not many have, or have known that they've encountered one. We tend not to travel much and we don't advertise what we are when we do." She pulled at her blond hair unhappily. "May I shift?"

“Of course. I take it this form was special request?” He could feel how deeply she disliked it and he suspected no one would ever see it again.


She nodded then shook herself, changing from a petite, top-heavy blonde to a lean redhead. "Pash liked it," she said, turning green eyes on Raj.

That didn’t surprise Raj. “Whatever Pash liked doesn’t matter,” he replied. “I like this one much better.” He continued to look over the results of the scans as they appeared on the panel. From what little he knew of the species, what he was seeing was looking pretty normal, all things considered.

"Perhaps it was fortunate he didn't like this look. Otherwise, I'd have to find a new 'normal'," she chuckled quietly.

“Maybe I should introduce myself completely.” The scans had picked up something he didn’t like and he ran that section once more. “Counselor Raj Amani, lieutenant. Kriosian, if you are curious, and a damn good field medic, learned from too much time around the Neutral Zone in a place that you don’t want to know about.”

"No, no more bad things right now, please," she pleaded quietly and startled when Robart returned.

"Clothing." He set a packet on the biobed near her and a second on the other bed. "Counselor, when Cyllene is ready, please bring her to the bridge."

Raj looked up at Robart and frowned. “Maybe. They’ve been through unimaginable hell. I think she needs a little time to be sure this is real and not be pushed into anything yet. Is it important?”

The Orion paused and considered his answer. "A choice needs to be made: whether you four stay with the Kyllini or not. We can drop you off on Cha'ru, where the Colony is located. We are not heading straight back to SB900, though."

“Cha’ru,” Raj answered. “Notify the Fleet ship in pursuit and request they meet us there. If there’s any issue, I’ll address it when I am done down here.” He turned to Desta now. “What about you? Do you want to stay here or return to 900 with me?”

She had a choice? Desta looked at him askance for a moment, till she reminded herself that he wasn't a captor. "I'll stay with you, Raj. May I?"

Raj nodded. “We can make accommodations on 900 until you’re feeling better,” it was a most genteel way of putting it, “and decide what you want to do then.”

"Till then, I will stay with you," she confirmed, nodding.

Robart hid a smile by smirking as he watched the woman. He could see that she was attaching to the Counselor already. "I'll talk with Cyllene later, then." He turned and left the two again.

Robart wasn’t the only one to notice, but Raj had dealt with this often enough. Given Desta’s circumstances, it was to be expected that she’d cling to the first person to show her kindness and protection. He glanced at the new scans.

“Have you had any difficulty shifting, Desta? The few times recently that you did?”

She shook her head, "No, it's been fine. It's been ages since Pash let me shift. Why? What are you seeing?"

“This shows some internal issues,” Raj answered. “Given your length of time there, not surprising. However, once we’re home, it will be easily dealt with. This sickbay’s not exactly prepared for an allasomorph.” He squeezed her hand briefly, then passed her the clothing. “I’m going to give you some privacy so you can get dressed. Do you want to use the shower first?”

She nodded. "Back where Reva is?" She started to slide off the biobed then froze and looked at him, waiting for permission.

“Is something wrong?” Raj looked back from where he stood by the door.

Reminding herself again that he wasn't controlling her, she laughed slightly and stood. "Ah, no. Old habit." She picked up the clothing and headed towards where she'd seen Riley take Reva.

Behind her Raj shook his head and resisted cursing out loud.

******
To Be Continued