Perchance to Dream...
Posted on Sat Nov 21st, 2015 @ 6:50pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Ensign Six of Ten & Niro
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: Bajor 2360
* Resistance Camp - Bajor 2360 *
Once Captain Wegener had departed to find Lucius, Six turned to go back inside the sleeping tent for her shoes. She stopped, however, deciding she didn’t need them just for walking in camp. She really wanted was to check on Darwin and so slipped away and hurried to the med tent. The doctor on duty waved her on inside and led her to the bed where Darwin lay. He was shirtless and bandaged across his upper chest. What she could sense was fuzzy, likely due to painkillers.
“Darwin?” she said softly and touched his hand. “Are you awake?”
“No,” he said, speaking like he had a mouthful of cotton. He felt like he did and tried to work the fibers off of his tongue. “Water...?”
“Sure.” She poured some from the pitcher by the bed and with surprising ease, lifted him up enough so he could drink from the glass she held. “Is that better?”
Taking a large gulp of the water, he nodded. “Yeah. I can move my tongue now.” One side of his mouth turned up with an edge of humor. ”Don’t know if I can move anything else. What the hell happened?”
“Cardassians,” Six answered, her voice bitter. “They caught you and Julisa as you were leaving the ship. They shot you and took Julisa with them. The doctor here was able to repair the damage but it was serious.” Six lowered him back to the bed, then slipped her hand in his. “I wanted to stay but Niro sort of insisted I get some sleep first.”
“Jules? They took her?” He made a move to get up and quickly decided that was a bad idea. “Holy shit... that hurts. You said a doctor repaired me... you sure about that? Feels like ...someone knocked a hole in me,” he complained. “We need to get her back, Six.”
“You took a disruptor blast to the chest at close range.” She let go of his hand, took the towel on the table by the bed and gently wiped his face. “We’re going at dusk. A daylight run would be suicidal. We have an extra body going with us too.” She hesitated only a moment. “Admiral Wegener is here...well he’s Captain Wegener right now.”
“No, no, no, we can’t let those old guys go.... If they get killed, that’ll fuck the timeline! We’ve got to get her back and get the Korenna back in space.” Again, he made a move to sit up and again he didn’t make it. “Okay... so Bajoran medical tech definitely isn’t as advanced as Starfleet's.”
“Not in a tent in the hills,” Six answered. “They will be alright. They’ll know the layout so we will need them. What about you? You’re hurt. We can’t risk losing you either. And I can’t help. We don’t have the means here to reprogram the nanoprobes so the results would be something you really don’t want.”
“I’m going, too, then,” he said, then clenched his teeth and sat up by sheer force of will. He propped himself up on one arm. “Can you make sure our weapons are charged?”
“I will. I need to get to the ship before we go too and get charged up, or I won’t be worth too much either.” She pointed to his bandage. “Can I look?”
“You just want to strip me of my sole bandage. Good thing I have a blanket,” he joked, lamely. “Go ahead,” he eased back down, his strength having been sapped by his effort to sit up.
She helped him and once he was situated, she carefully lifted the bandage. It actually looked better than she expected. “I’ve seen worse,” she joked. “It’s still big but looks better than I thought it would. Maybe Rhett can finish the regeneration before we go tonight.” She replaced the bandage and smiled at Darwin. “I promise not to tell Edana I was stripping you down.”
“Eh, I doubt she’d mind,” he said, sounding winded. “Don’t go harin’ off to get Jules without me. I need some water, some food and some sleep then I’ll be fine.”
“Looks like you need more than that, my friend,” Niro swaggered into the medical tent. “Six, my dear, you should have woken me.”
She looked back as Niro entered the tent and smiled. “Lucius came in to read me and we talked briefly outside. They wanted to be sure I’m not still connected to the collective. Since I was awake, I wanted to come check on Darwin and keep him company.”
Niro eyed Darwin’s bandages then reached over and lightly poked at a blooming spot of blood. He chuckled when Darwin swatted his hand away. “Hurts, huh? Too bad. Six, perhaps you should stay here this evening when we go to try to get Julisa out.” He had realized that he could have everything he wanted right here, in this time. There was no need for them to return to SB900; he just needed to be rid of Darwin and Julisa then he could take Six anywhere he wanted.
“No, I’m going. You all need me on this trip and you know it.” She reached out to take Niro’s hand, keeping him from poking at Darwin. “Be nice, Niro.” While her words had admonished him, her tone held a note of familiarity that hadn’t been there before.
Darwin’s brow dove low on his face as he looked at Six; her tone with Niro concerned him. “Which is why we’ll all go. If I thought we had any hope of finding Julisa and getting her out by ourselves, we’d leave the Bajorans behind. We don’t, though, so we’ll use them. Maybe we’ll change history and help them end the Occupation early.”
“We can hope.” Six patted Darwin’s hand. “We’ll get out and I’ll have them bring in something for you to eat. You rest and I’ll be back in a little while.” She turned, giving Niro a look to follow her, then led the way out.
“Yeah, just lie there, Dar. There’s nothing you can do right now,” Niro laughed then winked at Darwin as he followed Six out, intentionally letting the man know that he was up to no good with Six. Once out of the tent, he caught up to her and lightly put his hand on her back. “You should rest more, too.”
“I am going out to the ship in a bit to get charged up and I’ll be fine.” She looked up at him and her expression clouded for a moment. Something at the edge of her thoughts grew fuzzy, then faded away altogether. “I had the strangest dreams last night. Everything was jumbled and I was so afraid of….of Suresh. Then you appeared and everything was….calm again. I was running and you caught me and….” She blushed and stopped speaking, not wanting to get into what had happened next.
“It’s okay, hon,” he adopted a word he knew Reva sometimes used when addressing Riley, “Suresh is far away and need not concern you anymore. Remember why you ditched him.” He reinforced that memory.
Six nodded slowly. “I know.” Snatches of the dream drifted back into her mind as she looked up at him - the horrible scene in Suresh’s bedroom, then Niro holding her as she struggled to run away….then a kiss. She was having a little trouble suddenly determining which was dream and which was memory. Both seemed so real, intertwined to the degree that she was no longer sure. “I need to ask you something.”
“Ask me anything, my dearest,” Niro said, even though he already knew her question.
“The dream. You said I’d been in your quarters, with you. You kissed me. I can recall it so clearly. I can…” Her face reddened once more. “I can even recall how you ...felt. I know I dreamed it and yet I am so certain it was real. Was it? Or is it just that my lack of energy is messing with my neural functions?”
“You recall it so clearly because it wasn’t just a dream, Six. Come on, I think you need a few more hours of sleep. Either that or we need to get you to the ship to recharge and sleep. We’ll see if there’s someone who can go with us to protect you.”
“I ….yes, good idea. I think Lucius is planning to send someone.” She looked back at the med tent, then nodded. “Let’s go.” It wasn’t just a dream… His words echoed in her thoughts and the jolt of pleasure she’d felt in the dream hit her once more, causing her to tighten her grip on his arm.
He glanced away to hide his triumphant grin. “Yes, let’s get your shoes first of all,” he said.
“Sleep first, Niro. At least a little till I go to the ship. Will you stay with me?” Six asked.
"Always," he said, smiling at her.
*****************
Ensign Six Of Ten
Caught Between Dream And (Not Quite) Reality
Niro
Making His Dreams Come True
Lt. M. Darwin
Wondering What Nightmare He’s Woken Up In
