But to dream...
Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2020 @ 7:14am by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Tue Jul 21st, 2020 @ 12:12am
1,171 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Episode 10 - New Home, Same Pioneers
Location: Sick Bay; USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD001 1100 hrs
Talli grimaced as she turned her head to the left. The pillow crinkling under her hair as she did so. The scratch of her dingy hair against the hypoallergenic cover on the pillow was as loud as thunder in her ears. She hurt, everywhere. She was being stubborn and while she knew that she had no intention of changing her mind. She was alive and the pain reminded her of that.
Using her arms she placed the palm of her hands flat against the pad she was laying on and began pushing herself up. She didn't want to lay down anymore. It was messing with her head.
Neil stopped halfway into the Morgue when an alert flashed in his contact and he paused. Either the balloon was going up; Tyler and or Quinn were going to order the Cure Don Quixote like in some last gasp help to the Cardassian's.
Or it was, as he saw, medical. Tallida was awake.
Turning away from where he was going to remeasure for his new suit, Neil headed for sickbay.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" The exasperated nurse said again as she watched the stubborn cotton candy haired women grimace as she lifted a cup to her lips and took a sip. "I am fine," She took a sip as she shooed the women away. Three days, she had lost three days. Her thoughts were jumbled and the drugs that were working out of her system weren't helping. She heard the doors part and couldn't help but look towards the curtain that separated her from the rest of the sickbay. The scent of him hit her first before she saw him and caused her heartbeat to quicken.
Neil hesitated briefly as the nurse emerged from Tallida's semi-private cubicle in sickbay, letting the distracted nurse move past him. He moved into the space she had just occupied and saw Tallida in a bio-bed, looking a tad worse for wear.
His eyes traveled over her before their eyes met and he moved in closer to her bedside, half sat on the edge of her bed, taking her hand and said. "Hey there Tallida. Look at you."
She watched him sit and couldn't help the tug at the corner of her lips. "You mean, I don't look beautiful?" She joked knowing she looked worse for wear. She laughed and grimaced slightly. The worry on his face was adorable. "I hear I missed some things."
"Of course you look beautiful," the marine told her matter of factly. "Not to mention you look very fetching in that hospital gown."
His face studied her face briefly, then said "You missed everything except the debris that hit you..."
"I remember," She almost groaned as she spoke. She looked him over. "I heard you got hurt." Her tone was riddled with guilt. Not that he couldn't handle or protect himself, but that fact that she had been a dummy and got herself hurt also. "You ok?"
Neil nodded simply at that. "I'm fine. A bit of blast burn and a couple of cracked ribs from when the suit aborted me. The suit was a total loss though," he sighed mournfully. "I'm better now that you're awake," he said then, leaving his eyes to linger on hers. "From what I hear, you were very brave rushing in."
"Yeah, brave." Tallida replied with a roll of her eyes. "So brave, I got myself squished." It was a childish word, but it fit the shame she felt over being so inadequate in the moment. She had managed to get the crew members out of the corridor before the bulkhead had fallen but she hadn't managed to get herself out. She had to be saved, like normal.
Neil knew the tone and recognized her thought process and tightened his grip on her hand. He kept his tone light but looked into her eyes as he spoke. "Listen up, Marine. You did what your training and your self demanded you do. Not everyone will rush into fire or danger, but we can and do train beings to do that. What can't be trained is the courage it takes to analyze, assess, and then act. People freeze up in those few seances and those are the ones that make the difference in saving lives."
He took a breath, still looking at her intently. "Generally what happens is that what we call courage is an expanded risk assessment based on experience. That's why we do so much training."
Neil shook his head and grinned then. "You got the job done. You saved lives and you survived. Take some joy in the fact that you're here, getting to hear me lecture you?"
Tallida watched him as he lectured her. She couldn't help the grin that pulled up at the corner of her mouth. "You know I am not a Marine right?" She pushed up from where she was laying. Her face twisted as her hand moved to rest on her ribs to support herself. Once she was up she touched her hand to his face and kissed him softly. "I am ok, love." She added softly.
Neil nodded, soberly, and kissed her back then his lips twisted into a wry grin. "That's why you're only getting a little lecture. If you were a marine you'd probably be getting one of the old classic lectures I used when I was a gunny."
"Noted," She grinned at him. She gave him another soft kiss before changing the subject. "So, how is the ship? How many did we lose?"
Neil reached up, straightening her hair, and said. "Mostly walking wounded on Pioneer. Ensign Wakefield died in the line though."
Well there was that. The loss of life was minimum on the Pioneer. She wasn't brave enough to ask how Empok Nor had faired. "So, what is next?" She asked ready to get back to business.
"We're due to pull out of Empok Nor and head for Pioneer's new duty station of Starbase Sirius," Neil informed her. "So, we're getting every thing wrapped for that. If you owe anyone money, you may want to clear that up before they send people after you." His tone was light as he settled further onto her bed.
"Sirius should be interesting," he continued. "At least from a marine standpoint. They don't have a Brigade. I took a quick look and they have a conglomeration they're calling a Rapid Deployment Force. Sort of a combined arms..."
Neil looked at the counselor and saw she had just faded off to sleep again. Smiling slightly, he got up and slid into a chair, settling in to wait.
A Joint Post By
Captain Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Tallida Ovaa
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
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