Star Trek: Theurgy

[Ens. Mia Dunne| Recovery Ward | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Tag: @rae

The lights had been dimmed hours ago leaving the recovery ward with only minimal lighting. It was enough for Mia to see that she wasn't the only one not sleeping. So much had happened and she'd lost so much time just being kept frozen.  So this is what a popsicle feels like when it melts She thought to herself.  She shifted in the bed, not able to get comfortable at all. Even though she could not see it, she could feel the wounds on her back pulling with each movement. She could almost imagine the damage that must have been done. She wanted to see it at some point but, for now, she forced that out of her mind.

She finally sat up in the bed and swung her legs over the side. She glanced over at Azrin. The other officer was not looking her way at the moment. Mia stepped quietly closer to Azrin's bed.  She spoke quietly so no one else would hear, "Hey, I really need to get out of here or I am going to lose my mind. I was wondering if you felt the same way?"

Mia looked for something to wear, but other than the slippers they provided, there was nothing. Well, it didn't matter much to Mia what she was wearing, she just needed out. Part of her wanted to believe that everything they had told her over the past two days was a lie. She hadn't been in stasis, the Cos Wasn't dead, and they hadn't lost so many of the crew that she had barely gotten to know.

Mia put the slippers on and went to the exit to look around, Getting out would be tricky but at least she had to try.  Without looking back she whispered, "You coming?"

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Recovery Ward | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual

“Yes.” The word was long and drawn out, filled with the relief of one who had been fighting an urge for hours, only to be receive the sweet permission to give in. Twenty-four hours – or six months, if time in stasis counted – in sickbay was more than enough. Azrin had been dying to leave all day. Since her initial conversation with Nurse Vojona yesterday, Azrin had forced herself to remain in her biobed to recover. She’d gotten them to give her a PADD for some ‘light reading,’ which in actuality was a thorough search of every record from the past six months Azrin could get her hands on. Her spirit had sunk with every line. She didn’t recognize a single name on the Engineering roster and the list of the dead went on for far too long. Desperate to escape the PADD she had begged for, Azrin had then disabled the privacy screen around her bed and met another occupant of the recovery ward – Mia.

The lights had been dimmed hours ago to try and force them to rest, but Azrin found sleep elusive. She’d slept for far too long already, her mind running in circles at all the new information forced upon her. When Mia came over to her bed, Azrin's eyes were wide open, the dull blue glinting dimly in the darkened room. But she was up and moving immediately when given the opportunity. “I think I’ve already lost my mind though. Sorry to report.” Trying to lighten the mood with an entirely fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes, Azrin was already out of bed and kneeling on the ground beside it, pulling a panel off the biobed’s support to reach the systems inside.

“Biobeds are automatically activated by pressure sensors. It’s quick and efficient, put someone on there, it turns on. It’s also a really easy system to fool. All you have to do,” Azrin pulled out two connector cables and switched them, “Is invert it.” She peeked up to see a that the biobed was activated again. “No weight and it turns on! Now, the computer at the nurse’s station will still say that the beds are occupied. I could make it project fake lifesigns too… but that’s a bit… that’s too far.” Azrin wanted to get out of sickbay for a bit, not end the night with a court martial. Then she was up and over to the other bed, the floor chilly on her bare feet. “Is there anyone outside? They probably won’t like us leaving.” As she asked, Azrin repeated her alterations on Mia’s bed. Just having something to do with her fingers made her feel better. A distraction.

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | Recovery Ward | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy]  Attn: @rae 

Mia glanced back as Azrin did something to the biobeds. Whatever it was, at least for a while, the nursing staff would think they were still safely ensconced in their respective beds.  Mia turned back to spy through the doorway, "I saw one of the nurses head down the corridor about a half minute ago, then two more ran in the same direction." Mia turned back to her companion, her emotions plainly evident in her green eyes, "I can't wrap my head around all of this. I didn't join Starfleet to be ripped away from my family. Now I have no idea if they are safe, or if they even know what is going on. I can't talk to Dad and Mom and tell them I am alive. It's not fair! I need to find a way to see if they are ok." She turned back to the door to hide the tears that were now threatening to fall from those green orbs.

She gave her head a shake, forcing herself to concentrate on the present situation.  Mia opened the door a little further to see if there were any other medical staff, or even patients, wandering nearby. As far as she could tell the path to the exit was clear, although they would have to pass the nurses station and the other corridor. Chances were they would be seen by someone before they got too far, but she didn't care at that moment, she just wanted out. "If we want to go, now would be the opportune time," Mia stated in a wavering voice, "unless you have a better plan." 

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual

Imagine having a plan. Azrin was definitely making this up as she went along, functioning on the rush of adrenaline this escape provided. At the mention of Mia’s family, Azrin winced and dropped the cables from Mia’s biobed in the middle of reconnecting them. She hadn’t even considered that yet, too caught up with the friends who’d been in immediate danger with her six months ago, most of whom were dead now. Guilt settled into the pit of her stomach, fitting nicely with the dull ache of the injury to her abdomen. For the first time in her live, she had no idea where the Izar was. Though she hadn’t lived there in years, Azrin had always kept track of the cargo ship her family called home. They probably thought she was a traitor.

A deep breath settled her shaking hands and Azrin completed her work, an indicator light popping on to show that Mia’s bed would also read as activated. “Done,” she finally said, voice unsteady. “If we go to a computer console, we can look into the subspace communications relays,” though if they were still a renegade ship after this long, those were almost certainly locked down. Starfleet would have been able to find them otherwise. “Or we could- you know, let’s get out of here first and worry about that later.” Movement. Movement would help her think.

Her work completed, Azrin moved across the recovery suite to her new friend by the door. “Now? Ok. Let’s go!” She reached past to trigger the door so it opened wider and poked her head out for a moment. Seeing no one posted at the console not far from the door, Azrin then dashed into the hallway, stopping a few steps later to peek her head around the corner. She’d come here for a standard physical back in the day, which was enough to know where the exit was. Left turn here, down the hall to the right, then straight on to freedom. She turned back around and gestured for Mia to follow, mouthing “Come on!” silently.

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OOC: Main Sickbay picture, so I don't have to find it again next time :)
[Show/Hide]

[Ens. Mia Dunne |  Main Sickbay & Corridor | Deck 11 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @rae, @RyeTanker

Mia watched as Azrin quickly moved out of the room and down the hall. She glanced back at the bio beds, praying that the subterfuge would work long enough for them to make their exit and put some distance between them and the Sickbay.  She stepped out of the recovery ward, her slippers slapping gently against the deck plating. Stopping just behind her new friend, or perhaps accomplice would be a better word for their relationship at the moment, she rested her hand on the other woman's shoulder. They had a clear shot to the exit as long as no one came out of whatever room they had entered too soon. "Lead the way, Azrin," She whispered quietly.  

Mia moved as quietly as she could past the corridor, holding her breath as they got to the exit. Mia had no idea where she was going to go. She wasn't even sure if she still had assigned quarters. That was something she hadn't really thought out.  Once the two of them passed through into the corridor, Mia continued to follow Azrin, hoping that she knew her way around the ship because Mia had never ventured much beyond her quarters and the archaeology lab.  She finally took a breath and looked back. "No alarms went off. That's good, Right?" Mia asked as they continued to move away from the Main Sickbay.

However, their hasty retreat had not gone completely unnoticed, and a message was conveyed to security of their unauthorized departure.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Sickbay – Corridor – Turbolift | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

Once Mia was behind her, Azrin set off again, putting all of her best spy skills on display to get them out of sickbay unnoticed. As neither Azrin nor any of her symbiont’s previous hosts had any sort of intelligence or spy training… this mainly consisted of walking slowly, trying her best to be quiet, and peeking conspicuously around corners to see if anyone was waiting. That they made it through the doors into the hallway without being caught and dragged back to the recovery ward was due to luck, rather than any skill. In contrast Azrin’s efforts to be sneaky, each soft smack of Mia’s slippers on the floor reminded her of her companion. Azrin belatedly realized that her own footfalls lacked the accompaniment – she’d forgotten to put her own slippers on before leaving.

“That’s good yeah. I’m more impressed that no one saw us.” Azrin admitted in response once they were in the hallway, biting her lip slightly and looking back at the sickbay doors as she realized how strange that was. The nurses Mia had seen running down the hallway earlier must have come from the unoccupied stations they had passed. Whatever emergency had pulled them away, Azrin hoped they were successful. The world she had woken up to was dark enough already.

Shaking her head to dispel the shadows invading her thoughts, the trill turned her attention back to the mission at hand. “Come on!” She moved down the hallways at a brisk pace, completely abandoning her attempts at subterfuge now that they were out of sickbay. Still in hospital gowns, this little walkabout of theirs would certainly end the moment someone with authority saw them. “I never spent much time on this deck, but I’ve studied so many schematics of this ship. There should be a turbolift… there! Yes!” Azrin dashed inside, the doors sensing a biosignature and opening immediately to admit them.

“Computer, Deck 10, Vector 1 please.” Azrin’s voice was the picture of politeness as she asked. Her first instinct had been to go to engineering and find some work to calm her down. But after six months in stasis, she knew there was no way she still had clearance. The consoles would automatically lock her out until she was returned to duty. That left Plan B – “The Observation Lounge.” Hopefully stargazing would bring her some peace. “Unless there’s somewhere you want to go?”

[Ensign Kitty Ellison | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

@Eirual @rae

Ensign Ellison didn't enjoy the overnight shift, but after all the surgery that she'd had to assist with following the curiously named Battle of the Houses, it had been determined by higher ups that she needed a few more sedate duties, and watching sleeping patients was as good as it got.  Coming back from the rest room and too busy straightening her skirt, she almost missed the blinking warning light indicating the sickbay doors had activated.  Grimacing, the nurse around from the nurse station to see if anyone was wandering around.  Her sense of confusion grew as the lights were dimmed and she couldn't see or hear anyone wandering around.  Grabbing her coat and note PADD, Ellison began to walk around the halls and looked in through the Intensive and Primary Care Units, she only found the duty staff.  Her frustration began to grow as she made her way to the Recovery Ward and upon entering, her blue eyes quickly swept the room and when they settled on the two empty bio beds, her mouth dropped as her eyebrows attempted to climb into her hair line.

Quickly checking the bed assignment, Nurse Ellison quickly made her way back to the Primary and Intesive Care units to see if anyone had seen Ensign Mia Dunne and Lieutenant Azrin Ryn take off.  The looks of utter confusion answered the question as the nurse quickly made her way to the the Nurse Station to call Security that two patients were on the loose.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Security Centre | Deck 08 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

Lt. Zark was having a neither good watch, nor a bad watch at the terminal in the security centre.  Truth be told, she didn't have to be there either, but it was one of the weird perks of never really having ever met the bosses, she kind of just went about her business as a free floating trouble shooter for the ship.  In this particular case, she had a half eaten flatbread, and two windows open on her terminal, one for a very tedious cross referencing medical and personal weapons usage across the ship.  It was tedious detail work that the Andorian medico used to distract herself from the fact her friend, Lieutenant Enyd Madsen, was attending a Klingon Opera on a planet that had just seen a short and bloody civil war.  In the Andorian's mind, the whole thing was a little silly with hold outs either still fighting or in hiding, so the security situation from her perspective was less than ideal.  As a result, the second window was occupied by a combadge location watch on Enyd and her party with an accompanying biometric monitor as an interested yet very distant space watch.

Lt. Zark was thus perfectly placed when the priority call signal began blinking on her terminal and she waved away the duty petty officer as she answered the call and a semi-familiar face popped up on screen, consternation clearly written all over her face.  "This is Lieutenant Zark, what can I do for you Ensign.... "

"Ensign Ellison ma'am"

"Ah! Right! Kitty, what can I do for you?" Zark replied hoping to put the nurse at little more at ease with familiarity.  It didn't work. "well ma'am, I hate to say it, but it looks like a couple of our patients decided to check out early, an Ensign Mia Dunne and Lieutenant Azrin Ryn were in the Recovery Ward and they're well......gone." Zark could see the embarrassment on the nurse's face at the admission and she wanted to laugh then pat the nurse on the head that everything was going to be okay.

"Okay, I can already figure out why you're not looking for them, but why not just transport them back?"

"Well, they're not really in any great danger, and we don't want to shock them too much.  They just got out of stasis and surgery."

Zark gave the medical ensign an Are You Serious Look and the blonde visibly squirmed.  Closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, the medico checked the location tracker one last time and deemed the situation safe enough before letting out a sigh.  "That's fine. Thank you Ensign, we'll take if from here." she reassured Ellison before killing the connection.

Taking a moment to formulate a plan, she decided to take the advice of simply not beaming them back and instead going for a good old fashioned chase.  She needed the walk anyway.  "Thea, lock out Ensign Mia Dunne and Lieutenant Azrin Ryn from the transporter system and Jeffries tubes, keyed to my voice and biometric override, then show me the moment those two left sickbay based on their biometric data, and call up their activity log including what they were watching, eating, reading, and who they were talking to.". The terminal brought up camera footage of a human and trill trying to be sneaky as they left sickbay and Lt. Zark giggle snorted in amusement at their attire as they got out.  A suspicion began to form as to why the two would risk exposure on the ship this way and Zark called up their activity log, which amounted to a whole lot of nothing causing the Andorian to shake her head in more amusement.  

Turning around, she spotted two of the security watch crews. "Samuelson, Jackson, looks like we have a couple a runners from sickbay.  I think they're bored."  The two security personnel gave the officer the Are You Serious look and Zark could only offer a toothy smile as she nodded as she tried not to laugh at their faces.  "Anyway, we're going to bring them back to sickbay. Jackson, you're with me and go grab a couple of phasers, stun batons, and binders from the armoury.  Samuelson, keep an eye on their movements and keep me up to date on where they're headed.  But first, let the brig officer know to have an interrogation room ready with three chairs."

With a nod, the two enlisted took off to execute her orders as Lt. Zark grabbed a PADD to download the two officer's details before she took off and decided what was the best way to being the two truants back to bed.  Zark realized she was probably being paranoid about their ability to access the ship's systems, but Ryn was a great engineer, so it didn't hurt to be prepared.  Hopefully this would all end happily enough.

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[Show/Hide]
Link to Ensign Kitty Ellison (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Medical_%26_Counseling_NPCs#Ensign_Kitty_Ellison.2C_RN)

PO1 Michael Samuelson (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Security_NPCs#Petty_Officer_First_Class_Michael_Samuelson)

Cmn Jackson Lewis (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Security_NPCs#Crewman_Jackson_Lewis)

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | On the Run| Deck 11 - Turbolift/ Deck 10 | Vector 2/ Vector 1| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @rae @RyeTanker

Mia followed her partner in the escape. By the time they reached the lift Mia was having a little trouble with catching her breath. She remembered that the android, V-nine, had mentioned lung damage and even this little bit of exertion was evidence that it was still not healed completely.  Mia stepped in after Azrin and shrugged her shoulders at the inquiry of where to go, “I have no idea where. I wasn’t on the ship long enough to go anywhere put my quarters and the lab. What’s on deck ten in vector one?”

Mia raised here eyebrows at Azrin’s response, “We’re going there dressed like this? Couldn’t we at least find somewhere less... open?” While Mia had never been to the Observation Lounge, she imagined that there would be at least a few people in there. And as first impressions would go, this would be a less than ideal one.

As the rode the lift Mia started to giggle, “You think anyone noticed we were gone yet? I can’t believe we actually got out of there like this.” She waved a hand up and down indicating their attire. “I bet that Android is having a fit about now!” She could not stop herself from giggling, even though it sort of hurt her ribs and lungs,  giggling and holding her ribs, "oh that hurts."

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Turbolift – Corridor | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

“We tell them that sickbay cleared us for a visit to the observation lounge,” Azrin replied with a slight shrug. “And the nurse who’s accompanying us is popping back to sickbay to get my slippers.” Her toes were getting cold. “Until sickbay declares us missing, people won’t question it as long as we act like we’re supposed to be there.” She’d never been good at sneaking, but Azrin had been quite the mischievous child. This little escape of theirs was right in line with teenage Azrin’s antics. It was amazing what one could get away with when they possessed a heavy dose of self-confidence, bravado, and bullshit. She had always managed to get in an astonishing amount of trouble within days of arriving at any freighter port.

She walked into the hallway as the turbolift arrived, spinning back around in a moment of concern at Mia’s pain. Azrin’s own wound only really hurt when she was in the process of standing up or sitting down. This short walk had left her slightly winded, which had only served to convince her that more walking was required. “Are you- wait. Android? What android? There’s an android in sickbay? And it can have fits? How have I not met this android yet!” Azrin was affronted, her scientific curiosity instantly peaked. Honestly, she wouldn’t have left sickbay at all had she known there was an android there to study. Sure, she worked on warp engines, but who didn’t love an android? “What has this ship been doing for six months?” she continued, though this time she was talking to herself. “Apparently we have all this beautiful technology now and I completely missed it!”

“Ok, plan B. We go to the Observation Lounge and talk anyone in there into letting us stay. Or we can go back to sickbay to see the android. Or go to your lab, but you’re definitely been relieved of duty so we probably can’t access anything there. Or engineering, same problem. My quarters used to be on deck 7, vector 1, not sure if they’ve been reassigned or not…” Azrin took a breath, tilting her head to the side as she thought of more options. “That’s more like Plans B, C, D, E… I lost count. Anywhere on the ship that you always wanted to visit? We’re going to get caught eventually. I just wanted a change of scenery. Having something to do... it calms me down.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @rae @Eirual

Lt. Zark and Crewman Lewis casually walked along the corridors of Deck 10 following the instructions that Samuelson was providing.  It would take an act of Q at this point for the two to disappear and completely evade Zark, and that would be.........annoying.  The Andorian had taken the short trip from the Security Centre to read over the file on the two women and since she was honest, she did sympathize with them immensely.  Just waking up to find out 6 months of a life gone in a blink of an eye and multiple colleagues and friends dead or missing, which is why she hoped the instructions she'd passed to the brig officer would help to offset all the craziness.  Still, the first thing to making this plan work was catching the two wayward officers.  As it was the middle of the watch, there weren't too many other crew members around, though the ones they did pass often looked curiously at the two relatively heavily armed security officers.

After a short and sharp debate, Lt. Zark had decided she wasn't annoyed enough to go for a hard approach, but instead decided on a relatively soft approach to bringing the two escapees back to sickbay, which amounted to letting them get to their final destination before confronting them.  The plan was loaded with enough mischief in her mind to make their lives interesting, but she did have some doubts about the last bit.  To be fair, Lewis has also voiced his doubts when Zark had updated him on what she had planned. Shrugging those doubts aside as soon as she saw the two ridiculously clad officers trying to be sneaky as they dodged the odd crew member making their way through the corridors.  Holding up a hand in a quiet sudden stop, the two security personnel quickly padded to a junction, waiting for the two officers to move on before following them, making sure to stay out of sight. 

Taking a quick peak around the corner, a silver platinum eyebrow shot up when Lt. Zark got a good look at their attire. Uh Oh, only medical gowns, and Ryn doesn't even have foot wear!  This is gonna be a little more delicate than I thought.  Who am I kidding, delicate has nothing to do with it, this is gonna be fun!  Now, as long as they continue on their merry way to the Observation Lounge, this should go well enough. Tapping the PADD into the camera system, Zark kept well out of sight and waited for the human and trill to make their next move.

[ ENS. Mia Dunne | Deck 10  | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy ] ATTN: @rae @RyeTanker

Mia was following Azrin since she had very little actual knowledge of the ship's layout. As her cohort in the escapade reacted to the mention of an android Mia paused, "You didn't see it? I was under the impression it,  what was it called again?" Mia scratched her left eyebrow as she tried to remember, "Oh! Right, V-Nine! Well, it told me that it was the one that performed all my surgery and stuff, so I just thought it was treating everyone."  She shrugged her shoulders a little and felt the pull on the newly formed scars on her back. It was an odd sensation that caused her step to falter as she remembered what the android had told her about her injuries.

Mia was worried she would be left alone in the corridor with no idea where she was, so she forced those thoughts from her mind and picked up her pace to keep up with Azrin. A quick stop at an intersection with both of them peering around the corner to check if the coast was clear for them to proceed. Azrin rambled on about other places they could go, or not go as the case may be. Mia shook her head, "I thought the observation Lounge was plan A? And yes, I am fairly certain I would not have access to much of anything at this point. I just wanted to find somewhere to get a message to my family, if that's even possible."

Despite her eagerness to get out of sickbay, Mia wished she had stayed there. She was beginning to feel the loss of the adrenaline that had given her the energy to make it this far. She turned to Azrin, "What I need is a place to sit and rest a moment. I guess being frozen for six months after getting blown up isn't too great for stamina. How much further is it to that observation lounge?"  Stepping up next to Azrin and unconsciously tugging the medical gown tighter as she frowned, "And I am beginning to think this is not the simple plan you hinted at."

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Corridor – Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

“Oh! Vojona might have mentioned that. I was a bit distracted because the next thing he said…” Azrin trailed off with a shudder, the joy she’d summoned for this little escapade vanishing in an instant like the farce it was. The list of the dead, dropped in her lap by accident during what should have been the simple task of the nurse figuring out who the chief engineer was. “I guess I just didn’t think about it at the time… android doing medical procedures, thought maybe it was a new piece of tech built into Thea’s systems, not an actual android capable of fits. Which is really really cool. So much better than my assumption. I feel like an idiot for making the assumption at all now that I think about it. I have really got to meet this android.” As she spoke, the words speeding up as she went and coming out more of a ramble, Azrin’s brain took the time to catch up. Eventually she reset, shaking her head as though knocking the bad thoughts out and plastering her fake smile back on her face. Surely it would magically transform into a real smile if she faked it long enough. That had always worked for her before.

“Plan A was engineering, but I cut that before even bothering to mention it the first time around. That might make the same problem though? I told you I lost count! Hold on,” Azrin paused in the middle of the hallway, her lips moving silently as the counted random plans on her fingers with exaggerated, comical motions. “No, this is definitely Plan B. Don’t doubt the plan Mia! Convoluted plans with unexpected random tangents are more fun anyway!” She was being more ridiculous now on purpose, trying to forcibly manufacture some joy for the two of them.

“Anyway, the lounge is just up ahead,” Azrin pointed and started moving again. “I’m glad it’s not just me. My legs feel like lead. Hope I get an extension on any PT tests I missed.” She led them up the hallway to the door she wanted, pausing just outside the sensors that would trigger it to open so they could gather themselves for a moment. “Remember, we’re not breaking any rules and we totally have sickbay’s permission to be in here.” Two women in hospital gowns about to stroll into a public area. What could possibly go wrong? With a final wink at Mia, she walked through the door with her head held high, as though she owned the place.

There were a few people in there, which didn’t concern Azrin at all. This was there she’d wanted to go. If she wanted to hide in a boring, secluded, featureless room, she would have stayed in the recovery ward. At least this way she’d get a few moments of solace before a flock of angry nurses found them. Azrin veered to the right immediately after entering, taking a seat at the couch nearest to the door. It was one that let her rest her back on the cushion while still having a view out the windows. A confused looking man in yellow caught her eyes as she sat down, and Azrin responded with an abashed grin and a slight shrug, as though to say, ‘Yes, my butt is on display in the back of this gown. No one’s perfect.’ Her ploy was ruined by a wince. It wasn’t the same stabbing pain that had plagued her yesterday, but sitting still wasn’t a pleasant activity.

“I hope Nurse Vojona gets here soon with my slippers,” she mentioned offhandedly to Mia, keeping her voice at a normal conversational tone. “I feel bad that he had to go, but I don’t think I would have made it back to sickbay on my own without a break first. He's probably worried that I'll be his patient for longer if I get frostbite on my toes.”

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OOC: Observation Lounge [Show/Hide]

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @rae @Eirual

Lieutenant Zark at this point somewhat regretted not having spent the time in the security centre to repair the split lip she'd picked up from her bout on the holodeck she'd had earlier in the day.  Nobody in security had commented since they generally practised fighting one way or another and injuries happened, but these two had just woken up, so the medico was sure she looked more intimidating than she'd intended. Oh well, nothing for it now. the blue woman thought to herself as she saw her two wayward soon to be charges settled on a couch despite all the on lookers.  "Looks like they've settled in Lewis, time to go. Lewis only nodded, his face having gone impassive.

Casually strolling in, Lt. Zark padded closer to two medically garbed women ignoring the look of surprise on the few crew who were also occupying the lounge.  Getting right up behind them, the medico crossed her arms under her chest and made a loud throat clearing sound.  Zark knew she had their attention from their reactions, and she slowly, menacingly walked around the couch to stand right in front of them and frowned ferociously.  "Ensign Mia Dunne and Lieutenant Azrin Ryn, my name is Lt XamotZark zh’Ptrell. You do not get to call me Zark like everyone else, you have forfeited that privilege with tonight's event. I'm going to be your security officer for this little episode you've caused and before you tell me you're supposed be here, I have the whole report on where you're supposed to be at the moment, which is in bed in sickbay.  You've gone and upset Nurse Ellison who came crying to me.  I have not had a chance to finish dinner, and I have a friend on the surface who's currently in more danger than she's willing to admit.  In short, I am NOT a happy security officer."

A cobalt hand flashed out with the palm in their faces to forestall any sort of interjection. "Don't even think about trying to make a run for it for I have a few facts of life to explain to you two miscreants first.  I'm the ship's combat medic, so my role makes me uniquely suited to delivering mayhem and despair.  Mr Lewis behind you is quite strong and has had lots of training in restraining people into submission.  Now that we've laid out those facts, please give me one reason why I shouldn't take my time turning you both into pretzels at the same time?  Consider your answer carefully."  Zark finished as her frown morphed into a particularly nasty looking smile that totally matched her frozen blue jade eyes.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgey ] ATTN: @rae @RyeTanker

Mia was more than happy to slide onto the couch beside Azrin. While she was a bit uncomfortable sitting in the room in just the medical gown, especially with several crew sending strange looks their way, she was at least enjoying the view out the viewport. Mia lowered her face to hide the small smirk on her face when Azrin spoke about a nurse getting her slippers.  Mia leaned back on the couch, enjoying the relaxing feeling of not being stuck in that recovery ward. The gown had slipped slightly when she sat down pulling tighter around her chest uncomfortably. But she was reluctant to shift from her position to fix it, she just wanted to rest a minute first.

Mia closed her eyes for a moment, “It feels nice to be ... well anywhere but that room.”

Just then a clearing of someone’s throat came from behind her and her eyes popped open and she sat up quickly.  An Andorian female came around to stand in front of them. Mia stole a glance at Azrin and then back at the obviously not happy Andorian in front of them. Mia could feel heat burning her face as they got a tongue lashing from the Security officer. Mia took a quick look behind her at the other officer and then turned back to the officer in front of her and swallowed nervously.

Mia wasn’t quite sure what to say, looking at Azrin again she really wondered if Azrin would speak first. Mia was almost certain that whatever either of them said would cause more trouble but she had to repond. “Well, Lt. zh’Ptrell, you see, it’s not like we did anything bad. Not really. And that weird android might not be happy if you messed up what it did. I mean, umm,” Mia looked at Azrin and paused to gather her thoughts.

She looked down at her feet, “it was sort of spur of the moment. I just wanted to be somewhere else, and maybe try to send a message to my family to let them know I was still alive.”

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

Azrin had sighed at the sound of a someone clearing their throat loudly and obviously behind them. Somehow, that act seemed to have caught on as an ‘I caught you!’ introduction across the Federation. It had been bound to happen eventually, but she really did wish that they’d gotten a few more minutes to relax here first. The Trill didn’t turn around, blue eyes taking in her last look at the stars outside before they returned her to the depressing walls of sickbay. Twisting in the seat would have hurt anyway. Luckily, the throat clearer was already in the process of coming around to the front, revealing herself as an angry looking Andorian.

By the time Zark – Azrin had started calling her Zark in her head from the moment she’d been denied permission to do so – finished introducing herself, Azrin already had a whole litany of questions lined up. Her mouth opened, then snapped shut as the blue hand came jutting out to shush her. The engineer leaned back in her seat a bit, eyes crossing slightly to focus on Zark’s fingers. She wasn’t frightened or intimidated as much as… perplexed? This amount of anger seemed rather overkill. Maybe Zark was one of those people who got angry on an empty stomach. Sure, they’d walked out of sickbay without permission. And she’d done a crude reprogram on a biobed. But Azrin didn’t think they’d done anything that bad. She’d always intended to go back after a few hours break.

“Ok,” she began, noticing Mia give her more than one look that seemed to indicate she wanted Azrin to do the talking. “One reason! Nurse Ellison would probably cry more if you brought us back all bent out of shape like... Can you even turn people into pretzels? Is that anatomically possible?” At this question, it was Azrin’s turn to glance at Mia for a moment to see if her companion had an opinion. “We’re not going to run, because the leisurely walk up here was exhausting enough thanks. No worries there. I needed a room with a view to help me think, but we’ll go back with you without all the restraints and pretzel stuff. That’s um… four reasons. I had one more too… oh! I thought a combat medic’s job was to make sure all the people doing the mayhem and despair stuff didn’t die?”

Maybe Zark had practiced her creepy smile to the same extent that Azrin had practiced her class clown one. If so, the Andorian was better at it, because the smile the Trill put on didn’t reach her eyes. It belatedly occurred to her that her last reason came out more insulting that she’d meant for. She’d meant to turn that into a reason for Zark to help them – as the two escapees were full of despair and causing mayhem as a result. “That’s not what I meant. It sounded much better in my head. Personally, I’m a fan of mayhem. Very against despair though. Despair isn’t fun.” Azrin trailed off, her attempts to look cheerful failing as the smile faded.

She was feeling her exhaustion more by the second, and was definitely not considering her words as a result. Azrin always did her best to hide any sadness she felt, never wanting to being other’s down with her. But the news from the past day was too much to handle, her misery coming fully on display. Unable to maintain eye contact with Zark any longer, her gaze shifted back to the window, searching in vain for the comfort the stars could provide. “I hope your friend is ok. Mine aren’t.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @rae @Eirual

Lieutenant Zark flicked a quick flick of her eyes at Lewis and it looked like he'd set his face in stone.  That wasn't quite right, his careful non expression held more frown than it should have.  The unfortunate part was that Zark needed Lewis to hold together for this to work.  Zark leaned down and gently, but firmly gripped the despairing Trill's chin and raised it so she would have to look in her eyes.  Zark's face became less enraged and more hard as she loudly scoffed, pulling her hand back quickly from the uplifted Trill's head and she heard a gasp or two behind her.  "Hon, your naivety astounds me.  I most certainly am an Angel of the battlefield and the saviour of desperate souls.  To do that, I deal mayhem, destruction, and despair as I see fit to save those souls.  I have saved people in worse condition than you, bleeding and crying for their parents while they were sure they were going to die, so I know how to put people back together for the doctors to get them.  As to how is it anatomically possible to turn a person into a pretzel?  I will not do so in front of these innocent souls for they have not done anything to deserve such a stomach twisting, mind bending demonstration."  A cobalt index finger lanced out and stopped a couple of millimetres from the pale red head's nose. "No Miss Ryn, I will demonstrate on you in the only place fitting on this ship, a place where few souls ever leave.  You and miss Dunne here are destined for The Dungeon. Of. Very...Comfortable........Chairs!"

Zark was quite sure she heard someone fall off the sofa behind her as Lewis' frown began to quiver.  She was also sure she heard some ask What the Fuck? The shock was going to be too great and for the next part to succeed, she needed the two sickbay patients moved quickly before they had a chance to recover. In a voice that would have done a motion picture villainess proud "Mr.Lewis, seize Miss. Dunne!"  The human security officer quickly vaulted over the sofa and scooped the blonde science officer up as Zark moved to do the same to the engineer.  As soon as medic made the lift and confirmed that Lewis had his quarry, it was time to enact the next part of the plan. "Samuelson, initiate transport." and the four disappeared in a shimmer of light leaving many shocked and befuddled crewman in their wake.

[Interrogation 1 | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

The quartet materialized in a rather bare room, except there were two white but well cushioned chairs crammed in against a wall and a small table in the centre.  Zark and Lewis knew what was going on, so when the transport cycle was complete, the two security officers carefully placed the their quarry in the soft chairs and Zark was glad to see Azrin gently sink into the cushions before she let go.  Looking up, Mia seemed none too worse for physical wear either.   "Great! I'm glad that's over with." Zark said as she stretched a bit before making her way over to the other side of the table with the regular chair before seating herself and bestowing a warm smile on the two sickbay escapees.  "What? You didn't really think they'd send someone from the Spanish inquisition after you?" As if on cue, the interrogation door opened and a smirking Samuelson along with an embarrassed looking crewman entered. "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."  The two called in unison before Samuelson laid a platter of bread, cheeses, sliced meats, dips, vegetables, chicken wings, chips, sauces, and small pretzels on the table. 

Lt. Zark waited for the red faced crewman to put down the plates, napkins, and a pitcher of beer with three glasses before she turned dancing blue-green eyes on him. "Hughes, next time a little more pomp and hurrah like Samuelson.  You know what, Samuelson, why don't you show him what I was going for?  Thanks.  You're all dismissed."  The enlisted crew left with Samuelson and Lewis' laughter ringing on the way out before it was cut off by the door closing.  Turning her attention back to the two comfortably encossed ladies, the Andorian steepled her fingers together as her smile turned a little crooked. "Sorry about the theatrics, but after the fit you gave Ellison, I figured the best way for you two to be welcomed awake after your shenanigans was one set of my own."   The blue alien took a breath. "To start over, you can call me Zark, and welcome back to the land of the living ladies." Zark gestured for the two to eat as she grabbed the pitcher and began pouring for three.

[Ens Mia Dunne | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @rae  @RyeTanker

Mia’s eyes widened as Azrin spoke and the Andorian seemed to get even more aggravated. She looked at Azrin and gasped, “Oh My God! You’re going to get us annihilated before we can even recover!” Her eyes went  to the Andorian and back to Azrin several times in dread of what was to happen to them. Azrin’s comment on mayhem and despair caused Mia to sink lower in the seat. This was not what she wanted, mayhem was not something she was going for. Despair, well that she already had in spades and with every comment from Azrin it looked like they were in for even more.   Azrin’s comment on the friend hit home hard. Mia was still trying to deal with the loss of her, if not exactly friends, but her comrades that had perished in the explosion.

She chanced a look as the Andorian’s blue finger brought her companion’s head up and the look in her eyes had Mia frozen in her seat. They were definitely in big trouble now. The look on XamotZark’s face was hard enough to bend gold pressed latinum. Then the Security officer said something that didn’t quite make sense, but before Mia could process the comment the other security vaulted the seat and scooped her up. She gave a small shriek of surprise and grabbed onto the Human tightly.

[Interrogation 1 | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

Mia sank into the chair and let go of Lewis in confusion.  She looked around for a second. It looked like an interrogation room, but the chairs were definitely not what she expected. Then XamotZark sat down and smiled, not the mean smile but a friendly one. Mia blinked her eyes as two other crewmen entered the room, one of them carrying a tray loaded with foods. As the other three left amid a chorus of laughter Mia looked back at the Andorian, “I am so confused right now,” She said quietly.

“Umm, thanks?” Mia said as Zark welcomed them back to the land of the living. “I didn’t mean to cause  any alarm, really. I just... I wanted to ...” She sighed and her shoulders dropped in shame. “I’m sorry if Ellison was having fits, umm, Lieutenant Zark. “

She reached out a picked up a small piece of cheese to nibble on hoping that it would give her time to think. “I hope your friend is okay, too,” She said as she popped the cheese into her mouth. Even chewing seemed to take a lot of energy right now, thank the stars it was a small piece or she’d be chewing for while.  Mia finally finished and swallowed the cheese then looked at Zark, “Are we under arrest?”

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

While certain it was supposed to scare her, being called naïve struck an obstinate cord within Azrin instead and that sadness was replaced with a hint of fire as she met the Andorian’s gaze. She met the hard look with one of her own. She was flippant, stubbornly cheerful, and tried her hardest to be an optimist, but there was no naivety in her eyes. She had already lived through a war. Her attempts to make sense of it in the aftermath had led to her graining hundreds of years of life experience from five other trill. Twisting someone into a pretzel was foreign to her, but she’d seen plenty of death. Charred remains from explosions, ripped to pieces by the Dominion, bodies floating in the vacuum of space.

Frankly, Azrin was miserable enough without the added problems of someone trying to scare her. So she wasn’t going to let that happen. Azrin was just opening her mouth to tell Zark to bring it on when the medic finished talking, ending her pronouncement in an overly dramatic flourish that took the words right out of Azrin’s mouth. She even forgot to push the blue finger – again in her face – out of the way. “Comfortable cha-“ she began in a nonplussed voice, before being cutoff as Zark grabbed her and pulled her off the chair. Azrin yelped, the forced movement unkind to her sore guts, then was frozen in place as the transporter beam took hold…

[ Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the Dungeon of Very Comfortable Chairs’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

…then they were in a room that managed to be even more dull looking than the recovery ward. Zark dropped her in a chair immediately. A nice, plush seat that she even sank into a little. Dungeon of very comfortable chairs, indeed. Too bad it didn’t have a window. As Zark kept talking, Azrin’s confusion – and anger – dissipated rather quickly. “I knew it!” She exclaimed rather gleefully. Well, she had no idea what the Spanish Inquisition was, but that wasn’t the point. “I knew there was no reason for anyone to be that mad at us.” She was a good sport. Anyone who played pranked had to be cool with being pranked in return.

She reached forward and grabbed a handful of pretzels, deciding to give her stomach a bit of a test before moving onto something else. Though her wounds were mostly healed up, she hadn’t eaten during her six-month stasis nap, and Azrin knew it was best to let her stomach reacclimate first. Zark’s newly happy mood probably wouldn’t last if one of them threw up. Everything she’d been given in sickbay so far had been very plain. Even the salt of the pretzel felt exotic – how sad was that?

“I don’t think so,” she answered Mia’s question, even though it hadn’t been directed at her. “Sounds like our punishment already happened.” Besides, when she’d annoyed local law enforcement as a child, they’d sent her back to the Izar with a slap on the wrist. They never gave her food. If it weren’t for the room, this would feel like a party. “Hello Zark. I’m Azrin and this is Mia.” They’d never gotten to introduce themselves earlier, after all. It felt like a fresh start, now that everyone’s escapades were over. “I'm sorry about the nurse, but I really had to get out of there before I went crazy. I kept asking for things to do and they kept telling me to rest and there was this PADD and everything I looked up was terrible and..." Azrin trailed off, ate a pretzel to distract herself and give her racing heart a moment to slow back down, then completely changed the topic. "Does this place have an official name? I definitely would have noticed ‘Dungeon of Very Comfortable Chairs’ on the ship’s schematics.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the Dungeon of Very Comfortable Chairs and Drab Looking Resto with Fancy Food’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

Lieutenant Zark listened with one ear while pouring drinks and smiled in sympathy for Mia.  Azrin's cheer was a good sign and she was the tougher customer as the Trill been through the ringer more than once.  The Blue bar tender lifted the glass up and inspected the golden liquid before pushing them over and looking at her two 'drinking buddies'.  "Azrin is quite correct Mia.  You haven't broken any laws or regulations that I know of, you were just silly.  At the moment you're both in Interrogation Room One in the Security Centre on Deck 7, Vector 2. My that's a mouthful."  Zark's smile disappeared for a second, but there was no hostility in her eyes. "Now as for your little escapade, I'm sure you can tell from the last round of fighting that sickbay has it's hands full, so not adding any additional stress would be much appreciated.  Does that sound reasonable?"  The security officer gave Mia a pointed look before switching to Azrin and waggling a cobalt index finger between herself and the Trill. And Lieutenant Ryn, since you have a healthy amount of suspicion, I will not be able to get another drama piece on you, but be warned, I will be happy to just simply carry you back to sickbay over my shoulder in the future and tie you to the bed, although I am quite sure this threat is not going to work on you anyway." The medico smiled and passed the drinks over.

Zark's smile returned as she took a sip of beer and sighed.  "Don't worry, it's a Radler, a grapefruit beer, low in synthehol and everything that makes booze great, except being refreshing and tasty.  Anyway, don't worry about Nurse Ellison.  She would like you back for rest, but I always assumed it was a sort of as soon as I felt you had to go back and since sending you back would just bore you out of your minds again, and yes, I'm quite aware of why you two decided to run off even though you're not really in the shape for it."

Zark piled together a good inch and half thick sandwich and grabbed some wings and veggies.  "Sorry, you two really did interrupt my dinner and all that work has made me hungrier than I expected."  Zark took a massive bite of her sandwich and began chewing really quickly before washing it all down with beer.  Zark repeated this a couple more times, essentially massacring half the sandwich in three bites. Hunger temporarily staved off, Zark wiped her mouth and hands before turning her attention back to her guests.  "Now to start since you're going to have questions, and to answer one of your more pressing one Mia, I'm not sure what the situation is with sending messages home.  Lor'Vela knows I'd love to send a bunch out.  Maybe we can use the Klingon comm net.  Maybe the diplomatic department knows?"  Zark made a mental note to ask Enyd about it at some point.

The medico took a moment to strip a chicken wing before turning to Azrin.  "It is anatomically possible to turn someone into a pretzel when needed.  I still practice gymnastics, so I have the range of movement to do so.  Anyone else I do it on will be less than pleased with me, so I tend to use anaesthetics on them first."  Zark took a moment to think about Enyd Madsen before turning back to Mia. "As to the friend, Lieutenant Madsen, she should be fine.  It's unlikely the rebels are going to attack her and the other guests at the Opera House." Zark had her doubts though and shrugged before grabbing a vegetable stick, leaned back and began nibbling on it.  "So, this is your free time, what else would you like to know?"

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the Dungeon of Very Comfortable Chairs and Drab Looking Resto with Fancy Food’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @rae  @RyeTanker

Mia looked between Azrin and Zark as the two women spoke. “Not in shape by a long shot,” Mia agreed with Zark, “and I am sorry, but I didn’t know about another battle and the wounded being in the other areas of sickbay. It’s not like they tell us what is going on, well other than hey we just woke you up from a long sleep and everything is fixed, sort of.” She unconsciously rubbed at the shoulder that had been replaced.

 She took the offered beverage and took a sip. While she wasn’t really a beer drinker, it was at least cold and wet.  Mia felt a bit of a smile touch her lips as Zark continued to speak and acknowledged the sheer boredom  that comes with a stay in a medical ward.  Mia certainly appreciated that Zark was at least giving them a break, but the location left a bit to be desired. However Mia realized she was in no position to argue. This was Zark’s domain, and the chairs were really comfortable after all.

Mia watched as Zark made herself a sandwich and proceeded to practically inhale it. She was amazed that someone could consume food that quickly.  With her own stomach feeling a bit uneasy due do her current location, the thought of eating much more than that piece of cheese was not pleasant.

The answer to her wanting to get in contact with her family was hard to hear. Mia sighed a little in defeat.  She was glad to hear that Zark’s friend was at least not engaged in some other battle. Mia almost laughed at the thought of going to such an event, “I don’t know if I could sit through a Klingon opera, I can barely stay still long enough to deal with one of those old holovids. Those are like two hours. I hear Klingon opera can go for 6 hours or more!”

When Zark sat back and asked what else they wanted to know, the first question on Mia’s mind was vocalized before she could stop herself, “Where did that medical android come from? “ Mia leaned forward a little, “Not that I am complaining, but, well when did they get so advanced?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the Dungeon of Very Comfortable Chairs and Drab Looking Resto with Fancy Food’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

Lt. Zark looked at Ensign Dunne and began analyzing her, treading down various paths in her own mind as to the Ensign's behaviour as she munched on a carrot.  The chewing action served to occupy a portion of her mind as she gave for there was something that was bugging the medic.  When she had to swallow the carrot, her fingers began tapping on the table for a few more seconds.  "Miss Dunne, you didn't know that the ship has been on the run for the last six months, and given the nature of your injuries, it would not surprise me in the least that you have survivor's guilt.  Why did you get to survive when so many others did not?  That is the nature of fate.  It is not something you, I, or anyone can control.  Nothing that has happened in the last six months aside from the reason we're sitting here tonight is your fault, so please stop apologizing for it. I'm not a trained counselor, but I do recommend you talk to one of them as soon as possible.  I'll be honest about meeting with them.  Sometimes just having the chance to talk to someone who knows how to listen is all you need to make sense of what happened, and develop the coping mechanisms.  Consider this a very friendly request." The Andorian shrugged as she ran out things to say on the topic. 

Deciding to bridge the gap, the Andorian hostess grabbed a plate and began spooning some of the dips onto a plate as she talked. 
"Now, in an effort to avoid any more heavy stuff, I'm gonna agree with you Mia.  I for the life of me can't sit still for the length of a Klingon Opera, I'd probably be tempted to join the fight scenes just to have something to do.  Motion pictures have to be entertaining to keep me going over two hours."  Zark laid the plate in front of Mia and placed a spoon on it.  "You can barely chew, and I guarantee the dips are soft and going to be more tasty than whatever they're serving in sickbay.  Don't worry about the salt content and all that health stuff. I can't stand too much salt myself and I tend to scrape the dips off the plate anyway."

Zark had to search her memory for a bit and her head tilted from side to side as she jangled the necessary file cabinets.  "Can't say I know much about V-Nine beyond the basics that she was handed to us by the Savi, who as an aside, are an extreme hush hush to anyone outside the ship, as in the Captain will break you if you mention it outside the ship kind of hush hush.  She, it's? extremely advanced as you two can attest to as you're sitting here now.  The main thing is that Savi tech is extremely advanced, sort of like a ummmmmmm...... those old gas engines versus our warp drive is the best way to put it I think."  The Andorian shrugged again to emphasize this was out of her realm of knowledge.   "I haven't really had a chance to interact with the Andoid, since Doctor Hernandez handled most of my medical misadventures, but I agree, they do really good work, especially my really big one on Breen." Zark's eyes became unfocused for a moment before coming back to the present as she decided to take a sip of her drink.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the room that is far superior to the recovery ward, but lacks the observation lounge’s views’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @Eirual

Azrin had quite zoned out for a few minutes there. First she had been wholly focused on her stomach, ensuring that it could hold the pretzels before she moved onto a real feast. And damn, did she want to eat. It was like being around real food again suddenly reminded her of how empty her stomach was. She didn’t remember when her last normal meal had been, too happy toiling away in Engineering to remember to eat – then they’d been attacked. Six months ago. Her resolve finally broke as her mind drifted down that dark, increasingly familiar path, and Azrin decided to dig in. It probably hadn’t been long enough, but she wasn’t nauseous, so she was going to try it. Chicken wings, cheeses, vegetables, more pretzels – Azrin grabbed a plate and loaded it up.

Then she became oddly focused on her food, doing her best to hide her reaction at Mia’s words… “and everything is fixed, sort of.” Azrin always tried her best to avoid the heavy stuff. Aside from talking to counselors, she always wanted to lighten the mood, not bring it down. But still, she profoundly disagreed with that. What was fixed? She thought angrily, stuffing some cheese in her mouth. They were still on the run, everyone outside this ship thought they were dead or traitors, most of her old cohorts in engineering were dead. Oh, and apparently there was about to be a war, because fighting these ominous ‘Infested’ assholes wasn’t hard enough already. Everything had been going wrong when she’d been injured, and it didn’t seem any better now. It was like a nightmare. Needless to say, when Zark changed the subject, Azrin jumped on that.

“Yeah! And why haven’t I gotten to see the android yet!” It had taken her a bit, but Azrin did vaguely remember Vojona mentioning someone called V-Nine when she’d woken up. “That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to going back to sickbay for. Maybe if she’s not busy she’ll let me study her systems a bit. By the way,” she mentioned offhandedly to Zark, just now getting around to responding to the andorian’s earlier comment. “You can pick me up and carry me if you want the workout, but I would have gone back if you told me to. I never expected it to be a permanent escape, only a change of scenery before someone found us and shooed us back. I’ll even stay in the bed, but I need something to do! I kept trying to make deals with the nurses and they kept telling me to rest. Give me some broken tricorders – I know ops has a box of them somewhere – and I’ll repair them from there. Take them apart on the food tray.” Azrin started to sound more stressed as she explained, the depressed mood she’d been trying to hide moments ago sneaking out. She was an active person. Laying in bed with only bad news for company might have been good for her physical health, but it had been terrible for her mind.

Belatedly aware that she might have gone slightly too far, Azrin got a glass of beer and drained half of it, using the movement to stop her mouth from running. When she finished, she continued, much calmed now, “I know. Counselor. Got it.”

In a more successful attempt to lighten the mood, she changed the subject again. “I like holonovels more than watching vids or shows. It’s more fun to be part of the story.” If it wasn’t abundantly clear already, she could not sit still for six hours.

[Ensign Mia Dunne | Interrogation 1 AKA “Room of unmade pretzels” | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @RyeTanker  @rae

Mia looked at the plate that Zark had pushed in front of her. While it may not have been the most healthy food, it was indeed soft end she used the spoon to take just a little to see how well it would settle in her stomach. It stayed down, and didn’t taste too bad considering she wasn’t having the chips along with it.
Mia didn’t much like the idea that Zark pretty much psychoanalyzed  her in the few minutes they had been sitting there. Well of course she felt guilty. She survived when even the Chief of Science hadn’t. The whole team she’d worked with was gone. That alone was enough, wasn’t it? But she kept that thought to herself since it really wasn’t any use pointing it out.

She raised her eyebrows as talk moved to V-Nine, and the Savi, whoever they were. The fact that their existence, or the fact they were on Theurgy was to be kept silent was even more surprising. Why would an apparently more advance species even deign to help them, unless the parasite was also an enemy of theirs, that would make sense. 

When Azrin started in about meeting V-Nine, Mia couldn’t help but smile. She wanted to see how the android worked, which was something Mia could get behind as well. Understanding the science and the technology that created the advanced artificial lifeform, while not in her area of expertise, would be interesting.  Azrin began to ramble about doing something, anything, while she was confined to sickbay. While Mia did not share quite the need to keep working, she did understand that resting all the time was not as restful as they make it out. The forced rest actually had her more agitated than if they had contacted the science department and had given her something to occupy her mind with something other than her memories.

She chuckled when Azrin’s rambling ended with a comment about counselors.  The change of subject was welcome, though she’d had little use for holonovels while she was in school, she did enjoy them once in a while.  She glanced over at Azrin, ”Let me guess, you prefer ones with lots of action and very little story telling.” She smiled and thought for a moment, ”I think if I was going to do one of those it would have some... I don’t know, maybe romance and perhaps a little bit of a mystery to be solved without a lot of gratuitous violence.”

Mia sighed tiredly. Their ‘escape’ and subsequent capture had taken more energy than she would have imagined. “I think I understand why medical keeps telling us to rest,” she said as she looked over at her partner in crime, ”Or am I the only one feeling totally drained of energy right now. And we didn’t even run that far. Sad to say but I might be happy to get back in that recovery room and go to sleep for a few hours.”

---

OCC: Sorry I took so long to reply. Every time I sat down to write I seemed to get interrupted for the past week.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘a room with a bowl of regular non-humanoid pretzels’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @Eirual

“There can be action and storytelling,” she replied quickly before Zark could get a word in, almost gleeful that Mia had jumped on her change of subject and keen to continue the train of thought. If she kept it going, they could simply be friends having a little party in an oddly plain room full of snacks, instead of traumatized officers sitting in an interrogation room post-stasis. “And romance and plot, if you find the right one. You ever try a spy novel? I’ve found some good ones. It jumps from romance to action to investigation for tiny clues. The mystery of finding out the evil plot! There’s even engineering when you have to steal get away shuttles or land vehicles – or dismantle the villain’s secret weapon. Though the programs glitch sometimes when I do that, they never expect the protagonist to have in depth xeno-engineering knowledge.” Azrin was rambling a bit now, far too over zealous in keeping this topic of conversation going. Her food abandoned in her rush to speak, hands moving in quick jerks as she mimed out some of the holo plots. It was too much, an obvious overcompensation.

The word vomit kept her preoccupied so she didn’t have to answer Mia’s next question. Yes, she was tired. Though her brain was sending conflicting signals, her desire to stay here warring with the need to sleep. The food was giving her a momentary rush of energy, leaving her quite jittery. For all she’d spent the entire night claiming that she fully planned to return to sickbay eventually – Azrin refused to admit that they might have finally reached that point.

“Even when you’re not running around, at least in a holonovel you’re doing something. You’re part of the story, you know? Not just spectating, or missing the whole thing…” Dammit. There was reality, crashing back in again. She’d circled back to their own situation without even trying. The more she spoke, the more Azrin realized that she did truly need that counseling appointment.

“The really sad part is that we didn’t run at all. Walked the whole way. I used to be able to run the gauntlet of this ship through the Jefferies tubes without breaking a sweat.” Her excitement over holonovels fell away, and the trill looked worn out again. “I am tired. But I don’t want to admit defeat yet.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the Itus Space' | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

Lieutenant Zark polished off the rest of her beer before stripping another chicken wing.  She was content to let her two wayward charges have their conversation.   The Andorian grinned at Mia's choice of subject for holonovels, but her head started to nod in agreement with Azrin. Seeing the other two begin to spiral down, the medico figured she'd either have to buoy them up, or it was time to call it quits.  Snagging and munching on a two-bite brownie to help her think, she decided to let the fun notion have it's chance.  "Well, if we had the time and you two had the energy, I think we have ourselves a pretty good adventure party here."  The cobalt index finger waved between Mia and Azrin "You two can be Shirley Holmes and Joan Watson." then the thumb pointed back at herself. "and I can be Jane Bourne to deal with all the gratuitous violence that will most likely come along.  Though I do have to warn you, with the holo programs that I usually go for, they tend to be either spectacularly peaceful, or quite loud, noisy, and kick ass, so we'd have to work out a happy medium somewhere."

Looking between the two, there was a conundrum to solve.  "Now, we have a problem as it's not really late at night, but I have one saying she's ready to call it quits, and the other is determined to stay awake till last call.  What to do?"  The medico looked ceiling ward for few seconds as an internal debate occurred.  Turning back to her companions, Zark realized it was not her call to make and decided to leave the decision up to them.  "I know we said no more heavy stuff, but I was thinking of having you two hover chaired to the arboretum. It's somehow managed to come through all the fighting intact, hardly even a tree out of place." The blue woman scratched her nose for a moment from more internal debate before continuing. "The only thing is, the memorial wall is down there, so I wasn't sure if you wanted to actually mourn now, or take the time later."  The medic paused one more time. "Last option is to have you two go your separate ways now.  I can call the medical staff and Miss Dunne, they can take you back to your bed in sickbay, and if trees aren't your thing Miss Ryn, I can have you carted to see the warp core, or you know, some combination of what you prefer before you both head back to bed."

With that, Zark began piling plates and cups together as she waited for the two ladies to come to a decision.

[Ens. Mia Dunne |Interrogation Room aka “Room of weary but stubborn recently awoken officers” | Security Center | Deck 07 | Vector 02 | USS Theuurgy ] ATTN: @rae  @RyeTanker

Mia smiled tiredly as Azrin described several various  scenarios for holonovels and, quite honestly, If she wasn’t so tired out it might actually be fun to try. Maybe once they were both feeling better they could do something like that. It would be nice to stay in contact with Azrin ,and even Zark, and who knows, they might actually become good friends. Lord knew she needed a few of those right now.

When Azrin said she was tired but not ready to tap out just yet Mia nodded her head in agreement. Zark went into her own variation on participation of a holonovel. Mia had almost laughed at the thought that Zark would do all the violence, Azrin seemed to enjoy that too and getting into tech stuff. Mia was not sure they would find a program where she would even fit in with either of them. She looked down at her hands and wondered if they would even try, or if they would each go their own ways after this and never really talk. That sort of saddened her but she kept it to herself.

Mia’s eyes lit up at the mention of the arboretum. “It’s still there? I never got the chance to go there before... well, you know,” Mia said quietly, “I think I would like to see this Memorial wall. It might help bring some, well, to help me deal with the loss.”

While she would really like to stick with Azrin, she would not blame the engineer for not wanting to hang out with nature. But for Mia, the idea sounded like just what she really needed at this point. She glanced at Azrin and then to Zark, “I don’t really want to go back to sickbay just yet either.”

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘anywhere but sickbay, please.’ | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] @RyeTanker @Eirual

“Then the arboretum it is!” Azrin declared, perhaps a bit too exuberantly. Like she’d said, she really didn’t want to go back to sickbay yet. Her mind didn’t quite focus on the idea of the Memorial Wall, the mere mention of which had caused her guts to twist. She’d already found the names of enough people who would be on there, and had no desire for more surprises tonight. But it was the arboretum, so if – when – it proved too much, she could go… climb a tree… or something. Azrin had been raised in space, so nature wasn’t really her element, even artificial nature cultivated on board a space ship.

The holodeck would have been her first choice, but Azrin wasn’t convinced that she had the stamina to play. Passing out in exhaustion in a holonovel would only increase the time she had to spend in sickbay once they went back. And she didn’t want to spend a second longer in that room than necessary. “But when we do go do a holonovel together, dibs on Sherlock.” Azrin flashed a grin at the other two, her hand sneaking between Zark’s cleanup efforts to grab another handful of pretzels. They all seemed to get along well enough. In Azrin’s mind they were already friends. She was already planning to send out the invites to the holodeck once they were all good and mended. All the fun with no displeased nurses after.

“I can’t actually touch the warp core until I’m back on duty,” she explained in between popping pretzels into her mouth. “So even if you took me down there, we’d just be sitting and staring at it and getting in everyone’s way. And it would drive me nuts when I see something that needs doing and don’t have the authorization to do it.” Also, it probably wouldn’t bode well with the new chief engineer if they met while Azrin was fiddling with something she wasn’t supposed to touch. “So, arboretum.”

Azrin stood up slowly, one hand on the armrest in case she needed to steady herself. The short rest and the food had done her some good, she definitely felt better than when they’d arrived at the observation lounge. “Want to try walking a bit of the way there at least? Work on getting our strength back?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Interrogation 1 AKA ‘the departure lounge' | Security Centre | Deck 7 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

Zark smiled as Azrin demonstrated a healthy sense of hunger and stuck her tongue out at the Trill and found herself nodding in agreement on not heading to Engineering.  The medico was very ready to nix the idea of the two others walking down to the arboretum.  "In your current states, I can carry one of you, but not both of you." The Andorian said as she smiled at the thought of having to try to lift one woman over each shoulder.  Good thing transportation is already taken care of, though I don't quite think the nurse's really thought this would happen." 

The security officer tapped her combadge to get the whole process going. "Lieutenant zh’Ptrell to Nurse Ellison, you can bring the two hover chairs to the Security Centre.  Lieutenant Ryn and Ensign Dunne are ready to go."  "Understood ma'am. We'll be there in a few minutes." came the reply.  There was a beep at the door indeed after a few minutes as Ellison and Brown with a pair of hover chairs.  The comfy chairs, and wreckage of ceramic ware elicited very different reactions from the medical staff as Brown's mouth smiled in amusement, while Ellison frowned.  "Okay, let's get you two back to sickbay where you can rest." Ellison stated neutrally as she moved in towards Azrin, only to be stopped by a cobalt hand and smiling blue face.  The nurse's eyes betrayed their trepidation at what could go wrong for her next. "Lieutenant Ryn, and Ensign Dunne here are still quite antsy after waking up, and need a more calming environment to help soothe their nerves."  Zark interrupted, and Ellison gave the Andorian an incredulous look. "So, let's take a stroll to the arboretum for a bit."

Brown and Ellison did not see that coming and they looked at the security medic like she'd grown a second head.  Ellison recovered first "Zark, Ma'am, I don't think that's appropriate considering what they've just gone through, they're clearly exhausted..."  Ellison's reasoning died off as Zark's expression went from happy to a slight frown and her arms went from open to crossed over her chest.  "Kitty, you're night will go much easier if these two are at ease instead of being all fidgety and itching to get out again.  At least, this way, they're in a calming environment" Zark somewhat doubted this with Azrin though, but gave no sign of it. "and they get a chance to visit the wall." It wasn't the best line of reasoning, but it hit an emotional chord and Nurse Ellison paused her counter argument before her lips twisted into a 'girl looking to save up spit' and stubbornly pressing on.  "I get that, but they're really over due in sickbay and...."

Lieutenant Zark gracefully if somewhat abruptly got out of her seat and placed hands on each the blonde nurse's shoulder as she stared deeply into the human nurse's eyes.  "Were you at the memorial ceremony?"  Zark gently asked. The nurse's mouth seemed to pop open and closed like a fish before her head nodded slowly.  The security officer was sympathetic to the nurse doing her duty, but Zark also had her own promise to keep and nodded once. "Do you remember who was the piper that day?"  Ellison's eyes widened and she nodded again, more jerkily. The Andorian bagpiper stared soulfully into the Kitty's eyes.  "And do you remember what you were feeling that day? Do you really want to deny them that sense of closure?"  Kitty's eyes misted at the emotions the security officer had dredged up and breathed as her head dropped slightly shook her head.

Zark nodded gently in sympathy and looked over at Kavon who was stone faced.  "Kitty, Kavon, let's get these two the arboretum." the senior officer gently ordered the two medical personnel who moved to comply.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Interrogation Room #1 | Main Security | Deck 07 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] ATTN:

Mia covered her mouth to hide the growing smile as Zark all but laid down the law for the two medical officers. While she knew they really were trying to do their job, she almost felt like cheering for Zark.  She stood from the chair and was assisted into the hoverchair for their trip to the Arboretum. She smiled over at Azrin, “When we have both recovered, I would very much like to try that Holonovel of yours.” She looked over at Zark, “Thank you. For everything, for understanding and taking care of us.”

Soon they were being pushed out of the interrogation room by the medical officers. Looking over to Zark once more, “I do hope I see you again in a less official capacity.” She gave the Azure skinned Security officer a wave of farewell then settled her hands into her lap. She smiled at Azrin, “I could get used to this,” she quipped with a small nod of her head to the nurses who were guiding the hoverchairs.

---

OOC
I do apologize for the short post. Fighting a bit of writer's block this past month after getting some bad news.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Interrogation 1 to the Arboretum and everywhere in between | Deck 7 – Deck 21 | Vector 02 - 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @Eirual

As it went, the arboretum wasn’t high on her list of favorite places on the ship. Azrin could think of many preferable places: engineering, both auxiliary engineerings, the observation lounge, holodecks, Jefferies tubes… the list went on. However, it was far above the recovery ward. At least it wasn’t boring. With that in mind, Azrin flashed Ellison a magnificent grin and a wink as Zark undercut the nurse yet again, securing their next location. Thankfully Ellison seemed more worried than vindictive, or Azrin would have expected some harsh hypospray jabs in her future. Good things rarely came from pissing off medical staff, but tonight was an exception.

Her face fell instantly as Zark finished. How was seeing a wall going to give her any sense of closure? But she was too desperate to avoid sickbay to dwell on that thought, and forced it out of her mind instead, using the move to the waiting hover chair to hide her frown. Once seated, Azrin had gotten herself mostly under control again, enough to add her own pressure to the conversation, laying it on thick. “We can rest in the arboretum just as easily as in sickbay,” Azrin assured her earnestly, “Look, sitting down and everything.” Anyone who had ever had a conversation with her could quickly call bullshit on that – after all, Azrin had been volunteering to walk just before the nurses arrived – but she figured Zark and Mia would let it slide if it helped get to them to their destination. She was itching to get out of the chair as soon as they made it into the hallway, biting her tongue to avoid replying to Mia’s comment with something that would surely get them sent back to sickbay. Every time they passed someone in the hallway she got more embarrassed about it, like being escorted in a hover chair was somehow worse than walking around barefoot in a hospital gown.

At first, she contented herself with tapping patterns on her knees. By the time they made it to the turbolift and informed the computer of their destination, Azrin had enough nervous energy that she was pulling the control panel off the armrest to get a look at the components beneath it. “Lieutenant,” Brown began in a long-suffering tone, before Azrin went right over him. “Just looking! It’s not like we need this panel anyway, since you’re controlling the chair. Unless you want to let me drive?” She turned around as far as she could in the chair with the beginnings of a winning smile, which quickly vanished at the resounding ‘no’ written all over his face. For a fleeting moment, she actually considered the idea of rewiring the chair real quick and seeing how fast the little antigrav units could make it down the next hallway, before remembering that she was needed to stay out of any more trouble tonight. “I’m not touching the hover controls, if that’s what you’re worried about. Push away helmsman, straight on!” Conveniently, she got to that bit right as the turbolift doors opened and they continued on their way. ”I’ve never seen the innards of a hoverchair before. Very modular, I see all sorts of different relays to reroute control functions. To account for different injuries?” Azrin filled the air as they walked, rambling about whatever she noticed in the little bit of chair she’d uncovered.

The words died in her throat as they went through yet another door, the starship’s recycled air giving way to that of the forest inside. Azrin always forgot how curiously odorless space ships were until she was overwhelmed by the freshness brought on by trees, grass, and water. It made their destination feel very real, and Azrin wanted nothing more than to take the hover chair apart with her bare hands if it kept her away from the memorial wall. There would be no closure here, her wounds were still too fresh.

---

OOC: I'm so sorry for the wait guys I've had all sorts of issues for the past few weeks. I thought I'd leave the description of the Memorial Wall to Rye, since you probably know what it looks like best.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Between Interrogation Room 1 and the Arboretum | Decks 07 - 21 | Vector 02 - 03 |USS Theurgy] ATTN: @RyeTanker  @rae

Mia tried not to giggle as she watched the engineer fiddle with the hoverchair. Azrin was in front and Zark was right behind them.  “Can’t keep your finger ou of the equipment for even a few minutes, can you,” she called out to Azrin with a humorous tone in her voice.  Mia could sort of understand, but she did not have access to what she needed to do her work. She would have to wait until she was back on duty. Maybe she could get some practice with a sketch pad and pencils while they were in the arboretum. That is if she could get her hands on one.

She was having mixed feelings about seeing the memorial wall.  On one hand she wanted to see what had been done for those that were lost. On the other hand, six months of battles meant that there would be far too many names on that wall. She was almost afraid to see the names of people she had known, however briefly, in stark relief. To her the loss was still raw, and she thought maybe Azrin felt the same way. Neither of them had really had time to come to terms with what had happened. As the lifts doors opened to the Arboretum she was overwhelmed by the scents of plants and fresh air. Her eyes opened wide as she took it in, “This is... Just... Wow!” Her chair was pushed forward and she looked around as she tried to take a deep breath, although her ribs did remind her she wasn’t fully recuperated, just yet. She glanced over at Azrin, “I can’t believe this survived, and thrived even! It’s amazing!”

---

OOC: I have also been inundated these past few weeks so I completely understand. I hope all is well with you and glad you were able to get back to the Theurgy!

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | From the Security Centre to the Arboretum | Deck 7-21 | Vector 02 - 03 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

The little entourage had garnered a few strange looks from their passerby's as the group made it's way from one of the ship to the other.  Lt. Zark kept a pleasant smile on her face as she linked her hands behind her and followed the group.  Truth be told there wasn't a whole lot that the security officer could do if the medics decided to turn around and took the two back to sickbay.  What she'd done to wtih Azrin and Mia in the Security Centre was already iffy at best since it certainly broke a whole bunch of medical protocols, and she was piling more trouble on herself just by ordering the two sickbay attendants to extend the outing of the two patients just that little bit further.  The Andorian was sure she was going to have an interesting time herself doing any sort of explaining if she got called to account for this little trip.  Oh Well, there's always ways around these things, otherwise I'll just have to accept whatever medicine comes my way. The main relief in the entire trip was that Azrin seemed to be her usual irreverent self and was needling Nurse Brown.  Zark didn't know Brown that well, but she knew Ellison well enough to know she desperately wanted to take the two back and only the fact that Zark was behind them and still capable of human pretzel making was keeping her heading towards their ultimate destination.

As the group piled into the turbolift, Zark's eyebrows arched as it seemed that the engineer was actually becoming more nervous, but she decided to take note of it.  As Zark mentally chewed on the problem, she couldn't fathom what the issue was and casually ordered the turbolift to deck 21.  Zark decided she'd clear out the people towards the memorial wall and walked around the two chair bound patients to lead them and put their mind at ease.  This didn't happen as they passed through the arboretum doors.  Whatever vegetable and life scents the plant repository gave off were lost on the combat medic as her brows furrowed in confusion. The Trill was looking ready to claw the chair apart and was clearly a bundle of nervous energy. "Ellison, Brown, hold up a moment.  Let's give these two a chance to take in the sights for a moment."  Zark had a suspicion, but when she looked at Mia, she saw a joyous serenity take over the scientist as if she finally found something to be really happy about and enjoy.  Mia looks fine, but Azrin..... I don't like the look of this.  Zark's eyes settled on the memorial wall for a moment.  It was a standard grey ribbed Starfleet bulkhead that extended from Deck 20 to Deck 22.  Why it had been given the name of Memorial Wall were the simple metal placards of the names of the fallen.  Each metal plate had the name of the person, and their rank.  Zark sighed as she knew the list was long, but at the same time, she felt a little uncomfortable seeing how she'd misjudged the situation and one of her charges was in distress. "Let's head to Deck 22 instead.  I think it's more peaceful down there and I have a couple of stories for the two of them." The two medicos looked non plussed at having to continue to push Azrin and Mia around, but they didn't argue as they directed the chairs out to the turbolift and down one deck, then back into the arboretum.

Lt. Zark gave Azrin and Mia an easy smile as the group moved towards the centre of the foliage and to a pond in the middle. She had to starts somewhere and took a deep breath before starting but her eyes were focused on the pond as the Andorian linked her hands behind her again. "Did you know that every ship picks up a personality?  It's so hard to define, yet every ship does.  It's almost like the collective conscience of the crew infueses the hull and gives it a personality.  Something that everyone can see, but is undefinable at the same time."  Zark knew she was spouting mystic nonsense, but hopefully it would be enough to confuse Azrin and help her mind reset before turning to face her two friends in chairs.  "I met a very interesting person here last week.  I came here to get a change of scenery and have my cat stretch his legs.  Anyway, I came down here for dinner when Saucer, my cat, ran off and suddenly decided that there was this other person who looked more interesting to take nap on.  She's definitely one to give a ship personality.  Generally foul mouthed, illogical, and disorganized, but overall a friendly, good person, and a natural pilot."  Zark looked at the pond for a moment and laughed at a memory.  "You'll know her right away if you ever meet Via Wix, scatter brained, and motor mouthed with a questionable sense of well sense, but always willing to be there for her friends."

Zark hoped Azrin didn't see it as patronizing, but she knelt in front of the the Trill. "Azrin, I hope you consider me a friend, and I have a hunch as to what's going on.  I'm sorry for bringing you here since it seems to be upsetting you." Zark's compassionate side took over as she gently reached out and her hand held on to the pale one. "Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Arboretum | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @Eirual

Deliberately not looking towards the wall, which she assumed was the gray bulkhead in the direction they were heading, the trill jumped on a new topic. “Arboretums are really hard to kill actually,” Azrin explained, her attention effortlessly switching from the hoverchair to the engineering components behind this room, responding quickly to Mia’s enthusiasm. She could live without trees, but the science of getting them to thrive on spaceships was fascinating stuff. “It’s tied in as a redundant atmospheric system, but once they transplant the ecosystem and get everything cycling, the place basically runs itself. We use it for recreation, but it’s allocated with way more importance in emergency procedures. They keep them away from the hulls, so most breaches won't reach here. If we ever crash on a desolate planet, this dirt is supposed to be our salvation. I have no idea why we don’t just keep bags of dirt in a cargo hold somewhere, but I suppose the botanists do. Do any of you guys know about botany?” Azrin scanned the small group to see if anyone had insight to add, then completely lost her train of thought when she saw how Zark was studying her. She was uncomfortable enough already, but the feeling only seemed to intensify under the Andorian’s firm gaze. Her rambling stopped cold, leaving a heavy silence in its wake.

Azrin shifted uncomfortably in her chair, certain that they were going to get sent back to sickbay now. To her surprise - and relief - Zark suggested that they go to another part of the Arboretum instead, taking them back to the turbolift and down again. It was only the knowledge that she didn’t have permission to touch anything that kept her from escaping down the few decks that now separated them from main engineering. She’d take the consistent hum of a warp core over the random rustles of leaves any day. The pond they ended up at probably would have been picturesque to anyone else’s eyes, a deliberately imperfect circle of water, its surface broken on the edges by reeds and flowers, tucked away between the trees. People probably came here to forget they were on a starship. That was precisely what Azrin didn’t like about it.

She was thoroughly confused when Zark began talking again, waxing poetically about how ships had personalities.  Her head tilted to the side as she watched the medic, not saying anything, but clearly not understanding this abrupt topic change either. Maybe she was talking for the others’ benefits? Because Azrin knew perfectly well that starships were - in their own ways - alive. After all, her whole job was coaxing engines into contentment, fine tuning them until they could sing in perfect harmony with the space around them. She didn’t quite agree with the crew bit. Azrin had worked on brand new, freshly installed warp cores. They could be strong minded even months away from meeting their crews. This was followed by a short anecdote about how her cat had befriended a rude pilot, by which point Azrin had lost all sense of where this conversation had even started. The pilot sounded fun at least. She mentally filed the name Via Wix away for someone to meet later.

When Zark ended her speech by kneeling in front of Azrin and taking her hand, the trill saw two ways for this conversation to go. Her instinct was to laugh it off, ask Zark if she was planning to propose human marriage to her by getting on her knees like that. They’d only met today and she didn’t even have a ring, for shame. She needed a little more foreplay in her romance, etc. etc. Motormouth she was, Azrin knew how to drag it out. However, she was leaning towards the second option. To tell the truth, since she’d obviously failed at keeping her problems to herself so far today. And to think she’d been so good at it during the Dominion War. She wanted to blame the symbiont for making her damn transparent now, but Ryn had been a politician once. The worm should have had plenty of experience in deflecting. Most likely she was just too old now, lacking empty corners of her mind to shove the unpleasantness of the universe to a place where it could no longer bother her.

Besides, Zark had been sincere about helping them, going out of her way to keep them from the recovery ward for as long as they needed. She seemed like someone who appreciated a practical joke, but this didn’t feel like the situation for one. The medic was directly in front of her, so it was painfully obvious that Azrin was avoiding her gaze, blue eyes traveling around the room picking out all the bits of starship that she could see. The artificial markers helped ground her back in reality. She cast an apologetic look to Mia, fully aware that her minor breakdown wasn’t helping their ‘avoid sickbay at all costs’ plan, then finally turned back to Zark. “I didn’t really think about it until we got down here. But I haven’t finished reading through the whole list…” The engineering roster had been traumatic enough. The Chief Engineer roster had been bad enough. Azrin stumbled over her words for a moment, trying to find a good way to say it. “I don’t know… there’s going to be…” She leaned forward a bit, flipping her hand under Zark’s so she could grip it tightly in turn. Letting the contact make her brave, Azrin was finally able to say it. “This isn’t how I want to find out that my friends are dead.”

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Arboretum | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @RyeTanker  @rae

Mia almost rolled her eyes at the in-depth description that Azrin gave about the survivability of the arboretum. As a scientist, Mia was well aware of the significance for the ship and the crew. After all, she had been tasked with helping to set one up for a different vessel. Yes, it had been a lot smaller, but the idea was the same. Sustainable food source and natural oxygen filters. But she was still surprised the attacks hadn’t caused any visible damage to the delicate eco-system that had been created here. She almost had to laugh, because she knew for a fact that there were some storage containers in the science cargo bays that held exactly that, or they had. She wasn’t sure if those had been destroyed or not. She made a mental note to look into that whenever she was back on duty. Hopefully in the near future.

Mia was glad when they went back into the turbolift and went to another level. She had avoided even looking towards the wall. While she may not have know a lot of people, she just did not want to see how many had been lost while she’d been frozen in time. The scenery here was a bit more serene. The small pond making it feel almost as if they were on a planet. Not quite, but almost. Mia listened to Zark speaking about the ship’s personality. Mia furrowed her brow in confusion as to what Zark was even talking about. In her mind it was the crew who had the personalities. Then they tried to ‘humanize’ the machine in which they resided. There was no magical mystical mysterious source.  Mia had to blink when Zark started on a new story almost immediately about a cat and someone named Via Wix.

But when Zark  got down in front of Azrin, Mia realized that Zark was attempting to somehow ease the engineers mind. Mia looked at Azrin and Zark, knowing that whatever was happening was deeply emotional. Mia returned the apologetic smile with one of her own and tried to focus her mind and eyes away from their interaction. She began to mentally classify the various botanical specimens. Well, at least she tried, but Azrin’s pained confession brought her focus back to Azrin. Mia hadn’t looked through the casualty list completely either. She felt the loss again, acutely, and grasped her own hands together as her head lowered and her eyes closed.

Mia could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. And the large lump in her throat was back. She spoke very quietly as she turned towards Zark and Azrin, “Me neither!”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Arboretum | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

Lieutenant Zark wasn't really surprised when the pale warm weight flipped over and gave her blue hand a hard squeeze.  It wasn't a Klingon hand breaker, but it clearly communicated Azrin's desperation and despair, much better than her words.  It was as if Zark's hand had become a lifeline to keep her from sinking into the black depths that could swallow her.  The security officer mentally kicked herself for putting the Trill in this position and was about to mouth another apology when her head turned over and she saw the same look of bleak sadness on Mia's face and Zark would have slapped herself if she thought it would do any good.  The Zhen really was capable of turning a person into biological pretzel when necessary, so she had sufficient strength as the Zhen placed her hands on both chairs and by main strength, pulled them together till they touched, startling the two medical personnel in the process who let go.   It placed the two patients much closer together and with a bit of stretch, arm reach for the Andorian who stretched out and barely managed to get her arms under Azrin and Mia's arm pits and gently yanking them into a group hug.

It wasn't the easiest supporting the weight of two ambulatory people, but it wouldn't have been the first time the combat medic had carried more than one person and she felt the need to take their troubles and depression on to her own shoulders. "I'm so sorry for doing this to both of you." Zark regretted her choice in bringing everyone to the arboretum and the oppressive mood continued to pervade and push down on her despite the setting.  When she finally gently released Mia and Azrin back into their chairs,  blue hands slowly, almost hesitantly made their way to pale hands and held them protectively together.  The Andorian's seafoam eyes were bright with unshed tears and she needed to take a steadying breath to re-centre herself.  She could still feel the tendrils of melancholy in her arms, chest, and head.  "I'm so sorry.  I was hoping that when we all came down here, it would be a time to remember. A time to commemorate, and a time to move on.  I'm sorry that I forgot it's only been a blink of an eye for you and your world changed in that blink."  The Andorian quietly explained to her two friends.  She refused to turn her eyes away from theirs even though she had the strongest urge to look at the ground.

Lieutenant Zark was a woman of action at the end of the day, and she didn't want an evening that had been so much fun to be spoiled.  Seeing the two nurses also looking downcast at how the night had turned out, she was determined to have it all end on a positive note and if being in a place that reminded everyone of their loss wasn't the answer they were looking for, then it was time to come full circle and look to the future once more.   The Andorian gave the two woman a tighter squeeze before putting forth her last ditch idea.  There wasn't much time as it was getting late and she had another task that she really needed to keep an eye on. "Azrin, Mia, are you ready to back to the beginning of our story?  You got transported once, ready to go again?"

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Arboretum | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @Eirual

Ah, she’d really done it now. Back to the beginning of their story, to sickbay they would go. Even though Azrin had expected this, at the moment she was really regretting telling Zark the truth. What she hadn’t predicted was the emotional toll her words had clearly taken on the Andorian medic. The woman who had so confidently threatened to turn them into pretzels earlier this evening was now kneeling before them with tears glistening in her eyes. Azrin had wanted to get away from her trauma for an evening. Apparently all she’d done was drag everyone else back into it with her.

She hated herself even more for that, having remained stony faced and tense as Zark pulled their chairs together and gathered Azrin and Mia for a hug. It wasn’t the most comfortable position. Azrin had tried to hold herself slightly apart in an attempt to keep her full weight off Zark. The still healing muscles in her abdomen had protested in a new flare of pain. It only added to the burning in her eyes and sinuses as the trill tried her best to avoid joining the other two in tears. She didn’t respond to the apology. She couldn’t do more than nod as Zark accurately described how fresh their wounds still were. Azrin didn’t trust herself to speak just then. Her throat felt like it had closed up completely.

The thing was, Azrin normally prided herself on hiding her emotions well. It was bad enough when she felt terrible, but dragging the others down with her was inexcusable. She’d grown up on a small cargo ship without much privacy to be had. Azrin knew how a bad mood could be contagious, a downward spiral that dragged everyone down with her. She hadn’t been able to contain herself, so now everyone else was miserable too.

“Yep,” she finally replied, relieved that she’d managed to get a word out. Azrin tried to sound upbeat about it, but her dejected air as she relaxed back into her chair ruined that mood. “You’re in charge Lieutenant Zark. Beam us to the next dungeon.” They were getting the dungeon tour today, be it recovery wards, rooms of comfortable chairs, or a graveyard masquerading as a beautiful garden.

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Arboretum | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

ATTN: @RyeTanker  @rae

Mia had really tried to be upbeat with visiting the Arboretum, even if she had purposely kept her eyes away from the memorial wall and was now doing the same with Azrin. Although she was feeling the exact thing, or at least close enough that it didn’t matter. A sudden jarring of the hover chairs being pulled together caused her to lift her hands to make sure they didn’t get caught. The next thing she knew the Azule skinned Security officer had pulled her up into a group hug with Azrin. The gasp that came from her was one of both surprise and pain as her ribs were still a bit sore. When she was finally lowered back into her seat, Mia wasn’t sure what to think. But then Zark spoke and took one of her hands and pulled it so that it was next to Azrin’s. She looked at Azrin first and then to Zark, trying hard not to let her tears fall.

When Zark tries to explain why she had brought them down here, Mia wanted to fade into nothing. Zark only just now realized that in that one moment when the lad exploded it stole not only those few she had been getting to know as friends, but it stole six months of her life. Six months that she could never get back. She could feel the tear escaping from her eyes despite her trying hard not to let it happen.  Mia couldn’t speak past the large lump that suddenly seemed to be lodged in her throat. In her peripheral vision she saw Azrin nodding, and did the same.

Then Zark said something about going back to the beginning. Of course she probably meant back to sickbay, but Mia thought to herself, If only I could go back six months and somehow make things right. Azrin’s remark about dungeons seemed to be accurate for the moment. Zark was in charge, and Mia was certain the next step was taking them back to recovery, whether they liked it or not. Of course, that would make to two medico’s pushing the chairs a lot more happy. Mia let out a resigned sigh and nodded, “Right, go ahead. Do what you need to do.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Arboretum | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Eirual @rae

The security officer was serene as the mood of Azrin and Mia plummeted and as she rose to her feet, she pushed the hover chairs apart and stepped between them.  The statuesque blue woman stopped for only a moment to squeeze their shoulders and smile at them both before she continued to stand behind them.  Out of sight,  the two nurses moved to secure the chairs once more and slender muscular arms rose up to stop them.  Zark ignored the exasperated looks she got from Ellison and Brown and linked her arms behind her as she turned to face the same direction as Azrin and Mia.  "Thea, party of five to transport to the Observation Lounge.  Energize." As a shimmering light moved everyone to from one end of the ship to the other, Zark's smile split her face showing off her perfect white teeth for everyone to see.

[Observation Lounge aka The Beginning and The End | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

When the sparkling lights cleared and her vision was restored, Lt. Zark mentally thanked Thea for her superb judgment or serendipity in placing the party so close to the giant windows that allowed everyone to see the stars, or in this case, the planet of Qo'nos, and the space station the ship was currently docked at.  The security officer gripped both chairs and pushed them closer towards the windows before stepping through the two of them and linking her hands once again to stare out the same window.  "And thus, we come full circle to where our story began.  Here is where we all met first the first time, and it's here where this chapter in our story must come to and end."  The Andorian walked to the glass and looked out it for a moment before turning around linking her hands in front of her as her smile never left. "Azrin, Mia.  It's been an interesting evening so far and I hope this is as exciting as it gets for me."  The security officer privately had her doubts about that statement since Enyd Madsen was involved, but shook her head for a moment to clear that thought before looking at the two medicos.  "Ellison, Brown, thank you for being with us this night.  Do us a kindness and let these two enjoy the view till their ready to go back to sleep.  It's not even 2200 yet, and they're going to be released tomorrow morning anyway, so let them have their fun.  They have a lot of catching up and work to do starting tomorrow."

Zark looked back at her two new friends and decided to leave them one last parting gift.  It had been a while, but the voice was still there despite all the time spent on the pipes.  "When I left Scotland to go home to Andoria at the end of one of my Academy summer's, my bagpipe instructor told me that I was a lost Celt.  Born on a different world, but always welcome back home where I belonged."  Her smile turned into a smirk as she snorted one last piece of advice her instructor had given her while drunk in a pub one night, if you're missing an instrument, just hum the notes.  With that, the Security Officer, born of the frozen wastes of Andoria with a soul that also belonged to the highlands and emerald fields of the British Isles began to circle the two chair occupants in a circle of warding and began to sing.

They say there's a place where dreams have all gone
They never said where, but I think I know
Its miles through the night just over the dawn
On the road that will take me home

[Show/Hide]
The Andorian's cheeks darkened as she hadn't performed in public like that in years and it felt good after so long as a smattering of applause came from the few crew members in the lounge.   Taking a deep breath to re-centre herself.  She turned her attention back to Azrin and Mia.  "Take care, and I hope we'll be seeing each other soon under better circumstances.  I still have work to do, but I wish you both a speedy recovery."

With that, Zark gave nods of thanks to the two medicos and squeezed Azrin and Mia's hands once more before leaving for the Security Centre.

---

[Show/Hide]
OOC: I figured I'd tag @Ellen Fitz because Enyd was mentioned here.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

When the transporter beam released them, Azrin noticeably relaxed at the sight before them. Her eyes hungrily traced the curve of Qo’nos, before her head tilted back to lock on the stars visible over the planet’s horizon. Thank The Great Bird of the Galaxy, they weren’t back in sickbay yet. Idly, Azrin realized that this made more sense. She’d been too focused on her own doom and gloom to remember that Zark’s part of this story - her beginning - was finding the escapees here in the Observation Lounge.

She flashed Zark a grateful smile as the medic ordered the nurses to let them stay awhile. But she couldn’t help but add, “You know, if you put some biobeds in here, all of your recovering patients would be way happier. You guys have a suggestion PADD somewhere? That needs to be on there.” Never one to stay down for long when she could claw her way out of it, this new setting was enough to bring about her cheerful mood once more. This time it wasn’t an act. Even as she spoke, blue eyes remained locked on the distant stars, like they were a tractor beam pulling her from the dark corners of her mind. Azrin wished their bright light could burn the darkness away, but… she wasn’t there yet. If only it were that simple.

Her mind was just starting to concoct a fictional history of one of the stars - a calming little game that she’d stolen from one of Ryn’s past hosts - when Azrin was startled back to the lounge by a haunting melody. Spinning in her chair, the trill was surprised to see Zark singing. Had there been some sort of introduction to this? If so, Azrin hadn’t been listening. Not that Zark wasn't a beautiful singer. She was. Her song choice was sorrowful, mourning that was lost while hopeful for what was to come. It fit the mood perfectly. Elza (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Azrin_Ryn#Special_Notes) would have approved. Azrin didn’t. She would have picked something aggressively happy to combat the mood.

The song managed to affect her anyway, her eyes this time drawn to the dark between the stars. She’d never had a home, not in the way this song described it. Sure, Azrin had lived planetside, but she’d never been comfortable there. She’d been born in space, a nomad unbound to any roads. A good navigator could look out this window and point towards their homeworld. But Azrin had no idea where her family was. The Izar could be anywhere in Federation space right now. What had happened to them - the people, the ship, the business - when their daughter had been deemed a traitor?

“I've a long way to go, the stars tell me so…” Azrin liked that line. She fixated on it, keeping it in the back of her head while Zark finished. That one definitely applied to a space brat.

The song ended just as the engineer wiped away a few stray tears. They’d threatened so many times today, and they’d finally made a successful escape attempt of their own. Clever tears. As Zark said her farewells and grabbed her hand, Azrin held on for a moment to prevent her from leaving. When she spoke, she was surprised that her voice remained steady. “No need for hoping. Sherlock Holmes, holodeck, invites incoming. Once we’re officially freed.” And after Azrin unleashed six months of nervous energy on the warp core. Most likely a model ship’s warp core. Hopefully Thea’s once she calmed down a bit. “Thanks for all the help Lieutenant Zark. Appreciate it.”

Making new friends didn't mean she missed her lost coworkers any less. But it gave her hope that her heart would heal.

---

OOC: Tagged Rye one last time because Azrin talked to her. Eirual - do you want to have them chat for a bit before returning to sickbay, or wrap it up?

[Ens. Mia Dunne | Observation Lounge | Deck 10 | Vector 01 |USS Theurgy]
 ATTN: @RyeTanker @rae

Mia was shocked to find herself looking out the window of the observation lounge. A small smile played on her face as she glanced at Zark. Yes, this was where their adventure with the Andorian had begun and so they had come full circle.  When Zark began to sing, the entire room grew quiet as those already here began to listen. The voice was strong and the words seemed to touch deep into her soul. Mia could feel the tear that slid down her face. It was a powerful and emotional moment for her, and she suspected it was the same for her new friends.

When Zark had finished she found it hard to speak. She felt something more than she could identify as friendship at that moment. It was closer to a bond that sisters would have. She returned the gentle squeeze of the hand.  She chuckled slightly when Azrin announced she was sending invites for a holo-event. She reached up and wiped away the tears from her cheeks and nodded her head. Looking over her shoulder as Zark left she said a quiet, “Thank you, for everything.”

She turned back towards the windows to look at the planet, the base, and the stars beyond. Her thoughts on those words so recently sung...

And I know what I've lost and all that I've won
When the road finally takes me home


Somehow that was like a balm over her aching soul. And she bowed her head and closed her eyes in remembrance of those that had been lost.  

She lifted her head after a few minutes and turned to Azrin, “I look forward to that adventure,” she smiled, “But let’s wait until we are both a bit stronger.”

---

OCC  I was so moved by Zark's post I had a hard time keeping my eyes dry enough to write!! SO Beautiful!!
And we can either end there, or if you can thing of other things to 'chat' about that's fine too.

Some time later…

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Recovery Ward | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

“Don’t do that again,” Clearly trying to sound stern, poor Nurse Ellison’s demand came out more like pleading than anything. Azrin hadn’t noticed earlier, caught up in her own emotional storm as she was, but the blonde looked stressed. Apparently, they’d given her quite the scare. It was - in Azrin’s opinion - an extreme overreaction, but she supposed it was the thought that counted. What was the worst that could have happened? They passed out in a corridor and someone immediately beamed them back to sickbay? Aside from a few minutes at the beginning, their entire escapade had been under a medical professional’s watchful eye.

They’d stayed in the observation lounge for as long as possible, Azrin having done some begging of her own to extend their time bit by bit. Eventually, when the engineer nodded off in her chair and nearly face planted off it, Ellison had put her foot down, summoning another set of hover chairs and escorting the wayward patients back to sickbay. When they’d arrived, it had been to the sight of a tech reversing Azrin’s earlier modifications to the biobeds. Even the simple repair job was more than enough to get the Trill’s blood pumping again, eliciting a cheerful offer to finish the work for him. Which in turn prompted a series of warnings from Ellison, who rightfully assumed that she still had a flight risk on her hands, no matter how exhausted Azrin seemed.

“I was just going to fix it! Not that it matters now anyway, he’s…” Azrin paused to give the crewman a look, and he obliged her silent request by hitting a button on the biobed, “Done. Nothing to worry about Nurse, I’m going to take a nice nap, then when I get up I’ll be free! With doctor approval this time and everything.”

Ellison didn’t look convinced. “Really Lieutenant, if you don’t get your rest, we won’t be able to release you tomorrow!”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Azrin insisted, voice practically dripping with sincerity. Any effect was immediately ruined as she turned to Mia, continuing with an air of mock hurt, “why doesn’t anyone ever believe me?” She didn’t wait for an answer. There was no need for one. Tonight had made it perfectly clear. Azrin was prone to stir crazy and it didn’t take long to reach her breaking point. To prove her good intentions, she pushed herself out of the hover chair, absolutely refusing to wince when the harsh movement elicited another bout of soreness, and clambered back into bed. It wasn’t at all graceful. Normally she would have jumped, but her body protested so vehemently that it turned into some combination of climbing and crawling. Surely the biobed hadn’t been this tall before? Had he made it taller while repairing it? Anyway, she got there eventually, laying back like a model patient. Only her fingers ruined it, as they always did, tapping out rhythms where they lay against her stomach, always aching for something to tinker with.

The moment she closed her eyes, Azrin knew she was in for a long night. She hadn’t fully seen the memorial wall, but it haunted her nonetheless, a ghost imprinted on her eyelids. Her bones were heavy with exhaustion, muscles crying for rest, but her brain felt like it had been shocked back into full awareness. She knew she needed sleep, but her mind rebelled against the thought. What if she woke up and another six months passed? By then that damn wall would probably extend all the way down to… her eyes snapped open, mere seconds after they’d shut.

Their jailers were still there. “Have fun guarding the door.” It was meant as a joke, but came out far harsher than Azrin intended. “Sorry,” she added quietly, staring up at the ceiling instead. That blank, boring, gray roof. She tried to use it as a blank canvas, letting her mind paint starscapes on it, imagining the view from the observation lounge instead. But the hated gray kept peeking through, every slight imperfection turning into a letter, every letter becoming a name of the dead. Azrin persisted, conscious mind warring against the unconscious, memorializing each ghost with the birth of a bright star.

She wasn’t sure when Ellison and Brown finally left. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. Azrin was busy with the same fight that had consumed her for the day, forcing her mind away from its dark corners. Zark was right. She really needed to visit a counselor. She could do that. She’d do it right now - if only she weren’t trapped in sickbay.

Eventually the lights dimmed, and the patients had the recovery ward to themselves again. Azrin beared the silence for what felt like an eternity - though was probably only a few minutes - before asking, “You awake?” in a less than curious manner that implied it didn’t matter either way. But it did. Azrin barreled on anyway, because even if it meant she was talking to the hated gray ceiling, she needed to ask. “Do you think it will ever feel normal? All of this, I mean? Everything was so different yesterday. But it wasn’t yesterday! It was months ago! It’s like being trapped in one of those weird temporal mechanics lessons that give everyone a headache. A second out of sync with the rest of the universe, how do you get back? I remember dying, but even that has continuity to it. A host dies, then seconds - or hours if you’re unlucky - later the symbiont is placed in a new host and everything continues. Sure, it feels different. Wildly, frighteningly different, but I-they-the symbiont gained something. A bigger whole, something beautiful and new. But now, I feel like something’s… missing.” Azrin had never agreed with the more hardline rules of the Symbiosis Commission, but tonight she doubted that conviction. Would it have been better if they had let her die and saved the symbiont instead? Then another trill could have taken the best parts of her and helped, instead of spending six months in limbo.

“As long as I’m moving it’s ok, like interacting with the world makes it feel more real. Or I’m just not thinking about it. But now that we’re back here again… I can’t stop thinking about it. Everything we missed. Everyone we lost. Even when we lost people in the Dominion War, at least I was there. I tried to make it better.” It was a stupid wish, she knew that. A lone little engineer wouldn’t have made a difference in the long run. But she could have tried. The only thing worse than trying and failing was not trying at all.

One night wasn’t going to solve all of her problems. It wasn’t enough time to alleviate her grief, nor enough to even come close to processing it. But now she had friends, an ever expanding group she’d always made quickly and loved fiercely. Having people to talk to - that made her feel better.

“I guess what I’m asking is this:” After that uncharacteristic bout of serious conversation, Azrin couldn’t resist ending with a joke. “Do you want to break out again, go to the shuttle bay, steal a ship, slingshot around a star, and go back in time six months? Should be easy enough. Might have to fight Ellison first. There’s probably a line of nurses sleeping in front of the door.”

[ Ens. Mia Dunne | Recovery Ward | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]
ATTN: @RyeTanker @rae

For what felt like hours Mia had gazed out the viewports at an unfamiliar star system.  She heard the soft murmur of voices of others in the room with them, yet apart. Even though she had not looked at the Memorial Wall, she could picture it in her mind’s eye, a dull grey bulkhead with the names etched into it.  She had not argued when the adventure was finally called to an end. She felt more than tired, she was bone weary. It was almost a relief to be back in sickbay. She had about as much grace as a lame duck trying to get herself back onto the bed. Although she did accept the help from Brown to get herself situated, it was still awkward and somewhat painful moving in certain ways.

 If she hadn’t been so tired, she might have laughed when Azrin seemed to get her third, or was it fourth, energy boost when they were brought in, and another engineer was undoing what Azrin had done hours ago. She nodded in agreement that she too would stay put and rest, if that was even possible with all the thoughts still racing through her mind.

Mia lay back in the bed, her eyes open but not really seeing anything, just sort of staring into the not-so-distant past, a past she had not been a part of. Once the nurses had finally left, Mia had tried to close her eyes, but even though she felt exhausted, they wouldn’t stay shut for more than a second or two.  The rhythm of Azrin’s fingers tapping felt almost relaxing, like a soft summer rain hitting the roof of a cabin. It had almost lulled her to sleep when Azrin asked if she was still awake. Mia took a breath to answer, but never got the chance to speak as the engineer just kept talking. Mia felt a small sad smile form on her lips.

It would seem that she wasn’t the only one pondering their fates. Instead, she listened. Mia had never really thought about how the joined Trill dealt with death. The way Azrin spoke it had to have been frightening, but it was not final. Not like a human death, or even a Klingon’s. For Mia, death was final, there was no return from the dead in any form. She vaguely wondered which was better, but in the end, she knew it really didn’t matter. When she died, everything she was, everything she knew, everything she felt would all die with her, just like it had for all those whose names were now etched on that damned wall.

Azrin’s last question brought a chuckle forth from Mia, and she glanced over at her temporary roommate, “To answer the first question, I doubt that things will ever feel quite right again, as for normal, we’ll just have to find a new normal and go from there.” Mia looked back upwards towards the ceiling, “I’m still just trying to ... not think about that last moment. I keep thinking there was something I could have done, but all I can remember is that last second when everything ... changed.” She closed her eyes, feeling a tear slide from her eye as she felt the pain of loss, certain that Azrin was feeling the same thing.

She forced a more cheerful note into her voice as she continued, “As for the last question, I don’t think we can get past the nurse this time, and I really don’t want to piss off anyone else. And I am not sure I want to learn first hand what being a human pretzel feels like." She chuckled, remembering Zark's threat. "And besides, I’m not sure how good a pilot you are, but with my skills in that area, we’d more likely end up crashing the ship before we even got launched, never mind landing it.  And I think someone would get really mad about that.” Mia paused a moment and sighed, “But, yeah, I do wish I could go back and somehow stop what happened. Or at least tell those people I worked with that I liked being their friend. I don’t remember ever telling any of them that.” Not that it really matters now, she thought to herself.

 She turned her head towards Azrin, “I want you to know something. I am glad we met.”  She couldn’t stop the yawn from escaping, her eyelids slowly closed as exhaustion finally caught up, she mumbled softly, “Good night, my friend...” as slumber pulled her under and claimed her for the next several hours.

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Recovery Ward | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Eirual @RyeTanker

In Azrin’s opinion, two good things came from ending serious conversations with a joke. The first was that it lightened the mood if she accidentally went too far and dragged people down. The second was that it gave the other person an out. Continue with the serious part, or go straight to joking. Mia had stuck to the heart of the matter, which Azrin truly appreciated at the moment.

“A new normal. I can do that. I’ve done that.” She’d done it - reluctantly and petulantly - when her parents had banished her to Trill as a teenager. She’d done it at the Academy, letting years of training and discipline tone down her wild impulses into something more manageable. Though no one who’d met her today would believe it. Most recently, she’d done it after being joined, finding a new version of herself with five new lifetimes mixed in. So why did doing it now feel so difficult? Because it was more abrupt?

Because it was more traumatic?

She did not understand why Mia wasn’t thinking about those last few moments. Azrin had been obsessing over them, gnawing over every minute detail, fretting on every vague remembrance her post-explosion brain hadn’t managed to retain. That was the perfectionist in her, the engineer determined to do better the next time she was diving into a jefferies tube to prevent imminent disaster. “I don’t remember the last second,” she admitted, sounding positively aggravated about it. “I know I must have finished the repair - we wouldn't be here otherwise. I know I was close! But I don’t remember it.” Would that make her feel better? Would those few seconds of consciousness have made the next six months feel shorter?

Azrin laughed when Mia continued, apparently treating the joke with the same seriousness as the rest of the trill’s wide ranging musings. She was rather surprised by the sound as it escaped her lips, light and breathless and far happier than she felt. “I’ve never been a pilot,” she declared, as though she’d just realized it and was affronted by the fact. “Not that it would help anyway since it would all be horribly out of date now, but how did the Symbiosis Commission miss giving the worm such a valuable skill! Maybe I’ll complain. Get some piloting expertise in my next life.” Mia was falling asleep, but Azrin’s exhaustion was coming out in a different way, over boisterous words punctuated by giggles. She was even waving her arms around like her hand was a shuttlecraft, dipping and diving in imaginary flight. A dim light behind her bed - presumably meant for reading - was casting her hand shuttles into shadow puppets on the ceiling, finally chasing away the dull monotony. “We could program the ship to launch itself? And never land. Transporters all the way.”

Eventually, her arms fell back to her side, muscles too weighted with lead to continue her game. Robbed of the distraction, Azrin was forced to confront Mia’s final words. Judging by the deep, even breathing from the bed beside her, the scientist wasn’t listening to the reply when it finally came, subdued once more. “I told them. My friends I mean, I didn’t know yours. Wish I had. But I don’t think it mattered. They were your friends, so they already knew." Azrin didn't know if that was true, but she liked it better that way. Mia was nice. Sweet and welcoming. How could they not have known? "Goodnight Mia. I’m glad I met you too.”

It still took her a long time to fall asleep, humming to herself in a vain attempt to avoid the unavoidable. She didn’t remember all of Zark’s song, but the tune stuck. No matter how many times Azrin tried to replace it with something more upbeat, she’d always drift back to that melody. Then that faded away too, as she finally fell into a deep - and hopefully dreamless - sleep.

Surely sorrows shall find their end
And all our troubles will be gone

And I know what I've lost and all that I've won
When the road finally takes me home…

— Fin