Where Am I?

Posted on Fri Jan 31st, 2025 @ 7:19am by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & NVeid tr'Rehu

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Athena :: Sickbay
Timeline: Pandora Protocols :: MD6 - 0214h
1335 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Sickbay died down a bit after the initial influx of injured from the wreckage several hours ago. Fortunately, many of the admitted had minor injuries, maybe a broken bone or two. Only a couple stayed in sickbay for more than an hour, security chief included. The monitor above Zade's biobed beeped quietly, displaying her vitals and the status of her healing injuries. The overhead lights were slightly dimmed, producing a less aggressive ambience for a night shift.

NVeid sat by the bed, quietly watching her vitals and keeping a close watch on them. He'd overseen the surgery, and now he just waited for her to wake up again.

A slight increase in the beeping accompanied a slow intake of air that made Zade's chest rise, and a few seconds later her eyes slowly opened. There were a couple of seconds where her eyes shifted around, trying to get her bearings. She was laying down, and it was too bright to be the wreckage... the wreckage! A sense of urgency, the feeling that something was wrong combined with the knowledge that someone was nearby, helped her snap awake, and she moved to try and sit up. The abrupt movement irritated her injuries, making her hiss as a hand gingerly went to her ribs.

"Easy..." The Romulan reached out and carefully rested his hand flat on her chest, "don't move just yet lieutenant, you were very severely injured and almost didn't make it. Give your body a few moments to recognise its limitations and we'll see about sitting you up a fraction." He could sense her distress but ethics kept him from doing more than that. "What is the last you remember?"

Focusing on NVeid, Zade obliged and settled back down carefully, wincing a little in the process. "Malone, Iska, and I came across some raiders in a computer room..." Her furrowed brow indicated her concentration as she tried to remember. Why was it so difficult? "We found the raiders and fought them..." After a couple seconds of pause, she eventually shook her head. "And nothing, until now." Her expression growing concerned, she then asked, "what happened? Mason, Iska, are they ok?" If she was injured, rather severely according to NVeid, then there was a chance that they got hurt as well.

"Chief Malone did visit with bruises and some phaser burns, I believe a cracked rib as well. He was treated and sent to his quarters to rest." He paused, lightly resting his hand on hers as if to offer comfort. "Iska did not survive the collapse," he continued softly, "I'm sorry, we did everything we could but as soon as he was retrieved, we already started to lose him."

Zade's eyes widened at the news. In any other moment she might have steeled herself, mourned in silence while mentally trying to figure out how his death could have been prevented so it didn't happen to another of her team. But with some lingering disorientation and a rather fuzzy thought process, her normal response was replaced by straight denial. Iska was just two years out of the Academy. His career, his life, was only beginning. "N... no..." she quietly stammered. It further emphasized that she couldn't remember what exactly happened, which frustrated her. "That can't... no! I was with him, it... it can't be true!"

NVeid's dark eyes were filled with regret as he sensed her distress. He reached out to cover her hand with his in an attempt to be of comfort. "I'm sorry," he offered once again, "we have moved his body to the morgue and put it in stasis until we can return him to his family. When you are stronger and Doctor Solis allows it, you may see him and pay your respects." He shifted his hand to rest it on her shoulder as if to prevent her from getting up. "As it is, you are in no shape to go anywhere."

The hand on her shoulder was well timed, as she nearly tried to get up again before the touch stopped her. "What happened??" She asked him. The last thing she remembered was his footsteps running behind her as they chased after an escaping raider. Zade wasn't making an effort to hid her emotions; the concern fought with her need to fill in what felt like a very large gap of time. "If he's dead, and I'm-" she winced slightly as her charged breath put pressure on her injuries. "... in moderate pain, there better be a damn good reason why. How long have we been here? Who else was hurt? What of the raiders?"

The Romulan frowned in concern. "I don't have that information," he informed her, "perhaps Chief Malone can visit you and fill in the gaps. He was released from sickbay earlier. He was with you when you were brought in and almost had to be forcibly removed as he refused to leave your side despite his own injuries. They were minor, I promise." He continued to rest his hand on her shoulder in case she decided to try and sit up again. "It's been a few hours since you were brought in. You were very badly injured and we had to work fast. We nearly did lose you."

She was stressed. The beeping of the heart monitor clearly gave it away, so Zade closed her eyes to focus on her breathing and to simply calm down. Demanding answers from NVeid wouldn't help her, not when she couldn't do anything about it in her current state and the poor guy didn't even know. She replayed the mission in her mind, then again, each time getting to the computer room before... well, nothing. It felt like there was something there, but the more she tried to figure out what it was, the more her head started to ache. "Sorry," she said, her voice softer. "I don't know how I got here, I... I can't remember, and I don't like not knowing. There's moments in time that I feel should exist, but don't."

NVeid glanced up at the monitor, concern in his eyes. "Give it time, don't force it," he suggested carefully, "trust me, memories will come back to you but right now your own mind is protecting you so you can heal first. Trust me, I've been where you are now, it's difficult but you need to trust your own body. They will come back, and then you might even wish you hadn't. You need to rest, I can give you something to help with that if you want."

Zade shook her head, the motion not helping the headache. "No, it's... different. Usually those are a blur... I don't remember anything after the teams split up on the surface. No blur of events, nothing."

"You need rest," the Romulan urged her, "your mind is protecting you at the moment, so you can heal. When you are healed, and you still don't remember I'm sure one of the telepaths here on board can help you recover them. But... you need to heal first."

She still refused to believe that Iska was dead, resigning to the fact that she would have to see his body to believe it, but the urge to try to fill in the blanks was starting to lose against the gradual onset of exhaustion that had been creeping up on Zade. With her effort to clam herself down, that fatigue only made itself more known, and she eventually gave a defeated sigh, willing herself to let go of the tension that came with the unknown. "Ok," she eventually murmured, knowing it was useless to argue with him.

"Don't worry," NVeid offered, gently squeezing her arm to reassure her, "you'll be up and about in no time if you follow our advice. Get some sleep, and I'll talk to Doctor Solis about getting you some useful reading materials." He held up a hypospray and gently pressed it to her neck. "This will help you sleep."