I Ain't No Damsel, Sir

Posted on Mon Sep 22nd, 2025 @ 12:44am by Ensign Vivienne Conrad & Ensign Kateyo Fenn
Edited on on Mon Sep 22nd, 2025 @ 12:52am

Mission: Aeon's End
Location: Shuttlebay, USS Athena
Timeline: Immediately following the Big Oopsie
3251 words - 6.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The relentless pulsation of a single red light is the first indication to pierce the haze. Almost immediately, the sensation of uncompromising cold, rock-solid beneath her cheek, is interrupted only by an awareness of damp warmth as she tries to stir. Her body feels impossibly heavy, disoriented, ears ringing with a persistent hum that warrants a disgruntled grimace. She blinks once, bleary, her vision a smear of half-formed shapes and, for a moment, she mistakes the throbbing crimson for the intrusion of another's insistence...

"Fuck off, I quit."

The sound of her own voice is harsh, a provocation that draws her upwards from stupor to try, once again, to focus on the world just beyond the tip of her nose. There isn't much to see, or at least very little light to permit a decent view, but something reeks of a bad idea and there is a belated desire to rethink past mistakes and extend promises that will likely prove impossible to keep. A groan startles her, mostly because it's her own, and a first attempt to sit up is swiftly abandoned in an effort to keep the contents of her stomach where they are.

She can't remember what she drank but she can only hope it was fucking worth it.

---

A few minutes later, a failure to adequately pass out again made Vivienne all-too aware of her present discomfort. Whilst her head was the prime culprit, there was a dull ache somewhere beneath her that seemed at least potentially to radiate from an appendage, most likely an arm. Mostly, her entire posture seemed ill-advised and hardly conducive to a good night's rest and yet it took her a moment to figure out which parts needed to move first in order for her to sit up. Through the protest of squinted eyes, she shifted, winced, and then found herself flopped onto her back staring up at a ceiling that took a moment to identify.

Not her quarters then.

The sudden scramble of realisation proved to be a terrible idea and, after the bout of nausea had passed, Vivienne sat upright blinking into the darkness with no small amount of disdain for the fact the stars had decided to impose themselves on the inside of her eyelids. Clarity was sluggish but a glance around permitted enough detail for her to just about make out the shape of the seats she'd wound up wedged between. Favouring the protesting arm, she pulled herself up only to flop immediately down into the pilot seat and just stared at the shuttle's destabilisation indicator as it blithely continued to announce the fact that there had been an impact.

The wonders of modern technology.

Beyond the viewscreen, there wasn't a lot to see. Though emergency lighting created some ambience, the advantage was mostly lost to the fact that the shuttle seemed to be facing into a wall. Well-maintained and functional couplings should have made that an impossibility but therein lie the root cause of all existing concerns. As events began to trickle back to reveal, not a night of excess and debauchery as hoped, but a simple struggle to compensate for the shuttle's complaints about it's trip into neutronium-rich turbulence, Vivienne arrived at the unimpressive conclusion that she'd been tossed around like a bottle of lube at a bachelor party.

She was even less thrilled by the conclusion that she'd miscalculated how much time it would take to bring the systems back online.

And now, judging by the sudden decrease in lighting and general stench of fried circuitry, the Grand Plan had hit a snag. Well, wasn't that just fucking fantastic.

It took another moment or so but, eventually, Conrad realised her slightly skewered perspective wasn't the fault of her banged up head but because the cockpit was, in a very literal sense, not on the level. The slope was moderate, but it suggested a continued problem with the shuttle's mobility locks that, if left unattended, risked turning it into a veritable ping-pong ball if Athena tried any further funny business. This didn't feel like her fault, not technically, but Vivienne glowered at the strobing red light with as much animosity as she could muster and then huffed, cheeks puffed, with resignation.

She should also, probably, go to Sickbay.

So many activities to enjoy.

A pat of her lapel produced nothing and it took some hunting around on the floor to find her missing comm badge. By this point, Vivienne's already-compromised mood had plummeted, and it was a consideration for another time that her first impulse under duress only produced one name to summon, albeit grudgingly.

"Conrad to Fenn."

Teyo shielded his eyes as the console he was currently working on erupted into a shower of sparks. He was lying flat on his back and in the rush to protect what he considered to be his fourth-best facial feature, wacked his elbow on the side of the bulkhead. He punched the console, risking his eyes once again, but decided this was better than screaming a string of expletives in the middle of engineering. After eventually calming down, he was about to start again when his combadge went off. "Viv, where are you? You're missing all of the fun down here."

"Got a whole ass party of my own."

It was with no small amount of reciprocated frustration that Vivienne realised she sounded like she'd smoked an entire shipment of veshaar root, which was a mellowness that might have been appreciated had it been the actual result of intentional recreational pursuits. Closing her eyes felt marginally better, though proved immediately unhelpful in aiding her uninjured hand's attempts to bring the shuttle's systems online.

"My exceptional powers of deduction lead me to the conclusion that we cocked-up Operation No-Chance. Thought you guys might like to know we still have a shuttlebay."

The partial squint open of one eye tried to figure out what her hand was attempting to activate. It turned out to be her own knee.

"Bit too dark to tell how many pieces it's in but it's here."

"That's good to hear," Teyo replied, distracted by the hypospanner in his hand that was refusing to activate. Why was nothing working today? How badly had they messed up their own ship? Even Viv sounded... He sat up quickly, forgetting that he was currently underneath the console and hit his head. The string of expletives he had held back earlier flowed from his mouth like a drunken Klingon forced to spend time with an arrogant Romulan. Pulling himself from beneath the console, he rubbed his head where he was certain a lump was already surfacing. "Viv, are you okay?"

"Just peachy."

She certainly sounded relaxed, which by Conrad's standards was an instant red flag that even she was aware of on some level. There was a minor deviation into amusement at the Trill's outburst, a chuckle to herself that permitted enough self-reflection to acknowledge that he sounded like her on any given day, and then there was a frown as the whimsical meandering of her thoughts suddenly presented as a problem. Irritation flared, which was a much better sign.

"Sickbay still in one piece?" Never a direct appeal for help but likewise not quite stubborn enough to pass out again for the sake of pride alone.

"You don't sound peachy, and why are you asking about sickbay?" Teyo was trying to keep the panic out of his voice but was aware he wasn't doing a good job. He pulled himself to his feet and had to stop for a moment as the room started to spin. You'll be fine, just don't be sick! He internally ordered his body. Viv needed him. Well, she needed someone and for some unknown reason, she had called him. After what had happened to Xavier, he couldn't let another friend down. "Where are you?" He asked as he slowly moved over to the master systems display console.

"Just hangin' with my best girl."

A persistent pendulum swing, back and forth. The ebb and flow of a contradictory mood that rendered Conrad significantly more agreeable whilst contemplating life from the other side of a slightly blurry haze, only for the sharp discomfort in her wrist and the duller throb of her head to remind her that she was thoroughly annoyed. Eventually, because this mood had a lot more experience sitting front and centre, she relented to the pragmatic requirements of basic fact and opted for a straight answer.

"Shuttle's couplings didn't hold that great, we got banged up a bit. Nothing too serious." This was a diagnosis made with the confidence of someone who didn't have any inclination to be a casualty and usually managed to avoid medical treatment by being too stubborn to actually get sick in the first place.

"Best girl?" Teyo repeated, as he tried to work out Conrad's cryptic message. He pressed a few buttons on the computer, trying his best to triangulate where her combadge was. The computer reported that she was in one of the nacelle control rooms before it changed its answer to the main computer core, and then holodeck 3. I better add internal sensors to my list of damages, he thought. "Ahh, of course," he said when she mentioned the shuttle, probably the only thing she liked on this ship. "Are you alone? Internal sensors are down, so are the transporters for that matter."

Once again, Conrad's mood staggered a partial turn to wind up back in smirking range of amusement. "Who the hell else would be here?"

Beneath the blur of fatigue, Vivienne was very aware of the fact that her predicament was the result of a rather predictable elasticity in the interpretation of orders. If she'd responded with the haste that was expected from an all-hands summons, she might very well have been in a far better position to be hurled across Main Engineering instead. Her presence certainly hadn't done a lot to spare the shuttle, which had been her intention, though the gradual plodding of her fingers found the sequence to reinitialise the systems reboot and it was swiftly obvious that it at least wasn't any worse for wear for having her keep it company.

"Gave my fan club the night off."

Her wits resurfaced and with a grimace, Vivienne hauled herself into a better position upright and forced herself to focus.

"Just throw someone with a medkit down here and I can go have a chat to the internal sensors."

"I'm on my way," Teyo said instantly. The pain in his head was momentarily forgotten as he made his way out of engineering. "George, cover for me," he yelled over his shoulder. He did not explain where he was going or how long he would be and he didn't hang around for those particular questions to come his way. He tapped his combadge as he made his way to the nearest turbolift. "Fenn to sickbay, I need a medic in the shuttlebay."

Stepping from the lift, Teyo was soon joined by Dr. Zemke, who was carrying his medkit over his shoulder. "I thought you would be in sickbay?" Teyo said, surprised that it wasn't one of the medical technicians or nurses who had responded to the call.

"You summoned, I was free," Zemke replied bluntly. "I can just leave you with this if you want?" He asked, holding up the medkit.

"No, we don't want more fatalities," Teyo replied as they entered the vast shuttle bay. The first thing he noticed was that the usually organised bay was in utter disrepair. Yellow barrels rolled freely on the deck, crates had been knocked over, and one of the shuttles had been upended. "Over there," he said, pointing to the shuttle that had taken the brunt of the ship's journey to the future. "Viv, can you hear us?" He yelled.

What the fuck is he doing?

It was not, of course, the first time Vivienne had ever thought those exact words where Kateyo Fenn was concerned. If pressed to explain why she'd chosen him as a point of contact over, say, her actual superior officer, the best she might have come up with was a vague notion of being owed a favour or ten. It wasn't even close to the actual reason but it would substitute for a decent cover since honesty came with the unacceptable necessity of admitting vulnerability. One thing was certain, as his voice bounced around the darkened shuttle bay, there was cause to question the wisdom of her choice. It had been lovely and quiet for a few minutes there at least.

For reasons best left unmentioned, Viv was no stranger to the pitfalls of concussion and had done her best to stave off the intense desire to sleep by running through a full systems check with her good hand. With the shuttle powered up, there had been scope to check out the functionality of the bay's interface and, though emergency power had kicked in, there had been some relief in the realisation that the area was offline mostly out of priority protocols than actual damage. As far as the current situation went, it meant that, when she activated the shuttle's intercom, there was the almost-immediate satisfaction of her own voice booming back from the walls in greeting.

"You're late."

Teyo wasn't sure whether to laugh or be worried. On one hand, she was making jokes, which was a good sign that she was alive and breathing, but on the other hand, her jovial attitude meant that she was probably more injured than she was letting on. "We need to get her, now!"

Zemke glared at the Trill. "And how do you suggest we do that? Without the transporters, we're going to struggle to get in the shuttle."

Instinctively, Teyo wanted to argue, but he knew the doctor was right. The shuttle was nose-first in the corner of the room and slightly upended. The port hatch was too close to the wall for them to get in that way and the starboard hatch was around 10 metres off the ground. They could climb up there, but now was a time for brain over brawn. He had an idea. "Viv, strap yourself in and brace yourself," he said over his combadge as he headed to the door.

A minute later, Teyo reappeared in the shuttle bay's second level. Working the controls, he hoped that the emergency procedures hadn't cut power to the bay's overhead tractor beam emitters; thankfully, they were still online. He manoeuvred the large disc-shaped object above the shuttle and lowered it slightly. He wanted to be as accurate as possible, as any more jolting could injure Conrad more. These smaller in-house tractor beams were used for engineers to repair the underside of shuttles whilst in the bay; they were not built with finesse in mind. He tapped his combadge again. "3...2...1..." He activated the beam at less than 25%. It was going to take a little longer, but it would be a smoother ride for his unwilling passenger. The pain in his head threatened to overwhelm his vision but by sheer will, he forced himself to focus, and eventually the shuttle was sitting on the landing pad, where it belonged.

In a stuffy office somewhere, tucked away in whatever god-forsaken institute Starfleet sent its most wretched cases, there was a furrow-browed shrink very concerned about how often Vivienne fantasied about murdering Kateyo Fenn.

In another part of the galaxy, she was pretty sure even the space dust was egging her on.

By some small miracle, she hadn't lost the remnants of her lunch all over the console. An even greater astonishment was the fact she'd actually taken heed of prior warning and strapped herself in, which definitely came in handy as the first attempt at leveraging the shuttle tipped a little too drastically to one side to remain entirely comfortable. Having scolded herself against the urge to close her eyes, Viv was now left with very little choice, as squeezing them tightly shut was just about the only way to deal with the fact the entire universe had just put itself on spin-cycle. It was a sensation that didn't entirely fade even after the shuttle stopped moving.

"I'd like a refund," she murmured as the sound of the hatch opening prompted the expectation of company. "Forgot how much I hate carnivals."

"Be grateful to be alive," Zemke said dryly. He had his tricorder open and was approaching the seat that Conrad was still strapped in. His eyes were fixed on the readout screen as he waved the detachable scanner over her body. "Please keep still."

"Viv, are you okay?" Teyo asked as he appeared in the doorway. He was grasping for breath and a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face, pretty much following the spots that disappeared into the collar of his uniform. "What the hell were you doing in a shuttle?"

"I can tell you what I'm about to be doing."

It was a typical retort otherwise lacking in its usual bite. Summoning the energy to put Fenn in his place was an unfair expectation given the circumstances and the average amount of energy that feat typically required. Squinting open an eye, Vivienne utterly failed to focus on the Trill but didn't let that stop her, anymore than she made it obvious it was taking a moment to even confirm it was him.

"I don't know what they did to her when they took her sight-seeing but I was working on getting her to talk to us again."

The effort to force both eyes open eventually resulted in a clearer view of her rescuers. The doctor earned only the briefest of scowls, more out of the necessity of his presence than anything specifically objectionable about what he was doing, but after a few seconds of attempted scrutiny, Fenn wasn't so lucky.

"So, why do you look like something the cat threw up?"

Teyo smiled. Insults were Conrad's love language, which meant she was going to be okay. "You don't look too hot yourself, in fact..."

"As much as I hate to interrupt this beautiful repertoire that you two have so carefully crafted, I really need to get you to sickbay." Zemke undid the straps that held Conrad in place and used his strength to keep her in place in case she didn't have the energy to do so herself. He turned to Teyo. "Don't just stand there. With the transporters offline, we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Unless those muscles are just for show?"

Teyo rolled his eyes and moved further inside the shuttle, prepared to show the doctor, and Viv, exactly how muscly he was.

"You've got to be shitting me."

Even through the bleary haze of pain, which had coincidentally hitched up a notch since company had arrived, Vivienne could just about make out the expression of a man who had definitely not 'shitted' anyone in his life. A slight swivel upwards didn't improve the view; Fenn's shit-eating grin was terrifying enough when he was steady on his feet. For once lacking the energy to protest, Conrad closed her eyes and sighed.

"You know lethal injection would be quicker."