Passing On

Posted on 02 Jul 2013 @ 6:30am by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil

1,196 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD6 0730

[ON]

Her physical wounds had been healed. She'd just been left with a hole inside her instead. Stone had died so quickly, before anyone knew what had happened. He had known the risks, but if she had scanned the moon differently, or been more aware, maybe he'd still be here. Kiri's own brush with death, prolonged fear, running, almost losing everyone around her. Yet they had all made it back alive, through all that. Yet he was gone and still, she felt, worried, sorry for him. No one had said anything, they barely seemed sad. Had anyone else come to visit him, that was another series of questions.

Kiri had never had to deal with death. Her own parents she had never seen, in the village, maybe when she was young someone had but she'd never noticed. As an adult she had never given herself time to consider any of it, if a soul exists, if it went somewhere after death. If there was an afterlife, which race was correct, or were all of them. Herself she liked the idea of reincarnation but to trust in something without evidence, it was a fantasy. What would Stone be if he was, Asura or a human again, surely not lower. But did he believe in, she didn't know, maybe he hated her and wouldn't want her here. Being alone though, if he was still here somehow, not knowing if anyone cared, that was too sad. It also seemed the only way she could focus her feelings, grief, mortality, fear, her own weaknesses.

Looking at the storage unit she felt the same fear that she had that moment. That giant creature that seemed larger and more brutal every time she remembered. That she had been unable to stand, fight back, do anything useful to help him or defend them. What could she do now other than cry, would, should she say something. Shaking as she stood she looked up at the ceiling for a moment, it was dark. The idea was to say the words in her head, as best as she could remember them but they escaped as a whisper, "You lions among humans, gone to freedom in the present, past and future. In the worlds of ten directions, to all of you, with body, speech, and sincere mind. With the energy of aspiration for the way, with a sense of deep respect, and with as many bodies as atoms of the world," Silence returned as she went on for a few more verses," It wasn't really her place, she wasn't sure she believed any of it, his family would know. Still she didn't want him to be alone, in the dark. Klingons protected the body, it made sense to her. Swaying a little she sniffed, "I'm sorry."

Kestra hovered in the doorway behind the young woman. She was impossible to ignore; practically shouting. Whatever distaste she had for telepaths, she certainly didn't make any effort to keep her thoughts private when they weren't directly in front of her. Grief and fear warred and whirred around her rather like a cyclone, and her thoughts were the thunderous screams of a coming storm. What was left of Lieutenant Stone was in a small sealed container in the cold storage unit. She shouldn't have been here alone, but there was little harm in it. She didn't have the codes to open the unit and that was the main reason for security. Moreso, she shouldn't have been alone because she quite clearly wasn't handling it well. You've nothing to be sorry for.

At first Kiri thought it was Stone talking to her, that left her stunned. Then the reality of the world she lived in caught up with her, of course he wasn't. If the dead could talk, then she'd know about it, her parents would have talked to her if nothing else. There had to be another reason and looked around she found it. That woman again, from the day before. Looking back she must have been the voice in her head then as well, "I feel like I do," She answered, honest and submissive this time.

Kestra folded her hands in her lap. What for?

"I'm still here, I couldn't help." Frowning Kiri struggled to put more than that into words.

What were you supposed to do? Kestra asked. Die with him?

"Maybe," Kiri frowned, "But if I had prepared better, more detailed scans then we would have been ready, or not even gone."

That isn't your job. Preparing for an attack was his responsibility, his and the rest of Security's, and whatever happened - you and the rest of the team got away safely. It's always a risk heading down to unfamiliar territory. Don't disrespect his memory by disregarding the fact that his sacrifice may have let you live.

But she was one of the people that first scanned the planet, identified the life that was present. If she had been scanning the changes in the area around them closer then she might have detected them. Also Stone hadn't sacrificed himself in her eyes, to her it was more random. There had never been time to react, to do anything. It wasn't like he was buying them time to escape, "I know he knew the risks, but, it wasn't right."

Death never feels right. Never feels fair. Whatever you think, you can't know what was in his mind in those last moments.

Kiri fell silent for a moment, looking back to where Stone remained. Was that a generalisation or was it true, was this different or was she wrong? Could she trust strangers with their views as a fact or as an opinion and how much more informed were they than her? She didn't know what he thought but she knew how he had acted. What was she meant to say, or feel?

Kestra watched the girl's thoughts spin across her expression. Even if she hadn't heard them, the confusion and lack of self-confidence were clear enough in her posture. And she didn't appear to want or need someone else's thoughts cluttering up her own.

Silence hung in the air for a moment as Kiri tried to gather herself. As a scientist, death didn't really matter, it was just what happened when something wasn't alive any more. Maybe there was nothing more to it than that, or she had to cope somehow. Stifling a strange stuttering breath Kiri looked at the woman, "Can you speak?"

Plasma burns are unforgiving internally; I'm fortunate to be breathing. The Betazoid folded her hands in her lap.

"Oh," Kiri answered glancing down at her hands, that explained that much. She vaguely remembered something about a transporter accident but nothing more than that. Wobbling her lip slightly she was reminded that everything around her was dangerous. Stone had paid a very high price and in the past few weeks she'd been injured three times, all of them could have killed her.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Kestra Orexil
Master-at-Arms
USS Galileo

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