Goodnight, Goodbye

Posted on 28 Dec 2012 @ 7:23pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Petty Officer 2nd Class Jessica Sandywyne

1,831 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Science Office
Timeline: MD10 0715

The beach had been fun overall, a good day out. That night she had crawled into be exhausted and almost fell asleep. Every time she threatened to finally doze off she would awake with a start, cold sweat running down her face. All of her ached, joints, muscles, stomach and lungs. Having tried to read, listen to music, pace around the room, taking two showers she still couldn't sleep. It felt as if it would be perfect bliss if she could, yet she knew what would happen, the same dream that haunted her. The thing she wanted most was the thing that scared her more than any other. Colours unsettled her, in the pitch darkness she could see shadows that weren't there. She hated the bed. It was huge, it was as comfortable as her old bed but cold. It was empty and maybe it was that which helped keep her up. She'd tried sleeping on the small sofa though, the floor, the shower, nowhere was safe.

Brain burning she finally gave up at zero six hundred, staggering towards the bathroom. Tripping over herself twice the second time she landed hard on her shoulder. She didn't cry out, it took almost a minute before she could get back to her feet though. She was dead and her brain had abandoned her. Every moment was heavy and clumsy, her body numb and for seconds at a time she would just freeze, blacking out. It took almost an hour to get into a fresh uniform after her third shower that night, none of her limbs cooperating. The thought of food passed though her and she started towards the replicator, before she knew it though she was sat at her desk in the Science Office. Five minutes had passed, that wasn't right. Standing up she knocked over her chair, the clatter fell silently to her. She had to check the time on the other desks, because, she didn't know why. Struggling she shambled across the room, her nose felt warm.

Raising a finger she touched at it, bleeding again. Closing her eyes she though about getting a tissue and the entire right side of her body just locked into place. Panicking she twisted and lost her balance. Kiri tried to break her fall, her body didn't respond. Her forehead hit the edge of the desk with a crunch and her body started to convulse. Eyes close blood from her head and both her nostrils started to trace down her face, fleck flying to the floor as she twitched.

Despite having gone to bed incredibly late, Maenad was up really early after what felt like one of the best sleeps she had had in a very long time. By 0700, she had fully cleaned, showered, and dressed in her uniform. She even had a small breakfast, which was unheard of for her that early. Feeling in a particularly good mood, then, Maenad decided to pretty herself up in the mirror. There was no occasion other than that she wanted to, so she did. Because of the nasty sunburn on her nose and cheeks, she applied an anesthetic before whitening her cheeks and reddening her hips. She smiled at herself in the mirror, then decided to see what Kiri was doing - Maenad was still hungry, maybe they could have breakfast together.

"Computer, where is Kiri Cho?"

"Kiri Cho is in her office."

Maenad nodded and left her quarters with a bit of a skip in her step. It didn't take long to get to deck four and Maenad quickly found herself standing outside her assistant's office. Kiri was going to enjoy this, she thought with a bright smile on her face. Maenad sounded the chime. There was no response, so she tried again. Once more. "Miss Cho?" she said, leaning closer to the door. She took a step forward and pressed her ear against it, but there wasn't any sound. She asked the computer where Kiri had gone, but was told that she was still there. Now Maenad was concerned, her smile long gone.

"Computer open this door. Command override Panne, Maenad. Epsilon-Delta-Lambda-Six-Nine." The door complied and opened immediately. What Maenad saw made her weak in the knees. Her vision momentarily clouded and darkened, but Maenad knew that right now passing out was not an option. It just wasn't. She gripped the jam with both hands and took several deep breaths. Kiri was on the floor, face up. There was a deep bleeding gash on her forehead, thick dark blood was streaming down her face. Blood was coming from her nose too.

"Oh my god," Maenad stammered as she pulled herself together and hurried over to Kiri's collapsed body. She knelt down and cradled her bloodied head on her thighs. She moved the matted bloody hair from her face, soaking her hands in in Kiri's blood. She had to ignore it. It was hard, so terribly hard. "Kiri," she whispered to her. Kiri's blood continued flowing and was now soaking through Maenad's skirt and thin tights. "Kiri!" she shouted, almost crying now. "Kiri, wake up!"

Kiri's body arched upwards, her back muscles pulling together as hard as they could, squeezing the air out of her lungs with a gasp. Her diaphragm spasmed as the muscles gave way, legs kicking out. Diluted with spit she started to dribble blood from her mouth, running from the corners as her body kept writhing. She wasn't unconscious but she was hardly awake, her body was numb and she'd lot any fight she had to run from sleep. It was warm, any concept of danger was gone, it didn't hurt. Her mother was here, holding her head.

As Kiri's body twitched and spasmed she made some gurgling choking sounds from her mouth. Blood bubbles made a pinking froth over her mouth and Maenad became very frightened, almost panicked. She used her little medical knowledge and turned Kiri's head to one side, to try and stop her from choking. "Kiri," she whispered. She moved one hand from the side of Kiri's face to her commbadge, staining it with the young woman's blood. "Panne to Sickbay," she could barely speak without her voice trembling. "Medical emergency in Lieutenant Cho's office. Initiate a site-to-site transport directly to sickbay immediately."

"Everything will be all right, Kiri," Maenad insisted. It had to be. It just had to. A few seconds passed before they were engulfed in the familiar tingle of the transporter. When the sparkling blue had cleared, Maenad was standing next to a biobed that held the writhing Lieutenant Cho. Maenad held her hand, she was actually squeezing it. "Doctor!" she screamed.

Nurse Sandywyne was checking equipment in her own dour way when the cry broke her train of thought. On reflex she bounded up and once upright stopped. The most important thing was to take stock of the situation, who was hurt and who wasn't. The standing woman had blood on her but didn't seem hurt. Still knowing her luck that would be the one that would shortly be dropping dead.

Moving to the biobed she looked closer, it was a fit of some form. Training took over more as she pulled open the young woman's jacket while pushing the other woman out of the way with her hip. Having made sure breathing was unrestricted Jessica looked to the other woman just for a second, "Are you hurt, does she had a history of fits?" One hand started to inflate the pillow under the girl's head, the other placed a hypospray between her teeth before loading it with a small purple container.

"I don't know!" Maenad shouted frantically. "I just found her like this on the floor!" She didn't appreciate being pushed like that, either, and she moved back to Kiri's side. "What's wrong, what happened?" she asked. "How did she hit her head?

Pressing the hypospray into Kiri's neck at first Jessica ignored Maenad. She was either in shock or hysterical or both, she might give herself a heart attack, chances were it would happen that way. The convulsing stopped placing down the hypospray she now took a large plaster and placed it on the girls forehead. That put an end to the most immediate threat, now she took a breath and turned to Maenad, "She isn't going to die." Gripping her bloody hand for a moment, "Now are you hurt?" Moving around Jessica took a tricorder but didn't yet start to take scans.

"No, I'm fine," she said without looking at the doctor. "How do you know she'll be all right?" Maenad was yelling, looking at Kiri's pale and apparently lifeless body. "What is wrong with her?"

"I don't know what is wrong yet, she is going to be okay because I am here," Jessica was a mite cooler now, this wasn't just shock was it? Though she had met neither of the women before it was starting to seem that the silent were preferable. "I need to call the rest of the department. At the very least you should go clean yourself up before you give someone a heart attack, you look like you've murdered someone." She scanned now just to make sure, "I will call you as soon as anything happens if you want."

Maenad flattened her arms against her sides in defiance, almost stomping her foot against the floor. She wanted to shout at this doctor until she told her what she wanted to hear, but instead she just turned around and stormed out of sickbay like a spoiled child not getting her way.

Jessica watched her leave, knowing her luck she had just made a enemy for life now. She'd have to sleep with a dagger under her pillow and a phaser in her hand, less she wake up with her throat slit. Then maybe she would roll over in her sleep and gut herself, maybe not such a good idea. Focusing on her patient now she sent out that call to the rest of the department. Starting a new scan of the girl and starting to put together the parts of the puzzle of what had happened and why.

Waiting for the others she kept going with the scans building up a picture. Lieutenant Cho was show signs of extreme fatigue, it seemed as if that had brought the fit on. The head wound was unrelated, limited stress damage to her major organs and her heart was slightly erratic. What she had said was true though, the girl didn't seem to be dying right now. That part of her job done it was really best to wait for the experts. Going with her best guess without a doctors advice would most likely kill her patient. Or at least end up with both of them horribly maimed.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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

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