The Reunion

Posted on 25 Nov 2013 @ 10:51pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday

2,410 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 07 - 1140

[ON]

Stepping into the bright medical bay and catching a whiff of the familiar sterile smell, the Orion captain walked into the middle of the room and looked around for her XO. It had only been a few days since his capture and subsequent retrieval, yet it had felt like many painful weeks. She had been so overjoyed to hear of John's rescue when he had been recovered from the cube the previous day, but when she had gone to see him, he was hardly in any state to converse with her. Defaced by a multitude of Borg implants and body armor, he had barely resembled his former self which had been extremely difficult for Lirha to see.

Now, a day later and after several surgical procedures, she spotted him laying comfortably on one of the biobeds looking much more Human, and she quickly made her way over to him.

"John...?" she quietly said to him, resting a hand on his shoulder and attempting to gauge if he was awake and responsive. "How are you feeling?" Her voice was filled with concern and hope.

The past few days had been nothing short of a nightmare for the Martian XO. He felt as if he had regained his mind but lost his soul in the process. He could still feel their presence in his head - the occasional cacophony of voices breaking through the silence of his individuality. Apparently nothing more than a few leftover echoes from implants long dead, but it was enough to remind him of what he had lost and what he still had to retrieve.

Still John could not forgive himself for what he had done to his crew mates. He had failed to protect them during the fight with the Borg, and had later overseen their assimilation as a puppet of this supposed mini Collective. Whilst medicine could take away the control chips, the spinal clamps, the neural transceivers, they could do nothing for the memories that he was now left with.

His own internal monologue was interrupted by a voice he did not think he would hear again. As Saalm broke into his thoughts, the XO pulled open his eyes and went to stand to attention, managing nothing more than a suppressed groan and a collapse onto his back having managed to raise himself no more than a few inches from the biobed.

"Captain,I didn't expect to see you down here - can I be of service?"

Grinning down at him, Lirha shook her head and spoke in a soft and light voice. It was good to see her XO returning to his usual duty-laden self. "I just came to check on you and see how you are faring," she replied, then pulled up a chair next to his bed and sat down. "You look much better than the last time I saw you yesterday."

"Heh." The XO chortled, stifling another groan as he remembered that his back wasn't yet up to much in the way of weight bearing, and shifted uncomfortably to position himself differently in the bed.

"The last time you saw me I still had exoplating on half my body and was bald as a plucked chicken. I'm...doing ok. Still a few implants floating around the EMH says aren't coming out any time soon but I can live with that...I think."

John thought back to the briefing he had been given about the half dozen or so bits of technology that were still hidden within his body - he had already completed his service record to include that particular update so the physicians didn't suffer coronary failure during his next physical.

"And you ma'am? How are you feeling? I....understand I did a lot of damage when I...downloaded you?"

Lirha looked down, averting his eyes for a moment. "You remember?" It was more of a statement than a question, a realization that those memories were in John's subconscious and he had been aware of what he was doing. She didn't fault him, of course, but instead felt more sadness that he would have to live with such a memory. "I feel fine. Mostly. I suppose I left sickbay a day or two earlier than I should have, but the doctors tell me I am almost recovered," she tried to reassure him. "How much can you recall about your experience?"

"The doc tells me I still have a Borg data node lodged somewhere in my head - it's inactive but I get the occasional flashes from...the other me. Unfortunately that particular event I remember most of."

The XO turned a light shade of red and looked towards his knees as he remembered the moment he had quite willingly, albeit under direction from the Collective, sunk his tubules into the Captain's neck and violated her in one of the most intimate ways possible. At the time it had felt perfectly correct to do, the voices of the Borg in his head making it feel that way, but now he felt nothing but shame.

"I...I'm sorry ma'am. I should have fought harder."

"I doubt there was anything more you could have done considering the circumstances. Besides, your message to me gave us valuable data about the bio-signature cloak which we then modified and used to retrieve you...along with many other assimilated crew members." she reassured him with a light pat on his shoulder.

John smiled as he remembered the data burst he had prepared, and was then a little embarrassed that he had issued his last will and testament without actually being dead. The captain would have seen a far more open side to the Commander than he might have liked, but there was little he could do about that now.

"Ma'am - the message that accompanied those particular files? I would appreciate it if we could just keep that between us."

A secret grin spread across her gold lips when she realized John was probably feeling slightly embarrassed by the candid nature of his personal message. In truth, it had been a very touching and heartfelt letter which had brought her to tears, and though she was happy to play along and forget it had ever existed, she would always remember it. With a rare and private show of personal affection for her first officer, she leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead then ran her green fingers through his disheveled brown hair...what was left of it after the implants had been removed.

"Your secret is safe with me," she teased. "It brought me to tears, actually," she added with a smirk. "I never realized you felt that way about Galileo...especially serving with me."

"Ma'am...please don't remind me....I never expected to have to be alive to hear the consequences of that recording."

John blushed again, trying not to start laughing for fear of tearing one of the myriad of stitches that permeated his body at the moment holding his now-un-mechanised organs together in place of their Borg counterparts.

"Suffice to say this assignment hasn't ended up being the babysitting scientists assignment I thought it was going to be. Just...I don't want the crew thinking I have gone soft."

"You? Soft?" Lirha smirked at the idea. If John's only moment of self-perceived emotional weakness had come from his last will and testament, then that was quite impressive. "I am the cryer on this ship, remember," she teased, then leaned back in her seat and looked over him once again. "Is there anything I can get you? A snack? A drink? A PADD?" She didn't want him to be bored in sickbay and remembered Zaren requesting something to do to pass the time and deal with the boredom.

John had to think for a moment, it wasn't like him to want to sit and do nothing, in fact if anything, such sedentary time would drive him crazy instead of helping him recover.

"Well, a PADD would be helpful...plus department head reports from my..absence...and all relevant engineering damage reports....and if you would like me to take a look at crew shift rotations to account for injury then I am happy to do so?"

Lirha paused and thought about various activities which would keep John occupied while he was in sickbay. She didn't mind him working on ship status reports, but also felt it might be better to give him something more recreational to do instead, to boost his morale.

"I currently have Lieutenant Zaren organizing my holo-film collection...perhaps you would instead prefer to review our ship's holodeck programs? Or look over our meal service menus? I have noticed that some of the fried wing slugs are occasionally overcooked and too chewy..." she couldn't help but grin at him.

The Commander frowned for a moment at the request from his Captain, he was neither a chef nor a film critic, but it was not his duty to countermand his captain's orders. If it made her feel better to assign him to simpler tasks, then he would acquiesce.

"Very well....I will deal with that most...urgent of issues. Ma'am I can't help but ask...is....Miss Peers, erm, Zaren...alright?"

The captain glanced across the sickbay and motioned with her green hand to a biobed on the other side of the room where Zaren lay asleep in his new body. "I spoke with her yesterday and she was conscious and aware. It seems the Borg implanted the Zaren symbiont into her body in an attempt to keep it alive and assimilate information from it." She pursed her lips when she remembered seeing all of the blood and implants which covered Lilou's body after she arrived back on Galileo.

"I consulted the EMH and he assured me she would make a full recovery...physically, at least. I am not sure about the mental aspect. I imagine it would not be easy to suddenly have a new consciousness in your body without any warning or preparation. But...she did seem surprisingly in good spirits when we spoke. All things considered, that is," she added.

"That's good to know. The Borg aren't exactly known for their skills as medics." John tried to laugh but held it back, knowing his insides would not appreciate the unexpected shuddering.

"I...would like to return to duty as soon as I am able ma'am."

John felt a little sheepish asking the question, knowing that the medical teams would probably have a field day trying to make him stay in Sickbay any longer than he absolutely had to. There was no way that the XO would be spending his time in bed with the Borg lurking just around the next stellar dust cloud.

Lirha rubbed her chin and considered the request while looking at John with concern. "Your body has been through quite a lot of trauma in the past few days...but I also understand your desire to begin working again." It didn't surprise her that someone as duty-bound as her XO would want to jump back into the fold as quickly as possible, but she also was wary of the possible complications which could arise from the assimilation process.

"I will speak to the medical staff. Perhaps I can persuade them release you sooner rather than later?" she proposed.

"I would appreciate that....perhaps some sort of emergency that requires that the XO report to the Bridge would not go amiss?"

John replied with a smile and a look of gratitude - he knew his Captain spoke the truth and he would have to spend time recuperating before jumping back into the thick of things, but the better he was away from this sterile environment, the better.

"I am sure I can think of something." She gave him a knowing wink, then motioned back towards the exit with her hand. "For now, I must go. One of our away teams has made first contact with the aliens on the planet's surface, and they have tentatively agreed to help us repair our ship. We are scheduled to depart soon for their repair yards. I am...cautious about such an offer, but I see no other choice at this point." She paused to unclip her PADD from her belt then handed it to John. "In the meantime, you can view Commander Blake's first contact report if you like."

"Aliens who had me assimilated repairing the ship? Sure what could possibly go wrong?"

John replied with a chuckle, he was constantly surprised by the actions of some species, but this one was a little different. Nodding in response to her offer to read Blake's report, the XO would be pleased to see how the ship's newest command officer had handled the absence of both the Captain and the First Officer.

"I would suggest we lock down everything that they don't need access to...once our engines are back up and running we can just run like hell."

She nodded in agreement. "I was thinking something similar. However...it would be nice to speak to them some more and possibly learn how they were able to control the Borg ships and drones. The rest of our senior staff are not so enthusiastic about acquiring such technology on moral grounds, but I think it would offer Starfleet a great tactical advantage should we ever face the Collective again."

"I would be inclined to agree." John responded, pointing to a couple of the surface implants which still remained on his arm and neck, with a deep feeling of resentment and the wish that no other sentient lifeform ever have to go through what he did.

"If we know more about their technology we may be able to prevent further Borg attacks altogether. I believe it to be worth the risk. Tactically speaking."

"I agree as well. I will mention it the next time I speak to Nar, their representative. For now, get some rest. I will see you soon," she said, giving him a small wave before standing up and heading towards the exit.

"Yes ma'am." John replied with a joking salute, before picking up a PADD and diving into the latest set of reports. The XO might have been down, but he was certainly not out.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo


CDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

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