Flesh Wound (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 25 Oct 2024 @ 11:30pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor

2,333 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 05, 1609 hrs

[ON]

Sera had not seen Lamar in 37 hours 29 minutes…not that she was keeping track. She had spent the time considering their last words to each other. Sera did not desire to cause him any hardship or to harm his career, and if she were to file her report with Captain Tarin, that would be the outcome. Ultimately, she found herself back at the beginning of all of this. The shuttles’ maintenance logs had to be brought back into compliance. So, in a compromising manner, Sera had spent the last two days – during second shift, even, so as to avoid Lamar (and his territorialness regarding the shuttle bay)—working on the shuttles and performing the diagnostics herself. Once the logs were back into compliance, the source of the ongoing acrimony would be removed and…and…

And what, exactly? She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck to alleviate the ongoing tension. It was not an action Sera typically engaged in. Lamar made it clear he wanted nothing further to do with her, and once her irrational ire had settled, she felt rather bereft at that knowledge. She had failed to take her own advice – that melding with him was dangerous – and still she had not controlled herself. Now, she would pay for that inability. Sera just hadn’t expected the aftereffects of all of this to be so…unsettling (and long reaching). Time had not improved things; in some ways quite the opposite.

Gritting her teeth, Sera looked at her diagnostics readout and saw that the warp coiling was minutely out of alignment…and was that denting on the manifold casing? Slor Surak, what were these pilots doing to the shuttles? It had been one set back after another. Sera mentally adjusted the timing necessary to finish her task; it would take an additional ‘shift,’ minimum to complete her assignment, and that was only if no further deficiencies were discovered.

This additional assignment/self-penance was taking away from valuable time she needed to meditate. Not that her meditations were particularly renewing. Every time she closed her eyes, she felt him…lurking. It did not set well at all. The discomfort would teach her, ultimately, she postulated.

Her thoughts were turned inwards as she tried to pry off the casing but with the denting, she couldn’t quite get the mag lock to release so she applied greater force…and the whole thing gave way, and her momentum sent her backwards with the casing smashing her hand against the grating. “Shit!” She exclaimed as the pain registered and then gasped as such a colorful metaphor was not a part of her usual verbal repertoire.

For CWO3 Lamar Darius, the past day-and-a-half had been nothing short of frustrating. Not duty-wise, for with Galileo still in port and a distinct lack of support craft operations, it greatly lessened his workload, but instead due to his constant inner fuming at what should have been a great sequence of days with his new partner.

Sera. Yes, the Vulcan engineer...the one he'd become so enamored with over the span of 24 hours. Young, beautiful, exotic. Passionate - and very Vulcan. Those the were words he could best use to describe her. Also raw, arrogant and, well, juvenile in some regards. Memories of their final conversation together still occasionally resurfaced. "You have been outright resistant, and frankly at this point, insubordinate and have shown a concerning lack of discipline towards the chain of command." Cold words which any Starfleet officer resented being spoken about them.

He tried to shove those thoughts aside and climbed up the small personnel hatch leading from the deck 4 sub-hangar deck onto the main tarmac. Daily checks on Virginia's sister shuttle, Livia, were complete and now he had to complete the same cycle for the other Type 6 support craft housed inside the primary bay. When he finished ascending and closed the Jefferies tube compartment behind him, his nostrils suddenly flared when they picked up a familiar scent. His dark brown eyes observed the shuttle in front of him which seemed to be missing part of its nacelle housing. And there was a figure there donned in a yellow-collared uniform with an oh-so-familiar silhouette.

Sera.

His heart skipped a beat. Partially from passion and desire at finally seeing her again, but also from the implications which came from her presence and his 'insubordination'. "Ensign," he managed to firmly speak with an edge to his voice while approaching her position from behind. Was she documenting his failures to follow her order to take to the captain? It certainly seemed like it, considering she was in the process of tearing the shuttle apart. Probably looking for more defects and maintenance failures to affirm her report. "What are you doing here?" A moment of déjà vu washed though his mind.

Sera had not even noticed his arrival - and that spoke to the level of internal distraction. Her hand throbbed but that was a simple enough thing to regulate. What was not easy was the unusual sense of growing frustration - some of it geared towards the mis-aligned casing and the steadily rising portion of it was completely focused on...her? It was at that moment what she had been ignoring was made clear. Chief Warrant Officer Lamar Darius was on deck and looking quite displeased. It made her feel mildly ill.

"I was performing the required diagnostics on the warp system. However, I have discovered the casing is currently mis-aligned..." The words rushed out of her mouth in a cadence that was more hurried than her carefully measured rate. "I did not expect you to be here."

The simple auditory perception of her voice into his eardrums was enough to flood his cerebral cortex with a mixture of endorphins yet also epinephrine. Lamar slowed his steps until he stood several paces from her at a measured distance which felt so...uncomfortable. His gaze traveled up then down her lithe form before settling on one of her hands which she subtly seemed to protect. "Well, I'm here. And I thought we already talked about you coming into the shuttlebay unannounced. What happened to your hand?" he pointed with his index finger. Was she hurt?

"You voiced your displeasure, yes." Sera caged; she wanted to point out that he had no right to demand such permissions, but she also wanted to pack up try to continue the updates--and now the repairs--when he was not in attendance. Was this avoidance? Absolutely. "I..." She looked down at her hand with an expression of mild disconnect.

"The casing...it was jammed; I applied too much pressure to the housing and it released in an unexpected manner." She inspected her hand again and found that the bruising was more significant and she experienced a very sharp pain with movement. Perhaps one of the tarsals was fractured? It was tolerable.

A subtle frown of disapproval accompanied a sigh of admonishment. His uniform boots lightly echoed across the deck while he walked closer to her until he stopped a mere meter from her. "Show me your hand," he instructed, offering an large open palm in which to place her extremity. "Why are you trying to pull pieces of the shuttle apart without any help or safety backups?" His voice was low in projection yet firm in its inflection.

"There is no need. The pain is tolerable for the moment." Her objection was noted, but that did not mean she did not heed his directive. Which should have concerned her; Sera was not one to publicly touch other people, let alone offer up her hand for inspection. There was just something in Lamar's tone that she did not deign to go against. "I was not expecting the casing damage; it was inserted and locked incorrectly; the maglock would not release. I do not generally require such back ups..." Her voice trailed off. Her hand in his was very distracting.

He felt the rugged skin of her palm atop his then lightly used his opposite hand to press down upon the joints in each of her fingers until he discovered the pressure points which contained her discomfort. His eyes briefly drifted up to her face in order to interpret what he knew would be a muted, Vulcan response to pain stimuli. "Tell me where it hurts."

Lamar apparently was determined to have a more direct answer. Very well. "Over the first and second metacarpal, where the line of discoloration is most visible. It is nothing of consequence. I will remove myself and the casing to materials and have it repaired."

The closer he observed her bronze skin, the more clear the growing bruise became while her green blood started to pool and swell beneath her finger's epidermis. Lamar took that finger in his top hand and explored it, bending it into a curl while feeling an uneven rotation of the second knuckle. "It's broken," he finally and unceremoniously stated with a soft sigh. "Right here,"

Sera did everything she could not to gasp, but the quick intake of air was no doubt perceived. The pain was wasn't the issue...but his exploration of her hand with his was...distracting. She should remove her hand from his. This was not appropriate. But it felt rather...nice, yes?

"Lamar..." His name on her lips was sultry purr. Reluctantly she withdrew her hand. It what not what she wanted at all, but it was the correct thing to do. The correct thing did not feel correct at all. "I will go to sickbay after I finish my duties." Sera crouched down and began retrieving her tools and eyed the panel in consideration of how she would get it to materials.

"No, we're going now." Her subtle reveal of pain and subsequent suppression was noted, and as much as he still felt petty grievances towards her, the thought of allowing her to continue working on one of his shuttles with a fractured finger was abominable. "Co'mon." He took her wrist then began to guide her toward the shuttlebay's two large and reinforced exit doors.

"I do not need--" However, she stopped speaking as the conn officer grabbed her wrist in a rather scandalous manner and began guiding her out of the shuttlebay. Looking over her shoulder at the tools and small mess left behind, Sera sighed. She was capable of doing this herself - but he just so seamlessly took the lead - well, it spoke to instincts that were quite content in the moment to allow her ma--No. No. She would not think such things. She was capable of doing this herself - she should say so. No words came out.

The two officers approached the exit and it parted in its distinctive mechanical tones to reveal the soft lighting of the outside corridor. Lamar again reminisced about the last time he'd seen her - the fun encounter they'd shared in the mess hall and subsequent adventures within his quarters. All of which had been culminated by a most heated and private form of interpersonal combat. "Why'd you come here to work on the shuttle? The truth, I mean. I thought you were going to write me up."

"If I were to submit the incident report, everything you verbalized concern for would come to pass. Tarin would find such a lapse to be no small thing and there would be repercussions. It would not correct the deficiency, or create a...collegial environment...only penalize you. I found that potentiality to be...disagreeable. So I have been updating the compliance logs on second shift. The Livia is now back in compliance. I would have finished Virginia today...however, a complication arose." Her words were as stiff as her posture as Lamar guided her into the corridor, now en route to sick bay. "Moving forward, it would be...agreeable if your department could maintain more thorough and timely maintenance logs."

They entered the turbolift and the door hissed shut behind them. "Sickbay," he instructed the computer. The cab's internal lights started to softly pulse in a vertical pulse while they ascended a single deck.

While the few seconds it took to arrive on deck 3 passed, Lamar contemplated the totality of what Sera'd just explained to him. Instead of reprimanding him or creating further conflict, she'd simply set out to do his tasks herself - sacrificing her own free time and suffering an injury in the process. It was a selfless act and one which he admired...and felt guilty for creating in the first place. His stubbornness had managed to negatively affect her and his feelings for her promoted an internal chastising to make sure it never happened again. "I'll stay on top of the maintenance logs...if you promise to notify me any time you need to work on the shuttles. Deal?" The turbolift slowed and the door opened, depositing them on the above deck.

“I accept your terms.” Sera responded as they made their way down the corridor to sickbay. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering why he felt the need to accompany her. It would have been no hardship, truly, to have collected her tools–and the casing–and come here afterwards, but Lamar had been rather insistent. It might also have been that she didn’t want to argue with him, didn’t want to do anything to further rouse his ire towards her, really. And it might have been nice–at least for the moment–to have been treated with such concern. Not that she was getting the wrong idea from it. Not at all.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo-A

&

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

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