A/N: Dee474, thank you so much for the kind words! I keep a running tab of all OCs in the story on my profile, in case you want to read about why and how I created them. It helps me keep my stories straight. Now, without further ado, the conclusion of "Night".
She missed the rain.
Fiona had just received her tenth inoculation from the doctor for her cortisol levels. It was late at night but it of course meant nothing to her because of the eternal night that was the Void. Fifty-four days they had been here.
She was tired of it. She wanted to see stars again. She had only just experienced the vastness of space before they entered this Void, and now she was likely to spend another two years here, rotting away in a holodeck.
Holodeck, she thought. Might be a rainy day program there.
Fiona made her way to Holodeck 2. To her surprise it was empty and she checked the schedule. No one had reserved it. Just her luck.
"Computer," she murmured, "Show any rainy day programs."
"There are six programs that involve rain."
She nodded to herself. "Display them."
The aforementioned six programs came up on the screen. She selected one called "Rain on Earth" and programmed the holodeck. She walked inside.
Breathing in deeply, she smiled as the pitter pattering of raindrops filtered down through the leaves of massive trees. The smell of a coming thunderstorm was strong and pleasant. She heard the roll of a thunderclap in the distance.
As she stood there, letting the cool water drip on her face and wash her clammy skin, she heard the sirens go off.
"Red alert," she muttered. "Wonderful."
She tried to ignore the noise but it ruined the atmosphere. It was useless.
"Computer, end program," she said with a sigh.
The holodeck program ended and the doors opened for her. She walked into the corridor and almost got run over by crewmembers rushing to their posts. Suddenly she caught sight of Ensign Clea.
"Ensign Clea!" called Fiona. "What's happening?"
"We're moving to the spatial vortex," Clea barked back. "Get somewhere secure and stay out of the way."
Fiona nodded and trotted to a turbolift which she took to deck two, VIP quarters. It let her off and the woman ran to her quarters to watch out the window. Maybe there would be a good view.
Indeed there was. Spatial charges went off around her and she nearly jumped out of her skin at the noise it made when hitting the shields. Fiona watched in awe as the ship navigated the explosives.
Nice job, Tom, she thought with a smile.
Suddenly she lost track of the Malon vessel. It had maneuvered out of her line of sight. But before five seconds had even passed, three alien vessels appeared and began firing at something, presumably the Malon vessel.
Fiona was standing at the window, watching, when they managed to cross the threshold of the vortex. It was incredible. Interweaving threads of greens and blacks and whites spanned the vortex, spinning in a multitude of directions. But then the alert sounded.
"All hands brace for impact."
Fiona didn't have time to react before the shockwave hit the ship. She was thrown to the ground, bumping her head on her bed. The impact knocked her out.
It was Myral who found her an hour later, lying unconscious on the floor. Fiona hadn't locked the door, fortunately.
"Fi!" Myral cried out as she saw her friend with a bleeding head. "Damn it, Fi. Always getting into trouble."
Myral lifted her friend up as Fiona began to wake. Together they stumbled to sickbay. Myral held her friend up, worried that if Fiona fully got ahold of herself before reporting to sickbay that she would refuse to go there. As it turned out, Myral managed to force her there.
"Doctor," Myral called out. "Fiona hit her head."
The Doctor came over and frowned. "Think you can treat the wound? I have several patients with plasma burns to still treat."
Myral nodded and guided Fiona to the last open bio bed.
"Sit still, Fiona," she ordered, retrieving a medical tricorder and a dermal regenerator.
Fiona didn't complain as she was still somewhat groggy. As Myral scanned her brain, she sighed.
"This will help with pain and swelling," she told Fiona, picking out a hypospray and injecting her patient.
"Thanks," Fiona smiled softly.
"So what happened?" Myral asked her best friend as she began regenerating the damaged tissue. "How'd this happen?"
"I didn't brace for impact in time," Fiona shrugged. "My fault."
Myral shook her head. It was just like Fiona to get into trouble. Myral had always been the voice of optimistic reason, Fiona the voice of pessimistic troublemaking. Shara was just there to balance them out.
"Alright. You're all set." Myral nodded to her. "Go get some rest. You're lucky you don't have a bad concussion."
"Do I have a concussion?" Fiona asked her.
Myral nodded. "Not a bad one. You might be photosensitive for a few days and have a headache, but there shouldn't be any long lasting injury."
With a nod, Fiona slid off the bio bed. "Thanks. I better go nap then." She winked at her.
Myral chuckled. "Go."
As Fiona walked back to her quarters, she ran into Harry and Tom on the deck as officer quarters were further down toward the aft section.
"Nice piloting," Fiona smiled to Tom, though she was blinking at the brightness of the hallway.
Harry smirked and patted him on the back. "Captain Proton saved the day."
"Why is there blood on your shirt?" Tom asked her as they all walked through the corridor.
"I hit my head," she admitted. "Your piloting skills in the vortex weren't quite as impressive as during the battle."
Tom rolled his eyes. "I had no engines. We were only riding on inertia!"
"You're okay though?" Harry quickly added as a follow up.
Fiona shrugged. "Myral says I'm fine."
"You know the best part about taking you three on board?" Tom smirked. "I have fewer duty shifts in Sickbay."
Fiona laughed. "So it wasn't because you got a star piloting pupil?"
Tom smirked at her again. "Nope. That's just a small plus."
Fiona chuckled as they reached her quarters. "Good night, guys. Get some rest. You deserve it."