Last Call -- Chapter 2: Hope Of What Will Be
Please see the first chapter for disclaimers.
Author's Note: I had previously neglected to thank JMS for developing
this wonderful little sandbox of a universe to play in. All hail the
Great Maker.
"Are you purposely trying to give me a coronary?" Gideon was serious,
angry at Galen's biased control of information. "I'd swear you were."
Matheson watched with masked amusement, wondering if he should try to
separate them before a fight ensued. Crossing his arms over his chest,
he forced his face to remain neutral, biting the inside of his cheek to
keep his lips straight.
"There are such easy and amusing ways to torture you, Matthew. It's not
my fault you are susceptible to them." Galen lifted his hand slightly
in the space between them, wanting the Captain to stop his tirade for a
few moments.
"Tell me something, what good would it have done for me to come to you
with a bit of information I could not confirm?" Gideon didn't answer so
Galen continued. "None whatsoever."
"You could have at least told me you were onto something."
"That's what I was doing in the bullet car. Coming up here to check
with Lieutenant Matheson on the particulars. Now if you will kindly be
quiet, I will give you what my ship has just found."
"All right, already. Let's see it." Impatient, Gideon stood with both
hands on his hips, waiting expectantly.
Galen's hand disappeared within his coat and withdrew a small amber
orb. It floated above his palm as he extended it toward Gideon. A pass
of his other hand from above activated it, the inside beginning to flow
and ebb like oil in water with flashes of yellows and oranges.
"I was only able to pick up a distress call and even then, my ship was
having difficulties narrowing the signal to one location. There were no
coordinates relayed with the message." Galen paused in his explanation
to allow the orb to play the signal. It was a faint female voice
sparked with static and brief blackouts, but the message was
clear-freighter disabled, wounded on board.
"Through the process of triangulation, I have three possible
coordinates."
Gideon wasted no time. Turning away from Galen, he reached for the
controls on the captain's chair and pressed a button. Another console
descended from above, linking him directly to the ships computer.
"Give me maximum sensitivity on the scanners, Lieutenant," Gideon
ordered. Matheson relayed the command and waited for the incoming
information.
"Gideon, it won't do any good. My ship was barely able to get a clear
signal. Its not a long range craft or I would have tried these and at
least given you a definite possibility."
"Communications agrees, sir." Matheson's hand was on the com link at
his ear. "At highest sensitivity, there's no chatter. Nothing."
"What are the coordinates?" The Captain looked at the Technomage, away
from the gridded console that gave him a glimpse of space outside. With
a flourish, Galen produced a data crystal and placed it in Gideon's
hand.
Matthew quickly slapped it into the awaiting port in the console,
calling up the coordinates. The grid system adjusted to the new data,
pointing out each of the three with different colored crosshairs.
Information scrolled vertically along the left hand side, auto zooming
in on each area to reveal details.
"Before you get overworked about this like you will, there is an easier
way to decide among the three." Galen spoke softly at Gideon's right,
and the words caught the Captain's attention.
"What's your idea?"
"You have two great resources aboard-Maximilian Eilerson and Dureena
Nafeel. Perhaps they know of definite routes through these areas that
freighters would travel." Galen suggested, shrugging slightly before
taking a few steps back. "You have everything I have found thus far on
that data crystal. I shall return shortly."
Gideon opened his mouth to argue, watching as the Technomage turned to
leave. Instead he considered Galen's words and silently agreed with
him. With any luck Galen was parting to get more information.
"Thank you."
"You are most welcome." In a swirl of black, Galen left command,
heading back to the docking bay and to his refueled ship.
Tired of crouching over the chair to look at the screen, Gideon finally
slid into it, flashing the Lieutenant a guilty smile as he smoothed his
hands over the arm rests.
"Okay, so I lied." Matheson chuckled in response.
"Does this mean you want your ship back, sir?" He almost sounded a
little disappointed.
"Yes." Gideon said sarcastically as if it was blatantly obvious,
enjoying the humor that spread over his first officer's face. Being the
first telepath in Earthforce had given Matheson a need to be above
reproach, often at the expense of his other amenable qualities. Gideon
made it a goal to get the man to smile every once and a while.
"Very well, sir. At oh-four-thirty, command of the Excalibur is now
yours."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." Gideon checked over what else was on the
crystal. "First order of business for the day is to get Max and Dureena
out of bed. Tell them both I want to see them in the conference room in
a half hour."
"Sir, you are aware of how early it is, aren't you?" The Lieutenant's
eyebrow arched minutely.
"Yes, fully." Gideon smirked. "Which reminds me, see if you can't get
the commissary to send up a fresh carafe of coffee."
"Yes sir, will that be all?"
"Also alert Doctor Chambers that she might have to setup triage for the
wounded. Keep her informed on progress."
With a curt nod, Lieutenant Matheson left to perform his orders, leaving
Gideon to pour over Galen's data crystal. He had every trace bit his
ship had recorded since it intercepted the transmission, starting with a
muffled garble that sounded like stellar com interference, to clear but
sporadic words. An all too familiar sinking feeling in his core
returned, but he commanded his mind to stay on the task at hand.
Forcing himself to focus, he listened to her voice. A voice that
remained calm through each transmission, just relaying status with her
plea for help.
A small box at the bottom of the screen popped up, signaling that he had
an incoming internal call. Silently, Gideon made a bet on which of the
two it was.
"What the hell is the meaning of this, Gideon? Do you know how early it
is? Couldn't this have waited until a more reasonable hour?" The
appearance on the com screen of the dark haired woman with amber eyes
meant he had won the bet.
"I know, Dureena." Gideon swallowed a bit, not liking the intensity of
the look she was giving him. She hadn't bothered to pull on a robe over
her nightgown, giving the illusion that she was standing in front of her
com naked. For all he knew, she could have been. "And I'm sorry, but
this is important. Galen's intercepted a distress call and I need your
help."
"You owe me." She jabbed a finger at the screen before cutting off the
transmission.
"Who don't I owe?" Gideon asked himself before turning back to the
collected data. He played the message again, focusing on what the
mystery pilot had said:
"May day---day…freighter Toledo…breech---engines dead…wounded---air
low…assistance---"
"The Toledo, sir? Why does that name sound familiar?" Matheson had
overheard the replay and stepped away from communications to come closer
to the Captain.
"The EAS Toledo, maybe." Gideon was just as confused.
"Possibly. Wasn't she decommissioned and sold at auction after the
Earth-Minbari war? It could be a private vessel now, sir."
"That makes her what, at least twenty years old from the end of the
war?" Matheson took a moment to do the math in his head and nodded his
agreement.
"Is there anything on that ship we could use to help track her?" Gideon
swore at himself, wishing he had studied the blue prints of all EA
ships, past and present, more thoroughly.
"She would have been fully stripped of all military tech before being
sold," the Lieutenant replied. The Captain's sour face made him
rephrase his statement. "But we should have her schematics on record,
sir. It would be easy to decipher what would have been pulled by
Earthforce."
"All right, get on it. Get any old EA engineering techs that we have on
those blueprints if possible. I'm going to see if Max and Dureena
haven't traveled this area before and know of any shipping routes."
Gideon pulled out the data crystal and sent the control console back up
into the canopy above his head.
"Yes sir." Matheson replied, already busying himself with the com line
at his ear.
"If Galen comes back any time soon, send him in." The Lieutenant nodded
at Gideon as he slipped from his chair, heading back towards the hatch.
*~*~*~*
Carefully she released herself from the five-point harness that kept her
at the helm, and she felt herself drift out of the chair. Gently she
pushed herself away and braced her free hand above her head for impact
with the ceiling. Once free of the confines of the chair, she angled
her motion toward the back, grabbing onto the straps that dangled down
from above. Moving a foot out to the side, she was able to catch the
corner of an access hatch, slowing her progression. The lack of gravity
was something that took getting used to even if she did have previous
practice. Being wounded made it that much more difficult. Luckily her
clothing wasn't as restrictive as it could have been; she had removed
the dark robe that usually draped over her body to keep one of her
traveling companions comfortable.
"How are they doing, Drefen?" The Minbari she called to looked up from
where he had strapped himself in beside the other two passengers. Each
were bundled in hammock-like netting to keep them stationary; a Human
male and Minbari female, both were seriously injured and unconscious.
"Managing." He replied in the same Worker caste dialect she had
addressed him with. "There is no way to tell how extensive Daniel or
Karnier's injuries are, Naomi."
Drefen was missing his outer robe; he had used it to wrap over Karnier's
petite frame. A ragged cut streaked across his brow ridge, the dried
blood crusting on the side of his face and neck from where it had been
smeared. The dappled patch of blue on the crown of his bald head was
darkened, bruised from the same object that had impacted with the smooth
bone crest that ridged his skull. His light eyes regarded her with
concern, watching her wince from the pain her arm gave her.
"I wish you would let me look at that." A hand floated up from his lap
to point at her shoulder. She shrugged him off, instead bracing herself
with a foot against a panel protrusion before reaching out to touch
Karnier's hand. The Minbari woman's hand was ashen, even more so than
its usual pallor, cold and clammy to the touch. Vainly Naomi tried to
bundle her better, but Drefen had already done it several times before
in the same reaction to Karnier's condition.
"There isn't anything you can do. You've already set it for me and I
took an oxitab earlier." She glanced at him with a smile before turning
her attention to the Human. "I'll just imagine Sech Durhan was giving
me a lesson. Similar pain, similar injury."
The comment served to loosen the Minbari's set features as he allowed
himself a smile. He would have pressed the issue if it weren't for the
fact he had a headache that felt as if his skull had been split open
from his crest to his chin. Meditation had only done him a small amount
of good; Naomi's insistence that he stay conscious kept him from trying
anything that would shut him out from external stimulus. He agreed,
knowing he most likely had a concussion. The painkillers hadn't done
much except to turn the sharp pulsing pain into a dull throbbing one.
He watched as she satisfied her curiosity with Daniel's condition,
knowing it wasn't out of mistrust of the information he had given her,
but out of concern. The man had taken more of a beating-several ribs
cracked with a possibility of internal bleeding. Even unconscious, he
moaned slightly at her touch on his face.
Slowly, Naomi released her foot and allowed herself to drift over to
Drefen, steadying herself with a hand on his harness across his chest.
With care, he covered her hand with his, taking comfort at the touch.
"Speaking of looking at, how's the head?" She tried not to press
against him too much, but with her injured arm in a sling, it was all
she could do to keep her feet braced below him to steady herself. A
gentle push against Drefen's chest kept Naomi at a polite distance.
"What is that saying you have, 'a headache the size of a jump gate?'"
She laughed, listening to it in Standard English as he switched
languages. Drefen had even managed her inflections, mocking her
kindly. Naomi's laughter was infectious and he couldn't help but join
in, groaning in pain as the motion stretched the cut above his eyes.
"It's your own fault." She wished he would release her hand long enough
for her to touch him, to try and soothe his pain. Instead Drefen
touched Naomi, lifting his hand from hers on the harness to press to her
chest above her heart.
"For listening to you?" The Minbari smiled, reaching up to touch her
face with his other hand. It was a gentle graze that left the side of
her chin tingling. Slowly his fingers trailed trough a few curls of her
dark hair that had fanned out from her head in the zero-gee. The effect
looked ethereal and beautiful to the Minbari, like petals from a
chestnut colored flower were crowning her head.
"Yes."
"I know." Again he smiled. "But I have to admit that occasionally you
have a few good ideas."
"Unfortunately, this was not one of them." Naomi bowed her head, the
smile draining from her face. Sighing heavily, she leaned against the
hand on her chest.
"No, the mission is sound. It is the method that has been less than
desirable."
"That's an understatement." Naomi moaned, knowing what Drefen meant.
Glancing above their heads, her eyes followed the pipes and paneling
along the ceiling before looking at her friend again. "I just sent out
an update of our status."
"Should I ask?" The Minbari's eyebrows lifted slightly, not liking the
look on the Human's face. Naomi almost wanted to laugh.
"Radiation levels have begun to rise-nothing fatal yet. Life support is
failing. And we're drifting as far as I can tell. The nav-com is
fried, so I'm not exactly sure where to we're drifting though. If the
radiation and the lack of oxygen doesn't kill us, then some planet we
collide with will."
"Your cheery optimism is truly enlightening," Drefen stated so deadpan
that Naomi smirked.
"Just call it like I see it. Unlike you Minbari who call it how others
want to see it." The lighthearted barb didn't go by unnoticed. Drefen
shook his head.
"Learning the guise of half-truth is an art form. One the Religious and
Warrior castes generally excel at. Now a lowly Worker engineer like
myself has no use for the half-truth, but because I am Minbari, I have
to understand the finer points of it." Momentarily he closed his eyes,
becoming tired. If Naomi stayed close, perhaps she would allow him to
take a brief nap.
"If there is nothing else that the sechs have taught us, we must keep in
mind that faith will survive. Our being called out here is for an
excellent purpose. It is not my belief that the universe would try to
keep us from doing our duty."
"Now who's being a cheery optimist?" Naomi smiled and slowly pushed
herself away from Drefen. "I've set the computer to alarm us if it
picks up on an incoming transmission. It would probably be best to
conserve energy and get some sleep."
"I agree." Reaching over, Drefen helped Naomi strap into the harness
that was beside his. She winced in pain as the straps pressed against
her wounded shoulder. Tightening the waist and right shoulder strap
kept her stable enough that she could keep the left side loose.
"'Course, if the computer fails, it won't matter much anyway." With a
smile she reached out her hand to grip his gently.
"Go to sleep, Naomi." Drefen gave her hand a squeeze and let their
hands float to where they wanted to rest in mid air.
"Yes, Drefen." Naomi fished her left hand through the harness to keep
her arm in the sling against her body. She closed her eyes and took a
deep cleansing breath, focusing in on the gentle touch of the Minbari
beside her. With surprising calmness, she began to make plans on how to
guarantee the safety of all her crew.
Please see the first chapter for disclaimers.
Author's Note: I had previously neglected to thank JMS for developing
this wonderful little sandbox of a universe to play in. All hail the
Great Maker.
"Are you purposely trying to give me a coronary?" Gideon was serious,
angry at Galen's biased control of information. "I'd swear you were."
Matheson watched with masked amusement, wondering if he should try to
separate them before a fight ensued. Crossing his arms over his chest,
he forced his face to remain neutral, biting the inside of his cheek to
keep his lips straight.
"There are such easy and amusing ways to torture you, Matthew. It's not
my fault you are susceptible to them." Galen lifted his hand slightly
in the space between them, wanting the Captain to stop his tirade for a
few moments.
"Tell me something, what good would it have done for me to come to you
with a bit of information I could not confirm?" Gideon didn't answer so
Galen continued. "None whatsoever."
"You could have at least told me you were onto something."
"That's what I was doing in the bullet car. Coming up here to check
with Lieutenant Matheson on the particulars. Now if you will kindly be
quiet, I will give you what my ship has just found."
"All right, already. Let's see it." Impatient, Gideon stood with both
hands on his hips, waiting expectantly.
Galen's hand disappeared within his coat and withdrew a small amber
orb. It floated above his palm as he extended it toward Gideon. A pass
of his other hand from above activated it, the inside beginning to flow
and ebb like oil in water with flashes of yellows and oranges.
"I was only able to pick up a distress call and even then, my ship was
having difficulties narrowing the signal to one location. There were no
coordinates relayed with the message." Galen paused in his explanation
to allow the orb to play the signal. It was a faint female voice
sparked with static and brief blackouts, but the message was
clear-freighter disabled, wounded on board.
"Through the process of triangulation, I have three possible
coordinates."
Gideon wasted no time. Turning away from Galen, he reached for the
controls on the captain's chair and pressed a button. Another console
descended from above, linking him directly to the ships computer.
"Give me maximum sensitivity on the scanners, Lieutenant," Gideon
ordered. Matheson relayed the command and waited for the incoming
information.
"Gideon, it won't do any good. My ship was barely able to get a clear
signal. Its not a long range craft or I would have tried these and at
least given you a definite possibility."
"Communications agrees, sir." Matheson's hand was on the com link at
his ear. "At highest sensitivity, there's no chatter. Nothing."
"What are the coordinates?" The Captain looked at the Technomage, away
from the gridded console that gave him a glimpse of space outside. With
a flourish, Galen produced a data crystal and placed it in Gideon's
hand.
Matthew quickly slapped it into the awaiting port in the console,
calling up the coordinates. The grid system adjusted to the new data,
pointing out each of the three with different colored crosshairs.
Information scrolled vertically along the left hand side, auto zooming
in on each area to reveal details.
"Before you get overworked about this like you will, there is an easier
way to decide among the three." Galen spoke softly at Gideon's right,
and the words caught the Captain's attention.
"What's your idea?"
"You have two great resources aboard-Maximilian Eilerson and Dureena
Nafeel. Perhaps they know of definite routes through these areas that
freighters would travel." Galen suggested, shrugging slightly before
taking a few steps back. "You have everything I have found thus far on
that data crystal. I shall return shortly."
Gideon opened his mouth to argue, watching as the Technomage turned to
leave. Instead he considered Galen's words and silently agreed with
him. With any luck Galen was parting to get more information.
"Thank you."
"You are most welcome." In a swirl of black, Galen left command,
heading back to the docking bay and to his refueled ship.
Tired of crouching over the chair to look at the screen, Gideon finally
slid into it, flashing the Lieutenant a guilty smile as he smoothed his
hands over the arm rests.
"Okay, so I lied." Matheson chuckled in response.
"Does this mean you want your ship back, sir?" He almost sounded a
little disappointed.
"Yes." Gideon said sarcastically as if it was blatantly obvious,
enjoying the humor that spread over his first officer's face. Being the
first telepath in Earthforce had given Matheson a need to be above
reproach, often at the expense of his other amenable qualities. Gideon
made it a goal to get the man to smile every once and a while.
"Very well, sir. At oh-four-thirty, command of the Excalibur is now
yours."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." Gideon checked over what else was on the
crystal. "First order of business for the day is to get Max and Dureena
out of bed. Tell them both I want to see them in the conference room in
a half hour."
"Sir, you are aware of how early it is, aren't you?" The Lieutenant's
eyebrow arched minutely.
"Yes, fully." Gideon smirked. "Which reminds me, see if you can't get
the commissary to send up a fresh carafe of coffee."
"Yes sir, will that be all?"
"Also alert Doctor Chambers that she might have to setup triage for the
wounded. Keep her informed on progress."
With a curt nod, Lieutenant Matheson left to perform his orders, leaving
Gideon to pour over Galen's data crystal. He had every trace bit his
ship had recorded since it intercepted the transmission, starting with a
muffled garble that sounded like stellar com interference, to clear but
sporadic words. An all too familiar sinking feeling in his core
returned, but he commanded his mind to stay on the task at hand.
Forcing himself to focus, he listened to her voice. A voice that
remained calm through each transmission, just relaying status with her
plea for help.
A small box at the bottom of the screen popped up, signaling that he had
an incoming internal call. Silently, Gideon made a bet on which of the
two it was.
"What the hell is the meaning of this, Gideon? Do you know how early it
is? Couldn't this have waited until a more reasonable hour?" The
appearance on the com screen of the dark haired woman with amber eyes
meant he had won the bet.
"I know, Dureena." Gideon swallowed a bit, not liking the intensity of
the look she was giving him. She hadn't bothered to pull on a robe over
her nightgown, giving the illusion that she was standing in front of her
com naked. For all he knew, she could have been. "And I'm sorry, but
this is important. Galen's intercepted a distress call and I need your
help."
"You owe me." She jabbed a finger at the screen before cutting off the
transmission.
"Who don't I owe?" Gideon asked himself before turning back to the
collected data. He played the message again, focusing on what the
mystery pilot had said:
"May day---day…freighter Toledo…breech---engines dead…wounded---air
low…assistance---"
"The Toledo, sir? Why does that name sound familiar?" Matheson had
overheard the replay and stepped away from communications to come closer
to the Captain.
"The EAS Toledo, maybe." Gideon was just as confused.
"Possibly. Wasn't she decommissioned and sold at auction after the
Earth-Minbari war? It could be a private vessel now, sir."
"That makes her what, at least twenty years old from the end of the
war?" Matheson took a moment to do the math in his head and nodded his
agreement.
"Is there anything on that ship we could use to help track her?" Gideon
swore at himself, wishing he had studied the blue prints of all EA
ships, past and present, more thoroughly.
"She would have been fully stripped of all military tech before being
sold," the Lieutenant replied. The Captain's sour face made him
rephrase his statement. "But we should have her schematics on record,
sir. It would be easy to decipher what would have been pulled by
Earthforce."
"All right, get on it. Get any old EA engineering techs that we have on
those blueprints if possible. I'm going to see if Max and Dureena
haven't traveled this area before and know of any shipping routes."
Gideon pulled out the data crystal and sent the control console back up
into the canopy above his head.
"Yes sir." Matheson replied, already busying himself with the com line
at his ear.
"If Galen comes back any time soon, send him in." The Lieutenant nodded
at Gideon as he slipped from his chair, heading back towards the hatch.
*~*~*~*
Carefully she released herself from the five-point harness that kept her
at the helm, and she felt herself drift out of the chair. Gently she
pushed herself away and braced her free hand above her head for impact
with the ceiling. Once free of the confines of the chair, she angled
her motion toward the back, grabbing onto the straps that dangled down
from above. Moving a foot out to the side, she was able to catch the
corner of an access hatch, slowing her progression. The lack of gravity
was something that took getting used to even if she did have previous
practice. Being wounded made it that much more difficult. Luckily her
clothing wasn't as restrictive as it could have been; she had removed
the dark robe that usually draped over her body to keep one of her
traveling companions comfortable.
"How are they doing, Drefen?" The Minbari she called to looked up from
where he had strapped himself in beside the other two passengers. Each
were bundled in hammock-like netting to keep them stationary; a Human
male and Minbari female, both were seriously injured and unconscious.
"Managing." He replied in the same Worker caste dialect she had
addressed him with. "There is no way to tell how extensive Daniel or
Karnier's injuries are, Naomi."
Drefen was missing his outer robe; he had used it to wrap over Karnier's
petite frame. A ragged cut streaked across his brow ridge, the dried
blood crusting on the side of his face and neck from where it had been
smeared. The dappled patch of blue on the crown of his bald head was
darkened, bruised from the same object that had impacted with the smooth
bone crest that ridged his skull. His light eyes regarded her with
concern, watching her wince from the pain her arm gave her.
"I wish you would let me look at that." A hand floated up from his lap
to point at her shoulder. She shrugged him off, instead bracing herself
with a foot against a panel protrusion before reaching out to touch
Karnier's hand. The Minbari woman's hand was ashen, even more so than
its usual pallor, cold and clammy to the touch. Vainly Naomi tried to
bundle her better, but Drefen had already done it several times before
in the same reaction to Karnier's condition.
"There isn't anything you can do. You've already set it for me and I
took an oxitab earlier." She glanced at him with a smile before turning
her attention to the Human. "I'll just imagine Sech Durhan was giving
me a lesson. Similar pain, similar injury."
The comment served to loosen the Minbari's set features as he allowed
himself a smile. He would have pressed the issue if it weren't for the
fact he had a headache that felt as if his skull had been split open
from his crest to his chin. Meditation had only done him a small amount
of good; Naomi's insistence that he stay conscious kept him from trying
anything that would shut him out from external stimulus. He agreed,
knowing he most likely had a concussion. The painkillers hadn't done
much except to turn the sharp pulsing pain into a dull throbbing one.
He watched as she satisfied her curiosity with Daniel's condition,
knowing it wasn't out of mistrust of the information he had given her,
but out of concern. The man had taken more of a beating-several ribs
cracked with a possibility of internal bleeding. Even unconscious, he
moaned slightly at her touch on his face.
Slowly, Naomi released her foot and allowed herself to drift over to
Drefen, steadying herself with a hand on his harness across his chest.
With care, he covered her hand with his, taking comfort at the touch.
"Speaking of looking at, how's the head?" She tried not to press
against him too much, but with her injured arm in a sling, it was all
she could do to keep her feet braced below him to steady herself. A
gentle push against Drefen's chest kept Naomi at a polite distance.
"What is that saying you have, 'a headache the size of a jump gate?'"
She laughed, listening to it in Standard English as he switched
languages. Drefen had even managed her inflections, mocking her
kindly. Naomi's laughter was infectious and he couldn't help but join
in, groaning in pain as the motion stretched the cut above his eyes.
"It's your own fault." She wished he would release her hand long enough
for her to touch him, to try and soothe his pain. Instead Drefen
touched Naomi, lifting his hand from hers on the harness to press to her
chest above her heart.
"For listening to you?" The Minbari smiled, reaching up to touch her
face with his other hand. It was a gentle graze that left the side of
her chin tingling. Slowly his fingers trailed trough a few curls of her
dark hair that had fanned out from her head in the zero-gee. The effect
looked ethereal and beautiful to the Minbari, like petals from a
chestnut colored flower were crowning her head.
"Yes."
"I know." Again he smiled. "But I have to admit that occasionally you
have a few good ideas."
"Unfortunately, this was not one of them." Naomi bowed her head, the
smile draining from her face. Sighing heavily, she leaned against the
hand on her chest.
"No, the mission is sound. It is the method that has been less than
desirable."
"That's an understatement." Naomi moaned, knowing what Drefen meant.
Glancing above their heads, her eyes followed the pipes and paneling
along the ceiling before looking at her friend again. "I just sent out
an update of our status."
"Should I ask?" The Minbari's eyebrows lifted slightly, not liking the
look on the Human's face. Naomi almost wanted to laugh.
"Radiation levels have begun to rise-nothing fatal yet. Life support is
failing. And we're drifting as far as I can tell. The nav-com is
fried, so I'm not exactly sure where to we're drifting though. If the
radiation and the lack of oxygen doesn't kill us, then some planet we
collide with will."
"Your cheery optimism is truly enlightening," Drefen stated so deadpan
that Naomi smirked.
"Just call it like I see it. Unlike you Minbari who call it how others
want to see it." The lighthearted barb didn't go by unnoticed. Drefen
shook his head.
"Learning the guise of half-truth is an art form. One the Religious and
Warrior castes generally excel at. Now a lowly Worker engineer like
myself has no use for the half-truth, but because I am Minbari, I have
to understand the finer points of it." Momentarily he closed his eyes,
becoming tired. If Naomi stayed close, perhaps she would allow him to
take a brief nap.
"If there is nothing else that the sechs have taught us, we must keep in
mind that faith will survive. Our being called out here is for an
excellent purpose. It is not my belief that the universe would try to
keep us from doing our duty."
"Now who's being a cheery optimist?" Naomi smiled and slowly pushed
herself away from Drefen. "I've set the computer to alarm us if it
picks up on an incoming transmission. It would probably be best to
conserve energy and get some sleep."
"I agree." Reaching over, Drefen helped Naomi strap into the harness
that was beside his. She winced in pain as the straps pressed against
her wounded shoulder. Tightening the waist and right shoulder strap
kept her stable enough that she could keep the left side loose.
"'Course, if the computer fails, it won't matter much anyway." With a
smile she reached out her hand to grip his gently.
"Go to sleep, Naomi." Drefen gave her hand a squeeze and let their
hands float to where they wanted to rest in mid air.
"Yes, Drefen." Naomi fished her left hand through the harness to keep
her arm in the sling against her body. She closed her eyes and took a
deep cleansing breath, focusing in on the gentle touch of the Minbari
beside her. With surprising calmness, she began to make plans on how to
guarantee the safety of all her crew.