Aeryn and Angel rematerialized on the transporter pad in the Stella Navis' Transporter Room where Deyran was manning the controls.
"So what's the big emergency?" Aeryn asked as soon as she stepped off the pad.
"Reiko became ill," Deyran, concern obvious on his face. Even though he was not related to Reiko anymore (the previous host Tymion had been), she did still feel like a sister to him. Aeryn nodded and went to walk out, followed by both men.
"I'll go and have a look in Sickbay. Angel, you'd better get started with repairing Stella, Deyran, you assist." With that, she turned a corner as the men turned the other way.
A few minutes later, Aeryn reached the Sickbay, which was only one deck up. As she entered, she saw Reiko sitting up on a biobed with Leo next to her scanning her.
"What's up?" Aeryn inquired. Leo shook his head.
"I don't know, the scans show nothing out of the ordinary yet she's nauseous, dizzy and has this rash," he said and then, turning back to Reiko he continued, "All I can do is give you something for the itch and nausea, but I'd like you to wear this monitor so I can keep up with you body when… or rather, if it goes haywire again."
"Sure," Reiko said as Leo stuck the device on her upper arm.
"Keep it calm for a while," Leo said as he assisted her down from the bed.
"I sure will," Reiko said as she tried her balance. It seemed okay and she tried a few steps, "I'm still not completely sure about my legs."
"Why don't you go and lie down," Aeryn said to her friend.
"I don't know, I could help in fixing Stella…"
"Reiko, you should really lie down, don't make me make it an order…"
Reiko smiled and hugged her friend, "you don't have to, I'll go."
"I'll walk you there, just in case," Aeryn said as she and Reiko walked out of Sickbay. "Leo," Aeryn called back, "you'd better get down to the Bridge, Spike's alone there an I need to get down to assist with the repairs after I drop Reiko of, two men won't be enough to fix the damage we took. Shields and weapons are down."
"How are we going to stay safe then, without that?"
"I talked to Captain Janeway, we're going to stay with Voyager for a while, at least till we've repaired the damage, they've promised to help and protect us if needed."
"Great," Leo replied as he put away the final instruments and came in their direction, "that'll really help." Aeryn nodded and turned back to Reiko.
"We'll go now, you go to the Bridge." With that, they parted ways as Leo took the first lift up to the Bridge and Aeryn and Reiko took the second one down to Reiko's quarters.
After she had dropped her friend off and had made sure she went to bed, she continued her way down to the lowest deck where the Cargo Bays where. Once there she contacted Angel and they discussed repairs for a while after which she set to work.
After working hard for hours, they rested and went to eat something in the messhall together. Angel, Deyran and Aeryn sat at the table eating as they discussed the repairs.
"It's gonna take at least a month if we're going to fix this with just three people," Angel said as he stretched his shoulders, "If Reiko gets better soon and I pull a few all nighters we might be able to do it in three weeks or so but that's it."
"How many extra hands would you need to fix it in two?" Aeryn asked.
"One person extra if Reiko helps too, if she isn't up to it, two people."
Aeryn nodded, thinking.
"You know what, I'll check up on Reiko later and then I'll contact Voyager to see if they could lend us one or two engineers," she said as she looked at her friends and crew. She smiled at Deyran, who still had 'worried' written all over his face.
"I'm sure Reiko will be fine," she added as she pinched his arm. It had been only a year since Tymion, the previous host of the Yiy symbiont and brother to Reiko, had died and Deyran had subsequently decided to remain onboard the Stella Navis because he felt so connected to all the people on board; especially Reiko, his 'sister' and Aeryn, who had been married to Tymion.
Deyran nodded, "Yeah, she's strong, but I can't help worrying, she's never been sick. Well, except for some children's diseases, but that's all."
Angel smiled at him, compassionate and wicked at the same time, "then let's get back to work, that'll take your mind of things."
Deyran nodded and the three stood up after which both men went back to fixing the damage as Aeryn headed for Reiko's quarters.
Once there she rang the bell and a clear voice from inside said: "Come in." Aeryn smiled, that sounded as the Reiko she knew. She stepped inside and smiled at her friend who was sitting in a comfy chair, reading a book.
"How'ya doing?" Aeryn asked.
Reiko smiled at her, "I'm fine now, I 'm not dizzy and nauseous anymore and it seems as if the rash is disappearing too."
"And walking?"
"Fine, I walked from bed to shower to desk to here and such and no trouble at all."
"Weird," Aeryn said; a little touch of concern nagging at the edge of her mind, "anyway, you take it easy for the rest of the day and if you feel up to it tomorrow you can assist in the repairs. Now, if you excuse me, I've got to contact Voyager and see if they can send a pair of extra hands tomorrow." Reiko nodded.
"Okay, and…," she said and smiled, "don't worry Aeryn, I'm fine, I'd tell you if I were feeling bad." Aeryn nodded and smiled too as she turned around and left and shortly waved before the doors closed again. She headed for her Ready Room and sat down at her desk to contact Voyager.
"…so Captain, to cut to the point, I was wondering if you could lend me an extra pair of engineering hands," Aeryn said, smiling at Janeway on the monitor.
"Sure, that won't be a problem," Janeway said, "I'll send someone over tomorrow at 0800, is that okay?"
"Perfect, thank you very much Captain," Aeryn said and after exchanging some more pleasantries, they cut the connection.
The next morning, Aeryn and Angel were in the Transporter Room at 0800 and Aeryn waited as someone materialized on their transporter pad. When the transport was complete, they saw it was Harry Kim.
"Captain Silverberg…" he said as he stepped off the pad.
"Ensign Kim, welcome aboard," she said as she extended her hand to him, "and please, just call me Aeryn, people only call me Captain at really official things."
Harry smiled and shook her hand, "Alright, Aeryn."
Aeryn then turned and indicated Angel, "You remember Angel…" Harry nodded and shook his hand too.
"Angel is, as you might remember, the Chief Engineer here, he'll put you to work somewhere."
"Okay," Harry said and fastened his grip on the Engineering kit he was carrying.
"Follow me then," Angel said as he led the way out of the Transporter Room. Aeryn walked with them to Engineering when they ran into Spike.
"Hey, Aeryn," he said, "you'd better get up to the Bridge for a sec, I think there's something you wanna see."
"And you came all the way down just to tell me that?" Aeryn asked.
"Hell no," Spike said, "I was on my way to Astro, it's been damaged and I figured I should go and fix it, since it's my specialty."
"Good point," Aeryn said, "Oh, by the way, Spike this is Harry Kim, he's gonna help us repair the damage. Harry, this is Spike, our pilot and Astrometrics Officer."
"Nice to meet you," Harry said, as he slightly enlarged his eyes, obviously he remembered that Spike was a vampire to.
"Okay," Aeryn said, "I need an update, Angel, you and Harry are going down?"
"Yes."
"Where're Deyran and Leo?"
"Deyran's up with Reiko," Spike said, "and Leo's in Sickbay."
"Okay, I'm going up to check on… whatever's there and then I'll switch Leo to Bridge duty and take Reiko down to assist the repair crew if she's ready. If not, I'll take Deyran with me, if she is, Deyran's the replace guy."
"Aye-aye," Angel said and took Harry and Spike with him to the turbolift. Aeryn turned around and took the second lift up.
"So, what's going on around here," Aeryn said as she entered the Bridge where Reiko was standing behind a console and Deyran sat at the helm. They both looked back and smiled at their Captain and friend.
"We found some fluctuations," Reiko said as she tapped a few buttons, "look."
Aeryn studied the console and frowned.
"Hmm…" she said, smoothly slipping from Friend-mode into Captain-mode, "magnify that on screen." She studied the anomaly on screen with a puzzled look.
"Okay, you know I'm all about the weapons," she said, "so what is this?"
Deyran and Reiko exchanged a look.
"I'm not really sure," Reiko said, "it looks like a sort of flux conduit, subharmonic possibly."
"Although it could be a metagenic particle string, the readings are unclear," Deyran added.
"Is it dangerous?" Aeryn asked the standard question.
"We don't think so," Reiko said, "nothing has changed since we discovered it an hour ago and Voyager hasn't said anything about it either and they must have detected it, their sensors are better."
"Very well," Aeryn said, "then I need someone to come down with me and help repairs. Harry Kim has beamed aboard from Voyager and he's helping Angel in Engineering itself, Spike's working in the Astrometrics Lab and I need some help in the Cargo Bays. How are you doing Reiko?"
"I'm fine," she said, "Never been better, it's as if I never were sick at all yesterday, even the rash is gone."
"And the monitor?" Aeryn asked.
"Leo thought it was strange and said I have to wear this till tonight to make sure."
"Okay, I'd like you to stay here for a while and you Deyran come with me to help. In the meantime Reiko, call Leo up here to help on the Bridge, if you need to replace someone, I'll call."
"Sure," Reiko said and called Leo up when the Aeryn and Deyran left.
"Aeryn," Deyran suddenly began, "is something wrong? You've been acting a bit 'out-of-you' the last few days." Aeryn smiled at him and then sighed.
"I figured you'd probably notice," she said, you know me as well as Tymion did and he could always tell when something was bothering me, even when the others, whom I've known almost all my life, don't see it."
"So, what's up then?"
"Tomorrow," she began, "it's exactly a year since Tymion died."
Deyran softly gasped, he should have realized. He pulled Aeryn to him and stopped mid-pace.
"I'm sorry," he said, "I should've realized that."
Aeryn shook her head; "you shouldn't, for you it's the beginning of your new life. I'm just very glad that you're here so I have someone with whom I can really talk about Tymion. You now know him from the inside."
"If you want, we can talk for a bit, the damage to the Cargo Bays isn't that severe, it could wait a little while."
"I'd like that," Aeryn said, nodding, "but we can do both, talk and fix…"
"Sure."
Soon they reached Cargo Bay 2 which was the most damaged one. They took place on a pack of crates conveniently stored underneath the panels they had to work with.
Slowly they removed the panels and began fixing the burnt-out wiring as they began talking, hesitant at first…
"So," Deyran began, "I think you should know, that Tymion… well, you were his everything."
"I know… he didn't really tell me that, but I… I could feel it, here," Aeryn pressed her hand against her heart, "he gave my life meaning; as Immortal, you live on forever and you will always lose people and therefore, Immortals tend to not get too close to mortals. But Tymion made me forget that and I've never regretted it. Even now, after his death."
"Maybe the fact he was joined helped."
"I think it did, because I knew he'd live on, in a way, after he died, I just didn't expect it to be so soon."
"Do you remember," Deyran began, "that time, shortly after you were married when he took you to the hot baths on Risa?"
"Yes," Aeryn laughed, "I'd forgot to tell him that I can't stand heat because I'm half Sebacean and I almost got sick of just being close to the baths."
They continued with the 'Do you remember this' and 'What about that' for about an hour. By then, they had shifted positions and Aeryn and Deyran were working side by side, trying to close a leak. As they finished and Aeryn put her tools down to massage her hand, Deyran looked at her.
"Let me," he said as he expertly rubbed her hand. Do you remember that time when I…" He fell silent and stopped rubbing.
"I-I'm sorry," he said, but Aeryn just smiled.
"It's okay," she said and grabbed his hand, "it's a normal reaction." As she carefully pinched his hand to show she didn't mind, Deyran continued massaging her hand. Slowly they bend over to each other and their lips touched.
Aeryn pulled back at first, but then succumbed to it. Their kisses became more intense and soon Deyran dropped his tools and he and Aeryn shifted to a lying position on top of the crates. Slowly, they kissed with more passion and their hands began to fuss with each others clothing.
By the time they were both undressed, they couldn't stop anymore, not even if they wanted to…
"So what's the big emergency?" Aeryn asked as soon as she stepped off the pad.
"Reiko became ill," Deyran, concern obvious on his face. Even though he was not related to Reiko anymore (the previous host Tymion had been), she did still feel like a sister to him. Aeryn nodded and went to walk out, followed by both men.
"I'll go and have a look in Sickbay. Angel, you'd better get started with repairing Stella, Deyran, you assist." With that, she turned a corner as the men turned the other way.
A few minutes later, Aeryn reached the Sickbay, which was only one deck up. As she entered, she saw Reiko sitting up on a biobed with Leo next to her scanning her.
"What's up?" Aeryn inquired. Leo shook his head.
"I don't know, the scans show nothing out of the ordinary yet she's nauseous, dizzy and has this rash," he said and then, turning back to Reiko he continued, "All I can do is give you something for the itch and nausea, but I'd like you to wear this monitor so I can keep up with you body when… or rather, if it goes haywire again."
"Sure," Reiko said as Leo stuck the device on her upper arm.
"Keep it calm for a while," Leo said as he assisted her down from the bed.
"I sure will," Reiko said as she tried her balance. It seemed okay and she tried a few steps, "I'm still not completely sure about my legs."
"Why don't you go and lie down," Aeryn said to her friend.
"I don't know, I could help in fixing Stella…"
"Reiko, you should really lie down, don't make me make it an order…"
Reiko smiled and hugged her friend, "you don't have to, I'll go."
"I'll walk you there, just in case," Aeryn said as she and Reiko walked out of Sickbay. "Leo," Aeryn called back, "you'd better get down to the Bridge, Spike's alone there an I need to get down to assist with the repairs after I drop Reiko of, two men won't be enough to fix the damage we took. Shields and weapons are down."
"How are we going to stay safe then, without that?"
"I talked to Captain Janeway, we're going to stay with Voyager for a while, at least till we've repaired the damage, they've promised to help and protect us if needed."
"Great," Leo replied as he put away the final instruments and came in their direction, "that'll really help." Aeryn nodded and turned back to Reiko.
"We'll go now, you go to the Bridge." With that, they parted ways as Leo took the first lift up to the Bridge and Aeryn and Reiko took the second one down to Reiko's quarters.
After she had dropped her friend off and had made sure she went to bed, she continued her way down to the lowest deck where the Cargo Bays where. Once there she contacted Angel and they discussed repairs for a while after which she set to work.
After working hard for hours, they rested and went to eat something in the messhall together. Angel, Deyran and Aeryn sat at the table eating as they discussed the repairs.
"It's gonna take at least a month if we're going to fix this with just three people," Angel said as he stretched his shoulders, "If Reiko gets better soon and I pull a few all nighters we might be able to do it in three weeks or so but that's it."
"How many extra hands would you need to fix it in two?" Aeryn asked.
"One person extra if Reiko helps too, if she isn't up to it, two people."
Aeryn nodded, thinking.
"You know what, I'll check up on Reiko later and then I'll contact Voyager to see if they could lend us one or two engineers," she said as she looked at her friends and crew. She smiled at Deyran, who still had 'worried' written all over his face.
"I'm sure Reiko will be fine," she added as she pinched his arm. It had been only a year since Tymion, the previous host of the Yiy symbiont and brother to Reiko, had died and Deyran had subsequently decided to remain onboard the Stella Navis because he felt so connected to all the people on board; especially Reiko, his 'sister' and Aeryn, who had been married to Tymion.
Deyran nodded, "Yeah, she's strong, but I can't help worrying, she's never been sick. Well, except for some children's diseases, but that's all."
Angel smiled at him, compassionate and wicked at the same time, "then let's get back to work, that'll take your mind of things."
Deyran nodded and the three stood up after which both men went back to fixing the damage as Aeryn headed for Reiko's quarters.
Once there she rang the bell and a clear voice from inside said: "Come in." Aeryn smiled, that sounded as the Reiko she knew. She stepped inside and smiled at her friend who was sitting in a comfy chair, reading a book.
"How'ya doing?" Aeryn asked.
Reiko smiled at her, "I'm fine now, I 'm not dizzy and nauseous anymore and it seems as if the rash is disappearing too."
"And walking?"
"Fine, I walked from bed to shower to desk to here and such and no trouble at all."
"Weird," Aeryn said; a little touch of concern nagging at the edge of her mind, "anyway, you take it easy for the rest of the day and if you feel up to it tomorrow you can assist in the repairs. Now, if you excuse me, I've got to contact Voyager and see if they can send a pair of extra hands tomorrow." Reiko nodded.
"Okay, and…," she said and smiled, "don't worry Aeryn, I'm fine, I'd tell you if I were feeling bad." Aeryn nodded and smiled too as she turned around and left and shortly waved before the doors closed again. She headed for her Ready Room and sat down at her desk to contact Voyager.
"…so Captain, to cut to the point, I was wondering if you could lend me an extra pair of engineering hands," Aeryn said, smiling at Janeway on the monitor.
"Sure, that won't be a problem," Janeway said, "I'll send someone over tomorrow at 0800, is that okay?"
"Perfect, thank you very much Captain," Aeryn said and after exchanging some more pleasantries, they cut the connection.
The next morning, Aeryn and Angel were in the Transporter Room at 0800 and Aeryn waited as someone materialized on their transporter pad. When the transport was complete, they saw it was Harry Kim.
"Captain Silverberg…" he said as he stepped off the pad.
"Ensign Kim, welcome aboard," she said as she extended her hand to him, "and please, just call me Aeryn, people only call me Captain at really official things."
Harry smiled and shook her hand, "Alright, Aeryn."
Aeryn then turned and indicated Angel, "You remember Angel…" Harry nodded and shook his hand too.
"Angel is, as you might remember, the Chief Engineer here, he'll put you to work somewhere."
"Okay," Harry said and fastened his grip on the Engineering kit he was carrying.
"Follow me then," Angel said as he led the way out of the Transporter Room. Aeryn walked with them to Engineering when they ran into Spike.
"Hey, Aeryn," he said, "you'd better get up to the Bridge for a sec, I think there's something you wanna see."
"And you came all the way down just to tell me that?" Aeryn asked.
"Hell no," Spike said, "I was on my way to Astro, it's been damaged and I figured I should go and fix it, since it's my specialty."
"Good point," Aeryn said, "Oh, by the way, Spike this is Harry Kim, he's gonna help us repair the damage. Harry, this is Spike, our pilot and Astrometrics Officer."
"Nice to meet you," Harry said, as he slightly enlarged his eyes, obviously he remembered that Spike was a vampire to.
"Okay," Aeryn said, "I need an update, Angel, you and Harry are going down?"
"Yes."
"Where're Deyran and Leo?"
"Deyran's up with Reiko," Spike said, "and Leo's in Sickbay."
"Okay, I'm going up to check on… whatever's there and then I'll switch Leo to Bridge duty and take Reiko down to assist the repair crew if she's ready. If not, I'll take Deyran with me, if she is, Deyran's the replace guy."
"Aye-aye," Angel said and took Harry and Spike with him to the turbolift. Aeryn turned around and took the second lift up.
"So, what's going on around here," Aeryn said as she entered the Bridge where Reiko was standing behind a console and Deyran sat at the helm. They both looked back and smiled at their Captain and friend.
"We found some fluctuations," Reiko said as she tapped a few buttons, "look."
Aeryn studied the console and frowned.
"Hmm…" she said, smoothly slipping from Friend-mode into Captain-mode, "magnify that on screen." She studied the anomaly on screen with a puzzled look.
"Okay, you know I'm all about the weapons," she said, "so what is this?"
Deyran and Reiko exchanged a look.
"I'm not really sure," Reiko said, "it looks like a sort of flux conduit, subharmonic possibly."
"Although it could be a metagenic particle string, the readings are unclear," Deyran added.
"Is it dangerous?" Aeryn asked the standard question.
"We don't think so," Reiko said, "nothing has changed since we discovered it an hour ago and Voyager hasn't said anything about it either and they must have detected it, their sensors are better."
"Very well," Aeryn said, "then I need someone to come down with me and help repairs. Harry Kim has beamed aboard from Voyager and he's helping Angel in Engineering itself, Spike's working in the Astrometrics Lab and I need some help in the Cargo Bays. How are you doing Reiko?"
"I'm fine," she said, "Never been better, it's as if I never were sick at all yesterday, even the rash is gone."
"And the monitor?" Aeryn asked.
"Leo thought it was strange and said I have to wear this till tonight to make sure."
"Okay, I'd like you to stay here for a while and you Deyran come with me to help. In the meantime Reiko, call Leo up here to help on the Bridge, if you need to replace someone, I'll call."
"Sure," Reiko said and called Leo up when the Aeryn and Deyran left.
"Aeryn," Deyran suddenly began, "is something wrong? You've been acting a bit 'out-of-you' the last few days." Aeryn smiled at him and then sighed.
"I figured you'd probably notice," she said, you know me as well as Tymion did and he could always tell when something was bothering me, even when the others, whom I've known almost all my life, don't see it."
"So, what's up then?"
"Tomorrow," she began, "it's exactly a year since Tymion died."
Deyran softly gasped, he should have realized. He pulled Aeryn to him and stopped mid-pace.
"I'm sorry," he said, "I should've realized that."
Aeryn shook her head; "you shouldn't, for you it's the beginning of your new life. I'm just very glad that you're here so I have someone with whom I can really talk about Tymion. You now know him from the inside."
"If you want, we can talk for a bit, the damage to the Cargo Bays isn't that severe, it could wait a little while."
"I'd like that," Aeryn said, nodding, "but we can do both, talk and fix…"
"Sure."
Soon they reached Cargo Bay 2 which was the most damaged one. They took place on a pack of crates conveniently stored underneath the panels they had to work with.
Slowly they removed the panels and began fixing the burnt-out wiring as they began talking, hesitant at first…
"So," Deyran began, "I think you should know, that Tymion… well, you were his everything."
"I know… he didn't really tell me that, but I… I could feel it, here," Aeryn pressed her hand against her heart, "he gave my life meaning; as Immortal, you live on forever and you will always lose people and therefore, Immortals tend to not get too close to mortals. But Tymion made me forget that and I've never regretted it. Even now, after his death."
"Maybe the fact he was joined helped."
"I think it did, because I knew he'd live on, in a way, after he died, I just didn't expect it to be so soon."
"Do you remember," Deyran began, "that time, shortly after you were married when he took you to the hot baths on Risa?"
"Yes," Aeryn laughed, "I'd forgot to tell him that I can't stand heat because I'm half Sebacean and I almost got sick of just being close to the baths."
They continued with the 'Do you remember this' and 'What about that' for about an hour. By then, they had shifted positions and Aeryn and Deyran were working side by side, trying to close a leak. As they finished and Aeryn put her tools down to massage her hand, Deyran looked at her.
"Let me," he said as he expertly rubbed her hand. Do you remember that time when I…" He fell silent and stopped rubbing.
"I-I'm sorry," he said, but Aeryn just smiled.
"It's okay," she said and grabbed his hand, "it's a normal reaction." As she carefully pinched his hand to show she didn't mind, Deyran continued massaging her hand. Slowly they bend over to each other and their lips touched.
Aeryn pulled back at first, but then succumbed to it. Their kisses became more intense and soon Deyran dropped his tools and he and Aeryn shifted to a lying position on top of the crates. Slowly, they kissed with more passion and their hands began to fuss with each others clothing.
By the time they were both undressed, they couldn't stop anymore, not even if they wanted to…