Note: Second chapter for the evening...
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DAY 5 – DRIVE
Chapter 6 – Quiet Concerns
It was still morning but Halling had achieved a great deal before his time to sit with Oneakka. He'd already held two meetings and spent some time in the Generator where he was creating a holographic reconstruction of his fight with the Skerti alien. Along with his and Seeal's recollections, he was incorporating all the scans the recovery teams had taken in the Hive, as well as the latest data from the dissection and analysis of the Skerti' body. Once complete, the re-enactment would provide a valuable resource for the Elite and wider military community to study how the Skerti had behaved, how it moved, attacked, its strengths and weaknesses, and become a thorough three-dimensional report for the official records.
Working as Lead of the Skerti research, his meetings via link this morning had been with Imseti on the Mad Moon, regarding the latest on the dissection, and then with Silvar out in the Arkinian System, who had reported that the specialist team had begun their study of the Skerti drive. Halling had also visited his further team based in a Project Room within the Facility who were assigned the task of studying the different locations where the rogue Hive had appeared within Alliance space, hoping to discover and understand the subspace 'doorways' that Seeal had first suggested as the means the Hive might have used to jump such vast distances.
Everyone was working hard and hopefully a more complete picture would soon start to form. To ensure that information well conveyed, Halling had started preparations for a large conference to eventually present the research to the Military Council, High Council, Fleet Commanders, Planetary military leaders, and all Elite staff. He also hoped to invite Atlantis to attend and Silvar had been very keen that Atlantis' scientific Leads be invited. During her visit to Oneakka yesterday, Halling had discussed the matter with Teyla and she had promised to speak with Colonel Carter about the invitation.
Teyla had looked very well yesterday, her reticent mood since her wedding had lifted and her former self had returned. He still felt rather guilty about the damage he had nearly caused to their long enduring friendship in not having shared Sitayi' prophecy with her and not having been supportive about her closeness with Major Sheppard prior to the wedding. Teyla had, once again, said she had forgiven him and insisted that she understood. Still, he had promised himself to spend more time with her once she returned from her stay in Atlantis later today. That said, the few times they had sat together talking at Oneakka's bedside had already started the reconnecting process.
He had spent considerable time talking with people while sat at Oneakka's bedside these last five days, but he doubted Oneakka could hear anything said since he was so deeply asleep under the effects of his medication. Still, it was important for Halling to sit with Oneakka for at least five or six hours a day, though, on occasions like this morning, he had had to ask Seeal to cover some of his rota. So far, the three of them - him, Seeal and Massa - had managed to ensure that at least one of them was always at Oneakka's side, through the days and nights. It was a little challenging and tiring at times, but Nalla had occasionally helped out where she could around her duties on the docked Sythus, and both Teyla and Si had volunteered to join the rota once they returned from Atlantis. It was all worth it though, for each day Oneakka had slightly more colour to his, admittedly naturally pale, cheeks and his wound was healing well.
Moving through the Surgical Healing Bay, Halling recorded his 'off rotation' status on his pad and slid it under his arm as he approached the open door to Oneakka's room. As was becoming rather common when Seeal sat with Oneakka, the soft sound of music drifted out of the open door.
As he turned into the doorway, he spied Seeal sat in the usual vigil chair on the far side of Oneakka. Today she had two large computer pads in front of her, one set up on the side table beside Oneakka's head, and the other balanced on her lap against the edge of the medical bed.
"Good morning, Seeal," Halling greeted her as he entered.
She looked up from her screens with a wide smile that had also become very commonplace from her these last days, which was pleasing. "It's almost midday meal, Halling," she pointed out.
"It is still morning," he smiled back before turning his attention to Oneakka. "How is he today?"
"Still the same," Seeal reported, though she sounded a little annoyed at the summary.
Healer Meiyo was in fact very pleased with Oneakka's progress. Along with the positive ongoing healing of his wound, Oneakka's blood pressure had stabilised, his life readings were all within reasonable parameters again, and he would occasionally wake up enough to briefly open his eyes. Halling wasn't sure how much Oneakka was aware of when he did that, but it was all normal for Oneakka at this stage in his medication plan.
"That's good," Halling reassured Seeal as he moved around the bed to sit in the seat beside hers.
"Really?" Seeal asked doubtfully over the low music. "Why hasn't he woken up?"
"He usually opens his eyes when they adjust his position or wash him," Halling reminded her.
"Well, I've not seen that," she argued, appearing rather concerned about Oneakka this morning.
"He will wake up properly soon enough," Halling reassured her.
"I see his eyelids flickering a lot," she continued in her assessment as she gestured to Oneakka's face. "So he's probably dreaming."
Halling nodded as he found himself focusing in on Oneakka's eyelids, which were currently still.
"It's because of the medication they have him on," Seeal stated. "I looked up the main painkiller medication he's on and it's the most sedating one used in the Alliance."
Halling glanced round at her. She shouldn't know which precise medication Oneakka was on, since it was confidential personal medical records, but then Seeal was a very resourceful woman.
"How do you know what medication he's being given?" He asked, though he suspected he could already predict the answer, though Oneakka was not going to approve.
She paused before she answered, glancing at him with a slightly sheepish look. "I saw the name of it."
"Did you hack into his medical records?" Halling asked her directly.
"No!" She insisted immediately. "I looked over a Healer's shoulder at his pad when he assessed Oneakka this morning."
That was a far more understandable explanation and meant she continued to keep to her promise not to hack into any Elite computer system. Halling had fortunately been wrong in his theory.
With a sudden flourish, Seeal held up one of her electronic pads in front of his face. "See," she stated from behind the screen. "This is the medication he's on."
The display showed the full technical details of the healing sedative, which was obviously not a surprise to him, but clearly Seeal didn't approve of it.
"You Elite use this drug to sedate Wraith! No wonder he's still drugged out," she complained as she lowered the pad.
For some reason, Halling was finding her response oddly amusing and had to focus on setting his own pad down against the leg of his chair to control himself from smiling at her. Perhaps it was the fact that he couldn't recall anyone being so concerned over Oneakka being asleep before, but then he supposed it was time to explain the truth to her. He couldn't foresee Oneakka being upset about it, though, of course, it would be too late to take it back if he did. Still, if Seeal was going to stay on the vigil rota, it was probably good that she know about the medications.
"The reason he is being given such heavily sedating pain-killing medication is because that is what he prefers," Halling started to explain. "At least for this stage of his recovery."
"What?" Seeal asked with a heavy frown.
"As Elite warriors, we sustain injuries frequently enough that over the years we build up a picture of which medications work the best for us, or which do not agree with us, so all Elite establish their own medication plans," Halling explained.
"Elite choose their meds rather than the actual trained Healers?" Seeal asked.
"We establish the plans with agreement with our personal Healers, and there is always the stipulation that the Healers can amend the plan if required. And the plans often change as new medications are introduced. Oneakka's plan starts with heavily sedating medication because that's what he wants for the initial stages of his recovery."
"He wants to be this sedated?" Seeal pulled a disbelieving face.
"For the first initial days, yes," Halling confirmed.
"Why?" Seeal asked.
He paused for a moment, enjoying the opportunity to share his standard explanation of an injured Oneakka with somebody new. "Have you heard of the Cuddly Bears of Moor?" He asked her.
Seeal blinked with confused surprise. "No."
"They're two-legged, small fluffy creatures that live on the edge of the forests on an allied Athosian world. They're famous for their comfort with Humans, approaching people and sitting with them like pets rather than the wild animals that they are. Hundreds of people now take their families to the outskirts of the Moor forests to sit and eat picnics there every day. The Cuddly Bears come out of the forest and sit with them, let children climb over them and get to share some of the food. They're patient, sweet, and literally cuddly."
"I'm not quite seeing the link to Oneakka here," Seeal noted with bemusement.
"I'm getting there," Halling replied with a smile. "These bears are loyal and sweet...unless they are injured. Then they keep their distance and hide in the forest, which is fine until someone might get too close. If that happens, an injured Cuddly Bear of Moor becomes vicious and highly aggressive."
"Oh," Seeal uttered thoughtfully.
"Oneakka becomes very difficult and grumpy when he's injured," Halling concluded.
"How is that any different to normal?" Seeal joked, but he could tell that she understood. "So he gets himself sedated initially so he can stand being stuck in a hospital bed?"
Halling nodded. "Be warned though, the grump lasts beyond the hospital bed through all of his recovery. He hates being restricted by injury."
"Because he feels vulnerable," Seeal interpreted.
"And impatient to get back to the fight," Halling agreed.
Seeal rolled her eyes and shook her head. "And he convinces the Healers to let him do this?"
"From their point-of-view it allows some time for his body get a good start on healing before he wakes up fully and wants to start moving around too much," Halling explained further.
"He's been impaled by a Wraith Hive," Seeal gestured to Oneakka. "He can't move around."
Halling understood her reasoning, but he'd seen Oneakka through far too many injuries. "At first maybe, but you'll see. He heals quickly."
"Not from this," Seeal muttered.
"Considering how far he likely fell and that he could have fallen onto that piece of Hive in any manner of ways, the location of his injury was actually very lucky. He hasn't damaged any vital organs and he was fortunate not to have severed a major blood vessel," Halling repeated part of Meiyo's report.
Most of the internal damage had been to Oneakka's bowel, but the surgeons had been able to stitch it back together with only a relatively small section of the large organ lost. It was unlikely to impact his life at all going forward, and it was more likely going to be the extensive muscular damage that would require longer rehab. Though, Meiyo was still a little concerned about Oneakka's spine. It was possible that one side of Oneakka's lower spine had sustained some damage as the scans weren't clear due to the large amount of internal inflammation clouding the picture. Tests of Oneakka's legs suggested he still had reflex responses, but it was only once he was awake and could respond to questions could they be certain his spine was intact.
Scans of his brain were still normal, but again it would only be once he was awake that they would know if he had suffered any other symptoms, such as memory loss or confusion. The longer Oneakka was sedated the longer they had to wait to find out, but it was also useful time for his body. By sedating himself with the strongest painkillers, Oneakka was giving his body the time his mind would not allow it, and also took some of the pressure off the Healers who had to deal with Oneakka's grumpy poor patient attitude.
"The heavy sedation helps him, but the dosage is gradually reduced, so he is likely to wake up soon," Halling assured Seeal.
She frowned and considered Oneakka's sleeping face in silence.
The background music from Seeal's computer pad died away and a new piece started up. Halling frowned at the strange sounds pouring out of the speakers.
"I do not recognise this music," he asked Seeal as a male voice started singing over unusual instrumental sounds.
"It's from Earth," she explained as she finally looked away from Oneakka and lifted the pad playing the music. Halling considered the long list of music displayed on the screen.
Oneakka's gift to her, obtained from Sheppard.
Halling focused on the highlighted song name that was playing.
"What does "Heaven is a Halfpipe" mean?" He asked.
"I have no idea," Seeal confessed. "I've got loads of questions for Sheppard the next time I see him."
Halling considered the other song names listed below. "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves?" He read out one, wondering if the translation was accurate. "It's not Unusual. You're so Vain?"
"It's all really good," Seeal assured him as she tapped another song on the list entitled "I've got you under my skin". "Listen to this man's voice."
The new piece started up with a cheerful catchy rhythm before a deep smooth male voice started up. Halling smiled at the nice regular beat and soothing rising and lowering of the male voice. One of Seeal's knees was already bouncing in time with the music.
"How is the Skerti fight simulation going?" She asked as she scrolled down through the list of songs for him to see.
"I believe it is complete," he replied as he reached in and tapped one song entitled "Faith". "If you have time, please take another look at it for me, check that it still matches your memory of what you saw," he asked as the new music started.
"I'll do it now before I go visit the goat," she agreed, though she didn't move to leave her seat yet. He didn't mind. They had done this occasionally over the last few days, hung on after a shift to talk together and discuss Oneakka and the Skerti research.
"The goat is still pregnant, I assume," he asked as he reached out and tapped another song entitled "Respect". A sudden loud and engulfing piece of music started up, a strong female voice arriving, full of power and volume.
"Ridiculously so," Seeal replied. "I don't know how she can walk. She's keeping to her hut area for the first time ever, so it could be any day now."
Halling decided he'd go see the creature later, since Oneakka couldn't visit his pet, he'd go in Oneakka's place.
On the pad's screen, Halling watched Seeal scroll down the long list of Earth music on the computer screen and tapped on a new song entitled "Stand By Me". Halling nodded along with the slow and steady music, the words sung feeling oddly apt while sat beside Oneakka.
He wondered if Oneakka would appreciate Seeal's dedication these last days sat by his side. Even if he was grateful, experience told Halling that Oneakka would probably say something wrong when his usual injury grump would arrive. Oneakka had never been very good at accepting when he was weak, when he was vulnerable as Seeal had accurately termed it. Still, Halling hoped that Oneakka would appreciate Seeal's presence, regardless as to what might happen later.
He was still undecided whether to say something to Seeal about Oneakka's past history of causing heartbreak. He wasn't sure it was his place, and, for all he knew, perhaps Seeal had left her own trail of heartbreak in her wake. He knew little about her personal life and wasn't entirely sure yet if their new friendship allowed such questions.
The gentle song drew to a close and another began, this one loud and dramatic. Halling lowered his eyes to the list and found the title - "Danger Zone" – which seemed oddly apt for when Oneakka finally woke up properly and 'the grump' arrived.
Feeling Seeal's attention, Halling looked up from the pad to find her looking at him thoughtfully.
"Is it weird for you?" She asked, the question surprising him. "Seeing yourself fighting that Skerti again in the simulation? Seeing it from the outside?"
"Though the Generator tech is still relatively new, it has become standard enough practice to replicate important battles to assess strategy and study an enemy's behaviour," he replied. "I am somewhat used to seeing myself in them."
"That creature nearly killed you," Seeal pushed. "That can't be easy to watch through over and over again."
Against his wishes, he shifted slightly in his seat, though he adjusted his jacket so as give himself an apparent reason for moving. "It is useful for me to watch it," he replied.
However, the truth was that it was rather difficult. It hadn't been at first when he had started constructing the re-enactment, but as he'd added more detail and rendered the simulation more completely, it had started to feel all too real. It could never be exactly the same as what he and Seeal had seen, but it was disturbingly close.
He made himself look back at Seeal, only to again find her dark and overly intense gaze fixed on him. She had a deeply penetrative gaze that only a week ago he had found aggressive and invasive. Now he understood it was simply her way and her scrutiny wasn't intended to be disrespectful. She reminded him rather of Oneakka when she looked at him this way, both of them having the ability to stare with such force that it was practically a weapon. Today though, Halling made himself look back at her, facing not just her assessment, but also the fact that watching that Skerti try to murder him really did bring back so many dark thoughts. More than once he'd stopped the simulation midway through, just to prove to himself that it wasn't real.
"Your words say its fine, but your eyes say different," Seeal stated.
He finally allowed himself to look away from her, the Earth song having finished and easing into the next. "A valid assessment," he admitted. "But it is necessary and helpful to watch the fight, see how she moved, the strategies she used, at least as best we both can recall."
He glanced down at the song list as a new cheerful piece began to play, Seeal's finger lifting from having selected it.
"Seemed appropriate," she shrugged.
He smiled down at the song name: "Stayin' Alive".
It was a good piece of music with a good name. Seeal was right, the Earth music was very interesting, and there was certainly plenty in the list for her to play to Oneakka as he slept. Perhaps the variety and novelty of the alien music really would help Oneakka wake up faster.
"Honoured Elite Nalla visited again," Seeal reported.
"She said she was going to visit Oneakka early today," he replied, having grown rather used to Seeal's frequent jumps of subject matter during a conversation.
"She did that annoying smiling thing again," Seeal added.
Halling frowned at her, uncertain what she meant by that. "What smiling thing?"
"At Oneakka," Seeal explained. "She leant over him and started smiling."
Halling wasn't sure why that was a bad thing. Clearly he was missing something.
"She did the same thing yesterday. She visits, says hello to him, leans over him slightly and then just smiles."
He wasn't entirely sure he understood why that irritated Seeal, unless it was because of jealousy?
"So today," Seeal continued, "I told her that actually we're all very worried that he hasn't woken up yet."
He held back any comment on that, since it was actually only Seeal that was so worried.
"I see," he replied simply, letting her talk through what she wanted.
The reason for Nalla's smile was most likely because she was reading Oneakka's emotions and was simply pleased at his recovery and sleeping state. If Nalla had been smiling each time she visited, then Halling considered that very reassuring evidence that Oneakka wasn't in any distress.
"She said he's contented," Seeal reported.
"Contented?" Halling repeated the word with no small amount of surprise.
"That was my reaction too," Seeal nodded emphatically.
There were many words that Halling and others had used to describe Oneakka – brave, strong, difficult, resilient, stubborn, and intelligent - but 'contented' had never been among them.
Halling considered Oneakka's relaxed features again, finding himself looking for signs of contentment in Oneakka's face. Of course there were no such expressions, Oneakka was far too deeply unconscious to show anything like that, but the suggestion that Oneakka was feeling that way...it rather comforted Halling, as the description from Nalla had perhaps been intended to comfort Seeal's concern.
"It must be the drugs he's on," Seeal concluded.
That was possibly true. Contentment was certainly not a standard emotion for Oneakka, but if he was feeling that way now, then Halling was more than happy for Oneakka to sleep on a little longer.
To enjoy the contentment while he could.
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TBC