DAY 19 – Briefing
Chapter 21 – Sensitive Subjects
Seeal had been looking forward to the whole big Skerti briefing, being a part of something new and interesting again outside of the Facility, and the event had not disappointed.
She'd been surprised when Halling had first told her she was invited, as she'd only been a small part of his research team into the Skerti, mostly digging through ten years of scan data from Dreamstation's database and she hadn't found anything useful so far; of course, neither had the rest of the research team. Before the appearance of the Seed Ship, the bloody Slug Robots, and now the Queen Skerti on the Rogue Hive, there wasn't a single, even vague clue anywhere about the Skerti.
Still, the Elite's resident science geniuses had found out a hell of a lot studying the new drive tech and the Skerti body, and though Seeal was mostly up-to-date on the research, there had still been some brand new nuggets of latest intel that had been presented. Though, actually the most interesting part of the day had come from Sheppard and his people. Outside of the big revelation that they had stories of something like the Skerti back on their homeworld, she'd had the chance to meet two more of Sheppard's people. That they were both non-military had been particularly interesting, providing further insight into Earth culture and society. The Healer, Dr Beckett, had appeared a standard kind of Healer type: kind, caring, and a good communicator. However, his severe burns and arm injury had apparently been caused by his being up close to an explosive device, which didn't sound like standard Healer work. She'd not pushed for more information though, since it wasn't her business and his injuries were clearly a very sensitive subject for the kind man.
Dr McKay had been a far more familiar type of person: intensely intelligent but lacking some social skills. Still, the bond between the three men had been obvious and no different from what she'd seen elsewhere, which added more evidence that Sheppard's people really were the same as people from this galaxy. Fellow Children of the Ancestors, as she'd heard them described by pro-Atlantis groups on the newsfeeds.
However, it had been the big revelation that had made the real mark. About halfway through the briefing on the Skerti body, Sheppard and his people had begun whispering feverishly between them, causing an amusing scene in the middle of the auditorium. Once the official briefings were over, Seeal had stuck close to Sheppard for the rest of the day and had listened firsthand to the man's stories of mythological creatures on Earth that sounded dramatically similar to the Skerti.
The stories had certainly galvanised Halling and he'd not stopped talking about it on the way back from the briefing. Seeal and Massa had already heard it all, but they'd let Halling chatter on, the man clearly excited to have a found an actual possible lead at last. Of course they were just stories from Earth, which Sheppard had emphasised, but apparently the Ancestors that had fled to his world had left behind important stories before as clues, including the existence of Atlantis that had led Sheppard and his people to find this galaxy. Seeal had seen myths come true all too clearly in her own life, and could still vividly remember that fateful night on the Glisi planet when the Wraith had arrived and all the fear-filled stories and warnings she'd heard through her first seven yearly cycles about monsters that would kill her had suddenly been real and towering over her. So, she had no problem with believing there were truths behind stories, after all she currently lived surrounded by legendary Elite who she'd seen do unbelievably impressive things.
She just hoped that Sheppard's promise to supply the Elite with every detail he could on the mythological 'vampires' would actually bear fruit. Halling certainly thought so, and the second the three of them had stepped off the transport craft and back into the Facility this evening, Halling had rushed off to go brief Oneakka on what they'd found out. Massa had disappeared equally as quickly, heading off to retrieve Aki from his caregivers, which had left Seeal by herself with nothing to do for the rest of the evening.
Except read the crazy number of text link messages her small pad in her pocket had abruptly started delivering as it synched back in with the Facility's computer systems. She skimmed through the first messages as she wandered through the corridors towards the Hydroponics Bay to visit the goats, but all the text links seemed the same; her project team sharing ideas back and forth, then a load to her about the live feed from the briefing. Apparently many of her team were shocked to have seen her appearance in the re-enactment and felt the need to tell her as much. She'd hardly kept it a secret that she'd been involved in the battle and been on the Rogue Hive, but clearly no one had realised how close to the Skerti she'd gotten. She'd even had a message from Madesh, also seeming shocked at her part, and almost worried about her. She had no idea why he needed to be, she'd told him the story and clearly the whole thing was in the past.
She put the pad away, which was still updating with messages now from the Skerti research team, all clearly as excited as Halling was about the new vampire angle. She was off rotation now and feeling pretty tired from the day, so it all felt a bit much. She'd prefer some time with the goats rather talking more about the Skerti. She'd had a whole day of that.
As she headed up the grassy incline towards the goat hut, she could see Neligan working just inside the little enclosure around Belka's home, clearly mucking out the hut. She'd actually prefer not having to make any more small talk today, but that wasn't too much of a problem as the goatlings had noticed her and little Splodge was leading the charge down the slope towards her.
Grinning at the little goat's pleasure at seeing her, Seeal sat down on the grass as Splodge launched up onto her lap. The rest of the goatlings arrived a second later, dancing round her, jumping up and off her knees and one leaping up against her back. She laughed happily as she tried to stroke as many wriggling moving goat backs as she could. They quickly lost interest in saying hello though and began chasing each other again, turning circles around her, but little Splodge stayed on Seeal's lap. Seeal stroked the little goatling's head and scratched her cute tiny little cheeks. Splodge leaned into the loving attention, but Seeal could tell she wasn't going to settle down for a cuddle this evening, Splodge still too full of energy to nap just yet. Which wasn't that far from how Seeal was feeling. She wasn't entirely certain what time of the evening it was here in the Facility, but finding out would require her to pull her pad out of her back pocket and she was busy ignoring the frequent buzzing updates of more messages going back and forth. That was tomorrow's problem to deal with. For now, she just wanted to sit quietly with the goats.
She was actually feeling pretty beat. Today had taken more out of her than made sense. She'd been a bit cautious at first at the briefing, which had been full of the Alliance's top military leaders alongside the top science brains. She'd expected that a large portion of them would know who she was and that she might face some judgemental looks and even some confrontations. Except there had been none. Not even from Oneakka's Satedan friend, Dex. He'd hardly hidden his distrust in her before now, and she'd prepared herself as she'd spotted him across the auditorium's floor. Except the muscular Satedan had simply met her gaze and given her a small nod. That was practically a hug from a Satedan! Well, maybe not a hug, but it was surprisingly close to acceptance.
Though, thinking about it now, she realised that he had been one of the visitors to Oneakka's bedside on that horrible night when they had all thought Oneakka was going to die. She'd not paid any attention to the Satedan that night, or any of the myriad of mourners that had turned up to whisper their goodbyes to Oneakka's still form, but she did remember seeing Dex. And she was pretty sure that she'd seen his name on the lists of visitors to see Oneakka since. So, maybe his acceptance was because she had helped save Oneakka. That was the kind of thing that Satedans did take seriously, so that probably explained it.
Still, she was a little surprised that no one else had given her even a warning glare. She'd been just a face among a sea of people and hardly important considering the focus of the briefing, and apparently she wasn't considered a threat anymore.
It wasn't like anonymity was new to her; she'd actively cultivated it when living on the streets and when sneaking onto planets and space-stations over the years. Still, it had been the first time she'd been anywhere in the Alliance for awhile now that didn't involve someone at least making themselves know to her as security keeping a close eye on her. When she visited any marketing stations there was always a member of security very obviously following her, and she had no doubt that her movements were always monitored by unseen security. In clubs and bars, even when with staff from the Sythus, someone was always noticeably watching her. Today though, she'd been...accepted and ignored. It had been nice but also a little unnerving too. Like here, no one watched her anymore. Even Maja, the distrusting Joint Security Lead of the Facility appeared to have lost interest in watching her, at least actively. Seeal suspected they were still monitoring her computer activity as that would be smart given her history, or maybe not. Maybe she just wasn't interesting to anyone anymore.
It was just another example of how much her life had changed and continued to change.
Like her not having hacked into anything in a long time. When she easily could. Especially if she wanted to find about Oneakka's secret female, Pampata. But she hadn't.
Though at the briefing, she'd caught herself keeping an eye out in case Pampata might be there. She was apparently a military engineer according to her Beacon's login from the day she visited Oneakka, so Seeal had kind of wondered if she might appear today. She hadn't been at the briefing though, which probably made sense, but Seeal had still caught herself repeatedly scanning the sea of faces in the auditorium.
Splodge abruptly jumped off Seeal's lap and raced off to headbutt one of her brothers. It was the latest part of the goats' development apparently; their little horn buds starting to grow. Seeal watched as the two goatlings jumped and butted heads, wondering how it couldn't hurt them, but she guessed their skulls were designed for it.
Another vibration from her back pocket announced more messages. She rolled her eyes at the annoying announcements. Maybe she should just go back to her quarters for the rest of the evening, do some reading or something. It felt strange to have an evening without her usual scheduled time to sit with Oneakka, but Halling had taken that slot today so he could discuss the briefing with Oneakka. She was oddly used to her daily Oneakka-time and felt a little adrift without it.
She considered maybe going to work out in one of the gyms, since she'd missed her usual session today, but she felt too tired for that. She'd been pretty busy for weeks now, her time dividend up between the project work, breaks with the goats or in the gym, and then the evenings sat with Oneakka. Her days were normally packed full, and empty time now made her feel oddly tired. Maybe she should go to bed early, snuggle up with some reading, then get a long night's sleep in. The idea felt good, since the gorgeously comfortable Elite mattresses were a thing of absolute beauty.
A noise from up the slope was the sound of Belka's food bucket being put out for her and Seeal watched as the goatlings all raced up towards their mother, who already had her head in the bucket. For some reason the baby goats felt the need to join in, even though they weren't on solid food yet.
Left alone on the grass, Seeal contemplated going up to help Neligan, but even that seemed a bit too much right now. An evening alone was clearly the right thing given her mood. It wouldn't be too long until she would have to get used to more evenings alone, since it had been obvious from the briefing that the Sythus was going to be repaired and back in service as soon as was possible. Madesh and Ru had suggested as much, that there was probably only a month or so left until it was back in service, and clearly the ship was going to be needed in the search, and likely fight, against the Skerti. Which would take her fellow 'Strays' off into battle, probably Halling too, and she'd be left behind. Of course, Oneakka clearly wasn't going to be well enough to rejoin his ship for that mission, but, if the speed of his recovery was anything to go by, it wouldn't be too long before he was back on rotation and trying to get himself killed again.
Then, once the computer project was complete, she was going to have to leave the Facility and make some real decisions about her future. She had her clean record in the Alliance, so it wasn't like it was going to be a dangerous decision for her to make, but it was starting to feel like it was growing closer. And when it did, her friends on the Sythus and here in the Facility weren't going to be part of her life anymore. She wouldn't be privy to all the restricted intel she was currently able to know about.
And she definitely wasn't going to be able to sit with Oneakka every evening for much longer.
She idly wondered if Atlantis might be looking for a coding and security expert, but then it sounded like, from the few stories she'd heard from Sheppard and Elite Emmagan, life in Atlantis was far from safe and predictable. If a bomb could explode in the face of one of their top Healers and Sheppard easily kidnapped by Kolya, it didn't bode well for safety. No, she'd forged herself a safe place in the Alliance with her clean record, so she wasn't about to throw that away. Even if she had no idea what she was going to do with it.
Definitely not working on Mil Hub station though, of that she was absolutely certain. Wherever she ended up, she wasn't going to share a station with Oneakka's curvaceous female. She didn't need to accidently see the two of them together. Not that it bothered her, it was good that Oneakka had a female, though Seeal was still a little annoyed that the woman had shown little interest in actually being around to help Oneakka. Seeal had been by his side every day, helping him to stand up and take painful limping steps. Because that was what a friend did, someone who cared. Not just watch from a distance and wait for him to get better.
Though, maybe that was Oneakka's decision, since he was clearly all sensitive about his privacy, keeping his lover secret. Well, secret from her at least. She kept waiting for him to say something, or make some slipup that she could use to casually mention that she already knew about Pampata and make it obvious that it didn't matter to her. Of course, such subtlety was probably impossible with Oneakka right now as he was still in the thick of his Cuddly Bear of Moor grumpiness. She'd been able to see him very briefly this morning before they'd all left for the briefing and it had been clear that he'd not been happy that he was being left behind. She'd promised him that she'd pay close attention to everything and would relay everything back to him, but he'd simply replied that the briefing was recorded so he'd find out that way. She'd only been trying to lift his spirits, but such a thing was pretty difficult with Oneakka lately.
Still, his recovery was pretty impressive. Grumpy though he was and clearly still in pain, he was making amazing progress. He could stand by himself, albeit with a supportive hand on his elbow, and he was starting to put some weight back on. He'd noticeably gotten thinner from his injury, but he was starting to eat a little more and Halling was helping him with a physical therapist each day. He was clearly doing well, but it was going to take time. Considering that most people impaled through would probably have died where they'd fallen, and that he'd crawled his way up out of a pit and down a long corridor, bleeding out as he went, and had survived was something of a miracle. She'd seen one of his initial scans over Meiyo's shoulder – completely by accident – and it was pretty obvious that he'd been very lucky. The thing that had impaled him had missed his spine and major blood vessels by a bare inch or so. She'd reminded him of that a lot recently, that he was lucky to be alive, but he usually just grumbled something incoherent.
She did feel sorry for him, stuck in bed and in pain. The latest batch of his medication was clearly making him a little dopey at times and it obviously annoyed him. She'd learnt not to point out if he'd misheard something as he'd only snap back at her. Still, him snapping and being difficult was far easier to deal with than the forlorn looks from a week ago. At least now she didn't feel the compulsion to stroke his growing hair and tell him he was going to be fine. No, now the compulsion was to tell him to behave himself and not snap at people, which was at least a compulsion she could allow and did frequently.
She wondered if he was snapping at Halling this evening, annoyed still that he'd missed out on the revelation from Sheppard. Maybe she should just pop by before she turned in, check he was okay and that he wasn't giving Halling a hard time.
That sounded like a good plan, so she pushed up from the grass, gave Neligan a brief wave, and headed back down the slope.
Her pad was vibrating with message announcements again as she headed through the Facility, but she continued to ignore it. If anything was urgent it would do the double buzz, so she just focused on deciding what she could read when she had her nice early night on her squishy mattress. Maybe she could even drop by the canteen after checking on Oneakka, see if they had any sweet treats left. It had been a long day after all, she deserved a little treat.
Pleased with the decision, she entered the open doorway of the surgical part of the Healing Bay. It was pretty quiet this evening, with just one Recruit sat to one side, a Healer talking him through how to care for his obviously repaired broken arm. Honestly, Seeal had never seen so many broken limbs and noses as in this Facility. She'd thought the frequent brawls on Dream had been excessive, but it seemed that the Recruits hurt themselves almost constantly. If the stories Oneakka had told her of his youthful fights and training as Recruit was anything to go by, she guessed it made sense to see so many injuries. Still, she couldn't imagine many other military bases had such a big and active Healing Bay as this place.
She decided to ask Oneakka about that tomorrow evening when she got to sit with him alone again. Mentally noting that, she turned into Oneakka's doorway, only to pull up short. The bed was empty, stripped of any bedding and the side tables were bare of Oneakka's stacks of gifted books.
A sharp cold crush hit her chest. Had something happened to him?
But he'd been getting better!
Her pad.
She grabbed towards her back pocket, cursing herself for ignoring all the buzzing that surely had been messages to her about-
"Hello," a voice suddenly called from the corridor outside and Seeal spun round to see a Healer jogging towards her. "I meant to catch you when you arrived, apologies," the woman said slightly breathless, but she was smiling. Okay, that couldn't mean bad news. Seeal's entire stomach and heart unclenched, and she could finally draw in a breath again.
They must have just moved him to another room.
"Where is he?" Seeal asked, shaking off the cold spell and racing heart rate.
"He self-discharged back to his quarters a few hours ago," the woman explained.
Seeal blinked at the unexpected news. "He did what?" She asked a little louder than she intended. "He can barely stand up by himself," she argued, her former fear morphing into disbelief. She had finally pulled her pad out of her pocket and dropped her eyes to the screen. Yep, there were a load of messages from Halling and Massa about the oaf's stupid decision. Apparently Halling was in Oneakka's room with him and Massa was heading there now.
"Healer Meiyo feels he is well enough to return to his own quarters," the Healer supplied through Seeal's speed reading.
"Well, we'll see about that," Seeal stated as she moved around the Healer and started down the corridor, only to realise that she was probably being rude. "Thank you," she added over her shoulder to the Healer and returned her attention to reading the messages as she rushed out of the Healing Bay.
Stupid male, he needed proper medical care on hand near him. Judging by the messages, Halling and Massa agreed with her, but the tone of their text links suggested there wasn't much to be done about it. She typed a quick message to them that she was on her way as she stormed through the Facility.
After turning a corner she looked up from the pad and glanced around with a frown, reorienting herself. She'd only gone to Oneakka's quarters once or twice to retrieve things for him while he was stuck in the Healing Bay, and the Elite habitation area was hardly her usual territory. Realising she'd made a wrong turn somewhere, she backtracked up the white corridor and took another turn; yes, this looked more familiar.
Her pad vibrated and she looked down to see Halling had messaged her that he'd added her Beacon identification to Oneakka's quarters' door so she could enter for her visits. She was damn well doing to visit Oneakka right now and let him know her opinion.
Why he did always have to be so unpredictably difficult?
Finally she reached the correct corridor, Oneakka's quarters at the very end. She shoved her pad back into her pocket and strode up to his door, waved her wrist over the control panel's sensor and the door slid open to reveal a very busy room inside.
"...it will be fine," Elite Nalla was saying as Seeal stepped into the room.
Oneakka's bed was in its usual place, set in the middle of the white room, Elite Nalla was sat in a chair to the left of his bed, Healer Meiyo close to her, while Massa was stood to Seeal's immediate left and Halling to the right. And in the middle, enthroned on his bed, sat Oneakka, hands clasped on his lap and looking very pleased with himself.
Seeal stopped at the foot of his bed and glared down at him. "What are you doing in here?" She demanded.
Oneakka's blue eyes held hers with clear triumph. "Sitting comfortably," he answered with a stubborn smugness that she'd not seen since before his injury.
It looked like the head of his bed had been built up with a wedge and there were at least four pillows supporting his head and upper back. The Healing Bay white shirts were gone and he was dressed in one of his own long-sleeved blue shirts. His colourful patterned bedding that she'd seen in here before had been replaced with new deep purple bedding and there was a dark blue blanket across the lower part of his bed, no doubt keeping his legs warm under the duvet. To the side there was one of the tables from the Healing Bay that could be slid over his bed to use, and, on his beside tables, she spied the stacks of gifted books and an empty plate of food. Clearly he'd been here awhile, had settled back into his home and did, indeed, look pretty comfortable.
"You should be in the Healing Bay," she told him.
"I'm well enough to be here," he replied instantly, "in my own room with my own things."
She could tell that he'd not had his evening dose of his latest medications yet, because the sleepy edge that sometimes meant he struggled to express himself was absent and he looked intent and focused.
She obvious hit her; he'd planned this. He'd waited until her, Halling and Massa had left for the briefing. Somehow he'd convinced the Healers to let him back here and now he was all settled in and there was nothing they could do about it. Clearly the meds weren't dulling his brain as much as she'd thought. This was very him: strategic and decisive. And he'd kept it secret, like he did his lovers.
"Honoured Elite Oneakka should be fine in here," Healer Meiyo stepped into view on the left and Seeal glared around at the older woman. "We have provided everything he needs and will be on call for him at all times."
"He just recovered from a fever two days ago," Seeal pointed out to the Healer.
"It was a very mild fever that passed," Meiyo replied in that calm unflappable manner that all the Healers seemed to have here. "We are monitoring him closely and he has promised that one of you will be sat with him around the clock," the Healer switched her gaze across to Halling stood on the right side of Oneakka's bed, and there had been just enough of a question in her voice for it to be clear that she was checking if Oneakka's 'promise' was true.
"We will be here with him," Halling promised instantly, of course immediately bowing to Oneakka's will. "My concern is his medication."
Seeal switched her attention back to Oneakka, who was glancing from Meiyo to Halling with faint interest, clearly uncaring about their debates; he'd gotten what he wanted. He sensed her attention and met her eyes. Oh yes, he was very pleased with himself and there was just a touch of challenge in his look. Some days it was obvious that he was spoiling for an argument with someone, and she had allowed him to bait her into them because, unlike the others, she wasn't going to bow to his stubborn annoyance and let him get away with whatever he wanted. Plus it was a way for him to offload his frustrations without hurting anyone else's feelings.
"We will supply the medication in batches to cover each day," Meiyo answered Halling's point.
"It's not the supplying, it's the taking the medication that's the issue," Massa stated from the left.
Seeal broke her eyes away from Oneakka's smugness to consider Massa's point, only she found herself looking at little Aki' face. The babe was fast asleep on his father's shoulder, his face turned towards her, his little cheek plumped up against the white blanket draped over Massa's shoulder that was clearly unable to absorb all of the dribble trickling out of Aki's mouth. Seeal forced her eyes away from the cute baby to Massa's profile.
"I'm taking the medication," Oneakka insisted from his bed. "It's my medication plan."
Seeal saw Massa frown suspiciously at Oneakka.
"Does he normally do this?" She asked Massa. "Leave the Healing Bay too early?"
Massa nodded as he looked round at her. "Every damn time."
"He hasn't been impaled by a Hive ship before," she pointed out the obvious as she gestured towards Oneakka and looked back to Meiyo. Surely the Healer couldn't really think this was a good idea. Had Oneakka threatened her? Maybe tried to break himself out of the Healing Bay so she'd just caved to what he wanted?
"It wasn't a whole Hive ship," Oneakka interrupted with clear annoyance. Seeal ignored him and kept her attention on Meiyo.
"In truth," Meiyo said, "being in one's own surroundings has been shown to aid recovery, and Honoured Elite Oneakka had promised that he will keep to his medication plan and the physical therapist will still visit him twice a day every day. One of you will be with him too," Meiyo looked to Halling and Massa, "and I will be visiting each day."
Oh great, Oneakka had won her over somehow.
"He truly does believe this will help him," Elite Nalla added from her chair next to Oneakka. It seemed he'd formed a support group while they'd been away from the Facility, which was again a good strategic move on his part. Especially winning over the Pelydrian.
Seeal frowned at Elite Nalla, who again had that annoying weird calm smile on her face. The female was an empath not able to read minds, so it surely was easy enough for Oneakka to convince her with his confidence in his plan. Confidence was hardly in short supply for Oneakka.
"As long as you continue to improve as you've done," Meiyo was saying down to him, "then you can stay here."
"Thank you, Meiyo," Oneakka smiled up at the Healer, suddenly all sweet and polite. Charming even. Seeal narrowed her eyes at him; charm was a weapon she rarely saw him deploy, but he'd used in on her once before when he'd given her the Earth music. It was a seriously dangerous weapon that stupid handsome smile of his. Smug arrogant oaf.
"I will visit you tomorrow morning," Meiyo smiled back at him before turning away, about to leave.
"He should be fine," Meiyo declared to the rest of them as she headed towards the door. "Don't worry," Meiyo added as she passed Seeal and the Healer patted Seeal's elbow.
Shocked at the sudden touch, Seeal frowned down at her own elbow. Why had the older woman touched her arm and no one else's? It had been like a comforting reassuring thing. She turned towards the leaving Meiyo, but the Healer was already disappearing from view and the door shut behind her. What had that been about?
Frowning back round to Oneakka, Seeal saw Elite Nalla glance away quickly.
"I will need to draw up a new rota for us," Halling stated, and Seeal shifted her suspicious attention away from Nalla and onto the tall Athosian. "You will need one of us with you through the nights now as well," Halling said to Oneakka.
"I don't need someone with me all the time," Oneakka argued, unsurprisingly. The charming side of him had vanished now Meiyo had left. Now he had gotten his way, well he wasn't going to get it all his way.
"You can barely stand up without help," Seeal reminded him forcefully. "How are you going to get to the bathroom?" She demanded. Admittedly, his bathroom door was far closer to him here than the one in the Healing Bay, which had been a short painful limping walk across the corridor, but still.
"Halling or Massa can help me," Oneakka replied.
She frowned at that, his excluding her obvious. "Why can't I help you?" She demanded. She'd helped him across the corridor at the Bay the last few days, though admittedly a Healer had gone into the bathroom with him.
"Only them," Oneakka answered with a dark frown as he crossed his arms.
"It's right there," she pointed to the bathroom door barely five paces from the side of his bed. "So if I'm here and you need the bathroom I have to call one of them in here to help you move a metre past when I'll be sitting?" What stupidness was this?
"We're happy to help him," Massa interjected.
She started to argue that, but then the obvious hit her. He only wanted a male to help him. So this was his big privacy issue again, or maybe it was something more specific.
"Is this a penis thing?" She asked Oneakka directly. "Do you have some sort of deformity or battle injury you're worried about me seeing? Because you don't need to worry about that."
Massa spluttered a loud cough that was clearly designed to cover a laugh, but Seeal kept her eyes on Oneakka, who was looking pretty shocked at her question.
"I saw every kind of male body while running security on the lower decks of Dreamstation," she explained; though actually there had been a few sights she wished she could forget. "I'm really not going to judge you on anything like that," she made it clear.
"It's nothing like that!" Oneakka snapped back. "My penis is fine. There's nothing wrong with me there."
"Testicle problem?" She checked.
Elite Nalla was looking away again, rubbing at her cheek. She was either finding the conversation embarrassing or funny; either way, Seeal was going to make her point.
"My testicles are fine!" Oneakka insisted angrily, his cheeks clearly flushed. She'd embarrassed him. "Massa, stop it!" Oneakka redirected his angry glare on Massa.
"It's just a cough," Massa insisted with very fake coughing to cover the very obvious laughter.
"Then go get something to deal with it," Oneakka stated, each word separate and dripping with threat.
Massa turned away, not even trying to hide his laughter now. "I'll see you all tomorrow morning," he managed to splutter around his chuckling. He then dipped his shoulder close to Seeal and whispered "tell me what happens."
"Go!" Oneakka ordered Massa forcefully and Massa quickly exited, still chuckling.
"I'm not trying to embarrass you," Seeal explained calmly as the door shut behind her.
"I don't get embarrassed," Oneakka lied. He was angry and clearly she had stepped into some sensitive male ego territory. She'd not met that aspect of Oneakka before, but here it was. "I'm an Elite Warrior," he stated sternly. "It's a privacy thing. You wouldn't want me stood over you while you went to the bathroom."
No, she wouldn't want that. "Alright, I see your point," she conceded.
"Good," Oneakka stated, his cheeks still pink. She'd never seen him blush before and it was very obvious against his pale complexion.
Silence fell in the room.
She glanced at Halling, who looked up from the floor and gave her a close-lipped smile, as if he was working to control himself. Why was everyone finding a frank conversation so funny? It was just anatomy.
"I should be leaving," Elite Nalla announced as she rose from her chair. "I will leave you in the good care of your friends, Oneakka."
"I did enjoy your company, Nalla," Oneakka told her like he was making a significant point.
Nalla smiled at him as she reached out and squeezed his shoulder briefly. "I will be around the Facility for a few days, so will drop in and share my company again."
Oneakka smiled back up to her before Nalla headed towards the door. Only the Pelydrian shifted her violet gaze to Seeal as she moved past her. Seeal met Nalla's gaze, the Elite female's expression some strange cross between bemusement and curiosity. Seeal wasn't sure what that look meant, Pelydrians always being quite hard to read, but it was too late to assess the look further as Nalla was heading out the door, leaving Seeal with Halling and Oneakka.
So it seemed everyone was going along with the Oneakka discharging himself to his quarters? No one had made any real arguments. So, this was going to be the new normal for awhile then. Why did Oneakka always get his way?
Halling moved towards Oneakka's bed, heading for a chair set on the right side of the bed. "Do you need anything, Oneakka?" Halling asked.
"No," Oneakka stated quickly and firmly, which Seeal suspected was against any possible suggestion that he might need to use the bathroom.
Halling sat down and Seeal realised she was now stood alone at the foot of Oneakka's bed. She wasn't sure if she should sit down too, or maybe leave. She didn't want to just go and let him think that she was embarrassed about the whole bathroom penis conversation.
She headed for Nalla's vacated chair on the left side of Oneakka's bed. He'd soon tell her to go if he didn't want her here.
She sat down without any comment or complaint from him, and she glanced at his room around her. Everything looked as ordered as normal, but there was the faint air of a place that had been empty for awhile. She wondered whether anyone had dusted his long shelves of books when they had changed the bedding for him and, most likely, cleaned his bathroom. All the bathrooms here in the Facility had grab handles by the toilets and showers, clearly designed for people recovering from injuries or with disabilities, so the bathroom was at least prepped for him already. She realised that she was going to have to use the bathroom herself during her shifts here, not that he'd mind, but it felt suddenly a little weird.
She glanced round towards his bed, aware that it was set noticeably lower than the medical bed had been, so that he was now sat at the same level as her for the first time in weeks. That felt odd as well for some reason, so she focused on the lovely purple bedding she was now up close to it.
Except then she found herself wondering if Pampata had slept between these sheets.
"Nothing's deformed," Oneakka suddenly insisted and she snapped her eyes up to his face.
"I was looking at the bedding, not at you," she quickly explained.
He frowned doubtfully at her.
"It's nice bedding," she clarified. "I was admiring the colour."
Oneakka didn't look convinced.
"It is nice bedding," Halling agreed supportively from the other side of the bed. "It is from Pelydr."
"Is everything they make purple?" Seeal joked weakly.
"No," Halling smiled back, his eyes warm and kind.
She found herself about to look back down at the purple bedding, but stopped herself; Oneakka would only misread it again. She'd honestly been looking at the bedding, but now the sudden urge to just glance at Oneakka's groin area was overwhelming. She resisted the silly impulse intently and looked at Oneakka's eyes instead.
The blue eyes were narrowed at her still. She could practically see his thoughts playing across his face. She realised that she had no idea how to calm things. When male egos had been hurt back on Dream, it hadn't really been her problem. She'd simply stated the situation and how the particular piece of scum or member of station staff could resolve it, or she would. It had been their business how they dealt with the hurt ego. If they decided to act out angrily in some stupid pointless way, well she'd at least warned them beforehand. Clearly that technique wasn't going to work here.
She'd have to go with the more conciliatory route. "It wouldn't matter if anything was deformed," she stressed.
"Nothing is!" His male ego stated back firmly.
"Fine!" She held her hands up. "I'm sorry I even mentioned it."
"I'm completely normal in that area," he insisted. He really wasn't going to let this go!
"That's great!" she said exasperated now. "Congratulations on having a perfect penis. I'll make sure to stress that point to everyone I meet if that'll make you happy."
He clearly hadn't expected that, because his frown became a shocked half smile that he quickly worked to suppress as he looked away. "Good," he stated simply.
"Fine," she said as she looked away from him.
She wasn't exactly sure which part of what she had said had apparently disarmed the landmine that she'd stepped on, but she'd take it. Her own cheeks felt a bit flushed after all that. She'd make sure not to go anywhere near that sensitive subject again, though admittedly questioning a male's genitals would probably provoke any male, she just hadn't realised he'd be so defensive. She'd only been trying to be open and honest, which was normally how Oneakka was about everything.
She crossed her legs and considered the long line of his shelves, her eyes drawn to his Ugun relics lined up in front of all the books and scrolls. Someone should check for dust; it wouldn't be healthy for him to breathe that in right now.
"So, did you see any of the live feed of the briefing?" Halling asked into the silence.
"No," Oneakka replied.
She looked round, thankful for the new subject. "Sheppard's people have some stories about something like the Skerti," she blurted out to make sure it was clear that she wasn't embarrassed about the argument.
Oneakka looked round with real interest. "They do?"
"They're just stories apparently, but the Ancestors have previously passed down warnings that became stories and myths on Earth before," Halling supplied, his former excitement returning.
"What are the stories?" Oneakka asked, his cheeks still a little pink.
"Of creatures called vampires," Seeal told him.
"Vampires," Oneakka tried out the word.
"They are said to be near indestructible, to drink blood, and only come out in the dark," Halling reported. "Sheppard told us one particular story, the most famous apparently, of a male vampire that lived for centuries..."
Seeal settled back in her chair as she listened to Halling's recounting of the Earth story, grateful that they were moving on from the sensitive issue. Though, she realised, Oneakka had still gotten his way. Here she and Halling were, sat at his bedside, going along with his idea to be away from proper medical care. Well, she was going to make sure that she was still on his visitor rota, though admittedly she wouldn't cover the night shifts because he'd definitely need to visit the bathroom and probably need help washing. But, she was going to make sure to keep a closer eye on him, because clearly he was sneakier than she'd realised and needed watching. He'd played them well today, gotten what he wanted, but she wasn't going to let him do anything so stupid again.
The annoying oaf.
Still, the blue shirt did suit him.
00000
TBC