Title: The Duty to Defend
Author: Jadeblueafterglow17
Author's Shoutouts:
SashQueenof thejungle: Picard is "the man" of course he knows how to play Beverly like a violin, Thanks for your feedback. Lauren: If you love WT/BA WesleyTorture/BeveryAngst then I am your writer...Enjoy. More to come.
Guest: LaForge is not the bad guy, he's got these two distracted teenangers hes had to work with, so he's finding his way of dealing with them. He's one of Wesley's mentors as things will have to come to a head between them.
Neil Purling: How exciting, what an amaizing thoughtful well written review. Wesleys' esp will only get him so far. He is assumed to have telepathy, but it is something more. It will be expalined in By Herside...before it does in this story, so you have to keep up with both. Happy Reading. Not a lot of recent reviews on that one so I can't solve the puzzle in this one until I finish that one. Thanks for your review.
Lindsay: I think you will be happy withthe eventual ending. I can't promise you a wedding with this story, perhaps with the sequel I have in mind. I have to be sure not to paint myself in a corner with what I write, that's why it takes so ong for me to publish a chapter. I want to make sure continuity is right.. I am writing the end first and then the middle. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 3 - Another Day in Paradise
0047 hours
A choking cough and a strangled cry of pain pierced the silence of the common area of Starfleet Academy. Cadet Crusher lay still as death on the ground amongst the dew covered leaves and grass. The moon, now overhead shone down on his legs as they lay splayed out in the open grassy area.
The cough brought fire to his lungs and iniated a tremor through his body that reminded him very quickly that he was very much alive even though at that very moment he wished that his attackers had finished their attempts.
He could hear a loud buzzing and ringing sound in the distance. It was incessant as it intensified making his head throb and ache. He soon realized as he came back to consciousness the sounds he heard were his head throbbing. There was a ringing and aural dissonance that made his head feel like it was about to explode off his shoulders. He could not yet open his eyes, but as he tried to lift his head a massive surge of nausea assailed him. He suddenly tasted the coppery blood at the back of his throat and he brought himself up on trembling arms. The nausea from the movement was too overwhelming as his eyes sprang open as wide as the bruises and swelling would allow and gagged as the contents of his stomach erupted from his throat in a hot angry puddle beneath him. He continued until all he could feel was pure liquid and his abdomen was on fire. He was about to collapse again but struggled not to fall into his own vomit.
Wesley knew he had to get up. Despite the intense pain occupying almost every inch of his body he shakily rose to his knees. His breath coming in quick gasps as his stomach cramped with intense pain he fell back on his butt. He gathered the last of his remaining strength and pulled himself up with the aid of a sturdy redwood.
"Oh God..." he moaned stammering to his feet. He felt like he'd been stuffed into a two x two Jeffries tube with a baseball bat. He grabbed at his wounded chest as it was painful to breathe. Pain like bolts of lightning shot through his left side. After crawling to the moonlit pond to splash the cool water on his bleeding face and hands, he felt conscious enough to rise to his feet. He began the arduous walk towards his dorm. He fell down three times but finally made it to his dormitory, relatively unnoticed. As the hall came into view he tried carefully to wipe his face.
"Cadet Crusher do you require assistance?" the security officer in front of the dorm asked Wesley. He guessed he must looked a sight. Wesley tried to wipe the blood from his face and head before he approached the on duty guard, but rusty crimson streaks still stained his now pale bruised skin.
"No sir." he whispered walking by him and struggling to breathe as he took the turbo lift to his floor.
The sandy haired guard took one last curious glance in his direction, bowed and shook his head and continued his appointed rounds. He had seen this cadet looking less than ship shape a number of times before but didn't want to press the obviously distressed young man for further details if he was not willing to share them.
Once he placed in his code to the door, he nearly collapsed inside as his own bloody handprint smeared on the exterior wall. Dizzy from gasping for breath he paced along his wall and fell into his bathroom door. Wesley leaned heavily into the standalone sink as the automatic faucet and light fixtures sprang to life. The lights assaulted him as he moaned trying to gather his wits about him. He tried to lift his head but the lightning bolt that assaulted him nearly dropped him to his knees. He felt around in the drawer and found one his older hypo sprays and shakily placed it to his neck and released as he tried to ease the aching in his skull. He closed his eyes as he felt minimal relief. Gingerly he raised his head and caught his reflection in the mirror.
"Great..." he whispered. His eye was cut, there was blood running from his hair on one side and from his ear on the other, and both cheeks were vivid colors of purple and blue.
Thankful he'd not had on his cadet uniform he painstakingly removed his shirt and looked down at his chest. From previous injuries he knew what broken ribs felt like and knew he had a couple as he saw the open wounds and bruises on his chest. It hurt to touch each wound as he looked at his stomach in the mirror. He'd been exercising daily, and was up to 100 sit-ups, the pay off was well defined abs; the penalty was no fat to absorb the torment he'd just went through as he felt every muscle scream out in agony. Removing his pants just below his slender hips, his sides were a dark shade of red and purple and felt like he'd been stabbed. His left side was swollen and ached with every movement. He decided he had not the interest or strength to explore any further.
"Water 48 degrees."
Wesley turned on the sonic shower after painfully stripping off all of his dirty clothes and leaned on the cool wall as the hot spray stung his skin. He hissed and panted as the water struck him but after several minutes his muscles released just enough to help him use his twisted limbs to lather and rinse the grime, blood and dirt from his pale and battered skin.
As he announced the shower to turn off he dreaded toweling off. He grabbed his terry cloth robe and draped it over his body, praying it would be enough to dry him off. He was so sapped for energy he just wanted to lay down and die. He relieved himself in the toilet and groaned with pain when the release caused him stabbing pain in his left side. As the toilet flushed automatically he never noticed that the clear water had turned bright red. He replicated a few bandages and tried his best to wrap his ribs. Wesley grew short of breath and was covered with sweat before he could finish and was only able to complete one layer before he trembled with pain and shock and blacked out falling backwards onto his bed as he lay nearly spread eagle on his bed.
He was more than thankful he would not have to go into work until late in the evening as his lids slammed shut and all vestments of consciousness left him immediately.
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Note: This story has 12 Chapters. I am currently working on its sequel (which has 3 chapters so far) before I finish this so, that's the delay. I can't post it,because it may change based on how I have written the ending.
Merry Christmas! If I can get some ideas and a few reviews, I will post again before we head off to Disney for Christmas vacation. I am working on a Sleepy Hollow Fic, and Simon & Simon. Thank you to those of you who are awesome sauce that not only review but critique. I really appreciate it. I've been writing for ages, its wonderful to see people touched by my words.