Once again, my beta TheWindowView is amazing for all her hard work and dealing with my random tense changes ;P
Please, read and enjoy. Any comments, critique and praise, are welcome.
For the full day after the rescue, Nia was on edge. The feeling of discontent that had hit her when first approaching the settlers' camp had slowly grown to a looming foreboding.
Wena had attempted to be light hearted with her usual antics, but it was painfully obvious to Nia that it was just a front the doctor was presenting.
The first midday meal had been proof of that. Nia had been eating quietly with Spock, this time sitting on the same side of the table as him instead of across, and Wena had taken Nia's usual place.
It had taken too long for the two to fall into their typical half-speak, where one predicts what the other is going to say (usually correctly, but not always). When the two had finally reached that level of comfort, the effort to act nature was still straining and Wena was clearly uncomfortable.
At first Nia had thought it was Spock's presence, since Nia had not yet had the opportunity to tell Wena about the change in her 'relationship status'.
Nia could only imagine how Wena was going to react to that. With whatever was going on with her friend, it was unpredictable.
After the meal, Wena had disappeared into the medbay to check on her previous patients. McCoy had taken over primary care, but that didn't stop her from being concerned or from wanting to be involved in their recuperation.
McCoy understood, but that didn't stop him from being vastly annoyed to the point of contacting the labs to demand that Nia come collect her friend or else he was going to be putting her on mandatory bed rest. An order he was prepared to enforce.
Nia practically ran through the halls to the medbay and dragged Wena back to her quarters on the condition that McCoy would keep the half-Paladian constantly updated.
He'd grunted in response to that request, but Christine had caught Nia's eye and indicated that she would take care of it.
With a quick mouthed 'thank you' the Paladian scientist was hauling the half-Paladian down the hallways. Despite the protests, once Wena was seated on Nia's small couch, she was asleep. Nia quietly covered her with a blanket and sat in a small chair near the couch, reading one of the few books she had brought with her.
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
She silently read the poem and started to regret her choice as she continued. The descriptions of the land made her picture what she loved about Palad, she felt a little homesick. Usually Nia found comfort in her fanciful interpretations of Camelot, her understanding of the Lady of Shalott, and (who she imagined to be) a handsome Lancelot.
Reading the description of the knight, Nia giggled when she pictured Spock instead. The giggle turned to full out laughter as she pictured his reaction to her picturing him as a knight. Wena stirred and Nia stifled her laughter. She set the book of Tennyson poems aside to lend to the Vulcan at a later point.
The evening passed much the same as the afternoon, with Wena being too exhausted to do much more than eat.
The next morning was a different story. Wena couldn't keep still.
Predicting this, Nia merely handed the woman a pair of Starfleet issue work out sweats and told her to meet her in the gym. She had an idea.
"So, how is this a good idea?" Wena asked at the edge of the work out floor.
"I don't know what's going on with you, and whatever it is, it is eating you up inside. You're anxious and need something to do." Nia gestured to the machines. "Keeping in shape, and really pushing the limits of the machines has really helped me. So has sparring with Sulu, but I don't know if you what to do that."
Wena shook her head. "Nah, I'll probably stick to fighting inanimate objects at this point." She could only imagine not holding back enough and hurting Sulu, whoever that was. Maybe the guy she and Nia had sat with at lunch. His name had started with an 's', right?
"Sure, sounds good." Nia said.
Nia went to show Wena some of the equipment, but the other woman stayed where she was.
"Why haven't you asked me?" Wena asked.
"Asked you what?" Nia countered.
Wena snorted. "You know what I'm talking about."
"You're right, I do." Nia sighed.
"So why haven't you asked?" Wena asked again.
Nia looked at her. Her friend was braced, as if preparing for a blow. "Wasn't sure if it was too soon." Nia told her honestly. "How about we work out, then you tell me everything over some ice cream? I'm pretty sure I could get a hold of a couple of pints, somewhere."
Wena grinned, relieved. "Now that sounds like a plan. Then you can tell me just what is going on with that guy from lunch." She shared a laugh with Nia.
The two briefly bumped shoulders and turned to the machines.
"Alright, where are we starting?"
Nia pointed. "Punching bag. Come on, I'll show you how to wrap your hands."
The scientist hadn't realized how much nervous energy had built up inside of her friend until Wena started pounding on the punching bag. Thank goodness whoever designed the equipment had nonhumans in mind. The woman left the punching bag eventually, but kept up the stamina as she moved on.
Nia wondered briefly if she was going to have to explain to Kirk why he needed to arrange for new equipment. She shrugged when she thought about it. Oh well. At least she's not a full blooded Paladian. Then it would be a guaranteed conversation.
As it turned out, Nia and Wena were unable to have their own conversation over ice cream after their work out. Instead, the pair was told to report to the Captain's ready room. Mig and Nethi also joined them. Jacek was also requested, but McCoy overruled the captain to keep the man on observation. The Paladian was still recovering from his mad run in the sand.
A table was set up, with the captain seated at the head when the four arrived. A couple security officers waited outside the door.
Once everyone was settled, Kirk began by asking "I trust you and the other settlers are settling in well?"
Nethi nodded. "Yes sir. All the families wish to extend their thanks to you and your crew. We understand that many voluntarily gave up their quarters for our use."
Nia and Wena shared a grin. Wena hadn't asked, Nia hadn't offered, and both knew neither would ever need to.
"It was the least that we could do, Nethi. I hear your wife is doing well? And the child?"
It was clearly a good thing for Kirk to ask when Nethi's chest swelled with pride. "Yes, both Layla and our son are healthy and fit."
Smiles were shared around the table as Kirk said "Good, that's good."
The atmosphere was notably relaxed. Wena and Nia were smiling with affection at Nethi, and Nethi was doing his best proud male posturing while seated. Kirk was grinning, and Mig –
Nia realized Mig was frowning and staring at the captain.
"Sir," Mig said, his tone serious. "Why did you ask us here?"
Surprisingly, Nia felt Wena stiffen beside her. At quick glance at her showed something beyond fear flit across her face. Nethi looked the same. Mig's face hadn't changed.
The captain sighed. "Well, I just have a couple of questions. You three were among those most involved in the happenings that led to the crash landing of your ship and so I believe you to be the best ones to ask." He glanced down at the data tablet in front of him before looking back up. "It's too bad that Jacek is still under observation. He'd probably be the best to ask."
Wena frowned. "Why is that?"
"He's your engineer, right? He was working on the warp drive when it crashed, correct?"
Mig nodded. "Yes, he and Grego are both engineers. Not our only engineers, but the heads of their area."
Nia smirked. "Jacek's the wrench jockey, while Grego is the wire biter."
Chuckling, Kirk waved a hand. "All the same, it is unfortunate that neither have been cleared to leave the medbay. Dr. McCoy is one of the best doctors in Starfleet, which means his orders are absolute."
Wena snorted and then shrugged at the 'you can't talk' look Nia sent her. At the captain's surprised look, Wena said "Sorry. I'm still a bit sore for being banned from the medbay."
"Understandable, though I'm afraid we've gotten a bit off topic."
"Yes, sir. You said you had questions?" Nethi prompted.
"Yes. Let's start with, what happened to your navigation systems?" Kirk asked, tapping his tablet as if to check off something on a list.
Nia again caught a weighted look shared between the others.
Wena was slightly cursing herself. "They malfunctioned."
"I see." Kirk nodded. It was a plausible occurrence. However… "Why wasn't this included in your report?"
Wena shrugged. "I wasn't in control of the navigations system; I was in the infirmary when there was a problem. Surely, it was included in Jacek's report?"
"No, it wasn't." Kirk said.
Yet another look was shared, much to Nia's bafflement and annoyance.
"Oh." Was all Wena said.
Nethi spoke up. "That is unfortunate." When he moved his hands from their folded position on the table to his lap, Nia noticed the faint tremor in his wrists.
The discontentment suddenly made sense as Nia looked around the table. It was from them, she was picking up on what they were feeling. More than likely, they were trying to hide it and whatever they were feeling was really much stronger.
What in the world is going on?
She reached out to touch Wena's hand and, predictably, the woman jerked her hand away. Looking up at her face, Nia caught the jerk of Wena's head. The message was clear: 'Don't'.
"So none of you know exactly what happened to the navigation system?" Kirk looked around the table as he asked.
Each of the four shook their heads.
"Well, that's not a significant problem. I was just wondering how you ended up on a planet not directly between Palad and Nee-Pala –"
"NiPila." Nia corrected gently. NiPila was the name of the planet many Paladians were immigrating to. It roughly translated to 'new home'.
"NiPila, and a malfunctioning navigations system makes perfect sense." He tapped again on his data tablet.
Nia raised an eyebrow. Was he even paying attention to them?
"Each of you wrote that the warp drive malfunctioned, causing the need for your emergency landing." Kirk stated. "Only one of you, though, mentioned a possible cause."
Wena and Mig looked wildly at each other before looking at Nethi. Nethi noticed, but beyond a glance refused to look at anyone, but Kirk.
Kirk stared hard at Nethi as he spoke. "Nethi, I believe it was you who mentioned a possible antimatter containment breach?"
Nia's head fell into her hands. She had already heard that the colony ship the Paladian settlers used had been reduced to a pile of rubble by an explosion that took place very shortly after all the settlers evacuated.
However, while an antimatter containment breach would cause an explosion, even Nia knew that such an explosion would have also reduced everything in a hundred mile vicinity to… to… nothing. The campsite would have been completely annihilated and there most definitely would not have been any rubble left of the ship.
By even mentioning that an antimatter explosion could be the cause, Nethi had just showed how much of a bluff those reports really were.
"If you are going to lie, antimatter really was not the way to go." Nia grumbled, words slightly muffled by the hands still over her face.
Nia surprised Kirk with that statement. He had wondered if the scientist had been involved in the cover up that was happening. Her words made it clear she was not involved.
"Nia-" Wena started to say, but Nia cut her off.
"Don't 'Nia' me." She snapped at her friend. "Just what is going on? Really? 'Cause it sure as hell wasn't antimatter and I can tell you all are hiding something big. Fellow Paladian, family member and best friend, remember?" Blood started to heat her cheeks as her ire grew. "You may be able to hide some of it, but with something this big, you can't hide all of it." She gestured to the captain. "And now, you are lying. Why, I don't know, not can I defend it since I don't know." Sighing, she rubbed her face with one hand.
More than a little hurt and angry, Wena glared at her friend. "You want to know what we are hiding? Fine." She reached out and gripped Nia's hand fiercely.
Nia had suspected the depth of her friend's turmoil, but she couldn't have prepared for the magnitude of terror and raw fear that nearly overloaded her senses. The second time in a month, Nia had her emotions taken over by someone else's, by emotions not her own.
She would have rather felt Spock's grief again than this tumult of fear, grief, and all around anguish. This wasn't the terror that stemmed from just having one's own life at stake. This was the terror born of having one's entire family at stake. At having everyone you hold dear at risk. The emotions were doubled, tripled, quadrupled as the other Paladians let go of their own emotional shields and Nia lost awareness of her surroundings.
Eventually, a shout of "Enough!" cut through and Nia found herself on the floor beside her seat. Evidently she'd fallen when attempting to act on the instinctual fight or flight response.
Blinking, she saw the faces of Kirk, Wena, and McCoy hovering over her. Nia centered on Wena's face. "You're going to start talking. Now." She demanded.
Wena sighed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Captain Kirk beat you to the punch and already commanded us to give him a full report of the truth this time."
"Good." Nia said as the two men helped her sit up and move back to her seat. She looked at McCoy as he ran his tricorder over her. "When did you get here?"
"After she touched you," he jerked his chin in Wena's direction "and before you hit the floor." He rounded on Wena. "What the hell were you trying to do? Give her a heart attack?"
Wena rolled her eyes. "She's Paladian. She can take it." She snapped. Her words softened quickly, though. "It was the only way to really show her how I, how we all are feeling."
It was McCoy's turn to roll his eyes. "Right. 'Cause talking is so outdated."
"Excuse me, but you have no idea what you are talking about!" Wena growled.
Suddenly furious, McCoy leaned forward and opened his mouth.
Seeing what was coming and not wanting to witness how a slapped McCoy acted, Nia spoke up. "Alright, time!" She shifted so that Kirk what is her field of view. "Maybe we can get back on topic?"
"Bones," Kirk said, laying a hand on his friend's back "Leave it. We have to get to the bottom of this first. Is she alright?"
McCoy checked Nia's vitals one more time. "She's fine." He muttered. He straightened and stood behind Kirk with his arms crossed.
"So, now," Kirk said after once again checking his data tablet. "What is the real story?"
"Quick question," Nia held up her hand. "What have you got on that PADD that is dividing your attention so much?"
His smile was a bit grim. "Commander Spock and a team of engineers are investigating the rubble. So I really suggest the truth be told this time."
Wena sighed. "Alright."
A/N: The fact I had to look up warp drives in an attempt to figure out how to plausibly blow up a ship was a source of much amusement to my father, the original trekkie in my family. I hope this much works.
Thank you to Tsovy, MoonWarriorLuna, and QHJumper for reviewing. Thanks to those who have added this story to favorite and/or alerts. All of it really warms my heart :)