Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters.
"Counsellor Lat'toy?"
Ellara spun around in a circle, looking for her comm unit. She always seemed to misplace it, and it always got her in trouble. "Counsellor Lat'toy?" said the gruff voice of Chief Medical Officer McCoy, sounding slightly more urgent.
"Aha!" cried Ellara as she grasped her comm in her hand. "I'm here, Doctor McCoy."
"Oh good," he started, an audible chuckle in his voice, "We need you to come down to the med bay asap."
"Oh?" she replied, wincing at the messed up state of her quarters.
She could just imagine his smirk as he confirmed, "Yeah. There's someone here we'd like you to take a look at."
"Be right there." she said quickly, and snapped her comm shut before exiting her room, promising to clean it up later.
It was a short walk to the elevator, but just as the doors were about to close, a cry of "Wait!" was heard. Ellara let out a little groan as she kept the doors open. Ensign Hurst's flushed face rounded the corner, and she quickly joined Ellara. "Sorry." she muttered, catching her breath.
The two descended in an awkward silence, both going to the same place. "So, how's life going?" inquired Ellara, tired of the tension.
Jane jumped slightly in surprise, but soon regained her composure and slowly answered. "It's… going good. I've made a couple of new friends. You?"
At the return of the question, Ellara had to take a moment to think. How was life on the ship? She had told the Commander that she'd been enjoying it, but was that really true? She spent her days doing one of three things; speaking with patients in her office, eating in the mess hall, or being irrevocably bored. She certainly had a ridiculous amount of free time, but hadn't made any new friends. Rick was off on some other older ship, and Jonesie… Ellara quickly banished the thought, not wanting to start crying. It was then that she realized that aside from the people who came to see her, Ellara was without a doubt completely alone. However, the ensign was still waiting for an answer, so she flashed her a smile, and said "It's better then I imagined."
Jane smiled, and the two settled into a comfortable silence. The elevator finally reached their floor, and the two walked side by side to the med bay.
When she walked in, Ellara was met with utter chaos. There were people on almost every single cot in the room, and there were about five doctors huddled around a single man, including the CMO.
Said man glanced toward the door as he heard it open, and he waved Ellara over. "Counsellor Lat'toy, this is… Khan." he said, the name seeming to be a sour taste in his mouth with how he had spit it out.
Khan tilted his head, staring at her curiously. His gaze seemed to penetrate her, analyzing her very being. She did not like this. However, she had to keep up appearances, so she flashed a smile and held out her hand to him.
He stared at it for a moment before grasping it in his own. His large hand seemed to swallow hers, and his grip was borderline painful. She wouldn't let go, though. She wouldn't let him think of her as weak. After a stare contest that seemed to last for years, he let go, and Ellara relaxed, but just slightly. Ellara turned to the good doctor gestured to the opposite end of the room. He seemed to understand her message, and the two crossed over. "What…" she began, crossing her arms, "What am I doing here?"
Doctor McCoy was quick in in his reply. "We need you to see how much of a maniac that guy is. It's bad enough he's on the ship, I don't want him flipping out on my patients. He looks like a bull trapped in a cage meant for a cat, two seconds away from tearing through."
Shooting Khan a quick glance, she could see where he got that analogy from. "Well, he's definitely scary, I can tell you that much. He won't take any form of weakness whatsoever. Probably a superiority complex. Don't let him out of your sight, whatever you do." she supplied.
The Doctor grunted, before saying, "Wasn't planning on it."
The two stared at the tall man sitting on his cot. There were six security guards practically glued to him, but he looked perfectly at ease. As McCoy pondered on the days events, he guessed that this was probably going according to plan for him. But they had a completely different problem to take care of, in the form of the Admiral. How the hell had this been allowed to happen? he thought, realizing that Starfleet was a bigger shit storm then he'd previously assumed.
While Doctor McCoy was reflecting the decision to go into space, Ellara was mulling over her state of being on the ship. She really did have no one. She spoke to her patients, but it was nothing more then to help them feel better. They weren't really having conversations. Ellara spared a glance at the Doctor, and thought about asking him to lunch. Not as a romantic endeavour, of course. The man looked to be about ten years her senior. But she did need some friends on the Enterprise, and what better then someone who had chosen to help others as their career, just like her? Ellara opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, thinking of what to say.
As Leonard watched her flap her mouth like a fish, clearly trying to say something, he rolled his eyes before growling, "Just spit it out."
Ellara was taken aback at his rough nature, but she had noticed it before, so it wasn't going to deter her. "I was just wondering if you'd like to have lunch together at some point, after all of this," she gestured to Khan, "is over."
Seeing him open his mouth, she quickly added on. "I just meant because the only time I've talked to anyone on this ship was for work, and I'm gonna go crazy if I don't make one friend."
Leonard thought about it for a minute. He already ate lunch with a bunch of other people every day, what was one more? "I usually eat lunch with the rest of the bridge crew. You're welcome to join though, if you'd like." he finally answered, sparing a glance at her.
Pondering over his offer, Ellara realized that she was just going to have to go all in. She slowly nodded, before answering, "All right. At noon, yeah?"
He nodded, and the two parted ways. Ellara to her office, and Leonard to wonder just what he was going to do with the mad man in his med bay.
This was the second time in one day that Ellara had been called out of her office. It had been about five hours, and the ship had taken a ridiculous amount of damage. The potted plant on her desk had almost fallen off approximately five times, and she'd dropped her PADD ten times. No one had come to see her yet, but it made sense, seeing as everyone was manning their post. So when the voice of Doctor McCoy once again rang out of her comm, she practically rushed down to the med bay.
Sitting on a cot was a blonde woman who was in complete hysterics. Her leg appeared to have been snapped, and she wouldn't stop sobbing and shaking, so none of the doctors could get close to her.
Ellara sighed, realizing that this was going to be a tough one. Looking at the clipboard at the edge of her bed, she saw 'Marcus, Carol' written on it, and assumed that was her name. When she approached her bed, Ellara let out a tentative, "Carol?"
Carol looked towards Ellara, rocking back and forth. She had her attention. "Carol, my name is Ellara. Can you tell me what's wrong?" she asked, hoping that the woman was comprehending her.
"My father…" she rasped out. Ellara quickly handed her the water beside her bed, and Carol took a drink, before continuing. "I just watched my father have his skull crushed in after learning he was not the person I thought he was."
Ellara's eyes widened as she took in what the woman was saying. She slowly moved to stand by Carol, and gently grasped her in her arms, rocking her back and forth as she let out small comforting noises. Carol was sobbing, and she clutched to Ellara like she was a lifeline. It wasn't until Ellara started purring and petting her hair that Carol finally began to calm down. When Ellara felt her go slack, she realized she had fallen asleep, and gently placed her back on the bed. "Probably the adrenaline in her system wearing out." she told the doctor, who simply nodded and went to work.
As Ellara began to make her way to the door, McCoy grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Mind checking out some of the other patients in here before you leave?" he asked, sounding exhausted.
She nodded, and began to walk around the room. Most of the patients had already been tended to, and were either asleep or speaking with a friend. Every once in a while, she'd find someone just staring at the wall, and she'd talk to them. Once they'd started acting a little less catatonic, she'd tell them her door was always open if they wanted to come see her afterwards. She only found one person crying, but after seeing the still body on the bed opposite him, Ellara left the man to mourn.
After making her way around the room twice, Ellara quietly slipped out, and returned to her office.
The events surrounding Khan and Admiral Marcus were arriving to a close. Captain Kirk had reportedly woken up, and the Enterprise was in repair. All was right with the world. Or was it?
Ellara was biting her nails, waiting for the message saying she could return to the Enterprise. She knew that there would definitely be some psychological damage with some of the crew, and couldn't wait around knowing it was probably getting worse every day. At least, that's what she told herself. In all honesty, she just needed a reason to stay away from Earth, from her apartment. Because when she had nothing to do, she started thinking. And when she started thinking, she started remembering all those she'd lost. Jonesie, taken just before graduating. Her mother, killed before she could see her daughter grow up. Lywa, taken… No! Ellara banished the thoughts before she started freaking out again. Every time she went… there… she would start shaking, and then she would start crying, and finally she would scream. It always ended up like that.
Luckily, she was brought back from her painful thoughts at the sound of a ding coming from her PADD. Ellara nearly cried in relief. She was allowed back on, and they would be leaving soon. She knew what to expect this time, however, and quickly packed up some decorations for both her office and her quarters. She glanced around at her apartment one last time before locking the door and leaving.
So, this chapter was little bit shorter. Ok, it wasn't even 2,000 words without the authors note and that pisses me off a little bit, but this seemed like a good place to leave off, and my creative juices have run out for the night. I'm gonna post this one as soon as I finish typing this AN though, just so I can make up for like three days of no updates. I think every other day is a good updating schedule, yeah? Anyway, Ellara met McCoy in this chapter, and she'll be meeting the rest of the crew next chapter, I hope. Think. Idk yet I'll see where my writing takes me. I know how I want the story to go, I'm just trying to focus on actually writing well haha. I also just realized I did like two movies in four chapters which should be a big no no except let's be honest, the bulk of both movies takes place in the span of about a day, so, yeah... And she's not even in the main part of the action. There should be much more... interaction, soon though. So, as usual, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I am always open to constructive criticism, and I'm also still looking for a beta reader!
.129: I'm planning on it haha.
ToBeOrNotToBeAUNICORN: I love your username. And thank you!
Airasey19: Thank you so much! That's so nice to hear!
ILoveThee: Honestly I don't know yet... I have an idea, though. And that's good to hear!
- fangirl0012345
Updated August 1st, 2016.