ACT 2 – TRUTH
Chapter 21 – The Blood Test
The trip down to the Healing Bay level had been going reasonably well for Teyla until she had used the transporter down through the decks of the Sythus. The descending motion of the transport as it slid down through the ship seemed to create a corresponding upwards motion in her stomach. Fortunately, she had been alone in the small space so that she had been able to lean herself against the back wall and close her eyes tightly through the short but tumultuous journey.
She had just been contemplating whether it would be wiser to stop the transporter and use the emergency ladders to descend the floors, when abruptly the transport arrived on the target floor. Unfortunately, her stomach and inner ear seemed to think she was still moving though, so, with her head swimming along with her stomach, she clambered out of the open door onto the Healing Bay level as quickly as she was able, the prospect of someone calling the transporter to another floor while she was still in it alarming.
Even now she was on what looked like a solid stable floor, the nausea kept turning. She felt like her entire face had drained of blood and her vision dimmed to just the centre of the corridor ahead of her. With both palms flat against one wall, she focused on the not-too-distant entrance into the Healing Bay up ahead and getting her legs to move in that direction.
While not emptying her stomach.
The ongoing up and downward motion from the transporter began to settle a little, but her stomach just kept rolling and swirling. She just wanted to crush her eyes shut and curl up on the corridor floor against the wall.
She could do that later perhaps. Just a few more steps for now.
The slight turn of the corridor navigated, she reached the large open doorway into the Healing Bay and stepped through it enough to be able to lean against the inside of the frame for support.
"Honoured Elite!" A voice immediately called with alarm and Teyla blinked around to see a Healer and two assistants heading towards her with wide worried eyes. Clearly she did look as bad as she felt.
"I am very nauseous," Teyla explained, drumming up what felt like the last of her energy reserves to sound as calm and clear as possible.
Hands were abruptly around her arms and back, and she was eased away from the doorway and helped across the open space of the Healing Bay.
"What has happened, Honoured Elite?" A question was asked by her ear.
"I have been suffering from a stomach complaint since before the mission," Teyla managed to explain as she saw an entrance into a side cubicle room ahead. They were guiding her into a treatment area; good. "I am on medication," she uttered, chairs and a wonderfully flat medical bed appearing ahead of her inside the cubicle, both such glorious sights.
"Do you have a fever? Stomach pains?" Efficient clipped questions were asked.
"No," Teyla shook her head, but that was a mistake.
The medical bed was now right in front of her and a foot came into view, working the mechanism to lower the bed for her.
"It was a reaction to Satedan stew," Teyla added as she reached forward, setting both hands on the lowered bed and she carefully turned herself to sit down on it. Hands were helping, adding support, for which she felt desperately grateful.
The bed felt wonderfully stable under her backside as she sat down and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Lie down, Honoured Elite," the same voice instructed as hands pressed gently against Teyla's shoulders. "We are getting you something for the nausea."
"Very well," Teyla uttered as she laid herself down onto the medical bed, the flat cool surface blissfully welcome under her back. Though, as good as lying flat felt, it did not seem to be helping ease the nausea, but it was still better than standing and walking.
"We are going to take your blood pressure, Honoured Elite, just lie still."
Teyla nodded as she closed her eyes.
A tight cuff was secured around her left arm and she heard hurried conversation around both sides of the bed.
"…60 dose and then we'll take temperature and check eyes and ears," the main voice instructed, clearly the Healer on duty. "Honoured Elite?" The voice said louder and closer and Teyla opened her eyes. "I'm going to give you an injection, it should act quickly."
Teyla simply nodded and closed her eyes again. A moment later there was a sharp sting in her upper arm then the tightening of the blood pressure cuff.
Then, after what felt like long moments of steady breathing, the clouds of nausea parted and her mind and stomach started settling. She let out a long breath as she blinked open her eyes to the view of the ceiling, everything in sharper and brighter focus once again.
"Better, Honoured Elite?" the voice asked with a smile in her voice.
Teyla rolled her head to see the Healer and smiled with a nod.
"Good," the Healer replied, a long serving Healer on the Sythus, and seeing the familiar face felt especially reassuring to Teyla. "It'll settle things a little further still. We're going to keep measuring your blood pressure." Teyla nodded and watched as the Healer was handed a medical pad and tapped into it. "I see here the report of your initial reaction to the stew, then a follow up and further high dose medication just before your mission." The female frowned. "No blood tests were taken?" She looked to Teyla with a questioning frown.
"That was going to be the next step," Teyla explained. "My Father said he has also had bad reactions to Satedan food, and the medication had kept the symptoms completely under control."
"But…?" The Healer prompted.
"I started reducing the dose, as instructed once on the mission, but after awhile the nausea returned. I increased the dose again, have an appointment booked in here later today, but everything has gotten much worse."
The Healer nodded as she tapped away on the pad. "Any digestive issues outside of the nausea: indigestion, change of bowel movements?"
"No," Teyla shook her head. "But I have been on night shifts for awhile now, that can affect my system and tire me sometimes."
The Healer nodded as she set the pad down and pulled a small electric light from her pocket. Teyla had been through these checks enough in the routine twice yearly cycle medicals all Elite went through, so she relaxed as the Healer held open one of her eyelids, shining the light in and away a few times, and then on her other eye.
"Pupil response normal," the Healer reported to the assistant next to her.
The Healer felt under Teyla's chin and then down the sides of her throat. "No lymph swellings." She reached for Teyla's wrist against which her fingers pressed gently but firmly for several quiet seconds. "Pulse is a little fast, but explainable considering. No abdominal pain, Honoured Elite?" She asked next.
"No," Teyla shook her head carefully as the Healer started gently pressing on her stomach from under her ribs down to her lower belly. "Nothing hurts," Teyla reported, knowing the standard questions after all these years.
"That is all good," the Healer smiled as she took the medical pad back from her assistant.
"Temperature remains normal and blood pressure is returning closer to normal, Healer," the assistant reported.
"Good," the Healer smiled. "Stomach feeling better still, Honoured Elite?"
"Much better," Teyla smiled. It was almost as if the nausea was a distant memory. "I do not suppose that will now sort the problem?"
The Healer gave her a small sympathetic smile. "I am afraid not. The medication we gave you is very effective, but not long-lasting."
It had been too much to hope for anyway.
"Any other symptoms, Honoured Elite?"
"No, other than the nausea has made me feel rather tired in the mornings, but that is normal enough with night shifts. I have been able to complete my daily sparring each day with no issues and can feel entirely well in the evenings after sleeping through the day."
The Healer nodded. "I see you have the usual Athosian allergy to Territam, but no other allergies or intolerances you have noticed before the Satedan stew?"
"None," Teyla shook her head.
"Have you had any contact with anything alien during or before the mission?"
"I visited Atlantis, but that is a frequent occasion for me now."
The Healer nodded with understanding. "I would love to see the Ancestral City myself," she said as she tapped in Teyla's answers.
"I am sure they will welcome further visitors and their Healers are very open to sharing knowledge," Teyla told her.
The Healer smiled wider, clearly interested in the idea, but her expression quickly returned to her professional smile. "I would like to take some blood and run some tests."
Teyla nodded. She had put this off long enough and, whatever was wrong, she would face it.
The Healer stepped aside and her assistant moved in next to Teyla with the syringe and vials for blood collection. The Healer meantime moved around to the other side of the medical bed.
"You said that your Father has had issues with food from Sateda?" She asked.
"Yes, he says it is too spicy and avoids it completely now. Is it possible I may have developed some stomach complaint from the food?" Teyla asked as she felt the blood taking needle enter her arm.
"It is possible," the Healer replied, but her expression told Teyla it was not her primary concern. "I see here you are due for your next twice yearly medical soon and your last medical was entirely normal."
"Yes," Teyla nodded as the needle was removed from her arm. "It is very important that I am on rotation for this mission," she found herself telling the Healer. "As a Seeker and facing the new enemy, I am needed for important work."
The Healer lowered the medical pad and smiled at Teyla, her hand landing softly on Teyla's arm. "I am sure whatever is the cause, we can address it for you."
Teyla recognised the calming methodology, which told her she was sounding as anxious as she was starting to feel.
Behind the Healer, Teyla watched the assistant move to the cubicle's wall into which was set large testing machines and display screens. Teyla watched the assistant slide the two small vials of blood into the machine and press a series of buttons.
Whatever was wrong, she would deal with it.
"Do you need something to drink or eat, Honoured Elite?" The Healer asked.
"I could do with some water," Teyla admitted.
The assistant stepped away from the running tests, smiled and headed out.
"Just relax, Honoured Elite," the Healer instructed, her hand briefly on Teyla's arm again.
The Assistant returned immediately with a cup and Teyla moved to sit up.
"We'll lift the head of the bed, Honoured Elite, just lie comfortably," the Healer instructed her. They were talking to her as a patient, someone in their care and in need. Teyla never liked to be in such a position, but at the same time it was clearly necessary at this current moment.
The head of the bed was lifted and a pillow slid behind her so that she was in a comfortable position, and the cup of water was handed to her.
She sipped at its coolness and tried to find her usual calmer centre.
The wall bleeped behind the Healer and the female turned with a flash of surprise across her face.
The blood test had a result already.
The Healer moved to the displays on the wall.
Teyla held her breath.
"Well, Honoured Elite," the Healer said, "I believe we already have a likely explanation for your symptoms."
Teyla swallowed.
The Healer turned from the displays and nodded to the assistant, and the other female nodded to Teyla and then left the cubicle, closing the door behind her. The privacy was appreciated, not that Teyla had seen any other patients in the Healing Bay outside, but at the same time it meant something significant had been found.
The Healer stepped up next to the bed and Teyla looked up to her professionally controlled expression.
"You are with child, Honoured Elite."
A long few seconds passed as Teyla processed the words and the shocking meaning.
She had not even considered that because…
"But I have the contraceptive implant," she hurriedly reminded the Healer.
The Healer had picked up her medical pad. "Yes, but I see that it is due for replacement now." That was true enough, but she was going to have that done at her next medical and they always lasted longer than the scheduled timeframe on purpose and she was away from John so…
John!
"I see that during your last two implant replacements that the hormone dose had to be increased? That your body has been compensating for the artificial hormones, which can happen and over the years as our natural hormone levels do change."
"I do remember the Healers saying that," Teyla nodded. "But I've always made sure to use a sheath as-"
No, wait that wasn't true now was it. She and John hadn't always of late used the secondary form of protection, after all they were married and she had the implant…
That night after he had been returned from his imprisonment by Kolya, when they had become lovers again, they had stopped being as cautious. The same had been true during many of their visits to each other since then, right up until this mission. Whenever they'd seen each other, even if it had required sneaking away together for brief moments, they had taken any opportunity to enjoy one another. She didn't recall using a sheath in quite some time.
"How far along…?" Teyla asked, frowning down at her belly. There was no sign outwardly, but it was, of course, early.
"Running a proper scan would give a clearer analysis," the Healer replied, "but your blood tests suggest approximately sixty days."
"Sixty days?!" Teyla looked back up to her. Two months?
It couldn't have been her and John's last days together then, but far earlier… Perhaps even that first night and morning together with John after he had returned from facing Kolya and that Wraith. They had shared so much passion through those hours, celebrating returning to each other alive and as lovers once again.
And John had been so vibrant with renewed life from the Wraith's surprising choice to honour its word to him, giving John the gift of returned life-force…
Sixty days!
She had been growing her and John's babe all this time!
John…
She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, the suppressed grief of missing him everyday hitting her in a hard rush. She would give anything for him to be here, or even just within easy reach by a Portal so that she could tell him.
But she was so very far away, in dangerous territory on a mission under silent running.
"Honoured Elite?" The Healer asked softly.
Teyla snapped open her eyes, almost having forgotten the female was there with her.
"Do you wish to keep the pregnancy?"
"Yes," Teyla replied instantly. Her and John's child. "Yes, I do. But, I hadn't known, I've been sparring, taking those medications…?" What if she had hurt the babe without realising?!
"The medication you were taking is strong, but it shouldn't have caused any problems in these earliest months," the Healer replied quickly. "But I am not surprised they stopped working for you as they are not designed for pregnancy related nausea. I can give you two new medications instead; one that you take every morning immediately upon waking and then an instant relief injection that you can carry on you."
"Thank you," Teyla nodded.
A child…
"Shall we undertake a scan of the babe now, check all is well?"
"Yes, please," Teyla agreed quickly.
"If you can reveal your lower belly," the Healer instructed as she moved away.
Teyla set aside her water, not having realised she was still holding it. She was surprised she had not spilt it with the shock. She had just assumed the implant covered her, had forgotten that she and John had grown far more relaxed with protection, but now she felt rather embarrassed that she had not realised. Especially the nausea affecting her mainly in the mornings…
She pushed aside those thoughts though as she worked to open her holster and then the buttons on the front of her trousers. Pushing down her underwear a little, she flattened her palm over her lower belly. The babe would be very small still, so it was perfectly understandable that there was no outward sign, but hopefully it was well.
What if it wasn't?
The Healer moved up to the side of the bed again, a small flat scanner in her hand. It was one of the most advanced handheld medical scanners, based on Ancestor technology. Surely if something was wrong it would detect it?
Teyla moved her hands away from her belly and watched as the Healer set the end of the small scanner against her belly and started moving it around while watching the display on a connected smaller pad.
"I am detecting the babe's heartbeat," the Healer reported. "Good and strong."
Teyla let out a breath.
The Healer stopped moving the scanner and pressed in a little deeper.
Teyla watched the Healer's face, but the Healers were always so well trained on controlling their expressions.
"These readings are definitely consistent with sixty days gestation," the Healer added, her eyes on the display. "Everything looks entirely normal, and," her eyebrows rose, "the scanner is already detecting strong rating Ancestral genetics from the babe's Father…" Her eyes briefly moved to Teyla with a subtle question.
"Yes, my Honoured Husband," Teyla nodded, confirming what the Healer had no doubt guessed. It was well known that not many Political Marriages were loving, or even of a sexual nature, but there were some that were. Though she suspected few were as lucky as she had been with John.
The Healer's smile became softer and more natural as she looked back to the display. "A child of two galaxies," she uttered poetically. "From a medical perspective, there is no difference in biology between Humans in our galaxy and your Honoured Husband's, so that should not be a problem." Teyla had not even considered that, after all John and his people were just like her own.
"Everything looks very healthy with the babe, Honoured Elite," the Healer announced as she lifted the scanner and set it aside.
Teyla sighed with relief. The babe was well. Her child…
She had never imagined such a thing for her life. A life so full of danger, but now she was going to be a mother!
"I have recorded everything on your medical record, Honoured Elite," the Healer turned so her hip was leaning against the side of the medical bed. "You mentioned how important this mission is, but now that you have this news…?"
Teyla looked up to her from buttoning up her trousers. "There is no reason why I must be taken off rotation is there? You said everything was well?"
"Yes, as long as we get your nausea under control," the Healer nodded. "But, given your work-"
"We both know, though it is not spoken of," Teyla interrupted her, "that a number of female Elite do become pregnant and they remain on rotation."
"True," the Healer nodded. "I just have to make you aware that there are increased risks, especially as the pregnancy progresses and we do not know how long this mission could last. It could be many months more."
That was true enough, and the thought of it taking that long to see John again - to be able to tell him that he was to be a father – made a deep part of her ache with loneliness. But she could do nothing about that for now. She had an important role to play on this mission.
"I understand that," Teyla informed the Healer. "But, for now, my only symptoms have been the nausea and, as you say, if the new medication plan gets it under control, then is there any medical reason why I cannot remain on battle rotation?"
"No," the Healer confirmed. "The new medication should help with the nausea. The auto-injector loaded with doses of the fast-acting anti-nausea medication I will give you can fit into your pocket, or slotted into the additional med-dispenser inside space-ready suits."
"Excellent," Teyla replied.
"However," the Healer added firmly, "your full blood test results do show you are a little low on some nutrients and electrolytes. I would like to give you an intravenous infusion for that now, and then have you report back here in two days so that we can test you again and be sure the new medication has stabilised matters for you."
"Very well," Teyla agreed. "I assume I can continue with my same exercise and sparring routine?"
"Yes, but obviously you do not want to be physically hurt, as that could cause problems. And obviously in a battle situation, we cannot predict-"
"I understand," Teyla cut her off. She knew the reality of the risk of war; it had been a very real fact all her working life, so she did not need to be reminded of that.
"Do you wish the other Elite to know?"
"No," Teyla insisted quickly. "No," she shook her head.
No, this was private for now. She could not tell John any time soon, but, for now, she could not let this new information change how the others treated her. She had little doubt that if Halling or Si learnt of her condition that they would force her off rotation. No, she was needed for this mission and being with child did not limit her skills, mind, or strength at this stage.
"Once the mission is over, I will, of course, re-evaluate matters," Teyla conceded to the Healer. "But for now, we are out here with limited numbers and with my position as a Seeker, I am needed."
The Healer nodded. "I suggest then that we have a weekly appointment to assess how you are doing and to monitor the babe."
"Agreed," Teyla nodded.
"I will mark your medical record with a high level privacy notice, but you are going to need to stay here in the Healing Bay for the next two hours for the intravenous fluids."
Teyla considered that quickly. "I am off duty for the rest of the day and some of the others know I have had a stomach complaint, I can say it is related to that." It wouldn't technically be a lie.
The Healer nodded and lifted the pad. "Very well, but I would recommend that you take yourself off night shift rotations, as your system needs to return to a more predictable natural routine, and it will allow the medication to be more effective in the mornings."
Teyla nodded. "I am not scheduled for night shifts for another few days, but I will move off them." It was known to happen and she had actually volunteered for more night shifts of late, the new routine having helped distract her from thoughts of missing John at night. That was going to be almost impossible now of course.
A babe…
Their babe.
She looked back down to her, now covered, belly, laying her palm over the hidden new life growing deep inside her.
Hidden and protected.
And she was going to do everything in her power to ensure that remained the case. And finding the Skerti and dealing with them in the quickest way possible was going to be the swiftest way to return to John's arms. For their family's future…
For now, she just needed to first focus on this mission and protecting herself and her child.
They would get through this mission safe, unharmed, and back to John.
She would not let anything stop that from happening…
0000
The early First Meal hadn't been all that satisfying, but it had been filling enough. Eating it alone in her quarters wasn't that unusual, especially as Seeal had wanted to go over the last points for her and Amel's presentation before leaving for the Project Room.
Not because she was hiding from Oneakka in any way.
She was just being well prepared…which admittedly was a slightly weak piece of reasoning considering she had spent hours with Amel in the other female's quarters late yesterday afternoon and through the evening. They'd gone over their research work, run through their presentation, and then ordered Late Meal delivered to them rather than going to the Canteen.
She'd sent a text link to Massa and Oneakka pulling out of the usual Late Meal with them, saying she was working with Amel; which hadn't been a lie. Though, by the time she and Amel had finished eating, they'd ended up focusing on putting up all of Amel's new decorations for her quarters. It had been fun and distracting.
And being in Amel's quarters had felt safer.
Though, by the time they'd hung up all the various fabrics, scarves and hanging things, Amel's home had looked rather like a cross between a fabric shop and the inside of a very expensive brothel Seeal had once seen when she'd tracked down a male who had been avoiding repaying his significant debts to Creass. Instead of repaying the loans, the conman and gambler had been spending all his currency on lavish things, including females, gold jewellery, and trying to buy himself an Alliance citizenship.
She had gotten currency out of him for Creass though, in that she'd left that brothel with a stuffed case full of his very expensive clothes and all the gold jewellery he'd been wearing. Creass had protested that it hadn't been enough, but she had argued otherwise. What she'd really been interested in was the information she'd gotten from the brothel-going-blinged-up male. That intel had helped her track down a significant threat to Dream, so it had all worked out.
Though occasionally she'd found herself musing on how the male had gotten out of that brothel without clothes or currency to pay the females.
At least he had been a male who made sense. He'd been greedy, plain and simple. That was easy to understand.
Unlike certain ice-hearted stupid oafs…
Just thinking about Oneakka made the fury return, not that it had reduced all that much from the constant simmering anger she'd felt since she'd stormed out of that Transport the second it had docked at the Facility. She had kept her back to Oneakka as she'd headed speedily into the corridors of the Facility and she'd not seen or heard from him since.
The big stupid oaf.
She'd made damn sure to put Massa first on the text link she'd sent yesterday skipping out of Late Meal. Of course, she doubted Oneakka would notice such a subtle and purposeful strategy considering his insulting assessment of her tactics on the station yesterday.
He'd never spoken to her, or shouted at her, like he had in that argument.
She was getting riled up again thinking about it, feeling her blood pressure rising.
She consulted the time display, but it was too early still to leave for the Project Room. She didn't want to risk accidentally walking into the snow-faced idiot on her way there, so she would leave at the last minute so she'd have every excuse not to stop and talk to him if she did see him.
Except that felt rather like letting him win somehow...
No, she'd damn well leave her quarters when she decided was the right time. She would keep to her own life routine without him around.
Which was the way her life probably needed to be.
But it still felt too early to leave. Looking for something to do, she crossed the tiny width of her quarters and made her bed, smoothing out the duvet and plumping up the pillows. After hours spent in Amel's now very colourfully decorated quarters yesterday, her own quarters were looking rather bland.
The door chime echoed.
She froze, snapping her head round to stare at the closed door into her quarters.
She really didn't want it to be him.
It probably wasn't anyway. He'd never even been near her quarters before, possibly didn't even know where she lived. Didn't care.
The chimes rang again.
Well, if it was him, she wasn't going to talk to him until he apologised, and he could do that outside in the corridor for all to hear. She wasn't letting him in here.
She'd let him into her life too much already.
She strode down the short narrow corridor to the door and smacked the door control a tad too hard.
The door slid open to reveal Massa with Aki in his arms.
"Morning, Seeal," Massa grinned brightly at her.
She was both desperately relieved it wasn't The Oaf, but also a little bit disappointed…which made her feel more annoyed.
Unlike the Ugun moron, Massa had been in her quarters several times before, but usually that had been while dropping off or picking up Aki for some babysitting. However, they had no such arrangement today and she knew he was well aware of her project presentation this morning.
Clearly he was here for another reason.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yes?" She asked him, making it clear with her tone and expression that she was fully aware what this impromptu visit was about.
"Aki and I were just passing by-" Massa began his lie.
"You don't live in this part of the Facility and it's not on your way anywhere," she cut him off as she crossed her arms.
"Actually, I've walked all the Facility corridors many times to get Aki to sleep," Massa added more honestly. "And we missed your company at Late Meal yesterday so we thought we'd come by and visit you."
He gave her another big sparkling smile, Aki doing the same against his shoulder, the two ganging up on her; looking all sweet and endearing.
"Fine," she muttered and turned away, leading the way into her home. Some days it was easy to forget Massa was an Elite Warrior given he was off battle-rotation and a kind loving father, but he was still an expert trained to think strategically.
"Isn't that nice of Auntie Seeal, Aki?" Massa cooed to the baby as he followed, the door sliding closed behind him.
At her small table, she pulled out the chair and set it by the bed so Massa could sit there and put Aki on the bed. She then pulled forward all her pillows to form a wall of softness around an open space on the bed for Aki.
"Your potted plant is doing well, I see," Massa said conversationally as he sat Aki down within the pillow fortifications.
Seeal left him to settle his son and moved to the open door to her bathroom, leaning one shoulder against its inner frame and crossed her arms.
Happy that Aki was comfortable, and several of the current favourite toys set out in front of the boy, Massa sat down and smiled at her.
"He told you about the argument then," she got straight to the point.
"Nothing even close to detailed, but I gather there was a disagreement about what happened on Saoka's station?"
She scoffed at that summary. If you counted blatant rudeness and cruel words as a 'disagreement'.
"To be honest," Massa added, "I got more information from the report of what happened on the station from the Elite evening daily incidents report. You're okay? Oneakka said you weren't hurt."
"No," she confirmed, meaning she hadn't been physically hurt. She wasn't 'okay' though.
"Outside of department Leads, I'm not sure any other Elite staff member has been on the incident reports as much as you," Massa joked.
"That's because I'm someone who knows when to get involved and how," she found herself blurting, which was silly of her as that was a barb only Oneakka would have understood from their argument, not Massa.
Massa lifted both eyebrows though, seeming to have taken another meaning from it.
She frowned. What had he misinterpreted about that?
"So what happened?" Massa asked, finally getting direct himself.
"He called me stupid," she spat out, the anger suddenly let loose.
"You're not stupid, far from it."
"Well, apparently Oneakka doesn't agree. I've never let anyone insult and disrespect me like that ever." She was a little shocked at how emotional that had sounded, but if she was going to get that way in front of anyone, she knew Massa wouldn't judge her poorly for it.
"Oneakka respects you," Massa frowned. "I have no doubt about that."
"He called me stupid, Massa."
"He said that exactly? He said that you, Seeal, are a stupid person of low intelligence?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, seeing what he was trying to do. "Don't go trying to turn words to make excuses for him."
"I'm not," Massa insisted quickly. "I'm just trying to understand what upset my friend so much."
"Then maybe you should go and ask him."
"I'm not talking about Oneakka, I'm talking about you," he said openly.
She felt momentarily thrown by the kind comment.
The exact opposite of how The Oaf had spoken to her.
"I gather there were two criminals on Saoka's station who recognised you?" He prompted. "That their former relative was killed years ago while attacking Creass and your Security staff on Dreamstation?"
"Yes. The two idiots decided to confront and try to kill me in a marketing hall. Talk about being stupid, the place is full of Security." She noticed Aki was frowning up at her from the bed, looking worried at the tone of her voice maybe. She made herself smile at the little boy, which seemed to settle him enough and he returned his attention to shaking a fluffy toy covered in tiny bells.
"But Security weren't present when the attack happened?" Massa asked, drawing her attention back to him. "The report said you engaged the criminals, and then Oneakka and station Security intervened."
"Yes," she nodded.
"So where does being stupid come into that?" Massa asked with a confused frown.
"A very good question, Massa," she told him hotly. "Apparently, according to someone, I didn't use the correct strategy."
"Ah," Massa nodded as if that explained things.
"No 'ah'," she argued. "He shouted at me, Massa. Does he really think I would stand for that? I was dealing with far worse language from the Glisi when I wasn't even tall enough to reach their knees."
Massa frowned off to the side, like he'd heard something strange in the distance.
"What?" She asked.
"I'm just trying to remember the last time I heard Oneakka shout, outside of battle situations obviously."
"I won't have him, or anyone, shout at me, Massa."
"I'm assuming you shouted back, of course."
"Yes, obviously. He's far too used to always getting his own way and maybe other people give in when he talks to them like that, but I won't be treated that way."
"Good," Massa nodded. "Not that he shouts at people usually."
"Is this the point where you start making excuses for him?" She asked.
"No, this is the point where I agree with you, but also point out that you have friends now."
She frowned at that. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I don't know all about your former life," Massa replied, "I know you've told Oneakka far more, things he's mentioned vaguely in passing, but I gather you have never lived anywhere where you felt safe and had friends who you truly trusted before now?"
"What is your point, Massa?"
He chuckled. "You sound a lot like him sometimes, you know."
"I don't call people stupid and shout at them," she stated, insulted.
"Never?" he asked with a challenging smile and raised eyebrows. "Not on Dreamstation? Not when Oneakka was in his grump being difficult during his recovery? And there wasn't an incident not that long ago where you told off a Recruit in a public hallway here in the Facility?"
She didn't know he knew about that. "What? That's not relevant, he was beating up another Recruit and I got involved to stop it."
"You saw the flaw and confronted the instigator."
She didn't like the direction Massa appeared to be steering this conversation.
"My point," Massa continued, "is when you have people who care about you," he paused and lifted a hand, "as friends." She almost smiled at his point and look. He'd been really good at having kept his word about not making any more insinuating comments about her and Oneakka, and he'd not even mentioned it in passing. However, he was now clearly looking for some recognition for adapting his comment.
She rolled her eyes and allowed herself a faint smile.
Massa smiled back, pleased. "When you have close ties, we are going to have strong opinions about if and when you put yourself in danger."
"You're both Elite warriors, Massa. I don't tell you not to-"
He'd raised his eyebrows again and she stopped her sentence which was clearly turning into a lie, now she thought about it. She had questioned the wisdom of some Elite policies, out loud and bluntly, and Oneakka's behaviour a few times, but her point about the stupid choice to walk onto that irradiated Hive remained very valid.
Which she'd told him, forcefully yesterday.
Like he'd done about her choices on the station.
She looked away from Massa, annoyed that he'd achieved his aim to make her see Oneakka's side a little bit.
A miniscule amount.
"I get what you're trying to say," she decided. "But I won't have anyone, especially a supposed friend, talk to me the way he did. And I have to wonder why I would keep him as a friend."
Especially considering how much arguing with Oneakka affected her.
"Well, that's a far enough choice, but…," Massa paused, glancing away, seeming to be considering something now. "He lost everyone, Seeal," he said with deep sincerity. "Not a single member of his family, of his people, are alive, anywhere. They all died in pain and terror, and he wasn't there. When someone he cares about, any one of us who are his close friends, are in danger, he gets very…emotional. You saw how he behaved when Sitayi predicted Halling's possible death. You said he dragged his dying impaled body through that Rogue Hive to try to do anything to save Halling. If someone he cares about is in danger, or could be in a situation he perceives as dangerous, there is nothing that will stop him. You've seen that."
She didn't need reminding. Finding him in that corridor was one of her most horrific memories, and she had quite a collection to pick from.
"What happened to him and his people is horrendous, Massa," she stated. "But that doesn't mean he can just do and say anything he wants."
"I'm not saying we should let him get away with anything he wants," Massa countered, "but he has high defences around himself. He carries a trauma we can't truly comprehend and it's understandable that he can react badly when he's frightened for one of us."
'Frightened' wasn't a word she ever naturally associated with Oneakka.
She didn't like it.
She looked away towards the wall, to where her potted plant actually was looking particularly healthy, having grown a lot recently.
"But he's also done amazing things for us," Massa continued. "When I lost my Mera," his voice caught with emotion and she looked back to his sad eyes. "He never went far, kept visiting me. After her death, I shut myself away at a sanctuary place, a beautiful old building where Mera and I used to take our holidays off-rotation together, and Oneakka visited me constantly, even when I wanted no one anywhere near me. He once sat in the courtyard outside that place for three hours because I wouldn't let him in. He just sat there on the flagstones and he tinkered, making something electronic – which turned out to be a doorlock breaker I discovered afterwards, so he clearly had intentions to break in if I hadn't eventually caved in. And you know what he did when I eventually let him in? He cooked dinner for us and he just talked, told me about his hunt for everything Iketani had done and touched, while I sat in silence, so angry with him for invading my sanctuary. But I love him for that now. He knew I needed him, even when I didn't know or want anything other than to sit in the dark and cry my soul out for my lost love and our unborn babe."
She wasn't sure if the tears threatening her eyes were for Massa's pain, for such devotion between friends, or for her own past empty pain. How she could have done with someone like that in her life to help her in the bad times, to always be there for her.
But she guessed that was Massa's point.
She did now.
She had friends she could trust and look out for in return.
Including The Oaf.
But she didn't feel anywhere close to ready to forgive him yet. The hurt was too sharp still.
"I accept your point, but what good is having a friend if they don't respect you and treat you properly?"
"I agree," Massa nodded. "And I'm sure you did, and will, make that point very clear to him."
She looked away. She understood Massa's frustratingly valid points, not just about Oneakka's behaviour, but that having friends now meant they could have strong opinions about the things she did. Just like she had done about Oneakka's behaviour from time-to-time, and when she'd gotten him to keep to his medication plan. She'd been blunt then, but she'd never shouted and used mean words.
Had he used mean words yesterday?
She realised she couldn't actually remember all of what he'd said in the argument, just the big moments, like calling her stupid…or rather her choices on the station as having been stupid. But she'd made it damn clear that he was being two-faced, after all he got to make dumb decisions that risked his life, but apparently she was stupid for having done the same.
And in questioning her judgement, forged from hard-fought skill and experience, he'd cut right to the bone, insulting the one part of her life she felt proud of…
It had been a frustratingly effective way to hurt her.
Make her question if he truly respected her and whether she'd made the right choice in sticking around here.
In letting him mean so much to her.
The impulse to run had been really strong again last night. Lying in bed in the dark, she'd run through in her mind what things she'd pack up into her old bag, which route she'd take out through the Facility, picturing herself taking a Transport to the Portal.
Slip away in the night and not look back.
It wouldn't be the first time.
Except she'd known it would be an over-reaction, and borne from perhaps as much wanting to punish Oneakka as to escape him.
In the end, she'd fallen asleep without any decision or conclusion, emotional exhaustion a surprisingly effective sleep aid.
Massa shifted in his chair, drawing her attention back to him. She watched as he pulled his electronic pad out of a pocket. As he tapped on it, she glanced to the time displayed across the room, but she still had over ten minutes till she planned to leave for the Project Room.
"I know he can be difficult, blunt, and so intensely focused on his work that it's almost frightening at times," Massa said as he tapped on his pad.
On her table to the left, her own pad vibrated and its screen lit up with a text link from him. She frowned at him as she reached for it.
"That's something I recorded a long time ago," he told her. "From when we were Recruits. Now, to be clear," he held up one dark long finger, "you've never seen this and you never got this from me, understood?"
She didn't want to smile at the playfulness, feeling too vulnerable still, but she gave him a nod and faint half smile. "What is it?" She asked without activating the message.
Massa slid away his pad and smiled at her. "When we were in our mid-teen years, the Elite launched their first military ships."
"The Sythus and Hastos?"
"No, these were far earlier, smaller and not as advanced, but they were good ships. And they were the first solely owned and built by the Elite, separate from the growing Alliance Military Fleet. All the Elite who were training us Recruits, and the top years with them, left to watch the launch in person. All us other Recruits, back in an old different Facility, were allowed to watch over live link. We did and then our Training Year had a massive party, we smuggled in a live band and I acquired a live action recording camera."
"Acquired as in 'borrowed'?" She asked pointedly.
"I took it back," he replied. "The Facility's Technician showed me how to use it and happened to tell me where the new cameras were left while everyone was gone. I returned it the next day, but I kept the recording. I've always enjoyed new tech and it's allowed me to have quite a lot of images from Recruit days, including plenty of my Mera."
She nodded and glanced down at her pad, tapping open the text link from him. There was a recording attached to it, so she tapped to download it. "So what's on this recording?"
"It's the party," Massa smiled. "I think Oneakka appears about five times in it, see if you can spot him."
She almost wanted to say no, part of her not wanting to see even a recording of Oneakka right now...but this was apparently recorded when he was a teenager….it was too tempting not to watch.
She triggered it to start.
A sudden shaky view of a thickly crowded room filled the little screen. Past the heads of a multitude of people, she could see footage being played on a far wall of a ship lifting up from a ground dock and heading up through a planet's atmosphere to space above. As the ship took flight, a massive cheer from the crowd almost overwhelmed the pad's speakers.
"You have to forgive the shaky camerawork on my part, I'd never used one before," Massa noted.
The camera footage continued, the crowded space in front of the younger Massa making more sense now as people turned from the show and cheered. They were all young faces, male and female and all of that healthy, vibrant stage of mid-to-late teen years; their bodies almost adult but not quite filled out with maturity yet. There were loads of long limbs, necks, and very stylized clothes and hair.
She couldn't see Oneakka among them though.
The image changed abruptly, suddenly in a new location and deep base music pounded out of the pad's speakers. The image was now of a crowded dancefloor filled with what had to be hundreds of Recruits dancing to the heavy drum and electronic wailing of the music. She had to smile at the excellent music and the very obvious way the Recruits in the footage were loving the particular song. They all clearly knew it well, all singing along, swinging hips, shoulders, heads and arms in perfect time to the vibrant cheerful music.
There were obviously a lot of large cups in many of the lifted hands too; alcohol clearly flowing as the teenagers celebrated in the wild way you did at that age. She smiled as the image panned round, past a group of male Recruits who had lost their shirts, no doubt in order to show off their Elite-Trainee sculpted bodies with pride.
Younger Massa was clearly turning on the spot in the middle of the dancing, bringing different groups of faces and bodies into view. As some gaps opened up in the crowd, some particularly impressive, or at least enthusiastic, dancing was going on. As the view panned further to the left, the massive length of the room became more apparent and just how many were in it. There were a series of long tables spaced down the room among the dancers, perhaps it normally being a large canteen or meeting hall. However, currently the tables were dancing platforms, on which lines of more Recruits were swinging their bodies along with the thumping beat.
The view continued on to the left, now a lot closer to dancers, who were starting to smile and sing into the camera as it passed them.
No sign of Oneakka yet though.
She was a little sorry that she couldn't see young Massa behind the camera, as he no doubt had that the long-limbed and young face of those in the footage. All so young and full of life, clearly packed with confidence but mixed with that niggling fear of the future that only made them celebrate life that much harder.
And some were clearly celebrating some aspects of life in particular with quite a few couples clearly making out and a lot of dance-flirting going on in the crowd.
"Spotted him yet?" Massa asked.
She frowned as the view panned back to the right again. If he was in there she hadn't…
She lifted the pad closer…that wasn't him, was it?
The middle dancer up on the closest table was a male with his back to the camera, but he had a Mohawk!
He'd told her once that the Ugun people had loved dancing, that it had been a big part of their culture, and she'd seen Oneakka at that Military celebration dance off with some other Sythus Elite into the crowd to enjoy themselves, but she'd not seen Oneakka dance like this before. On a table with two females either side of him, all popping their hips one way then the other in time to the song, arms waving and shoulders jumping.
She had no idea Oneakka could move his backside like that!
Suddenly he was turning on the table, his profile finally coming into view in the half light as he reached down and started helping a female up onto the table next to him.
It was so obviously him, but, being in his mid-teens, his jaw and cheekbones looked a bit too big yet for his face.
And no scars. No tattoos.
His young pure face.
Well, maybe 'pure' wasn't the right word because that female was rubbing up against his back as they danced rather too suggestively.
She frowned at the female. She looked like trouble clearly.
Then he was moving along the table, reaching out and another female on the platform caught his hand and they danced around each other, bopping and singing.
She'd never seen him so free, so happy.
The image cut off and started up somewhere else; it was the same room, but it was clearly later. The crowd had thinned out a bit and the music not quite as overwhelmingly loud.
"The camera work actually gets better here now I'd had a few drinks," Massa chuckled.
The view was indeed steadier and music was somewhat calmer, but the dancing was still going. Through a gap, she suddenly spotted Oneakka again as he stepped into view and then abruptly back out. Without thinking she caught herself tilting the pad to try and see him again. His profile appeared again briefly, looking off to the left and then disappeared from view again, for someone else to take his place. She frowned at what was going on, but Massa was moving through the crowd now, panning to the left. The end wall of the impromptu dancehall came into view and across it had been scrawled several circles, in the middle of which were imbedded various knives. She watched another stick into the wall.
Considering how drunk a lot of the Recruits clearly were, it was rather impressive how many of the throwing knives were in the makeshift targets along the wall. Oneakka's movements made sense now, as were more people stepping forward and back, more knives thudding into the wall.
The camera shifted to the right and the curvaceous figure of a dancing female filled the view, the camera panning down her revealing outfit.
"I got a bit distracted there," Massa put in from across her quarters. "This was just before Mera and I became lovers," he felt he had to add.
She smiled and nodded, but kept her eyes on the screen that was abruptly filled with a dark-haired handsome male.
"Massa, Massa, Massa, Love you, Massa," the male shouted madly into the camera and it shook. She could now hear Massa laughing from behind the camera.
"Kane, stop it, I'm trying to film this," a clearly younger toned Massa voice replied.
"Kane," she repeated the name she'd heard mentioned several times before now. This was the lost member of the infamous trio that had been Oneakka, Massa and Kane.
"Yes, Kane," Massa confirmed with soft sadness.
"Come dance with us, stop filming," Kane insisted, only half his face showing in the view. The camera shook back and forth and there was more laughter, then the floor and dancing feet came into view.
"He got me in a headlock," Massa explained.
She watched the view go upright again and Kane was fully in view as he stepped back.
"So for any ladies watching this footage," Kane pointed at the camera. "Hello, ladies," he said seductively.
She remembered Massa had said Kane had been handsome and popular with the females, and she could see why. He had clearly carefully arranged black hair, golden skin and sparkling eyes that confirmed a confident cheekiness.
"If you want some fun-" Kane continued his flirtatious introduction into the camera, but abruptly the younger Oneakka broke through the crowd, his face fully in view now. The big jaw and massive, clearly somewhat drunken, smile across his pale smooth skin as he reached out and grabbed Kane around one shoulder.
"Kane, we need you; you're stumpy and strong," Oneakka told him and started dragging Kane backwards away into the crowd.
"Don't tell the camera that, Oneakka!" Kane protested as he was pulled away. Massa was following though, the view pushing through dancers, the knife-littered wall now in full view to the left and what appeared to be a growing Human pyramid in the middle of an open space among the dancers. There was lots of laughter and shouting, and the camera tilted up to where a lone throwing knife was stuck into the room's high ceiling, clearly the target for the growing pyramid.
The view panned down to see Kane again stood at one end of the pyramid under construction.
"Ladies," Kane stated loudly, "I just want to make it official that when Oneakka said I was 'stumpy', he was referring to my strongly compact body, not any specific masculine part of me." There was a load of laughter, made funnier by the fact that younger Oneakka was currently climbing up on Kane's shoulders.
"Don't believe him, Ladies; He's stumpy allll over," Oneakka shouted as he flattened a hand on top of Kane's head to help balance himself.
"Lies!" Kane chuckled, but was starting to pay a bit more attention to helping Oneakka, who was now settling on Kane's shoulders, lower legs hanging down Kane's chest and Kane wrapping his arms round them in a way that showed this was a part of their training.
She watched, sniggering despite herself as Kane wobbled, pretending he was going to drop Oneakka, but they slid into place as part of the pyramid.
"We need a third level," someone called and two females broke out of the dancers and started climbing up the wall of the pyramid.
One of the females had chosen to climb up Kane, who was grinning at her. Seeal saw Oneakka reaching down, helping her up, but she paused and pressed a kiss to the tip of Kane's nose. The crowd was too loud for Seeal to hear what was being said now, but Kane was laughing as the female continued on, now climbing up Oneakka to his shoulders. As Seeal suspected might happen, she paused and another kiss was deposited on Oneakka's nose this time before the female continued up.
Seeal watched Oneakka helping the female settle on his shoulders, and she had to admit the female was doing a good job at keeping balance, now metres above the ground. Beside her the other female reached the same level, and below them, a final Recruit was climbing up, the final piece of the pyramid.
There was less playing around now, the Recruits in the pyramid all concentrating as they braced and balanced each other, the final petite male climbing up them. The crowd were all watching intently now, jeering and making bets on who would fall.
The male got up to the uppermost females, there was a pause for some discussion, then he put his bare feet against their thighs, the females holding tightly onto him as he reached up and slightly back up towards the knife handle in the ceiling above him. He stretched a fraction further and the knife was plucked from the ceiling.
The pad's speakers roared with the cheers of the Recruits and people were jumping up and down, obscuring the view. She could see the pyramid was fast deconstructing itself, Massa's camera work swinging round, people shouting into the screen, full of victory and alcohol.
The view steadied as the music shifted louder once more and the dancing kicked off again around Massa. And off ahead, above the heads of the dancers, Oneakka was still on Kane's shoulders but now taking aim at the wall with another throwing knife, trying out the new height and angle. Under him, Kane was clearly dancing, making the aiming more challenging and, clearly, fun for Oneakka.
The footage ended on the last shot of happy dancing faces.
"That was recorded not long before Ugun fell," Massa added from the tiny distance across her quarters. "That was what Oneakka was like before then. We all worked hard at our studies, but we had a lot of fun too. After his recovery, after his devastating scars healed and his first tattoo was in place, he became more serious, focused, because he'd seen the realities before the rest of us. Of all those people you saw on that recording, our training year, there's less than one quarter of us left."
She frowned down to the last image of the recording; all those happy faces, too many dead too young.
"That's the reality of our lives as Elite. We lose almost everyone around us, and not peacefully in their sleep. Well," Massa paused, "there was one male in our year, but he was poisoned while he slept by a lover who turned out to be Wraith worshipper, but that's an outlier."
"Did they catch the poisoning lover?" Seeal asked, distracted by the random tale.
"By the time she was tracked down, a Wraith had already fed on her," Massa replied. "But my point is-"
"I understand, Massa," she interrupted him gently, setting her pad aside. "Death is part of your life here, and that makes people, Oneakka in particular, afraid to lose more people." In yesterday's case: her.
"Yes," Massa nodded, "but my other point is, that," he pointed to her pad on the table, "is what Oneakka is really like still, under the trauma, grief and often intense seriousness. I still see that part of him when it's just him and me, or when he's laughing or lets his guard down. He's still playful, loyal, and funny. My friend with whom I went on many an unauthorised trip, ran pranks with, or spent so many hours studying with before exams. My friend who was there when my heart broke, who cooked me a meal and kept me company even while I hated him being there, because he took care of me. Maybe he can overstep sometimes, get worked up in fear for us, but it's because he cares. I just wanted to tell you that, because he never will."
She glanced down at the pad.
That Massa had sent her a copy of the recording said a further point; he could have just shown her the recording on his own pad, but he wanted her to keep a copy. So she could be reminded, watch it again.
She wanted to just dismiss all this, keep to her own wallowing in hurt and anger at Oneakka.
Because it felt easier, safer.
Maybe Massa had understood that, but that didn't make it any easier to face the 'why' that was the case.
She reached out and picked up the pad again. The time displayed said she should leave for the Project Room, get to work and get her and Amel's presentation done. After that, she'd think about this a little more.
"I've got to get going," she told Massa as she slid her pad into her back pocket.
"Of course," Massa nodded and turned, collecting up Aki' toys, which upset the boy. Seeal watched as Aki cried at Massa, one of the toys held tightly in his hands away from his father, refusing to give it over. "You can hold onto that one then," Massa told the boy as he put the others away and slung the baby bag over his shoulder.
"Thank you for the visit," Seeal told him.
"I really did miss seeing you at Late Meal yesterday," Massa smiled as he picked up Aki, who was keeping his toy close and watching Massa with suspicion that it was still going to be taken away from him. "Are you going to be joining us this evening in the Canteen?"
"I will," she decided, "but I'm not talking to him until he apologises."
"Fair enough," Massa grinned. "I always enjoy the show. Next time you two have a flaming row, try and do it while I'm there to watch, maybe record it."
"I think it's time you left," she shoved at his closest arm.
Chuckling, Massa headed towards her door.
She collected up her other work pad and reached for her jacket and followed them out into the corridor.
Outside, she caught herself glancing both ways in case The Oaf had appeared, but he hadn't.
She waited for her door to seal shut and then headed down the corridor with Massa and Aki.
"So, you, Kane and Oneakka played pranks on people?" She asked, still struggling a little at the concept.
"There were a few," Massa grinned. "The best ones were about an award that was given to the 'Most Outstanding' Recruit in the top year, the last year before qualifying and graduating out of training. They used to hand over a small statue like thing to the winner a month before graduation, and for four yearly cycles straight, we three broke into the winning Recruit's quarters, stole the award, and then left it somewhere in the Facility in a place that was really hard to get to."
"And therefore difficult for the winning Recruit to retrieve," she had to smile.
"Exactly. It became something of a tradition in the Facility to find where it had been left and for everyone to watch as it was retrieved. One year it took them days to get it free," Massa grinned.
"Did everyone know it was you three?"
"People suspected, especially once our own training year reached final graduation year, but we've never officially admitted it."
Except to her. "Why did people especially suspect you three in your final year?"
"Because Oneakka won it and no one stole it from him."
00000
To Nalla, it had felt a very long two days on the Transport Craft flying through hyperspace. Unlike on the Sythus, the swirling lights of hyperspace travel filled the front windows of the Transport, the continuous flowing and altering lightshow constantly illuminating the inside of the Transport Craft. One of the Technicians in the back section of the small Transport had found the view and its constant sense of motion rather nauseating, but medication and avoiding watching it had helped him.
All of the crew had handled the trip well, their emotional webs having gone through the standard mixes of excitement, anxiety, claustrophobia and irritation, but also purpose. Especially now that they were nearing the end of their trip, soon to drop out of hyperspace at their target point outside the edge of the asteroid field they were here to study. They had used the last two hours of the flight to make final preparations to the satellites that crowded the already confined space in the back of the Transport. Nalla had grown rather used to having to squeeze between, and sleep among, the satellites, but she, and the other five crew members, were very much looking forward to deploying them in the asteroid field and having some more space.
And that time was now fast approaching. All preparations had been made, as much sleep gained, stomachs filled, and they were all now securing themselves into their space-ready suits. To deploy the individual satellites from the Transport Craft, they were going to have to decompress the back section and manually push the satellites out into the asteroid field, so the space-ready suits were a must. Even her and Inifee, who would be in the closed front piloting section would be dressed in them, ready to assist if required or in case pressure was lost during the process.
Working her way through the four crewmembers in the back section – two Technicians from the Sythus and two specialist experts from the Sensor Platform Ship – she had personally checked their space-ready suits were secure and fully functional. It had also provided them some of her time to check they, and their emotional webs, were well. All four Technicians had battlefield experience and, despite the very normal sense of growing anxiety in all of them, they were focused and ready for the mission to properly begin.
She ran the last check on the fourth member's suit and nodded to the female that all was secure. All that would be needed was for helmets to be secured once deployment began, but, until then, everyone was ready.
Nalla took a moment to visually scan the floor of the Transport around the base of the satellites' cradles, ensuring that any daily litter from the trip had been tidied way, no food packets or tools left unsecure.
Everything looked perfect and ready.
Pleased, Nalla nodded to the team and squeezed through into the front piloting section and slid into the Co-Pilot seat across the small aisle from Inifee. Her own space-ready suit was secure, her helmet attached to the side of her seat ready, so she ran her eyes over the console in front of her as she listened to Inifee talking with the two accompanying Fighters via audio link.
"…Good," Inifee was saying, "just keep your eye on those internal sensors, wouldn't want any small asteroid debris getting in the atmosphere intake manifolds."
"Will do, Inifee," a voice replied out of the speakers around Nalla. "Fighter One is ready."
"Fighter Two also ready," another voice added.
Nalla leaned forward a fraction so she could see out of the small side window to her left, outside of which she could see Fighter One travelling tight alongside the Transport within the hyperspace flow. Fighter Two was on Inifee's side. Nalla ran her eyes over what she could see of the small Sythus-launched Fighter. As much as this crowded cramped Transport Craft had been uncomfortable over the last two days, it was nothing compared to the tiny space the two pilots in each Fighter had to go through. But, she knew from experience, that the seats in the small powerful Fighters were comfortable and could be reclined while one Pilot slept and the other focused. However, the longest she had been in such a Fighter was perhaps eight hours, not two days. She spread her senses a little wider, bringing the two alert and awake Pilots in Fighter One's webs into stronger awareness. As was typical for Pilots of such experience, their webs were a strong mix of intense focus but ease and confidence.
She turned her head, moving her awareness to Fighter Two's two Pilots, and they were the same; ready for the mission, alert and eager.
Drawing her senses closer, she finally focused her attention on the last member of the crew: Inifee. Perhaps the most gifted Pilot that worked for the Elite, he had been wonderful company for her these past two days as they took turns piloting the Transport. She always enjoyed his web that seemed unendingly cheerful. She knew very few who saw the universe and everything in it with such calm pleasure as Inifee. It was no doubt part of the reason why he was such a quick-reflexed and seasoned Pilot, who did not lose his centre even in the most intensely stressful situations. He saw the joy in almost everything, excited but able to focus with a clarity of mind and emotion that was very enjoyable for her to be around.
She had though ensured that he had taken an extra long sleep before this final stage of the mission, for he needed to be as clear-minded and focused as possible. So, she had manned the piloting controls for eight hours today, and it had been worth it, as she could see and sense the alert excitement in him now.
"All systems ready, Honoured Elite," he looked round.
"All secure and ready in the back," she reported for all listening. "Satellites are as ready as we can have them before actual deployment." She glanced to Inifee's far side and could see his helmet in the correct secured position. She'd checked his suit first before he had sat down to Pilot after his sleep and First Meal…if it was First Meal, such routine felt rather forced in the constant flow of light outside.
She tapped on the multitude of screens and controls in front of her, preparing the full array of sensors for the arrival. Once they dropped out of hyperspace, location sensors would get a fix on the, rather tiny number of local stars in the target region, ensuring they were in the correct position, and the proximity sensors would immediately alert her to any enemies out there upon their arrival. Then, of course, there would be the asteroid field. They should arrive out beyond its edge, but in close range enough to get a good scan of it, which would help them plan how to proceed inside and where to deploy the satellites.
She pulled up the chart of the combined mix of their long-range scans and those provided by Atlantis. She had looked at this chart numerous times during the hunt mission, let alone over these last two days. The sheer size of the asteroid field meant that, even with these initial satellites deployed, just circumnavigating the asteroid field would take weeks. And that was while employing small jumps through hyperspace. Hopefully the sensor satellites would speed up the analysis of the field though, providing them some useful data and maybe even some clues as to how such a vast field could be moved without any apparent cause.
She saw one of Inifee's hands move through her peripheral vision, preparing the sublight engines and activating outward illumination.
"Exterior lights on Fighters," Inifee instructed into the open audio link with the two craft. "There's going to be little light out there."
"Any light less than this constant hyperspace will be a blessing," one Fighter Pilot muttered.
"You may not think that once we get in among the asteroids, there's going to be even less light and rocks getting in the way," Inifee replied with a joking tone, but his point was serious. "We are now on final countdown to target drop from hyperspace," he added louder so the others in the back could hear him.
"All ready?" Nalla called to the four in the back section.
"All secured in place, Honoured Elite," one Technician confirmed for them all.
"Excellent," Nalla turned back to her screens, having prepared the sensor display screens to her preferred configuration. She was ready too.
Two days of hyperspace soon to be over and their mission to truly begin.
"Ten count to target," Inifee announced loud and clear.
"Sensors ready," Nalla stated.
"Fighter One ready."
"Fighter Two ready."
"We are at," Inifee paused, "five count. Four, three, two, and one."
Nalla lifted her eyes from the displays a fraction enough to watch the swirls of hyperspace ahead collapse away into normal space and the subtle faint sensations of the flight dropped away-
A giant piece of rock was suddenly rushing towards them.
"Evasive action!" She shouted, but Inifee was already reacting, the Transport sharply decelerating and turning to the right. The emergency manoeuvre was so sudden that it strained the inertial dampeners, pushing Nalla and all in the Transport hard to the left.
Nalla gripped tightly onto the console in front of her, her eyes running over all the sensor readings coming in, the blaring red lights and emergency alarm echoing the close proximity of the asteroid outside.
"Multiple detections around us," she reported loudly and quickly. "But there's an open space to the right, heading six three."
"Working on it," Inifee shouted back over the alarm, straining against the forces to slow and turn the Transport away from the rushing collision. Looking up from the flashing screens, Nalla saw the asteroid still growing closer in the view, the Transport's exterior lights forming circles on the dark brown barren surface rushing towards them.
She watched worriedly as the circles of light merged as the Transport got so much closer to the asteroid surface, but she could see the movement in those lights now, the angle changing as the Transport headed to the right in relation to the rocky ground racing towards them.
A screen announced a reading for her and she snapped her attention back down to the console. "Detecting gravity field," Nalla reported. "It's weak, but we're slightly caught in it."
"Activating sublight atmosphere adjustments," Inifee added and she heard his feet stamp down on controls to make the changes, his hands locked on the piloting controls. Nalla reached out to make some further adjustments to the vessel for him, able now to actually hear the lateral deceleration thrusters firing through the hull behind her.
The Transport was starting to shake, the momentum and gravitational forces likely to have torn apart the Transport without the tech stabilising and dampening the powerful forces of physics. Nalla could feel her teeth chattering together, so worked to relax her jaw as she ran her hands over the controls, monitoring structural integrity and just how close the rock was getting.
Her ears were full of the noise of the shaking vessel around her, and the crew's emotional webs were loud and intense against her senses. Full of fear and courage, and Inifee's was sharp and intent with the passion to survive.
The ship shifted abruptly, the shaking falling away, and the screens in front of her altered. She looked up to see the asteroid dropping away under them, now a landscape passing under the Transport, and a horizon visible ahead where the surface of the asteroid curved away. And beyond it, only more asteroids littered the view.
They were certainly not outside the asteroid field, they were right in it!
Next to her, Inifee let out a loud sigh of relief and she felt his web flush with warm desperate relief.
Nalla dropped her eyes back to one display, quickly expanding the sensors to find the other vessels. "Fighters One and Two, report!"
"Fighter One here," one hurried voice replied.
"Fighter Two here, Honoured Elite. We're above you, following."
Nalla saw that the sensors now showed the two Fighters, flying at a higher altitude above the asteroid, tracking the Transport.
"We weren't sure you were going to break free there, Inifee," one Fighter Pilot added, his voice conveying just how shockingly close the near impact must have looked from outside.
"Neither were we," Inifee joked, a little breathless still. Outside, the large asteroid was slowing under them.
Behind her, Nalla could feel the four Technician's webs were relaxing, their panic dissipated and relief and joy hitting them. She could feel the same in her own body.
"I'm slowing to run full systems and structural checks," Inifee stated. "And find out where we are."
Nalla was already on that, the location sensors having taken back seat to the emergency sensors. She drew that information forward.
"Understood, we'll return to formation when you halt."
"There are only three local stars the sensors can detect from our current position given the asteroids in the way," she announced from the display. "But, all three stars correspond to exactly where we should be."
"But we shouldn't have been this close to the field," Inifee added to her and Nalla nodded as she ran the sensors as wide as they could around the Transport and Fighters.
"I'm detecting asteroids all around us, we are indeed inside the field not outside it as we predicted," she reported with a worried sigh. The webs around her were still distracting her somewhat, niggling at her attention. "We're fortunate we did not drop out of hyperspace in the middle of any of the asteroids," she frowned. If they had exited hyperspace just a little further towards that asteroid… It was something of a miracle that all three of their craft had survived such a dangerous arrival.
"We're not too deep inside the field though," a Technician's voice arrived from just behind her right shoulder, the Sensor Platform Ship's expert having moved into the piloting section. "Given what we're seeing out there, I'd expect this density to be perhaps just inside the main part of the field."
Nalla tried to focus on the original scan data, checking to see if there had been an error when the combined chart had been created, but nothing seemed wrong.
Something felt wrong though, with a twitchy kind of sensation against her nerves. She frowned at all the displays again, wondering if it was that her subconscious had noticed something in the readings that her alert mind hadn't yet registered. But everything looked straightforward.
"The asteroid field must have moved more than we could detect on the long-range detectors," the Technician continued. "Given the distances for our sensors, and Atlantis', in detecting this field, it does actually make sense that we might not have accurately been able to detect these smaller parts of the outer field."
"Smaller?! That's a big asteroid out there!" Another Technician disagreed.
The niggling sensation was getting worse, almost like an irritating sound just on the edge of Nalla's hearing. Was it one of the crew's webs?
She looked round over her shoulder to see that all four Technicians were crowded into the entrance into the piloting section, all watching the view out the front. She extended her senses to them, but nothing seemed out of place. They were full of curiosity, intellectual focus, and some residual shock from their near death.
But something wasn't right.
She expanded her senses further, checking on the Fighters and their-
She froze, both physically and psychically.
There…
Something…
"Honoured Elite, are you alright?" Inifee asked her from the right, his web flaring with concern.
"There's…" she didn't know how to finish the sentence, so she held herself still, working to enhance her awareness of what she could sense without reaching out further. "Something is out there," she caught herself whispering.
The crew's webs dimmed away from her awareness as she refined her attention, sinking into her senses in a way she'd not had to do since her youngest days of learning to use her gifts.
Something was just…yes, there it was. Just on the edge of her awareness…a web maybe, but it wasn't like any emotional web she had felt before.
That she could feel it from here inside the ship, when nothing appeared on sensors in the immediate area, no life readings except those on this craft and the two Fighters…
It wasn't Wraith, she was sure of that, but it wasn't Human either. Wasn't like anything she'd detected before.
And she wasn't sure if it was aware of her…
Worry dug a shallow hole in her chest, nestling fearfully, as she held every part of her being fixed and still, as if breathing too hard would risk her being detected.
Nothing changed about the sensation of the new thing though, nothing suggesting it was aware of her…she hoped. In truth, she had no idea what it was so how could she tell for certain? It just felt so…
So…alien.
"We need to contact The Sythus," she stated hurriedly.
0000
TBC