Improvements

Posted on Thu Feb 18th, 2021 @ 5:56am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Lieutenant JG Sarah Wilson & Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Cave

A short time later Rhenora’s eyes opened, clearer this time and with more intention. She hurt, but she was aware of her surroundings, and the fever was beginning to ease just a little.

“Hey” She said, noticing Remal sitting nearby. There was a strength that had not been there previously, a yearning that was starting to return to her Pagh. She wanted to move despite the discomfort she knew it would cause.

He opened his tired eyes. "Hey yourself." He sensed that she wanted to move. "Easy now, we don't want you straining anything." He leaned over her body and gave a peck upon her nose ridges. "Feeling better I see."

Sarah headed over and ran her usual inspections, the back of a palm on the forehead, a grasp of the wrist, and a tentative look at the leg. She was pleased with the progress and noticed Rhenora was restless.

"Ready to sit up?" She asked, placing hands on the other woman's shoulders in preparation. The Captain nodded and braced herself for the movement. It didn't hurt as much as she had thought it would. She was propped up against the wall of the cave, a soft mass of large leaves cushioning against the stone.

"Thank you Doctor, for everything you've done" Kaylen praised, taking the young medic's hand and squeezing it. Sarah nodded but didn't say anything, still traumatised from the last dressing change and the remaining ones in the future.

"I'll do the next one, show me how" Rhenora read the situation and recalled the expression on Wilson's face previously.

Sarah tried to formulate a response but failed miserably, simply squeezing the Captain's hand "I'll get Ronson to bring you some water, and some food. You need to keep your strength up" she muttered before disappearing.

Rhenora searched out her husband's eyes, reaching a hand to his ear to gauge his Pagh.

As she touched his ear he closed his tired eyes. He felt relief. He felt remorse. He felt her pain, if only he could bear it all for her so that she didn't have to. All that he was, lay in front of him and she was hurting, but she was getting stronger. "So, what is my pagh saying to you?" He asked her.

“That you’re gonna kick some ass when we get out of here.” She smiled, trying to ease his pain. She could see how the whole situation was eating him up inside. This wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Sometimes bad things happened to good people. “And that if you ever see Haldeman again he’s a dead man… actually, he better hope you get to him first.” She held his hand, squeezing it and reminding him that she wasn’t going anywhere. “Rest…” She whispered, leaning over and pressing her forehead to his. He looked exhausted, both mentally and physically.

He leaned back and closed his eyes. “I’ll rest when I’m dead, or he is. Whichever, makes no real difference to me.” He let out a small sigh. “I have been thinking though, and I don’t believe he’s in charge. Call it a gut feeling, but the setup, the game itself all feels like it’s been here longer than he has. There has to be someone pulling the strings and when we get out of here, I intend to find a pair of scissors.” He smirked at his crude, tired rhetoric.

“ You think it's more orchestrated than it appears to be?” Rhenora questioned, narrowing her gaze as she wrapped her head around the idea. “Like they’re making things harder than they already are?” It was a fair assumption, it seemed whenever they made progress another obstacle or another Hunter or assailant landed in their way.

He opened one eye, “Doesn’t make sense that a former Starfleet Captain and his crew are at the heart of this mess. The sheer scale of the playing field alone gives me some idea that we’re dealing with a carefully crafted torture chamber of sorts. Shame so many with power getting their jollies off the pain and torture of others.” He closed his eye once more. “Also, as soon as you’re able, I suggest we move. It won’t be long before they get bored with us, and do something about it, I think.”

“ I fear you may be right” Rhenora admitted, closing her eyes for a moment as well. Though she was starting to feel less like death warmed up, the infection had taken a huge toll on her strength and stamina. “ We will move on as soon as we can, although I’m not entirely sure where we will go. Onwards to the Idol perhaps?” She cracked an eyelid and made her Ronson was still on lookout - they could afford to rest for a while.