Samira Neathler

Congrats and welcome to the fleet.

And thus the counsellor and Brunsig saves us all. Well written, @Corliss ((Main Engineering, USS Triumphant)) Fortune: Sadly, they can affect me, so it’s a little worse than the holograms. ::she frowned, crossing her arms as she thought for a moment.:: They know which way to go, it’s the going that’s the problem. And we’re onto something, if by the big bad spooky thing coming our way a minute ago was any indication. If not a rope, what else do we have on the list? She shut her eyes a moment, and then, it felt like she lost a bit of time. In between one breath and the next, a hand was on her back, hand holding hers in a mimicry of a waltz. She cracked open her eyes, surprised to see Walter leaning over her, and she half expected him to spin her in the next step of the dance. He wasn’t like Loxley, whose hands were smooth to the touch, their fingers meshing together like puzzle pieces. Rather, Walter’s were bigger, rougher, and faintly, she was reminded of her father, taking her hand in his, showing her how to carefully plant a seed of a new generation of plants, an excited whisper as they smoothed the dirt over it, and a proud little sign in front of it proclaiming ‘Corliss’ First Plant!’ She squinted up at him curiously, a faint tremor of amusement tracing her features. Fortune: Sir? What are you doing? Because no matter the situation, she highly doubted he decided now was the time to cheat on his wife in front of her very loyal crewmembers. She did have enough sense about her to know that. Brunsig: ::Low,:: An anchor. Take what you need from me, Fortune. I’ll shore you up. Huh. That was…she wanted to decline him, to step away from the dance pose, but she paused. There was a limit to her abilities after all, and she was quickly reaching them. At risk of passing out, she would gladly accept his offer of help. So, she nodded, passing him a smile. Fortune: If you’re certain. Brace yourself. Because she could only imagine how this would drain him as well. He braced, his stance wide open as if prepared to take an onslaught, and her hand curled into a ball with his. Oh, to be Quinn coming back to find out her counselor had scratched up her husband with her nails. Hopefully he’d forgive her for that. She did feel bad, her normal net and wall were now tossed to the side in order to draw in the lost crew, and she could hardly imagine what he was feeling in response to it. A screech from the Rift, and she felt it bounce between herself and Walter, a reverb that was as painful as it had been alone. Nice. Just what they wanted. Well, actually, they did! Someone stumbled from the portal, looking terrified. Feeling terrified. Her edges felt raw as if they were torn to shreds, and she wished she could smooth them down like the curls of hair out of one’s face. For now, she let out a stuttering breath. Neathler: Help her. Wrenn: ::She looked at Neathler.:: We should have left it there. We should have left it there. Tan: I think she's in shock. She absolutely was, her emotions scattered and almost numb, but Serren took up the lead this time, him and Samira helping the next person through. Neathler: Can she join the others? Loxley: I think a mild sedative wouldn’t be a bad idea. :He paused.:: And if any medical crew come through, get them to prep sickbay and run observations. Assuming they’re in a fit state themselves. Tan: Good idea. Let's delegate the most able to help the most sick, and we'll make it happen. More were coming through, bundles of emotion that were either ragged and numb, or terrified like no other. Her fingertips were most likely making dents in Walter’s hand, but he never moved away, nor shook his hand from her. He was a redwood in the eye of a hurricane, a well of security. She’d have to make more than a gift basket to thank him for this. Brunsig: ::Low,:: Keep it up, Fortune. ::He squeezed her hand.:: You’re bringing them home. She squeezed back, breathing as steadily as she could. She felt nauseous, but it was ebbing for the moment. Fortune: We are. Your help is greatly appreciated, Captain. More than he could ever know, really. A cool well to steady her, although she worried over what it was doing to him as well. Neathler: ::She looked toward the equipment crate.:: Could those pattern enhancers help somehow? Although they’re mainly used to boost energy or particles, maybe they could be altered, divert it to the Rift? Loxley: Hmm, I wonder if we could use them to steady the hole we’ve made? Shore it up, so to speak? Then maybe we could make it bigger without any issues. Tan: If we can, that would help a lot. She just made a noise of agreement, not really sure what would be the best way. It didn’t matter, as all of a sudden she heard a thump, unaware of when her eyes had slid shut. Samira was thrown to the wall, Serren lunging forward to grab her only to miss- Her. Ears. Were. Ringing. Her hand tightened in the Captain’s, and she was sure her knees would have buckled without his hand keeping her up. No. No no no, they were so close, it wasn’t even fair- Loxley: Commander! Tan: Sami! Fortune: No! Then something was dragging her, dangling her like a fish over a cat, and she could feel the moment they all realized what was going to happen. Loxley: Careful! If it drops her, she’ll… It was as if it was waiting for those magic words. It dropped her. Loxley was the one to charge into the fire, both of them escaping into the inky darkness. She had many, many words she wanted to say, tumbling over and over in her head until they felt like they made no sense. But where she thought she would feel a deep sense of loss, she felt… It wasn’t hers. It wasn’t her determination. It was Walter’s. And it fed her own fire, stoking it into a burning bonfire as she drew in a sharp breath. Tan: Sir, requesting permission to enter the rift and effect a rescue of Commander Neathler and Lieutenant Loxley. Both of them sounded off at that. Brunsig/Fortune: No. Serren’s eyes flicked to hers, and for a moment, it wasn’t him. It was Cory, upset at his demotion, perhaps hoping she would agree that it was unfair. But just as in this moment, she agreed with the Captain. He needed to have less responsibility, in order to grow to his full strength. And Serren needed to trust them. Tan: We'll try rope. Technically, high tensile-strength micro-cables, but... fancy space rope. Let me grab one of the security staff we've recovered, or a volunteer if we don't have any. The team should be no more than three; no sense risking more and this isn't something we can throw manpower at. I'll need thirty seconds to replicate some supplies. Nothing complex, the nearest wall replicator will do just fine. Estimated time of completion, ten minutes. Brunsig: I said no, Tan. We’re not abandoning a functioning rescue plan for one we don’t know will work. ::His flint blue eyes darted toward the man.:: We’ll get them out, but this isn’t just about them, and I’m not throwing more good people into that place. Deep in the void, an answering pulse. Someone, another telepath?, had realized what she was doing. She pulsed back, louder and louder, a burning lighthouse instead of a candle now. Fortune: Absolutely not. We know they’re not…in danger. We know they’re just lost. We’ll get them back, Serren, but you’re our only defense right now. Keep an eye on the void, okay? And if…if they don’t come through soon enough…we’ll think of something. Something less people throwy, and something more…well, she still couldn’t think right. And then the rift was spitting out people like it was losing its lunch. Ayiana. A woman she had yet to realize the name of, but whose emotions felt familiar, perhaps the pulse in the void? Pira. Samira. Loxley. Her breath stuttered, but she kept up the noise, just in case. They had plenty time to celebrate once they were all out and about. And then bam. The Admiral herself. She stumbled out, her hands on her thighs, and the Captain’s emotions spiking as instantly as hers did, but he’d come to the same quick conclusion they had. They had them back, but who else was left. And then Quinn looked up, and her eyes darted to the Captain’s faster than anything. Brunsig: You’re a sight for sore eyes. Reynolds: The feeling’s mutual. …well, now she felt suitably awkward with Walter’s hand on her hip. Still, he was helping, and they could explain in a moment. Fortune: You’re all okay! Her eyes bounced around them, quickly taking stock, but she couldn’t help returning to Loxley, nervously checking him over as if the split second apart had dealt him damage he wasn’t voicing. Neathler/Loxley/Tan: Response sh’Qynallahr/Sirin: Response Well. Okay was relative. Alive was better. And then the void cracked and her hand jerked in Walter’s hand with a shudder and a shriek. The feedback from him to her, the ringing, had gotten so loud it was like a whip crack across her temples. And then it was gone, leaving her breathless from agony. …fun. There were so many people. One side of her reveled in their being, feeling the confusion and anger and fear, wanting to temper ragged edges and wrap herself into them. Despite the circumstances, she felt herself flourishing with them all here, safe, out of the void. And the thing was gone. The thing…was gone. That was celebration enough. Walter let her go, his concrete force fading away, and for a moment she wanted to scramble to keep a hold on him, if just to make sure all was still well. But she wasn’t a youngster just gaining her powers, stepping crookedly on a path already beaten by generations past. She let him, a small apology for squeezing his hand so harshly, dipping her head at him as Quinn headed his way. Her netting was broken to pieces. For now, she quickly tempered a wooden resistance, not needing a steel one for now. Able to tell others were around, but not pressing into them, able to just relax in the wave around her. She launched herself into the crowd, quickly trailing to where she had seen Loxley pop through the void, and before she could even stop herself, she threw her arms around his neck, burying her shaking body into his for a moment. Fortune: Y-You’re alive. Loxley: Response Fortune: I just, you know, need to cry it out. ::she sniffed, not looking at him.:: For about ten minutes. Maybe a week. Loxley: Response Quinn’s voice raised above the small murmurings, albeit they weren’t that loud to begin with. Reynolds: This has to be everyone. Can we get a head count? Okay, that meant moving. She could do that. She could…do that…she could…ugh. She barely raised her head up, a hand waving. Fortune: That’s everyone on our end, Admiral. Ew, was her face wet? Oh, she just wanted to get back on the Gorkon and hide away for a week. Neathler/Loxley/Tan: Response sh’Qynallahr/Sirin: Response Oh, a new Lieutenant to the roster? Her mind crankily shifted to Work Corliss, creaking against it, the energy it took practically all that she had left. She shot Meidra a quick smile. Fortune: Um. Welcome to the Gorkon? …we promise it won’t be like this all the time? Sirin/Loxley: Response Any: Response Lieutenant Corliss Fortune Highest Quality Counsellor Brain USS Gorkon G239510CF0

Congrats and welcome to the fleet.

Congrats Ensign Shepard. Well done and welcome to the fleet. 👍

That I'd like to see, @Quinn Reynolds 😁

Should have a huge one haunting Corliss while hallucinating 😉

@Alieth Oi, keep them Bear alive, will ya. Some of us do like him. 😜

@Jo Marshall staying in theme. 😄

@Alieth certainly knows how to describe giants, makes you wonder if the Vulcan has some issues with her height 😉

@Corliss Got to have priorities 😄

Who volunteers to give @Bryce Tagren-Quinn a foot massage? 😄

Congratulations and well done. Welcome (back) to the fleet.

Scene: A group of cadets stranded in front of a closed door with Samira. Now, those who've simmed with me, know that Sami asked the cadets to open the door. Simtitle of one of our new cadets: It's gems like that, that stand out. 😁

Congrats Ensign Ral, well done and welcome to the fleet.

Even @Bryce Tagren-Quinn sees the benefits of Lephi's actions. 😄

So a PNPC lost a limb and @Tahna Meru might have found the perfect argument why he wouldn't mind:

Well done to all contestants, you're all winners! And Congrats to Ikaia Wong and Kivik.

Congrats and welcome back.

What to do when part of a conversation is not meant for your ears. 😄 Thank you for the chuckle @Ayiana Sevo.

Congrats, well done and welcome to the fleet.

She does have a way with words, doesn't she? 😄 @Alieth

@Jo Marshall did it again. 😁

While our characters are trying to stay sane and continue to save the ship and their fellow crewmates, we get to see the point of view of one of our PNPC’s and how fear and guilt can take over someone’s feelings. Amazing work, @Alieth ((Room 05-1005, Tahna’s Quarters, Deck 5, USS Gorkon)) Ena opened a new box and, with extreme care, began to place its contents neatly across the bed. After all, the yellow alert meant she had all the time in the world to do it, and since she didn't know how long it would last, she might as well extend those activities for as long as she could. The entry into that strange place in subspace had meant that she and Meru had to put aside the investigation of the older Bajoran of the strange nascent star that now represented the heart of their research. Not only that, but shortly thereafter, Tahna had been required to conduct some sort of investigation into some pod they'd rescued... while Ico was left behind to basically analyse data and produce spreadsheets. Not that it bothered her, far from it, she'd had more than her fair share of adventures on Darime IV, but when the yellow alert had triggered, all the ship's non-vital operations had been shut down... including the powerful computer usage Ena required to continue her analysis. Since her activity was non-essential, she had had to leave everything as it was and head back to her quarters, suddenly idle. Soon she had discovered that the replicators were off-line (no tea or craving snacks for you Ena!) and the computer in the room had its functions limited so... well.... she was unpacking. A small smile crept onto the shy Ena's expression. Confirmation that her cadet cruise would take place aboard the Gorkon had come just before the ship left the solar system, and Ico had had to rush to pack everything up and toss it into a runabout before the flagship of the Tyrellian sector left sector 001. She had barely had time to sort anything out, let alone say goodbye to her friends. Farewells that, in some cases, had been painful, but had left her with a promise, a visit, in the indeterminate future, with him, to Bajor. She looked forward to it and see again that smile. Be that as it may, the next surprise had come when the Quartermaster had confirmed that she would be sharing a room with her best friend. Whether by the hand of the Prophets or some benevolent officer or a good-natured Admiral, the two girls had soon found that a new bed had been pushed into the standard junior officer quarter, and efficiently placed on the wall opposite the one occupied by Meru's bed... and that had been all. Little ceremony and a little bit cramped quarters, but... there they were. Sharing a room once again. Of course, taking things out of their boxes hadn't been an option because they had so much to talk about, so many books to discuss, so many places Meru had to show her, so many labs to snoop through, so many silly fights over who had the best spot on the reading nook next to the teeny window of the room and so MUCH to talk about that putting things out of their boxes had ranked very low on Ena's list of priorities. Thus, the containers had simply piled up in a corner until that day, some open, just to pull out a rare book or a sequinned tunic that Ena had NEVER worn despite her mother's insistence that she wear it in case of a ball. The young Bajoran let out a giggle. Did she really not know her own daughter? She would roll herself into a ball under a table before actually participating in a ... ball. She shook her head as she pulled out a small package wrapped in blue paper. And then she remembered. She had just had time to go to that little café near the academy and bring back a selection of Meru's favourites. She had intended to give them to her as soon as she arrived but of course, life had got in the way. Pushing the gift aside as if it were the most valuable thing in the sector (because, evidently, it was, at least until they succeeded in getting Commander Caedan to retro-engineer the recipe), she rose to lay it on the small table next to Meru's bed. The cadet pushed aside the small white and gold prayer candle that occupied the centre of the cabinet and, then, the light faded. Darkness surrounded her, a particular kind of blackness, a void of any light, of any existence, oppressive and dense. One that reminded her of when Ena had woken up, dizzy and confused in that damned cave, not so long ago. Ico: He–hello?! Her voice was lost in that immense emptiness, no matter how hard the young cadet strained to hear something, anything. Perhaps, at the edge of her hearing, she heard an echo, or the sound of water, or a distant hum. Ico: ….no…. not again. Her nostrils filled with the smell of mould, of moss and alien plants, of those spores that floated, shiny and eerie in the cave but not there, not in that dark reflection of her reality. Her hands sweated and she felt a metallic, bitter taste in the back of her throat, one that she tried to swallow without success. The buzzing became faster, not as fast as it should be, but coming from everywhere, from all sides at once, surrounding her, encircling her and Ena knew that this time, this time she could not save herself. There was no one there, no officers, no friends, not even the strange voice that had sounded in the back of her brain and that had been silenced when they had extracted... it from her brain, if they had done that at all. Somehow, Ena knew that not even the Prophets would hear her there, not again, no more. The hum filled her ears, reaching out from everywhere in that endless night, and she set the box slipt down her finger as she put her hands to her ears and let herself fell to her knees onto a floor that not only she couldn't see, but which didn't even exist. Ico:... please… not again Her pitiful whisper was lost in the blackness full of whirring noises, in that space before the light, made up of the horror of absences. Voice: Again, yeah, one more time. Ena raised her head and there, in front of her, she saw Sol, his chest still scorched, the hole that had torn his young life from him blacker, darker than the inside of a black hole. She tried to speak, but the words failed to escape the lintel of her lips. Second voice: Once more, once again. Ena turned only to look at Jack. His face serene even though his purple eyes looked beyond her, lusterless, like the last time she had met them, before Ryan closed the Kelpien's eyelids forever. The young Bajoran's heart thundered a racing tattoo on her chest as she hid her green eyes behind her hands, her breathing quickened to ragged gasps. Ico: Nononono….no…. not again, Prophets, not again. Sol & Jack: Again. The buzzing rose in pitch, close, too close, as when she was trapped in the tunnel, with the drone at her heels, but this time there would be no helping hand to aid her, no leap to salvation, no loved one to pick her up in her fall. She could not move. She could not run. She could not escape the doom her deceased friends had designed for her. Because she had left them behind, left them to their fate, their bodies lying forever in the darkness of that cave on an alien world. No matter what she did to put that behind her, no matter what ceremonies she performed, she had left them behind... and now she had to pay the price. Then the light came back. And the crates and the room and Meru's white and gold candle and the box of kava cookies forgotten on the green carpet. But Ena did not see either of these, her eyes bleary with tears behind her hands, her frail body shaken by inconsolable sobs in which horror and guilt mingled. Cadet Ico Ena 4th Year Cadet USS Gorkon NCC-82293 E239702A10

Congrats Kevlak, welcome back to the fleet.

@Lephi and thus I started my day with a chuckle 😄