round 13 Lt Selene Faranfey & LtCmdr Jalana Rajel - Tragedies Revealed

[Jalana]

(( CMO's Office, Sick Bay, USS Doyle, Deck 5 ))

:: Jalana had come to Sick Bay to check it out, out of curiosity of the Luna Class facilities, but she had found so much more. Selene, one of the medical officers had been familiar to her from the first word, the first glimpse onto her face. She looked just like her best friend Sundassa, just with hair and eyes changed into a different colour and a little older. Jalana had seen it right away and called her out on it. While Selene had not admitted it right away, she had done that eventually. Now they sat in the CMO's office to talk. Jalana needed to know more than knowing that she had come from the future, that would never happen. ::

:: Selene sat on the desk, now that they were able to talk, and privately without anyone else hearing, a part of her wanted to go back to how they interacted with one another all those years ago. ::

Faranfey: You said you're Rajel, I suppose that means you got joined, congratulations!

Rajel: ::Smiling:: Thank you. It happened just yesterday. Slipstream drive is a fantastic invention, I tell you. What about you? How has your life been since we last met?

Faranfey: You said it earlier, my past, the future everyone was supposed to have, no longer does.

Rajel: ::Nodding she thought about that and leaned back slightly:: Since the time you are from is changed with you coming here.. I have to ask...

Faranfey: About how things turned out for you, if things were any different?

Rajel: Yes... I'm sorry, you must get those questions all the time. But if your Jalana is anything like me, you know that I am curious to know.

Faranfey: Well, I suppose there isn't any harm. :: She paused and looked at the ceiling as she remembered all those years ago. It was a time when she was happy too. :: Well, I was the maid of honor at her's and Viktor's wedding, Andy was the best man. She was a bit nervous, every bride seems to be, but she handled it with grace. She was my rock for so long, and then she stood by me when I said my vows to Andy. :: She reached under her collar to pull out the locket she wore, twisting it in her hands. :: Viktor worked closely with Andy, as head of the Marines. :: She paused, she couldn't help but think about what they were working on, the Hunger had started their invasion just shortly after her friend got married, forcing her to push up her own day as well. ::

:: Listening to what Selene told her, sent a little stab into her heart. So the other Jalana had eventually married Viktor, who had been head of the Marine group on board the Apollo. Well he had been here too, but they never got to marry. Instead he had killed his father and some other guys and had landed in jail. She had never had that life she'd dreamed about, being happy with the love of her life. It was painful and she fought against the emotions welling up in her. She had to find a kind of solace in it, knowing that at least Selene's Jalana was happy. ::

Rajel: And I ... she... did she stay as CMO on the Apollo?

Faranfey: Actually, she was Assisted CMO, within days of Andy and I getting married, she announced she was pregnant, or was it later that night. It was so long ago. But she told me she wanted me to be an honorary Aunt, and that she wanted to step down from CMO, which was actually perfect, considering Starfleet was after me for my own Command, but I wasn't wanting to leave the Apollo. Transitioning me to CMO allowed us to work closely together again. :: She gave Jalana a bittersweet smile, she was going to be an honorary Aunt, and everything changed after that. :: How about you and Vik? I take it you aren't together anymore... :: Something about the expression when she was telling Jalana all this, made her suspect. ::

:: She had been married and pregnant. Sun had married Andrus and they still worked together closely on Sick bay, which they did not too, but not as CMO and her Assistant. They were both medical officers. This other world sounded like the perfect place and she could not help to feel a bit jealous. ::

Rajel: No, I am not any more. My and his life went a little different. ::Quickly she changed the subject back.:: Was she also joined?

Faranfey: Yes, she was joined right after their engagement, they hopped on the opportunity because it was one of her desires. They prepped for it, and he was there for the surgery. He was so nervous, worried she'd be different, but when she woke up, while she had a bunch of new memories, the ones she cherished, were the ones tied to him, and you could still see it in her eyes, even when she woke that first time after.

:: It tucked at her lips into a small smile listening to that. It was a little amusing to hear that Viktor had the same worries than Sundassa had. Sundassa was the one being with her during her joining and they had talked about the very same concerns on their way to it. She felt the all too familiar tingle in her nose, thinking that the other Jalana had him by her side, even though she would not want to miss Sundassa being there. This was so surreal. ::

Rajel: Really? Interesting that so many things are the same like her meeting you or Viktor and the Apollo, but that there are still so many differences. I am sure they will miss you, now that you are gone.

:: Selene looked down, they didn't miss her, she missed them. They were gone before she even left the timeline. Fractured memories of happiness. Because she was here, she changed so much, even when she passed, she didn't think she'd see them again, so she didn't even have that as comfort. Their reincarnations wouldn't even be the same. She was completely cut off from the life she had before the Hunger, all she could do, was hope that Sundassa didn't squander the chance she had, thanks to her. And, possibly create herself a little place to fit in, in this world. ::

Faranfey: They can't miss me...

:: Jal did not have to be an empath to see that she hit a nerve. She raised her hand and placed it on Selene's, holding it gently, she looked at the woman who was so much like Sun, just so much sadder. ::

:: With her spare hand, she wiped away the tears the welled in her eyes, the talk of the past brought up both good and bad memories. The good tainted by the fact that they were taken away by the bad. ::

Rajel: What happened?

Faranfey: :: Looking up at her friend. :: They're :: her voice broke :: all gone, they were gone long before I came back. :: She took a deep breath, she had only told her past to Shel. And since then, she tried not to think about it much because after she got past the anger, that she had no target for anymore, all there was, was sadness. ::

Rajel: :: She swallowed hard. The word could only mean one thing. Cold chills ran down her spine and her voice was a mere whisper:: How?

Faranfey: There was a plague sweeping across the universe, they were called the Hunger... And they devoured everything in their sights. The Apollo was the first to go against them, and Viktor was on the front lines, he did it to protect us all, to try to keep his kid, her kid, from suffering at the hands of them. But, he was among the first of the Apollo's casualties.

:: Jalana's throat closed up hearing the fate of Viktor. She knew in her mind that it was not her Viktor, but that did not matter. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest, knowing that not only had he died, but he did to protect her, their child, and the Apollo. He had died for them, while her Viktor had killed. What had gone wrong? Could she have done anything to change their fate in this universe? She needed to breath, to stop thinking about that. She could not change the past, no amount of thinking about it could. ::

Rajel: How... ::Her voice was croaky and she cleared her throat.:: How did you get away? And what happened with Jalana?

Faranfey: When it was clear the Apollo was going to fall, Andy ordered me to be removed from the ship. I suspect he did the same for Jalana, but I never saw her again. Shortly after I was forcibly dragged from the ship, I had to watch it fly towards the Hunger's vessel and blow up. :: She wiped away more tears. :: They told me that it was a big win for us, as if that's a comfort to having everything torn from you. They didn't know that it was only delayed the inevitable.

:: She closed her eyes, struggling to keep the tears at bay, as she told her friend what she suffered through. Her struggling was for nothing, because once her friend's arms were around her, the flood gates opened, the tears streaming down her face. ::

::Seeing her friend cry, took every chance she ever had in holding her own tears back. She had tried hard to ignore the tingle between her eyes, the blurry vision but now the salty proof dropped along her cheek that she had lost the fight. It was like she could feel Selene's loss, her pain. She had lost her husband, her best friend, her home. Nothing of that was left. ::

:: But not only her loss. Jalana wondered what had happened to her, well her other her. What had happened to the child? To her symbiont? Was she the last host? Jalana was not able to say a word, her throat was choked up. She just held her friend's hand, closing her eyes as she tried to deal with that sadness washing over her. ::

Faranfey: We thought it was over, there were a few skirmishes during the next few years, but we seemed to be fighting them off... But, we were wrong...

Rajel: Wrong? ::She croaked between sniffles::

Faranfey: Around the same time as we finished the construction of the subspace amplifier, the Hunger reasserted their attacks, like they had been laying in wait for the perfect opportunity. My brother's ship was lost in the battle of Starbase 118, where we tried to pull enough ships together to fight them off.

:: The ship she was on, wasn't able to be there, they had their own battle at the time, which left them broke and in need of repairs. While her brother was defending the station, alongside many other great ships, she was having to attend to infected crew members, and eventually put them out of their misery. Each death, she had registered in her mind as a death that the Hunger had to atone for. ::

Rajel: I... I am so sorry, Sun. ::She whispered merely, for a moment addressing Selene by her real name, this did not feel like it was Selene's story, but the one of her best friend, just in another world.::

:: Selene's tone changed again, she got to the point of her story that didn't sadden her as much, it fueled her anger, and her tone reflected to show that. ::

Faranfey: Jalana, I wished I could have been at that fight, at the time I was killing members of the crew that had been infected. I would have preferred to parish in a last stand, than have to kill people who were innocent. After the loss of my brother, I stopped feeling anything, except anger. The monsters stole everything from me, and I was set out to make them pay. We fought for years, a hunger-ling killed my CO and I took Command. While I wouldn’t have minded dying to be with those I lost, I wanted to make as many of them pay as possible.

:: That Selene was here, made it clear that she had gotten through it. After everyone she had loved was gone, she still had survived. Making everyone pay back usually did not bring that with it. ::

Rajel: What did change, that you managed to get out of that?

Faranfey: I don't know, a little hope. I don't remember who, but someone researched everything they could about the Hunger, having discovered when they first showed up. I always wished they never existed, so I started thinking about what would happen if we could change everything. We didn't have anything to lose if it failed, we were mostly on our own, coming across scattered survivors, but almost everything was gone. My crew was on board, and we made our plans, trying to give ourselves the best shot at success, when we were attacked. At that point, we had to take our chances, make the jump and hope we succeeded.

:: She listened to the story, completely pulled into it. The tears that had flown earlier were starting to dry, leaving salty traces on her cheeks. ::

Rajel: And then?

Faranfey: Our ship was under attack, we had killed a few of the hunger, my crew and I, our ship was in need of major repairs, but we didn't have time to debate, if we didn't take the chance, we would have lost it completely with the way they were coming after us. So I gave the order, and we slung the poor old Victory around the Class G4II sun.

:: The rest of her story was in this time, they had plugged the hole for the Hunger, making sure they would never be able to invade. Which should have prevented her future from coming to light. Sun would have a happy life, but she was disappointed that Jalana didn't. ::

Rajel: So... that is when you landed in this universe. You came to make sure it would not happen again.

Faranfey: Yeah, I wanted to stop it before it started. No one should suffer that fate.

:: Jalana nodded slightly. She could understand why Selene had done it, even though it might not have been inside the rules. Though she did not even know if the other Universe had the same rules. ::

Rajel: You did not really expect to see me again, did you?

:: The question kind of hurt, because she wasn't trying to avoid Jalana, maliciously. She wanted to keep their lives separate, it was the reason she didn't keep in touch with Jaxx, and she didn't reach out to their parents. She didn't want to take anything away from Sun. ::

Faranfey: It's not that I didn't expect to, part of me hoped I would. But, I didn't want Sun to know, and the more people who were connected to her, that knew, the more people would have to lie to her.

:: Jalana could not help but feel a little hurt. She interpreted what Selene said as if she would have never reached out for her, because of Sun. That was not what she expected to hear from her best friend. On the other hand, the woman in front of her was not her Sun. So she should just swallow that. She did not have any right to think, that any Sun from any other universe would ever make herself known to her. That Jal now knew she was here, had been a coincidence. ::

Rajel: Why shouldn't Sun know?


Faranfey: I just don't feel I should be taking anything away from her, this is her time. I had mine.

Rajel: But you are here now, in this time. It will be hard to not cross paths.

Faranfey: It's the reason I avoided the dinner, I would have loved to be there to see Shel get promoted... But I was shocked to see you both there at the dinner.

::That only confirmed that it had been an accident. Of course it was, what else? Nobody could have planned that.::

Rajel: Well you know her, she would not want to stay away for his promotion. And I could not let her go alone and return to the Apollo without her.

:: Selene smiled, she knew Sun, it was the same reason she wanted to be there. Watching Shel get promoted was important. It stung that she didn't get to see it, but that was kind of her fault for not having told Sun sooner. ::

Faranfey: I know.

Rajel: ::She tilted her head slightly:: You are aware that now that I know you are here, I will have an eye on you, right?

Faranfey: And when you say "have an eye on you", you aren't going to be spying covertly, are you?

Rajel: ::laughing:: While we have a good Intel department, no I don't. I mean that I'll be checking up on you, make sure you are okay, calling you sometimes. You are here now, in this world. And in this world I am still around and plan to do so for a long time.

:: That sounded reasonable, but she still didn't want to take anything away from Sun, even if she could have used having Jalana around to ground her all those years. ::

Faranfey: As long as you have room for two of us, don't hold anything back from her though, she needs you. :: Her eyes watered a little again. :: I needed you too.

Rajel: ::She squeezed Selene's hand:: I will always be there for her, she is my best friend. And I will be here for you too. I’ll just have to get used to calling you Selene, I guess. ::She paused slightly:: By not holding back... do you mean that she will hear about your existence?

Faranfey: I imagine it's inevitable, if people are recognizing me, then it's bound to get back to her. But how exactly do you introduce yourself to yourself?

Rajel: I can't really imagine. I guess a "Hi, I am you from the future" does not work very well. But it could be that the blow will be less if she hears about it from me or Shelther. That way she has time to figure out if she wants to see you or not.

Faranfey: What if she can't handle the truth, the fact that Jaxx died, nearly tore me apart.

Rajel: What if she CAN handle the truth? I cannot speak for her, but if there is one thing I can tell you, it is that 'What if's can hold you back to find happiness. You will never know before you try.

:: Selene knew she was worrying herself over how Sun might react, but it was part of her mission, as she had come back from the future to spare her the same fate. ::

Faranfey: I know. I'll have to figure it out, hopefully before you guys leave. But... Speaking about holding back, I think I have a guy who is waiting for me at this point. I don't remember the last time I was asked out...

::For a moment she wondered what Selene meant, but then she remembered Bishop and that he wanted to get drinks with her. She immediately jumped off the chair. ::

Rajel: Oh yes! Bishop. I completely forgot. What are you still doing here like we're having a tea party, go get him.

Faranfey: Whoa. :: She paused and looked at her friend, curious about the sudden reaction. ::

Rajel: I have no idea where that came from. ::She laughed and then shook her head.:: Enjoy your date. And if I do not see you before we leave, I'll call once we are back on the Apollo.

Faranfey: At this point, I know the door is open, so feel free to contact me, and I'll do the same. I'll also let Shel know that you know.

:: Jalana stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the taller woman, pulling her into a hug. She held her for a moment and smiled. ::

Rajel: Have fun.

Faranfey: If I can remember how to.

:: Selene smiled back, before exiting the Chief Medical Officer's office. While the conversation was a bit heavier than she expected, she knew at some point she had to get it all off her chest. She wondered if her PADD still was around, or if the DoTI had destroyed it, all those messages she made for Jalana, not knowing if she were alive or dead, being stored. Hopefully they hadn't gotten through the encryption. ::

:: Now Selene had a man who had tracked her down to confront her, and then to ask her out, to find. Hopefully the rest of the evening wasn't going to be as emotional as the last couple hours. ::

----

LtCmdr Jalana Rajel
Medical Officer
USS Apollo-A

simmed by

LtCmdr Akeelah D'Sena
Acting CO
USS Apollo-A
Image Team Facilitator

And

PNPC Lieutenant Selene Faranfey
Medical Officer

Simmed by:

Captain Shelther Faranster
Commanding Officer
USS Doyle-A, NCC-80221-A
Assistant Statistician, Starbase 118 Academy