Ensign Ras El'Heem - Convalescence

[+ Talia Ohnari]

@Ras El Heem showing his writing chops with grace and loss. A true testament to talented writers, joining during the chaos of Frontier Day, and the lasting consequences of loss, and mourning. I am so pleased to be writing along side him and see more of what he brings. Well done!! 

 

((Makeshift Infirmary, Medical Facility, Deep Space 9))

Rows and rows of biobeds stood lined up like soldiers at attention, their stark white surfaces gleaming under the harsh fluorescent lights. Scarcely a few lay empty but disheveled, representing the ghosts that once laid there. Nurses and doctors of various affiliations moved with purpose, their footsteps echoing in the sterile space, sharp against the backdrop of groans and somber silence. This section of Deep Space 9 had been cordoned off, a makeshift triage center, strained beyond its intended capacity to accommodate the wave of injured streaming in from the calamity at Deep Space 33.

The flow of casualties was relentless, far surpassing what the station was designed to handle. Each moment counted. Each patient a life to be saved or that had already been saved and were taking up sought after space before they could secure transportation elsewhere.

Yet, in this atmosphere of frenzied activity, Ras moved slowly. Deliberately, as if caught in a dream where time stretched and folded in on itself. His gaze was fixed on a bed at the far end of the room, where a familiar figure lay.

As staff rushed past him, their faces a blur of concern and concentration, Ras turned his body to weave through the chaos, each turn of his shoulder feeling vital but detached. Each sidestep feeling like the delay of the inevitable. The world around him was a distant hum, the voices of colleagues and the beeping of monitors became a muted backdrop. He could hear his own blood rushing in his ears as a steady thrum of melancholy rising to drown out everything else.

Closer now, he could see her. Not a picture of fragility but of resilience. Shadows flickered across her face as the overhead lights ebbed in time with his racing pulse. Each beat resonated with a quiet desperation, urging him forward even as the weight of the situation pressed heavily upon his chest. He was moving, but time felt as if it had slowed to a crawl. It stretched the space between them into an eternity until it didn’t anymore. Until he stood at the foot of the bed.

Her sleep was one of twilight, medically induced and not all that restful. Her leg was wrapped in a bandage with a pink hue near her upper thigh where the rest of it used to be. Dark circles marred the skin beneath her closed eyes, the rest of her face pale as the petals of a lily of the valley. She stirred and the sound of the sheets moving snapped Ras from his stupor. He knew this moment was coming, in fact he felt obligated to live the moment. To offer a consolation for his perfidy.

Her eyes fluttered for a moment before slowly rising like a timelapse of two moons lifting into the night sky. When consciousness slipped back into place, she swallowed and stared right at the Kressari. Unspoken words stretched the quiet between them. Like the dimming of a distant star his presence cast a shadow where no promise had been made, yet the silence felt heavier for it.

True to her character, she spoke with a nonchalance that seemed almost artful. Her words uttered easily as if the elephant in the room wasn’t sitting on her chest.

Bobbart: Doc. You came to see the gimp show I take it? ::she chuckled raspily and then coughed.::

He titled his head sheepishly towards the ground but forced his gaze to meet hers, a juxtaposition of their soft brown iris and the sharp pupils that seemed to cut right through him. He raised his chin respectfully.

El’Heem: I had to come see Cargo Bay A23’s knight in shining armor…

The sentence trailed off and all too quickly it bled into the next.

El’Heem: I...I…I tried to-

She cleared her throat again and her face twisted as she rolled over to face the wall away from the doctor. Her crescent form curled under the sheets with her sole foot peeking from underneath. He couldn’t see her face, but a silent sob racked her body as her back swelled and then trembled over and over again. She didn’t grace him with any noise. It was vulnerable enough for her to cry in his presence.

El’Heem: He was a hero, you know? ::beat:: If it wasn’t for him…all of Ops would have been spaced.

She had stopped moving altogether and there was a hush that fell over the two. After a while, she sniffed, rubbed her nose and cleared the tears from under her eyes. She turned to look at Ras over her shoulder without fully facing him.

Bobbart: It’s just Alice now... I’m being honorably discharged and going back to earth.

El’Heem: Alice…

Ras nodded while staring at the ground. She turned back to face the wall.

El’Heem: I’m sorry.

The words tasted like chalk in his mouth. It wasn’t enough. There was yet another silence between them.

Bobbart: Thank you Doc. It truly does mean a lot that you personally went back to recover his body.

Ras placed a hand on an empty spot on the bed behind her.

El’Heem: Get home safe Alice.

She didn’t turn to see him off, just stared at the wall, her own body casting a shadow and creating a safe burrow to reside in. Ras walked off into the sea of doctors and nurses and beds and similar stories as this one. Other blips of loss. And even some of reunion and relief. Alice fell back into the rabbit hole, chasing her white rabbit. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Some time passed before she woke again. She moved into a sitting position with her pillow at the small of her back pulling her one leg up and resting her chin on her knee. As the cloudiness cleared from her vision, she saw a silver beaded necklace at the foot of the bed. A tear welled in her eyes as her hand slid down to pull the chain to her. Alice held it in front of her face and let it dangle. The tear slid down her cheek as the two dog tags of Alice Bobbart and Grayson “Jonesy” Jones clinked against one another.

NT/END

 

Ensign Ras El’Heem

Junior Medical Officer

USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)

K240106RE3