(Lt.)Cmdr. Bartly & Cmdr. Evan Merlin | A Rude Awakening

Posted on Sun May 31st, 2020 @ 12:00am by Lieutenant Commander Rook Bartly & Commander Evan Merlin

Mission: Dust Stirring
Location: Cold Station: Theta
Timeline: 242005.**

"Five minutes, no more." The doctor looked at him, sternly. All doctors seemed to have that look down pat, he reflected. That look of 'mess with my patients and you mess with me'. That look which could make Commodores cower and Admirals hide. It was amusing, as long as that look wasn't directed at you.

It was one of the reasons he tended to avoid the medbay whenever possible. Doctors were brilliant people, absolutely essential, and he loved to talk to them – but he preferred to do that outside of their domain.

He nodded obediently. "Absolutely."

"You must understand, she's still very weak. It's a miracle she survived. She might not even be coherent."

"I'll take it easy, I promise."

With a brisk nod, the doctor stepped aside. "Remember, five minutes."

"I'll remember," he said and entered the room.

The lights were dimmed, but there was enough to see the sole occupant of the room, lying on one of the beds. He walked towards her. "Hi there," he said softly.

Rook slowly opened her eyes, trying to focus on the person speaking to her. The lights hurt even in their low level. Turning her head slowly to face the speaker she couldn't get her eyes to focus. All she knew was every part of her hurt. Rook tried to speak, but the sound didn't want to come out. Her voice raspy and soft. "Wh....ere..." a second passed before she was able push out another word. "Wha...t ha....ppen..d."

He couldn't answer that question, but tried to give as many of the essential facts in a short statement. "You're on Cold Station Theta, on the edge of Federation space, near the Romulan Empire and the Stenellian Ascendancy. We found a tiny ship drifting out of a nearby nebula, in very bad condition, and brought you in. We don't know what happened to you before." For now, he decided to leave out the fact that his science officer had indeed found dissipating chroniton radiation around the ship, indicating that some temporal displacement had taken place. She would find out soon enough, herself, but for now she needed to rest, and to heal.

Rook closed her eyes to shield them from the searing lights of the room she was in. She was in pain, her mind sluggish, trying to piece what was happening to her. "Wait, did he say Romulan space?" She thought to herself though the cloud of haze and pain that seemed to be her current existence. "Cold.... Station..... Isn't that.... Refueling sta.... how did..... I get...." She processed the information as fast as she could. "Tiny... Ship?" her voice finally starting to gain some strength. "I was... on the bridge... then... then.... I..." Rook winced in pain and shock. "ENOR!" She screamed with as much energy she could muster. Rook started to violently kick and toss on the small medbay bed she was on as if she was reliving a horrible experience.

Several of the medical staff quickly dashed over to the now extremely aggressive patient, grabbing onto her in an attempt to restrain her before she was able to kill herself from the violent movement. One of the medical staff spun toward a table grabbing a hypo and sprinting back pressing it into Rook's neck. A loud 'pissshhhhh' sounded from the small device. It only took a second before the contents of the hypo took effect leaving Rook still and once again unconscious. "There is no way she should be able to move like that in her condition." The young med tech said to Commander Merlin. "What did you say to her?"

He had stepped aside to let the staff do their work and studied the medical display above the bed. It showed that she was human (though the indicator highlighted something in the base of her neck which indicated that there was an oddity there), none of the oddities which he himself displayed. A part of him was disappointed – he had never met anyone like himself and it just would've been nice if the new arrival had been. However, this was another thought which could wait until later, so he brushed it aside with a mental wave of a hand.

"I told her where she was found and where she is now," he replied. "She did know the station was a refueling station, but her last memory is of being on a bridge…" Well. Considering the trauma, it wsan't surprising there would be some memory loss. Whether it would be temporary or permanent would remain to be seen.