Ens. Gnai - Wandering About
Lich
((Promenade - Deep Space Nine, immediately after leaving Rakantha Province Hospital))
The shuttle ride from Rakantha Province to the station had been quiet. Gnai didn’t want to talk to anyone, nor did anyone else onboard really want to talk to it. Word had gotten around, it seemed, and a few hushed words had been passed between the few other passengers in the cabin, with the odd glance thrown to the combadge fastened to Gnai’s suit’s chassis. It couldn’t tell what sort of reaction they were having - was it disdain for the ‘fleet sticking its nose into Bajoran business? Sympathy for the injuries suffered to its crewmates? Judgement for being as stupid as they were, going into an unknown and unscannable cave without caution?
Whatever the others were thinking about it, Gnai told itself that it had no desire to hear it. It was glad that its limited telepathy only went one way with other species. If it had the chance to hear what they were thinking… it might have changed its mind about staying ignorant. So it sat there, floating about listlessly in its tank, counting down the minutes until they docked at the station. At least there it could disappear into the crowds wandering the Promenade, and amongst the other members of the Artemis crew that were taking their shore leave upon the station.
Blending in with other Artemis crew members might not be the best of plans though, come to think of it. The captain already knew, obviously, so who knew how much of the rest of the ship had heard about the whole mess that happened back down on Bajor? Ens. Savel was already back aboard, and while it assumed that the Vulcan would be sensibly tight-lipped about all of this, people might have been able to piece together that something went wrong just from his solo arrival back on the ship.
What Gnai wanted most, actually, was just to not see anyone, period. On a station as bustling as DS9 though, that seemed nearly impossible - and the Artemis wouldn’t be much better. Even if it could scamper back off to the bunk it shared with Ens. Chevalier, hiding out there while he laid down on Bajor, falling in and out of consciousness, seemed wrong. Plus, there was no telling who it might run into in the corridors. Nope, the station felt like the morally better choice here, as far as Gnai was concerned.
With a shudder that jostled Gnai around in its tank, the shuttle docked at the station. There was the usual hubbub of people grabbing luggage, shuffling around as someone needed to get off immediately to make another shuttle, but Gnai had nothing with it, so it patiently waited until most of the rest had left. Most of the other passengers were Bajoran, leaving Gnai sticking out like a sore thumb after it left the shuttle and passed through the docking ring into the Promenade of the station. But on the Promenade, it could see the bustle of a crowd. Being alone was its goal, and being alone in a crowd wasn’t ideal, but it was at least not the center of light gossip anymore.
The crowd of various humanoids (and scattered few non-humanoids) swallowed Gnai up as it approached. Being a bit short, as it was, it had no real sense of direction as it moved along with the others, catching glimpses of a station it had never known before along the way. Signs for various businesses soared overhead, alongside banners for… baseball teams? Huh.
At some point, it would have to get out, to leave the loose group of people that was slowly ambulating the lower portion of the Promenade. It had no clue where to go, as the station was still mostly new to it - there was the arboretum, but that didn’t seem right. Too airy, too vibrant for the stress it was feeling.
As the others moved about at differing paces, Gnai glimpsed a circular archway as a gap opened between two of the Bolians walking a few paces to its left. The various small groups of amblers that made up the crowds that circled the Promenade seemed to give it a respectful distance in their travels. Even if it didn’t stay long within the virtual bubble that surrounded the temple entrance, it would have a moment to reorient itself before it got too swept up in following groups of strangers around hoping that they would stumble across a place it could break off to.
It squeezed past another small group headed the opposite direction, and trotted over to a bench, close to the entrance to the Bajoran Temple. Just a moment, a short pause to take it all in. It sat and floated to the very top of its tank, scanning the less densely populated second level.
Salkath: Response
Startled, Gnai snapped to its feet, lights dimly flashing down its tendrils. It hadn’t expected to run into anyone it knew here - not with the size of the station and its population, in comparison to the few it knew on the Artemis.
Gnai: Commander Salkath! ::pause:: Good to see you, sir. What are you doing on the station?
Salkath: Response
Gnai: The temple? What drew you there?
Salkath: Response
Tags/TBC :)
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