Ens. Gnai - Priorities
Lich
((Corridor, Deck 15 - USS Artemis-A))
Once settled aboard the Artemis, one of the priorities that Gnai had was getting out of this damned backpack. There was little it could do from within it, unable to interact with the world past its weak telepathy. Sure, it was at least being carried around by a friendly face (Gnai was… unsure if calling Gila, no, Lt. JG. Sadar a friend was entirely appropriate - not after the formality of their shuttle ride back to the Artemis) and not trapped inside its own suit, being commandeered by the Borg. But it still felt isolated and helpless, limited to tagging along with wherever Lt. JG. Sadar was headed.
Outside of the viewport of the pack, Gnai watched as familiar faces passed, various officers and enlisted that it had met previously, or just seen briefly as it had lived aboard the vessel. It wondered what they all thought, seeing it being carted around by a superior officer. Were they confused? Did they think it weak, for being so limited? What did that stare mean?
Each flash of recognition made it want to shrink down in the water, to save itself from embarrassing questions later from the rest of the crew. It didn't, as much as it wanted to, settling just for flashing a bit of embarrassment. They’d all been through hell, and even if Gnai didn’t know much of how its ship had fared, it could still see the scorch marks on the walls and the weariness of those slowly staggering down the halls, some still dazed from what they’d seen.
It tried to put those worries behind it, and keep watching out to see who’d survived (as well as who was notably absent) as they made their way towards Main Engineering - evidently, returning its autonomy was of a similar priority for Lt. JG. Sadar. She’d listened as it explained to her how it had turned to Lt. Cmdr. Salkath in the past to help it with its suit - and had agreed to take it there, and free up her hands to help out with recovery efforts.
Gnai didn’t envy her position as a doctor. As a scientist, it felt relatively distant from the aftermath of what had occurred at Frontier Day, but for her? The work was just beginning. She’d be reliving parts of Frontier Day for countless days ahead of them, presumably patching up various members of the crew and filling in for the lost across the fleet. It supposed she had a stronger stomach than it did for those sorts of things, but it couldn’t imagine that it would be good for her in the long run.
It hadn’t a clue how to help with that, but it could at least try and say something nice.
Gnai: ~ Thank you. Again. For everything. ~
Sadar: Response
Gnai: ~ What I ::partial:: thought to you when the Borg were going to kill us ::partial::... I ::partial:: meant it. It’s been an honor serving with you. ~
Sadar: Response
There was little more to say as they approached the doorway, and it wooshed open to an alien sight.
((Main Engineering, Deck 15 - USS Artemis-A))
The usual hustle and bustle of Main Engineering was absent. An eerie quiet hung over the space, pockmarked with bursts of weary chatter from a small number of engineering officers focused on repairing… some damaged system that Gnai couldn’t identify. The scars of battle were still visible across the deck: a number of shattered consoles, burn marks across surfaces, and dark stains of… something lingering in corners that had been missed in the first pass of cleaning.
Lt. Cmdr. Salkath stood right where he had said he would be, calm and collected as ever. Vulcans were always hardest to read of the humanoids, as far as Gnai was concerned. How was he faring with the destruction aboard the ship? With the loss of life across the crew? Such questions could be answered, perhaps, as they worked to reconstruct the suit. And perhaps make updates to it. Gnai could now think of more than a few oversights that it and its mentor had made during the suit’s design.
Gnai: ::to both:: ~ Commander! Thank you for agreeing to this. ~
Salkath/Sadar: Response
Gnai: ::to both:: ~ Thank you, also, Lieutenant Sadar. For getting me ::partial:: here. ~
Sadar: Response
Gnai: ::to both:: ~ The suit wasn’t… able to be recovered from the saucer section of the Kitty Hawk. It was too damaged. ~
Best to leave it at that for now. It wasn’t keen to let it spread how destructive the suit was to the crew of the Kitty Hawk, nor to itself. If there was concern about the danger of the suit, it might not be allowed to recreate it, and that was unacceptable to Gnai. All that needed to be said was that it was destroyed, and that Gnai needed a new one. Nothing more, nothing less.
Salkath/Sadar: Response
Tags/TBC :)
((OOC: MANY many thanks to Gila for helping me unstick my brain on this by volunteering to ferry around my jellyfish oooooone last time.))