JP: Master Chief Aeryn Ra & Fleet Captain Karrod Niac: Percussive Maintenance Revisited (PT1)

[Karrod Niac]

((Shuttlebay, Deck 9, USS Ronin))

The weight of recent events had settled most uncomfortably in her lap. Aboard the Eagle, she was the only officer or crewman with Romulan heritage, and given what had apparently transpired on the ship they had rescued from the nebula, anyone who saw her in the corridors had gotten hush-hush. It imposed an odd feeling on her, and so at her first opportunity, she’d taken a short leave as the rest of the crew worked through the nightmare that was the Ifir. 

Terror. What a fitting name. Closing her eyes momentarily, she let the thoughts pass as the shuttle touched down. The time had come to let the stress fade and enjoy the few days to come.

It hadn’t been that long since she had been aboard, right? Certainly it hadn’t been long enough for the deck layout to change, or for the Jefferies tubes to shift somewhere new. Smirking to herself, the Romulan hybrid stood with the other passengers and slipped her bag over her shoulder. Though exceedingly hard to surprise the now Fleet Captain that commanded the Ronin, Aeryn had enlisted all the help she could to slip aboard. If her plan worked or not was yet to be found.

Stepping out of the shuttle into the brightly lit bay, she squinted her eyes for a moment until they adjusted. Once so, she took on a purposeful stride towards the doors that led to the rest of the ship, not pausing to look to see who was around, or to allow them to ask any questions. It was only when she had found herself alone in a lift that she asked the computer the current location of one Karrod Niac.

Computer: =/\= Fleet Captain Niac is currently located in Sickbay. =/\=

Aeryn raised one of her upswept eyebrows with questioning concern.

Ra:  What the hell?

The Terran term slipped as her mind ran through the various things that could be wrong. Everything from a simple scratch to biobed assisted breathing streamed through in a matter of seconds.

Computer: =/\= Please restate query. =/\=

There was no sense in asking for more information when the source wasn’t that far away. She shook her head, a new goal in mind.

Ra:  Nevermind. Deck ten.

((Sickbay, Deck 10))

As sweat poured down his face and into his beard one word repeated over and over in Karrod’s mind.  Torture.  He was being tortured.  His body pushed in ways it simply wasn’t meant to be.  His muscles screamed against the torment as he flexed and strained in wholly unnatural positions.  It was as if the Tal’Shiar, the Obsidian Order and some other shadowy black leather clad organizations had gotten together over a long weekend and bounced ideas around about how best to inflict pain, then simply decided to let their medical divisions take over the work and run with it.  

Nine days of examinations en-route to Endicronimas V, conducted by the pathologically competent Division 14 medical specialists that joined them from the USS Blackheart, had very nearly broken him more completely than the Tarellian Death Plague ever could have.  He’d been assured this was all necessary as he was one of the few people who’d been exposed to not only the Consortium variant of the plague but the original, unmodified version aboard the downed freighter.  The D14 specialists told him he was incredibly lucky and that this comprehensive metabolic and neurotransmitter stimulation was necessary not only to verify his good health, but to help them understand exactly how the plague had been trying to do its deadly work.  Karrod’s personal explanation was far more simple - they were sadists.  Exceptionally competent sadists.  

The timer beeped and he sagged back in the torture rack disguised as a biobed, his feet falling away from the pressure pads that were senselessly installed in the wall above some of the monitors, where he’d been doing something that vaguely approximated jogging upside down for the last twenty minutes.  Several med techs nearby were reviewing the results of their most recent torment session and comparing looks as they tapped at padds and displays but, wisely, none chose to wander in his direction.  

He’d yelled at the last one who’d innocently asked him how he was feeling.  

The repetition timer began chiming again, letting him know he had ten seconds before he was supposed to start his next set of tormentations, when he heard the door to sickbay glide open behind him.  From his position on the biobed he couldn’t see who entered but a small part of him prayed for any excuse to tell the D14 staff he had somewhere else to be and something else more important to do.

When the doors opened, Aeryn’s eyes fell on the one she had been seeking and when she saw motion, relief allowed her to put her thoughts towards things more productive than coming up with the next horrible thing that could have happened. Most things could be fixed by modern medicine, if it was available quickly enough. That was most of why she had become what she had and enlisted in Starfleet.

Still, a heavy dose of worry danced around her mind even if her face didn’t show it as she approached the biobed to get a better view. A medical officer moved to block her path, and her brown eyes looked up with stoic annoyance. So she spoke from where she stood.

Ra: Karrod, what did I tell you about that body of yours? It’s not made of titanium or duranium and breaking it comes with consequences.

He nearly fell off the biobed in shock.  He was wearing a sweat soaked Ronin training shirt and shorts, felt like he’d just gone twelve losing rounds with a Nausicaan, and suddenly all of that gave way to joyful surprise so intense the biobeds monitors started ringing in alarm.  

Niac:  Aeryn?!  What…what are you doing here?!  I thought you were on the other side of the quadrant?!

A rare smile appeared on her lips as she now moved around the blockade in her path to approach the side of the bed.

Ra:  I was, but I needed some time away. What better way to do that then to come to this side of the quadrant?

Reaching out, she put a hand on his arm. It was clear he had been sweating, likely pushing through one of the more intense so-called therapy sessions devised by some of the higher ranking medical officers sitting behind a desk somewhere on Earth. Aeryn shook her head slightly. If the task was to elevate the heart rate and get him moving, well, there were easier and more enjoyable ways. The smile turned into a smirk.

Ra: What did you do to yourself this time?

Gracelessly Karrod rolled off the biobed and groaned his way to his feet, still not entirely believing that she was actually here as he formulated an answer to the question.  

Niac: There was a small…incident…involving a….well…death plague.  Technically two death plagues.  Oh and a few robots that I think are made primarily of knives.  You know…standard Starfleet Tuesday.  

Listening to his words she found none of it surprising. One of her eyebrows rose slowly, arching as was typical by the time he finished.

Ra: You only have one life you know. I’d kind of prefer that you held on to it a while.

A slight flash of violet filtered through the brown of her eyes, settling almost into the background nearly invisible.

The hint of a smirk playing on those severe Romulan features made his lips curl up in amusement, his earlier exhaustion almost immediately forgotten.  

Niac: Well in that case we don’t have any time to waste now do we?  How long are you on leave?

Ra:  I have a few days when you take travel time into things.

He did a bit of quick mental math and, when that failed, went back to an exaggerated count on his fingers.  

Niac:  That doesn’t give us all that much time.  Tell me, did you have plans for this impromptu visit to the good ship Ronin?  Perhaps a tour of the catamaran?  A visit to our Brew Continuum franchise?  I understand each location offers a unique mug as something of a souvenir.  

He may have waggled his eyebrows at her.  Just a bit.  He realized the sickbay staff had, to a one, found other places to be in the last few minutes.  Karrod decided right then that he’d put them in for a commendation the first chance he got.  

She couldn’t help but let the smile grow. They were alone in that corner of sickbay now, with the one who had tried to block her long gone. Not caring where they went or looking for them, she shrugged.

Ra: No specific plans, just, you know…figured I’d come find you and see what trouble we could get into.

Long distance relationships were truly long distance when you were talking about deep space. With the kinds of trouble that usually found Karrod, Aeryn hoped that perhaps this kind of trouble could be a little less…destructive…particularly to his body.

Karrod smiled at the suggestion and immediately had several thoughts about the kinds of trouble his recuperating body was suitable for.  

Niac: Well Chief Ra, it may take my final ounce of strength but I do think I’ve got enough vitality left for a…bit of exertion.  Fortunately if anything were to happen I’m in the care of very capable hands.  

He pushed off the biobed he found himself leaning against with a small grunt and offered a hand, a wink and a smile he saved just for her.  

Aeryn slipped her hands into his, half for the show of affection and half to make sure he was steady on his feet. The lack of grace he’d shown in getting to his feet to start with made her wonder if she’d surprised him that much, or if it was still part of his recovery.

Ra:  What are the chances of sneaking out of here? That seems like a good place to start.

He glanced around like an Academy first year who’d tried to sneak back onto campus after lights out.  The medical staff had wisely chosen to retreat to a minimum safe distance and, by this point, were probably halfway out of the star system.  He didn’t blame them one bit.  

[TBC!]

=====================================

Master Chief Petty Officer Aeryn Ra

Paramedic

as simmed by:

Lieutenant Commander Cayden Adyr

Executive Officer

USS Eagle

R238605KN0

&

Fleet Captain Karrod Niac

Commanding Officer

USS Ronin - NCC-34523

V239509GT0