When He’s Down

Posted on Sat Jul 9th, 2022 @ 3:11pm by Lieutenant JG Revana Nazar & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Christoph Ivers

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 0100
2026 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Christoph was drifting in and out of sleep on the biobed. He was uncomfortable. Everything ached. He was alive. He was angry and frustrated. He shifted slightly and put his hand over his eyes. It hurt but he didn’t care. He was going to have to figure out how to kill Andrei Petrov. That’s all there was to it. A difficult and dangerous task to be sure, but a necessary one. When push came to shove, Petrov was little better than a rabid dog if he was enraged. Disgusting really. The good news is Andrei had irritated a number of the senior staff with his antics so finding support for the plan would perhaps be easier than he would have expected. Once he had a plan at least. He shifted and sighed again, making a slightly pained sound before he settled again. He was also worried what Andrei might do to Madeline just to hurt him.

The hour was late, and only one hour into her substitute shift, when Revana Nazar walked into sickbay, a blue rag around her hand. The Gamma Shift Engineering Crew needed some work, especially concerning diagnosing risks in the working environment. One of the propulsion systems crew had given her some bad information on having properly realigned one of the magnetic shift mechanisms attached to the Warp Core. When she stuck her hand in to make sure the job was completed, she was barbed in the hand by a jagged edge. As she walked up to a nurse, her mind solely on the task for which she'd come up here, she pulled off the towel to reveal a hand splattered with green blood and a moderately deep wound.

As the nurse took hold of her hand and analyzed it, she winced. After a minute with some disinfectant and the dermal regenerator, her hand was as good as new. Just as she was getting ready to leave, she noticed Christoph lying on the biobed, looking less than healthy. She took a few steps closer to get a better look.

Christoph had heard the door open but hadn’t moved his hand. He didn’t particularly care what was going on around him and all he wanted to do was sleep. However given he wasn’t the bastard child of a captain, he didn’t get his own private room to rest. Though maybe he was also just a touch bitter right now. He couldn’t help lay some of this blame on his own father for pushing him into service; he had harped on how important it was for the son of a new lord to serve. No one would have given a shit if he hadn’t served. Not with their family business being what it was. His mind wandered aimlessly through his thoughts and emotions until he picked up on the feeling of being watched. He finally moved his hand and opened his eyes to look up only to let out a sigh and put his hand back down.

“Revana.” He greeted in a dull voice. “Are you alright?”

She paused, watching him, her dark eyes moving from his bloodshot eyes to his bandaged body. She said nothing for a while; she had nothing to say. As she looked at him, however, feelings of some dark satisfaction arose in her soul seeing him this way after the way he had rejected her the night before. It seems, somehow, some way, someone gave him the pop in the lip she had wanted to and much more.

"I'm fine." she said, dispassionately, her face neutral. "A crewman made a mistake and I paid for it. What the hell happened to you? I think that's the real question."

Christoph let out a short laugh at that, but cut it short since it hurt to do. He didn't look at her, he didn't have to. He knew she would enjoy seeing him like this. "I fell down the stairs." He replied dryly with not even a hint of seriousness. "When you've gotten off looking at me like this let me know, I want to go back to sleep."

“I think I’ve gotten off as much as I can with without you getting physical involved.” She said, smiling as she grabbed a chair and pulled it up. Her air was light and kind, but not overtly or passionately concerned. Sitting down without asking, she watched him, placing a hand on some unbroken flesh on his arm and giving it a gentle rub. “That must have been some flight of stairs..”

He didn’t jump when she touched his arm, but he did take in a slightly sharper breath as if he were anticipating pain from the touch; it wasn’t something that seemed to be a reaction to her in particular though. When it was clear she wasn’t going away, he moved his hand from his eyes and turned his head to look at her. “Yes, well, shit happens.” He sighed and felt himself wishing for her actual kindness in this moment, but he knew it would be too much to ask. He had angered her, she was a woman, she would revel in this suffering and leave him when she was damn well ready. “I’ll be fine in a day or two.”

She watched him, a mask of sadness on her face. She looked into his eyes and saw the true nature of his feelings. He wasn’t just hurt, he was damaged emotionally too. Victimized. She licked her lips, looking away for a moment.

“While you’re here, there’s something I wanted to tell you. I’m sorry for what I did with you in the gym. It wasn’t fair for me to use you that way, and I’ve been thinking about it. At first, I was very angry at your rejection, but I think I understand why. Can you forgive me? “

Christoph didn't believe her. He wanted to, but how could he? He moved his arm with some effort and placed his hand over her's lightly. "Don't worry about it." He paused a moment and added, "I"m sorry too. I shouldn't have gone about that the way that I did." He truly did seem sorry and looked up at her through his still somewhat swollen eyes. Maybe he was sorry. He didn't know. Everything hurt.

She didn’t move her hand when his was placed on hers, but only looked down at it with a certain neutrality. When she looked back up at him, he focused on his swollen eyes and blinked herself. Her gaze was honest and Frank.

“Someone else has your attention.” She said then, calm and measured. “I can’t blame you.”

He let out a sigh and moved his hand. "What are you talking about?"

She watched him and seemed to consider his tone. She shook her head.

“Never mind. Forget I said anything. It’s none of my business.” She said, leaning back then in the chair. “Tell me what really happened. Who did this to you?"

"Some training got out of hand. Blood ran hot. Its not a big deal. Nobody died." He said, too tired to press her on what she had been talking about. Not that he expected an honest answer even if he did ask. For once he would have just enjoyed a moment of quiet in his life. Not having to worry about who was trying to one up him or lie to him or own him. For just a moment he wanted to go home.

“Okay, well, if you are just going to lie to me, then I don’t know why I’m trying.” She said, standing up. If he couldn’t do anything but feel sorry for himself than she wasn’t going to take the time to try and connect with him. “I guess I shouldn’t have even bothered.”

"What do you want from me, Revana?" He growled and pushed himself up slightly, wincing. She wasn't stupid. She could put two and two together. He had left here, gone to the Lovarr, and come back like this. If it had been some sort of slave uprising it would have been dealt with already and he wouldn't have been shy about it.

“Well, maybe I want you to stop lying to me and tell me the truth.” She said, her arms folded under her ample chest. She looked at him, her dark eyes flashing measured irritation. He was being very difficult.

His eyes automatically went to her chest when she crossed her arms and pushed her breasts up slightly, then they traveled up to her face. Seeing her expression, he sighed and just lay back silently. He couldn’t trust her. He knew it in his recently stitched together bones. Hell maybe Andrei had sent her here to see what he was going to say or just to gloat. On the off chance she wasn’t smart enough to put two and two together, then talking to her was a liability. He knew she was much more intelligent than anyone gave her credit.

Revana shook her head. She hadn’t expected much from him since the moment she met him, but when he got his promotion, she thought she might have been wrong. It seems she wasn’t. To see him weakened and collapsed like this in body and in spirit, even if it was only temporary, made her sick.

“You know, I think I’m glad you rejected me.” She said, frowning, her eyes deepening in intensity. “I’m not sure you can protect me if you can’t even stand up and do something when you’ve been wronged.”

"If you think I rolled over and took this, you'd be very wrong." Christoph's face grew darker at her accusation. "There's nothing saying I won't do something about it, but gods, Revana, I still don't know what you expect? These injuries to heal with immediacy? Some sort of sorcery? For me to pop back up and declare loudly that I'll seek my vengeance? That's not how this works. You know that. You are not stupid even if you try to play like you are."

“At least you’re confirming it wasn’t a trip and fall down the stairs.” She said, rolling her eyes, ignoring his defensive explanation. “Who did this to you and why? Seems an issue of public safety, considering your our Chief of Security.”

“And as Chief of Security, I will handle it.” He settled back down and closed his eyes. “That is all you are going to get, Revana. Now if you’d like to stay as a friend, feel free, but I’m not talking about this anymore. Do you understand?”

“Why would I want to stay as your friend?” She asked, her eyes now hard and cutting, the full measure of her feelings finally coming out. “You’ve been nothing but rude to me since the moment you saw me standing here. I’ll just have to find out what happened to you from the rumor mill. Have a nice night.”

The Half Orion woman turned then and walked easily away, her uniform skirt tossing with the strength of her hip swings.

Christoph just rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. She was insufferable, but there was still something about her. As the room went quiet he closed his eyes and his mind began to wander. Time passed, he was aware of it but didn’t know how long. He didn’t sleep. He couldn’t. He could hear the gentle hiss of the sickbay door, footsteps. He thought nothing of it until he felt a gentle touch on his arm, a kiss on his brow. He opened his eyes and saw her. He smiled, pained but pleased. He stared into her dark eyes, still so strangely familiar but how could they not be now. He pressed his forehead to hers gently.

“Tell me everything.” Her voice was soft, affectionate, coaxing.

And he did.

END