No one is dead

Posted on Mon Oct 7th, 2019 @ 1:28pm by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Ryder Bray

Mission: Ishimura
Location: USS Ishimuru - Sickbay
Timeline: 2243
1380 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie could hear people talking outside her room and stood up on tiptoes trying to see who it was. The voice sounded so familiar that she was desperate to see who it was. Was it one of her colleagues who had decided to come and see her the murderer before she was sent to a penal colony. "Hello?" She wondered weakly feeling the effect of whatever drugs they kept using to keep her calm.

"You can't go in there. She doesn't realise as the effects of the planets are taking longer to leave her." A female voice said to the male voice outside.

"That's fine. I'm going in anyway, petty officer." And it didn't take long for the door to slide open and Ryder to stride through the opening. "Cass. There you are. I wanted to check up, see how you were doing." He jabbed his thumb back toward the door. "Red tape is worse than when I try to have a quarantine lock down."

Cassie slowly rose from the bed and looked at the man confused before she took several steps back until she was against the door. "I... I thought you... You are dead?" The woman said looking anywhere but at the man who now had a mad looking Petty Officer at his side.

Ryder gave the Petty Officer one last annoyed look, before rolling his eyes and turning toward the science officer in front of him. "No. I'm very alive. As are the others. I was just fed up waiting to tell you that." He plopped himself down in the room, sitting cross-legged in front of her. "I'd have brought some tea or something, but they wouldn't let me."

Cassie looked at him for a moment before she let out a sob noise and moved pretty much into his lap hugging him tightly, one for some human contact and secondly to prove it to herself. "You really are real." She breathed not caring about the tea as she heard the door slid closed.

"Course I'm real." Ryder scoffed at the idea of being another hallucination. Not after all that. "How come they let you isolated for so long? Something like that could do a number on the psyche. I've already had to answer a thousand questions from the counselor and gone through the same battery of tests everyone else has. They should have at least given you someone to talk to."

"I've been delusional." The woman admitted. "I haven't been well. The pollen or whatever it was taking longer to leave my system." The woman was refusing to let him out of the hug for the moment. She didn't want to let the first person who was actually explaining things to her clearly out of her sight.

Ryder gave her back a good and awkward pat. "Weird. I'm sure they tried to tell me that." But he didn't listen, a point that should have surprised no one. "But that doesn't mean you should be one hundred isolated. That's no good either. I don't care what the doctors are saying. How are you feeling now?"

"Better," Cassie assured as she felt that she was making him awkward so move from his lap to sit cross-legged next to him. "I feel a lot clearer in what I am thinking about now. Do you remember much of what happened?" She wondered running her hands through her hair trying to make herself presentable.

"No. Not at all. I remember leaving the shuttle and everything else is pretty blurry." Ryder rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I haven't seen the others much either. Just in passing, everyone looks alright. That's why I came to find you, Cass. I was worried something worse had happened." He wasn't okay with the sound of that on his watch. "I'm just glad you're alright."

The woman nodded. She could understand why they had kept her isolated as she would have been able to pass it along to more crew members as she was covered in the spores but she could now see through it all. "I am glad you all are okay. Been worried about you all. Been thinking I kill you all despite them telling me I hadn't."

"And that's why I should have been able to see you before this. You have to be able to have that recovery time." Ryder gave her a pat on the shoulder, looking toward the door that he had come from. "I'll have to talk to them about it. But we're all accounted for. I don't know if Eden's gonna talk to me for awhile though. I don't remember much, but I do remember she was very light when I picked her up."

The woman shrugged at the Eden comment. "What is done is done." The woman finally said as the door opened a brunette stood there.

"I am so sorry Ensign. I've been looking over your file." The woman said sounding a little odd compared to the rest of the crew. Her accent though Trill didn't sound like any other Trill Cassie had met.

Ryder leaned back against the wall, eyes wandering to the door. He paused a moment, before narrowing his gaze. "... You must be a new transfer..." he started, looking the woman up and down. There was something off about her, but it was best to play dumb. For now. "A transfer I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. And I like meeting all the transfers, that way I know who's who."

The woman smiled at the Security officer. "I like to know who is who as well. I'm Lieutenant Vovihl. I'm one of the new doctors on board." The woman greeted before she moved to Cassie and crouched in front of her. "Can I keep you a quick check over Ensign before I release you?" The younger woman nodded allowing the Doctor to run her checks.

"Lieutenant Vovihl." Ryder made a note to check up on that later. After their last excursion, there was little way of telling whether they were even expecting new recruits, but for now, there was no sense in making a deal of it. He slid back, carefully keeping an eye on the pair as she worked. "It's about time they put someone on getting her out of here. Isolation doesn't do anyone any good."

"I am sure ten minutes or so and we will get you out of here." The woman just smiled cooly at the man as he stared back at her and set about checking over the hybrid in front of her. "Oh yeah, Sir. The Captain is looking for you." She said as if she suddenly had forgotten the fact.

"... Sure..." Ryder drew out a long breath, looking between the pair. Typically, he was used to the Captain finding a more conventional way to get a hold of him. But there would be time for suspicion later. He hadn't spoken to the Captain since they touched back down on the ship. Standing, he looked to Cassie. "Let me know if you need anything. I won't be far."

Cassie nodded at the man and allowed him to leave. It wasn't ten minutes later that Cassie stepped out the isolation room looking a little weak but neither less being allowed out. "I am free to go but I need a bit more bed rest and a strict diet to regain some strength." She told Ryder as the Medical Officer offered a smile to the pair.

"She is going to be fine. Just a little TLC is what I prescribe." Ame offered.

"Then that's what she'll get." Ryder replied, frowning at the console he had just contacted the Captain from. He gave Cassie a stern look. "I'll let your Chief know what's going on, and you just go get yourself settled in. Don't worry about a thing."

Cassie nodded as she finally got to step out the isolation lounge she had been and get a good look around. She put a hand on the man shoulder as she passed. "I will." She promised with a thankful smile.

OFF::

Ensign Cassie McAvoy
Science Officer - Biology
USS Ishimura
(PNPC Gregnol)

Lieutenant Ryder Bray
Chief Security Officer
USS Ishimura
(PNPC Uhin)