Resistance
Posted on Thu Jun 11th, 2020 @ 4:24am by Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri (*) & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein
Mission:
Cosmos
Location: Starbase 621 Observation Lounge
Timeline: 2396
1815 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure
Ledeya slumped into a chair in the observation lounge without a glance around. It had been a none stop day triaging patient and she had lost a few. The Commodore had forgotten how bitterly defeated that had left her in the time since she had last been a doctor in such a situation. She just wanted to see something other than death and pain for a moment whilst enjoying her hot chocolate. She sat there staring at Cosmos trying to get her thoughts in order.
After a day spent helping in the immediate aftermath of the attack and then another spent investigating and searching, so far fruitlessly, foe old leads, Byla just wanted to unwind. She collected a spiced rum and looked for a place to sit. It appeared she wasn't the only one with the idea as there weren't many empty tables. Spotting one with only a single other person she approached quietly. "Excuse me, would mind if I sit here?"
Ledeya looked up at the familiar eyes of her species and nodded. "Feel free," Ledeya assured quickly moving her hot chocolate closure to herself to give the woman some table space.
"Thank you," Byla replied sliding into the seat with a smile as she noted the woman was a Betazoid and a Commodore. "I take it you've recently arrived. I'm Bylaxera Drake, the senior JAG."
"I am Ledeya Ehestri. Captain of the Cosmos and Task Group Commander for 72 B but currently I am acting as the bases, chief medical officer." She did not need to explain why she was acting as the bases chief medical officer but it was what was happening.
"Thank you for that," Byla said sincerely. "We have certainly needed it. I've tried to do what I could, but my own first aid training only goes so far, even including what I learned about improvising in the field."
"It is autopilot," Ledeya assured quietly. She could do medical things with her eyes closed, being a Captain was where she had to consciously think about every step she made. "You guys were doing an amazing job before I got here. You saved people and kept them alive until help could get here." Ledeya assured quickly.
"Still, no amount of field medicine can replace real surgery," Byla said, and took a shot of her drink, suppressing a grimace at the memory of just how true that statement could be.
"Sadly very true," Ledeya commented on noticing the grimace. "But people do what they can. You cannot deny that this base truly has a spirit." It was refusing to stay down, it was Ledeya happy to know that they refused to stay down.
Byla nodded. "I'd only been here a short time before this happened, but I've been impressed by the way everyone came together. Especially the first year cadets - it's not easy to go from being a student to suddenly finding yourself in a disaster zone."
"I tried to poach a few of the cadets for that reason," Ledeya commented with a smirk on her face. "They turned me down. Station spirit is certainly on a high."
"And I imagine they want to stay with their cohort right now. Despite the spirit, something like this a traumatic, especially for kids who've never seen the like before." Byla took a sip of her drink. "It's probably better for them to work through it all with others who understand."
"Completely. Why I did not push the subject." The Commodore mused with a small chuckle. Sometimes it hurt to be so nice and to not do things as everyone else did.
Byla simply nodded. She was curious about the woman, as she often was about Betazoids in a shared age range, but there was no way to ask politely as most preferred to avoid the subject. Nor had she felt even the slightest touch on mind, so she assumed the Commodore wished for quiet and privacy, which was understandable with all she must have been through today.
"So how are you finding JAG this far from the homeworlds?" The Commanding Officer wondered softly not at all noticing that the other woman was intrigued by her.
"Not bad, other than this recent incident of course," Byla replied. "But most of my experience has been outside the homeworlds. The last station I was assigned to was right on the Neutral Zone. I'll be surprised if I see half the legal challenge here that I did there. And how about you? Going from Medical to Command isn't that common."
“Sometimes it is nice to get out into the universe and away from the safety net.” Ledeya laughed a little. “It’s unusual but it was very gradual that it felt like a role I was always heading towards.” Ledeya knew it was odd but Ledeya was proud of the humanity she brought to the command chair.
"I'd certainly agree that running a medbay, especially under mass casualty conditions, is a command role," Byla observed, and her lips twitched in a smile. "It's just that most doctors I've met avoid administrative duties like the plague."
"It happened by accident and shoe fitted to coin a human phrase so the role stuck," Ledeya assured rolling her shoulders trying to get a kink that was developing out of it.
Byla nodded. "Funny how careers can happen that way. I might not be a JAG if I hadn't been bedridden long enough to start reading my grandfather's law books."
"May I ask what happened?" Ledeya said knowing she was most likely an open book just like the rest of her species but without having that connection sometimes it was better to ask properly.
Byla glanced down at her drink. "I took a plasma round in the gut at Terrillis." There was no need to say more than that to a Betazoid about that engagement. "My cell patched me up as best they could, but after the war, I needed several surgeries to correct the damage."
"The political prisoners." Anyone and everyone had heard about that event. The news was easily passed across the world in mere hours despite the communication technology having been taken away. It was just how a planet of telepaths worked especially in a time of war. "I am glad to see that you are well and have found a passion."
Well was relative term; she would probably never have children, but she was fit enough to pass Starfleet fitness requirements and that was all that really mattered now. "My father always says amazing things can come from terrible circumstances."
"Such a fatherly thing to say," Ledeya commented on with a smile. "Circumstances affect us all." She assured softly knowing she was damaged beyond repair herself.
"More an experienced thing, in his case I think. He'd been a security officer, and in-line to make COS, but he was caught in an explosion and lost the hearing on his left side. They tried a number of prosthetic implants but they all gave him blinding migraines, so he finally decided it was better to accept the loss, take a medical discharge and return to earth." Byla smiled a little. "Which is why I exist, since he wouldn't have met my mother otherwise."
"Then it all happened as the Deities wanted it to," Ledeya commented on with a small smile. "Sometimes we do not understand the path until we arrive at the destination." She was not normally as wise but her recent return of telepathy had left her with an impression of what it would be like to know all the answers.
"I've never been religious," Byla admitted, hoping that didn't offend the Commodore. "But I can hardly complain of the outcome, and who knows? If there are deities, perhaps they did intervene in bringing a ship lead by former CMO."
Ledeya just smiled. "I was on my way anyway to honest but perhaps they did. Who knows not my place to concern myself with it." The woman shrugged a little, some people were religious, some lost faith as the years went on. "I have not overly been since I lost my telepathy. It feels like I have lost my link to them." Ledeya said honesty.
"Lost?" Byla asked, confused. "I've never heard of that happening before."
"It's a consequence of the resistance for some people. I am chemically subdued up here." Ledeya commented on with a shrug. She could feel the chemicals already working themselves back into her system.
Byla thought back, then nodded solemnly. "You were one of those. I didn't know they had still found no way to reverse it," she said sympathetically. "I'm only part Betazoid and never had more than a mild empathic sense, but it must be hard to lose something that was so much a part of your senses for so long."
"I am in much better health than some of my friends who are subdued so much they are in hospitals and cut of from society." Ledeya had not felt sorry for herself in years. "It has been many years. So tell me what does the JAG have you doing at the moment with all of this going on?"
Taking the last of her drink to have moment to process that level of sacrifice - arguably beyond simple sacrifice of one's life - Byla recentered as she set the empty glass aside. The Commodore did not want to speak more of that past, and so they would not. "At the moment I have been going over evidence and criminal files from anyone who might be a potential suspect. Usually, most of that is done by security, but they've been busy guarding remaining targets and assisting with evacuation and crowd control."
It seemed that most of the crew were pulling more than one duty and it truly made the woman proud to see what was being achieved by people. "Bylaxera sounds like you along with everyone else are a credit to the base. Makes me proud to know that so many officers are going above and beyond normal duties." The woman said her thoughts aloud with a smile.
Byla shook her head, a little embarrassed at the praise. "I'm just doing what I can, like everyone else. You're the one who deserves credit - leaving your ship to pitch in in medbay here."
"I have a good new XO who seems to be handling what I throw at him with a lot of humour." Ledeya smiled as her comm badge beeped signalling the end of her moment of peace and hot chocolate "I had better go. Thank you for the conversation Lieutenant."
"Go well, Commodore," Byla replied. "It was a pleasure to meet you."
Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri
Commanding Officer
USS Cosmos / TG 72-B
(PNPC Sloan)
LT Bylaxera Drake
Senior JAG Officer
SB621
(PNPC Burnstein)
