Just a Dream

Posted on Fri Oct 12th, 2018 @ 2:35pm by Lieutenant JG Siobahn Fallon & Major Hailey Weston

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: Quarters

The sound of the red alert klaxons were piercing her ear drums in the most painful manner. Siobahn reached up, covering her ears for just a moment, trying to gain a moment of reprieve from the noise, but instead it just seemed to get louder and louder. The shouts and screams, the opening and closing of sickbay doors as more and more wounded were brought in. "Ensign what the hell are you doing? Get a grip on yourself and do your damn job!" The biting tone of the voice snapped her straight back to reality. She nodded quickly, moving quickly, almost mechanically to the nearest bio bed, aware of the nurse who was trailing her to assist. Momentarily she found herself wishing Eries was there, at least Eries was a source of comfort during chaos.

Grabbing her medical tricorder, Siobahn had barely started to triage when the ship suddenly lurched violently. Not expecting the sudden movement, Siobahn felt herself being thrown into the cabinets on the side of sickbay, any sound she made being drowned out by the resuming chaos around them.

"What the hell was that?" The voice shouted from somewhere behind her.

"Direct hit to the port nacelle. Plasma conduit blow out in lower engineering, console explosion on the bridge, hull breach on deck seven, multiple incoming casualties!" Another voice shouted back, reading the information from a screen.

The sound of the transporter bringing yet more injured rang in Siobahn's ears, seeming to drown out the sounds of klaxons for just a moment. "Over there," she said without looking, motioning toward the space behind her as she flipped her medical tricorder again. "He has muliple broken bones, contusions, but mostly superficial damage, he's not in immediate danger." She turned to the nurse. "Give him pain relief, sedate him and we'll move on." The nurse nodded, moving quickly as Siobahn turned and moved to the next bed, one that had just been filled. She sucked in a sharp breath, wincing at the charred, almost unidentifiable figure that had once presumably been a human body. "Get a cover and prepare to transport to the morgue. There's nothing we can do." She started to turn toward the nurse, her gaze faltering as it fell on a mostly unscathed, very familiar pair of boots.

Feeling the breath leave her body leaned on the edge of the bio bed, trying to quell the wave of nausea as she turned back to the chaos in the room, noticing for the first time the all too familiar faces occupying the beds. Renee, Eries, Cally, Felicie, Ami, Nyx, Koh, Andrew, Lita... Hailey...

**********

Siobahn woke with a start, sitting bolt upright in the darkness, a strangled sob escaping her lips as she covered her face with her hands. She could feel herself shaking almost violently as she gasped to catch her breath. It was a dream. Just a dream.

Hailey's eyes opened rapidly, the sudden movement of Siobahn sparking her to alertness, but no danger seemed immediate. Then came the sob and Hailey reached out and quickly gathered the young Irishwoman in her arms, no knowing what was wrong but knowing something WAS, "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

Siobahn allowed herself to be pulled into Hailey's arms, closing her eyes and drawing in a slow, shaky breath. "Bad dream..." she said quietly. "Just a bad dream..."

"They happen, but that's all they are, things that didn't happen, all in your head." She squeezed Siobahn tightly in her arms, "What was it?"

"Death... so much death..." Siobahn shuddered again at the memory of the dream. "Everyone... Renee, Felicie, Koh, Ami... even you..."

Hailey exhaled deeply, this wasn't unknown for her herself, much less for others, "It's all right, everyone has those dreams, I mean everyone. It's a completely normal reaction to seeing it happen up close and personal. That and the care you feel for others. One hundred percent normal."

Siobahn sighed quietly, her breathing slowly as she relaxed into Hailey. "I'd never make a good marine," she said quietly. "I couldn't do this, not like you do. Even the thought of losing more people I care about..."

"Siobahn, honey, this doesn't have anything to do with being a marine. I could name so many people that have the same problems. And tell you the truth? I'm not immune to it either." She sighed, "I just-" The room began to flash yellow a few times. "Yellow alert..." She leaned over and kissed Siobahn briefly, "We need to get dressed.. It's going to be all right, I promise."

With a silent nod, Siobahn slipped out of bed, shrugging into a robe as she grabbed a clean uniform from the drawer, remaining steadfastly silent. Minutes later, dressed and pushing her feet into boots, she was hurriedly pulling her hair back into an elastic. "Guess that means we aren't sleeping in today," she murmured quietly.

Hailey reached out and straightened Siobahn's collar by perhaps a fraction of an inch before they left the room, "I'm going to head up towards the bridge, we can share a turbolift until we get to medical though." She smiled reassuringly, straightening her own uniform, "Probably just another drill, since we've gotten back out into space, I think the Captain wants to keep us on our toes."

Trying to force a smile on her face, Siobahn turned toward Hailey. "I hope so, I'm too sleepy to deal with a disaster right now."

A gut feeling caused Hailey to follow Siobahn out of the turbolift towards sickbay, the Captain could wait another thirty seconds or so, "Anyways, we're out in the middle of nowhere, why would we have a disaster?" Something made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up.

Realising that Hailey had followed her out toward Sickbay, Siobahn felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Almost instantly she stepped in closer, pressing a soft kiss to Hailey's lips. "No matter what, just remember I love you okay?" she whispered quietly, suddenly feeling very uncertain and unsure.

"Only if you remember I love you too." Hailey said quietly, then her ears seemed to perk up as the Captain's voice came over the comm.

"Bridge to Sick Bay, prepare for incoming casualties."

"Oh bugger..." Hailey said quietly, grabbing Siobahn's hand, in motion already for the last few steps to trigger the door. They stepped into the room to see several nurses and other doctors already there from the yellow alert, then a series of transports began to come in, virtually every biobed filling, including a handful of extras, "Bugger..." She repeated.


OFF:

Major Hailey Weston
Marine CO/Second Officer
USS Wellington

Ensign Siobahn Fallon
Medical Officer
USS Wellington