Misery Loves Company

Posted on Sat Feb 27th, 2021 @ 7:45am by

1,210 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Guilty By Association
Location: Observation Deck
Timeline: Backpost

Nim sat on the floor in the observation deck, leaning against the glass, cradling a mug of coffee that appeared to be almost bucket like at first glance, sipping from it slowly, her gaze firmly set on the view beyond the ship.

This was the location that gave the best view of the planet and the black hole beyond, of the devastation that was ongoing and despite the utter heartbreak at the situation, she found herself unable to look away.

A noise from behind startled her back to her present location, making her turn away from the window, noticing Lieutenant Bradshaw entering. She offered a faint smile in the low light of the room. "Looking for a front row seat?" she asked quietly, motioning back toward the planet beyond.

"I think it would be a better view than the one in Engineering right now." James replied. He'd not actually intended to walk this particular route home, his daydream kind of rerouted him. "Engineering has been such a strain since the new CEO took over. Its almost like she built the ship herself and everything has to be on point."

Slipping into a chair he gazed out at the view before him. "Something about all this feels wrong." He sighed. "Everyone's feeling it."

Picking up her bucket of coffee, Nim stood up from the floor in front of the viewing window and walked across to the table, sinking gracefully into the seat across from him. "Do you blame them?" she asked softly before shaking her head slightly. "It doesn't feel right to sit back and do nothing. We're supposed to be the heroes and save the day, not sit here and watch." She shook her head again and took a sip of her coffee. "I haven't met the new CEO yet," she tried to offer a smile. "Is she really that tough?"

"Yeah." James sighed. "I get where she's coming from because she gave me the history lesson. Women should stay at home, raise the family and men do the work gig. She's had to fight a considerable amount to get the recognition she's earned and the respect from it. It's just, there is soo little room to breath, everything has to be perfect, running as it should be, orderly, peak levels. She'd make a great Vulcan that's for sure."

Looking at the planet before them and the trail of white leading to the black hole James had to admire the view in a way, but the reality of it didn't fade. "So what about you, anything going on in the Sickbay realms?"

There was a pause. A sip of coffee. Another pause. "I broke up a fight between a security officer and a medical officer," she commented, setting her coffee down and shrugging out of the top half of her jacket so he could see the bruising that was starting to appear on the upper half of her arm.

"Ironically, the security officer thought we should be evacuating everyone on the planet and the medical officer agreed with the prime directive." Nim shook her head. "But, you know, to be fair, if it wasn't genocide it would be sports or some girl. And those security officers think they have the hard jobs," she added with a grin and a wink.

James smiled, he got what she was trying to say. "Do you often come here to get away or this a rare thing for you?" James knew all too well the need for escape be it a holodeck, a book or something as simple as a view.

Nim smiled faintly. "I'm not much of a people person, I know, it sounds silly being in medical and all." She took another sip. "It was quiet here tonight. Not many people come here at all, I like the peace and quiet of it most nights.." She paused, looking at James across the table for a moment before continuing. "I'm glad someone else came tonight though."

"Well, misery loves company after all and there seems to be plenty of it going about." James pondered. "I walked along the promenade earlier, most are oblivious to what's going on, or they don't care." That bugged James a little, thousands were in the throws of dying and to most, ignored.

Nim nodded slightly in agreement. "I was in sickbay earlier listening to two doctors talking about how the decision to stand by was right." She paused, set the coffee down and reached up, pulling an elastic from her hair and shaking her hair loose. "Listening to them talk about these lives like they were a commodity, I mean, we're doctors. We're meant to be helping people, saving people.. not this... this... this..." she let out a slightly strangled sound as she gestured toward the windows beyond. "This stupidity!"

She paused again, reaching up and rubbing her temples with her fingertips. "Sorry," she offered quietly. "You know what, I think I need something stronger than coffee."

"Upper promenade might be your best bet then, main level tend to keep that kind of thing away from the younger population." James spoke from experience. He remembered back to the days of the Ascension when things like that were not an issue.

Nim pushed away from the table and stood up, walking across the observation deck to the inner wall, pushing on a panel that popped open to reveal assorted medical supplies and a half full bottle of a deep amber coloured liquid. Retrieving the bottle, along with two glasses from the replicator, she returned to the table and set them down between them before taking her seat again. "Jarrah believed in being prepared," she said with a shrug before opening the bottle, pouring some into her own glass before pushing the bottle across the table to him.

"Ohh not for me, I drink and I'll have hell to pay when I go to bed later." Not that he wanted that to stop her from enjoying a sip. "I think many of the engineering teams though will be visiting any establishment that offers a drink though with how things are going."

"I have a feeling it won't be just engineering with that sentiment," she shook her head and took a sip of the drink. "The crew is divided, a lot of them are struggling with sitting back and doing nothing, especially in medical. We want to help, it's in our nature, yet we can't do anything." She sighed. "At this stage I think even glassing the planet and ending their misery would be better than sitting back and doing nothing."

Before either of them could say any more, Nim's commbadge chirped. "Lieutenant Vixil, my apologies Ma'am, I know you're off duty but we require a consult in Sickbay if you can?"

Nim sighed and tapped her commbadge. "I'm on my way," she said quietly, staring at the drink for a moment before shaking her head. "Well, looks like my plans are set, have a good night Lieutenant, and thanks for the chat."

Without waiting for another response, she stood up, recycled the barely touched drink and returned the bottle to it's previous hiding place before heading for the door. It seemed it was going to be a very long night.

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