The commotion had not gone unnoticed. Captain Freeman waited patiently outside his quarters, along with Lieutenant Ivanovna, as the two waited for a medic with plenty of sedative. Giovanni's assistant Lieutenant Junior Grade Lofton finally showed up as the din within Reiv's quarters subsided. Freeman overrode the door's lock, and the three entered. Their boots crunched on broken glass from Reiv's table as they entered. Behind an overturned couch, they found Reiv sobbing quietly to himself as he stared out the window at the stars. Reiv was perspiring heavily and panting for breath; the contents of his entire quarters were smashed or otherwise in a state of profound disarray.
The captain approached closely and knelt down on one knee. "Lieutenant?" he said in a low voice. "Reiv? We're going to take you to Sickbay, alright? I know what you're going through, but . . ."
"Do you sir?" Reiv asked incredulously. "Have you lost someone you loved like this before?"
Freeman lowered his head, "Reiv . . ."
"Get the hell out of here and leave me alone," Reiv yelled at the trio.
"Lieutenant, you've exhibited you're a danger to yourself. I need to get you to Sickbay, just for awhile, where you can be looked after," Freeman said calmly.
Reiv stood suddenly, "Get the hell out of here, damn you! We could've finished off the bastard Cardassians if it wasn't for your cowardice!" With that Reiv struck his startled Captain across the face before being wrestled to the ground easily by Lieutenant Ivanovna. Within seconds Lofton had administered a strong sedative and he and Ivanovna carried the limp form of Reiv to Sickbay, while Freeman followed, rubbing the bruise on his jaw.
With Lofton left to look after Reiv in Sickbay, Ivanovna and Freeman boarded a turbolift to the Bridge. "Lieutenant, I want you to post a twenty-four hour guard on Sickbay for everyone's protection," Freeman ordered.
"Aye Captain," she said simply.
Freeman eyed her for a moment. "Something troubling you, Katrina?"
"I have gone through what he's going through that's all. From talks I've had, this isn't the first time he's lost someone he loved to the Cardassians," she replied.
"We've all lost people before, Lieutenant," Freeman replied.
Ivanovna merely shrugged and said nothing. The two soon arrived on the Bridge; Yilaan looked up from the Tactical Station as they entered.
"Status report, Commander," Freeman requested of Yilaan.
"Jevor has the engines off line and is in the midst of the repairs we'd discussed. What happened to your jaw sir?"
"Nothing you need concern yourself with Commander. I'll be in my Ready Room; you have the Bridge," Freeman said. Yilaan took a seat in the command chair while Lieutenant Ivanovna resumed her duties at the Tactical Station.
Within an hour, Freeman had dismissed Ivanovna and Yilaan, among others, to get some rest, since they'd all been awakened by the attack and hadn't had a moment's rest since. Ivanovna was about to return to her quarters, when the thought occurred to her to check in on Reiv. She strolled over to Sickbay and nodded at Ensign Bradley, the guard she had posted outside. Upon entering, she found a couple of duty nurses still providing occasional ministrations to the thirteen or so crew that still lay too injured to leave. She went over quietly, expecting him to be asleep. Reiv wasn't however; she found him awake, staring at the darkened ceiling.
"Reiv?" she whispered.
He glanced at her, and smiled thinly. "Hello Katrina," he said, just as quietly. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, but said nothing. Reiv tilted his head slightly to look in her direction. "What is it you want?"
"I don't want anything, I just came by to talk."
"Very kind," he breathed. "Aren't you going to ask me how I am or if I need anything, or if there's anything you can do for me?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Is that what you want?" she asked.
"No," he confessed. "Everyone means well, but it's just become rather bothersome."
"I know the feeling. When my mother was killed at the hands of a rebel Klingon ship, they did the same thing. Everyone does mean well, but the best thing they did for me was knowing when to leave me alone," Ivanovna replied. "I mean I appreciated their support; without it I could never have gotten through the first six months, especially since my father had already died earlier in my life. Sometimes there are just things you have to figure out for yourself though."
"Its just that this has happened to me so many times; and each time I've been powerless to do anything about it. The Cardi scum have taken everything away that has ever really meant the world to me, and I've never been able to stop them," Reiv said, a couple tears beginning to roll down his face at the recollection. "They took my father when I was six, and executed him before my eyes for fighting in the resistance. My mother and older sister they took when I was ten, and I've never seen or heard from either of them since. My best friend was killed when I was fourteen, on a raid against a Cardassian strong point; I was supposed to go along but had chickened out at the last minute," Reiv said, half sobbing at the recollection.
"I was powerless to stop the Klingons from murdering my mother; I hid in an access panel on board the ship to avoid detection," Ivanovna recalled from her own past.
"Didn't you feel terribly angry and frustrated? Like you'd give anything to smash in their skulls?" Reiv asked, wiping his face with his hand.
"Yes. Sometimes I still do, but it wouldn't solve anything," Ivanovna replied. "It's not like our loved ones would come back from the grave if we killed their murderers."
"Perhaps not, but they might lie a little easier in them, knowing vengeance had been properly served," Reiv said. The two sat in silence for awhile before Reiv continued. "Do you ever feel guilty?"
"What do you mean? About not having been able to save my mother?" Ivanovna asked.
"No, about having survived. About having lived when your parents didn't."
"At first I did," Ivanovna confessed, her voice still low so as to avoid disturbing the other patients. "I did a lot of the time, wondering why they had to die, and sometimes feeling so empty that I wished it was me instead of them."
"Do you still feel that way?" Reiv asked.
"No. After a few months of this, I ended up having a long talk with my aunt, who had been left with the task of caring for me after my mother died. She said that my parents would've wanted me to live on and be happy, and that I would always carry a part of them with me and it would give me the strength to overcome the loss, the emptiness that was so overwhelming."
"Do you think the same holds true for me?" Reiv asked quietly.
"Yes. I know it does," Ivanovna responded simply. Reiv yawned; the past thirty hours had understandably exhausted him, and he'd had very little sleep. "Get some rest now Reiv," she said as she got up to leave.
"Katrina?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you so much."
Katrina Ivanovna flashed Reiv a warm smile, caught just enough by the dim lighting of the Sickbay to be discernible, before departing.
The next thing Reiv felt was awakening from a deep sleep. He had had some terrible dreams, or so he'd hoped. He'd imagined that if he didn't open his eyes, that all that had happened in the past day would just be that; a dream. 'Boy that was some dream,' he thought, trying to fool himself into believing it. Upon letting his eyes open, however, he found himself in Sickbay and that it was all very much reality. He sighed. As he lay awake, a plot came to mind; a way to strike back at the foul hell spawn that had taken much of his family, and his dear Falinn Ehlara, away from him.
Glancing about quickly, he noted a guard at the door, looking the other way. What medical staff there was on hand were busy attending to the other patients, thinking he was still asleep. Next to his bed, on a table, were a few medical instruments. One, a hypospray syringe, likely contained a strong sedative; to keep him from 'hurting himself' no doubt. Reiv's mind began to race quickly. 'I could sedate the guard and anyone in the main shuttle bay,' he thought to himself. 'I could steal a Runabout and go finish off that bastard Cardi ship; they might not have warp drive fixed yet. I could run circles around them. My revenge would be sweet.' He licked his lips at the thought and rolled over as he started to reach for the hypo.
Just as he was about to pick up the instrument, a hand enveloped his from behind and kept him from it. Startled, he glanced over his shoulder quickly and gasped at what his eyes registered before him.
"Garon, you don't want to do that," the semi-opaque form of Falinn Ehlara said to him, her voice barely a whisper as she held his hand in a cold caress. All Reiv Garon could do was gape. Falinn smiled sweetly at him as he glanced around; no one else in the Sickbay seemed to notice her presence. "That would be suicide, you know."
"I could at least be with you then," Reiv said somberly, "and you could rest easier knowing justice had been served."
Falinn shook her head, "I'll rest easier knowing that you're living out your life doing what you want to do. Don't do this for me; I don't want you to die. Don't let the anger consume you."
"But . . ," Reiv started to object.
"It's not your time. You'll be with me when it's the right time, and I'll wait up for you," Falinn offered.
"Really?" he asked, his eyes welling up with tears.
The apparition of Falinn Ehlara kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Of course silly!" she said, as her image began to disappear.
Reiv's grip around the ghostly hand attempted to tighten, but the hand was disappearing along with the rest of Falinn's form. "Don't go," he whispered. "Please."
"I have to. But you won't be alone. I'll always be a part of you. Until our paths cross again," she replied, smiling, her voice barely audible. Part of the illumination that had formed the vision of Falinn then flew through Reiv's body, before the whole was gone.
Doctor Giovanni, busy with another patient, happened to glance over as something caught her eye. She saw Reiv sitting up in bed with one arm outstretched. She was about to go over to him, when a call came in from the Bridge.
"Lieutenant Ivanovna to Sickbay."
"Giovanni here, Lieutenant," the doctor replied, pressing her comm badge.
"Doctor, internal sensors just picked up an electromagnetic disturbance in Sickbay. It was there for barely a minute, then it vanished. Is anything unusual going on down there?" Ivanovna inquired.
Giovanni frowned, "Nothing that I know of, Lieutenant. I'll keep you apprised though."
Over the intercom, Freeman's voice interjected, "It could be a glitch we overlooked from the Cardassian attack. I'll get an engineer to look into it. Thank you Doctor. Bridge out."
Giovanni shrugged. "Strange things happen in space I guess," she said offhandedly to one of her nurses as she walked over to Reiv's bed. "You didn't see anything, did you Lieutenant?" Reiv just stared at her and smiled. "Reiv?"
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