The Wounds We Bring Back, Part I
Posted on Sat Jul 26th, 2025 @ 8:09am by Captain Mitsu Sato & Lieutenant Jaina Zalla & Lieutenant JG Alicia Santos & Ensign Matt Connor & Ensign Eric Banner & Lieutenant Commander T'Mara
978 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: Adelphous Station
The shuttle Adhara touched down smoothly in the Eclipse shuttlebay without ceremony. Through the view port, the flurry of activity could be seen but Jaina stared without seeing. She knew that she should get up and start moving, but she stayed in her seat a moment longer, her fingers curled tightly around Commander Rogers' commbadge. She didn't dare blink out of fear that the tears she knew were there would start to flow. The sound of movement finally shook Jaina back to the present. Turning, she stood and moved to the back of the shuttle. Without a word, she touched the controls. The hatch opened with a pneumatic hiss, allowing the light from the shuttlebay to pour into the shuttle. Exiting the shuttle, Jaina glanced around the shuttlebay, seeing the officers there without seeing them as she headed to where the captain waited.
Matt stood, his eyes low, jaw set. He wanted to find something to say, some version of “we did our job” that didn’t feel like a lie but he couldn’t. All he could do was make sure Banner had recovered well enough to make it on his own before he followed Zalla out of the shuttle. His phaser rifle still hung at his side, untouched since they'd left the science station. He had hoped to not even have to have used the weapon, but now he felt as if he had failed. Two members of the crew were dead and gone, and it had been his job as security officer to protect them. With an eye on Banner, Matt moved out of the shuttle.
Eric stood and moved out into the shuttle bay with a stiffness that wasn’t physical. He kept his eyes locked on the far bulkhead, because he felt as if he looked at anyone he might lose the fragile hold he had on his composure.
After she finished shutting down the shuttle, Alicia stood and moved a half step behind Banner, her pace calm and controlled. Her boots made the soft thud of someone consciously planting every step, like the ground beneath her wasn’t real.
T’Mara’s gaze passed over each officer with her usual analytical precision. No blood. No visible injuries. But trauma was not always physical. She stepped forward with her medical tricorder, scanning each member of the away team carefully. After a moment, she spoke calmly. “Your vitals all show signs of elevated cortisol, sleep deprivation, and shock state metabolic shifts. I recommend that you all report to sickbay for immediate evaluation. I also recommend twenty four hours of light duty.”
Mitsu stood there, her hands clasped behind her back as she waited for T'Mara to finish her initial examination. She studied the away team for a long moment, seeing not the uniforms or ranks, but the people. People who were young, burdened, and now changed in such a manner that no amount of training could prepare a person for. People reacted to the shock of loosing a shipmate, a friend, differently, but she knew that it would take time for them to truly begin to recover. Stepping forward to meet them, she nodded. "Lieutenant Zalla," she said softly.
Jaina finally met the eyes of the captain and managed to brace to attention and inhaled slowly. She spoke with controlled precision. “We made it to the science station. The crew was already gone, some had been killed on the station while we believe some had escaped the station. Power had been rerouted to the science module for containment of an alien entity. While investigating the station we encountered the alien. It was hostile, non communicative, highly adaptive. It had somehow escaped from the science module. Ensign Oku was killed during the first engagement. Commander Rogers was killed in the second, buying us time to escape.”
Mitsu nodded once, her face pale. “What happened to the creature?” she asked.
“It's still aboard Adelphous. It’s intelligent, fast and resistant to standard phaser fire. We barely managed to escape," Jaina answered.
Matt stood a step behind the chief, his face set in a mix of emotions. He had always known as a security officer that he would have to deal with loosing someone at some point, but not like this. He couldn't even think of something to say, only stand there as Zalla spoke to the captain.
Mitsu turned toward the rest of the team, now quietly standing there under T’Mara’s watchful gaze. “I want everyone on light duty for the next 24 hours. T’Mara, clear them only when you’re sure they’re stable.”
Eric had managed to recover well enough to listen to the captain and lieutenant Zalla, but his mind was also swimming. Every cadet was told at the academy that being in Starfleet was dangerous but he hadn't realized just how true that could be. Now he knew.
“They will be monitored,” T'Mara confirmed. “But physically, they will recover. Emotional recovery might take longer.”
Alicia numbly nodded at the captain's orders. There wasn't much else to do, since words simply failed her. She figured it was the same for the others as well, and she felt that like her they simply couldn't bring themselves to talk. So instead Alicia waited until they could start heading to the sickbay.
"Captain," Jaina spoke up, handing out her hand with Commander Rogers' commbadge.
Mitsu felt her expression freeze. The burned and scorched markings on the once pristine comm-badge said much of what had happened during the away mission. She finally reached out and accepted the badge, her free hand grasping the security officer's hand firmly. "Take the time off, Lieutenant," she said, her voice still soft. Turning to face the entire team, she nodded. "Make sure you report to sickbay for a full exam before you return to duty. Dismissed."
to be continued...
RSS Feed