===== Near med centre * SB Unity =====
Rangi was returning to her duty at the med. centre, still
thinking over her recent evaluation meeting with Stephen
Jacobs.
She had had many evalutions in her time, carried out by a
number of counsellors but never had she had one quite like
that before.
Still puzzling over the events, she drew closer to one of
the observation bays that lined the corridor. Her steps
slowed as she saw a lone figure standing staring out into
space and thinking that she recognised him said tentatively:
" Terek?...Terek is it you?"
Young Bajoran was staring into the vastness of the space
deep in thoughts and grief.
The alcohol just blurred things a little, smoothed the
edges,
but now it was all back
and he could only think about the agrgument he had with
Alex, before he left. {Why
was I so stupid... I'm such an idiot. This is all my fault
and I haven't even told
her goodbye and that I love her.} Like from a great
distance, he heard his name so he
forced his thoughts to focus to present and looked over his
shoulder to see a
familiar friendly face.
"Rangi! Yes, it's me. I'm glad to see you're OK." he said
with the weak
smile on his lips. He was really glad to see that she has
come to no harm.
"How's Shane? And Martin? Are everyone all right?"
Rangi moved towards him, a happy smile on her face, pleased
to see an old friend.
" Thankyou, yes they're both well " she replied but caught
back the words that would
have followed. Her smile faded.
"And you?" she asked. "...how are things?"
"Alex is dead." he paused as he didn't know what else to
say. "She was
one of the casualties on the Chimera. I've been trying to
get some information from
morgue if there is her body and if they have notified her
parents, but they told me
to wait." he shook his head and looked outside of the
viewport again blinking
quickly as he felt tears trying to make its way to the
surface. After a few moments
when he knew that his voice won't shake he continued:
"And I didn't even say goodbye before my LOA... how can I go
to her parents and
" he left the sentence unfinished and threw his hands
apart in desperate
gesture.
Rangi touched gently laid her hand on his arm.
" Please.." she said quietly "...try not to get
upset....come and sit down..or better yet, come to my
office. I think I can help you."
Confused, he followed her along the corridor until
they arrived at the slightly cramped office.
"The thing is,I've never done this before... I mean
arranging for a funeral. I was going to perform
a Bajoran death chant of course to make sure her spirit gets
to the Prophets, but I'm
not sure if I can even do that... shall I ask her parents if
they agree?" He
certainly was confused and trying to keep his mind busy with
insignifficant things
that kept him going.
" Sit down." she said as they entered the room and as he
seated
himself on a chair,she perched on the edge of her desk a
short distance in
front of him.
"I'm sure there are people here who can help you with
Bajoran rituals." she said. " ...we can find that out if you
like."
"No, it's OK. I know how to perform the ritual, I'll just
get in touch with some
Vedek that would guide me through it. But I really want to
know if there is her
body."
"Yes, there is. " Rangi replied. "She's in the morgue
waiting until we can assure safe passage home for her.
If you want, I can arrange for you to see her." Rangi
said.
"We're gonna need her body moved to the temple to perform
the ritual. I'll have
to arrange everything at first." He was glad that at least
Alex's body has been
found.
"Do the doctors know how did she die?"
" Yes we do, in fact all the details are known because we
have the flight recorder from the escape pod..
Going by the time of launch, it was one of the last pods to
leave. There were three people inside..Alex, Scott
Fisher..one of my AMO's and Phillip Jenkinson..a member of
Alex's xenobiology crew.
The pod came under fire from a Romulan ship and took an
indirect hit as it began to enter Aerans atmosphere.
It came down miles off course in a shallow sea...actually
its a huge inland lake but the settlers have named it the
Sea of Tranquillity...after the area on the Moon?
Anyway...some saw the pod come down and ran to try to
find it. It was partially submerged in mud but they got to
it before it sank and found one person barely alive...that
was Scott..... the others had died on impact."
"So they made it out, but she didn't survive the reentry to
the atmosphere...
that's really ironic." He shook his head thinking that it
really is a silly, to
survive the destruction of the ship but being killed in an
escape pod. "At least
one survived though." he sighed "Has her family been
notified?"
" Her family have been informed but I dont know if Captain
Rojac has written to them personally yet. I can find that
out too if you like.
Terek...I'm so sorry...I know you and she were very close."
"It doesn't matter, I'll use my subspace time to contact
them and explain them
personaly. Yes we were close, but not the last few months I
was on Chimera. We argued
a lot and when I told her that I need some time for
soulsearching, she disagreed...
and not expressed herself with the nice words."
He got up and paced around Rangi's office for a while. "You
know, maybe it
wasn't meant to be. I loved Alex, but this was probably the
way Prophets laid out for
us. I have to accept it and move on. So I can't delay it
anymore. I have to call her
parents and arrange for the ritual as soon as possible and
then get back to work,
keep my mind busy."
Rangi watched the pacing figure until he came to standstill
beside her.
She understood the need to keep busy but knew too that
everyone needs time to grieve.
"Let me know when your arrangements have been made and I'll
organise the moving of her body.
Terek..." He raised his head and she continued "....give
yourself some time won't you?"
"I will, thank you very much for your help. I''m sure this will help me to 'cope' with it."
With that, he bowed a little and headed from the office.
====== END OF LOG ======
Commander Rangi Summers
Med Adv 1st Task force
SB Unity
&
Commander Terek Weranis
CSciO
SB Unity
