When You Are Blue

Posted on Thu Dec 10th, 2020 @ 11:11pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D.
Edited on on Fri Dec 11th, 2020 @ 1:06am

Mission: Mission 4 - Eden
Location: Deck C - Gym
Timeline: Day 150 Year 0 Time 23:30
2556 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Whilst the rest of the ship was mostly sleeping Beth found herself very much awake on the treadmill trying to exhaust herself out enough to sleep but the silence was giving her too much free space to stop thinking about stuff. It was something she had always suffered with but it was getting to the point where she was constantly feeling drained.

The Vrav had left them mostly alone but they were still there in the distance following and waiting for them, it was only a matter of time. She did not reveal to anyone but the wormhole was the thing keeping her awake. What if it took them closer to home? What if they were going to miss an opportunity through fear?

She glanced over as the door to the gym opened revealing someone else you should have been asleep.

Avira's antennae perked up, she had been looking at the ground as she had entered the room, it was odd to find someone in the gym this late. She then gave a smile at the woman already on the treadmill, "Good evening, Captain," She made her way over to the cross trainer next to the commanding officer and threw her towel over the electronics, "how is everything going?" She asked as she stepped up on the machine and started to set it up for her exercise.

Beth smiled a little and slowed down the machine so she would not be as breathless when she spoke. "It is more like good morning but bonjour doctor." She replied with a small smile. "It is not to bad. What brings you here at this hour?" She asked getting in there with that question before the other woman could.

It sunk in late to Avira that it actually had been an entire shift on top of her overtime shift before she came to the gym, "No rest for the sinful," she frowned a bit, her tired mind couldn't quite process the United Earth language and its idioms. She thought it was close enough, "Everything that's going on is putting a strain on the medical department, and me as the chief of said department have been feeling the strain." She started the workout routine on the machine and gave a stern nod, "but I will persevere."

Beth offered her a shrug, it was close enough especially when English was not her native tongue either. She could translate No rest for the sinful to No rest for the wicked easily enough. "Oh how the tides have turned doctor," Beth said with a grin as she started a slowdown. "You will but I think you need someone to talk to." Beth realised knowing that in five minutes she was going to sit on the floor again with the doctor and just chat it out like that had in her office.

Avira smiled, it was nice that the Captain wanted to offer a listening ear, "Perhaps it's better if I do not burden you further with my..." She knew there had to be some sort of proper word, "troubles." She wasn't so sure. Her antennae drooped, "I'm sorry, I get very conscious of my use of the standard language around people from the communications department." She wanted to keep facing ahead, power through the exercise, get the jolt of positive hormones in her body. She also knew she wasn't going to get out of this conversation so easily, "Do you speak Andorian?"

"Your troubles are my troubles Avira," Beth said slightly breathless from her running as she looked over at the woman. "You are fine and I can see through errors or mistranslation. You really are not that far off from words when you are. Standard is one of the hardest languages I have ever studied." Beth said reminding the woman it was not her first language really. "Basic Andorian. Enough to get by in casual conversation but nothing for a deep and meaningful conversation."

"That's too bad," Avira took in a sharp breath through her nose as she pushed the machine harder, "I've taken a look..." The exercise was putting a strain on her ability to talk, "the supplies.. are running out." She looked to the side before focusing back on the spot on the wall she had been glaring at, "Don't think.. we can take.. another attack." She was a good field medic, she could make low amounts of supplies work if she could supplement them with stuff from around her, there was no environment to take from on the ship. Just bulkheads and resequencers, "we are.. in desperate need... of a win." She pushed herself even harder and started to breathe very heavily.

Beth watched the woman as she built up her exercise session and still tried to have a conversation. It was impossible for a human but she was impressed by the Andorian neither less, it was hard not to be. It was hard not to feel desperate for a win when all it has felt like they were doing fit past 80 days was losing. “I know. I am trying to get us a win I promise Doctor.” Beth leant out and pressed the cool down. “Let’s talk properly.” She ordered in a soft voice taking a few steps back to sit on her machine patiently.

Avira wasn't sure she wanted to have a proper talk, but she knew she wasn't going to get away with that in front of the Captain. She slowed down the programme until she stopped and stepped off the machine, "What is it you would like to discuss, Captain?" She remained standing, a few steps away, arms behind her in a more at attention position than was probably required or expected of the situation. it was a way for her to shield herself from the Captain's probing questions that were sure to come.

"Well, I believe that I now need to help me how you helped me before," Beth said wondering if the impressions on the Andorian's face had been what had been on her own when they had discussed things. "What do you need?" It was a simple question that spoke volumes.

There was a moment where Avira just wanted to throw it all out there, but she knew that there were other expectations of her as an officer of the Imperial Guard, and as the cool-headed medical officer on a doomed space flight, "Need..." She let out a long sigh, "A long, scalding, bath in the hot springs of Andor, a massage after, and then two days of sleep." More than anything it was the constant vigilance in her position that was doing her in. She could barely relax, always on call. It was getting to her. But the medical staff was small and as the chief medic, it was expected of her.

"I think I would join you if that was on offer. I very much could do with a long soak in a bath and a massage. You do not realise just how neglectful you are of your body until it is too late and you hurt." Beth agreed with a small smile as looked at the woman waiting for a more realistic idea of what the doctor needed.

Avira kneeled down in front of Beth, like she had done in her quarters, "We just need some time, get some of the new people up to speed with the small stuff so that they'll let me sleep when someone comes in with a plasma burn." She took in a breath through her nose and made a conscious effort to sit up straight, "I keep telling myself, just one more week, just one more week, then things will go back to normal."

Beth looked at her carefully for a long time before she shook her head. The old normal was very much never going to come back, the old normal meant they had contact with people outside of the ship, had potential support coming if they were in distress. That was never going to be the normal again unless they found a way back to Earth but Beth was desperate to get people to realise and adapt to the new normal. "I do not believe things are going to back to normal Doctor. I am wishful but I am also logical about our situation." It seems that the Vulcan's had rubbed off on her more than she had realised.

With her antennae drooping it was difficult to hide the fact that Avira was disappointed with this realism, "I know," she then shook her head, she knew but she didn't want to admit it, "There's just..." she looked up at the Captain, "This wasn't what I had expected from my tour of duty on board the Atlantis, ma'am." She shrugged, she knew that nobody had expected this, but for her it had been a way out of the warmongering imperial guard, and into a more peaceful, exploration-based, organisation. Building bridges between species. That was what the Enterprise had done to their conflict with the Vulcans, "I'm just feeling a little..." there was a mischievous grin appearing, "blue."

Beth giggled at the use of the word blue. It was a joke and well timed and executed in her opinion so deserved a rise out of her even if she felt blue herself. "I do not believe Doctor this was what anyone would have expected. I certainly did not expect to be Officer in charge or have beings chasing after us." She really did not like how badly it had gone since they had ended out there. "I want to help here Avira but I do not know how to cheer up an Andorian."

"Cheering up an Andorian is the same as cheering up anyone else," Avira shrugged a bit, "ritual combat." She then gave a wink to make sure the Captain knew that she was only joking. She motioned in the general direction of the exit, "I tried to play a game of chess with Sloan when he was still in the brig. His heart wasn't really into it. I don't know if there are any other social games that humans enjoy, but they usually do the trick."

"You can to fix my injuries after my last attempt at combat I believe we both know it would be a lot more fun for you than me," Beth answered with her own wink and joke. It was becoming easier and easier to appreciate the woman and her wanting to be more involved. "Charades? I spy? Pictionary? That is just the ones I can think of but maybe we need to organise a game night? I am sure Davies would be interested in the idea. He is always looking for things to help boost morale." She mused picking up a towel to dry her face a bit more.

Avira nodded a bit, then thought about the hypocrisy of that, "I have no clue what you just said," she took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh, "some off duty interaction with the crew would definitely be nice though."

"They are human games," Beth said softly. "I am sure the computer database will be able to give her a better guide on them but we humans play them when we run out of material like books or computer games. It is things we used to do before anything like devices. Come to the Christmas party." Beth guided softly. It was a place the Andorian could meet the majority of the officers on board all at one time in a situation that was not an emergency.

"I'll see what I can do," Avira's standard answer for situations she really didn't want to be in. It's not that she didn't want to be socialising with humans, but when the whole thing was brought up the first time it was clear there were a lot of unspoken rules and traditions that she didn't quite know what to do with. It would be best to avoid the whole ordeal and make sure she didn't make a fool out of herself. She had to be the respectable, knowledgable, medical officer that people could rely on to heal when something had gone horribly wrong.

"I am not suggesting it is your only approach in feeling less blue but we are going to be together for a while I would rather we were close especially the senior officers," Beth admitted with a shrug. Some people could not be as close as she wished like herself with most of the crew but maybe she could forge a friendship with the Doctor.

Avira nodded, "I know." There was a moment where she wanted to confide in the Captain about the results of her genetic profile done by the Vulcan science officer, that it might be the reason of her feeling blue. It wasn't relevant now though, it was something that would affect her years down the line. There was a lot of preventative treatment that could be done to slow, and in time she might even be able to develop a full cure, "I'll think about it."

"Please do. You know where I am okay. You have offered to be my sounding board and that offer goes the other way and there are many other crew you would be willing to hear you out." Beth said hoping her sincerity was coming across. It was sometimes hard to gauge with Andorians if they knew that emotion well. "No one needs to feel blue alone even if they are blue in colour."

Avira smiled a bit at the continuation of her joke, it was good to see that she had used the human idiom correctly and that the Captain had appreciated it, "We'll have a lot of sounding back and forth," She thought for a moment, "echoes, perhaps." Then shook her head, didn't really say what she wanted to say. "I'm glad to have someone to talk to, Captain, I truly appreciate it." She gave a small bow with her head before she pushed herself up from the ground, a graceful fluid motion that gave a glimpse at the Andorian's athleticism, which might've been out of place for any other physician but not one that had gotten most of her experience in the Andorian Imperial Guard.

Beth stayed where she was looking up at the doctor smiling. "I appreciate it as well." Beth really did sometimes she was sure that the stress and strain showed on her face sometimes. She tried to keep it on the low but sometimes she was sure that people sure it sometimes. As usual, after a discussion, she felt relaxed and thought she might be able to continue with some weights. "Pleasure as always Doctor."

Not having really started the training, let alone finishing it, Avira got back on the cross-trainer and restarted the programme. She'd feel better getting some of the energy out of her system, exhausting herself physically so that she could fall asleep before she'd start to toss and turn in her bed again. She still wondered if she should tell the Captain about her genetic condition, even though it wouldn't be relevant for a couple of years, maybe even a decade. She decided against it for now. The Captain had enough to worry about.