Great Mortality

Posted on Fri Nov 27th, 2020 @ 10:38am by Lieutenant JG Sher'ra Verona
Edited on on Fri Nov 27th, 2020 @ 10:41am

1,092 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 1 - Phoenix From The Ashes
Location: USS Copernicus - Deck 6
Timeline: Prologue Mission Day -2 @ 21:54 Hours

ON:

Walking along the decks of what was left of the Copernicus, Sher’ra was searching for the bodies of the crew so they could be accounted for and given their proper rights. She’d volunteered to head this away team as these kind of things didn’t really bother her. Not that it wasn’t disheartening to see anyone’s life cut short, but her Klingon blood told her fallen warriors deserved to be honoured.

Reaching a door to what she assumed was either a cargo bay or a Lab, Sher’ra brought up the command codes she’d been given for this task on her wrist display and tried to enter them on a nearby console with no luck, “damn, this sections out of power too. What the hell happened to this ship?” She asked no one in particular as she started searching for the manual release.

Ensign Olowe had been on Copernicus for less than two weeks having only recently graduated from the academy. The only reason she had been assigned to her partner on this was because she knew Copernicus better than anyone from the Merlin but beyond that she was one of the few remaining officers that was still able to stand.
"Hang on, I'll check with Engineering..." she activated her combadge, thankful that at least artificial gravit and environmental controls have been restored. "Olowe to Engineering, we need power to the doors on deck six section two"

"Standby Olowe" came a swift reply from the large Half Klingon she had met when she had first arrived. "Try it again Jelani"

Entering the command code again, the doors opened to a not unexpected but still an unwelcome sight. Yet more deceased crew strewn about the lab. Giving a sigh, Sher’ra took out a tricorder from her belt and began to scan the bodies, “can you help me tag these crewmen for transport? The faster we do this, the faster we’ll be done”

Jelani tensed at the use of the term 'Bodies'. Less than two days ago they had been her friends and colleagues and with a ship the size of Copernicus everyone knew everyone. Like a close knit community, she spotted the brunette with Lieutenant pips... That had been Lieutenant Celia Cornwall. Jelani had helped her daughter with self defence classes...
'Oh god... Her daughter!'

Jelani had frozen in place, tears welling up behind the closed lids as the true enormity of what had happed assaulted her full force. The weight of it causing her to catch her breath, forcing each inhale and exhale, forcing herself to remain calm but it was failing.
"I'm sorry Ensign... I just need a minute!" tears freely rolling down her cheeks.

Taking a deep breath, Sher'ra turned to Jelani and placed a hand on her shoulder, "take your time. I know this can't be easy for you"

"Tell me more about yourself Ensign... Help distract me!"
The African women, her exotic accent almost melodious in timber as she composed herself once again. As she opened her eyes once more, to face the impending demons that lay before her the lighting came back on, forcefields snapped on across the breach in the lab and the hiss of air filling the room again.

Suddenly both women's combadges chirped. "Ensign Adams to damage control parties, we have partial main power back online, life support systems are operating at sixty percent capacity".

“I suggest we keep our space suits on for now, just in case” Sher’ra said, starting her scans of the deceased crew, “as for me, I’m not sure where to start. My father is a Klingon and my mother is an Orion. They run a combination Klingon-Federation restaurant on Starbase 212.”

"Klingon and Orion!" Jelani couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. "Remind me not to get on your bad side Ensign!"
Jelani tagged the body of her friend, trying her hardest to look in any direction other than that of the frozen remains, the lifeless eyes turned upwards, the mouth held open as if screaming a soundless cry.
"So what brought you to Starfleet?"

Sher’ra hesitated for a moment, “um, I know this is a strange response but how much do you know of Klingon and Orion anatomy?”

"Orion females have some kind of pheromonal gland or something and Klingons have redundancies with their vital organs... Beyond that, not much... Why?"
Jelani had moved on to the next body.

Giving a sigh of relief, Sher’ra was glad she didn’t have to give an anatomy lesson to explain, “well as I am half of both, I have two sets of pheromone glands. Unfortunately my redundant glands became active when I hit puberty along with my normal glands. I’m sure you can imagine what problems this could cause. So my mother took me to see the Starfleet Doctor onboard the station who prescribed me with a special medication to suppress my pheromones so I wouldn’t be a danger to others. I was so impressed by the doctors knowledge of non-Federation species that I was inspired to joins Starfleet”

"But why Security and not the Starfleet Medical corp?"
It was working, the line of questions now forming on the lips of the young African women had pulled her mind from the ghoulish task she had to perform.

“Um, hello? Klingon. Not exactly a good temperament for the caring medical field. Besides, security and tactical just seemed more fun and it gave me time to keep my cooking skills up” Sher’ra replied as she tagged the last body. “Don’t get me wrong, medicine seems Interesting enough, I just didn’t think it was for me”

This was the first time in days that the young officer had laughed, genuinely laughed. Something about this Orion/Klingon officer seemed to put her at ease. She was relaxed, calm but fully aware of herself and her temperament... and obviously not afraid to poke fun at herself because of it.
"Point taken!" Ensign Olowe stood and realised that the task had been completed and she again turned her attention back to Sher'ra. "Thank you!"

Sher'ra smiled, "you are most welcome. If you don't think you can handle the task, I am willing to do it on my own"

"I need to do it... No offense intended but I knew these people and they deserve to be seen to by someone who knew them!" Jelani nodded with an apologetic smile.

END

 

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