Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in What we want verses what we have…Commander Rinker…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present
Jessa laid in bed struggling to sleep like most nights recently. The weight of her situation was becoming more real and less fantasy. It was supposed to be a grand adventure with an ending nothing like what she was living now. The plan had been to get on the ship, retrieve the Prism, and then leave. That was three weeks ago. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Jessa tried to not think about how she was still in this backwater corner of space and instead of arriving back to the Union on her way to find her mother. Rolling over, Jessa pulled a pillow to her chest and held it tightly fighting back the urge to sob. “Crying doesn’t solve anything. It is stupid and a waste of time. Doing things solves problems. Fixing problems is how one should spend their time,” she quietly chastised herself.

Her issue was how to fix her problems. Rinker offered to help. Jack would help and if she gave Ian the chance, he would probably jump at returning her to an adult to get her off his hands. Pellan would be coming but none of that mattered right now. Jessa was alone, scared, and giving in to her worst thoughts. Looking around the room only depressed Jessa more. The sick bay was cold and sterile but mentally let Jessa separate herself from the crew. The room she was occupying now was warm and inviting. Whether intentionally meant to make her feel relaxed or a clever manipulation to trust the crew more, the color scheme allowed Jessa a few minutes each day when waking up to forget she was not at home.

Throwing back her covers, Jessa got up and exited her room to the main living space. The quarters were dead silent. Ian and Kelly had gone out for the night and due to her age and the security team constantly monitoring her, there was no need for a babysitter as if she were five. She could easily have opened the door and requested the officers contact Ian but tonight Jessa needed something else. Going back into her room, she rapidly changed her clothes, threw on some shoes, and grabbed the new backpack Kelly had gotten her. Taking a deep breath, Jessa walked to the door of the quarters and opened them.

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O’Neill quarters
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“What do you mean she is not there?” Jack’s voice cut through the silence of his quarters like a razor as he threw back his covers and began pulling on his clothes. He had not loved the idea of giving up his twenty-four-hour spot on Jessa’s detail however after almost three weeks guarding her, the stress and lack of sleep were getting to him so the four-man team was split into two officers on twelve-hour shifts. Paulson and Beck ran the night shift while he and Reed ran the day shift.
“Sir,” the officer tried to keep a steady tone. “She came to the door about zero one hundred hours complaining she felt sick. We escorted her to the sick bay but there was a medical emergency two seconds after we entered and she must have slipped out,” the security officer on duty snapped back.

“Freaking fantastic,” Jack cursed grabbing his phaser and his boots. “Contact the CO and complete a shipwide scan to locate her. I will be in security command in three.” Jack’s irritation was redlining as he stumbled about getting dressed in the middle of the night like it was some academy drill.

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Commander Heathcliff Rinker’s quarters
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Ten minutes later, at about 0130 hours, a loud banging could be heard on Commander Heathcliff Rinker’s door as Jack’s voice began to bark out the psychiatrist’s name through the comm badge.

Jessa Novar

It wasn’t common for people to bang on doors. Most communication was done by comms and it was far faster than going to whatever location and knocking. It was even more rare for the two things to hapoen at the same time.

“Come,” he called as he tapped his badge resting on his night stand. +^+Rinker=^= There was n’t much he could add since he had no idea what was going on, and the more he talked the longer it took for him to learn something.

Rinker