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

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

Posted by Commander Heathcliff Rinker (Chief Medical Officer/ Psychiatrist) in What we want verses what we have…Commander Rinker…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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

Jack entered Rinker’s quarters and stood in the living space knowing Heathcliff was most probably getting out of bed. “Heathcliff we have a problem.” He winced slightly hearing his voice echo through his badge, in the next room, and through his own ears. It sounded like a weird echo almost and was more disconcerting than physical. Knowing Rinker would want a succinct version of why he was standing in the man’s quarters in the middle of the night, Jack began his sit rep.

“We enter people’s rooms without permission now?” He had hoped that this wasn’t a side effect of taking the CMO position. He was a psychiatrist more than a general practitioner, but he could handle most of the things that were needed on a Starship.

“The Captain and Ian are indisposed. Jessa was alone in their quarters with Beck and Paulson standing guard. She came to them about forty-five minutes ago complaining about not feeling well. They took her to sick bay but some medical emergency was going on. Jessa slipped out in the confusion. She removed her comm badge so we had trouble finding her on the ship. Without the comm badge, it took a hot minute. People forget that mythology-class ships are not small even though they are starships.” Jack was irritated and did not take a psych degree to see that. His normally laid-back demeanor and slightly southern drawl had been replaced with squared shoulders and crisper words. “I am zip-tying a comm badge around her neck like a dog collar in the morning. Anyway, we found her. I thought you would be the best person get her back to her quarters from the arboretum. I have the area cordoned off.”

“Two guards for a twelve year old?” He said sarcastically. “Although, I’ve seen what she and her friends have done. Maybe two isn’t enough.”

“Okay,” He shugged, spinning about looking for his uniform. Failing to immediately find that. He picked up the closet outfit and his medical bag.

If Rinker didn’t want to go, Jack would do it but probably with much less finesse. The short turbo ride to the Arboretum would let Rinker ask any questions he needed before they got there. “Shall we go,” Jack motioned to the door.

Jessa Novar

The space was devoid of people partially due to the late hour and partially due to the security guards condoning the space off. Jessa was sitting in the grass under a large tree with her backpack next to her and some sort of bottle in her hand. Since it was night, the ceiling replicated the starfield around the ship instead of the azure blue sky with fluffy white clouds. She was staring hard out of the large floor-to-ceiling viewport into the vast expanse of inky darkness. Only the sound of Jack and Rinker’s footsteps on the path a few feet from her broke her stare. Glancing over at the two men, Jessa held up a hand. “Please go away. I just want to be alone.” Even in the dim lights, it was evident, Jessa had been crying. It was not the hysterical bouts of tears she exhibited at times during sessions but the kind of crying one did when they thought they were alone. There was something else in her voice. The slight slur of words only alcohol could create.

“I was told you were sick.” He said not unkindly. He held out the module scanner that detached from the medical tricorder. He didn’t really need the device to see what was going on, but it never hurt to have verification. Plus there was a range of ‘illness’ that she could have inflicted on herself.

Pulling her eyes off the two men, Jessa brought the large bottle to her lips and gagged slightly as she took a large sip. Every adult she knew drank some sort of fermented beverage when they were sad or upset. Based on the number of fermented ale bottles in Ian and Kelly’s quarters, the pair must be the most unhappy couple on the ship. The clear amber liquid burned her mouth and throat however the discomfort in a way felt good. It was at least different than the constant scared feeling she had lived with for almost three weeks now. She had heard people say one could drink themselves to death and part of her wondered how much it would take to do that. “I promise I am not going to hurt anyone or cause a problem if you let me stay here.”

“In the Federation, individuals of your age are not allowed to drink.” He glanced at the bottles then at the results of the scan. “I’m going to have to report both the Captain and the CDO for inadequate guardianship. You are going to bed guilty as well, of course, unless you regularly drink you are going to be punished quite a bit in about 4 hours.”

The arrival of Jack and Rinker meant she would be removed from this space sooner rather than later. Instead of screaming or fighting, Jessa turned her gaze off them and back out into space. What was going to happen was going to happen. She was coming to realize that she controlled nothing in her life or her future.

Jessa Novar

Rinker sat down next to her and tugged the bottle out of her hand and took several deep swallows, finishing almost two third of what was left in the bottle. He didn’t really enjoy beer all that much, but it was better in him than in her. Belying that plan, he returned what was left to here. “You shouldn’t drink alone.”

Rinker