Posted by Commander Heathcliff Rinker (Chief Medical Officer/ Psychiatrist) in Sick Bay…Arrival of the GUS Redemption…when the past does not match the present or the future

Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in Sick Bay…Arrival of the GUS Redemption…when the past does not match the present or the future

Posted by Commander Heathcliff Rinker (Chief Medical Officer/ Psychiatrist) in Sick Bay…Arrival of the GUS Redemption…when the past does not match the present or the future
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Jessa sat at her desk idyll tapping her stylus on the desk. The rhythmic pattern was white noise to Jessa as she stared out the viewport of the classroom. She no longer heard it but found the motion was soothing. It kept her hands busy as her mind contemplated a multitude of thoughts. Life had settled into the mundane routine of life over the past month for Jessa. She woke up, went to classes for a portion of the day, met with Rinker, and they spent the remainder of the day either with the Bordeaux’s or the O’Neills. Jack had two sons that were close to Jessa’s age. She actually enjoyed going over there when Kelly and Ian were on duty. The family was loud, noisy, and reminder her of happier days back home. Rinker’s sessions were less intense and draining now that she had stopped fighting him on every topic that was broached. It had been exhausting trying to out think him or look for meaning in every word he spoke. Unfortunately, Rinker’s session plagued her thoughts after they were over. She often shrugged off his questions but they seemed to find a way to lodge deep in her brain making Jessa question things she didn’t even know she had questions about. Glancing up at the clock, Jessa ran the numerical system in her head trying to remember the sequence so that she could count down how long before she could leave.

It was at that moment the wave hit the ship. Her body was thrown across the but her armored suit came on instantly preventing her from impacting anything in the room. The event was over almost as fast as it had started except for the fact that Jessa’s heads up display in the suit went wild. Intelligence about the arriving Galactic Union fleet scrolled almost too fast for her to read it; however she clearly read one line.

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Two minutes later
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Jessa broke into sickbay running at full speed. Her eyes scanned the room finding the one person she was looking for. “Rinker.”

“Jessa, we discussed interrupting at inopportune times. There are always medical emergencies about and you can’t just run in here anytime you want.” Rinker snapped taking a deep breath as he moved around the space. Sickbay was in emergency mode but very few of the people in here needed emergency help. Things had started slowing down but if the fleet outside wanted to start a war, sickbay would soon be hopping.

“Yes but,” she started to stammer and the words caught in her throat. She definitely did not like Rinker’s new position on the ship. He had been allowed to keep his old office due to his dual specialties but the Sickbay felt too open at times for her.

“Pellan is here. The fleet is here,” she repeated following him around the room. “What do I do?”

Jessa Novar

Her question made him pause. “What do you mean,” he asked. For weeks now all Jessa had talked about was this very future. Now she seemed panicked and confused.

Rinker CMO

“I mean he brought every ship in the fleet. Like every ship.” There was a knot in her stomach and she felt like she was going to throw up. Jessa had spouted for a month about how Pellan would come to find her. She whole heartedly believed this but in this belief, Pellan arrived in his diplomatic ship. The presence of all the ships felt wrong. “Don’t be scared okay.” Jessa reached up to her neck and activated the armored suit. In a flash, Jessa was completely encased in the alien armor.

“Is it your experience that I’m normally afraid?” Rinker was not worried Jessa was going to start a one woman mutiny on the ship like the adult Elders had a month prior; however, it was important for her to have structure and rules. It gave her stability and focus. “I am not going to interact with you in that suit.” His voice was firm and unwavering.

There was a strict rule about her suit. Since there was no real way to remove it as far as they could tell, Jessa had a no use rule. This was definitely breaking the rule however, she had no other way to show Rinker what had her so upset. “Its deactivated. I am not going to hurt anyone,” she replied retracting the helmet.

“Ugh,” she moaned loudly in the tone reserved for disgruntled youth that were displeased with adults but still complying with their requests. “Lambee dooree kee skaining,” Jessa stated. It was out of reflex she activated the suit. Her request for long range scanning could be accomplished with only part of the suit enabled. A portion of the suit materialized like a thick bracelet allowing her to project for the room.

Raising her arm up, Jessa activated the heads up display which projected an exact image of what everyone was seeing on the bridge. The holographic image lacked the crisp sharpness of the Federation’s holograms but it was clear that there seemed to be hundreds of ships almost surrounding the Atlantis.

As much as Rinker wanted to follow the rules be and the Captain had put in place surrounding Jessa, the image gave him pause. No one person was worth a fleet like that. There had to be another reason they were here. One some level, it was progress that Jessa was not spouting scripture and blathering about how they should bow to the might of the Galactic Union. On the contrary Jessa seemed terrified at their arrival.

“They are also hailing me. I don’t know what to say. What if they want me to leave the Atlantis? How do I protect the ship? How do I protect you?” Dropping her hands to her knees, Jessa leaned over and tried to put her head between her knees like Rinker showed her when she started to feel a panic attack coming on. The problem was the armor suit did not actually bend like a human body. She could not get her head low enough so Jessa dropped to the floor in a seated position. “What do I do?”

Jessa Novar

“They are comming just you? In your language or in ours?”

Rinker CMO

Jessa felt a knot growing in her belly. If she answered Rinker half or all of the people in sickbay would turn against her. They would see her as a traitor but the Galactic Union were her people. She should not be hesitating or even speaking to Rinker right now. That was traitorous and yet here she was ready to side with the Federation against her own people. Activating the speaker, she let the message play in the room. The alien language echoed in the space. eldars rogan, zaala tsoo, da myoo jesa. aane vaale prasaaran ka javaab den. The names of the Elders would easily be discernable even in the foreign tongue. “They want me to respond and I don’t know what to do. If I reply they will want to know where the other Elders are. If I reply they will want me to leave the ship. It is going to be Halston all over again. A fleet like this arrived only vastly smaller. They came to rescue it from the forces of Angra Mainyu but that resulted in the entire population being destroyed. Billions of lives gone in a flash of fire on Halston no different than what happened on Nuat.” Jessa stopped for a moment and balled her hand into a fist before hitting herself in the forehead several times. It was the first time Jessa displayed self injurious behavior. She was anxious, overwhelmed and desperate for a distraction from the emotional pain she was experiencing. The slight physical pain would only be a temporary reprieve.

“I don’t know what to do.” Jessa looked up at Rinker with a panicked expression. “I knew they would come for me but not like this. No one person is worth this,” she waved a hand through the hologram. Being with the crew of the Atlantis had reluctantly opened her eyes on some things she had been choosing to ignore about the Union.

Jessa Novar