Posted by Lieutenant Hannah Lori Asimina (Asst. Chief Medical Officer) in Seeing Ghosts

Posted by Lieutenant Tandra Mika (Counselor) in Seeing Ghosts

Posted by Lieutenant Hannah Lori Asimina (Asst. Chief Medical Officer) in Seeing Ghosts
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Sharah dismissed them from the staff meeting. It was routine and nothing new. They were all Star Fleet officers and this was old hat stuff. They all just didn’t see each other often because of the size of the contentment on Oed. Everyone got up and filed out of the mess and either went to sickbay or their quarters because they weren’t on duty yet. She stared at him as he got up and headed out. It couldn’t be…could it? The name, the face, now that she saw him the familiarity of the presence of her unknown bidder was so clear.

Ilena stood up and rushed after him. She reached out her hand, afraid he was insubstantial. ‘Ada???‘

Ilena Rox

Lieutenant Fayth had dismissed the meeting. When everyone else began to stand to leave, Adaril did too, and started heading out of the room. They were going to be on the Centurion for a while and it seemed like Ilena may not be ready to talk to him. She’d spent the entire meeting staring at him like he shouldn’t exist. But as he was heading out the door he felt a hand brush his back and then someone calling his name… Not someone, Ilena. He’d never forget that voice. He turned around to face her and smiled. “Ilena.”

~ Adaril Aveli

Confusion, disbelief, longing, Hope all swirled and flowed and rushed off her like a cascading waterfall. She stood there, shock, soul changing shock. Her voice didn’t seem to want to work, but he heard her clearly anyway. ‘H…how? We, we thought you were dead.’

Ilena

Adaril wished she had been there when he had realized she was alive. He’d felt much the same. But now, a calm familiarity washed over and off him, followed by hope and longing of his own. ‘I thought the same of you.’

He looked around and the ushered her out of the doorway into the side of the meeting room. ‘Let’s move out of the way.’ Talking to her telepathically was like second nature to him, even after all this time. Despite having been in Starfleet for some time, hearing her voice in his head coaxed it right out of him.

~ Adaril

Ilena followed him automatically. Her brain not having yet processed the fact he really was alive. She stood still for half a moment before throwing herself at him, arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, eyes squeezed shut, even as tears leaked out. A rush if released shock and grief and the need to know he was really there. ‘Ada, I’ve missed you SO much.’

Ilena

Adaril let out a soft ‘oof’ when she threw herself at him. He smiled and hugged her back, squeezing her tight. ‘I’ve missed you too. I… I thought you died. What happened?’ He was crying now too, tears coming down his face and landing on her shoulder. ‘I saw you at the charity auction but… I couldn’t win you… And then I just…’ And he shrugged.

~ Adaril

‘Why did you leave? I looked for you. I mean I didn’t realize it was you. I mean I…’ She had recognized the feeling but she just thought it was wishful thinking. That she had mistaken the person for Ada. ‘You didn’t have to win me.’ Ilena hugged him. It was unreal, but it wasn’t. ‘The Loneel Mountains…the caves from the resistance. There was a lot of work being done to fortify it. In case…’ Ilena shrugged, ‘But the fault line under them became active again. There was a massive earthquake....villages fell into fissures, canyons formed, there was even some volcanic activity. It…Ada it took them so long to find us because of the fistrium. It blocked the sensors so they couldn’t just beam us out.’

Ilena

‘I don’t know.’ Adaril shook his head and sighed. ‘I knew you recognized me. How could you not? But I could tell you were confused.’ He hugged her again, just because it felt good to hug her. ‘I know. I heard about the volcanoes and… Well, hundreds of people died in the eruptions and the earthquake.’ he started to tear up again, ‘My parents… And I just figured that you… That you were gone, too.’

~ Adaril

‘After the attack on the Advent, I didn’t hear from you, I thought everyone on your ship was lost. I…I could never bring myself to read the record. I didn’t want to know.’ Ilena looked up at him, tear stained cheeks and all. ‘Our parents had a falling out…we never contacted them after we were rescued. I…it was my fault. Your parents wanted me to bond with Icantis. I refused, I couldn’t. My parents supported me and…it started an argument that was never resolved.’

Ilena

‘The Advent went down, her crew lost.’ Grief and anger accompanied his words, hot and raw. ‘Some of us survived and were rescued. Not many.’ More tears made their way down his face. He sniffed and dried his eyes, shaking his head. ‘My family have known I’m okay for a while. They never told me about this falling out, or Icantis, or you.’ There was anger behind those words, anger with his parents. ‘They let me continue to think you were dead.’

~ Adaril

Ilena could feel his grief and loss. She did her best to offer him comfort. ‘I’m so sorry Ada.’ She shook her head, sad and upset, heartbroken over it all. ‘I didn’t know they thought I was dead. I would have…told them at least. We…losing you just…’ It had destroyed them all. They had all stopped talking. Then she had left for the Academy. She stared at him a long time. ‘I can’t believe you are here.’

Ilena

Adaril just hugged her again. ‘It doesn’t matter now. We can fix our families’ problems later. Right now I want to focus on us.’ He looked at her, confusion accompanying his confused expression as she stared at him. Then he smiled. ‘Then it’s a good thing neither of us are going anywhere.’

~ Adaril

Ilena’s head tipped to the side and she suddenly realized they were standing in the mess/conference room, holding onto each other having a very silent conversation, and they were on Centurion for a reason. ‘Maybe we should go somewhere else?’

Ilena

Adaril laughed aloud and shrugged. ‘Maybe we should. I don’t want to. I think I forgot how much I missed you.’ He started to walk with her out of the room. ‘I want to keep talking to you.’

~ Adaril

Adaril had changed since she had last seen him. She remembered it so clearly. The deep affection she had always had for him had turned into a school girl’s crush and then something much more substantial. She was so proud of him when he graduated the Academy, in his new blue officers uniform and one solid gold Ensign pip. She had tried so hard to be very mature that visit and not embarrass him in front of his friends again.

Ileana had changed too. No longer the little girl he remembered, she was mature and elegant. Yet she still reminded him of the cute little girl he had once thought of more like a little sister. His view of her changed during their later teenage years. At his Academy graduation, she had acted much more mature… He knew she was only trying not to embarrass him, but it had still helped him see her as the adult she would become. ‘I’m sorry I missed your graduation. I would have given anything to be there.’

He had been excited and nervous and happy. He was heading off to do what he had always wanted. In just a couple more years he was going to come home and they would be married. Ilena had been excited for the future and her head full of fairytale. Now he felt more mature and worn down some. He looked different to. Oh, her Ada was still there, but the boyish pieces that had still clung to him at his graduation were gone. ‘Sometimes I forget how much I miss you too. Then I remember, and it is so much worse.’

Ilena

Adaril had loved being a Fleet doctor. Absolutely loved it. From the time he received his first assignment, he had been so happy. That had been clear in the letters they exchanged back then. He was going to enjoy his time as much as possible, and then return to Betazed to fulfill his contract and marry Ilena. He looked forward to it though he did not speak of it openly.

Until he received news of her death. His parents wrote to inform him. For weeks he’d been crushed with grief for her. He’d had to see the ship’s counselor for grief counseling. He hadn’t wanted to just… get over her. What was he to do without her? A few months after the news was broke to him, there was an officer on his ship. A human woman about his age. He’d… been with her. Just once, and then decided he couldn’t do a relationship, not yet. The memory caused a surge of guilt within him. He hugged her again, an awkward side hug as they walked. ‘I’m never leaving your side again if I can help it.’

~ Adaril