chain of command missing sene 2
Jan. 10th, 2008 11:41 pmSariel's door reappears somewhere around seven in the morning, bar time. Her tears have dried by then; she's stopped shaking, stopped startling at small noises, gotten up and moved away from the fire. but her eyes are red-rimmed, and the sliding panel in the wall doesn't respond when she first raises a hand.
she nows it'll still be midnight on the enterprise when she gets back, knows that the seven--no, now six hours until day watch are going to be a few seconds shy of an eternity to live through. But she's at least got her feet under her again.
she'd been desperate to keep her composure at least in part. The side of her not ruled by intellect was certain that Will, or Captain Picard, or Gene or anyone else would never have lost it in the face of memories like hers. But now that she's clear-headed again, she realizes that even senior officers, even outlaws, even soldiers need to cry once in a while. Keeping emotions bottled up is just unhealthy, for a human.
and she's alright with her reaction, in hindsight. Breaking down is part of the healing process too, after all.
she finishes aBar-provided cup of tea and washes her face before she tries the door again. this time it swishes open as she nears and she hurries through, back into her quarters and ship's night. she spends the rest of that long, long night watch in ten Forward, surrounded by only a handful of people. She can live with it; a handful is far better than none at all, in her view. By the time the chronometercycles round to 07:00 hours she's exhausted, mentally drained, and when sleep finds her in her quarters it's dreamless. Blissfully so.
the next night's routine is much the same, albeit without the truly horrible patch. She finds Ten forward once her shift is over and stays there till the chronometer ticks round to day watch, glad of the light and the warmth and the scattered company even when a pensive-looking Counselor Troi passes through. If the empath notices that Sariel's more subdued than usual, she doesn't mention it.
There are rumors flying during that fourth day. rumors of Cardassia and weapons and another war, rumors that the peace talks Jellico is hosting are failing. Rumors that Captain Picard is dead. Sariel's not on the bridge when Commander riker is relieved of his post, but she hears about it quickly enough and it, too, rattles her sharply.
And she holds on, as best she can. Because it's all she can do.
she nows it'll still be midnight on the enterprise when she gets back, knows that the seven--no, now six hours until day watch are going to be a few seconds shy of an eternity to live through. But she's at least got her feet under her again.
she'd been desperate to keep her composure at least in part. The side of her not ruled by intellect was certain that Will, or Captain Picard, or Gene or anyone else would never have lost it in the face of memories like hers. But now that she's clear-headed again, she realizes that even senior officers, even outlaws, even soldiers need to cry once in a while. Keeping emotions bottled up is just unhealthy, for a human.
and she's alright with her reaction, in hindsight. Breaking down is part of the healing process too, after all.
she finishes aBar-provided cup of tea and washes her face before she tries the door again. this time it swishes open as she nears and she hurries through, back into her quarters and ship's night. she spends the rest of that long, long night watch in ten Forward, surrounded by only a handful of people. She can live with it; a handful is far better than none at all, in her view. By the time the chronometercycles round to 07:00 hours she's exhausted, mentally drained, and when sleep finds her in her quarters it's dreamless. Blissfully so.
the next night's routine is much the same, albeit without the truly horrible patch. She finds Ten forward once her shift is over and stays there till the chronometer ticks round to day watch, glad of the light and the warmth and the scattered company even when a pensive-looking Counselor Troi passes through. If the empath notices that Sariel's more subdued than usual, she doesn't mention it.
There are rumors flying during that fourth day. rumors of Cardassia and weapons and another war, rumors that the peace talks Jellico is hosting are failing. Rumors that Captain Picard is dead. Sariel's not on the bridge when Commander riker is relieved of his post, but she hears about it quickly enough and it, too, rattles her sharply.
And she holds on, as best she can. Because it's all she can do.