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Dr. Mäkeläinen does not try to open random closed doors. If there is an obvious entrance to a recognizable compartment like the Sickbay, he will consider going in there.
He says, "Aye, this is the ladder we came up. Not sure if we are past the passenger area; I can't read the writing, unfortunately. Stick to the plan and keep going?" The plan being to continue walking down the central corridor as long as possible, then make a turn.
Graham smiles just slightly--a little happy, a little sad.
"No," he says quietly. "I don't mind you using the lyrics to the song...it's..."
He's not sure what to say.
"It's a nice song."
But he's still not sure what it means to him, because the price of saving Marala...of winning his teen-age dream of her as his wife...was losing the very real current-day prospect of a future with Nia.
"I'm sure...well I tried to make sure Marala understands the nature of my, our, jobs."
The melancholy Kylah hears in Lt. Graham's voice is reflected in his expression, and she does not need empathic powers to recognize it. She gnaws a little at her lower lip in concern, though her own now nags at her--not for the first time. With another look at their surroundings as they head back to the passenger lounge, she girds herself.
"Sir, I have been meaning to ask, if I may... Where are you going to live? You and Marala and Nikolai? Are you planning to--to leave us?"
A wave of sadness hits her, this time her own. While they had a rocky start, full of misunderstanding and awkwardness, Lt. Graham has changed the way she views Starfleet officers. His steady presence, bravery, protectiveness, guidance both professional and personal... all priceless.
He has altered her understanding of men, too. He asks nothing of Kylah but for her to perform her job--and, especially, to make wise and safe choices. Despite her having let him down numerous times, he has not given up on her. There are few other--no other--men of whom she can say that. She inhales and gives an unintentionally audible sigh. The prospect of losing him hurts almost physically.
"You would be missed, if so. Very much," she adds with soft emphasis. "But no one would begrudge you your happiness."
Graham raises an eyebrow, surprised by Kylah's questions.
And the apparent, even to him, not typically the highest EQ person in the room, the seriousness with which she asks them.
"Ah, that's kind of you to say, uh, I---"
He looks down. "I don't know. I always wanted my family to be proud of me, and it was because...of the job. Doing something that mattered. Even back when I was hoping my family would be 'Marala.'"
He forces himself to look at Kylah. "But when I put the job first, she...Jane...she died."
He takes a deep breath. "I guess...I guess I should ask Marala what she thinks is best for Nikolai."
Then he clears his throat. "Something that requires getting us all back to Yorktown," he says, squaring his shoulders and forcing a more positive expression.
None of the occasional alien writing she sees makes sense to Onn. There are no logos or graphics to suggest what's behind each door; that does not seem to be the Uwat way.
Rangin says to her, "Yeah. Thanks, Lieutenant. I appreciate that. It was... difficult. Really difficult. I'm still thinking it through, coming to grips with what happened, you know? I did what I thought I had to do, right then and there, with no time to think. But now... well, that only goes so far." He sighs and looks away. "But I'm doing okay, I guess. Just getting away from there has made a difference, I think."
Rawlings looks around. "I'm not sure if we're past the passenger area, either. Some of it, at least? Not sure how much farther aft it extends. What I wouldn't give for a tricorder!" He chuckles. "Sorry. I keep thinking that." He glances down the ladder and its narrow surrounding core. "But yeah, we can keep going, if you want."
The doctor and the Security officer proceed further aft, seeing no one else. The central corridor looks much the same, all along the way. After a few minutes you come to a locked door. An intense, low-bass hum emanates from it.
An Uwat crewmember approaches Kylah and Graham outside the Communications Room. It says something, pauses, then waves its mottled, spiky arms and seems to repeat itself.
Lt. Graham has moved the conversation away from his plans, or indeed anything personal--though he mentioned Jane, his late wife, Kylah remembers with a stab of sympathy. Perhaps she should not have asked a question that does not involve her.
It does. But clearly he either disagrees, or is unaware.
The Uwat's approach gives Kylah a little start of surprise. Kylah shakes her head, wishing she could comprehend even a morsel of their speech. She places a flat hand on her chest in apology. "Forgive us. We do not speak Uwat," she says, taking a little step backwards in case the crew member is upset, and darts a look of unease up at Lt. Graham. "I do not understand. We were already leaving."
"Nia," she corrects Rangin gently, when he calls her 'Lieutenant.' "And not because of--" Nia gestures vaguely around them. "--The need for discretion. But because it's just you and me, and this whole situation is pretty equalizing. At least I'm not feeling very much in command," she murmurs in a much lower voice.
"Sounds like you're second-guessing your reaction. For what it's worth, I doubt it. You don't strike me as the shoot-first-ask-questions-later type. You did what you had to. You survived." Her fingers tighten around the handle of her medical case. "Sometimes that means your opponent can't. And it's gruesome to say, but if you had to strike, it might even have been good that it was lethal. A wounded enemy can still endanger you. Maybe worse than before."
The vision of a looming figure bathed in moonlight and blood flashes in her mind, but she dismisses it. "Anyway, if you find yourself going somewhere dark, feel free to talk to me. Or I suppose you'd go to Kylah, from the looks of things between you guys." She shares a brief wry smile, but since she doesn't want to push the camaraderie, she moves on smoothly.
"But pragmatically speaking, everything on that planet's done with. We got damn lucky no one was in a hurry to investigate. Possibly the one stroke of good luck down there."
Her gaze shifts from her companion to the featureless doors. "Are these passenger rooms? I mean I thought they were all aft, but... I don't know, what do you think?" With a one-shouldered shrug, she moves closer to the nearest room and after a swift double-check of their solitude, presses her ear to the door.
The doctor touches the locked door for a moment to feel the thrum. "Engine room?" he posits. "Some other machinery? And we haven't seen any personnel coming through this way, so the more critical areas and accessways may be below decks."
"Yes, it feels wrong to go exploring without, if not a tricorder, some way of mapping where we've been. I could not draw you a sketch to please an engineer, but at least we know roughly how far we have come and where things are with respect to each other. I think we still have a little time. How about we backtrack and try the first open side corridor?"
The Uwat seems to repeat itself, but a little more intensely, Kylah thinks. It takes another step towards Graham and her.
"Nia," Rangin says, softly. "Of course. Sorry. Thank you for that, and for your kind words. Well, I'm dealing with it, and I'll... keep dealing with it." He looks around and seems glad to change the subject. "Yes, they could be passenger rooms. That would make sense, but I just don't know." He follows Onn's lead and presses his ear to another door. After a few seconds he steps away and says, "Nothing here."
Onn hears an irregular thumping from behind the door she's listening to.
Dr. Mäkeläinen can feel the intense thrum through his fingertips when he touches the door. Rawlings replies, "You may be right. Having Engineering here would fit what little we could see of the Doregg from outside, I guess." He leans in and listens more closely to the door himself.
Graham slides in front of Kylah and raises his hands in a disarming gesture.
"Guests...quarters...." he says slowly, "Paying guests," he adds, emphasizing the first word. He gestures down the hallway slightly and slowly.
Grateful to have the barrier of Lt. Graham's physical and commanding presence between her and the crewman, Kylah nods in tense agreement. "First Officer Jol knows we are here," she adds to Graham's statement, enunciating the name as best she can. She tilts her chin toward the door to the Communications chamber. "He brought us to Officer Grod."
After scrunching her eyes closed for a second or two while listening, Nia straightens and sticks her thumb at the door. "This one sounds like some machinery banging away. Weird rhythm, though. Either they've got some janky tech or..." She chuckles lightly. "Or it is a cabin and some passengers are doing their own kinda banging. Guess that's one way of enlivening the trip."
She sends an amused glance at Rangin before scanning the rest of the hallway. "This area doesn't seem promising. Can't imagine if they've got something recreational it'd be stuck in a featureless room in a blah corridor. And I'm not willing to knock on these doors uninvited. If it's their tech they might not be thrilled at our taking a peek. If it's a passenger cabin and I was right... Not sure I'd want a peek."
A little tired, she transfers the case to her right hand and shakes her now-unencumbered left arm to loosen it up. "So, wanna move on?"
Graham feels an honest to god happy feeling of pride as Kylah drops the other Uwat officers' names.
After all she's been through - sometimes due to, eh, her own poor judgment...that's a smart move. Even if the Uwat doesn't understand a lick of Federation Standard, the names ought to be recognizable.
Mäkeläinen waits for Rawlings to finish his turn at the door. Assuming nothing else happens, since they cannot proceed aftwards, they go back forwards. He will choose a parallel or side corridor if he has such a choice, to see more of the ship while working their way back to where they started.
The Uwat stops moving when the much-taller Graham steps in, but it doesn't back off. It waves its arms down the hall, towards the stern, from where you came. It does not appear placated, but seems to be saying the same phrase repeatedly. Kylah has a vague psi impression that it is angry.
Rangin says, "By all means." Onn and he move on. You go down another, similar corridor, then round a corner and find three Chalnoth in the otherwise-deserted corridor. One is standing, and two are squatting, facing each other a meter or so apart. About a dozen small, spiky, irregular chunks of dark metal are on the deck between them. One of the squatting Chalnoth is holding a larger, blood-red metal chunk in his hand. What appears to be a small handheld computer is on the deck next to the other one. They all turn and stare at you.
Rawlings says, "I don't know what the hell that is." He rubs his chin and, before Dr. Mäkeläinen can say anything, tries several of the small control tabs around the doorframe.
The Chalnoth plateau in front of her reminds Nia--belatedly, as all her realizations are coming to her these days--that she forgot to ask Rangin if he knew why Teloqq was staring at him at breakfast. Cursing inwardly, she slows to a halt. If it was just Teloqq that had an instinctive dislike toward Rangin, fine. If there's something between this race and Coridanites in general, the group ahead may cause a problem.
So, what angle to take. She puts one hand on her hip--not challenging, just firm. Not provocative, either... well, not exactly. Nia's not under the delusion that they'd find her attractive. Her face in particular is probably repulsive to them. But they're shaped like humanoids--big, hairy humanoids--and maybe their taste runs to tall curvy females. If nothing else, this absurd skintight thing Kylah bought her shows off her form. The hand on her hip brings more attention to those assets.
Her aim's not to seduce them; just... if they're a brotherhood of some kind, maybe they'll at least be less hostile to seeing a sister now and then. Even if she lacks distinctive dental features.
Anyway, being subservient and fawning didn't seem to do much earlier. Weakness might engender contempt. A little confidence might not be a bad thing.
"Good morning," she says in an even, pleasant tone. If Teloqq is among these guys, she'll greet him by name. If not, she'll add: "My name's Onn. This is Ginran. We actually just had some breakfast with Goram Teloqq--" Holy Sid'Os, creator of the gods, did she remember the chief guy's title correctly? "--uh, a little while ago. Sorry to barge in on you. We're just looking around. If you're busy doing something confidential, we'll back off and leave you to it..."
Even while speaking she's been trying to figure out what they're doing, examining their postures, the metal objects in front of them, and the red chunk held by the second squatting alien. Her attention homes in on the little device on the floor, which naturally piques both her interest and a little annoyance. What the hell, these shaggy goons were allowed to keep their toys and we weren't?
And then her own word triggers a deduction.
"...But... by any chance, is that some sort of strategy game or contest?" Her brief glance at Rangin tries to measure if he's made the same conclusion; his judgment's likely better than hers right now. But she quickly returns to the Chalnoth in front of her. "We've been looking for something to occupy the time, and if it's something a non-Chalnoth could learn... I'd sure like the chance to try."
Kylah nods her head and points in the same direction as the two men--assuming the Uwat is male. "We shall leave. We had permission from Officer Jol to be here. But we will go now." Her gaze flicks up at Lt. Graham. She is loath to turn her back on the crew member, not knowing if this will be some sort of insult in their culture, so she takes another couple of steps backward and plucks lightly at Lt. Graham's sleeve. "Sir?"
Dr. Mäkeläinen notes what controls Ens. Rawlings presses. Were similar control tabs present on all the other locked doors they passed?
Would a critical or dangerous area be accessible just by pushing a few buttons at random? They have no idea of the Uwat's approach to security, for all their pay-as-you-go approach to basic amenities. Rawlings does not seem to recognize the weird vibration as routine--- so that instantly ratchets his own natural curiosity way up. Outwardly, he maintains the mien of someone just going about yet more routine business.
Onn does not recognize any of the Chalnoth, but is not sure she could. They are virtually indistinguishable to her. The one which is standing says harshly, "We don't care what your names are, and we don't care what you'd like. Begone!"
Onn notices that Rangin is standing very still, and looking carefully at the Chalnoth.
Graham steps away with Kylah from the insistent Uwat. The Uwat does not follow them down the corridor, but watches them.
Some, but not all, of the buttons which Rawlings pushed make an odd kind of squishy beeping sound, but nothing else happens. Dr. Mäkeläinen did not notice any such buttons around the other doors he's seen aboard the Doregg.
Nia side-eyes Rangin, a flicker of concern sparking to life in her breast. Is he freezing up? Terrified? Trying to stare them down? She has no clue.
But the charmer at the other end of the hall deserves some sort of response, and she highly doubts he'll attack a woman and a guy three inches shorter than her--and nearly a foot shorter than any of his group.
She maintains her stance and keeps her voice unfazed. "No need to raise your hackles, I only asked," she says reasonably. "Teloqq told us you're all part of a War-Brotherhood, and it sounded impressive. I'd just be curious to learn more. A friendly game's a good way to get to know one another. Not that you care who we are--we're nothing to you. But you're warriors..." She tilts her head, eyeing the threesome with interest. "Never met a warrior who minded sharing his tales of glory. You must have some wild stories to tell."
A little wheeze, followed by a near subvocal cough, trigger another mental alarm. Crap. How long has it been since my last dose? Her brow arches with an expression of encouragement and, yes, a slight, distinctly feminine challenge. But she's busy calculating how much time's gone by. This is not the best time or place to have a breathing crisis.
Graham sighs out a slow breath as he and Kylah walk down the hallway in the direction the Uwat was pointing. "Never a dull moment, eh?" he says quietly. "You did well back there," he adds.
Still disconcerted by the Uwat's behavior, Kylah rubs her arms to soothe the goosebumps that erupted from nervousness. Lt. Graham's praise helps too. "Thank you. I do not think I did much--he--she--they seemed unable to understand a thing we said. Even the other officers' names. The Uwat culture must be very insulated for them not to have a Universal Translator, or the ability to understand Federation Standard. I understand they are not members, but... it must come up at times, if they take on passengers. Romulans and Klingons are quite virulently anti-Federation, yet they have learned to speak to us, just as we can understand them. Some of us," she hastens to add.
Kylah hurries on. "If the crew have rules about being in that area, there should be signs. Pictograms are universal enough. I do not recall Officer Jol's having warned us that this area is forbidden. He should have impressed that upon us if we were at risk of...whatever that crew member was threatening.
"I appreciate your...getting between me and him," she says emphatically. "I did not see a weapon on him--though I admit I did not look carefully--but there is something so...so unpredictable about them. Quick to anger and perhaps lash out. In a way I find them more intimidating than the Chalnoth. At least they are consistently aggressive. I suppose that is illogical? To prefer outright hostility?"
"Security door?" Mäkeläinen asks Rawlings. "It's the only one we've seen with those controls." If it is a security door, with some non-trivial level of security, merely touching a few buttons at random will not get it open. But Rawlings knows that. Does he have a technique for getting it open, without tools or a tricorder? It does occur to Dr. Mäkeläinen that they could simply ask a crewmember for basic information about the ship's layout, if they could find one who was not too busy, spoke a mutually intelligible language, and was willing to talk to them, none of which are anywhere near given.
Graham flashes a grim smile. "Yeah, well I'll take 'more openly hostile' but 'a lot smaller' any day of the week, right?"
He shakes his head. "And...don't mention it, stepping in front. Communications is your job, security mine. And whether or not that guy...uh, Uwat...understood anything at all, you made some smart choices about what to say."
The Uwat waits until Graham and Kylah retrace their steps and pass back through the heavy door through which they were admitted. The door closes behind them with a thud.
Rawlings says, "Yeah, it could be. Sorry, Doc, I was just frustrated. There's so much I want to know about this ship. I thought it might be worth just trying hitting some buttons at random." He shakes his head. "Aw, hell. Stupid of me."
The standing Chalnoth says to Onn, "We are warriors, and our victories are legendary! But we have no wish to share such tales with the likes of you. We are gaming now, and do not appreciate interruptions by puny offworlders while we do so. And so again I say, begone!" he repeats, taking a long, threatening step towards Onn.
Rangin makes a small, inarticulate sound, and all three Chalnoth stiffen and then crumple to the deck.
Seconds later, Graham and Kylah round a corner and see their shipmates staring at the fallen aliens.
About to remark that no one has ever called any part of her body "puny," Nia is interrupted by Rangin's odd noise. She's alarmed enough to pivot to face him. "What's wro--"
Then she hears the thudding noises, three of them, and she swivels back.
"What the hell?" she splutters, astonished, before she remembers the strangled sound from the man beside her. Her gaze darts to examine him. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" The question's idiotic, because obviously something happened, but her concern is for her crewmate. "Did you feel...whatever they did?"
But then why didn't she notice anything? Maybe some security feature kicked in to knock the Chalnoth out, and Rangin breathed it in, and...and Nia wasn't affected due to her taking in less air with each breath?
That sounds even more idiotic. A third strike of idiocy occurs when she moves toward the Chalnoth's apparently lifeless, or at least motionless bodies. Anyone more senior than a cadet should show more caution, but self-preservation has been shocked out of her.
Staring at them helplessly, she crouches down for a closer look to see if they're dead or alive. She delicately touches the wrists and neck of the guy she was talking to, although whether their pulse can be found in the same place as in humanoids, Nia can't guess.
She looks over her shoulder to the Coridanite. "You know alien bodies better than I do. Internally, anyway. Damn I wish you had a tricord--"
Yet again she's cut off, this time when, behind Rangin, she spots a very welcome sight rounding the corner. "Book," she blurts, the flood of relief making her unable to say more.
Kylah thanks Lt. Graham for his kindness, but as soon as they come across Velir and Lt. Onn, Kylah freezes. Two--no, Lt. Onn is standing in front of a third--huge Chalnoth bodies lie as if there has been a fight. For a moment she even thinks she sees blood, but a second glance identifies the red as some metal object she does not recognize.
Lt. Onn seems unharmed, though her surprisingly vulnerable expression upon seeing Kylah and Lt. Graham indicates something highly disturbing occurred. Even without the clear emotion widening the older woman's eyes, Kylah can feel her agitation from here.
Naturally Kylah's attention is drawn like a magnet to Velir. He has not turned toward them yet, but he is upright and...frankly, as still as the Chalnoth on the floor. He does not know I am here. He thinks it is only Lt. Graham. She is about to move to him before jerking to a halt. Perhaps Lt. Graham will prefer to check on the situation first. As he said: she is Communications; he is Security. This is his bailiwick and it would be foolish to go near the others until it is deemed safe.
Kylah does not even know if they should speak. Still, she is compelled to communicate to Velir, and she has already vowed to herself not to intrude on his thoughts. So all she does is clasp her suddenly clammy hands together and says in a voice full of trepidation and concern, "Velir?" She turns anxiously to Lt. Graham, waiting for him to make the call.
"On the contrary; I cannot stand sitting around without knowing as much as the deck plan," says Dr. Mäkeläinen. "If we could just find a talkative Uwat--- maybe they're proud of their ship and eager to show it off, or at least talk about it. Or perhaps they take the discretion thing a little too far, but it doesn't hurt to ask."
He regards the door blocking their path and says, "You've noticed how every environment features a constant background of sounds, and hardware and panels--- that could be animals and vegetation on a planet--- but you stop consciously noticing it, until you arrive someplace new.
"We have to backtrack, then. I would check out the next deck down--- maybe there is a way aft--- but I suppose there is no time right now. We promised we would check back in with the others."
"Did...someone...kill...the...Chalnoth?" Graham asks, forcing a steady, calm tone. Not that he was alarmed at the moment...alarm could come later. But at the moment...what in the hell had happened?
Nia glances back at the Chalnoth, and while she can't feel their pulses through their uniforms or fur, she can now see their breathing. Relief melts her frozen expression and her head whips around to Booker. "No. They're alive. At least for now. I--"
She cuts herself off and stares at him. "Wait. You're asking us if we did this to them? With what weapons? I doubt I could lift a phaser right now, and neither one of us is likely to have gotten the drop on anyone their size, much less three."
Her indignation isn't fair. Book's the C.O. now, and Security always. He's entitled to chase the facts. "Look, we weren't even nearby when...whatever happened. I was over where Rangi--Ginran is, meters away. We'd just come across these guys playing some game, I asked about it, and they wouldn't deal me in. One of them ordered us away, and--and I didn't think there was any real danger. The leader got up and that's when I heard Ganrin--Ringar--oh screw this, him, damn it!" she snaps, head jerking in Rangin's direction.
"He kinda groaned or grunted. I thought he'd been scared or was choking or something and I tried to see if he was all right. That's when I heard these three drop. Not a peep out of 'em. Just clunk." Nia's attention and concern return to Rangin and she tries to stand. But that's much easier said than done: her knees are rubbery and dizziness makes her reel. To remain upright--semi--she bends at the waist and rests her hands on her thighs to balance.
"You never answered," she says in an exhale. "Are you okay? Did you feel something? Or see what happened to them?" Nia stares at Rangin but addresses Booker. "If he felt pain from whatever took out the Chalnoth, like Jol's secret security measure...It didn't affect me. I didn't notice a damn thing. Sorry," she finishes, embarrassed.
Graham rushes over to Nia to help her remain standing. "It's OK, I've got you," he says under his breath.
"Understood, lieutenant," Graham says more loudly, acknowledging Onn's professional report despite her health and the shitty circumstances.
"Mr. Ran - Gingran, report, what happened here?"
Kylah thinks she's kept her burgeoning fears in check, but when Lt. Onn mentions that Velir might have been hurt, she bites her lip and it is all she can do to remain still and silent.
But she cannot help herself: when the Lieutenant mentions Velir's groan or grunt or whatever it might have been, Kylah's lips part with her gasp. He apparently does not look different; Lt. Onn would have described that. His own immobile frame and ongoing avoidance of answering the most basic question clinch Kylah's suspicions.
As Lt. Graham has his hands full--literally--supporting Lt. Onn, Kylah rushes forward to Velir. She is unsure if he is traumatized, so she does nothing to startle him. Difficult as it is, she does not interrupt Lt. Graham's focus by speaking to Velir--especially not the way she wishes to. All she can do is peer at his face, trying to take a measure of his status.
But the obvious pressing need must be addressed. "I must fetch the Doctor," she murmurs, frustrated yet again by the lack of communicators. She has no idea where he and Mr. Rawlings are. "If I cannot find him...perhaps the ship's medical staff? Those men need to be examined. I suppose there is likely a comms panel nearby."
The three Chalnoth are indeed still alive, although completely unconscious and breathing shallowly, dumped like sacks of potatoes on the deck.
Rangin appears to be shock. He says nothing but simply stands there, rigid, his eyes open but unseeing. Only his fingers are moving, slowly clenching and unclenching. After a few seconds he utters a low moan.
Rawlings rubs his chin and says, "Whatever you want, Doc. I suppose it is about time we check back in."
"Don't misunderstand," Dr. Mäkeläinen says, "we absolutely need to find out more about this ship. Also, who knows when will we get the chance to see an Uwat packet up close again? But if we check out the lower decks first we'll be late. We should check back in, report, and try again."
Before finally moving back, Mäkeläinen is captivated for a long moment peering at the controls Rawlings was touching earlier. The labels [if any] he cannot read, but he knows there is meaning behind them.
"Sure thing, Doc," Rawlings says, and moves off.
Dr. Mäkeläinen sees that about half of the buttons around the doorframe have very shallow, barely-visible embossed markings on them.
Book's I've got you, while Nia's in his arms, makes her close her eyes against the surge of conflicting emotions. What a gift these words would be. If true. "Not anymore you don't," she murmurs. "Thanks, I'm fine, except for whatever the hell just happened to everyone but me."
Then, inevitably, Kylah makes a decent suggestion that's also completely impractical. "I did not just hear you ask to go off on your own. Over my dead bo--" She catches herself. "I should rephrase that. Besides, it's not up to me. Go ahead Booker. It's your show."
Nia extricates herself reluctantly from the familiar warmth, solidity and sense of a whispered you belong here of his embrace. Rubbing her arms, she looks back up at him to add a quiet reminder. "But no ranks here."
"Shit." Graham whispers. In response to the tension between himself and Nia if nothing else.
But of course, there was a lot else.
He shakes his head. "Voice and visual range only," he says. "We move as far as we can toward our rooms keeping these, uh, guys, in view." He rubs his head. "Assuming we can move Ra- Ginran." He points to Kylah. "You move beyond that only within sight or audible call-out: "hello" every 30 seconds."
He exhales. "We move as a group."
"Yes... I don't know what these symbols mean," Mäkeläinen mutters. An interesting puzzle. "If it is a code, it could take much longer than a couple of minutes to work it out. The sound has something to do with it?... Moreover, speaking from personal experience, in an enclosed environment, pressing unknown buttons in proximity to unknown machinery may be unwise." Sometimes, there is no choice. "We have no idea of the safeguards."
He shakes his head. "Better Nia have a look." And better see if she feels up to it. "Off to the rendezvous, then." The doctor keeps pace with Rawlings, heading back the way they came from.
Kylah would be taken aback by Lt. Onn's verbal slap, but... that would require surprise. The C.O.--apparently former C.O.?--has made it clear Kylah is walking a frayed tightrope with her. Her gaze darts to Lt. Graham, for whom she is, as usual, grateful. She did not expect him to allow her even this much freedom.
"Thank you, sir." Her words are slow, because the idea of leaving Velir's side now frightens her. Focusing on him, eyes staring into his even if he does not see her, Kylah lifts her hand gently to brush the hair from his troubled brow. "You will be all right," she says quietly--aloud. But when her fingertips graze his skin, she tries to withdraw all thoughts of the rest of the world to seek his mind and soul.
Can you hear me, Velir? Can you say anything? Please, if you can...
Since she cannot continue stand to there with her fingers lightly placed against his cheek, she drops her hand to his, clasping it with just the barest pressure, enough to keep them connected but not alarm him--nor outrage Lts. Graham and Onn.
Tell me what has happened to you, my heart. Her teeth gnaw at her lower lip. Or what you have done.
And breaking a vow no one knows she made, Kylah searches his thoughts, his emotions.
If she hears/senses nothing significant, she will release his hand, thank Lt. Graham again, and head down the corridor.
Graham and his shipmates move down the corridor, back towards their rooms. Rangin allows himself to be led along, stumbling just a little now and then.
Kylah, when she touches him, distantly senses his consciousness, but no coherent thoughts. She does get a slight but perceptible psi impression of his surprise and fear, however.
Dr. Mäkeläinen and Rawlings round a corner to see their shipmates moving towards them as a group. Something seems to be wrong with Rangin, the doctor notices at once.
Bizhi takes in Rangin's condition and wastes no time, already moving to help him. "Easy; lean him against the bulkhead," he asks Lt. Graham (or whoever is in position to support the stricken man).
"Ginran? Velir? Can you hear me? What happened, man?" he asks, assessing his responsiveness. This morning when he looked in on him, he was in fair condition, on the mend. His own diagnostic skills cannot be slipping to that extent--- therefore something just happened. External, or was there a latent condition all along? He checks Rangin for any obvious injuries, that he is not bleeding, that his pulse and breathing are steady.
Kylah's cold hands clasp each other while she watches Dr. Mäkeläinen. "He is afraid," she tells him, as if the doctor cannot glean that from Velir's manner and haunted eyes--or perhaps they only seem haunted to her, with his ice-encased emotions transmitted plainly enough to make her shudder. "He does not seem able to speak. He will not answer me and he is not..." Peering into his face, her own eyes pleading, she shakes his head. "I cannot tell if he even sees me."
Relieved to have found Dr. Mäkeläinen and T, Nia leans unobtrusively against a wall, arms crossed over her chest. Rangin looks like she feels. And she feels pretty crappy while looking at him. No commanding officer--no respectable C.O.--finds it easy to accept one of their crew injured in the line of duty.
She curtly explains to Dr. M. what she and Rangin experienced in the corridor. What he experienced. I was right there. How in the name of Seht'dar's holy balls did I fail to see what happened? There's little in her story to help the Doc, as far as she can tell. Except that it happened to the Chalnoth, too.
Useless and tired--and tired of being useless--Nia reaches out and taps Book's arm with a flutter of the back of her hand. "Hey," she murmurs. "What do you want to do about the guys we just left? I'm picturing someone stumbling across them, or them waking up to find us gone, and...I don't see either scenario playing out to our advantage." She sighs and lifts a shoulder. "For whatever that's worth."
Graham nods at Onn and rubs his chin. "Doc..." he gives Mäkeläinen a moment to deal with Rangin and process his request for his attention. "We need some galaxy-class bullshit, Doc." He exhales. "I'm thinking our story is that we suspect the Chalnoth are allergic in some way to Coridanite or Sidonian pheromones. These guys clearly haven't met Sidonians before, for sure."
He glances at Onn and then the doctor and back. "Gotta make it sound plausible if anyone asks. But the upshot is...the best idea is keeping our respective distances. We can...volunteer...to stick to our quarters as much as possible."
Rangin shudders and then gasps. He looks around briefly before his eyes focus on Kylah, and then on Dr. Mäkeläinen. He says shakily, "I'm... what just happened?"
Rawlings looks over the Chalnoth bodies on the deck with interest. "I could try to find somewhere out of the way to stash them. But I'm guessing either they're going to wake up on their own, or someone's going to find them, and who knows how long that might take? We might not like what happens next as to either option."
Nia watches Rawlings before turning back to Booker, a weary but still amused smile quirking her lips. "Took the words right outta my mouth," she says under her breath. "Maybe I should've gone in for Security. Well... you're right, we'll need to 'fess up--at least to some of it--and hope for the best. Anyway, they've gotta have some cams around here."
Squinting, she tries to see any sign of security cameras. "We should've left him there so they'd see one of us was affected too..." She tilts her head in Rangin's direction, but purses her lips. "No. Dumb thought. Just imagine if the others woke before he..."
She belatedly notices that he's out of his seeming stupor, and utters a quick, soft prayer in gratitude. Her eyes blink quickly from the familiar, uncomfortable prickle behind them, though her unproductive tear ducts remain dry. "I may kick it before we get home," Nia says, her tone grim as her gaze slants up at Booker. "But I'll be damned if my memory's tarnished by losing anyone else." After a second she regrets having said that. She swallows. "Have you... Has that happened to you?"
Mid-breath, Kylah freezes when she sees Velir's eyes change from that eerie, vacant stare to... looking like him. More worried and vulnerable than usual, but still Velir Rangin.
It is all she can do not to gather him into an embrace. She does clutch his fingers more tightly. "You are all right. You are here. Do you truly not remember?" She glances in the direction of the Chalnoth, then quickly takes Velir in again. "We do not yet know what happened. All of you were affected. Except the lieu-- except Onn."
Swiftly facing Dr. Mäkeläinen, she lowers her voice. "This is not the same," she insists. "It is not what happened last night. He was not affected like this. And all he did was little more than a wish for that Chalnoth to change his mind. It was influence, not force. And he was fine. None of us even knew he'd done anything, not even I, and I--"
Kylah stops herself in time, and struggles to keep from being heard by the other three officers. "I would have noticed," she says, which is true enough. "What could this have been, sir?"
Bizhi takes in all the information.
"So, Ginran froze up, then something hit him and the Chalnoth, they went down, he stayed on his feet but went into shock, but you were standing right next to them and felt nothing?" he confirms with Nia.
He listens to Kylah, looks at her cannily, and whispers, "I don't have the answer yet. He looks like he is coming around: don't fear. Let's first hear what he has to tell us."
"I'll tell you," he addresses everybody, "he mentioned feeling... off... when we first encountered the Chalnoth yesterday. I asked him to report to me if he felt something similar again. Allergies, indeed. But we were all together in a room earlier, and nothing happened. T'Ves was there, and I asked her as directly as I dared, just to rule out, let's call it, psychic feedback and related phenomena, but she sensed nothing out of the ordinary, at least nothing she saw fit to mention.
"If it was a weapon, or security system, then who triggered it, and why? Nothing warranted it. And why the choice of targets? Nothing about this is straightforward."
"I am not in favor of dumping the bodies, as it were," he says in response to Rawlings. "If they are going to wake up with no clear memory of what happened--- that's one thing, but we can't just stuff them in a locker. What would you do in that situation? We don't even know yet that they are unharmed, nor Ginran, for that matter. We don't know how the crew is going to respond."
In response to Rangin, the doctor says, "You went away for a spell. What is the last thing you remember?"
Onn sees no sign of security cameras among the oddly-shaped, curvy bulkheads and overheads of the Uwat starship.
Rangin still seems somewhat dazed, but coming around. He says, "I remember the... what are they... Chelnak? The aliens... the big aliens. The ugly ones. They were looking at something on the deck. They... they seemed to be threatening the lieutenant. Were they? It seemed so. I thought I had to do something. And I... I...." He looks like he's about to cry. "That's all I remember."
Rawlings says quietly, "Maybe we should go back to our cabins, or at least somewhere else?"
Kylah hates that her instinct is to let go of Velir's hand, but it is the same protective instinct she would have if a phaser struck the wall beside her. His emotions are already unpredictable, and she is alarmed enough just standing so close. The sight of Velir's fear and confusion makes her throat ache.
"Do not say more," she whispers, the same warning she has heard her entire life, before returning to a normal tone to the others. "Mr. Rawlings is right. If they wake up--we do not know what they are capable of."
Kylah's gaze drifts back to Velir. She does not know what he is capable of, either.