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Cmdr Ridire

Death of another Planet

By: Dr Matthews & Cmdr Ridire

 

 

She saw him come into Sickbay. She actually took a step toward him before the expression on his face stopped her dead in her tracks. Something was terribly wrong. As anxious as Deb was to know what was going on, the look on Aidan's face terrified her.

 

Aidan walked over to Merina. Deb heard him ask for her and forced herself to move. He looked at her as she approached and her stomach lurched. His emerald eyes were shadowed by grief. "What happened?" she asked, her voice a bare whisper.

 

He frowns and shakes his head slightly, "I think we should have this discussion in your office. Please." He is barely keeping his own emotions under control, what had happened to the Cairo and a federation colony had been bad..but this was orders of magnitude worse. And as much trouble as he's having keeping control of his emotions he can't help but wonder how Deb is going to react. So he wanted to be able to comfort her but he didn't necessarily want the prying eyes of her people to see it. Some things belonged in private.

 

 

"It's bad," she thought still staring at Aidan. "But of course it is," she chided herself. "You were on the bridge....you knew what was coming....you knew what could happen." But expecting the worst and having your fears confirmed were two very different things. And Reaent had survived so she'd hoped it hadn't been as devastating as she'd once thought it might be.

 

Deb drew a deep breath and nodded. Without a word, she turned and quickly made her way across Sickbay to her office. She never looked back but she knew Aidan was right behind her. She entered the office and walked to her desk, turning and leaning against it as her husband quietly ordered the door closed. She forced herself to look at him while he couldn't quite meet her gaze.

 

That changed a moment later. Aidan focused directly on her eyes and she knew....without a shadow of a doubt....this was far worse than she'd imagined. She swallowed hard. "Tell me." The words caught in her throat. "Tell me what happened?"

 

He steps into her and slips his arms around her waist. He says quietly "Nimbus was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed by those bastards when they fired some type of weapon into the local star to cause it to go supernova. We barely escaped and we're heavily damaged. While we saved some of the population...there was no way we could have saved them all."

 

"Of course it was destroyed.....how could it not have been....what else could you have possibly expected." But hearing the words was stunning. Deb couldn't respond....she couldn't think...the magnitude of it all was so overwhelming she could barely breathe. This made Cairo look like a children's game.

 

Deb leaned against her husband's broad chest and shook her head. "How many?" She wasn't sure he could hear her. Along with everything else, her voice seemed to have deserted her. "How many were lost?"

 

 

He tightens his arms around her but takes a few seconds before answering her question. "Well we're not entirely sure but it was at least a couple hundred thousand." He tightens his arms around her further, needing her warmth to chase away the emotional chill he's feeling..

 

"Could this get any worse," she wondered silently. The answer was a resounding yes. There could have been no survivors at all.....Reaent could have been lost....her husband might be dead. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him closer. "I'm so sorry, Aidan. I don't know what else to say. A part of me wants to track down these criminals and execute them. Another part of me wishes we'd never pulled this mission."

 

 

He tucks his head against hers and spends a few more seconds enjoying her warmth and scent. Quietly he murmurs, "I know what you mean. Part of me wishes we never crawled out of bed this morning." He closes his eyes and adds "Actually what I wish is that we never left earth after last Christmas."

 

Deb pulled back far enough to look into Aidan's eyes. His grief over all that had happened was clearly visible. So was his anger and determination. "We'll get through this," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "But after that, I propose we explore our options."

 

He whispers "I know..." but his voice catches. Finally he just lets his restraint on his emotions go as he buries his face in her hair and tightens his hold on her, almost crushing her against him. Nor does he keep a check on the tears.

 

It had always been personal. Now it was even more so. Deb's anger instantaneously quadrupled. The Cairo's loss bothered her. So did the subsequent events relating to the Cairo. She was furious with those responsible for this pain and suffering. She was even more livid with the powers that be in Starfleet for covering up the truth. Then there was Fleet's hiding relevant facts from them while sending them blindly into the maelstrom.

 

All of that paled in the face of Aidan's heartbreak. She clung to him, her own eyes swimming with unshed tears. At the moment, he was all that mattered. Everyone and everything else can go to hades.

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