"A Little Check-In"

[OdileCondacin 0]

"Chief!"

 

It was usually becoming second-nature for Odile to actually reply to the usage of "chief" as a reference to her, but for one reason or another, that day it wasn't registering.

 

"Chief?"

 

There it was again. Then it sunk in... oh. "Hi, Lieutenant," she answered, and gave a cursory smile at him while she glanced around Science. She hadn't been down since... gods, how long? It felt like she'd been living her life out of Engineering for the past few weeks, and then coordination was easier the Bridge -- not to mention the fact that it was easier to catch information when it first came through Comm than to hunt down rumors.

 

It looked like hell, really. Somewhere along the way conduits blew and hadn't been replaced yet -- as usual Sci ended up a bottom-rung priority -- and most of the lighting was out. Odile wasn't sure whether or not it was due to damage or power-conservation, but it was somehow... disturbing. Eerie.

 

She looked back to the Betazoid, trying to get a better sense for the scene. "How bad is it down here?" she asked, quietly, not really wanting to know the answer.

 

He was silent for a few moments, clearly trying to come up with some sort of response. "It could be worse," he answered, shrugging. "It's not as bad as it looks... I don't really think anyone cares if a few things were broken..." It wasn't until then that Odile noticed he was trembling.

 

"Intrix?" she prompted him, not quite sure whether it was her business to... reach out, but at the moment, it was the best thing she could think of. A hand on his shoulder, she tried to steady him, and realized that she too was beginning to quake.

 

"It's not me," he answered quickly, composing himself. "It's Kelly."

 

"Kelly?" Odile frowned slightly. "Ah yes, biological sciences. You're... seeing her?" she asked, diplomatically.

 

"Yeah," he answered, flopping into a nearby, slightly-mangled chair that looked as if it might have toppled under his weight. "She's... well... I'm kind of worried about her."

 

"She's.. ah..." Now it was all she could do not to fidget. "She's from Australia, isn't she?"

 

He swallowed hard, and she thought she glimpsed a bit of a mist in his eyes. "Sydney."

 

"Oh... Gods..."

 

The Betazoid looked over to a corner, away from Odile. "We'd... we'd talked about getting married, but now... gods, all she ever talked about was getting home so we could meet her family." He looked back to her, his eyes haunted. "The entire area was..."

 

"I know." She cut him off, hoping she was sparing him... or was it a bad thing for him to bottle up his thoughts? Maybe it was good for him to talk about it? Psychology was never something she'd known much about. "I'm sorry."

 

He snorted, defeated and flippant. "Tell it to her -- I'm just hurting vicariously... and worried about us. Makes me selfish, I guess."

 

"No," she answered quietly. "I suppose it's better than her being alone through this."

 

He nodded. "Yeah, maybe. We were trying to total casualties earlier -- there isn't a human in this department who didn't lose someone... or have them MIA."

 

"It's the same all over."

 

He looked like he was hesitating, finally spitting out what else was on his mind. "Have you gotten any of the academy casualty reports yet?"

 

Now... there... "I..." Something she didn't want to even think about. "Not... yet..."

 

He swallowed hard, nodding. "My... younger brother was... is," he forced himself to correct, "a second-year. If you hear anything?" he asked, his voice strained.

 

Odile nodded. "Of course," she answered, giving him a light pat on the shoulder. "I'm... sure he's fine, Lieutenant."

 

"Thanks," he answered, and she knew her words hadn't helped. Not as if she'd expected them to. She took another glance around, retreating to her office. It was... too hard... right now... to be out in the main lab. And things weren't about to get any easier.