The Longest Day

[Annisha 0]

“The Longest Day”

A Joint Log by Kat, Mimi, Amanda, and Annisha

 

A ten summers old Rihan girl sat motionless at the far end of the other huddled children. Annisha escaped from the center to join her father, only to be beamed back. Nijil told her it was much safer there. Main engineering had been a target after many attacks as did other Aegis points of interest. The Children’s Center thankfully remained undamaged.

 

“Doctor Davis,” Annisha spoke, breaking her long silence.

 

“Hello, Annisha.” Her arms loaded with supplies, Amanda turned and smiled. “You’re here to help, I hope?”

 

“My father told me to not be afraid, but I am. He sent me away from his work. I’ve been here for hours. I’m really sorry.” She looked ashamed for not being stronger, but the attack broke her spirit far more than she let on.

 

“No need to be sorry,” countered Amanda, crouching to Annisha’s height. “Fear is something that is built into us to keep us safe when something could hurt us. But your father is a wise man. He knows that fear can be conquered. Everyone has fear, but it’s called courage when you are afraid and you do what you need to do anyway. Does that make sense?”

 

“My father said it took ‘guts’ to do what I did to get away from those bad people.” They did not know all she did that day. She derived no pleasure from the act allowing her to escape.

 

“That’s his way of saying you had courage. You conquered your fear. That’s what he wants you to do now.”

 

“Why don’t we have the courage to leave the station like I left that planet? I could get us on the shuttle and run away,” she offered. Though her father did not give her permission, she was certain she memorized the start codes..

 

“Well,” Amanda began after considerable thought, “if you took the shuttle, about how many people would you be able to escape with and save?”

 

“Fourteen standard crew with an emergency capacity of twenty more...sir,” she answered with certainty. Nijil gave a long talk regarding all manner of interesting and boring Nei’rrh facts during his one-on-one engineering class. “But those are grown ups.” She looked into the air, her tiny parallel processors in her brain crunching numbers. “We’re just kids, so maybe five more? Oh no! I’m leaving JyJy and NiJi behind. I can’t be their daeftan lagga at their bonding if I leave them here.”

 

"So fourteen plus twenty... with another five if we're talking about children... and that makes how many altogether?"

 

“Thirty nine, but it would be a lot of unhappy kids and you know how us kids get. Nijil said the scrubbers would be scrubbing the air so hard they’d fail in a day or so.” Annisha seemed proud of her knowledge, fat bit of good it would do to a 10 year old not allowed to fly. The look on Doctor Davis’ face suggested more questions.

 

"And how many people will you be leaving behind on the station to fend for themselves?"

 

“There are hundreds,” she said with delight, but realized, “The shuttle only...holds a little bit.” She frowned, knowing she’d have to leave many behind. “Hey, aren’t there other ships? My father said there were two big starships to defend the station.” Her fear began to change. “Did they abandon us?” The girl looked indignant. “This is just like the Rihan Galae. They couldn’t save my home any better than Starfleet!”

 

Annisha balled her hands into fists. A fire burned in her eyes as she readied a strike at the counselor. She rushed the doctor. “Ahhhh!” She cried as she ran. She raised her fists in fury. She swung them towards Davis. Then, as if crushed like a grape, Annisha broke down, crying.

 

“I,” she sniffed.

“Don’t,” she sniffled.

“Want.” Her tears flowed.

“To be...” Her face buried into Davis, arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Afraid!”

 

Amanda returned the hug, dropping to her knees to gently rock Annisha, a comfort they all needed but often resisted in the name of courage. Some, like Ejiul, yielded to resignation, some hid their fear behind a wall of bravado, but those who realized their fear and overcame it were the ones who truly survived. Amanda knew that with the right encouragement Annisha would come out courageous, like her father, like Ejiul, and like the rest who, even though they were afraid, did what they were supposed to anyway.

 

Kat’s eyes teared up hearing the little girl cry. That was one thing she couldn’t fix no matter how she tried. She stepped back watching as Amanda rocked the child, resting her knee in the process.

 

Amanda cradled Annisha’s head and began to hum a Celtic tune that was strangely similar to a Romulan song she had heard not long ago:

 

Sleep, O babe, for the red bee hums the silent twilight's fall;

Eeval from the grey rock comes to wrap the world in thrall;

A lyan van o, my child, my joy... my love and heart's desire;

The crickets sing you lullaby... beside the dying fire.*

 

Not far away, Kat wiped her eyes dry and managed to make her way over to the huddle of children sitting in the middle of the floor. She sat down amongst them and started softly speaking to them trying to find out if any of them had been injured in any of the raids that the station and been fighting through.

 

What she was finding, seeing, were mostly scrapes and bruises. At least these poor children were not dealing with injuries that she had seen up in medical. Kat sighed a sigh of relief.

 

Until klaxons split the silence and, “ACTION STATIONS, ACTION STATIONS. SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE STATION. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!” sent everyone scrambling for cover and Kat reaching towards Amanda for a hand up.

 

----Meanwhile----

 

Mimi was frantically was trying to keep up with demand in sickbay. It just seemed like there was a never ending line for those needing surgery. Also, on top of that, she had make sure that the children were alright in the Children’s Home, based on the reports she was receiving. It was all a major headache and somewhat of a burden she had to bear. Knowing that children had a doctor and counselor over there made a bit of weight lighter.

 

When she heard the klaxons sound off, it pretty much became routine to secure patients and any loose items

down.

-

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*Gartan Mother’s Lullaby, by Seosamh MacCathmhaoil, can be heard on YouTube, sung by Orla Fallon.