So I Heard You Like to Fly... (part 2)

Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2026 @ 9:37pm by Lieutenant Rala
Edited on on Thu Jul 23rd, 2026 @ 12:48am

6,256 words; about a 31 minute read

Mission: The Next Interim
Location: Deck 3, Holodeck 3
Timeline: A bit over a week before "Die Hard: Chimera Edition" begins
Tags: holodeck,Cally,Rala,Michelle,telepath

[ And now, the conclusion... ]
Rala slid from the branch into open air, but she didn’t notice the wind rushing past her. She lost all sense of herself as her mind was swamped with far more sensory input than it could hope to process...and none of it was hers.

She was simultaneously walking through eight different corridors, craving five different foods she both had and hadn’t ever eaten before, eating three others, bored, eager, hot, cold, angry, enamored, panicked, overjoyed, relaxed, heartbroken, and excited; but among the shifting sensations was one constant: Pain. As soon as every new feeling came to her, it was almost immediately swamped with the same burning pain she’d felt in her forehead.

The hammer that flailed at Calypso’s mental shield was unexpected, but she had experience with that. While the Captain lunged for Rala’s remaining grip in an uncoordinated manner, her gaze latched onto the Draakri and she knew the source of the hammer. Everything seemed in slow motion as she considered what was happening, this was an Awakening.

On Betazed and in extra-planetary Betazoid communities, this was normal for adolescents, but because it was, children were constantly drilled to learn to control their feelings and emotions in preparation. On Vulcan, while it was a hushed affair, the logical upbringing made even something like this easier to bear. Cally went through other races she knew to be telepathic and remarked to herself how they all had a process in place for these events.

One thing was common among her own people, those she knew best: An Awakening was always terrifying in the moment. Her hand, still in slow motion, reached for Rala, it missed as the draconid slipped off the branch.

There was no time to think, the instructions on how to use the wingpack had slipped into the recesses of her mind, though the lesson had already been learned and Calypso followed Rala off the branch and activated the thrusters, but not the wings yet. Instinct would handle the flight process.

Her eyes remained on her target, falling limply downwards and Cally remembered her own Awakening. It had coincided with the loss of her virginity to a boyfriend of a couple months, which made it that much more special. The smirks and looks of the others at that party when they’d emerged from the borrowed bedroom had been knowing and she’d been dumped the next week, but it had been more pleasant than most Awakenings. The one happening in front of her? The flailing against her shield told her another story entirely. Maybe six seconds had passed since the first indication, but there was no sign that any control was coming to Rala, but Cally didn’t dare do anything until they were on the ground, which was approaching rapidly.

She caught up to the Draakri finally and cut the thrusters, wrapping arms and legs around her friend to secure her the best she could, leaving just one hand free for the controls, watching the ground rise towards them with a pit in her stomach and finally activated the wings, which shot out and grabbed the air while she reactivated the thrusters, now pointing horizontally. They held for a heartbeat, two before the first wing broke off and the hand reached for the primary parachute and jerked it open. She almost lost her grip on Rala when the canopy opened, fluttering, but held on for dear life. The ground still approaching. Forgetting this was just a simulation, Calypso released the main chute and activated the emergency one just to get that same jolt, about three seconds before they hit the ground and Rala rolled free from her grasp.

Cally didn’t remove the rig from her back, there was no time. She hesitated even now, “Where’s a Vulcan when you need one?” She muttered to herself and for a moment she would never forgive herself for, she almost refused to do what was needed. She was the one on the spot, the only one that could help Rala, with the ability. Then she relaxed.

Undoing a mental shield was always easier than putting one up and despite the fact that she had been erecting one for much of the last two decades, Calypso’s fell rapidly and she was suddenly exposed to the lashing of Rala’s untrained mental grasping.

Rala felt a lurch as a new, active presence touched her mind, and she felt herself being pulled to it like a magnet.

Just as quickly, Cally also heard the echoes of the others of her crew and just as rapidly locked them out one by one as she isolated Rala. Fulvia, thinking about profit margin on something illicit, T’Vel… Well, she may have to have a chat with the Vulcan, Tessa and Henry caused a smirk on her face as she secluded them away; Kally was there as was her sister, Alex was diligent and many more. Then there was the feeling of looking into a pair of familiar brown eyes, an echo of someone else behind them. Those eyes blinked in acknowledgment, then they winked out of their own accord.

The new presence enveloped Rala, stemming the flood of sensations and calming the fire in her mind, but also bringing new sensations with it. These were clearer, stronger, and she felt her tenuously regained sense of self beginning to melt away again, intermingling with the new presence. The freshly-recalled memory of her Awakening in her mid-teens—no, not hers, the other’s—and the circumstances in which it had happened; which then shifted and flowed through several other, more recent intimate encounters, many of them involving Kally—Stars, yes...wait, no, I shouldn’t be—then she was at Flight School, with her two dozen or so classmates, posing for their graduation photo in pristine flight suits—kinatra?—and then...

...And then...

A yawning black pit lay behind that thought, that memory—memories...Cally’s memories—and she both knew and didn’t know what lay within as she was pulled into it.

The sensation of other minds at the edge of her own…ceasing…leaving only her memories of them and the certainty that they were gone forever…

...Down. Falling. Alarms blaring, wind rushing. Glancing at her copilot’s remains, and stifling the queasiness at the sight and feel of him on her...

...Down. Still falling. Spinning. Trees rushing toward her and a flash of black...

...A grave, a Marine in full dress uniform at rigid attention as her brother was lowered into the earth...

...The main viewscreen of a Starship, a wave of asteroid debris hurtling toward her, along with the realization that they’d been lured into a trap...

...Then, at last, Rala began to coalesce back into herself, separating from Cally. Pain was still there, but now more akin to the ache of overworked muscles than the searing fire it had been earlier.



Finally, FINALLY the remainder of the voices were silenced and it was just Rala trapped in with her. Cally had no idea how long it had taken since they’d landed on the ground. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? DAYS? And finally she focused further inwards, planting walls around her own psyche in automatic protection. The Four knew what Rala had seen of the innermost part of her as she had laid unprotected, but it hardly mattered in the moment.

But now that it was just her and Rala, other images flitted through Cally's mind as she began to construct a safe place for Rala's thoughts to be by themselves. Some were clearly memories, ranging from back home on Draakrona to very recent...

...The confusion, fear, excitement, and wonder after being woken in the middle of the night with news that confirmed not just life or civilizations but spacefaring civilizations other than their own, as an alien vessel had stumbled across them and made contact...

...The touch of pride, trepidation, and hope as she lay on the beach and saw the flash in the night sky of that alien vessel jumping to warp, knowing that it carried a message that could even more drastically change her life forever...

...The tangle of emotions when she’d said goodbye to Rikkona, not knowing if they’d ever see each other again and being both excited and terrified to start this next chapter of her life in the wider galaxy...

...The pain, shame, and fury she’d felt while laying in her bunk on the Thunderchild after a particularly infuriating shift with fellow Ensign Bradley Johnson, after she’d punched the bulkhead so hard she’d both left a dent in it and injured her hand...

...The surprise, confusion, and relief as she read the notice of ship transfer to the U.S.S. Chimera, department transfer to Operations, and promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade...

...The excitement, nervousness, cautious joy as she met the Kellerman twins just before transporting aboard, and comparatively, how the pair of them had become some of the best friends she’d ever had, along with Calypso—herself?—Tessa, and a few others...

Other thoughts had a blur of unreality to them, marking them as dreams and fantasies; the kind that one never actually expected to come true...

...Intimate moments with several members of the Chimera’s crew, almost exclusively female, both sexual and otherwise but almost universally including significant amounts of welcome physical contact; from casually leaning against a friend and knowing they didn’t mind, to being surrounded by sexual partners whose numbers and identities were constantly shifting, with Kally and ~herself~ perhaps appearing slightly more frequently than others...

...Then two doors showed themselves, one black, one white and all but calling to her. A presence hung in the background and Cally recognized it as the true Rala, but there was no sense that the Draakri was aware of what Cally was seeing…

...The black door opened and Rala’s deepest, most fundamental fears spilled out; fears of being alone, of dying alone, no one to remember her or say her name, dying without love. Cally saw it and didn't run from it, instead closing the door ever so gently and turned to the white one, knowing what would be behind it…

...That door swung open and like the last remnants of Pandora's Box, hope was revealed; the scene visible beyond the door showed several members of the Chimera’s crew mingling around a low fire on a beach, the ship herself hoving several hundred meters overhead. The crew were talking, laughing, relaxing, and living together; images of ~herself~ and Kally sat together, leaning against each other, chatting with images of Katie and Tessa nearby; and with an image of Rala, laying on her back in the middle of them, head near the former pair, tailtip flicking happily near the latter two. She could sense the fantasies she’d glimpsed earlier lurking behind the beach scene, but they were obviously less important. Again, Calypso closed the door slowly and finally stepped away…

Walls were put up between the consciousnesses of Cally and Rala, thick walls that were built of masonry, not steel, with doors that could open either way and with flimsy locks on both sides. Time began to return to normal as Cally breathed in and out regularly, her eyes blinking as she tested the armor plating keeping the rest of the galaxy out and Rala safely inside her own self. It would take concentration to keep this going, to lock Rala out of the world from her gift, but help was on the way and Cally knew it.

At last once more alone with only her own thoughts and feelings, the pain brought by the mental overload began to give way to exhaustion, and she started to slip into a fitful sleep that promised to be full of jumbled, confused dreams.

Calypso felt the mind slide into uncoordinated thoughts, the prelude to sleep, but she shook her head, then shook Rala's shoulder, "Oh no you don't. Wake up." The shaking did no good, so she moved to the next step and gave the Draakri a sharp slap to the cheek, "Come on, we don't have time for this." There was still no response to the stimulus, Rala's mind dissociating more.

This had been completely unexpected, who would have guessed that the Draakri race could effectively and spontaneously become fully fledged telepaths. On Betazed, everyone knew that it was going to happen, so there was training from a very young age to prepare them for what was called the 'Awakening'. Each one was special to the individual and in the rush of what had happened, just thinking back to then was a natural occurrence. Heck, Rala probably even saw it. But the whole point to the preparation meant that mental barriers could be erected to keep everyone else out, the random emotions that could be felt from the unbounded thoughts of 'mundane' people, things they didn't even know they were broadcasting as if shouting.

But that meant it was important for Rala to be able to protect herself from them, as well as learn to protect OTHERS from HER. Sure, Cally could protect her, but she had to actively shield Rala from others and Rala from her as well, so when she had to sleep, so did those barriers. Super important for Rala to be able to protect herself. A tendril reached out from Cally's protected core and snaked its way to Rala's subconscious mind. Mental trumpets began to blare and a booming voice announced directly to Rala's subconscious: "WAKE UP! No time for sleeping yet!" It didn't have Cally's voice, but it was her essence in the form of a command.

Cally’s physical efforts had utterly failed to penetrate Rala’s terrified, exhausted, and overstressed mind. The mental probe had no trouble at all. Rala was a bundle of raw, exposed nerves that had finally stopped being stimulated, only for that peace to suddenly be ripped away again.

She screamed.

Within the simulated environment of the holodeck, Rala’s physical body tensed and let out a pained moan, but gave no sign that she was actually gaining consciousness.

Within her mind, the scream exploded out of her core presence, reverberating through her mind with a surprising amount of force before being instinctively focused into a rough, swift jab at the source of her pain in a fairly well-targeted but amateurish attempt to strike back at her attacker.

It had been expected, the counter strike, but it had also been more a flail than anything else and an unseen hand enveloped and dissipated it without any effort whatsoever. No counter-counterattack materialized, however.

Rala felt her strike get nullified with ease, and finally recognized Cally’s presence. Calypso? she said, her mental presence shrinking away from the contact. What’s happening? It hurts. It was quiet before. Why did you break the quiet?

Because the galaxy won’t remain quiet for anyone. Cally opened a tiny door in the outer shell to allow a cacophony of whispering noise in, then cut it off again after more than a moment, Right now, I’m the shield that protects you from the chaos, but you have to be able to guard yourself, and soon. Exposure to… That, can drive anyone insane, much less someone with this gift who cannot keep it at bay.

Rala flinched further away from the noise, her mental self-image appearing to curl up on herself, knees to her chest, tail wrapped around her, and all four arms wrapped around her head in an attempt to keep the cacophony at bay. She looked like a frightened child, and with a closer look, Cally could tell it wasn’t just her posture; she was slightly smaller, thinner, with shorter horns and longer, messier hair.

I don’t understand. The quiet mental voice came from the curled figure, although the figure didn’t move. What’s happening? Why can I feel so much? It hurts.

Oh. She didn’t know? You've had what we call ‘an Awakening’. When a Betazoid comes of age, their natural telepathic abilities come forth in their full. It typically happens between the ages of thirteen to eighteen, but can happen earlier or later on occasion… Cally was hoping to explain this properly, but how to explain sight to the blind? Everyone radiates emotions and thoughts, typically uncontrolled because they are mind-blind, they don’t know what they’re doing. Empathy can sense those emotions and feelings, but they don’t get hammered with voices babbling all the time. What I am, what you are, is a telepath, which means we hear everything. All the time. Someone monologuing to themselves, singing to themselves, having lewd thoughts, thoughts of home, Anything and everything. And it’s all hitting you at once, which is why it hurts and feels.

Telepath? Rala’s mind immediately connected the thought to the Draakri term and its original meaning of ‘one who sails the sea of dreams’. Her mental self-image shifted, one eye peeking out from between her arms. Me? But I’m not… The thought trailed off as, finally sensing a reason for what was happening, one that was being presented genuinely by a trusted presence, the rational portion of her mind finally woke up, grasping that explanation and following the thread of logic: Plenty of Draakri were telepathic, and many more had the potential; development time for that particular part of the brain varied wildly, and there were plenty of stories of Draakri suddenly gaining such abilities later in life...usually after a significant, ongoing change in physical or social environment leading to an increased psychological need for connection, particularly when the new environment also included other telepaths...and it was almost always preceded by increasingly intense chronic headaches.

And if Rala didn’t meet all of those criteria, she didn’t know who would.

As she thought about it, the tension drained out of her mental self-image, even though she remained mostly curled up on herself. I wonder what Rikkona will think, she wondered, the image of her childhood den-mate and friend drifting past.

The one eye visible between Rala’s arms turned back to the direction she felt like Cally’s presence was coming from. And you want me to learn to shield my thoughts now? She curled a little tighter again, the eye disappearing. She hurt. I can’t. I feel like I’ve been awake for a week straight. Please, I need rest. Sleep. A willingness to learn once she was rested floated along with the words.

The presence of Michelle was now clear and apparent to Cally, as the program in the Holodeck changed, the solid ground below them changing to something soft, a crackling sound and warmth emanating from her left. She opened her eyes long enough to see her robe-clad niece watching with some concern and gave her a reassuring smile in response to the unvoiced concern, then she turned her full attention inward again.

Sleep will come, relatively soon. You aren’t ready for it, yet, because while I can block everything out, I cannot do it forever. You haven’t had the training needed to build your walls on your own, like every Betazoid has when they are children, which leaves you vulnerable. Within the space where Rala’s mind was, a figure began to appear and it was no surprise that this figment of imagination, this image that was being sent over the telepathic link looked like a much younger Calypso in civilian clothes, much as when she was in her mid teens. This young Cally spun in place, “I can implant things into your mind at will, suggestions that you’d think were your own ideas. That’s the curse of telepathy with an unguarded mind!” The littler Calypso ‘spoke’, “So, before you get some rest, we’re going to help you build your own walls, nothing like mine, but enough to keep them out,” The girl threw a thumb over towards the expanse of nothing, “And you, in.”

A sense of weary, grumbling frustration seeped from Rala’s mental form. I understand the concept of shielding, she said. There were other telepaths in my den, and they were fine with discussing such things. But I don’t think I should be doing that right now; that kind of stress so soon...I think it can cause damage. Permanent damage.

"Exposing yourself to the thoughts and emotions of everyone out there? That will cause permanent damage." The young Cally image crossed her arms over her chest and tapped a foot, "Besides, once it's up, it doesn't take much energy to maintain, setting it up is the hard part and you've got a way to cheat: Me!" Young Cally moved around and squatted in front of where Rala was facing, "So long as someone isn't pushing on the shield actively, it's fine. I don't know how your people handle things, but we don't have the time to find out. As I say, my people live this our whole lives, preparing for and being this way. You can trust me, Rala, I wouldn't be pushing this if I thought there was any danger. All we'll be doing is building a wall and using mine as the template. Easy, peasy."

Genuine gratitude at the reassurance permeated the mental space even as another weary groan ‘sounded’ from Rala’s mental form, and she peeked out from between her arms again, giving the young Calypso an uncertain look. You’re assuming what works for you will work just as well for me. She closed the eye, and a few subjective seconds passed before she removed her arms from around her head—now looking slightly older, closer to her actual appearance—folding them instead around her legs and knees, still curled up against her chest. Fine, she said, finally opening both eyes and looking at Cally’s mental projection, let’s get this over with.

“What works for the Betazoid species,” Cally said with a shrug, “It can’t hurt. In fact, it can only help.” The teenager flopped into a seated position in front of Rala and using her hands ‘created’ a two foot by two foot piece of a mirror, reflecting Rala’s image back at her, “First you have to know what you’re building with. For example, the outside of this is what we would consider armor, it deflects anything coming towards you away.” She spun the opaque part of the mirror towards herself, but Rala could see her through it, “The inner part is made of something lighter, but porous so you can still sense things outside. You can, of course, block it off too, so that your telepathic sense can’t reach out to touch someone else.” A snap of her fingers and suddenly the mirror was in place there too. “Making it is as simple as building it in your own head. Visualize a block of whatever size you wish, your willpower will make it as strong or as weak as you want it to be, but for now, I recommend as strong as you can make it. If you need more initial telepathic oomph, I can provide it and weave the block with you to build it.”

Rala tried to focus through her ache and exhaustion, to visualize a similar mirror and will it into ‘existence’ in the space between her and Cally. A square of glass appeared, but it was clear, without any sign of silvering, and after only a few subjective seconds, it slipped from her mental grasp and shattered. Rala’s nostrils flared from both frustration and exertion. And that’s easy for you? she asked sharply.

"Thirty years of experience." Cally gave a half-shrug, "Even if the first few don't count because it was all mental drill. But that was a good first effort." Teenage Cally stuck her lower lip out and chewed on her upper, then glanced up and over at something in the distance. "Makes sense." She said to whatever she was looking at, then focused back on Rala, gesturing her to her feet, "Come on, you, stretching your legs is good for you and we're not going far."

Rala watched Cally turn to walk away, but she didn’t go anywhere. Rala could see her projection animating, taking seemingly-physical steps, but the subjective distance didn’t change; it was more like the environment moved around them. She found it interesting, but unworthy of the exertion that further thought would require at the moment.

When she said not far, Calypso meant it, it was only a few steps before the barrier that was in the distance made a rapid approach. Being the one who'd set it up, it was easy for Cally to expand or shrink it as needed and it was composed of two parts: One was a shimmering shield, only visible because it made looking out of it to the surrounding room a haze, with a figure patiently sitting on a couch that could be made out to be Michelle, a blazing fire in a hearth and surrounding them a bunch of pillows. The other was a solid wall from which the hazy shield seemed to sprout. "So, instead of a mirror, it's been suggested that we go with something much, much simpler." She reached out a hand and conjured what looked to be a brick, "This! If you probe at it, it's solid and won't let anything through. Go ahead and try that." Her eyes watched Rala, but began to defocus on the visual.

Rala vaguely noted Michelle’s presence, then returned her attention to Cally, and the simple brick she was presenting. She focused again, touch-memory of basic fired clay scraping at her hands; and a similar brick, slightly larger and darker in color than Cally’s, appeared in front of her. Easier, came the thought. Effort, but less.

"Good." Cally beckoned her over to the wall that was already there, gesturing to the base of the wall, "Go ahead and put it there, then we're going to make a few more of them, all right? I can help supply you with the power you need, but you have to build it. I think... Twenty bricks of that size?"

A hint of doubt wafted through the mindspace, but Rala placed the brick against the barrier, then started generating and placing additional bricks. She was fairly certain this was a much different method than was typically taught to new Draakri telepaths, but even with Calypso somehow feeding her energy to make the bricks, she was too tired to argue.

She’d made it to somewhere past a dozen when she lost count, and four of the bricks promptly vanished as what little concentration she’d managed to focus on the nascent barrier faltered. The rest collapsed into the vacated space, and nearly tumbled from her mental grasp entirely. She exuded weary frustration again, then started putting things back into place and, after a brief pause to refocus, replaced the ones that had vanished and added the last few.

What next? she asked, her physical body—while still seemingly unconscious—beginning to breathe slightly harder as though stressed, even as tension radiated from her mind.

The link that Cally had been able to make by feeding Rala power had been intentional, but the work was clearly the Draakri's. Oh sure, it was still relatively shoddy, but it would hold for the short term and that was what was needed. In fact, she realized that there had been an alternative to this, but she was too far in to back out now. "Just stay right there." Calypso said quietly and took a deep breath to exhale.

A quiet sense of acknowledgement came from Rala—but then, hesitation. Wait, came the thought, before anything else… Her presence, her mental self-image, unfolded a hand from around her knees and reached out to Cally’s, seeking as direct a connection as possible, if only briefly.

She looked at her Captain; her friend; one of those at the heart of her kinatra, the chosen family she’d never expected to find among the stars; one who was, in a practical sense, quite possibly her savior; who was still causing her a great deal of discomfort by insisting on this crash-course in mental shielding while still weary and sore, but only because she genuinely believed it to be absolutely necessary; and let her feel all of it. I’m still not sure this is how this lesson should be taught, but…thank you. The thought positively thrummed with the strength of the emotions behind it.

From her place standing effectively above her, Cally smiled down at her, no words needing to be said.

Rala let her ‘hand’ fall away, returning to her partially curled-up posture, and nodded for Cally to continue.

The bricks were arrayed in a small circle around them and Cally's eyes closed so she could focus. She remembered the sheer POWER her own Awakening had given her, how she'd felt the day after and this was the time that she could really use it, especially with some dramatics. She clapped her hands in front of her and then PUSHED, the bricks multiplying in size and shape while remaining the few that they were, expanding out into a wall that pressed against the one she'd built herself, then in another motion brought that wall of hers down, crumbling into dust, leaving Rala's wall and her shield. Then she considered and experimentally wove a new shield into the power she'd shoved into Rala's wall and released it. The wall held, but the shield layer wavered a little bit before settling into place.

The sensation of having someone else ‘building’ something inside her mind, however based on her own existing construct it might be, was distinctly uncomfortable for Rala. It felt like parts of herself were being pulled, squeezed, stretched, molded into new shapes. Her self-image shuddered and tensed, eyes closing, ears dipping and brow furrowing as she focused on the construct’s form, knowing she’d need to maintain it on her own.

With a nod, Calypso made yet another shield for herself, but hugging herself instead of looking to keep the galaxy at bay and finally dropped the large shield, ready to throw it back up if needed. She glanced down at her hands, the youth of them having faded so that they looked like those of maybe a few years before and she felt tired herself. "Are you feeling anything from the outside?" She asked, her voice just as weary.

Rala felt the shift when Cally released it and she was suddenly maintaining it on her own. The wall held, but the shield within it flickered briefly when Cally ‘spoke’, the question briefly diverting her attention. Rala steadied it again, then very carefully pulled away from it enough to spare a thought for Cally’s question. I...think it’s working. I can tell the...’noise’...is out there, but it’s...tolerable.

That means it’s working. Cally’s ‘voice’ was now purely a construct of her mind, This is as it’s meant to be. When someone from the outside directs their thoughts and attention towards you, their voice becomes clearer, rising out of the background babble. But, now that it’s built, the wall should be able to maintain itself until you consciously dismiss it. That, however, is a lesson for a later point, not today, probably not tomorrow either. ‘Older Cally’ looked worn, but managed a smile nonetheless, For now, you’re going to get to go to your favorite place in the ship: sickbay. I’m ordering you to be monitored overnight at the least, but you won’t be alone. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, and Michelle will monitor your shielding while I get some sleep. She can’t do anything to reinforce you, but she’s self-taught in her own protection and can at least sense changes in you.

I’d rather be in my quarters, Rala thought, but I don’t have the energy to push on it...and you’ll get no argument on being monitored...Cally, this… There was a pause and a soft sense of doubt as her attention turned back to the barrier, nudging the shield back into place where it had started to drift. Well...we’ll see. One of us should call Kally...for a few reasons...even if she’s not on duty right now...maybe not all the details...but she should know I’m a telepath, at least...figure out the rest later.

"I agree." This time the voice came not from the inner sanctum of the mind as Cally faded out from there, her voice creaking as she swallowed with a dry mouth. Michelle was on her feet almost instantly and approached the two of them, "Comm sickbay, tell them we're on our way, non-emergency. We need a biobed and Kally's couch, but I need her at her convenience." Michelle nodded and called for the arch as Cally nudged Rala's shoulder, "You with me? Think you can walk with some assistance, or want me to get you a stretcher?”

Rala let awareness return to her physical body, but didn't open her eyes yet. She groaned and shifted into a slightly more comfortable position, and one hand reached up to squeeze the one touching her shoulder. “Hurt,” she croaked, her mouth also rather dry. “So much hurt...”

“I know and I’m sorry.. It was an awkward landing and the Four know that going through an Awakening like that had to hurt.. I felt the pressure when I dropped my shields.” Cally could absolutely understand.

“Not me.” Rala reached another hand in the direction the voice had come from, finally opening her eyes and looking into Calypso’s as she touched the other woman’s cheek. “You.”

She saw things, Cally thought to herself, her own mind reliving the moments once again as she just looked back in silence.

Concern showed on Rala’s face, her ears dipping back. “I know,” she said, with heavy emphasis, “why you locked it away.” She worked her jaw and tongue, wishing for some water. Her eyes stung, but no tears came. “It’s part of why I’m so grateful that you opened up for me. But Cally...it can’t have been good for you. I may be new at this, but please...I’m here for you, however I can be, whenever you’re ready.”

“I’ve been dealing with it in my own way.” Cally said softly, “But we can talk about what you saw later, after both of us get some rest, I promise. It’s not something I won’t talk about, it’s a lesson in its own right and one I can teach you, so you never have to go through it yourself.” Cally stood and reached down to Rala like she had inside the Draakri’s mind, a pillar of strength, a warm but tired smile on her face, “Let’s show Michelle we’re made of sterner stuff than jello, why don’t we?”

Rala was dubious about Cally’s method of ‘dealing with it’, but she let the hand drop from Cally’s face, huffing out a bemused snort as she gave Cally’s hand a squeeze with the other one then finally made a move to get up, taking the offered hand but only putting a small portion of her full weight into it. “I am rather sore, both mentally and physically, but I should be able to make it to Sickbay under my own power—although, again, my quarters are on this deck.” She gave Cally an only-vaguely-serious pleading glance. “Just...” She paused before fully standing up, focusing inward briefly to nudge the shield back into place again. “...just don’t ask me to go at full speed.”

Once Rala was back on her feet, the two of them shuffled tiredly out of the holodeck and toward the nearest turbolift stop, Michelle keeping a watchful eye on them.

 

RSS Feed