Checking Out

Posted on Wed Oct 7th, 2026 @ 5:14am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Jadizon Enor & Lieutenant Kally Kellerman

1,359 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Interim 3: Subspace Drift
Location: Orgrann/Ship

Doctor Kilgallen checked his padd as he walked down the hotel hallway, his pace steady and brisk. He found the correct suite door and stopped, knocking firmly.

Jadizon stirred at the knock, eyes opening slowly. For a moment he simply stared toward the door, trying to place where he was. Hotel room. Still planetside. But Something inside him told him not for long.

He sat up and rubbed a hand over his face, the sleep aid having dulled the edges but not quieted everything underneath. His jaw twitched once as another faint pressure rolled behind his eyes. After a few seconds he reached for the PADD on the nightstand, tapped the door controls, and unlocked it.

Then he remained sitting on the edge of the bed, PADD in hand, waiting.

Doctor Kilgallen opened the hotel suite door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. "Good evening, Chief," he said, professionally. "How are you feeling this evening?" he placed his medkit on the bed and opened it, pulling out a tricorder and flipping it open.

Jadizon gave Kilgallen a long, unimpressed look before reaching for the PADD. How do I feel? I can’t talk, my head feels like somebody dumped a box of puzzle pieces down a flight of stairs, I’m trapped in a hotel room, and apparently everybody wants to ask me how I feel. Take a wild fucking guess, Doctor.

He held the PADD up just long enough for Kilgallen to read it, then set it back in his lap and folded his arms as the tricorder came up. After a beat, he grabbed the PADD again and added, And if that thing tells you I’m stressed, congratulations. You solved the case.

Kilgallen raised an eyebrow. "Actually, it tells me that your metacampus is overloaded and not is operating erratically. It tells me that you physically can speak, but your brain is blocking you from doing so as a trauma response to the neurological strain you've been through for what I understand is several years now, and while it normally would rely on telepathic communication, the damage and overload to your metacampus is leaving you hampered. It also tells me that you're alive. You shouldn't lose sight of that." He looked at Jadizon with a no-nonsense expression, closing his tricorder and holding his arms behind his back.

Jadizon gave him a long, unimpressed stare, then grabbed the PADD. Fantastic. I’m alive. Put it on a plaque.
He kept typing, irritation sharpening every line. You’ve got the diagnosis. I’ve got the symptoms. Neither of us needs another speech about gratitude.

His jaw twitched once as he looked toward the door, then back at Kilgallen. The Chimera is cleared. I don’t need another evaluation. I need an escort back to my quarters.

Another line appeared. So unless your tricorder is about to discover a second head growing out of my neck, can we move this along and get me back to the ship?

Kilgallen raised an eyebrow and returned his tricorder back to his medkit. "An impatient patient. How original," he deadpanned. "You're safe to return to the ship, however you're confined to quarters while you recover until we can arrange for you to get to a specialist." He picked up his medkit and gestured to the door. "Shall we?"

Jadizon gave Kilgallen a look that tried for smug and almost made it. He grabbed the PADD and typed.

*See? That wasn’t so fucking hard.*

He pushed himself to his feet, but stopped halfway upright when the room shifted under him. One hand clamped around the bedframe and stayed there longer than he meant it to. His eyes fixed on the floor until the dizziness passed.

*Lead the way, Doctor. Before somebody decides I need another inspirational speech about being alive.*

He tucked the PADD under his arm and started toward the door, but his pace slowed as he reached it. His hand hovered near the frame without touching it, his eyes tracing the hallway beyond as though he were trying to place it from memory.

For a second, he did not move.

Then his jaw twitched and he glanced back toward Kilgallen, visibly irritated that the hesitation had been noticed at all.

Jadizon stepped into the corridor anyway, keeping close enough to the doctor that he would not have to admit he was using him as an anchor.

At least he knew where the Chimera was.

He thought.

Kilgallen scowled. He was doing his best to be supporting without being intrusive, but this gross display of pride was doing no one any favors. He understood the man was frustrated, and naturally so given his condition, but his tolerance for verbal abuse had its limits. He stepped up behind his patient and wasn't about to take his arm, but kept near enough to make it clear he would if necessary. "Take it slowly," he said quietly. "We are not in a hurry."

The two of them walked quietly down the hallway, into the lobby and towards the ground station. Kilgallen hadn't offered to keep up the conversation, given it would be one-sided, nor did he rush Jadizon the few times the other man had needed to get over a wave of disorientation. As they approached the actual civilian entrances to the elevator, he held the door for Jadizon to step inside, and followed him in.

Kilgallen tried not to sigh at the speed of the elevator and in the privacy of the lift car, suggested Jadizon sit down on the provided bench and enjoy the view. They rode in silence for the full twenty minutes and when the doors finally opened, Kilgallen gestured for him to step out. They took a few steps to the side and Kilgallen tapped his combadge. "Kilgallen to transporter room: two to beam directly to Chief Enor's quarters.

They dematerialized and swiftly reappeared on the ship. Kilgallen put his medkit down on the desk and opened it again, taking his tricorder and scanning Jadizon quickly. "All right...nothing seems worse for wear. I would suggest you lie down and try to rest. I will alert Mister Draven to check in with you once he's back on board."

Jadizon stood still while Kilgallen finished the scan, then reached for the PADD. Draven’s fine. Just don’t turn my quarters into Sickbay. The edge was still there, but weaker now. He glanced toward Kilgallen and added, *And… thanks for getting me back.* He locked the screen before he could change his mind. Once Kilgallen had gathered his things and left, the door hissed shut and the quarters fell quiet.

That was when Jadizon finally looked around. Katie on the edge of the bed, laughing. Kally near the desk, arms folded. Then both of them in the room together. The images came and went without warning until suddenly the room was empty again. Just him. Alone. His jaw twitched as the lights seemed dimmer for half a second and the memory of the Entity slid back in, not physically, but through the version of this room she had built inside his head. The restraints. Her voice. The way she had taken familiar places and twisted them until he could no longer trust what belonged to him.

He blinked hard and the quarters were normal again, but the memories kept layering over one another. Katie. Kally. Both. Nobody. Her.

Jadizon pushed himself up and walked to the replicator. He pressed several buttons without really thinking about it, and a drink materialized in front of him. He picked it up, took a slow sip, then carried it back toward his desk. He lowered himself into the chair angled toward the window and sat there in silence, watching the stars stretch beyond the glass while he took another drink.

This was supposed to be the one place that felt like his.

Now even here, he wasn’t sure which memories belonged to the room and which ones had been left behind to break him.

 

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