Whispers

Posted on Wed Sep 21st, 2022 @ 4:25am by Lieutenant JG Willow Wales (Kosugi) & Cadet First Class Pallas

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Medical
3433 words - 6.9 OF Standard Post Measure

She was drawn back to medical lab 3 where the blood evidence had been discovered and catelogued. Doctor Svidi may have told Ensign Willow Callingbull to leave, and she had but, there wasn't any chance for her to gain any sort of sleep, not this night. In fact as she closed her eyes, the names and faces of the crew member who had been drained of seemed to scroll through her mind. That blood seemed to cry out for vengeance or a sense of peace, a way to guide them to the beyond. There seemed to be some whispers of voices she could almost hear, that were on the edge of her consciousness.

This brought about her trip back to Medical, Willow had to see if she could calm them or at least offer a prayer for them. She went to get a list of the victims names to offer up a prayer.

"I hope this will help you out." Willow murmured quietly.

Burning the midnight oil—another of the endless Earth adages that made one wonder if they were actually Tamarians—was something that all cadets got quite used to at the Academy. Since Pallas hoped to spend some time at Science as well while still fully on rotation with Medical, the cadet wanted to make sure there was no chance that she would fall behind on any of the assignments that Doctor Svidi had given her. Given her engineering background, it made sense that she should calibrate all the instruments in Sickbay, but some of the tools were proving to be rather uncooperative. She sat in the low light and muttered to herself under her breath as her medical tricorder beeped unhappily. “No. That’s not right,” she sighed.

As she gathered the names of the missing and dead Crew members, Willow heard something in the quietness of Medical. She set things to where the names were printed upon paper and went to investigate. Following the soft beeps, she walked in where she saw someone sitting and quietly talking low. A soft clearing of her throat then Willow quietly greeted the person, "Hello."

“Eep!” Pallas squeeked, knocking over the tricorder and her disagnotic tool. “Oh! Ahem,” she cleared her throat as she stood at attention and saluted. “Sorry, sir, I didn’t expect anyone else to be here at this hour. Hello! I’m Cadet First Class Pallas. I’m doing a rotation through Medical, but with everything going on I am not surprised I haven’t met everyone in the department yet.”

"Yes there has been quite a bit going on. I do not doubt that Doctor Svidi has brought you up to speed on what has been happening." Willow answering quietly. "Er at ease Cadet." a gentle expression was there. "Sorry to have disturbed you while you work. I was well, preparing a list of those that have been lost or, captured. I couldn't sleep yet."

"No apologies needed, sir. I'm not actually supposed to be here right now; just trying to get a jump on tomorrow's work," Pallas said as she relaxed. She straightened up her work area and turned back to Willow. "Doctor Svidi, and some others, filled me in. It's a terrible thing that has happened here. I can understand why you would be losing sleep over it. So many lives lost."

"Just those ritualistic deaths, it truly bothered me. Just the barbarism of it all." Willow gave a slight shudder. "I really hope that these people will be found and stopped." she paused then looked at Pallas. "Oh I forgot to tell you who I am, I am Ensign Willow Callingbull." the Native American woman held out a hand towards Pallas. "I am new to this ship, so I haven't met too many people either. I haven't even met the Captain. Have you met him? Or even the XO?"

The cadet took her hand and shook it in the human fashion. "Very nice to meet you, Ensign. I think I am even newer than you are. I did actually meet the XO, Commander Kosugi, by chance; he came back aboard the same time I was arriving, from the USS Himalaya, and gave me an impromptu tour of Gladiator. He seemed quite open and transparent; I have to admit, I was a little surprised by how much. But I suppose Command need to be friendly and approachable." Pallas decided to hold off on mentioning her rather odd, literal collision with Captain Hawkins, which she was still wrapping her head around. "Since I'm assigned to Medical for my first rotation, I am also working for you, sir. So if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. Your list, for example, it sounds like that is a very difficult task; if there's anyway I can help..."

"The list I am compiling are the names of the missing and deceased. I just, I just want to gain their names and do a ceremony to help ease the spirits of those who are no longer on this ship, and those no longer among the living. Not exactly a exorcism its more of a matter of respect." she paused as if to put together the next words, to not sound crazy. "Sometimes, I feel I can sense or almost hear a spirit try to talk to me, or come to me in a vision." She stopped, her words to her own ears were sounding insane but when one is raised in a certain manner, the spiritual side of her family, they firmly believe in the spirits that surround them.

Pallas exhaled slowly. It wasn't a sigh; it was a release of tension that always sat somewhere in the front of her head or the back of her neck. There seemed to be a lot of need to confront death, and her own memories and experiences with it, on this ship. "I think I understand...," the cadet started. But she stopped herself, decided to go in a very different direction. "I mean, I understand as much as someone who comes from a completely different culture and planet might understand. But hearing or sensing those who have passed is common to many civilizations. The Bajorans call them boryhas. And there are plenty of situations where we know that some part of those who may not be living at the moment still continue in some other, tangible form. The Vulcan katra can be preserved in a stone vessel, an ark, even. So who is to say that you aren't actually sensing the dead? Even if it isn't them, at least not in the way they existed before death."

Willow nodded, "I am glad you are not thinking me to be insane, thank you." feeling her own sense of relief with what Pallas had said. "I try not to bring something like that up, but tonight I did." sjhe recalled what Pallas had mentioned "You were burning the midnight oil I see. Are you worried about falling short in your duties? Or making some mistakes?" Willow was genuinely curious.

"I think I'm just used to it, maybe. Coming from the Academy, there was so much late night studying. Maybe part of me just felt like this is what I'm supposed to do. But, if I'm being honest, I guess I am worried about falling short. I think I always have been. Not in this rotation, specifically, just... worried about not proving that I'm worthy of Starfleet." Pallas laughed darkly. "Probably why I took on so many majors, probably why I opened my mouth and suggested that I could still help out in Sciences and with the Fighter Bay repairs at the same time that I am on rotation here."

"You volunteered to help in repairs in the fighter bay? Wait we have a fighter bay? I've not been there before. I've not really toured the ship. I've only been as far as here and well the mess hall and my quarters. That's about it. I've not even been on the bridge. What's it like?" Willow asked.

"A complete mess, sir. The attack on the Gladiator seems like it completely wiped out the entire group. It's like walking into a junkyard; bits and pieces of fighters everywhere, and most of the vessels completely coming apart at the seams. Captain Verra, the new squadron leader, she repaired one of the fighters, and a second one is almost back to being operational, maybe already is by now. So when I said I was helping out there with repairs... it's not anything glamorous. I spent a lot of my childhood figuring out how old abandoned or discarded tech worked and trying to fix it. So mostly I was helping Captain Verra repair that second fighter during some of my downtime; when I came in, she was completely by herself. Fixing Gladiator is the priority, so the rest of her department were helping Engineering with that. The bridge wasn't any better when I saw it," Pallas frowned. "I don't think you're missing anything. It's just a lot more destruction. Sickbay and the mess hall are in way better shape."

"I have heard that the holodeck is functional which is good." Willow mused. There was a beep indicating that the list she was having printed was now done. "The people that you've met so far, what do you think of them? And don't worry, I'm not asking leading questions to cause you any trouble. I am just wanting some insight on them."

"Everyone seems nice. I mentioned the XO and Captain Verra. The Chief Science Officer, Commander Torma, she's Dalacari, a paired species. Very observant, very understanding that her species is different and that it takes some adjusting when speaking to her. Overall, everyone seems welcoming and very talented. Oh," she thought aloud as she looked over at the printed list, and frowned. "Have you met the other cadet on board? Aarfa Barakzay? She's a survivor from the attack on the Gladiator. Was the sole survivor they found on the saucer, I think. She's very, very nice, but I think maybe lonely, and obviously very impacted by what happened."

"I had seen her from afar, she was being seen to by Doctor Svidi along with er that Marine, Lieutenant Walken?" Willow remarked. "i'll have to meet her definitely, just hadn't the time due to the research that had been taking place." the woman frowned slightly. "Just so much had to be gone through all those blood samples."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you with that. It sounds like painful work. So much suffering... I mean, I understand that there is always going to be suffering in Sickbay, and that's part of what you get in being a medical provider, right? But usually you're trying to save lives, or heal people, or make their suffering less intense. That's not what you were asked to do here, or what any of are being asked to do right now, studying blood or tissue samples of those who have already passed away." She looked at Willow. A stunning woman, but the sadness of the task at hand weighed heavily on her face. "Is there any way I can help with the names, Ensign Callingbull? The ceremony, I mean. I'm not sure if it is appropriate for me to ask if I could assist, or if you would care for company. If it is ceremony to be conducted in private and not for outsiders, I understand that as well. Not all ritual is for everyone, and sometimes that is good and necessary."

"Cadet Pallas, I will be agreeable with you joining me to send healing to the troubled spirits. Since I can't do burning of sage in the room due to the firecoding, I will do that in the holosuite. If I am not taking you away from your duty, come with me." giving a gentle smile, Willow replied.

“It’s my duty to support the Medical staff, sir. I am honored to join you.” She followed Willow out of Sickbay and toward the turbolifts. “I am not very familiar with all of human traditions, sir. But I did learn being on Earth for three years how incredibly diverse the planet it. I’m not sure there are many, probably any, other civilizations in the Federation that have managed to preserve so much of its heterogeneity of culture while becoming warp capable and uniting as a planet. Is it permissible for me to ask you about the heritage of this ceremony?”

"It is permissable, I am Algonquian from North Carolina. This ceremony is just a representation of the burning of the bodies, as is customary in years gone by. The smoke of the 'bodies' ie the names of those dead, will help send them to the afterlife. The sage is to help cleanse and keep evil away as well as negative spirits." Willow explained.

Before the doors of the holosuite opened Willow set the program before they stepped inside. and the two ladies entered into the center of a verdant green forest showing the signs of the sun setting soon. In the center was a small fire pit with stones round about. A pile of wood lay next to the fire pit, and Willow stepped towards it and knelt down to place the wood inside the fire pit. There was the scent of sun warmed pine, and gentle evening breeze made the branches sway. Willow looked up towards the Cadet from her kneeling position.

"If you would like to help you may." Willow's voice quiet and low. "Once the wood is placed the fire will be lit, as well as the sage."

Pallas knelt next to Willow and helped to stack the firewood, following the Ensign's lead in the formation of the logs. Even into Pallas's teen years, carbon-burning fires were common on Ardana, and she had learned how to make sure the fuel didn't suffocate the fledgling sparks while being sufficient for a longer burn. "Did you grow up here, sir? Not in the holodeck, obviously," she kept her voice quiet as well, mirroring the solemnity that Willow brought to the work. "It's beautiful. I've visited places like this on Earth, but there's nothing like this on Ardana. 'North Carolina'... that's on the same continent as San Francisco, right?"

A gentle smile with a hint of memory in her eyes, Willow gave a nod. Yes it is but on the opposite side of the continent. San Francisco on on the west side, this is on the East." taking a pause to look around. "This is where I grew up as child, where I could see nature, wildlife and plants, gathering herbs with my Father and Grandfather." her smile broadened. "Nothing like gathering roots for healing, after rain has fallen." she looked at how Pallas had stacked the wood, giving a nod and looking pleased. "You have done this before, Cadet Pallas."

"Built a fire? Yeah. Had to. That's how we kept warm for a while. We were only a century or two behind Federation technology when we rejoined, but it was enough to mean that sometimes we had power outages, and when those happen in the winter in First City, you'd better know how to build a fire. I think to keep the kids calm, adults would try to make it fun, like an adventure. So much so that we would want to build fires sometimes even while the power was working, or just to have some warmth outside when it was a little cool. So all of us got lessons pretty much as soon as we could lift some dried pine needles; they'd put us on starter duty right away. Then we'd graduate to kindling, small branches, finally to splitting and stacking logs. There wasn't much of sitting around doing nothing. Not even after we got replicators; at least this generation will still keep those skills going. A lot of folks don't trust that the Federation won't just leave again. Not yet." She motioned to the holodeck. "I'd have liked to grow up in a place like this. Gathering herbs... so you were a healer from a family of healers?"

"Yes I am, my father and his father and so on. My grandfather was part of Star Fleet." Willow replied, gazing into the fire, watching as the wood catch fire. "He left Star Fleet when my grandmother died." Her eyes clouding over with some sadness, and her smile dimming slightly. "She passed away while protecting the ship both she and my grandfather were on." slight tear trickled down her cheek, Willow wiping it away. "Anyway, that was then, this is now." She reached into her pocket pulling out a small pouch which held sprigs of real sage.

She handed one of the sprigs of sage to Pallas. Her own sprig, she crushed one of the leaves and held it to her nose to catch the scent of the herb.

Pallas watched Willow. She could feel that loss, deeply and personally, and knew that the hurt didn’t go away easily. She took the sage and followed the Ensign’s example, crushing a leaf and inhaling the scent. She did not want the smell to leave her, and tried her best to hold onto it in her mind. “This is now, but those who have left us never really leave us. We carry them with us everywhere we go, at least, the part of them that loved us.”

"You do speak the truth, for they are never far away. A scent in the air, a brush of a breeze along the cheek or, a playful wisp of wind in the hair or even a song that they loved to hear or sing, comes to the mind and you feel their presence." one more sniff of the sprig of sage then Wilow let it drop into the fire, the flames causing it to snap and crackle. Then she brought out the printed copy of those that were lost, and placed it upon the flames, watching as the flames licked at the paper and the edges of it start to blacken.

Willow closed her eyes as she uttered these words reverently, "May you find your way home and see your loved ones again, look upon them as they mourn for you. May those who have shortened your lives be stopped and you be avenged. May you have a peaceful life in the hereafter." she opened her eyes once more as the remainder of the paper continued to burn, the orange, yellow and reddish flames doing their own dance of mourning for those lost.

Pallas followed suit, dropping her sprig of sage into the fire and repeating the words that Willow spoke. Though the universal translator ensured the words sounded the same to all, Pallas heard them--and thus repeated them back--in Ardanan. Though she tried to copy Willow as best she could, she inevitably and unintetionally put more emphasis on some words than others. It did not matter, though; the prayer floated away like the smoke did. If there were spirits in the hereafter, they would hear them either way. And if the words were just for the pieces of those who stayed with those who survived them, then the doing of the ceremony itself was what mattered for the ensign and the cadet.

The fire died down to mere coals, as Willow silently watched what was left, it reminding her of fireflies. The sun had set in this program, silhouettes of the trees took form. The stars came out above, and Willow whispered to Pallas. "It is a legend that the souls of those who pass on, turn into stars, lighting the way as a guide. I take comfort in that as well, and the promise that they will always be there for us." A gentle smile and a hand placed upon Pallas's shoulder. "Thank you for coming with me to do this. I hope it brought you some comfort as well."

"It did." Which was true. Pallas had not known what to expect when she joined Willow on this ceremony, but she felt a calm about her that had been rare--no, more like missing--since coming aboard Gladiator. "Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it."

Another quiet smile, "You're welcome" another gentle squeeze to the shoulder and Willow lowered her hand, pulling it back into her lap, her dark eyes moved back up towards the stars letting the quietness bring solace.

END