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| In need of a friend (Maya/Miko) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 5 2011, 10:21 PM (322 Views) | |
| Karen Dauntless | Feb 5 2011, 10:21 PM Post #1 |
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::USS Renaissance:: ::Counselor's Office:: It had been only ten minutes since Reneé had departed from her ready room to board the enemy craft currently drifting in space nearby, and Miko was already sick with worry. She'd known this kind of thing could happen, that she'd have to send her lover potentially off to die, but nothing could prepare one for the awful feeling associated with such an action. Guilt and worry was pouring off Miko as she entered Maya's office, finding the only person she considered a friend of some kind trying to help wounded in a room already falling apart that the recent battle had turned into a hellish nightmare of a mess. "Got a minute?", Miko asked nervously as she bent down to help gather up the remains of a shattered metallic decoration off the floor. <Tag Maya> |
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| Maya Takagi | Feb 5 2011, 11:18 PM Post #2 |
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Chief Counselor
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The waiting lounge in the Counselor's office had been converted into a make-shift clinic, to augment others around the ship that the crew was setting up in the absence of sickbay. There were over a dozen injured, mostly significant but not fatal wounds, and a handful of regular crew administering first aide. Miko found Maya around a table, flanked by a young Crewman Kim from security. The two of them were holding down a badly burned Crewman Timor and attempting to patch him up. The Counselor's face, and uniform, was covered with the blood of the injured, a myriad of colors to match the various species in the room. In the midst of the attack, Maya had been lucky. She didn't have time to consider that, if the enemy weapons had been more powerful, or if damage control shields hadn't functioned properly, she would likely have been sucked into space in the initial bombardment. Fortunately the crew, untested and untamed, had snapped into action. They would likely get through this, if the shields didn't fail again. "Sir, come here and help me hold him down," she snapped at the Commander as she entered. As Miko approached, she saw that the injured crewman was flinching painfully, and Maya was having trouble injecting him with a sedative. Crewman Kim was holding down Timor's legs. "Hold his head still so I can stick him in the neck," she told Miko, who managed to grab the wounded man firmly enough that Maya could administer the hypospray. After a few seconds, Timor stopped squirming. Maya used another tool to spray a healing gel over his burns. He would likely survive, but need a long time to heal. She looked up at Miko. "Are you ok, Commander? Injured...?" <tag Miko> |
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| Karen Dauntless | Feb 6 2011, 11:08 PM Post #3 |
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Injured? Miko could answer yes to that question easily, as both of them were well aware. Physically, however, she was fine. It was nerves that were currently bothering her, not any sort of bodily malady. Perhaps not a good enough reason to bother Maya at the moment, all wounded considered, but who else was she supposed to open up to? "I, uh, no," she stuttered quietly, "But I wanted... I need to talk to someone. Not just someone, a friend." She shifted uneasily in her current kneeling position before adding, "And I don't really have any other friends to talk to right now..." <Tag> |
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| Maya Takagi | Feb 7 2011, 12:10 AM Post #4 |
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Chief Counselor
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"As I said, I'm here for you, Commander," Maya replied, leaning over one of the other less injured crewmen and checking him for a concussion. Recognizing that everyone in the office was, for the moment, being taken care of, she turned to the Commander, tossing her a medical tricorder. She took Miko by the arm and led her towards the door. "Why don't you tell me what's on your mind while we search the deck for any other injured crew?" She turned back to Crewman Kim. "You've got it under control til we get back?" "Yes, sir," the young crewman replied confidently. Maya was about to leave when she looked at the Commander. ~You should try and reassure some of the wounded, Commander, it doesn't do much for their wounds but morale makes a difference,~ the Counselor projected into Miko's mind. Surely the few crewmen and officers laying about the Counselor's office needed a little motivation. <tag Miko> |
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| Karen Dauntless | Feb 7 2011, 08:01 PM Post #5 |
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A pep talk?, Miko retorted mentally, knowing that Maya was probably reading her mind at the moment. I'm not exactly radiating confidence. Trust me, they'll be better off if I keep my mouth shut around them. Maya gave her a disappointed glare, but there was no changing the commander's mind as they stepped out into an empty corridor. Once they were out of earshot, Miko's tense muscles relaxed slightly, the professional facade she had been maintaining for the injured disappearing in private. "One of the ships that hit us is still floating around out there," Miko quietly explained, "And, uh, I ordered some of the marines over to check it out, see if they can figure out who the hell they are. Which means Reneé...." She trailed off, staring at the ground as her voice quivered noticeably. "She's over there, and if she dies... that's two people I care about gone, and it's my fault. I.... how do I handle that? How am I supposed to live with killing someone important to me again?" |
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| Maya Takagi | Feb 7 2011, 08:29 PM Post #6 |
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Chief Counselor
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Ever since their first meeting, Maya understood that the Commander carried a tremendous sense of guilt over the suicide of her previous lover. This was an issue that would take a long time to work out, and Maya didn't expect to resolve it now. Instead, she recognized that the immediate situation was more important. Miko could become paralyzed. "I'm sorry, Commander, I didn't know that Renee was over there," Maya stated, in apology for being a bit gruff with Miko a few moments ago. She perused Miko's thoughts and also picked up the names of the other members of the assault team. Maya scanned a closed doorway ahead of them, for any signs of life or recent death. Fortunately, no one was in that room. "I understand why you're anxious, Commander, but you have no right to start beating yourself up about it," Maya told her. "To be honest, that's the risk you take as the Commanding officer by having a relationship with your subordinate. You have to give them orders that put their lives at risk." Despite her firm tone, Maya wasn't necessarily scolding her. "The fact that you were able to order Renee on that mission proves to me that you understand the risks, have weighed them against the rewards, and have made the right decision," Maya reassured her. Maya recognized that because the Commander was a scientist, her ability to see things logically was a good way to reach her. First she'd have to deal with the issue of command responsibility, and then broach the subject of losing a loved on. "So with that out of the way..." she continued, "Why do you feel that giving a crew member a reasonable order that may lead to their death is equivalent to killing them? What makes their death your fault?" <Tag Miko> |
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| Karen Dauntless | Feb 7 2011, 09:05 PM Post #7 |
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Miko slumped against a wall as the pair entered an empty room, slowly sliding down with her back against the bulkhead while Maya's question bounded about in her mind. "How is it reasonable to tell someone to risk their life?", she replied with a question of her own, "How can I ask another sentient being to go out and potentially die?" She curled up her knees in nervousness before continuing, "Everyone here is trusting me to be a leader, someone who can handle the responsibility of all their lives. When they die, it's probably because I screwed up somewhere." Her head leaned back against the wall as she thought about the distress call they had followed into this hellish situation. "I should have been more careful, should have sent in a probe or something. For God's sake, a distress call ambush? Oldest trick in the book. I could have saved hundreds of people from getting killed, but I didn't." Miko was about ready to break down at this point, stress and guilt racking her already non-exsistent self-esteem. "I screwed up and now there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of dead crewman. My partner could die. All because I don't know what the hell I'm doing." |
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| Maya Takagi | Feb 7 2011, 10:39 PM Post #8 |
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Chief Counselor
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Keeping her eyes on Miko, Maya hit her communicator. -^-Dr. Takagi to bridge. Deck 7 is clear. Injured are being moved to secondary sick-bay from the Counselors office. Standing by if you need me anywhere...-^- She was certain that she was a better surgeon than the playboy Assistant CMO she'd been hearing about, and hopefully they'd call her if they need her. As she didn't need to be anywhere else at present, Maya sat down across from her friend. "We all took an oath to defend the Federation with our lives, Commander," she stated, "Some of us are going to die for that oath." She bit her lower lip. ~Some of us should probably already be dead.~ she thought to herself. She put her hand underneath Miko's chin and lifted her face up, so they were eye to eye. The Counselor had spent her entire professional career convincing burnt out intelligence agents to go back into the field and keep killing and dying for the cause, and she'd be damned if she couldn't convince a emotional traumatized Starfleet captain to sit in her chair and play her part. "Once we get out of this situation, then we can conduct a full investigation into what went wrong. There's no point in placing, or taking, the blame now. From my perspective, the quick thinking of you and your bridge crew saved many more lives than were lost." Maya smiled gently. "So, let's separate Miko the Commander - who has this situation well under control, from Miko the woman - who's scared about losing someone she loves. Ok?" "I understand how scary that can feel," she said, with sincerity. "Especially if you've already lost someone, and don't want to ever feel like that again... and I imagine almost everyone on this ship has lost someone that they care about." "So you're not alone in this feeling, even if it seems like it," Maya told her. "Not to mention that Renee is real tough. I'm sure she's damn hard to kill." <tag Miko> |
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| Karen Dauntless | Feb 7 2011, 11:01 PM Post #9 |
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It had been a long time since anyone had actually managed to work their way under Miko's thick shell of pessimism and self-depreciation; Erin had the been the last person before Maya that accomplished the immensely difficult feat. She had always been scared to let anyone past the hull of self-hatred, terrified that they would just hurt her even more. Maya didn't seem interested in doing anything but help her. Thus, it was actually comforting to have the counselor work her way underneath Miko's figuratively hardened skin, sincerely trying to reassure her as she practically trembled like a little girl in an empty corridor. She'd never picked up a single hostile vibe from Takagi, or anything other than an honest desire to help her. Relaxing slightly, Miko simply nodded along with Maya's words, wondering if this would be the time that she actually started fix herself. Every attempt to overcome her numerous emotional problems had failed in the end; it was one of the only constants in her life. Of course, two stable, genuinely caring relationships at once was something she had never experienced; that had to count for something. "Okay," she said quietly, still not moving. "Okay, okay. I can fake confident. It'll be an act, but I can pretend to be a decent CO. I just... I don't want to keep losing whoever I care about. I can't handle that again. Have you ever lost someone you loved? Do you know how it feels?" |
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| Maya Takagi | Feb 7 2011, 11:45 PM Post #10 |
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Chief Counselor
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Maya was more than happy with the Commander's decision to fake it until she figured it out. The Counselor was an expert in such behavior, and after a while it would become second nature. They were almost through the ordeal when Miko started asking personal questions. Maya had never lied to the Commander, and wasn't prepared to start just yet. "My mother," Maya replied, with certainty, to Miko's question. She was absolutely sure that her mother was the only living being she actually loved on a pure instinctual basis. "She was killed in action when I was a kid... At the time I was pretty convinced she was the only person who actually loved me back. You know that feeling, right?" But that wasn't necessarily the type of love that Miko was asking about. "The last time I saw my husband I was trying to stop him from bleeding out through a three inch hole in his abdomen," she confessed, grimacing a bit as she remembered it. She wouldn't necessarily have called her feelings for him love but there had certainly been a lot of lovemaking, and a certain type of affection. "I don't have time to get sentimental right now, Miko, but I know how you feel." She gave the Commander a reassuring hug, to acknowledge their moment of connection and simultaneously hide the fact that she wasn't as sad as she should've been. <tag Miko> |
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| Karen Dauntless | Feb 10 2011, 12:36 AM Post #11 |
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As her hand rested on Maya's back, Miko could feel a slight twitch in the counselor's muscles, the tiny physical spasm that served as a manifestation of the pain she had to feel at recalling her husband's death. Legally, the commander had ever been married; losing someone she had sworn her life to was something she had never known, but what she'd had with Erin.... they had been soul mates, truly. In that way, she knew exactly how Maya was feeling. For a moment, both women simply remained silent, comforting each other with a warm embrace before Miko finally removed her hands from the counselor's back and opened her mouth to speak again. "Thanks. For everything." A rare smile crossed onto her face as she slowly pushed herself up to her feet. "Guess we have things to go do, right?" <Tag, end?> |
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