Just An Accident

Posted on Nov 29, 2016 @ 5:24pm by Ensign Sofia Andersson
Edited on on Nov 29, 2016 @ 5:24pm

Mission: Aftermath

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"Just An Accident"
[previous post was "Numbers will entrance, seduce and lie to you" by the politically inclined Sarah]
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LOCATION: EARTH
SD [2.16] 1129.1140
SCENE: Paris, Underground Research Facility, Level 5 (Dark Blue)

Every level of this underground complex had been more surprising than the previous. From the yellow small plants sub-level the survey team had gone down three more floors to their latest discovery, the dark blue small animals research section. Being below the city had left Sofia believing that she would be able to leave her sorrows behind, to forget for a short while about the death that had covered every square centimeter of the 'city of light' in ashes. Never had she expected to have to deal with more of the same down here.

What had been a few hundred animals compared to the 28 million that Richard Edgerton had killed under the banner of the Neo-Essentialists, a banner that she had rallied beneath of her own free will and accord? How many more unaccounted individuals and creatures had paid with their lives for the ideals of the man she had supported? How many more ashen remains could she bare to walk through?

Sofia collapsed onto her knees, the weight of her guilt having been too much for her to hold any longer. She had tried her best, she had wanted to make amends and prove that she could be more than what her associations had painted her to be, but there had simply been too many ghosts for her to deal with. She could either give into the crushing weight on her soul or lash out to release the pressure; she chose the later but still the ghosts remained having been unable to escape their ashes.

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Excerpt from Jayson's "From Flora to Fauna"
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Jayson recognised the look of utter despair on the blonde woman's face and immediately moved in to help. As much as their HAZMAT suits separated them, he did his best to comfort her, kneeling before the troubled woman as he held her shoulders. "This, like Paris, was not your fault. You cannot hold yourself responsible or even accountable for everything the Neo-Essentialists did. Only one man was responsible for everything that happened. *He* did this, not you."

Sofia could hear his voice but it sounded distant, as if he had been talking to her from across the room instead of him being right there in front of her. Slowly, and through tear filled eyes Sofia eventually looked back at the man who had once again given more than she could have ever expected. Despite all of the death that surrounded them, she could see life reflecting in his gaze.

He had not been a Neo-Essentialist but Sofia had recognized in him a pain that in a way mirrored his own, yet he displayed no guilt or remorse. There even was a joy of life that he radiated, something that she now found herself jealous for. What hell had he survived through to be able to show so much strength and affection while surrounded by such absolute devastation?

"Come on you two," Angelo called out to Jayson and Sofia who had fallen behind, Ya'Han not having lingered on this level any more than she had to forcing the rest of the survey team to keep up.

With gentle care he helped Sofia back onto her feet and invited her to follow. Once again he would gladly offer his arm as support and comfort knowing how difficult it could be to overcome the dark emotions he had seen claw into her soul.

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End of Excerpt
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He had been so kind. They all had been, giving her the chance to prove herself despite her past. The board of inquiry had been harsh in their words but kind in their actions. They could just as easily have tossed her into a deep hole and forgotten that she had ever existed, and thanks to her guilt Sofia wondered if maybe they should have done exactly that. For someone who had vowed to do no harm, making amends for a single death had been a tall task, to do so for 28 million had been an impossibility.

The Thalaron radiation had not only killed these people but it had done so in a most atrocious manner, insuring that their last moments on this world had been filled with pain. The state of the wire cages and deep claw marks on the clear ones had made that beyond clear. Their passage into whatever would be found beyond this life had been heralded by screams of absolute agony.

Sofia stopped as she came up to a lab coat on the floor, and in so doing caused Jayson to do the same as they had been holding onto each other's arms.

He looked back at her once again, not a hint of judgement in his features. "Everything will be alright," Jayson offered, his smile warm and comforting.

She forced a smile on her lips as she let go of his arm. "Thank you, for everything."

He returned her smile but turned away before he could notice a single stray tear making is way down her cheek. Given how much she had cried over the last several days, it actually amazed her that she had been able to do so once again.

With both her hands free she reached down into the pocket of the lab coat where she had noticed a small little tool. There had been nothing special about the small metal rod other than possessing a sharpened edge meant to help collect tissue samples. As a student in the medical field she easily recognized it, and as a guilt filled ex-Neo-Essentialist she knew how to put it to one last useful use.

It only took a few seconds for Jayson to realise that he had not been holding the blonde woman's hand, and only a few more to rush back to her side. "SOFIA!"

The scream had been more than enough to draw the rest of the survey team back with the utmost haste, Ya'Han, Sheila and Angelo arriving to find Jayson holding the woman's lower arm as if her life had depended on it.

"What happened?" the radiation specialists asked, not sure how to help or even if she could.

"She fell and ripped her suit," Jayson quickly explained even if that had not been what he suspected had happened.

Sheila gasped, frozen in her stance. "Even at the lowest possible levels, any exposure to Thalaron radiation will be fatal."

"Everything will be alright," Sofia said as she looked into Jayson's eyes, repeating his words in an effort to make him understand what had happened and that it had not been his fault.

Slowly, the OPS Officer removed his hand from the tear in the woman's HAZMAT suit, knowing that there had been no way for him to have reacted fast enough to insure her not having been exposed.

Angelo Tannahill let out a long and deep sigh as she showed his scanner to the woman who had taken on the role of mission leader. Ya'Han closed her eyes for a brief moment before she reached down to take a hold of her friend and shipmate's shoulder.

"She'll be fine. The scanner shows absolutely no radiation. She was not exposed to any residual Thalaron emissions."

Sofia remained still and silent as Jayson echoed Angelo's sigh of relief.

"The closer we come to whatever is absorbing the radiation, the faster the process appears to be," Sheila Grant noted barely able to contain her joy at the timing of the accident. Had it happened any sooner, Sofia would have likely not survived.

"So she got lucky," Ya'Han said as she quickly gave the tear a once over.

"We heard the screaming, is everything alright?" Commander Shar'El asked as she and the rest of the ANUBIS' away team came rushing in. Without being asked, Doctor Doyanne zeroed in on the woman sitting on the floor, suspecting that the individual had been the cause of the commotion or at the very least closely involved in it.

"You heard the screaming from the surface?" Jayson asked, wondering how he could have been so loud. The fact that the away team had been wearing HAZMAT suits had not even come into effect in the OPS Officer's mind.

"Of course not," the redheaded Engineer snapped back as she rolled her eyes. "We came down here looking for you after we lost both your signals," Sonja added while smiling at the Chief of Security. "So you guys were having a party down here and decided not to invite us?"

"Apparently Miss Andersson fell and tore her hazmat suit," Ya'Han reported, the tone of her voice hinting that she suspected there to be a lot more to that story.

"It was just an accident," Jayson quickly stated as he stood. never having expected to see his First Officer along with the rest of the senior staff here of all places.

"Of course it was," the Ullian agreed, the memory of what had happened still very clear in the man's mind. "Please allow me to introduce ourselves, I am Commander Shar'El, First Officer of the USS ANUBIS. This is Commander Maya our Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Sonja Paquette our Chief Engineering Officer and Ensign Lillie Doyanne our Chief Medical Officer. As stated, we came down to insure that everything was alright with our officers."

"We are all fine," Ya'Han began her report. "This was the first and only accident and luckily it happened after the radiation count dropped to zero."

"We did notice the lower radiation readings while on the surface and figured that this had been the reason why you all had come here to investigate," Maya detailed, her tricorder firmly in hand not only to confirm the zero radiation reading but also be certain that no other surprises had been waiting.

"I'm Angelo Tannahill, the survey team lead although I was more than happy to forgo that role to Miss Ya'Han when we discovered this place."

"You were in good hands with Rainbow girl," Sonja chuckled. "I'm actually surprised that she hasn't already solved this mystery and have you all back home safe and sound, then again I guess you encountered a few delays along the way," the redheaded Engineer added as her gaze dropped onto the blonde woman and the trembling man kneeling by her side.

"Well, if there are no injuries, maybe we should continue with this search," Shar'El suggested in a commanding manner. "Commander Maya is concerned that the radiation energy is being transformed into something that could possibly prove more dangerous than the Thalaron radiation, and I for one would not mind proving her wrong."

Sonja moved ahead and took hold of Ya'Han's arm. "How about you and I check what's going on down below and leave the others to deal with the 'accident'? Commander Maya, you coming? I am sure that if would help to have our eloquently verbal science nerd along, with all due respects of course."

"Doctor?" Shar'El inquired of the CMO, wondering if there had been any medical reasons to hold the now much larger team back.

"Thalaron readings are at zero, and if the cause of this absorption is indeed on the lower levels, the further down we go the safer we will be from that particular threat," Lillie stated, her medical tridorder picking up nothing that would even cause the Doctor to hesitate in the slightest.

"If you are able to travel," the ExO / ILO began while looking at the accident victim still sitting on the floor of the research facility.

"I'm fine," Sofia confirmed as she returned to her feet with the help of both Jayson and Lille. "It was just an accident," she added as if trying to convince herself along with those who had come to surround her.

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NRPG:

I apologise if part of this post was a little on the darker side of things, I had an idea and wanted to explore it. From this point on though Sofia can only go up and realize with a new perspective what her role can and will be.

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Tiffany Reeve

Ensign Sofia Andersson
Currently sentenced to the
VERSAILLES Triage Center