Sleepless in Faltan

Posted on Mon Sep 17th, 2018 @ 7:46pm by Commander Abigail Prescott & Lieutenant Commander Catrina (Cat) Tendai

1,890 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: The Return to Faltan
Location: Engineering hub
Timeline: MD08 - 0300

Mint wandered into the Engineering hub, after yet another failed attempt at sleep. Her mind kept returning to the long to-do list she had going. She muttered under her breath about useless people, things, and emotions, before realizing she wasn't alone. "Can't sleep either Tendai?" she called across the room to the red-haired woman.

Jumping at the voice, having not heard anyone coming, Cat let out a sigh. "Commander? No, can't sleep. I.." She stopped herself, not really wanting to bring up the nightmare unless she was asked. "Figured I'd get some work done."

Mint noted the odd hitch in Tendai's voice but didn't say anything. She didn't know this woman well enough to know if she could press for more information. "Well, great minds then," she walked further into the room. "Brain won't shut off, figured I'd come assist here. Want to get dirty with me?"

Cat laughed a little but stiffened somewhat. "Yep, my brain doesn't shut off much. I..." She shook her head and spoke quietly. "I have trouble sleeping, at all." She held up an extra tool kit. "If you feel like working at 0300, then sure."

Mint raised her eyebrows slightly at the stiffening and trouble sleeping comment. "I only tend to have insomnia when I've got a lot on my mind," she admitted, making her way over to accept the tool kit. "When that happens, I usually end up in the bowels of a ship, but seeing as we're on a station that needs a ton of repair, well, here I am," she held her arms open to gesture to the room. "So, where do you need me?" Mint avoided talking about what was keeping Cat awake, it wasn't really her place, and with her heat coming on soon, she knew she could potentially rub this woman the wrong way.

"Frankly? Anywhere. My office and the whole area lost power when another relay took on too much power. I got it working but now I've got more re-routing to do." Cat watched the woman, knowing she was probably curious about the lack of sleeping thing. It was in her medical bio, but that didn't mean everyone read it. Plus, it could cause issues later on, right? Closing up the panel she was working in, she sighed. "I wish mine was insomnia. Honestly? I'm completely exhausted."

Mint frowned both at the lost power due to relay overload and the exhausted comment. "We're off duty," Mint pointed out. "Despite the fact that we're working and that I'm your superior officer.... If you need to talk, I'm all ears," she smiled. "Though warn me if you start to feel irrationally angry toward me, I'm having difficulty controlling my pheromones. I should go talk to the Doc about that. Now, lets work on these power relays."

Cat smirked at the comment about the pheromones. "I'll make sure to warn you." She picked a her tools and some extra power relays. "If you're willing to listen..." She started walking towards the next area. "I have a recurring nightmare, from when I was younger. It comes in waves. I can go months without having it, but then it'll stick around for months." Her eyes turned towards the woman next to her. "When I was younger, I was...beaten and um..raped..left for dead..."

Mint couldn't help the growl that escaped her throat at the word 'rape'. Anger flashed over her face briefly before she composed herself again. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "No one should ever have to go through that..." She sighed. They walked in silence for a minute before Mint finally said. "My mother was raped by an Orion slaver...." she let the words hang in the air, letting Cat connect the dots herself. Mint couldn't bring herself to say aloud that she exists because of rape.

Catching the meaning, Cat didn't talk about that part anymore. "I'm just a bit jumpy when it comes to anyone wanting to get close. Normally I end up working alone, too many eyes all over me. At least when it comes to guys. Around friend who are female? I'm fine."

"That, I fully understand. I think my mother had a lot of counselling but went slightly opposite to you," Mint nudged a small pile of dirt on the floor with her toe. "She found someone who treated her well and latched on to him. Luckily for all involved he was a great man," she gave a half laugh. "One day, you will learn to trust again," she decided to be optimistic. "And if I can help in any way, let me know. My door is always open."

"I haven't even been able to let myself get close to anyone." Cat let out a shaky breath. "I get jumpy in general conversations with anyone I like." She looked down at the ground, swirling her foot around in the dirt, making a mental note to add it to the list once everything was fixed.

"Understandable," Mint nodded, wanting to find a way to reassure Cat, but knowing touching her could cause the opposite reaction. "You went through something much more intense and horrifying than my mother did, than most victims of such crime do. Don't compare yourself to anyone, and move at your own pace. Start off with simple conversations, then push yourself just outside your comfort zone. You'll never expand it if you don't try," she said, pulling a panel off the wall to inspect a power relay.

Standing back a bit, watching as Mint worked on the panel, Cat sighed. "I can't even get to that point. Conversation..anything. You should have seen me at the Academy, it was horrible." She pulled out a good power relay, just in case it was needed.

"Well, I mean, you're talking to me just fine," Mint pointed out. "Pretend everyone else is me?"

"For whatever reason, I find it easy to talk to you. I don't quite understand it myself. And when I was focused on work with my team and trying to know where they specialize? I was okay there too."

"Hmm..." Mint wrestled with the power relay for a moment before finally pulling the faulty switch out. She turned to Cat and smiled. "Sooo... pretend they're just a colleague? I don't know to be honest, I'm just trying to come up with ideas for you."

Handing over the new power relay, Cat shrugged. "Funny as it sounds? I do think there are a few..cute guys around here.."

"Oh you bet your pretty little head there are," Mint laughed. "Though some of them are meatheads and not worth getting to know. No brainpower..." she tapped her head with the faulty relay before handing it to Cat. Her fingers slipped though and she practically punched the other woman trying to recover it. "Oh my gods! I'm so sorry Cat!"

Trying to keep hold of the new relay while also trying to catch the new one, Cat felt Mint's hands hit her. Shaking her head for a moment, she chuckled. "If that's the worst thing that happens to me with all these repairs? I'm totally okay with it." She took the old relay and handed over the new one. "Well, should I ask you about some of them? Granted, I don't think one will really ever look me in the face unless he absolutely has to. I've only seen the other few in passing."

"Well, I think there may be worse injuries working with these blasted relays," Mint said putting the new relay in place. "As for asking me, I won't have many answers for you. The one that won't look you in the face is Turner, isn't it? He got all funny talking to me when I was doling out team assignments," she laughed. "And the rest? I've been so busy with this assassination crap that I've not had any time to get to know anyone aside from M'Mira."

Biting her lip, Cat nodded. "That obvious? I don't know why, but there's just something about him. Maybe it's the fact that he's just as nervous as I can be?" She raised an eyebrow at the thing about M'Mira. "I..won't go into M'Mira.."

"M'Mira is... well... M'Mira..." she laughed. "Honestly, I think she's great, but she's also highstrung at times," Mint snapped the panel closed and straightened up. "And seeing how well she gets on with men, I think she's got something against women, maybe sees them as a threat? I don't know. I managed to fumble my way into a good relationship with her, and she doesn't like my taste in men," Mint shrugged.

"Might take some time to warm up to me, if ever. I don't think it'll happen until this whole place is up and running." Cat shrugged. "But, it is what it is. She can like me or not like me."

Mint laughed. "Honestly, there are far more important things than someone liking you," she agreed. "I will help where I can on getting this station up and running. I'm hoping this mess with the Faltans clears up soon so I can get back to my regular duties. And get some actual sleep. I think I actually managed to get my quarters cleaned and repaired in two nights... still don't spend any time there, but I have it set up..."

"Ever since I met with you? I haven't even been to mine. Slept in my chair a few times. Otherwise I'm running around doing stuff like this. We're...getting there? At the rate these things are failing due to all the cross wiring though? Might need more of them soon."

"Yeah, I haven't been sleeping much," Mint shrugged. "And yes, everything is coming along nicely, aside from this power relay issue."

Cat leaned against a nearby wall. "Must be a short somewhere, I just haven't found it yet." She shook her head. "Maybe I'll find it someday. Lack of sleep isn't helping, but I don't want to ask for anything to give me a dreamless sleep, it isn't going to help matters any."

"Maybe you could seek counseling to deal with the nightmares that way?" Mint suggested, wiping her hands on her uniform pants. "I mean, you never know what is going to work until you try it."

"Unfortunately, been there and done that since I was a teen. They don't know what triggers it to come back. I'll figure it out eventually." Cat shrugged. "For now it's naps when I can get them, right?"

"Naps are always good," Mint grinned. "Unless you get caught napping at your desk... yeomen definitely don't like that..."

Cat bit her lip. "That's where I nap, but then again, I covered the only other place I could nap with equipment. But, as I don't have a yeoman, that should be okay."

"True," she laughed and shook her head. "I didn't intend to nap at my desk, or rather the Capetian's desk that I have temporarily commandeered, but it happened this afternoon. Laddie was snoring away on the couch, so I blame him for influencing me," she teased, packing up her toolkit. "Shall we look for the next relay that wants to fight our efforts?"

"Laddie? Oh, the captain's dog, I heard about him. But yes, let our middle of the night adventures commence!"

 

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