Orivar: Deep Black

15 - Heated Words

The soft pings of the room's vital sign monitor weren't enough to keep Lieren awake in the dim room. To her, they sounded almost designed to encourage sleep. That combined with the room's darkness put the female Larissian on a path toward slumber.

Just as her mind was wandering into the abyss and her eyes were shutting, her father's vital signs jumped and he began to cough forcefully. Lieren shook herself awake and rose from the chair to approach Doctor Souq's bed. This prompted the lights to slowly brighten.

"Dad?" Lieren asked. After his bout of coughing had settled down, the door to the room opened and in walked a nurse dressed in standard uniform beneath a white gown marked with a small red cross.

"How is your father doing?" asked the nurse.

"He just started coughing all of a sudden," Lieren told her.

"He may be coming to. Doctor Souq," the nurse said to Lieren's father, placing a hand to his gowned arm. "Doctor Souq." The bearded, lavender-skinned omnimologist stirred before opening his eyelids. He tried to keep his eyes open, but the lights were too bright for them. He squinted as he groaned.

"Doctor Souq," the nurse said again after opening a lumigraph with more of Souq's vitals, "nod if you can hear me." The man nodded weakly. Turning to Lieren, the nurse said, "He was hit with a fairly strong dose of sedative. He's just now starting to recover, but he'll need more time."

"May I stay with him?" Lieren asked.

"Of course," the nurse said, smiling, "just be sure to let him rest."

Xannissa and Sesh quietly returned to the bridge. To them, it felt more appropriate to conduct themselves solemnly given the recent loss of members of their crew—a loss that they were unwilling to think of as senseless even though it was exactly that. No one thought it more than Atara herself. For the rest of the day, the ship's atmosphere became muted as the reality of the loss, regardless the percentage of the Kelsor's complement, set in. This was still the mission's very first day, and it was nearing its end.

"Captain," Ethis said, breaking the silence, "we're receiving a Q-comms transmission. It's Admiral Aesho."

"Sesh, you have the bridge," said Atara. Without another word, she turned around and left. Atara made her way to the Q-comms chamber aft of the bridge. Once within the room, she confirmed her identity with the ship's adjunct.

"Identity confirmed," Fiori's adjunct announced. "Captain Atara Korrell."

Atara stood with her legs together and arms behind her back, and she waited patiently for Aesho's image to appear. When the admiral materialized, she was standing directly before Atara. The captain could see nothing of Aesho's surrounding office, and Aesho couldn't see the Kelsor's Q-comms chamber.

"You did the right thing," Aesho started.

"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" Atara asked her, trying to suppress her regret and frustration in the hope that Aesho wouldn't detect it.

"I wanted you to know that before you started second-guessing yourself or this operation," Aesho stated.

"With all due respect, Admiral," Atara said, "aren't there larger problems you should be dealing with?"

"Everything is being taken care of as we speak," said Aesho. "We've served together for decades, yet you still underestimate the power of this office."

"Maybe I misjudge how far you're willing to take things."

"You question my resolve, then."

"I question your morality." Propelled by emotion, this sentence slipped between Atara's lips and struck Aesho like a dagger. Had Atara been more aware of the impact that that statement would have made, she would have withheld it—then again, she may have not. Aesho chuckled.