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༄ chapter ten
-ˋˏ THE DEATH OF A MOTHER ˎˊ-
THE intense rush of adrenaline Vera had begun experiencing the moment Chris stood from his Captain's chair to sacrifice himself to the Romulans was at an all time high. Her heart hurt in her chest and beads of salty sweat dripped down her face, her entire body feeling overheated by her dress and zip-up. She was quick to remove the second article of clothing as Sulu and Kirk thanked Chekov for his intervention against their certain death, but it did nothing to quell the intense burning against her skin, as if the only option for relief was to peel her own skin off.
Though the beginning of she and Kit's adventures on the USS Enterprise had promised freedom, a second chance, and the opportunity to finally prove themselves, their hopes had quickly perished and Vera was reminded exactly why they had left Starfleet in the first place. It was a place of dangers for the sake of people and a corporation they didn't know nor cared to address, and the constant threat of loosing ones life and having absolutely nothing to show for it became all the more evident when Olson died, caught up in his own twisted desire to prove himself.
"Vera?" Kirk's voice interrupted the mechanic's wavering thoughts on her own previously promised loyalties to Starfleet as he placed a hand on her shoulder, still panting from his near-death experience.
She jumped at the sudden interaction turning to Kirk with a present look of shock before remembering exactly where she was, though the running after Chekov she had done minutes earlier was not ideal for her recovering migraine. "Oh, Kirk," she sighed.
The Cadet's eyebrows furrowed as he noticed her jumpy nature, something very askew from how he had met her only hours previously. She looked panicked, though not even Vera herself seemed to know why. "Are you, uh...okay?"
Vera nodded vehemently, putting on a bright, and, to be perfectly honest, not very convincing smile to prove that she was alright. "Yeah, I'm fine, you?" She asked, acting properly formal, as if there were nothing out of the ordinary. It may have been the subconscious thought Vera held of her father, step-mother, and half-siblings being trapped on a planet at risk of extinction.
It couldn't have been that, she told herself: she hated her father, and regretted ever becoming close to him, only for him to abandon her and be replaced by Chris. And yet, the searing loyalty that Vera had always unfortunately held for the people she was close to told her otherwise, reminding her that, despite her hatred of the man, she still missed and loved her father.
Kirk shrugged, an unsure grin painting his face as he tried to dismiss his crew mate's strange behavior. After all, he had only known her for a few hours, and the vast majority of that had been either while he was drugged out of his mind and almost dying and while she was very evidently sick from the motion of the Enterprise. "Well, I almost just died on a mission for a ship I'm not even a member of...so, yeah, I'm doing great." The two chuckled together, and it became obvious that the Cadet's joke was a way to both calm himself down after his rushed experience and hope to relieve some sort of stress Vera was feeling, even if he had no idea what it was about.
