Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Homeworld - Tales of the Vjel-Amaj: Aira's Quest - Part I ❯ Chapter 13 – Awakenings ( Chapter 13 )

Echoes of a voice hollows into the subconscious of the young girl that rested upon the medical bed. Movements are seen below her closed eyes.
Plethora of Blurry dreams flew amidst the deep of her mind... Broken fragments of her memory and of another being. A guiding voice, a guiding being.
Far too many wild images... Reminiscences of the guiding voice. Vivid stars. Frightening events. A titanic ship... Pride and sorrows... Her naji... Navigation. Folds of space. Again, broken fragments... Pain - a stabbing pain alike a nail deeply pierced within her head causing both of her hands to cower upon her head - The sudden smell of a beautiful world... Well-beings. Nebulas... A feeling of home. Gasping deaths... Confusion. Too fast for her mind to comprehend...

The voice hollowed its call to her again... Mind soothingly. Ending all at once, the calm plead to fold both of their thoughts together. The voice and hands embraced her, though weak and hardly felt. Wake up, young mind... Wake up... Follow my song...


Chapter 13 - Awakenings

Sitting upon the seat of his quarters, the captain of the ship held a monolog, dictating a report into the ship's log. Faint sounds of the maintenance crews working on the ship and other several echoes hollowed among as he spoke:

“...This is the second situational report of the previous chief-in-command despite the end and void of contract: It has been nearly 24 hours ever since our arrival upon the abandoned taiidan mothership that is surrounded by a vast spherical field of debris and destructed ships.”

Images and documented camera feeds of the mothership's exterior, its unimaginable vast bubble filled with the ship graveyard and space, are revealed as he dictated his thoughtful words, each second recalling all of his memories.

“The only presence, Shodanii, which has guided here, has randomly transmitted data and information of this vessel including layouts, network maps of its interior.”

He pressed another key, causing blinking mainframes to appear besides a row of overlaying symbols and guidelines.

“As said before in the first report, certain questions still remain a mystery to us. The connection between the deaths of its crew, the existence of another mothership during the first war, the discovery of both turanic ships and vaccinated beast infestations and the reason why we found this vessel in this dangerous star system are only fragments of a shattered truth we tend to seek...”

Awoken by the hollowing voice in her mind, Aira's eyelids slowly opened. An unfamiliar ceiling... but it did not disturb her as usual. The air was cool and the lights were dimmed. Surprisingly, Aira remained calm. Despite her innermost fear to unfamiliar places, Aira's true self seemed not to even react as usual at all. Covered by a warm blanket, the girl arose her upper body and looked around. Her eyes discovered a familiar woman who quietly rested far ahead on the side of the room, but Aira did not react. Instead, the girl's arm gently threw the blanket away from her, turned herself and dropped her legs over the edge of the medical bed.

The captain lifted himself and walked to the side of the large room.
“Shodanii wishes to explain what she names the `Incident of all Cause', but she is unable to uphold her signal for too long. For now, I shall add all discoveries and reports under the classified name `High Incident' upon the subdirectory of this report.
The following chief-in-command will continue with this procedure. Shodanii has pleaded us to seek her true presence that is somewhere deep within the mothership in order to speak with her without interruption: A far away, self-contained and distinct section, where all grids meet - The core amidst the bridge. *Pauses* Unfortunately...”

Another group of images showed up within his mind, reminding him of the scans and details giving by the enigmatic being of the mothership.

“There are several decompressed decks, destructed paths and certain regions that are frequently - as one would say - `decompressive-vented' due to certain regulations to maintain hull integrity. It is still unclear who or what Shodanii is.
Her voice does resemble that of a mature woman with an older adaptation of the galactic common language, but it is extremely garbled over all possible filters of comm-lines and is often supported by an additional voice that leads us to the theory that she may be some sort of A.I. - Still, this does not comply completely, as she is able to form and feel conscious and - and what some of the crew said, `feelings' alike a sentient being.
We will follow these facts and neglect the comment of a simple A.I. computer. She seems to be the only survivor - or at least the only one capable of communication. We will continue our search for any other survivors. Shodanii is aware of our situation, but is fulfilled with great... fear... of our well-being and of an unknown event that is either happening or will happen; An event so great and destructive that makes her desperate and frantic for her to support us.”

He cleared his voice.

“Shodanii has freely granted us to take any goods or objects we wish to take with us and as for that cause, I will explain more later. Her deeds, however, are not certain, though. She has frequently reminded us of a plea, a so-called `Favor' that she wishes us to fulfill at the end.
She has not explained her favor yet. I have made her clear that whatever costs of this favor may be, if it is too high, we will not fulfill it - Nonetheless, she accepted my terms.
Alas, our objective for now is to form a small task group of marines, scientists, crewmen and volunteers to venture beyond the safe perimeters to the excutive bridge and the core of the mothership while our crew maintains the `Vjel-Amaj'.”

With half-opened but large pupil eyes, the adolescent kadeshi girl began to walk ahead with slow steps. Still wearing her kadeshi dress, she quietly made her way out of the rear section. Aira was sleepwalking.

Making another pause, the captain turned around shortly and lifted a set of highly detailed satellite photos including wavelength pictures and topographical scans.

“I shall continue with reports from our astronomical and observatory crew. Our probes have scanned most of the ships exteriors and as said before, our discoveries are full of mysteries. The derelict taiidan and turanic vessels show clear facts of fierce battles - yet, it seems as if they have simply... gone berserk.
This includes the destruction of a mobile taiidan or turanic outpost backslash vessel, capital and titan vessels. Despite the age of all destructed hulks and debris, we have discovered that battles have occurred several times with many years in between. Theories say the crew and its fleet must have grown hatred or mutiny among each other - maybe through sudden changes of psyche or doctrines due to the decades of being lost in space.
Additionally - probably another decade later, the dying remains of the beast must have discovered this mothership and tried a desperate infestation to manifest its existence despite the fact it would die out no matter what.
Maybe the taiidans did not know of it until it became too late or it caught them by surprise. Also, the taiidans for sure did not know how to contain this dreadful infection. Probes have discovered fields of corpses exposed to space. We shall pray for these lost lives despite their past alignment.
Dr. Pethera S'jet of the scientist faction onboard our ship does have an explanation for the cause of the gigantic empty sphere repelling the gases of this system yet holding the vast graveyard of derelicts and corpses within at place. It seems the mothership is still upholding a passive but remarkable gravimetric field, alike the gravity drive systems of the `Vjel-Amaj' - but on a much larger scale. It is likely that the field generators are the cause for the frequent noise and issues of the vessel's hull integrity.”

Pulling out the last picture, it revealed the question that gave him the most worries.

“But that is not all. According to the scan picture, declared identification code - E7928-JKL-OL11-XX2, we have discovered another mystery: Either a massive explosion or any other type of physical violence seems to have torn a large portion of the mothership's hull - and for sure this is one of the main causes for all the decompression issues to this date.
Beneath, it seems as if the ship has been stripped of its hyperspace drive - power plant - field enhancer - all in one... but not any drive or hyperspace module. No, judging its majestic size, we have come to the conclusion that it must be a Hyperspace Core induced with an unknown source of power according to the vast numbers of power grid connections based from here.
The size is remarkable. She commented that this core is nothing alike the Trinity Cores contained deep within the heart of the awoken Sajuuk. Amaji Command - I fear that all of these discoveries are leading us to something much larger than our expectations.
We will continue our efforts but we must spread the truth that another powerful Core exists... and that is... missing. With all the obstructed pods, dropships, rotten soil enrichment and protein seeds and the plethora of other facts - We have come to the end conclusion that the whole mothership is nothing alike the military mothership of the taiidan emperor Riesstiu...
It is by far the most advanced and largest far-jumping deep space colony vessel I have ever seen - if not `the' largest every made by mortal hands.”

As Aira slowly walked ahead, none of the medical personnel noticed the girl making her way directly towards the exit. The medical assistant who was at the lobby was distracted just as she walked her way out. Noticed by two armed marines standing besides the door of the sickbay, both looked with puzzled faces while they stared behind the kadeshi girl ignoring the two as she walked further along the corridor.

“Shouldn't we...?”
“Negative. Our orders deal with Commander Delixa - and not some kid.”
“'kay...”
“Anyways. That kadeshi gives me the creeps. Did you see her eyes?”
“Yea'... - but I still wonder what she's up to.”

The captain shook his head and laid the pack of pictures back upon the desk.
“As for the crew, it has established itself well despite all causes during the journey within this system. Currently, the crew is trying to recreate itself by joining small expeditionary groups and expanding or supporting the settlement camps among the inner scaffold region around the cruiser.
Meanwhile, engineering and damage control teams are maintaining issues with the ship's propulsion and life supporting systems. A great deal of the crew however still does suffer from the losses.
CEO Asad must be dealt with once we return to amaji space. Reports say that he is responsible for the deaths and the loss of a mining ship. We cannot charge him now due to the current situation.”

He paused once more as another row of corpses appeared within his mind, followed by other crewmen bringing ancient objects into the cruiser.

“There have been minor reports of frightened men and women who found subdued, shot, rotten or infested corpses, but psychologically, they are slowly recovering from the on-going stress. Many have claimed this ship to be a `gold-mine full of ancient artifacts'.
Crewmen have even begun transferring useful and historical objects into our ship. I have also granted the request of commanding officer of the strikecraft unit to have one of the taiidan interceptors to be transferred into our cargo bays. All crewmembers have been informed to leave personal values of the lost lives. Following Shodanii's support, we will only concetrate on objects that are truly useful. We are not here to plunder all of its goods.”

Approaching the cabinet to his side, it revealed assets of medals and military decorations.

“Before I end this report, I would like to inform that I will proceed with the last task despite the expired contract and will follow the last order of the Kiith Amaj Naval Command. Following the time set, I will soon call the commanding officers to my quarters. Pride. -End of Report-.”


Exterior area of the `Vjel-Amaj', near the airlock section...
After bypassing several patrolling teams and sentry unit of marines, the girl seemed to walk aimlessly throughout the settlement camp. The camp had several tall and bright lanterns shining pale white light and was more of a maze due to the countless numbers of cargo units, stacked containers, groups of people and many other things alongside to the people around. The empty-minded girl continued upon her unknown path. Some of the people around wondered what she was doing but still maintained their duty and conversations with each other. Stopped by a curious crewman, the man asked her where she was going.
He warned her that this place was a dangerous one and not for wandering girls. However, Aira only looked up to him and said something in her kadeshi language. Before he could question her gibberish, Aira suddenly turned away and seemed as if she knew where to go all the sudden.
At first being distracted by something else, the crewman returned his view but suddenly saw the girl reaching the ending perimeter of the camp, crossing the border between light and darkness.
With her figure disappearing into the darkness, the man shouted for her to come back but there was no response.
Dropping the small container he carried, he immediately called the marines over to follow her path, but it was too late. It was a mystery to them how such a girl was able to find her way so easily through the maze of large containers that blocked both view and path to the edge of the wide and open area of the scaffold sector.
Flashlights met the wall of sealed door. No access panel or any other possible means of access other than shifting barrier that blocked the way. The door led to Hydroponics, a section filled with overgrown vegetation and unusual nutritional plants and seeds.
One of the marines called over his communication unit that the specific person has made her way beyond their sector and that the available search parties in that area should try to find her. Nobody had the slightest clue where she was going or why she walked off.

- Values and Pride... -
(Narrative speech)
*A rather absurd and macabre broadwave television commercial of males and females reporting themselves is seen, a known commercial throughout many freaquencies within the Hiigaran Empire. `We honor our gifted values. Honor the Kiith. Serve by giving birth...' - and many more comments are followed by images of men and women seemingly proud and happy by receiving commodities and other valuable things, places, landscapes and even colonies and space stations.*
Bond of love leads to seeding new life. In times of many deaths, the bond is sometimes replaced by Need. Seeding of new life in space during such times is a desperate one. And those who can seed new life are not only more valuable - but in grave danger of being hunted and desperately needed.
(End of narrative speech)

Shocked by a loud shout, it is Dr. Jonas who is surprised by the sudden awakening of Hailynn. Rushing over to her but not too close, Jonas still kept a cautious distance to her. Hailynn's breath rushed several times before she finally began to calm down. It was easy to see that she was totally disorientated. Sitting upwards with wild hair and sweat upon her face, she looked around as she began to recognize where she was.

“Finally - you've come back to yourself... Makes two wake-ups for the day...”
It seemed as if she was back to normal... slightly.

“Wha- *pant* What happened? S-Sickbay?I-I ... I ... was... at the bridge...only a second ago --

“Calm down, Commander. Calm down.”

She rubbed the side of her forehead. The tense headache was killing her. But not only that was disturbing her. Every movement felt like cold needles poking her body along with the odd emotions and a slight vulnerability to touches and the cool air.

“W-Was I in cryo?”, she asked as she slid her hands upon the innumerable goosebumps of her arms, “Ngh... I feel...”, her voice painfully spoke.
“Detox-Infusions and its effects. You're still under its influence.”
“Huh?”

Jonas gently pushed her back upon the bed and checked her vital signs.
Infusions? Lifting her left arm, she found a sophisticated patch with infusion needles stuck around her wrist. Using her hand, she felt several small and flat objects upon her skin - probably a group of those medical gadgets monitoring whatsoever, she assumed.
At first making a firm face, the doctor pulled out the cartridge that still contained the pills and drug mixture. He did not need to say a word as the cartridge itself said enough.

Dropping it again, she made a soft sigh, “Oh...”
Jonas shook his head as he took a seat next to her, “Hailynn... You were very lucky on this one...”

“Gods - Please, don't start”, she said and rolled her head away from him.

“Look at me. Please -”
Hailynn hesitated at first, but insisted to turn around. Twitching the edge of her mouth, she knew she was up for the medical concerns also known as `moral preaching'.
“- I can't believe what you've done to yourself and your body.”

“There's no big deal in talking about it, Doc' - You've gotten rid of the drugs anyways, didn't you?”
“No. I couldn't.”
“Huh?”
“I was about to dispose them, when I figured out you - well actually, your body - will be asking for them as soon as the infusion's effect wears off. I'll cut the story short: You are addicted - but that a lot more intense than before. We've been through this part already and I think you know what is going on”, the doctor explained as he rubbed his chin, “You have no idea how much I hate this... cortisine drug. Even more, I won't believe what I am about to say, but I have ordered one of my assistants to have the remaining pills to be combined with several other liquids so you can use it with an injection gun plus capsules. The detoxication freed you from the dangerous remains in your blood, but your psyche and body will still be `craving' for more. The fluid will surely be more effective than the substitute drugs we insisted to give you first. Whatever may be, you need to fight this... but without overdose - just three per day. The less, the better. Do you understand?”

“...Yeah-”

“No. Do you understand? Only three doses per day! - And for next twelve hours of today, once...! You don't understand. Right now, you are `fine' - but you just wait till it drops on you in the most inappropriate time. It WILL ranshack your body of all hormones - or just flood you with it - only to ask you for more of that devilish drug! Damn it, Commander - I've seen many people been...!”
He halted his rather furious speech.
Hailynn shuddered slightly as she heard his harsh remark. Jonas had no real choice but to make it loud and clear that this was serious.
“I got it, I got... it...”

Jonas calmed down and apologized for his remark.
“Commander Delixa... Hailynn. *rubs his face* Explain me one thing: Why did you start on this whole military career? Your previous medical health status by the record was an outstanding `Grade A'... Acceptable for any colony repopulation program. Excuse my questioning - but in times like these and after all these wars and the journey to the homeworld, giving birth is a gift and is the definitely the best to do to support the Kiith - if not, the entire Hiigaran Empire. No financial problems... Insurances... Kiithid prides... Acceptance - Away from all of this abominating, life-consuming stress - Countless deaths...”

Hailynn looked down upon her. There was a point to his words, but memories slowly appeared within her throbbing head, reminding her why she chose this dangerous career. Mixed feelings started to develop as her memories revealed lost thoughts of her family, Kiith Delixa and the plans they had for her...

“Acceptance? My - by bloodline - family and their hideous intentions for my future was the cause for my... decision”, Hailynn looked up to him again with hateful eyes and a slightly more aggressive voice, “I... I had a choice... and the military was all I've had, Doc'. It was my only chance to get away - to escape the madness they wanted to force me to. And the last thing I wanted to do was to become a nameless breeding chamber of many men of our kiith and other kiithid - and then to be sent to some fracking world at the edge? - They, not even my family, would have cared who I am or how many healthy children I may have brought to this world - all of them to be taken away from me so everything could start from the beginning?!... No way... NO FRACKING WAY-!”

Hailynn calmness suddenly jolted up into anger.

“H-Hailynn, calm down! -...”
Luckily, she managed to stop herself from the sudden emotional release.
“My gods - those drugs really had you under their control. You know what - Let's drop this, before we awake that inner demon we struggled to bring asleep.”

She lifted her shaking hands in front of her face and slowly held them together to suppress the trembling. Hailynn looked up to him when she noticed his strange pronunciation of demon. There was a short jolt in her, a short rush that gave her a very disturbing feeling.
Though only a short living feeling, her hands tensely curled among the blanket her legs laid beneath. It was simple to figure out the doctor, according to his high medical ranking status, had high access to her medical records.

Dr. Jonas knew practically everything of her health hence the fact that he knew of her `Grade A' classification for... biological reproduction uses - which acted for all kiithid and other factions in space more likely as a highly valuable material good or service.
Males, of course, were needed too, but abundance existed throughout space and all kiith but the Kiith Amaj.
Whatever was natural to any other race outside and beyond hiigaran space nowadays was a rather devastatingly high privilege to females able to give birth throughout the Hiigaran Empire. Some would claim this as a `biological conscription' - a rather harsh search and persuasive draft of healthy females - sometimes forced.
Also, there was a connection between the reports of turanic raiders haunting colonies or colony ships and deep space bases for them. There were some resistances within the Hiigaran Empire, but they all have settled down to adapting to the sad situation. All wars had their costs, the Hiigara-Vaygr war being the highest.

The military brought Hailynn away from the madness of repopulation - but foremost, it was the new forming of Kiith Amaj and its `kiithial' laws, such as the individual freedom she wishes to protect; Never to be persecuted for forcing imminent breeding and pregnancy. A law protecting both male and females.
Despite the military support of other kiithid, the amaji-born and those who are entrusted know that the other kiithid within the Amaji Council and Amaji High Command hate them for their agenda and laws. Some say this is the reason why the small Kiith Amaj is situated at the outer rim of hiigaran space, practically open wound to any dangers of space piracy and such. All means of survival in such region is a never-ending perilous test...

Nonetheless, despite her `reproductive status', it was Hailynn's psyche that was not flawless... and Jonas knew of this.

Before Jonas was able to say another word, two other voices were suddenly heard from the entrance of the rear section. The voices were coming closer. The one voice that frequently spoke in a harsh tone possessed a strong accent, somewhat shouting at the other person that sounded like one of Dr. Jonas' assistants.
“Where's she - huh, here - or here?!”
“Ma'am - please. You should not be -”
“Shuuut-up, `n' show me where she is!”
Hailynn lifted her view... That one voice sounded awfully familiar.
Rather busting in into the room, Kaydaana halted right at the edge of entrance.
“Aha - There you are...!”
“Colonel - p-please”, the assistant pleaded and tried to push her out of the room again, vainly, “The patient is in need of rest. No v-visi-tors...”
“Back off...”, the angered manaani said to her and pushed the assistant without any real self-esteem to the side. Ignoring the demand, she simply walked her way towards Hailynn, not even caring what the others had to say, “Been held off long enough.”
“It is okay, assistant. Let her in and return to the lobby.”

Standing now on the other side of Hailynn's medical bed, the manaani hothead began to speak of many things. So many things were said that there was no chance in holding her back at all. For the next ten seconds, Kaydaana just spoke like an endless waterfall. The one assistant wanted to interrupt her but she just spoke on.
“...Damn it - people been holdin' me away from yah for the hold time... and...”

However, as the seconds gone by, Kaydaana started to slow down on her talking while she noticed Hailynn's odd reaction. Hailynn stared back at her with wide eyes and a broad smile. This was actually the first time ever where Kaydaana was surprised by such an odd glare from her... arch nemesis.

“Kaydy...”, Hailynn quietly whispered with happiness..., “Y-You're alive!”
“Wha-? Yeah... Duh, Hailey - How'd yah figure... huh?!”, the manaani replied, but was suddenly held down by Hailynn's arms that embraced her... She was hugging her!
Kaydaana could not believe what was going on. Noticing the doctor, he only moved his mouth, seemingly pronouncing the phrase `side-effects'.

Needing to get free from Hailynn's unusual grip, Kaydaana laid both of her hands upon the shoulders of the sudden euphoric hiigaran woman.
“Damn it... What the frell did they give yah here in this place?! -What are you talkin' about, Hailey? Of course, I'm alive... Did yah forget what happened the passed few days?!”
Now it was Hailynn who threw a surprised face.
“Days?”
“Is there an echo in this room, woman?! Yeah, days. Yah've been on some kinda drug trip. Yah the big gossip of the ship since ... and I'm not through with yah yet!”
“It is true, Hailynn”, Jonas added, “You've lost consciousness and control of yourself...”

“Wait, wait - what is going on? Did we get out of the comet? What is our - Status?! Is it still red?”, Hailynn slowly became anxious again, “Kaydy - What the hell are you doing here?! You were in space with a strike group - How did you get here all the sudden...”

Kaydaana threw a glimpse at the doctor as Hailynn frequently threw questions at her.
“Girl - yer soooo messed up.”
“...”
“Hailynn”, Jonas asked, “You seemed to be confused of many things. You have been brought here and you have been unconscious for almost two days... Don't you remember anything? What is the last thing you can recall?”

Hailynn paused and looked towards her feet, more likely into the emptiness of her memory before her imaginable eyes. Indeed, something was not right, “I-I... I was at the bridge. I reported to the bridge... Hoping all of you would return in safety. But then something happened. I grew worried - but... angered at the same time. - Then I found myself again, lost, hurt... on the ground... My nose--”, she rubbed her fingers under her nose but felt nothing but her bare fingertips, “-- It... bled... - and then I woke up here...”

“My... Sounds like the drugs had more affect on you. Your outburst must have caused amnesia... But that is not all. All of this what has been said are symptoms leading to something else, Hailynn... I'm sorry, Hailynn, but you do seem to know what I mean. According to your record - The enrage caused by the drugs and the stress, lost of mind...”, Jonas suddenly added.
A dreadful feeling went down Hailynn's spine, “Oh gods... no...”
“Yes...”

“She's... back...”, Hailynn whispered with a weak voice.
“Who?!”, Kaydaana did not know what she meant. Hailynn's comment was so low that it sounded as if she feared something intimidating of herself. A secret between the two perhaps, but Hailynn remained quiet.
All the sudden, Kaydaana took that victorious pose again. That arrogant pose of lifting her shoulder while lying her hand upon her chest as she proudly chattered, “Anywaaaays, thanks to Ray `n' mah boys, we recovered them... - speaking of Ray, I gotta find that damn logistics officer”, but her hand formed up into a fist as she spoke further, “Whatever - that stupid Asad guy fracked our approach and led the vaygrs to them. That sonofva got one of the mining ships to be destroyed and many of the crew injured... We could'ah had a clean getaway if it weren't fer that fool.”

Just as Kaydaana ended her speech, a flashback struck through Hailynn's mind as he heard the name. That dreaded fool... yes, of course... Some of the lost memory was coming back to her. It was only a small fragment but it already awoke her innermost anger about this man.

“Asad...*long pause* Asaaad! Ngrrrr...Where is he now?!”, Hailynn demanded.

“Wha- ? Oh, that idiot is at the cargo bay with the `Hive' ship. He's been hangin' around there the whole time - still refinin' all that stuff he and his crew harvested during the last days. That guy is just friggin' idiot, Hailey... Waste-of-time.”

“He's not gettin' away with this... Not this time!”, Hailynn said and slowly lifted herself upwards.
Surprised by her sudden reaction, Jonas wanted to stop her, but Hailynn's determination was already pushing her to the top again. He needed to keep her calm but holding back would only make her too anxious than she already was.
“- I need to see that frackin' idiot now!”
Hailynn was getting angrier by the second - but both Jonas and Kaydaana noticed that Hailynn was confused with lot of things. Her anger even made her ignore the painful self-removal of the needle-patch upon her wrist.

Wearing a patient's overall that was nothing more than a thin and long cloth of clothing, Hailynn staggered as she got upon her feet to approach the closet that had her previous clothes for sure. She still had several small but remote medical devices among her body, but she did not care about them. She only had one thing in mind: Asad.

“-Err Hailey, cool down, girl. No need to prove some manaani blood there, now-”, Kaydaana insisted to say but was ignored.

The hiigaran woman mumbled the whole time as she spoke on. Embarrassed by her next movement, Jonas rubbed his eyes in annoyance and disgrace as Hailynn viciously threw the single-pieced patient-gown off her, leaving her partially naked with the group of bio-medical devices.
Putting on familiar clothing again, she found almost all of her previous clothing, shoes, her communication gear, undergarments, the black vest and the both stained navy-blue long-skirt and uniform jacket.
However, there was the subtle smell of her sweat emitting from the undergarments - a very uncomfortable feeling went through her as she put on the cold and rather damp underwear. She had to get through this. Almost done, Hailynn checked the small closet several times, but it seemed that something was missing, as she through a look upon her empty gun holster.

“W-Where's my service handgun?”
“Not here. But I do remember that somebody said something about X-O Orelis keeping it for the moment”, Jonas replied.
“X-O? Hmm, guess I was long away after all.”
“Hailynn, you don't know all of the story. There's more to it --”
“Not now, Doc' - I need to get to that Asad idiot! Prove me wrong, but I do remember that something gone awfully wrong and that that sonofva was the cause for deaths...!”

Jonas knew his duty was to stop her, but it was that determination of hers that told him he would not have the slightest chance in stopping her. Instead, he left the room, insisting to pick up something before Hailynn would leave.

“Yah shouldn't be doing this, Hai--”
“Oh, you bet I will- and there won't be anything to stop me, Kay' -- eh!”

Unfortunately, Hailynn determination did not expect to handle the dizziness of her body. The very moment she wanted to walk straight, the attempt immediately failed with a somewhat unbalancing sway to the side. Obviously, her balance sense was totally off the line. Having trouble trying to stay up, Hailynn breathed heavily as her eyes wandered around, feeling desorientation overcoming her a bit.
“Kaydy... Help. Now.”
“Hmpf...!”, the manaani grumbled.

Moments later, Kaydaana carried Hailynn by holding her side with her shoulder over to the lobby, soon to be stopped by Dr. Jonas.

“Doc... what now? *sighs*”
“Here. Hailynn, this is for you -”
The weary hiigaran officer received an injection gun with several reserve fluid capsules concealed within its grip; A slim but effective tool for immediate injections.

“- You know how to use it. Due to your status, I have included with adrenaline capsules, the dark yellow ones on this strip”, he added and handed another small magazine-like object, designed for replacing the current `clip' of the injection gun any time.

“Epinephrine II?!”, she said, recognizing the fluid as a known artificial stimulant mixture used in military situations - usually. It also included a blood enrichment fluid to raise or maintain physical consciousness.

“Remember that your vital signs were at the edge of arrest, Commander. This may sound threatening, but your body has received damage it has not regenerated from. Something that you don't seem to be aware of.”

Hailynn looked up at him, only to give him a short ironical smile. Just the walk here and even with the support of Kaydaana was a strenuous effort. She assumed it was the aftermath of the drugs... but there was more to it.
“The weakness you feel is the cause for your low blood pressure, Hailynn.”
“What?”

“...Don't get me wrong on letting you go; I am very concerned of you...”, Jonas explained with a firm voice,”- and I should keep you here. But I know there is no way in stopping you. Just remember: For the sake of all gods, please be careful with yourself. I want you to report back to me within the next twelve hours. Since you've decided to take the bio-sign emitters with you, they will warn you if there is any change happening to you if something might go wrong. I just want you to be equipped with the right things if you should suffer a shortage of breath - and as of you being a former marine and accordingly to your sustained health issues in a particular event, you know what to do if you happen to suffer sudden cardiac arrest. Recall what you did back then - and don't forget to bring the devices on you back.”

Only receiving a nod from Hailynn - with a gulp -, Jonas took a step to the side, making way for the patient to leave. He seemed very concerned but he simply had no real choice.
“- Just one more thing...”
“What?”
Jonas made a long pause before he continued, “She will return...”

Silently but concerned at the end, both woman limped their out and into the short corridor leading to the actual entrance to the infirmary section. To the side, there were also two entries leading to the cryo-chambers and medical storages.

“Yah gotta tell me who the hell you two are talkin' about everytime...”
“It's... nothing...”
“Com'ooon, Hailey - tell me SOMETHING! Okay, ferget that `she' - what the frell was all of this `maniac arrest' or whatever he said, huh?! Com'on. Tell me.”

“Cardiac arrest.”, Hailynn quietly said as she leaned upon Kaydaana's shoulder, “I was shot by an EMP wave through friendly-fire - more of a misplaced aim by some idiot during a hostage takedown on a planet when I was a marine back then.”
Hailynn's memory did recall the dreadful event that back on Kyori XI.
“The EMP wave was supposed to be distributed among the area of the hostage-takers, the intensity would have been weaker due to the distribution among a large group of people and non-fatal as it nearly was for me being a single person on a certain floor. I was at a remote position at the floor above them and scouted as a solo forward recon unit. When I was hit by it, I felt this short-lived pain that took me down to the ground... and the sudden feeling that things were not right. Trust me, I fought like drowning dregg trying to get that `handy' stim-needlepack out and you bet I went through a lot of praying trying to stab myself into the chest within ten seconds.”

“Wow... So you are a kushan being after all, Hailey - ha-haha... - wait, Kyori... What went wrong there, huh? Thought that place was a cozy place to settle down, yah know...”

“The insurgents were colonists holding hostages at one of those breeding places. They refused to have their women taken so instead, they took military operatives who were stationed there as hostages. After that misplaced EMP move, a few of the hostages were shot down... and very soon, it was a bloodbath. I didn't take part in the shooting, I only understood that I was on the wrong side - I just laid there with a needing poking out.”

Hailynn rubbed the area upon her chest where the needle pierced through several years ago. Mental pain was felt...
“Guess that brought yah to the Amaj, eh, old lady?”
“I told you to stop calling me-”
Immediately stopped by two marines, both rose their weapons.
“- that...?”

“Ma'am. I don't know what you two are up to, but we both are ordered to bring the Commander immediately to the brig if-”
“Oh - Shut yer mouth, Corporal!”, Kaydaana immediately yelled at him, “Get out of the way!”
Dodging the two, both women engaged a different path. One of the armed soldiers jogged in front of them again, blocking their path once more - rifle at hand.

“Ma'am. I have my orders. Orders of the captain.”
Taking this as an aggression to her dignity - as usual-, Kaydaana immediately let go of Hailynn, causing the weak and weary woman to sway against the wall due to her imbalance. It was easy to see that Kaydaana was a person one could easily distract - simply by insulting or the attempt of intimidating her.
“What's this, Corporal - Yah up for a fight? Go ahead. Stop us... - Captain may have given yah orders, but there is always a chain of command - and I'm the highest around here and I will beat yah with that chain if I must...”, she viciously said at him.
Hailynn rose her hand but slipped to the floor. Obviously, she wanted to show that they were equally ranked -but she kept quiet.

Both stood in front of each other, their noses only single inches away from each other. Nonetheless, after several moments, the Corporal moved himself away from their way and lowered his rifle.
“Cor-Corperal”, Hailynn repeated with a shaky voice, “Just inform the Captain and let us go. It's not likely we'll be going anywhere special. We're in deep space at the comet.”
The Corporal made a very awkward face as he moved aside, though there was a point to her words.
“Hmpf. Fine. But you two will be up for trouble due to disobeying the captain's direct orders.”
“And may the gods smite mah soul for that -”, Kaydaana quietly said before lifting Hailynn up again in order to continue on their path, “Jus' report to the cap' an' cry him a river...”

Slightly annoyed but eager, the marine pulled back to the other one and reached for his communication unit to report to the captain of this occasion at once.

“Hailey?”
“What.”
“Yer one smelly officer...”
“Shut up. I haven't changed clothes or taken a bath. Just hold your breath and get me to Asad...”
Walking along the corridor, both were noticed by many other operatives and crewmen. But it was their eyes that slightly frightened her. None of them seemed pleased to see her. In fact, some tried to avoid crossing their view with her. It did not take long until she came to the conclusion that a lot more must have happened these two days ago.

Noticing the signal lights among the corridor being blue, Hailynn's eyes widened as she notice that the ship was no long in alert status but 'Status:Blue'.
"Blue?!", she asked, "Did the vaygr get us?!"
"No - We're docked on a ship, Hailey"
"WHAT-- ?!"