12. She’s Us
TWELVE
SHE'S US
Charlie stood in the doorway of the small room, her clothes still covered head to toe in dried Gula Cake batter. She clutched her bag over one shoulder and looked at Reyna with an expression that was equal parts exhaustion and gratitude.
"Thank you," Charlie had said before Reyna walked away. "For everything. I can't imagine my showing up is making anything easier right now."
Reyna chuckled. "You have no idea." She smiled at Charlie.
"Bad day?" Charlie asked, completely innocent. “I could help with something, if you need it.”
Reyna raised an eyebrow at her, and she watched as Charlie thought about what she'd said for a minute before... ahh, there it is. "Uh, or... maybe—"
"You should get used to being on a spaceship first?" Reyna interjected.
"Ha!" Charlie exclaimed, her hand smacking the top of her thigh, dried batter flying off her in a dust cloud. Charlie coughed. "Yeah, I guess that would be wise, wouldn't it?"
"I think it would," Reyna replied. "But thank you for the offer anyway. We're excited to have you here all the same. In fact, I think it'll be an interesting six months for everyone."
"That is... an understatement," Charlie said, a laugh bubbling underneath her words. Reyna was glad to see that Charlie seemed to be working through her feelings about the six months of travel.
"I guess we'll just have to see," Reyna said. Charlie nodded, her smile settled into her features.
A moment went by as they looked at each other, before Reyna started for the door. "Now, go get some rest. And please, dear god, clean yourself up a bit. It smells like gluten exploded around you." Reyna stopped at the doorframe and turned back to Charlie.
Charlie looked her dead in the eye, then down at her clothes, and then back up at Reyna.
"It. Did!" Charlie quipped. Reyna barked out a laugh, one she wasn't expecting. She watched Charlie's smile like a beacon from across the room.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Reyna said. "Tomorrow will be easier." She turned back to the door. "At least, no pastries should be involved."
"I sure as hell hope not!" Charlie shouted after Reyna as she walked through the door and into the corridor.
"Goodnight, Charlie!" Reyna shouted back. She waited for a beat down the corridor a bit, but didn’t hear Charlie again, so she walked on.
"Goodnight, Captain!" Fifty paces away and Reyna laughed while shaking her head. The human was funny, she'll give her that.
Reyna made her way back toward the Med Bay, her boots marking a steady rhythm against the floor.
Charlie was funny. And kind, too. A good combination.
But so far, that's really all she knew about Charlie.
Between her sudden, and rather comical, arrival, and the orders from the Admiral, Reyna had only spent a short amount of time with her. Yet...
Kess would be waiting. She'd told Reyna the results would be ready close to three hours ago now. She doubted Kess would let that slip.
Reyna exhaled and let the quiet of the corridor settle around her.
The corridors of the Emberkind were always quiet at this hour, which suited Reyna just fine, especially after the day she'd had.
She had seventeen things on her command log that needed attention before the morning, and the day had started with Aetherfins in space art and ended with an Earth human in dessert.
She shook her head. Then she laughed, heartily. Because, what could she do with a day like that except laugh?
"What on the planets of Markad are you laughing so hard about?" Kess was standing at her diagnostic station with her arms crossed, markings held at their usual cool silver-blue.
"This day!" Reyna exclaimed, dropping onto a med bed again for the second time today, this time fully planning to lay down and take advantage of her ship's exquisite resources. She was the captain after all.
"Is that all?" Kess said, walking over to Reyna and looking down at her.
Reyna tilted her head at Kess. "Are you kidding me? Have you not been present for most of what occurred today? I know you've at least been privy to all of the information itself."
"Oh I've been 'privy' to a lot today, Captain," Kess quirked as she walked back to the diagnostic station. Reyna sat up.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Kess whirled around back to face Reyna. "Well, you tell me. What kind of day was today?"
Reyna's eyes went wide. "Really? So you don't recall the Aetherfin conundrum, the seventeen reports we still have to file from last month's log," Reyna's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Which you said you would help me with, by the way.
" Her voice returned to normal. "The fact that my Chief Engineer seems to think he's above certain orders, and...
oh, right... a human from Earth landed in our kitchen! "
"Another day in paradise," Kess said, turning back to the diagnostic table. Reyna glared at Kess's back.
"Sometimes, I think I need a new best friend."
"Nah, you'd never find someone as understanding as me when it comes to your... quirks."
"What quirks?!"
"I told you the results would be ready this afternoon," Kess started. "Three hours ago." Kess turned around then and stared pointedly at Reyna. Reyna had the modesty to lower her gaze.
"Ah, that," Reyna said.
Kess's mouth twitched. She uncrossed her arms and crossed to Reyna. "No skin off my nose, Rey. I just think you're going to want to see this properly." Kess sat down next to Reyna on the med bed, her datapad in hand.
Kess's use of her first name, down to its single syllable, meant the door was officially closed and they were off the clock. It was just them, friend to friend.
Kess walked her through Charlie's full results, each line of data confirming what the preliminary scan had suggested: Charlie's biology was nearly identical to Kaelari.
"She's us, Rey. Or close enough that the distinction is academic in every way that matters for treatment."
"Except the markings."
"Except the markings, the ears, and approximately 110 additional years of lifespan. But structurally? Cellularly?" Kess shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it. A species from a non-contact planet on the opposite end of Coalition space, and their biology mirrors ours almost exactly."
"What does it mean?"
"It means I can treat her. Confidently. It means she can eat our food, breathe our air, and her body will respond to our medical interventions as though she were Kaelari. It also means someone, somewhere, has a very interesting evolutionary question to answer. But that's not my department."
Reyna studied the datapad display. The data was clean, comprehensive. Kess had been thorough, as always.
"There's something else I want to discuss," Kess said. Her voice shifted. Not dramatically.
"Okay."
"You took the surgical gun from me."
It was said calmly. Clinically, even. But Reyna had known Kess for eleven years, and she heard the question underneath the statement.
"She was terrified," Reyna said. "You scared her. Twice, I might add."
"Ah, yes. I think that was about the time you gave me the 'asshole' stare."
"You deserved it at the time. Someone needed to de-escalate."
"Someone did," Kess agreed. "You. Instead of asking me to adjust my approach, which would have been the standard protocol, you demanded a medical instrument straight out of your chief medical officer's hands to perform the procedure yourself."
"You sound upset. Are you upset?"
Kess paused a moment before answering, seeming to give it thought. "No. I'm not. Not at all, actually. Just... surprised. And that doesn't happen often for me, as you well know." Reyna nodded, her eyes falling to the floor.
"It was a judgment call."
"It was."
Reyna could see Kess looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She watched as her markings didn't shift, her expression didn't change. But something in the stillness of both told Reyna that this observation would be revisited.
"Can I ask you a question without you getting jumpity?"
"When am I ever 'jumpity'?" Reyna asked incredulously, whipping her head up and shifting sharply on the med bed to face Kess.
Kess quirked an eyebrow and looked Reyna up and down slowly.
Reyna raised her eyes to the ceiling and then closed them.
"Yes, I will do my best not to be 'jumpity' with your question. "
"Thank you." Kess studied her, Reyna feeling her friend searching her eyes for something. She wasn't sure what. "Do you think she's going to be okay?"
Reyna shook her head. "Pardon?"
"Charlie," Kess stated, matter-of-factly. "Do you think she's going to be okay on the ship? Medically, I can attest that her body can handle it. But emotionally, mentally..."
Reyna relaxed, letting her shoulders fall. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "I hope so. I just wish there was something we could do to help her contact her family. I think that small piece would make the entire six months bearable, you know?"
"I think you could help her," Kess stated.
"Me?!" And there went Reyna's shoulders again, straight up to her ears.
"Don't have a hissy fit," Kess commented.
"I'm just saying, between the way you were able to communicate with her without a Voxlink, get her to trust you to the point that she let you shoot alien technology straight into her brain, and how I see her calm around you," Kess paused here, looking pointedly at Reyna. "I think you could help her."
Reyna let those words work over her. When Kess put it that way...
"Really?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah," Kess answered, smiling.
"But, I mean, how exactly?"
"I don't know," Kess answered honestly. "Maybe, for now, just be there. Listen." Kess made sure to look into Reyna's eyes. "Sit and stay with her when you see she may need some support."