16. Eleven Percent
SIXTEEN
ELEVEN PERCENT
Kess found Reyna the following morning, while she was in the corridor outside the bridge, reviewing a maintenance report on her datapad that she'd already reviewed twice.
"Captain."
"Chief."
"I think you should come to the Med Bay with me." Reyna looked up from the maintenance report, concern on her face.
"Is someone hurt?"
"No," Kess responded simply, but Reyna could see the twitch of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
"What is it, then?" Reyna asked, exasperated.
"I would prefer if you come to the Med Bay to see the data for yourself."
Reyna raised an eyebrow.
"Please?" Kess remarked, sticking her lower lip out in a pout that she only reserved for when she wanted things to go her way. Reyna rolled her eyes.
"Fine, but if my reports are late, you're helping me once again ensure they get done, no matter how many pages we have to complete together. Understood?"
"Worth it," Kess remarked. "Let's go." And with that, Kess turned on her heel and started walking back down the corridor towards the Med Bay, Reyna rushing to fall into step beside Kess.
When they reached the Med Bay, Kess led them to the diagnostic console, and tapped a few keys to bring up some images and charts.
"I wanted to show you these reports," Kess said. "Your reports."
Kess turned to look over at Reyna. Reyna's eyes widened.
"What...?" Reyna suddenly felt her pulse in her throat. "Why? Am I sick? Oh god, what's wrong with me?" Reyna asked sharply, the octave of her voice rising with each question.
"No." Then Kess looked up and pinched her brows together. "Well, at least, not in a way that's bad."
"How can you be sick and it not be bad?" Reyna was shrieking now.
"Calm down, your squeaker is hitting new levels of pitch today." Reyna looked directly at Kess, worry evident all over her face, pleading with her friend to make sense.
"Your cortisol-equivalent levels have decreased eleven percent since the alien's arrival."
Reyna's face grew stern. "Charlie."
Kess rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Yes, since Charlie's arrival."
"So you're saying my cortisol levels are connected to an unprecedented event that occurred on my ship."
"That's sort of what I'm saying."
"Now what the hell does that mean?" Reyna was having enough of this cat and mouse game.
Kess smirked. "It just means your stress levels are chilling the fuck out, more than they ever have before. And it's been since Charlie got here."
"They don't feel very chill right now," Reyna grumbled.
"I can see that. I'll make note of today's probable increase due to situational events."
"You're the situational event."
"I'm well aware, Captain."
Reyna just stared at Kess while silence stretched between them. "Is that all?" Reyna asked.
"Actually, no," Kess remarked, the rising excitement in her voice palpable.
"Did you know your sleep efficiency has also improved by roughly the same margin since Charlie's arrival?
You're averaging six hours and forty minutes according to this data, up from five hours and fifty that used to be your norm. "
"I still don't know what this has to do with you bringing me over here. These all seem good. Why would you drag me—"
"And did you know," Kess interrupted. "Even your jaw tension has reduced measurably. I can actually see it while I'm standing here next to you."
Reyna's hand twitched toward her jaw. But she stopped it before it could reach.
"I still saw that."
Dammit.
"Well, that's very thorough of you," Reyna said.
"I'm your physician. Thoroughness is the job."
"Okay, fantastic," Reyna remarked, throwing her hands up in mock celebration. "But I still don't understand what this all means. Why are you telling me this?"
Silence stretched between them while Reyna's question hung in the air.
"You seem well, Rey," Kess finally said, quietly. Her smirk was gone and the teasing in her voice had disappeared.
Reyna looked right at Kess, who was watching her with pale green eyes that never missed a single beat. But as had always been the case, she waited for Reyna to direct the conversation, now that it had entered a territory that was... fragile.
Reyna blew out a deep breath. "I feel well," Reyna said simply.
Though it wasn't like it wasn't true. She did feel well, better than she had in a long time, actually.
Even the ship felt as though it was running more smoothly.
The Aetherfin were settled, all the habitats were well maintained and monitored, and even the crew seemed lighter and livelier.
Reyna could feel it in the corridors, how they hummed with an energy that hadn't been there just a month ago.
"Good," Kess said, no further discussion necessary. Reyna understood Kess knew that something was happening, even strictly from biological data alone.
But Reyna figured it was strictly due to the success of the previous missions, the crew’s elevated morale, and the general good run of her ship. And, well, if anything else decided to present itself, she would just nip that in the bud faster than you could say Emberkind CV-0417.
No big deal.