Trinity

Well, it was Nice while it Lasted

Four months later they're gearing up for an excursion. The science team was going to properly scout out new build sites and it was up to SecOps to keep them safe during the one to two week trip. A couple avatars would be joining them but they were also just scientists, none of them knew how to actually defend themselves or handle a gun. The team was gearing up and heading towards the debrief, when the pain started.

It was blinding, white, searing, stabbing and she thought her head was actually going to explode. It came in waves so she tried to power through it. Quaritch was debriefing the SecOps team when he noticed how she kept grimacing but said nothing. He would pull her aside after. Turns out he didn't need to. Once dismissed, she tried to stand and almost fell over; her knuckles were white from gripping the table so hard.

"Fuck." She gritted out.

"Menace?" Wainfleet was next to her, ready to brace her if she fell. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she let out an agonized sound and grabbed her head.

"Feels like my head is splitting open." Ja, came up beside her and looked into her eyes.

"Do you wear contacts?" Ten groaned.

"Yeah." She figured he was about to tell her to remove them but he didn't get the chance, small miracles.

"Lyle, help me get her to med bay. The rest of you, head out." They hesitated slightly, out of concern not defiance. "Ain't shit you can do if something's wrong, go." When they left he threw off his extra gear and picked her up gently, cradling her to his chest.

"In front, corporal. I don't want anyone gettin' in the damn way."

"Yes sir."

Once she was safe in med bay, they had to leave. They couldn't hold up an entire mission for one person and she had already passed out from the pain. She woke up in her room with an IV hooked up.

"Forced rest for at least one week. No one in this room. Your food will be delivered to you." The general told her.

"Fair enough, what the hell happened?"

"You can't use the contacts for a week and a half." Fuck. The contacts. She hadn't been taking them out for long enough, spending far too much time with Miles and not wanting him to find out. Made sense why Ja asked her, he probably noticed the film when he got close enough.

"And going forward you will stick to a regimen where you remove them for at least 8 hours a day." She accepted, that was pretty fair. "You have to take care of yourself Tenera. You are far too much of an asset for me to lose due to you not taking out the fucking contacts."

"They give me some semblance of normality. You know damn well they won't act like I'm a person if they know. I realize that I'm not one, but it doesn't change the fact that I feel like one." The general sighed heavily and kneeled down to be eye level with her.

"I know, and if you want to keep that level of normalcy you have to take care of yourself."  "Understood Sir."

"Your team should be back by the time you're able to wear them again."

Well that was good at least. She'd still be able to keep up the ruse that she was human. Needed to figure out how to deal with her not usually being in her room at night... but she had almost two weeks to figure that out. She sighed heavily. This wasn't going to end well.

=-=

A week and a half later she was finally freed from her bedroom prison. The scientists were set to return within the next hour and her team would return after that. Ten went over blueprints for different base plans using the information the scientists found on the excursion, making small edits and suggestions to ensure the buildings were safer from the surrounding environment. Thank fuck it wasn't her job to come up with a solution, just that a solution needed to be found to circumvent the dangers posed by either angry plants or animals.