Selnos: A Star Trek Story

Lillie: [12] Crumbling Down yet Building Up

Lillie threw the silver sheet over Lila Stone, the engineering officer that she had failed to save. She felt small because of her incapability to save her. It had all happened so quickly. And now, as Lillie read the report on the health of the girl, she realized that she couldn't have saved her even if she wanted to. And she had wanted to save her. So badly.

She looked over to see Aria. Aria laid a hand on top of the girl. "Lila Stone, the word is given. Take it forth with you, to wherever you travel." Then she ran out of Medbay. It hit Lillie hard, too. But, she had to stay here. Medbay was where she worked, and she had to stick around, even though the aroma of death was in the air.

Jonas walked over, and looked at Lillie, an almost sympathetic look on his face. "Lillie-" He began, but stopped himself, and took a pause. "I'm letting you off for the day. Go to your quarters, grab a beer or something. Something to help get your mind off of her. I'll make sure somebody tells her boyfriend what happened when he comes up."

Despite feeling tied to her duty as a nurse, she was grateful for the time away from Medbay. She nodded. "Thank you," She said, her voice wavering ever so slightly. Then, she turned and walked out the door.

The hallways were cold. Colder than Lillie had ever remembered them.  Her footsteps seemed to echo through the halls as she quickly walked down them. She couldn't take her mind off of Lila, off of Dane, who must've been up there by now. How would he react? Would he know that it was Lillie that had failed to save his beloved? Or would he be oblivious to who the failed nurse was and make it his life goal to find her? Whatever the case was, she didn't want to think about it.

"Lillie!"

Lillie looked behind her to see Aria, running down the hallways to her. "Yes?" She said wearily.

"It's not your fault. None of this is you fault," Aria panted as she came up beside Lillie.

"I know," Lillie sighed. She didn't want to think about anything pertaining to what had just happened.

"No," Said Aria. "Really. I have an idea about what might of happened to the warp core. It was sabotaged."

The nurse tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Sabotaged?" She repeated.

Aria nodded. "Well, here's my thought process. The warp core was workin' right before the Romulans transported two bastards over. I took out one of 'em...but the other one must've done what they had intended on doing when they came over here. Probably got beamed back over to the ship that was cloaked before anyone could catch 'em."

"Your point?"

"My point is that the Romulan that I didn't catch had to 've tampered with my baby - I mean - my warp core. Probably some scheme to make it explode. And it worked. Maybe, they found a way to make it show up as functional on the screens up on the bridge, then when it actually was being used, it would blow. Which is exactly what happened. And that substance might have been what had gotten Lila."

That got Lillie's mind turning. "I get it. So, what can we do? Are you sure that the warp core is good now?"

Aria shook her head. "I think it is, but I can't be sure. I'm worried that whatever substance or programming the Romulan put into the 'core, because some of it might still be in there. I'm advising not going to warp just in case the whole thing blows."

"And you need me...why?"

"Because you're a doctor, and doctors know things."

Lillie raised an eyebrow.

"And because you're my friend and I want you down there," Aria laughed. Lillie smiled.

"Lead the way."

♣♣♣♦♦♦♠♠♠♥♥♥

"WHAT?!" Aria yelled, after running the reports on the warp core.

Lillie nodded. "This doesn't even seem possible. It's such a rare thing, Teslockian Particles."

"They're the little buggers that get in the way of the matter-anitmatter fusion. They cause it to backfire and completely blow up," Aria said angrily. "Whoever the bastard Romulan was that put it in here didn't have much time, because there isn't much left over. But, still, some is left in there. We're goin' to get it out."

Lillie looked at Aria, who's face was red with anger. She'd never seen Aria like this. But, when it came to her warp core "baby", Lillie could understand Aria's concern for it.

"Is that it?" Lillie asked. "What else do we still have to do?"

"I'm goin' to have to manually go and program the sensors inside the core. To the bridge, the warp core looks like it's ready to go. But it's not," Aria said. "I have to get it so that the sensors accurately show the state of the core."

"Sounds good, Aria. I'll tell the captain."