Entirely Different

Chapter Fourteen : A Challenge

You didn't sleep well that night. You began getting ready far too early, stepping into the shower at around three in the morning. You spent over an hour scrubbing your body, determined to remove any indication of Kylo's presence on your skin. You felt like he had sunk into your bones, a deep part of you. The thought made you sick, positively sick. No, really sick. Without turning off the faucet, you spun out of the curtain of water, bile rising in the back of your throat. You hunched toward the toilet, vomit gurgling out of your mouth.

Vile and acidic, you hurled the contents of your stomach into the commode. The unnatural sensation spilling tears from your eyes, nose watery. One hand steadied your collapsing weight against the toilet seat, the other haphazardly held back your sopping wet hair. Your soaked body shuddered, both from the retching and chill of the cold air. Your mouth was sour and sweat prickled the back of your neck. Your stomach still rolled, threatening to spill again. You eased yourself to the floor, sure and certain you were dying.

You leaned your head against the cold durasteel wall for what seemed like an hour, waiting for the sickness to pass. A few times, you felt near compelled to pull yourself from the wall to hurl again. But luckily, it passed. Finally, you found some composure to stand. Your legs were decidedly weak, and you were thankful, in some small capacity, that your job did not require you to stand. You held the wall for support and forced yourself to walk back into the shower. The water had not yet run cold (a perk of living on such a large base – endless hot water supply) and you washed the remaining sickness away from your body.

When you were finally clean, and your legs had regained a bit of strength, you exited the shower and towel-dried your hair. You would be pulling it back for flight today and had no qualms about making it look attractive. You had no one to impress, but you did have a superior officer to prove wrong. Well, perhaps you had two; but you were certain you wouldn't be seeing the Commander today. You would, most assuredly, be seeing Officer Bailey, and you were determined to figure out why he lied.

You stalked into the bedroom, searching for where you had placed the uniform you had only received hours before. When you had returned to your room from the Commander's, you tossed the uniform to the floor, only for a moment before you grabbed it up, smoothing the pleats and freshly pressed pockets. You folded it and placed it... somewhere. Ah, on the bed. You found it, picking up the small stack. You guessed you really hadn't slept a wink, the bed looked completely untouched.

The uniform was plain, unadorned. You promised yourself you would soon acquire badges and medals to decorate the lonely, woven fabric. You selected your undergarments in a blur, not necessarily paying them any attention. You could have been mismatched, for all you knew. And you couldn't care less, to be honest. You pulled them on, covering them quickly with the uniform. The pants were tailored nicely, fitting your legs in a rather flattering way. In terms of being a uniform, that is.

It was nearing 05:00 and you couldn't wait much longer. Milling about your room was neither useful or productive and it did nothing to occupy your mind away from thoughts of the Commander. You checked your uniform in the mirror before you left, smoothing the fabric over your curves, and strode into the hall. No one was around; you were beginning to question if you had neighbors. Or if anyone actually worked on this damned base.

Your jaw was set hard and you weren't sure if it were a result of your sour mood or a reaction to your still sour mouth, jaw clenched to ward off future sickness. Your boots sounded heavy against the steel hallway floors as you made your way to the hangar bay. When you arrived, you saw only engineers, flocks of them going in and out of crafts, carrying equipment and tools. A small team was leaving the Command Shuttle as you approached. You nodded to them as they left the data pad on the wall.