Astronomically Imposterble

IV

When Cordelia wakes up, she finds herself laying in one of the beds in medbay, a dull throb coming from her nose. She tries to sit up but someone quickly comes to her side and lightly presses her back against the bed. Her eyes slowly come into focus and she finds Elorie standing beside her. She attempts a smile. Elorie smiles back.

"Morning sunshine," she greets warmly. Cordelia forces herself to smile through the pain. Elorie takes her vitals before turning to one of the machines to run everything, her back now to Cordelia.

"Carter's dead," Cordelia admits sadly. Elorie nods.

"I know." Cordelia raises an eyebrow. "I've already taken care of it." Elorie looks over her shoulder and provides a small smile. "We had the meeting without you." She can hear the shift in Cordelia's breathing, alerting her she's about to speak so she continues, "Helena hit you pretty hard. I didn't know when you were going to wake." She turns around and rests her back against the machine, making sure not to hit any buttons. She shrugs lightly. "I wasn't entirely sure if you were going to wake for a while." Cordelia glances to her hands. "Part of me thought she'd killed you." Cordelia glances back to Elorie. Her eyes widen when she realizes what she's said. "Not that I believe she's the killer!" Cordelia snorts and grits her teeth as she looks away. "I just meant that she might've been stronger than she thought she was."

"So you still think it wasn't her?" Elorie nods, her eyes soft. Cordelia nods, her eyes fierce. "Why?!" Elorie's gaze drops to the floor. "I can understand if you didn't have enough information after Gwen. Or that you just didn't want to believe it. Or whatever bullshit you can come up with, Eloire. But now?" Elorie looks around the room, trying to focus on her breathing. "Now Carter's dead!" Cordelia sits up in the bed so she can look Elorie in the eyes--or attempt to at least. "The one person that thought she was the killer! Doesn't that look a little suspicious, Elorie?"

"No."

"And why not?!"

"Because you also thought it was her!" Elorie yells back, startling Cordelia.

"So? She's cruel, Eloire! Separating us is probably part of her evil plan!"

"She might cruel at times but she's not stupid, Cora!" Cordelia throws herself against the back of the bed. Elorie takes a moment to regain her composure. "Helena might just be the smartest person on this ship. If she wanted to kill you two, she would've killed you two together. She wouldn't leave loose ends like that." Cordelia stares at Elorie, almost challenging her. Elorie's gaze doesn't waver. "However, whoever is the killer is probably trying to pin this on her because you two kept going at her. You got yourself into this mess, Cordelia. Stop trying to blame this on others." Cordelia gasps. Elorie's gaze softens. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." She snorts and looks away. "Like I said, we already had a meeting. We already discussed who we think it is."

"And what was the decision?"

Elorie turns her back to Cordelia once more so she can go back to running her vitals. "Dominic said he left shortly after you did. Ian and Helena were still in the room with Carter. You came back, he was dead. Helena said Ian left before her but when she did she went to navigation. Ian said he went to fix more wires once he left." Cordelia waits for Elorie to finally say she was right this entire time. It never arrives. Dominic, Ian, and Sahara voted it was Helena. Havien, Teagan, Helena, and I all said we didn't have enough information." Cordelia scoffs. Elorie takes in a deep breath. "Even if you were there, you would've tied it up. There was nothing we could've done."

"Someone needs to answer for their crimes."

"I know." She lets out a soft sigh, her shoulders falling. "I know." Cordelia's expression softens. She's been too hard on Elorie since she woke up and Elorie doesn't deserve any of it. This girl's only seventeen and is leading a spaceship of people; one of which they just found out is a potential serial killer and two have already died. Cordelia's gotta hand it to her; Elorie's handling this calmer than Cordelia herself would be. "I just. . ." She sighs again. "I just wish I can do more."