Of All the Things I've Forgotten....

Posted on 29 Sep 2016 @ 11:03pm by Ensign Kelly Khan & Ensign Elisha Cherno

3,392 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 7 || 2000 Hours

Once things had calmed down to a degree and Kelly had straightened the quarters she shared with Elisha, the young brunette finally had time to settle down. She wondered why Elisha hadn't returned to the quarters yet and she wasn't on the casualty list. She felt bad when she saw that Xavier was and figured that Elisha needed some quiet time somewhere, but the length of time she had last returned to the trashed quarters was well past.

"Computer, locate Cadet Elisha Cherno," she requested.

"Cadet Cherno is currently in Sickbay," the computer responded.

Kelly frowned and shut her terminal down, then got up to check herself in the small mirror that was in her wardrobe. The single pip on the collar of her official officer's uniform shone like a small sun after the polishing she had given it and she beamed before she exited the quarters on deck five and headed to sickbay.

When she got there, she looked around, but didn't see Elisha on any of the biobeds, so she approached a nurse. "Excuse me," she said. "Can you tell me where I can find Cadet Cherno? I'm her roommate, Kelly Khan and haven't seen her in a few days."

Nurse Lane looked up at the young ensign and blinked. "Oh, yes, Cadet Cherno, um..." she said, checking the list on the PaDD in her hands. "Observation room 3, if Doctor Road hasn't moved her yet." She pointed the ensign in the right direction. "If she's sleeping, don't you dare wake her!" she warned menacingly.

"Thanks," Kelly said and ignored the warning as she headed down to the observation room and went in without knocking. "Elisha? Are you awake?"

Elisha looked up from the PaDD on which she still played the game Doctor Road had given her. She was getting better at it, she thought. The game must have thought so, too, because it had moved her up to harder levels.

Her brow was still furrowed in concentration as she looked up, but she brightened as she spotted Kelly. "Kelly!" she exclaimed, her voice still a bit slow, but at least the slurring had gone. "I'm so glad you're here! I'm getting really bored."

"Hey," Kelly said with a smile as she moved to Elisha's bedside. "What happened to you? I just got notice that you were here in Sickbay. I would have came sooner, but I was commanding the Chimera, doing repairs, going into battle, and then helping to scuttle her. The past thirty hours were a blur."

"Apparently, I was thrown from my bunk and hit my head," Elisha answered. "I don't remember it. They found me when I didn't report for duty. By then, there was some swelling of the brain and... well, I need to work on my fine motor skills. And also... I seem to have forgotten the past three and a half months."

"That sucks, but at least you weren't turned to ash by Thalaron radiation like so many people did," Kelly said. "You also didn't get killed in the battle with the Cochrane or stuck in the hell of the Chimera. Forgetting a few months is like getting a vacation but losing your holo imager."

"I guess," said Elisha with a shrug. "Apparently I missed some pretty great stuff, though. Did... Did you know Xavier Hernandez?"

"None of it was great," Kelly said a bit coldly before she paused. "I introduced you to him, Elisha. I heard about him when I got back from the Chimera and I'm sorry. I know he was crazy about you."

"Yeah," said Elisha sadly. "And I guess I was crazy about him, too. Only... I don't remember him. Not at all. Oh, I get flashes. A beach, saxophone music, a puppy. I don't have a dog, do I?"

"No," Kelly said. "He was a K-9 officer and had a little black puppy K-9 in training. I don't know what happened to it. I know Xavier played saxophone and you and he spent some time together on New Risa before the virus took everyone away from it and into the action again. It's been one thing after another. So many people have died and now we're just trying to recover and survive."

"Wow," replied Elisha. "It sounds like we've just been having a grand old time. New Risa, though. I think it would be worth remembering all the bad stuff if I could just remember that. And Xavier Hernandez."

"I really didn't know him well," Kelly said. "I spent most of my time there with Quinn learning to kayak and teaching him to vectorboard." She paused and smiled. "I did get to meet your brother, though. He's really cool."

"Quinn?" queried Elisha, nose wrinkling in displeasure. "Cadet Mackie? Really?" It was then an image sprung to her mind of being trapped in a closet with said Cadet. She shook her head, deciding that was not a memory and only a nightmare.

"Yes, Quinn Mackie," Kelly said. "My boyfriend Quinn Mackie."

Elisha made a strangled sort of noise somewhere between disgust and indifference. "To each her own," she said noncommittally. "But, my brother was on New Risa? Which one?"

"Joel," Kelly said, her eyes narrowing. "Maybe you should get some sleep, Elisha. The Nurse said you need a lot of it."

"I told you I'd forgotten things," Elisha defended. "How would I remember that Joel was at New Risa? Hey..." she said, staring off into space. "I just realized... I haven't stuttered even once."

"No, but you are missing other things, Cadet," Kelly said, putting a bit of Command in her voice that she was trained to do at Command School.

Elishe wrinkled her brow again. "Well, probably," she said after a moment. "I mean, after a knock like that and then laying on my floor for several hours, I'm bound to... miss..." Her head quirked to the side, her eyes finally picking up the single round pip on Kelly's collar. "Did you graduate early?" she asked.

"No," Kelly said. "I got a battlefield promotion for everything I did when I was in command of the Chimera. Captain Geisler gave me this pip from his own collar after we scuttled her and set the self destruct codes. I'm now Ensign Khan."

"That's fantastic, Kelly!" Elisha exclaimed, breaking into a big grin. "Congratulations! My goodness, commanding a starship as a Cadet. That's brilliant! And to think I was concerned that Captain Geisler wouldn't let me take my exams late!"

"Thanks, but I wish I would have gotten it another way," she said softly. "I was terrified, Elisha, but I did what had to be done. The crew did their best and followed my commands, though. I know that you'll be able to graduate and I'll help you study if you have to wait to take them."

Elisha have her friend a smile. "Thanks," she said. "I convinced Carmichael to tutor me. Between the two of you, I should be okay."

"Who is Carmichael?" Kelly asked her, a bit surprised that Elisha would ask anyone for something like that.

"The Stellar Cartographer," answered Elisha. "I've been working with him since I got her. He's... efficient."

"That would explain why I don't know him," Kelly said. "I only know you and Cadet Grandpa in Science. You guys are too geeky for me, but I couldn't pilot the celestial heavens with your work. When are you going to be allowed out of here, Elisha? I need to get you a drink or three."

"I'm not sure," answered Elisha. "I think they want to make sure I'm not going to fall when I'm walking down the corridors. Walking seems okay. I had trouble with buttons, though. And I cannot tie a knot to save my life. Typing is also out. I... may have forgotten to mention that I've lost most of my fine motor skills as well as a lot of memories."

"That's horrible," Kelly said and meant it. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if she lost the fine motor skills that she needed to pilot a ship, let alone lose the memories she needed. "Are they putting you through therapy for that?" she asked Elisha.

"Yeah," answered Elisha. "They gave me this game. You have to connect all the little balls of color, but you can't cross them. It's tricky, but I'm getting the hang of it. Doctor Road says it's just a matter of teaching my brain away around it. She says I shouldn't have any trouble relearning all of it."

"You'd get them back faster if you had to pilot a runabout through an asteroid field," Kelly said with a smile. If you run into an asteroid while in a runabout, you die. It's really good for hand and eye coordination and keeps you mentally alert more than connecting balls sounds like it would. I'd fall asleep."

"I dunno, this is pretty addicting," Elisha pointed out. "I think I'd have a heart attack trying to fly a runabout through an asteroid field, even if it was in a simulation."

"Once you get out of here, I'll take you on a run," Kelly promised her. "It'll be fun. I went through this one simulation at Academy and had to take a damaged shuttle through an asteroid field while being hunted by Romulans. Now that was a fun simulation, let me tell you. I'm surprised I didn't fill my pants."

Elisha shuddered. "I'm about to just thinking about it," she said. "And that does not sound like fun."

Kelly laughed. "Where's your sense of adventure?" she asked her. "Life is for living, not hiding in an astrometrics lab."

"I happen to find astrometrics labs very exciting," Elisha defended, laughing. "Adventure is in the eye of the beholder."

"When you get out of here, I'll show you what living really is," Kelly promised her. "When we make planetfall, it's on. You and me on my vectorboard soaring through the air at three hundred kilometers per hour."

"No!" said Elisha, holding up one hand and shaking her head. "No way! I am not getting on one of those things. My brother took me once and it was terrifying."

"Oh come on, they're perfectly safe," Kelly said. "I'll Even give you a pair of magnetic boots so you can't possibly fall off. Quinn went with me and we launched out of the back of a shuttle on New Risa and flew down to the surface."

Elisha's hair stood on end just thinking about it. "No way," she said again. "Take Quinn again. I am absolutely not doing it."

"Chicken," Kelly said with a gleam in her eyes. She brought her hands up under her arms and slapped flapping her elbows. "Bock, bock, bock, bock, bock. Elisha's a chicken! Elisha's a chicken!"

"That's right I am," replied Elisha proudly, holding her chin high. "Chicken and proud!"

"I know what I'm having for dinner," Kelly said menacingly. "I'll give you a clue. It has wings and clucks."

"Sorry," Elisha replied. "Not into girls." Then she blinked. Where had that come from. She could never remember ever being so bold before in her life.

"Who said anything about that?" Kelly asked, already knowing what Elisha preferred. "I was saying that I was having chicken for dinner tonight and it'll be a lot tastier than those terrible ration bars we were on while the replicators were offline. Oh, I got our quarters cleaned up, too. I'm just not sure how much longer we're going to be roommates."

"Probably not long," said Elisha sadly. "As nice as it'll be to have a room to myself, I'll miss you."

"Hey," Kelly said softly. "It's not like I'm going to be transferring to a different ship. Odds are good I'll snag Quinn and move him in with me, but we can still visit each other off duty."

"Yeah, I guess," answered Elisha. "But, it's not the same."

"It'll be okay, Elisha," Kelly said. "Chin up and if you don't, I'll strap you to a vectorboard and remote control it around the ship at full speed."

This made Elisha laugh. "All right, all right," she finally gave in. "I guess everything can't stay the same forever, can it? If it did, I'd never make Captain of a science vessel, would I?"

Captain of a science vessel? Kelly wondered where that came from since the Elisha that she knew wanted to hide out in astrometrics forever. "That's the spirit, Elisha!" she said and gave her an affectionate thump on the shoulder. "I'll be the one to test it out for you before it's granted a full release from the shipyards for you to take command of, too."

"I'll remember that," replied Elisha. "Don't be surprised if you get a message from me in 25 or 30 years to give my ship a test drive."

Kelly laughed. "I plan on being the test pilot for every new ship that gets made, Elisha. You'll have a ship that can do warp thirteen or better."

"For just in case we need to go study a new plant species lickety-split, huh?" Elisha laughed in response.

"What if you had to get a life-saving medicinal plant from one planet to another one in a different sector and time was of the essence?" Kelly challenged her.

"Well, okay, I'll give you that," allowed Elisha. "But, I don't think warp 13 will get much use on my ship. Best to just call in a different ship that has warp 13 capabilities to transport the plant."

"Why when you'd be able to do it and have the scientific expertise with it?"

"You just want my ship to go fast!" laughed Elisha. "It's because I don't want to ride a vectorboard, isn't it?"

"No, I want every ship to go fast," Kelly said as if it were a simple matter. "What's the use of having a ship that still takes days or weeks to get from point to point?"

"I suppose we could always call in a favor of the Telino," Elisha pointed out. "Unless the last three and a half months have destroyed the treaty?"

"Why depend on another species when you'd have the ability at your command?" Kelly asked her, curious as to why a Captain with a capability at their fingertips would rely on others.

"I didn't say that," defended Elisha with a grin. "I just meant, you know, if it wasn't available, there are other options."

"If you had warp thirteen, you wouldn't need other options," Kelly pointed out.

"All right, all right," Elisha relented. "My ship can have warp 13 as long as we don't have to use it every day."

"As long as you know that you'll have it if you need it," Kelly said. "Now to more important matters. Is there anything you want me to bring you from our quarters or something to eat other than the horrible food they serve in here?"

"Ah, it's not so bad," Elisha replied. "Apparently, the barkeep came by and left a bunch of food. For lunch, I had beef jerky, a peach, the most amazing biscuit I've ever tasted, and some chocolate pudding. A bit hodgepodge, but it's what sounded good to me." She thought for a moment. "There's a PaDD with my journal on it, though, if you can find it," she said. "It's pink. I thought... maybe I might have put something in there about Xavier Hernandez."

"I think I remember seeing a pink PADD," Kelly said after a moment. "I put all of your stuff in your wardrobe and desk that I could. I'm sorry if I messed up the order of things, but the place looked like it had been ransacked by Klingons and then used as a party room."

"I can imagine," said Elisha. "From what they told me, it was pretty rough. Don't worry about stuff being in the wrong place; that can be fixed." She paused again. "Did... did I love him, Kelly?" she asked, sounding guilty and melancholy even to herself.

"I think you told him you loved him, but you were also sick at the time from that virus on New Risa," Kelly said. "Still, you did talk about him a lot and smiled when he came around. I know he cared for you a lot. His face would light up every time he came to see you. He was always encouraging you to come out of your shell and live. He also called you mi Querida when he was with you."

"Aw," sighed Elisha sadly. "He sounds fabulous. I wish I could remember him. I'll have to pay his family a visit next time I get back to Earth. Gosh! I'm going to have to find out where he's from!"

"I don't know," she said. "I never really talked to him that much. When he came around, I gave you privacy because that's what a good roomie does."

Elisha grinned again. "Doctor Road said he talked me into being the singer for their jazz band," she said. "I have no idea how he did that; I'm terrified of singing in front of people! But, I dunno," she added thoughtfully. "Part of me really wants to do it. And I have no idea where that part came from. It's a little frightening. But, it sounds like that part may have come from him."

"I think you should to honor his memory," Kelly said. "Talk to everyone who knew him to get an idea of how he was and maybe your memories will come back."

"I hope so," she said with a sigh. "Somehow, I doubt they will, though."

"You never know," Kelly said. "They've come a long way when it comes to memory engrams and I think it's a real possibility that you'll get them back."

"Maybe," said Elisha. "We'll see. I hope so. I'd rather be depressed that he's gone than guilty because I don't remember him."

"You should live for him and yourself," Kelly said. "He loved to listened to you sing. You should get with Doctor Road and the other person who wanted to form a band and honor him."

"I think I will," replied Elisha, and the smile immediately slid from her face. "I can't believe I'm actually going to do it. That's frightening. Not actually singing in front of people, but I mean, the fact that it doesn't terrify me."

"What's frightening, then?" Kelly asked her.

"That it's not frightening," answered Elisha. "I should be terrified at the thought, but I'm not. I'm a little nervous, but... just yesterday, I'd have been terrified. Well, what I remember as yesterday, anyway. And I wake up in here and I'm just not. Don't you see how that would be disconcerting to say the least?"

"I'd actually see it as a positive thing," Kelly said. "You're showing growth potential. It's time to explore it and continue to develop."

"Probably, but..." replied Elisha. "Okay, let's say you wake up tomorrow- or what you think is tomorrow- and you're suddenly feeling very introverted and you find that you're no longer in Starfleet, but are flying a freighter. And, what's more, it doesn't even bother you like you know it should. See, something had changed in me and I don't remember it changing. I just wake up and it's different than I remember it. Does that make any sense?"

"Maybe it was already inside of you, but just needed the catalyst to come out," Kelly suggested.

"Yeah, maybe," allowed Elisha. "But, I don't even remember the catalyst. Was it this Hernandez character? Was it something about this ship? I don't have any idea."

"I couldn't tell you," Kelly said. "But I need to get back to the quarters and get some sleep. I'm back on Gamma again. Or Delta. I'm not even sure what shift it is right now."

"Neither am I," admitted Elisha. "Don't forget, if you find that pink PaDD, bring it to me?"

"I will," Kelly said. "Promise. You try to get some sleep, Elisha and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I'll try," promised Elisha. "Don't work too hard."

"I won't," Kelly said. With a final smile, she turned and headed off.

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