JL | RAdm's. Indi Hawk & Cintia Sha'mer | "In Sadness And In..."

Posted on 241709.14 @ 9:47pm by Rear Admiral Cintia Sha'mer

Mission: Reconciliation & Reconstruction [Fleet Plot]
Timeline: SD 241709.14

After the call with Sidra ended, Indi thumbed through a few more messages, but realised quickly that she hadn't read a word of the text that had scrolled over her screen. It was impossible to concentrate, but no parent would blame her for that feeling. With a sigh, she closed her console and climbed to her feet. It was quite early yet, but she figured she would find Cintia at home. Even if she would accept Scholtz's offer any time soon, she wouldn't be on duty just yet.

It didn't take her long to make her way down to their house. Straining her ears, she could hear rustling outside in the garden. She'd never taken Cin for much of an outdoor person, then again, they'd rarely done anything but work, work and more work. Steeling herself for the conversation to come, she stepped out on the porch just far enough to be in Cintia's line of sight. "We need to talk," she said, her mind probably long screaming that this was serious.

Sha'mer looked up from the padd she had been reading. She sat on one of the lawn chairs, one leg pulled up, the other one in its stiff brace stretched out as well as it could. A few more padds were lying around nearby, as well as an empty mug. Now she tossed the padd on the chair and began to rise. "What's wrong?" she asked concerned, as she reached for the crutches.

"No, stay," Indi waved as she headed over to the chair closest to the one Cintia was occupying. How to start? Any start would be better than having to read it in a report, like she had. "I don't know how to say this, so I'll just say it," she started clumsily. "The Vindicator's missing."

"What?!" Sha'mer sagged back, the crutches clattered on the tiles. "How? They just left CST, what, a few days ago?" One of the hardest things she had had to deal with, the sharpest pain she'd felt, was the fact that she had missed seeing Ra'lin by a few days at most. The Vindicator had left Spacedock not long before Sha'mer crashed her old barrel in one of the cargo bays. It was one of those things she hadn't shared with Indi because it didn't need to be shared: Indi had just as narrowly missed meeting Michael – who had been assigned to that same ship. But it had not been so bad: they knew where their children were, and at some point or another, either near Earth or someplace else, they would meet up again.

Missing? How could a brand-new Starship be missing?

Somewhere from within the dark holes in her mind an answer rose, wordless fragments, images, -blood does strange things in zero grav- She shivered.

It hurt Indi so see Cintia's reaction. Her own reaction had been comparable, but it still hurt more to see it from somebody she loved. She leaned closer, not too close. Her own mind still trying to catch up with the information Sidra had given her. So little information. So much unknown. She'd expected to see Michael again soon, and now? Closing her eyes for a second, she refocused them on her wife. "They went to investigate a nebula and they haven't been heard from in a couple of days. They're assumed MIA and Starfleet's sending in a starship to go looking for them."

"Star's blood," Sha'mer breathed. She was torn between the desire to jump up and do something, anything, and staying here with the woman who needed her as much as she needed Indi. "Do you have a report? Anything? How did you find out?"

"It was in a Fleet report," Indi nodded slowly. They were both going through the same thing. Trying to grasp what had happened, trying to figure out what they could do. Realising there really wasn't anything at all they could do. It was a hell of a situation. Neither of them should be forced to deal with this. Not after everything they'd just gone through. And yet, there it was. "I called Sidra to verify though. She confirmed, and also told me about the ship they're sending. She promised me she'll let me know the moment she hears something."

"Which ship are they going to send?" Sha'mer asked, picking up a padd and calling up the ship list. "Beta Quadrant, right? Who's heading that these days?" Looking up the information gave her at least a small sense of doing something, instead of sitting here aimlessly on her arse. Well, of course she still sat on her arse, but it felt not as aimless.

Indi wanted to yell that she had to shut up. That she had to take a breath. That she shouldn't worry. But she couldn't make herself. Instead, she shook her head. "I don't know which ship they're going to send. Fleet Admiral Red is in command of Beta Quadrant but she's had to deal with an assassination attempt on her life. I hear she's fine, but I'm not sure if she's returned to duty yet," she droned the answers as she knew them.

That brought Sha'mer up short. "An assassination attempt?" she repeated slowly. "Do you think… do they think the events might be related?"
A shrug. "I have absolutely no idea. My gut tells me they're not, but I have no way of knowing. I don't think Sidra knows more, too, or she would've told me," Indi replied. This conversation of what if's and only then's was wearing her out. She didn't want to stay here, and she didn't want to return to her office.

Sha'mer sighed and placed the padd back slowly. She stared into the distance, but for once, it was not the empty 'nobody home' stare which meant she was lost in her head. Or rather, she was, but in a different way. Then, still moving slowly, she reached out for Indi and pulled her close. "I can't feel her any more," she whispered. "I've lost her…"

Indi let herself be pulled close, and wrapped her arms around Sha'mer in the process. It didn't come as a surprise to her. She hadn't expected Sha'mer to feel Ra'lin, hadn't expected her to feel either of them. Or perhaps she had, but she was simply hesitant to admit it to herself. She had no idea what to say, what to do. If even Cin couldn't feel them anymore, most hope was lost. They both needed hope. So, instead, she simply closed her eyes and lost herself in the embrace.

Rear Admiral Indi Hawk
Commander
Alpha Quadrant Security

Rear Admiral Cintia Sha'mer