Things that go bump in the night

Posted on Sat Oct 19th, 2019 @ 10:49pm by Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine & Warrant Officer Koh Ottasu

Mission: Sounds of Silence
Location: Personal Quarters

Shaille stirred uncomfortably, a soft groan of pain escaping as she turned into Koh, the warmth of his furred body offering a sense of comfort, until the pain returned. Quietly she slid out of the bed, trying not to disturb his rest as she padded softly across the room, walking through the door from the bedroom to the main living area and toward the replicator for a glass of water. Every step she took hurt in a way she had never experienced before, not just muscle pain but pain deep into her bones. She sighed softly, the sound almost deafening in the silence of the room around her. It figured that she was going to end up getting sick right at the start of a new assignment.

Heading back

The sound of her sigh must have been what disturbed the figure, alerting it to her presence. It turned toward her, assessing her presence for just the slightest of seconds, and then it was gone. Shaille screamed, the sound of her scream disturbing the silence. Moving quickly, she headed for the dresser inside the door, pulling open the top middle drawer and retrieving her phaser, removing the safety and arming it before spinning back around again, holding the phaser out as she looked around in the low light of the room for whoever it was that she had seen.

The scream is what woke Koh. Bounding from the bed, almost tripping on the covers as he threw himself off the bed to rush to the scene of the scream. Half awake, but driven by adrenaline, the rabbit made good time to the room with Shaille.... she was looking for something. There was something afoot, and it was here. "I'm right here." he called out softly, head starting to pound with the pulse of his heart, fueled by adrenaline and panic. "What did you see?" he asked, looking for anything remotely simple to arm himself with, and being satisfied for the moment to go unarmed.

Realising quickly that Koh had entered the room, Shaille lowered the weapon, still looking around. "There was someone here," she said quietly, her voice barely audible even in the silence. She could feel her heart racing, her blood pounding through her body. "Right there, near the sofa, I came out and there was someone standing there, and then they just..." she stopped speaking, looking around again. "They just disappeared."

The Son of Ts'usu gave another look around. In the low light of the room, dark and gloomy, all that was there of Koh was a silouette. The lack of gleam of the eyes was an oddity in the light, but in the dark it made the rabbit all but invisible. His ears perked, almost straining to become just that tiny bit more upright.

He concentrated his search near the sofa, then started to move out. He kept the lights off, for now. After a few minutes, he shook his head, "Whoever they are, whatever they are, they're gone." he paused, and then moved to put a hand on her shoulder. "Alert Security." he mentioned, never doubting her. "I'll stay up. It's not too long until my shift starts." that part was a lie.

Shaille shook her head slightly. "I couldn't sleep anyway, I was coming out to get water..." disarming her phaser, she returned it to the drawer, still leaving the lights low. She could still feel her heart racing, but her hands clammy as she rubbed her palms against her sleepwear. "There was someone standing right there, right at the end of that sofa," she said quietly. "Then they just disappeared." She massaged her fingertips against her temples. "I wasn't seeing things," she said quietly.

"I didn't doubt you." Koh started, then took a breath. "That was gruff. I'm sorry. Just..." he rubbed the back of his head, his own pulse pounding in his chest. He felt it in every part of him, in his feet with each step, and in the extra flush of heat in his ears. He took a breath, held it, then let it out in something dangerously close to a sigh. "I'd rather not take any chances." he made his way through the dark to the wall console, and summoned a glass of water and a mug of something dangerously close to coffee.

"I'm up. No point in trying to get back to sleep."

Taking the glass of water as he offered it to her, Shaille took a sip, hoping it would ease the irritation in her throat. "Computer, initiate a level ten security scan of my quarters. Access all internal sensor data and common area surveillance and duplicate files for the past twelve hours. Save to my personal files."

The computer beeped twice. "Request will be completed in forty-two minutes."

As Koh sat on the couch, she slid in nest to him, resting her head against his shoulder. "You okay?"

She could feel his pulse racing through the casual contact. A Ts'usugi's heart beat faster than a human's, yes. This was quicker. This was more agitated. Was it because he was startled awake?

"I have a headache. It starts from the top of my head, and ends around my knees." he tried to joke, but it came out harsh and raspy. "My ears are burning up. I think I must have caught some kind of a cold coming onto the ship." he offered a smirk, "I know for a fact I didn't catch it from you." he said with a smirk, whispering to not upset his sore throat.

She looked toward the end of the couch where the form had been, biting on her lip momentarily. Had she really seen it at all? Was it just a figment of her imagination? Was it a side effect of the headache? The headache that she could feel increasing in the base of her skull, her head pounding with her increasing heart rate again. "Come on," she said quietly, setting the glass of water on the side table. "Lets go back to bed for a while. We can turn our alarms off and if you're still not better in the morning we can take you down to sickbay."

Koh offered a brief nod, "We can give it a try." he stated. He gave the room one final look over, and saw nothing. He set his coffee down on the table by her water, and then made his way back towards the bed. His movements were groggy, irksome, and possibly pained. "Maybe another hour or two of sleep will help."