An Unusual Ally

Posted on Thu Oct 24th, 2019 @ 3:07am by Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison & Cole Gunnison & Lieutenant JG Shaille Levine

Mission: Sounds of Silence
Location: Mess Hall

Shaille was sitting in the mess hall, trying to ignore the chaos and noise around her, it was doing nothing at all to help her headache but she needed coffee and the only other way she was going to get enough caffeine to help her cope with the pending shift was if she went to sickbay and asked them to hook her up with a direct IV infusion, which, at this stage, was still an option. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, leaning back in her seat as she inhaled the intoxicating scent of the coffee that she held in front of her while she listened to the noise around her.

Will and Cole were having breakfast in the mess hall for a bit of change of scenery from their quarters. Will noticed that Cole seemed a bit distracted.

"Still bothered by your dream from last night?" Will asked.

"A little," Cole replied. "It's...just that it didn't seem like a dream. You know how dreams tend to fade away a lot when you're been awake for a while? This isn't happening with my 'dream' from last night. I still remember seeing blurry transparent figures bending over me."

Shaille listened as the child spoke, she could hear the tremble in his voice as he spoke, the hesitation that came with each word spoken. She turned slightly in her seat, casting a quick glance over the young boy before she spoke herself. "Long hair?" she asked quietly. "Kind of weird pointy ears, like elf ears but upside down?"

"Yeah, I did see something like that, too," Cole said. "And it seemed like they were doing some sort of medical examination on me. Once I saw them and cried out, they seemed almost as surprised to see my reaction as I was to see them, and then disappeared right after."

"How did they disappear?" Shaille asked quietly.

"They just vanished a moment later," Cole replied.

Shaille paused again, casting a glance at the boy's father. "I'm Shaille Levine," she said with a smile, trying to ignore her ongoing aches. "I'm from security."

"Lt. William Gunnison, chief of operations," Will replied. "Interesting dreams."

"I'm not sure they are dreams," Shaille said softly, feeling the now all too familiar tension in the base of her skull as she turned her head toward Cole. "Hey, I bet you're real good at drawing, do you think you can draw them for me?" she asked with a smile.

"Well, I'm not too great at drawing," Cole said, "but it's not like there's much to draw, I think. They were so blurry, and I only saw them for a moment..."

"Well, I do have my duty shift coming up shortly," Will said. "I'll leave you two to this, whatever it is, as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone's respective upcoming duties."

Shaille shook her head slightly, almost immediately regretting the movement. "It's okay, take him off to school," she said softly, even the sound of her own voice hurting her head. "I believe you," she said to Cole gently. "And if there's aliens on this ship, we'll find them okay?"

Turning her attention back to Will she gave a slight nod. "Thank you Lieutenant, I appreciate your time."