Under The Weather

Posted on Thu Oct 17th, 2019 @ 5:47am by Lieutenant Alexis Aenera

Mission: Sounds of Silence
Location: Alexis's Quarters and Science Lab 3

The morning had started off horribly, Alexis had woken up with a headache that threatened to split her head open vertically from the spine and up. A handful of minutes after she woke up, she'd decided that she would use her departmental head prerogative and not go into the offices today and opened her mouth to open the comm to her assistant chief, just to find out that nothing came out. As an experiment, she tried to scream and only a moan came out, not even high pitched. She wracked her brain for nearly a minute as she perched herself on the side of her bed, trying to think about what it could be, if there were something that could cause this gods-damned headache but keep her from complaining about it.

She sighed and levered herself to her feet, realizing that it took more effort and almost fell to the dastardly forces of gravity and fall back into her bed but remained standing by sheer force of will. She reached out and slipped on the silk evening coat over her bare shoulders and winced as she had to grab onto something to take the several steps to her comm console. She opted not to sit down as she typed a text message to her assistant, Francoise, and sent it. Standing there for a few more seconds, she got the nearly immediate response from him. It showed obvious concern, 'Which is none of his damned business.' She snarled in her head, but only smacked the console to acknowledge she'd received it.

Alexis shook her head slowly and thought for a few more seconds, debating whether to go back to bed or not. She was on her feet, she decided, may as well stay on them. She slid the silk off the shoulders and tossed it onto her bed as she went towards the shower, deciding that the sonic method would probably make her head explode. So that was how she spent ten minutes in a steaming shower that brought some small amount of relief. She cleared her throat again, trying to talk, but failed once again. She growled in frustration, but, wrapped in a couple towels, began her morning routine.

She took an hour and a half, feeling like crap the entire time, but was meticulous all the same, deciding halfway through that she'd suck it up and go in to her lab, bypass everyone in the office set. She applied her makeup, understated as usual and finally was down to her lipstick. That took her five minutes to pick the shade, a maroon that she normally wouldn't have chosen. Finally ready for the day, uniform perfect, with a set of flats instead of heels just because. As she walked towards her lab, her head was down, focused on the ground a few feet ahead, only glancing up when someone was passing, just to flash the best smile she could, which wasn't much of one.

After she slipped into her lab, she fell into a chair, exhaling in relief as she closed her eyes for a few minutes, to try to get the pain in her head to go away, when the door slid open again. Her eyes flashed up and open halfway to see Francoise. Quite possibly the last person she wanted to see at the moment, because of her earlier message.

"Madame, I thought you were staying in your quarters today?" He asked, curiosity in his voice, "Are you feeling better?"

Alexis opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out again, so she just rolled her eyes in frustration and shook her head, gesturing to the door.

"Perhaps you should go to sickbay." He concluded, not taking the hint, instead coming around the console to come closer to her.

Now her eyes flared in anger, one hand clenching before she forced it to relax, then gave a negative gesture, sharply. She slid her chair to the console and typed a quick message out, 'Not a chance, buster. I'm not here, you don't see me, I'll be fine. Go away."

He stopped to read it, then nodded slightly, "Of course, Madame, if you need anything, I can be here rapidly."

The only thing that kept Alexis from coming out of her chair was the weakness in her legs. Her head felt like a star exploding and a low snarl came out of her throat as she flung a hand towards the door with an imperious finger point, rage clear on her face.

Francoise gave her a wary eye. This wasn't like his chief, she was usually affable and friendly, even on a bad day. It was a retreat, nothing less.

As soon as the door slid shut behind him, she locked it and leaned forward, resting her head on the console as her head flared again, closing her eyes. Then there was a sudden stabbing sensation of pain in the back of her neck before it finally ebbed to something more manageable. She gave a sigh of relief, then did something that usually felt good, she spun her chair and lifted her feet so she'd revolve a couple times. As she turned, she saw a flicker of motion, but as she turned her head to focus on where she'd seen it, it was gone.

'Must have just been my imagination.' She thought to herself as she shook that sudden feeling of being watched off and turned to the console, headache finally to a manageable level. 'Maybe I can actually get something done?' And pulled up a gravitational model of the local area, 'Anything special here?' She thought, already looking for anomalies.

OFF:

Lieutenant Alexis Aenera
Chief Science Officer
USS Astraea