Space Aurora

Posted on Mon May 11th, 2026 @ 2:35am by Lieutenant Xex Wang & Ensign Mei Ratthi

Mission: Port of Call
Location: Pathfinder Promenade
Timeline: Mission Day 20 at 1214

[Pathfinder Station]
[Promenade]
[MD 20]
[1214]

“... never had it before, and what better place to try some than a Benzite-run space station?” Xex gushed, her voice slightly too-loud. One such Benzite passing them on the promenade-- if the half-finished space could be called such-- craned their neck around to stare. Xex flashed them a smile which only seemed to confuse the Benzite more. With an expression Xex couldn't read, the Benzite took one last look, then continued on their way.

Turning back to her companion, Xex asked, “Have you tried it before?” She twitched her hips experimentally and the dark blue robe-like dress she was wearing swished around her sandaled ankles and almost entirely disguised her slight limp. While her new form took some getting used to, there were some advantages to the change in her pelvis and femurs, and a swishy dress was certainly one of them.

"No, I haven't. I haven't had the opportunity. I don't think I have, anyway." Mei's brow creased with a thoughtful expression and her steps slowed for a few paces. "No. I haven't had a chance to try Benzite food. For a second I thought I remembered a place on Bi'Xiu, but I think that was Bolian. Definitely not the same thing. Though I'd recommend Bolian desserts. I didn't have those on Bi'Xiu, that was a lot later on some starbase. There was this one that looked like it should have gone on a kid's menu– some sort of orangey-mangoey foam with gold pop rock looking things. I think it was the best dessert I've ever had. I was glad they gave me a tiny spoon so I couldn't eat it so fast. I wish I remembered the name of it. I could see if my sister could send the recipe so I could input it into the replicators. But anyway. Bolian desserts aside. What made you want to try Benzite food all of a sudden?"

Mei's ramble into Bolian desserts held Xex transfixed, her gray eyes all but glowing with interest. Her lips parted halfway as though to ask a question when finally Mei ended with a question. Ignoring social conventions, she blurted her own query anyway, “Oh would you? That sounds absolutely marvelous. I would love to try it. Only...” she paused, eyes flicking back and forth as she tried to remember the phrasing Mei had used. “... what is a pop rock? Oops!” With a quick sidestep that knocked her gently into Mei, she just barely managed to avoid crashing headlong into a vulcanoid looking figure, who shot her a sharp glare and continued on his way.

Grinning sheepishly at Mei, Xex righted herself and said, “Sorry-- space stations always take me some getting used to. People just don't move the same way.”

"Yeah, the artificial gravity on stations is a little different from ships. And totally different from planetary gravity. They like to say it all feels the same, but it's not quite. Whether it's the mechanisms or a psychological thing, I don't know, but there's a difference. But anyway. Pop rocks!" Mei laughed. "Pop rocks are these little candies from Earth. They're usually either sweet or sour, but the fun comes from their chemical composition: It makes them pop and crackle when they touch the saliva in your mouth. It's sort of a stronger version of carbonation." She paused to make a note on a little PADD. "Just making a note about that recipe, otherwise I'll forget. So what's this about a dust cloud lighting up? You mentioned it in your invite, but I didn't look it up."

"Also add the pop rocks to your reminder. That sounds absolutely delightful, and I must try them," Xex decided with no further ado, then turned her attention back to navigating the Promenade without falling into an unshielded area or running into any other passers by. Lifting up onto her tip-toes, she peered around a man with an improbably large load strapped to his back. Her amusement twitched her lips upward into a smile and she glanced sideways at Mei as she echoed teasingly, "'Dust cloud lighting up' is what you took from 'coronal mass ejection into the nearby nebula'?" Pausing, Xex looked thoughtful, weaving between two brightly lit stands selling trinkets. "Huh. I guess that's not actually too far off. The Seaspan nebula is near enough that primary," she thrust her chin at the nearest sun, just visible through the line of completed viewing windows, "that its nascent stars will catch the upcoming mass ejections and create, and I quote, 'curtains of light.' Sounded like something not to be missed. Ah!" Xex pulled up short as they approached a kiosk that was little more than a large window cut into the bulkhead with a long bank of seats running along a bar on its outside. "It wasn't so much 'all of a sudden,'" she explained finally, without preamble, "but more that the opportunity has presented itself. I don't think I've ever been on a station with such a strong Benzite presence, have you?" Indeed, the bar was peopled almost entirely by Benzites, with a lone Andorian at the end. A few glanced up at the pair of Sojos, indicating that perhaps Xex's volume could have been lower as she spoke.

"Not that I can recall. And maybe keep your voice down. Enthusiasm is great, but people are starting to look at us funny," Mei said with a smile. "Regarding the coronal mass ejection and the dust cloud, no. I hadn't looked into it. When I haven't been on duty or whatever, I've had my nose in my PhD application and all the stuff that goes into that. There is so much paperwork. Just so much. You would think they'd have all the basic information about my schooling, but no. They want it all again. Input in like six different places, and then I need my letters of recommendation– and those are not easy to get out here. I'm so tired of inputting information into forms. You could have said, 'Mei, let's go watch some paint dry', and I'd be there. Any excuse for a party right now. Any excuse at all."

Xex looked completely unrepentant as she led the way to a pair of stools, apparently left open because they were squished together. She squeezed in, making enough room for the both of them while murmuring polite excuses to the Benzite on her left. To Mei, she said, "Well as someone who is not up to their eyeballs in a PhD application, I certainly hope this is more interesting than watching paint dry. In any case, I'm glad to provide a distraction. I am intimately familiar with PhD applications and I must agree with your synopsis-- security protocols bedamned, there is no reason for me to have to repeat myself when it comes to basic biometric and historical data. Oh!"

The Benzite behind the bar of the kiosk had just thrust a tall bowl-shaped object in front of Xex, steam curling from its contents. Without thinking the doctor took a deep breath in and immediately had to hold back a cough, her eyes streaming. The Benzite held out a grinder-type device and asked a question that the universal translator thought was, “Seasoning?” Still blinking, Xex swiped the back of her hand across one eye and let out a half cough in order to say, “Please.”

A second such vessel was shoved in front of Mei, and the same question posited her. Xex left her to her own decision while she peered curiously into the opening of her bowl.

"Just a little," Mei said as she offered Xex a napkin to wipe her eyes. She straightened, doing her best to angle her face away from the steam in case it caused the same reaction in humans, while Xex dabbed gingerly at her streaming eyes. While Mei was entirely in favor of experiencing other cultures, she preferred not to do it while her eyes were watering or she was sneezing thanks to an adverse reaction to spice. Or whatever else was in the bowl. "Could we each have a glass of cold water, too, please?"

The server gave something like a sniff and took their time grinding the seasoning into the bowl before they straightened and trundled off– hopefully to get them both some water.

"Are you alright? That steam seemed pretty potent. One sniff and it was like it'd started raining on your face." Mei blew at the steam to push it away and see what sort of food was in the bowl. Her cursory inspection revealed chunks of meat or vegetable covered in an orange sauce like a curry, and sprinkled with something resembling breadcrumbs. The seasoning had not dissolved into the sauce; instead, it sparkled on top like blue glitter. "I hope we'll get some water. I always try to be polite, but there have been times when my human politeness translated into rudeness because I'd made a wrong gesture. I'd hate to get us kicked out or doused with spice because I needed to get my hair out of my face."

Xex laughed, although it was a wet sound due to the influx of mucous down the back of her sinuses, her red-rimmed eyes crinkling. “Isn't the raining face part of the point?” she asked, glancing down the bar at the rest of the patrons, none of whose faces seemed to be leaking even a little bit. Her laughter eased, but her grin widened as she dabbed at the tears her eyes still insisted on producing. “Has that happened?” she asked, “Have you been doused with spice?”

The server returned with two vessels, a clear liquid within, which they placed in front of the pair of Sojos, then continued down the line to another Benzite who was calling for their attention.

“Yeah, once. On Starbase. . . Starbase something or other. I forget the designation. Anyway. My sister and I were at this little drinks place getting some fancy coffees, and she made a joke about someone’s hat we’d seen earlier. It was an amazing hat, all yellows and greens and sparkly with a big rim that drooped down so you couldn’t see the person’s face.” Xex was held rapt by the description, staring intently over her bowl as Mei continued, “So Ema made this joke about the hat, and the person at the table next to us thought we were laughing at them so they threw a bowl of sweetener at us. Just the sweetener. The bowl didn’t come along. Of course the sweetener hit me instead of Ema, and it turned bright green when it touched my skin. So there I was, with half a neon green face until we got back to our quarters so I could wash it off.”

Rather than laughing, Xex’s expression became thoughtful as she continued to stare at Mei, the sobriety of it only slightly compromised by her red-rimmed eyes, still leaking. Finally, she nodded decisively and said with conviction, “Green would suit you.” Only then did she allow her lips to spread back into a grin. Then, lifting her bowl as she had seen the other Benzites do, she brought it to her lips, despite her eyes, and took a deep sip.

Swallowing, Xex’s silvery features did something complicated, confusion tempered by interest, smattered with less discomfort than one would have thought to look at her eyes. “Fascinating,” she wheezed, tipping her bowl toward Mei, urging her to try it as well.

“I can’t tell if you think this stuff is good or bad. But if my experiences from the Academy are any indication, I’m not going to like this.” Mei picked up her bowl and gently swirled the contents, watching the shimmering spice dissolve into the sauce. The effect was a bit like an oil slick spreading across water, and she raised an eyebrow at it before setting the bowl to her lips and taking a small sip.

The flavor was strong. Enough so that it was hard to tell at first what, exactly, it was. After a moment and another sip, Mei settled on vinegary with a touch of a cinnamon-like spice at the end. It made her eyes water and was already starting to clear her sinuses. She put the bowl down. “Well,” she said and sniffed. “That’s certainly a flavor.”

Xex, who had brought her own bowl back to her lips, snorted and immediately set the bowl down, coughing. Half of the patrons on her side of the bar turned to stare, and she thumped her chest forcefully a couple times, which seemed to help her keep the coughs at bay long enough to at least breathe. Xex took a deep gulp from her water, but her expression did not ease into relief– rather her eyes bulged and a look of betrayal twisted her silvery features. “It even makes the water taste like flavor?” she demanded, once again too loud.

The server looked up from where they were working and asked with deceptive mildness, “Problem?”

“No, no,” Xex assured them with a wave of her hand, lowering her voice and leaning a little closer to Mei, “‘That’s certainly a flavor’ is perhaps the most factual thing I have heard all day.” She contained her grin to a smirk, and eyed her bowl speculatively as though deciding whether or not to brave it again.

“I try to be factual,” Mei said, grinning up at Xex as she, too, pondered her food. Then, resolved, she took a deep breath and picked the bowl up. “And I try to give new things a second chance, so here we go I guess.” She sipped, closed her eyes and pursed her lips, and sniffed like she was trying to keep her nose from running. “You know, once you get past the first taste, it’s . . . alright. You start to get some more of the flavors. Do I know what those flavors are? Not really, no. Maybe onion-y, with a red wine chaser? Though I can’t really think of anything else I’ve had that’s like it. Did we get any utensils? I want to try this bit. It looks like paneer, but I doubt it’ll taste like it.”

Xex turned her attention to her own bowl, eyeing a chunk that looked similar to Mei’s chunk. “Isn’t a panier a thing you put on a bicycle?” she asked, glancing down the bar at the rest of the patrons, none of which seemed to have any obvious utensils. Wondering briefly if Tellarites had some sort of specialized eating appendage of which she was unaware, she shrugged her answer to Mei’s question. “Looks to me like our mouths are on their own,” she said, and gathered her resolve, bringing the bowl back to her lips.

She took a noisy slurp this time, and it sounded chunky enough that maybe she indeed got some of the paneer-adjacent stuff into her mouth. Her brows peaked as she attempted to chew and swallow, with mixed success. After a quick glance at her water, Xex dismissed the idea of more flavors, and instead focused on swallowing with a minimum of coughing. With some success, she managed to say, only a little wheezily, “Perhaps there is a Benzite word for the red-wine chaser. Describing flavors in a foreign language has always been difficult for me.” She did not add that describing flavors full stop was rather difficult for her.

“I think describing flavor is difficult no matter what language you’re in. It feels like you always have to compare one flavor to a different one, and it never quite lands. Scents are worse for most people I’ve encountered. Like how do you describe the scent of a flower or plasma-scorched metal? It’s all a little vague,” Mei said. She sniffed again and attempted to bring one of the paneer-adjacent bits to her mouth. She was unsuccessful, and only managed to get a mouthful of broth. “Paniers are the things you put on bicycles. Paneer is a kind of cheese from the southeastern Asian continent on Earth.” She cast a longing glance toward a snack kiosk across the corridor which would definitely have forks or chopsticks. “I feel like a little kid who hasn’t mastered dishes or forks yet. I’m just hoping I don’t end up with soup all down my shirt.”

Xex picked up her water again, looking distracted. “Considering how closely the two senses are linked in most humanoids,” she said thoughtfully, taking a sip of the water. Her features creased into a grimace and her throat worked noticeably to swallow the liquid, sucking the last of it through her teeth. With only a single cough, she finished, “It’s interesting– but perhaps not surprising– that the language to describe them would have similar difficulties. Stars above, that is not good.” Her expression was dubious as she stared down into her water. She glanced once at the server, as though maybe they had given her something that was not simply H2O, but she rejected the idea as childish and turned her attention instead to the chunks in her bowl.

“Cheese? I guess it could be something like that…” she agreed dubiously. Glancing up at Mei, she had to smother a smile at her longing glance. While Xex was happy enough to soldier on with strange food, she decided perhaps it was time to give the other woman a break and said diplomatically, “It’s nearly time for the display. Why don’t we finish up here?”

Mei tried– and failed– to quell the hopeful look on her face. “I mean, if you want to finish up, that’s fine with me. I am not opposed to new cuisine. Though, it’s usually less . . .” she scrunched her nose in thought for a moment, then gave up searching for whatever word she was looking for. “It’s usually a little less. Just overall. And I hope you understand that vagueness, because that’s all I’m getting out of my brain right now. I think I’ve short-circuited something up there. Or just dealing with the linguistic ridiculousness of trying to describe flavor.”

Xex’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she tried to contain her mirth at Mei’s puppydog eyes. “I think I’m well finished,” she said dryly, turning to signal the server who, in the precognitive manner of waitstaff everywhere, was already on their way over. Xex authorized payment for their meal, and slid off her stool, careful to avoid the Benzite beside her, who’d been giving her Looks ever since the original wheezing. “You know, neural resets are actually recommended. The therapy is usually extreme cold or other physical stimuli, but I wonder if Benzite cuisine should be added to the list…” she mused as she fell into step beside Mei, heading mostly away from the kiosk, moreso than toward their actual destination.

“Maybe not all Benzite cuisine. It could just be that particular dish. Would it be funny if we found out it was like, a regional speciality or something made for a special occasion, and the majority of Benzite food tastes like sweet fruits?” Mei kept her voice low, as if she was afraid of being overheard by the Benzites at the kiosk who were starting to disappear behind other businesses and passers-by. “So. Part one of the day’s plans didn’t quite go to plan. Do we get a snack or a drink, or do we not have enough time before your dust cloud puts on its show?”

Xex glanced up at one of the many chronos around the promenade serenely glowing the local station time. She did a few calculations in her head and said, “Now, not going to plan is merely a matter of perspective, no? If the plan was to ‘eat Benzite food,’ I believe that we can count that as a success. If the plan was to ‘like Benzite food’ on the other hand…” She flashed Mei a grin and finally answered the actual question, “Let’s make our way to the observation deck, and see what we pass on the way. We’ll let chance and Pathfinder’s architects make this decision for us.”

As they threaded their way through the crowd toward the lifts that would take them to the main ops deck that also held the observation area. Glancing sidelong at Mei, Xex said with studied nonchalance, “Just say something when you see something that would serve as an appropriate palate-cleanser.”

No sooner had she spoken then Mei was nudging her off her intended course and toward a stand that seemed to be selling a variety of fizzy drinks. Smothering a smile, Xex fell into step behind the anthropologist, quite content to try more comestibles, no matter what they were.

“How about something to drink? It's always fun to try out fun drinks in a new place. I didn’t spend much time on Pathfinder last time I was here, so pretty much everything is new to me. I think they've changed a bunch of things, too,” Mei said, eliciting a humm of assent from Xex. It seemed to say ‘lead on.’ They arrived at the stand and gazed up at the menu for a minute or so. “What do you think? Fruity, cola-style, or something else? I'm inclined toward the fruity side. Oh! Have you ever tried root beer?”

“Is that the one that tastes like slimy earth?” Xex asked, her gaze flickering over the menu. Her tone was genuinely interested, no hint of disgust at having drunk something that tastes like ‘slimy earth.’

“Slimy earth?” Mei repeated, her expression turning somewhat horrified. “What? No! It’s another carbonated beverage. Sweet, with one of those flavors that’s hard to describe if you haven’t had it before. Definitely not slimy or earthy.”

Xex shot her a look that was only suspicious on the surface. Interest and amusement both sparked in her eyes and curled at the corner of her mouth. “Then by all means,” she said, gesturing for Mei to order for them both.

The look of horror faded from Mei’s expression and was replaced by her usual cheerfulness. “Alright, then. Root beers all around. Or at least for the two of us.” She placed the order and collected it as soon as it was ready, handing one of the cups– quickly beading up with condensation thanks to the ice– to Xex. “Be careful with the straw. The fizz might make it float more. You wouldn’t want to poke yourself in the nose.”

“As long as I’m not expected to drink it through my nose, I think I’ll be able to manage,” Xex said dryly, taking the cup and carefully lipping the straw to wrangle it under control as they moved away from the kiosk and toward the busy lift lobby. She sucked with worrisome gusto, and it was immediately evident when the liquid reached her tongue, for her eyes widened. When she released the straw, it was to beam sideways at Mei. “What a strange drink,” she said with the same delighted tone of voice one might have said the words, ‘that’s delicious’!

“I thought you’d enjoy it. Glad my inability to describe the flavor didn’t get in the way.” Mei grinned and sipped hers as they dodged the pedestrian traffic between them and the lobby.

Pathfinder’s lifts were in constant use at this time of day, which meant they had to wait a few moments, but also meant there was never a large crowd waiting. Folk embarked and disembarked with the sort of aimless efficiency that characterized spaces shared by both residents and transients: everyone had someplace to be, it was just that some people were better informed about getting there than others.

Mei and Xex fell into the latter category, but the viewing area they were going to was a popular destination, so it didn’t take them long to squeeze into a lift with several other bodies and be whisked up– or out? Xex sometimes found station orientations confusing– to a more exterior level. They sipped their root beers, Xex with gusto, and Mei more slowly, both content to save their conversation for a less occupied space.

The lift came to a halt and opened, disgorging its passengers who gratefully spread out into the startlingly open space. Xex suspected it would eventually be something else, but for the moment the denizens and visitors to Pathfinder were using the large, oddly empty space for recreation and relaxation. Overhead and round the periphery, huge viewing ports that allowed one to see out into the enormous expanse of space leant even more openness to the space. Some ad-hoc seating had been grouped in some places, and some enterprising person had started a hydroponic garden that already seemed to be getting out of hand.

There was a decent crowd forming, probably to view the anomaly, Xex imagined, but there were still prime viewing areas to be had and she immediately started toward one. Mei followed, almost breaking into a jog to keep up with her enthusiastic companion, but their speed was worth it, earning them the last two seats by the largest of the viewing ports.

“Is there some sort of description of what to expect when it happens?” Mei asked as they settled in to wait. “Or is it meant to be a surprise?”

“Something like a planetary aurora,” Xex said, a little distracted as she attempted to find a comfortable position in the seat without spilling the remains of her rootbeer all over herself. “Which, now I think of it, you probably saw plenty of in the Andorian Wastes? Aren’t they polar?” Eventually, the woman seemed to settle herself in a pretzel-like position in the seat, legs tucked under her and over each other, feet sticking out from beneath the edge of her robe skirts.

“Polar, yes, but given the Aenar are mostly blind, they didn’t have much in the way of windows,” Mei said. “But we– I mean the sighted among the group– would slip out occasionally to watch. Very occasionally. Andoria is cold to begin with, and the polar regions are even moreso. It’s why the Aenar, or what’s left of them, were left alone for so long. No one wanted to go up there and find out if they were still there. But anyway. The aurorae we did see were pretty spectacular. It’ll be so interesting to see how the effect works in space. Will we get the same greens and reds, or will we get something entirely different?”

Xex sucked on the last of her rootbeer, slurping the dregs through her straw and then abandoning the cup to one side. She briefly wondered what kind of root it was named for, but decided the more interesting question had to do with the upcoming spectacle. “The only thing like this I’ve seen before– by which I mean an analogous planetary phenomenon happening in space– the effect was many times more…” she paused, clearly searching for an appropriate adjective, “Crisp. Immediate. Present. There is no atmosphere to dilute it, no suns to cast shadows or light pollution. Now, given that a sun is part and parcel of this phenomenon, I cannot say it will be the same but a person can certainly hope. Now… if I’m not mistaken, we should be able to see the first indication of the coronal ejection in…” Another pause, this one as she searched the visible space she could see and, apparently finding what she was looking for, gestured out slightly to their left, “That direction. See there? You can see the edges of the nebula.”

“I think I see it. That dark blue against the black? Where the stars look fuzzier?” Mei leaned slightly closer to Xex and gestured toward the region of space she was describing. “Is that the edge? Or is that just some exhaust from one outgoing ship?”

Xex tilted her head until their temples touched so she could see Mei’s line of sight. “Yes, there,” she said, nudging Mei’s arm slightly to the right. “Where the dark blue is. I’m not sure about fuzzy stars though.” Flashing Mei a grin, she leaned back slightly and teased, “Have you had your vision checked recently?” Before Mei could answer however, the doctor was already shushing her. “Look, I think that’s it starting.”

Out the viewing port, they could see the darker area of the nebula, and then a shimmer not unlike a heatwave, but more cohesive, rippled through the area of space they were looking at. Xex shifted, one foot dropping to the floor to brace her as she leaned forward expectantly.

That was the only thing that saved her when the shockwave hit.

One moment, the entire viewing space was holding its collective breath for the start of the space aurora, and the next the entire station gave a wild jerk, far too swiftly for any inertial dampeners to do their job. A sound like a great metallic beast wailing split the air, an awful rending of plasteel and transparisteel, underpinned by the panicked– and pained– cries of the humanoids who had been thrown to the deck. Xex, who had managed to brace well enough to avoid being bodily flung to the floor, immediately glanced at Mei to find she was sprawled on the floor, wide-eyed and blinking, but apparently unharmed.

Looking up from the anthropologist, Xex was greeted with a scene of chaos. Makeshift furniture and portable seats were strewn about the deck as though tossed there like jacks from a giant’s hand. Pieces of Pathfinder that were not as well-secured as they apparently should have been were in evidence as well, some still clanging to a halt against the decking. Humanoid shapes littered the floor as well, some staggering to their feet, some pinned beneath larger pieces of debris.

An emergency klaxon sparked to life, adding to the din. It rang for several seconds before the calm computer’s voice broke in. Please stay calm. Shelter in place. Awaiting damage reports. Do not attempt to transfer to another level. Emergency crews will arrive shortly. Please stay calm. Shelter in place.

“What happened?” Mei asked as she scrambled to her feet, wincing as she flexed her arm and rubbed her elbow. The question was logical, if useless– Xex could have no more of an idea of what had happened than she did. Her eyes grew even wider as she took in the scene around her. She seemed to freeze for a moment, uncertain of where to go and what to do next. Who needed her help first, and how did she figure that out? Then shook her head like she was shaking off sleep and held out a hand to help Xex up. “What do we do next? There should be some emergency first aid supplies… somewhere.” Mei sounded fairly confident, but from the look on her face, Xex suspected she didn’t feel too sure about that.

Please stay calm. Shelter in place. the computer continued to drone in a repeating cycle.

Xex, whose expression had become nearly blank as she began the automatic process of triage, took Mei’s hand without really registering the anthropologist’s presence, pushing to her feet– only to stumble as she did so, the solid up and down reality of the observation space tilting as something in Pathfinder’s stationkeeping went horribly wrong.

Adjusting her weight to compensate for the off-kilter gravity, Xex pushed forward, cupping an arm to stop Mei stumbling backward as well. “We stay safe, first,” she said, finally answering Mei’s question. Giving her arm a squeeze to make sure she was listening, Xex tore her eyes away from the scene to meet and hold Mei’s own. “Agreed? You stay safe first.” Xex nodded deliberately, as though to persuade Mei to do the same and, though her eyes stayed wide, she began to nod along with the silvery-skinned doctor.

“Good,” Xex said, business-like as she released Mei carefully, making sure she could stand on her own. “And you’re right. There are emergency supplies, over by the lift bay. Can you grab them?” The question was a genuine inquiry as to her ability, not a simple polite request.

“As long as the cabinet door isn’t jammed.” Mei tried to keep her tone light-hearted but couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice. Such doors were meant to be able to open in any condition, but given the unfinished state of the place, nothing was guaranteed.

“I’m going to see if we can find out who needs our help the most,” Xex said, assuring Mei as she headed off, “but I won’t be far.” Turning back to the wider room, she continued her mental triage list. People were beginning to recover from the shock just as the Sojourners had, with varying degrees of success. Cries of dismay and pain still echoed through the large space, undercutting the continued drone of the computer.

Shelter in place. Awaiting damage reports. Do not attempt to transfer to another level.

“I wish those recordings would stop after a few repetitions,” Mei muttered as she turned to go get the emergency supplies. “They don’t make it easy to concentrate.” If Xex heard her, she made no sign, her attention wholly on who would need her help first.

Mei made it a few steps when the station tilted violently, and hot on its heels, a second wave of plate-shuddering force hit. It might not have been as strong as the first, but it was enough. Already damaged struts clattered to the decking with a sound like thunder– one frighteningly close– and a fresh round of screams and wails filled the air as the lights flickered, went out for a few seconds, then flickered back on at half-strength. The recording Mei had complained about went silent, but the lack of it did not diminish the noise of stressed bulkheads and supports or the frightened people who’d been flung about.

“Doctor?” Mei had been flung to the floor again and was starting to get up again. She cradled her right arm against herself, flexing her fingers and wincing.

“Here,” came the grunted reply close to hand, but wherever Xex was, she was not visible behind the debris that had slid and fell between them. “But I’m afraid I shall have to revise your errand list. I seem to be pinned.” Her voice, while outrageously calm, nevertheless held a note of strain in it. Pain, perhaps?

When Mei managed to carefully pick her way back to the sound of the doctor’s voice, she found the woman on the ground, a heavy block that might have been in use as a bench entrapping one of her lower legs. Xex herself was laid at an awkward angle to accommodate the odd placement of her foot and ankle, and when she smiled up at Mei, there was a definite hint of ‘grimace,’ to the expression. “I can’t get any leverage on it,” she explained, “But I think if you can shift that end…” she jerked her chin toward the end closest to Mei.

Around them, the station creaked and then positively groaned as it tilted alarmingly again to the screech of metal on metal, and the panicked screams that accompanied it.

“Oh, shit.” Mei rushed over, her own pain forgotten at the sight of Xex’s plight. She knelt beside the doctor, biting her lip as she evaluated the block’s angle and potential weight. “I think, if I can find something to use as a lever . . .” She looked around and spied a broken rod nearby. With a quick touch to ensure it wasn’t too hot or sharp, she grabbed it, then looked back at the block and the space under it. “I think, if I can get it under here . . . Can I lever it up this way, or do I need a fulcrum? It’s basic science.” She took a shaking breath. “No, I think I can just kinda push it up enough for you to get your foot out. It’d help if we had more light.” She carefully slid the rod under the block as far as it would go, careful not to jab Xex and make any injuries worse.

“It would,” Xex agreed, “But we haven’t so as per usual,” she flashed Mei a slightly manic grin, “We shall have to work with what we have. That looks good there. On the count of three, you lift, I’ll squirm.” Catching and holding Mei’s eyes to make sure they were exactly in tune, she counted down. “Three, two, one, go.” ‘Go’ was almost anticlimactic, it was delivered in such a flat tone. It didn’t seem to matter though; Mei heaved on her lever and Xex, true to her words, squirmed desperately to free her pinned limb. In a flurry of scrabbling, she was free and she said as much with a gasped, “I’m out!”

The doctor’s foot and ankle were indeed free, and while there weren't any grizzly missing pieces, a large strip of her robe-like dress had been torn free, and some fluid, dark in the dim lighting, smeared down the outside of her leg. With the limb now back under her control, Xex tried to hold her expression steady and calm, the picture of serenity. She failed. A grimace of discomfort accompanied the freedom, and she reached down, carefully probing the entirety of her leg. As she did so, she canted her head to the side, glancing up at Mei. “Are you alright?”

“Am I alright? You’re the one who’s leaking!” Mei almost laughed in bewilderment. “Is it bad? Are you in a lot of pain? Will you be okay long enough for me to go find the emergency supplies?”
Xex’s expression bordered briefly on the exasperated, and settled eventually on dismissiveness, accompanied by a vague shooing gesture, causing Mei to tsk, “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know your own anatomy better than I do, and you can’t help other people if you’re about to fall down yourself. I’m going to grab the medkit, we’re going to take care of you, and then we’ll go help whoever else needs it most.”

“I am well aware of my own limits, Mei,” Xex said with the same infuriating calm, only this time it had a little underpinning of impatience, “It is only a surface graze. My ankle will be far more problematic, but we shall deal with that once you get the–” she paused, wincing at a particularly piercing cry of pain from someplace partway across the wide viewing space. “--medkit.” She lifted her brows then, as though to challenge Mei to stall any further.

Knowing an order when she saw one, Mei bit back her protest. “I’ll be right back, then. Assuming I can find the thing fast.” She stood and, with a last look back, hurried over to the lifts where she was certain she’d find the emergency supplies– assuming they’d been installed in this section. It wasn’t a guarantee, seeing as how it was still under construction, but surely a Starfleet facility wouldn’t leave such things until last? The gloom and flickering lights didn’t help, and Mei nearly collided with several people on the way there.

Soon, though, she was back at the lifts. One was closed and another was halfway open, its interior lights dark and forbidding. She passed them by and skidded to a halt by a panel with glowing yellow words that spelled out ‘emergency’ in a dozen or so languages. It didn’t appear to be damaged, but the panel didn’t respond to her touch. “No, come on. You’re supposed to be so well-made.” Subsequent commands made no difference, so Mei defaulted to the last resort: violence. She banged on the door as hard as she could, yelping when a spike of pain shot up her arm, then laughing when the door swung upon at last. She yanked the supplies out and hurried back, sparing her breath for a muttered, ‘I’m working on it’, when someone called for a doctor.

By the time she returned to said doctor, Xex had levered herself into a half-lean against the very bit of makeshift bench that had originally held her pinned. She’d cleared most of her skirt away, ripping it off if the ragged edge was any indication, and was now eyeing her ankle as she experimentally put weight on it, then hissing through her teeth and leaning back again. “Ah, good,” she said as Mei picked her way over the last of the debris back to her. Xex took the emergency kit from her and opened it across the surface of the bench. Her blunt fingers swiftly picked out the things she needed– the kits were standard enough in organization– and she popped some kind of tab in her mouth as she turned on the small tricorder and some kind of device that looked vaguely like a phaser.

Before Mei could so much as wonder what a phaser was doing in an emergency medkit, Xex said, “Tell me about the situation. Any other medkits available? Any lifts in operation?” She listened with half an ear as she scanned her leg, nodding as the tricorder confirmed her suspicions.

“Neither of the lifts I saw seemed to be working. One was closed, the other was pitch black inside. I wouldn’t risk them yet. I didn’t notice any transporter glitter, so either the transporters are offline or we don’t have comms back up yet.” Mei looked up and around. “And the lights aren’t any better, so no work’s happened on that end yet, either.”

Xex didn’t even glance up at the lights, but did grunt in approval at the sitrep Mei provided. Setting aside the tricorder, she muttered, “No help for it,” more to herself than anyone else and adjusted a few settings on the phaser-like tool before running it over her ankle, where it sprayed a gel that swiftly hardened into a sort of boot. She was sparing with the material, and the resultant boot was unlikely to last long but, Xex figured, it didn’t have to, and someone else might need the material more.

Nodding with satisfaction, she pushed back vertical and tried her weight on the improvised splint cast and finding it sound, said, “That will do. And since we have not yet been sucked into the vacuum of space, I think we can assume the hull integrity here is alright despite…” she gestured vaguely at the surrounding debris, “Which means it is time to get to work. First order of business is–” she winced at the increasingly familiar scream of pain, not far off to their right, “--that. How is your hand?” Despite Mei’s earlier evasion, it seemed the doctor had either noticed her injury or had made a lucky guess. She scooped up the medkit, packing it back into itself before starting toward the closest sound of pain with a limping, lopsided gait.

“My hand? Fine, I think. I landed on it, but I can bend my wrist and everything so it seems to be working alright.” Mei rubbed her wrist again and shrugged. “It’s a little sore, but it can wait. ‘Sore’ isn’t ‘dying’.”

Xex cut a glance sideling at Mei, and despite their surroundings– the ominous groaning, popping sounds from the station, the even more ominous lack of computer voice or warning klaxon, the smell of ozone as the air scrubbers worked overhard in the aftermath, the cries of alarm and pain from their fellow would-be viewers– her lips twitched like she wanted to smile. “Do you save up these extremely true statements, ready to use at a moment’s notice?” she asked as she handed Mei the medkit. And while she was genuinely curious, she hoped it would serve to ground and distract the anthropologist in equal measures.

Despite the dire situation they faced, Mei smiled. “It’s a spur of the moment thing. My teachers used to complain about it.”

As they spoke, Xex brought them closer to the first person she sought to help, despite passing the louder shrieks of someone else. The figure was seated on the ground, and at first looked like they had the wrong number of limbs for a standard humanoid. As they drew closer however, it became clear that it was a Vulcanoid man, who was leaning forward from his seat, supporting himself on one hand. Xex approached carefully, squatting down to bring her face into his line of sight. As she caught his gaze, she nodded toward his chest and shoulder and said, “That looks seriously painful. I’m a doctor– can I help?”

With her shorn hair, torn dress, and general dishevelment, Xex knew she did not project a particularly doctorial air, but her manner was practiced enough, that the man summoned the ghost of a smile when he glanced her over. “I hope so,” he said, his voice a thready wheeze of pain. He was older, with graying hair cut short enough that it hadn’t been disordered by whatever had injured him.

Xex’s answering smile was warm as she opened up her tricorder to confirm what she already suspected: something complicated was broken in his collarbone and shoulder, prompting him to hunch so awkwardly over the injured limb. “The Thermacast please, Mei,” she said, without looking up. She reached out to place a comforting hand on the man’s uninjured shoulder and directed him, “Don’t move. If that’s the most comfortable position for you, we will work with it as is. What is your name?”

“Falvek,” the man said. He eyed Xex as she worked, but did not complain or try to move away, though he winced as the doctor gently adjusted his shoulder and applied the Thermacast as best she could to the awkward piece of anatomy.

“Nice to meet you,” Xex said pleasantly, sounding genuinely pleased to have met the man, despite the circumstances. “That will hold for now. Try not to move too much.” Xex looked around, but the situation hadn’t changed. Still no rescue teams, still no one on the comms, still no glitter of transport beams whisking the injured away to the station’s infirmary. Just Mei, standing with the emergency kit in the dim, uncertain lighting, and beyond her the hesitant movements of people trying to put themselves back together in the poorly-lit, debris-strewn space. Despite all that, she sounded calm and confident as she said to Falvek, “I’m sure the rescue teams will be here soon. Just sit tight and call if your pain increases.”

Falvek nodded and seemed about to say something when a horrendous screech rose up from nearby. Mei jumped, but Xex did not. She rested a hand on Falvek’s knee and rose, searching for the source of the cries. It couldn’t be far away, at that volume.

Xex shot a glance at Mei, who was busily returning the equipment to the medkit, her hands shaking only a little. Satisfied that she wasn’t about to keel over, Xex led the way toward the racket, weaving through debris. The shriek had softened to mere panicked cries for help which Xex tried with some success to tune out. As they edged past a piece that looked especially dangerous– Xex was pretty sure she could see live current still arcing through whatever equipment had been knocked loose– they had to press themselves up against the viewing port. It was mercilessly undamaged, and as Xex glanced back at Mei, a strange spectrum of color was splashed across the woman’s unusually pale face. Xex paused, making a small noise to alert Mei to her change of trajectory, and said with quiet awe, “Look.”

Outside, curtains of ethereal light were beginning to appear, draping into view like some enormous hand had covered the entire station in cloth made of light. Its reflected light shifted from yellow and green, through blue, touching even into purples and reds as it danced through the space around the station and painted their skin. It was beautiful and hypnotic, and though Xex wasn’t sure what it was supposed to look like, its effect seemed completely undiminished by whatever had happened to the station.

Beside her, Mei stood perfectly still, her eyes wide and her face full of wonder at the sight. “We got to see it after all,” she said softly. “Even in the middle of all of this.” They stood and watched for a bit longer, perhaps thirty seconds in all though it felt longer with their attention wholly fixed on the shimmering lights. But all good things had to come to an end. A screech– of metal or a damaged throat, it was hard to tell– shook them from their trances. “We should get going. They’ll be needing you.”

Xex smiled, despite the unknown thing that had taken the station in its grip, staring for one moment longer before finally tearing her gaze away and looking down at Mei. “They’ll be needing us,” she agreed and dusted her hands on her thighs in a business-like manner. She turned then and led the way at a brisk limp toward the next personal calamity. If her eyes strayed out the viewports at regular intervals, it only occasionally distracted her from the work at hand as she and Mei moved throughout the damaged section of the station. They helped where they could, comforted where they couldn’t, treading water while they waited for the station authorities to arrive.

Outside, the aurora faded back into the dark velvety blackness of space, its image in their memories the only remaining vestige of its brief, ethereal presence.

A post by:

Ensign Mei Ratthi
Anthropologist

Lieutenant Xex Wang, MD
Chief Medical Officer