<USS Avalon> "When the bottle explodes"

"When the bottle explodes"

A post by Victoria MacGivern and K'etrall 



    One thing that Victoria knew wasn't on the Starfleet Brochure for 
enlistment was the "cleaning of waste extraction systems" or in this case 
unclogging them. It was a dirty job but someone has to do them on occasion. Not 
always can you send others to do the dirty work. Besides who could send someone 
else to do a job of which they were unwilling or have never done themselves. 
She coughed again at the wonderful smell that filled the main waste extraction 
pump system on deck 12. 

    She was starting to wonder what exactly the Marine's were putting into 
there toilet. "Actually!" she said to herself as she watched something very odd 
go by as it came free in the clear tube. "I don't!' she thought out loud. "Not 
even a few days out of port, and stuffs break'n" she starts picking up her 
tools that she had used to alternate the current in the system to clear the 
clog. 

    After closing the cover over the tubing, she grabbed her tool kit, and made 
her way back to engineering. Threading her way back through the ship, she 
couldn't help but smile to herself being part of this. 


    A turbolift deposited her just down from engineering, she quietly made her 
way down the corridor, and into engineering, as she dropped her tool kit onto a 
shelf, the sight and sound of a young girl disappearing from view echoed 
through the semi-quiet engine room, leaving her there with K'etrall. Victoria 
gave a half smile to her boss. "Plumbing duty completed." She said. "Those 
Company A guys have a weird sense of humor or are just putting odd things down 
the toilets." She scoffed at the image that flashed before her mind again of 
what she witnessed traveling down the clear tube. "I'm still not sure what it 
was!" 

She shook off the image, and looked back to her boss. "Anything else on the 
agenda?"

    K'etrall felt that sensation in the back of her mind again. Something about 
Victoria. "Actually as far as I can see everything is taken care of and you are 
free to head out if you want. I am going to finish up a few reports then head 
out myself. Time to let the next shift take over."

    As she walked back to her office she felt Victoria's eyes on her. Sitting 
at her desk she thought back over the day. Showing Tavi around hadn't been bad 
and she had actually fixed a few problems that she had overlooked. If only she 
could solve the mystery of Victoria all would be well.

    Victoria watched the Chief Engineer disappear into her office, and felt 
something shiver through her body as her eyes played over the Klingon woman's 
body. She blinked, and shook her head confused. ~"what is wrong with me~" she 
thought to herself, as she turned and walked into the corridor that would lead 
her back towards her quarters. She strolled down the corridor feeling very 
vulnerable for some reason, she eyed everyone as she passed them. Her heart 
rate began to rise considerably, and she began to perspire. 

    Victoria had only felt this way one other time, and that was before she 
blacked out from a severe panic attack. She could feel her chest beginning to 
ache, and constrict. She felt as if the very air that she passed through was 
starting to suffocate her. She passed a few crewman who gave her a worried 
glance, but allowed her to move into the turbolift, as she turned around, the 
world spun and she found herself sinking to the floor, unable to control her 
decent, the last bit of light was consumed by the carpeted floor of the 
turbolift. 

    Having finished up her paper work, K'etrall locked her office and made her 
way out of engineering. She walked down to the lift and pushed the button for 
the door to open. For some unknown reason it wouldn't open. "Computer, open 
turbolift doors, over ride K'etrall beta alpha zero four. Unable to comply. 
Come on you damned machine open these doors now before I tear them apart." 
Again the computer was unable to comply.

    Something wasn't right. Someone was in the lift and they were not in the 
best shape. She could sense that whoever was inside was emotionally distraught. 
Using her strength she managed to pull the doors apart. Upon them opening she 
found Ensign McGivern laying on the floor unconscious. She put her ear to 
Victoria's chest to listen for breathing and checked a heart rate. At least she 
is still alive. 

    Gently she patted Victoria on the face trying to arouse her. "Come on 
Ensign. Time to wake up. No time for lying down on the job." It seemed to take 
a while but Victoria started to stir. K'etrall had to get her out of the lift, 
so she picked her up and half carried, half dragged her back to her office. She 
gently set her down in the chair and went over to the replicator and got her a 
glass of water.

    In the deep reaches of Victoria's mind a struggle was occurring, not one of 
life or death, but one of innocence being lost. She could hear him, and smell 
his breath on her. And knew she was powerless to do anything. Another part of 
her heard a voice echo in the back of her mind, calling too her, but all she 
wanted to do right now was cry. 

    As K'etrall bent over and stroked Victoria's cheek it was like unlocking a 
demon. Victoria's eyes opened, but were blank, as if she wasn't really there, 
her hands balling into fist and with lightning speed, she struck the glass from 
the woman's hand with one swipe, her second blow came to the woman's chest as 
she launched herself from the couch. "I'll kill you, you bastard!" She 
Screamed, her breath coming in sobs and tears. Her body hardening into a 
fighting stance. 

    The last thing she expected was for Victoria to wake up and knock the glass 
from her hand and then attack her. Something definitely wasn't right. It took 
all she had not to fight back. K'etrall felt that something was wrong and even 
though her first thought was to launch a counter attack, she also knew it 
wasn't the right move.

    "Ensign McGivern! What the hell is your problem? I suggest you sit your ass 
back in that chair before I call security and have them take you to the brig. I 
doubt very much if Captain Skyler is going to be in any big hurry to release 
you this time. Now for the last time AT EASE NOW!!!"

    Victoria's eyes blinked in rapid succession, her breathing became more 
ragged as she dropped to the floor in a heap, she just sat there staring at the 
floor her hair covering any signs of what was going on, but the sobbing was a 
good indication that she was crying. "I'm sorry!" she blurted out. She raised 
her head, her tear filled eyes met K'etrall's, she looked very vulnerable on 
the floor right now. It was almost as if all the guards she had in place to 
protect her real emotional instability had been destroyed. 

"Please don't tell anyone." she murmured as she lowered her head again to look 
at the floor. 

    Sighing K'etrall looked at the woman on the floor. Leaning down she helped 
Victoria up and led her to the small couch in her office. Once she was sure the 
engineer wasn't going to attack her or fall off the couch, she walked over to 
the replicator and ordered another glass of water. Walking back to the couch 
she hesitated before handing the glass to Victoria. "You're not going to attack 
me or take a swing at this innocent glass are you?" She handed the water to the 
woman and wondered why or how she had become to be in the state she was in.

    "I'm not going to tell anyone, especially since I haven't a clue as to what 
is going on myself. I was hoping you would fill me in. It's not often I find 
one of my engineer's passed out in the turbo lift after getting off shift. It 
makes me wonder what kind of Chief I am. So....you are going to tell me what 
all that was about are you not?" K'etrall's curiosity was now peaked more than 
ever.

    Victoria reached out and gently took the glass from the Klingon woman's 
hand. She closed her eyes allowing her lips to gently caress the edge of the 
glass, as she took a pull from the water. It felt good, her mouth was 
impossibly dry. "It happened a long time ago." She muttered, the glass now 
resting against her cheek, as she stared at the carpeted floor. 

    "I let something happen to me, that I was too weak to control." She said 
continuing. "I was home for the holidays for the first time in a long time 
after heading off to the Academy." She said, taking another pull from the 
glass. "I was just off the shuttle in town, and walking to my parents house." 
She closed her eyes tight, her eyes were wet again thinking about it. 

    She looked up, her eyes bloodshot. "You don't think stuff like this happens 
anymore. Not to you! I mean who would attack a Starfleet Cadet. We're 
Starfleet!" she sputtered. "I couldn't keep him off me." She looked back to the 
floor again. "He held me down, with a knife to my throat." She was starting to 
have trouble forming her words. "Made me take my clothes off!" she drew her 
knees up to her chest, she sobbed heavily. "I had no control. I thought I was 
going to die." She said. "My parents didn't even know. I got home in the late 
hours of the morning finally having made it there. They never caught him." She 
wiped away the tears from her cheek. "I don't know why I've never talked about 
it before to anyone." She looked up at her. "This has never happened before." 
She looked up at the woman into her eyes. "I'm sorry!' she looked back to the 
floor once again. "Please don't tell anyone!" she pleaded to the woman. 

    I knew something was wrong but this was not what I expected at all. Now 
what do I do? "Don't worry I am not going to tell anyone. It wasn't your fault 
and you shouldn't blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. You are safe now. No 
one is going to attack you while you are on this ship. You weren't weak. You 
were put in a position of either letting this happen or letting him kill you. 
You had no control and did the only you could do and remain alive. That doesn't 
make you weak. It makes you a survivor."

    Looking at the woman sitting on the couch brought about feelings K'etrall 
didn't really understand. They weren't Klingon but more human. She knew this 
woman needed comforting but wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. She had 
spent so much time alone that interacting with people was not her forte'. She 
did the only thing she could think of and that was to sit next to Victoria and 
put her arm around her. She pulled her close and held her as the woman sobbed. 
Whispering she simply stated, "Everything is going to be okay. Just take some 
deep breaths and try to relax. You are safe now and no one is going to hurt 
you. Cry if you must and get it out of your system." What the hell am I doing? 
I don't know how to comfort people, that was my mother's job. The stupid 
Cardassian's certainly didn't want my comfort, they just wanted my body so I 
know what you are going through.

    "I've been in your shoes Ensign. It's not easy and it never goes away but 
you can get past it. If you want to. Someday I will tell you about my 
experience, my captivity and how I got this scar on my face. Maybe that will 
help you to realize you are not alone. You are most definitely not alone."

    Victoria continued to cry for a few more moments in the woman's arms. She 
felt comfrotable here, she didn't know why thought. She didn't know this woman 
at all, but right at this very moment in time, she felt closer to her than 
anyone she had in a long time. She had kept her too long though, why did she 
open up to this person of all people. Slowly she stood from the couch, after 
several long minutes. She looked up brushing her red hair from her face. "Thank 
you." She said softly, she turned and was gone from the office leaving K'etrall 
alone. 

    It didn't take long for Victoria to find the way to her quarters, she felt 
exhausted. This had hit her harder than anything had ever. She had never had a 
panic attack like this ever over this. Why now? She wondered, she could feel 
her body giving way as she fell backwards onto her bed, not even bothering with 
her uniform, she kicked her boots off and was fast asleep moments later.

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