####################
"Worrying About Someone"
[Previous Post: "Personal History"]
####################

<< When you keep your back to the light, all you see is a darkness of your own creation.>>
- Amber Satori

Setting: USS HATHOR, Main Engineering
Stardate: 63076.2100

Eve walked into the gentle giant's domain not at all surprised in having found him hard at work, this time his attention having been solely dedicated to a tricorder that had been resting on one of the work stations.

"It's really not fair," the Counselor said in a joking manner.  "You are so big and that poor thing is so small."

Elan continued to work as if he had not heard the comment made by the Ensign, yet his next words clearly indicated that he had been aware of her presence.  "Need to modify this tricorder so that Ensign Fanggot can find the box we have been sent to retrieve.  It was placed in a container that radiates a low level interference field thus making it impossible to be directly locked on by any transporter.  The box itself is made of an alloy that barely registers using a standard sensor sweep, so specific calibrations need to be made, and these will only work for short-range scans."

The Counselor stood still for a while as she allowed for the Oltharian's words to register.  Eve had always known Elan to be a workaholic, an Engineer dedicated to both his work and perfection, but there had been something different about him.  Other officers onboard the HATHOR had likely noted this as well but it fell under her jurisdiction to investigate this further, both as the Ship's Counselor and the CEO's friend.

"How is Amber doing?" Ensign Dalziel nonchalantly asked, as if the question itself had been nothing more than a simple query.  Eve carefully observed the Oltharian as she waited for his reply knowing that the question she had presented him with would pierce through whatever emotional defenses he would have tried to put into place.

--==(/\)==--
[FLASHBACK]

Elan sat quietly by the biobed upon which Amber Satori had been on since her arrival to the NEW ALEXANDRIA's medical facility.  Despite the resources and knowledge that this state-of-the-art Intel base had access to, no cure had been found to draw the woman out of the coma she had been cast into.  Whenever he could, the Oltharian offered a tranquil vigil over the peaceful woman whom had captured not only the giant's heart but his soul as well.

Memories of their first meeting at Starfleet Academy, their first mission on MARS and their subsequent adventures into the world on Intel had made the two Officers become very close.  This had paved the way for Elan to open himself to a different world, one that he had never imagined or even dreamt possible, a universe that became filled with her light and presence.

Without even trying the Oltharian could recall the sound of her voice as she spoke his name, the softness of her touch has her hand touched his, the smile of pure admiration when she would listen to his playing the flute.  The small instrument had always meant a great deal to Elan, but to have Amber be the only other person to have heard him play had given the silver musical cylinder and entirely different significance.

--==(/\)==--
Setting: USS HATHOR, Main Engineering
Stardate: 63076.2110

"She is well," Elan answered having realized that only silence had met the Counselor's question for an undetermined amount of time.

"I'm worried about you," Eve said, the statement holding in it far more than the simple concern of a Counselor for a fellow shipmate.

"Thank you," the Oltharian offered adding a weak smile as well as a subtle nod of his head.  "I will be by her side again soon, in the meantime though we have more important matters to attend to, matters that require our complete and unhindered focus.  As my uncle would have been more than happy to remind me, there is no point in trying to stop the sun and moons from moving across the heavens."

"Yes," the Counselor grinned.  "Wasting time trying to change what cannot be changed," Eve confirmed before she leaned in closer to the towering giant and continued, this time in a whispered voice.  "Still, it's nice to allow one's mind to imagine what could be, even if it takes us into the realm of the impossible."

The two Officers looked at each other for a moment, only the sound of the warp core in the background stood between them, then the Oltharian smiled once again and quietly returned to his work leaving Ensign Dalziel to return to her duties and concerns about a certain Oltharian and the rest of Senior Officers of the USS ANUBIS.

--==(/\)==--
Francois Charette

Lieutenant Elan Talak Fairborn
Chief Engineering Officer
USS ANUBIS

AND

Robotics Engineering Officer
NEW ALEXANDRIA

Also

Captain Erik Morningstar
Commanding Officer
USS PARADOX