The Path Behind

Posted on Thu May 15th, 2025 @ 7:13pm by Lieutenant Gabrielle Mailliard

3,689 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Mission 9: When the Stars Went Silent
Location: Counselling office
Timeline: Two Days After the Battle of Vulcan

On the way to wherever it is they were going to, Yerin’s mind was oddly at peace even if there was some lingering anxiety in her heart. She hadn’t expected Gabrielle to go so far as to offer her something she’d been needing for a good while now. She’d actually survived on just food for a longer time than this, but then again it was never while in this kind of condition. It wasn’t just the hunger that was bothering her so badly, it was the feeling of helplessness and the guilt that was gnawing at her from within.

But the question in her mind was, why was Gabrielle going so far for something potentially dangerous with a woman who wasn’t even a part of this ship? Was she really just that good hearted? Or was she one of those open minded people with an insatiable curiosity she often encountered? Or was it something else she couldn’t really figure out right now.

Whatever it was though, if she was willing to go this far, then she had nothing but gratitude for her.

The counselling office wasn’t far away and seemed as good a place as any. Gabrielle knew she could lock the door and it’d take the Security Chief or a command officer to override. She led Yerin there at a quick pace and unlocked the door with biometrics, admitting both women. As they entered, the lights came on giving the room an inviting and homely glow.

“Lock,” Gabrielle said towards the door as it slid shut and turned to Yerin, her ever-present smile fixed in place.

“I ‘ave ‘ad no opportunity to customise this office yet,” she explained, picking up a few bits of detritus from the table and seats that plushed across the room and stacking them on a nearby shelf. “I ‘ave barely been ‘ere. You can imagine. Please, sit, or whatever is best. I am in your ‘ands, so to speak.”

As a nurse, Yerin didn’t have an office. The closest thing was the nurse’s station where she sometimes held watch during shifts when she wasn’t on combat medic rotation. But a Nebula class was just so freakin massive that they could probably give even the lowliest crewman their own private quarters AND an office and there’d still be plenty of room for everything else.

“That’s okay,” she said with a smile. “If I ever did have an office, it’d probably look something like this too. People like you and me, we end up doing most of our work outside where our patients need us, don’t we?”

“A bed would be more comfortable, but I think we can make do,” she said with a smirk as she pulled a couple of chairs towards the middle of the room and positioned them across from one another before she sat down. Gabrielle shook her head vehemently.

“Non. Bed does not work for me. I am worried about being the skeleton in the closet. No I will sit”, Gabrielle replied.

And sit she did.

“So, what now?” She asked, impossibly cheerfully given what was about to happen.

Yerin’s face became serious as she straightened up in her seat. “Well before we begin, we’re going to need to do an elaborate ritual that was passed down from every generation of my people. Then we’re going to need a rubber duck and plenty of baby oil…”

She grinned unrepentantly. “I’m kidding. It’s nothing complicated. We just need to be touching each other so I’m going to need your hands.” She held hers out, palms up. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt in the slightest. Some people feel weak sometimes because of the rate the lifeforce is transferred so I’m going to take it very slow so you won’t feel a thing.”

Gabrielle burst out laughing, the tension of the moment amplifying the effect.

“Ah, baby oil, this… this is very funny!” She shook her head and let her grin fade to a default contented smile. “You have done this before hm? Prepare people this way. You are a good nurse I think. Yes. Très bien.I am ready.”

“Well not exactly this way but, thank you,” Yerin said with a knowing smile then nodded as they held hands at last.

There were no magic lights, or some kind of visible surge of energy. It wasn’t something fantastical like one might read in a book. In fact you weren’t part of the exchange, you wouldn’t think anything was going on, just two women holding hands sitting across from each other.

True to her word, Yerin started out very slowly. While life force was essentially the same across sentient species, the people who possessed these energies weren’t. She wasn’t foolish enough to think that everyone would react the same way to the process, so she was always careful not to be abrupt.

Once she felt their pathways were open she opened her eyes and spoke softly. “You can feel my hands have gotten warmer, right? All you have to do now is to allow the warmth to seep into your hands and not think of anything else or move away from me. If you want to stop, tell me right away. Okay?”

And with that, they truly began… and Yeron was met with an unexpected shock.

It took all she had to hold back from the enormous volume of energy suddenly starting to flow. It was like trying to stop a river with a bucket. She did her best to keep the energy passing as gently as possible, yet it felt like Gabrielle’s energy was actually gushing into her like the weight of a waterfall.

Gabrielle’s eyes fluttered, but remained closed and she made no other movements, at first. What was left of her smile gradually plateaued to a calm and neutral expression. Inside she could feel things were different. She felt her strength wane a little and for a moment, a moment similar to many she had had over the years she considered letting Yerin take it all and just ending things. Not that she was unhappy, this was something else entirely. It was the weight of existence, a responsibility so deep that few could comprehend it.

With no warning Gabrielle’s eyes opened. And she stared directly at the nurse in front of her. Her usual jovial facade was gone, her expression so far removed from normal it was as if she had been replaced by someone else, never to return. She looked identical but somehow the light-hearted French counsellor was no longer there. Her lips shifted and squirmed with the pain of a million slights and injustices, and in her eyes a door opened to an epic poem of pain, love and loss, a fleeting glimpse of which Yerin had seen earlier in the lounge. The whisky colour of her eyes seemed to darken, a menacing cloud forming within. The energy coming from her didn’t stop. It was bright, blinding and seemingly endless.

Yerin was scared.

Scared of the sheer amount of energy flowing- no, surging through her. Scared of killing her friend. Scared of turning into a monster…

They called it corruption, a lesson that was instilled into every healer to the bottom of their hearts. It was the consequence of what would happen if they tried to take what didn’t belong to them. It had taken so long for her people to view those like her as heroes rather than the feral monsters that they were deemed thousands of years ago. It was a time when rules didn’t matter and those like her only took to survive, and grow stronger, without any care for anyone else.

And the stronger they grew, the more mad they became.

She could feel her strength had returned… and then left behind in the dust as power surged through her. This should have killed someone several times over by now. This should have turned her into a feral. And yet, she could still feel her reason, her fear, her concern for herself and her friend who suddenly looked like a completely different person. She wasn’t a telepath, but she didn’t need to be one to see what seemed like the pain and despair of generations peering back into her eyes, indelibly marked on her determined face.

It felt like hours had gone by, at least with that much energy, but in the real world only moments had gone by. And while in her weakened state she wasn’t able to stop what was happening, as her body began to surge with power that was quickly being refined within her, she began to slow the torrent down.

Even then it took everything she had to gradually bring the flow to a halt, and when she did, Yerin immediately cut off the contact between them. Yet instead of pushing her away or running to the other side of the room, her chair clattered back on the floor as she rushed forward and wrapped her in her arms tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Normally Gabrielle would welcome such a move, she was everything pleasant and cordial and gave out plenty of hugs herself. But Gabrielle wasn’t her usual self, not yet anyway. She took Yerin by both biceps and thrust her away, holding her at arms’ length and peered into the Orlainian’s eyes with a visceral intensity. When she spoke her usual accent was slightly tempered with something different, a sound not heard on Earth.

“You tell, no-one, do you hear me?” She said ominously. “No-one.”

Gabrielle’s grip remained, her jaw steeled but as the darkness within her subsided, tears began to fall across her cheeks as well.

Yerin should have been scared, even though now she probably had enough strength exceed even her previous peak state, thanks to Gabrielle. She was so different, it was like staring into the abyss of someone that had been possessed by it. She knew that she had just glimpsed her real self, not all of it, but even just that brief experience was enough for her to feel all that pain and sorrow distilled into its most primeval form.

But even through her tears she smiled and nodded. “You could have kept this all quiet, not even bother helping me at all, not to risk all that you’ve kept hidden from the world. Yet you helped me anyway, someone like me who you absolutely had no obligation to help. Of course I’ll keep your secret.”

Her grip was strong but it was nothing to Yerin who had no trouble reaching up slowly to brush away the tears from Gabrielle’s cheeks while ignoring her own.

Yerin was released and Gabrielle shook her head.

“I should ‘ave said something,” she chastised herself, her accent back to normal. “I should ‘ave told you. I am sorry, that was stupid. But I so wanted to experience it, something new, something so unique. I did not know it would be so… moving.” She exhaled loudly through pursed lips, the tears gone, her normal composure returning. Her features moved to display concern for Yerin. Gabrielle peered at her with her usual soft, brown eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“I guess we both have our own secrets,” said Yerin as she chuckled. “It’s okay, I’m alright. I’m actually a lot tougher than I look and it didn’t hurt. I was just… worried. The question is are you alright? I hadn’t even returned your energy to you, I didn’t have the chance. I’ve never experienced anything like that, so much coming from just a touch. I was almost overwhelmed.”

She pursed her lips and her brow furrowed in deep thought as she looked back to what just happened. “That much is often enough to kill someone several times over,” she said worriedly. “Yet… here you are.”

Rather than be fearful of taking her hand again, Yerin didn’t even give it a second thought as she held her hands and looked into her eyes. “How is this possible?”

Gabrielle smiled knowingly, slightly weary, but not from the exertion.

“You could not kill me. At least, I don’t think you could. Per’aps.” She took a deep breath and reached out for the PADD which she had placed nearby. “Is easier to show you, I think.” She said, and accessed something. After a moment she held the PADD up so Yerin could see. It was Gabrielle’s own Personnel record. She was born in Northern Italy, French national, Citizen of Earth. But her service history only contained her current and previous posting and her species and date of birth weren’t there. Gabrielle entered her command code and pressed the return and the missing information populated.

Records popped up of her service dating back to the year 2335. She had first been known to the Federation or something that may have come before it not long after First Contact, in the year 2064. Then, more information appeared.

Species: Lanthanite
Date of Birth: 3 May 1453

Gabrielle smiled slightly, looking a little timid for the first time.

“I look pretty good for nine-hundred and twenty one, no? Not a day over eight hundred and fifty?”

Yerin couldn’t tear her eyes away from the PADD, even as she tried reaching back for her seat, and remembering it had fallen over earlier. Fortunately she didn’t make a fool of herself for too long when she finally grabbed hold of it, righted it with a flick of her wrist and promptly sat down as she studied the very long list of entries in her file.

“Wha…?” She murmured as she tried to do the math in her head while at the same time, trying to recall her Xenoanthropology classes back at the academy.

She knew there were quite a few long lived species who were part of the Federation. Among the most common were the Vulcans, and then there were the El Aurians who could live for centuries. She wasn’t a stranger to such numbers though because while the average Orlanian’s lifespan wasn’t that much different from a human, healers like her could theoretically life for as long as they had life force to regenerate their bodies.

But she certainly never expected to meet someone who had lived several generations in one lifetime and had been born when her people were still burning alive mutants such as herself at the stake out of fear. At her age, the kind of life she’d led to have that kind of look she saw earlier, it was no wonder that her lifeforce was so powerful it nearly overwhelmed her.

“Holy crap you have to be the hottest grandma I’ve ever met!”

Gabrielle chuckled.

“Ahhh, no, sadly not. To be a grandma I would need children, and I ‘ave none. Besides, I would be great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandma. But, while this is all very ‘umerous…” (it really wasn’t, from Gabrielle’s point of view) “...there is a reason this information is restricted. You tell no-one. If you do, you may be discharged from the fleet, or worse. This is not a threat, it is a warning. Alright? Only the Cap-tenn and Isabella know, and they only know if they access my record and they put in their code and even then they tell no-one, unless my life is at stake. Okay?”

Gabrielle was back to sparkling again, although she was still pretty firm in this last statement.

Yerin nodded vigorously at her warning, wanting to assure her she definitely will keep her word. “Of course! I will take your secret to the grave… well, however long it would take for me to find myself in one. But yes, I promise not to tell a soul unless you ask me to. I’m very good with secrets. You can trust me!”

“But wow,” she murmured with a grin. “With you having served for so long, I’m surprised they hadn’t made you a ten pip admiral by now.”

Gabrielle shrugged and nodded her assent that she probably should be one by now.

“They offer me promotion, I turn it down. They offer again, I turn it down again,” she offered by way of an explanation. “I am thirty five? I look thirty five. I am eight ‘undred and thirty five, I look thirty five. If they promote me too much and I look too young people ask questions. I don’t like questions. Questions get Lanthanites killed. So I stay a Lieutenant. Is fine, suits me well. Every ten years or so I move somewhere new before anyone notices she does not age like they do. Is ‘ow it has been for centuries. Only on Vulcan did I feel really safe.”

“Wow,” Yerin murmured as she gave it thought. “All that hiding and living a double life just to be at peace for so long. To think that people find it weird that someone who looks twenty one is a Master Warrant but they don’t believe me when I tell them I’m thirty six. You have it much worse.”

She wisely didn’t dare to even bring up the emotions she saw earlier. If she felt it that much without even being a telepath, the kind of weight she was carrying in her soul probably wasn’t something she’d want to reminisce after being forcefully reminded of it because of her. And she certainly wasn’t going to bring up Vulcan considering what happened two days ago.

So she avoided it and focused on something more important.

“How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

Gabrielle lifted a hand and ran it over Yerin’s cheek in an affectionate manner, almost like a loving kind of grandmother like Yerin had mentioned.

“Oui I am fine, little one. Now you can go ‘eal some more?”

“With the amount of energy I have in me, I can probably bring back someone from the brink of death and have them doing a one person rendition of South Pacific before dinner time,” she said with a chuckle. “Or go around the ICU and heal the critical patients enough to take them out of danger and allow the doctors to do all the work.”

“Thank you, Gabrielle,” she gushed. “You have no idea how much this means to me. But before I can heal anyone else, there’s still someone I have to treat first. After all, what is given must always be returned.” She pulled her seat closer and took her hands again as she grinned. “This is definitely not going to hurt but… try not to get too carried away, okay? After all, you gave me so much, I should return the favor.”

And with that, Yerin unleashed her own flood of warm energy through Gabrielle the refined lifeforce slowly and thoroughly coursing through her being as she watched her efforts with glee.

“Why, wh…” Gabrielle started, but stopped suddenly as the sensation radiated through her arms and into her chest and downwards through her body. It was a rare occasion where she had nothing to say, she couldn’t speak. It was like nothing she had felt before. It was her favourite food, show, hobby, it was the love she had felt for her husbands and her parents. It pulsed in her chest and tingled in her fingers. She gasped as the sensation washed through her pelvis, her eyes widening.

“Is it supposed to do that?” She asked, a little startled.

The much younger woman’s smile was a little sly as she regarded her. “Do what?” She asked innocently.

Having been on the receiving end of this exchange from her fellow healers countless times before, Yerin knew exactly what she was talking about. And of course, she could have made it gentler and slower so the sensations were a lot less pronounced, but…

“Well you gave me so much at once that if I do it slowly we’ll be here for days so I’m afraid I don’t have much of a choice,” she reasoned as she shifted her hold on her hands and gently slid her thumbs onto the center of her palms. “Is it too much?”

“No, no…” Gabrielle shook her head. “Is just… I don’t feel this way in a long time. Not since… well. Thank you. I think… maybe is my reward for being so generous… mon dieu…”

Yerin chuckled softly then spoke in a softer tone of voice. “Let me tell you a secret; it gets so much better than this.”

The infusion went on for a bit longer but in no time at all, the young nurse reluctantly ceased the exchange and set Gabrielle’s hands down on her lap. “How does it feel?”

Gabrielle rested her elbow on the arm of her chair and covered her mouth with a splayed hand, shaking her head with confusion. Her eyes flicked to Yerin.

“I feel now I want a cigarette. This is very odd. I ‘ave not ‘ad one in over three ‘undred years…”

Despite not being a smoker herself, she’d watched enough old Earth movies to understand the reference and burst out laughing. “Well thank you very much. I’m very glad you liked that,” she chortled in amusement. “And the upside is that if you weren’t in peak condition before, you certainly will be now.”

“Well!” Gabrielle rose, steadying herself on the armrest as she did. “Is like I am four hundred again hm?”

Yerin grinned as she helped her up to her feet. “You don’t look a day over thirty two.”

 

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