Part 1: That Smell
Posted on Fri Jul 8th, 2016 @ 11:36am by Commander Hades,MD
Edited on Fri Jul 8th, 2016 @ 7:46pm
1,864 words; about a 9 minute read
OOC: Hello! Bit long but hope you enjoy it!
Location: Shuttle Orion heading towards Starbase 400
MD01 0100 hours
[ON]
Hades sat by the window looking out as the stars blazed past…or as they blazed past the stars as it were. Next to him, his baby sister Laga.
It was Laga who spoke first, “How are you?”
Hades glared back at her. “Fine!” He knew he was being childish but he was pissed off.
“Look I know that your mad but…”
“Mad? Oh I’m not mad. I’m bloody livid. You asked Starfleet in my name for a Sabbatical to do research and now I’ve not only got a new assignment but I have to produce the research!”
She shrugged sheepishly. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.” She let the silence stretch. “Look Hades, after the miscarriage and the divorce you weren’t answering. Saul and I found you on the floor catatonic. We had to get you to Vulcan. I knew if Starfleet saw you like that you would be living in the counselor’s office and I know that your not a fan of…”
“Enough.” She had a point but he was enjoying the feeling of angry. He’d been depressed for too long.
“Look H, we both love you. You were out for a year and they choose to call you back six months early. Your research time was extended for 9 months so you can work and do research. You can still get it to them on time. I know you. You’re brilliant.”
“Hush!”
She got the point. She turned away and lost her self in her thoughts. Hades too thought about his depression and how one Bajoran woman + a medical emergency brought him back from mind death. He saw it in his mind as if it were yesterday……
***
{Location: Vulcan City, Vulcan
Hades recalls a few weeks ago…}
Laga groaned. “What the diddle are we going to do now?” She held up the message pad.
Saul raked his hand through his hair. “Calm down. We called Galan and Survek. They should be here soon. In the mean time let’s see if we can light a fire under his aa…”
“Watch your mouth!” Laga interjected.
Saul held up his hands in resignation. “Alright, alright. Let’s just go.”
The two climbed the stairs and headed to their brother’s room. This would not be an easy task. They didn’t bother to ring the chime just entered and as they expected their brother was still in bed staring at the same spot on the wall that he always stared at.
Laga was the first to step up. “Um..Hades.”
She was greeted with no response.
Saul walked over to the curtains and pulled them open.
Hades groaned and turned his head away.
Laga tried again. “Hades…. You have to get up. Starfleet wants you back to work in a few weeks. They put you on a starbase Please…”
He said nothing.
Just as she was about to say something else the door chimed. She looked up at Saul. She got up. “Saul and I are going to see who that is. Are you hungry?”
Again, he said nothing. The two hurried from the room, Laga with tears in her eyes. She hated seeing him like this.
They went downstairs and opened the door and as soon as she saw Galan and Survek Laga broke down and sobbed.
Galan, a rather large and handsome, Cardassian followed by a beautiful Bajoran woman with black hair stepped in first wrapping his arms around Laga. The woman, Myra, too embraced Hades’ sister. It was Myra who spoke. “How is he?”
Laga shook her head. She held up the pad she was still clutching. “I have three weeks to get him up and ready for duty. He hasn’t left the house in almost a year, he just lays there and stares at the wall, I have to force feed him on most days.”
“I’m late to the party I see,” came a voice from behind.
They all turned to see Antony Survek a tall Vulcan, Romulan, Betazoid man with another young Bajoran woman beside him.
Galan smiled. “You’re always late.” His eyes rested on the young Bajoran woman. “You must be Eden.”
She gave a nod.
Survek stepped inside. “Everyone this is my fiancée Eden. Eden this is Galan and his wife Myra, Laga and Saul Hades’ sister and brother. Where is he by the way?”
Laga ushered them into the living room area and told everyone again about the state her brother was in. “He’s not himself. He just lays there. The only time he got up was when the neighbour’s husband was ill. For that week that he was treating Sajbek from next door he was his old self. I know the key is in getting him to work. He was starting to come out of it and then the divorce papers came through and he heard Myst is getting remarried and he shut down again. He hasn’t showered in two weeks! First Myst’s miscarriage and a day after she leaves him…”
Saul shook his head. “Yeah and two weeks ago he was so smelly that I had to throw him in the tub, clothing and all. He’s lost weight…I’ve never seen him like this.”
Galan sighed and then as if just noticing he blinked. “Where’s Eden?”
Just as the words left his mouth they heard laughter upstairs.
Laga gasped. “That was Hades!”
The group headed upstairs quickly and quietly in shock to hear Hades laugh again.
Meanwhile upstairs, Eden had snuck out of the living room and gone to Hades’ room. Survek had told her a lot about Hades on the way over and over the last few months. She wanted to help. After a few wrong turns she’d found his room. Ignoring the horrible smell she entered and sat down on the side of his bed. She watched his eyebrow raise in curiosity but he didn’t move.
“Hi Hades! I’m Eden Survek’s fiancée.”
Again the eyebrow. She’d take it!
“I need your help. Survek said you were the best doctor and I need your help now.”
That seemed to do it. He sat up. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Oh no, not until you take a bath. You really smell.”
Hades’ lip twitched. “Bad?”
“Well…Do you know what Earth roses smell like?”
Hades gave a nod.
“You don’t smell like they do.”
His lip twitched again.
She continued, “Do you know what Bajoran lilacs smell like?”
He gave a nod.
“You don’t smell like them either.”
He was smiling now.
Again she spoke, “Do you know what a thousand pairs of used Romulan socks smell like?”
He grinned, his eye had livened up a bit, “That bad huh?”
She shook her head. “No. Worse!”
Hades threw back his head and laughed, “I see.”
She continued with enthusiasm. “One more thing.”
He motioned with his hand for her to continue.
“You have to wash your teeth.”
He chuckled and asked, “Breath smells?”
She used her index finger and thumb to indicate a small amount.
“Like Romulan socks,” he asked.
She shook her head and then with gusto said, “Oh no! Much worse!”
He laughed again and she sensed a small sensation in the back of her mind; one that indicated that Survek was near. She heard a bit of shuffling outside the door but continued to speak with Hades.
“In fact, Doc. I think that if we don’t get three bottles of mouth wash into your mouth, like, right away, or in medical terms stat, you risk the entire city passing out from you just breathing.”
Hades threw his head back and laughed. He gasped for air. “Oh man. Survek sure knows how to pick a girl.” Once he got his laughter under control he shook his head. “Point taken. I’ll go bathe and wash my teeth.”
“Wonderful,” Eden said. “I’ll go tell your sister to put on her hazmat suit and come to bag the sheets. Then we can have a mattress burning party.”
He shook his head chuckling. “Okay, okay.”
She stood and watched as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up on shaky legs. It was her turn to laugh, “They make Starship one piece PJs for adults?”
“Absolutely! Only for brilliant doctors like me.”
“Okay brilliant doctor. Off you go before you incapacitate the entire neighbourhood with your um…unique perfume.” She watched him head into the bathroom shaking his head and smiling. He closed the door and then she headed out herself only to run into Survek, Galan, Hades’ siblings, and Galan’s wife all staring open mouthed. She grinned at them. “Now,” she looked at Laga, “Survek tells me you make a mean chocolate cake. Does that mean I get an extra piece?”
Laga squealed with glee. “You got my brother out of bed and showering and laughing! You get the whole damn cake.”
***
Hades and Laga were both jolted from their memories and brought back to the shuttle by the voice of a young woman.
Hades recovered first. “I’m sorry?”
The woman sat down on the shuttle seat across Hades. “I’m soooo sorry to interrupt. You looked like you were doing some heavy thinking. I’m Ensign Carol Uilles are you Dr. Hades?”
He gave a nod, “I am.”
“I am a huge fan! I just finished reading your book about the importance of preserving galactic flora. I love that you put out your work in both PADD form and in hard copy book form!”
Laga watched as her brother’s eyes changed right before her. From haunted to energized. He loved talking about his work. “Glad you liked it. Ensign are you going to Starbase 400?”
“Oh no. I’m heading to DS9 so I’m staying on the shuttle when we arrive but I really wanted your autograph. I even have a pen!” She happily presented it to the doctor. “You inspired me to become a doctor. I also keep a hand written journal like you! You’re my hero!”
Hades chuckled. He took the pen and book which he noted was marked up with her own notes and little hearts and doodles. He signed his name in the book and passed it back to her.
“Can I have a holo image?”
He gave a nod and secretly enjoyed watching the young Ensign shove a holo image maker at his sister and say, “You’re so lucky to have a brilliant brother like him.”
Laga took the holo unit. “Thrilled…” she muttered. She took the image and after a few more minutes talking the young woman returned to her seat.
The shuttle captain’s voice came over the PA. =/\= Attention all passengers. We are bound for our first stop Starbase 400. Arrival ETA is 3.5 hours.=/\=
Hades went back to staring at the stars and remembering…
[OFF]
To Be Continued…
Lt. Hades + Various NPCs
Starbase 400
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