SIM:Skyfire Taybrim:Reunited

((Long range Shuttle Charybdis - Passenger Lounge))

::Sal was, all in all, feeling pretty decent. He had slept a full night’s sleep for the first time since he left the Excalibur and something in this whole grand escapade felt like it was coming around full circle. He stretched, lazily watching hazy streaks of light form a psychedelic blur as the shuttle moved through the stars at warp speed. There was a serenity to the trip, a muted sense of homecoming despite everything that had taken place. ::

:: There was a faint beep and he looked at the PADD Veradis had left him. She had said he had a message. With the chaos of the past mission, he hadn’t even checked messages. Then again he expected it was from his mother or someone equally irritating. ::

::He picked the PADD up and thumbed across the screen, opening the missives. Ginger brows perked. Chythar Skyfire. Unexpected, but Sal admitted he was more than curious to hear how his friend was getting on. The pangs of homesickness he might have felt a day or so ago were washed away by a solid glee, and concern.::

Taybrim: Well…  ::he said to thin air:: Maybe the counselor should make a house call.

Fai: ::Calling from the back:: You’re not a counselor anymore, Sal.

Taybrim: Technicalities. Go back to sleep.  ::He settled himself in front of the communications panel and rang up the subspace intercom for the Excalibur, asking for Doctor Chythar Skyfire::

Taybrim: =/\= CD? You there? :: It took a few moments for an answer to come through. The good doctor looked like he’d just woken up and was a little tired with the earlier disruption of Lt. Walker’s message just before she left, but he was wearing his standard teal collar with his hair unkept. ::

Skyfire: =/\= Sal! Hi! Um. Sorry about the hair.

Taybrim: =/\= I didn’t wake you, did I?

Skyfire: =/\= I was already up. We’re down one engineer, as she got a promotion and a transfer. What’s up with you? :: A pause. :: Is that a shuttlecraft backdrop?

Taybrim:  ::he blinked oh so innocently:: =/\= Shuttlecraft? What shuttlecraft?  ::a beat:: Who left now?

SKYFIRE: =/\= You’re calling me from a shuttlecraft?:: A mixture of joy and mild irritation at the dodging filled the lieutenant, but he was more glad than annoyed. ::

Taybrim: =/\= I might be calling you from a shuttlecraft, Yes. In fact, CD. I am calling you from a shuttlecraft. It’s the in thing, trust me on this.

::From the back of the shuttle a female voice called out ‘Sal, you are so full of striped rhino dung, it’s not even funny…’ Sal’s cheeks turned a curious shade of pink and he managed a certainly unconvincing sober smile towards CD.::

Taybrim:=/\= I might have been transferred. You know… maybe… back home.

Skyfire: oO Oh thank the stars! Oo =/\= That’s good! I was just about to break Counselor Riverview. Well...okay, maybe not...but our first session happened. She’s an empath. My session with Lieutenant Collim went better than my first one with Riverview.

Taybrim: =/\= Riverview? I didn’t meet her. I couldn’t finagle out of science. But I did get posted back on the Excalibur. I guess I will end up seeing Ensign Laveaux after all!

Skyfire: =/\= She showed up after you left. I didn’t know that Ensign Laveaux was on your list of patients after the Surprise went wrong. Shall I cook you dinner? :: He winked and vaguely hinted at the Stew Surprise ::

Taybrim:  ::Grinning:: =/\= Heck yes! I’d be up for Surprise. Sans fairies, please. And yeah, I couldn’t drag Laveaux into her routine session. I sent Solan after her, but then ended up halfway across the quadrant.

Skyfire:=/\= You sent Solan after me too. He still owes me some of those bricks for meditation purposes. You bring the bricks, I’ll bring the Surprise.

Taybrim: =/\= Deal. Done.

Skyfire: =/\= You have no idea how much I missed you…

oO What the hell is wrong with me, anyway…? Oo

Taybrim: ::He took in a breath:: =/\= Seriously, I might have a clue. I don’t know what you guys went through, but I just got off a short tour through Romulan hell… and there was no one around. I mean no one to lean on. There were crew - you know - but no one close. It was really horrible.  ::He shook his head a bit:: I’m usually pretty good at just withstanding stuff… but in the end I had to come home. ::He ran a hand through his shaggy ginger hair:: I’m sure that made no sense…

Skyfire: =/\= We got shot at. By weapons platforms and the captain. Katy and Azin sabotaged the ship. Brek asked me to attempt to be a counselor to ferret out the saboteurs.

Taybrim:  ::He jaw dropped:: =/\= Wait, what? You said something about Katy and Azin… in your letter. I thought it was a drill?

Skyfire: =/\= It was a drill. The captain chose them both to be her shipboard accomplices, I’m guessing. I was asked by Brek into the Intel Suite to take on the role of shrink and assess. He said I may’ve been right about Azin...but I was honestly not expecting the new guy and our chief security officer. The new guy I kind of figured was the obvious choice. Katy….Not obvious.

Taybrim: ::rocking a bit in his seat:: =/\= I’m not totally surprised… Katy’s esperblind. That means I can’t telepathically read her so she would have been hidden from other telepaths as well. But… I guess that didn’t help if I knew that because I was hip deep in scrubbing trilithium resin from a Romulan colony.  ::He winced just a little, guilt shadowing across his face:: How did it turn out?

Skyfire:=/\= Both were apprehended. The drill ended, and I lost feeling in my fingertips for a few hours. I patched up my wrist on my own, and actually passed out hardcore when I got done talking to Riverview. I lost a lot of blood getting from my quarters up to the intel suite...turbolifts were out. :: A pause. As though another question hung on his lips. :: You said you were in a Romulan colony? Was there any mention of the Skyfire Cure at all or was that localized to Argurtha only?

Taybrim:  ::eyes widened:: =/\= Wait, wait go back… you didn’t mention bloodloss in your letter. Are you all right? What happened?

Skyfire: :: looked down at his hand for a minute, breaking eye contact. :: =/\= When the first shot was fired, I collapsed to the deck and broke the wrist. Had to crawl the difference from my quarters on deck 9 to deck 16 to meet with Brek and Collim. I was a bit light-headed by the time I got back. I’m OK. Sleep helped. :: He looked back up at Sal, almost afraid to say anything further on the subject. ::

Taybrim: =/\= By the rings of Betazed, CD! I hope you’re ok!  ::his complexion had ghosted just a touch white. he paused and calmed a little.:: =/\= Yes, sleep does help. I’m glad you’re OK. Very glad.  ::he paused and took a deep breath:: Anyways… the Skyfire cure. Yes, they knew of it, but Talvath wasn't suffering from the plague. They had a load of poisonous trilithium resin dumped into their atmosphere. The population was suffocating. Riots, arson… it was a mess.

Skyfire:=/\= The bright side...all of that is over now. Steering the conversation back to Lt. Collim, she offered to help with my mental shields in exchange for my initial counseling session with Riverview. I sent the LT a message before I went to sleep last night, so am hoping we can work on that some more.

Taybrim: ::He nodded a bit, a fond smile growing across his features:: =/\= That sounds good. I might even be there by then!

Skyfire: =/\= I want to--- :: beat. He bit his tongue. He couldn’t finish that thought, not with the words he wanted. Not over an open channel. His gaze once again broke eye contact. Then he looked back at the screen and his friend once more :: I want to be the first to say “Welcome back.”

Taybrim: ::A slow smile dawned across his features:: =/\= It is good to hear you say that, CD. It will be… immeasurably good to be home.

Skyfire: =/\= We’ll have Stew, and coffee, and talk, and..and...it’ll be fun! Because there won’t be any faeries or rogue programmers wanting to interrupt! :: Skyfire’s mind began racing with all the things he wanted to say. He had to be patient. It’d all come to light sooner or later, but not over an open frequency. ::

Taybrim: =/\= That sounds… marvelous. I couldn’t want for more.  ::He leaned back into his chair, grinning:: Seriously, marvelous.

Skyfire: =/\= Marvelous is good. Right? :: Once again, he bit his lip. He wanted to say more. There was so much more he wanted to say, but the frequency was open...and it wasn’t the right set of words. ::

Taybrim: =/\= Marvelous is excellent. It’s like… eating sweets while watching the sun rise on Risa good.

Skyfire: =/\= Want me to let you get settled in before you come to dinner, or meet you in the launch bay?

Taybrim: =/\= If we dock on time ::He leaned over to check the chronometer:: which we should, I should have plenty of time to make it onboard. Just enough time to not have to run like an idiot through the halls, but not enough time for everyone to know. Personally, I’m looking forward to walking down the halls and grinning at people and making them wonder if I’m a ghost or a figment of their imaginations!

Skyfire: =/\= I should let you fly, shouldn’t I?

:: `You should shut up and let me sleep…’ the same voice filtered through the lounge area. Sal rolled his eyes.::

Taybrim: =/\= I have a critical traveling companion  ::he sighed:: Maybe I should go. Don’t want to… but should. Still, I’ll see you soon!

:: CD nodded in understanding. He was reluctant to turn off the screen, but he was fixing dinner for his buddy. oO What are my feelings towards him really? I still can’t think straight, can I? Oo His thoughts fought once again for control. oO You miss him. You’re in love. Oo Beat. oO What about that Cross girl? She was cute too. Oo Beat. oO Oh shut up… Oo He finally managed to smile and forced his words ::

Skyfire: =/\= I’ll see you soon. :: and killed the line. His words and thoughts were a confusing mess, his shielding was a bit unstable still. Partially due to the surprise he felt, but partially because he didn’t get back to sleep. Everything happened so fast for him, so there was no time to reinforce anything. ::

::Sal leaned back in the chair, putting his feet up and his hands behind his head.::

Fai: ::She looked out from the sleeping area, disgusted:: ~You are happier than a little pig in mud, aren’t you?~

Taybrim: So what if I am?  ::he grinned::

Fai: I’m going back to bed.  ::She snorted:: Wake me when we dock.

Taybrim: Sure thing ::he waved a hand, not really paying attention to her any more, grinning as he watched the stars slide by.::

---

A JP By:

Lieutenant JG Chythar Skyfire
Medical Officer
USS Excalibur-A

&

Ensign Sal Taybrim
Science Officer
USS Excalibur-A

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