Bittersweet Memories

Time went into a slow motion crawl as her training took over. An initial look revealed chances weren’t great, that Kat needed surgery, now. No medical facilities, no trauma kit. Maybe there was one on the tram for emergencies? She’d performed field surgery on worse with almost as little as this, there were even chances of survival right now. She’d need to stop the bleeding and then with the dirty train line and platform infection would be an issue, maybe not now but later on as well. She was haemorrhaging quicker now, a pale glassy look to her face. Jay swung in her direction, his eyes were big and full of fear. She couldn’t mask the pain in her own eyes as she weighed up the odds for Kat’s survival.

Then she fell.

And the bottom fell out of Jade’s world as well. She lurched forwards with Jay as if to stop the tumble, knowing she couldn’t ever reach in time. A hand rested on her shoulder, both comfort and restraint.

‘I could have saved her’ Jade thought, a wail of anger at Lindstrom and an echoing howl of empathic agony for Jay flowing through her mind.

“I… I could have saved her.” She whispered, tears threatening her eyes. The thought of Kat and Jay’s little boy growing up without his mother, Jay having lost her again. The pain at losing someone was unbearable, let alone twice.

“I know.” The reassuring hand materialised into Alex slipping a comforting hand around her shoulders and guiding her away from the track. He looked, older. Maybe it was the grief, playing across his face and breaking the usual mask of perpetual grumpiness.

“God damnit! I could have saved her!” Jade exclaimed. A thousand coffee mornings never to happen, their regular chats on the promenade never to happen again. She’d lost a friend. Late lunches and gossip, the thought that never again would Katrina be seen aboard the Dwarf. A good friend. Somewhere in the background, she heard outbursts from Jay.

“I’ll kill him. I’ll rip his throat out.” Jay snarled, angrily brushing off the placating hands of the people trying to calm him down. He paced up and down the platform. “Jamie, get that tram working again.” Jay growled at the techie. Jamie took one look at the broken track and precariously dangling tram.

“I… Don’t think…” Jamie hesitantly offered, before being interrupted.

“GOD DAMNIT! Get it working!” Jay bellowed, anger flooding his mind to the singular goal of getting to Lindstrom. Getting to the man and avenging himself upon the scientist of his wife’s death.

“Yes sir.” Jaime said, and turned to the console.

“God damnit. I could have saved her.” Jade whispered to no one, leaning on Alex and letting the tears fall.

<Snip>
Jamie sighed. "We're not leaving you behind Artemis, I understand that you want to stop him but let us get there and then we can discuss a plan of action"

Artemis kicked the chair Lindstrom had been sitting in and yelled angrily.

"I'll send a tram to the station, hurry up" Cass said.
</Snip>

The tram slid to a halt on the opposite track. Everyone filed in quietly. Jay sat murderously quiet at the front of the tram, looking out of the reinforced plexiglass windows. Jade slipped into the seat beside him. Her face was red and puffy with the grief of the newly gone, Jay stared out of the window, thunderclouds across his expression. The initial shock had passed in the time the tram took to arrive.

It’ll hit him hard when it does. Jade thought, looking at Jay.

“The good thing, about being a doctor, is that everyone knows that they can talk to you when they need to.” She said, looking out of the window to the front as the tram sped out of the facility and began its ascent towards the saucer. They could all see the fleeing transports, as the derelicts and asteroids began to come crashing down without the safety systems in place.

“Not now doc.” Jay warned, fixing his gaze on a rusty mining transport as it fled the debris field and attained a safe distance, waiting for others.

“That’s the other thing. We’ll all miss her too. So you aren’t alone.” A lump stuck in her throat as she spoke, cutting off any more words she wanted to say. Briefly Jay crumpled, his face turning to that of inconsolable grief stricken, world ending, sorrow. He turned to look at Jade, the hollow, almost dead look in his eyes cutting into her. She could almost feel his pain, a physical agony in his heart. Then it was gone. Captain Chrysler drew in his feelings and bottled them up again, focusing on the rage and fury.

“Yeah.” Was all he managed, before the tram slid into the saucer station.

The group filed into the main command room from the station, the odd tremor and thunderous crash as the compound below was battered by the falling debris. As they entered, Cass walked over to Jay.

“Jay I’m so…” She began before catching Jade’s eye who frantically shook her head attempting to avert the emotional train wreck in progress. “So.. sure that we are going to get Lindstrom.” She changed tact artfully mid way through the sentence changing her expression from one of condolence to one of comradeship in anger. Jade breathed a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t do to have Jay fall apart now, not when they needed a plan of action.

<Tag!>

OOC – What’s the plan?