Romulans In Distress Stardate 2260.04

Amara listened closely to what Dr. McCoy said. He was always straight with her and she appreciated that. She glanced over and saw Kal sitting with Fiona a few beds away. Sickbay was crowded with people and she asked him what had happened. He told her what had happened with the Borg and the Romulans and Amara looked at him.

"Is James alright?"

"All except worrying about you, he's alright. It was touch and go from what I hear. The Nestral had been taken over by some other commander and they left and damaged out ship. We were fighting the Borg and then The Nestral came back with Thelai in charge. We destroyed the Borg ship together. The ship was still here...any Idea why he'd want to stick around to see you?" McCoy asked with a grin.

Amara sighed a little when Dr. McCoy told her that Thelai hadn't left yet. "Thelai has...feelings for me," she admitted. "He has since we first met. Not all Romulans are like the Federation believe them to be and today he proved that. I'm glad that he's alright."

Later that afternoon Thelai appeared. Nathan still escorted him but not with as much zeal as before. Thelai came in and noted all of the wounded. He stepped up to Amara's bedside. "May I sit?" He asked politely. When she nodded he moved and sat down at her bedside. He noticed the darkened veins. "So, you survived the Borg...I am impressed and...relieved that you are alright. I take it you'll be up on your feet in a few days? It pleases me that you survived," he said.

Amara had had a few people come by to see her, including Elyse, who had been extremely worried about her. She hadn't seen James yet, but she knew he was extremely busy. From what she had heard from Elyse the ship had taken a lot of damage and causalities. She knew that James was probably stressed and upset and she wished she could be there for him. 

She continued to rest and later that afternoon Thelai walked into sickbay. Nathan was there, but he didn't seem to be as worried about the Romulan and she saw him looking around for Diana. Amara looked at Thelai and nodded when he asked to sit. She looked down at her darkened veins. They were still dark, but they were getting lighter in color over time. 

"Yes, I should be back on my feet in a few days. My body heals faster than others." She was quiet a moment before she looked at him. "I heard what you did. We would not have survived without your help. Thank you. You're a good man Thelai and a great Commander."

Diana smiled when she saw Nathan and she walked over to him. She hugged him and then pulled back and looked at him. "I'm glad you're alright."

Thelai shrugged off her compliment. "My sincerest apologies in the death of your crewman and those that will permanently be affected by what happened here. I was sent to clean up the Vilara's mess. Hopefully the High Command now sees how dangerous these Borg are," he said as he looked at her. "I have some information, the Vilara's logs. I could be killed for giving them to you but learning where these Borg have come from or where they were found is extremely important to your Federation," he said. He proffered a green data disk. "I do not offer this freely...my price is...a kiss, Amara," he said with a smile.

"It's the name of the game love," Nathan said. He kept his hands on her arms and he smiled as he looked into her eyes. "We still on for tonight?" He asked. They had been planning a date night for several days but then this Borg thing came up. They had yet to sleep together but they've been close to doing that several times. Tonight it was clear he hoped that it might. He had that boyish, eager look in his eyes when he looked at her.

Amara looked at Thelai when he offered the green disc that contained the Vilara's logs. She knew how important that information would be to the Federation. They knew so little about the Borg. This would help tremendously in understanding them. She knew Thelai well enough though to know that he wouldn't offer the disc up without asking for something in return. She looked at him when he said that the price would be a kiss. She hesitated a moment. She glanced around. There were people around, but no one seemed to be looking over her way. She was tucked back into a corner. Dr. McCoy's back was turned and Nathan was preoccupied with Diana. If she was going to do this she needed to do it now and quickly. She leaned up and pressed her lips against Thelai's in a soft, gentle kiss. It lasted a moment before she pulled back. No one had seen and she looked at him as she took the disc.

"Please be safe and know that I'm here for you if you ever need our help."

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Diana smiled. She was excited about the date and what she knew was going to happen. She really liked Nathan and she wanted things to work out between them. "Yes, I get off in an hour. I'll meet you at your quarters at 7."

Later that evening Kirk came by sickbay and brought a meal for them to share. Pudding and Cake for Amara and meatloaf with mashed potatoes for himself. He decided he’d feed her himself and had the bowl of soup in his hand and spooned out a small teaspoon of it to give to her.

“The Nestral has left,” Kirk said as she ate the pudding. “He seems like an enlightened sort...what is your take on him?” He asked her as he readied another spoonful.

Amara was relieved to see James. She could see he was tired and stressed. She was glad he had brought some food for himself and hoped she could get him to eat it. After everything her body had been through, she definitely needed some sugar and she was glad he had brought her some pudding and cake. It made her smile that he knew her so well. She could have fed herself, but she let James feed her since he clearly wanted to. 

She took a bite of the chocolate pudding and considered his question about Thelai. "He's different than the older generation of Romulans. I think the younger generation is curious about the Federation and doesn't necessarily view anyone who isn't a Romulan the same way the older ones do. I think we can trust him. He gave me this," she said as she handed James the green disc. "It's the logs from the Vilara. He wants the Federation to learn everything we can about the Borg."

Kirk looked at the disk. "Well I can tell you what Starfleet's reaction will be. Eradicated them. Having them anywhere where they can be found or brought back to working order is going to be bad, for everyone. I'll send this along but we've headed back toward our original mission," Kirk said. He pocketed the disk and then prepared another spoonful of Chocolate pudding.

"Sofia asked me to let her send the death notice to Neil's parents," Kirk said. "We had a short service for him...it was...tough to see another one of our crew die," He said. He was tired and he looked it. He hadn't slept much and he had told her how close they were to having alot more people dying. They were moments away from losing their shields.

Amara knew how close Sofia and Neil had been. Neil had looked up to Sofia and admired her and Sofia had been impressed by Neil's hard work and dedication. She knew that Sofia was likely taking his loss personally, but thankfully she had Scotty and Keenser to take care of her. Amara knew that giving her own blood to Fiona could have meant her death, but she hadn't even given it a second thought. She viewed this crew as her family and that's what you did for family.

Amara noticed that James hadn't eaten any of his food. She took the spoonful of pudding, but before he could give her anymore, she prepared a bite of meatloaf with mashed potatoes for him. She smiled and fed it to him. "So, is this what we're going to be like when we're old? Having to feed one another."

James grinned as he chewed and gave her the bowl of pudding and took the plate for himself. "Perhaps, but I can't imagine us growing old," James said. He didn't say it but he was happy that the Romulan ship left and they were headed back onto their mission. "There's some opportunity for 'M' class planets coming up. It will take a few days to get there but I think the crew could use a diversion and some downtime. I've ordered the holodeck, mess halls and bars open on a 24 hour rotation so everyone can relax away from their quarters at any time," Kirk said.

Amara wished that she could enjoy it as well, but it was going to take a few days for her to fully recover. She had given a lot of her blood and nanobots to Fiona. "I think that sounds like a great idea. I'm sure the crew will take advantage of it." She was quiet a moment and glanced over at Fiona. "I'm glad she's alright."

"You did a selfless thing...but you do seem to like to take chances...Come to think of it, so do I. I guess that's why we're together. "McCoy has said he's noticed a change in the nanobots in your blood. I wonder what the change will actually mean?"
Kirk asked. "I don't know much about medical stuff but I can hope that the changes are good ones," he said. "We could use a little good news right now," Kirk said.

Amara looked at James and sighed a little when he mentioned that Dr. McCoy had noticed a change in the nanobots in her blood. "Well, I'm not going to get my hopes up about anything. I wonder how the nanobots are going to affect Fiona. I hope I didn't inadvertently do something that will end up being bad for her."

"Um, worse than her dying you mean?" He said softly. He looked around the room and most everyone was sleeping. The two evening nurses were at their stations making their reports. One looked over at them briefly than shifted his gaze back to his desk. "We lost one man...I consider that a victory...it could have been so much worse Amara. They had us and any moment they were going to start cutting us up like a roast," he said. "I hope I never see another 'Borg' ever, in my lifetime," Kirk said.

Amara completely agreed with James on that. She never wanted to see another Borg again...ever. She looked at her husband and saw that the stress was gone from his face, but he looked...tired. He had probably been running himself ragged since the attack. She looked at him and she reached up and gently placed a hand against his cheek.

"You need to get some rest James. Go...I'll be fine."