Subject: Grail: "Last Look Back"-"A Precarious Situation"

<OOC: It was bad enough my e-mail went down... but did my computer have tofollow suit? Just had to share my complaints with all you lovely people. :) >

"A Precarious Situation" Part 2.

By: Lt. Kait Brennan.

"Do you need any help?" a young ensign asked. His face was expressive of

concern.

Kait Brennan halted her attempt to make it to Ten-Forward. Standing more

erect, she smiled and said, "No, but thank you. I have a slight leg

injury, but I should still be able to make it on my own."

"Are you sure?"

Kait simply nodded. He gave her a sympathetic look before continuing past

her. Kait had only made a few more steps before he had already disappeared

into Ten-Forward. Conserving her energy, she didn't hesitate to walk in a

manner nothing short of hobbling.

As she came to the entrance of Ten-Forward, she straightened her hair out

and walked in as composed as possible. She didn't want anyone to take

notice of her injury. All her efforts succeeded in allowing her to go

unnoticed. It was a small victory.

Not preferring a table near the entrance, she chose a table that was

somewhere in between the front and the back. She usually preferred walking

to the back for the better view of the stars, but the additional exertion

required to reach her table was even less desirable.

Finally choosing to sit down at the unoccupied table in front of her, she

gratefully acknowledged the lessened pain in her leg with a sigh of relief,

and by doing so, chose to ignore any remaining discomfort.

She would have to settle for a view of the people in place of the view of

the stars. If one paid enough attention, the view here was much better.

On thinking about, she began to be fully cognizant of the good cheer and

animation that emanated from the crowd of people. Everyone must've been

quite relieved that their encounter with the Romulans had reached a fin.

In fact, their everyday merriment was brought to an even higher level after

being brought down by such an intense battle.

However, not everyone was rejoicing. There was someone, sitting at a table

near the one she always sat at, who was wallowing in his sorrows. The most

pervading emotion from him was not sorrow, however; it was loneliness. Did

he lose someone? Kait thought about going over there to ask him what was

wrong but that idea was dashed with the recognition of her injury which

made walking an arduous task...

"Sir, we need somebody down here to take over Engineering," came Lt.

Porter's voice over Kait's communicator.

Kait Brennan knew that Porter meant for Kait to take over Engineering

herself. But she already had permission to stay off work for the rest of

the day. Lucky her.

"Call Miss Prynne down, Lt.," she replied.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, sir. Lt. Prynne has been fatally injured

and is in Sickbay being treated."

Kaitlyn's heart sank at hearing this.

"I'm sorry. However, I'm not able to report to duty today, Ms. Porter.

Perhaps you should try Lt. Cmdr. Hargen then," she said finally.

"Aye, sir." The communication line was cut with a short beep.

Kait tried reaching out to Kestra but got no response. This worried

Kaitlyn greatly... until she realised that she had never gotten a response

from Kestra before. As far as Kait knew, Kestra wasn't even capable of

responding. Yet the urge to find out if she was alright was overpowering.

Kait stood up and because of her unsteady legs, she fell back into her seat

immediately.

Kait stared back out at the crowd in ten-forward and realised how powerless

she was in this state. It was really disconcerting. It was the worst

feeling in the world to know that she could do nothing but sit here!

*Kestra, where are you...?* Kaitlyn asked, making another futile attempt to

get a telepathic response from Kestra Prynne. Kaitlyn kept expecting to

hear a soft voice from Kestra, saying that she was going to be okay. The

silence that proceeded was louder than the noise of the many conversations

taking place simultaneously in ten-forward. There was nothing.

Maybe Kestra had trouble hearing her... if she was unconscious, she would

have difficulty picking up any telepathic messages.

Mustering up her strength, Kait yelled out telepathically: *Kestra!!*

On a more subtle note, she pleaded, *please... wake up, sweetie.*

Still nothing. Resolutely, she decided to use pure will to get her to

Sickbay. She stood up, leaning against the table a bit. But not too much

since the table was almost as unsteady as she. She proceeded quickly out

of ten-forward. Kait had to limp the entire way, and felt very awkward as

she got the paranoid notion that everyone was watching her stumble out.

The moment she got out of ten-forward, she acknowledged that she was

already out of breath. The corridor got darker and darker. Kait wondered

what happened to the lighting. Fighting off the dizziness, she figured

that the best way to recover would be to rest for a minute. Kait sat down,

her back against the bulkhead.

She sat there for a few moments before someone came out and noticed her.

"Are you alright?" the person asked.

Kait could barely make out the person as it was getting darker and darker

in the corridor. Her mind still seemed to be working fine, though.

"Yes, I just need to rest here for a moment," Kait said.

The person walked off and Kait tried to regain enough energy to stand up.

Her condition was slowly deteriorating and Kait began to wonder how she

ever got out of Sickbay. Maybe she should've went to her quarters, after

all. Nevertheless, it was too late for regrets now.

"Is it really worth all this trouble?" Kait asked aloud to herself.

The doctors would do the best they could to help her cousin. There really

was nothing she could do. At times like this, she cursed her

impulsiveness, because it got her into awkward situations like this.

She had to get up and out of the way so that no one else would wonder what

was wrong with her. Yet she was feeling very sleepy right about now. The

closest place was still ten-forward but that would put her under the

scrutiny of many others. Not allowing her indecisiveness to paralyze her,

Kaitlyn inched herself up against the bulkhead to a standing position.

Somebody else came out of ten-forward. Kait prepared herself to go back