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Her neck hurt.
Her neck hurt and she was being pushed upright. Why was she being pushed upright?
And now something was keeping her there. Holding her so she couldn’t move. And what was that noise she--
She felt so heavy all over and whatever hard, immovable thing that was keeping her upright was pressing uncomfortably into her chest. In fact, there was a whole lot of pressure pushing her back into whatever seat she was in, pressure pushing against her eyeballs even--
Awareness returns slowly. Kira can hear some background humming ,and feel the vibrations of a ship traveling at impulse in her bones, but closer than that, she can hear a softer rustling noise like uniform fabric rubbing together. This noise is closer to her ear, but her brain can't make much sense of it, or much else. Her body feels too far away to reach at the moment, so she tries opening her eyes instead. Maybe that much of her is still present. She thinks she’s succeeded in slitting them open, but the light and movement she's subjected to makes absolutely no sense. She makes some kind of noise, low in the back of her throat.
“Nerys, are you with me? It’s Doctor Bashir.”
Who?
“You’re safe now, just keep still for me please.” She tries to do as the voice asks, but she can't be sure she isn’t still tilting head over feet like she's a child doing somersaults in the labor camp yard. Something is very wrong, doesn't the owner of the voice know that? Her eyes refuse to stay open so she keeps having to shut them again and will them to open. And this damn pressure against her chest and her throat, it feels like she isn't breathing. She can't be certain. Maybe she isn't?
“Ughh,” she forces the sound past her lips, trying to tell the voice she isn't breathing.
“Nerys? What’s wrong?” the soft voice comes again from close by.
“Can’t…..breathe,” she forces out, unable to keep her eyes open and talk at once.
“It’s just the pressure from the straps holding you in the seat. I can assure you you’re breathing normally. Maybe it would help if I adjusted your position. Here, I’m just going to tip you back more in the seat.” Immediately, she can feel the pressure ease as her chest is reclined a few centimeters. Much better. She starts sucking in deeper lungfuls.
“Better?”
Kira nods her head, or she thinks she does in reply. An interminable time passes in silence before:
“Kira? Nerys?”
She's roused enough to slit her eyes open again. Lights and shapes swirl around her in an incomprehensible mess.
“Nerys? I’d like to examine you but I need you to wake up for me first,” She finds she is able to open her eyes fully, but it takes a moment before she can see past the swirling light and shapes to focus on Doctor Julian Bashir crouching in front of her.
“Welcome back,” he smiles, showing the crinkles near his eyes and the laugh lines in his cheeks.
“Why don’t we sit you back up and get you some water,” he says, reaching out to press a button on the seat's armrest, which causes her upper half to raise upright by degrees.
“Julian,” she mumbles.
“Yes,” he replies, looking up into her face.
“What happened?”
“We were being attacked, if you remember,” he says, hands moving to dig around in something at his feet, “and the Defiant was heavily damaged. Some new Breen weapon. We had to abandon ship.”
“Abandon ship,” Kira groans. “Is everyone--”
“They're all fine, as far as I know. We’re in an escape pod, headed away from the fighting.”
The fighting. They were in the middle of a battle. Had they lost?
“Are we--” she asks, panicked.
“We’re safe for now, the Dominion seems to be refraining from targeting our pods. We’re alright, Nerys,” Julian soothes, producing a water ration and tearing it open. “Let’s try drinking some of this water now. I’m sure you're thirsty.” Until he mentions it, Kira hasn't been, but suddenly her throat seems dry as a desert. She clumsily takes the pouch from Julian and brings it to her lips. The water soothes her throat instantly, and she begins taking larger mouthfuls after a moment.
“Easy, easy,” Julian chides her. “give that a minute to settle first.” Kira sinks back into the seat, letting the water ration rest in her lap. Belatedly, she realizes she’s been tightly strapped into one of two seats, thick black restraints cross her chest in several places and wrap around her shoulders.
“I’ve set the computer to take us back to DS9. It’ll leave us exposed for longer, but it’s too big a risk to the other ships in the fleet to drop their shields and bring us aboard if they don’t have to,” Julian says, producing a medkit from somewhere under her seat and opening it up.
"How much do you remember?" He asks, beginning to run a tricorder over her.
"The console in front of me was hit, and I must've been thrown out of my seat. That's all I think." Kira replies, furrowing her brow and wincing when the movement hurts. She can feel the side of her neck burning and prickling like it's been burned.
"That's right. You have an injury to your neck, which I began to heal on the bridge, but I'd like to have another look at it if that's alright with you Nerys," Julian finishes scanning her, looking away from the tricorder readouts to examine her face instead.
"Okay," Kira agrees.
"Excellent, just hold still while I get you out of this seat harness and laying flat for me," he says, gently batting away Kira's still clumsy fingers when she moves to free herself. She lets a soft sigh of relief past her lips when Julian shoves aside the last shoulder strap, feeling like she's just now able to take a proper inhale. Kira tries to lean back herself, unable to hold back a gasp of pain when the movement ignites the burning sensation in her neck. Julian's there in an instant, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and helping her lie flat.
"There we go, nice and easy now. Comfortable?" He asks.
"Better."
"Good," he smiles, retrieving an emergency light from the kit on the floor and directing it at her neck. "Let's have a look then." Kira feels his fingers probing the wound for a moment before he continues.
"I just need to give the wound one more treatment with the dermal regenerator and clean it up a bit. It'll feel a bit tender for a day or so, however. So you'll want to be careful in your movements."
"I'll keep that in mind," she replies, swallowing reflexively when Julian retrieves a dermal regenerator and starts aiming for her neck. Before she can blink, her hand has shot out, gripping Julian's forearm. Her heart's suddenly pounding. Not her neck .
"No."
Julian freezes, dermal regenerator in hand, fixing her with a steady gaze. He makes no move to remove her hand from his arm, even though she's not gripping him hard enough to truly stop him.
"Try to relax, Colonal," he says, "I'll be quick I promise. It might help for you to look away while I work."
"Sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about."
"I-I think I'd rather stay looking at you, if that's okay."
"Perfectly fine."
"Now, I'm just going to finish the healing process as much as I can, like this," he says, the soft hum of the instrument sounding close to Kira's ear. She can feel the pain ease a little. She tries concentrating only on his calm, focused expression as he works and the way his eyelashes flutter with each blink.
"There we are, you're doing great," Julian says, setting the regenerator down. "Let me just clean you up a bit," he continues, opening a sealed package containing a sterile wipe and unfolding it. "This might feel a little cold at first," he warns, bracing one hand on the seat and running the cloth over the injury, removing the streaks of blood left behind. When he's done cleaning her up he carefully meets her gaze.
"Kira, would it be alright if we removed your uniform jacket for a moment? I'd like to check your shoulder and side as well. You landed pretty hard on your left side when you fell," he meets Kira's eyes steadily, waiting for her to nod a yes before carefully sitting her up and assisting her in removing her outer layer.
Once removed, the chilly air of the pod wooshes up in full force, setting Kira shivering in an instant. "Here, let me cover you while I have a look," Julian says, draping the jacket back over her so only the affected arm and side are bared.
"Thanks," she chatters out.
"I'll dig out an emergency blanket for you in a moment," he assures her.
"Starfleet isn't big on insulating these pods, I guess," Kira says, trying to get her shivering under control.
"No, they're not," Julian remarks wryly.
Julian's hands are warm and gentle as he begins pressing in certain areas along her shoulder and side. To Kira, the area feels like one huge bruise, tender and aching. She's had worse, though. She grits her teeth together only a little bit before he moves his hands away.
"Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do about the bruising until we return to the station, but you don't have any cracked or broken ribs, at least."
"T-thank you J-julian" she says, moving to rub her palms over her shoulders in an attempt to warm up. A few degrees lower and she might be able to see her breath in this damned pod.
"I'm so sorry, let's get you warmed up now. I'm sure I saw a blanket in here somewhere….here we are," Julian produces a silvery heat-absorbing blanket out of nowhere, smiling as he helps her lay flat again and covers Kira with it, head to toe, tucking the ends around her.
"How are you feeling now?" He asks, standing up and moving to sit in the seat next to hers. With him out of her line of sight, she's in full view of the large airlock that also serves as the pod's window. Out of it is a confusing, spinning view of stars, ships, and stray photon torpedo fire from a distance. The pods have their own internal gravity, she remembers, but their warp maneuverability is limited to impulse, with no space allowed for stability thrusters. They've been left to spin and rotate freely along the journey back to DS9. Kira can't seem to turn her gaze away from the view. Suddenly, she feels sweat bead along her forehead, and her stomach twists uncomfortably.
"Nerys, are you feeling nauseous or dizzy at all?" Julian asks.
“I’ve never been in a Federation escape pod….it's moving like that thing does...when you play Tongo….and it's your turn to...to spin…" she swallows convulsively, beginning to also feel as though the pod is swaying dangerously from side to side.
She's not looking at him but she can sense him itching to pick up his tricorder once again. She closes her eyes, willing her stomach and the pod to settle.
"You did sustain a minor head injury when you fell, so nausea and dizziness are normal. Try taking some deep breaths while I get you something for it," Julian says. She tries focusing on breathing evenly while Julian rustles around beside her.
"Here we are, this should be fast acting," Julian says a moment before she feels the cold press of a hypospray in the uninjured side of her neck.
Moments pass during which Kira focuses on resisting the urge to lose her last meal to the deck plating, and winning when the medicine takes effect.
"Doing alright still?" Julian asks softly from next to her, his warm hand covering her smaller one entirely and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Mmhmm."
"You should try to rest now. It'll be another three hours until we arrive back at the station according to the computer."
"But who's gonna entertain you, if I fall asleep," Kira asks, quirking her lips up into a smile, her limbs growing heavy again. She can't keep her eyes open. Whatever Julian shot her up with must have a sedative included. Sneaky bastard.
"Don't worry Nerys, I still have the computer, and the stars outside. We'll be docking before we know it."