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Erica knew, immediately, that something was off. One second she was being launched from her chair, her body slamming against the floor of the bridge, vaguely aware of the Captain calling sick bay. And the next moment, she was back in the pilots chair. The ships internal chronometer said 5 hours and passed, which surely couldn't be correct?
But the Captain had asked, and Uhura had checked, his comm to Dr M'Benga was 5 ship hours and 7 minutes ago. What was more baffling was that, according to reports, everyone was missing the 5 hours. Which... just didn't make any sense.
Erica had bigger problems to begin with, namely flying them clear of the nebula and its surrounding atmosphere so that they could contact Starfleet Command.
As her hands moved across the board, her focus fixed on the viewscreen, the movements needed to pilot so ingrained she didn't even need to spare glance at them anymore. The strangest thing was that the nebula was starting to shift, but so was the view screen?
"Captain? I don't think everything is.. quite.."
The subtle pounding in her head was steadily increasing, and Erica was aware properly now that everything moved faster and was starting to blur in front of her. There was a tightness to her head that when she touched the place the tightness turned to pain, and her hand came away red and sticky. It was like the effects slammed into her all at once. Whatever had taken 5 hours from them all had taken her pain, her injury, made it all pause - rewound like it never happened, until it all caught up with her system. It seemed like it had an almost timer, a grace period, until it all came back again.
Part way through, her tongue seemed to become heavy and solid in her mouth and the edges of her vision were invaded by darkness. It was like her body wasn't her own anymore, and Erica couldn't move to face the Captain even if she'd want to.
She was aware of Chris standing up in his chair, she was always aware, but the darkness was invading faster and her head pounded so hard it almost made her shout and her body wasn't listening to her anymore until-
"Er- !" Was that Jenna? Crap, her ears were ringing up a storm.
"-rica! Li-! Ca- ou- r m-?" Lieu- nt!" Captain!
Erica tried to swallow, but her tongue felt like a lead weight in her mouth. "Cap'in?"
"Lieutenant Ortegas," Captin Pike said her name how he would say Number One's or La'An's, and it warmed something inside. "How many fingers am I holding up?”
Any other time Erica would be a little saddened by the Captain's repeated use of her rank and last name, but on this occasion she was aware enough to know he was abusing the hard wiring any ranking member of starfleet had built in to react to the rank and file.
"Someone hurry M'Benga, she isn't looking good. Come on Ortegas, how many fingers?"
Erica really didn't want to open her eyes, the concept alone made her head hurt even more, but she did it. If the Captain was telling her to do it, she knew he had to have a good reason.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
She tried to focus in the Captain's form above her, his worried faces filtering between each other and shifting around in waves. His hands were held a decent distance away from her face, so she turned her attention to that.
"Ng- 7?"
Chris turned to talk to someone out of her limited field of view, and Erica took that as a note to screw her eyes shoot again. They were so heavy and the light was so bright and her head hurt more when she opened them, it was an easy choice.
"I was only holding up one hand.. Erica? Eric-!"
Erica would've been concerned about the limited amount of hands involved, but everything was feeling weak again...
Erica never slept on her back, despite her best efforts she just could never find it comfortable. So, with her back pressed to her bed, she tried to roll over.
The rapid bleeping when she moved caused her to pause. Why was there beeping in her quarters, was it her alarm? Was she late for her shift??
The beeping settled out again as Erica stopped trying move. That wasn't her quarters, was it?
"Doctor, she's waking up." A voice called a decent distance away, at least far enough that Erica didn't flinch at what was clearly a rather loud yell. Stupid ears ringing still even then.
"Erica, come on, let me see those eyes."
She must've zoned (passed?) out again. She was getting major deja vu.
Erica peeled her eyes open with a grunt, but they didn't stay open for long. The voice was kind, but a kind voice wouldn't make her open her eyes when it only made her head pound harder, damnit.
"Hey there, Eri, you're gonna be just fine. Computer, lights around biobed 12 to 40%"
"Mmh?" Erica groaned. Woah, her head was pounding worse than the time she got drunk on shore leave with Christine, Uhura, La'An and Sam Kirk's brother.
The nice voice was back. "She's aware, good sign."
The light pressing against her eyelids softened as the darkness appeared, and Erica risked opening her eyes one last time. Christine was stood beside her bed, biobed - that's why she hadn't been allowed to roll over - and Erica couldn't help but smile a bit.
"Guess I lost my place as longest Bridgey without a sickbay visit?" She ventured, keeping her voice low for her own sake.
Christine just chuckled. Erica loved it when she did that. "A lot has happened today. I'd offer to fill you in, but nobody really seems to know all the details."
Huh. Just another Tuesday on the Enterprise, then.
"So, when can I get back to work?"
M'Benga appeared next to Christine out of nowhere, but Erica didn't jump. Just.
"Not for a while yet, Ortegas, you took a nasty hit to head that was exacerbated by external sources. Rest, Lieutenant. You're here for a while."
Yep. Another day on the Enterprise.
(Erica tried to ignore the patch of red staining Chapel's wrist sleeve, and the connotations she'd bled enough for Christine to have her blood on her hands.)