Ice Breaker part 6
*emphasis*
[thoughts and telepathy]
****
Rashelle Drenn had known, even before she had first decided to leave her home - even if it was supposed to only be for a few months - that there would be trouble on the trade mission. That fact had been as real and existent as the need to breathe air. That didn't, however, mean that she was expecting the first explosion, a deep rumble that rattled the pictures on the walls and made her and her escort stop walking. Suddenly surrounded, their pikes extended, an instant call went in to the main command post, but there wasn't time to finish the first sentence before they heard a second explosion, then a series, smashing the wall next to them into tiny fragments of plaster and furniture, and they all fell as the ceiling and floor both broke apart. Rashelle couldn't strengthen her shields fast enough before the screaming started, the mental agony the only thing strong enough to break through the tremendous physical noise, and the pain from both her body and that of the rangers who'd been caught in the same explosion. It was dark everywhere, she could not breathe, there was dust and smoke and fires that the suppression systems could not put out, because the systems were also destroyed. Others, too, many others, she could not block any of them out, they were hurt, they were frightened. They were dying, and she could feel more than her mind could handle. She collapsed inwardly, even as the structural support she was pinned down on gave way and she fell.
~~~~
She was surprised, actually, when she woke up a few hours afterwards, but when she tried to move, she felt bandages and tubes, and out of fear she could not put her shields in place before she sensed everything around her. What she felt, she recognised, and it was not a nice memory. Not at all. "No," she gasped, "No, no, not again, not ever again, not ever again, I WON'T!" And she fought back, ripping out an IV feed with a small spurt of blood, tearing at the bandages, fighting against the hands that held her down, the minds that tried to keep her still -
The screaming, from both her and the closest staff, was the first sign the other doctors had that she was awake. The second sign was that everyone within almost a hundred foot radius was suddenly crippled on the floor, blinded by a migraine with their noses streaming blood. Two of the hospital staff, just outside her range, watched the scene in horror, then raced to her room to try to stop her. One fell halfway, hands cradling his face as it flowed with red, but the other man made it to her side, shouting past the screams that assaulted his ears and his mind. "Rashelle, *stop*! Please stop, Rashelle, no one here has hurt you! There aren't any sleeper drugs, none, none, wake up! Rashelle! Rashelle!"
She must have heard him, after a while, because she stopped and looked at him with eyes filled with terror. "No drugs, not here," He kept repeating, "That's why you feel the pain, we didn't use any drugs. No sleepers, no sleepers." He held her twice-injured hand, pressing a cloth against the trickle of blood that oozed out of the fresh wound. "No sleepers. You're safe here."
Still staring, she reached her other hand over to his collar and clamped on. "Tell me," she gasped, pulling his face next to hers, despite the agony it clearly caused her to move, "Who has died. *Now*."
"Please, miss, you are too badly hurt, you need to -urk!"
She had tightened her grip on his collar, letting the blood leak from the bandages onto his white coat. Her other hand reached up to hold his face. She looked at him for a few seconds, and her voice was ragged when she spoke. "I left your kind behind, flatscan, because of what you had done to us. What you had allowed other normals to do to us. I returned only because some others had convinced me that you did not understand us. That this trip would be an opportunity to teach you what we are truly like. So learn this. I could feel people being hurt. In pain and afraid. And Dying! And some of them were telepaths. No one else mind-screams like a telepath. No one else can. You cannot hide their screams, you cannot duplicate, reproduce, fake, or forget such a thing. Ever. Now tell me anything you know, before you start bleeding from both your ears."
Utterly convinced that she was fully capable of killing him, he held his hands up in surrender, and she gradually loosened her grip to the point where he could speak. Around him, the other hospital staff had started to move, sitting up and feeling their way blindly to where more doctors had quietly ran - then crept worriedly - to help wipe off the blood and administer medicine.
He was not certain - yet - of any details from the attack, but he told her what he knew so far. The ones confirmed dead were still few, only the ones whose bodies had been already recovered. Many more were injured - from blasts, from falling debris, from any number of reasons, from simply being unfortunate enough to have been in or near what had once been the most secure hotel in the city. Rangers and envoy members, other guests at the hotel, staff, they all had been affected. He had not been given any names yet. More than a hundred were still missing. They had not yet been able to contact any of the envoy members who were off-world, either.
"But Lyta," she gasped, the pain growing with every breath, "tell me that she's alive. Tell me that she is unharmed."
"I can't," the doctor said. "We haven't found her yet - there are people searching - and there are already local telepaths there, trying to scan for survivors in the debris - we will find them, I promise to tell you the instant we have news."
"She and her guard are among the missing." It was a statement as much as a question. Her hand fell back from his throat, her face paler than it had been even a minute before as she lay there fighting for each breath, eyes closed but dripping tears.
"Yes. Her rooms were the first to be struck, we know that much, but don't know yet how far into the building they were, they could be under a large piece - we've found air pockets, you were in one - they might be just fine. Will you let us close your wounds, at least?"
"No, nothing t'me, you are *not* t'touch me, you hear? Not until I know - We are all dead soon enough anyway, if she does not survive. Uhhhh - NO! Do not touch me. -wait, doan go yet. I need to know more. How badly injured are the injured - tell me who is going to be fine, who is going to die and who you are still uncertain about."
"I don't have many names-"
"Tell me what you know," Rashelle demanded.
"We have found two Minbari that we know were with your team - one has already died. The second, Disson, is badly injured. She is not going to live. The other Minbari-"
"Are off world," Rashelle wheezed, her eyes closed. "Someone must be trying to contact them - all the brakiri were away, as well - do you know if there were any other attacks? Any other places, other worlds? Are the warehouses intact? Have the livestock been hurt?"
"The news of the attack has been broadcast on ISN - I've heard some of your team has called from other worlds, they are fine as far as I know, but I don't know who. There has been no other news that I know of, I am sorry."
"Who else . . . was found. Toral - he was here - centauri - has he?" She did not pull back when he wrapped a few layers of fresh gauze over her bleeding hand, but she did not let him check to see if any of her other wounds had re-opened.
"Found - I'm sorry, but he is not expected to live more than a few hours, at most. We have not found any of the - the - the little bird pair, they are missing. The other aliens - I cannot recall their names, I am sorry - we have not found the amphibian pair, but the others, the ones whose original homeworld was destroyed by the First Ones, they are fine, they were not in the hotel, they are helping search for the rest. We have only found two other humans, that we know of your party - Mr. Steele is injured, but it is not very serious - he has refused to leave the site, he insists on staying until they find someone, and we brought in Moriane Hawk before you - she will be fine, she was injured but can recover with nothing more than a few scars, she did not even require surgery. We have found many Rangers - more are injured than dead - and others, but I do not know of any more of your team."
Rashelle tried to think through the pain. "Some . . . Massey and Tarington, who else . . . they had left Proxima last night . . . Drazi were gone more than a week ago . . . I . . . cannot remember more." She laid there, visibly weakened and battered, in silence for a few seconds. Then she opened one eye. "Thank you. Now leave before I hurt you. Go, find answers. Leave! I'll take payment out of the hide of anyone who comes in without answers!"
He nodded, and backed out, letting the door close behind him. A long, frustrated sigh escaped, then he turned and moved to the closest computer terminal, and started a search for information on any other attacks. He'd already had a search out for information on the hotel bombing, but it hadn't any new information to give him yet. Looking up again, he saw one of the residents sitting in a chair, holding his head and looking dizzy. "Vision back yet?"
"Not really. Blurry still." The younger doctor picked at the huge bloodstain on his coat, still keeping his nose under an ice pack. "Why did she have to be such a bitch about being here?"
A long, dark stare from the elder physician made him add, "besides the bombing and stuff, that's um - obviously enough to scare anyone. Sir."
"You're not to go in there, you realise. No one is, if they were hurt by her. But, just to keep you from humiliating yourself - or getting hurt by anyone else - look at this," and he turned one of the screens to show what the security camera in Rashelle's room was showing. She was still laying there, but was again tearing off more of the bandages, not even minding when she starting to ooze blood in a dozen places. "Watch her. You want to know why she does this? For the same reason that a hundred thousand others would do the exact same - if they had survived, that is. Most did not. She was found by the corps, when it still existed. She didn't want to join. She has more than a few years worth of grudge. Unnecessary medical procedures, among other things. Don't provoke her," the doctor warned. "I've seen what the corps did to some of their 'lost children'. I've also seen what happens when one of the few who survived gets pissed off. Keep your eyes on the *screen*, not me. Did you notice what she ripped off first? Anything that could insert a drug. The monitors will be next - see? Then she'll try to escape."
"She can't leave, she's still to injured to walk!"
"I know. She might even stay, if it hurts too much, but no longer than is critically needed. Probably not even that long. Then she'll be gone, and we are under orders to not stop her or any of the others. We'd only get hurt."
"But why?"
"You do not want to know. Perhaps one day, when you have nightmares of blood and death every time you close your eyes, I will tell you. Because then it could do you no more harm. Until then, enjoy your ignorance. You're better for it, at least in her case." He turned away, back to the other injured.
****
Alone in her room, and not feeling nearly as brave as she had acted - she might have been aware she was being watched, had she bothered to try to look around with eyes or mind - Rashelle was trying to get the last piece of her IV out. She'd rid herself of the machines that watched her insides, and had checked for hidden things but found none. Only more pain, enough that she could not move any further, and sitting up had rapidly become a terrible idea. She laid back down, and fought against bad memories of places like this one. Still unwinding wrappings - slowly now - she suddenly stopped, her hand on her stomach.
[How badly hurt am I,] she wondered, [was I - am I - bleeding inside, too? What would this have done to the-] she didn't want to think about it, but the thoughts came all on their own.
[What if this hurt the baby?]
What if she no longer had to worry about it? She hadn't been able to tell anyone about it yet, maybe this disaster had a good side - one less problem!
Then she was horrified at herself, and ashamed that she'd even thought that way. Curling up onto her side, she let the tears flow, upset at everything she could not change. Falling back to sleep, her last thought almost started her awake, but it wasn't quite enough to do so. She hadn't asked the doctor if any of her guards - such as the one she'd gotten pregnant by - had survived.
Then it was dark.
****
A corridor and another reality away, the Senior Doctor watched her as she curled up and fell asleep. And he remembered.
He remembered when he'd first met her, though she would never remember. It had been years before. But she was been curled up in exactly the same position, on the floor, covered in blood like this time, but then, most of it had not been her own. Somehow, her drugs had worn off early. She had woken up, and came to whatever senses were still available to her battered mind. The bodies of the Corps medical staff were littered all around her - she had been the first to draw blood, the security tapes showed, putting down by whatever means she came across whoever she came across. Years of lost time, of lost dignity, and then the chance to finally do something - she was not to be stopped. Along the way, drugs were smashed, computers were damaged, and other patents were woken up. Most of them killed themselves right away, or killed other patents who had not yet woken up fully. Some had rapidly made sure that not a single willing member of the Corps outlived them. There had been blood everywhere. Body parts, gore, the smell was horrific, and what the fires hadn't found was even worse. A few patents, holed away behind piles of mess, had let their heads clear a little more, before the smoke reached them. One bright fellow, forever unknown, had gotten a computer working again. He had gotten a connection to the outside world, and almost a dozen different news channels were suddenly fed with live security feeds. Others got data downloaded to them, most of the data banks already destroyed, but enough information got out to push the Psi Corps a little bit further towards self-destruction. Enough got out that inside of three days, they had tracked down where the facility was, and came in with all guns ready. They should have brought barf bags, because even the strongest stomachs lost their own fight.
He had been one of the first real medical personnel inside, just after the first solders, the first person inside the building in years who actually followed the oath of Do No Harm. It had been he who had found her - she was the first live body they'd found among the hundreds of very, very dead ones. There were only four others who lived long enough to be brought out. They had soon died from their injuries. The girl . . . had soon vanished, taken away by the freedom fighters, and only a promise given that she would be better off if far away. He had never even found out her name, but when the Envoy team had arrived, he had fallen out of his chair in shock as he saw her image - older, healthier, taller, and most of all, alive.
His family hadn't understood why he had started to cry. He never told them, either.
Some things were better left to heal alone.
On the screen, Rashelle Drenn slept on, oblivious.
on to part 7 . . .