Land of the living

Posted on Thu Feb 16th, 2017 @ 9:43am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Mimi & Ensign Noriko Ogawa

759 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Behind Closed Doors

ON:

[USS Yamato]
[Sickbay]

Noriko's eyes fluttered open and she groggily looked around, disoriented and confused. Her body hurt all over and moving felt impossible. The world around her also had a very flat appearance, like she was staring through the lens of a camera and not her own eyes. The face that came into view however she did recognize. "M'Zera."

M'Zera's eyes lit up when Noriko opened her eyes "Noriko you're awake. thank the goddes." He hadn't left her side since he demanded he get transported to the Yamato with her when they took her to sickbay.

"Where am I M'Zera?" Noriko asked her boyfriend. "What happened?"

"You... got assimilated by the borg." M'Zera replied "But whatever the Captain did worked, the borg are gone and we saved you."

"Assimilated..." Noriko's voice trailed off. Of all the things that scared her in the academy, the idea of being assimilated and turned into a mindless human machine was the most frightening. And here she was, having become one, and rescued. A tear began to roll down her good eye, stinging as it rolled across her face. "How bad is my body? What did they remove?" She asked, afraid of the answer.

"Not as bad as it could have been" Doctor Paulson said with a smile as he wandered over. "The Borg didn't fully assimilate you, however it seems they were going to do a great deal more to you" he explained as he checked over her vitals.

"Do more? Like what?" Noriko shuddered at the thought of what these monsters planned for her. "I'm going to be okay right?" Noriko choked out. "All me, no implants or anything?"

"Well, pretty much" Paulson replied. "We're going to have to replace your right eye with an artificial one. You had an optical implant there. The majority of the implants have been removed apart from the ones which are still keeping you alive" he explained softly.

Forcing her hand to obey her wishes despite the pain, Noriko gingerly touched her face. She could feel the bruising around her missing eye, and also what felt like metal embedded in her skin around the eye socket and part of her head. "And the metal on my face?" she asked, wondering just how ugly she looked with a missing eye and metal embedded in her face.

"We can remove that. Its just going to take some time" he explained. "I wouldn't worry, you'll look like normal in no time."

"Normal." Noriko muttered. How could one be normal with borg implants sprinkled through your body keeping you alive, and an artificial eye giving you sight. She looked up to M'Zera. "Mate?" she asked, "Am I still lovely in your eyes?"

"Of course you are Noriko." M'Zera answered gently stroking the unaltered side of her face with his paw. "No matter what happens to you I still love you."

Noriko looked back at the doctor. "What if I wish to keep the metal on my face? And how extensive are these implants? Will they affect my chances of having children with M'Zera?"

"They're minor. Easily removable" Paulson explained. "As for your reproduction organs, those haven't been touched at all. The Borg don't often remove or alter them, mainly because it would be inefficient to do so, there's no need to."

Noriko felt a strange sense of relief at hearing that. Why it seemed the most important thing to her in that moment she couldn't fathom. "I guess I have a ways yet to go before I'm fit to go home?" All she really wanted to do was curl up in a ball in M'Zera's arms and cry.

"We've got a few things to finish up" Paulson said. "You should be back on your feet and back on duty in the next few days, but personally I would take some time off."

"If you give me the medical leave to do so, I'll take some time off to heal. I'm sure M'Zera wouldn't mind some company." She smiled up at her mate, the first smile since she'd come to.

"That I would." M'Zera said with a smile of his own, he was glad that after everything that had happened she could still manage a smile.

"I'll leave you two alone" Paulson said with a smile. "You were very lucky, it was touch and go back there" he explained placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile. "But we're good here, Commander Aisaka and Captain Kayano made sure the best doctors were here to help"

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