Invisible Chains Make Me Hurt

Posted on Fri Feb 20th, 2026 @ 9:42am by Ensign Jara'kani & Lieutenant Commander K'Shren

1,264 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Chapter One - Arrivals
Location: Orbital 2, Sickbay
Timeline: 240002.16, 07:30

Jara'kani hated this part of her day. The part that needed her to sit or lie on a biobed while supervised like a hawk by a medical professional while feeling lethargic and leaden - just so that she could live another day without going crazy and killing somebody. She resented the fact that, somehow, despite sitting in a prison colony fuck knows where, Dr. Eden Naix still had a chain clamped firmly round her ankle, tying her back to that whitewashed room in the basement of his lab on Risa.

However, she resented dying and not getting to slap the human in the face in person at least once even more - so she'd grit her teeth and dealt with it every day for the past few years. Every day, at 0730 hours, in the nearest medical facility, she would present herself for examination before having the necessary medication injected into her neck.

This morning was no different. The Jem'hadar walked through the door into the shipyard's infirmary, sat in the waiting room in silence and waited, eyes looking directly ahead at the wall. At times like these, she didn't really feel like being her usual self. Maybe it was the desire to just get it over with talking.

K'Shren heard the shwoosh of the Sickbay doors opening. Looking up from a PADD, she frowned. Temporary though her presence was in this particular Sickbay, she was still a little shocked someone came in needing medical attention. Then, as she saw the woman enter, it clicked.

"Cadet... No, I apologize--Ensign... Its good to see you again..." She stepped forward to greet the Jem'Hadar. Grasping the other's arm in a warrior's greeting, she added. "I was proud of you when you won that medal, and when you graduated... It will be my honor to serve with you."

Well, this was certainly a pleasant surprise. Jara'kani let a toothy smile spread its way across her face as the Klingon's familiar warm, calloused hand closed over hers. So the next few years weren't going to be so bad after all. She liked that.

"We placed fifth, ma'am. The challenge coin is just that." She stated. "But it was our honor to be mentored by you. I look forward to serving with you. That is a given."

"However, I am not here to reminisce. I think you know why."

"Quite..." K'Shren stepped over to a cabinet, keyed in an access code, then pressed her thumb to a bio-scanner. "I will say this for him, your jud-qur knew what he was doing... Bastard was clever... I think I might be able to make it better for you--I've taken an interest... Try this." She came back with a hypospray. "Any preference on an injection site? You should sit, but this should be faster-acting than previously."

"No preference. How much faster?" Jara'kani's eyes lit up with interest as she settled on the biobed with feet hanging over the edge. "Even minutes would be much appreciated. It's not the time away from duty, ma'am. It's the feeling. Fifteen minutes of sluggishness and fuzziness is torture like no other. It makes my skin crawl. Like spiders dancing on my arms."

K'Shren stepped over and put the hypo to the other woman's neck. "If my simulations are accurate, perhaps as much as only two, three minutes per injection. I had some trouble getting the zadora extract, but now its legal for medical purposes, I think it will work... Can you feel it yet?"

"Hrrrm." Jara'kani took a moment to sit in silence. "Not really. I- ohhh." And there it was. The the sudden rush of fog and blanketing warmth that always accompanied the injection. It started as a warmth in her neck and spread outward to the rest of her body, making her fingers and toes tingle. Her eyes fluttered as she lay down on her side, head on the pillow. All that was left to do was to ride out the wave.

"Looking good..." K'Shren studied the bioreadings. "Almost as my simulations predicted... How are you doing with everything? Are you taking time for yourself, outside of your duty hours? Are you trying new experiences, new foods... I'm here to help, Ensign, not just medically, but socially. I know how it can be, the only one of your species for lightyears." One of her consoles beeped. "There--how do you feel?"

"Good, yesh, yesh, good." Poor Jara'kani wished she could give more detailed answers - but ugh, the fog in her brain. She couldn't imagine how she'd lived like this for the past twelve. At all. "Hnngh."

"Note to self, don't talk to your patient while she's getting her injection... I apologize, Ensign--I wasn't directly involved with your medical team at the Academy, and I've only seen documentary evidence of the impact and effects of white."

It would be a couple more minutes before Jara'kani regained enough presence of mind to respond - and even then she still sounded fairly dazed, allowing her Risian accent to come out in force. "Don't remind me." She rasped, still somewhat slurred. "About the fact that I'm supposed to be... a, uh... killing machine. Yuh. I don't want to take it. Ever. Kind of... don't want to kill people. Would be bad for making friends."

Unexpectedly, that got a laugh out of the doctor. "You're no more a killing machine than I'm a warrior, hungry to bathe in the blood of my enemies. What do humans call those--stereotypes? Sure, I could rip someone's heart out and make a sandwich, but personally, I much prefer Bajoran hasperat on Terran rye."

"Yuhyuhyuh. Some people kinda don't believe that." Jara'kani pushed herself to a sitting position now, despite her still slightly woozy head. Clearly despite the improved formula there was still more to be done. "Heh. Well. I'm happy as me. So I want to stay me. Not... whatever the ones on the other side of the wormhole do."

"I prefer a good swim. And chocolate. Not too often, of course." She added. "And some other stuff that's probably too much information for a first visit - nothing harmful, don't worry. I don't want to become something else by taking the white."

"Fuck the normal Jem'Hadar! Not that some of them weren't honorable, but clearly, the ones doing the modifications to their genetics Gods knows when were male, and particularly stupid males at that... Also, give me a bit to get settled, and then I'll whip you up a Rigelian chocolate cake that once got me a marriage proposal from a Starfleet admiral."

"Chocolate cake?" Now Jara'kani was properly interested - and awake. She leaned forward so far towards the Klingon with her hands gripping the biobed so firmly she could probably have crushed the metal with her bare hands if she weren't careful. "Ooh, yes, please. A cake that is apparently so good it warrants a marriage proposal must be heaven to eat. Just say when and where."

"If not, am I free to leave?"

K'Shren gave the other woman a wide smile. "Your records look up-to-date from my side of things. Unless there's anything more you would like to discuss, or bring to my attention, you are free as a bird on the wing. Also, no need to be so formal--outside of staff meetings and the like, call me K'Shren."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll see you around." Jara'kani smiled, hopped off the biobed and strode out. All in all, a superb first checkup. She could not have asked for better.

 

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