Familiar Taste of Poison - Holding on to Smoke

[Lorna DeLaTour]

It was merely the second time that Lorna DeLaTour traveled to Bothawui, although this time she would stay a few more days than a mere pit stop following a mission with Van-Derveld. Following the impromptu getaway to Tatooine for one of the best meals of her life, both women had returned to their respective occupation: the doctor holed up on Jovan addressing medical concerns from various locals and visitors, and the Director doing whatever her job required. With her medical work, the half Lorrdian understood confidentiality well, and took her sometimes-partner's occupation in stride. Van-Derveld picking her up for that very first mission had moved her life into a new direction though, one in which she felt she made more of a difference. While she had wanted to enter official service for the Alliance, she had never expected it would take such form. After having left the Empire, she had kept a rather low profile, just wanting to help. Thing was she was damn good under pressure and while every medical job could serve people, which was the basis of such a field, she got a freaking kick out of the high-stakes missions with the Director, including the emergency problem solving. It was taking her skills to new levels, for many of her humanitarian work had required thinking outside of the box and making do with whatever resources she had available.

When the Director had required her assistance again for what had ended being a week-long mission in the Outer Rim to deal with an off-shoot of a known terrorist group that had hired former imperial scientists, second class ones really in Lorna's views, but definitely skilled enough with a level of cruelty that had taken them away from their original faction. That was always a bad thing when they had any amount of knowledge, which had been the case of the ones they had been up against. While Van-Derveld and most of the team had been set on dealing with catching them - one of them now in custody along with some of the terrorist cell, Lorna had been focusing on doing damage-control with what they had found in their labs and figure out what products had been disseminated prior to that and what they would be up to if it showed up in future locations. The scale wasn't too large; but it was not uncommon for products to emerge through black market in one form or another once something efficient was added to the vast catalog available.

The mission had been more taxing than the previous ones they had done; and Lorna was keenly aware it was because of what she had first thought was merely some pinched nerve that she could correct within a few days. The pain in her lower back had only got worse, even threatening to get her off her feet a few times when she had been working in labs. She had soldiered through it all; but it had made her decide to stay on Bothawui for a few days following the debrief of the mission. It had been troubling and she hated not being at one hundred percent. She didn't think it would be that bad; but she hated the thought of not being able to provide her very best work. She had hidden her discomfort to the best of her ability and she knew her work had remained top notch no matter what. She wasn't one to complain in the first place, and she knew how important the mission was.

And truth be told, she disliked the idea of having to be removed from work with the Director. They made a very good team and she liked the job in between her time on Jovan. And even their short off-duty time together had been refreshing. There was no awkwardness in silent moment, Van-Derveld's biting humor brought Lorna to tears on a few occasions. They had good banter and both had strong morals and values, didn't hesitate to do what needed to be done. Lorna knew she would trust the other woman with her life, something she didn't do lightly, especially given her history and being a wandered for multiple reasons until she landed on Jovan about a year ago. And even there, she had been building some social and professional ties but nothing too close.

For now she was brought back to reality as their ship had just landed on Bothawui and it was time for her to get her painful self back up, which had become worse in the last couple of days. Lorrdian were resistant by nature even though their nervous system could be more sensitive than other humanoids, given their history of dire slavery until they were able to break free and reclaim agency. It had been generations before Lorna's time but she understood how these difficult events had shaped half of her physiology, especially as she had picked up on most Lorrdian markers despite being only a half-breed. And that was why she had thought that a pinched nerve would just resolve by itself given how bad it could be; but now she worried it could be something else. Hopefully getting an appointment with some of the local specialists would clear the situation up.

She knew how observant Van-Derveld was and Lorna bet that she had picked on some of her discomfort and tiredness in the past few days; but was grateful that so far no word had been shared about it. Lorna hadn't complained once and kept pushing through. The job had been done and well done. She wasn't naive and knew that the brunette knew something was up but that was one of the many things she appreciated about the Director: she didn't pry unless there was a direct need to discuss something, which Lorna liked. The doctor brought things up and didn't shy away from difficult discussions if it had an impact on a mission or work; but she had pulled through and now she had a few days to go through examinations and maybe a quick procedure to alleviate her issues. She missed her jaxes Poky and Kronos, especially as she had got used to have them around for a few weeks in a row and they had been delighted as well; but thankfully they were well taken care of back on Jovan Station. It just would have been nice to have them for comfort with her current problems for their were always very good and affectionate nurses.

She winced as she put her backpack on, though not before having popped another pill into her mouth to keep the pain at bay but not at the risk of sacrificing her mental sharpness. The debrief was likely going to take a solid hour given the potential ramifications of what was being uncovered; but she had faith she could go through it.