Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly, Part I

Posted on Mon Jan 19th, 2026 @ 1:58am by Lieutenant JG Aziza Diouri & Lieutenant JG Kasper Andersen M.D & Lieutenant JG T'Para MD & Ensign Charlotte Dawes

1,690 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Medical Lab, Deck 12
Timeline: MD 10, 1030 Hours

Aziza floated.

It wasn't the poetic kind--no oceans or skies. Just a slow and quiet suspension at the center of Sickbay's auxiliary lab, where gravity had been politely asked to take a number and sit down. The room was all soft lights and muted sound. A circle of faint illumination marked the zero-g field, a halo she occupied like an ancient artifact in stasis at some far-flung museum.

The suit clung tightly to her like a second skin. It was dark, seamless and threaded with electrodes--conduits fine as veins, each one waiting for instructions. It pressed gently at her spine, her hips, her thighs, the backs of her calves. Every so often, a tiny tingle of electricity ran into her--not at all painful. Just insistent and letting her know it was there to help. Almost as if it were saying, Here. Remember this.

It had been a full week since her last surgery. Certainly long enough for the pain to loosen its grip, but short enough that exhaustion had taken its place. The effort of simply trying--of sending thoughts downward and hoping they arrived--left her breathless in ways she had never expected. This had nothing to do with heroics. It was simply repetition. And it was also patience stretched thin.

Sabr, she reminded herself.

She flexed her fingers again, watching them obey. Below the waist was different. There was sensation now: dull and flickering as though it were an unstable connection. The good news was that the absent feeling was gone. In other words, not nothing, and that meant hope.

At the edge of the circle, Nurse Dawes stood with her hands folded loosely in front of her, eyes never quite leaving Aziza. She was also close enough to catch her if something went wrong. Also close enough to remind her she wasn't in this alone.

Beyond her, Doctor Andersen was working between three displays and a console, adjusting parameters with careful precision. He was in full control of the zero-g field.

Aziza had expected Doctor Blackstone, but had been informed she was unavailable. Some of the nurses that morning had been quietly discussing the half-Vulcan doctor but she hadn't caught what was said.

Looking over to the far side of the lab, her eyes landed on Doctor T'Para, another resolute Vulcan, monitoring Aziza's vitals.

The suit pulse again and she imagined her spine as a long road under repair. Damaged sections flagged. Crews at work. Progress super-slow. But real.

"I'm ready," she said loud enough for Kasper to hear. "Tell me what you need me to do."

"Hey Aziza, you're doing good so far," Kasper called out encouragingly as he looked up from one of the displays and gave her a smile. "I want you to see if you're able to move your left foot up and down for me, please. Nice and gentle, taking as much time as you need."

A small request like that sounded easy enough for her, but in fact, it was an enormous ask.

She drew a breath and held it, perhaps subconsciously believing a breath on its own might help carry the message down to her feet. She tried to picture her left foot--not as it felt right now, vague and half-lit, but as it used to be: solid and obedient. Hers. She imagined the ankle bending and the toes lifting. Just a simple hinge in a bigger machine.

Nothing happened.

She did not open her eyes right away. She stayed with the effort, stayed with the asking. The suit began to hum slightly against her spine. It was like it was quietly saying, I've got you. Try again.

Her brow furrowed. She felt heat blooming behind her eyes--not pain. More like frustration that shot through her tightened jaw.

"Okay," she murmured, mostly to herself.

She tried again, slower this time. Instead of forcing it to happen, she tried to put her mind in neutral and imagine she were taking a step forward--an invitation.

Somewhere down there, a faint pressure answered. Her toes twitched first. Then her calf tightened just a fraction.

"I--I felt that," she said, opening her eyes and swallowing hard.

"Hey! That's amazing progress, well done." Kasper replied as he took down information from the display and transferred it to a handheld data padd. "How did that feel? Not too strenuous for you?"

Looking over to T'Para, "How are her vitals holding so far?" Kasper didn't want to push too far or have anything go wrong right now, not as there was some progress starting to be made with Aziza's movement.

T'para had her blue eyes fixed on the vitals monitoring device in front of her. " Her vitals are holding steady for the moment." She said calmly still keeping her eyes on the screen.

Aziza seemed lost again as the medical professionals exchanged information around her. Kasper's question to her lost in the flurry.

"Aziza?" Charlotte waited patiently for Aziza to focus. "How did that feel? Do you think you can do it again?" She asked. "On the doctor's orders. Not too soon."

The room had gone a little watery around the edges, as if someone had carefully smudged the light. She hadn't noticed the tears arrive--only the warmth of the them taking strange little paths toward her ears in the absence of gravity. They beaded just beyond her temples, refusing to fall.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, though wasn't really sure who the apology was for. "I'm not--" She inhaled, steadying herself. "It doesn't hurt."

She lifted a hand, brushing at her cheek more out of habit than need. The tear stayed where it was, stubbornly.

"It just..." Her voice wavered and she let it. There's wasn't any reason not to. "For a while there was nothing. Like I was erased from the waist down." She swallowed, fixing her eyes on an invisible point just beyond T'Para. "And then something answered back."

She laughed softly, and it surprised her--that sound--how close laughter and crying seemed to live next to one another.

"Let's keep going," Aziza went on, the words coming easier now. "I'm ready."

"Just remember to let us know if it gets to be too much for you, okay?" Kasper questioned. Making a few adjustments, he looked to the console in front of him, "I think if we can keep going with the same side, can you please see if you can bend your knee down, applying as much pressure as you can? Remember, small movements at a time, and any progress I'll count as good progress."

Aziza closed her eyes again.

A knee, she reminded herself, was not an abstract idea. It was a joint that she had trusted her entire life without ever once taking time to thank it. It bent when she sat, locked when she stood, and carried her along from different points in her life--into and out of trouble she'd never regretted. And it had a memory, even if the nerves had forgotten their sense of direction.

"All right," she said softly, not opening her eyes. "I'm listening."

She sent the thought downward again. A request.

The suit responded with a small, sympathetic hum, warming along her spine. She felt Charlotte's presence close--ready to reach out at the edge of the impossible. And beyond that, the calm and cool presence of Doctor T'Para, ensuring her vitals were stable.

Something gathered in her left leg. It wasn't quite movement. Not yet. Maybe, pressure?

Her jaw tightened and her breath slowed.

Then--there it was.

A bend so small it would have gone wholly unnoticed in any other moment of her life. Just a fraction of a curl in the knee. So tiny. But it was hers.

Aziza sucked in a breath, sharp and disbelieving. "That--" She laughed, nearly breathless. "That was me."

Her eyes opened and she looked to Charlotte standing just beside her.

Charlotte smiled enthusiastically, "Great work," she said cheering Aziza one."We knew you could do it."

Aziza found a small smile and blinked.

"That's definitely all you there, Aziza," Kasper said proudly as he made a note of her movements. "How are you feeling with it? Reckon you can do it a couple more times before we move on?"

The Moroccan pilot nodded enthusiastically.

"I can do a couple more," she said steadily. "I'm surprised how tiring these little movements are."

She let out a breath and closed her eyes again, not entirely pushing--just resting in the afterglow having done something. The suit seemed ready for her to make her move but before she could, curiosity got the better of her and she opened her eyes again.

Aziza's gaze drifted to Kasper at his console. "Doctor Andersen?" she said lightly. "I don't mean to be presumptuous, but your wife is the second officer?"

A bark of a laugh came from Kasper, a good solid laugh that could've brought tears to his eyes if he didn't gain composure quick, "No, no, Eirly's not my wife. She's my twin sister."

He stepped away from the console for a moment. "I am, however, seeing someone but it's not quite at marry me or wife level just yet. One day, maybe." Letting his gaze drift briefly from Aziza to Charlotte, he grinned again before going back to Aziza. Charlotte tried to ignore the flush she felt rising to her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she said, still suspended a few inches above the floor. "I've had too much time to myself these past few days and found myself looking at the crew manifest. I saw your surnames and... presumed. Poorly."

Kasper waved Aziza off as he walked around towards where she was suspended, "Don't be sorry, it's not the first time it's happened. If you haven't met her yet though, I recommend you should, especially if you want a positivity and confidence boost."

"Oh for sure," Charlotte agreed. "She could definitely be the unofficial morale officer around here."


~To Be Continued: Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly, Part II~

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