Loire couldn't help but feel bitter-sweet to be back on the Citadel. Like many places, it brought back memories, some pleasant, others, not so pleasant. He'd trained here, graduated here and been admired and revered here but he'd also been greatly unhappy here. This was where he wound up after he lost Lucine, and no amount of studying, or academic accolades would have brought her back. He'd saved countless lives in the hospitals, and also seen a few deaths, but that was part of the job when you were a doctor.
This time, he wasn't back to stay. The SIRIUS had docked for refuelling and the Captain had dismissed everyone to go their separate ways and take some time off till noon. This meant Loire would stock up on some much needed medical supplies, perhaps have a look around the Citadel and see if much had changed. Although he'd only been gone a few short years, progress happened rapidly on the Citadel, at least, in terms of research and pop-culture trends, the council was still stuck in some very old out-dated habits. Still, progress was progress.
The hospital was the same as ever, then again, Loire didn't make his way down to the new recently developed wing, it wasn't necessary, he had no ambitions to come back, at least not yet, and he had no interest in seeing what new facilities were there. He only hoped the hospital was continuing to train up new doctors and nurses and heal hundreds of thousands of sick patients, which it more than likely was.
"Dr Lanrete!" a porter called out, making his way over to shake Loire's hand.
"Harvey, a pleasure as always" Loire replied with a smile, shaking the porters hand.
Harvey looked far older now, he'd been a porter here ever since Loire had started studying and training on the Citadel. Though there was a sea of new faces, Loire still noticed a few old friends.
"No one said you were coming back, if I'd known I'd have insisted a celebratory welcoming drink for you!"Loire laughed,
"No no, I'm not back, I'm on shore leave, I'll be leaving again shortly, I'm just collecting some supplies. I'll be sure to relay a message on before I dock next time I pass through, I'll treat you to that drink, its the least I can do" he said softly.
"Very well then, I guess I'll leave you to go about your business, wouldn't want to delay you and your crew mates" Harvey tipped his hat and went back to his post.
Loire flashed his ID at the secretary who let him pass to the medical supply centre. Loire tapped his data pad to check the list of supplies he'd written down, after extensively examining what medicines and equipment was on the SIRIUS, he took note of what they were low on and what bits and pieces were beginning to look a little worse for wear.
He was greeted by more nurses and a trainee doctor who praised Loire for some of his critiques of popular research papers. Loire was grateful, but politely excused himself as it would take him a little time to get back to the SIRIUS with all the medicine he'd picked up. He kept an eye out for his crew mates as he made his way around the commercial district on the Citadel.
Sassy was hiding, it was easy to hide when you were as short as she was, but she watched every security officer warily. It was likely her parents had already alerted C-SEC that she was "missing" when they noticed her room was empty this morning. They'd suspect she'd done a runner, which was exactly what she was in the process of doing. She'd stuffed all the money she had into her pockets and left everything else, she couldn't carry a load of things, it would only slow her down. Now, all she had to do was find some civilian ship to hide in, to get off the Citadel and wait till the ship she'd stowed away on docked on some alien planet. She'd work out her next move from there. She just knew she didn't want to spend her days working in the military. She didn't want everyone else making her decisions for her.
Thats when she spotted it. A lightweight space cruiser, docked and it appeared to be unattended, for now at least. So she waaited for the guard to turn his head before sprinting over and sneaking inside. Exhaling in relief when it appeared as though no one had seen her. She just had to hope no one was lingering inside the ship and would catch her and turn her in to C-SEC. She just had to remain undetected long enough to get away from the Citadel.
She proceeded deeper into the ship which was generously large, but had a lightweight feel. It was homely, for a space ship anyway, and eventually she found the medical bay, with plenty of cupboards for storing medical gear, it would be a great place to hide. Which is what she did.
She routed around for a cupboard that wasn't totally stuffed, surprised to find that some of the cupboards were actually rather bare, allowing her to easily squeeze inside and close the door. All she would do now was wait until she felt the ship blaze to life, then she'd wait till she was sure she was far enough from the Citadel to get out.
