“Raan!”

Mason turned as a figure blurred its way across the transporter room. Automatically he opened his arms, just as his little sister hit him at full speed. The breath was knocked from his lungs and he rocked back on his heels, but he kept his footing, smiling down at Enna.

For all of the two point four seconds it took her to pull back, wind back her arm, and punch him in the bicep as hard as she could. Considering she’d been her regimental boxing champion back home, that was hard. He winced and resisted the urge to rub at his arm. He knew his sister. If she knew that had stung, she’d just do it again. 

“You absolute asshole! What the blazes did you think you were doing?” She raged, eyes blazing as she glared up at him. He nodded to James, the security officer leading the team that had transported over with him and Micheals, giving them the go ahead to carry on to escort Captain Murphy to sickbay without him.

“Come here, brat,” he rumbled at her once the room had cleared, and yanked her into another bear-hug. Squeaking, she hit him in the ribs, but the punch had no force behind it.

Grinning, he let her go. “What’s got you all riled up?”

“You!” She poked him in the chest, which was a distinct upgrade from her punching him. “You’ve got me all riled up! Screaming off into underspace like that! What the bloody hell were you thinking!”

He smiled as he caught her hand, holding it. Mostly so she couldn’t punch him again. “I thought we established long ago that I don’t think? You, Ilis and Harlow always told me I must’ve been dropped on my head as a baby.”

“Yes, well,” she huffed. “I spoke to Harlow and she said you were an idiot as well. I haven’t managed to get hold of Ilis, she’s been in meetings forever, but she’ll agree with me as well.”

Mason hid his grin. He always knew when his siblings were worried about him when they started talking behind his back. They thought by nagging him they could alter his behaviour. It was cute. Utterly wrong, but cute all the same. “You and Harlow both know why I did it. Duty and the needs of the many and all that.”

She snorted softly, giving him a look. Chuckling, he pulled her under his arm, tucked in against his side and dropped a kiss on the top of her blonde hair. “Okay, I have a little time before I need to give my after-mission report to Captain Thorne, so tell me everything that’s been happening with you.”

The answer to that lead to him waiting in the Canterbury CMO’s office an hour later, his face set like thunder.

“What the blazes were you thinking?” He raged at Enna, who was leaning back in her chair with her feet propped up on the CMO’s desk. “Have you taken leave of your sodding senses? What kind of idiot lets someone stab them? Repeatedly? Did you learn nothing from me about hand to hand combat? You’re supposed to stab them, not let yourself become target practise!!”

The door opened and a deep voice commented. “I see that someone else agrees with my opinion of your particular fighting style, Lieutenant Mason.”

Raan turned as a tall, leanly muscled man with grey just starting to pepper his dark hair and beard walked in. Recognition filled him and he nodded to the CMO.

“Ket… nice to see you again. Been a minute since Arriana. Glad to see you re-upped with the fleet.”

“Had to,” the commander smiled briefly as he crossed the space, offering his hand to shake. It was a good, strong shake. Raan approved. “Especially after seeing starfleet officers throwing themselves out of second story windows as a method of ending a fight. Although, after meeting your sister, I’m beginning to think moves like that are specific to llanarian officers. As I recall, you yourself had a ship dropped on you from orbit to stop the dominion forces on Arriana.”

Enna sat upright, her hands spread as if to say ‘you see?’.  Raan glared at her to keep her mouth shut.

“In my defense that ship was dropped on me, I didn’t have much of a say in the matter. The officer that made that decision was, in fact, human.” He folded his arms over his chest, his feet spread shoulder-wide apart as he looked down at the doctor. “Now tell me what she’s been up to and how much damage she took.”

Ket met him look for look. “I’m sorry, Captain, but doctor-patient confidentiality. I can’t share details of Lieutenant Mason’s condition or care with you—“

He glared at Enna again and she sighed, dropping her head back as she rolled her eyes. “Alright! It’s okay if you tell him, doc. I give permission.”

Ket looked over at her, his expression hard. “It’s not okay if you’re being pressured to give permission. I don’t care who he is. Brother, king of your planet or the federation president himself, if he’s threatening you I’m kicking him out.”

Both Raan and Enna blinked at him.

I’d like to see him try, Raan thought in amusement, but grudging respect rolled through him for the doctor. Not many people would dare go toe to toe with him based on his sheer side. Not sane people anyway, RJ didn’t count… That particular human was mad.

Enna straightened up. “No, seriously doc. He’s not pressuring me. He’s my brother, he should be listed as my next of kin anyway.”

Ket looked at her for a long time, purposely ignoring Raan, studying her face. After long moments, he nodded. Whatever he’d been looking for in her expression, he must have found it.

“Okay,” he turned his attention to Raan. “Your assessment was I was coming in was quite accurate. Your sister decided the best way to stop a fight was to let people stab her. Repeatedly.”

“I got a lot of stabbing in myself,” Enna muttered. “Not like I was bloody helpless.”

Raan ignored her. “And what happened then?”

Ket walked around his desk, using his console to open Enna’s medical file and displayed it on the screen behind him. “As you can see, she sustained significant internal injuries, which required a four hour surgery. I can’t actually remember the last time I was in surgery that long.”

“I’ve had worse. Once had a tank drop on me.”

Ket ignored the mutter as well, holding Raan’s gaze. “Being honest, if the Canterbury temporary hazard team hadn’t arrived when they had to bring her in, I doubt she would have made it.”

“Been blown up.”

“But to be honest, most of the issue when we got her here was that she was intoxicated and tried to punch me. It’s very difficult to perform surgery when your patient is fighting back.”

Raan compressed his lips to keep from laughing. Yeah, that sounded like Enna alright. And he knew she wasn’t intoxicated, not by their standards anyway. She’d have drunk coffee before the fight as a pre-emptive painkiller. It was a trick they’d used all the time during the war.

“Honestly, it really wasn’t that bad. I didn’t manage to hurt him. Not really.”

Then he frowned. “The Canterbury temporary hazard team? Why temporary? What happened to the usual team?”

Enna waved from her seat. “That would be me.”

Raan sighed and rubbed at the skin between his eyebrows. “You signed up as hazard team again? Why does that not surprise me?”

She just grinned.

Ket looked between the two of them. “You’re both crazy.”

They looked at each other and grinned.

“Oh doc,” Enna chuckled. “You really don’t know the half of it.”

Ket folded his arms, expression unamused. Raan took pity on him and decided a rescue was in order.

“So, she’s okay now? Healing well?” He asked and the doctor nodded. “So why is she still under medical care in sickbay.”

“Ah, that…” Enna looked innocent. Or tried to. Raan stilled. It was never good when Enna tried to look innocent.

“Talk. Now,” he ordered.

She winced. “Well, it’s a super-secret-squirrel thing.”

“I’m convinced the UT is broken half the time when I’m around your sister,” Ket complained. “She means that she is being held in sickbay as the hazard team leader to ensure our other guest doesn’t cause any trouble.”