Reunion
Posted on Sun Jul 26th, 2026 @ 8:32am by Lieutenant JG Ryan Kellerman & Lieutenant Darius Korveth
1,432 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Below Decks
Location: Planet Surface
Timeline: Immediately following "Diversion & Deception"
"Hold still, Lieutenant," Nurse Chapparal said to the half-Orion as she put his hand on his shoulder.
"I am going to give you something for the pain. You're lucky you didn't puncture your lung. I can fix this with an
osteogenic stimulator. Next time, don't play the hero and throw yourself into the middle of a fight, especially when your hands are tied."
"Now relax and lean back on the bed. You're not going anywhere for a while."
The anteroom to the council chamber was quieter than the main hall itself and made a decent triage station for Valkyrie's medical personnel.
A voice cut through the calmness.
"I should have known."
Ryan Kellerman stood in a doorway with a data PADD tucked beneath one arm. He had been halfway through dictating a preliminary intelligence summary when he'd noticed the familiar olive-green complexion through the open partition. It was at that moment he decided his report could wait.
His eyes drifted over the scene in a quick sweep: the osteogenic stimulator and the bruising already showing on Darius' chest.
"You get taken hostage for one afternoon," he said, "and you still manage nearly lose your life."
Darius' grimace turned to a grin as he recognized Ryan, and the pain meds began to take effect. "Sorry, but I had to act. I saw an opportunity, and I tried to seize it."
"Are you okay?"
Ryan shrugged and watched as the nurse continued her work. "I'm fine. I led a secondary team via shuttlecraft. The threat was eliminated before I even stepped foot into the settlement."
He felt the familiar attraction whenever he was around his estranged husband. Now that they had been aboard Valkyrie for a few weeks and were now starting to talk more, parts of Ryan's heart were reawakening--beating as hard as they had prior to the separation.
"How bad?" he said to Nurse Chapparal.
"I've seen worse," she replied without looking up. "Nothing critical or life-threatening. He fractured a couple of ribs and has what they used to call a boxer's fracture."
"Even with the pain meds, he'll be sore for a couple of days."
Ryan fixed his old partner with a blank look. "You're a moron."
"That's fair," Darius replied. "But I remember when I was your moron."
Nurse Chapparal's instruments clicked softly while she worked. It would seem that Captain Baas had dispatched most of the medical team to the surface given the number of scanners and equipment in the anteroom.
He ignored Darius' comment--it warmed him to hear it, but it also rubbed raw the pain he still carried. There was an unconscious ambivalence to him. While he wasn't actively pushing him away, Ryan wasn't pulling him close either. Admittedly, this was a weird form of romantic purgatory.
"Boxer's fracture," Ryan repeated under his breath. "That's a new one for you. You're branching out."
Ryan found himself staring at Darius' bare chest longer than he would've liked. After lingering too long, he returned his attention to the PADD in his hand.
If the Chief Strategic Operations Officer noticed the other man staring at him, he didn't show it. "It happened when I was trying to wrestle the disruptor away from the Romulan. It would have been worse if I hadn't been better."
Glancing around the anteroom, Ryan realized there wasn't a place to seat himself. It was an open area, and other members of the Valkyrie crew were also being assessed. He decided to perch himself against the cold, stone wall and cross arms, his gaze fixed firmly on Darius.
"You know, I keep thinking about the Intelligence report I'm going to have to file where the phrase 'reckless engagement under duress' appears in official language and still doesn't seem to capture what actually happened."
The hue of Darius's skin shifted slightly. If Ryan didn't know him as well as he did, he might not have noticed. "You're putting in your report that I acted recklessly?"
Ryan threw his ex-partner a dubious look.
"Of course not," he said indignantly. "You're going to write it."
"I'm going to write your report?" Darius replied, "Because you just said that it was going to be in your report. The bigger question, though, is, do you actually think that I acted recklessly, because you weren't there."
"Intelligence reports are just regular reports that have been appended with my own summary," Ryan said, shrugging. "So, yeah, you'll be writing your own report. I'll just have my own that uses words like 'moron' and 'reckless'."
Ryan knew Darius well enough to know the man was a duty-bound officer. He would sacrifice himself if it meant protecting or saving others.
"Reckless," he repeated, facing the Orion hybrid. "Not that you'd do anything to put others in harm's way. But I know you'd cut off your own arm and use it as a weapon, if it meant saving somebody."
For just a moment, Darius's temper had flared when Ryan had again accused him of recklessness. Then that anger faded. "I believe my report will reflect that I was ingenious and, em, bold."
"But you're right. I would cut off my arm to save somebody."
Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "or to bring somebody I love back where he should be."
Ryan let silence remain where Darius had left it. The words he had spoken landed cleanly enough--they typically did. Lowering his eyes to the PADD in his hands, he thumbed absent-mindedly through his notes. These were what he'd eventually use to file his own report through Starfleet Intelligence.
After a few moments had passed, he glanced back up to see the nurse had moved to behind Darius, likely mending some broken ribs back there. Ryan decided to resume the previous banter.
"I'll leave ingenious for Captain Baas to decide," he said finally, his tone dry enough to obtain a faint smile from Chaparral. "Intelligence reports have a very strict limit on adjectives."
"I guess I should leave smartass out then when I mention you," Darius interjected.
He inhaled through his nose slowly, then added with a note of seriousness: "You were preventing more needless deaths."
Ryan shrugged almost apologetically. "I get it."
"Some things you can't change, some things I don't want to change. I am far from perfect, but I know who I am."
Placing a hand on Darius' shoulder, Ryan gave him an encouraging smile.
"Just remember that you're not invincible."
Darius touched his side, "No, I'm not."
He paused and then asked, "Do you think I have some kind of hero complex, where I have this need to prove myself, to make myself look good?"
Ryan considered the question a lot longer than Darius probably expected.
The anteroom had begun to empty as the worst of the injuries were treated and the lightly wounded filtered back toward the waiting shuttles parked outside.
Ryan let his hand slip from Darius' shoulder and gathered the PADD under his arm.
"I've got to find Commander Hunt and Doctor Tanak so I can finish my report."
He took a few lazy steps toward the double doors leading outside.
Nurse Chapparal had already returned to her instrument tray, sorting the items and recalibrating them one by one. She was apparently satisfied that Lieutenant Korveth would survive to see another day despite his own best efforts.
Ryan reached the doorway and rested one hand against the weathered stone frame. The hazy light of Kril'es spilled across the threshold, warming his right shoulder.
He looked back and saw Darius watching him with the same expression Ryan remembered from their study sessions at the Academy.
Ryan shook his head.
"A hero complex, Ari? Hell no."
The answer came with a metric ton of conviction. A faint smile began to appear at the corners of his mouth.
"You don't have a hero complex." He held Darius' gaze for another second, then added: "You have a Darius Korveth complex."
The smile finally deepened. Ryan tapped his finger on the door frame and disappeared beyond it, letting the door close gently.
Darius watched Ryan leave, the briefest of smiles playing across his lips. He walked toward the exit himself. There was still a twinge in his ribs, but he had survived. He hoped the same thing could be said of his marriage. Wounded, but healing.
"Good night Ry,"
Lieutenant Darius Koverth
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Valkyrie
&
Lieutenant JG Ryan Kellerman
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Valkyrie
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