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+ | Watching the shadows play across the floor of the Observation Lounge as the Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Something happened then, a memory, he remembered something. In image, no, a feeling? He wasn't sure. Whichever it was, it made him think of a knife, of pain. Had he stabbed someone? No, he told himself this time, not needing the other part of himself to do it. He had been stabbed, he remembered now. The darkness moving across the floor, the thing that wasn't a shadow - it was his own blood pooling on the carpet. Why didn't I know that? he asked himself with alarm. Cause yer in shock, the other him answered without delay. It made sense - or at least, he thought it did. If he had been stabbed though, why didn't he feel it? Shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If I was stabbed, and I ain't dead, how come I'm just layin' here on the floor? he asked his other self. When no response came this time, he decided to find out. As he tried to remember how to move though, it occurred to him that you didn't move by thinking about it, but simply by doing it. So he did it. Bad idea, said his other self as he picked up his head. His vision swam, his head pounded, and pain coursed through his body all in the same instant. His head fell back upon the deck and his mind went blank again, his eyes closing for an instant/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | This time when he tried to move once again, he was smart enough not to try to move his head. His hand seemed much less risky by comparison. Indeed, it didn't seem to cause offer any objections. It didn't accomplish anything though. He realized with a sense of dread that if he was going to actually do something other than lay here and bleed to death, he would have to try to really move. Not just a head or a hand, but everything, his whole self. I'm tellin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Fighting the pain, fighting his muscles, fighting for focus, fighting everything, he moved. He pushed himself up from the deck with his hands and arms. He drew his legs in underneath of himself, until he was on his knees. He braced himself against the bulkhead as he forced himself to his feet. The edges of his vision blurred and darkened, and he stumbled his first awkward step, keeping from falling only by his grip on the corner of the wall. He knew the door was there, ahead of him, but his obscured vision kept him from seeing it. He heard it though, or rather, maybe he felt the gentle whoosh of air instead? He didn't stop to give it enough thought to decide. One hand after the other clawing across the smooth finish of the cream colored bulkhead. One foot in front of the other, awkward and disjointed, across the traction carpet. As his vision cleared some, he saw finally the door the opened to the bridge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The light from the bridge was darker than he thought it should be, until he remembered this was gamma shift. A few meters away, he saw a lithe humanoid body clad black with a Starfleet uniform. After another moment, he recognized from the form it was a female. Her collar and her hair the same color, lips full, eyes bright and expressive, attractive in a Starfleet sort of way. Beauvais, he realized, and as he did so, she turned to glance towards him, towards the sound of the door that had opened. Her eyes on him, her lips moved as she said something directed to him. He heard the sounds, the words, as she asked him with a subdued, friendly, professional smile if he had " | ||
+ | |||
+ | He wanted to call out to her, to ask her to help him, but he could not. He didn't know why, but he couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Knowing that made it easy for him to accept what his body was saying, as he fell forward onto his knees. Beauvais was moving towards him now, her right hand moving to her combadge, everything moving so slowly now. Slower than even before. As the darkness claimed his vision again, threatening to claim him, he felt himself falling once more. Hitting the deck with a hard thud, he knew he had done everything he could. This battle could no longer be fought from the waking world, he somehow knew. At least not on his side of things. Feeling his body being moved, his head cradled, he couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last thing he knew as he allowed the darkness to overcome him was the sound of Beauvais voice, urgent and raised, as she called for an emergency transport for two to sickbay. Whether the sense of cold pins-and-needles he felt next was the transporter, | ||
+ | \\ \\ \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Main sickbay, USS Republic**\\ | ||
+ | **Shiptime: 02:21 hours** | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, I guess no one will be calling you ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Okay, but, tell me again," | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You see," interjected Yezbeck. "You had the luxury of growing up with a normal visual organ. Your brain has become accustom to a specific series of neural impulses from your organic eye. If we overloaded it with excess visual spectra that an enhanced prosthetic would provide, your system wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | This was not one of those times, as the exam room's intercom came to life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shooting Saal a perplexed expression, Leon immediately turned around and exited the exam room at a brisk pace. Before the doors could close, Yezbeck and Carter followed on heel's of the Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the two diagnostic beds in the main ward, a half-dozen medical crew were already huddled around the one closest to the door. A bright examination light beamed down onto the table where a single body lay immobile. However, as he approached, it wasn't the body that drew Leon's attention at first. It was one of the standing personnel, Lieutenant Zoe Beauvais. Her hands and uniform were stained a bright crimson red while her face betrayed an expression of horror and shock. Leon's stomach tightened in the realization that there were very few situations that could force such a reaction from a seasoned security officer. Looking down upon his patient, Leon felt as if he has just been shot with a phaser on heavy stun. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh my god..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | As Yezbeck and Carter arrived at the table, both their eyes' widened with astonishment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the rear of the room, a pair of medical technicians rushed into the ward with a medical cart bearing a tetrahedral-shaped life support module. With scalpels, two nurses quickly cut off Nat's blood-drenched uniform, further staining the upholstery of both the bed and carpet, while accentuating the gravity of his injuries. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The injuries have invaded the left side of the abdominal cavity from behind . . . directly through the eighth and ninth intercostals . . ." Yezbeck reported. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Organ damage?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The posterior mediastinum is nicked in six places . . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know that!" Leon shouted angrily. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Drop in blood pressure, doctor!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Three perforations of the lower pulmonary lobe . . . looks like the diaphragm too . . . he's in bad shape . . ." Yezbeck commented, instantly wishing he hadn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes doctor." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Anxious moments ticked by in an instant and an eternity without conversation or commentary as the medical staff worked at a dizzying pace to keep the Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It looks like Hawk was attacked," | ||
+ | |||
+ | As if a switch had been thrown, Hawk's eyes rolled back into his head, and blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth a split second before his body became rigid and he began to convulse violently. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What the hell? | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then what the hell is happening!?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What are you doing?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A toxicology analysis . . ." Yezbeck replied without turning his attention away from the console. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Give me something Saal!" Leon demanded urgently. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With alarm creeping into his voice, Doctor Yezbeck turned around to face Leon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Uh, there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The two doctors locked stares as they both realized what the diagnosis meant. Only a molecularly engineered poison can undergo asynchronous isomerism. Designed to kill by changing their atomic configuration to different types of compounds so quickly that an antidote cannot be synthesized in time, they had a 97% mortality rate. The last time that either of them had encountered such a substance involved the agonizing death of a Starfleet captain. Their only drawback was the difficulty in producing them - something that had obviously been overcome in this instance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Pull up the Starfleet Medical database," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Several medical monitors turned from a wary yellow to an ominous red as a new set of alert signals sounded. Like a gunshot, everyone in the room jumped at the cascade of warning tones. Immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Begin a cardiovascular purge!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Upon hearing the order, Julian' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The toxin has permeated his tissues!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The toxin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a moment, all of the alarms stopped. Sickbay became a deafening quiet for a split second. Then, as quickly as the silence had come, it was replaced by a single, constant, dreaded tone from the cardiac monitor. Flatline. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon abandoned his current idea of stasis in lieu of the new emergency. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctors Bashir and Yezbeck stood at the diagnostic console, both working in tandem, and feverishly accessing the toxicology database - Julian going through them at five times the speed of most humans. With dozens of images of different chemicals and antitoxins displayed on the screen, Julian abruptly halted his part of the search, selected several new molecular configurations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What was in that?" Leon asked, trying not to be too distracted from his work on Nat's cardiac system. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The antidote cocktail you asked for," Julian replied. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I could use a little less pessimism right now, doctor." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The edge to Leon's voice was less distinct than what Julian had been used to lately, and although he could have easily attributed it to Doctor Cromwell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A moment passed where a nurse wiped the sweat from Leon's forehead. Slowly, the medical monitors showed improvement in Hawk's condition, as the a few of the red-colored screens returned to yellow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | No sooner were the words spoken than Nat began to convulse once more. His body thrashed within the life support module, and alarms sounded once more as the yellow monitors were forced back into a deep crimson. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "His entire nervous system is shutting down!" Leon exclaimed in shock. "I can't keep up with the toxin . . . there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Without warning, Nat's body went rigid as every muscle contracted into an intense spasm. His mouth frothed, and his eyes rolled back into his head, his eye-lids fluttering, and as quickly as the grave symptoms emerged, his body went limp. For an instant it seemed the convulsions had passed. Then a single ragged breath escaped Hawk's lips, and the dreaded tone of a cardiac flatline returned. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Twin electrodes were fastened to Lieutenant Hawk's forehead, and with a static snap, his body twitched before falling limp again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "800 faradays!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "1000 faradays!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The technician complied. It made no difference. The screens showed no change. Hawk's body remained perfectly immobile as the piercing wail of the alarms registered the obvious conclusion that hit like a photon torpedo. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was over. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Everyone in the room stood where they were, staring in disbelief at either the steady red lines on the synaptic monitor or Hawk's bloodied and lifeless form. Some had tears welling in their eyes, while others seemed almost catatonic. No one spoke a word, for there could be no explaining the event which had just transpired. Seemingly out of nowhere, a healthy, functioning member of this crew was snatched away from them in less than a few minutes. For some, especially John Carter and Leon Cromwell, the shock ran even deeper: A human being they initially considered a troublesome burden in their lives -- and who, over the course of only a few months had defied all logic by becoming a close comrade-in-arms -- was gone. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Over half a minute passed where nobody moved, afraid to break the fleeting moment, clinging in vain to the hope that by some miracle Nathan Hawk would spring to life once more. They hoped that this was simply a nightmarish dream that would pass momentarily, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But the miracle didn't come. Their hopes slowly evaporated like a lone puddle in a blistering desert, leaving behind an empty, desolate terrain in depths of their hearts. Only Julian seemed to muster the courage to perform a closing act, as he reached over and closed Nat's lifeless eyes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The motion stirred a chaotic spark in Leon's consciousness. With his pupils pinpointed and jaw clenched, Doctor Cromwell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon did not stop as he brushed past Leah Warner in the entrance to Sickbay. Her face, a mask of concern and anxiety, turned to one of shock and horror at the sight before her. In the silence, it didn't seem real. It couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Time of death... 02:27 hours." | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | The hum of the turbo-lift and the alert siren pierced Reia's ears. 'Why? Why does it have to be now?' she kept asking herself 'I was having such a good dream too,' she sighed in disbelief. The turbo-lift doors opened up revealing the bridge; she took a few steps, noticing no other senior officers present. She gave herself a little slap on the face to wake her up a bit. ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ensign took a quick glance at the woman standing behind him only to confirm who he believed it to be. "Two minutes ago Lieutenant Beauvais called for an intruder alert when Lieutenant Hawk came stumbling out of the observation lounge. He seemed to be covered in blood. They both beamed directly to sickbay within a few seconds." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What steps have you taken so far?" inquired Reia, trying to get an idea what she should do next. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "All transporter rooms, cargo bays, and shuttle bays have been sealed and no crew members are reported in those sections of the ship. All security teams have reported in at their assigned stations." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Good. Shut power off on all transporter rooms, except for transporter room one. It's only to be used in the event of an emergency. Also, place a modulating one-twenty-eight terra-bit encryption on all security locks." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ensign hesitated a little in his reply, "Not yet Ma' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then get on it ensign," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No ma'am, internal sensors did not register any weapons fire or transporter activity." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reia thought about the many different possibilities of how the intruder got on board. 'He didn't transport in, so was he on the ship since we left Deep Space Nine. Did he fool our sensors somehow?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any traces of a warp signature or unusual anomalies within transporter range?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Keep looking," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Decks one through fifteen have checked out, no sign of tampering or entry in sometime." | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Damn. How the hell did he...' Reia's train of thought was derailed when the current on-duty operations officer interrupted her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A report from sickbay is coming in," the ensign paused. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | To all present, time itself came to a complete halt, and the bridge fell silent at the news of Hawk's death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | When it happened, Zoe was sitting behind the tactical station on the bridge, reviewing the reports from the day shift. She had exchanged few words with Hawk prior to him going to the observation lounge to work on his CONN report. She hadn't realized how much time had passed as she got lost in her routine tactical reports. Not only that, but her mind kept going back to what she and Doctor Bashir had discussed only hours before. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As she recalled, she had heard the door swish open to the side of her when Hawk emerged. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Her memory recalled the event as if it were in slow motion. She got up from her station as Hawk fell forward to his knees. She ran towards him, tapping her combadge. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoe remembered her heart sinking when Hawk fell completely to the deck. She cradled his head in her lap as she did a quick diagnostic. They didn't have time to wait for the medics to make it to the bridge, so she tapped her badge again. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | When Zoe and Hawk arrived, she remembered looking around the room, noting that it was vacant due to the late hour. She tapped her badge again, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoe's memory sped up after that when people started rushing into the room from the woodwork. She recalled backing away from the medical personnel who started to treat Hawk. Shock had taken over her body and mind. Her chest, arms, and hands were still covered in fresh blood. With her arms still positioned as if she was holding him, she continued to back away until she hit the wall. She couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She recalled her mind racing to nothingness. There weren' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When time started moving again, Zoe remembered watching from a distance at everyone rushing to and fro in sickbay. She recalled feeling someone pulling her aside. She felt someone whispering in her ear. She looked and saw that it was Commander Carter. She nodded at what she heard and moved to a secluded corner of sickbay. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | She remembered the details of what the medical personnel were talking about, but it didn't sink in due to shock. She remembered finding a stool to sit down. She recalled committing herself to what had happened, vowing to gather all the information possible in order to find the person who had done this to Lieutenant Hawk. Suddenly, what had seemed like fleeting minutes, she memory echoed what Doctor Bashir called out into the room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Time of death... 02:27 hours." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, as she sat in sickbay, guilt flooded past all the shock and horror that she had been frozen within. She could tell that people were starting to flood out of sickbay. One of the medical personnel came over to check her out before clearing her for duty. She headed out of sickbay in a catatonic state, heading to her quarters to clean herself up before starting the investigation into the horrific murder of Lieutenant Hawk. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | As he recalled, the Counselor was already having a sleepless night. It began when his eyes had suddenly opened, realizing that he had lost his sense of time. He remembered getting to his feet from his meditative posture. With a slight tone of trepidation he had asked " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The time is 00:00" he recalled the computer replying that first wakeful moment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After that, Reittan recalled breathing a sigh of relief; he had only been unconscious for two hours. The first signs of that strange loss of consciousness while meditating happened after the attack on him, and his mind was still recuperating from the constant psychic vigil he had held. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan remembered lazily slipping back into his bed, his Vulcan garb for meditating still wrapped around him. He recalled that he paused, looking down at the ceremonial attire, arose again, and retired the garment the clothes closet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After that, as his memory had recorded it, the lieutenant commander' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan remembered quickly descending into sleep after that, when strange images permeated his dreams. The last time Tolkath had such a dream was only a few days after his encounter with the unknown assailant. He recalled that the dream kept repeating in his head, like he was stuck in a temporal anomaly which played the same moment in time. Only that time, things were different. . . | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath remembered every detail of the dream, like one who had seen the same play repeatedly the exact same way. This time, however, he was in a different room, but with the same assailant that had attacked him earlier. Reittan remembered sensing the attacker' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath recalled jerking himself awake, not sure whether the dream was real or just a shadow. He remembered that he had been sweating, which was a huge indicator that his body had been under an unusual amount of stress, for it was the only time he could perspire. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then he recalled a sterile voice replying, "The time is 02:21 hours." | ||
+ | |||
+ | He knew he had to do something, as he recalled, but wasn't sure what at that moment in time. He had quickly changed into his uniform and walked as quickly as he dared to the turbo lift. The doors had hissed open when he recalled coming face to face with a startled Ensign returning to her quarters. He remembered allowing her to pass, and then entered the turbolift himself. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the doors closed behind him, Tolkath remembered that he couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Main Sickbay," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan wasn't even sure if he had told the turbolift where to go. He recalled that, upon reaching the correct level, the intruder alert had been sounded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From his memory, he could tell from a distance that pandemonium had encased main sickbay. Monitors were lighting up everyones' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But, who?" the Counselor remembered asking himself, straining his senses in vain to tell who it was. Reittan recalled taking off at a full sprint when he felt an individual' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath had entered the sickbay doors just in time to hear Doctor Bashir announce, "Time of death... 02:27 hours." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Instinctively after the announced death of Hawk the Counselor had slipped outside of the medical facilities to not break the revered silence within the room and tapped his com badge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The pause before the Lieutenant' | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath knew that the majority those who would take advantage of the services would not know Hawk directly; many would come out of pure shock of the passing of one in command in such mysterious circumstances. Even though it was known that many die in the line of duty, it was the loss of a sense of safety that would shake the crew. Many were prepared for death during battle or missions, but to lose one of the senior officers so suddenly only added to the chaos since the sudden departure of the Republic from her dock at Deep Space nine. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | Captain Kimberly Roth stood in stark contrast to the overly-sterile environment of the ship's morgue, her unkempt appearance the result of the emergency call that had awoken her from an unusually sound and dreamless sleep. Even though that emergency was now over, she could not yet bring herself to depart the confines of sickbay. So she stood a few meters back from the surgical autopsy bed at the rooms center, and considered the lifeless form there upon before her. She had of course lost people under her command before; no one who made it to captain could claim otherwise. This time felt different though. Which she supposed only made a sort of ironic sense, since the loss in this case had, himself, been different - to put it mildly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lieutenant Nathan Hawk was, at best, an enigma. One she knew she was far from making any sense of. He was an extreme on either end of the spectrum, and though by no means tamed, he had in recent times demonstrated a sense of control no one had expected. When her first officer had initially made the suggestion of appointing the rogue helmsman second officer, the concept of such a man being third in overall command of her ship was jarring. So much so that she had first believed John Carter to be kidding - at least, until she had heard his reasoning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even with Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the end, that had been enough for Roth to trust her first officer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, she was looking down upon his blood-stained corpse, constrained within a surgical stasis field to preserve the remains from the moment of death for autopsy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a moment, she questioned whether she had made the right decisions with regards to Hawk. If she had not appointed him second officer, he would not have been on-shift tonight, working alone in the observation lounge. Of course she knew logically that such made no difference. Hawk's assassin would have gotten to him one way or another, one place or time or another. It had only been a matter of time, she had known. So had Hawk, when he had fought so purposefully with his guardians at Starfleet Intelligence to stay here, aboard the Republic, in the wake of the revelation that the Syndicate knew of his survival and location. | ||
+ | |||
+ | That Hawk knew the dangers did not set her mind at ease, though. Perhaps she should have forced him to go? No, she knew well enough that Hawk was one of those people that could not truly be forced to do anything he did not wish to. If she had tried, she had no doubt that Hawk would have simply taken his survival upon himself alone and been at more substantial risk in the process. At least by remaining here, there was a chance at keeping him safe. Or so she had reasoned with herself. Now she was second guessing many choices she had made pertaining to Hawk, wondering if anything could have been done to avoid this. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pressing her communicator, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If you have a moment, I have the report you asked for." Bashir informed her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Turning away from the deceased helmsman, Roth exited silently into the narrow corridor linking the various sections of Sickbay. After a dozen meters, she stopped and passed through a set of doors into another section of corridor. Within the medical equivalent of an airlock, she would normally be scanned and decontaminated by a bio-filter beam, but such had been deactivated for this case. As the first set of doors closed, the second set before her opened. Entering the smaller isolation room, a smaller yet better equipped version of one of sickbay' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Bashir, clad in a crimson surgical gown from head to toe, doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Lets just say that the odds are against us and the situation grim." Bashir offered in response. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That much I think we're all well aware of, Doctor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Can you finish?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Turning away from his patient, Bashir removes the surgical gloves and disposes of them before pushing back the hood of the surgical garment, his hair no better than Roth's own now, matted and slick with perspiration. Roth waits patiently as Bashir takes a moment to compose himself and his thoughts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "To say that the situation is bleak would be an understatement," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "How bad?" Roth asked. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Long term?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If there is a long term, the after-effects on a cellular level could be... problematic." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We could be looking at anything from as minor as a chronic nuisance condition to as serious as a long-term or even permanent disability of various sorts. It's far too soon to even venture a guess at this point." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What about cognitive function?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A colleague of mine has had substantial success with a vasokin derivative." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "End result, Doctor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Turning back to his patient, Bashir sighs as he says, "All of this may well have been in vain." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Feeling the weight of Bashir' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Observation lounge, deck 1, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | With arms crossed Zoe stood staring at the pool of blood drying into the carpet. Samples had been sent to the lab per the doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Her mind was still racing from what happened. There had been no one on the Bridge so they would have had to access through the other door that was on the back of Deck 1. She kept trying to force the thoughts out of her head that there could have been more that she could have done. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She tried though to focus on the task at hand. The thought of maybe forgetting to do something more for him while he was alive weighed heavy on her mind. Now she knew that she would never be able to change the past, but was now forced into changing the future. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The blood pool was reasonable for the amount of stab wounds Hawk had endured. Some spots were darker, and she knew that was where the wounds themselves were. She looked at the room. Nothing had been touched since the incident had happened. Not one of the chairs had been disturbed. The attacker was definitely professional there was no doubt about that. Looking over the room once more, she still couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The veteran side of her kicked in. She was a fighter and she wasn't going to let something like this go quietly. She looked around the room one final time. She was going to go over this room with a as with a fine tooth comb looking for anything that was out of the ordinary or out of place. She knew though that if they found anything that they would be lucky with the type of attack that he had endured. Professional or not, they were aboard this ship now and they were stuck for the mean time. That meant that she had to go over the entire crew histories to see which ones stood out. It did cross her mind though that she might have to look deeper than that. If a professional like this was aboard, then their profiles would have been most likely created and definitely would be in a place of authority or of a position that reported directly to a senior officer. That way they would be able to get close without looking suspicious. | ||
+ | |||
+ | First and foremost she would go through the room, then she would take a look at the navigators aboard this ship. Then her attention would shift to the Engineering Department as those two were closely related. If that didn't make this task more difficult this was a Galaxy class ship. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though she knew that it wasn't a personal attack against her, this was going to be personal. It happened on her watch. That is what got to her the most. Secondly, it happened on a Federation Starship. Here they were in the Gamma Quadrant, at least she would be able to find the person that was responsible for this. It was the least that she could do to honor the recently deceased. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With that she locked up the room and headed back to her quarters. She wanted to take another look at her uniform to see if there was any transfer evidence. On her way there she was going to stop at the Morgue to collect the tatters of Hawk's uniform. The assassin hopefully made a mistake. It didn't have to be a big one, just enough to give her some form of direction. Yes this may be a professional that she was dealing with, but this was her ship. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Lieutenant Commander Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She had studied the entire crew, not one of them had been out of place. Even the visitors that they had taken on from DS9 had passed the check. After their little incident everything had calmed down. Now everything was back out of place. The dread finally succumbed to rage as she dealt with the fact that she actually failed her mission. She had never failed anything in her life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | None of the training or any of her life experiences had prepared her for how she felt right now. She felt like she didn't deserve to be where she was. She knew that it was just the fact that she had failed not only herself but her superiors. It wasn't like there were a lot of them left in her department to criticize her, but she knew that this wasn't going to look good on her spotless wet-work history. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was going to be no way that she would be able to make up for this failure. She was going to have to face the chorus of justice when the Republic returned to the Alpha Quadrant. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to get out of this one. However, she had to do something in order to semi-redeem herself. She was going to need to solve this and take out the assassin that was still stuck on the ship. At least that they were stuck here for the time being. She had this entire trip to find this person and either expose them for the murderous traitor that they were or kill them without leaving a trace. The rage inside her fueled her passion for the latter of the two options, but she knew that there was going to be protocol for a matter like this. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tugging hard on her jacket she sat down at her desk and started to pull up every person that had reported on board the Republic current crew and visitors. As soon as the information was retrieved she went through it looking for any t that wasn't crossed or i that wasn't dotted. She wasn't going to let this go lightly. She was wronged; Starfleet Intelligence therefore had been wronged. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hours passed as she looked over the information that she had been studying. She went through the entire crew record, she had gone through all the information that had already been documented about the murder and the current investigation after a little manipulation to get past the security check points that had been enabled. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It appeared that they didn't have any other information except that what truly killed him was poison. So few worked with poison these days that it would definitely narrow down the place that hired the assassin or the place that had trained it. She needed to do her own little investigation of the matter. But she had to be careful, she knew that she couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She knew if she could play it right she wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Her mind shifted to her fiancé that she had been separated for all these years. The rage slowly melted into remorse that she didn't get to spend more time with him. She had loved him with all her heart. That's when she decided to shift her mind to the other side. She had spent so many years studying Section 31 in order to remove them from the galaxy. She had spent even more time learning from their stupid mistakes as they blundered behind her on her run. She even learned more in the last few years when she fallen in love with one of their former agents. He had taught her a thing or two that she didn't even know. That was when she realized, she wasn't dealing with Section 31, she wasn't dealing with a rogue agent. Yes there had been talk of another organization out there, but she didn't think that they would try to do something so bold. | ||
+ | |||
+ | All she had to do was to wait. It killed her to think that she would have to wait in the shadows, but this assassin was sloppy to kill in the Gamma Quadrant. Now they were stuck aboard the ship with no where to run, but would have to make a report of some kind to a superior of some kind letting them know of the success of the mission. This is when she was going to be able to strike. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though the assassin could wait until their return but for a target this large, they would become emotional and prideful of their work. She left her office in a rush as she knew that she was going to at least have a fighting shot in finding this assassin. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As soon as she arrived to the Bridge, she could see that it was busy with security officers looking over the logs. The Security Chief exited the lounge and Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I heard that she was the only one on watch when it happened." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I heard from Tarsis that it took her an hour before she returned to duty after it happened." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Both of their faces turned bright red and she cocked and eyebrow in the typical Vulcan fashion. "Good, I thought so. I believe that you both were left with work that had a timed deadline and if I were you I would hurry before the Lieutenant returns." | ||
+ | |||
+ | They then turned to their stations once more and she walked off the Bridge. She didn't want to be seen entering the lounge after the security protocol had been initiated. She was going to go the way of the assassin. Walking through the back way she stopped in front of the door and examined all the minute details. There may not be something out of place, but she was going to look for it anyways. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The way that she gathered it was that the assassin entered from the back entrance and then had exited the same way that they had come. They had gotten the job done quickly and efficiently to the point that the Security Chief on the bridge had been unaware of the actions that had been taken. The assimilation tubules came out of her hand and entered the control panel. Through sheer concentration she bypassed all the security protocols and the door unlocked and opened. She retracted the tubules and rubbed the back of her hand. It had been too long since she had used them and it irritated her skin every single time. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Entering the room, she looked around and saw that the chairs were all neatly tucked under the table save one that had been slightly pulled from its unused position. She looked at deck near it and saw the large pool of drying blood. She scanned the room taking in everything that could be seen to be studied at a later time. She didn't want to be in here too long in case the Lieutenant returned or she would have lots of explaining to do. After doing a three-sixty take of the room, she walked around the table and scanned the under the table for anything that could have been knocked out of place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As she finished her turn of the table she ended at the edge of the blood pool. She knelt down and took a little disk out of her pocket. Barely touching the pool she had gotten microscopic evidence of what had truly killed the Helmsman. It verified the report that the doctors had already given the Security chief on what killed him. Even though she had no doubt of their professional abilities, it was truly a harsh night on everyone and there could be no room for error. | ||
+ | |||
+ | She then stood back up and in her minds' eye she could see what happened. The assassin had entered from the back entrance, and had come up behind him. Deftly they stabbed him in the back and he fell down to the deck and remained there bleeding out as the poison started working its deadly course. What she didn't know was how the assassin had quieted him so that he couldn' | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | **Location: Arboretum, deck 7, USS Republic**\\ | ||
+ | **Shiptime: 04:53 hours** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Among the human race, and perhaps others, it is a right of passage for each child to ask inane questions of their parents in their early years: Why is the sky blue? Do animals talk? Where does dirt come from? However, at this early morning hour, the one question that Kevin Mackey was reminded of was 'do plants sleep?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'What kind of question is that?' the old man replied, knowing little of what plants do during their nocturnal lives. All he cared about was gathering enough grubs for the Kayvor salad he promised his wife for her birthday dinner tomorrow night. It was her favorite dish, and it took a month of daily requests to Commander Carter for him to get permission to grow the tiny soil-dwelling insects in the arboretum, as their lifecycle requires the sap of fern roots to propagate. Without the proper population controls, the ship's main gardening space would become infested with the exotic bugs, so Kevin had to be extra careful about how he went about cultivating them, ensuring that the majority of the adults were harvested prior to their sunrise mating period. Whether or not the ferns themselves were awake or asleep while he worked did not concern him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I just hope they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A pair of eyes were staring at him from the other side of the fern patch. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Startled, the man shouted, "Who is it?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The eyes did not move. They simply remained where they were, staring directly at him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I said, who is it?" Kevin quipped, crawling up past the bundle of leaves to get a better look at his observer. As he pushed back the spiky foliage, he shined a light over to where the eyes were, revealing a man sitting on a park bench. The stranger' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Minutes later, the commanding voice of John Carter echoed within the massive room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Night became day, and as the XO stood at the door with the concerned Mister Mackey, a few of the arboretum' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Where is he?" Carter asked quietly. Kevin pointed towards the back of the room, and after John squinted to see Leon through the underbrush, walked over towards his friend while motioning for the older man to leave the room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It could have been a simple matter of bellowing orders at Leon, treating him like a raw cadet in order to get through his catatonic state. But John knew the doctor all too well, as they had spent many agonizing weeks together on the distant Demon-class planet known as ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Walking up casually, Carter took a seat next to Leon on the park bench, mimicking his friend' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Quite a scene down there," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon didn't even blink. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you remember when Captain Marshall died?" John asked rhetorically. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon's eyes finally shifted towards John in a blank stare. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I guess it strikes me," John continued, not taking any notice of his friend. "That a man isn't remembered by his position in life . . . or his rank, or his responsibilities. What's remembered is how he treated people. Was he nice, or was he mean? Did he treat others with respect? Or did he treat everyone like dirt?" A chuckle came forth from John as he looked at the ground. "Nat was a jerk!" he said with a smile. "But he was a nice jerk. If he saw you as trying to do the right thing, he had respect for you . . . and he showed it by kicking your butt at the poker table . . . or drinking you under it . . . whichever came first." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Looking up to see that Leon was finally paying him some attention, John maintained his one-sided conversation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When Roth and I put him in charge of the Sigma Omicron mission, we put the odds at 50/50 that he'd either succeed, or punch the lights out of someone . . . turns out he did both. In fact, he risked his life down on that planet to save not just the Republic, but a lot of lives in the Federation to avoid a war . . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ". . . I've never seen . . ." Leon started in a raspy voice. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That poison . . . I've never seen anything like it . . . he lied there dying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it . . . not one damn thing . . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yeah . . ." Carter admitted with regret. "Yeah, I guess you couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you mean?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon didn't respond. He just continued to stare at John with a blank expression. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Look . . . Nat's been running for most his life. People have been out to get him for a long time . . . this was all bound to happen sooner or later. What matters is that he lasted as long as he did. It's given us a chance to know him . . . and that's a good thing. But the people who did this are still out there . . . still on this ship. We need to figure this all out, and soon. Or else his death will have been for nothing." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So what the hell am I supposed to do?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "When you were on Sigma Omicron Five, stranded on the surface in a pressure suit with lava geysers blowing up all around you, did Nat give up on you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought he had . . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But he didn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What the hell is your point?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My point is, Nat didn't give up on you . . . so don't give up on him. Yeah -- he's dead. Nothing can change that now. But if his death is going to mean something, we've got to find out who did it. One of the clues is that poison . . . you've got some of the best medical minds in that sickbay . . . don't let the guys who killed Nat have the last word." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John and Leon looked at one another in silence for almost half a minute. Leon closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh, concluding with a nod of his head. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For his part, John patted Leon on the back. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Get yourself cleaned up. The captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Lieutenant Vance Devloch sat alone in Cargo Bay Four. alone this time, and admiring the prototype Peregrine-Class fighter that crouched waiting within. Though this time, he was admiring it in a different way. This time, no matter how he tried to look at it, it continued to appear as a monolith, a memorial to a kindred spirit. In stead of crouching waiting to soar through the heavens as it used to look; this time it looked tired, beaten down, and ready to give up and die. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vance was drinking again. He was still over quota on flying solo with alcohol; but this time, it didn't matter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sometimes, usually the worst times, solo was the only option. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Peregrine prototype was in apparently worse condition then it had been before. Parts and control and engine assemblies lay strewn apart in a sort of order-less pattern. However, all the pieces that were still attached to the structural airframe were fully functional and formed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I lost another wingman," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vance poured himself another double of Whiskey. He was galloping towards the state of drunken bliss that comes right before the fall. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What the hell am I going to do with you? I can't fly you, and your master' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another double of Whiskey. Bottle' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vance pulls out one of his knives and passes it over and through his fingers in a casual display of slight of hand. Amazingly, though his marathon continues to try to reach oblivion, he manages to do it several times without drawing blood. Then, with a flick of the wrist he tosses it up into the air, and catches it just to throw it at a target pinned to a large nearby box. While several knives and daggers are near the bulls-eye, this one barely hits the target at all. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ach, well, least I scared him." Vance was speaking of his perpetual enemy, the damned target. In Vance' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another double of Whiskey. Vance set's the tumbler aside and polishes off the bottle. Then picks up the tumbler again and resumes drinking. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Main sickbay, deck 12, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | The morning following Nat Hawk's death, the counselor returned to sickbay to see if there was any way he could be of use. The shock still resonated within the main ward, and as Tolkath looked around the room, he made contact with Doctor Bashir. Though grief filled the room, he suddenly sensed a felling that all was not being told; something was being hidden. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are few things unnerving as someone with a gaze that seems to be able to pierce to the center of the soul. Reittan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Julian Bashir was not known for his ability to lie. In fact it was one of his weaknesses. The crowd had dissipated and the medical staff returned to their duties, before the Counselor approached the Dr. to see if anything else needed to be done. As he neared, Julian tensed and tried to walk away nonchalantly before he was intercepted by the Lieutenant Commander. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pausing as the Counselor obstructed his path, Julian didn't attempt to offer an explanation for where he was heading, knowing the telepath would see through such. Instead, he simply tried to evade any discussion with the other man. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before Tolkath could open his mouth, even though he had no idea on just what exactly he would say to Bashir, Captain Roth stepped in, almost as if to protect Bashir from being questioned. "Walk with me, Counselor." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Intuition and training forced him to oblige his Captain. As Bashir departed, he could sense an overwhelming sense of relief from the medical officer. At the same time, he could sense an anxiety from Roth that didn't feel right for the present circumstances. It was more restrained and conflicted than was normal in the wake of such a shock. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Can I help you, Captain?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Glancing over her shoulder, Roth lowered her voice as she responded. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Surprised by his commander' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I want to make this crystal clear, Counselor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Counselor hesitated, raised his eyebrow Vulcan-like, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kimberly Roth continued her gaze at the Counselor briefly before releasing his arm and returning to main sick bay. She knew she had asked Tolkath to do a difficult feat. He had to deny his basic instinct, his training, everything that made him an asset to the crew. It was like asking a bird not to fly, yet she knew he would honor his vow. Honesty was practically ingrained in Reittan; almost genetic because of his heritage. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Lieutenant Commander headed toward the turbolift, headed to the psychology conference room. No doubt that Devenerux had called together the heads of the different shifts together in an emergency meeting given the rank of the deceased. He tried to put together some thoughts on how to handle the situation, but knew the ultimate decision would be a group effort. However hard he tried, the Counselor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The turbolift came smoothly to a stop at level 8 and the doors opened with a soft hiss as Reittan turned down the corridor towards the counseling department. Tolkath entered the conference room and looked around. The room was set up much like the observation deck with an oblong table surrounded by blue high back chairs. All of the supervisors had already assembled which had caught the Counselor by surprise. Devenerux sat next to Reittan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The room fell silent in shock as the Lieutenant Commander reported Hawk's death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No doubt many of the crew will be shaken because of the death of Lieutenant Hawk. With so many unexpected changes we should prepare ourselves for an influx of clients. How can we handle the situation? Suggestions?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The process of addressing the issue started slowly clearly marking the stunned nature of the group of counselors. As the meeting advanced the ideas came smoother on how to address the increased load of Starfleet officers that the department would see. The meeting was quick, yet thorough; the way Tolkath preferred. As the meeting came to a close Reittan stood and looked at each individual surrounding the table. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I need each of you to carry on as usual, in spite of the uneasiness I can sense here. We must be the foremost department on this ship to show serenity and assurance amidst the chaos that many will feel." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Devenerux unconsciously let slip "Fake it 'till you feel it." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Lieutenant Commander looked towards her with a half grin on his face. Officers surrounding the table looked at her too. This was the new Lieutenant; the one the department had come to appreciate and admire. | ||
+ | |||
+ | She looked sheepishly around the table as she realized that her inner thought had become public; turning a bit crimson at the sudden attention. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Without drawing further attention to the quip, the Ship's Counselor dismissed the meeting and headed back to his quarters one level up. In order to remain vigilant to the Captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As expected, many new clients had sought out the psychology department in their time of grief and uneasiness. Tolkath worked to keep his mind, as much as possible, on the crew and his department. It seemed an eternity until Reittan received the call from the Captain requesting his assistance. Though it was still what passed for early morning aboard Republic - just shy of 08:00 hours - Roth, Tolkath and the rest of the senior staff had all been awake for hours already. They likely would be for the better part of the next few days as well, as the hunt for Hawk's killer consumed the ship. | ||
+ | |||
+ | To the untrained eye, the only thing abnormal occurring aboard ship was the shock and disruption associated with a sudden death. To an experienced officer though, the subtle changes throughout the ship where prominent. The security presence was staggering. Though in the camouflage of conducting normal operations, every key location or area sporting a mass of population was now under the eye of ship's security. Posing as maintenance crews in the corridors, waiting tables in the Hill or Ten Forward, running scientific analysis on the bridge, or even serving as orderlies in sickbay. This was of course in addition to the roving security details sweeping the ship in calm, diligent fashion, in search of anything out of place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Normally, the presence of so many armed security officers across the ship - both overt and subtle - would have caused great tension amidst the populace of Republic; especially the civilians. But the combination of time of day and utter disbelief over Hawk's assassination had served to mute any such anxiety. The only person Tolkath felt emanating anxiety was Captain Roth, as he approached the first set of locked doors outside sickbay' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Of course," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pressing the controls before her, the next set of doors in the medical air-lock spread apart to admit them to the isolation ward. Waiting for them there was Doctor Julian Bashir and Doctor Saal Yezbeck, as well as a third form spread out on the surgical bio-bed, obscured behind a holographic privacy screen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Upon the bio-bed lay Lieutenant Nathan Hawk. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the deceased helmsman took in a shallow breath, Tolkath struggled to grasp the reality of the situation. He had felt Hawk die. Nothing in the universe could fake the tele-empathic impression of death. Though used far too often to represent the simply improbable, the tele-empathic impression of death was one of the few things in the universe truly, honestly impossible to manufacture. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know what you're thinking," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't understand... " Tolkath admitted. "The tele-empathic impression caused by death doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though struggling to both fathom and absorb all of this, Tolkath' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We where able to repair the physical damage to Hawk, but what we've so far been unable to determine is the potential for damage to the... non-physical." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In other words, the lights are on, but we're not sure if anybody' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan took a deep breath and looked at the motionless body laying on the bio-bed. He raised his right hand and placed his fingers on the helmsman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | To the Lieutenant Commander the best way to describe what he was doing was to compare it to looking through a house for an item; though rudimentary it helped people to feel calmer about the process. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Everything within Hawk's psyche was checking out normally; bio-structure, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The tension in the room surrounding Lieutenant Hawk increased as the Counselor closed his eyes and began to probe deeper. Inside the helmsman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the Counselor arose, Bashir and Yezbeck met Tolkath with anxious looks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was a collective sigh of relief from those surrounding Reittan. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He is disoriented, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But, couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, Lieutenant Hawk will have to build his own strength, so he will have the strength to carry on the task ahead of him; complete recovery." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yezbeck intuitively stated, "Like a chick coming out of an egg." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The tension in the air had eased considerably since the Reittan had entered the room. Captain Roth dismissed the Ship's Counselor and reminded him of his orders. With a curt nod the Lieutenant Commander departed, and though he had left the isolation ward, as he once more walked amongst his colleagues, he himself felt abnormally isolated by what had just transpired. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: deck 12, sickbay, main ward, USS Republic**\\ | ||
+ | **Shiptime: 08:48 hours**\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | After a shower in his quarters, Leon's nervous system returned to normal, coming down off his adrenaline high. As he scrubbed the blood from his hands, a sharp pain radiated from his fingers. The hand he used to strike the medical cart had swollen up, and he could barely move his digits. As a doctor, it was obvious to him that he broke something. Upon completing his bathing ritual, Leon donned a simple black T-shirt along with his usual duty trousers and boots before heading to sickbay. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Upon arrival, Leon flagged down Doctor Shannon Harris, who had herself recently arrived for her duty shift. Although it was unusual for the ship's CMO to be a patient in his own sickbay, Leon knew his staff well, and felt he could be in no better hands. After inviting him to have a seat on a biobed, Shannon retrieved a few tools from the emergency equipment locker by the nurse' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You know," Shannon remarked. "I believe Chief Rainier is looking for another member to join the ship's boxing team. If you want, I can put in a reference for you." | ||
+ | |||
+ | For his part, Leon looked back at her sourly. It wasn't a mean expression; quite the opposite in fact. Doctor Cromwell had come to admire Shannon over the past year, as the ship's pediatrician was both studious and punctual, not to mention stubborn. All qualifications that he felt was proper for a member of his senior sickbay staff. After all, if he couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Very funny," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon didn't have much to say on that mark, as Nat Hawk's death was only hours old, and still fresh in his memory. His heart was numb, and although he hadn't | ||
+ | made the same connection with the deceased navigator as other people had, he mourned for Nat as he would for any one of his sickbay staff. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I hope you never have to," he said to Shannon with remorse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | About that time, two individuals walked into the main ward from the surgical bay. Each wore red surgical smocks, but were missing the hair cap, masks, and gloves, indicating that they had disposed of them in the garment recycler moments earlier. It was none other than Doctors Bashir and Yezbeck, fresh from the autopsy table, wielding heavy excess baggage under their eyes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Is he in stasis finally?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A three hour open-casket visitation?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We didn't ask questions," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why would the captain put his body on display for so long? Hasn't this crew seen enough death for the moment? We just lost Kuga and Jenkins for Christ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Maybe she wants the crew to get over his death as soon as possible," | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the technician collected the tools, Leon was startled at the recognition of the crewman in the blue jumpsuit. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With embarrassment in his face, the young security officer scratched his goatee and looked to Doctor Harris with uncertainty. "Um, no . . . Just helping out." Before Leon could comment again, the ensign placed the tools back into the locker, and exited the main ward en-route to the trauma center. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What the hell is he doing here?" Leon said to Shannon with bewilderment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I see," Leon nodded. Opening and closing his fist a few times, the doctor confirmed that his hand was healed, and slipped to his feet from the biobed. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Our pleasure," | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a curt nod, Leon headed towards the door. "See you all at the eulogy." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The darkness had overcome him. It had consumed him. It was not simply the absent of light; it was the absence of all that was, all that he had known, all that he had been. Every sense submerged within such; sight and sound, taste and touch, no longer existed. In this anti-existence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Darkness became light. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pure unadulterated white light, brighter than a thousand stars combined unto one, shone with an intensity that his rational self knew should cause his eyes pain and discomfort. As he realized that he could now see once more, he also realized it was not with eyes that he did so. Though he still heard and felt nothing, he had to have sight once more; to all he knew, you could not tell the difference between dark and light without such. Immersed in pure radiance, he considered that perhaps this was the 'white light' that had been spoken of for ages past from those brought back from the brink of death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He was dead. This above all else he somehow knew to be true, to be real. He had been stabbed - murdered. The thought enraged him; the realization that he could feel rage strangely comforting. Amidst what was, in truth, a confusing state of being, he was relieved to experience something he had known well throughout his life. It was almost tangible - at least, as far as anything was in this disembodied quasi-existence. He found he felt something else as well, another emotion: annoyance. Whatever this was, whatever he was, he was annoyed as it's paradoxical nature. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'What the frinx is goin' on?' he asked, neither sure if he had spoken and heard or simply thought such. 'If this s'the after-life 'er somethin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Why must everything have definition?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Ya ain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Bemused, Hawk inquired, 'Then who n'what the frinx are ya?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If he still had eye-lids, and could see whomever the hell he was talking to, Nat would have squinted suspiciously at that explanation. 'So if I want ya ta be James T. Kirk, then James T. Kirk's gonna up n' | ||
+ | |||
+ | No sooner had he remarked such than a shape took form before him. Unsure if it was the form before him or his own vision that was blurry, everything quickly sharpened and came into focus. And there, somewhere before him amidst a luminescent void stood the legendary commander of the original Enterprise himself, James T. Kirk, looking exactly as he had the day he had disappeared into the nexus just shy of 90 years ago. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Like I said, I'm whomever you want me to be, Lieutenant." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Somewhat startled, Hawk found that he too had taken physical form with - for lack anything better to call him - Kirk. Holding his hands before him, he could not deny the sense of relief that washed over him at the simple physical action. Touching his hands to his face, to his uniform, he found everything as it should be. Almost. Probing his back, he found no wounds and no blood. He was whole once again, if only in this place and for this time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Turning his attention back to the pseudo-Kirk, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Like I've said, I'm whomever you want me to be." Kirk said, self-assuredly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yeah, ya did say that, didn't ya?" Hawk retorted. "So, if ya ain't ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well unless I'm mistaken', | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not quite." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though his instinct was to offer up a snide remark - "Thank you, Counselor Kirk" came to mind - something, some part of himself, stopped him from doing so. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In a way, I... suppose so." Kirk agreed. "But the answers you're looking for... you've always had. You're just afraid to admit them to yourself." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ya talk a lot 'bout answers... but what' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Somehow, outside of rational understanding and logical thought, Hawk knew Kirk was right. He didn't know how or why, yet he accepted it just the same. Whomever and whatever Kirk was, he knew the deepest parts of him. And as confusing as this all was to him now, Hawk knew that he would come to understand it all in time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Who are you?" he asked Kirk once more. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kirk smiled at him, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite the ethereal nature of everything, Hawk saw in Kirk something familiar, if only for a moment. He had seen in Kirk's expression something he knew from long ago, something simple that you tended to forget until you saw it again. Comforted by this, and curious, he took a step towards Kirk. As he did so though, Kirk seemed to move further away, though not by his own physical form. Stepping forward again as Kirk continued to move away, he felt things beginning to slip away from him. Walking at first, then, running, Nat reached out in vain to try to grab hold of what his rational mind told him was only an illusion. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Light became darkness, once more-- | ||
+ | |||
+ | --But within the fraction of a moment, as one transitioned to the other, Nathan Hawk could see in-between the two contrasting extremes. What he saw, in what could only have been the blink of an eye, was faces: some of people he knew, some people he had known, others that, though he didn't remember knowing them, he knew somehow that he did, or rather, that he would... | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the darkness reclaimed him once again, Hawk felt an unexplainable sense of peace. Where he had been, what he had at first thought of as death, was only an echo of what lay beyond life. In the darkness once more, he knew that he was not yet meant to go beyond that echo. As quickly as the darkness had reclaimed him, light began to filter in once more; only a much different light, shallow and welcoming. This light was real, was physical, not ethereal. This light came to him as he slowly opened his eyes once again upon another, different, familiar face. Groaning as his senses returned to him, he blinked as he focused upon this face. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Feel like... shuttle... landed on me..." he croaked, his throat hoarse and dry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The familiar face of Captain Kimberly Roth smiled down at him with relief and warmth, "All things considered, I'd say that's a good sign, Lieutenant." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: "The Hill", deck 10, USS Republic**\\ | ||
+ | **Shiptime: 11:58 hours**\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The death of Nat Hawk would go down as one of the more unusual events in the history of Republic. Not only had the death been sudden and mysterious, but Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's reasoning had been simple enough. Hawk, despite, or perhaps because of his insubordinate nature, was well liked by the crew, and Kim correctly assumed that many of Hawk's crewmates would want to pay respects. While this was a breech of protocol, Kim Roth could be secure in the knowledge that, at least MOST of the time, Starfleet Captains didn't have to explain themselves. Still, the strangeness of Hawk's funeral didn't stop there. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With an hour to go until the services were to take place, word went out through Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She looked across the room slowly, noting with approval that all of her senior staff was in attendance. Not all of them had liked Hawk, especially not at first, but most if not all of them had come to see Nat Hawk as a valued member of the crew, and perhaps even a friend. Roth felt her face twist a bit as she glanced at Science Specialist Marta Johansen; a civilian contractor who, if Roth's memory was right, was a geologist of some regard. | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the moment, her appearance belied anything but a scientific background. The dress she wore to the funeral was a shimmering affair, cut low across the front, with micro-fine straps across the back. The rest of the garment clung to her form, and while it was far from obscene, even Roth had to admit that it made for an especially alluring ensemble. Particularly the way the forest green color went with the brunette woman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A small lectern was set up in the center of the room, putting Roth at the center, and just ahead of the bar. Kim scanned the room, noting the arrival of Saal Yezbeck and Julian Bashir. She shifted her gaze to the gruff face of Senior Chief Petty Officer Brad Rainier and gave a nod. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth cleared her throat. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There is something in us. Human, Vulcan, Andorian. Edoan, Efrosian, Deltan... a hundred species from a thousand worlds. No matter how far we go, no matter the obstacles we must overcome, somehow, we do. And I believe that is because we must." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth briefly surveyed the crowd. Then she continued. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "For some reason he left, and was lost to those who held him dearly." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We don't know what happened to Zephram Cochrane," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Toward the back of The Hill, Shannon Harris looked around nervously. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He didn't tell you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon smiled. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Nat Hawk didn't shirk at duty, and I'm sure he didn't have a Death wish, no matter what the Flying Aces might say. To the contrary, Nat Hawk has simply beaten the rest of us to the final frontier, and whoever or whatever awaits him there?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | As if on a silent cue, three of Republic' | ||
+ | Three beats later the Peregrine pulled up and away... rocketing out of view. Seconds later, the bright, trailing flash of a photon torpedo streaked into view, sailing toward Beta Antares. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Silent seconds went by as the Mk XII torpedo carrying the mortal remains of Nat Hawk were lost in the local star's corona. Then, Brad Rainier' | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: "The Hill", deck 10 forward, USS Republic**\\ | ||
+ | **Shiptime: 17:45 hours**\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The funeral reception lasted for hours. Most of the crew had stopped by ten forward at some point during the afternoon, either on duty or off. Graciously, most department heads and section chiefs allowed leeway to mourn for the loss of Nat Hawk, and for her part, Captain Roth both accepted and encouraged on-duty personal to come by and pay respect. However, it was not the usual, somber occasion that one might expect. | ||
+ | |||
+ | By the time Commander Carter returned to the ship with his assembled group of aerobatic pilots, it was standing room only in The Hill. When the doors parted, the chamber erupted into appreciative applause at the quaint yet inspiring feat of formation flying by the commander et al. But Carter, willing to acknowledge credit where credit was due, presented Lieutenant Devloch as the Peregrine pilot, willing to accept only modest acclaim for himself and the other two co-conspirators, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The following hours were spent in celebration of Hawk's life, which included dancing, feasting, and cavorting over drinks and conversation. The live band, composed of several musically-inclined crewmembers, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After finishing a friendly conversation with Petty Officer Teague, Doctor Cromwell waved goodbye to the young medical technician as he exited The Hill before turning around to observe the near-empty room. A couple sat in the corner booth by the huge viewport engaged in their own intimacy, while Leon spied Commander Carter and Chief Rainier quietly talking at the bar. Without a second though, the doctor chose to join them. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I never knew Hawk had so many friends aboard," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He kind of grows on you," Carter replied half-heartedly, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "TELL me about it." The doctor flagged down the Tellarite bartender and ordered another Cappellan Mint Cordial. "I almost forgot why we were here after the first hour." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That was the point," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon took note that the Chief-of-the-Boat' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon raised an eyebrow. "Who was that?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you sure?" the doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "She left almost immediately after the eulogy," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Is that what you two have been chatting about for the past hour?" Leon had observed them earlier when the room was more crowded, noticing that they were in the same seats as before. | ||
+ | |||
+ | John nodded his head. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "She was a lot closer to him than Kuga or Jenkins," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I think you're both reading too much into this," Leon concluded, nodding thanks to the bartender who delivered his drink. Taking a quick sip of the dark green | ||
+ | liquid, he added, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ". . . or LACK of change, in this case . . ." interrupted the chief. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ". . . then we need to know why." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you two feel that this . . . LACK of change, compromises her ability to command this ship in anyway?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do either of you suspect that she's under the influence of any alien force?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then I don't see a problem here. Let the captain be. She's a new captain who's lost three crewmen in the past two weeks, and I don't think we have a right to question her emotional state right now. Besides, none of us have had a chance to get to know her very well, and just because she doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Both Carter and Rainier looked down at their drinks in subtle shame, choosing not to reply to the doctor. Although they may have had nagging reservations about the captain, they knew Leon was right in his assertion that they shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The doctor chuckled, taking a long sip from his drink. After setting the glass back down on the lighted bar top, he took a long look at the ship's XO and COB. With all the cloak-and-dagger business of Kuga and Jenkins, not to mention the assassination of Hawk, it appeared to Leon that Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Damn straight . . ." John muttered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Raising his glass, the chief proposed a toast. "To Hawk!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "To Hawk!" Carter and Doctor Cromwell joined in, and the three men finished off their drinks with a final gulp. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After setting the glass firmly back down on the bar, Leon got up from his stool. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | After the doors closed, Chief Rainier slowly stood up, and stretched his back after the long conversation at the bar. He scanned the room and noticed that the two young enlisted crewmen in the corner booth were getting a little more intimate than the COB felt was proper for public areas of the ship. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You two!" he shouted with his best senior-NCO voice. "Knock it off before I make you cool off with 50 laps in the ship's pool!" Immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a snort of amusement, the Tellarite bartender returned to cleaning the bar after a long afternoon of countless toasts to Lieutenant Nat Hawk, former helmsman of the Starship Republic. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: "The Hill", deck 10, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | This was the moment that she had been waiting for. Elation ran through her blood forcing her heart to race faster and faster. She had confirmed the death once in the morgue, again at the wake, and now it was the final moments. The words of the lowly captain didn't even register to her mind as she waited and watched. Every person of the crew had attended. With the room packed, she could easily get away with looking like she was a part of the crowd, mourning for the loss of one petty individual. But she was gladder to be here now than anywhere else – it was a job well done. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For her here, this wasn't a tribute to the recently deceased, but a tribute to herself. After all, she had successfully managed to not only maim him, but kill him with her bare hands. He didn't even know what was happening until it was too late. She was good like that. True, the entire crew was under extreme scrutiny, but she passed at every check point. She had been lying in wait for weeks now. It all came down to perfect timing. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Watching the torpedo launch was the final step to her mission, and then she would be able to return to her post without having to be on this horrible ship any longer. She didn't mind the space travel; it just annoyed her when she was stuck in one place too long. The feelings of being trapped like a caged animal came to mind, but she quickly displaced those thoughts and trickled out of the room along with the rest of the crew. As soon as she could, she made a break for it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once she arrived in her quarters, she undid the top of her uniform. These federation uniforms always bothered her. They never fit her right, no matter how many times she had personally had them tailored to what was said to be perfection, but it wasn't up to her standards of perfection. Perfection in her eyes was successfully integrating herself into the environment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | With them being in the Gamma Quadrant, any and all communications were being intercepted and scanned, especially after the wonderful death of Nathan Hawk. She pulled up the exhaust manifold and calculated a tight-beam transmission to mimic the frequency of Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The Benedict is dead." | ||
+ | |||
+ | That was all that was needed. She removed the chip from the console and snapped it in half disposing of it in the waste receptacle. She moved to her bed chamber and removed the rest of the irritating uniform. The time now called for a drink of celebration for a job well done. Getting dressed down as it has been called, she walked out of her quarters and headed towards the mess to grab that drink. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The drink, having been savored to its fullest, was the end to her night. She always slept well after a successful mission. She headed back to her quarters in sheer bliss, but little did she realize her actions tonight did not go unnoticed... | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | There was an unexplained force that was nagging her. No matter what she did, she couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She had been scanning the frequencies. She knew the procedures of a wet-work mission: to report after the final verification after the target was dead. With the technology that they possessed today, one could never be too careful in this line of work. Waiting patiently, she continued watching over the communications system along with the rest of the systems for anything that no one else would be looking for. There was a code of conduct that the assassins held, and their means, even though different, still were in the same manner. The screen bleeped and she sat forward in her chair. ‘I caught you,' she thought to herself. It had come from one of the flight control officer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Entering the information into the computer, she tracked the individual in order to find the perfect time to attack. She connected the information into her neural network and left her office and headed towards her quarters. She was always armed to the teeth, but she liked to have more than what she currently possessed on her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After gathering the few items, she walked to a point between the officer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The door behind her opened as they backed towards it. She pulled the person down into a chair that she had set up in the nearly empty room. One lone light shined onto the chair and her prisoner, now in fear, looking for a way out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Who sent you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't know what you are talking about." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Of course you do," she sneered at her. "You know as well as I know that you were sent here on a wet-work and I want to know who sent you." | ||
+ | |||
+ | She waited in silence sitting in the chair. She adjusted herself reaching for the knife that was hidden beneath her belt line. She felt a blade touch her shoulder from the darkness. She removed her hand from her belt-line. No words needed to tell her that. "I am not at liberty to say." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Wrong answer," | ||
+ | |||
+ | She felt the blade deepen into her shoulder without piercing the skin. It was now or never or she wasn't going to get out of there alive. She whipped her arm out and knocked the blade to the side, pulling her retractable batons from her boots and jumped up. The lights in the room came on but only to a small dim. There stood two women, both assassins, one with batons, and the other with swords. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They circled each other in the room, waiting for the other to make their move. The assassin lashed out at the Vulcan woman only to be met with a sword. They went around and around teasing and testing each other. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And what agency do you work for?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I work for the only true agency that there is. You?" the Vulcan asked. "By your style, I would say the Syndicate." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You are well versed in the ways of the different agencies, Vulcan." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "One has to be," she commented. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What is your purpose here?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You managed to ruin my mission." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Assassin lashed out again, hitting her arm hard. They fought for a few moments and then they continued circling again. "You weren' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I would not say that," she replied. "I just was taken off guard, and it takes a lot for someone to do that. Through many lifetimes, little girl, I have fought many and killed many. Why do you not allow me to turn you in peacefully before either of us get too injured." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Have it your way." | ||
+ | |||
+ | They started dueling properly. Even though the both of them were well skilled with their weapons, they still managed to draw blood and get injured. The fight continued on. With two well versed assassins continued fighting...it was going to be a long fight. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nathan Hawk felt worse than dead. Though, since he hadn't really felt anything while dead, that didn't seem as bad as it truly was. He had been semi-conscience for a few hours, drifting in and out as if bobbing above and below the waves of a tumultuous sea. He had no concept or time, nor did he dream when his closed his eyes. His mind, like his body, was too drained to dream. Movement was next to impossible, his breathing labored and shallow even as he lay perfectly still. It wasn't that his lungs where not up to the task, but rather his heart wasn't - having been injured, the vital organ was having difficulty oxygenating his blood properly - a condition Doctor Bashir could not guarantee him of a time frame to recover from. His death, it seemed, had almost been permanent. His salvation had laid within the most unlikely of all technologies; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The technique, Bashir had informed him at length, the genetically engineered Doctor annoyingly having rambled on for nearly half and hour, had originated aboard the legendary starship Voyager, courtesy of that vessels famed ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Amidst his warring inner battle - both of the physical and the emotional - he suddenly felt something he didn't know what to make of. Both vague and defined, it resembled more intuition than knowledge or emotion. As he tried to make sense of it, it suddenly dawned on him; a realization of something happening, something that was connected to him. It didn't make an iota of logical sense, yet he knew it to be true. Despite his near invalid physical state, he felt he had to be somewhere else. Somewhere specific. Knowing the grave risk, yet foolishly ignoring it, Hawk fought to get to his feet. Out of breath and sweating profusely from the simple task of standing up, he quickly realized he wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The fighting had continued on with a few sharp retorts from time to time. They were both bleeding and breathing heavily after fighting for so long. With one swift well place whack from the baton, the Vulcan dropped one of her swords. She swung back with her right hand thrusting towards the assassin. She met skin and thrust it deep into her shoulder dropping one of her batons. She snapped backwards though and lunged at her, knocking the Vulcan to the deck plate. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "See, not only have you failed once, but now you have failed twice," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You first, bitch!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fight stopped as both women looked upon the deceased Lieutenant in utter shock; though the Vulcan betrayed such with only a piqued eyebrow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No! NO! It's not possible!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | She reached for the other sword lying on the ground and arced her arm around thrusting the blade down into the back. The Assassin dropped down to the ground crying ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I apologize, but I needed that as much as you did. After all, I was sent to protect you," she said sheathing her swords. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Phh, some job ya did," he replied with a smirk, hoping that despite her genetics, the Vulcan could appreciate his humor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | She shrugged . " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Feeling like drained dilithium crystals, he addressed the Vulcan, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | She reached out to him as he was about to fall. "We should get you back to sickbay." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Sickbay, deck 12, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You might feel a little pressure. It won't last long." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon Cromwell shut down the small, pen-sized ocular scanner he had been holding and slipped it into the pocket of his anachronistic three-quarter length doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | John shook his head, rubbing his temple a bit. "And how is sticking a laser in my eye supposed to make the head ache GO AWAY!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon clucked his tongue and reminded himself that, while his patient may have been many things; pilot, lacrosse player, First Officer... he was not a doctor. Cromwell managed to suppress a shudder at the thought of being treated by " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well it hurts." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not because of me!" Leon sat down and looked over the technical specifications of John Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | John shook his head again, blinking both eyes forcefully. It didn't make the pain in his right temple stop. "Are you sure you know what you're doing with that thing?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Damn it John," Leon spit back, remembering what bad patients commanding, or in this case, executive officers tended to make, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Is John giving you a hard time again, Leon?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The question came from Doctor Shannon Harris, Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not in my sickbay you don' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon glided almost effortlessly to the treatment station where John was still rubbing his temple, giving the red-shirted commander a kiss on the cheek. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter nodded his head, tilting slightly to rest on Shannon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter was glad that Shannon had made her presence known in sickbay, and had to admit, at least to himself, that having her there did make a difference. | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the diagnostic station, Leon looked intently at the technical schematics of Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cater looked up at Shannon and scowled. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh shush," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon looked at her superior with a cocked eyebrow, then looked down at John. "Does he do that a lot?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What, talk to himself?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I heard that, throttle-jockey!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell leaned back, uncrossed his arms and explained. "Well, I've gone through the medical data, and there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Short version, Doc?" Carter asked. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You never studied." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What did you find?" Shannon asked, now genuinely intrigued. Usually, the SCE took on large-scale construction or difficult terra-forming projects, things that almost any other organization would find impossible. According to reputation, the SCE would then turn around said project in a ridiculously short amount of time. As the saying went: `The difficult we do immediately. The impossible may take a day or two'. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite their well-deserved reputation, Shannon was a bit surprised that the SCE would bother with technical bugs in something as small as an artificial eye. `On the other hand', she supposed, `everyone needs a hobby' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So, what?" John asked, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I never studied." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | John grimaced at the thought of being grounded again. Despite no longer being an active small-craft pilot, he'd been careful to keep his hours up and stay qualified on most Fleet-issue ships. Making the transition from shuttle pilot to helmsman had been easy. Moving from Helm to Tactical had been something else, and while he was now confident that he was at the right place as Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Leon looked at the display at his desk, using his computer to send commands, changing the settings of John's prosthetic. "Looks good on this end, John, but look around for me." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John turned his head, taking in his surroundings. From his perspective, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the corner, Shannon Harris looked on, with relief. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter glanced over to smile appreciatively at Shannon, then looked forward again. At the repeat display station, Leon Cromwell felt his jaw drop. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Back where?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Look at Shannon again." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do I HAVE to?" The First Officer mocked. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I love you too, John." Harris shot back. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just do it." Leon barked. It was clear he wasn't in a joking mood. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Long seconds went by as John Carter listened to his doctor and looked over the attractive form of Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell looked again at the settings for John's prosthetic. `No,' he said to himself, shaking his head, `the smart focus sub-routine is online and there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I think there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon looked quickly at the red head. "I need to know if the problem is in the software or somewhere else." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Fair point," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon grimaced as she watched Leon increase the resolution settings on John's artificial eye. She felt anxiety growing as she processed just what the monitor was showing Doctor Cromwell, and wondered just how long it might be until he...until EVERYONE learned the truth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | John Carter inhaled sharply as the increased data feed through his prosthetic began to supply information his brain wasn't equipped to handle. As a result, the brain reacted as most other parts of the body would: it tried to withdraw, which in this case meant sending pain impulses through Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the monitor, the image changed. The thin haze that seemed to cover Shannon Harris became more dense and more defined, and Leon Cromwell blinked in disbelief as he could now make out the appearance of lines from three distinct sources, each apparently from a wall or ceiling, somehow converging at a point INSIDE the center of Shannon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What the Hell? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Deep inside, Shannon could feel panic. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Across from Cromwell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon knew he was in a tense spot, and as he eased the data feed back down, he looked back to Harris. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the feed turned down, Carter was able to focus his attention clearly on the confrontation across the room from him. There was more Leon needed to know. "Leon, wait," Carter said weakly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon Harris had heard enough. To her mind, such as it was, her colleague had put the welfare of a fellow crewman second to his own objectives. What's more, it was John Carter, and every fiber of her being told her that was beyond the pall. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon Harris closed her eyes. Within three heartbeats, Leon's office went black. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In another instant, the emergency lighting was on, bathing Leon's office in a rich red. Odd shadows played across once familiar surfaces, giving the whole room an alien feel. There was no sign of Shannon Harris. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What in the world?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter took a moment to shake his head, then looked at the remaining Doctor. "Boy Doc," he quipped, "do YOU have a way with the ladies." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter stood, making his family' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon looked at Carter, now twice as confused as he'd been just moments ago. "What are you talking about? What just happened? Where did Shannon go?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | A second later, lighting and power returned to normal in Leon's office. A quick look at the status board on his desk told Cromwell that no other part of Sickbay had been affected, at least, not that he could tell. "Cool down? She disappeared!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon's eyes went wide. He was now genuinely afraid for his friend' | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Doctor Harris is not onboard the Republic.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, Leon tapped his comm. badge. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | An instant later, Carter tapped his own badge. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon had seen that look on John Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The blonde physician sat heavily back in his chair, arms folded as he looked at Carter, trying to figure what was going on. "All right," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "She might believe you anyway," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What did you see on the monitor?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Calm down Leon," John said, easing both his volume as well as tone of voice. "What did you see?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon slammed his fist on the desk. "I don't know! That's the whole damn point! | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If you don't KNOW what you saw, what do you THINK you saw?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon thought back, taking a moment to put things in order, to make sense of the events he'd just gone through. "It looked like Shannon was being scanned..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But there was no scan in progress and it wasn't quite right. She looked hazy... foggy. Almost like... | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Like she wasn't quite there?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell felt himself push back with a start. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There you go, Doc." Carter said simply, as if the matter was totally settled. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And you expect me to believe that my pediatrician is a hologram?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter threw his head back. "I don't care if you believe me or not, but that's what she is." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So does the EMH," John said flatly, "you don't think twice about that." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell blinked, momentarily stunned. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do they? How?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell could feel his temperature rising. To Leon's mind, John was being far too casual about all of this. "The damned thing appears out of thin air!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon huffed in disbelief. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | John shook his head. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now it was Leon's turn to sit back and put things into place. "But, I've read her file." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The ship's AI invents things all the time. How do you think the holodeck works?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But all those missions... the rescue on the Zurich..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My God..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter rolled his eyes "What has that got to do with anything?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon blinked again. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter sat back and tried to relax. "Let me ask you this. Do you feel like you know Shannon? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Of course." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Is she a good doctor?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But what?" Carter asked throwing his arms up, "how does the fact that Shannon happens to be made of photons instead of atoms change anything? Did you consider her a friend yesterday?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes or no." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You KNOW I did!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then ask yourself Doc... Ask yourself why she wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "She was real to you yesterday, and physically speaking at least, nothing has actually changed. She was a collection of photons and algorithms yesterday, and she will be tomorrow. Is it really that important what she's made of to you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I do." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter felt his face screw into a frown. "Why the Hell not, Doctor?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon balked again. "I WOULD, but..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then how is she not real?" John stood up and started pacing slowly. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ok, ok... I'll concede that you have a point", | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell confirmed with a nod "God, what a mess..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In order to get the ship back under our control, Vic and Pakita had to get...crafty." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "More than that," John continued. "Turns out Republic used to be the Saratoga." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell audibly gasped. "But Saratoga was lost during the War with the Dominion!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter shook his head. "She was abandoned, not lost. After the war, the saucer was recovered, and a new star-drive was attached." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cromwell looked askance at Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | John smiled at his friend' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you going to finish this or not?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "All he's been able to piece together is that before the war, Saratoga was a test bed for a lot of cutting-edge tech, including a ship-wide holographic communication network. It even covered the auxiliary craft." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon nodded. "But how did Shannon become...Shannon? | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As John laid out the pieces for Leon, the two officers could hear the soft `swish' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You knew. This whole time, you knew and you didn't let on?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter stood up and looked Shannon in the eye. "Why would I?" he asked. "So, I knew you were a hologram, so what? I knew, you knew, so why does that matter?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harris felt her head drop slightly. "It really doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter simply shook his head. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That settles it," Leon muttered from his desk, still not quite sure what to make of the revelations he'd witnessed. "You Martians are weird." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John tilted his head in Cromwell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon stepped closer to Carter and smiled. "Well, thank you for being either of those things, John." Then she turned to Leon. Harris took a long moment to regard the Doctor, braced herself, and then asked, "So, where do we go from here, Leon?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was hard for Leon to swallow. A trusted colleague of almost a year – someone he considered a friend – was not the flesh-and-blood human he thought she was five minutes ago. There were no oxygenated blood cells pumping through her arteries. No nervous system, no muscular-skeletal structure, no organs. Just a computer-derived collection of accelerated photons that were quantum-inverted to resonate mass, density, and volume. THAT's who his staff pediatrician was. THAT's who Lieutenant Commander Shannon Harris was. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon stared at the wall for nearly a minute while John and Shannon patiently waited for him to gather his thoughts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It just doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The first artificial life-form given that honor, if I recall," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not to mention the Voyager Doctor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But that's different," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But you didn't HAVE to live a lie! You could have stated what you were, and not falsified records!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You would' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Looking back at her CMO coldly, Shannon quipped, "It depends on how you look at it. I was activated on stardate 55890.2. The same date as when the Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So that's it?" Leon questioned. "One day, POOF, you just started showing up in sickbay?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "At first, all I did was treat the minor wounds of the refit crew. No one bothered me with any questions, and whoever programmed my personnel file had also assigned me quarters on board the ship. Why shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon felt guilt creeping into his chest. Like Saal, he also treated the EMH like dirt. It was only activated . . . HE was only activated . . . when Leon had no choice, sending him to do his bidding, and shutting him down when he was no longer needed. It never occurred to him -- even based on the Voyager missions -- that a hologram, if selectively programmed to have a free will, can evolve to the point of sentience like any organic being. And while the ship's EMH may have not been online and active as long as Shannon or the Voyager Doctor, it too had the potential to become a living organism if only given the chance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If you're the ship's medical hologram, why do we have the Mark 19?" Leon asked in a softer, more conciliatory voice. The acceptance of the truth about Shannon was starting to sink in as he began to sympathize with her position. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't know," Shannon shook her head. "He doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A disguise," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That explains the problems we've been having with the EMH," Leon concluded. "We thought it was a software problem." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Nope, it was just me. When he's active, and I have to enter the room, I'm forced to close down his program so I can maintain my own matrix. It's nothing personal." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So you have control over ship functions?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As far as I can tell, I'm just a computer remnant of when Republic was the Saratoga. Mind you, a rather *large* remnant, but a remnant nonetheless." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I guess you can say that, yes." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What happened to Saratoga?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't really remember very much," Shannon admitted with a subdued frown. "I can only recall an occasional image from daily life. The computer core was heavily damaged." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Wiped clean, or so the salvage report said," interjected John. "But there was no record of you. At least, not in any report that my security clearance gave me access to." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In either case, I don't know. I only know that I ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With ambivalence giving way to blushing, Shannon returned the smile. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Who else knows?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just you two," Shannon returned. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What about the captain?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Give her some credit, Leon." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Amused astonishment washed over Leon's face. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So what do we do?" said Leon, raising an eyebrow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, I'm involved here on a personal level, so I'm not sure if I can be considered unbiased," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you kidding?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know it sounds harsh, Shannon, but it's the truth. By your own admission, you're a computerized fragment from this ship's past that no one onboard knew about until this evening except John. It affects the crew, and it affects the captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A person whose very existence is tied to the proper functioning of this ship," explained Leon. "There are so many things that can go seriously wrong by the crew's perception that Shannon is a living, breathing human independent of the ship's higher computer functions. What if we lost the processor core in the middle of an operation? What if an alien computer virus took over Shannon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The three officers mulled over the situation in silence. Each of them had their own reasons to be reproachful about Shannon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you sure?" John asked. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you mean?" the two men said in unison. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I didn't figure it out myself until my sub-routines picked up the activation of the closed- circuit transporter system in the isolation room early this morning." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What are you talking about?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | At about that time, Julian Bashir abruptly entered the room with a soberly serious expression on his face. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | In her condition, Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Aided by a pair of medical technicians, | ||
+ | |||
+ | He knew everyone would have questions, but at the moment, he had no strength to answer them. As he lay there, hearing the hushed voices of others throughout the room, the sounds of medical equipment, the sounds of the tricorder being passed over him, he found that for the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt safe. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth, Yezbeck, and Bashir had gone above and beyond any expectations he had ever had of anyone doing anything. They had literally raised him from the dead. He had grown to consider John Carter and Leon Cromwell as friends since he had come aboard. Now he added Roth, Yezbeck and Bashir to that list, despite the fact that he knew little of them personally. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though he wasn't yet certain, he thought it likely that the Vulcan he knew as Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you insane?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hawk had neither the strength nor reason to open his eyes as he replied, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before Yezbeck could scold him further for his departure AMA, another voice asked the sixty-thousand-dollar question. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The question had come from Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter glanced behind the partition that parked Leon's office, noting that Shannon had left. John thought about that for a moment, but reasoned that as a pediatrician, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In one bio bed, he saw Leon Cromwell, tending to Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was tension in Sickbay. Whenever patients were involved, there was always going to BE tension, but this was different. Normally, the current of emotions came from not knowing whether a patient was going to live or die. This time however, the doubt came from somewhere else. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mere days ago, Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Given the previous revelations of the day, John had expected Leon Cromwell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | After seeing that Lieutenant Commander Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Inside the turbolift, Carter leaned against the curved bulkhead, and weighed his options. As he spent long seconds in thought, he heard the soft whisper of a resolving hologram. "Is this what you meant?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon nodded. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Who? Bashir and Saal?" Carter questioned. "What about them?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harris looked into Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She had a point, Carter knew. Plus, over the months, Saal Yezbeck had done a very good job of not being noticed. So much so that Carter found he was beginning to take the seasoned physician for granted; handy talent for a spy to have, if Shannon was right about him. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Julian Bashir, as far as anyone in Starfleet knew, was one of the Best of the Best (sir). He'd taken a post on Deep Space Nine as an able, if over-eager ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | There had been rumors that Bashir was somehow favored, but from what John could tell it wasn't political connections. While there was no denying that he was a gifted physician, as well as quite personable (indeed, Carter had to admit that he'd come to like Doctor Bashir quite a bit) there didn't seem to be too much about the man that Carter hadn't come to expect from anyone in Starfleet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Bashir was a model officer and doctor. Just like Saal Yezbeck. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Damn it." Carter hissed as the turbolift opened to the bridge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kim Roth was there, waiting, with Smoke, her bright-eyed companion perched comfortably on her shoulder. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The disarming calm of her voice caught Carter off guard, but he knew that the things he had to admit, as well as the questions he wanted answered, would have to be addressed in private. "I think we need to discuss a few things, Captain," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Fine by me," Roth said as the headed down the ramp to the Command Deck. She glanced over at Reia Merrick. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Inside the Ready Room, Roth moved smoothly to her desk, pausing a moment for smoke to slide, like furry, supple ink, onto the top of Roth's office chair. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter simply blinked, not expecting that she would beat him to the punch. "Uh... yes, actually." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's face screwed into a bit of a frown, and she clucked her tongue. "For what it's worth, Carter, I'm sorry." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John nodded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But it really was the best way, in my opinion, to handle the situation." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Any particular reason you kept me out of the loop? How could you let us go through the charade of a funeral? Grozit! We gave the man a fly-by for Gods' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth sat back in her chair, surprised that Carter' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth waved her hand and smiled, not dismissively, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter cocked his head to the side. "Uh, thank you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth propped her elbows on her desk and rested her chin on her hands. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter rolled his eyes, afraid of where the conversation might be turning. "Now hang on a minute Captain. I'd never..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth nodded. "I know you're not after my job, Commander," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "After everything this ship's been through, all the shake-ups in command and staffing, the manipulation of Cestus and Sigma Omicron V, the crew knows, to a man, that you will always shoot straight with them. I didn't want to take that from you." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter shook his head. "No, you could have..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter dropped his head, genuinely surprised. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't think you realize how lucky you are, XO." Roth commented. "Most ships function on discipline. The idea that you do what the captain says because that's your training, and that's your Captain. End of story." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth placed her hands back down on the desktop. "You, on the other hand could tell the crew to meet you on Romulus, dressed for war, and they'd go!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Trust me when I tell you, that's a damn rare thing. Actually," | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In sickbay, Leon was shaking off the shock of two photon torpedo-sized bombshells dropped on him within the space of 15 minutes. He had just begun to accept the truth behind the non-corporeal nature of one colleague, when he was suddenly faced with the renewed corporeality of another. His first inclination when laying eyes on Nat Hawks' body was to ask why they had beamed his casket back on board, but when he saw the bio-monitors registering activity, his mouth dropped open while his brow curled into a deep furrow. After going through three different operational tricorders to confirm that the body was alive and that the instrumentation wasn't malfunctioning, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "How do you feel?" Leon asked the former helmsman, still slightly unconvinced that it was the real Nat he was talking to. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Like shit," Hawk replied, "how d'ya think I feel?" he retorted. "I got stabbed, poisoned, spent a couple hours as a corpse, b'fore gettin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although he didn't fully understand all of the lieutenant' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ya, you, me an Jim Kirk." Nat acknowledged, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | For his part, Doctor Saal Yezbeck knew this was coming. He looked down to the floor with a twinge of regret, biting down softly on his upper lip while he scratched his beard. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last three words validated the universal assumption that Leon was beyond infuriated. And as the two physicians began walking towards the door, the CMO glanced in Bashir' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the office, no sooner did the doors slide shut than did Leon begin his invective against Doctor Yezbeck. "How . . . dare . . . you . . ." Leon growled through gritted teeth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Look, Leon . . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon was still bitter over the lost tissue samples from Kuga, and while the revelation about Shannon wasn't as outrageous, this most recent surprise was highlighting a disturbing trend in his mind: Leon no longer felt that he was in control of his own department anymore. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Did it ever occur to you that there might have been some ethical questions involved in that?" Leon continued his tirade. "Not to mention what you and Bashir did to Hawk himself? The man is now, for all intensive purposes, a walking CORPSE!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Saal did not respond, feeling that there was little he could add to calm his boss. Instead, he stood there, resolved to take the abuse blow by blow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I haven' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He saved your life," Saal commented softly, wishing immediately that he hadn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Glaring at Saal, the pain in his hand subsided as Doctor Cromwell cursed under his breath. "He put the lives of three dozen patients in jeopardy that weren' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know that you're probably not going to be able to forgive me for this, but..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So, instead of following the orders of the lead physician on the case, you went out on your own?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And tell me, how is that in accordance with your Hippocratic Oath?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "He was already dead," Saal reasoned. "His life functions were on full support, and the toxin was shutting down every neuron in his brain. It was only a matter of time. Bashir had to act quickly." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon's eyes widened. "So it was Bashir??" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The captain?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, and she was under orders from even higher." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You mean you're ALL taking orders from a cloistered fool with a braid?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a hesitant nod, Saal confirmed Leon's assertion. "Yes. But it's not what you think. There' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon rubbed his eyes with excruciating frustration. He had heard that line one too many times in his dealings with Starfleet, and he had heard enough. Two bombshells was his limit for the day, and with resolve to take the subject to the captain next, he handed down a reprimand to his second-in-command of sickbay. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was a blow to be taken out of a leadership position, but Yezbeck was tough-skinned. In his opinion, it was better than being banned from sickbay altogether, so he assumed Leon still had some trust for him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I understand," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, Saal," Leon returned with controlled, yet unrelenting anger in his voice. "I don't think you do." Without another word, Leon left the room, leaving Yezbeck to stand alone in the office. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "In a way," Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't suppose it would make things easier if you knew that I've been fully briefed concerning your... situation... would it?" Julian asked. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | She looked at him oddly. "Not really. It would not surprise me of that situation, seeing how little I was really briefed on the situation and the process used. The Admiral never ceases to amaze me." She took a deep breath to help ease the pain that was coursing through her body. "It is nice to see you again, Julian." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Surprised at her reaction considering the ethical issue at hand, Julian considered the possibility that she was not yet aware of her level of involvement in things. Most specifically, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nodding, Bashir activated a tissue regenerator and began to pass it over one of the soft-tissue wounds, "It was actually a paper I co-authored with the Voyager EMH that inspired the Admiral. The ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I would have offered them if asked, but I understand why what was done and how it happened. With everything that I have been through, it is not uncommon to be tossed into the unknown." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That is pretty much what I have come to believe as well. Hopefully all will work as planned and we can have somewhat normal life to return to the Alpha Quadrant. However, I do not know what will happen." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as Julian was about to say something, he was interrupted by Security and Lieutenant Beauvais entering Sickbay. She directed the two security officers around the impostor science officer. She walked over herself looking between the two of them. "Is she medically fit for transport?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Slowing, not sure what was going on, Bashir replied. "Yes, she is." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Good. Lieutenant Commander Cha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The two guards escorted the impostor of a science officer out of sickbay and to the Brig. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It was an unusual experience, to watch one's own funeral. It wasn't what he had expected it to be. He had lived his life fast and hard, knocking over anyone in his way. He had always presumed that, when he died - likely as a direct result of some stupid risky stunt of his own creation - he would be memorialized, | ||
+ | |||
+ | So much had happened in the time he had been aboard the Republic. So much had changed; and for once, for the better. He had always lived his life on the edge of existence, always pushed every boundary and taken the risks no one else thought sane. He had become so notorious for such that he had been branded as having a death wish; a brand that he, in classic Nat Hawk style, took upon himself as a pilot call sign in defiance. It had been true, though; he had had a death wish. The pain of his life had been such that the prospect of a ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Irony, like tragedy, like risk, was a recurring theme of his life, though. A part of him hated Starfleet, even now, and yet it was within it's ranks that he had come to find as much peace as he had known since childhood. He had made a career of taking risks beyond the realm of survival and had always survived them; and now, it seemed, not even death could hold on to him. Logically, he knew better; Bashir, Yezbeck and Roth had all been plotting and scheming since just after the Sigma Omicron V mission, when Nat had used up every last iota of good will he had with Starfleet Intelligence. They had prepared for his eventual demise, and planned for the end-result of it rather than try to prevent it, in order to accomplish a far greater goal than simply saving his ass. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Part of him wanted to be angry that the only way to protect him was to, in fact, let him die. He wanted to be angry for never having known prior to this all about their clandestine plans to resurrect him. He couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nat couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | He was alive, though, so he was hardly in a position to complain. Both doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Somehow sensing her before he had any reason to know she was present, Nat turned his head towards the door a second before it divided to admit Leah Warner. She had been on his mind constantly, and yet, he had been unable to contact her since the revelation of his status among the living an hour earlier due to his own uncertainty of how to broach the topic of being alive. Their relationship was an enigma to him; their first encounter had been hostile and sarcastic, but the conflict had eased into an uncertain flirtation, and just as quickly, a deep emotional connection that he had never truly experienced with anyone else before. They had both changed through each other, and for the first time in his life, Nathan Hawk knew what it was to truly love someone else without pain being entwined with that love. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the longest time, they said nothing to each other as they stared at one another in the fairly desolate recovery ward. He could tell she had been upset, and as much as her pain pained him in turn, a part of him relished the reality that he did mean something to her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Did you know?" she finally asked him, her voice hushed and her emotions guarded. Though the question was vague, he knew exactly what she was asking. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a long moment, she simply looked at him, uncertainly. When she finally spoke, it wasn't what he had expected her to say. "I don't think I can do this." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Confused, Nat furrowed his brow as he asked, "Do what?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a long moment, Nat said nothing, as he simply absorbed what Lead had admitted to him. He wanted to be angry, or hurt, or upset; but he had been so through much in just the past few days... he was numb. Not to emotion, certainly not to pain, but to rage and shock. The absence of rage from within himself startled him for a moment. His rage had driven him for so long, in situations he would not have survived without it. The hand-to-hand battle with his unwitting pawn assassin, Evok, on Sigma Omicron V was a prime example. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ya know," he started, pausing to inhale a deep breath, "yer prolly right." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nothing else needed to be said. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In an instant, she at his bedside; her lips pressed against his as tears trickled from her eyes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I thought I'd lost you," she choked out, as they switched to an embrace. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pulling back, she looked into his eyes with sadness as she said, "You can't promise that." | ||
+ | |||
+ | With every ounce of bravado he had, he offered one of his devil-may-care grins as he replied, "I just came back from the dead, babe. If I've gotta do it again n' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite her tears, she laughed. A sound that made Nathan Hawk feel truly alive again for the first time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: USS Republic, Brig** | ||
+ | |||
+ | It had been a few hours since Zoë had locked up the impostor. She finally had her moved from the Brig to the Interrogation room. She was going to get her answers if it was the last thing that she did before she finished up her time here aboard the Republic. She had been placed on the ship to protect it and its crew and yet she failed. She allowed the assassination of Lieutenant Hawk. She even had allowed two impostors and two assassins to live aboard the ship now for the last few weeks without detecting them. They were definitely good at what they did in order to slip by her. That just meant that she had to get better at her job and care less about those around her. She would need to become cold and calculating like them. From afar, Zoë had her arms crossed in front of her chest observing the prisoner disdainfully. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not only did she hate the woman that sat in front of her, she also blamed herself for allowing all this to happen -- especially on her watch. It was not fair to watch everyone suffer the way that they did so that, WHOMEVER that `Operative' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Vulcan that sat in front of her seemed to be looking to the distance, her mind not on the present. Apparently she had been well versed in surviving interrogation techniques. Pain twinges could be seen across her face from time to time as she shifted slightly in her place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoë smiled inwardly. It was her turn now to be the one in control. Finally after watching for a few more minutes, she decided that it was time to take action. `Enough of this sitting around and waiting crap', she said silently. | ||
+ | |||
+ | She entered the interrogation room, with all eyes watching. She had to be careful with how she handled herself. Zoë locked eyes with the Vulcan woman and sat down across from her, setting her hands out in front of her with a small PADD that she could jot down some notes as need be. The room was stark and cold. Metal on all sides, including the reflective table and two chairs that were in there. It was enough that shadows hid from the bouncing light throughout the room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you know why you are here?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes. I am under arrest for murder." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "State your name and your rank." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Vulcan woman just raised an eyebrow. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why are you here?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My orders assigned me here. I was to watch over Lieutenant Hawk for the the information that he held. However, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "My orders permit me to explain. To a point," | ||
+ | |||
+ | In point of fact, Zoë knew, the woman in front of her was a Vulcan, and conventional wisdom said, without fail, that a Vulcan could not be compelled by any known means, to talk if they did not wish to. She decided to stick with the soft approach. "Why did you kill that woman?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Frustration started to boil beneath her skin, but Zoë took a deep breath. "Do you always follow orders?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are not all Starfleet Officers supposed to?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There are no records of an Arria, Daughter of Morverik. Actually," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That is because I was murdered as Lieutenant Hawk was. However, at that time in my life, we did not have the technology to revive me. We do now." She said, matter-of-factly. "My true record is classified and you need special dispensation from Temporal Investigations in order to access it. If you had the clearance to read it." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoë was stunned for a moment. Did a Vulcan just insult her? The Security Chief was pretty sure that was impossible on a molecular level; far too emotional for a Vulcan. Nonetheless, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Arria breathed normally. "I am not at liberty to discuss that matter. I am here for the murder of a woman who was herself the murderer of Lieutenant Hawk. Anything further is not a topic for discussion." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was no emotion on the Vulcan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Vulcan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This is a charade then?" The Vulcan asked. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As will mine." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoë then left the briefing room running through the list of answers she'd give the command officers on Republic. She left the room, heading down the corridor to meet with Commander Carter. | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | fter his intense conversation with Doctor Yezbeck, Leon left the sickbay with the same "get out of my way" march through the corridor he gave when he left it the previous morning when Hawk died on the diagnostic bed. Those unlucky enough to be in the hallway when the doctor passed had to divert towards the wall to avoid being bulldozed. Fortunately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The silence in the turbolift was only interrupted by the hum of the maglift engine as the cab slipped through the conveyor system on it's way to the destination. Leon had almost hoped there would have been someone in the car so he could grumble at them, but his anger subsided as he found it rather silly to fume when he was the only audience. As his pulse slowed and blood pressure returned to normal, he stared to regain his composure when an electronic whisper sounded over the hum of the lift. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You were a little hard on Saal," Shannon commented. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon closed his eyes in recognition of the voice. "I suppose I should start getting used to that," he replied calmly, referring to Doctor Harris' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a sigh, Leon admitted his temperamental outburst. "I know, but I couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know," Shannon consoled him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon's frown returned with an appearance of confusion as he suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There a difference between the *Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "On the saucer section," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You mean everywhere there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't think so. His software is encoded to prevent cross-platform programming conflicts. Although it makes him less prone to diagnostic errors, he's not very flexible. However, my program is much more dynamic, and can readily utilize different types of computer systems and holographic hardware." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This is going to take some getting used to," Leon grumbled. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "For what?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "For accepting me for who I am." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the doors to the turbolift parted, Doctors Cromwell and Harris entered the main bridge and headed to the captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Here we go," Leon sighed, pressing the entry buzzer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the doors parted, Leon and Shannon saw John Carter standing in front of the captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, speak of the devil." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon nodded before turning back to the captain. ". . . devil?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, well, it seems old Earth expressions are common here on Republic," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon took up a similar pose as John in front of the captain' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I see Doctor Bashir wasted no time in informing you of our little secret when I told him it was safe to do so." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Leon . . ." Carter interrupted him with a cautionary tone. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't see anything to be angry about," | ||
+ | |||
+ | John smirked slightly. "Well, I don't know that I'm in a position to throw stones just now, Doc." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon huffed in frustration. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's attention shifted between the two officers. "I hate it when I feel like I'm missing something," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth leaned back in her chair. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Works for me, Captain," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter nodded. "Oh, I'm not happy Doc," he explained, "but the woman does know how to make her case. You should at least listen to her." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon took a seat at the desk-side sofa as he let out a series of sub-audible grumbles. Across the table, Roth nodded. "Thank you, Doctor." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, let me say from the start that I am genuinely sorry that I had to keep this plan from the two of you," Leon bowed up as if he were about to comment, but Roth met his gaze with the briefest pause and a raised eyebrow. The doctor received the non-verbal message, and chose to remain silent. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It would be too easy to say that there are things neither of you needed to know," she explained. "None the less, that is the truth, and while I will apologize for needing to do it, you should both know that, given the same options, there is nothing I would do differently." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon could feel gorge rising in his gut, and couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Next to the Doctor, Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was not a request. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon's eyebrow arched in surprise. "Well, this should be good!" he muttered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Resting on Roth's shoulder, Smoke " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon waved his hand in front of his face. "Now, hold on," he said, keeping his voice in check. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth felt the sting of her own words forced back at her. Leon was exactly right. After what had come to be called the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Poor timing on my part Doctor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon still wasn't buying it, and he let his displeasure show. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But, it's not enough, Doctor?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A certain point of view?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, I've never been a Middie, and I've been dealing with shades of gray each time I've had to deal with Starfleet," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, Roth arched her eyebrow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter frowned, and looked towards his friend. "You never mentioned to me anything about that." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's look of interest slowly faded to stoicism when Leon mentioned Kostya' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon had found her sore spot, and he knew it. He got up from the couch to face her with a similar posture by placing his hands on her desk. He was determined to get to the bottom of the ultimate question on his mind. With his voice rising, Leon put his cards on the table. "Are you, or are you not, still working for Kostya?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Is that what you think?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Sit down, doctor . . ." Carter interjected, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I said SIT DOWN!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Slowly, Leon retreated back to the couch, maintaining his glare at Captain Roth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As captain," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't act insubordinate unless I have a good reason," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The shock in Doctor Cromwell' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's smile returned, and John's never faded as he enjoyed the moment where his friend stumbled over his own words. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Trust me, doc. She's on our side," John finally said as a bewildered Leon struggled between the incredulity of Kostya' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I suppose Kostya' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Put simply, he's out for blood," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why I chose to take action now with regard Hawk. We're essentially cut off from the media cycle." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So, we what? Map a few star clusters? Lick our wounds?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth nodded. "And take stock." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter let his head hang for a beat, then looked up at his commanding officer. "No time like the present." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth raised an eyebrow. "Well, I certainly don't object to the relationship, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter chuckled. "No, nothing like that," he said. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | A wash of photons, and the accompanying whine of a hologram field made the air in Roth's Ready Room crackle for an instant as Doctor Shannon Harris materialized in front of Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Resting on the bookshelf behind Roth's chair, Smoke bleeked in surprise. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's expression was completely deadpan, but whether that was by choice or out of disbelief, no one could say. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, Roth turned her attention to Carter. "How long have you known?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "For sure?" he pondered, "Just after the dust-up with the Tholians. There were odd things before that, but that was when I knew for sure." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth leaned forward, placing her hands flat on the desk. "And you didn't think it necessary to inform me that one of my officers was not real?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harris crossed her arms in front of her. "I think that Voyager' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth looked at the redheaded hologram sidelong. "A . . . poor choice of words on my part, Doctor." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Go on," Shannon said with a nod. It was clear that she was determined to have the captain focus on her and not the other two gentlemen, as if to underline her argument for equal treatment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon stopped for a moment. "I have none, Captain. Though, with Doctor Harris' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Makes sense to me," Harris offered, surprised, but not quite bothered at the turn of events. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then the only other thing I'm going to insist upon is that you no longer hide your status from the rest of the crew. I'm not saying you have to make an announcement, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I can do that, Captain." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If they wear a Starfleet uniform, then tell them to come talk to me directly," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, Carter chuckled. "Well, I'm sure I'll get no end of grief from Hawk," John admitted, "but if it comes down to it, I'll just remind him that he had to get his life saved by a girl. That ought to buy me some time. Uh . . . no offense, ladies." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "None taken," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We can talk about this later, John," Harris said with a smile. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth clapped her hands against the surface of the desk. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I suppose," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth's face turned in a scowl. "No doubt. I'll be scheduling a briefing regarding our next assignment, after I've had a chance to debrief Lieutenant Hawk. See you all at 1400, Wednesday." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Aye Captain." | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the bridge, Leon and Shannon turned towards the turbolift while John started in the direction of the command pit when he paused. "Oh, and Leon," he beckoned to his friend, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you kidding?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not a bit of it, doc," John shook his head. "If you're not ready by now, you'll never be. Recent events have only emphasized how much we need another qualified bridge officer that the captain and I can hand duties off to. That test is the only thing standing in the way." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You know better than anyone else what I've been through! Can't you make an exception?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't play favorites," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Without another word, Leon walked sulkily into the turbolift where Doctor Harris was waiting patiently. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Need help studying, commander?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Armory watch desk, deck 5, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | There were a lot of misconceptions about the Tactical Branch of Starfleet. The first was that they were all trigger-happy adrenaline junkies, or thickheaded robots that just wanted to blow things up. In reality, since the merging of the starship combat role of the helmsman and the planet-side responsibilities of the old " | ||
+ | |||
+ | First and foremost, like almost everyone else on a starship, a Tactical Officer was a problem-solver, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, Sir. She claims to be Arria, Daughter of Morverik, deceased years ago." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter shook his head in disbelief. "So, whom DOES she work for? If she's not Starfleet Intelligence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "She claims to be from the Office of Special Intelligence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, I guess that makes some sense. But I've never even HEARD of this, O-S-I" Carter admitted. "What I want to know is who she REALLY is, and more importantly, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I, uh...looked under the right rocks?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You thought to check the QUANTUM signature?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter smiled in admiration of the young officer. While he was many things, John liked to think that chief among them was honest, and if he looked at himself honestly, he had to admit that detective work was not his strong suit. `Nope,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | She stated that she was assigned here to watch over Lieutenant Hawk for the information that he held. She stated that her orders also gave her a clause to eliminate any threat to him, past or present that may attack." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Past or...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, Carter took a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck, more out of habit than to soothe away any tension. "Ok, then. What do you recommend we do now? Captain wants us to remain in the black for the time being, but I don't want this `Operative' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "She is Vulcan. Technically she can't lie. However, with her being from ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | She was a good officer at one point, at least, if the original record is accurate. I would say, see if I can get more information out of her. Brig suits until we get home. I'm just afraid that when we get home, if she is truly SI, she'll be scooped up and out of here before we can blink our eyes." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zoë smiled again, indicating that she was absolutely looking forward to another `chat' with her new favorite guest. "At the moment though, we have an ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter nodded. "Ok, I'll take that to the Captain. In the meantime, keep an eye on our, who-ever-she-is, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, Sir. I will personally see to the arrangements." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter turned on a heel as he headed for the door. "Oh, before I forget," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thank you, Sir." He walked out of there and she left as well to make the necessary arrangements for the ' | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Recovery ward, main sickbay, deck 12, USS Republic**\\ | ||
+ | **Shiptime: 03:25 hours** | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last time sickbay' | ||
+ | |||
+ | On this particular night, the gamma shift had only a single patient tucked away in the recovery ward, and so the tending shift supervisor, Doctor Fernmoore, excused all but Ensign Watson and CPO3 Teague for the rest of the night. The sole patient, Lieutenant Nathan Hawk, was banished to the to 13-bed recovery facility with Nurse Watson tending the nurse' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For his part, Nat was restless, as being cooped-up in a sterile environment for *any* length of time was not his cup of tea. While feigning sleep, and hoping that the tending nurse wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before long, Nat found himself wandering past the empty ward supervisor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well I know why I can't sleep," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What are you doing up?" Leon exclaimed with a mix of irritation and genuine concern. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yeah, well, death does funny things ta ya. Insomnia, apparently, is one've ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Considering Leon's words for a moment, he became stuck on one item in particular. "Ya know, that's what SI, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon considered Nat's words for a moment. "God knows I've had my fill of shady characters hiding behind the rules, but while I understand that the rules have to be bent on occasion, the person who is doing the bending must realize that they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And if my memory of Federation history serves me, he also paid dearly several times for breaking the rules. My point is that if you're going to even *bend* the rules - for whatever reason - fine. But don't expect everyone to like it, and don't expect to get away with it. When it comes to Starfleet rules, I'm a bit more understanding about rule-bending, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon frowned and crossed his arms while leaning back in his chair. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh hell, Nat!" Leon stood up abruptly. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The scenario Leon proposed did give Nat pause, and for the first time in a while, he felt a glimmer of that old rage buried deep within himself. He was not, by nature, a trusting individual; he had rarely trusted anyone so much as he did a handful of people here, aboard Republic. So the idea of any one of them breaking that hard-formed bond of trust... | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ya, I'd be pretty pissed off." Hawk admitted. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon sat back in his chair and looked at the recovering helmsman in thought. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The two sat in silence for almost a minute, staring blankly into thin air, as if coming to grips with their own human frailties. Nat, with his hard-fought struggle to return to the realm of the living, and Leon, unable to come to grips with the emotional toll of the methods to achieve the miracle. Whether either of them knew it or not, the real struggle was yet to come. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No offense, but if heaven n'hell exist, than bein' stuck in sickbay s'my own personal purgatory. Ya've got all this fancy medicine, how 'bout puttin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, it's not that simple," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nat simply blinked at Leon for a few seconds, a deadpan expression blanketing his features. "Maybe it's the death talkin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If you can't sleep, we can give you a somnetic inducer. But until I'm confident that the nanoprobes have the upper hand in keeping your cells alive, I want you in sickbay where we have a better chance of reviving you if your body decides to fight back against them." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well yer just a fun-suckin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That will all depend on how the nanoprobes interact with your metabolism over the long haul," Leon warned. "There are very few active duty Starfleet officers with Borg nanoprobes swimming around in their veins. Even after five years of intense study by Fleet Medical, they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | At about that time, the door to the office slid open to reveal an irate Nurse Watson. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "THERE you are!" she scolded Nat like a mother hen. "What are you doing out of bed? And why are you bothering Doctor Cromwell?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the first time since before the funeral, Leon allowed an extremely amused smile to spread across his face. His friend' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "At zero-three-thirty hours? | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The questioning tone in the doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Keep yer shirt on!" Hawk said to the impatient nurse. He realized only after he had said such that, once upon a time, he would have followed up on that with 'on second thought, take it off', but such no longer felt... right. Which gave him some pause. "Ya know, somebody once said... ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No problem," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, don't stay up all night thinkin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It had been less than a day since the crew of the Republic had learned of his resurrection. Less than a day since those he cared for had learned they had mourned prematurely. Less than a day spent awake and aware in the confines of Sickbay. Yet when it came to spending any amount of time confined to Sickbay, less than a day could easily feel like more than a year. At least, as far as the risen Lieutenant Nat Hawk was concerned. Tired as he was, weak as he was, ill as he felt, he wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of the ship's medical facilities. It was almost enough to drive him back to the drink. So when he first spotted Chief Engineer Vance Devloch enter Sickbay, he had felt a momentary sense of reprieve. It turned out to only be momentary, indeed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You son of a bitch." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well howdy back at ya." Hawk replied, meekly but with enough sarcasm to sound like himself even though he felt like a walking corpse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Next time I'll stay dead a might longer then, just ta give ya an excuse ta get smashed." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "As if I need an excuse," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hawk eyed the flask for the briefest of moments before turning his gaze to Devloch, refusing the offered beverage. "I ain't desperate enough fer a date ta get filleted like a fish, thanks. Got maself a long-term dance partner, matter a fact. Unlike yerself, who only seems ta keep the company a that flask 'n his own warp core - an I don't mean the big one down 'n engineerin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hawk didn't have a response for him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So, how was being dead?" Asked Vance calmly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As quickly as Devloch had pissed him off, so to had he come down off his high-horse. "Well, I tell ya what. Was more 'an just in a ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That never even occurred to me. Maybe I WAS a little quick to jump into the bottle in this, one, specific case. Hell, I'm not fooling anyone, haven' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Trust me, it ain't somethin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The Orion syndicate? Why'd you have to go and piss them off? As to trying it myself, I'm paranoid, something to do with being a prisoner of war and of course there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Damn man, would ya put those away? Yer thicker n' a mule sometimes, I swear." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "They let me play with anti-matter and nobody told me? What am I doing talking with you when I have such fun toys to play with?" The knives disappeared "Ya know, if I had some serious enemies I'd probably consider taking some reasonable precautions. Just a thought. So, what are you going to do next? I'd think that coming back from the dead would be a tough act to follow." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why d'ya think they had a plan ta bring me back from the dead in the first place?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I think your definition of fun, and my definition of fun may be just a little too close to comfort. I think I'm going to take some more time out for additional combat training I've got a strange feeling that things could get... Interesting... in the near future." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Meh, ya worry to much. I been cheatin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | A few days later, something was still bothering Lieutenant Nathan Hawk. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite all the twenty-fourth century medical technology Leon Cromwell could throw at him, he was still unable to sleep but for an hour or two. He had even tested a handful of homeopathic remedies suggested by his friends and colleagues to no avail. Sleep simply alluded Nathan Hawk in the wake of all that had happened to him recently. Even their resident head-shrinker had suggested a number of psychological causes for his insomnia. In classic Hawk fashion though, Nat had dodged the Counselor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thankfully, he was finally ' | ||
+ | relationship would take him, and the possibility of loosing her as he had everyone else in his life hung over him always. Yet some part of him, something stronger than the rage that had driven him for so long, refused to let that risk from making the decisions any longer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As he lay in the darkness, he couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And yet... | ||
+ | |||
+ | While he had ebbed between life and death, trying to grasp the concept of existence between worlds, a lone voice reached out to him from the darkness. Not any god, nor any demon; none of the things he might have expected from the myths and legends passed down through time. Just a voice, and while it claimed it could have been anyone, as in in challenge to his sarcastic quip and his own disbelief, the voice had chosen to manifest itself as James Tiberius Kirk. Nat, like almost everyone, had revered the Starfleet hero of century' | ||
+ | |||
+ | He hated that. He preferred the ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | He needed answers in the here and now; ones that he could not get lying in bed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a barely audible moan from the sleeping Leah, Nat slipped out of bed and walked into the main living area of his quarters. Taking a seat at the desk, he pivoted the desk-mounted computer console towards himself, and quietly spoke to it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As his eyes scrolled across the list, nothing seemed to fit the situation. Training scenarios, historical re-enactments, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Calling the program up on one of the vacant holodecks, Nat couldn' | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The evening following Nat Hawk's late night stroll through sickbay, Leon fulfilled his side of the promise and released the helmsman to his quarters under bed-rest. There was a question or two from other members from the senior staff on whether it was too early, but a promise is a promise, and there was no medical reason why the lieutenant needed to stay in sickbay. Of course, from Leon's point of view, it was a bit more personal, as he had spent the entire previous evening awake in his office, following through with an all-night cram session in preparation for the bridge officer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The morning of the bridge test started of like any other day. He awoke at 0700 hours, showered, ate, and by 0900, he was strolling into holodeck one where Commander Carter was waiting for him. With barely a "good morning, let's get started," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Amazingly, Leon managed to survive the ensuing combat, destroying the first Warbird in a fierce volley of combined phaser and torpedo fire. The return torrent of firepower was almost as devastating, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the second Romulan was destroyed by the combination of friendly fire and structural stress brought on by the sudden release of the tractor beam while the ships were locked in a impulse-speed tug-of-war (a little trick John had taught him during his course of starship tactics), the third Warbird had received only moderate damage by the subsequent explosion. As Republic received a barrage of deadly disruptor fire from the third Romulan vessel, it was only by way of ejecting the antimatter pods that Leon was able to keep the ship from turning into a burning field of space debris. Nevertheless, | ||
+ | |||
+ | While there may be up to 20,000 sensory hair cells in the cochlea of a normal human, Romulans, being of Vulcan decent, have over 50,000. In addition, the frequency range of their hearing is between approximately 40 to 60,000 hertz, while humans can only hear sounds within the frequencies of 20 Hz and 20,000 hertz. This lower range may seem inferior when looking strictly at the numbers, but it has the advantage in that species with a higher range (such as Romulans) are often forced to adjust their com system to an elevated gain when communicating with humans to hear the full range of vocalizations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Subspace communication systems between known space-faring races (whether friendly or not) are pre-programmed for what is ubiquitously known as a " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As a matter of simple physics, the power in a sound wave is proportional to the square of the pressure. Therefore, an increase from 10 to 150 decibels is roughly equivalent to a 10 million-fold increase in sound pressure. At maximum volume, the Romulan audio speakers are capable of broadcasting at 160 decibels; a purposeful design to ensure that remote areas of the ship can hear any important announcements during an emergency. Such a sound level is capable of permanently damaging the human eardrum, and higher than the normal threshold of pain for Romulans should they be standing anywhere near the speaker system. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After listening for a few seconds to an extremely distorted audio transmission, | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was long enough. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last of Leon's assets on the Republic included emergency backup power, thruster control, and three fully-pressurized shuttlebays. Opening the outer doors of the latter asset caused enough explosive decompression to hurl the Republic towards the remaining Warbird. The momentum was slightly above the Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon had almost expected cheering when the five well-placed thermonuclear explosions eliminated the remaining attacker, but the holographic bridge crew remained at their stations in silence. Confused, the doctor looked around the bridge: The simulation had not ended. In fact, as he took note of the smashed bridge stations and virtual pockets of fire and smoke throughout the room, the gravity of their situation sank in: They were dead in space. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Apparently, space combat was only an introduction to the bridge officers' | ||
+ | |||
+ | To save on precious life support power, Leon took the logical step of evacuating the remaining bridge crew to auxiliary control on deck 8. There, he consulted his holographic senior officers, who just happened to mimic his real-life colleagues. The dimly lit ready room of the battle bridge was cramped, and each officer bore the sign of stress and fatigue. Their uniforms were torn and singed, and a few even bore some injuries signified by dried patches of blood in their skin. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As they sat around the small compartment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Five hundred and twelve," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, sickbay is obviously gone, and the stardrive section infirmary is inaccessible. We've managed to get most of them to holodeck six, but the EMH is offline, and we're working with mainly first aid kits. The most critical patients are being treated as best we can, and we've set up holodeck five as a triage center." | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ominous computer warning accentuated the seriousness of the situation. "Do we have an evacuation option?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not really," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not an option," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well that does it," Leon concluded with determination. "We have to find another source of power to maintain life support." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Have you pulled the plug on absolutely everything?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the minutes ticked down, Leon went from frantic to panicked, checking off every possible way to conserve energy for life support. One idea had everyone capable of wearing a survival suit to do so in order to extend battery life. Although that would have bought them two hours, it unfortunately would have taken them 20 minutes to get everyone in suits, which is more time than they had left. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon's final idea was to take every handheld device, from phasers to tricorders, and attempt to use the power packs to recharge the ship's batteries. By the time Vic finished explaining how long that would take compared to how little effect it would have on their energy reserves, there was less than a minute left. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Wide-eyed with trepidation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I told you it was going to be tough," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This is crazy!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | John simply rolled his eyes and began walking towards the door. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What about warp physics?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What about them?" John replied, walking into the corridor beyond with Leon in tow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "How do they apply in there?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, you obviously used some of them to great effect," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Some of them," Leon admitted, still angry and annoyed. "But what good did it do me? I still failed!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not everyone is cut out to be a bridge officer, Leon." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The duo walked past several officers who moved to the side to make room for them in the hallway. It was minor spectacle. Enough to embarrass John, but not the doctor, who obviously was too irate to care. The passing crewmembers said nothing as they went by. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That was ridiculous!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | At that, John Carter stopped dead in his tracks. He turned slowly to look at his friend with such annoyance that it gave Leon pause. "Did you keep trying that holographic simulation program I gave you access to?" he retorted. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "The Kobyashi Maru?" replied Leon. "That was ridiculous too! I kept getting blown up!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | John hung his head in despair. "You still don't get it, do you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Get what?" Leon exclaimed. "What was there to ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you think commanding a starship is all about combat?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well? What was I supposed to think? That program is nothing *but* combat." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John shook his head and leaned up against the wall with one arm, clenching and unclenching his fist in frustration. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Leon, you're a scientist as well a doctor. Did you do any research into the Kobyashi Maru scenario? Do you know what the test was for?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | It suddenly occurred to the CMO that he was taking John's gift of the antiquated holodeck program for granted. Apparently, his friend meant for him to study it in detail, and not run it with the superficial attitude of a novelty present. In fact, Leon was rather surprised that John was so heavily biased towards the tactical scenario, suggesting there was a larger message that he failed to absorb. It caused him to stumble through the inquiry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well . . . uh . . . I guessed it was for tactical starship training . . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John stared incredulously at the doctor before responding. "No. It's not. The Kobyashi Maru is a test of character. And since you never finished it, I can only guess that you have NONE." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The reply hit Leon squarely in the gut. It was an insult, and it came from one of his best friends. In addition, it wasn't a fun-loving insult over drinks. It was a very sober and very direct insult meant to harshly jog Leon's personal assumptions. It succeeded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What the hell do you want from me?" Leon whispered, still feeling the pain of John's stinging remark. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I want you to start seeing the universe for the way it really is," John directed. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You have twenty-four hours to figure it out." | ||
+ | |||
+ | With that, John turned around and proceeded to walk away from his friend. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you saying that you're giving me another chance?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Without turning around, John continued down the hallway and offered his final say in the matter. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon stood speechless, watching as John disappeared beyond the gradual, lateral curvature of the passageway. His emotion had swung from nervous, to jubilant, to panicked, to frustrated, to hurt, all before finally settling on dazed. The doctor was a mind-melding Vulcan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next recessed cove along the corridor wall was that of holodeck two, and the chuckle was coming from Nat Hawk. The lieutenant was in his night robe, and stepped out from within the closed doorway vestibule to lean his shoulder against the wall by the control panel. He was apparently quite amused about John and Leon squabbling through the corridor like a married couple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Nope, not unless I like ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though Nat had violated Leon's medical curfew, from a doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't recall ever writing a prescription for an early morning romp with Orion slave women," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nat seemed to consider something for a moment, then finally shrugged and shook his head. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well you must have been doing something healthy to bring that smug grin back to your face," he prodded him. "I can only assume it was some sort of mix of physical exertion and pleasure. Both of which you're NOT supposed to be doing, I might add." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well after that lil lovers quarrel b' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You think that whatever ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Never know til ya try," Hawk teased, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just . . . try it. Trust me." Nat said. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why would I be interested in running a program that *you* designed? Last time I joined you in any other pursuit other than drinking, I found myself dangling from a hopper on a rope over a lava pit." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nat couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a smile that never ceased, Nat shuffled on down the corridor out of sight, leaving the confused Leon standing alone outside of holodeck two. With little choice left, Leon raised an eyebrow before entering the chamber. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Outer ring corridor, deck 10, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | John Carter walked briskly, trying to shake the feeling that he'd just punched a friend in the gut. Behind him, moving to a bouncing trot to keep up, Shannon Harris raised her voice. "John! Don't you DARE walk away from me." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter quickly spun on a heel, a little surprised at the yell that almost came out of his mouth. He took a deep breath to try and collect himself, then looked at Shannon again. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yeah, that," he said, running his fingers through his hair. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon regarded Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | John gave the red headed pediatrician a dismissive wave. "Come on," he said simply, "No one's twisting his arm. Besides, you know as well as I do that Leon is exactly the kind of man that `Fleet needs. Especially now." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon shook her head. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Then what ARE you arguing?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon folded her arms in front of her and gave Carter a stern look. "Let me finish, COMMANDER." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Carter shook his head again. "What are you talking about," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I agree, John," Harris said smoothly. "He belongs on this ship, with this crew, but needing us and needing `Fleet is not the same thing. Besides," | ||
+ | |||
+ | John tilted his head sideways for a long moment. "You really think I pushed him too hard to take the test?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | John shook his head again. "I told him, the test isn't about combat. Truth be told it's not even REALLY about the `No-win scenario' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You think he can't? He's a doctor John. He deals with life and death nearly every day." | ||
+ | |||
+ | John stepped closer and put his hands on Shannon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon stepped closer, letting John fold her into a hug. "I never really thought of it that way," she said quietly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I know," John said in a whisper. "What matters is if Leon can think of it that way or not." | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | **Location: Unknown** | ||
+ | |||
+ | The smell of burned wiring permeated the shuttle as sparks jettisoned out of the panels of the ship. Jaren Tolkath was navigating the ship while Reittan assisted feverishly rerouting power to the engines and the shields. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jaren' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jaren looked over at his son's control panels and noticed they had just lost the starboard shields. Reittan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jaren returned to his controls maneuvering through some of the most difficult piloting he had ever done. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As to where the two battle ships had come from was a mystery, but that was moot at this point. They needed to get out and to the nearest star base before the shuttle was destroyed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Out of the corner of his eyes, Reittan caught his mother looking serene and calm; she reeked of fear as did his grandmother and the ten other dignitaries aboard. | ||
+ | |||
+ | His attention snapped back to what he was doing as the panels flickered and the ship jerked; another shot had hit the aft shields. More sparks showered Reittan, and suddenly all power within the ship died. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Darkness enveloped them for a fraction of a second, until emergency power brought life support back online. As the lights reappeared, Reittan saw his Grandmother laying on the floor unconscious, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Rage engulfed Reittan, anger and a strong sense of primal self preservation began to build within him like a warp core breach. The emotion erupted; all fell into darkness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan suddenly woke up, sitting straight up with a jerk. His robe was drenched in perspiration. He looked around his quarters and grounded himself in the present moment; not in the past, anything but the past. He hadn't been sleeping well recently being effected by the recent commotion and emotional upheaval aboard the ship. He had arranged his schedule to get some sleep, but only found nightmares. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He closed his eyes and began focusing on the feelings of his shipmates. He targeted some very strong feelings of anger, they were emanating from Doctor Cromwell. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon had been a little edgy since the Hawk incident. Since a large amount of conversation surrounded Lt. Hawk, the Counselor began calling the phenomenon "Hawk talk." Leon would bristle and get angry when Hawk talk occurred around him, but Tolkath could sense hurt too; a sense of betrayal. Upon learning the Counselor had known about the condition of Nat, his interactions with the Lieutenant Commander had cooled. But, the doctor had somewhat forgiven the Counselor, when he learned he had been ordered to stay silent. Reittan wasn't sure if the forgiveness had been genuine, or if Leon had larger fish to fry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since Leon had the most intense feelings aboard the ship, besides the two crew members who were enjoying each other in the extracurricular activities of a relationship, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Suddenly, the intercom came to life overhead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sound of panic in the secretary' | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | \\ | ||
+ | **Location: Deck nine just outside the Counselor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | After the assault on the Counselor during the whole Hawk debacle, Tolkath had engineering install what could only be described as a " | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was this alarm system that had alerted the Counselor and summoned him to the psychology department one deck above his personal quarters. Although the secretary' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Deck eight," | ||
+ | |||
+ | //" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //"The male is one meter directly inside the door and Lieutenant Reisan is behind her desk."// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The turbo-lift came to a stop and the doors hissed open. The Lieutenant Commander nearly tripped over himself trying to quickly, yet casually so as to not to draw attention to himself, get to the department. The Counselor thought to himself, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The seemingly unending deserted corridor finally gave way to the main psychology department. Then Tolkath composed himself, and walked nonchalantly towards the doors as though he were just passing through, as difficult as it was not to just burst into the room. The counselor could hear the heated discussion emanating from the room. He paused just outside of the sensors surrounding the doors, so he could eavesdrop and not go inside being unprepared. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "YOU WILL NOT TREAT ME THAT WAY!" Lieutenant Reisan shouted at the unknown guest. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lieutenant Reisan was a short, blue eyed, brunette. Ordinarily she was mild manner, and Reittan had yet to hear her raise her voice. Many times he wondered if she were part Vulcan with her cool demeanor, but her records showed her to be human. Because of her elevated voice, the Counselor waited no longer and entered the room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Something was terribly wrong. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Upon entering the dimly lit room, the first thing Reittan noticed was how frazzled the Lieutenant looked. It appeared that someone had tried to remove her uniform by force. It was evident that Reisan had used the silent alarm because she rightly wanted someone to witness the attack for credibility in any testimony, which would unavoidably happen through an inquiry and investigation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The psychology department had been painted in neutral colors to help the ambiance necessary for the therapeutic process. The bulkhead in which Tolkath' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As Lieutenant Reisan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why, if it isn't Rei-Rei the Crazy Guy..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The taunting stung Reittan, but not as quite much now as it had during his childhood. However, it opened old wounds the counselor thought had healed. Reittan tapped his combadge and said calmly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //"On our way, counselor..."// | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh, come on Rei-Rei you aren't going to . . ." Morganth taunted the counselor in front of his colleague. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The silence that met Talloc was filled with anger, and enhanced by fear of the consequences that waited for him. The rage boiled over and he threw a right hook at the Counselor. Reittan instinctively grabbed the fist accelerating towards his face, and the strength of his Vulcan heritage caught Talloc completely off-guard. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, well, well, Reitty-Rei, grew up." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lieutenant Reisan watched Talloc futilely grappling for control . Suddenly, the struggle stopped and the conversation turned telepathic. The intensity and the hatred that Morganth looked at the Counselor made Reisan glad she wasn't a telepath. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was then that the doors opened announcing the arrival of Security. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The red that had filled Talloc' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Save your pleas for your hearing, then you can say them out loud," the Lieutenant Commander mocked Talloc. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With that, the Counselor turned his attention to the Lieutenant who was in shock. She rested her body weight and head against the bulk head and started to slide down into a fetal position. Reittan rushed over and caught her while she was halfway to the floor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The security officers nodded and began leading their prisoner out of the room to his cell. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reisan began shaking uncontrollably. "He was in my head," was all she could say as she rocked back and forth. The words made Reittan sick. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We are going to take you to sickbay," | ||
+ | |||
+ | She stared off into space still shaking, but her legs supported her as he placed her weight on them. Reittan walked all the way to sickbay with her, many times carrying her weight whenever her legs became shaky due to shock. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Captains ready room, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lieutenant Commander Tolkath looked at his Captain with anticipation in his eyes. Though he could have clearly read her thoughts on the matter, he did as he always had and respected her privacy, though her emotions emanated much caution. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This is highly unusual Counselor. Why is it that you want to look into the matter?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There was a man on Earth named Sigmund Freud who could explain this scenario best. Freud postulated that there were three main spheres of the psyche: the Id, the Ego, and the Super Ego. The Id is all about impulse and selfish desires, the Super Ego is all about rules and morals; constraint. The Ego is the bartering system between the Id and the Super Ego." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, I am aware of Mister Freud." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "To put it best, Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ". . . he's running off pure instinct." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kimberly had once heard of those who were overly sensitive to psioinic energy. Many were doomed to self-exile, and others would be driven insane by the maelstrom of energy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | His most recent interactions with his old friend had not gone the way that Reittan had wished they had. "It is part of the reason I wanted to do this." Tolkath said repentantly. "I am ashamed of how I behaved and I need to find the truth." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kimberly Roth looked over the blue uniformed counselor. It didn't take an empath to know that his remorse was sincere. Smoke cocked his head and bleaked. "Yes, I agree with you Smoke. Counselor, I have talked it over with Lieutenant Beauvais. She is currently occupied with other concerns, but will look over your report, as will I. Is there anything you feel you may need?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | What excitement had filled the eyes of the Counselor quickly drained and he looked as if he were being asked to sacrifice his friend on a prehistoric altar. "Yes, one other. I will need someone on the medical team to assist me. I am going to do a complete psycho-socio-bio report. But, my concerns are about the individual assisting me. Should he or she become angry while I am there due to telepathic side-effects of me working with Talloc, well . . . we know what Betaziods are capable of thanks to the Dominion War." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you think Mister Morganth is capable of being hostile or violent?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I am not sure. This is the first time I have encountered a condition where the Super-Ego became this incapacitated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roth paused for a moment thinking of her crew's safety. The answer became evident. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath looked up at the Captain one eyebrow raised. "I haven' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You are dismissed." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thank you, sir." The Counselor turned and began his journey through the bridge to the turbolift. As he approached the doors they gave way with a hiss, and the sounds from the bridge entered the previously quiet room. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Main corridor, deck 10, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan Tolkath was lost shaken from his thoughts as the turbo-lift he was in came to a halt, signaling the arrival of another passenger Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The voice startled the Tolkath as he sensed no emotion from the Doctor with him in the turbo-lift. He looked up to find the source of the voice only to be greeted by Doctor Harris. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan paused, staring at the hologram standing before him, "Uh, hello Doctor Harris," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Is something bothering you, Counselor?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath looked at her in astonishment. He looked at the obviously human form before him. Doctor Shannon Harris looked all too real, but as the empathic officer regarded her, for Tolkath, it was like looking at a well-animated puppet. His eyes told him she was there. He could even feel a bit of air being displaced by her presence, perhaps even some heat, but the parts of his brain that read emotion and thought in other beings, which would be impossible to ignore at this distance, told him that the space around him was empty. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath took another long look at Doctor Harris, fixing his gaze on her eyes. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon looked on, dumb-founded. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon dropped her head with a soft chuckle. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Come again?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | At one moment, Doctor Harris' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You are a holographic projection?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Until recently, I kept the nature of my existence a secret. But the captain has now given me permission to let the rest of the crew know... if they ask." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh, I see," the Counselor responded; still taken off guard. "It was kept secret... because you were worried that others may be discriminative towards you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, that was part of it." Shannon replied. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "How have people responded as they..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon was slightly shocked by how the Lieutenant Commander was responding to the news, but attributed it to his line of duty. "I wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Doctor and the Counselor had some things in common. The both knew more than people were willing to admit, or that they would try to hide. Yet, they respected others privacy; they both stayed as much as they could out of people' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon looked at the level read-out, near the lift car's door. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Does this ship have any other kind?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | With a chuckle, the Counselor continued. "I suppose not." For a moment, the empath paused. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon tilted her head and raised her left eyebrow. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "A friend of mine, actually. A man I've known for years. Morganth is his name. He's a civilian contractor, at least according to his computer file, but I must confess I had no idea he was on board, and less of a clue why he assaulted one of my colleagues." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "How did you...?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon tapped her temple with a smile. "One advantage of being a hologram. I'm literally PART of the computer. I can access anything it knows, with a little effort." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well then, I am glad you are here, and that you are immune to our psionic capabilities. We may need that," the Counselor said. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you have any idea what is happening to your friend?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon nodded. She saw the pain in the Counselor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The turbo lift halted and the door opened to the corridor leading to the brig. The two walked in silence and the doors opened with a soft hiss, opening the way to the cells. As soon as the duty officers saw Tolkath and Doctor Harris enter the room, the gold-clad security men opened the heavy servo-locked doors that lead to the brig's interior. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once inside, effectively isolated from the rest of the ship, the two stopped, taking stock of their surroundings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From inside the brig's only occupied cell, Morganth noticed Reittan and telepathically shouted, 'YOU DID THIS TO ME!' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan suddenly felt the barrage of psionic energy crashing down on his body. His body shook and started to collapse for a brief moment under the weight of the attack. Shannon noticed the Counselor weaken and steadied him by putting her arm around him. It took a moment for Tolkath to recover and put his training in to play. Though he could feel the pressure of the attack, the pain had subsided. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Thank you," he said to Shannon as his strength returned and he stood upright. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No worries," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth looked at Reittan with pure hate emanating from him. "If you don't release me, I will hurt your friend." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan half-smiled and suddenly the weight no longer was there. The Lieutenant Commander had learned his lesson from entering the room unprepared. He leaned on Harris a moment longer, mustered his concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth stared at Shannon ferociously. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You can't hurt her. She's immune to psionic energy." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth shouted in frustration. ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Brig's foyer, one of the duty officers doubled over and collapsed in pain. His partner acted quickly to sound the security alert. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't even need to see anyone anymore. Face it Rei-Rei. I'm better than you." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reacting to the security alert, Shannon Harris shifted her concentration to the web of information constantly flowing to and from the ship's computer. She slipped in between bio-neural impulses and accessed the combadge network. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Petty Officer Rolands. Alpha Centauran." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan warned Morganth calmly, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The prisoner laughed outloud and exclaimed audibly. "How are you going to do that, Rei-Rei the crazy guy?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan produced a hypospray. Hyposprays had been used before to incapacitate, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As Tolkath walked slowly towards the force field, he began to feel the weight of the onslaught again. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | When Reittan began to take on the attack, Rolands regained his composure. Reittan used his medical override code to lower the force field, then to raise it after he had entered the cell. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon looked on, puzzled by the Counselor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As he entered, Reittan' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon was puzzled when the assailant did not lose consciousness. The prisoner suddenly went pale and looked bewildered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What have you done to me?" he asked in horror as he sank to the floor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan looked down at the empty container in his hand and all he could do was apologize. Turning back, he again used his code to lower the security field, exit the cell, and look back at his one-time-friend as the bluish field snapped back into place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Harris looked at the Counselor. She had seen the look before on doctors who had just informed their patient' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For Morganth, the once buzzing world surrounding him had gone deafeningly silent. He felt empty loneliness in a way that had only been nightmares during his youth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We can take him to sickbay now," Reittan stated hollowly, "He won't be a problem to anyone else for the moment." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan took a deep breath and answered the Pediatrician. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, I have thought this through. I need him to answer questions. Hopefully the bio-scans will show something." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan involuntarily twitched at the word " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon noted the unusual authority in his voice that a seasoned expert would display. It was as strange to her, as it was the rest of the crew, to see someone who looked Vulcan expressing emotion. Especially pride. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan was remorseful as the pair made their way to sickbay. At one point he tried to put his arm around the prisoner' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Sickbay, deck 12, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Upon reaching sickbay, Reittan walked to the side as Shannon took the prisoner to the medical bed. She could see pure fear in his eyes; so child-like. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now in Sickbay, Shannon felt back in her element. She looked to the duty station and found the somewhat confused face of Saal Yezbeck. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Hey Shannon. Counselor," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "This man is... or rather, WAS a dangerous psionic. I've administered an inhibitor to block his powers, so there is no danger, but I need to know what caused his illness." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Saal nodded solemnly. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | In moments, Saal had refined the scans of the bio-bed to Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Next to the diagnostic bed, Tolkath looked at Shannon. "So, what's it like?" he asked simply. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you think you need an appointment?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why not?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Stop that!" Shannon chided. "Stop answering questions with questions. It' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It makes you anxious? Really?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Fair enough," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And, Commander Carter? I assume he knows?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon shook her head. "Not a clue. I remember waking up in my quarters when Republic was in dry dock after her first re-commissioning. Then, for the next year or so, I just thought I was one of the crew. I was born in Australia. I survived the Borg attack on Earth. I joined Starfleet just after the Dominion War." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You did? Or Shannon Harris did?" Tolkath questioned. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Your background," | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a moment, Republic' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It looks... smaller, dimmer." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Saal shook his head looking at the scan, then at Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Saal turned to look at Tolkath directly, but the Counselor was already out the door, bolting down the corridor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Location: Talloc Morganth’s assigned guest quarters, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan entered his friend’s quarters cautiously; the lights were dimmer in the room than in the corridor. As his eyes adjusted to the darker environment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan spied a PADD walked over to the tablet shaped object that had been left in the mess. With a couple of quick taps to the PADD it came to life then flickered and faded, then came to life again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Counselor Tolkath began scanning the PADD with interest. With his access code over-ride he was able to access Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan looked up and laughed in spite of himself; Morganth had been definitely love struck with her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan remembered that Talloc was always, even as a child, engrossed with some type of plant and with his talent had resurrected much vegetation. Everyone thought that he would become a great botanist, but that dream took second to his current occupation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan glanced around the chaotic room and saw Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath reached out and grabbed the plant' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tolkath decided he had seen enough for today and was going to take the PADD back to his office to re-process the journal logs, when he noticed that he was starting to get a headache. Instinctively he thought of ignoring the pain, but his gut reaction that had served him very well in the past, suggested that he go to sickbay. Tolkath didn't recall how he got there, but the thorn lay in the palm of his hand as the Counselor entered sickbay. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Harris was the first to meet him. Her demeanor changed from pleasant to a worried expression on her face. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I have a slight headache," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Tolkath started noticing that his ability to think logically was beginning to get greatly inhibited. With one last push of thought, the answer became evident. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thorn. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the realization dawned on him, he quickly thrusted the thorn towards Doctor Harris, then blacked out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Already tapped into the computer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sensors displayed what Doctor Harris had feared: cortisone levels elevated and were continuing on to reach toxic levels. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I need a hypospray of corticotropin! Stat!" Shannon commanded in her Australian accent to the attending nurse. A hypospray appeared and Shannon quickly calculated the necessary dosage. Pressing the hypospray to the Counselor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Regulating the cortisol levels was just buying time while the deeper roots to the problem could be solved. Shannon gave orders to the frequency and dosage of the hypospray to be administered, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon stared at the thorn, studying it using all of the sensors available in Medical Bay. She then cross-referenced all material available to her aboard the Republic and in the Starfleet database; a pattern emerged. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Leon looked at Doctor Harris, fascinated by the implications of this purple thorn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon scratched his chin as he listened to Doctor Harris' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth was alone with Reittan in his section of sickbay. Tolkath looked at his friend pitifully. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't look that bad, do I?" Talloc verbally asked, half-smiling while laying in his bed. Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Morganth had been in a medically induced coma for the past few days while the effects of the surgery were being studied. He had been awake only fifteen minutes when his Counselor-friend had arrived. (Reittan would have been the moment he was awakened, except one of the officers with a histrionic personality had hindered his progress.) All of the bio scans and cognitive functioning batteries appeared normal; only some problems with short term memory. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan looked at Talloc and nodded in affirmation. "But it beat the madness . . . I guess." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Harris came to Morganth' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you ready?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shannon pressed the hypospray to his neck. With a hiss, a warm blanket of noise and life entered Talloc' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Uh Reittan,. . . I'm not sure that stuff is working right. . ." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reittan looked at his friend in confusion for a moment, but as he realized that he and Morganth were the only two full telepaths on the ship, he smiled in amusement. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
---- | ---- | ||
< | < | ||
<fs x-large> | <fs x-large> | ||
+ | **Location: Holodeck two, deck 10, USS Republic** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon walked through the doors into a well-furnished, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Quietly, a man came strolling into the room from the direction of the fireplace. At first, he did not pay attention to Leon, as he seemed engrossed in a quaint, leather-bound. The individual wasn't very tall, and in fact, was about the same height as Leon. Although he was wide around the waist, he wasn't stout, and carried his extra weight well. With a mop of curly brown and gray hair, his face was clean-shaven, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With pursed lips, the officer closed his book, and seemed slightly annoyed at Leon's arrival. Yet, he also acted as if the doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "One thing I like about the way he programmed my apartment is the randomness of the liquor cabinet," | ||
+ | |||
+ | The doctor accepted. Sniffing the glass before sipping, the aroma was rich and distilled, and although it had a slightly bitter overtone (Leon' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not bad for a computer," | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the two stood in the center of the posh den, Leon couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "James T. Kirk," the hologram replied expectantly. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon squinted at the hologram with both puzzlement and surprise. THIS was Kirk? The legend of the alpha quadrant? The most prominent of starship commanders that had been so idolized in every Starfleet historical text? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Recognizing Leon's confused expression, the captain pursed his lips again, not in annoyance this time, but more with resignation to the obvious. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kirk huffed with irony. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Not a clue." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Over forty-five thousand," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Taking a sip from his drink, Kirk casually began walking towards the two empty chairs by the fireplace. "Well, go ahead. Ask." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ask what?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What every cadet that John Carter sends here asks, of course," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't understand," | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Um, yes." The doctor paused with slight embarrassment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And you've just completed your fifth try, which ended in failure?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Why do you ask?" he replied to the question, nervously taking a sip from his cup. In fact, he had not run the Kobyashi Maru more than three times since John had given it to him, each session ending in a catastrophic explosion. With frustration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon froze at the statement. He suddenly realized why John was so angry with him. Up until their discussion in the corridor a few minutes ago, it was John's impression that Leon had already encountered the Jim Kirk program via the Kobyashi Maru. The fact that the holographic Kirk thought the same thing led Leon to realize that John had suspected this shortfall, and may have been the reason he gave him a second chance at the bridge officer' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon swallowed a sip of brandy very slowly, hoping to draw attention away from his shortfall about the Kobyashi Maru, and choosing to answer Kirk with information that John Carter had already offered him. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kirk's look of annoyance returned, and he almost looked insulted for a moment. "As the senior officer here, I believe that's *my* line," he scolded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon clearly looked much more uncomfortable at his response. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kirk ignored it. "Do you know why Carter programmed me?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "For entertainment purposes, I assume." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon suddenly realized why John was so ready to accept Shannon as a real person: His academy mentor was a hologram. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "After the academy, he took my program with him to every posting and ship that had a holodeck. Every time he needed someone to bounce ideas off of, or mull over difficult decisions, he'd be in here. Some assignments had him consulting me almost every night. Especially after being aboard the Devonshire . . . did he ever talk to you about the Devonshire?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon shook his head. "There are lots of things about his life that John Carter doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again, Leon felt embarrassed by the realization that he failed to follow John's advice and run the Kobyashi Maru as often as he could. "When was the last time you saw him?" he chose to change the subject. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Who? Carter?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kirk waved his hand. "Never mind that," he dismissed. "Ask Carter if you're so interested about that. What we need to be discussing at the moment is how you did on the Kobyashi Maru." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon sulkily leaned back into his chair. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I realize that you must not be too happy with your performance, | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why is that?" Leon mumbled, more detached than ever. Listening to the rambling thoughts of an old man - even a legendary one - wasn't his idea of a fun or interesting time in the holodeck. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So then, why are you still here?" Kirk finally asked. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Seems I've had this conversation before," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You could say that," the doctor replied, still looking rather uncomfortable to admit his shortcomings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And you're not happy with your performance?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And why not?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Leon was taken slightly by surprise. "Why do you think?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kirk looked towards Leon with a blank stare. If he was displeased at the doctor' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now you see my problem." | ||
+ | |||
+ | At that, Kirk looked back at him with the same blank stare, hiding whatever emotion he had behind his renowned poker face. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Of course I do!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No, I don't think you do," Kirk returned to watching the lit fireplace. "The doctors that I knew wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Are you saying I'm too insubordinate to command a starship?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What I'm saying," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "How does that affect whether or not a doctor can command a starship?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I don't understand." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "If a doctor spends most of their time thinking about only the crew, then they lose touch with what's happening outside the ship." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Or with it," Leon whispered in thought, the gears beginning to turn in his head. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, that's easy for the immortal Captain Kirk," Leon exclaimed. "Your entire career was about how you escaped from the jaws of death, and turned situations around to give them a more favorable outcome." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you mean?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Most of the time it wasn't *me* making the sacrifice," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although Kirk hadn't realized it, Leon had stopped drinking. His half-empty glass was sitting in his folded hands as he stared into the fire, hanging on every word that Kirk spoke. Leon finally found the magic and appeal of this particular holographic program, and why Nat found it so important for him to run it. With a look of comprehension on his face, the doctor abruptly set his glass down on the table next to him, and got up from the chair. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Was it something I said?" Kirk asked with surprise, glancing towards Leon as he marched towards the door. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Glad I could do something for you," the hologram replied, turning back towards the fireplace before adding one last sentence over his shoulder. "Do me a favor and tell Carter to stop by more than once a year, will you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "No problem," | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Just doing my job," Kirk replied nonchalantly as he leaned over to reclaim his leather-bound book from the coffee table. | ||
---- | ---- |