Mission 93.1026 - It's Not Always What It Seems!
Mar 18, 2008 4:22:39 GMT
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2008 4:22:39 GMT
Megan was startled out of her sleep by a loud knock on her door. Sitting up slowly, one handing rubbing her eyes, the science officer suddenly leaped to her feet as the realization of someone being at the door sunk in and she hurried to make herself presentable. After smoothing her hair back and hurriedly scrubbing her face to erase any signs of tears, the Commander pulled herself together as best she could before pushing the button to open the doors. But there was no one there. Frowning, Commander Garrett placed her hands on either side of the door and leaned forward to look either way, but found vacant corridors in both directions.
‘That’s weird…’ Megan thought, but dismissed any continued concern and turned around, moving towards the bathroom and allowing the doors to close behind her. The face that looked back at her from the large mirror over the sink was almost unrecognizable to her and hardly presentable, causing her to feel very grateful that no one had been at the door. The mere sight of her looking like this would have been enough for anyone to know she’d been crying, and it would hardly do for anyone to see such a huge sign of weakness from the acting first officer.
After splashing some cold water on her face, Megan was beginning to look a little more like herself, even though her eyes were still bloodshot and hollow. Carefully pinning back a few stray strands of hair, she suddenly became aware of the fact that she didn’t know what time it was. When the computer informed her it was almost 4:00am, it became clear that going back to sleep would be rather pointless considering she usually got up between 4:30 and 5:00 anyway. Besides, going through a normal exercise routine sounded absolutely perfect at the moment.
The steady rhythm of running and swimming helped to drown out all of the other thoughts that were rushing around in the science officer’s head and allowed her to enjoy a period of blissful silence in her own mind. Megan was all too familiar with going through a traumatizing event and finding a way to push any of the emotional consequences aside until the facts could be fully reconciled and properly handled. So as horrible as this had been, it would not be the end of her, although the initial outpouring of grief had momentarily created that illusion. This was something that Commander Megan Garrett would manage to survive and get through somehow.
~
“Transport complete; have the cell cleared out and secured and you may return to regular duty shifts. Garrett out.” Tapping her commbadge, the grim faced science officer stood silently over the body of Sub-Commander Jombis. No one else had seen him, as the security officers had done their jobs and kept the body isolated. Even now that the transport was complete, Megan was still the only person who had seen him. Luckily the transporter had beamed him out of the restraints and rematerialized him lying on the cold, metal table in the morgue, but the imprints from the straps were still in stark contrast to his otherwise pale green skin.
Suppressing a shudder, Commander Garrett allowed herself one last moment of emotional expression and cautiously pushed back a stray lock of hair from his forehead. “I’m sorry.” Megan whispered, letting a single tear trail down her face.
Taking a deep breath and wiping the offending tear away, the Commander pushed the emotions back one final time before activating the EMH. “Conduct a complete autopsy. Any minute detail you can learn from this body, I want to know about it. Make no official record or retain any evidence of what you find, and let me know when your final report is complete.” Megan ordered glad to have the EMH to make this request of as it certainly made the classification process far simpler. She knew perfectly well how issues such as this were taken care of: no proof that it ever happened was kept in any official capacity and the incident would end up buried. Handling it this way just a preemptive move to begin the inevitable cleanup.
With a heavy sigh, Megan turned and left the EMH to his task, locking the door behind her. If Matt pushed and wanted to see the results and receive a report from her, the science officer would comply of course, but she knew very well that report would mysteriously disappear and would tell him as much. As her superior, he had the right to know what had happened, and she would grant him that level of respect certainly, but this matter would not go much further than the two of them. For now, Commander Garrett would simply go about her normal duties, both as Chief of Science and Acting First Officer. Things would settle soon enough.
‘That’s weird…’ Megan thought, but dismissed any continued concern and turned around, moving towards the bathroom and allowing the doors to close behind her. The face that looked back at her from the large mirror over the sink was almost unrecognizable to her and hardly presentable, causing her to feel very grateful that no one had been at the door. The mere sight of her looking like this would have been enough for anyone to know she’d been crying, and it would hardly do for anyone to see such a huge sign of weakness from the acting first officer.
After splashing some cold water on her face, Megan was beginning to look a little more like herself, even though her eyes were still bloodshot and hollow. Carefully pinning back a few stray strands of hair, she suddenly became aware of the fact that she didn’t know what time it was. When the computer informed her it was almost 4:00am, it became clear that going back to sleep would be rather pointless considering she usually got up between 4:30 and 5:00 anyway. Besides, going through a normal exercise routine sounded absolutely perfect at the moment.
The steady rhythm of running and swimming helped to drown out all of the other thoughts that were rushing around in the science officer’s head and allowed her to enjoy a period of blissful silence in her own mind. Megan was all too familiar with going through a traumatizing event and finding a way to push any of the emotional consequences aside until the facts could be fully reconciled and properly handled. So as horrible as this had been, it would not be the end of her, although the initial outpouring of grief had momentarily created that illusion. This was something that Commander Megan Garrett would manage to survive and get through somehow.
~
“Transport complete; have the cell cleared out and secured and you may return to regular duty shifts. Garrett out.” Tapping her commbadge, the grim faced science officer stood silently over the body of Sub-Commander Jombis. No one else had seen him, as the security officers had done their jobs and kept the body isolated. Even now that the transport was complete, Megan was still the only person who had seen him. Luckily the transporter had beamed him out of the restraints and rematerialized him lying on the cold, metal table in the morgue, but the imprints from the straps were still in stark contrast to his otherwise pale green skin.
Suppressing a shudder, Commander Garrett allowed herself one last moment of emotional expression and cautiously pushed back a stray lock of hair from his forehead. “I’m sorry.” Megan whispered, letting a single tear trail down her face.
Taking a deep breath and wiping the offending tear away, the Commander pushed the emotions back one final time before activating the EMH. “Conduct a complete autopsy. Any minute detail you can learn from this body, I want to know about it. Make no official record or retain any evidence of what you find, and let me know when your final report is complete.” Megan ordered glad to have the EMH to make this request of as it certainly made the classification process far simpler. She knew perfectly well how issues such as this were taken care of: no proof that it ever happened was kept in any official capacity and the incident would end up buried. Handling it this way just a preemptive move to begin the inevitable cleanup.
With a heavy sigh, Megan turned and left the EMH to his task, locking the door behind her. If Matt pushed and wanted to see the results and receive a report from her, the science officer would comply of course, but she knew very well that report would mysteriously disappear and would tell him as much. As her superior, he had the right to know what had happened, and she would grant him that level of respect certainly, but this matter would not go much further than the two of them. For now, Commander Garrett would simply go about her normal duties, both as Chief of Science and Acting First Officer. Things would settle soon enough.