4.4 - Between Missions: On the Rutherford

[loki]

Even after all these years it was still a mystery as to why science officers were the last people in the world to be told anything. Lex guessed she should have been used to it by now, but somehow she never seemed to get over the annoyance: granted, she had learned to live with it, but she also found it gave one very little to do except sit around and twiddle their thumbs. And so lying back on her roll-out mat on the floor of the cargo bay, the officer stared up towards the dark hanger roof. The suspense and worry she had harbored for the rest of the senior staff had been relieved when she had been informed of their safe arrival on the Rutherford – including Commodore Jira, whose recovery, by all accounts, was several hours overdue.

So now there was nothing left save boredom, and the nagging urge to be off exploring. As far as she knew, the rest of the senior staff were tying up loose ends to do with the mission, none of which involved her input. She had seen little of the others since she had been on board the Rutherford as she had been assigned ‘quarters’ in the cargo bay along with the rest of her science crew.

“Bored?” Simon asked her as he plonked down on the mat beside her. Lex acknowledged her deputy with a smile.

“How can you tell?” She grinned.

“Well, I’ve been poking through those crates over there” Simon told her with a sly smile, “It looks as though the Rutherford crew have been busy.”

“Oh yeah?” she wondered where this was going.

“Yep, massive archaeological dig by the looks of things, they’ve salvaged all that stuff down the side and I’ll bet there’s more.”

“Oh really. And I suppose you want to go and find out?” She guessed.

He nodded. “You coming?” He asked as he jumped to his feet and headed for the corridor.

Loki caught up with the man just the other side of the door, although his pace was somewhat fraught. Not quite as excited as her second, Loki would have preferred to have looked around as she went, but apparently there wasn’t time. She and Simon hit the science labs sooner than she had expected, and to her surprise found them almost deserted. As she rounded a corner and peered through an open doorway the science officer stopped short in surprise. On the far side of the room, at least two stories taller than the woman studying it was an enormous slab of excavated rock, plastered with symbols, pictures and writings. With her eyes goggling, Lex cleared her throat.

”Oh, hello.” The young woman in a white coat addressed her, barely looking up from her padd. After a few moments of silence she spoke again, “Can I help you with something?”

Loki looked over the womans face. It was slightly freckled, but most of those were hidden by a long droopy fringe that had fallen out of her messy ponytail. She looked younger then Lex, but only by a couple of years, and appeared as engrossed in this find as Lex wanted to be.

“Is that really a coverstone?” Simon blurted out before Lex could introduce them. The woman didn’t seem to mind.

“Yes. Well, we think so, the language is different to any that we have seen before, there seem to be mixtures of several modern languages, but we are unsure about the origin of the dialect.” She told them.

Loki frowned, and walked over so that her nose almost touched the stone. Then, very slowly she ran her hand down one of the inscriptions, being careful to not actually make contact with the surface. “It looks like an derivative of Klingon. Perhaps ancient Klingon.”

“Ancient Klingon?” The woman seemed cautious.

“Well, a form of. These symbols are Neolithic at best, but I can make out some of the words…” Lex explained, furrowing her brow to help her remember. And from there the conversation spiraled into a three way translational marathon as the officers tried to piece together the language on the stone. Dr Seaton, as they discovered was her name, seemed more than happy to let them help out, having informed Lex that her own staff had trouble simply cataloguing items, let alone studying them. Slowly, hours drifted by, and they began to piece together the puzzle before them.

“Lieutenant Loki.” The security guards booming voice made all three officers jump out of their skin, and Dr Seaton quickly jumped up to reprimand his interruption. The man, however, cut her up short and scowled directly in Lex’s direction.

“Lieutenant Loki, you have no business being here.” He told her blandly, looking as though he might have been enjoying it. “The Captain would like you to go back to your assigned quarters while we make our way to Starbase Assailant.”

“What do you mean I have no business here?” Lex countered in an I-know-I’m-right tone. “I’m a science officer and –”

“Its Captains orders Lieutenant. I am to escort you back to the cargo bay, with your cooperation or otherwise.” He pressed, drawing his bulky form up to his full height. Lex was not worried by the extra couple of feet however, she had always welcomed the opinion that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

“Now hang on a minute,” she said, launching up out of her chair to have a go at him, “Why aren’t I allowed –” He stopped her again, this time stepping up beside her and fastening his fist above her elbow.

“Please Lieutenant, just come this way. Oh, and try to stay away from the labs. We wouldn’t want you getting into trouble now would we?”

[Harrias Jira]

It wasn’t long after Captain Takk had left that the door slid open again, and a haggard figure entered, seeming far worse for the obvious strain he was under. The medic who had been tended to Jira quickly walked over to him, and the two talked in whispers for some time, leaving the trill to get fidgety and slightly worried. After a few minutes of talking, the newer figure, who was obviously more senior walked over to him.

“Commodore, I am sorry I could not get to you sooner, we have been somewhat inundated with ill bodies, and I prioritised in terms of situation. However, I got here as soon as I could. Luwin tells me that while your injuries are far from life threatening, there is some danger of infection unless we operate soon. Unfortunately, as you wore your mail over your uniform, the fabric from your shirt was dragged in when you got cut. As I am sure you were aware, your undershirt was not the cleanest item of clothing that we’ve seen today. As this has been left for a while, it is going to be difficult to remove it without causing you extreme pain, or ripping a significant amount of you out with it. Therefore as petty as it may seem we would like to perform some semi-invasive surgery.”
“Doctor- sorry I didn’t catch your name?”
“Bailey, Dr Edwin Bailey.”
“Dr Bailey, could I see Dr Lorre about this? She is after all, my physician.”
“I’m afraid Dr Lorre is still recovering from her injuries, she is in a fragile state still. In fact, I just came from her.” He subconsciously glanced down at himself, but Jira saw nothing more than his clean pair of scrubs.
“How bad is she?” He snapped instantly worried.
“She hasn’t come around yet, but we are confident that she will make a full and complete recovery.”
“Hmmm. Okay, perform your surgery, or whatever you want to do.”

When he awoke, the trill commanding officer felt like his chest was burning; indeed it felt many times worse than the original injury had been during the fight. As he faded out of his semi-conscious state he reflected that this was probably due to the adrenaline and generally raised levels of hormones in his body during the fight. He looked around him, the world blurring into existence slowly. He saw a short figure in front of him.
“How are you feeling Commodore?”
“It hurts like hell.” He replied slowly, his tongue feeling heavy within his mouth.
“We would expect that after an operation like this. The pain should fade away pretty quickly; we can give you some anaesthetic for the pain if you want?”
“That would be good. Is there any news on Melain?”
“No, she’s still unconscious I’m afraid.”

[Deleted]

When she was conscious Melain was aware of only two things, a throbbing pain in her shoulder and the familiar smell of a Star Fleet Sickbay. It was when she was asleep that she wished for death more then anything. She would feel the methodic rhythm of her mind slipping into the dream world. At this moment she would pray that one of the nurses would engage in a loud boisterous conversation with a patient to jolt her awake. This never happened, the nurses where well trained and took special care in assuring the patients all got their rest. So as a result Sickbay was a painfully quiet place.

When she did inevitably dream it always began the same. She would find herself in a white vacant space, she could not feel ground against her feet, but had a sense of direction. It was peaceful there and the first time she’d dreamt she thought she had died and that perhaps this was the Celestial temple, it seemed to match the descriptions she’d heard. Then things would change, out of the white mist a figure would materialise. Once the figure because identifiable Melain’s heart would leap and her gut would quench, it was Toledo Javell, his face caked with blood, his eyes sightless. He would whisper words Melain could not understand, then another voice would join his and another figure materialise and press in towards her, then another and another. Nathan Wright, the young engineer who she had found dying on the battle field, the other crewman who’d lain murdered in the clearing beside Toledo, the dead Ensign who’s crashed pod they had discovered, then Ophila the Krield healer (Melain realised that the appearance of the women must mean she too was now dead). Everyone she had ever known as a doctor who had died crowded around her, accusing fingers pointing and unison voices declaring ‘Failure, you are a failure, look what you have done.” Their chant would grow louder and faster, Melain would turn searching for an escape route, but the crowd was too thick, and she was so tired. Then when it seemed as though their voices could grow no louder they stopped, and one by one they would take one step forward and state their cases
“You lack the courage to be useful, go back home.” Ophila declared
“You have no experience, yet you pretend you know everything.”
“You’ve strayed off the path the Prophet’s laid out for you, go find it again.” Toledo advised
“You took a dangerous route, your risked lives other then your own.”
“You are confused in your loyalties, who do you serve?”
“Your do not deserve this post, it was given to you because no one else was available”
There statements would begin to repeat, then blend together into a meaningless jumble of noise.
Then it would again grow quiet and other figures joined the crowd, Commodore Harrias, Commander Stevenson, Major Johnson, Frek Thelev, surely they too where not dead?
“I chose you for my crew, I made a mistake.” Harrias would sigh
“I thought you where a leader, know I know why you where never put in charge before”
“For someone who bulks at violence, many die because of you.” Cyle spat
Frek would then step forward, and he alone amid the throng had kindness in his eye, but before he spoke, Melain would awake and so her only chance at pity during the nightmare would be snatched away.

Then Melain would lay awake, her eyes still closed, waiting for it all to happen again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edwin Bailley knew that Doctor Lorre Melain was dreaming, the brain waves where easily identifiable. He could also tell by the way she moaned and fidgeted in her sleep that these where no pleasant dreams, but he was under orders not to wake her, speak with her or have any contact above what was medically required. In fact the entire Nevada senior staff was being treated like criminals, they could not see each other, they where not to be told about the conditions of their injured colleges and the Rutherford crew was not to socialise with them. Edwin felt this was not justified, but his opinion on this did not seem to hold much weight.

When the Rutherford was within a day’s travel of StarBase Assailant they where given orders to change course and head for sector 001, better known as Earth. Edwin was given few details on why they where needed on Earth, but it was not difficult for him to determine this was due to their guests.

(91139)

[Magellan Lin]

OOC: Mr Jira was complaining I never post anything on the Nevada, I did point out there currently wasnt a Nevada to post on but have managed to find away to sneak one in. Good luck in your latest mission it sounds like a good one. All the best.



The deep painful throbbing inside his head began to subside as he re-entered his office. The dim lighting stopped his eyes from feeling like needles. He went directly to the replicator his hand trembling, he could barely believe what he had just done. It was getting worse the self medicated Isoboramine shots were wearing off quicker and quicker and his previous hosts control of him was becoming stronger and stronger, the lines between them sharp and vibrant, frighteningly so. He could feel Loran lurking and he pushed her further back within the blend that existed between him and Lin. He knew that if help from Trill didn’t arrive soon he could very well go insane.

Settling into his desk he pulled up a list of recent departures and arrivals. He skim read them at first, he was tired and still shocked at how he had threatened the Mayor… no how Loran had threatened the Mayor. It was all becoming too much, any slight emotional upset seemed to strengthen her control. He tried to ignore his concerns and plough on with his work. If he could just work his way through it perhaps he and Lin could find their way back to a suitable bond.

At the bottom of the last PaDD on his desk a fleet update caught his eye. He frowned at the redistribution and then rechecked. Scowling he tapped his comm. badge.
=^= F’rass patch me through to the Rutherford, she should be leaving the Shamin System=^=
=^=Aye sir. I’ll put it through to your desk=^=

Magellan waited a moment whilst the Starfleet logo span on the screen before him. Then it blinked out and was replaced by the face of Tellarite.

=^=What can I do for you Admiral? =^=
=^=I have a query about your course err… Captain…?=^=
=^=Takk, Captain Takk=^=
Magellan could feel anger rising within him already, Tellarites were notoriously argumentative,
=^=Well Captain Takk why exactly are you not returning to Assailant=^=
Takk looked non-plussed,
=^=We have orders to return to Earth=^=
=^=Earth=^= Magellan spluttered, =^=Assailant is nearer=^=
Takk shrugged,
=^=I have orders to go directly to Earth=^=
=^=Couldn’t you return my officers first? =^=
Takk paused his eyes narrowing slightly,
=^=My orders were quite specific, the crew of the Nevada are to be taken to earth=^=

By now Magellan was near apoplexy he could feel his grip on reality shifting once more in the favour of his most dangerous host,
=^=I AM FLEET COMMANDER. I HAVE operational command=^= he roared so loudly that those in Ops outside paused and looked towards his office, =^=YOU have MY staff on your ship, some are injured. =^=
Takk remained calm,
=^=My medical staff is dealing with their injuries, they are not significant… I do no…=^=
=^= A Norway class vessel is not setup up to care for so many people or so long. I want my people back=^=
Takk was beginning to tire of this tirade,
=^=With all due respect sir. The Rutherford is capable of coping, my staff are perfectly capable. If you have a problem with my orders then take them up with Starfleet Command. My orders came direct from Rear Admiral Sokal his authority at command supersedes yours I m afraid. I m sure the Admiral will inform you of his reasoning when he deems it necessary. Now if you don’t mind I have a lot of work to catch up on and your crew to look after. I will have Commodore Jira report to you via sub space as soon as he is able. Good night. =^=
Risking a lot Captain Takk shut off the comm. line and sighed deeply.
He rose from his seat and left his ready room.
“Ted, If Admiral Magellan or anyone from Assailant hails again stall them, perhaps we are experiencing Communications problems or something. I ll be in my ready room.”

[Harrias Jira]

Propping himself up on the bed that he had been lucky enough to be afforded, Harrias felt the pain creeping back into his chest. He scowled and looked around for someone who might be able to provide him with more anaesthetic, but while the bustling corridor that he had been left in was full of people, none of them seemed to be wearing the teal of medical. In fact, the vast majority were wearing yellow. Which meant that he had either been taken to engineering, which he highly doubted, or the security detail on the Rutherford were earning their bacon. Considering what he had experienced so far in terms of welcome and hospitality, he suspected it was the latter.

As he tried to raise himself to a higher sitting position the pain ripped through him again, and he quickly reconsidered the idea, instead grabbing the arm of one of the yellow-trimmed officers as they passed by.
“I’d like to see as many of my senior staff as are fit.”
“I’m not sure…”
“It wasn’t a request Lieutenant.” He urged after a quick glance at the man’s rank pips. The lieutenant mumbled something about seeing what was possible and then jogged off after his friends, who were waiting at the end of the corridor for him still. When he reached them the group talked for a while, and a few of them peered down at him. The result of the conversation seemed to be a group shrug, and they ran off, presumably in search of someone with brains.

The trill commodore was just about giving up any hope of the message having been passed along when Captain Takk arrived, accompanied by Commander Stevenson.
“Commodore, it’s good to see you awake once again. You were in such bad shape when we recovered you.”
“Thank you. My crew?”
“Ah.. yes. The thing is, very few of them are able to come. Commander Thelev is still in a critical condition. He is stable, and will make a full recovery, but my doctors have advised that he can’t leave his bed yet. Commander Lorre is still unconscious, and Lieutenant Loki has been restricted to quarters; or what passes for them.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably.
“Thank you Captain, I will speak with Commander Stevenson.” The science vessel CO continued to move uncomfortably. “Alone.” There was an edge to the trill’s voice.
“Ah, see that’s the problem sir. We have orders that you can not talk to each other. Certainly not see each other alone.”

Jira’s face went red. Not the kind of red that you find when something has been in the sun too long: the kind of red that you find in a child’s paint set. The bright, overpowering red that meant danger. He bit his lip for a second, to tone his words slightly. “So Captain, what you are telling me is that I can not talk to my own crew, and that after a traumatic experience such as we have just gone through, my crew can not console and support each other? Because if that IS what you are telling me, THEN YOU CAN DAMNED WELL GO TO HELL!” He smiled sweetly at the end of the sentence, but his whole body was practically vibrating with emotion. Commander Stevenson was stood with a neutral expression on her face.

Captain Takk paused for a few seconds before he answered, “Unfortunately that is exactly what I am saying Commodore. I will not say that I take any joy from having to do this, but at the same time, there are some of us that work hard for Starfleet and complete missions and missions on end without breaking rules, without losing large amounts of crew, and that many of us are suffering because of the rogue attitudes of commanding officers such as yourself.” He slammed his hand down on the side of the bed with each of the last few words to make his point.

“You say you have restricted Lieutenant Loki to quarters?”
“Yes.” The conversation’s words had stepped into civil, neutral territory, but each of those words was tipped with acid.
“I would speak to her. I respect your orders, but I should not be denied to speak with a member of my senior staff; with one of your people present if needs be.”
“Fine, but it will be in my report.”
“That is at your discretion.”
“I’ll want to talk to you later Hannah. Just do what you can to make sure that our people are being treated well. I am sorry things have turned out this way.” He suddenly felt weak again, the pain flowed back into him, the adrenaline all gone again. His shoulders dropped, he felt cold, tired and it seemed that nothing really mattered, not enough.

A while later Lieutenant Loki appeared at the end of the corridor, accompanied by a retinue of three security officers. Jira raised his eyebrows with a slight smile.
“It seems that even in times of such thin crewing, you are dangerous enough to warrant three guards.”
“Oh them? They are to stop me running back to the science labs and pouring over the artefacts they recovered in a recent dig.” She said it like they didn’t bother her and that she would still find a way to get back to where she had left her heart. The trill couldn’t help but broaden his smile at that. Archaeology had swept his heart away once when he was younger; he had handed his resignation in to his commanding officer at the time on the USS Lakota. Luckily it had been refused, and his hobby had been fitted in as part of the work he was doing, and a few months later he had been transferred onto a project that would let him fulfil these desires.
“Just don’t do anything stupid huh? The rest of the senior staff do enough of that to keep me occupied.” He laughed, but stopped quickly when it made him buckle with the pain.

[Deleted]

Cyle stared up at the ceiling in the quarters he was provided by the generous crew of the Rutherford. He had been laying in his bed for more than an hour, unable to get to sleep. Everytime he attempted to leave the quarters, he was followed, and restricted from entering certain areas. he knew full well he could have turned the security gaurd into a pile mush, he decided not to let himself get angered, and kept to the quarters.

'i wonder if the others are being treated like this as well' Cyle thought to himself, sitting himself up on the bed. He walked over to the replicator and ordered a tall glass of water, setting it down on the desk near the bed.

[hannah]

Hannah stared up at the ceiling as she awoke from another nightmare. She hadn’t had a decent nights sleep since before the Nevada exploded, first due to sleeping in the conditions on the medieval planet and now for the last couple of nights she had been plagued by constant nightmares all based on her experiences on the planet.

She sat up in the bed and glanced around the room all the other occupants in the room were sound asleep. She sat up and rotated her body ninety degrees so her feet dangled off the bed. She looked down at the side cabinet to see the pad containing the story that she had been reading for the last two days. She had managed persuade one of the nurse to get her something to read as she was getting sick of spending every waking hour running the incident on the planet though her mind.

Hannah slid of the bed and let her feet settle on the ground before putting her fall weight on them. Her legs felt stiff probably from how much time she’d spent in bed over the last few days. She slowly walked towards the door letting her legs get use to walking again.

As she approached the doors they slid open and continued though them.

“Where are you going?” a voice called from behind. She turned to see a security officer standing to the left hand side of the door she had just stepped though.

“Just going for a walk, as I can’t sleep,” Hannah explained.

“Sorry, I have orders that you are not allowed to leave these quarters,” the officer responded.

“But…” she stopped herself she knew it was pointless arguing with him. She reluctantly moved though the door and back into the quarters and walked back to the bed.

Hannah slumped back onto the bed and began to wonder why the security guard won’t let her leave these quarters. She considered it being doctor’s order, but they don’t normal put a security guard on the doctor to stop you escaping. She came to the conclusion that it must have come from someone in the command. The more important question was why. She wondered if it was because of what happened on the planet or what happened to the Nevada. As her mind consideration the question she feel back into a deep sleep.