The Vampire Virus

[Deleted]

<after any response from ONE/TWO and/or Nova....>

S'reena left the office, still not much wiser than before. She found her former CO's behaviour rather peculiar, but based on her recent experiences she assumed that he was not infected. He did not display the known symptoms and unless new syptoms had manifested themselves without Starfleet medical knowing about it, Captain ONE definately was not infected. During their talk, Nova had disappeared from the office, but she did not know when exactly he had left, it seemed he had found a way to leave the office very quietly. ~either that or he has gone up in smoke~ S'reena thought wryly.

She walked down the corridor, thinking of writing a program to keep herself busy and have some time off with her family. She still felt sick on occasion due to her pregnancy, and she knew that this was not going to be an easy one either due to the infection, but she needed time off. As she neared the area with the holodecks, she saw a limp form lying on the deck.

Throwing all caution overboard, she sped forward towards the form, recognizing Roz Drouet as she approached. "Roz!" she exclaimed, kneeling besides the woman. A quick examination showed claw marks on her pant leg and both pant leg and boot were torn, showing bloody marks on her leg. Breathing was haggard and she looked ghastly pale, her lips turning a cyanide blue. "S'reena to transporter room, two to beam directly to sickbay." she shouted as she tapped her combadge, and after acknowledgement she tapped it again. "Salek, Jordan prepare to receive a critical patient."

She had just finished when she felt the effect of the transporter beam take hold of her, and Roz, whom she had scooped up in her arms. Squinting against the bright ilumination of sickbay, she sought out Salek, who was beckoning her over. She sped forward and placed the still unconscious form of Roz on the prepared biobed. "She will be all right, right?" she asked impatiently, even before Salek had started his examination.

<Salek>

[Karynn McCormick]

Commodore said:

uhm Karynn.....when did Nova get to your quarters? In my post I placed him still in the office, with ONE <assuming he was still tehre since there was no mention of him leaving, unless he can walk when unconscious? OR I must have missed something?>

The meeting of ONE and Nova all took place in my quarters. Then, ONE went to his office... after being 'persuaded' by Nova not to let them take him to sickbay. His office is where the posts/conversations between him and Jordan took place. I'm assuming Nova just stayed where he was.

[Deleted]

k thnx...my mistake then probably misread, I thought it was the office. TNX for explaining!

[Felix Savali]

"She will be all right, right?" she asked impatiently, even before Salek had started his examination.

"Commander, wait there and notify base security", he said as he was taking his tricoder and began to scan Roz

Miner injuries, nothing life threatening he thought. He took a tissue regenerator and began to heal her scratches. It was then that he noticed two puncture holes, he had not seen them before but he knew what they meant.

He quickly extracted a sample of Roz's blood, and went over to the blood analyst. Leaving a nurse to heal her wounds. He put the blood under it and started the analysis. He was right, it was poison. He had to find out which poison it is as he can not treat it unless he knows what exactly it is.

He started the protein matching program , as it was the logical solution to this program if it is one of the poisons in the SF database he would be able to cure her. But if it is not , then he will have to resort to other methods.

"Doctor", a nurse called him

"Come quick", she yelled

And he went to see what was happening. Roz was having a seizure. He gave her some medicine to calm her down. But he had to find out what bit her and he had to find out right away.

"Commander"; he called S'reena

"Where have you found her?", he asked

"Outside of a holodeck, she was lying on the floor next to the door.", she said

"How is she", S'reena asked quickly

But Salek had already left. He went over to the computer console and was attempting to access the holodeck log of events, as whoever carried Roz out of the holodeck forgot to turn it of.

"Access denied, only those with clearance sigma 10 can access the starbase computer.", the message read

There was no time to go and find someone with the rank of VA or above, he had to see what had bit her, before it was too late. Even if it meant he had to use it.

"Computer, access holodeck 3 event log, authorization Grey Serpent alpha 4 6 sigma alpha 9 8 7"

"Access permitted, logs of access will be removed once the connection is severed"

He went through the log , he found that adm. McCormick had been there and attempted to bit Roz, and then a three headed serpent came out and bit her. And the safety measures were offline, meaning the poison is real.

He went to the replicator and tapped in the molecular structure of the antidote. After a few minutes the antidote was replicated. He went of to Roz and gave her the antidote, a few seconds later her body temperature was beginning to lower. She was going to be fine. He gave some instructions to the nurse and then went to S'reena.

"We need to find out who has been bitten by Karynn, and take them out, and we need to find Karynn right now", he said

<S'reena>

[Deleted]

"I quite agree," S'reena answered, after being assured that Roz would recover without any lasting after-effects. "I was bitten by her," she started, "but I have no knowledge of who else she might have gotten to. I have no doubt that someone tried to get to Captain ONE, and possibly would have fully succeeded had it not been for all that Borg technology on him."

She paused, as she walked alongside Salek, into his office. "Perhaps we should ask Roz what she was doing in the holodeck with Admiral McCormick?" she suggested, "Roz is a cunning young woman, I am sure that she knows into what McCormick has been changed. Also, any high-ranking visitors should be tracked down, up to the point where the Hepta returned from her last mission. Captain Marcell might be of assistance too, he served on the Hepta before receiving command of the Hanson."

She tapped her combadge. "S'reena to Marcell, could you please come down to sickbay, it is very important." Without awaiting reply, she disconnected the com-link and turned to watch Roz from a distance. "Perhaps I should try to find out who came and went, while we were away," she suggested, "and perhaps Commanders Thrawn and Rota might be willing to help." Instantly she summoned both officers down to sickbay, then accessed the computer. "Vesuvius left before we did," she announced, "message logs say their CO was infected and cured....hmm now this is interesting. Section Admiral Nova is aboard this station...we should warn him...if it is not already too late." She falls silent, remembering something. "Hang on, I saw him earlier today...he looked...peculiar and slipped out of the office without so much as saying a word...I wonder...Salek, can you pull up his medical record? Also, where is Commander Mackler? She is here on the station, the Hepta has not yet left. Perhaps she knows something."

<Salek, Thrawn, Rota, Marcell, Nova, ONE>

[Thrawn]

Commander Thrawn stepped into the Conqueror's sickbay, and immediately began speaking to S'reena.

"Commander, I am quite busy with the repairs to the Hanson following our last mission. I would appreciate some kind of explanation for this interruption."

He looked calmly at the Romulan commander, his words being said carefully and precisely without hint of anger or annoyance. She stared back at him, obviously considering her response. He waited patiently, taking the time to observe her, taking a mental note of her expression and reaction for possible later use.

"Admiral McCormick has been infected in the same way I was. But this time the affliction has spread to other officers on the station, maybe even to other ships that have been docked here."

Thrawn bowed his head slightly, and became deep in thought, his mind automatically switching over to a tactical analysis of the situation. It did not look promising. Several high ranking officers within the Section in general, and the Academy specifically, had become infected by means unknown with a condition that made them want to bite other people's necks and spread the infection further. It occurred to Thrawn that the simplest solution would be to evacuate all remaining healthy personnel from Conqueror, leaving the vampirical officers behind. Without a source of potential new vampires the infection would die, as with all other such forms of life it was eventually self destructive. That wasn't acceptable however, as it would mean sacrificing the section admiral and innumerable others too valuable to the Federation. It would also be difficult to screen against one of the affected escaping with the healthy officers and cadets.

Another solution would be to track down and destroy the source of the infection. Unfortunately it wasn't known what or who that was. All that was certain for now was that Karynn McCormick was spreading it. She had to be stopped.

"Commander S'reena, do you have a plan, or am I correct in assuming that you summoned Mr. Rota and myself for tactical insight?"

[Deleted]

"You are correct in your assumption commander," S'reena replied, "you two know more of the station's lay-out that me or the captain. You may know of places that she could be hiding, that we do not know about. Any suggestions on how we can catch her?"


<sorry bit out of inspiration...perhaps more tomorrow after responses from anyone?>

[roz]

Roz slowly woke up and looked around. She looked right into the face of a vulcan and started slightly. Everything that had happened to her in the holodeck came flooding back to her and she sat up quickly.

Salek: Good to see you're awake.

Roz: I'm glad to be alive. I thank you for your help but right now I have to go.

She moved to get off the biobed and Salek stopped her. He had a stern look in his eyes.

Salek: You won't be going anywhere in a hurry. I have to make sure that the antivenin that I used to counteract the poison is working at full capacity. You will be staying here until I'm satisfied.

Roz sighed and tried to control any irritation she had.

Roz: I have to get to my friend, Art Cline. We're tracking someone.

Salek stared at her. He stepped back a bit.

Salek: Who are you tracking?

Roz: Admiral McCormick. I put a tracker on her uniform so we could keep her from biting anyone else and making them a vampire.

Salek sent a message to S'reena. He knew she was at dinner with Tony and her family but he needed to get this info to her. Then he took another blood sample and was looking at it under the lens when Roz snuck up behind him and knocked him unconscious.

Roz: Sorry but I can't stick around.

She ran out of sickbay a little dizzy but was fine. She needed to get to Art before Karynn found her. Roz stopped momentarily when a thought occurred to her. She had no way of knowing where Karynn was or where she was lurking. Her eyes turned yellow and she continued on her way to the turbolifts.

[Karynn McCormick]

What was once Duke Nova and Karynn McCormick sauntered through the corridors of the Starbase. Their combined strength made them both feel impervious. They headed toward the Medical Section with single-minded intent. They were going after those that knew of their powers and subdue them by giving them the same gift that made them feel invincible. Coyly, Karynn glanced at Nova as they walked, telepathically guiding his thoughts. They both grinned in anticipation of their success.

Neither Duke nor Karynn knew of the convergence of enemies they were about to face. Art Cline was busily tracking McCormick’s movements. Roz Drouet was on the hunt. And S’reena was toting her hypospray full of cure.

The two Admirals rounded a corner and now stood face to face with a yellow-eyed Roz. Stopping abruptly, Karynn caught Roz in her mesmerizing gaze. Roz hesitated slightly, but seemed unaffected.

“I’m very pleased to see you have rid your body of those nasty toxins, my dear,” Karynn said and she licked her lips in expectation of Roz’s warm elixir playing upon her palette. “Your strength will be such an asset to us.”

“I won’t be a part of this craziness you’ve become,” Roz exclaimed as she prepared herself for whatever attack might be coming.

Karynn and Duke laughed, Karynn’s laugh echoing into a low, ferocious rumble as she changed her form into that of a wild sehlat. She let loose a roar, exposing her six inch fangs menacingly and leapt upon Roz. The two locked themselves into a ball of alternating fur and human. The sehlat tore into Roz’s forearm, shredding it as it thrashed its massive head. Roz screamed in agony but held on to the scruff of the sehlat’s neck, desperately attempting to apply constant pressure to the artery giving the creature its supply of oxygen-rich blood to its brain. If she could hold on long enough, the sehlat would be rendered unconscious.

Duke watched in glee as the two struggled, unaware that S’reena was slipping up behind him, hypo extended and ready. The Hanson’s First Officer closed in. Suddenly, Duke Nova spun around and caught her hand within his vice-like grip. She gasped in pain as he applied even more pressure. “Thought you could sneak up on me, eh Romulan?” he sneered.

[Deleted]

S'reena gazed in the admiral's eyes, fear rising. She had never before seen the man up close, and she knew that she would possibly never again. "Yes, I thought I could," she replied, voice shaking slightly. She felt the bones in her hand rub against one another as he tightened the grip on it. She was forced to let go of the hypospray, but she had anticipated this. She had kept her right hand out of sight.

"You are not yourself admiral," she tried, "do not do something that you may later regret. You are respected through-out the fleet, let this illness not have you lose that respect." She was trying to divert his attention, and she did not know if she were succeeding. At last, she brought up her right hand, with the extra hypospray, and jammed it against his arm, shooting the fluid home. He released her hand and took a few steps back, surprise flickering across his face.

S'reena held her breath, hoping her little tactic had worked.


<up to you now admiral>

[Dolcett]

Roz and the sehlat continued to struggle, the large beast slowly gaining the upper hand with its superior bulk and strength. Roz's arm was bleeding profusely, and her attempts to grip the sehlat's jugular were weakening. With one powerful jerk of its head the sehlat Karynn McCormick had become wrenched away from Roz's grip, and then stood above the young woman preparing to launch a final strike.

"NOW."

The ceiling above the two combatants blew open, and Commanders Rota and Thrawn dropped down onto the sehlat together. So far the plan to ambush McCormick and Nova that Thrawn and S'reena had concocted had been going well, with S'reena concentrating on the section admiral. Thrawn and Guz Rota had been on the deck above, tapping into Art Cline's tracking device signal, and waiting to move on McCormick if need be. That time had come.

Guz missed the sehlat in his descent, and hit the deck plating hard, then the beast jumped onto the small of his back with its two front paws, causing him to cry out in frustration and pain, when Thrawn came around from behind McCormick and stabbed her in the eye with his flattened hand. Rota was released from the sehlat's grip, and S'reena rushed over to drag him away from the battle scene, turning back looking for an opening with her hypospray.

Thrawn and the sehlat rolled over into the bulkhead with a crash, but the alien commander hung on, hugging the beast fiercely. His blue fist blurred as he punched the sehlat in the side of the head with more power than any human or Klingon. The animal screamed with rage, and with one huge lunge fell atop Thrawn. Thrawn calmly shouted out to S'reena to jab the hypo into McCormick as the sehlat fell, his signal being cut off by a wet cruching sound.

S'reena dove into action and slammed the hypospray into the animal's back, the liquid immediately coursing through its adrenaline enhanced circulation. S'reena jumped out of the way, as the sehlat slowly, drunkenly turned around, holding something in its massive jaws. It wobbled for a moment, before falling a final time; as it hit the deck the object in its mouth exploded, covering the opposite wall with blood and ichor.

As McCormick slowly transformed back into her human form, unconscious, it dawned on S'reena and Guz Rota what she had been gripping in her mouth. The admiral's face and mouth were filled with thick red blood and gobbets of grey matter mixed with her hair, as Thrawn's decapitated corpse was revealed behind her, sticking grotesquely to the deck in a rapidly congealing pool of blood that was pumping in short spurts from his torn and mangled neck stump.

[Deleted]

<in a gory and naughty mood when you posted this Sam?>

S'reena screamed as she saw the body, and felt utterly sick. She gagged, but managed to keep her food down. She was kneeling beside McCormick, who did not move so much as a muscle. Scans showed that she was merely unconscious. She got up, then walked over to Roz. "You okay?" she asked, as she tapped her combadge.

"S'reena Hope to Captain ONE. You may want to come down to our location.." She looked around but had no idea where exactly they were on the station. "Please lock on to my combadge and beam to our location. You may want to bring a security team, and a coroner..."

<ONE>

"...on second thought, I will call Salek." She tapped her combadge again. "S'reena to Salek," she called, then swallowed hard, "please come down to my location as soon as possible...and....bring a stretcher and a body bag....oh..this is just awful."

Her legs gave way and she sagged down to the deck against the wall, and sat sobbing for a while, not even knowing why. She was oblivious to all else for a long while.

<Salek>

[Felix Savali]

After Roz rendered Salek unconscious or after she thought she had rendered him unconscious. She ran out of sickbay. After she went out Salek slowly got to his feet. Typical he thought, she was distracted and neglected the fact that it is not as easy to get him unconscious as some may think, but no matter if anyone can stop Karynn, she can. He went back to the computer screen and saw that someone had locked out all internal sensors systems to allow access only to high ranking Starfleet officers.

Obviously McCormick thought about everything in the way of stopping anyone from finding her. After he spent some time attempting to override the computer, he received a hail.

S'reena to Salek," she called, then swallowed hard, "please come down to my location as soon as possible...and....bring a stretcher and a body bag....oh..this is just awful."

A body bag he thought, obviously someone got killed. He called out a medical team before having the transporter room beam them off to the location of S’Reena’s last hail. After they materialized, he saw what she was referring to as awful, blood and other body liquids were splattered all around the corridor. Duke Nova and Karynn McCormick were lying on the floor unconscious. S'Reena had fallen to the floor covering her face in horror, and Guz Rota and Roz were in a somewhat better shape.

He went over to check on Thrawn, nothing more could be done for him. He was dead. He told the team to clean up the corridor and take the remains to the sickbay. After that he turned to the rest, and hailed the transporter room and had them transport everyone else back to sickbay. A few moments later they all materialized in sickbay. He immediately activated force fields around the beds of Adm. McCormick and Nova.

After which he administered S'Reena with a hyposprey to calm her down. Then he went to Roz and ran a scan of her, she was not injured that much. And neither was Guz Rota. He turned back to Roz and asked what had happened.

<Tags>

[ONE]

"S'reena Hope to Captain ONE. You may want to come down to our location.." She looked around but had no idea where exactly they were on the station. "Please lock on to my combadge and beam to our location. You may want to bring a security team, and a coroner..."

"Computer, activate ECH," ONE commanded after the channel closed. TWO appeared before him, still wearing the Admiral's pips. "Did you hear that?" ONE asked.

"Yep," TWO replied, "I'm on it."

TWO, who was interfaced with the main computer, transported ONE to S'reena's location, then called a security team. He observed that Dr. Salek had already been contacted, so TWO sat down at ONE's desk to monitor the situation.


-- Aformentioned Corridor --

ONE materialized close to S'reena and the gang. He surveyed the scene with an eerily grim calmness. "Report."

[Deleted]

"We have detained SA Nova and VA McCormick," S'reena reported, "they were both infected with a virus, and they have been transported to sickbay. Sadly, McCormick had transformed herself into a selaht, and attacked both Ms. Drouet and Commander Thrawn. Commander Thrawn has not survived this attack. Doctor Salek has taken his body to sickbay for examination."

She cradled her left hand which was throbbing with pain; Salek had overlooked it when he had given her a mild sedative.

"I managed to inject the human cure into both admirals," she continued, "we can only hope that it works."

<ONE>

[Felix Savali]

After taking care of S'reena and sending some other patients with miner injuries away, Salek diverted his attention to the 2 admirals. They were still out cold and perhaps it was for the best, as the medicine which S'reena injected them with was working faster while they are not awake.

After running some scans on them he saw that they were beginning to wake up, Adm. Nova was the first one to wake up. Salek went over to him and asked him how he was.

<Duke Nova>

After he exchanged words with the admiral and told him he was sick, Salek went over to adm. McCormick, who was waking up.

"Admiral, how are you feeling"; he asked

<Karynn>

After exchanging a few words with the second admiral he went back to see how S'reena was doing.

"I trust you are feeling better now?", he asked

<S'reena>

[Deleted]

"Much better," S'reena replied, still looking somewhat shaken, "but my hand....I believe the admiral broke a few bones in my hand..."

Instantly, Salek took care of that, holding her hand gently while using a device that was able to mend bones in no-time.

"Thank you," S'reena finally said, flexing her hand a couple of times gingerly. She gazed over Salek's shoulder at the two semi-awake flag officers. "How are they doing? Can I talk to them?"

Salek raised an eyebrow at her, but nodded quietly. "Not too long," he cautioned, "they need rest."

S'reena nodded in return, stepped past him and up to the two admirals, nodded once to Nova then turned to McCormick. "Greetings admiral, how are you feeling? No urges to bite anyone I hope?" She smiled gently at the woman, who looked oddly confused.

She pulled up a chair, sat down on it between the two beds and gave a detailed account on what happened and what they possibly had been responsible for. "I am not holding you accountable," she finished, looking up at Karynn, "I myself tried to infect Captain Marcell, and I am not proud of that. As far that is known, Admiral Nova did not infect anyone, but I heard there were a few attempts."

<McCormick / Nova>

[Karynn McCormick]

Dark, primal thoughts slowly ebbed as Karynn McCormick lay unconscious in the corridor. Somewhere in her mind, the evil struggled to maintain its grasp and the good strained to be dominant once more. As one decreased and the other increased, for a time they met as equals and the torment in her unconscious brain was nearly unbearable for in that moment, the evil informed her of all she had done. The knowledge of her horrific deeds made her desire to remain permanently unconscious – dead to everything. Yet, modern medicine had a different desire for her and eventually, she awoke.

Salek was bent over her, his med-tricorder telling him her demon was exorcised and she was slowly returning to her former self. He asked with sincerity how she was feeling. Her anger at her actions and disgust with her lack of control over them left her mute. A part of her wanted to lash out at the Doctor for asking such an inane question… 'How do you feel?'. How do you think you’d feel if you, an upstanding, respectable, flag officer of the third fleet just found out you’d decapitated a fellow officer – and in such a gruesome manner? But, all words were too horrible to utter. It was as if speaking about the events would give validity to them and, at the moment, she only wanted to deny it. She glanced over and saw that Duke was sitting on the floor nearby, a dazed, stunned look on his face, then both shimmered and were instantly in the medical section’s isolation bay.

Salek saw to it that McCormick was cleaned up and he administered a fist-full of various hypos. A vitamin compound, since she’d consumed nothing – nothing but blood, that is – over the course of her illness; a metabolic stabilizer; a mild sedative and several compounds designed to stave off the effects of shock. She reclined on her bio bed knowing that Nova was only an arm’s length away from her but she said nothing to him and he said nothing to her. Each was battling their own beasts in silence.

S’reena appeared and cautiously approached. “Greetings, Admiral, how are you feeling? No urges to bite anyone, I hope?”

The second half of S’reena’s query eased her mind somewhat. Karynn had always responded well to making a serious situation more palatable with humor. Hawk had learned this technique early and it had helped to cement their friendship with one another. Still, she gave S’reena a puzzled look, unable to see anything in a humorous light. The Hanson’s First Officer then pulled up a chair between the two beds and began to unveil the course of events. Karynn listened in silence, wanting every minute detail yet cringing at S’reena’s account.

“I am not holding you accountable. I myself tried to infect Captain Marcell and I am not proud of that.” S’reena continued, “As far as is known, Admiral Nova did not infect anyone, but I heard there were a few attempts.”

Finally, Nova spoke, a mixture of anger and concern in his voice. “Has the creature responsible for the initial infection been found? The infection may spread quickly throughout the Section.” The memory of his own voracious appetite told him the spread would be fast-acting and, on a Starbase, nearly impossible to contain.

S’reena assured him. “The individual has been found and destroyed… and the cure for the infection has been distributed to all medical personnel, with appropriate variations according to species.”

Her answer satisfied the Section Admiral and he settled back into silent thought again.

S’reena quietly informed McCormick that Captain One would be handling the delicate task of informing the next of kin, a daunting job since so little was known about Thrawn’s people. Karynn was grateful not to have to do the task herself but remained speechless. She tightly closed her eyes, squeezing back the flow of tears as she turned her face toward the wall. She was vaguely aware of S’reena’s rising from her chair.

“Before you go, Commander,” McCormick’s words were stilted and unsure, her face still turned to the wall, “I’m… sorry for my role in your… illness. I hope… you can forgive me.”

S’reena softly replied, “You weren’t yourself, Admiral. There’s nothing to forgive you for because it wasn’t you.” More silence fell and the Romulan, realizing the need for each Admiral’s private contemplation, quietly left.

Karynn swallowed hard thinking how much more difficult it will be for Thrawn’s people to forgive her for such a brutal murder. Guilt consumed her and secretly she hoped they wouldn't.

Curling up into a fetal position, Karynn’s mind was jumbled with nightmarish thoughts, as if she were reliving not only recent happenings, but the death of Ethan, her fiancé, nearly seven years ago. All her training in Vulcan meditation techniques was rendered useless as Karynn vividly replayed the heart wrenching details on endless loop. She dissolved into uncontrollable sobs.

[roz]

Roz was glad that her friend was finally back to normal. It had been very trying for all concerned. Her arm was a little sore from what Karynn had done to it but she wasn't going to tell Salek. She still liked healing the old-fashioned way. She watched as S'reena moved away from Karynn and then Karynn broke down sobbing. Roz silently walked over and kneeled down next to her. She touched Karynn's shoulder gently and Karynn sat up very fast, hitting her head on Roz's. She winced and rubbed the lump that was already forming.

Roz: My fault. So, how you doing?

Karynn was speechless. She had nearly tried to kill her friend and yet she was showing such kindness to her. Roz smiled.

Roz: Thinking about all the mayhem you caused? In my opinion, and I think everyone will agree with me, it wasn't you who did it. It was a darker entity. Remember how much trouble I caused when my father came after me? I still have nightmares about the final battle.

She closed her eyes and shivered violently then reopened them. She then scooted so she was sitting on her back end and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Roz: There is one thing that I believe, actually two. First, no one can fight better than you at your best, no matter what. Second, you never lose the ones you love. Now, what that has to do with anything is beyond me but I also know this. You're my friend Karynn, that won't change.

She then looked up and saw Karynn smiling back at her.

Karynn: I'm sorry for what I did to you.

Roz: I already said that it wasn't you. Don't make a big deal about it, for not only your own sake but for the rest of us who care about you too. Come here.

She held open her arms and she hugged Karynn. When they released each other, both of them had tears in their eyes. Roz cleared hers away and laughed.

Roz: How about you join me for a beer or anything that has alcohol in it? That is if Mr. Regulations over there lets us.

She stuck her tongue out at Salek's back. Karynn laughed for the first time in a while and cleared her tears too.

Karynn: Sure.

Roz: I might be able to get Art to replicate some Romulan ale. And perhaps if it makes you feel any better, we can swap some sad stories about our pasts. Who knows what might happen?

They stood up and Salek started to walk over. Roz prayed that they could leave. She had spent enough time in sickbay to last the rest of her life.

tag: Salek, Karynn

[Felix Savali]

Salek turned around and saw the women who were obviously attempting to sneak out of the sickbay, never followed doctor’s orders, and always attempted to escape before time. He went to Roz and Karynn and before they said anything he began to talk:

"You are not permitted to leave sickbay before i ran some more scans of you and determine if you are indeed feeling fine.", He said

<Karynn, Roz>

"And there is no use of pulling rank on me, because you as well a i know i am permitted to keep you here till i believe you are not capable of returning to duty or till i determine you are good enough to be released to home care", he added

<Tag>

After his speech he took out his tricoder and ran a scan of Karynn, she appeared to be fine, if we don’t count the emotional/psychological trauma. And there was nothing more he could do for her here as he was not a counselor.

Then he turned to scan Roz, he determined she has a mild micro fracture on the arm and a few loose ligaments on her arm.

"You are free to go"; he said turning to Karynn, "but you are under no circumstances allowed to return to active duty yet", he said

"As for you, you will be free to go once i get that hand healed", he said turning to Roz with a device which would decrease the healing time to only a few minutes

<Tag>

"SO if you would remain calm a few minutes, and allow me to heal your arm you will be free to go", he said to Roz

<Roz>

After that discussion he first took one device which he used to heal the micro fractures on the bone and then he took another to repair the damage on the ligaments.

"Was this all that difficult", he said in a strange way that it almost seemed like a grin to the two

"Now you are free to go", he said and turned away from them and went to check on S'reena

<Tag>

"Feeling any better", he asked her

While he was running a scan to see that her arm had healed, but she will need to refrain to doing any hard work with it for a few days.

<S'reena>

After he exchanged the words with her he ran a scan of her unborn child and told her everything was fine with it, so far but that there might be a potential problem with it at a later time but nothing he could not cure.

"No need to worry about your unborn child, it is fine.", he said

<S'reena>

[Deleted]

"Feeling any better", he asked her

While he was running a scan to see that her arm had healed, but she will need to refrain to doing any hard work with it for a few days.

"Yes, thank you," S'reena replied, flexing her hand gently, "doesn't even hurt anymore. And no worries, we are on LOA remember? We do not ship out before the Hepta returns so until then there will be no hard work...though handling a toldler could be considered as that." She grinned broadly. "Well, I have my doctor's orders...Michael can complain all he likes, but he may carry Kahlan around if she is too tired to walk this time!"

After he exchanged the words with her he ran a scan of her unborn child and told her everything was fine with it, so far but that there might be a potential problem with it at a later time but nothing he could not cure.

"No need to worry about your unborn child, it is fine.", he said.

"What do you mean, possible problems?" she asked, but was reassured by Salek's assurance that there was nothing he could not cure later on in the pregnancy or post-partum. She rubbed her now visibly gravid belly softly, as if to reassure her unborn, then looked over her shoulder at the departing Roz, who was pulling along a visibly disdraught admiral McCormick. "She is the admiral's best option for counseling," S'reena remarked, "Roz has been through a lot, and she is the admiral's best friend it seems. I would suspect that the young woman will provide the support the admiral needs."

She then looked back the other way in the direction of SA Nova, who looked a bit forlorn now that McCormick had left. "What about him?" she asked, "will he be all right?"

<Salek>

She walked back towards the SA and reclaimed her previous seat. "Are you all right sir?" she asked quietly, offering him a cup of coffee she had ordered from the replicator before walking over. "Here, this may help clear your mind a bit. Is there anything we can do for you sir?"

<Nova>

[Felix Savali]

She then looked back the other way in the direction of SA Nova, who looked a bit forlorn now that McCormick had left. "What about him?" she asked, "will he be all right?"

"Yes he will be perfectly fine", Salek said

"He has not suffered any severe psychological trauma since he has not killed or bit anyone, and the virus has been removed from his body", he added

"Therefore i have no reason to keep him here any longer except for giving him time to go over the fact that Adm. McCormick bit him", he finished

[Deleted]

"Time will tell," S'reena replied, "she bit me too, but I suppose their situation is different...." She let her voice trail off, as to her the situation was pretty obvious. "Ah well, I am sure he will be fine, I have no doubt he's been in worse situations than this, and he's turned out fine. Perhaps you should recommend some recreation for him? Get his mind off this?"

<Salek>

It had been several minutes since she had asked the SA if there had been anything she could do for him, but it was as if he had not even noticed her. His coffee had remained untouched, and had grown cold. "He needs to get out of sickbay," S'reena recommended, "if he likes we can organize a chess tournament....I read somewhere that he is the resident section champion. I am a moderate player myself, knowing only the basics of 2D chess, but I am willing to give it a go. Perhaps you would like to give him a challenge?"

<Salek>

She walked past the replicator, ordered a tea and a new coffee and walked up to Nova again, taking his cold cup and chucking it in the nearest bin. "I have an idea," she started, drawing his attention, then went on explaining the chess tournament idea. "What do you think?"

<Nova>

[Felix Savali]

Sonak/S'reena/Tedak said:

"Time will tell," S'reena replied, "she bit me too, but I suppose their situation is different...." She let her voice trail off, as to her the situation was pretty obvious. "Ah well, I am sure he will be fine, I have no doubt he's been in worse situations than this, and he's turned out fine. Perhaps you should recommend some recreation for him? Get his mind off this?"

"Perhaps i could, but as i am certain you know fun is a waste of time except when it is used to train the mind.", he said

Sonak/S'reena/Tedak said:

It had been several minutes since she had asked the SA if there had been anything she could do for him, but it was as if he had not even noticed her. His coffee had remained untouched, and had grown cold. "He needs to get out of sickbay," S'reena recommended, "if he likes we can organize a chess tournament....I read somewhere that he is the resident section champion. I am a moderate player myself, knowing only the basics of 2D chess, but I am willing to give it a go. Perhaps you would like to give him a challenge?"

"Perhaps a less worthy adversary would do him better, as i am not sure that loosing a chess game would aid his recovery. You should be the one setting a challenge and not me.", he added

[Deleted]

"We will both set the challenge," S'reena smiled, "and you could of course deliberately lose your games." She patted him on the back, "then you may later beat me in a game to regain your ehm....honor I guess. Now, let's see what the admiral thinks."


*pokes nova.....gently of course*