Homefire #67"
By: James McIntyre , Medical Officer , [NPC]
Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58209.22 0600

"Morning doctor." Teilani said as she walked into sickbay all fresh and clean. "How are things here?"

McIntyre smiled, "Well, its been pretty quiet actually."

"No broken bones or bloody noses?"

He chuckled, "Nothing major. At the moment our only patient is the little stowaway. She's still in quarantine."

"Good good. Can you please give me the once over. I just want to make sure I'm not carrying any marsian bugs with me"."

Sure said McIntyre nodding toward the exam bed.

As Teilani laid down he began the scans. "So how did your mission go?" he asked, "or do you have to kill me if you say?"

She grinned. "I guess it went okay, we got what we want.. met some interesting people, that's about it. "

"Did we win the war?"

"I tell you honestly, I have no idea if we made a difference. There were too many parties involved." Teilani said as she sat up. "They lack everything, even the basic medical supplies.

McIntyre clicked off the scanner. "Shucks, that means no shoreleave to Earth then," he said looking at the read out on the screen, "but for you, you are a little dehydrated. Would you like a hydrolyzer boost?"

She shook her head. "Nah.. nothing a good meal and a large coffee can't fix." she said as Teilani slid of the bio bed.

"Its too bad things are such a mess there."

"I'm sure the Maqui will send in some extra help. I mean they have too." Teilani said a little naively. She doubted that the higher uppers for the Maqui would care about a little group of people on Mars. Maybe she could arrange something when they were back at QT.

"I think if they meant for the fleet to back us up, they'd be here already."

"I guess so. So tell me what has been happening here?" Teilani asked as she called up the latest medical reports. "I see Whitmore has been around several times?"

"Yes, he suffered a bout with clumsiness. Nothing serious."

Teilani shook her head. "If I didn't know better I would say he is jinxed."

"You might find this interesting though," he pulled up a chart, "several crewmen reported symptoms consistent with Cardassian flu, but they checked out okay."

Browsing through the chart, she frowned. " That's odd, you did all the regular tests?"

He nodded, "Of course."

"Did you try to sample it, make a culture out of it. Who was the first one to get it?"

First person was McMillian, an operations officer. The second works in cargo."

"So if the incubation time is around 10 days... very strange indeed."

McIntyre nodded. "Cardassian flu shouldn't even effect humans. Here are the results from bio," he said handing her another padd. "You can see that the results are normal. McMillian no longer has any symptoms while crewman Randell reports he occasionally feels nauseous.

"Did you check if they worked together on something.?

McIntyre stepped over to the LCARs console on the wall and inputted some data. "I missed that somehow," he said regrettably," They both worked a shift in Cargo bay 1 on stardate 58208.20, just over a month ago..."

He shook his head, "seems to long of a time."

Teilani fround.. "Maybe not... It isn't airborne yet.. otherwise more people should have been exposed.

"Perhaps I wasn't prudent enough, they should both be in quarantine?"

"Just to be on the safe side. Set up a level 4 containment field around them. Where is the little girl?"

"Right away," he said nodding, "and Clarice is in quarantine," he said nodding in her direction.

"She was found in the cargo bay right?"

"Indeed," he replied with a look of consternation.

"Did you check her vitals, and tests?"

"twice a day, Nothing."

"I don't know but I have a hunch.. what if.. "Teilani said and paused. She walked to the replicator and got herself some coffee, then continued. "What if she is the cause of it.?"

"It seems pretty plausible," he said tapping his combadge, "Nurse Bartlow, please have Crewman Randell and McMillian come to sickbay right away."

"Yes Sir," came the reply.

"I doubt we'll find anything," he said with sceptically, "I've run a dozen tests."

Teilani smiled. “It’s alright, little things like that are easy to miss.� She put down her mug on the table. “We now have something to compare it with. Let see if we can find a similarity between her blood work and that of McMillan and Randall.

"But the crewman are human and the girl is...."

“It doesn’t matter, if it’s different but the genetic makeup is correct then we know its mutating.

"Excellent Doctor, instead of looking for differences, we'll narrow our search to similar markers."

“Precisely.� She answered. “Lets get to it.

“I'll get started right away.�

Teilani nodded and finished her coffee. Then she looked at the stack of reports. Time to get back into swing off it all.

Hot Spot "
By: Keighlee Alexi, Crewman, [NPC]

Stardate: 58209.22 2200

Keighlee slumped down in the chair across from the Commodore's desk and folded her arms across her chest.

The Commodore had been called away and she sat there, waiting for someone to come and assign her quarters.

The technical brief was rescheduled but now she was stuck on some Starbase, she had no idea which. That is until she spotted a silver phaser in a stasis box sitting on the commodore's shelf.

She stood up walked over to the case and studied it. It looked just like Dr. Northrup's phaser.

Suddenly, the door opened. She turned with a start. It was the Commodore. She folded her hands across her chest nervously, and turned her back on the him. She suddenly felt very frightened and alone. Surely he would look in her in the eyes and see the truth inside her very soul. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could hear him walking nearer.

His hand softly touched the small of her back.

"Nice piece" he said suggestively.

"What?"

"The phaser," he said nodding.

"Oh," she said, repositioning herself so his hand would not easily remain where it had been.

"Took it off a known thief. Her and her father called themselves archaeologist, but they were really thieves," he said smirking. Seeing Keighlee's interest he bantered on, "See, this is supposedly a famous set, the thief had two of them, but one was a replica of this one."

Keighlee sighed, "The thief, is she...?"

"Quite so," answered the Commodore, who paused suddenly, "how did you know it was a woman?"

"What?"

"You said 'she,' how did you know that?"

She blinked and looked at the Commodore and shook her head, "You said, 'her and her father,' I assumed it was a woman."

"Oh right!" he said.

"I was just making small talk, I'm sorry I'm very tired, I didn't mean to trivialize..."

"And I need a drink," interrupted the Commodore. It was evident by now that he had already had several. He pushed a button on the wall causing certain panels to recede into the wall, revealing a wet bar. He began to mix two drinks.

"...And, I'm sorry, you have been waiting so long," he said with a feigned apologetic voice. It seems there are not any quarters to be found.

Anxieties swelled in Keighlee. A meek "oh," was all she could muster.

"Yes, yes. It seems all the quarters have been given to a ship of Maquis seeking asylum. Poor bastards, you know the war isn't going well for them and all."

She drew a deep breath as he handed her a drink. He put up her hand to refuse, but he gave it to her anyway, "I insist," he said, "and that is an order."

She lifted the glass and took a very very small sip hoping to appease him. He looked on approvingly.

She licked her lips, "Scotch and soda," she acknowledged, setting down the glass.

He smiled and nodded.

"Now, on the matter of finding you a place to stay," he said with a thougthful pause, "I insist, that you spend the night in my quarters."

She opend her mouth to protest but the Commodore's hand flew up as if to stop her very words.

"No, no! I insist. I promise I will be an officer and a gentleman. You can sleep in my bunk, I will stow myself on the couch."

Keighlee searched herself for the right thing to say and do.

The Commodore touched the stasis generator, switching it off. He picked up the phaser and handed it to keighlee. "and if I do anything you don't like, you can blast me into oblivion," he said with a chuckle.

Keighlee gripped the phaser, weighing it in her hand. It was light, the power pack had been removed. She looked up at the Commodore. "Okay," she said meekly.

"If you like, we can stop at the Officer's mess for some dinner?"

She shook her head, "I just want to rest I think," she said offering him back the phaser.

He stowed the phaser in his belt and picked up her drink, "I'm just down the corridor," he said motioning toward the exit.

She followed him as he walked through the parting door.

In an all too soon moment, they stood in front of the Commodore's quarters. Anxieties again swelled up and made her blood come to a tingling stop.

She stepped into the quarters after him and looked around.

"I had your things brought here already."

"Figures," she thought to herself.

He handed her back the drink. She obliged and took another small, very small sip.

The Commodore shadowed her as she moved around his quarters studying his personal effects. On one wall hung an impressive collection of weapons and metals.

"All these yours?"

"Yes" he replied in a doting voice, turning toward her. "I've done a great many things for the Federation," he said as he swirled the ice in his drink.

She nodded at him and took another small sip. The scotch warmed her throat. The alcohol was slowing beginning to take effect. Relaxing her tension. Until the comodore drew the silver phaser from his belt. She swallowed hard and her heart began to race. But he merely held up his new specimen and placed it carefully in a new spot among his collection.

Keighlee meandered over to the next wall. It was near his desk. Her eyes fixated a moment on the Commodore's viewer. It was filled with Romulan words. Suddenly the Commodore appeared tense and turned it off.

Thinking quickly on her feet, she shrugged and said, "Its okay Sir. I had an Uncle who was fascinated by Romulan too. Tried for years to learn the language." She gave him a wry smile and took a long sip from her drink.

That didn't seem to break the ice. The Commodore still stared at her pensively. She feigned a yawn. "Well, if you don't mind, Sir. I think I will change into something more comfortable...if I'm not on duty right?"

He gulped down the last sip and set his glass on the desk. "Of course," he nodded.

She pulled one of her bags to sofa and opened it. She didn't really have anything to change into. At all.

"Wait," she blurted out. "I think I'm missing a bag."

The Commodore looked frustrated, he reached for his combadge, "I'll call the porter and see..."

"No, no..." said Keighlee interrupting. "Its late, I don't want to bother anyone, I just want to get some rest."

The Commodore paused.

"I'll just wear this... costume," she said, pulling out the skimpy uniform from the freighter they rode on.

The Commodore smiled, "whatever you wish my Dear."

She excused herself to the head and took a deep breath, "What am I doing?" she muttered to herself.

She undressed and got into the skimpy outfit. It was terribly revealing. "Hopefully saving your butt," she answered herself.

As she emerged the Commodore had refreshed his drink and was leaning against the wet bar in his quarters. He smiled approvingly.

"You know," he said, "I have a vacancy on my staff." He nodded slowly, "My previous personal assistant resigned."

Keighlee sat down on the sofa, with her legs tucked under her. He drank down his drink and poured another one and joined her, handing her drink back to her. She held the glass with both hands, gently swirling the nearly melted ice cubes. There was an awkward pause.

"You are a very beautiful lady," he said, holding his glass up up to her.

"Thanks," she said holding her glass up too.

He took a drink and she did too.

A moment later she began to feel strangely tired.

"Oh no." she thought to herself, "the oldest trick in the book." She remembered that she had left her glass on the table when she went to change. Her vision began to become distorted. The Commodore's voice droned on, but she couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Don't hurt me," she stammered as she blacked out.

He sipped down his drink in silence and set the glass down. He gently pushed Keighlee who slumped over and sprawled across the sofa. He laid a hand on her breast and knelt down to feel the rhythmic beating of her heart. "Its easier this way," he whispered in her ear.

The Commodore stood up and regarded the unconscious women for several minutes. She was very beautiful.

The he walked over to the bar and poured another drink. He tapped his combadge, "Devon, she's ready."

"Aye-Aye, Sir."

Moments later a one security officer and one nurse arrived at the Commodore's quarters.

The Commodore nodded and motioned toward the unconscious girl. "Get on with it."

The nurse began to examine and scan Keighlee both visually and with a scanner while the security guard went through bags. Another officer, an OPs officer wearing a gold uniform entered and handed the Commodore a PADD. "Her background checks out, but there are no records prior to 3 years ago. The Commodore studied the report a moment and flipped the PADD onto the table near by.

"And?"

"Well, Sir, between the cyber warfare conducted by the Maquis and the loss of Memory Alpha, its not unusual. A lot of records are incomplete. She was stationed on Ataxia which was also eventually destroyed by the Maquis." The officer could not help but stare at the sleeping girl.

The Comodore cleared his throat, "Eyes, Lieutenant!"

"Of course Sir. Sorry." He lowered his gaze.

"Summary?"

"I think it would be impossible for her to be a spy. No one could install a fake service record with as much detail as hers and still have it collaborate."

"I'm not so sure," said the security guard. He had laid out all of Keighlee's items from her baggage. He held up an isochip. "I found this in her uniform. This is not Federation issue," he said handing it to the Commodore who examined it and held it up for the other officer to see.

The other officer defended his previous declaration, "lots of people use those for personal stuff."

"As do the Maquis," replied the security officer sharply.

The Commodore stood up, "One way to find out."

He inserted the device into his console and turned on the viewer.

The computer chirped as it read the data. The other two men looked on

The computer announced, "Authorization is required to access this data."

"Epsilon Gamma 9 1 9"

"Authorization accepted," replied the computer.

The file began to materialize on the screen.

"Its a copy of her personal log," said the OPs officer.

"No," said the security officer, "its not." The men continued reading the first few entries.

"Its her diary," chuckled the security officer.

The Commodore switched off the viewer and stood up and walked back to the girl.

"Nurse?"

The woman ceased her examination and stood up. "There are no identifying markings, no nanites or other devices either transmitting or receiving. There are isotopes in her system that suggest she has recently been in the Pacifica system as her story says.

"That's good enough for me," said the Commodore, "Put her in my bed,"

The men nodded and carefully scooped the petite lass up and carried her into the commodore's bedroom.

The nurse collected her medical devices and supervised the two officers as they put her into the bed.

As the Comodore poured yet another drink they returned and stood attentively in front of him.

He took a sip and nodded, "Dismissed."

As the door slid shut, he sat back down at his console and turned on the viewer. He took another drink and continued reading several pages of the young girl's escapades.

Suddenly the computer chimed. "Error assimilating data structure. Do you wish to continue?"

"Yes."

The computer took a long time. Then reported, "Error. Can not proceed."

The Commodore looked at the viewer. It was empty, as if everything had been erased.

"Ooops," he said to himself, "now what?" and pulled the isochip out. He replaced the chip back into Keighlee's uniform and finished off his drink.

Log Index | Go to Stardate 58209.23