The Continuing MisAdventures of Eric
Posted on Wed Sep 5th, 2012 @ 1:20pm by Commander Oralia Zeferino & Ensign Ian Bren & Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Lieutenant Norval Tigan & Lieutenant Eric Edwards & Chief Petty Officer Ganesh
Mission:
Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Piper Medical
* * * Piper Medical Center * * *
True to his word, Eric had become quite unconscious in the moment that the transporter took him, leaving him rather ill equipped to inform Doctor Harding of his condition... but he had to hope that the bloody mess that now constituted his thighs and the rapid swelling of his arms would be good indicators. Plus, there was probably still Lavafly corpse on his sleeve.
Work on Edwards started quickly, dealing mostly with removing his clothing and getting him onto a bio bed. Behind the triage nurses, a triage clerk took a commcall from Security. “Uh-huh... lavaflies... phaser wound... got it, I’ll inform the Doctors.”
The nurse began calling out the information as Chanella entered the triage area. “Got it. Harding’s on today, get him and let’s get him moved out.” She pressed a hypospray to Eric’s throat. “Let’s go.”
Harding stepped from Eric’s room sometime later, still in his red operating robe. He dragged the mask down from his face and turned to Oz, who waited outside.
“So who wants to tell me how in the hell one of your men was both poisoned by lavaflies and shot in the ass? Well, technically, it was just below the gluteal muscles but close enough. I'm guessing this was not some training scenario gone wrong.”
Glaring at him, Oralia answered him, “This was not. This was an assignment, Doctor Harding. Edwards was guarding Ian Bren when this happened. What level was the phaser on, could you tell from his injuries?”
Harding sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Come with me Oz, let’s get some coffee.” His tone was softer and he turned to go to his office.
Norval barreled through the doors to sickbay, nearly running into Oz and Doc Harding before he stopped himself. “Where?” It was all he could think to ask. ‘Is he okay?’ might have been top of the list, but Norval preferred to judge that with his own eyes. Fyori Tigan still believed her diagnoses to be superior to just about everyone else’s, even those advanced by centuries.
“Woah, Norval, he’ll be fine,” Oralia caught the Trill before he could skirt around them. She looked at Harding, “Can he go in with Edwards?”
“Of course. He’ll be waking up in just a few minutes, actually. If you need me I’ll be in my office.” Harding informed him. “We reversed the lavafly poison, though he got a hefty dose of it. It had affected the use of his arms, but the antidote took care of that nicely. As for the phaser shot, that took a bit more radical repairing. Tomorrow, however, Ophelia will have him up walking.”
Nodding his thanks, the Trill hurriedly stepped past the pair and entered Eric’s recovery room.
Oralia followed Harding to his office: he’d offered coffee and he hadn’t yet answered her question. Coming into the office behind him, she ordered her coffee then, with the steaming mug in hand, took a seat opposite Harding. “Well? Phaser level?”
Harding ordered his own coffee and sighed as he sat down by her. “Whoever fired that intended to kill one or both of them. The damage was extensive Oz. But Eric wasn’t the real target was he?”
Oz winced and shook her head, “No, Bren was. We know that whatever Bren knows is a threat to someone. We’re just hoping that Ian can figure out who that someone is before the person can eliminate Bren.”
“Or those assigned to watch him. I don’t normally get involved in your department’s business but unfortunately in this case, I’ve been involved for a very long time.” He sipped his coffee, then lowered the mug. “I want to keep him here for the next day or two, if that helps.”
“Keep Edwards? I thought he’d be up and walking around tomorrow,” Oz objected, though, really, Eric had already gone above and beyond... a few days resting his ass, she could spare him that. “How would that ‘help’?”
“It will keep him here where nurses and doctors and medics are in and out of his room constantly, making it difficult to get to him. As for Ensign Bren, you might check with Intel.”
“Check with Intel? I can have Bren safely sequestered in Security, if that’s what you mean. I’d rather not do that,” she said, knowing that if she did, it would mean Ian would be livin’ large in either the Brig or someplace even deeper into Security, such as the longer term Prison. “I get the feeling, Doctor, that you know something you haven’t yet told Investigator Darwin.”
“I do. I thought with the death of Natalia it was over, but it seems it is not. You and I need to go for a little ride, Oz. Let me show you some of the area and tell you a story.” Harding pushed his coffee aside as he looked back at her.
“A ride? A shuttle ride?” At his confirming nod, she nodded as well. “Very well, I’ll have the flight deck ready one for us. Say in three hours? That will give you time to talk to Edwards, if he has questions, and me time to arrange a few things.” She stood. “I’ll let you know which bay.”
“Very well. I'll finish up here and inform the ACMO. Three hours, Commander.”
While Oralia and William discussed Ian Bren, three males arrived in Piper Medical, all of them trailing or just barely keeping up with that same young man. One, a rotund Bolian named Ganesh, huffed, “You didn’t have to run the whole length of the corridor, kid.”
CPO Moresi, a Tellerite, grumbled, “Damn Trill, think you’re running a relay race?”
The third male, also a security officer, remained quiet, mostly because he wasn’t out of breath and hadn’t minded the jog at all.
Ian, however, wasn’t standing still. He was hopping up and down, looking down the two main corridors leading deeper into Sickbay. “Where is he? Where oh where is my Eric?”
“Calm down, you’ll shake the symbiont till it’s just a mush,” Ganesh grasped Ian’s shoulder and held him in place for a moment.
Just about this time, an intake clerk approached them and asked, “Wha---”
“Where is Eric?” Ian blurted.
Ganesh rolled his eyes while the Tellerite explained to the clerk, “Lieutenant Eric Edwards. He was transported in, wounded in the course of his duties.”
“He saved my life!” Ian crowed; it seemed his schoolboy crush was now being replaced by hero worship. “Is he okay?”
The clerk chuckled and nodded, “Yeah, he’s okay. He already has a visitor, so you’ll need to wait.” She pointed to a small waiting area off to the left of one of the main corridors. Moresi and Ganesh steered their charge over that way. Their silent fourth wheel squeaked along with them.
Inside, Norval had done the first thing he could think to do upon seeing Eric conscious and half-smirking at his appearance, which was to lean over and kiss him. He still tasted like sweat, the Trill noted, which he actually sort of enjoyed... but this wasn’t the time or the place. He avoided too much in the way of physical contact beyond that, afraid of hurting him.
“Hey,” he whispered, smiling. As much as they had fought the night before, over what Eric could and couldn’t know, what Norval might or might not be telling him... seeing him like this, none of that mattered. The Trill glanced up at the monitors above his bed. “Your vitals all look good. How do you feel?”
“Like hell,” Eric admitted. “Some piece of cake assignment that turned out to be.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” Norval promised. “What exactly happened?”
“Ian was doing his gardening, there were bugs, assassins... you know, the usual.” Eric tried to laugh it off, but Norval seemed to become deadly serious at the mention of the bugs. Or was it the assassins?
“What kind of bugs?” he asked.
“Ian said they were lavaflies. I dunno, I’ve never heard of them. Thought they were simple enough to deal with, but they hit you like a ton of bricks.”
Norval took a step back from the bed and paced the room once, twice, before he looked back at Eric. “So the phaser was the contingency plan. They hoped to kill Ian in Botany, and make it look like an accident.”
“Well,” Eric said, trying to shift uncomfortably and only winding up hurting himself, causing him to wince, “I don’t know about that. I took two bites, and I never thought that would kill me. Maybe several...”
“Insect bites are fatal to joined Trill,” Norval interrupted, and Eric could only blink in response.
“They’re what?”, he asked incredulously.
“Our body chemistry is altered when we’re joined. The symbionts are so well cared for, so secluded, that they lose the ability to deal with certain environmental factors. Toxins are unusually potent, especially from insects. This was deliberate. It couldn’t hurt Ian Leyva... well, it could hurt,” he amended, “but Ian Bren it could kill.”
Eric heaved a heavy sigh. “There’s so much you’re not telling me... and I hate to go back to that again when I am happy to see you, but come on, Norv... how can I do my job when I don’t know these things?”
The Trill patted his hand on the biobed. “I’ll tell you everything, as soon as you’re well... I promise. But I do have to make sure Oz knows this is more than appears on the surface.”
“Yeah...” Eric reluctantly agreed. “You do that. I could use some rest.”
With a press of his lips to Eric’s forehead, Norval started out of the room, but stopped just short. “I’m proud of you,” he said before departing, grinning. “You saved him.” He disappeared into the corridor without ever seeing the grin that put on the security officer’s face.
* * *Waiting Area* * *
When Oralia left Harding’s office, the intake clerk caught her attention and pointed her in the direction of the waiting area. Just strolling into the waiting area caused the three officers to hop up and come to attention. “Ganesh?” She addressed the Bolian, since he was most senior in the group, “What made you think this would be a good idea?”
“...um,” his eyes slid from side-to-side as he sought an answer, hopefully from one of the others with him.
“Exactly.” Oralia shook her head and moved to stand in front of Ian Bren. “Mr. Bren, this was an attempt on your life, if you haven’t figured that out already. First the flies,” Oralia already knew that insect toxins were fatal to joined Trill, “...and then the phaser in the corridor.”
Ian looked about ready to cry but he nodded.
“Bugs, assassins,” unknowingly, Oz was parroting Eric. “You’re not going to like this, Mr. Bren, but for your protection, you’re being sequestered in the Brig.”
“What?!” Bren’s expression changed to one of horror. “For how long?”
“Either till you recall who Natalia’s helper was or until we ferret him out,” she answered before turning to Ganesh. “Get him back to Security and put him in secure lock-up. No one but you three are to see him, tend to him or know exactly where he is.”
“Including you?” Now it was obvious why the fourth wheel hadn’t said anything before.
Oralia massaged the bridge of her nose. “Get him out of here, Ganesh,” she growled and it was unclear which ‘him’ she meant. She didn’t clarify as she left Piper Medical.
________________________
Lt.JG Eric Edwards
Relieved of Duty
Norval Tigan
Relieved
Dr. William Harding
A New Piece Of The Puzzle
Ensign Ian Bren
Hero Worship On Hold
LC Oralia Zeferino
CPO Ganesh
CPO Moresi
Crewman Fourth Wheel
