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Routine Consultation (A Masterverse Side Story with Patrickngo)
knightraider6
Member Posts: 396 Arc User
in Ten Forward
“ Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”
Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Risa, Surfside Children's hospital. July 23, 2413
“So what made you think jumping off the cliff would be a good idea?” Dr Rhonda Evans asked the 12 year old Bolian who was holding still as she ran the osteogenic stimulator along the young boy’s leg.
“Well the others were doing it, and it looked fun. It was, until I hit the water and didn’t come back up right away, then I hit the bottom.”
Rhonda chuckled “That’s usually how it is. You need to remember though, you’ve less body fat and more muscle mass than humans, so you don’t float as well. So you need to dive someplace less rocky, so you don’t break something if you hit the bottom, and wearing a flotation aid would be a good idea unless you’re a strong swimmer.”
“Oh I can swim good enough” The boy replied “just not when my leg is flopping around.”
She managed to keep a straight face “That does make it more difficult” she said, switching the Stimulator off. “How does that feel?”
“It itches like crazy, Doctor.”
“It will I’m afraid for about an hour.” she looked up at the boy’s parent’s, Starfleet officers like she once was, enjoying their leave-or were, until their son jumped off the cliff. “He needs to not do anything strenuous on that leg for about 24 hours” she told his parents “and bring him back if the itching doesn’t stop by the end of the day.”
“A little itching is a small price to pay for nearly scaring us to death” the bolian’s father grumped as the boy looked down, sliding off of the treatment table. “Thank you Captain.”
Of course, they knew she was Starfleet. Was being the operative word. She simply nodded “No problem Commander, glad it was something simple.”
She watched them leave then stretched, her back was hurting her again. Of course that was expected, being just past six months pregnant. Still, at least this time she wasn’t gallivanting all over the galaxy until the last few weeks. She was out of Starfleet now. Not retired, just transferred to inactive reserves-she could go back when she wanted, and to be honest they wanted her back.
But she’d missed most of the first few years of her son’s life due to Starfleet needs. True, he was with her parents, but talking daily on the com wasn’t the same. Plus the fact that her daughter was half caitian like her brother, and as rough as her first pregnancy was-staying somewhere where she didn’t have to worry about the galaxy exploding on her was a good thing.
“Report’s done Doctor.” her nurse said, the beaklike alien stepping into the room.
“You didn’t have to do that Baokiz, but thanks.”
He gave what passed for his species as a smile-few recognized it, but fortunately the Lethean was well versed in etiquette of many species. He was also KDF-along with her Ferasan charge nurse. But then, Dr Evans was part of General K’Tirr’s house. And the General did have enemies, even more so when he taken her and her Caitian husband into his house. At least Schrodi knew to pick medically trained security for her- Baokiz, while not able to do interrogations due to his telepathic abilities having a defect-he was more an empath than a reader. Which meant he was more than suited for calming frightened patients, and more importantly, their parents. Which when she had the ER shift at the hospital, as well as her normal practice, came in handy quite often. “Who’s next on the list?”
“No one right now, that was the last one in the waiting room.” He replied. It had taken some time for the rest of the staff to get used to him-but fortunately Baokiz wasn’t the weirdest looking one in the department, and he was a damn good nurse. Competence went a long way in the medical profession.
“Well that won’t last, school will be out for the day soon so the local kids will start doing stupid things.” Rhonda sat down, glad to be off her feet for a bit. “But it’s a tuesday, so maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Risa Main spaceport
Commander Burns was in a foul mood, even for someone who just beamed down to Risa. Oh it wouldn't have been bad if he was on shore leave, but the Starfleet security officer was on the job, escorting someone to his mind should be in solitary inside Facility 4028, if not executed. But no, he and Lt Qi had to babysit a known war criminal.
She looked human, but he knew from her file that she wasn’t. She was far older than she looked, and more dangerous than any prisoner he’d ever transported. Still, he had his orders, she was on a diplomatic passport from the Klingon Empire, and Risa hadn’t even batted an eye when she asked for a visa to visit.
“How now, Mister Burns, a look like that and I’ll be thinking thou’rt sufferin’ the Colic like a wee babe.” his pri-...subject or Client looked to be somewhere between her late 20s and early thirties, with rich, vibrant red hair hanging loose to her shoulders and the creamy skin that promised easy sunburns, her shorts were the local ‘tourist’ fashion, and she had chosen a broad floppy straw hat and an almost atrociously tacky shirt open to reveal a bikini top. She looked, in other words, like a tourist-the harmless kind, the sort that win a once in a lifetime trip from a sweepstakes and wallow in it while they’re there because they know they’ll never earn another trip.
Which made things so much worse. That, and her easy, guileless and pretty smile-a thing she shined on every passerby.
Most of whom would flee in terror if they knew what was inside the pretty-girl facade. Dr. Mary Moriarty is one of the few beings alive to get away with Xenocide (the extermination of a sentient species), to have been charged with actions severe enough to earn condemnation from the Vulcan Science Academy for her unethical experimentation, and to have been thrown out of virtually every corner of Academia for actions sufficient to worry the Klingon science establishment.
Tested something on sentients that killed a lot of them? You betcha. Designing biogenic weapons that didn’t just violate international agreements, but gleefully stomped all over them, the woman even turned loose a Gray goo on an inhabited planet....
The monstrous acts his current client committed would have shamed Kodos, horrified Greene, possibly even stunned Mengele.
And she wanted to skip her bare toes in the surf like any normal person. “Relax, Mister Burns.” she insisted again, “our business here is likely short, and thou’rt quite probably going to have lots of time to play in the sand, chase girls and drink things with little paper umbrelllas in them.”
He grit his teeth. “I have to keep an eye on you.” he said it with his jaw clenched.
“Now, now, thou shouldst relax, it’s that stick up thy pe’ghu that has cost thee Captaincy already. It’s Undiplomatic to be so serious, and if thou doth insist ‘pon it, I may take offense.” her tone shifted to something dark and dangerous, “Now, smile or I shalt make thee.”
He sighed, and wondered if this was what broke her previous Starfleet ‘escort’, Commander Napier was currently remanded to permanent holding at a mental institution. “Thou shouldst emulate Mister Qi, he understands.”
Qi said nothing, wisely.
"It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier." R.A.Heinlein
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
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“Dr Evans, you’ve got a visitor.”
It was slow thankfully-even on a vacation world-where people tended to disconnect their common sense as soon as they hit the beach and had the first fruity drink with a tiny umbrella in it, with all the safeguards on a Federation world not as many got hurt as one might think. Except on the weekends for some reason. Being it was a tuesday just after 1300-pretty slow. Good time to do reports and paperwork.
“..oh stop being a pillock..”
Commander Burns was beyond furious. Bad enough that he had to escort a war criminal to Risa-but what possible business could she have here other than some sick experiment. “You’re not going any further until you tell me exactly what you are up to-”
“What’s going on here-” Dr Evans was annoyed by the shouting-even if it did seem to be one sided, coming from the commander. Rhonda’s eyes widened as she recognized the redhead he was yelling at. “OhmyGod, you’re Dr Moriarty!”
Burns blinked-that didn’t sound like someone upset to see her. In fact, it was more close to a fangirl squeal.
“I’ve wanted to meet you for years! Your work on the borg helped me save my adopted sister-well it was in another timestream but still. Not to mention your paper on Tuvan Syndrome, and the antidote for Veridium six.”
Commander Burns stood there wide eyed at the gushing by the Captain. Dr Moriarty simply smiled “The Tuvan Syndrome, I merely expanded on previous work by Dr Selar’s work. Veridium” she grinned “Well, that tis more a matter of making one of my patrons didn’t find himself killed off by his petaQ of a cousin.”
Mary reached into her shoulder-bag, and produced a PADD, “ I’ve business with thee on behalf of thine Brother, Father, and others-and I’ll be wanting to see insights into some of thy work as well…” she shot Burns a look, “A routine consult, if thou wilt...and a doctor is a poor doctor that hath herself as a patient, so I’d ask thee to schedule a workup for me as well.”
“Sure no problem” Evans replied “though to be honest I am technically a pediatrician in my practice on Risa-”
“Captain, I don’t believe this! She’s a wanted war criminal and you’re almost squealing in excitement!” Commander Burns had reached his limit. He didn’t...he couldn’t believe this.
Rhonda looked annoyed, narrowing her eyes on the Commander. “Dr Moriarty came here legally, correct?” she asked the two Starfleet officers. Burns was still sputtering while Lt Qi answered.
“She arrived on a Diplomatic passport Doctor Evans.”
“Wait, What?” Now she was pissed. “So, let me get this straight Commander,” Rhonda hissed through clenched teeth, in her Captain voice. “Despite with the new Risa Accords stating specifically that citizens of allied nations...which the last time I looked included the Klingon Empire, were allowed to travel freely within the borders of other nations. I could go to Qo’nos for fresh Gagh if I wanted to-”
Commander Burns blinked “why would you want to do that-”
“Do Not interrupt me Commander! Rhonda snarled, getting in his face. “Dr Moriarty has every right under the accords to be here. But being here on a diplomatic passport? That means her trip has the blessing of the government of the Empire. Are you trying to start a war by interfering in a diplomatic visit Commander?!”
At this point the commander was gulping like a goldfish, making incoherent sounds. Dr Evans turned to Lt Qi. “where did these orders come from?”
“Technically we did used to work for Admiral Taylor-Smythes office, he has not been replaced after his court martial, and things are a bit, well, still in flux. Admiral Cartwright has been making many changes of late, some things just probably haven’t been gotten to yet.”
Mary flashed Rhonda a smile and slapped a palm over Burns’ neck. His panicked expression eased and he slipped gently to the floor with a snore..”Poor boy’s quite fatigued.”
“Thank you. Lt, please take the Commander back to his quarters. When he awakes, tell him he is under orders to reevaluate his decisions of late, re read the Federation charter, especially the bill of rights. Oh and maybe get laid. I get the feeling he could use it.” She realized she probably shouldn’t have said that-but being pregnant and back pain has made her a bit irritable. “Doctor, on behalf of Starfleet I apologize for your treatment here on Risa. I will contact Admiral Cartwright with my own complaint as well.”
“Oh, Risas been lovely so far, Doctor.” Mary said impishly, as Qi and nurse Baokiz wrestled Burns onto a gurney for transport. “Poor mister Burns, such a sad, sad man. Thou knowest, ‘tis unfortunate a man gets too serious, bad for the innards.”
“Among other things, including my blood pressure.” Rhonda scanned herself idly with a medical tricorder “borderline, but under the circumstances…” she said as the Commander was taken out. She forced herself to take a deep breath, and calm down. “Now then, I assume you came here to see me for a reason.
“A ‘routine consult’ with a peer.” Mary offered the PADD again, “seems we’ve a small case, and thou’rt recommended highly.”
Rhonda looks over the chart. “This isn’t you, obviously...these DNA strands are..wrong?”
“Altered.” Mary stated.
Rhonda glanced up “right. Ok, lets continue this elsewhere then, like my office. I’m off shift in five minutes anyway, and there’s Dr Hammond to relieve me.”
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
“Now why do ye have that? I see them littered all about during the holidays.”
She waved Mary into one of the comfortable chairs by the desk “Because I feel weird about asking him for a better one. I know a lot of folks can’t stand him,” Rhonda says with a shrug “maybe it’s because I’ve had to deal with semi omnipotent beings before.”
Dr Moriarty caught where she was glancing when she said that, looking up at the old two dimensional photograph on one wall, filled with dozens of beings-most human, in brightly colored costumes in front of a huge statue of what she recognized as the myth of Atlas holding up the world. “Tis you in the second row?”
“Yeah, and my brother in the fifth from the left.” She shook her head “longer ago than I like to think of some days, and a universe or two away. So anyway” she said as she reopened the file, looking it over.
“You said ‘altered’ DNA?”
Mary nodded, “it’s nae how we left it.” she states, “There hath been tampering with the biological cues, alterations to the aggression and pain responses. I am wondering if you see the same changes I see.. The patient’s batch shouldn’a have those specifications, I made sure of it before they shut us down.”
“yeah…”Rhonda frowned as she looked over it-then pulled up another chart. “Probably shouldn’t do this..but I know for a fact that this room is secure. Schrodi had Mr Thag setup my system in here” she said, comparing the two images. “I can see it definitely-this is my sister in law, Tan. Siegfried batch 25/04/2375” she superimposed the two DNA readouts over the other “Whoever the hell did this..is a hack. All brute force, see this strand here? Whoever this is, they’re ripe for parkinson's, diabetes and breast cancer. Which being your patient is a guy...who the hell did this?”
“Thy father mentioned a ‘Pope Daniels’.” Mary stated, “Before he vanished in a puff of chronitons.”
There was a thump, then another. Mary looked from the display to the desk, where Rhonda was slowly banging her head against it “oh God...now I know why Schrodi sent you to me.” she sighed and sat up. “I can contact some of my former crew from the Heinlein-I know they will definitely be able to help track this guy down whenever he is. In the meantime though..we need to figure out how to unscrew this poor TRIBBLE.”
“Two more samples.” Mary added, “this is Marissa Chung, and this is-”
“Phoebe Kian.”
“I was going to say Laura McAllister fro’ Boston on Earth, actually-but both are AB subjects from a late run.”
Dr Evans nodded “they’re similar, I’ve met and examined Phoebe which is why i thought it was her.”
“As thou can see, MacAllister’s had some of hers altered by the same clumsy germ-line editor. She died of an aneurysm three weeks ago.” Mary’s tone carried icy fury, “I dinna care to have my works sabotaged thusly.”
“Not to mention what if he got more than just these few? This Daniels guy needs to be-”
She stopped as her com on her desk emitted an emergency tone. “Evans here” she said as she hit the switch.
”thank the Prophets you are still on campus, the Bajoran dispatcher said ”we have an inbound Plan Blue, Juvenile Ferengi female, age 12.”
She was on her feet and heading for the door-well as fast as a pregnant surgeon can move “Get her to OR 3 , Ferengi is one of the species it’s prepped for. I need the species specific crash carts ready, and get nurse Baokiz.”
”he’s already here Doctor, eta three minutes on the Plan Blue.”
“I’ll be there in two, Evans out” she said as she ran. Dr Moriarty followed “what be plan blue? Not familiar with that code.”
“Itr means a patient is so close to the edge not to even bother with triage or the ER-get them into surgery as fast as possible.”
“If thee could use an extra pair of hands, I am experienced with Ferengi medicine as well.”
Rhonda flashed a quick grateful smile at the redheaded doctor-even as she could hear outside the whine of the approaching shuttlecraft. Both women knew if the patient wasn’t able to be transported...they were at death's door. They ran faster.
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
It was bad. The girl had dove a bit too deep after something, and despite all the safety precautions that a modern Federation resort world like Risa had in place, sometimes the freak accidents still happened. In this case it was something simple. Someone did something stupid.
Rental power boats were supposed to have computer controlled safety systems that were idiot proof. Problem with idiot proof systems however, was the idiots kept getting smarter. In this case the operator of a rental boat got too close to one of the rocky islands-and when the boat suddenly decelerated from the automatic safety’s kicking in, the girl who was standing up in the bow was thrown overboard, and run over by the boat-then to add insult to injury was pinned against the bottom by the boat for several critical minutes.
In short-even with the medical technology available in the early 25th century…
“We got here at 14:23 Doctor, for the time of Death-”
“Ah ain’t giving up yet” Rhonda replied, glaring at the paramedic. The medic just shrugged and let her to her work, transferring the girl to the biobed before pushing the gurney out.
“They’re right Doctor” Baokiz said softly. “I can barely feel her-”
“I can fix this-”
The Lethean took two steps forward “you can’t!. Don’t you remember the last time?” The beaked alien nurse said, his other hand pointing at her swollen stomach.
It was almost like she deflated. “Dammit...but..”
“But nothing. You can’t risk her.”
Dr Moriarty raised an eyebrow. “I take it that thy protest is related to a certain event that happened recently?”
Rhonda sighed. “Not surprised you know about that too. It seems that Starfleet Security can keep every secret except the ones you want them to keep.”
“Twas not Klingon Intelligence that told me, but Lady R’iorr.”
“Oh. Well of course she would know...you know about Starbase 132 then right?”
“I know you did what is nae possible. You healed a Fek meatlocker, and told the Federation that Q did it.”
“Oh he did. Sorta.” she ran her hand through her white hair “ya see, the way it works is bioelectric fields. In Paragon City, It was no problem to heal just about anything...maybe cause the laws of physics were different, or ah was younger. Now, I can do it again...but it takes a lot out of me. Q gave me the power to do something that massive on the Starbase. Normally I could fix her...but…”
“But if you do now, you tap into your daughter's energy as well, aye?”
“Yeah. I can borrow from others...but not often. Baokiz was out for three days the last time I did it twice in a week, and-”
The red headed doctor simply smiled, stripping off one of the protective gloves and held her hand out. “I may have a bit more energy than the good nurse does.”
She hesitated only long enough to remove one of her own gloves. She really didn’t need them anyway. “Thank you” she said simply, taking the other doctor’s hand in hers.
“No probl-oh...oh my.” It was like a whole other level of awareness. Moriarty could see the energy in her, the two sources in Dr Evans, the smaller one glowing almost too bright to look at, and on the biobed, one fading.. “Is this how you see things all the time?”
“Ever since Starbase 132, yeah” Rhonda said, reaching out gently towards the bed. “Ok, hang in there kid, lets start with getting her oxygen levels back up…”
As Nurse Baokiz both monitored Dr Evans daughter, as well as made sure they were not disturbed, the fuzzy doctor tapped into Dr Moriarity's bio energy, shattered bones regrowing, damaged tissues healing, the younger’s color and aura improving.
Three hours later
Healers didn’t typically earn names in Ferasan society. He actually had a name, but he’d been with KI long enough that operating without one didn’t bother him. His sire knew of his deeds, and he had three fine kits back on Ferasa. That said, working with KI had also taught him how to lie very well when needed, even to food that talks.
“I know she looked bad when she was brought in,” he purred sibilantly “but facial wounds to tend to bleed rather heavily. It was nowhere as near as bad as it looked.”
“But the medics-”
He swished his tail and shrugged “made a mistake-or were not familiar with ferengi physiology.”
or the black furred one pulled another miracle from her tail he thought. He saw the Lethean medic carry in several containers of the sickening, sweet concoction that Dr Evans preferred...the sugar and carbohydrates worked well to restore her.
“Th..that’s possible i assume…” the merchant had been beside himself at the thought of losing his child. True, he’d probably been more upset about the loss of free labor...but Ferengi ways were not his, thankfully. The parents were so relieved that they didn’t even question too deeply about the scars on the girls face. Easily repaired to be honest, even in the Empire.
Dr Evans office
Baokiz supported Rhonda under his shoulder as he sat the doctor down on a sofa in her office. “Make sure she eats something -you as well, Dr Moriarty.”
“Aye, I could use a bit of the hard stuff after that experience ta be honest.”
The Lethean grinned “Dr Thompson has some in his office next door, for ‘medicinal purposes’.” he said with a wink, before exiting the office to check on the patient-and to make sure that what happened, and what the security cameras ‘think’ happened, weren't the same.
The red headed woman chuckled “I may borrow some. Is it always like this when you heal someone that way?”
“Not usually...I had to draw a lot from you, I’m sorry.”
Mary shook her head “Do nae be. I age so slowly, you may have taken two or three whole days off of my life” she said teasingly. “I see now why you shouldn’t risk it while with child..I could feel her there. Slept through the whole thing.”
“Still sleeping, lucky kid. Maybe I’ll be lucky and she’ll be a sleeper when she gets out. Right now though, I’m about as weak as a newborn kitten.”
“Food first, and drink more of that...Dr Pepper?”
“You’ve never had it?”
Mary shook her head “I have. That's why I never touch the stuff.”
Rhonda laughed tiredly as Mary got to her feet “come on then. We’ll get ye fed, my business with thee can wait till the morn.”
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
There were plenty of spare rooms, and Dr Moriarty slept comfortably. She woke early and clad in a dressing gown quietly, her head slightly aching. She’d only borrowed a glass or two of Doctor Thompsons scotch-but in her drained state that hit her harder than she’d thought.
“Good morning.”
She looked up blearily, it was an older human woman-Dr Evan’s mother she remembered from the introduction last night. “G’morning, I wish to apologize about the state I was in when we got here last night-”
“Is no worry. You had ‘helped’ Rhonda with one of her patients i take it?” Susanna Evans said, the late 50’s asian woman pouring a second mug of coffee and offering it to the doctor.
“Twas more like powering her...what she did, I’m still having problems processing it ta be honest.” she took a sip of the coffee “that child was technically dead when they brought her in. and she was sitting up talking to her parents when we left.”
Suzanna just chuckled “you should have seen her when she was younger. Dressed in skintight leather and jumping off buildings flying off into the sunset to fight villains.”
“It was only skintight to make it hard for people to grab you Mom…” Rhonda muttered as she waddled into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Seems practical-the Klingons prefer leather uniforms both for the protection and making it harder to be grabbed in a fight.” Mary smirked “of course then they add on sashes, huge shoulder pads, and other good handholds.”
“Don’t forget the capes” Rhonda smirked “those things can kill ya when you’re not in a fight.”
“Oh aye. We had a Bekk who was marrying some lass from one of the great houses. Got all dressed up, all his medals, sashes, that bloody fur cape. Never made the wedding, turbolift accident.”
“Ouch.”
A few hours later, after breakfast the two doctors retreated into the den. “The cases we talked about yesterday were important, but this tis the true reason I’m here.” Mary said, handing over a PADD.”
Rhonda looked at it and whistled when she saw the name. “D’monjena Manassa? I know that name. Never met her, but read a couple of her books.”
“She’s my captain, and my friend. And I’m running out of options to keep the cancers at bay. She insists on suppressing her pheromone abilities…”
“And orion physiology is too stubborn to take no for an answer.” she flipped through them “I see you tried removing the slua glands, and they grew back?”
“Aye. Tis hard encoded in their genetic structure.”
She scanned the files “damn, everything you’ve done so far pretty much stretches both Empire and Federation medical knowledge.”
“And Tried some stuff I picked up in the Gamma quadrant as well...it’s a temporary fix at best. It keeps coming back, the only way to stop it is for her to stop the suppressants.”
“And slua is pretty much always on-it just influences more when pushed. “ She sat and thought, one hand idly twirling a strand of her hair. “And you think that I can ‘fix’ this.”
“I hoped ye could. I read the report of the incident at Starbase 132.”
“How did you get that anyway? I would have thought that KI would have classified that pretty highly.” At least that’s what Schrodi told her.
“General Ssharki. He has few mammalian friends, and counts her as one of them.”
Rhonda had heard of the General too-met him once even. “I guess he would have the pull..and I think I can do it-just not till she’s out” she said, resting her hand on her pregnant stomach. “Also I need to talk to the Colonel and get her consent on what i’m going to do-because if this works, she’s going to have to use her slua regularly.”
That caused Mary to blink “But the whole purpose is to get rid of it.”
“You’ve already proven that isn’t possible...so the only alternative is to find a way to live with it. By making her pheromones similar to these…” she made some notes on the padd and passed it back.
“Tis human..and not? Yours??”
“Yeah. It’s doable-a lot of the minor stuff I do IS pheromone based. I don’t think she’ll be able to pull off some of the stuff I can, but if she pushes the slua enough, well you may not have too much to do to treat your crew other than injuries.”
“It could work...and i do think she’d consent to this. As for waiting, D’moj is currently in the Delta quadrant, so by the time I can talk to her and get her back, your babe will have been born. For this I’ll happily lend as much energy as ye need.” She looked at Rhonda “She is my captain, and my friend. When one lives as long as I do, ye tend to not have many-but the ones you do have, are cherished as long as they last.”
“Well if she consents she’ll be around for a good longer than left untreated.” Rhonda said with a chuckle. “As for our other problem, we need to get the info on how to fix the Siegfried kids to starfleet medical.”
“Not too sure I want them knowing too much of my involvement, but I dunnae see an alternative..”
Dr Evans nodded reassuringly, “understandably. Fortunately Jesu la Roca gave me his personal quantum com access code…”
Mary laughed. “Tis not as worrying as contacting Starfleet then. Still mayhap best for thee to claim credit for this.”
“Maybe. Still he’ll know you were involved.”
“Probably, but tis best to be circumspect for the nonce.”
“Point. Ok, sending him the file...he’ll probably call in a couple hours being it’s still predawn San Francisco time. Enough time for some lunch before I have to do some fast talking.”
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."
Three days later, Brightcove Beach
Dr Mary Moriarty sat lazily in the sun on the lounge chair, a cool fruity drink with an umbrella in it by her side. It had been a worthwhile trip-the possible cure for the tampering of the Siegfried’s DNA had been forwarded on to Jesu La Roca and Betazed. The two they had thus far responded well , sadly for Marissa Chung, while her DNA was fixed...the damage due to her suicide attempt may not be.
She’d sent a message to D’moj. No reply yet-but she was deep in the delta quadrant. She’d catch a ride back to the Dyson sphere in a few days. Meantime, the newsfeed was a twitter with the revelation by Admiral Cartwright and the new Moab coalition government that Starfleet had a secret genetic enhancement program-and that after the secession, Moab out of a sense of necessity continued it-though those responsible for that decision were all dead. All of the Siegfried kids would be guaranteed full schooling, and much more quietly, La Roca had informed Dr Evans that the couple of dozen who had been exposed to ‘professor Daniels’ had been identified and cured-some sadly not before damage had been done, especially in Marissa Chung’s case. Her own name was technically clear-Jesu knew she was involved, as did Ssharki, but neither one of them would spread that.
She reached for her drink when she heard someone approach. “Mind if I join you for a moment Doctor?”
Sipping the cool beverage, she glanced up at Commander Burns. He looked different. Less haggard, a bit of a tan, and an embarrassed look on his face. “Tis a free beach” she replied, gesturing to the chair next to her.
The commander sat “I wanted to apologize for my behavior. It was atrocious and unprofessional.”
She merely nodded as he continued “I’ve decided it’s probably best if I left Starfleet-”
“Nay. Thou were serving an organization that was infiltrated and corrupted by the Undine. Being able to see one was wrong, and attempt to make right? Thou are the kind of being that Starfleet and the Federation need more now than ever.”
He blinked at that “But after what you and the captain said-”
“Thou are not a bad man, Commander. Overworked, and misled. I have found that for the most part, Starfleet weeds out the truly bad ones-with the last few decades as an exception. I have known many Starfleet officers over my life-for the most, they were good people. A bit misguided at times, sometimes bound by rules that didn’t make sense-but still decent folk.”
“I’m surprised you’d say that-especially given your history being wanted by them.”
She shrugged and sipped her drink “The things I have done that they took issue with, were never done of out malice. Well maybe one or two deaths-but those deserved it even under Federation standards. But I always try to do only what harm is necessary. Not sometimes what I myself may prefer, but what has to be done.”
He chuckled ruefully “probably why you fit in with the Klingons so well. For the most part they’re similar.”
“More than they would like to admit at times mayhaps.” She leaned back in her chair, idly pointing past the commander “I think the lass may want words with the, possibly to discuss statues.”
He looked over his shoulder at the Risan woman who smiled at him, holding a horga'hn in her hands. “I ran into her earlier” he said, smiling back at her
Mary made a shooing motion and grinned “Go on, git. I will be lounging here for the next few days Commander, so thee doesn’t need to watch over me until next Thursday.”
"he's as dangerous as a ferret with a chainsaw."