" Operational Cleanup "
Previous Post: "Asking a Simple Question"
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Stardate: 60298.2215
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Corridor
Having returned to the bridge and confirmed that the ANUBIS had been properly secured within the docking bay of their home base, the Romulan/Terran hybrid headed down to Sickbay to take care of the demand made by the ILO. The woman's own admission to the act endlessly repeated itself in the COO's mind, the Ops officer still struggling with the reality that Enaii had allowed two members of the infamous Tal'Shiar to escape their custody. What Serenna found truly bothering was not that it had happened, but the unknown reasons that stood behind the actions that had been taken.
Standing in front of the door leading to Sickbay, the Romulan/Terran hybrid wondered if going through with the ILO's demand to see the bloodstained towel destroyed was not in some way the disposing of incriminating evidence. Admitting to having let the Romulans escape to the COO without any sort of coercion meant, at least as far as the Ops officer had been concerned, that Enaii either didn't care about what would happen to her or that she had a very valid reason for doing what she had. Either way the situation did not look promising for the woman and knowing that Admiral Koneki had requested the presence of the operative in his office the moment they had arrived had only confirmed this.
Having concluded that the ILO had been in enough trouble and feeling a certain sense of solidarity towards the woman, the Romulan/Terran hybrid decided that the destruction of the towel would be nothing more than doing a benign task requested by a fellow shipmate.
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Stardate: 60298.2219
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Although convinced that she was doing the right thing, the Romulan/Terran hybrid had in no way objected to having found no one on duty in Sickbay. Recalling the operational protocol which dictated that while docked at any station at least one member of the medical staff had to remain on duty, the COO dismissed the transgression as good fortune; something that she inwardly hoped would also befall the ILO in her meeting with the Admiral.
Looking around the room, the COO tried to figure out where the aCMO would have hidden the container in which the Romulan/Terran hybrid had placed the towel. Being one of many standard boxes found throughout Sickbay made the task of finding the right one that much more complicated; a game of hide and seek that the Ops officer wished she did not have to play at this time.
Having told the Ens. Summers to place the container in a secure location, the Romulan/Terran hybrid began her search at the back, the through of the aCMO having "hidden" the towel in plain sight not having been considered since the goal had been to keep its existence secret from the ILO. Searching for the item in question, it became evident that keeping anything secret from the Intel agent was nothing more than an exercise in futility, hence why Enaii had been the ANUBIS' ILO.
Looking through the storage cabinets located beneath several of the medical research stations, the Romulan/Terran hybrid began to wonder if the aCMO had hidden the container in this room at all, the COO not having found any traces of the box of the towel therein. Trying to place herself in the skin of Ens. Summers, the Ops officer imagined that the roles had been reversed and that she had been the one asked to hide this piece of evidence.
Scanning the entire medical bay, the Romulan/Terran hydrid tried as best she could to put herself into the mindset of the aCMO as she evaluated the qualities of each and every area of the room. Not wanting to drag Summers any deeper into this affair than she had already by contacting the aCMO to ask where the container had been placed, the COO continued her visual search stopping on a door at the back of the room.
Hoping that Ens. Summers had followed the same logic that she had just used, the Romulan/Terran hybrid headed towards the door that led to a little used section of Sickbay, at least a section that everyone hoped would be used as little as possible. Feeling a slight discomfort taking hold of her, the COO entered the appropriate access code into the panel and stepped into the ANUBIS' morgue.
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Stardate: 60298.2222
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Morgue
Standing in the middle of the perfectly sterile room, the COO carefully studied the inscriptions placed on the doors indicating the name, rank and position of the occupants behind them. Whatever discomfort the Romulan/Terran hybrid had felt when entering the room was replaced with an overwhelming sense of sadness as she read the names of those who had not survived their latest mission. Being an officer in Starfleet was something that carried with it a constant level of danger, something that the Ops officer knew all too well, but to be faced with the reality of this danger in such a way had been a shock.
Carefully reading the names written on the doors, the Romulan/Terran hybrid realized that she had lost count of how many officers, mostly marines, had made the journey back to NEW ALEXANDRIA within this chamber. For a moment the quest for the bloody towel was forgotten as the COO silently paid her last respects to those who had fallen. Disposing of an inconsequential towel seemed like nothing when compared to the price that they had paid for the completion of a mission that had resulted in only part of the objectives being fulfilled.
Forcing herself back onto the task at hand, the Romulan/Terran hybrid opened the first door without a name tag, feeling both glad and relieved that this had been the location chosen by the aCMO to hide the towel. Wasting no time, the COO reached in and took the container, closing the door behind her and leaving those within the frigid room to their continued rest.
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Serena Switt {serena1141@yahoo.com.au}
Lieutenant Serenna
Chief of Operations / Second Officer
USS ANUBIS
2005 post #035
