"Finding Something That You Were Not Looking For Is A Good Thing"
(Previous Post: "Command Duty")
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Stardate: 60301.0830
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section C-2, Level 1, Infirmary
Ensign Summers had quickly busied herself with the numerous medical scans that she had listed in her mind as the two officer made their way back to the Infirmary of NEW ALEXANDRIA where Lieutenant Dawson had been. The Shillian scientist on the other hand had not been able to dive right into her work, finding herself unable to look away from the sleeping man who, according to all that she knew from an early age and had learned since, should have been nothing more than a slowly decomposing collection of inanimate bio-matter.
"Maya," the Assistant Chief Medical Officer said, pointing to an instrument on a shelf locating on the other side of the biobed where David laid on. "Could you hand me over that neuro-scanner, I want to confirm the information that this bio-panel has been collecting over the last few hours."
"Is there something wrong?" The Marine Second Lieutenant asked, having followed the two women back to the Infirmary more out of simple curiosity about the condition the Chief Engineer had been in than anything else, although his official reason had been to provide an escort to the Assistant Chief Medical and Chief Science Officers.
For the last twenty hours or so, the Enaran Marine had managed to be in the company of the Shillian woman having managed to always have a valid reason to explain his presence by her side. It wasn't that he didn't have thing to do, quite to the contrary, but if he could put it off for just a while longer he wasn't going to complain. Even with her long winded explanations, Prav enjoyed the Science Officers company though he couldn't say the same thing about the Ensign Summers. He wasn't sure if it was the strong desire to be around Maya or the need to avoid dealing with replacing the dead Marines that allowed him to tolerate Lea's company. It wasn't that he hadn't acknowledged the change in her attitude but he just couldn't forget the Marine hating woman who he had first met. Being with Maya and watching her work was the easiest way for him to keep his mind off the fact that Marines died under his command and if that meant he had to listen to Lea as well, so be it.
"Wrong is a matter of perspective," Ensign Summers replied, taking into her hand the medical device handed over by the Shillian and running it over the forehead of the motionless man.
"Try explaining it to me," Pravat said trying to keep the enmity out of his voice. He accurately suspected that the Shillian scientist and Assistant Chief Medical Officer stood on opposite sides of this issue.
"Medically speaking I am sure that Lea will argue that there is nothing wrong with David," the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS said, continuing to voice the concerns she had brought forth during the senior staff meeting. "The recovery of a patient, as miraculous or indescribable as it may be, can never be looked upon by a member of the medical community as being something *wrong*, but on the other hand when using an investigative scientific point of view when looking at the same recovery leaves a great many questions unanswered as the Captain pointed out. Medicine is, or I should say that I have been led to believe from my experiences and observations, more than happy to accept a final conclusion without having all of the explanations leading to that deduction, while on the other hand science demands that all questions be satisfactorily addressed and answered before any conclusion can be readily accepted."
"Why must you always be so longwinded?" The Assistant Chief Medical Officer asked with a sigh. Although she did not believe that the Shillian scientist had been entirely right with her supposition, Lea had to admit that in this particular instance the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS had been correct: As far as David had been concerned, Ensign Summers had been more than happy to accept the conclusion of this miraculous recovery without asking too many questions as to why it had happened.
Prav narrowed his eyes at the Assistant Chief Medical Officer. "Well maybe you ought to explain it yourself if you think you can do it any better," he said, the antagonism not veiled this time.
Lea looked causally over at the Marine Second Lieutenant. "Why are you here?" she asked equally venomously.
Prav smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. "You can't can you?"
"Explain it to you?" she asked, her displeasure with the man's presence plainly evident. When she met the Marine during her and Luke's rescue she had felt a negative vibe toward him. At the time she wasn't sure if it she had known him from somewhere or if it was the fact that he was a Marine that made her feel that way. After learning of her life on the ANUBIS before the mind wipe and the fact that she had indeed known him before she was quite sure that it was the Enaran and not the Marine she disliked.
He smiled at her and nodded.
"I'll speak very slowly and use small words so you'll understand," she said, sarcastically.
---
Stardate: 60301.1230
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section C-2, Level 1, Laboratory next to the Infirmary
Over the last four hours the Enaran had watched the Shillian scientist work, analyse and scientifically rip apart every piece of data the Assistant Chief Medical Officer had gathered with her instruments. Because he did not possess a great mastery of either the Medical or Scientific aspects about this search for answers, Pravat had found the hours that had passed quite educating although he had not yet been ready to admit to this. The ways of the Marines had never been those of Starfleet, and as much as they worked together on the same ship, there had been certain bridges that the Marine Second Lieutenant had not been ready to cross, at least not today.
"This is getting more interesting by the hour," the Shillian scientist said, looking at two graphs which the Marine Second Lieutenant had gathered a while back represented the brainwave patterns of the Chief Engineer.
"I will be completely honest with you," Pravat said, scratching the back of his head. "There is no way that I can look at all of this and find *anything* interesting about it. All I see are two squiggly lines which are the same two lines that you have been staring at for the last hour or so."
"What do you see about those lines?" The Chief Science Officer asked, looking back over her shoulder at the Marine who had been sitting in a chair leaning against the opposite wall.
"Two lines that have nothing in common as far as I can see," the Marine Second Lieutenant replied echoing an increasing amount of tiredness in this entire affair.
"You see more than you give yourself credit," the Shillian scientist said, adding a fain grin as she did so. "The lack of similarities in these lines is saying a great deal, especially when you take into account that they originated from the same brain, well at least in a physical aspect. I mean if I did not know that both of these scan results had been taken from David directly, I would have been ready to argue that they were from two distinct individuals. Of course both you and I know that this is not possible unless something happened to the personality that makes David the person that we know him to be, but there have been many recorded instances where a person suffered from a traumatic experience which altered their brain chemistry and subsequently their brainwave patter without changing the psychological identity of the individual. What I have been trying to do for the past hours is to evaluate if this change in brainwave pattern is indicating a psychological modification or a biochemical change in the way the brain processes information. So far I have not been able to clarify this to a certain level of certitude which is why I have been working on this same information for so long."
Prav just stared at her for a moment and then blinked several times. He began to say something but stopped, thought a few seconds and started again but stopped himself when he realized that he didn't even know what question to ask her.
When he finally managed to say something all that he had was, "Maya, are you hungry?"
It wasn't what she was expecting and it took her a second to change gears from theoretical thought to something as concrete as lunch. She looked again at the work she was doing and then back at the Marine. "I was going to..." she started but figuring where it was going he interrupted.
"Maya, I need some food before my head explodes," he said, almost pleadingly.
"Why does that not surprise me," Lea's voice answered from across the room.
---
With her meeting of the gigantic Oltharian behind her,
Ensign Mei ventured into the base without knowing what
else to expect, so far her journey to this place
having been filled with one surprise after another,
most of them not all that pleasant.
"Ensign Mei," an Andorian woman said, approaching the
still shaking Ensign. "Welcome to NEW ALEXANDRIA, I am
Lieutenant Commander Nabus, Chief of Base Internal
Security and I have been sent to welcome you to your
new home."
"Thank you," Susan said, glad that the Andorian seemed
to be a pleasant enough person. "I will admit that I
am a little shocked by the size and feel of this
base," Mei added looking around that the prominent
Egyptian décor that lines the walls of the corridor.
"NEW ALEXANDRIA has no equal in Starfleet," Nabus said
with pride. The Andorian had been ready to continue
with her welcoming speech when her commbadge came to
life.
=/\= Security Control to Commander Nabus, we have a
Vidiian shuttle being brought into Shuttle Bay 6.
According to the Intel we have received, we may have a
code 5 onboard. =/\=
The eyes of the Andorians opened to their widest as
her antennas perked up to their fullest. "Get a
bio-containment team down there *yesterday*, mobilize
the nearest three security teams and isolate that
shuttle. I will take command of the teams as soon as I
arrive. Nabus out," the Lieutenant Commander said in a
hurry before turning back to Ensign Mei. "Sorry about
that, you will have to find the Administrative Section
or someone from the ANUBIS on your own," and with that
the Andorain vanished down the corridor at such a
speed that the Cns did not have the opportunity to ask
any other question.
---
After a discussion filled lunch, the Assistant Chief
Medical Officer and Chief Science Officer accompanied
back by their loyal escort, had returned to the
Infirmary to continue their research on David and his
recovery. By now Pravat had learned to remain clear of
any discussion opposing the two women, having decided
instead to become a silent observer with a greater
chance of surviving the day.
When the doors to the Infirmary opened, the Enaran
quickly turned and stood from his chair to placed
himself in the path of the new arrival who he had not
recognised. The move had not been an intended one but
a basic reflect brought on by his extensive training
and unconscious drive to see the members of his crew
safe from any and all danger.
"I'm sorry," Ensign Mei said, surprised breathless
that a Marine had jumped in her path out of nowhere.
"I did not realise that I was not supposed to be here.
I was searching for someone from a ship called the
ANUBIS and was told that I might find someone here
from that ship."
"You are in luck, if you can call it that," Lea said
with a grin, stepping in front of the Marine, "we are
all from the ANUBIS."
"Am I ever glad to have finally found someone," Susan
said. "I was told that the Captain and First Officers
were unavailable and that the Chief of Operations was
onboard the ship but no one told me how to get there,
so I asked to see either the Chief Medical Officer or
another member of the senior staff."
"Your search is over," Ensign Summers said in a much
more pleasant tone that most had been used to hear
from the woman. "I am Ensign Lea Summers, Assistant
Chief Medical Officer of the USS ANUBIS."
"I am Ensign Susan Mei, and I believe that I have been
assigned to the ANUBIS as the new Head Counsellor."
---
And
Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com } 2005 post #078
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section G, Level 5, Docking Port
Stardate: 60301.1545
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section C-2, Level 1, Infirmary
Matt Kelly (downwitmal@yahoo.com)
Writing for:
2nd Lt. Pravat
MCO
USS ANUBIS
Lieutenant Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
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