"It's Not The Size That Matters"
[Previous post: "Final Confrontation… Part II", written by our hero Julian Knight]
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Stardate: 60325.2115
Lea glanced one last time at David resting body before heading out to the modified cargo bays. There the crew of the MERCURY had been set up and waited to be taken care of. Lea knew that her staff had things well in hand but she wanted to make herself useful. After having been held captive yet again the CMO needed to prove that she could be useful.
With a med kit in hand Lea headed for the door while wrestling with her thoughts. After all that she had endured the CMO had hoped to be able to dive into her work and forget about Zulot. Lea had wanted to push the image of the Cardassian Gul out of her mind once and for all. As far as Lea had been concerned being back on the ANUBIS should have been enough to accomplish this, but it wasn't. That was part of the reason why the CMO had not been looking where she had been going.
Lea walked through the doorway certain that the door had slid out of her way only to run into something else. At first the CMO thought that there had been a malfunction with the door but Lea quickly discovered otherwise. The wall she had run into was no wall at all but a living breathing Starfleet officer.
"Are you this ship's CMO?" The giant mass of living tissue asked. It was only when Lea looked up and saw the officer's face that she panicked. First Lea had thought that maybe it had been the large Oltharian that she had run into, but that had not been the case. Elan's voice and tone were completely different than those she had just heard, not to mention the looks.
Instinctively Lea took several large steps backwards almost falling to the floor as she retreated from the Naussicaan. The CMO hesitated to reply to the question that had been asked of her. For a moment Lea actually thought that the towering warrior had been sent by Zulot to obtain revenge.
"I am right here Ensign Rostov," Captain Jonnathen Arlington said from one of the biobeds. The voice of the MERCURY's CO made the Naussicaan smile, a sight that Lea would not soon forget. While heading back to the door, Lea kept her eyes on the tall warrior. The CMOs' mind raced wondering how a Naussicaan could have come to be in Starfleet. That was the main reason why Lea failed to see the next obstacle in her way.
"Apologies," Uxtar said looking down to Lea's 5 feet 7 inches from his 6 feet 11inches Hirogen frame. For a split second Lea had been ready to run away screaming. Running into a Naussicaan had been one thing, but following that with a Hirogen had been too much. What was Starfleet turning into?
Lea trembled as she watched the second warrior make his way towards the MERCURY's CO. It was clear that neither one of them was here for her, but that did little to ease the CMO's nerves. This became fully evident when a hand landed on Lea's right shoulder sending her screaming.
"Relax Lea! It's just me. What the heck has you on edge?" Susan asked. The lines on her friend's face spoke volumes about what she had already endured. Dealing with the death of Enaii and the effect this loss had on Sabrina had been rough. Still Susan had wanted to check up on how her friend had been doing following her own ordeal. Apparently the Cns should have come down to Sickbay a little while ago judging by Lea's reaction.
Lea brought her free hand to her chest verifying in a low-tech way to see if her heart had stopped. When the CMO felt the beating pulse beneath her ribs Lea smiled at Susan. "It's been a rough day," Lea said trying to dismiss her reaction and the concerns of her friend aside.
"Where you heading somewhere?" Susan asked looking down at the med kit in Lea's hands. Knowing her friend as she did, the thought of her wanting to work so soon had not been a surprise. Had the roles been reversed Susan suspected that she would have done the same, using work as a sort of therapy. That alone had been enough to make the Cns know that Lea was well on her way to recovery. Despite this having been the third time in as many missions where she had been captured.
"I was just heading to check up on the condition of the MERCURY's crew," Lea replied. The glance over the CMO's shoulder towards the two giants whom she had run into made Susan grin. Had the CMO been heading to the cargo bays or had she been running away from the Naussicaan and Hirogen?
There had been only one way for Susan to find out. "Mind if I join you? I need to head down there anyway to see how much of an impact their imprisonment has had on them. Being held captive, even with the absence of interrogation or torture can be quite traumatic."
Lea scowled. The CMO could not help but feel that Susan's words had in some way included her in the description. After all Lea had been captured, repeatedly, and it would make sense for the ship's Cns to run a few tests. Eventually Lea smiled glad that these tests and evaluation would be taken care of by her friend.
Lea and Susan left Sickbay side by side and immediately began talking as if nothing had happened. At least for the time being, each one trying to find the right time to talk about what weighted on their minds. The CMO's apparent inability to go on a mission without being captured and the Cns' trying to break the news of Enaii's death to the CMO.
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Tiffany Rose {lady_tiffany_rose@mail.com}
Ensign Lea Summers 2005 post #375
Chief Medical Officer
USS ANUBIS
