"Something Stinks"
[Previous post: "What Do You Do...", written by the valiant Jessica Solarik]
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Setting: IRRAJ, Royal Palace, Guest Quarters
Lea laid on the bed has her eyes struggled to see the details of the
painted ceiling overhead. For a civilization as advanced at the
Irranjian they certainly had some very strange ways. At 2200 hours the 'lights out' call rang through the corridors and within seconds all had been dark. Minutes prior to that Serenna, Susan and Lea had been told by the
palace guards to return to their rooms. *Told*, not *asked*, a
subtlety that had irked the CMO's friend and the CMO alike.
Upon their return Sabrina had suggested for everyone to get some sleep.
No clues had been found to explain the presence of the Jem'Hadars in
the palace. What had been worse had been that no clues had been found of
them being here at all. Lea had not been ready to say that Uxtar had
imagined the entire thing but the three women had found nothing.
Some might have used this to undermine Uxtar's claim but Susan used
their lack of findings as a supporting fact. "Let's face it," the Cns had
said. "If the Dominion is here, they won't be advertising their
presence for all to see."
Those words kept repeating in Lea's head. If the Dominion had indeed
been on IRRAJ things would more than likely turn from bad to worse in no
time. The CMO suddenly bolted off her bed and reached for whatever she
could grab. There, in the shadows next to the door, Lea had heard
something. It had been only a quiet squeak but it had been enough to make
the CMO jump. What if the sound had been caused by a Founder sneaking
into her room? If she called out for help the shapeshifter might react
by escaping. Thinking back to her luck during away missions though,
Lea suspected that it would not be so easy.
Images of her being captured of worse killed flashed through her mind
as she stood fast. Lea's eyes desperately scanned the darkness for any
sign of motion and when she saw something she struck.
Had it been Uxtar wielding the ornate statue, the unknown assailant
would have likely been but a smug on the far wall. If Pravat has instead
been here with the small sculpture in hand, all hell would have broken
loose. Had Serenna or Enaii held the odd weapon, the unseen attacker
would have likely drop dead right there, the statue never having left its
place on the night table. Unfortunately Lea did not possess the
Hirogen's strength, the Enaran Marine's zeal or the ExO's and ILO's combat
skill.
"You might want to be careful with that," David whispered. His massive
hand had easily caught the statue as it swung towards him. "You might
hurt someone, and as the ANUBIS' CMO that would not be a good thing."
"What were you doing sneaking into my room?!" Lea demanded. The CMO
had been happy to see that her attacked had failed, but that joy had
quickly been replaced with anger. "I thought you were a Founder trying to
get to me to kidnap me or worse to kill me. If this was your idea of a
joke I do not find it amusing in the least."
David looked down at the moonlit face of Lea and gently reached out and
cradled her into his arms. It had been easy to see that Lea had been
upset, and terrified.
"I'm sorry," David whispered. "I had wanted to check up on you but had
not wanted to wake you up. I thought that maybe you had managed to fall
asleep unlike the rest of us."
Lea had been as mad as could be, yet the feeling of David's arms around
her had been too much for her to fight against. If the universe was to
end now, she would not have cared at all.
The sound of the door opening made David and Lea take a slightly more
professional stand towards each other. Neither one of them knew who had
just walked in but there had been no reason to put on a show for them.
"Lea?" Susan asked through the darkness, "Are you in here?"
"Where else would I be?" The CMO replied with a hint of sarcasm to her
friend's question.
"Something happened and you are needed in Sabrina's room," the Cns said
while she stood in the doorway. What little light had been in the
corridor had made it that much easier for Lea and David to find the way
out. When Susan saw that her friend had not been alone in the darkness, a
playful smile flashed over the Cns' face. "I hope I didn't interrupt
anything," Susan teased as David walked by. The CEO just rolled his eye
and walked into the corridor, right on the heels of Lea.
Susan, David and Lea had not yet stepped into the CO's room but they
could tell that something had not been right. The stench which had hung
in the air had been as putrid as could be.
"What happened?" The CMO asked as she walked in, trying her best not to
gag at the odour which reeked from further inside the room. "Did
someone find a thousand years old corpse."
"Not exactly," Sabrina replied while pointing to the bed with one hand
and holding her nose close with the other.
Lea had to get closer to clearly see what the CO had been pointing at,
but once next to the bed the CMO saw the source of the disgusting
odour. Enaii, Maya and Derek sat on the bed; all three looking as if they
had swam through the city's sewers, an analogy which had actually been
quite accurate.
"Maya is hurt," the ILO snapped not wanting the CMO to hover over her.
While Lea took care of the CSciO and FCO, Enaii moved closer to Sabrina
and reported on their findings. Several thing of interest had been
discovered, the least of which had been the unimpressive state of the
city's underground drainage system.
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Lt. J.G. Lea Summers 2006 post #197
Stardate: 61014.2300
Tiffany Rose {lady_tiffany_rose@mail.com}
Chief Medical Officer
USS ANUBIS
