The details in the devil Pt 2

Posted on Fri Jan 19th, 2024 @ 12:41am by Lieutenant Commander Jaal Jaxom & Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Kell Asaa Dr & Lieutenant Commander Kevin Kilbane & Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis

2,219 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Investigate the Chintoka Shipyard Buildup
Location: Turbolift/Conference Room
Timeline: Current.

[Turbolift]

Karadis turned to Jaal and said, “Ok, we don’t have a lot of time, what went on in the Captain’s Ready Room was a ruse, he needed you coming out of the room looking the way you did so it looked convincing to the crew. There is a slight problem, we do have to make it convincing still, so I’m going to have to rough you up a little, the odd bruise here and there, split lip, you know the kind of thing because we do have to keep the pretense up. But, there is a reason we’re going through with this, the Captain and Kilbane believe it was a Senior crew member who was passing information on. To whom, they’re not sure, that’s why the algorithm you set up is crucial. We’re heading to the Conference Room right now, that’s where I have to, ah… make it look real, and for that I give you my apologies in advance.”

He had a feeling something like that was going on. The lack of guards escorting them gave it away. Jaal only wished the Captain would have let him in on it sooner. "I can use make-up to for some really convincing bruises, even a split lip, and we can replicate a cast for my arm if you want." Jaal replied hopefully. "and you wouldn't have to hurt your knuckles. We'd just have to make a lot of noise."

“Unfortunately, it has to be realistic, you’ll have to go to Sickbay afterwards so that it’s recorded…physically,” Karadis replied, “though it’ll be recorded that you had an unfortunate ‘accident’, you know, ‘falling down some stairs’,” she finished as the turbolift stopped and the doors opened. Walking out, Karadis headed towards the Conference Room and stepped inside.

"There's no stairs on this ship," Jaal feebly countered.

“Look, I won’t go to town on you, it’ll just be a couple of punches to your ribs, a couple to your jaw and a couple in the mouth,” she said, “you’re a big tough guy, and I’m just a girl after all, how can it possibly hurt?”

"I spent eight months in the officer exchange program on a Klingon ship, I know exactly how much this is going to hurt," he offered in an attempt to garner some sympathy even though he knew the effort would be unsuccessful.

“Then just be comforted that this is basically just for show” Karadis replied.

Once inside the conference room Jaal stood before Karadis, "Just try not to knock any teeth out, please?" He stood with his eyes tightly shut. It would be best that he didn't know 'it' was coming. He'd been in fist fights before and could take a punch, but this was suppose to look like he couldn't fight back.

Karadis sighed, this was their new Executive Officer, hardly what they’d call ‘stoic’. “Oh, there was one thing Commander.”

He opened his eyes and said, "What?"

She pointed down at the floor. When Jaal looked down, she threw an uppercut, forcing his head backwards. A swift left/right to his ribs saw him double back down, then one final uppercut and a left hook to his nose saw the end of the charade.

To his credit, Jaal made no verbal complaints. He leaned on the conference table a moment holding his nose. After a moment and regaining his senses, he stood up straight, "Not bad... all right... to sick bay then?"

Karadis laughed at his pluck, and it seemed his glib sense of humour was still intact. All in all, she hadn’t used full force, but at the same time she hadn’t exactly held back, but Jaal was still upright and making sensible conversation.

“No, no Commander, now we do the peripheral charade,” she said, picking up one of the plastic tables and bringing it down over his back, “this is the point where you start shouting and pleading for your life,” she hinted.

Jaal let out a heavy breath, "Fine. Let's go."

Once that part of the charade was over, Karadis, in a loud voice said, “OK, SICKBAY FOR NOW, BUT AFTER THEY PATCH YOU UP, EXPECT MORE OF THE SAME, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!”

He made some unintelligible cries of pain and then the last thing Jaal uttered was, "NO... ENOUGH."

Half holding, half carrying, Karadis helped Jaal to the doors of the Conference Room, and as they opened, she threw him out onto the corridor floor, much to the consternation and fright of two passing Ensigns.

“GET UP YOU LAZY FUCK, WHO SAID YOU COULD LIE DOWN DURING QUESTIONING?” Karadis shouted at him,
“APOLOGISE TO THESE TWO, YOU SCARED THEM!!!”

Jaal spit a bit of blood from his split lip on the deck in front of them. "Sorry," he croaked. He made a show of struggling to stand up while cradling his left arm as if it were injured far worse that it really was.

The two Ensigns looked at each other, frightened look’s still on their faces, then back at Jaal and Karadis. They simply nodded and scampered off without replying. Once they were gone, Karadis reached down to help Jaal up, saying, “Sorry about that Sir, it was just in case we encountered any. That’ll work to our advantage, because if you want news to travel fast around the ship, tell the Ensigns, then before you know it, everyone knows. This little charade will be all round the ship in a couple of hours. Let’s get you to Sickbay so Dr Asaa can log your visit and any injuries.”

"That would be appreciated," Jaal replied with some strength returning to his voice. He recalled his own time as an ensign. Karadis was right, the ensigns were always a hotbed of ship's scuttlebutt.

Once they arrived in the sickbay, Jaal sat himself on a biobed and waited. While waiting he tensed and relaxed some of the muscles in his limbs. It relieved him that no bones seemed to be broken.

Kell came around the corner, seeing a new guest partially slumped over. She waves on the nurse that was with her and steps over to the crewman, only slightly surprised to see it was the new XO.

“Jaal, I don’t think this new position is working out for you. You look like Petrobian mash.” She activated the bio console to begin the scans and started her assessment.

Jaal only rolled his eyes. He'd been expecting to get picked on a little.

“Go ahead… tell me all about it while I make everything better. When can I expect the other guy? Do I need to kick his ass for you? No, wait.. it was several guys… All pretty big too right?”

"Can we just talk about this later please?" he asked quietly. He didn't think the doctor would believe any story Karadis or himself would tell to explain the injuries. Perhaps it was better to be as vague as possible.

“The Commander needs to be patched up ASAP Dr Asaa, so I can escort him back to see the Captain,” Karadis said. Looking around to make sure no-one was within earshot, she added, “It’s a rather delicate situation, so if you could record your findings and fix him up, we can get out of your way.”

Kell gave Karadis her side-eye. As she poked and prodded softly, gauging Jaal's reactions, she didn't turn her head as she subtly replied. "Delicate... that's what we're calling it now?"

She helped Jaal lie back as she tended to his wounds. A little dermal repair here, some muscle relaxation there, some local anesthetics, some general pain relief. She worked methodically, working her way across his entire body, occasionally glancing at the display.

In a more normal tone of voice she asked Jaal, "Anything still hurting? You'll feel a little fuzzy around the edges for about a half hour, and then it'll sharpen up... I didn't want to make you loopy in your new role but you may wish it hadn't faded if you try to get too active too quickly. Let me know if you need a booster... And please keep the physical exertion to a minimum for a day or two if you can, so everything can knit properly. Tribble-wrangling only."

Jaal saluted slowly not wanting to aggravate anything, "Understood... and thank you Doctor."

She stepped back to assess her work. His uniform was pretty mussed up but he could change as he saw fit. She looked over at Karadis. "You taking care of the incident report? If so I'll wrap this up and get the medical review off to the Captain."

“Chief” Karadis replied, looking at Kell, sick of the Officer class treating her like she was the degenerate part of the hoi polloi, “are you taking care of the incident report Chief?”

“Easy there Chief” a voice said behind all of them.

Karadis turned to see Finchley standing looking at all of them, Kilbane slightly behind.

He looked at Kell and said, “She’s not wrong there Lieutenant Asaa, it wouldn’t kill you to use her rank when asking her a question. As I’m here, you can give me the Commanders medical review, now.”

"Yes Captain. Lt Cdr Jaxom suffered multiple injuries commonly related to physical trauma. He's currently released for duty and only slightly medicated, which should wear off within a half hour or less without being an impairment to judgement, just reflexes. His injuries weren't critical, which will hasten his recovery but I recommend light duty for at least a day cycle, perhaps two barring an emergency. He has declined to detail the cause of his maladies, but I'll leave that up to you to discern as you think appropriate."

“Thank you Lieutenant,” Finchley replied, “I’ll see to it personally that Commander Jaxom follows your recommendations regarding his recovery.”

Turning to Karadis he said, “Have an incident report on my desk in an hour Chief.”

“Absolutely Captain,” Karadis replied.

Turning to Jaal he said, “Looks like you’re on desk duty for the next day or so Commander, fortunately there is some light work I want you to do for me, I’ll explain it to you personally shortly. Best be on your way so you can begin resting up.”

Jaal inhaled then exhaled slowly. There were a couple things he wanted to say to the captain but now was not the time or the place. He nodded an affirmative saying, "I'll be in my quarters then, if that's all right, Sir."

He turned back to Kell, “Commander Dex's body, it’s still in our cryogenic chamber, yes?”

Kell nodded somberly. “Yes sir. I figured you’d want to have some kind of ceremony. Were there any final instructions on file?”

“Commander, Dr Gus Phillipson, Starfleet Intelligence Chief forensic pathologist and his team will be arriving onboard in one hour, you will release Commander Dex body to them. You will put her body in a closed off room, take Dr Phillipson and his team to the room then leave. You won’t say anything to anyone about this, none of your staff will be told, anyone who asks about what’s happening, you will inform Commander Kilbane” Finchley said.

Kell sighs, mulling that over as she nods. "I can assign my personnel tasks elsewhere long enough for me to move the body without witnesses... Anything to log? Or the body will be returned to cryo as if it never moved?"

“It’ll be logged by Dr Phillipson, this will be done in regulation” Finchley replied, “Certain information has come to light that may point towards helping us find the mole, the pathology report will hopefully give the answers. To answer your previous question, no, there won’t be any ceremony, once the examination is completed, Commander Dex body will be removed from this ship.”

Kell nods again. "One hour, I'm on it. Will Dr Phillipson see to the body once he's done, or I'll need to take over disposition and get it on its way to its destination?"

“The body will be removed and go with Dr Phillipson and his team when they depart” Finchley replied.

Kell tapped a few more times on her PADD. "I'll make it so."

“I know this is an unusual circumstance Lieutenant, and you may not agree with what’s happening” Finchley said, “ but there’s more to this situation than I can explain because of the severity of the situation and also the clearance level required to have that information. Suffice to say, Commander Dex may not have been everything we thought she was, indeed, she may have been the opposite, Dr Phillipson is trying to determine that.”

Kell did her best Spock eyebrow peak. "Unusual circumstances is pretty much our forte I think. If there's any questions the Doctor has, I'll make sure it's taken care of soonest. It's not up to me, per se, to agree or disagree. I have my opinion sometimes, but unless it's per a regulation and you'll likely know first if at all possible, I'll likely keep them to myself."

"Very good," Finchley replied and walked out.

 

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