THE EDGE OF NEVER: House call for Dr Nasaro-Myth

"Bridge to sickbay..."

Elliago turned away from the medicinal crate to tap his combadge.

"CMO here."

"Message from starbase Lotus for you, Doctor."

The Deltan sighed, looking at all the crates he still had to inventory.

"I don't make house calls. Don't they have their own hospitals over there?"

"Message is encoded priority 1, Doctor. It's Fleet Captain Samji."

He sighed again.

"Patch him through on the main monitor here."

On the wall acreen appreared the dark complexion of the Hindu commanding officer of the starbase. The salt and pepper of his thick well-groomed hair and thin beard looked almost stelly as they framed his usually placid features, now drawn into a stern expression.

"Doctor Nasaro-Myth, please come to Rear Admiral kotari's office."

"What is it? Injury? Sickness? Surprise party?"

"Nothing of the sort, Doctor; you are ordered to immediately drop whatever you are doing and come over here to attend a priority 1 meeting with the admiral."

The purple eyes of the chief medical officer of the former flagship of Lotus Fleet widened with as much surprise as with incredulity.

"Priority 1? That... that means nothing less than a disaster!"

"Now, Doctor," simply said Samji and he closed the channel.

Elliago wiped the sweat suddenly glistening on his perfectly bald head then shook his head, half in annoyance, half in wonder. Grabbing a portable medical kit simply out of habit, he left instructions for his orderlies to take over the inventory and exited sickbay to head straight for the nearest transporter room. When he got there, the transporter technician had already been alerted and coordinates had been set. At this, the Deltan lifted an eyebrow; it seemed that things were as urgent as they were serious for having him rushed out so fast; yet, no medical emergency?

What is going on? he wondered silently.

He was beamed straight to the upper level transporter pad of the station, the one usually reserved for commanding and flag officers. Commander Schmidt herself, the tall, powerfully built exec of the starbase commander, greeted him herself and invited him to follow her to the admiral's spacious office.

"Well my dear, do you know what this is all about?"

"I don't, Doctor," the woman confessed with an obviously frustrated look on her stern features. "No one in fact knows... not even Fleet Captain Samji. Whatever this is about, it is not only highly unusual; it is unheard of. Not even the Borg Invasion or the Azimuth Horizon anomaly brought so much classified orders as we have just received. Your meeting will be under armed guards, an EM scrambling shield and a level 10 forcefield for the entire duration."

"Sounds serious," Elliago said with a smile to lighten the mood but it felt as flat as his own feelings.

Even the receptionist at the door had a phaser at her belt as she ushered the Deltan with a strained smile inside the office. The door was manually opened and closed by two three meters tall Saurian security guards in full tactical armor.

Inside the huge office, the transparent ceiling showed not only the stars but the USS Republic parked right overhead, obviously acting as a sentinel, her shields shimmering around her.

His eyes lowered back inside the room to meet those of chief engineer Rogers, apparently as confused as he was. At the table was seated the famous X'Ell officer who served as science officer aboard the Phoenix and the no less famous Vulcan captain Syntron who typically seemed unphased even by all these strange and unusual circumstances.

"Some party..." Elliago muttered as he went to sit in front of them. "While we wait, are we going to have some hors-d'oeuvres? Ploomik soup maybe? Bird seeds?"