USS Lotus: The Scene of the Crime.
Posted on 04/04/2016 @ 5:04pm by Commander David Rogers & Captain Connora'tu Felez & Commander Elliago Nasaro-Myth M.D.
Edited on on 07/21/2016 @ 10:35am
Mission:
The Stars Be My Judges
Location: Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards
In synchronous orbit over sixteen thousand kilometers above the surface of Mars were the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, comprised of over a dozen drydocks, three G class stations, and two type three drydocks, more commonly called McKinley type's. The lowest of these latter pair was the shuttles destination. The seven hundred meter drydock could not adequately encompass the new, massive dimension's of the Diamond Star and thus the four spider-like arms of the station were not clasped around the saucer section like it could on the Galaxy class starship's. Neither were the four spindly legs of the aft structure wrapped snugly around the nacelles of the large ship, but extended straight out horizontally . As Mitchell approached the structure the comms chirped and a somewhat stern and authorative voice intruded upon the four of them.
"Approaching shuttle, heave to and remain at station keeping for security scans. Comply or you will be fired upon."
"Touchy now, ain't they?" Elliago commented. "If this is standard procedure, here is one clue for us; Whoever did this either came in with all the official authorizations needed and in plain sight, or managed to slip by completely undetected. Let's begin by assuming the former; they must have here records of all the comings and goings the days before the Diamond Star decided to take a stroll."
"I agree, if only because the second option leaves no room for investigation." Felez said with a nod. "We shall begin with Rogers and myself checking both logs and equipment for irregularities, doctor you begin setting up an interview list of all involved personnel and see if any of them are flagged for special attention. I suspect most of our work has already been done by the on-site investigation team so we should be able to meet up for the interviews in say.. two hours?"
"I'll be as charming as I can be, Captain," the handsome Deltan acknowledged with a sparkling smile and a wink.
David gave a curt nod at captain Felez' order and then glanced once out the front view port. Mitchell held the shuttle stationary as the scans swept the craft, then there was a soft chime as the security chief on the dry dock gave them the all clear.
"Lotus shuttle, you are cleared to dock. Proceed directly to shuttlebay one. Power down and Flight ops will bring you aboard."
With a slightly raised eyebrow, Mitchell turned his head to look back at Felez in his seat.
"Unusually strange, Captain. They're not letting us fly aboard under our own power?"
"Much less unusual and strange than a runaway starship with allegedly no one aboard," Elliago shot back. "What would be strange and unusual would be for them to go business as usual after such a still unexplained happenstance."
David glanced between Felez and Nasaro-Myth once, shrugging his shoulders non-commitalingly, and put forward an observation.
Captain, shuttlebay one is on deck 4. I believe computer control is on deck 13. That would be the destination if you want me to check the logs."
Pausing to pull his PADD from its holster, he tapped on a few buttons and brought up the Lotus Class deck layout before continuing.
"If you would rather I go over equipment, then the maintainance rooms would be the logical place to start. Those are on deck 15 and 16."
As he finished speaking, the shuttle came to a stop outside the shuttlebay and a moment later the gentle tug of the flight ops tractor beam could be felt grasping the small ship. Within moments, the shuttle was within the large bay and set down upon the deck. Locking clamps were felt engaging and Mitchell shut down the engines. Engaging the rear ramp to open he then stood up and turned to face the rear of the shuttle. A look of surprise broke out across his features as the lowering ramp revealed the interior of the Diamond Star's bay ... and the half dozen fully armed marines arrayed in a line at the rear of their shuttle.
Nasaro-Myth was so eager to get out of the confines of the shuttle that he almost bumped right into them. Quickly regaining his composure, he smiled at their lead officer and bowed.
"My, an honor guard? You shouldn't have..."
"This would seem to be a bit much.." Felez said to the Marine is assumed to be in command.
"Or has there been any new developments in this situation?" his eyes glanced over his companions.
The marine officer Captain Felez addressed, a Colonel no less, stepped forward a half step and gave a curt reply to his inquiry.
"No developments, Captain. This facility is on lock-down and no one enter's or leave's without full security scans. No transportation of any kind without authorization. However, our scans detected a Romulan dna signature, and given the nature of the, uh ... situation here, a further response was deemed ... prudent."
At the last word the colonel looked directly at commander Rogers.
"Commander, you WILL accompany us."
The emphasis on the adjective left no doubt as to the determination of the marine's order. David looked once at each of his companions, then stepped forward and aside from his crew mates, voicing his concern.
"Now just a minute there Major! You have my credentials. I'm Commander Rogers of ..."
The Colonel brought his pulse phaser rifle around to point directly at Rogers and cut him off in mid sentence. The five marines in line slightly behind him all snapped into a battle stance, their rifles all whining as their power levels were toggled to maximum. The Colonel gruffly barked an order.
"You may also be a Romulan spy Commander. Comply ... or die. Makes no difference to us major's."
At that instant, Elliago boldly stepped in their line of fire.
"Gentlemen," he said with his most soothing tone of voice and the calmest expression his handsome face could muster; "Are we on Talos IV to have the only death sentence in the Federation already passed over this man? Since when is someone in Starfleet to be instantly threatened with deadly force... and solely based on his gender, race or belief ? "
He sensed that the colonel was not in a mood to discuss the matter. Although his demeanor remained friendly and unprovocative, Elliago shifted to the best officer's voice of command one could have heard.
"I remind you, Sir, that General Orders supercedes at all times any order in the field from any authority whatsoever. You, Sir, by using unnecessary force against a Federation citizen, are in violation of General Order 2; by not giving proper treatment to a non-threatening prisoner according to his rank and station even in situations of extreme emergency, you are in violation of General Order 25; and by not taking proper care to avoid the loss of sentient life, you are in violation of General Order 33... and all this in the presence of a Starfleet starship captain and his chief medical officer... which you are now also threatening with unjustified deadly force."
He smiled again, his Deltan charm as much in display as his Starfleet Commander status. And he was obviously not going to move out of their line of fire.
"Unless you wish to find yourself dishonorably discharged for multiple general orders violations and in a penal colony as a convicted murderer, Sir, I humbly suggest you reset those phasers to stun.. and clear out the situation with his commanding officer, properly this time."
What he did not say was however most obvious to all those present; as a Starfleet medical officer, he had the authority to relieve even an admiral from duty if, in his professional judgment, said officer displayed signs of irrational behavior. And it certainly looked as such with the overreaction displayed by these touchy Starfleet Marines and their colonel.
That's why Elliago observed very closely these men, using his enhanced Deltan sensibilities, while sending out soothing pheromones to diffuse the tension. Their behavior was rather odd for Starfleet officers, even for trigger-happy Marines. Briefly, he also glanced to where security cameras were located, to see if their recording lights were active.
Rogers , taken aback considerably by the show of force from the marine officer, had subtly shifted his weight forward. A fight or flight reflex garnered from his human ancestry. But Nasaro-Myth had then moved between himself and the colonel. His esteem for the doctor rose a few points when his ship mate, with calm determination, laid down the law on the marine detachment. David, looking at the back of his fellow commander, was genuinely glad at that moment that the good doctor was on his side.
As Nasaro-Myth wound up his speech David, perhaps wisely not retorting in kind, looked instead to his captain, in deference to his authority.
"Colonel.. while I understand your caution in this situation your rather overbearing exclamation of 'comply or die' in this situation is unwarranted." He simply looked annoyed at the whole event.
"If you'll check my orders you will see I have been given carte blanche permission to recruit whoever I wish for this investigation as long as they have the proper clearance. He does and I have."
"Now, I suggest you stop impeding our investigation before I have you and your men removed and charged. And I will be submitting a formal complaint for actions unbecoming of an officer for your little tantrum."
His hands still behind his back he took a step at the colonel. "Stand aside.. now."
Colonel Greene powered off his weapon and with a hand signal to his troops, the detachment fell out to assume an on-guard formation, three to a side. The resulting lane left the four Lotus officer's an open path to the shuttle bay exit. Rogers fell into step beside Mitchell and they followed captain Felez and doctor Nasaro-Myth to the awaiting doors. David glanced once at the Colonel and the somewhat abashed officer's demeanour had the look of patient determination. As their eye's locked David felt the impression of 'I'll be watching you' coming from the stare. Regardless, he continued out the exit and the four were in the hallway and making for the nearby turbo lift.
"Now that was interesting..." offered Elliago to Rogers.
David followed the trio into the lift and as the doors swished shut responded to the Doctors observation.
"I admit, a little over the top. Really, it is just a ship after all. What was that old earth saying? 'No harm; No Foul?'"
"No harm?" The sudden quick movement of Felez turning on him made Rogers jump a little on reflex.
"Someone or group broke into the most secure shipyard in starfleet and without setting a single alarm stole a Starship Mr. Rogers.
"As we speak there are dozens of personnel who's lives are being placed under a subatomic scanner. People will have their careers ruined, agents are being dispatched in every region of space trying to find any lead as to who could have done this and why and some of those will never come back."
His face never changed its calm demeanor but his voice was angry.
"No doubt that spies have reported this theft back to Romulan, Klingon and every other race that holds a grudge against the federation, and they will display this incident as vary proof of our ineptitude and weakness."
He turned to face the lift door again.
"This 'Harmless joy ride' will ruin or cost the lives of a dozen or more people and weaken the security of the entire fleet, it will be years before we recover, if complete recovery is even possible."
Felez's passion had gotten the better of him, but Rogers remark underlined the situation clearly.
Rogers didn't think about the consequences to others for his action, and he wanted David to know what this stunt would cost.
The lift deposited them on deck one. Apparently, their reputation had preceeded them as the pair of guards at the doorway merely snapped to attention and left them to pass. David recalled that this deck allowed for access to the bridge, observation lounge and captain's ready room. Davids requirement was either computer control on deck 13 or maintenance of deck 15. Tapping Mitchell on his shoulder to accompany him, David announced his intentions to captain Felez.
"Sir, we'll check the logs on deck fifteen before going to maintenance and looking over the equipment, if that is agreeable?"
"I can go over the sensor and scanning records to see if i can find any clue," Elliago then sugested. "I have an idea that might help us trace back this magical mystery tour."
"Vary well, do it." Felez said looking at him with curiosity. "I am quite interested in what you might have come up with." Felez stood ready to follow him.
The Deltan spoke as he walked to the science station and started activating controls.
"Well, basically I'm going to do what a Terran dog does; you know how such animal can sniff you and retrace all the places you've been by the odors you collected along the way? Well I'm doing the same with the ship's external sensors to collect and analyse samples accumulated on the hull; space dust and debris, radiation decay and contamination, spectral variations in the hull material due to exposure to different stars, stellar regions, planetary bodies, micrometeorites... We all know that empty space is far from being empty; the matter floating in it is just very dispersed, but not so much that our sensors can't pick them up, especially the state of the art sensor suite of this newest class of capital ships."
As he spoke, the console lighted up and reported a continuous stream of sensor data.
"There we go; it will take several minutes before a complete sweep of the ship is over and we have all the data. Then, by sending it all through the astrometric lab's computer and cross-referencing it with all cosmological data we have on all known region of space, narrowing the search to the known or most probable locations the Diamond Star may have been through and the maintenance log of the impulse, warp and transwarp uses, we should have a fairly accurate travel path reconstructed within an hour. Knowing where she went and how long she stayed in each location might shed some light to why it was... borrowed; a most important clue to determine who might have done it."
Computer Control:
As Rogers and Mitchell stepped through the opening lift doors on deck fifteen they ran headlong into Jason Shoud, the senior civilian engineer at Utopia Planitia, and David's old friend.
"Jase!, you scoundrel, what are you doing here?", David spoke.
"Buck! Your a sight for sore eyes. We've been combing the Star for clues, as you well know, seeing as your here again so soon."
As Rogers guided his old work mate back to the main computer room, Shroud filled the two Lotus crew in on his findings from his memory core search. Mitchell listened attentively and even downloaded Jason's findings for Captain Felez. David had hoped to prolong the search, but the situation had escalated as of late, so he allowed the Lieutenant to proceed. Once the scan was complete and sent, David contacted Felez.
"Rogers to Felez. Sir, ship's logs have been scanned and downloaded to your PADD. The flight logs were erased, but Mr. Shoud has been working with the suplemental systems and found traces of instruction's left in some sub-systems."
Upon hearing it, Elliago's hand asked for Felez' PADD.
"With this, we will have the exact route within seconds.
Looking over the trace information beside Jason, David was compelled to pass along the pertinent information revealed from the senior engineer's search.
"The battle bridge overrode the main computer and launched the ship at zero-four thirty hours. Transporter logs indicate that prior to launch, command from that same location located and beamed off all personnel from the ship and severed umbilicals."
As Shoud scrolled further through his notes David kept a running dialogue of the findings. Scant as they were, they did encompass the transport, impulse and warp control computer systems, among a few others.
"Impulse drive records a three minute burst before the warp drive engaged. That system recorded approximately point eight hours flight. that would give an approximate distance radius of seven and a half light years."
Reading still from the log of the warp core, Rogers continued.
"After about forty eight hours the warp drive cut in again, attaining transwarp 3, for a time of approximately forty-six hours. That gives a radius of about one hundred and five to ten light years, Sir."
David knew that Verix 3 was just over one hundred and seven light years from Wolf three five nine, so the time and distances equated by Jason was fairly accurate, even for an engineer not versed in stellar cartopraphy. Regardless, David continued reporting.
"That radius gives distances out to the Klingon border, or half way into Romulan space, or most of the way through Cardassian Union territory or even out to the old First Federation area and past Ferenginaar space."
While talking David had taken both Mithell and Shoud in tow and headed to the bridge to meet with captain Felez and the Doctor. Once the lift deposited them on deck one, the trio entered the bridge to find Nasaro-Myth and Felez at the science station. Cancelling the comm badge transmission, David continued summarizing Shoud's findings as they approached the Lotus ship pair at science station 1.
"Search result coming in," the Deltan doctor said with a satisfied smile. "Converting into a star chart standard flight path. Good work, David."
He did not look at Rogers and listened with a distracted ear to his voice as he continued detailing the data found that was now being converted into an actual navigational display on the science station monitor.
"The Star then engaged again and travelled some thirty-eight hours before stopping again for about six hours. Then the drive cut in and she went to transwarp 5. That propulsion lasted approximately ..."
As the three of them stopped beside Felez and Nasaro-Myth, a transport beam enveloped the three Lotus officers and they de-materialized in front of Shoud's and Mitchell's astonished protestations, while warning sirens engulfed the Diamond Star's bridge.
Cardassian Dreadnought Orias:
Dejar smiled briefly at Shelly and gestured toward the nearest seat as she retook her own command chair. Pointing at a control panel, she told Shelly what she had for a surprise.
"A little something I picked up on a recent job Shel."
Shelly looked over at the console with a slightly puzzled look and turned back to Dejar with an observation.
"Transporter?"
"Subspace kind. If you want, I can grab your guy from a few light years distance! My sources put your party on a new Federation starship at Mars. We'll be at maximum range in five minutes."
Rising from her command chair, Dejar walked to the panel and began inputting command parameters.
"Of course, at that distance, I cannot get a positive lock on this Rogers, but seeing as he isn't fully human, I can grab anyone that isn't full human, so ... what'll it be Shell? You want him now or later?"
Knowing her status with the syndicate rode on the outcome of her abduction, and a voluntary return with proof of innocence in the act, Shelly took what appeared to be the only course of action.
"Grab them, we'll sort out the chaff after."
As the Orias neared four light years from Mars, Dejar engaged the subspace transporter and searched the obvious locations on a Federation starship .. its bridge first, There, she enhanced five humanoids on the scanners, locking onto three that showed as not fully human bio signatures, then activated the unit. If these three were not the one's, they could be disposed of and another search would be undertaken. Sensors couldn't trace a subspace transport, so they would have time to try again. Once transport was underway, Dejar turned to face the large space between the command dias and the viewscreen. After about three seconds of energization, Commanders Rogers, Nasaro-Myth and Captain Felez materialized in front of the women, facing to their right. Dejar, recognizing the race of the doctor and captain, stepped slightly forward and drew her sidearm, addressed the trio but looking at Rogers.
"Welcome aboard gentlemen. Would the real commander Rogers step forward please
Elliago immediately stepped forward to draw everyone's attention on him with his Deltan charm and presence, soothing pheromones filling the air as he fille dthe silence with his mesmerizing voice, plunging his sparkling purple eyes into the woman's eyes with his dazzling smile seemingly all for her.
"You will have to be more precise, my dear; This is Commander David Rogers of Utopia Plenitia and this is Commander Dave Rogers, acting captain of the USS Lotus. I am Commander Davis Rogers of the USS Diamond Star."
Only four-genders, Andorians, and sexless species were immune to a Deltan's alluring presence, especially when the opposite sex was involved. Elliago was using this power at full effect to at least diffuse the agressiveness he was perceiving from these women, especially the half-romulan one glaring at them behind the Cardassian woman. Hopefully though, stepping forward to block her field of fire, fill their vision and draw in their attention, his overpowering natural seductiveness and his confusing words would give time for Felez and Rogers to do something.
Felez's empathic abilities noted the swift change in the women's emotional spectrum. Their pulse quickened and skin flushed, some even wavered a bit.
His treatments gave him a modest immunity to pheromones and even he could feel it affecting him. The Doctor was really pouring on the charm, literally.
He also noted, for whatever reason, the half-Romulan woman he assumed was the object of this assignment seemed to be the most resistant to the charm.
Mustering up more than two decades of training his face to show expressions, he put on the most convincing look of fear and concern he could as he yelled out. "Don't shoot him!" at the pistol holding Cardassian.
Flustered at her sudden desire for the doctor and confused by Felez's accusation she might shoot him, she immediately jerked her pistol up and away as if it might just go off by it self. "I wasn't.. I.." she sounded embarrassed and defensive, but she never got the chance to finish her thought.
Felez bounded into her, driving his incredibly dense elbow into her rib cage, the sound of cracking ribs could be heard easily, and had most likely punctured a lung.
But Felez pushed on, both he and Dejar crashed into David's sister, all three falling haphazardly to the ground.
The initial shock of the long range transport let go of David at about the same time he recognized Shelly standing behind the Cardassian female. Then as Doctor Nasaro-Myth stepped forward and his pheremones permeated the immediate area, his senses clouded again.
A blurry coalescence enveloped his vision and the movement of Captain Felez seemed to happen at half speed. Connera'tu's charge bowled over the startled woman and the pair collided into Shelly in a sprawling heap of limbs, while the Cardassian's sidearm was knocked loose and went tumbling onto the deck. Instinctively, David stooped and pawed at the weapon as it skidded past him. His surprise at actually grabbing hold of the disruptor was as abrupt as his astonishment of finding Shelly here. This confusion of action and circumstance addled his already pheremone fogged mind.
"What? How? Why are you here?", he said, almost at a whisper.
But the commotion carried on around him and he had to save Shelly from this attack.
"Don't hurt her!", he yelled at everyone, and no one.
Captain Felez' charge came to a tangled heap with him holding Dejar pinned sideways on the deck against the central command chair. Shelly, her legs partially trapped under the pair, pulled herself free and began to rise. Her darting eye's sought a target as she grasped at the Kligat weapon stored at her belt, assuming a Ryadam defensive stance.
Thinking of his sister, David fumbled the gun into position and, with a yell, fired into the light panel above the group. His shout was heard above the explosive shattering of the power conduit's within the lighting fixture.
"Stop!"
Felez maintained his grip on the stunned Cardassian but made no move on Shelly, his eyes watched her throwing blade in case she went for him.
Rogers was still shaking off the transporter effect, but Felez had felt this sensation too many times to be more than slightly annoyed with the feeling.
Such was life with Admiral Redding that the uncommon tended to be common.
It was now time to watch the drama unfold as David had the only readied firearm and was back with his sister.
Would he now turn on his fellow crew mates?
But something he hadn't expected was happening as well, her feelings towards him were not friendly, not at all.
It was all most as if... she had no idea he was her brother...
Elliago slowly raised his hands towards both half-Romulans, noting only for the first time how similar they looked, especially both poised for a fight like that.
"Calm down, Commander; you have the upper hand here," he told David while eyeing the pistol in his hand. "And you lady, however fast you may be with this bladed star of yours, I assure you I can so easily read your body language that, from here, I can throw myself between you and either of my two friends. You will take me down but then they will take you down in the very same second and you will fail at getting to your intended target. So i suggest you calm down as well and explain the meaning of this abduction before everyone loose here."
His smile was charming and his voice mesmerizing, as only a Deltan's could be. But his words were cutting the silence like serrated blades.
Shelly tightened her stance and slightly lowered the Kligat, but the weapon was still usable from this stance. looking at the Deltan Commander, then to the prone but alert Efrozian with Captain's pips, she returned her gaze to Rogers.
"You are the Commander Rogers I seek. You kidnapped me from Verex 3."
David likewise lowered the disruptor slightly, a mimic to Shelly's action. The weapon also was qiuckly available for use if needed, but David had no intention of using it really. He had meant only to stop the fight before Shelly was hurt. When she addressed him directly, he replied with the obvious.
"Yes, I am Commander Rogers. And you are..."
David hesitated, glancing first at his medical colleague, then at his captain. He decided that, as the humans often said at the Academy, the proverbial cat was out of the bag; hiding the Diamond Star's theft any more was at best a moot point now. Not that he cared either way, but that Shelly survived. And so, looking back at his sister. he finished.
"You are Shelly Rogers, my sister. I ... removed you ... from servitude!"
Shelly was slightly taken aback by the statement. The obvious similarity David showed was a sort of corroboration of his claim of familial tie's, but the reasoning of servitude was lost on her.
"Servitude?", she shot back. "I haven't been a slave in over a dozen years commander. Your argument is invalid."
David could tell Shelly wasn't relaxing any. He saw it in the same tightness he felt in his own muscles; the readiness to spring; the fight or flight reflex. He couldn't let Shelly do either right now. Ellagio still stood ready to pounce. And Felez was a coiled spring, seemingly. But likely not actually, as the Cardassian woman in his grip was no threat to him with her physical injuries sapping her stamina right now. So? How to defuse this stand-off? David guessed it would have to start with himself.
"You are a slave nevertheless, Shelly. Everyone knows how your syndicate operates."
As he spoke, David, carefully and slowly, powered off the disruptor, its low whine sinking down into oblivion in the silent bridge. Once the greenish power light winked out, he slowly removed the power cell from the handle. Clasping the two together, David extended the weapon and cell toward Elliagio, indicating for the doctor to take it. Without a weapon to use toward her, Rogers hoped Shelly would relax her wariness and the situation could become more ... safe. He continued talking though.
"When I learned of your existence, I knew that the Federation could not, or would not, so anything to get you out of the syndicate. Even Starfleet, for all its directives and regulations, could not ... or would not ... interfere with the syndicate."
As he condemned the Federation in this instance David looked from Shelly to Felez, then to Nasaro-Myth. Not that he wanted their acquiesence to his statement, but just their understanding. The Federation had, in all their decades of existence, done nothing to eradicate the piratical organization.
Elliago was about to correct Rogers with no less than two General Orders, then clamped his mouth shut. He could sense that the chief engineer's words were having their effect on this woman he had confirmed to his own senses as his sister. He listened to him but watched her intently, both the disruptor pistol and the power cell ready to be thrown accross the woman's path as a distraction if she made any threatening move. His own mind however was distracted by the injured Cardassian a few steps from him. He could feel her pain and it tore at his heart to have to ignore it still for the sake of preventing even more suffering if this Shelly Rogers turned violent.
Looking back to his sister again, David continued.
"My esteemed captain down there will probably disagree, but in my opinion, I had to rescue you on my own terms. I commandeered a ship and took you. You are my sister ... my only family left. I could not. No ... I would not, let anything or any vaunted regulations and directives jeopardize your safety."
Taking a slight step forward, David brought both his hands forward, palms up.
"When I transported you down to Risa, into that hospital, I thought never to see you again, Shelly. But you would be out of that disturbing place, and able to start anew. Why did you come for me?"
Shelly took a step back as David neared. She also wanted space between them all. It was conductive to her style of fighting. But in this instance it was more confusion than fight. The pheromones still permeated the bridge. She glanced down at Captain Felez while, slowly, returning the Kligat to its holder on her belt.
"I think you can let my friend go now, Captain."
She side-stepped a pair of strides while looking from Felez to the doctor, to keep a safer distance from the large Efrozian.
"And you, Commander, from the looks of that uniform, are a medical officer? You could maybe see to Dejar's injury?"
Elliago offered her his best smile.
"That would be very kind of you to allow me to do so, my dear... thank you."
He afixed the weapon and the power charge to his belt where his own phaser and recharge would have been according to regulation, then kneeled towards dejar to probe her with his hands, the only instruments he currently had with him. But for a Deltan, they were as accurate as any medical tricorder. he spoke out loud for her benefit, so that her obvious friend,s condition would not fuel her anger anymore.
"Third rib fractured, intercostal muscles swollen from contusion as a result of the impact, hematomias on the left side of the upper ribcage and the acromial point of the right shoulder, right hip joint and a slight sell of the right ankle, all due tu the resulting fall and impact against the chair. Cardassian skin and bone structure are slightly denser than that of humans, so her lung was not punctured. But it is still quite painful."
Having no medical kit, he simply used his soothing pheromones anew and the extensive nerve manipulation techniques of his people to induce euphoria in her system, counteracting the pain with her own pleasure hormones. It took him a moment to find the correct spots to stimulate, as he had never done it on a Cardassian before; but xenoanatomy was his specialty. In the next seconds, Dejar smiled and sighed with relief.
"She still needs proper medical attention; but that will do for now if you don,t try to move to suddenly," he said to her with a genuine smile.
Again Shelly looked back at David. But this time her disbelief was less evident.
"If all you say is true, Commander, then you should know that the Syndicate is looking for me all over the galaxy. Dejar here warned me of that a couple days ago. Even if I wanted to, I seriously doubt I could pull a good enough disappearing act to get away from them."
David looked back at her, letting that sink in a little. But his response wasn't even remotely on the subject. More of a peace offering if anything.
"Call me David."
By David Rogers on 06/20/2016 @ 7:27am
Ok, this brings all the characters together finally in one place. sorry about the abruptness. I have been having a difficult time trying to figure out how to accomplish this feat.
By David Rogers on 07/05/2016 @ 1:13am
Nice inserts Kheren. :)
By David Rogers on 07/21/2016 @ 10:36am
This has gotten a little long, so we will continue in the next chapter.