Eyes Upon Us All (Part III)

Posted on Sat Nov 16th, 2024 @ 10:34am by Lieutenant JG LuAnn Lovegood & Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova & Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus & Petty Officer 3rd Class T'Rala H'Zelar

1,599 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Standing By

[PREVIOUSLY]

Aaron did not rise and did not give his tricorder over. He had many tricks up his sleeve. "Listen here Pumbaa and Thorny. It is not my job nor it is my interest to scan blood samples. That is the job for a forensics team, or even perhaps a science team. Medical deals with the sick and injured, the dead for autopsies and the such. So, if you find someone who is sick, injured or dead I will be happy to work on them. For you see the only bad doctor is a dead one. Oh, and feel free to tell the Captain all you wish for as I said it is not my duty for this investigation. I am not endangering myself to go on a wild goose chase. Add to that the only thing a tricorder is going to tell you is what dropped the blood. If you want anything specific you have to do DNA & RNA analysis. Which can only be done in a lab. In fact, if you wish I can invoke some general orders that will require you to bring us all back to the shuttle to wait out this storm. Don't quote the rules to me boyo, I wrote them."

[CONTINUED]

Perhaps this was the reason that she hopped to the Doctor's defense. "I'm certain he is just tired from his injury and needs to rest. I'll take his tricorder and do the scans. I do have a rudimentary knowledge of these things...." She looked over towards the Doctor concerned.

Aaron did not rise and did not give his tricorder over. He had many tricks up his sleeve. "Listen here Pumbaa and Thorny. It is not my job nor it is my interest to scan blood samples. That is the job for a forensics team, or even perhaps a science team. Medical deals with the sick and injured, the dead for autopsies and the such. So, if you find someone who is sick, injured or dead I will be happy to work on them. For you see the only bad doctor is a dead one. Oh, and feel free to tell the Captain all you wish for as I said it is not my duty for this investigation. I am not endangering myself to go on a wild goose chase. Add to that the only thing a tricorder is going to tell you is what dropped the blood. If you want anything specific you have to do DNA & RNA analysis. Which can only be done in a lab. In fact, if you wish I can invoke some general orders that will require you to bring us all back to the shuttle to wait out this storm. Don't quote the rules to me boyo, I wrote them."

[CONTINUED]

That was all directed at Percival. Aaron was reeling and he was fired up he turned to Amanda. "And you are a god damned Counselor, not a medical doctor. Do not ever presume my condition, or anything else for you have absolutely no basis. I do not sit here because I am tired. I sit here because I have no other option, continuing on this course is going to get someone injured or worse, killed. So, I would rather be alive and unharmed so I can patch you imbeciles up when you get hurt."

"The doctor has a point," LuAnn said, wishing she didn't have to feel like the adult in the room. "Following a blood trail may lead us to whatever caused the bleeding and I would much prefer security to take the lead for that. We don't want the Ontario to have to rescue us as well--or investigate what happened to our remains."

Amanda looked at LuAnn and answered, "While security may take the lead, we still need to know whose blood it is. Having no information causes us to operate in a vacuum, which is useless to the mission."

She then turned back to the Doctor, "I would not have to presume if you would merely talk about things rather than lashing out at every single person as a defensive mechanism." Amanda smiled pleasantly at the doctor. "We can work through that at any time, Doctor." She beamed even harder at him.

Ignoring the augment, Anahera examined the blood. "In case anybody cares, its human blood, O Positive, and its three days old." She said.

LuAnn addressed Percy. "Does your list of scientists include their blood type or should we see if that information is on one of their computers?"

"I care," Percy commented. It was a direct response to Anahera. "Yes, we have that information. No computer necessary. There was only one human scientist here with O Positive. Dr. Gregory Westfall, the lead scientist." Percy looked at LuAnn.

Three days old or not, there was no body. "I don't smell decaying corpse nearby" he said in a tone that was somewhat optimistic. "Not enough blood to indicate it either. That trail does look like it leads to the caverns."

"Well, we're not going to find out anything, if we don't explore." Anahera said.

LuAnn put a hand on Percy's arm. She knew that Gregory Westfall had been--was--a friend of his. "As long as we have security with us, we can at least see if the trail goes into one of the caverns. If it does, we'll talk about options."

It was not time to get emotional, and Percy needed to compartmentalize. He was leading this away team knowing that any mistake or misstep could be costly. "I know. We don't have anything to go by yet" replied Percy though he appreciated her support.

Aaron sat and listened to the discussion. The more he heard, the more he realized that he would most likely be the only survivor of this expedition. The dumbest idea he ever heard would be to follow the blood into a cave. Doctor Westfall was most likely dragged off by whatever creature and is going to be a meal, if they had not been a meal yet. Aaron rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Since the Doc don't want to do anything that is not strictly in his job description, I suggest we go without him." Anahera said. "T'Rala can 'baby sit' him."

To Marcus she said. "I recommend the two of you play 3D Chess, I saw a set on one of the shelves that is still attached to the wall, but don't blame me, if she beats you, in the game I mean." She flashed him a brief smile.

LuAnn agreed that the doctor should go back to the shuttle--at least for now. He looked tired and in pain. Still, she had to address his comment. "I said go to the caverns, not go in them. I only want to go far enough to see if the trail goes into a cave. We could scan from there, but I do agree that it is generally not prudent to simply walk into a creature's lair."

"Let's not rush into assumptions," Percy noted. "There were several scientists here, a bunch of plant life we don't know much about. This could have been from a creature, but I don't think we can rule out one of the other scientists either."

Amanda tried not to roll her eyes at LuAnn. Why was she so defensive of the Doctor? Did she have some sort of crush on him? Starfleet's job right now was to save people and the Doctor might be necessary for that. Leaving him here could cost time. She was shocked that Percy was going to let him do what he wanted.

Satisfied that he proved his point Aaron decided to ignore Anahera's comment and close his eyes. It was rather comfortable laying where he was. His mind did not shut down. Instead, it bent itself to whatever may lay ahead. What everyone on this team did not know is that Aaron never ignored anything. He simply worked the problems in his own way.

"Doctor, you can come with or stay here, or go back to the safety of the shuttle. It really does not matter to me," Percy replied. "As for the rest of us, I'm going to follow this trail and see if it takes us to the caves, but at this point I don't recommend we go anywhere alone, keep phasers ready. Starfleet sent us to find out what was happening here and that is what I plan to do, we've trained for this. We put on uniforms for this, to tuck tail and run would be a disservice" stated Percy as though he were rallying troops.

Aaron rolled his eyes deeply into his head. If that was supposed to be a pep talk it failed miserably. At least he got what he wanted. At the mention of returning to the shuttle he stood up and gave a mock salute to Percy. "Very well Babe I will be in the shuttle if you need me. I will also make sure to notify your next of kins. Do not worry when I report to the Captain I will make sure that she knows that you all died valiantly." He turned on his heel and made his way back to the shuttle.

Anahera readied her rifle, said. "I'll take point," and headed towards the cave entrance.

OFF

Lieutenant JG LuAnn Lovegood
Counselor
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Commander Anahera Chernova
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Percy Bálor
Chief Science Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Amanda Rose
Chief Counselor
USS Ontario

 

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