Cures and Deception

Posted on Tue Jan 8th, 2019 @ 5:25am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris

Mission: Season 2: Episode 3: Determination is not always a good thing
Location: Field Hospital
1798 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Estelle led the way. She didn’t know if they’d need the professionals to overpower those two but she’s rather do this properly. She wasn’t an aggressive person by any stretch of the imagination but she felt the strong urge to lunge for one of their throats. Not that it would do them any good, so Estelle resisted that impulse. “Put him on the bed there”, she said, pointing at the biobed in the far left corner. She wanted to get to his treatment right away. She knew that the others were better at dealing with the perpetrators, and Dorso was in a bad shape.

Gallia found Anya and Mona quickly, saying in a low voice, “Hey, we got two of the kidnappers. They just came in with Dorso, Estelle wants ya both in there, let’s move.”

Both broke into a run to follow Gallia as fast as they could. The more they caught, the better their chances. “Did they catch that bug, too?” Mona asked.

“Hell if I know.” Gallia replied honestly, “They seem fine. We damn sure convinced them they did, though.”

“Nice”, Anya grinned. “We’ll beat them down, then they’ll really have something to complain about. Right, Mona?”

“Right.”

“Look,” Gallia began, “I feel the same way as you, right? But Estelle’s playin’ this another kinda way and we dinnae want to mess that up, right? But be ready in case we get a chance to beat them into comas anyway.”

Mona frowned, though as they were running, that was probably lost on Gallia. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, dinnae gimme that!” Gallia replied, noting the disappointment in Mona’s voice, “Estelle’s the one what stopped me!”

Back in the tent, Bug and Jonesy awaited their examinations; Bug a little less panicked then Jonesy, who’d been losing it since they first picked up the guy they brought in. Bug kicked back and waited, pretty sure he didn’t have it, he felt great, but he wasn’t about to risk it, not for the peanuts Quin was going to throw him from that job earlier.

Jonesy, on the other hand, was shaking and sweating, “When’s that doctor gonna get back here, mate?”

“I dunno, Jonesy.” Bug shrugged, “Before you die, hopefully.”

Julia came their way with four hyposprays prepared, waving Gallia and her entourage over as they jogged in the tent. “Over here!” She was undecided which one of the hypos they should be given, and had prepared several just in case. But she wanted the help of the security personnel, she didn’t feel safe approaching those two on her own.

Gallia led the others over to Julia, “What you got there?” Gallia asked, indicating the hypos.

“Vaccinations or cures”, Julia said. “Depending on what they need. We’ll have to see if they’re infected or not.” Of course that was bullshit, and she was sure Gallia knew, but Estelle had just told her briefly what they were playing at, and Julia had her own ideas of how to play along.

Anya stepped up behind Bug’s bed, and Mona took position behind the other, ready to subdue them should they try anything. “We’re ready”, Anya said, looking at the officers and Julia.

“Right.” Gallia nodded, “You’re on, Doc.”

Julia looked at them. “I think you better ask the questions. I’ve never trained for this.”

Gallia leaned over and whispered in Julia’s ear, “Uh, Doc, I’m not a security officer, right? I’m an engineer, I dinnae have a clue how to interrogate nobody.” She turned to Brett and shrugged, receiving a reassuring nod from the Ops Chief, who then started her way.

“Hey, Bug, Jonesy, was it?” Anje asked, continuing once they nodded in the affirmative, “Here’s the thing, guys, we kind of need to get to the rest of your people. If they’re infected, they could be in serious danger. The mortality rate has gone up on this thing.” ~You’re right, Jonesy, a good, logical Vulcan doesn’t lie. But a Russian will get the information she needs by hook or by crook.~

“Bug, we gotta tell ‘em, Bug!” Jonesy exclaimed, “Otherwise they’re all gonna die.”

“An’ if we send the cops ta the hideaway once Quin’s cured he’s gonna kill us both and feed us to the pigs, right?” Bug groaned, Jonesy was suicidally stupid it seemed.

~Pigs.~ Anje noted, wherever they were at, there were pigs. Pigs big enough to eat a human body. That would narrow their search field substantially.

“But Bug…” Jonesy began.

“Shut up, Jonesy.”Bug snapped, “We ain’t sayin’ anything else.”

“Then you’re gonna let your friends die?” Gallia asked, pretending to be dumbfounded to further sell her ‘concern’ to the criminal patients.

“Look, if you’re so concerned, I’ll take one of you doctors back there.” Bug offered, “I’ll bag your head, take you there to see the gang, let you do your thing, bag your head again, and bring you back here. Then we walk. Easy, hey?”

Julia shook her head. “I don’t trust you, and none of the other doctors here will. Not while you’re holding a hostage.” She gave Gallia and Anje a hypospray each. “Give them this, we’ll have to find another way.”

“Right.” Gallia nodded, whispering to Julia, “We’re not medically qualified to administer these are we? And what’s in them?”

Julia sighed. “Very well. But you cover me when I get close?” She stepped up and said, “Hold still, this is just so you know we mean what we say.” She went for their necks with both hyposprays.

“Right.” Gallia agreed, she no longer wanted to know what was in those sprays.

“See, there ya go, Jonesy.” Bug laughed, “Just like that the altruistic Federation starfleet has us cured.”

“I’m not Starfleet”, Julia grinned, stepping back and waiting for the drug to take effect. Vulcan inaprovaline wasn’t dangerous to humans, but the side-effects of human physiology dealing with the unfamiliar substance caused stomach cramps, severe enough to make anyone think they’ve caught the nastiest of bugs.

“Whatever you wanna be, poppet.” Bug laughed.

“Right.” Jonesy smiled, turning to the brunette who brought them in, “And right pretty nurses, too…”

“Call me when your teeth learn the importance of teamwork.” Anje sneered, turning to leave. Queenie had been bad enough, these two were the worst…

“You might wanna watch your tongue, Princess…” Bug began, then grabbed his stomach, “Bloody Hell…”

“Bug, we got it….” Jonesy gasped through agonizing pains, “My gut, mate…”

Julia tugged on Anje’s sleeve. “They’re going to be very cooperative any minute now. Because they’ll have to tell you where their camp is if they want to be cured. Right, boys?”

“What the Hell are you doing?” Anje whispered angrily into Julia’s ear, “That’s torture! You can go to prison for that! Not to mention getting all of us court-martialed!”

“Doc, I gotta…” Jonesy began, but couldn’t complete the sentence before Bug punched him out.

“Shut up!” Bug snarled, though his stomach pains were about to bring him to tears. He’d decided he wasn’t going to cross Dunphy, he’d rather die of the disease than at his boss’ hands.

Anya grabbed a hold of Bug’s shoulders and pushed him down on the cot. That way, he wasn’t going to lash out at anyone else. “You better tell us where they are”, she told him.

Julia, remaining cold, told Anje, “I don’t care. They’ve got my friend’s mate, and I haven’t got my medical licence anyway. There’s not much they can do to me. And you didn’t know what I was doing. You can arrest me if you want but those two are going to talk, and soon.”

Gallia came to the other two women’s sides, “I’m gonna be honest with ya, Julia. I dinnae think they’re gonna talk. Least that one Bug isnae. They’re terrified of this Dunphy character. To the point where that man,” she paused, pointing a finger towards Bug, “would rather writhe in agony until he eventually dies than go against him. This won’t work… I admire your reasonin’ for what you’re doin’, but there’s not gonna be the outcome we want.”

“Have you got a better suggestion?” Julia asked. She was out of options, and simple payback wasn’t going to make her feel any better either. “We can’t just go with them, we’ll all be captured.”

“Aye.” Gallia nodded, an idea had struck suddenly, “If either of ‘em isn’t infected, give ‘em a cure for their ‘stomach bug’ and let ‘em go. I’ll put a tracker on the one we leave, let them take us right to this Dunphy fella.”

“I like it.” Anje agreed, “I’ve already got their location narrowed down to about five potential locations. Bug mentioned pigs, so we can scan the locations, look for their pigs, keep the eye in the sky on whichever one we let loose then beam down and grab them all.”

“We do need to know if she’s alive though.” Gallia interjected, though she hadn’t wanted to even consider the worst case scenario. She turned on her heels and went to Bug, “Nurse Mona, go get me another hypo for this man. We’re gonna need to give him something for these cramps.”

“You’re a doctor?” Bug laughed.

“Just as much as she is.” Gallia replied, indicating Julia, “Now, a Deltan woman was with you…”

“Piss off, bitch.” Bug spat back, grabbing his stomach in pain.

“This Deltan woman,” Gallia continued, “is she alive?”

“Hell yes, she’s alive.” Bug laughed hard as he could in the pain he was in, “Quin’s got Barny comin’ for her, gonna give ten thousand bars for her pretty little self.”

Julia buried her face in her hands and sighed. She then gave Anje the other two hypos. “The antidote. If you’re really sure about this. It’s in your hands now.”

“I’m no doctor.” Anje shrugged, putting the hypos down and walking away, back to her tent, she had to find Liorga and now she was close, ~The game is afoot.~

Mona picked up the hypos put down by Anje and gave them to Gallia. “I think these are what you want, ma’am.”

“Right.” Gallia nodded, made sure nobody was looking and pressed them to the kidnappers’ necks, watching them drift into unconsciousness as their cramps ended.

“Shit”, Julia said. “I’m sorry, I thought this would work.”