Incommunicado – Paging Dr Stapleton
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton
Post Details
On:
The intelligence office was buzzing with activity for the first time in almost sixty days. Most of the junior staff were making preparations for the arrival of the VIP, while various senior staff were attempting to clear the mountain of reports and requests. In the midst of the chaos, Master Chief Ayers was at the front desk; he'd traded off the assignment with another of the NCOs so he could try to think clearly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the arrival of someone in medical colors. "Can I help you?"
"I hope so. I've been ordered to re-qualify with my phaser." She smiled nervously. "Bridget Stapleton," she added.
Craig pulled up the list on the terminal in front of him, "Ah yes, Dr Stapleton. Oh, looks like you have to do a full re-qualify for everything, though." The Chief paused as he flagged a crewman, "get me a standard kit."
Turning back to the Doctor, "Your original grade for small arms was barely a pass, and you never took the mandatory retraining. No problem though, we'll go down the main hall to the firing range and we can get started." The same crewman returned with a case and a Padd. As the Chief looked at it, he felt the color drain from his face a little.
"Um, I have a patient in about half an hour," she lied. "Maybe we should reschedule this." She was anxious about having to go through the whole certification process again, and the expression on Chief Ayers' face wasn't helping.
"It's not that, Doc. HQ has officially declared Lieutenant Wallace 'missing and presumed dead'." The news had an unreal and somewhat uncertain feeling to it. "Uh, you said you only have half an hour? That won't be enough time. You'll need an hour, plus another twenty minutes for testing." He paused. "Uh, sorry Doc - this is a little unreal right now."
"I'm sorry to hear about Lt Wallace. I didn't know." She looked at the Chief with compassion. "I can imagine what a madhouse it must be right now." He nodded, and in the brief silence, she looked down at the case and padd in his hands.
~He's got a lot on his plate right now, and chasing down a reluctant physician to complete her firing certs is the last thing he needs.~ She took a deep breath of decision, to steel her resolve. "Alright. Let's get this over with."
Craig looked over at another Intel officer, "Conner, can you take over here? I'm going down the hall."
"No problem, Chief," the Ensign said.
As the Chief picked up the grey case along with his own gun belt, he looked over at the Doctor. "This belongs to you, Doc," he said, passing over the case. 'A standard TR-110 pistol and a newer version of the Type II phaser. Keep the pistol on safety unless you intend on using it, that's the little red dot on the side. Although, with a certain Admiral scheduled to arrive on the station in the next 48 hours, it might be handy in case something weird happens."
She glanced at the Chief as they walked down a long corridor. "Define wierd." Wierd could mean different things to different people. And different people to different.... anyway. "You mean like hinky? That kind of wierd?"
"This Admiral took the long way home after a mission went bad," Craig said. It was way more than he wanted to say, but continued anyway. "Depending on if there is going to be a memorial, there also could be a prominent Romulan senator, representatives from the Klingon high council, several prominent Ferengi, almost two dozen marines not assigned to the station, and I think his parents."
Bridget whistled, dutifully impressed. "Wow. That has potential for all kinds of wierd." She eyed the equipment in her hands, and sincerely hoped nothing would require her to actually arm herself. It wasn't that she disagreed with the use of force; on the contrary, she realized that sometimes force was necessary. It was just that she wasn't personally confident when it came to a weapon in her own hands. If things got down to a fight, she'd have a better chance with a scalpel than a phaser.
"So... what happens if I don't pass this battery of tests?" she asked.
"It won't be too difficult, we're going to focus on mostly defensive shooting, so it becomes more about disabling an attacker than just shoot to kill," the Chief replied.
"Oh," relief showed in her voice. She still wondered if she was going to pass, and whether report would go up the chain of command if she didn't. But it wasn't like she needed double-tap kills to make the grade, either.
As the duo came up to the entry to the range, the chief commented, "This place hasn't seen a lot of use in the last five weeks, hopefully it hasn't been turned into a cargo bay by operations."
"You guys haven't been practicing? How come?" She followed the Chief through the door, and looked around. It didn't look like any cargo bay she'd seen recently, so obviously Ops hadn't commandeered it.
"There wasn't really any time. Those of us who weren't involved in searching for the Lieutenant were working double shifts. In reality, the last five weeks haven't exactly been the best of times here." The Chief paused as he opened a wall locker and took out a small tray. "Can't use live ammo on a space station in most places, so we use photonic rounds, against the holographic targets."
"The TR-110 is pretty basic, put the ammunition in the base of the handle push until it clicks, pull the slide back and you're in business."
"Right. She took the small magazine he offered and opened the weapon, loading it. She powered it up and chambered a round, the safety still on. Pointing TR at the floor, she looked at the Chief expectantly, and took a deep breath.
"Ok, the easy part is loading it, the hard part is keeping your cool when you shoot at your target. On the majority of the stuff you're going to run into, and I'm sure you know this, legs and shoulders are more effective at slowing down an attacker -- except a Borg done, that is." The Chief when over to a console and keyed up a Borg drone. It stood there in a static state, motionless. "These critters are bad news, and harder to stop, so you're going to have to put aside those oaths you took and take the shot."
"The drone will stop its advance at the red line on the floor; but that's here, not in the real world," The Chief said, then turned to the Doctor, "The drone is on level one for now so you can get the feel, ready?"
A surge of panic rose in her throat as she raised her weapon, and peripheral vision looked around for barriers to move behind. "Wait! What about adaptation? I don't have the ability to modulate the frequency fast enough before the drone adapts!"
"This is a ballistic weapon, Borg drones don't adapt to them. You're using photonic rounds for this exercise, safety first." The Chief said, "Just stay calm, aim where you want the shot to go, and squeeze the trigger."
The Chief stood behind her, guiding her hand and trying not to think of anything else but helping the doctor make the shot.
"Oh, right," Bridget said as his hands closed around hers. She felt the warmth of body against body, and had to blink rapidly a few times to reign in her thoughts; it had been too long since she and Edward had made love, and she was feeling the strain of raised hormonal levels.
"Right," she repeated in a stronger voice, making her eyes focus on the holographic drone before her. She squeezed off a shot and felt the slight recoil of the weapon, which only registered minimally on her senses because she watched in fascination as the drone reacted. The image implied the impact, buckling nearly in half at the waist, and flew backward five feet before disappearing.
"Wow," she said.
"Ok, not bad." The Chief tried to keep his mind on the task at hand. "With anything that isn't a drone, as I'm sure you know, a limb shot will incapacitate pretty handily."
The Chief took a stance, "Watch....Run program."
He drew his weapon and slowly squeezed off two rounds at the holographic drone approaching him. The first shot impacting the shoulder only slowing the drone down; it was the second round impacted squarely in the torso dropping the drone where it stood. "Freeze program."
He walked over to the drone, "Borg drones are one of the hardest to take down. That's why I used it first, you know enough about most species' anatomy that you could have picked the right spot to aim at. Sorry doc, had to make you think."
"No apologies necessary, Chief...." she hadn't recalled having heard his name.
"Craig," the Chief said.
"Right, Chief Craig," she grinned.
Craig smiled for the first time in weeks. "Ok Doc, lets switch to the phaser, I'll even show you a couple of tricks."
"Sure, okay," she said, feeling a bit more confident. This wasn't nearly as bad an experience as her last set of drills were. The Chief was making it much easier on her than he needed to.
Craig tried not to be distracted by the attractive woman with him, as he noticed her demeanor softening. He started, "This is the improved type two phaser, adjustable hand grip, color coded level indicator, stun, kill and so on." He paused for a breath. "Put your thumb fully down on pad here, and well enough said." Craig, trying to be a hot shot, fired at one of the holographic targets without looking. "Too many weeks in swamps."
Bridget grinned and rolled her eyes as the phaser shot met the target, dead-on center. "Show off," she chided, but there was only humor in her voice and smile. "Alright, watch this." She took aim, but spent an extra precious second making sure she was aiming at the right place. She reminded herself not to close one eye - she knew that would skew her aiming. Pressure on the thumb pad and zap! The phaser fired, minus the kick the TR had. The target spun, being hit to the right of center. But the shot was still on the core body mass and so she was more or less satisfied.
"Again?" she asked. It was beginning to feel more like a game than a test, and she didn't want to stop. Besides, she was feeling a bit competitive, even though she knew the Chief could out-shoot her with one hand tied behind his back. Any scores she made against him would be worth it.
"Sure." Craig was actually enjoying this. "Try this," he said. He stood in front of her looking her squarely in they eyes. He raised his arm and listened for the hum of the target, he fired, and the computer scored the hit.
"Ni-i-i-ce," Bridget said, holding the word for a long breath. She shook her head in disbelief, grinning. "Nobody's that good... I dare you to do it again, but shoot the target in exactly the same position."
"Computer reset, and run." As the holographic targets returned to their original starting positions the Chief closed his eyes and started to listen. Even holograms made the same small noises that real objects made. As the target began moving, he counted; the sound of the phaser whistling was the next thing he heard. At the last second though, he caught a faint smell of something sweet very close.
"What--?" Bridget had seen a sudden change in his expression but she didn't know him well enough to understand what it meant.
Craig stepped back. "I...uh...Shouldn't be showing off.....like that, uh..."
One eyebrow raised, Bridget thought she recognized embarrassment on his features, but she wasn't sure. She found it amusing, though, and had a hard time hiding a smirk.
"That's okay, it just gives me more incentive to win." She resisted the urge to give him a playful wink to accompany the challenge --that would be outright flirting, and she didn't really want to go there.
"Computer," she called out, moving to the left so she had a clear shot, "run program, competition setting, beginner level one." She hoped the computer would get the gist of what she meant, and was satisfied when two holographic Borg drones suddenly appeared.
"Computer, keep score," she said. This time she flashed a grin at the Chief before shooting the target, a hit in the right shoulder. She felt him move rather than saw him, and the other drone recoiled from a dead-center shot. A tone sounded from the computer, indicating a point in the Chief's favor.
"Ok.." The chief got the hint, and fired at the next target hitting it square in the knee disabling it, with his free hand he reached behind him and pulled a small release on his uniform, a metallic object slid out and with one fluid motion almost like a ball being thrown one of the holographic targets stopped dead with a knife sticking out of its forehead.
"Hey, no fair cheating!" she called from halfway across the room. "How am I supposed to beat you if you do stuff like that?" Her chuckle echoed in the large space as she picked off another drone.
"Old habits die hard," the Chief mused. ~Smooth Craig, real smooth~
"Ha! Maybe you need a --" Distracted by her own retort, she was nearly grabbed by a drone who'd quietly closed in on her. She had a bare second to twist out of it's arm's reach, and sprint back across the line painted on the floor. "Whoa, that was a bit too close," she panted, giving the Chief a wide grin.
Craig stepped to his left and fired, knocking over another target. Then he felt it: his right knee gave out, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground, "Yeahhhaouch!"
"This better not be a ploy to get more points," Bridget said with a smile before crouching next to the Chief and telling the computer to pause the simulation. She probed his knee with practiced fingers, eyes closed to better sense what his knee was telling her. "Feels like you've had injury to your ACL in the past. This happens occasionally, huh? You twist in just the wrong way and your leg buckles under you?"
"Actually I got shot in that knee by a Jem'hidar, nearly bled out. I haven't had any problems since though," Craig said, trying to prop himself up.
"Mmm. Well that story accounts for the scar tissue I feel in there. Okay," she looked around, "where would I find a med kit in here?"
"In the cabinet next to the work bench, second shelf from the top." Craig said as he shifted again to get a better view at cabinet.
"Ok." She stood, knees creaking a bit, and made her way to the cabinet. There was an industrial replicator nearby. "Hey," she called over her shoulder. "What say we get you a knee immobilizer replicated? It'll make it easier for you to limp past your buddies out there without garnering too much attention."
"If limp past anyone, they will think you shot me," Craig said. "There should be a transporter arm band or two in that cabinet and a control pad with them we can just beam to sick bay."
She turned, med kit in hand. "But I like the idea of them thinking I shot you," she said with an impish grin. "However, I concede your point. We'll do a site-to-site and get you over to my office."
She returned to his side and bent to give him a hypo of pain reliever. "This will make it easier for now. I'd like to check out that ACL and use a sonic abrader on the scar tissue. It should give you greater mobility in your knee." She spoke while at the same time attaching the arm bands. "Ready to go?"
"Hopefully I don't beam us into a shower." Craig said with a smile as he engaged to program.
Her laughter was the last thing he heard before his body shimmered into millions of molecules.
His aim wasn't half bad; they'd transported into the senior center's cafeteria, which wasn't far from the ambulatory therapy department. "Ah. Okay, well..." She looked around at the somewhat startled faces turned their way. "Let's get you up," she pulled his arm up over her shoulder to steady him as he rose on one leg, and grunted with the effort. "Ambulatory's just as good a place as any. They'll have what I need."
Craig struggled to his feet, "long as it doesn't need surgery we're good."
"So how'd you escape the Jem'hidar with only a knee wound?" she asked.
"Throwing knives and an intelligence officer who was pretty handy with phaser," he said as he struggled onto a bio-bed.
::OFF::
A JP between:
Lt. Bridget Stapleton
Doctor (General Practice)
Main Sickbay, DS5
&
MCPO Craig Ayers
Intelligence Signals Analyst
by Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton
Post Details
| Title | Paging Dr Stapleton | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton | |
| Posted | Tue Feb 21, 2012 @ 7:26pm | |
| Location | Intellgence Office | |
| Timeline | SD52, 1430 |
The intelligence office was buzzing with activity for the first time in almost sixty days. Most of the junior staff were making preparations for the arrival of the VIP, while various senior staff were attempting to clear the mountain of reports and requests. In the midst of the chaos, Master Chief Ayers was at the front desk; he'd traded off the assignment with another of the NCOs so he could try to think clearly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the arrival of someone in medical colors. "Can I help you?"
"I hope so. I've been ordered to re-qualify with my phaser." She smiled nervously. "Bridget Stapleton," she added.
Craig pulled up the list on the terminal in front of him, "Ah yes, Dr Stapleton. Oh, looks like you have to do a full re-qualify for everything, though." The Chief paused as he flagged a crewman, "get me a standard kit."
Turning back to the Doctor, "Your original grade for small arms was barely a pass, and you never took the mandatory retraining. No problem though, we'll go down the main hall to the firing range and we can get started." The same crewman returned with a case and a Padd. As the Chief looked at it, he felt the color drain from his face a little.
"Um, I have a patient in about half an hour," she lied. "Maybe we should reschedule this." She was anxious about having to go through the whole certification process again, and the expression on Chief Ayers' face wasn't helping.
"It's not that, Doc. HQ has officially declared Lieutenant Wallace 'missing and presumed dead'." The news had an unreal and somewhat uncertain feeling to it. "Uh, you said you only have half an hour? That won't be enough time. You'll need an hour, plus another twenty minutes for testing." He paused. "Uh, sorry Doc - this is a little unreal right now."
"I'm sorry to hear about Lt Wallace. I didn't know." She looked at the Chief with compassion. "I can imagine what a madhouse it must be right now." He nodded, and in the brief silence, she looked down at the case and padd in his hands.
~He's got a lot on his plate right now, and chasing down a reluctant physician to complete her firing certs is the last thing he needs.~ She took a deep breath of decision, to steel her resolve. "Alright. Let's get this over with."
Craig looked over at another Intel officer, "Conner, can you take over here? I'm going down the hall."
"No problem, Chief," the Ensign said.
As the Chief picked up the grey case along with his own gun belt, he looked over at the Doctor. "This belongs to you, Doc," he said, passing over the case. 'A standard TR-110 pistol and a newer version of the Type II phaser. Keep the pistol on safety unless you intend on using it, that's the little red dot on the side. Although, with a certain Admiral scheduled to arrive on the station in the next 48 hours, it might be handy in case something weird happens."
She glanced at the Chief as they walked down a long corridor. "Define wierd." Wierd could mean different things to different people. And different people to different.... anyway. "You mean like hinky? That kind of wierd?"
"This Admiral took the long way home after a mission went bad," Craig said. It was way more than he wanted to say, but continued anyway. "Depending on if there is going to be a memorial, there also could be a prominent Romulan senator, representatives from the Klingon high council, several prominent Ferengi, almost two dozen marines not assigned to the station, and I think his parents."
Bridget whistled, dutifully impressed. "Wow. That has potential for all kinds of wierd." She eyed the equipment in her hands, and sincerely hoped nothing would require her to actually arm herself. It wasn't that she disagreed with the use of force; on the contrary, she realized that sometimes force was necessary. It was just that she wasn't personally confident when it came to a weapon in her own hands. If things got down to a fight, she'd have a better chance with a scalpel than a phaser.
"So... what happens if I don't pass this battery of tests?" she asked.
"It won't be too difficult, we're going to focus on mostly defensive shooting, so it becomes more about disabling an attacker than just shoot to kill," the Chief replied.
"Oh," relief showed in her voice. She still wondered if she was going to pass, and whether report would go up the chain of command if she didn't. But it wasn't like she needed double-tap kills to make the grade, either.
As the duo came up to the entry to the range, the chief commented, "This place hasn't seen a lot of use in the last five weeks, hopefully it hasn't been turned into a cargo bay by operations."
"You guys haven't been practicing? How come?" She followed the Chief through the door, and looked around. It didn't look like any cargo bay she'd seen recently, so obviously Ops hadn't commandeered it.
"There wasn't really any time. Those of us who weren't involved in searching for the Lieutenant were working double shifts. In reality, the last five weeks haven't exactly been the best of times here." The Chief paused as he opened a wall locker and took out a small tray. "Can't use live ammo on a space station in most places, so we use photonic rounds, against the holographic targets."
"The TR-110 is pretty basic, put the ammunition in the base of the handle push until it clicks, pull the slide back and you're in business."
"Right. She took the small magazine he offered and opened the weapon, loading it. She powered it up and chambered a round, the safety still on. Pointing TR at the floor, she looked at the Chief expectantly, and took a deep breath.
"Ok, the easy part is loading it, the hard part is keeping your cool when you shoot at your target. On the majority of the stuff you're going to run into, and I'm sure you know this, legs and shoulders are more effective at slowing down an attacker -- except a Borg done, that is." The Chief when over to a console and keyed up a Borg drone. It stood there in a static state, motionless. "These critters are bad news, and harder to stop, so you're going to have to put aside those oaths you took and take the shot."
"The drone will stop its advance at the red line on the floor; but that's here, not in the real world," The Chief said, then turned to the Doctor, "The drone is on level one for now so you can get the feel, ready?"
A surge of panic rose in her throat as she raised her weapon, and peripheral vision looked around for barriers to move behind. "Wait! What about adaptation? I don't have the ability to modulate the frequency fast enough before the drone adapts!"
"This is a ballistic weapon, Borg drones don't adapt to them. You're using photonic rounds for this exercise, safety first." The Chief said, "Just stay calm, aim where you want the shot to go, and squeeze the trigger."
The Chief stood behind her, guiding her hand and trying not to think of anything else but helping the doctor make the shot.
"Oh, right," Bridget said as his hands closed around hers. She felt the warmth of body against body, and had to blink rapidly a few times to reign in her thoughts; it had been too long since she and Edward had made love, and she was feeling the strain of raised hormonal levels.
"Right," she repeated in a stronger voice, making her eyes focus on the holographic drone before her. She squeezed off a shot and felt the slight recoil of the weapon, which only registered minimally on her senses because she watched in fascination as the drone reacted. The image implied the impact, buckling nearly in half at the waist, and flew backward five feet before disappearing.
"Wow," she said.
"Ok, not bad." The Chief tried to keep his mind on the task at hand. "With anything that isn't a drone, as I'm sure you know, a limb shot will incapacitate pretty handily."
The Chief took a stance, "Watch....Run program."
He drew his weapon and slowly squeezed off two rounds at the holographic drone approaching him. The first shot impacting the shoulder only slowing the drone down; it was the second round impacted squarely in the torso dropping the drone where it stood. "Freeze program."
He walked over to the drone, "Borg drones are one of the hardest to take down. That's why I used it first, you know enough about most species' anatomy that you could have picked the right spot to aim at. Sorry doc, had to make you think."
"No apologies necessary, Chief...." she hadn't recalled having heard his name.
"Craig," the Chief said.
"Right, Chief Craig," she grinned.
Craig smiled for the first time in weeks. "Ok Doc, lets switch to the phaser, I'll even show you a couple of tricks."
"Sure, okay," she said, feeling a bit more confident. This wasn't nearly as bad an experience as her last set of drills were. The Chief was making it much easier on her than he needed to.
Craig tried not to be distracted by the attractive woman with him, as he noticed her demeanor softening. He started, "This is the improved type two phaser, adjustable hand grip, color coded level indicator, stun, kill and so on." He paused for a breath. "Put your thumb fully down on pad here, and well enough said." Craig, trying to be a hot shot, fired at one of the holographic targets without looking. "Too many weeks in swamps."
Bridget grinned and rolled her eyes as the phaser shot met the target, dead-on center. "Show off," she chided, but there was only humor in her voice and smile. "Alright, watch this." She took aim, but spent an extra precious second making sure she was aiming at the right place. She reminded herself not to close one eye - she knew that would skew her aiming. Pressure on the thumb pad and zap! The phaser fired, minus the kick the TR had. The target spun, being hit to the right of center. But the shot was still on the core body mass and so she was more or less satisfied.
"Again?" she asked. It was beginning to feel more like a game than a test, and she didn't want to stop. Besides, she was feeling a bit competitive, even though she knew the Chief could out-shoot her with one hand tied behind his back. Any scores she made against him would be worth it.
"Sure." Craig was actually enjoying this. "Try this," he said. He stood in front of her looking her squarely in they eyes. He raised his arm and listened for the hum of the target, he fired, and the computer scored the hit.
"Ni-i-i-ce," Bridget said, holding the word for a long breath. She shook her head in disbelief, grinning. "Nobody's that good... I dare you to do it again, but shoot the target in exactly the same position."
"Computer reset, and run." As the holographic targets returned to their original starting positions the Chief closed his eyes and started to listen. Even holograms made the same small noises that real objects made. As the target began moving, he counted; the sound of the phaser whistling was the next thing he heard. At the last second though, he caught a faint smell of something sweet very close.
"What--?" Bridget had seen a sudden change in his expression but she didn't know him well enough to understand what it meant.
Craig stepped back. "I...uh...Shouldn't be showing off.....like that, uh..."
One eyebrow raised, Bridget thought she recognized embarrassment on his features, but she wasn't sure. She found it amusing, though, and had a hard time hiding a smirk.
"That's okay, it just gives me more incentive to win." She resisted the urge to give him a playful wink to accompany the challenge --that would be outright flirting, and she didn't really want to go there.
"Computer," she called out, moving to the left so she had a clear shot, "run program, competition setting, beginner level one." She hoped the computer would get the gist of what she meant, and was satisfied when two holographic Borg drones suddenly appeared.
"Computer, keep score," she said. This time she flashed a grin at the Chief before shooting the target, a hit in the right shoulder. She felt him move rather than saw him, and the other drone recoiled from a dead-center shot. A tone sounded from the computer, indicating a point in the Chief's favor.
"Ok.." The chief got the hint, and fired at the next target hitting it square in the knee disabling it, with his free hand he reached behind him and pulled a small release on his uniform, a metallic object slid out and with one fluid motion almost like a ball being thrown one of the holographic targets stopped dead with a knife sticking out of its forehead.
"Hey, no fair cheating!" she called from halfway across the room. "How am I supposed to beat you if you do stuff like that?" Her chuckle echoed in the large space as she picked off another drone.
"Old habits die hard," the Chief mused. ~Smooth Craig, real smooth~
"Ha! Maybe you need a --" Distracted by her own retort, she was nearly grabbed by a drone who'd quietly closed in on her. She had a bare second to twist out of it's arm's reach, and sprint back across the line painted on the floor. "Whoa, that was a bit too close," she panted, giving the Chief a wide grin.
Craig stepped to his left and fired, knocking over another target. Then he felt it: his right knee gave out, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground, "Yeahhhaouch!"
"This better not be a ploy to get more points," Bridget said with a smile before crouching next to the Chief and telling the computer to pause the simulation. She probed his knee with practiced fingers, eyes closed to better sense what his knee was telling her. "Feels like you've had injury to your ACL in the past. This happens occasionally, huh? You twist in just the wrong way and your leg buckles under you?"
"Actually I got shot in that knee by a Jem'hidar, nearly bled out. I haven't had any problems since though," Craig said, trying to prop himself up.
"Mmm. Well that story accounts for the scar tissue I feel in there. Okay," she looked around, "where would I find a med kit in here?"
"In the cabinet next to the work bench, second shelf from the top." Craig said as he shifted again to get a better view at cabinet.
"Ok." She stood, knees creaking a bit, and made her way to the cabinet. There was an industrial replicator nearby. "Hey," she called over her shoulder. "What say we get you a knee immobilizer replicated? It'll make it easier for you to limp past your buddies out there without garnering too much attention."
"If limp past anyone, they will think you shot me," Craig said. "There should be a transporter arm band or two in that cabinet and a control pad with them we can just beam to sick bay."
She turned, med kit in hand. "But I like the idea of them thinking I shot you," she said with an impish grin. "However, I concede your point. We'll do a site-to-site and get you over to my office."
She returned to his side and bent to give him a hypo of pain reliever. "This will make it easier for now. I'd like to check out that ACL and use a sonic abrader on the scar tissue. It should give you greater mobility in your knee." She spoke while at the same time attaching the arm bands. "Ready to go?"
"Hopefully I don't beam us into a shower." Craig said with a smile as he engaged to program.
Her laughter was the last thing he heard before his body shimmered into millions of molecules.
His aim wasn't half bad; they'd transported into the senior center's cafeteria, which wasn't far from the ambulatory therapy department. "Ah. Okay, well..." She looked around at the somewhat startled faces turned their way. "Let's get you up," she pulled his arm up over her shoulder to steady him as he rose on one leg, and grunted with the effort. "Ambulatory's just as good a place as any. They'll have what I need."
Craig struggled to his feet, "long as it doesn't need surgery we're good."
"So how'd you escape the Jem'hidar with only a knee wound?" she asked.
"Throwing knives and an intelligence officer who was pretty handy with phaser," he said as he struggled onto a bio-bed.
::OFF::
A JP between:
Lt. Bridget Stapleton
Doctor (General Practice)
Main Sickbay, DS5
&
MCPO Craig Ayers
Intelligence Signals Analyst