A Fourteen-Year Nap - Part II
Posted on 20 Aug 2012 @ 8:54pm by Amril & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & Ensign Varek & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes
2,804 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD-09: 0400 hours
Previously...
Aria watched the Vorta before moving to his side. She touched his arm, meeting his eyes. "I am not afraid of you," she said gently. "But there's a lot of emotions going on here and to be honest, I don't like the tensions building. So... if you tell me what you want asylum from, I'll tell you what you've missed. No games."
"Why, I want asylum from the Dominion, of course," he replied as if they ought to know. Who else would a vorta owe allegiance too? "I've defected."
and now the conclusion...
[ON]
Aria let out a breath and nodded. "Well, that's all fine and dandy of course," she said and smiled to him, shrugging. "Thing is, war is over. Dominion lost... I mean, we're still here and all that. So I don't know what the whole political situation is at the moment, but... I can sort of tell you that you're safe from them. Right?" She looked at the others, arching an eyebrow with question. Well, safe from the Dominion, she wouldn't put it past anyone in the room to pull a phaser at the Vorta. Or maybe that was just her being paranoid.
"Why, then you have nothing to worry about," the vorta replied with a smile, "According to your regulations, now that I am aboard your ship and have requested asylum, I am under the protection of Starfleet." He turned his head towards Pola. "I know your regulations as well as you do, I'm sure."
Rhodes looked at each of the doctors and said with the most serious face. "Do not release..." he hesitated with the uncertainty of it's gender, "him from those restraints. Under no circumstances. Is that clear?"
The alien chuckled again. "I feel like a Jem'Hadar. What do they tell you I am capable of?"
Pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers, Pola tried to figure out how this situation had gotten so out of control that now she had Rhodes bossing everyone around. As everyone talking around her, she acting on instinct and stuck two fingers in her mouth to let out a shrill whistle. "Right....everyone out... now!! Except Amril. The restraints stay on."
"Don't worry, I wasn't leaving," the vorta added with a smile.
Aria looked at Pola with surprise before shaking her head. "Ma'am," she said, her voice soft. "Respectfully, we can't leave you here with him and..." she looked at Amril. "Him. Alone. I mean... there should be a security person here in case of trouble..." and for a moment, Aria was unsure if it was to protect Pola from the Vorta, or the other way around. But she did not know Amril, she only knew that her mind kept screaming that there should be someone else here too... Theron, someone, who could step in if needed.
Looking at Aria with a stern look on her face, Pola kept her face natural and her voice even. "Ensign... that was not a request, that was an order... please don't make this any more difficult for me than it needs to be." Pola let the facade drop slightly as she concentrated on Aria, showing this was a plea. She knew that she would be unable to get any proper answers while all of these people around, it wasn't person but she needed to be able to focus and not be undermined.
Aria watched her for a long moment before glancing at Theron. "Please note my objection to this order, even if I have to obey it," she said before glancing at the Vorta. She took a breath and turned, leaving quickly to stand outside.
Rhodes looked at Rice as she talked to the Doctor. He then said to the Doctor, "We understand and will withdraw. We can monitor from the other room. The restraints stay on." Rice and Rhodes stepped out of the room.
Varek was standing quietly in a corner. Since his expertise was no longer needed, he had removed himself to the medical office on the side of sickbay. He had no interest in the vorta that could not be satisfied after Pola had figured everything out. He picked up a PADD and began working on medical records.
"Well...if my services are not required.....I shall take a break in the computer processors."
Putting down the medical tricorder in his hand, the EMH stepped back a few steps and headed as if he was going into the Sickbay office.
"Computer, deactivate Emergency Medical Holographic Program."
And with that, he dissolved into nothingness.
Once everyone was gone, Amril turned his head to get a better view of Pola. "Well then, doctor..."
Just watching the Vorta for a moment, Pola grabbed one of the nearby chairs, rolling it across the floor and allowing her to sit. Folding her legs she let out a sigh, "Right now the Captain is not available, so I'm your only option to speak with. Do you understand what happened to your ship?"
"Not at all," Amril said pleasantly, "I do hope you haven't damaged it. It's terribly expensive..."
Rubbing her thumb across her forehead for a moment, Pola tried to understand what was going on here. "When we found you, your ship was badly damaged, at one point it attempted to fire on us, but was unable to create the power needed. We towed you in, opened the ship and it started a self destruct sequence which almost took our ship with it."
"Ah, it was destroyed?" he asked, "What a waste." He gave Pola a slightly accusatory look. "You didn't try to fiddle with it... did you?"
Slouching a little further in her chair, Pola raised her eyebrow at the randomness of the question, "Well aside from opening it up to get to you, no no fiddling was done. Was there something there you didn't want us to find?"
"Oh, the ship is full of somethings the Dominion would not want in the hands of the Federation. The counter espionage protocols on the ship would have initiated the self destruct mechanism as soon as it detected your interference. In fact if I had not been on board, the infiltrator would probably have been destroyed instantly. So you've got me to thank for the delay period."
"You practically took our ship with you, we were extremely lucky." Crossing her legs at her ankles, Pola just studied Amril for a moment. "So are you going to explain your request for asylum?"
Just outside, Rhodes and Rice looked at a control station that they had reconfigured to monitor the situation. "The vital signs are way off of human." He looked to Rice, "I could not tell if it was lying or not." The video feed was helpful. But, since they had requested privacy, he had muted the sound to be diplomatic. However, Theron had put in a subroutine to record the entire conversation for later.
Aria watched the screen, her face serious. "Does it matter?" she asked quietly. "If he is lying or not? Shouldn't we... at least give him the benefit of the doubt?" she looked down at her hands. "If they go for each other, there's no way we will be able to get in there quick enough to stop them killing each other. You know that right? And looking at the odds in that room... well. I am hardly comforted."
Rhodes looked at her for a moment, then back to the display and said calmly, "Yes. You are correct. And that is the risk they wanted to take." he looked at Rice and added, "We just have to prevent it from any action outside that room."
"So you see there is not much else to explain," the vorta was saying, "I have simply requested asylum."
"Okay, I'll tell you what then. We'll grant you asylum but you stay restrained to that table. Once the Doctor's give you the all clear, we will arrange for you to be beamed to the brig. You'll gain freedom behind a force field. Once we return to Earth, you'll be handed over to Starfleet." Getting to her feet, Pola flicked an imaginary piece of dirt from her uniform. "If you refuse to give us your asylum reasons, we have to assume you're a threat and as such you will be treated that way."
"I'm quite well now, I assure you," he replied, "If you must, then take me to the brig. These restraints are quite unnecessary and rather annoying."
"Right now you stay here and that will not change, nor will those restraints be removed. Despite the threat you pose we still need to monitor your vitals until you are stable." On that note, Pola moved across to the monitor to check the alien's vitals, making a note that the neuroactivity was showing a slight decrease, possible indicating he might be slipping back into unconsciousness.
"Who is your commanding officer at this time? I'd very much like to meet him and I'm sure he would like to meet me... first vorta seen in the Federation in a decade, hm?"
Walking over to the replicator to get another five cc's of the morathial series, listening to the alien's words and resisting the urge to sigh. "We are just going in circles here. I am the ship's Executive Officer, you won't get higher than me unless you tell me your reasons for needing asylum. The Commanding Officer will only want to know that you are restrained and of no danger."
"No more of your medicines," Amril warned, "I'm quite well. Vorta are more resilient than they seem and I'd rather not risk overloading my systems, wouldn't you, doctor? As for my desire for asylum, I have given you my reason. I have defected. The Dominion is relentless and will seek me out if they know I am alive. There is no more reason needed, is there? I'm sure you would not want the Dominion to decide they needed to chase you down."
"The doctor does not appear to be getting anywhere with it." Rhodes said and looked from the display of the room next door to Rice, shaking his head slightly. "I just do not trust anything it says and does."
Aria looked at him for a moment before frowning. "It's a he. No matter what he says and does, whether it is true or not...he is not an it."
Turning the biobed monitor so as it was in Amril's range of sight, Pola pointed out the scans of his brain and neural pathways. "Correct me if I'm wrong but you're feeling extremely tired right now. Your neural pathways are showing that you're slipping back into unconsciousness, and not a natural sleep. The medication is to try help prevent this but if you'd prefer not to get it, I'll respect your wishes."
"I've been asleep for fourteen years," Amril said with a smile, "I feel quite refreshed really and I'm not all that sure your medicine is as effective as Dominion medicine. But more importantly, doctor, you're avoiding a response to my request. I have answered your concerns about why I seek asylum and now I would like to be moved to the brig."
"Ah... do I blame your lapse on your fourteen year sleep or have I evidence you're not really listening to me? As I specified earlier, you will remain in sickbay until such a point that myself and the EMH are 100% satisfied that you are completely stable." Leaning back against the bulkhead, Pola left the hypospray in her hand for the moment.
"Doctor, did you lose someone close to you to the Dominion? I get the distinct feeling that you don't like me." In spite of such concerns, he seemed not to mind. In fact, he seemed inordinately pleasant considering his situation.
"Amril, I don't like you because you almost cost us our ship and my crew. A lot of innocent people almost died so as we could save you. So you'll have to excuse me if I'm going across a little hostile. All you've done since you've awoken is run circles around my questions and given me no reason to trust you." Pola figured that she'd given the alien one more chance before calling the others back in.
"But I had nothing to do with the danger to your ship. You did that when you interfered with my ship's systems. I was in stasis. I will be happy to review your logs and tell you what went wrong if I can. Now, doctor, you tell me what... circles?" he stopped, frowning thoughtfully, "You tell me what circles I have been running around. It seems to me you are the one doing that. However, if there is something I have not made clear, by all means tell me. I'm sure you want to resolve this situation as well as I, yes?" He smiled at her again as if to earn her agreement. "I certainly don't mean to give you cause not to trust me."
Touching her comm badge, Pola called back the others and indicated for Varek to step back across.
=^=Sickbay to Rhodes; please return to sickbay=^=
Manipulating a few buttons on a console, Pola didn't look up as she answered. "No-one defects without a reason and we still haven't heard your reason. Until such a time as you provide us with a comprehensive response, you will remain restrained here in sickbay until you are completely stable at which point you'll be moved to the brig. We'll grant your asylum and you'll be handed over to Starfleet once we get back to Earth."
"Ah, that will be quite satisfactory, doctor," the vorta replied pleasantly, "Let's go about convincing you I'm perfectly well, hm? Your dedication to your duty is impressive, I must say."
"Doctor?" Varek asked as he stepped back inside, having noticed Pola waving to him.
Activating the EMH through her panel, Pola turned to face it and Varek. "I need you to administer the Borathium and a further 5cc's of the series. From what I can tell he should be fine to move in an hour at which point I want him beamed to the brig. Understood?"
"Of course, doctor," Varek replied, turning towards the medical replicator.
Rematerialising from within the computer memory, the EMH was more than happy to oblige and complete the treatment regime that had been prescribed, at least this way it would free up one of the biobeds to be devoted to other more life threatening concerns. Nodding to his CMO, the hologram headed off to obtain the required medication.
Rhodes entered the room stopping to the side and crossing his arms across his chest.
Aria walked in as well, watching them carefully, her eyes dark as she looked at Pola.
Looking across at Rice and Rhodes, Pola nodded her head in acknowledgement of their return. "Under no circumstances are the restraints on Amril to be removed and I want at least two officers kept on him at all times. Once the Doctors give the all clear, I would estimate in about an hour, I want a site to site transport for Amril to be placed in the brig and kept under 24/7 watch. If anything out of the ordinary occurs or something happens meaning these orders cannot be followed through, myself or Commander Holiday are to be contact immediately, I will brief the Commander on what is happening."
Rhodes replied, "Yes Sir, thank you Sir." Turning to Rice he said, "Would you mind preparing some quarters for our guest?"
"Yes Sir," she sid quietly and turned, walking to arrange it herself.
Looking at the Doctor again, Rhodes added, "And no one else is to communicate with Amril for any reason, except for medical needs."
Straightening her back, Pola nodded her head. "Correct. We are lucky that we can isolate him here in this room and then in the brig, knowledge of his presence is to go no further than the people present here, and the people on your team whom you deem you can trust, unless the Commander states otherwise."
"Agreed." Rhodes replied.
Looking around at the people gathered, Pola let out a breath. "Ok guys, I'm entrusting this back into your hands so I can report into the Commander." Taking one last look at Amril, Pola spun on her heel without any further words to the Vorta, figuring Jonathan would have more then enough to say.
[OFF]
Amril
Vorta Defector
USS Galileo
EMH Mk-X
Emergency Medical Hologram
USS Galileo
Ensign Aria Rice
Security Officer
USS Galileo
Ensign Theron Rhodes
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo
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