Guns, Germs and Steal, Season 1, Episode 5

Sister Catherine walked into the Medical Bay along with Dr. Cheng, her purposeful stride and demeanor softened as she entered by concern for those she saw wounded around her, but still focused.

"I have a potential security issue to resolve." she said. "Honestly, it may be a false concern, and I'm not sure if we're equipped for it, but if possible . . ."

She looked between Dr. Adelwulf and Dillin Cheshire.

"I don't want to impose on someone who's recovering from injury, regardless of how tough they've been proven in the past, but perhaps one of you could assist with it, if we're so equipped."

While she spoke, she had taken out her corpad, and now, pausing, she typed a quick message and held it out for them to see.

"It may be nothing, but if possible, it's best to be sure."

Cheng followed, leaning over Doctor Bardier's table to squint at her stats. Her readings were so different from the feverish charts he had been reading all day that his mind took a moment to adjust. Yeah, she'll live. However, I might not if I don't get some sleep. No. Food then shower then sleep. His quick adrenalin from the encounter was already starting to fade.

He leaned to the side, reading the pad twice to make sure it really did say that. His people's society sanctioned a substantial amount of monitoring, including full surveillance for dangerous activities: space walking, piloting, and surgery were each recorded in minute detail, so he knew all about being studied like a specimen and held to account.

Exactly because they lived with zero privacy for a portion of every day, the Void Engineers had learned - and enshrined - the necessity to respect off-duty privacy. The relevant credo translated, approximately, to, Every individual's private life is exactly that. Laws came and went, but his culture had been clear for centuries on a certain point: recording or researching someone without their explicit permission was abhorrent.

Cheng's skin suddenly felt a little sticky. Right. Shower first. And maybe burn these clothes, he exaggerated, but before that... He tried to fein nonchalance, nodding politely to his coworkers, as he put on his mirrored shades and flexed his right hand just so, the fingerless back gloves capturing his command. The Blue Sun Comprehensive Security Suite interface popped up before his eyes and he twitched his fingers through the menus, checking that the software was up to date and doing its job.

Hardware isn't the only way to bug someone and I've been pulling data through the Bella Star's com systems since we got here. Ah, good: all clear. Channa's been getting flakier, but that started after the flood on Ariel, so it can't be related to anything here. Not too bad, even now, but if I can't trust it... He frowned and pulled up another interface, firing off a series of canned queries against Channa's system logs, trying to reassure himself that no one had coerced the little machine.

"What..." Blodwyn mumbled, flat and slow, struggling to cling to now through the heaviness in her head that made everything burst into odd limbless delirium.

Voices.

Easier to listen, than to speak. Nodding proved a problem, until she got the knack of it. Shift and twist, eyes closed, picturing it as she did so her body wouldn't remember her little habitual shrug that went with it. That felt better.

Dillin. Yes. Right. Pills? Pills would be nice. Maybe she could sleep, some...

The next bit, though, gave her pause. She wasn't quite sure what she was expected to feel, exactly, hearing of that man's capture, but it wasn't this anger, sharp and dry and despairing, and she just lay back and stared. "Ship," she said after a long moment, fingers going slack. "Liner. Supposed to watch the monitors. What happened."

Dillin scanned the pad with a blink and, as though she'd seen nothing, turned back to Blodwyn, "You did, Doc. You were watching the monitors when we found you- never left your station." Her face brightened in a half-smile. "Stubborn, is what I think you are. Gonna have to keep my eye on you. Ripple and Salazar are working on the vaccine now, and they're going to lift the quarantine on the Starr any minute. Here... Let me get one of them to tell you about it."

Turning towards the corridor, she glanced back at Catherine and Cheng, forcing a cheery nonchalance, "Meet me in the galley in one minute. We'll clear this up in a jifferoo!"

Jifferoo? What the hell kind of word was that? She resisted the urge to glance back to see if the Vecto Ventus security guy was watching her back, registering suspicious behavior. Vecto had good reputation- She wouldn't have minded working for them herself, if she'd had the kind of references they liked. But there was something about this guy that didn't say 'private security firm'. Rent-a-cops were ... well, this guy seemed more like- Dillin's gaze strayed to his shoes as she passed him- like a secret agent or something.

Slipping down the corridor, she knocked on the open door of the lab, "Doctors? Kiri? Dr. Bardier is awake, and I think she could use some reassurance. I'm a little better at causing chaos than the other way 'round?" Maybe one of you could talk to her?"

Message delivered, Dillin continued down the corridor, into the engine room, and up the engine bail to the second floor, where she jogged down to her room, retrieved her grey canvas gear bag, and headed back to the galley. E.L.D.s? It made sense. If someone was looking to steal gear, attack the ship- it would be an easy-enough trick to drop a tag on any of the crew that had been working on the Bella Starr. A bump in an elevator, a brush of a hand in a crowded corridor- It was easy. Too easy. Dillin popped open one of the snap-closed compartments of her gear bag and drew out the small pen-like device that could detect even the most sophisticated transmitting devices. It'd cost her pretty coinage back on Osiris, and at the time, was an extravagance in "just-in-case" thinking. But now she was glad she did.

Setting it to silent, she watched the light blink on and turn blue. Slowly, she slid it over the surface of the table, idly testing the room for bugs while she waited for Catherine and Cheng.




OOC: Sorry for the delay, kids. I was giving a few other folks time to post, but three days is three days, and it's been almost a week since Cheng posted.

Catherine headed off to the galley about a minute after Dillin had left. She really hoped that her suspicions were wrong, but there were too many warning signs to ignore. She wasn't sure how likely it actually was that she or Cr. Cheng might be bugged, but if it was so, it would make what she had to ask Dr. Cheng far too dangerous for everyone on the ship. The possibility had to be addressed.

Entering the galley, she crossed over and sat down at the table Dillin was at.

Until she could be sure no one else was listening in, she was going to say as littlle as she needed to.

Some secrets would be worth the risk of attacking a MedAcad ship to those who needed to keep them, if they thought the risk of revelation was high enough.

In the worst scenario possible, this could be one of them.

Upper Corridor/Galley


Commander Doctor April Chee exited the bridge with head held high and her short legs moving in purposeful, yet graceful, strides, but her dark eyes were shadowed stones, unyielding of the thoughts behind them.

A list of a thousand details was spinning through her mind. The focus of her attention had to be The Bella Starr and their patients there, but the attack on the ship was a marring on her command that she did not intend to stand for. Despite Med-Acad and Blue Sun's assurances that it would be handled, it was a slap in her face, an insult that she took personally. Being told to focus on her area of expertise and leave the details of justice to them was just another 'be a good little girl' in a long line of parental platitudes.

Doctor Chee was, frankly, gou tso de pissed off.

Striding down the corridor, with nothing further in mind than to get out of her formal uniform and into something she could actually work in, she caught a glimpse into the galley and came to a halt.

Turning on her toe, she entered the room and slid the door shut behind her, "Sister? Cheshire? Something going on I should know about?"




OOC: I am assuming Cheng and Rain would have come upstairs as well so feel free to have them inside when she shuts the door.

Blowdyn nodded once. "Good." She moved her hand a bit. Fingered the bandages swathed across her midsection gingerly, then looked at her fingers, vaguely surprised that they weren't covered in blood. "Good," she said thickly. It seemed far too much effort for more than a single word

It was. Good.

She looked up again as Dillin left, followed by Rain and Catherine, as if noticing them for the first time. Her right hand, tangled in the white cloth, made a slow fist.

"Sister? Cheshire? Something going on I should know about?"

Catherine glanced over at Dillin, who shook her head no, looking from her to Dr. Cheng and back.

"I have a suspicion." she said, addressing Dr. Chee. "But it is only a suspicion as of now. Mr. Black, the security man for Howard Tong and Vecto Ventus, called me and Dr. Cheng aside to demand that all records relating to Constance's treatment be purged and that no one should ever know that we treated her or that she was here. From his behaviour, and the inflexibility of his demands, before I got through to him that I had no authority to grant them, I believe he is under a great deal of pressure to make that happen. Combine that with what we were told regarding her, that she was agoraphobic and delusionally paranoid, which would provide a simple answer to questions of why she never goes out in public and cause us to disregard anything she said that seemed odd. Add in that the Bella Starr has no record of her even existing as a resident or passenger. Why would the guardian of someone so vulnerable leave her off of vital ship's records that would be needed in the event of a shipwide evacuation or other emergency?"

She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts. Such accusations, if they proved false, could be ruinous to the reputation of a good man, as well as spurring a lawsuit that could damage Med-Acad and destroy the careers of anyone involved. The fact that they could be true still compelled scrutiny. It wouldn't be the first time that power and influence had been corrupted to serve the evil it pretended to oppose.

Besides which, it was a part of her purpose on the ship. Part of the reason why the church sent out archivists to gather data by hand on the citizens of the rim; their births, deaths, weddings, baptisms, and other vital records, was in the hopes that it could help to track down and identify those who went missing. Missing people who sometimes ended up in places like Higgins Moon, or in places even less well acknowledged.

There was an evil loose in the 'Verse, one that civilized nations on ETW had once banished, but which had returned. Sister Catherine Grey was one link in an underground dedicated to opposing it and helping those it victimized until it could be banished once more.

"Whe the blood samples are taken from Constance . . ." she said, "I would request that they be subjected to DNA testing, and the results checked against Alliance and church databases of missing persons. I believe that we should also attempt to discover through whatever medical records can be obtained on the family if Constance is in fact any relation to anyone who would make her a step-niece to Howard Tong. I'd also like the opportunity to interview her privately, without the knowledge of Mr. Tong or his security. I believe all of you understand the need for absolute discretion. If my suspicions prove false, no rumour of them must ever reach the public. If they prove true, or possibly true, we are all in danger if it becomes known we suspect. I realize the gravity of saying such regarding Howard Tong and Vecto Ventus, but I have begun to suspect that Constance may not be a shut-in relative, but a prisoner. A slave."

"Doctors? Kiri? Dr. Bardier is awake, and I think she could use some reassurance. I'm a little better at causing chaos than the other way 'round? Maybe one of you could talk to her?"

“I'll go,” Teo said, to Dillin and Drake both, although the former had already disappeared again. He shrugged out of his labcoat and draped it over the stool he'd been sitting on. They were almost finished anyway, and Drake was perfectly capable of completing the task on his own. Giving the nurse a nod, he motioned for her to stay and help Drake, then left the lab and headed to the medical bay, brushing fluff from the labcoat off his suit jacket's black shoulders as he went.

He entered the medical bay with a light cough, announcing his presence to the injured woman, then proceeded to stand next to her by the bed, a soft smile on his face. “Doctor Bardier? My name is Teo Salazar. I don't believe we've been introduced, but I'm a friend of Doctor Ripple,” he said, voice reassuring as not to frighten her needlessly. It wasn't until he said it that he considered that she might not know who Drake was either. “Doctor Drake is with Med-Acad, here to help with the epidemic and he called me in to give a hand. I'm a researcher at Mercy Hospital in New Barcelona. I'm also a fully trained physician, so let me know if there's anything you need, doctor.”

Blodwyn stared blankly at Teo, one eye closing in a slow grimace. Wasn't what he was saying, so much as the way he said it. Well, that was a lie. The words were pretty gorram bad, but nowhere near approaching that of his need, his gorram baby-rutting insistence on delivering them in the most annoyingly grandfatherly twinkly-eyed reassuring way possible.

This was just sick.

Whoever sicced this man on her when she was down was just asking for genetically engineered mouse turds in their breakfast. At best. "Right." This required equal and opposite retaliation. Maybe she'd switch out their coffee for decaff. "Actually," she said with a smile of her own, the bags under her eyes crinkling, "there is something you can do for me. You can get me out of this gorram bed."

Blodwyn held her arms out to Teo like a child, or a lover. "Loan me a shoulder. I need coffee. Failing that, I need to work. If I stay in this bed one minute longer my buttcheeks are going to fuse to the mattress."

Lab/Medical Bay

Reese, relieved at least that there was no secret plot to attack the Bella Starr, slumped quietly out of the lab, waving a final farewell to Dr. Ripple. He was nice, Reese thought. And that nurse, Kiri... She was real cute.

On an afterthought, Reese turned back and, scribbling a hasty note, left it on Kiri's work station while her back was turned.

'Kiri, If you have time when this is all over, I'd love to buy you dinner. Give me a call. Thanks for everything.' He finished it with his initials and his Bella Starr room number and wave code. Not that she'd really be interested in a busboy, but all the same, if ya don't try, you don't know, the young man decided as he slipped quickly out of the lab before she could see the note and reject him in person. It would be enough if she just never called.

Drained at the thought of returning to work, he headed for the doors of the ship gazing wearily about him. Suddenly weariness drained away as he looked through the glass walls that divided the infirmary section from the corridor. "THAT'S HER!"

The cry burst from his lips before he even realized it, springing to the doorway, finger raised to point to the beautiful blonde woman who lay now only a few yards away, swaddled in blankets, "That's the woman from the Dining Room!"

Rain listened to the words of those around him swathed in silence, nary a word escaping his lips. Several reasons pervaded his mind in this regard, first and foremost a four-alarm hangover delivered by the stun pulse from Crowe’s suit in which he had to combat to keep his attention solid. The other reasons, such as a driving need to converse with people he had almost gotten killed recently, though of equal importance were far more subtle in their machinations, and thus were only counted for their weight in Rainier Adelwulf’s mind. In any matter, he had to now deal with the fact that he had walked into a much bigger hornet’s nest with his return to the HII than just a simple matter of technology theft.

He wished he could make use of his pipe.

At least I have my gun back.

Rain reluctantly settled for a breath of fresh oxygen in his lungs for the moment. Finally, the mercenary doctor opened his mouth to speak, addressing Sister Catherine. “I do knot know of this…Tong fellow, but I know you sister and I know you would not make such accusations without foundation. So, I ask of you now, what do you need from us to either prove…or disprove this theory that Mr. Tong is engaged in the act of slavery?” The last word fled from his mouth with a particular amount of venom.

Lab/Medical Bay

Kiri smiled over to Reese with a wink as she took the tray with the sample tube away. She was glad that her earlier thoughts weren’t true; those about Reese somehow being involved with the virus. Looking at him now, holding the cotton ball where the needle had been, she couldn’t even imagine that she had those thoughts in the first place. It wasn’t all that fair to him.

Originally, she had stayed behind in the medical clinic of the Bella Starr, making sure that all the patients there had stayed hydrated. Very few of the patients seemed to actually be getting better, while some of those who had come in later seemed to hit the very bottom of the sickness. But Kiri knew that it was all going to be over soon when she was asked to help out in the Hippocrates. It only seemed right that the first time she stepped foot on the ship that was to be her new home that it’d be for actual work. To her, the Hippocrates was the most beautiful ship she had ever seen. It had everything any medical team would need.

"Doctors? Kiri? Dr. Bardier is awake, and I think she could use some reassurance. I'm a little better at causing chaos than the other way 'round? Maybe one of you could talk to her?"

Hearing her name, Kiri looked towards the direction of the source only to find it had already disappeared. She had just set the tray down and was about to follow out when Dr. Salazar motioned for her to stay and help. With a hearty nod, Kiri turned back to her work at hand. She was glad that the work was nearly done. She didn’t want to see anyone else getting sick, especially the children. Kiri was immersed in her work until a sound from outside caught her ears. It sounded like someone had shouted out in the hallway.

She cast a questionable look to Drake. “Did you hear that?” Without giving him enough time to answer, she headed out the door of the lab and into the hallway.

"That's the woman from the Dining Room!"

Reese’s voice cut through the otherwise quite hallway to Kiri’s ears. She hadn’t even noticed he had left, having been busy. So surprised was she at seeing him there shouting and pointing to someone in the infirmary, that the words he said hadn’t fully registered. “Reese!” , she called to him with worry in her voice before she even reached him, “What’s wrong?!”

This post has been edited by Kiri Fukuda on Jul 11 2010, 02:32 PM

"Right. Actually, there is something you can do for me. You can get me out of this gorram bed."

"Loan me a shoulder. I need coffee. Failing that, I need to work. If I stay in this bed one minute longer my buttcheeks are going to fuse to the mattress."

Quite often, Teo would go far to grant a patients wishes, but this was not one of them. Bardier had barely been out of surgery for a day and certainly shouldn't be mobile yet. “Doctor Bardier,” he said, his voice firm as he put a hand on her shoulder to keep her down, realising that his usual bedside manners weren't going to cut it with this woman. “You're not going anywhere. If you wish, I can get you a CorPad and perhaps something for the pain, but if you try and move from this bed...” He paused, giving a glance toward her belly, then back at her face, a slow smile appearing on his lips. “I will give you a sedative to keep your buttcheeks fused to that mattress. Understood?”

"THAT'S HER!"

"That's the woman from the Dining Room!"

Looking up, Teo's hand stayed on Bardier's shoulder, preventing her from getting up and out of bed while his attention was pulled away by the shouting outside. Seeing the pointing boy, he looked toward the other patient in the med bay, then turned back to look at the boy, seeing the nurse Kiri with him, a worried expression on her face. He studied the pointing boy a few more moments, then returned his gaze to the blonde. He wasn't even sure who she was, or where she had come from; he'd been in the lab with Drake for a long time and she must have come aboard during that time. Still, something clicked, not that it mattered in a practical way now, but it might bring them a little closer to the origin of the disease that had spread throughout the Bella Starr.

He lifted his hand from Bardier's shoulder, giving her a CorPad from a nearby counter. “Do not move. I was quite serious about giving you a sedative. Your wound hasn't healed enough to be walking around yet. You know that as well as I do, Doctor Bardier,” he said and turned away, sending a smile toward the young man named Reese as if telling him quietly that he had done a good thing. At the intercom, he pressed the button for the lab, his eyes trailing toward the blonde, the smile still lingering on his lips. “Drake. I think we've found Patient Zero. And she's right here in our med bay. Care to join us here?”

UPSTAIRS

“I do knot know of this…Tong fellow, but I know you sister and I know you would not make such accusations without foundation. So, I ask of you now, what do you need from us to either prove…or disprove this theory that Mr. Tong is engaged in the act of slavery?”

"We'll have to tread carefully." Dillin added to her superior's words. And so would she, if she wanted to keep this job. "I have an idea, " And she indicated Adelwulf and herself with a wave of her fine-fingered hand, "We can distract Black, Sister, but I doubt we'll be able to keep you talking to the patient a secret."

Flipping up the light-board at the end of the room, Dillin's finger traced a few quick figures and a swift map of the lower deck. "Take the girl into the med-lab for blood tests, that'll clear the way for us to get Mister Rent-a-Cop outta the way. We simply say we need to check Black's credentials, and we'll move him down the corridor, to the bunk by hydroponics for privacy. If he doesn't want to move," And the bright eyed young woman glanced to Rain with steel behind his gaze, "Well. We'll move him."