"Carst on guard. Sort of."

[Philip Carst 0]

Philip Carst stood in sickbay, confused. He had just returned from a much needed rest in Drankum's bar. Most of the morning had been crazy since the attack on Captain Ayers, which was bad enough, but then everything went straight to hell. The fatigue was starting to get to him, and he had trouble trying to not walk around in a stupor. He was guarding the Rixian, the one who attacked the captain, when Ronin Shephard walked into sickbay. Carst hadn't known it at the time, but he was there to escort the station's XO to her quarters. It was then that Carst received orders to escort a half a dozen grumpy Gorn to sickbay, apologizing the whole time. That was odd.

 

But he went and did what he was told, however odd those orders were. This was Starfleet. One does not question orders, but obey. And obey he did. He escorted the Gorn to sickbay, then back to their ship. He returned to sickbay to see that Shephard was arguing with the XO, apparently to be taken to her quarters. That was odd too. And disturbing. With the captain incapacitated and the commander gone, one of the few left to run the station was the Admiral. An Admiral that so far, Carst had seen him do nothing except run around asking questions, and smiling at diplomats.

 

Shephard came back to sickbay to relieve him, but quickly left with orders from Commander Quark. Carst couldn't help but notice shouting coming from the background on Ronin's commbadge. Again, very odd. His musings were interrupted suddenly by a voice coming from behind him. It was the Rixian. He quickly informed Commander Quark. Actually, he informed her twice, having not had an answer the first time. He received his orders, which were "Get up here, now".

 

Carst blinked the fatigue from his eyes, not knowing where exactly "here" was. "Computer," he said. "Locate Commander Quark." The computer informed him she was outside Commander Hawke's quarters. He frowned, and thought about mentioning that if he left, no one would be guarding the Rixian except the doctors. But after informing the doctors not to get too close to the Rixian, Carst left sickbay and headed for the turbo lift. After all, he was not to question orders, but obey.

 

However odd those orders were.