"The Left Side of the Wrong Mind"

[Kansas_Jones 0]

03.24.07

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

Navigating the Perseus Arm

“The Left Side of the Wrong Mind”

 

Written by: Colonel Harper and Lt. Commander JoNs

 

JoNs was moving somewhat cautiously through the now empty security offices, due to the fact that she had to keep reminding her anesthetized recovering brain and limbs that forward was that way. She had cleaned up and changed into a fresh uniform, but had left her mane slightly mussed and the upper part of her uniform jacket unsnapped. She wanted to gauge the reaction of their newest "guest" in brig custody. After a quick stop in her office to grab a padd with all of the downloaded data for these past couple of hours to use in case of reference, the Caitian then walked back into the brig area.

 

Harper was pacing restlessly in the cell, shooting glares through the force field in the direction of receiving. When Kansas appeared in the doorway, she suddenly became the full recipient of that hostile regard. "Ah, finally someone with sense. Tell your Ensign out there to drop the field. Better yet, do it yourself."

 

The security chief calmly stood in front of the cell, taking in the marine commander’s body language with just one look. Not good, not good at all. "No, Colonel. I have my orders, and even if I didn't, you are staying right where you are." She kept her voice level and calm.

 

"Orders? From Day, I suppose!" Harper made a gesture that was rude on three planets. "This is mutiny, Commander."

 

Kansas made mental note of the fact that Colonel Harper didn't make one comment on the unkempt state of her mane or the open top flap on her uniform tunic; normally, Harper would have been all over her for something like that. Plus the fact, the gesture was a really big tip off. "Yes it is mutiny sir - actually, you really didn’t give us much choice." She held her reference padd up. "According to the security cameras and eyewitness reports, you were quite busy - an elbow to Mister Troll's nose, attempting to bolt from the ship, ordering our shields down in the face of an unknown ship...Shadow's intervention shocks saved you from yourself you might say."

 

The colonel scowled. "Shadow - that being must be behind half of this!" She whirled from the force field to pace again. "Gotten to the crew's minds... Troll would never have tried to take me captive in his right mind. And you..." She looked up at Kansas. "I'm very surprised at you, Commander. I thought you would see how necessary my actions have been. My own crew trying to hold me prisoner!"

 

"Well, no offense ma'am, I really don't want to get elbowed in the snoot by one of your actions."

 

"He was trying to capture me!" Harper raged, stepping forward and reaching out as if to grab Kansas. "He and that -- that creature both; trying to take me prisoner! And here you are, helping them!

 

Come on, come on - there has to be 'our' Harper in there somewhere. I need to reach the rational one, not this crazy one. JoNs walked over to the brig receiving desk and plunked the padd down on it’s surface, mentally drawing up the next round of questions. "Colonel, what is it exactly that you were hoping to accomplish? Where were you going to beam to?"

 

She slammed a hand against the field frame. "Away!" she shouted. "Away from you mutineers!" Her voice dropped to a mutter as she began pacing again. "Fvadt, I need to get out of here..."

 

"Sir, that's not a very specific answer. Were you contacted by somebeing regarding jumping ship? Or did you just feel the sudden urge to bolt from your command?"

 

Harper blinked at her. "Contacted? No -- I need to get out. Let me out of here, Commander."

 

The felinoid had a trump card to play; it would determine her next decision. "If I let you out sir, what sort of compensation can I expect?" Well, that is downright mercenary - I missed my calling.

An unholy light shimmered in Harper's eyes. "You can help me take my revenge on these vile mutineers, Commander. And when Day is... disposed of..." She smiled, baring teeth. "You can be first officer."

 

The lieutenant commander’s ears flew back in a combination gesture of annoyance and sadness; she was dealing with a very dark portion of Harper's personality, somehow brought to the surface and allowed free reign. JoNs moved closer to the force field separating the two women, her gaze a bit stricken but showing determination. "The Colonel Harper I know would skin me alive and decorate the bridge with the new golden furred upholstery if I ever attempted, agreed to, or tried anything of that nature." She pointed a claw at the senior officer. "That's why you need stay here, until you give some kind of plausible answers that we can work with to help you and the others. Your aggression factor is off the radar."

 

Harper eyed the commander's pelt with a speculative eye. "That's not a bad idea... Here, Kitty, let's settle this properly. You're a barnacle, granted, but even barnacles understand a warrior's calling -- somewhat." She leaned in towards the force field, looming as close to Kansas as she could without triggering it. "Take this field down and we'll have this out."

 

A warrior calling? Interesting. "And then what? You bolt on me? No Colonel. In your current state I firmly believe that you have no concept of a warrior honor, let alone the gentlewomanly art of fisticuffs. At one time you did, but not now, due to...whatever has gotten hold of you. No way in Hades I am letting this field down."

 

"You scum!" Harper screamed, slamming a fist against the field. "I'll have your pips -- I'll have your hide for this, Kitten!"

 

JoNs flinched away from the static discharge of sound emanating from the contact with the field. Her mind whirled with tactical options as well as the insults directed at her. Sarcasm exploded unbidden from the Caitian. "Oh well, when you put it that way sir, by all means let me lower the force field." JoNs paced a few steps away, paws on hips as she gazed at the padd she had set down on the receiving desk. I need some more options to go on...think think think...

 

Harper slammed the force field again and then spun away, kicking the bunk hard enough that it rang. "I'll kill Day for this!" she ranted. "And send that ghost screaming back into hell!"

 

JoNs whirled on Harper. "You're fixating on Lieutenant Colonel Day and Shadow ma'am. Why? If anything, they both aided in cleaning up the carnage you had instigated or tried to start. I have the proof of it here." A nimble paw scooped the padd from the desk and held it in the air for Harper to see. "The evidence is here. We know, and everything was recorded. Again, I ask why?"

 

"I instigated nothing!" She whirled on Kansas, eyes flashing. "I was merely walking down the corridor until that thing decided to cage me!"

 

Thing, ghost, kitten...the security chief was finally seeing a word pattern that kept repeating. Namely, the slurs directed at Mister Troll, herself, and Shadow and the vocalized desires to kill Day. Normally, Harper would never be that verbally hurtful or raging. Kansas's suspicions were slowly forming into solid mental facts and future planning.

 

"Colonel…what is your opinion on Lieutenant Major Rieve? Oh, she shot me by the way." Wait for it, wait for it.

 

A small smile curled Harper's lips. "And you let her? Weak, Commander, very weak."

 

Bingo. In contrast, a sad smile touched on the Cait's lips. "Actually Colonel, in a way I am glad she stunned me. That way I didn't have to hurt her in the process of taking her down."

 

That seemed to catch Harper's interest. "You think you could have taken her?"

 

The lieutenant commander considered her answer for a few seconds before deciding that there was no way to put a non cocky spin on the response. An ear flipped back. "Yes ma'am. Caitian’s may be lacking in brawn, but a Marine will never hold a dilithium crystal to a Caitian with prime reflexes. Fact of nature ma'am." She did manage to put a matter of fact spin on the words.

 

"Well, well," she chuckled. "Perhaps you're not as weak as you seem." Her memory whispered that the Caitian had a temper. How far can she be pushed, I wonder? "But I doubt that a raw, green officer like you is any match for Marine training, reflexes notwithstanding."

 

Harper's playing her own tactics. Stay sharp M'rrett. "I'm green?" Kansas's normal mischievous smile lightened her features, despite the heaviness of the situation. "Well, I don’t know about that Colonel...I'm not the one in the brig right now. This time at least. Oops. I guess we all learn as we get older hmm?"

 

"I can school you any day of the week, Kitten," Harper replied.

 

She's not giving the information, even if she does have any answers, or realizes that she does. Dammit. JoNs glanced to the security offices, and said a silent thanks that she had cleared them for the 'interrogation'. "Computer, stop camera recordings. JoNs Batleth Zero Gray Sixteen. Mark."

 

A broad grin woke on the colonel's features. "Oh, yes," she purred. "Well done." She stepped up to the force field, halfway to a fighter's crouch already, and beckoned. "Let's do this."

 

If this strange aggression factor virus thing allows any honor left in them at all...will that be the deciding negotiation factor? Will that be the key to having Harper and the others back on our side at some point in the future? Will I reach her normal honor or some other kind of honor? Is our Harper in there at all? Are our other crewmates merely buried, or completely gone?

 

Gods help me, because either way, this is going to hurt. Kansas dropped into a fighting stance. "Computer, lower force field."

 

As the field lowered, it sent out a signal to two specially encoded commbadges.

 

With a gleeful battle-cry, Harper drove straight out of the cell and at JoNs, slamming full-tilt into her. "Big mistake, Kitten," she whispered while they were wrapped together, before kicking the security chief away.

 

Using her powerful hind legs, JoNs vaulted forward to smash into the back of Harper’s legs. It’s the gas lag! It’s the gas! I have lost my mind! Both officers tumbled into the outer security area, and JoNs snarled. "Harper! Shake it off! Shake it off!" As they both found their footing again, she attempted to connect with a roundhouse kick.

 

The marine dodged the kick and came around to drive a fist into the Caitian's stomach. Her face was locked into a feral, grinning rictus, and her eyes danced with battle lust. "Oh, no, Commander," she said cheerfully. "Playtime is just getting started."

 

Stars exploded in the Caits vision as she doubled over from the jab and fell to one knee. Reflexively she reverted to a time honored cat type tradition. She spun, raking claws across Harpers nearby calf. This was a mistake...the colonel is not here...

 

The colonel was, in fact, very much there, at least in body. As debatable as the mind might be, it did nothing to prevent the body from lashing out at JoNs, all the more forceful for the pain of a bleeding calf. Aching muscles still twitching from Shadow's energy assault protested vigorously as Harper twisted, trying to get purchase on the commander's limbs and introduce her to a bulkhead.

 

As with the marine commander, the security officer’s still healing chest muscles also protested against the induced stress. I do not want to meet Mr. Bulkhead...there will be no introductions!

 

JoNs suddenly went limp and dropped down, hooking her paws beneath the back of Harpers left knee and wrenching upward, going for an off balance attack. The Caitians tactical mind kept a running commentary somewhere in the back of her mind. The Colonels fighting is more aggression then control...sloppy, yet it's like fighting an anitgrav bulldozer...

 

Harper met the floor with a thump, but managed to turn in the air, taking the fall correctly. Not bothering to get up, she kicked out, scissoring her legs around the Caitian's torso and heaving up and over her head, rolling as she went.

 

Sloppy, but still highly effective. The Caitian's right shoulder slammed into the decking. She chose to stay down. Well, actually, to be honest she didn’t have much of a choice with her motor coordination not wanting to obey right that second.

JoNs crabbed walked backward away from Harper, trying to go for some distance.

 

Coming up in a crouch, the colonel laughed. "So much for those vaunted reflexes," she mocked, and lunged again.

 

Kansas grappled with Harper from a half sitting position before finally pushing her away to gain the precious distance she needed; the security officer dove behind a nearby desk.

 

"Oh, come now!" Harper called, getting back to her feet. "You disappoint me, JoNs. A coward like the rest of your kind? Yellow-bellied to match the yellow uniforms?"

 

Panting, JoNs stood behind the desk with her paws planted on the surface, staring at the woman who was Harper, but yet not Harper. It was like looking through a darkened mirror. "Colonel, I am merely employing one of the lessons that you taught me yourself - self preservation."

 

A low level stun beam lanced out from the entrance to the office area.

 

Low level it might have been, but to a system already stressed by Shadow's energy discharge, it was sufficient. Harper collapsed to the deckplates, barely conscious and certainly not in control of gross motor function. "You... traitor..." she managed to gasp, before her eyes rolled back and consciousness packed its bags and checked out.

 

Blood dripped from the Caitians mouth onto the surface of the desk. Beaten, she turned to Master Chief Petty Officer Keltex and Petty Officer Corla. Both of the officers held phasers. "That was not one of my brighter plans. The Colonel's not there....I couldn't reach her.” Her tone held a deep, ragged sadness.

 

JoNs spoke to the Bajoran officer, “Corla, get her back into the cell, then call medical and have them send a med tech, ” and then turned her attention to Keltex. “Master Chief, start the cameras again...oh frag....the office is going sideways. That's never a good..."

 

Moving with a speed that belied his age and bulk, Keltex caught the Caitian before she fell to the decking.

Edited March 24, 2007 by Kansas_Jones