Release ((Kent))

[Samantha_Kent 0]

((Guest-starring Swan as Baker; set an hour after "Revelations."))

 

Katherine Swan had instructed Nurse Baker to keep an eye on Samantha Kent and release her when her vitals were back to normal. Nurse Baker had made several checks but it was time once again. She walked up to Ms. Kent, trying to be quiet so as not to wake her, and began a scan with the tricorder.

 

Sam was not really asleep; she was dozing at best, waiting with her eyes half-closed for the hour that Kat Swan had told her to remain bed-bound. Aside from the rapidly dissipating weighty feeling in her muscles she felt fine and was impatient to be allowed to leave and get back to work, but she knew better than to try to put up a fight -- she had seen the tricorder readings. At the footsteps of the approaching nurse, she opened one eye and looked up. "Hello again," she said pleasantly.

 

"Hello, Ms. Kent. I apologize if I woke you up. I really need to get some softer shoes." She smiled as she moved the tricorder over Sam and looked at the readings. "Well, Ms. Kent, looks like you are almost back to normal. Just a bit high of a pulse rate but that could be attributed to your anxiousness to leave. How are you feeling now?"

 

"No, it's alright, I wasn't asleep," Sam said, pushing herself halfway to a sitting position on one elbow as she watched the nurse move the tricorder over her. "I feel pretty much fine...it was just a little muscle weakness that brought me here."

 

Nurse Baker looked at Sam and chuckled a bit. "My dear it was more than a little muscle weakness or Ms. Swan would not have suggested you remain here after giving you the injection. I am supposed to remind you of gravity protocols. When you are in low- or zero-gravity, you are to slowly raise the levels, and not just quickly adjust it to normal gravity level. It will keep you from having to come back for this again." The nurse set the tricorder aside and took Sam by the arm to help her sit up the rest of the way. "Ms. Swan also asked that you come back in a few days for a checkover from one of the docs just to be sure that everything is fine."

 

Sam laughed. "I don't intend to spend too much time being transported directly out of zero-g situations. This was a special case, I hope." She moved slowly to a full sitting position and looked around. "Alright, I'll be sure I stop back then."

 

"How do you feel sitting up? Any dizziness or nausea?" The nurse says looking at her eyes carefully for any signs of shifting uncontrollably.

 

"Not that I'm noticing," Sam said, shaking her head, then quirked a smile. "Should I be?"

 

"No, not necessarily. It's good that you're not. You can now hop down off the bed, and I would like for you to walk over to the other side of the room and back for me." She indicated a straight line with her hand motion. "Let me know how you feel as opposed to how you felt when you first came in."

 

Sam hopped off the bed with her usual easy energy, hitting the floor with only the slightest bit of unsteadiness, and walked quickly to the other side of the room, and back, noting that her legs seemed to have lost the wobbly feeling they had when she had come in. "Much better, definitely," she said, turning around and moving back towards the nurse.

 

"So no unsteadiness? No more heavy feeling?" Nurse Baker asked, watching her motions carefully.

 

"Nope," Sam replied, coming to a halt in front of the other woman and lacing her hands behind her back with a faintly expectant look.

 

"Very good, Ms. Kent. Then you may go. I'll make the notation in your chart for the doctors when you return." The nurse turned to go to her console, picking up the tricorder to record the readings and the results of the walking test.

 

"Thank you, nurse," Sam said, nodding at Baker and turning towards the door, then pausing. Glancing back over her shoulder she shot the nurse a curious glance. "How...how well do you know Katherine Swan?" she asked her carefully. She wasn't going to go gossiping but she was curious if she could get a confirmation of Kat's story from somewhere perhaps more objective.

 

The nurse looked up from her inputting of info and turned to face Sam. "I've know her for about a year, so I guess as much as one could in that short a time. Why do you ask?"

 

"I was just curious," Sam said, shrugging and rubbing the back of her neck gently. "She was...just telling me about when she came aboard..." She let her voice trail off and watched the nurse for a reaction.

 

The nurse showed no difference in the look on her face. "She definitely made a name for herself. I was one of the nurses on duty when she brought in..." The nurse hesitated for a moment as if thinking, then continued. "That engineer was in pretty bad shape. She said that she tried to escape. We found out otherwise. Did she tell you she almost got this ship captured?" The nurse stopped right there, noticing that her own feelings about the entire ordeal were beginning to show through. She then changed her tone. "Did she also tell you that she helped this department when we were understaffed and had an emergency. If she hadn't helped we might have lost some of our crewmen."

 

Sam raised an eyebrow at the emotion she could see in the nurse's eyes regarding Kat, but could see the other woman restrain it in favor of a balanced view, for which Sam gave her some credit. "No...she didn't tell me that. She didn't really tell me a lot, just that she had tried to betray the Arc. That she wasn't from around here..." She shook her head slightly. "I guess I was just curious if she was telling me the truth, though I can't think why she would make something like that up."

 

"She told you the truth. She came aboard, and we haven't yet figured it out, as a Marine. I have to admit her training from wherever she is from was good -- she fit right in as a Marine. And, yes, she betrayed the Arcadia. At first, none of us wanted her around us. But when we saw her compassion for the injured when we had the emergency, we saw she did have a good side. It took a lot for our CMO to convince us to allow her to train with us as medics. When she found out how rewarding it was, she then decided that she wanted to take it further and become a doctor. She has taken her last final but the results are not in yet."

 

Sam nodded slowly. "She seems very competent," she said. "If she hadn't told me I would never have guessed it." She paused, then shook her head. "Surprised the hell out of me, frankly." The truth was she still didn't know what to think about this revelation about Kat; it contradicted all her experience with the woman and yet was important enough that she had to take it seriously. She shook her head again and shrugged, glancing at Baker. "Anyway...I'll let you get on with our work, I suppose. Thank you." (go)

 

"You're welcome, Ms. Kent. I'm sure if you ask Ms. Swan to tell you more about it, she will. We have found her to be 100% honest about what she does and what she tells folks about the experience. She considers this her home since her family disowned her. It's still up in the air if the Federation will take any action against her for what she has done. But in the meantime she has dedicated herself to helping and healing the crew of the Arc. At least those that will allow her to. Some still do not wish to be in the same room with her and would rather see her burned at the stake. If I can help you in any way let me know and as I said feel free to ask Katherine. She will tell you the truth."

 

"Yeah, I'm sure she will." Sam ran a hand over her face and down the back of her neck and then turned back towards the door, having been given quite a bit to chew over during her short stay.