Victim of Her Own Conspiracy

[Capt Rian Kwai 0]

Victim of Her Own Conspiracy

Rian Kwai’s Side of the Story…

 

“How did you get her into sickbay so easily?”Captain Kwai glanced at Commander Wydown in amazement while the two of them followed the medical technician and the Admiral’s medical chair into sickbay. The medtech ushered the Admiral on to one of the private exam rooms, several of the doctors and nurses buzzing around her more in deference to her rank than her actual injury. Both officers paused at the door, watching BluRox disappear from view. “Did you drug her? Blackmail? Hypnosis? Wacked her on the head?”

 

“Nah. I just told her that I needed her to go to sickbay as bait to get you checked out.” Rue Wydown grinned, rocking back on her heals.

 

Huh? She did what??? Rian turned to look at Rue head on, “Why in the Alpha Quadrant would you tell her that?”

 

“Because you look like crap, luv.” She gently pinched Kwai’s elbow and escorted her to the first vacant biobed while simultaneously waving over one of the nursing staff. The comment offended Rian but the woman was not giving her much time to react as she dominated the airspace with speech. “C’mon, won’t take a tick. Sit here and let ‘em have a look at you, mate.” Wydown whispered something to the nurse, who nodded and disappeared. Meanwhile, while Wydown was distracted, Kwai made her attempt to slip past the woman and out the door. The faster the escape, the better, before the woman hijacked her whole day. Unfortunately it was by maintaining a firm grip on Rian’s elbow that Wydown managed to keep the Captain in place until one of the station doctors appeared. “Luv, ye gotta set a good example for ‘er. If you walk, she will. And ye know what shape she’s in. So just suck it up and be a good lass.”

 

“Joined gods.” Rian signed, exasperated. What have I gotten myself into?

 

“Whot’s a matter. Afraid of a little jiggery pokery?”

 

“You can say that.”

 

Rue stood back out of the way to allow the station doctor to start his work. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed and legs crossed at the ankles. “Oh, it’s nothin’ luv. Not like they’re gonna mutate your DNA with a simple scan.”

 

“Oh, you’d be surprised what these quacks can do these days.” Rian sighed, watching the doctor wave his scanning wand. Rian’s distrust of doctors stemmed back to her experiences with J’Rom, the mad scientist who thought he could create a master race of mutated humanoid beings. Not only had she had to endure that crazy nut, but the following examinations by the Republic’s doctors as they tried to unmutate her body were no space walk either. Rian scowled at the doctor scanning her, who then rolled his eyes to Wydown, muttering something Rian couldn’t hear under his breath.

 

“Ye callin’ those in the medical profession quacks?”Rue asked the doctor’s apparent unasked question.

 

As annoyed as she was with the situation, and with Commander Wydown, Kwai seemed to think better than to offend the doctor currently waiving medical equipment in her face. She spoke softly, nodding her head towards a group huddled around the replicator. “Not all. Just those mad scientist type over there.”

 

Rue glanced in the direction of the huddled medical staff. Honestly, to Rian, none of them looked particularly threatening. In fact they looked rather dull. But she was looking for something to distract the nosy Excalibur first officer, “Oh, I see what ye mean. That one over there looks like a nutter.” Rue smiled, seeming to poke fun at Kwai.

 

Rian’s patience with Wydown was wearing thin. The human woman was odd and not like any of the humans Rian had encountered before. Not only did Rian have to struggle with Wydown’s odd jumbled dialect with slang references that Rian understood to be from several regions of Terra squashed together in a weird cadence, but she also had to contend with Rue’s obvious enthusiasm for Kwai’s discomfort. The Trill opened her mouth to snap at the woman, but Kwai’s retort was cut off by a loud commotion in the lobby of sickbay. The doctor currently scanning the Trill stopped abruptly, and with a hasty apology, and left both the human and the trill executive officers wondering what was going on. They watched as the whole story revealed itself moments later as a badly burned station crewmember being hustled through sickbay with several doctors (including Kwai’s) and nurses hovering around him.

 

“Joined gods, now I’ll never get out of here.” Rian muttered exasperated.

 

Rue had watch the Trill for a moment before stepping forward “Ye mind if I…?” She picked up a tricorder from a neighboring station, alarming Rian. “It’ll get ye out of here faster. You know, I used to be in medical. Well, before that nutter in the Captain’s chair decided I’d be a good first officer. Not sure whot he was thinking.” She grinned, again a large toothy grin Kwai was struggling to get used to, as she watched the readings on the tricorder. After a moment she looked up again. “What happened to ye, luv? I know you were attacked, I read the report that the Admiral gave us. But I’d like to hear it for you.”

 

“You want to know about the Oest?” Rian paused, watching Rue nod seriously. “I’ll tell you about the Oest.” She spoke softly, recalling the highlights of her incarceration with the alien race. Everything from the pain sensor bracelet to the experiments on creating a melded breed, it was there in detail. She only hesitated when it came to explaining her role in the breeding program verses Dr Weber’s. This is when she felt the roiling in her stomach over something other than food. Rian felt overwhelmingly guilty that Weber had been subjected to such a horrible experiment and somehow Rian had been spared a portion of it. Joined gods, she wished that she could have done something to stop it.

 

“Let me get this straight. They essentially poisoned you to save you?”

 

“Aye. So I was told. So to speak, since it was done with telepathy.”

 

“Have ye told your Admiral this part yet?”

 

Oh Errrika. She’s going to kill me. Or put me in a bubble and not let me out of her sight again. Rian was trying to figure out a way to describe how overly protective the Admiral was of her crew. She’d be lucky if she was allowed to lead another away mission five years down the line just with the facts presented so far. Rian could only imagine what would happen once she told BluRox the rest of the saga. Instead, all Kwai could come up with the subject changing: “She’s got enough on her plate. Besides, Weber’s in worse shape than I. Although if you can find someone to pull the probe out, you can keep it for your records. Maybe your people would like to study it in case they’re up against the Oest if you all return to the Gamma Quadrant.” Rian indicated its location with her splayed fingers in the area where her shoulder met her neck. “We’ve got Weber’s. And I believe we still have to remove Bardolph’s soon.” She paused. “That reminders me, I should have him looked at too.”

 

“Do you ever slow down?”Wydown asked as she moved back over to the neighboring station, rooting around for the instrument she needed. Once found, she returned to Kwai’s side and activated the device.

 

“Do you?”

 

“Oh I know me limits.” She grinned again, that odd toothy grin, and started to dig out the offending probe. Rian knew Rue felt the Captain wince under her digging, but she kept on going. And talking to distract the young woman. “I think ye better tell the Admiral. She’s worried about ye. And ye need to start putting some weight back on. Someone could knock you over just by breathin’ on ye.”

 

“I’m not…..” Rian stopped, struggling to explain how she felt. She took another slow inhale of breath before she continued, “I’m finding it difficult to keep much down these days.” She frowned. “About the only thing that appeals to my stomach have been the MRE’s.”

 

“Have ye tried the onion rings in Quarks? They can do miracles.” Wydown grinned, pulling out the small sensor device and dropped it into tray, the sound making Rian wince. She pressed a small cloth against the wound while she fidgeted with a regenerator to seal and heal the wound.

 

“That just doesn’t even sound good to me.” Rian struggled to keep the bile from rising to her mouth.

 

Rue completed her work with the regenerator, then tipped Rian’s chin up to look the Excalibur’s first officer in the eye. “Look, in a few minutes, the station doc is going to come back out here and scan ye again for the official record. He’s going to give you some meds to try to correct the damage to ye stomach lining. He’ll suggest rest and relaxation. And he’ll send you on your way.” She paused. “Ye need more than that. Ye need to detoxify your blood and organs. From what I read on the scan, you’ll be carrying around this crap for months, maybe even a year or more. Even two weeks of that med isn’t going to help. And you’ll get real bored of MRE’s after six months.”

 

“And how do you suggest I do that?” Rian was annoyed with the lecture.

 

“A tea.” She nodded. “I’ll show you were to get the ingredients here. And write you the recipe. It’s not half bad. Actually it’s quiet brilliant.”

 

The woman sounded sincere, but she also seemed a bit off kilter. Could she trust her? “A tea, seriously? You think a tea is going to help me?” Rian tried to hide the doubt from her voice. She really questioned this woman’s sanity.

 

“Aye. “ Rue put her hands on Rian’s shoulder. “Look, luv. I know don’t know me from Eve, but I’ve got a lot of experience here. Where I come from, well, let’s just say ye have to have a strong constitution to survive there. You do what I say, and in a few weeks you’ll be off the meds and putting on the weight again. Even enjoying a pint or two.”

 

“I don’t know.” She studied the woman carefully. She wasn’t seriously suggesting this, was she?

 

“Just try it. Two weeks. And if you’re a smart girl, like I think ye are, you’ll do the research. You’ll see I mean ye no harm, luv.” She picked up the tray, seeing the station doctor disengaging from the group crowded around the burn victim. “I’m going to take this back to me ship. I’ll meet ye in a few minutes outside, by Quarks and we’ll take it from there, aye?”

 

“Fine.” Rian nodded slight. I’ll look into it. If nothing else but to make her go away.

 

“Fantastic.” Rue grinned again in a way that Rian thought Wydown thought was calming, but did the complete opposite to Rian’s nerves.

Joined gods, what have I done?

 

(And for the other side of the same story, check out Commander Rue Wydown’s log on the USS Excalibur’s message board).