Miss Murder

Posted on 01 Mar 2018 @ 6:58am by Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart & Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl & Lieutenant Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide & Lieutenant Mikail Kolmak & Petty Officer 1st Class Lia McCarthy

2,124 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: USS Redemption - MedBay 001
Timeline: Present

Lia slowly rolled over to her side so that she could get some feeling back into her body. It appeared that she was for the moment, alone in the medical ward. The tablet by her bed reported the time as almost midnight, and she managed to work it into her hands so that she could figure out whats going on.

"Holo, report me as awake to med and command staff." she mumbled to the computer, and was met with a beep of acknowledgement. Now it was just time to sit and wait to see what kind of half cocked adventure that old Admiral West has cooked up for her.

Azura was alerted to the Petty Officer waking up who had come in on the transport. He decided it would be beneficial to check on her himself and confer with the doctor as to the reason for her passing out. He moved through the corridors of his ship as only one completely at ease and not needing attention to get where he was going. As he entered sickbay he looked for the woman on the bed and made his way to her.

"Petty Officer, how are you doing?"

Lia glanced over at the man that had entered and it registered in her mind that the components that he was wearing made him a Commander. Her mind raced for a name and eventually found it hidden away. "Commander Ashcart, Petty Officer Lia McCarthy reporting sir. Please forgive the informality, but I'm not able to render salute at the moment. As to how i feel, I feel like i just did a marathon sprint on the Kessel run." Lia slumped back against the headrest, unable to hold herself upright any longer.

Azura reached up and touched the four pips on his collar to make sure they were there and not missing one. "Given what's happened to you I'll forgive the informality. Feeling like you need more time to rest before you take up your posting?"

Maggie was alerted that Lia was awake and made her way to sickbay. She was hoping that she would finally get some answers.

She came up beside the Captain and nodded to Lia but remained silet while she waited for the response to the captain's question.

In the absence of Lieutenant Commander Severide whom once again disappeared at random, Lieutenant Nicolette Sheridan received the alert that Lia McCarthy had awoken. She arrived in sickbay shortly after Doyl.

Doctor Kolmak received the alert and headed to MedBay 001. He picked up a pad on his way out of his office and pulled up Lia McCarthy's file to refresh his memories of the treatment and medical issues. When dealing with multiple patients, Mikail has to review the files before approaching a patient as it helps keep the errors at bay. He is very fastidious in his treatments, avoiding mistakes as much as possible.

"I'm extremely weak, but i can type so if you'll have me, I'd like to take my post assuming i'm cleared to. Though I'm not exactly certain as to my assignment, the orders from Admiral West weren't terribly clear on that point." Lia worked herself into a relaxed sitting position and managed to fumble the tablet into her lap and logged into the ship computer, then awaited clearance and orders.

Azura took a PADD from the table and pressed his thumb to it unlocking the Commanding Officer's menu and pulling up the orders for the Petty Officer. "It looks like your the Encryption Specialist under the Intelligence Department." he raised an eyebrow as he read further "And the counter electronic warfare specialist as well, so your a hacker?"

Lia nodded as response. "Apparently you know about as much as I do, sir." Lia noted his reactions when he found her MOS listing on the roster, it seemed obvious that he was relatively in the dark about not only her assignment but also Lia herself. Perhaps she could use this at some point but it will have to wait for later.

"I'd like to hear about the attack on your ship," Maggie asked.

Turning to Doyle, Lia shrugs her shoulders. "Not much to tell, I was hopping transport ships because it was faster to get to the Redemption but that also meant using a couple civilian public ships. I noticed the strange ship on the NDS Adara and then i saw it again aboard the USS Whitewalker. They never fired or answered any hails, but they kept getting to almost direct docking range and then backing off. Denning thought they might try to ram us or crash into us and hence the distress call."

"Why the rush?" Maggie asked. "And did you report the ship when you saw it the second time?" She watched Lia carefully to figure out who she was and why she was here.

Mikail wasn't expecting his patient to have visitors when he entered the private area that was sealed off from other patients. He coughed to get attention after seeing the tablet in her lap and half her body was in an upright position. "She is in no condition to do any work." He gave the enlisted officer a serious look after he quickly checked her vitals.

Lia shot him an extremely sharp look at Mikail's statement, especially knowing that she could handle typing away at a station.

"Commander Severide instructed me that she will require a full psych exam before being cleared for duty." Sheridan commented as she too was now intrigued by the new arrival.

"Commander Severide can stow the psych exam. I am physically weak, not fuzzy minded." She layered her words with a glaringly sharp look after feeling insulted by the psych examination being brought up.

Regardless of whatever West intended, Lia knew she was off script at this point and she had no idea who to trust even if she thought she could.
She needed to get to work before things went even more wrong...

"Is there a problem?" Maggie asked.

"Commander Severide's orders will not be ignored Petty Officer. Until you are evaluated you will not be permitted into the Intelligence hub." Sheridan replied sternly indicating she would not be ignored.

Azura watched the exchange and nodded to himself, he knew enough about West and his shadowy ways to know that this Petty Officer was here because of him. The fact that it was under West's authority that she was now attached to the Redemption's Intelligence Department also told me that West thought she could be an asset. He had spent enough time in his career around headshrinkers to know that Lia was hiding something and had a bit of an antisocial personality, or was at the very least highly driven to get to work. This made him pause, why was she so insistant on getting to work when she should stay in sickbay for another day to make sure she dosent end back up here due to pushing herself to much. This made him think that he didnt want her anywhere near Intell until he had time to talk to West personally.

"Petty Officer, you will remain in sickbay until the Doctor deems you fit for duty, not just light duty but full duty status. I will not have a man on my crew get hurt because they were illogical and to zealous that they injured themselves by overestimating their ability. Also you shall submit to a full psychological evaluation after you have been cleared for fully duty status. If you have issues with that I will personally revoke your orders and pack you back up on the next shuttle back to Earth, is that understood?" His voice was soft as he spoke but carried as only an individual fully in command and certain in his authority can. This would buy him him, at the least two days, at the most three, and he would make sure it was the most. He cut a knowing glance over to Doyl which communicated to her in half a heartbeat that he wanted to talk to her outside of ear shot of the Petty Officer.

Maggie met his gaze for a moment to show she understood and turned back to Lia.

Lia slumped into the bed. "Fine, I'll take your dumb test but you know full well that I'm well enough to work." She lay crossing her arms waiting for whatever battery they intended to test her with so she could get to work.

Nicole was nowhere near impressed with the attitude of the newcomer. The evaluations were a custom as it were. Either this woman was suffering from ill effects of her injuries or she wasn't whom she claimed to be. Sheridan would make sure her accesses were restricted and monitored. Something about her arrival didn't feel right.

Lia was not helping her situation any. Her actions, from taking a series of civilian ships rather than a slower Federation ship was worrysome. So was her attitude since arriving. Maggie would see what she could find out, and what was classified.

"She is not fit for duty as she needs to be monitored. Also, she does need to be evaluated by a psych-cactus," his Russian accent overtook the English pronunciation. He heard how strange his speech sounded and shook his head. "Psychiatrist," he corrected himself. He noted her attitude. Most patients with illnesses are more likely to have attitudes that express pain, miserable, or not themselves. Mikail had not spent time with psychology studies that most medical schools do require a basic education in. He refers them if they require it.

"Yes, we already agreed I need to be tested to determine ready status and all that, so call the shrink and let's get this done. I hate testing and I just wanna get to work. I took the faster route because I was under the impression that things are extremely time sensitive so I did my best to hurry and now I can't even leave bed without y'all approving it. So let's get whatever that needs doing done so we can all get back to things at hand."

Lia's anxiety was peaking, because she honestly hated testing in any kind of format. Believing that even though there aren't any wrong answers that she would still fail in some way and the one thing she wanted at this point was to complete West's mission before whatever mudpie hit the fan.

"I hate to cut this short but my patient needs her rest. You all have five minutes. I'm going to get her scheduled to see the psych-actress...whatever," Mikail turned and left to make a call from his office privately. There are some words in the English language that he has trouble with pronunciation and the word psychiatrist was one of them. He preferred not to call them shrinks as it sounds very unprofessional, especially coming from a doctor's mouth.

Maggie nodded at the doctor's words. "Petty officer, what was so urgent that you had to take extreme measures to get here?"

"As I mentioned Lt Commander Doyl, I was given the impression that things aboard the redemption and on this mission were extremely time sensitive and they weren't able to do a direct transport and the USS Colorado wasn't due to depart for another few days to a week. So I hurried.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say because of classifications so take it up with Ashcsrt or West for my assignment details."

As the five minutes passed Azura spoke up. "Get to feeling better Petty Officer." He shot a glance at the Intel officer that mirrored the look he had given to Doyle moments before as he turned out this heel and headed out of the sickbay and into the CMOs office out of the view of McCarthy. There he waited for the other officers to join him.

Nicole had observed the look Ashcart had given Doyl, giving the Captain a slight nod when the same look was given to her. She looked to the doctor with a smile. "Please ensure she receives the best care and advise me when she is available for debriefing. I'm sure we are all curious of the circumstances that led her to the Redemption." Sheridan commented before following Ashcart out of the room.

Maggie smiled at Lia and followed the Captain. When she walked into the office, her expression sobered.



OFF

Azura Ashcart
Captain
Commanding Officer
USS Redemption

&

Mikail Kolmak, M.D.
Lieutenant
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Redemption

&

Lieutenant Commander Magdalena "Maggie" Doyl
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

&

Petty Officer First Class Lia McCarthy
Intelligence Detachment

&

Lieutenant Nicole Sheridan (NPC)
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
Played by: Lieutenant Commander "Geri" Severide

 

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