[USS Tempest] Taking One's Medicine

[TKilyle@xxxxxxx]

Taking One's Medicine
by C'ss'l of  Calhoun, Aleksander Singh, Miranda Craid, Johnathan Hale, JD 
Orosco, Tawa Pax,  Senek Menkara, Soliel, Vevay Harak, B'nn't of Reynam, Niamh 
McLaughlin, Eddie Le  Beau, Elishvrachen ch'Thane, and Raven Xavier
 

I find the medicine worse than the  malady.
- _Francis  Beaumont and John Fletcher_ 
(http://www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/quotes2/quautbeaumontffletcherjx001.htm) ,
 
 
 
Cassiel snorted in outright amusement as  he approached Alek.  "This has got 
to be the most bizarre thing I have ever  heard in my life...and I've heard 
some pretty strange shit."  Bright hazel  eyes bored into the man.  "You know 
why that guy is here?" he asked,  pointing at JD.

"I assume he is Dr Matthews' replacement," the Marine  replied.
 
"That, too, but you see what he's got  there?  Coffee."  He tapped Alek's 
PADD.  "You know what's  killing the critters over on the other ship?  Coffee 
foul enough to melt  paint."

"Hmm..."  Dark eyes met the doctor's bright hazel.   "How many infected do we 
have?"
 
The Xenexian let out a weary sigh.   "Not including the two dead and any 
beamed to Sick Bay , not too many, thank the  gods," he said.  He pointed 
toward 
the wall.  "Just them.  GT's  temp CO says to get it in them until the 
creatures start to bore outward.   That's when we have to deal with surgery."

"May I assist then?" Alek  asked earnestly.
 
"By all means," Cassiel said  immediately.  "I sent Renatus back to Sick Bay 
so make sure anyone who's  near any infected patient is properly dressed."

"I will aid him," Alek  nodded as he flowed away.
 
Leaving FRix to keep an eye on the ill,  Cassiel strolled, as much as one 
could in such a crowded room, over to the  replicator.  Georgetown's captain 
and 
Ensign Craig were there with the new  counselor and they seemed to be quite 
involved in something.  "What goes  on, people?" he asked curiously.
 
"I was asking if it would be safe to give  some of the people food as well," 
Miranda replied. "It might help with being  confined."  She smiled then. "It's 
why I kept snacks hidden in my room  as a kid. I could pig out whenever I was 
grounded." 
 
Cassiel mulled the matter over very  quickly then nodded.  "Any one who isn't 
among the infected can eat  whatever the hell they want so long as they drink 
the coffee with it.  Sick  people have to wait because regurgitation during 
surgery just gets messy for  everyone."
 
"And the tar first," JD said with a nod at  Hale.
 
Miranda went over to a replicator and  started set up a table with cups of 
Josh's coffee and a variety of sandwiches.  She then started calling people 
over. 
 
Tawa had his arm around Bennet again but  he turned his head when Miranda 
mentioned food.  "Good, I'm starving," he  said with a grin, starting to lead 
her 
over before he spotted Senek.  "Ah,  Commander, you want me to bring you 
something over?"
 
"Very considerate of you to ask, Mr. Pax,"  the big man said tiredly.  
"Anything vegetarian will  do."
 
"Ugh, WHAT IS THIS?!" one young marine  asked.
 
"They can't really expect us to DRINK  this!" another protested.
 
"Can I at least get some sugar...and  cream...and maybe a nose plug.." a 
third plead.
 
JD snorted in outright amusement.   "Well, expected is a much nicer way of 
expressing it than you are ordered to,"  he said bemusedly.  "Honestly, I'll 
tell you what I did when I was a kid  and my mother used to try and make me the 
stuff my grandmother brought  over.  Hold you breath while you're drinking.  
You cut the smell and  taste that way."
 
The first shot JD a look before taking a  deep breath and trying it. Gagging 
after the first swallow, he shook his head.  "I can't...I'm sorry, I just....I 
can't..."
 
Before he could protest further, a young  woman in the far corner began to 
convulse, her eyes rolling back and her skin  beginning to crawl. In less than 
a 
minute, she was dead. Suddenly, people from  around the room flooded into the 
line, awaiting their turn to have  coffee.
 
"Nothing like a bad example to get you  going I guess," Tawa said with a 
shudder.
 
With each new death, each new wave of raw emotion,  Soliel became paler. Her 
mental shields couldn't take the overwhelming pressure  of so many people in 
one cramped place. She was use to being in smaller groups,  and she was the one 
pushing. She didn't like being on the other end of the  spectrum. It was all 
she could do to keep it all from flooding her bond with  Vevay.

Vevay flinched with the horror she was feeling from Soliel.   Her sharp green 
eyes found her beloved and marched over to her.  She placed  firm but gentle 
hands on Soliel's cheeks and stared into her eyes.   ~~Breathe~~ she ordered.  
"See something good, a sweet memory.  Stop  this, Soliel."

The younger woman smiled weakly. "I wish I could." The  idea of retreating 
into a pleasant sounded good to her, it could give her what  she needed to 
rebuild her shields. The memory that came first was a simple one  of being 
wrapped 
in Vevay's arms, so gentle and strong, while she read from her  old book. The 
sound of the small rock fountain they had in their cabin the only  sound other 
then Vevay's voice. The warmth of her lover's body as she leans into  it, and 
the softness and warmth of the well worn throw that was wrapped around  them. 
Slowly, everything outside that memory started to ease up.

Slowly,  Vevay offered up her favourite memory.  Water poured around them as 
they  soaked in her shower unit, playing and laughing.  "Life," she whispered 
as  she kissed her lips, "goes on and so do we even as we watch them pass.   
Honour them but don't die with them."


Soliel smiled as she nodded. When she opened her eyes  she felt a little 
stronger. "Thanks, I'll be more thankful later." 
 
"Promise me you'll take the taste of this crap out of my  mouth later, 
gorgeous?" Tawa asked Bennet even as he filled himself a cup  of the coffee.


Grinning  wickedly, Bennet kissed his cheek and took a cup for herself too.  
"Only if  you promise you'll do the same."
 
Tawa took a ship  and barely resisted spitting it out.  "Damn, now I know why 
Josh is so  quiet," he said, his face screwing up in disgust.  "Drinking this 
actually  melted part of his tongue."  He tickled Bennet under the chin  
slightly.  "Careful, gorgeous, it's really bad."
 
JD found that he  had to approach, if only for one reason.  He knew the woman 
had originally  come just to visit, before the lock down was enforced, and 
was stuck there with  them.  She didn't have to drink the stuff.  "Thanks, Miss 
Reynam," he  said quietly.  "That helps."

Bennet grinned at Tawa as she took her  first sip then forced back a cough.  
"S'okay," she spluttered.   "Aisling'd kill me if I left without making sure I 
was safe."  Besides, she  had a feeling it would help for other people to see 
a visitor drink it  too.  She downed the rest in one then handed the cup back 
to JD.  "No  more, please."
 
JD grinned  broadly at her then patted her shoulder.  "Now that's nerve.  I 
like  that!"  Then he pointed toward the cart where the original batch he 
brought  was.  "Not replicated and a better brew.  You, at least, can have some 
 
immediately to get rid of the after taste of that."

"I'll have some then  kiss away Tawa's," she chimed brightly, taking Tawa's 
hand and pulling him  toward the coffee.
 
JD was still  smiling at them as they walked away.  It amazed him how some 
people could  find the best of a situation no matter what.  He approached the 
Marines  from Georgetown, only mildly surprised to see that one of them was  
Cardassian.  "Sorry about the ugly welcome to our ship but can I bring you  
folks 
some of our doc's prescription?"

Niamh glanced up at Eddie then  nodded.  "Dish it out to the men then come 
back for the officers,  okay?"
 
"Have you ever  actually tasted this stuff?" JD asked curiously.  "I did just 
before and I  have to agree with our doc: it tastes like lacquer thinner.  
How about the  officers set an example instead?  I sure as hell wouldn't drink 
it  otherwise."

"I'd rather they had a fighting chance first," Niamh  countered before Eddie 
could say anything.  "Make sure they're okay.   We might all be grunts to you, 
but they're not expendable to us."
 
JD was taken a  bit aback at her statement.  He held his arms behind his back 
as he watched  her curiously.  "Begging the lieutenant's pardon but I'm not 
the lone  barista here," he said, tilting his head toward Hale and Miranda, 
"and I never  said anyone was less expendable than anyone else."

"Then how's about you  serve our men first and come back to us later," Niamh 
pushed, her hazel eyes  flashing.
 
JD shrugged  slightly.  "Your choice, Lieutenant, but I somehow doubt there's 
just an  officer's concern for her men at work here."
 
Hale approached  as JD's discomfort became more apparent, just in time to 
hear Niamh's last  comment and JD's response. "Take one and drink up," he said 
flatly,  looking sternly at his marines. "That's an order, marine. The longer  
you stand there arguing about it, the longer it takes us to move on to the next 
 one.  You're wasting valuable time not everyone here has. Now no more  
discussions. Just do it." Turning to face the rest of the room, he repeated  
the 
order louder, even as he continued to pass out the vile liquid. "Nobody  passes 
on this unless it's at least as dangerous to your physiology as the  
parasites. We offer it, you take it. No arguments. Is that clear, people?"  
Without 
waiting for a reply, he began passing out the cups faster, then went for  more, 
determined that nobody else would be lost. Not on his watch.

"Hear  that people?" Niamh shouted to the Marines.  "Drink the shit."  She  
grabbed a cup, trying not to spit it out at the captain for his chastisement,  
and downed it as quickly as she could.
 
Hale glanced  back in her direction, nodding his approval as he continued 
passing out  cups. He'd been abrupt and he knew it, but now wasn't the time for 
kid gloves.  If the officers started passing on it, those beneath them might 
think they could  afford to, too. More would die. He just couldn't allow it. He 
needed his  officers to be examples. This wasn't optional. Not if they wanted 
to save them  all.
 
JD offered Niamh  a sympathetic shrug.  "Sorry, Lieutenant, but if it helps, 
the other  coffee's decent.  One of your fellow Marine's private  stock."

Shooting one last cold stare at the captain, Niamh  shrugged.  "I really 
couldn't give a crap since we're just mindless,  selfish idiots."  She shoved 
her 
empty cup back at JD and took another two,  as she started pushing them into 
the hands of her Marines.
 
JD stepped back  as the Andorian approached.  Lish tilted his antennae at 
Niamh in  greeting.  "Nasty swill is it not?" he asked as wryly as his voice 
would  allow.  "I'm not quite sure it still won't kill me."

"Parasites will  and you heard the captain," Niamh shrugged.
 
He hissed in  remembered annoyance. and actually used a Human gesture.  He 
shook his  head.  "I got a similar speech," he explained, still holding his cup 
of the  coffee.  "except it was more along the line of the fact that coffee 
and  Andorians do not agree."

"Wouldn't know, too stupid to make that kind of  observation," she snorted, 
forcing a cup into the hand of another Marine.   "Just grunts.  No room for 
command decisions or matters of priority with  the canon fodder."  When the boy 
sniffed it, she glared.  "Drink it,  or I'll set the Captain on you."
 
"Hardly," Lish  said as he took another hesitant sip, cringing the entire 
time.  "If you  were stupid, the enarrain would toss you back in another 
closet."

"The  enarrain, with all due respect, is back on GT and not being faced with 
the  possibility of being eaten from the inside out," she hissed quietly so 
only Lish  would hear.  "When he's here, when he's second guessed and shut down 
by his  CO, then he can judge."
 
"Fair enough,"  Lish admitted.  He kept his tone just as soft.  "If nothing 
else,  Niamh, you are doing as you want your people to do, even if it does 
grate the  nerves.  I offer you the chance later to take your frustrations out 
on  
me.  If not in my office then in the gym."

"You mean rather than  trying and failing to beat the living crap out of the 
enarrain?" she sniffed in  amusement.
 
"You and I are  both on that list of people," Lish told her, eyes clearly 
crinkling in  amusement.  "He never put me in a closet though--just knocked me  
flat."

"It was only once and he only did it because he was being  obnoxious," she 
sniffed.
 
"Ah, well, once  was enough, was it not?  He wouldn't let me kill Dr. 
tr'Ghaladriel at one  point, dragged me off by both arms," Lish told her.  
Alright, 
now it was  almost amusing.
 
A petite, rather  attractive asian woman snorted behind him. "Ooh," she 
purred.  "Kinky..."
 
"No, and Niamh  will correct me if I am wrong," Lish said mildly, "he is 
simply an arrogant and  obnoxious individual...who is currently babysitting my 
child."
 
"Let's not  forget plan scary," Eddie added as he put a hand on Niamh's 
shoulder. The coffee  was vile, but he drank it. He only wished he'd been able 
to 
speak with Niamh  himself before the Captain chewed her out. The thought of her 
having those  things, of her dying the way those other men did. It cause a 
pain in his chest  that he couldn't explain.
 
"Do you know how  angry he'd be if he had to drink this?" Lish asked.  
"Niamh, you ask  Sergeant Major Aigremont about their arguments over coffee."
 
"Aigremont?" the  petite oriental woman purred. "I know that name." Laughing 
lightly, it dawned on  her where. "I have several bottles of exceptional wines 
by that name in my  quarters. Anyone interested?"
 
"Ah, not  advisable since we are quite confined still," Lish said carefully.
 
"I'd take me  half a minute to go get it," she laughed. "and, trust me, 
nobody'd notice I  wasn't here. I've been so many different people already in 
here 
never realize if  I was actually still in the room or not. " 
 
"I do no  advocate disobeying orders," Lish said plainly.  "Not in this  
case."
 
The woman  pouted. "I know, but there's not much else to do. I HATE boredom!"
 
"It certainly is  better than the alternative though," Lish stated, nodding 
his antennae at the  sick.

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[USS Tempest] Taking One's Medicine