[TheNoir] "Showdown in Sickbay"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thenoir@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 18:13:56 -0800 (PST)
Showdown in Sickbay
M.E. Nicks, Cervin Molari, Shane Taggart, and Isabella Valentine, featuring
Anais Adarah
No wound was superficial to Anais. They were either life threatening or not,
and luckily this one wasn?t. It could have been on the old ship, it was prime
for an infection, but Anais had stocked her new sick bay well. She pressed a
hypo full of antibiotics into Bella?s neck and then went back to repairing the
wound. She?d given the girl something for the pain but kept her awake.
"Once I have your wound closed up we?ll see about replacing the blood you
lost."
As soon as M.E. stepped into sick bay she looked around for Anais, but unlike
any other time, the tall Egyptian wasn?t hard to find. She was standing center
stage working on Bella. M.E.?s eyes grew wide as she walked over to the pair.
"Anais?"
Anais didn?t look away from what she was doing as she answered M.E.?s unspoken
question.
"Knife wound."
Her mind jumped right to Anita and M.E. hissed angrily, "Fuck."
Things were swimming a bit hazy for Bella. The doctor had talked her gently
through what she was doing and tried to keep her focused. Bella had still
moved between reality and dream land, not exactly coherent. She vaguely
remembered Shane and she wondered where he went. Mostly, she was just a little
fuzzy from the mild painkillers. She was jerked out of another dream by the
voices.
"Where's Shane?" she mumbled.
"He went after Cervin," Anais explained as she finished off the wound. She then
started preparing to treat the blood loss. "I think they went after whomever
did this."
M.E. looked down at Bella and then up at Anais. "Was it bad?" Anais shook her
head so M.E. turned her gaze towards Bella. She looked pale and her clothes
were covered in blood. M.E. could feel her blood boil and she was finding it
hard to keep herself in check. "Bella, can you tell me what happened?"
"Never gamble with a psycho-bitch," Bella said and closed her eyes again. "She
wasn't supposed to ... Ship is home, crew is family. That's what Nate always
said. What's wrong with you people?" Her words came out all dreamy and
slurred.
"This is a home, Bella, and we are a family," M.E. said softly. "She wasn?t
suppose to hurt anyone. I told her to find quarters and settle in." M.E.?s face
was flushing red as her anger built. She?d taken Anita at her word that she
wouldn?t kill her people, maybe she should have been more detailed, maybe she
should have pointed out that inflicting wounds was not allowed as well. "This
won?t happen again, Bella. Anita?ll learn her place here or I?ll kill her
myself teaching her."
"She's fuckin' crazy," Bella drawled. "I want Shane to come back... Someone
will die." She didn't bother opening her eyes. Things swam when she did.
Cervin walked into sickbay, Shane in tow as the man's arm was slung over him.
Cervin looked up, noticing M.E. in the room, "Mind telling me why you need an
insane bitch on the ship?"
M.E. looked up at the sound of the doors opening. She groaned loudly at the
sight of Shane and then looked over at Cervin. "Not one I'm willing to talk
about in the open. She get him too?"
Cervin just nodded as he helped Shane to the bio bed. Anais hurried over to
the second patient, assessing his wounds.
Shane looked up, "Yes, what the hell were you thinking letting her come aboard?
It's bad enough we're working on a trust system with a bunch of mercenaries.
Seems logical to invite a psycho killer to join us too."
"Shane?" Bella asked, at the now familiar voice.
"Bella, I'm here," he said, lifting his shirt so Anais could get to his wound.
He grimaced at the tender touch. "Fvadt," he cursed in Rihannsu again.
Cervin had long since moved away from Anais to M.E.'s side. He just looked at
her, "She didn't kill him when she had the chance. You talk to her."
Opening her eyes, Bella turned her head in the direction of Shane's voice. The
doctor was now working on him. "She hurt you." The statement was nearly
child-like in the drug induced haze.
"If she wanted to kill him, he'd be dead," M.E. hissed at Cervin before looking
over at Shane. She watched a moment to make sure he was ok and then crossed her
arms. "You got issues with who I allow on this ship file a formal compliant
with Alex. As far as Anita goes, I'll deal with her."
"Or, kill her. Talking seems to have gotten Bella and I nowhere. I'm okay,
Bell, I am." He cursed himself for showing any sign of weakness. It didn't
matter whose company he was in.
"Formal request?" He laughed, "We're not 'Fleet, M.E."
M.E. wasn't in the mood to have her judgment questioned, especially since she
was judging it herself. She looked at Shane and grinned darkly, "Good of you to
notice, but if I were you I'd learn how to tell when someone was being
sarcastic." This was really starting to turn into a night that she wished would
end. "No one kills anyone on this goddamn ship unless I say so. I said I'd talk
to Anita. She'll listen and figure out where she stands or I will deal with
her."
"Like right now," Cervin interrupted them.
Anais administered the same sort of mild painkiller to Shane, as she coaxed him
to lie down on the bio bed. Cleansing the wound, she told M.E., "It's not too
bad. The woman wasn't cutting to kill. Either of them."
"I know she wasn't," M.E. hissed.
The doctor chose to ignore M.E. and continued working silently. Fortunately,
this one hadn't lost as much blood as the other.
"You don't seem to understand, Captain," he used the term loosely. "If she
comes near me again, I won't hesitate to kill her. You don't, nor does anyone
else, have the authority over me and my life."
"He's right," Bella said, in an acute moment of clarity. "Bets are off. Next
time we don't play by her rules."
"Rules?" Cervin perked an eyebrow, "She has no rules. Didn't you notice, she's
playing by someone else's? If not, you two would be dead by now."
M.E. walked over to Shane's bed and looked down at him darkly. "You kill her
and I won't think twice of terminating your employment. This is still my
goddamn ship and although I value my crew's insights and options when it comes
down to it, what I say goes." Spinning on her heel she looked at Cervin, "Where
was she?"
"Deck six. She- as she so gleefully put it- is still exploring."
Her head finally clearing with all the yelling, Bella swung her legs over the
side of the bed and made to sit up. Still not having regained her blood count,
it wasn't the smartest of moves.
"Six, how ironic. Satan woman," Shane quipped. "And, Maureen, I'll let you
know that my employment isn't worth more than my life. There's other work,
there is no other life."
"You got something to say to me, Cervin, you come find me on the bridge. Other
wise, would you please deal with this?" She looked dead at Cervin and waved her
hand towards the others. "We don't have the luxury of falling apart at the
seams here."
Cervin just nodded. He'd talk to her about this later. "Don't hesitate to shoot
M.E. Do us all that favor."
"Then do me a favor and trust me a little will ya?" M.E. hissed. "Them I
understand, but you? You know I'd never put anyone in harm's way."
"She'll just toy with you," Bella said, wishing she had stayed lying down. The
room spun.
M.E. pinched the bridge of her nose. "I wouldn't have let her out of the brig
if I wasn't sure I could play her games."
"Are you sure that we could all play her games? You say you're thinking about
your crew, but it appears that you didn't think to ask if we could play her
games," Shane looked at M.E., suddenly feeling compassion for her.
Cervin looked at her and wanted nothing better than to yell. But he took a
breath, "Alright. Alright, deal with her. Kill if you have to, M.E., but that
bitch better not get the best of you. She does, and I see you here or laying
dead somewhere, that woman won't see the end. She'll die. Slowly."
"It's more than a fuckin' game to her. I was in her fuckin' arms and in her
fuckin' head. She'll just play you too." Bella had no confidence in anyone to
handle that woman without just killing her.
"Last time I checked, I didn't ask anyone's opinion about who I hired but Alex
and Cervin," M.E. replied and then looked at Bella. "Well, if you were in her
arms and in her head then you weren't playing right." M.E. was getting tired of
this shit.
"Well that's a little obvious," Bella muttered, choosing to lie back down
before falling off the bed.
"Listen to yourself!" He shouted out to M.E., "Not only has she gotten to you,
she's playing you off the rest of us. Who's pulling the fuckin' strings now?
She's got you more than she has any of us."
This was getting out of hand. "She isn't playing me off anyone. I wouldn't
throw any of you to the wolves and I'm not going to throw her either. I will
make sure she knows her place and if she can't deal with it, she's done. End of
story."
Cervin just looked at her, "Then go, M.E. Deal with her, before she hurts
someone else."
"Shoulda just killed her," Bella said to no one in particular. "Fuckin' noble
ideas."
M.E. looked at Cervin, pain clear in her eyes as she did so, and then walked
away.
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