S2 M8: You Have the Right to Remain Silent

[Jada]

Actually SCPO Jada this time

[Northern Canada, Earth]

"As for a story... hmm ok how do four people in Fleet mufti, find themselves in the middle of nowhere stranded...." she gave it some thought.

"How about a wedding, would or could we have been guests at a wedding, surely someone gets married even in the middle of nowhere and if it was someone in the fleet then we'd have reason to be in this get up.  As for how we got here... well we were legitimately recently at San Fran... So could this wedding that we're going to or coming back from maybe, so no presents to find was in a fairytale castle in Germany, I did actually have friends marry there recently so... Returning from the wedding of Krista and Jan Schmidt in Bavaria, Germany.  Krista used to be a Science officer now retired and I know her as she was my room mate at Academy and have kept touch ever since, so she'd back us up without even a seconds thought. Jan is Security so he'd follow along too.  Our shuttlecraft ran into difficulties... Malik I'm not flight trained so you make up something plausible there and we just set the co-ordinates for the transporter to 'Earth' and here we are..."

Hrafn stopped and looked at the others "Does that sound reasonable?  Chief?..." she said looking at Jada now in only her knickers, "... wanna put my jacket over your legs to keep them warm?!"

'Nah, I'm good.' Jada deflected, without any embarrassment, while she instead tried to head off Falleg's natural impulses. 'Let's not get too detailed. I don't want anyone knowing we're Starfleet until they see our uniforms. We need to give them enough information to accept our story, not enough that they can corroborate it. So, we're civilians, returning from a wedding, our private shuttle crashed, somewhere in North America, please send help?'

Meanwhile, Jada worked to dry her legs over the hot rocks. The snake tattoo that wound around her toned, green left leg, tail at the foot, forked tongue on her thigh, was rather suggestive. 'Um, is any of that chocolate going cheap?' she asked wonderingly. Hey, if chocolate was an aphrodisiac, then it would raise her body temperature, which was all she needed.

[Ozu Saya]

[Bridge]

Nevir let himself relax, or at least force himself to relax, as Ozu explained what they had encountered.  He nodded, but otherwise kept himself as proper as should be a Captain.

"Captain, I think I would feel safer if I send my ship away; before someone decides that I'm too involved.  Otherwise, of course, I'll help find out what happened." he said, going over to a panel that has access to the comm systems.

"Tekin to Discovery.  We've been ordered to DS9.  I have some things to take care of here, so for now, go without me."

"I don't believe there is a direct risk to my ship... but until I find out what happened to the service records of her predecessor, I don't want my crew at risk."

[Bridge]

Captain Tekin, Saya interjected. If you will permit, I can send your Chief Engineer all of my information on how to find the sabotage. They should be able to use the same methods to determine if any of your replicator schematics have been altered and what parts, if any, are affected. Saya hoped that would put the captain's mind at ease for the safety of his ship. It would also help determine if any other ships besides Tempest had been sabotaged.

[Malik Grippen]

[Northern Canada]

'That was a random transport, right?' Jada looked to K'lizh for confirmation. Hauling a dried tunic back on, Jada summarised their concerns, focused and calm. 'We don't know if anyone, on the Tempest or otherwise, knows where we are, or even if we're alive, so we can't wait for rescue. And we can't stay here; even if don't freeze to death, it could be weeks before we trek back to civilisation. Especially if Wu is injured. So we have to call out for help.'

'But Fate steals with one hand and we steal from the other. We've got one advantage: our enemies don't know where we, they might even think we're dead. They won't expect us here. Let's call local Earth rescue services, tell them we're lost hikers or hunters or something. They'll have to pick us up, by transport or rescue vehicle. Then we can tell them who we are, they won't be in on the conspiracy.' Riffling through her jacket, she found her combadge and tossed it to K'lizh. 'Commander, can you switch this to a civilian frequency or scramble our ID codes? Hrafn, you know Earth best, can you come up with a good story? Malik, I'd like you to give it. You're new – if the conspirators are monitoring communications, they won't know your voice.' That was it, Jada knew where she was now – lost in unforgiving wilderness, fighting intrigue, enemy soldiers, and the environment itself, armed only with her wits and resourcefulness, a gun, and a good knife. She was back in the war. It was like she'd never left.

This was rather undercut by her dropping her wet pants to dry next.

"Aye ma'am." Malik noted with a smile. The Orion had smarts, the kind of smarts one gained from surviving experiences like these more than once. She had thought of everything, two steps ahead of their adversaries. He watched without subtly as she removed her pants, nodding in approval.

"How about a wedding, would or could we have been guests at a wedding, surely someone gets married even in the middle of nowhere and if it was someone in the fleet then we'd have reason to be in this get up.  As for how we got here... well we were legitimately recently at San Fran... So could this wedding that we're going to or coming back from maybe, so no presents to find was in a fairytale castle in Germany, I did actually have friends marry there recently so... Returning from the wedding of Krista and Jan Schmidt in Bavaria, Germany.  Krista used to be a Science officer now retired and I know her as she was my room mate at Academy and have kept touch ever since, so she'd back us up without even a seconds thought. Jan is Security so he'd follow along too.  Our shuttlecraft ran into difficulties... Malik I'm not flight trained so you make up something plausible there and we just set the co-ordinates for the transporter to 'Earth' and here we are..."

Malik struggled to keep up with the lieutenant's flow of conversation, his mind still addled from their unexpected situation and the biting cold. What's a Germany?

He thought he understood the gist of what Hrafn was saying however. "A wedding, right. I can do that."

'Nah, I'm good.' Jada deflected, without any embarrassment, while she instead tried to head off Falleg's natural impulses. 'Let's not get too detailed. I don't want anyone knowing we're Starfleet until they see our uniforms. We need to give them enough information to accept our story, not enough that they can corroborate it. So, we're civilians, returning from a wedding, our private shuttle crashed, somewhere in North America, please send help?'

Meanwhile, Jada worked to dry her legs over the hot rocks. The snake tattoo that wound around her toned, green left leg, tail at the foot, forked tongue on her thigh, was rather suggestive. 'Um, is any of that chocolate going cheap?' she asked wonderingly. Hey, if chocolate was an aphrodisiac, then it would raise her body temperature, which was all she needed.

"Simple explanation, I see no reason why they wouldn't believe it." Malik studied the chief's snake tattoo. "You have a shapely body chief. I can imagine your sexual encounters are quite energetic!" He said this without shame, for Risians were extremely permissive when it came to discussing sex and viewed it as an essential part of existence that should be enjoyed by all.

Malik then turned to K'lizh for approval to send the message via the modified communicator.

[Klizh]

[Oh... Canada]

Hrafn caught the look but hopefully this predicament they were in would serve somewhat as a bonding exercise.  She wasn't counting chickens but it could at least serve to solidify that they could work together.

She watched in admiration of the agility of Commander K'lizh as he bounded up the tree and then brought the unconscious figure of Commander Wu.

"Wow, I didn't know you were so athletic, Sir.  I only have basic medical training but I'll see what I can do to make the Commander a little more comfortable. Would you like a little clean snow melted so you can have a drink to recover a little?  And I don't know... do you eat chocolate at all, I have a bar in my pocket which is broken but you have to break to eat.. .might restore some blood sugar and thus energy."

He finally looked directly at Falleg for the first time since her apology on the bridge. "Don't like the stuff," he mumbled, though without any rancor. "I'll be fine, save it for the others." Indeed, the Risian and the Orion looked like they needed all the help they can get. K'lizh realized that, for once, he wasn't the one in the worst condition on an away mission. It was not something he took satisfaction from.

[Northern Canada, Earth]

'That was a random transport, right?' Jada looked to K'lizh for confirmation.

"Yes," he said. His ears would have faltered if they weren't already pressed against his skull for warmth. "Didn't have time to refine the coordinates."

He picked up Jada's commbade in his already numbing fingers and managed to pry the back off. "Going to need to use your phaser for tools," he said. Though he was loathe to deprive them of their only defensive tool, the inner workings of a commbadge were too delicate to manipulate with bare fingers. Once he had that, he pried it open and removed a component that looked small enough to get the job done. A few minutes of irregular breathing and the odd curse later, he thought he had it. "Try it," he said, handing it to the cadet while he reassembled the phaser.

[Jada]

SCPO Jada

[Northern Canada, Not Mars]

"Simple explanation, I see no reason why they wouldn't believe it." Malik studied the chief's snake tattoo. "You have a shapely body chief. I can imagine your sexual encounters are quite energetic!" He said this without shame, for Risians were extremely permissive when it came to discussing sex and viewed it as an essential part of existence that should be enjoyed by all.

Working on drying her pants, Jada scowled dangerously at the remark. Compliment or come-on, it was a cheap line (though not incorrect) and was inappropriate in the circumstances. This was the kind of thing she'd been talking about K'lizh just this morning – the assumption this was what the Orion girl wanted to hear. 'So's my wrestling, ensign – the snake's a constrictor. Now, instead of seeking an early death, you should focus on staying alive.' she growled warningly. Sure, Grippen was charming (why she'd picked him to give the message) and handsome (or would be if she was currently oriented towards men), but she assumed he was human, so she didn't see the cultural misapprehension. Either way, lines and staring were so not needed right now.

"Yes," he said. His ears would have faltered if they weren't already pressed against his skull for warmth. "Didn't have time to refine the coordinates."

'With Earth's water coverage, that was good luck, commander.'

He picked up Jada's commbade in his already numbing fingers and managed to pry the back off. "Going to need to use your phaser for tools," he said. Though he was loathe to deprive them of their only defensive tool, the inner workings of a commbadge were too delicate to manipulate with bare fingers.

After passing over the phaser, Jada retrieved her knife (you could get anything on the dress uniform if you claimed it was cultural) from her belt sheath and slipped a small shiv from under the strap of her bra. The latter, a sharp needle with a finger-grip, seemed to have been carved from bone – the remains of her last steak dinner, in fact. 'Here, maybe these will help.'

[Jada]

[Sickbay, USS Tempest]

Things had just started to settle down in Sickbay, down to managing the worst cases and patching up the best, while removing Law's body to the morgue, when the biobed holding the male Bolian patient began to beep alarmingly. The medic working with the protoplaster gave a shout. 'Doctor! His blood pressure's falling rapidly and he's tachycardic!' Rapid heart beat and low blood pressure indicated severe blood loss, and the Bolian's cobalt-based blue blood was still flowing freely from his wounds.

[Malik Grippen]

[Northern Canada]

He picked up Jada's commbade in his already numbing fingers and managed to pry the back off. "Going to need to use your phaser for tools," he said. Though he was loathe to deprive them of their only defensive tool, the inner workings of a commbadge were too delicate to manipulate with bare fingers. Once he had that, he pried it open and removed a component that looked small enough to get the job done. A few minutes of irregular breathing and the odd curse later, he thought he had it. "Try it," he said, handing it to the cadet while he reassembled the phaser.

Malik accepted the modified commbadge and pinned it to his chest, it immediately connected to his internal earpiece.

Working on drying her pants, Jada scowled dangerously at the remark. Compliment or come-on, it was a cheap line (though not incorrect) and was inappropriate in the circumstances. This was the kind of thing she'd been talking about K'lizh just this morning – the assumption this was what the Orion girl wanted to hear. 'So's my wrestling, ensign – the snake's a constrictor. Now, instead of seeking an early death, you should focus on staying alive.' she growled warningly. Sure, Grippen was charming (why she'd picked him to give the message) and handsome (or would be if she was currently oriented towards men), but she assumed he was human, so she didn't see the cultural misapprehension. Either way, lines and staring were so not needed right now.

If looks could kill, Malik would be a pile of ash besmirching the new fallen snow. What was intended as a genuine compliment had not translated well, and upon reflection, Malik recalled his cultural studies back at the academy. Risians found it difficult to keep a lid on their feelings about intercourse, and were taught to be mindful of other cultures. Malik made a mental note.

"I apologise Chief, I'm used to flying drunk tourists around Risa's pleasure spots."

Malik then tapped the commbadge.

"This is er, Chris to local rescue services. Our private shuttle has crash-landed enroute to Germany, er I mean a wedding! We require immediate evac, we're freezing to death out here. Locate 5 life signs out in the wilds of the North American continent."

He'd messed up, but hopefully it'd be enough. After a few moments the reply came in.

"This is local rescue services quadrant na01. We've located your life signs and are on the way. ETA 10 minutes, standby for further information."

"There we go." He began to rub his hands together near the hot rocks, his task complete.

[Hrafn Falleg]

Actually SCPO Jada this time

[Northern Canada, Earth]

'Nah, I'm good.' Jada deflected, without any embarrassment, while she instead tried to head off Falleg's natural impulses. 'Let's not get too detailed. I don't want anyone knowing we're Starfleet until they see our uniforms. We need to give them enough information to accept our story, not enough that they can corroborate it. So, we're civilians, returning from a wedding, our private shuttle crashed, somewhere in North America, please send help?'

Meanwhile, Jada worked to dry her legs over the hot rocks. The snake tattoo that wound around her toned, green left leg, tail at the foot, forked tongue on her thigh, was rather suggestive. 'Um, is any of that chocolate going cheap?' she asked wonderingly. Hey, if chocolate was an aphrodisiac, then it would raise her body temperature, which was all she needed.

[Canada]

"Sounds good to me... and sure you want some??" she gave Jada a look remembering the the conversation in the turbolift just before they came out...  "...knock yourself out if you're sure!"  she said snapping a bit off for herself then tossing the rest of the bar over.  "Malik you want some?"

He finally looked directly at Falleg for the first time since her apology on the bridge. "Don't like the stuff," he mumbled, though without any rancor. "I'll be fine, save it for the others." Indeed, the Risian and the Orion looked like they needed all the help they can get. K'lizh realized that, for once, he wasn't the one in the worst condition on an away mission. It was not something he took satisfaction from.

"Yes," he said. His ears would have faltered if they weren't already pressed against his skull for warmth. "Didn't have time to refine the coordinates."

He picked up Jada's commbade in his already numbing fingers and managed to pry the back off. "Going to need to use your phaser for tools," he said. Though he was loathe to deprive them of their only defensive tool, the inner workings of a commbadge were too delicate to manipulate with bare fingers. Once he had that, he pried it open and removed a component that looked small enough to get the job done. A few minutes of irregular breathing and the odd curse later, he thought he had it. "Try it," he said, handing it to the cadet while he reassembled the phaser.

Hrafn nodded glad that it was said without any hint of dislike for her, just for the chocolate!  "Understood, do not send chocolate cakes to Chief Jada or Commander K'lizh.  I'm joking, Sir, not sending anyone anything... some people don't like nuts, some don't like chocolate... it's a preference thing.  And I'm sure Jada's happy for your share!"  she winked at Jada.

SCPO Jada

[Northern Canada, Not Mars]

Working on drying her pants, Jada scowled dangerously at the remark. Compliment or come-on, it was a cheap line (though not incorrect) and was inappropriate in the circumstances. This was the kind of thing she'd been talking about K'lizh just this morning – the assumption this was what the Orion girl wanted to hear. 'So's my wrestling, ensign – the snake's a constrictor. Now, instead of seeking an early death, you should focus on staying alive.' she growled warningly. Sure, Grippen was charming (why she'd picked him to give the message) and handsome (or would be if she was currently oriented towards men), but she assumed he was human, so she didn't see the cultural misapprehension. Either way, lines and staring were so not needed right now.

'With Earth's water coverage, that was good luck, commander.'

After passing over the phaser, Jada retrieved her knife (you could get anything on the dress uniform if you claimed it was cultural) from her belt sheath and slipped a small shiv from under the strap of her bra. The latter, a sharp needle with a finger-grip, seemed to have been carved from bone – the remains of her last steak dinner, in fact. 'Here, maybe these will help.'

Hrafn raised her eyes at Malik wondering if he had a death wish.  She opened her mouth to say something but Jada got in there first.

[Northern Canada]

Malik accepted the modified commbadge and pinned it to his chest, it immediately connected to his internal earpiece.

If looks could kill, Malik would be a pile of ash besmirching the new fallen snow. What was intended as a genuine compliment had not translated well, and upon reflection, Malik recalled his cultural studies back at the academy. Risians found it difficult to keep a lid on their feelings about intercourse, and were taught to be mindful of other cultures. Malik made a mental note.

"I apologise Chief, I'm used to flying drunk tourists around Risa's pleasure spots."

Malik then tapped the commbadge.

"This is er, Chris to local rescue services. Our private shuttle has crash-landed enroute to Germany, er I mean a wedding! We require immediate evac, we're freezing to death out here. Locate 5 life signs out in the wilds of the North American continent."

He'd messed up, but hopefully it'd be enough. After a few moments the reply came in.

"This is local rescue services quadrant na01. We've located your life signs and are on the way. ETA 10 minutes, standby for further information."

"There we go." He began to rub his hands together near the hot rocks, his task complete.

"Brilliant!  And some day maybe you could take me round Risa show me the non-tourist bits... not that I've ever seen the tourist bits either!  Deal?"

[Judith Eastman]

[Bridge]
At last, Judy resolved to confront the consequences of her failure as an officer and a leader. "Sir, I will be down in sickbay to see Crewman Law if you need me," she said. "I... sent him down there."
Judy couldn't quite put words behind the thought "I sent him to die", but she very much thought it, and that came across in the way she spoke.

CPO Bexx

[Bridge, USS Tempest]
Bexx tried to resume monitoring signals on Earth, but her nose wrinkled in disgust at a pungent stink emanating from the back of the bridge, where the Science consoles were located. It didn't take her long to identify the source. Soon, she had something else to be disgusted by. Lieutenant Eastman might have refused him permission to leave, but it couldn't go on – the smell was distracting, and turned a tragic and serious situation into a pathetic farce. She couldn't pass it up the chain either; the senior officers had more important things to worry about than an incontinent cadet. The Bolian had to maintain smooth operation of the group. She crossed the aisle and rerouted Dihiq's sensor feed to Tactical, and hissed to him 'Go get yourself cleaned up, cadet.'

Bexx may well have thought that the Senior Officers had bigger fish to fry, and she might have even been right about the senior officers, but the Interim Acting Chief of Science was a capable micromanager with a mind too shaken to abide by the intrusion into her department's turf by a security non-com who probably didn't know an acid from a base without spilling it on flesh.
"Ms. Bexx, send for Ensign Ch'talrir to come up here and assume bridge duties. Transfer the feeds in time," Judy ordered the Bolian quietly, but with a clear underlying anger about the overstepping.
Judy then continued on to Dihiq, the pathetic failure of an intern she was saddled with. She motioned for him to follow her outside, then began to deingrate him in a quiet, murdering voice.
"Cadet, you have just brought a discredit not just upon yourself, not just upon your House, not just upon the Academy that trained you so poorly, and not just upon the department. You, in your imbecilic feat of unabashed stupidity, brought a discredit upon me for trusting you with bridge duties. This, I am not quick to forgive or forget"
Judy paused, and stared Dihiq right in the eyes. He turned his glance down to his toes.
"From now on, you will be spending your time atoning for this failure. Now, you will go and get changed, and then you will bring me a coffee wherever it is I am."
She looked at him one more time, then stepped into the turbolift. She said, "that's all", and took it down to the morgue.

Dihiq was rather confused by Judy's rant. Was she angry at him for trivializing a death, or for wetting himself? He understood that she expected him to work even harder, though, so he took the next lift to his quarters to get changed and get back to work.
[Morgue]
Judy walked into the morgue, and immediately recognized Crewman Samuel Law as his was the sole body. The crew, scared as they were of her, allowed her a little space for a moment. Judy neither cried, nor spoke, but just stood beside it in contemplative silence, examining the young crewman whose death she held herself responsible for.

[Avigail Soreka]

[Sickbay, USS Tempest]

Things had just started to settle down in Sickbay, down to managing the worst cases and patching up the best, while removing Law's body to the morgue, when the biobed holding the male Bolian patient began to beep alarmingly. The medic working with the protoplaster gave a shout. 'Doctor! His blood pressure's falling rapidly and he's tachycardic!' Rapid heart beat and low blood pressure indicated severe blood loss, and the Bolian's cobalt-based blue blood was still flowing freely from his wounds.

Avigail dropped a PADD on the bed one of the more minor cases she had under her care, everything the nurse said they did not have a lot of time to stabilize the patient. The alarm of the biobed was automatic and it could not be switched off, Avigail could feel the unease that it caused the other patients and medical staff. No one here wanted to watch a person die, Avigail least of all.

"You took an autophaser to the face, loss of blood means little to you." Avigail said as she checked his pupils, and his heart rate. The nurse was correct his heart rate was dangerously high even for a bolian, Avigail sighed as she cut his tunic off of his chest. Avigail thought she had accounted for all of the bolians wounds, but the symptoms were unmistakable. "He is going into hypovolemic shock, he needs a transfusion."

Avigail took her medical tricorder and typed the Bolians blood, "Nurse Sanchez please retrieve J positive blood from the stores, enough for a full transfusion!" Avigail said over her shoulder.

Avigail looked along the biobed and on the floor and there was no blood to be seen, in a case like this it meant the worst. The Bolian crewmen was bleeding internally, the likely cause would have been one of the phaser shot pinched a blood vessel closed the resulting pressure on a recent laceration caused a rupture. This was the secondary effect of a phaser on kill, what it didn't disintegrate it melted. "You have to find the rupture." Avigail said as she searched the bolian's chest looking for discoloration or swelling. That that giving no luck she laid him back down and activated the imaging of the biobed. "Come on damn you, I know you are there." Avigail whispered to herself frustrated. As she waited for some sign of the deadly wound she gave the patient 10cc of Lectrazine to take the strain off of his heart.

Nurse Sanchez arrived with the blood transfusion, she made her way to prep the procedure and waited for the word of the Doctor. The biobed scanned the body of the bolian, the rupture was found along the inferior vena cava. "There it is, the rupture is putting pressure on his heart and lungs, we have to do emergency surgery now or he will suffocate himself." Nurse help me put him on his side and get me a laser scalpel. The Nurses safely put the patient in position, Avigail put the instrument to a short beam setting. Delicately cutting she opened a wound on his back, a spray of blue blood covered her face and arms. While it was a danger the pressure in the chest cavity had to alleviate. Nurse Sanchez passed Avigail a Vascular regenerator, which she then used to repair the damage to the vein. The autosuture came next, to close her former entry point.

"Start the transfusion, keep scanning him for any more internal bleeding." Avigail ordered as she got the oxygen set up, it would be be a few days before he would be able to breathe unassisted. Avigal then looked to the readout screen of the biobed to see if the patient's vitals were returning to normal.

[Jada]

[Northern Canada, Earth]

"I apologise Chief, I'm used to flying drunk tourists around Risa's pleasure spots."

After a long and interrogating look, Jada finally accepted the apology, though without a lot of forgiveness. 'Okay.' Risa, huh? Did that make him Risan? The pleasure planet got so many tourists it was hard to know the native culture. She'd heard stories about their open sexuality, more so than even Orions. They preferred more innuendo and subtlety to boring explicitness.

"Sounds good to me... and sure you want some??" she gave Jada a look remembering the the conversation in the turbolift just before they came out...  "...knock yourself out if you're sure!"  she said snapping a bit off for herself then tossing the rest of the bar over.

Easily catching it, Jada chewed on the cool hunk of chocolate. The sweet taste filled her mouth, stimulated her digestive system, and spread a little warmth inside her. 'The effect is, mm, over-rated.' she clarified for Hrafn, though not without a wink.

Malik then tapped the commbadge.

"This is er, Chris to local rescue services. Our private shuttle has crash-landed enroute to Germany, er I mean a wedding! We require immediate evac, we're freezing to death out here. Locate 5 life signs out in the wilds of the North American continent."

He'd messed up, but hopefully it'd be enough. After a few moments the reply came in.

"This is local rescue services quadrant na01. We've located your life signs and are on the way. ETA 10 minutes, standby for further information."

"There we go." He began to rub his hands together near the hot rocks, his task complete.

Watching Grippen, Jada wondered how he'd fluffed it. Should she have waited until after to rebuke him? In any case, the hesitation could be read as shivering or pain, and the emergency services had bought it. Now they had to wait. She tugged her now-dry and satisfyingly warm pants, and then set to drying and warming her boots and socks. While she waited, she rubbed her hands, because the rest of her was starting to get cold again. 'Ten minutes. Anything we need to do or talk about until then?'

[Jada]

[Bridge, USS Tempest]

'Yes, ma'am.' Bexx acknowledged smoothly, not showing any reaction to Eastman's cold temper.

[Sickbay, USS Tempest]

Down in Sickbay, Eastman found the place bustling with urgent activity, with medical staff rushing to their tasks and the injured moaning in pain at their injuries. No one had time to pay her much attention, unless she got in the way. They had more important things to worry about.

Zoreka's surgery had been a success; she'd stopped the internal bleeding. However, her vascular regenerator struggled to patch the arteries, as blood continued to flow freely out. 'Doctor, look.' Sanchez directed Zoreka's attention to a puddle of already spilled blue blood. 'It's not clotting. There must be an anticoagulant in his bloodstream.'

[Avigail Soreka]

The nurse was correct while the blood from the incision she made had been in the open air far long enough that it should have congealed. This problem stemmed from just trauma, there was a vector of this puzzle that Avigail had not yet considered. The only thing that had not been investigated at this point was the weapons involved in the firefight themselves.
"Computer cross reference the weapons confiscated from the prisoners, with the database. Focus on weapons known to carry anticoagulants in their beams." The computer responded with a chime. "Three weapons confiscated are configurations known to carry anticoagulants in their plasma stream, a noted feature and tactic of Jem'Hadar disrupters."

"Nurse Sanchez, I want every single person shot today to be checked for this same compound, from top to bottom!" This could very well me more people in her care were in danger, Avigail would make sure no one else fell out. The problem now was how to counteract the anticoagulant, Avigail went into the stores and came out with a few vials, "This is TXA, it fell out of use in the past hundred years, but there was a time it was used before and during surgery. It should help the clotting process along and to hold. Until we can ensure the safety of the patients, I want each of them to be given a dose."

Sickbay to bridge, be advised for future incursions the prisoners are using rifles that carry anticoagulants in the plasma stream.

Avigail continued to personally monitor the vitals of the Bolian, seething at the fact such a horrible weapon was used.

[Judith Eastman]

[Corridor]
After a minute or so, Judy left so that the Starbase's undertakers could take care of Crewman Law. There were, perhaps, a few tears that would have liked to escape, but Judy wouldn't allow it. "If there's anyone who's entitled to weep, it's his family," she thought to herself as she advanced into the hallway.
There, Judy had the misfortune of encountering Cadet Dihiq.
Without her coffee.
In a skant.
She walked up to him and asked, "where's my coffee?"
Dihiq had forgotten all about the coffee in his excitement. He was rather proud of the sartorial choice of K'lizh's that he was emulating with this outfit. Hence, when Judy asked, he was taken aback. "Um, uh, I was going to, uh..." Dihiq stuttered and mumbled, trying to cover for his failure.
"No, Cadet, you weren't. Don't lie to me," Judy said in a steady but clearly angry tone that, combined with a drawn-out death glare, made the Cadet shrink a little. She went on. "I sent you to get coffee and get changed, and you've somehow found a way to severely botch both of those tasks. I'm amazed. You should win an award for wearing an outfit as impractical as it is hideous."
Dihiq interjected. "Well, um, that, uh..."
"Cadet, do we need to review parts of speech?" Judy cut him off. "That was not a question back there. That was a statement. You have the worst taste in clothing of the whole goddamn fleet, including the species who don't even wear clothes. Whatever it is you were smoking, it certainly gave high fashion a whole new meaning. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"About my skant?" Dihiq asked, using the name of the uniform to cement its realness in his own mind.
"About your behavior in general," Judy answered, not giving a damn what the uniform was called.
"I'm sorry," Dihiq hesitantly told her.
"Sorry don't cut it, Mr. Dick" Judy replied, exactly as Dihiq feared she might.
After letting the pathetic Cadet stew in his juices for a bit, Judy announced, "I'm off to the bridge. Get me my all-weather coat and my spare glasses there, and don't screw it up."
Judy turned sharply away from Dihiq and marched to the turbolift, to signal that the conversation was over. The Cadet, feeling a little more self-conscious about his appearance now, walked in the opposite direction.

[Bridge]
When Judy arrived on the bridge, coffee in hand, she could very faintly smell some of the cleaning materials used to get rid of Dihiq's urine. She also saw the Andorian Ensign she had ordered here sitting at Sciences III. The only other change on the bridge was Dihiq, a standard-issue black trench coat draped neatly over his right arm, and a glasses case in his left.
Judy snatched the latter item from the Cadet, sat down at Sciences I, dismissed ch'Talrir with a polite "enjoy your shore leave," put on the glasses (the gold, half-rimmed, oval specs flattered her face, in addition to enabling her to read the small lettering of the console just as effectively as a younger officer), and left Dihiq to awkwardly stand behind her with the coat.
After briefly examining the sensor readings (apparently the thugs were still there), Judy turned around and asked the assembled officers: "well, what's our plan?"

[Malik Grippen]

[Northern Canada]

"Brilliant!  And some day maybe you could take me round Risa show me the non-tourist bits... not that I've ever seen the tourist bits either!  Deal?"

Malik declined the offer of chocolate, the food that humans seemed to be so fond of despite its obvious detriments to health. A human cadet friend of his had once described it as 'comfort food'. Malik would much prefer a Nausicaan Firewine right now. "It would be my pleasure to, lieutenant. There is much more to Risa than the hustle and bustle of the tourist centres, particularly in the ancient settlements of our old culture."

Watching Grippen, Jada wondered how he'd fluffed it. Should she have waited until after to rebuke him? In any case, the hesitation could be read as shivering or pain, and the emergency services had bought it. Now they had to wait. She tugged her now-dry and satisfyingly warm pants, and then set to drying and warming her boots and socks. While she waited, she rubbed her hands, because the rest of her was starting to get cold again. 'Ten minutes. Anything we need to do or talk about until then?'

Malik looked sheepishly at Jada, he definitely wasn't making a good impression on the chief. But at least the executive officer wasn't conscious to see his ineptitude first hand. As if on queue to save the ensign further embarressment, the hum of a shuttle's impulse engines could be heard in the distant white sky. "It would seem that help has arrived." The evacuation shuttle popped out of a cloud and began its descent towards the quintet. It looked like they wouldn't be turned into freezer pops after all.