By Keiran O'Sullivan
80526.12
Hours after Condition: Critical and concurrent with the end of Save Mim
-=Medical Center, Tower City Complex, Stra II=-
80526.12
Hours after Condition: Critical and concurrent with the end of Save Mim
-=Medical Center, Tower City Complex, Stra II=-
Keiran wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his tunic. For hours, they had been working in the increasingly heated environment; under pressure as well as subject to rising physical temperatures around them.
As Salvek, Hok and Cristiane had continued working with General Dret, working as fast as they could to allocate troops to wherever trouble was threatening to spring up. As time wore on, they found that they were facing many more hotspots outside the hospital than the troops on hand were going to be able to contain for much longer.
Keiran, for his part, had been acting as personal security for Dr. Breaux as he moved from ward to ward, trying to assess patients and figure a way to stave off the pangs of withdrawal that so many of them were suffering so badly from.
Keiran observed Breaux as he worked, standing watch as the physician conferred with the Strasa medical staff. How different he seemed to be as he went about his duties, a perfect photo negative of the man Keiran had spent so much time investigating and chasing all over Earth.
Keiran wondered how two sides of the same man could be so different, but then he remembered that when he looked in the mirror, he saw a man staring back at him that was so deeply divided into fragments, he didn't even begin to know how to reassemble them into a whole.
*Judge not. . .* he thought, repeating the Bible admonition made to him so often during his troubled youth.
The local doctors themselves were suffering too, it seemed. While not as badly as those in their charge, they were suffering still.
After observing the way that different individuals they had met were effected by the information outage and asking questions along the way, Breaux and O'Sullivan had individually come to the same conclusion- and finally Avery spoke to Keiran as they prepared to move on to the next ward- pediatrics.
"It seems that people have varying levels of addiction going on here," Breaux announced. "They call it 'The Wire," his eyes were troubled, and his feet dragged a little as exhaustion began to take its toll. They'd been here for what seemed forever at this point, without the ability to contact the ship, or the other Away Teams.
"It seems to me that those with more. . .professional jobs assigned to them by birthright are less addicted than those whose lineage assigns them to more. . ." he stopped.
"More menial work?" Keiran sputtered. He came from a humble, working class family. His father had worked the shipyards all his life, and Keiran had joined Starfleet to pursue what he considered as a boy to be a brighter future than the one he would have if followed in his father's footsteps. "I noticed that too. Those who perform the everyday, low wage positions are kept in line by the control the upper echelon exerts over the feed to their wires."
"Exactly," Breaux concluded sadly. He moved through the doors of the pediatric ward and saw that there were a group of children who did not yet have the telltale blinking blue light that appeared as a small blue dot illuminating beneath their skin at intervals. He moved toward the tallest one, who couldn't have been a day older than four.
"How are you feeling, my young friend?" Avery offered a smile to the child.
"I feel fine. Can't I go home? I don't want to be here any more. I'm not even sick."
"Why are you here?"
"To get my Wire." The boy replied innocently.
Avery's stomach clenched, and he fought the sensation of nausea that made him want to gag. He turned to O'Sullivan and swore, for a moment, he saw tears welling in the burly Irishman's eyes.
"Gods," Avery breathed, "what have these people done?"
Suddenly Keiran heard someone call his name, and he turned to see Dane running toward them as fast as he could go.
"Problem!" Dane declared as he skidded to a stop. "Commander Salvek wants to talk to you right away, Sir."
"What's wrong?"
"They've lost control of the line out front," Dane said, pale and sick at the thought. "They're coming in."
All three men hurried back to the command station, where they found a terrified looking Dret in an animated discussion with Salvek.
"I'm sorry, Commander. I was only following orders." Dret insisted. "I regret that you are now in this position, but there is little I can do for you other than show you the tunnels and send you on your way."
"What's happening?" Keiran asked Salvek.
"It seems that we have been prevented by General Dret from receiving communications from not only the Serendipity but also our fellow Away Teams for the past several hours," Salvek responded, clearly displeased. "It seems that the Captain has recalled all teams to the ship as Overseer Lank refused to cooperate with her, and there was some kind of incident involving one of the delegation which happened aboard the Serendipity hours ago. We have been isolated, and used, by the Strasa even though they outwardly demanded we leave."
Salvek glared at Dret, who looked away in disgrace. "Now, the troops have lost control of the crowds out front and they are breaching the perimeter."
"What about the patients? The children!" Breaux jumped into the fray, outraged. "We can't leave them here,"
"We will not leave them here." Salvek decided, his paternal instincts and his logic in full agreement with the doctor. "Neither will I leave until I know what has become of my wife. The rest of you, however," Salvek glanced at O'Sullivan and Breaux in turn.
Both men had their own brand of respect for Lair, as well as for each member of the team she was assigned to.
Breaux and Dengar were great friends, and O'Sullivan had developed a soft spot for the female Trill, even if her husband was a bit of a. . .
"We go where you go." Avery spoke up, and Keiran nodded slowly in agreement.
"Aye," Added Dane and Hok.
"Very well. We remain together as a team." Salvek turned back to Dret. "Where can we take the children?"
"There are safe rooms, down in the tunnels, I can take you there, then show you where they connect through the system to the engineering buildings. . ." Dret offered softly, clearly defeated.
"Then let's get going," Keiran implored, as he kept gazing anxiously at the surveillance displays which showed the crowds advancing on the fenced-in facility with frightening speed fueled by the destructive power of their addiction.
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Lt. Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Chief of Security
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Lt. Commander Keiran O'Sullivan
Chief of Security
USS Serendipity NCC-2012