Taking Care of Tate

Posted on Tue Jan 5th, 2016 @ 6:44pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga (Hel) Lowe & Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate & Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani M.D. & Jethro Vance

859 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Of Gods and Men

ON

Jennifer had been taken into sickbay after having fallen unconscious in the Captain's ready room. Her body would not allow her to awaken without assistance from medicine. She had not slept in nearly twenty eight hours.

Helga stopped by the biobed to check on Jennifer's vitals and make sure she was sleeping peacefully. "Poor dear," she said quietly before moving on to the next patient.

Drani kept to her word as she watched Tate rest from across Sickbay, even though her shift was coming to a close, she would not leave Tate's side, and felt more than heard Nurse Helga's comment. She had said her attacker had been in the computer but how was that possible? Was her attacker a hologram? She had heard of instances where holograms developed sentience but they needed an emitter, correct? Her mind then went to the emitters in Sickbay used for the EMH. No, she was being paranoid...or was she? Could the attacker also be a non-corporeal being? If the being was somehow energy based, that would allow her to travel and hide in the computers. Drani's mind continued to race as she watched the woman rest.

Jethro Vance entered sickbay walking into the room with a purposeful presence. "Commander Tate?" He called out.

Helga walked into the reception area. "She's in the back, sleeping. Are you a friend of hers?" she asked.

"Colleague. What happened?" Jethro asked the nurse.

"She was attacked in her quarters by a female. Security and Intel are investigating and the poor thing is sleeping," Helga replied. "Come this way and I will take you to her."

Helga led Jethro to a back room where Victoria watched over Jennifer.

Victoria looked at the man enter escorted by Helga. She stood and approached the man. "Greetings. Nurse, who is this?"

"Jethro Vance. I work with Commander Tate. How is she?" Jethro said to the doctor whom had just entered.

"He is listed as the next of kin in her personnel file," Helga added for Victoria's benefit. She recognized the man's name and did a quick check.

Drani nodded and smiled. "Ah, very well. She is still resting . Physically she is fine but mentally she is understandably scared. I'll give you some privacy. I'll be in my office if you need me," she said, moving towards her office.

Vance turned to Helga. "Who is the female attacker?" He asked. As the doctor had entered he suddenly came to an eerie conclusion which he had hoped was simply a mistake. Sadly, Jethro's instincts had become quite keen over the years and very rarely led him awry.

Helga pulled out her PADD and looked up the medical report. "A woman entered Commander Tate's quarters, made unwelcome advances, then told her to run to the bridge and warn the Commodore or people would die. She does not know who her attacker was, but she did say something about the computer."

"What about the computer?" Jethro continued with his questioning.

"The person used the computer to get into her quarters and left by using some computer subroutine so we do not know who it was," Helga replied. "Anything else you will need to ask security."

The last thing Jennifer was checking into was an intrusion into one of the systems subroutines.Jethro thought to himself placing his hand on his chin momentarily. "Thank you Nurse. I'd like to just quickly check in on her, I'd like to see her for myself."

From her office, Drani couldn't help but sense Jethro's thoughts as she reviewed the day's visits to Medical. The idea that there was possibly an unknown intruder aboard made her nervous.

jethro entered the private room where Jennifer was quietly resting. She looked peaceful in her sleep, hands folded on her chest as her breathing was steady and relaxed. He walked towards her bed, smiling as he took his hand and gently brushed her hair to the side.

"What have I done?" he asked her softly in a tone only he could hear. He was now taking great care to close his thoughts should anyone around have the ability to pick up on them. Years of training in the intelligence branch had given him such a gift, but now he wondered if it was only his thoughts he was closing.

He began to look over her for any signs of physical harm. It seemed as though Morat had only sought to attack her mind this time. Her twisted perversion was most likely a slight at the working relationship he and Tate shared. He knew right away, Morat only attacked Tate because of him, his connection. With Amarylis secured and recovering she had no other option. He wondered how far she would go, how far would he have to go?

He decided to take a seat beside her and remain in the room for a few moments. This peace, it wouldn't last. The moment Jennifer woke up the cycle would begin again, but for now. That wasn't a problem now.

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate
Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Victoria Drani
Chief Medical Officer

MCPO Helga Lowe
Nurse

Jethro Vance
Visitor

 

RSS Feed