The Cadet's Deed

Posted on 23 Jun 2015 @ 4:42am by Ensign Elisha Cherno & Lieutenant JG Perei

1,071 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Answers
Location: science dept.

Elisha hurried on her way to her duty shift. She was going to be early, but that was okay. She had only just remembered that she and Quinn had left that canister in the quarantine area and she supposed the chief wouldn't like it to stay there forever. In fact, she had a feeling she might be in trouble if they found out she had been the one to leave it there.

She hurried into the science department and was horrified to see people standing around the quarantine area. She froze, not knowing what to do next.

Perei glanced around. There were far too many people here for her liking. She preferred quiet when she worked. She saw one of the Cadet's and offered her a smile. "Are you finding the Hawk? to your liking?"

"I didn't- I mean... yeah," stammered Elisha. "Yeah, it's nice." She glanced at the quarantine area. "What- ah, what is going on over there?" she asked nervously.

"Someone found something that was apparently part of the takeover. We are not quite yet sure who left it, or what it is yet" Perei replied her blue eyes watched the Cadet and wondered why she was so nervous. She of all people was the least of the Cadet's worries. "Did you find yourself in a safe location when the Syndicate tried to commandeer the ship?"

"I... hid in a closet," answered Cherno. "By myself. Um... so... what- what's in it?" she asked, nodding to the quarantine area.

"Not quite sure, actually," Perei replied "Would you like to assist with finding out?"

"O- okay," stammered Elisha, heading over to look through the window. There lay the canister, exactly where she and Quinn had left it. "Does anyone know where it came from?" she asked, trying to look innocent.

"No, none that I know of and it is not believed that the camera's caught anything either before they were disabled. But the Syndicate must have had a plan for it for it to be left here." Perei replied quietly "So, it is most logical to believe that they never got around to its use or were interrupted prior to its use. But grab an end and we can set it up in the lab and run some scans." The dark haired woman smiled then.

While the two lifted the container and moved it to one of the labs Perei queried "What made you chose the field of science and do you plan to specialize in a particular field of study?"

"Science seems safe," Elisha replied. "Or it did at one point. I really like entomology. I've always liked bugs. Though, I understand there's not really a lot of use for Entomologists in Starfleet. It could be a tough specialty to get into."

"Science is safe. I guess I have not heard that one before. I would say science is never dull. As for bugs as you called them. They exist in everything, from our bodies to environments. So do not dismiss that choice too lightly. In the one of the time periods of Terra, there was known to be a particular group of humanoids that actually worshiped a Khepri a type of beetle," Perei stated quietly.

Elisha grinned, forgetting her worry for a moment. "Worshiped!" she exclaimed. "There's a new one."

They entered one of the labs and placed the canister on the table. "Grab a tricorder and let's scan this first and then we'll go from there," Perei replied as she set one of the computers up to handle the data. The lab they were in was one of the few that was operational and it could be seen people milled around everywhere with their own research.

Elisha grabbed a tricorder and began scanning it immediately, already knowing what they would find. "There's a residue inside," she said. "It's Phencyclidine cut with nitrous oxide. It's been known to induce hallucinations and paranoia. It seems like most of it is gone. The quarantine area must have vented it automatically."

Perei raised an eyebrow for a split second and then relaxed it. "The syndicate is quite, how should I put it, ingenious. It, however, might have backfired on them."

Elisha nodded. "If they had inhaled it, they'd have been just as crazy as the rest of us would have been," she said.

Perei laughed slightly "In some cases there may have been no noticeable difference. Well, since we know what it is and that it's not going to bother anyone lets file the report and label this what it is and I'll have security come and handle the rest. How does that sound?"

Elisha breathed a sigh of relief and allowed herself a small grin. Since it didn't seem like there was any chance of her getting in trouble for it, she took one small step closer to the older woman. "I have a confession," she said sheepishly.

Perei glanced at the Cadet, soon to be officer if she had anything to say about it. The woman appeared very leveled headed. "What would need to be confessed?" She queried in a tone of semi-curiosity.

After checking that nobody was listening in, she said quietly, "Cadet Mackie and I found this attached to the environmental systems about two hours after the power went out. He disconnected it, but it started beeping, so we dumped it in here."

Perei paused and said nothing for a long moment as she picked trough her brain to find the correct words. To her, it was an illogical thing to do. "Why go through the whole charade of implied words if you placed it here? More then that you and Cadet Mackie could have been seriously injured."

Elisha shrugged sheepishly. "I thought I'd be in trouble," she said with a grin. "Silly. Isn't it?" she added, sobering suddenly.

"Quite silly as you say,. Indeed quite silly." Perei then went on to explain to use it a opportunity to teach and not to be reprimanded. Mostly because she thought like before that the Cadet had a bright future ahead of her and Perei would love to continue to serve with her here or elsewhere. "Please remember, safety first, always. ok?"She smiled then.

"Absolutely," said Elisha, half sober and half grinning. "Safety first!"

Perei smiled back and started to clean the lab and the container up. Filed her notes for her report.

RSS Feed