A Wild Walsh

Posted on 14 May 2016 @ 6:09am by Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper

3,357 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: USS Black Hawk
Timeline: MD-8

“It’s not your fault, buddy. It’s…not…your…fault…” Terry watched again as the warp core slowly exploded on Mark’s fighter. This time, though he was sure he could see Mark’s face. It held an expression of terror mingled with sorrow. “It’s not your fault, buddy.” As always, the explosion rocked his fighter and he passed out. Only this time when he woke up, he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

Terry slowly opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. It was like any other ceiling on a starship, but it looked more like a Sickbay. He rolled his head to the side and saw other bodies on other beds. It was then that he realized that this Sickbay was not on the USS Saratoga. What he saw caused his heart to begin beating faster. What he saw caused his breaths to come deeper and more controlled. What he saw was a room filled with Jem’Hadar.

He discreetly looked around for something to use as a weapon and saw an assortment of medical instruments on a nearby table, one being a subdermal scalpel. At least that’s what he thought it was. It wouldn’t break a Jem’Hadar’s tough skin, but he could cause a crap-load of internal damage with it. Now he needed to escape whatever the hell this place was and then find a fighter bay.

He quietly slid off the biobed and ducked under it, making his way out of that area and into the main Sickbay. So far, so good. Then a small statured soldier walked right by him, coughing, and saw him. Terry immediately grabbed him. He wrapped his muscled left arm around the soldier’s throat, effectively placing his windpipe in the crook of his arm and pinching the ketracel white tube. Terry’s bicep and forearm was on each side of her neck. He then placed his right arm behind the soldier’s neck and grabbed his own left shoulder. He then grabbed his right arm’s bicep with his left arm and started squeezing. The soldier went limp and Terry quietly slipped him under a biobed.

After that, he and his subdermal scalpel made it to Main Sickbay. He was almost out the doors when they opened and another Jem’Hadar soldier nearly knocked him down. Terry immediately jumped and grabbed him, but not before he could alert his Security department. “Ensign Kraul to Security! Sickbay immediately!”

Terry punched him in the nose as hard as his adrenaline fueled rage could. Then grabbed him. “I am Lieutenant Terry Walsh, Starfleet Marine Corp! Make one move and I kill this Jem’Hadar scum!” he yelled. Then he dragged his hostage out the doors and down the corridor.

Camila had been doing a patrol of the ship due to all the unusual things which had been happening lately and when the call to Sickbay came over her combadge, she immediately turned her leisurely stroll into a full out run. The new belt that Lieutenant Cooper had designed jolted against her hip with everything that it had in it and she made a note to find a way to make it more secure.

She dove into a turbolift and barely waited for the doors to close. "Security override to Sickbay!" she ordered the computer which would cause it to go straight there without stops. The turbolift dropped and shot to the destination nearly twice as fast as normal and she was nearly lifted off of her feet before it came to a stop again. She drew her Type II phaser and checked to make sure it was on a light stun setting, then exited the turbolift and ran down the hall to where she saw that it was Commander Walsh.

"Terry!" she called out when she saw he had a hostage. "Release Ensign Kraul immediately!" she ordered him while she waited for other Security personnel to show up. She couldn't take the risk of a shot with the crazed Commander holding a hostage, but she could try to talk him down.

Cooper heard the call and grabbed her belt attaching it as she burst into action from the security office and booked like an angry bee in a blur of yellow and black, her belt on her waist with the items secured reasonably tightly. Not surprising since she'd had plenty of practice with it even though it did jingle a little, hard to avoid completely. She took a turbolift and then buzzed in place as it zoomed on an override to the location. She took off as soon as the doors opened. Her pony tail flying behind her as she ran. She skidded to a halt near Lt. Pasquele and Lt. Commander Walsh then drew her phaser, glancing at her Chief for instructions thinking if Lt. Walsh was the problem it'd be easier to stun them both but maybe not the best way to handle this.

Terry put his back against the bulkhead of the corridor. “Lieutenant Terry Walsh, Starfleet Marine Corp!” he yelled again. “Put down those damn phasers or I swear to all the gods in this universe that I will activate this subdermal scalpel right against this Jem’Hadar’s head!” He yelled. There may have been Starfleet officers in front him, but he couldn’t tell. All that Terry Walsh was able to see was Jem’Hadar soldiers. “Then I’ll rip those ketracel white tubes right out of your filthy necks!”

"Terry...Jem'Hadar don't use phasers," Camila said calmly. "They use plasma rifles." She pointed the phaser at the ceiling. "This isn't a plasma rifle. Calm down, Lieutenant, you're very sick right now." She motioned for Cooper to move to the left so he couldn't get past both of them. "Leave and get a transport into Medical" she mumbled towards Cooper.

Cooper didn't reply but started backing away slowly and non threateningly. Then as soon as she was around the corner she site to sited to sickbay.

“Don’t you think I know that! Probably got ‘em off the bodies of the my fellow Marines that you slaughtered!” he yelled. Don’t listen to them, hissed a voice in his head. Just try to get away. You’re a prisoner. What does a prisoner do when they are captured by the enemy? “I know what to do when you’re captured by the enemy! Escape! Now get out of my head!”

Cooper left sickbay and inched down the hall her weapon out. She stayed far from Walsh but kept one eye on his hands and one on her Chief waiting with a stillness that seemed at odds with her normal mode of operation but it was just a refocusing of all that intensity.

"Look....what if I exchange myself for your hostage?" Camila ask as she knelt down and put her phaser on the floor and scooted it away from her to the left. "See? I'm not armed now. Would a Jem'Hadar do that?"

Terry paused for a second. “I…I don’t know.” He watched as she pushed her weapon off to the side. “Could be some kind of Dominion trick for all I know. But this one’s bleeding and injured, makes a better hostage, you know. Less of chance of fighting back if they’re in severe pain. And you look pretty healthy to me. Now…get outta my way!” He starting backing down the corridor, unaware of the other security officer that had disappeared earlier.

Cooper glanced at Camilia not wanting to ruin any plan her Chief had but she had a hair trigger on her phaser if he noticed her or if his hand so much as twitched she would drop him but the aim would have to be careful.

"What do you want, Lieutenant?" Camila asked as she took a step forward for every step he took back. She looked at Cooper and raised her empty right hand to her neck and acted like she was pressing something, then let it drop again. "We can talk, Lieutenant. Let the officer go and no harm will come to you."

“I want…I want out of here! I want…out of this!” He wasn’t sure what he wanted now. He’d had a plan before, but now, it didn’t make sense.

Here he was in the corridor with no place to go and, really, no place to run. Two armed Jem’Hadar soldiers had him backed up against a wall, even though he was inching his way down the corridor. He only had one hostage and medical tool as a weapon. Then suddenly queasiness and light-headedness hit him. To catch himself and keep from falling, he had to let go of something. And it ended up being both his hostage and the subdermal scalpel. Terry leaned back against the wall, trying to recover. As was normal for him, he put his hand to his head. Only this time, he felt something he had never felt before. He looked at his hands, then his arms, and screamed. “They turned me into one of them! I’m a Jem’Hadar! Noooo!”

He stumbled to the side, hands on his face. “What did they do to me?! What’s going to happen to me now? I can never go back to Starfleet! I can never go home! HOME!” he yelled. He shook his head, hands still covering his face. “No good, I’m no good to anyone anymore. I’m just a…just a…I’m not human, I’m not anything.” Then he looked up at the two Jem’Hadar with weapons. “Shoot. Shoot me! I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life as one of you! Shoot! Kill me now!”

Cooper nodded and put her phaser away drawing her hypo and moved slowly toward Walsh then as he pushed his hostage away, who seemed unhurt really, and began to yell she moved swiftly and tapped the hypo to his neck and then just held him as the drug took effect. She looked at her Chief as she checked him for injuries before gently lowering him to the deck, her eyes were saddened at Walsh's obvious deep, emotional pain before the smiling mask was back, "This is going to be a long night, I may need less caffeine.." before ordering a site to site for him to sickbay.

"Belay the transport," Camila ordered. "Sickbay is two doors away." She moved up to take Commander Walsh's feet. "If you can get his shoulders, we can get him in there. I really hope that whatever is doing this to him and others gets cured soon. I'm getting bruised and battered left, right and center."

"Thanks Chief, He's a moose man and make no mistake..." She said meaning his height and build, she could carry him but having an faster option she went for that instead. It was sort of a default, her mind focused with getting him back to sickbay soonest. Sometimes her quick mind wasn't always right and she made a mental note to keep an eye on her Chief, for input. After she had spoken she picked up his shoulders and they moved him carefully down the hall to sickbay and laid him back on his biobed.

Once Camila and Cooper got him onto the biobed, she tapped her combadge. =^=I need a Security officer to medical.=^= She received acknowledgement that one was on the way and then looked at Cooper. "If you have extra energy, I could use some about now. Either that or some really strong Rakajino."

Terry kept watching and listening. But he didn’t care, not anymore. The two Jem’Hadar carried him back to the labs. And now he looked like one of them. There was nothing for him. His eyes betrayed the deep pain and sadness he was experiencing. His countenance fell as they placed him back on the biobed. He took a deep breath and just lay there. Let them do whatever they want, he thought. He rolled his head to look at the soldier who had carried him by the shoulders. Then he turned away, looking at the other one. He sighed and looked at the ceiling. Nothing. He closed his eyes and wished for darkness. Complete. Utter. Darkness.

Camila nodded to the Security officer who came in and made a schedule to rotate him out with another every four hours, then went over to where Commander Walsh lay on the biobed. "It's going to be okay, Commander," she assured him quietly. "We're going to get a cure for this virus and you'll be back to yourself and training with me in Security again. I thought you did rather well when you came the first time and I'm looking forward to seeing you improve when you come back again."

Terry breathed deeply and felt his chest rise and fall. “Virus,” he said slowly and sadly. “Whatever.” He still had his eyes closed for he had no desire to look upon himself or his captors. “Commander, huh. And training in Security. I thought I was a Lieutenant and a Starfleet Marine pilot. Guess the Dominion plans on promoting me, then.”

"You're on the USS Black Hawk and you're the Commander of the 325th "Black Knights" Starfighter Squadron," Camila told him. "You got sick on Yolvanda II and you're in Sickbay on the Black Hawk." She wished she knew more of his history and how he went from being a Marine to being a Starfleet officer, but she would work with what she knew.

Cooper quietly tapped a few keys and handed a pads to Camilia with Walsh's personnel record on it. She stood nearby ready to help, her energy pulled inward, giving a sense as stillness as her mind whirled.

“Black Hawk and ‘Black Knights’ and Yolvanda II…none of it makes any sense. Why are you trying to confuse me?” He was subdued, unable to move. And even if he could, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Nothing was right. Everything he was being told sounded unreal, like a dream. It didn’t match with what he saw earlier.

Camila took the PADD from Cooper. "Thank you," she told her before she looked back at the Commander. "You resigned from the Marines three years ago after you had a family emergency. Two years later, you joined Starfleet as a pilot at the loss of rank and was later promoted to the USS Black Hawk. Does any of this sound familiar, Terry?" she asked.

Terry thought about the words he had just heard. Resigned from the Marines, family emergency, joined Starfleet…family emergency…loss of rank and later promoted…family emergency. Family emergency. Terry still had his eyes closed, but for a different reason now. A tear seeped from each eye and ran down the side of his head, followed by another. “Dad.”

Camila nodded. "Three years ago, Terry," she told him softly. "You went home to take care of your mother and joined Starfleet two years later."

He didn’t want to open his eyes, but the memories, the images, of the funeral, his mother came flooding back and he couldn’t take it any longer. He opened his eyes and the sadness flowed. He looked at the brunette standing over him, then turned to see the blonde on the other side. "Ca...Lieutenant Di Pasquale, what…what did I do?”

"You, ah...got a little frisky," Camila said as she reached to take one of his hands. "But it's okay now." Unless Ensign Kraul wants to make a claim, which won't hold up in light of the fact that you're sick, she mentally added. "And you can call me Camila if you want, Terry."

Even in the midst of tears, emotional pain, and physical pain, Terry managed a chuckle. “Frisky, eh.” He felt her touch his hand. "Thanks, Camila.” He took a deep breath. “Man, I feel like I’ve just went hand-to-hand with a Klingon and a Nausicaaan.” Not to mention the thoughts that are going through my head right now, he thought. "Seriously though, what happened?" He looked back to the brunette.

Cooper's monkey mind focused on how to say it delicately, it had been a serious situation but there was nothing to be gained by painting it in blacks. "Well You reacted well with your training, believing you were on an enemy vessel you tried to escape. Apparently I make one heck of a Jem'Hadar" she smiled and struck a pose, then grew serious, "No one was seriously hurt though.." She glanced at the Ensign who had been a hostage and was getting treatment for his cut, as he glanced over. Cooper glanced at him with a look that said 'you're not seriously hurt, he's impaired so don't be a baby'. Then she continued at Terry, "So I don't know if you want to be happy about your lack of effectiveness or disappointed, I'd go with happy..." She said stepping closer and patting his arm sympathetically. "ooh maybe subconsciousnessly you knew what the score was and were trying not to unleash your full awesomeness...let's go with that." She said trying to make him feel better.

Terry was glad to hear that his training was the first thing he went to when he lost his mind. He even grinned as the Lieutenant struck a pose after her comment. But Jem’Hadar…there was only one period of time that he could have gone back to and one person that would have drawn him there.

“I like that, happy and restraint in my full awesomeness,” he said. “I’m glad no one was seriously hurt, but it sounds like I did hurt someone. Tell him I’m sorry.” He felt like he was going to be saying that a lot over the course of the next few months. First came the sickness, then the nightmares of that fateful day, then the voices in his head, then the hallucinations that he couldn’t remember, and finally the emotions that he had long buried regarding the deaths of Mark Shelby and his father. Yeah, it was gonna take a while.

Camila's heart gave a little when she saw the look on his face and she didn't have to be empathic to know what he was going through. She had heard it from Temerant about how he was being controlled by the Consortium when she had talked to him in this very sickbay not long before. "If you need to talk, Terry, my door is open to you," she said. "I have a friend who went through something similar and getting it off of his chest helped."

He looked over at Camila. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll keep it in mind. We’ll have to see what happens, though. I get pretty busy with the squadron and all. Getting back out there and into the swing of things might help, too.” That was how he had dealt with things like this in the past, and how he planned on dealing with them this time. But maybe Camila was on to something. Maybe talking about it with someone would really help. He’d have to give that one more thought.

Speaking of thoughts, he looked back to the other Security officer. “Wait, it wasn’t you or your Chief that I hurt, was it?” he asked. “Because if it was, I’m really sorry. You all looked like Jem’Hadar to me.”

"You didn't hurt either of us," Camila answered. "For now, though, you should try to get some rest if you're able. We'll be a call away if you need us." She nodded to Cooper.

Cooper nodded as well in agreement, "No harm, no foul, you get some rest eh?"

Terry closed his eyes, knowing that sleep would never come, and tried to at least rest.

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