Out and About

Posted on Sun Jan 23rd, 2011 @ 3:47pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Mantell & Adam Parker

Mission: Hippocratic Hijacking
Location: Various
Timeline: One hour after 'Getting down to Business'

Captain Nathan Cowell entered the Transporter Room that had been designated by his Operations Chief, Petty Officer Sweeney in tow, outfitted with a long jacket that was reminiscent of a Chief Medical Officer's coat, though his was dark crimson rather than blue, and the shoulders matched the uniform shoulder pads of his overcoat.

"Ready to go, boys?" Cowell asked the group of people in the transporter room, chief among them was Lieutenant Commander Mantell.

Nodding, the boy Lieutenant Commander chirped in affirmation, "I think we are, Captain."

"Good, mount up and let's get this horse a'galloping," Nathan said as he clamored up the steps of the transporter pad.

Turning about, Doc Cowell nodded to the Chief Petty Officer, Mr. Merriweather. He had been another hold over from his last command, though his transfer hadn't been anything like that of Lt. Marion's. It was simply his time to move on and he just coincidentally ended up on the Arizona. Happenstance aside, it was always good to see a familiar face. The man nodded back and began the 'laborious' task of setting the coordinates for the transport and pushing three slide controls up and back down, facilitating their transport to the planet. The blue white haze enveloped their view, shifting it from the interior of the Arizona to the exterior plaza outside of the Colonial Administration Building.

The sun had just made its transitional course from below the horizon, and as such the shadows of the morning were cast about the large, decorative square in such a way as not to obscure the view but to somehow highlight the shaped and angles of the buildings, kiosks and the like that were scattered about the away team's view. The entire scene might have been beautiful, if not out right impressive... if Nathan were even paying it any attention. Trouble was, he wasn't...

"Alright people, let's branch off and take care of our respective business ventures. Unless something earth shattering happens to anyone out here, plan to be back in this square in about an hour or so. And try not to buy everything you see, this isn't a sight seeing tour..." the Captain said, not bothering to look at anyone in particular as he started off toward the building where his meeting was set to take place in.

Upon entering the building proper Nathan and Jack were met by two of the building's inhabitants, both looking as if it were their job to escort people that either didn't belong or might have the notion to wonder off the intended path. Silently and in concert the two men motioned toward the lone lift that occupied the center of the large and fairly ornate lobby. While it was obvious where the two of them wanted the Starfleet Officers to go, Nathan didn't feel like making life that easy for anyone.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to point. You need to use your words like big boy thugs," Cowell said with a frown.

The two Nathan had labeled 'thugs' looked at one another with expressions that spoke nothing of their enjoyment of such utterances by someone they considered a crusty, dusty old man with very little in the way of backing for his big mouth. When they turned back with scowls, Nathan could see they weren't about to be cordial about his ribbing. They did not, however, vocalize their unhappiness at the situation, which just inflamed the Captain's ire.

"I don't understand frown face language, boys. If that's all you can do, I'm going to need an interpreter to understand you. I hope you have a sour puss to English translator on duty, would be a shame to have people with obvious handicaps in the interpersonal world running about without someone to help you poor sacks..." Cowell said with a straight face.

'Thug #1', as Nathan had designated in his head, growled at the comment and went so far as to grab the Captain by the fringe of his coat in anger. Nathan returned the frown with a malicious kind of smirk that caught the man off guard, and such a diversion was more than enough time for Nathan to produce the hidden hypo-injector he carried in the pocket of his coat and apply a generous helping of an anesthetic to the man's tree trunk-like neck. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped like a hot rock onto the floor, his hand not letting go of Nathan's jacket until it had made it all the way to the bottom seam that was just barely skirting the ground. 'Thug #2' was too shocked to do anything but stare as Nathan straightened his jacket and stepped over the lump of flesh on the floor on his way toward the lift.

The Miran boy observed the brief scuffle with part amusement and part surprise. The child part of himself was satisfied that the 'thugs' had received their dues. After all, they had tried to pick a fight with Starfleet officers. The other part of Jack, the part that had been in Starfleet for decades, was taken aback by his captain's quick dispatch of the 'thug' and the manner in which he had done so. It seemed something out of an old film movie or a quaint holonovel than something right before his eyes. Blinking in amazement, the boy realized he was falling behind and jumped over the prone body to catch up.

Nathan mounted the lift, his First Officer right behind him, and pressed the command that would motivate the device to carry them to the floor in which the Administrator kept his office. The ride lasted a grand total of twenty-eight seconds before the doors parted again to reveal a brand new floor, completely devoid of thugs to impede progress. The two men left the lift behind and traversed the red carpet lined corridor until they found themselves in a small antechamber complete with waiting chairs, a small table with decorations and PADDs scattered about for a waiting party's reading pleasure, as well as various pictures that were most likely donated works by local artists. The most dominating piece of furnishing was the desk sitting just off to the left of the entrance to the office before them. The most dominating presence in the room was that of a very well endowed woman with what could only be defined as the look of someone scared out of her wits to see them.

"Captain... I didn't expect you to be here this early," the woman said nervously, her eyes darting back and forth slightly in an obvious attempt to compose a viable explanation/excuse for her previous comment.

Ms. Keller settled on, "If I had known you would be here so soon I would have already prepared refreshments. You must think me a poor hostess."

"Not at all, I wouldn't have had anything anyway. Haven't had my morning constitutional and drinking coffee or tea would just set me up for failure. Is your boss in?" Nathan declined the makings of what he could only extrapolate as an attempted diversionary tactic.

Her eyes darted here and there again as her voice issued out an 'uh...' before she remembered herself and she made like she was checking a day planner, "He should be in his office, but I don't know if he is finished with a morning meeting... I'll peek in and see if he's free."

Julia rose from the desk and made for the door, Nathan close behind her. She didn't notice until it was too late that the moment she opened the door, Nathan's hand reached out and parted the door wide. Before Julia could spin around to protest, Nathan was already a good five steps inside the office, leaving her staring in protest at his back.

Adam Parker had seen Julia's face poke in just in time to catch the door fly open. He rose to his feet in the makings of a protest to the intrusion before he took notice of the man, and more to the point, his rank insignia. Internally, he cursed his fool luck for the Captain's promptness on this particular morning, but outwardly he put on his most cordial smile.

"Captain, I didn't realize our meeting was already here. Please, come in and have a seat. Can I have Julia fetch you or your..." Adam stumbled as he tried in vain to figure out what a boy was doing following the man. Adam resigned himself to the fact that he was going to be wrong no matter what direction he took the situation and just went with, "Your grandson anything?"

It was a simple mistake, but for the red-trimmed grey and black uniforms the pair wore underneath the field jackets. In any other situation, Jack might have been content to let the comment roll off, uncorrected. The boy looked up at the grey-haired El Aurian for direction in the matter. Finding none, the Miran turned to the colony's administrator himself and explained, "Actually, I'm Commander Mantell, the Arizona's XO." Glancing at Cowell once more for reference and then back to the administrator, Jack added, "We're not related."

Nathan let Jack's remark speak for the both of them on the matter and continued his advance on the man. While he was not particularly upset looking, he knew something was going on around him that he wasn't going to like, and he would be damned if it was anything that would catch him off guard.

"Tell me something... Mr...?" Nathan couldn't for the life of him remember the man's name.

"Parker."

"Right... Anyway, why is it everyone around here seems up in arms or shocked as hell that we're here. If I didn't know better, I'd say people didn't know we were coming, either that or we're walking into a mess than you don't care to have us involved in. I have my suspicions but I'd like to just hear it from the horse's mouth," Nathan practically demanded to know what was going on.

"I'm sorry... I don't know what you..." Adam began to protest before the unmistakable groaning of a woman could be heard from the other side of the room. Nathan turned toward the sound, and caught sight of a high backed couch that could easily obscure a person. The first thing that came to mind was that the man was a horny bastard who had risked a quick one with some whore before their meeting, and she was just too tired and shagged out to leave on time.

Nathan reached over and slapped Jack's shoulder with the back of his hand before pointing at the couch and ordering in a business-like tone, "Check it."

The boy nodded curtly and made his way over to the room's focal piece of upholstery. Facing away from the entrance, it was positioned just right to be a hiding spot for the chamber's occupant. It was a clever tactic, no doubt used by the administrator to avoid being bothered during a mid-day nap. Jack admired the thought, and lamented the small space of his own office, such an idea would be implausible in his workspace. Regardless, shipboard internal sensors could easily defeat the facade. With no such systems in place here, the Miran envied the administrator's relative freedom from surveillance.

As he rounded the side of the couch, the boy quickly drew in a breath of air. "What happened, S'an-" he began, but quickly stopped. The woman lying on the couch had pointed ears, black hair, and a different style of dress, but it was not difficult to see how she could be mistaken for the Arizona's recent green-blooded newcomer. On second glance, however, the differences became more acute. The shape of the woman's face, prominent ridges that protruded from her forehead, the length of her hair, and the marks that pitted the entirety of her exposed skin. It looked like something out of a horror novel, or, worse yet, something out of Jack's own past. The iconic blue-ish tint of his own world's disease, however, was not present, and the boy relaxed slightly in relief.

Realizing his duties, the boy looked up at Cowell. With a touch of concern in his voice, his eyes drawn wide at the extent of the woman's affliction, Jack called to his superior, "Sir, you'd better get over here."

Captain Cowell at first wondered if the woman was just naked and the boy just didn't know how to take a set of tits. As he rounded the sofa, however, it became obvious his hesitation was not over the garments the woman wore, but her race. The fact that the woman seemed barely on the edge of consciousness prompted Nathan to forget he was a Captain as he reached into his jacket and produced a medical tricorder. With the practiced grace of someone who'd been examining people for centuries, Nathan made a few sweeps over the woman's entire body before issuing a practiced 'hmm'. The display showed him exactly what he didn't want to see, dangerously high fever, extremely elevated blood pressure, and the lesions on her body were an item of concern as well.

"Mister Mantell, you stay here and see what you can't get from this one," Nathan said, pointing to Mr. Parker, "While I tend to this one."

Doc Cowell didn't bother to wait for a reply as he slapped his commbadge, "Doc to Merriweather, medical emergency. Transport myself and the Romulan life-sign next to me directly to sickbay. Energize the second you've got a lock."

"Acknowledged, sir," came the brief reply.

Precious seconds ticked by... then a wash of blue-white light surrounded Nathan and his patient, spiriting the two away leaving Jack and Adam alone in the room, the Colonial Administrator wearing a very nervous look.

"Uh... I can... I can explain..."