Only A Matter of Time

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:46am by Sasha Vieers (Deceased) & Emilie Temple
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:59pm

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Deck 6 - Sickbay

ON:

The turbo lift doors opened and Emilie Temple stepped off. In her arms was her newborn son, and by her side, her daughter Katrine. It had been almost a week since the dramatic circumstances of her son's birth, topped off by the sudden detour away from Carnwennan Station and to this new mission, but for Emilie those days had been a blur. Her and Nyx's lives were consumed by the new baby, as the parents once again had a little one in their household to tend to. For the most part, the new baby Temple had been relatively quiet - unlike his older sister, Katrine, who screamed the house down for the first month at least - but now with two kids under the one roof, and Nyx juggling his Captaincy duties, it had not been easy.

"Why are we going here?" Curious Katrine asked as she spotted the looming Sickbay ahead. For her, coming to this deck and this department had never been positive. It was were people went when something was wrong.

"Just so the baby can have a check up." Emilie answered gently, as she checked on her son's sleeping face. He was loosely wrapped up in a blanket by her chest and completely sound asleep, little hand resting on his cheek. Not even the noises of the ship could wake him.

"I don't want to go here." Katrine pouted, though didn't break stride. She didn't want to act up, and she didn't want to be left alone in the corridor either.

"I know, honey, but it'll only be a quick visit." Emilie said patiently. "Then we'll go to the Rec Deck and you can have a play, okay?"

"You said that yesterday!" Katrine continued her protest. "But then. We didn't. Go."

"We couldn't go, Katrine," Emilie explained, still trying to keep her patience. "There was trouble with the ship, remember? So we'll go today. If you're good."

That 'if you're good' was thrown in for tactical reasons. It was a parent's ultimate prerogative to tie fun activities with behaviour, and the threat of cancelling those activities should not be taken lightly. At five years old, Katrine knew what it meant.

As the family rounded the corner and arrived at Sickbay's entrance, they were startled to see two Security Officers, each with phaser rifle in hand, standing by the entrance. The gold shirts were standing at full attention, eyes scanning the corridor with deft precision, no doubt highly trained by Lieutenant Commander Griffin. Emilie was taken aback for a moment and wondered if she should continue inside.

"It is alright, Mrs. Temple." One officer stated plainly. "The prisoner is secured."

"Prisoner?" Emilie repeated to herself, as she realised the officers had assumed she would know what was happening. Instead, she just silently nodded and continued inside. Katrine became glued to Emilie's leg, scared by the tall, serious-looking people and their guns. She gripped tightly to Emilie's hand with all of her tiny strength.

Once inside Sickbay, Emilie realised what the extra security had been about. In the corner of the room, standing in shackles, was Sasha Vieers. There was a slight shimmer in the air around her, indicating the presence of a force field as she stood looking bored and disinterested. Emilie was left wondering why the former crew member was there, when she was quickly approached by one of the nurses.

"Mrs Temple!" She exclaimed, her face painted with a smile but an obvious discomfort in her eyes, "So glad to see you."

Sasha's expression immediately turned from blank disinterest and on to the new arrivals. The Captain's family. For a moment she felt a wince of something painful. Regret, perhaps? Jealousy? Spite. The Trill's eyes withered in two as she stared at Emilie and her happy little brood. A sneer formed on her lips. Definitely spite.

Emilie tried not to look, but knew she was being watched. She put on a big smile for Nurse Addo-Carr. "And you too." She replied, her tone a few octaves higher than normal as both women tried to pretend this wasn't awkward as hell.

"Ooh look, isn't he precious!" The nurse smiled, staring down at the little bundle in Emilie's arms. Emilie turned herself away so her back was now to Sasha, and the nurse followed suit as she gazed down at the baby.

"He doesn't have a name yet." Katrine helpfully pointed out. "Mummy and daddy don't have one for him!"

"Oh that's alright," Addo-Carr replied with a faint grin. "Do you have a name for him?"

"I think his name is Poopie Smelly Head." Katrine declared, as she buried her face into her hands. "Because all he does is poop!" The child dissolved into tiny giggles, believing what she said to be height of comedy.

"Katrine!" Emilie growled however, "That's not very nice."

Katrine's laugh faded as she caught the sudden, sharp tone of her mother. She looked down to her feet, bottom lip jutted out. "Sorry."

The nurse patted the girl's head. "Baby's do go potty a lot. They have to. You did too when you were a baby."

Katrine scrunched up her face. "Did not!" She exclaimed, but there was tinges of humour in her face again.

Emilie sighed, she just wanted to get this check-up over with so Katrine could play and get into a better mood. It was exhausted still to be out of their quarters, and all she wanted to do was sit down. "Katrine, how about you sit on those chairs and colour. The nurse is going to look over the baby and we'll be out of here very quickly."

The girl looked to her feet again, and she nodded, "Oookay." She sighed.

"And don't move anywhere." Emilie added, casting a sideways glance at the corner of the room.

Katrine shrugged and wondered over to the chairs, promptly sat herself down and started playing on her PADD. The nurse motioned for Emilie to follow her over to a small bio-bed to begin the check-up.

"What is she doing here?" Emilie quietly whispered to Addo-Carr as she unwrapped the baby from his blankets so the nurse could scan him.

"Regulations." The nurse replied, "Which she dutifully pointed out to us, by the way. It's Starfleet rules that prisoners have a right to a private consultation with medical personnel to asses her physical and mental state."

"No, I mean, why is she still here?" Emilie asked. "I thought she had been transferred weeks ago."

"She was meant to be." The nurse whispered. "But when the Pandora was suddenly detoured to the Hesiod region, she had to stay here. Now she keeps making insistent demands on us like we're a hotel or something. She knows every regulation in the book and she's using them to get whatever she wants."

Emilie scowled. Of course prisoners still had rights, even the murderers, but the regulations were meant to protect their well-being before a fair trial. Not so they could be abused by a manipulative traitor. "Why can't you do the check-up in the Brig?" Emilie asked.

"The Brig cells have cameras, as she also pointed out." Ado-Carr gave a frustrated tone, "Which would violate her right to private consultation. But she also doesn't believe us that Doctors Alves and Jameson have been called away on mission and won't let any junior officer see her."

"Goodness." Emilie exclaimed, as she wondered if Nyx knew this was happening.

"What do you expect from someone like her? Anyway, let's see to the little one." The nurse regained her composure and picked up a medical tricorder.

-----

Over in the waiting area, Katrine was lying on her stomach across the bench, PADD only centimetres away for her chin as she diligently pushed buttons. It was her favourite colouring game where she got to choose colours for various things and put them into a scene. She'd long grown tired of doing things the right way and it was far more fun to be silly. So, the horse was green. The sky was pink. The house was purple. The shuttle was orange. It was madness, but utterly amusing to the five year old.

After a while, she became uncomfortable. The medical bay bench was not as soft os her couch back home, or her bed. It wasn't meant for resting on, clearly. She tried sitting upright, but the hard back wasn't much better. Then she tried lying on the floor, which was worse again. With a frustrated sigh, she switched off the PADD and decided it was impossible to keep playing. Throwing the PADD down, she looked over to where her mother and brother were with the nurse. Her mother was pointing to a small rash on the baby's side, obviously engrossed and focused on him to notice her lack of entertainment. Katrine pouted again, wondering how much longer she'd had to be bored like this, and what she would have to do to get her mother's attention.

Then, came a whisper.

"Hey kid!"

Katrine's face was confused as she turned around, wondering who was speaking to her.

"Katrine! Over here!" It came again.

The girl noticed a woman standing over by the corner of the room, her hands seemingly bound together by a pair of glowing bracelets. She didn't wear a uniform like everyone else on board - something Katrine was overly used to seeing. Instead, she wore a dark yellow jumpsuit. This made her different to the others, Katrine could understand that, she just didn't know how or why. And, the woman called her by name. Most of the adults on the ship seemed to know her name, probably because her daddy was the Captain, so she was used to strangers being kind to her in this way. As she stared, Katrine was intrigued by the dark spots that ran across the woman's forehead and sides of her face.

Katrine took a step forward towards Sasha, before looking over guiltily to her mother. Emilie had told her to stay seated, but the friendly woman had called her over. She didn't want to disobey her mother, but she also didn't want to get in trouble for ignoring someone. Besides, Emilie was still focus on the baby, her concentration clearly elsewhere. Katrine decided that If her mother wasn't going to pay attention to her, at least this person could.

So the girl took a few steps forward, crossing the room unnoticed by the people around her. Finally she was only a few metres away from Sasha.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm a friend of your fathers." Sasha lied. "Looks like you have a new baby brother or sister?"

Katrine nodded solemnly, "Brother."

"How sweet." Sasha bared her teeth as she smiled. "Where is your father now? I'd love to talk to him."

Katrine quietly shrugged. She was getting a sense that something was wrong. The woman was acting strangely and was standing still in one place. Her hands still cuffed together.

"You don't know?" Sasha asked. "It's okay to tell me."

Katrine frowned. "Mummy said there was a problem with the ship."

"Ah I see." Sasha nodded. "Is that why we didn't go to Carnwennan Station?"

Katrine shrugged again, "I don't know. Mummy said we were gonna have holiday but then we didn't."

"I was supposed to go on a holiday too." Sasha replied with faux sympathy. "But I'm still here."

The air shimmered again with blue energy, causing Katrine to stir.

"What was that?" She asked curiously.

"Force field." Sasha answered. "It's a little trick my friends are playing on me. It's like hide and seek but I can't move. Your daddy must be playing too."

Katrine giggled, "That's funny. So you can't get out?"

"No," Sasha replied, eyes boring into the child's innocent face. "But you could help me get out."

"Me?" Katrine asked incredulously.

"Yes." Sasha nodded, "It'll be super fun. Your daddy will think you're really clever and we'll go find him together."

"KATRINE!" Came a sudden shout.

In a flash, Emilie was by her daughter's side, picking her up and holding her close. "What are you doing?!"

The little girl began to cry as she saw the panic on her mother's face. The nurse was standing in a protective pose, guarding the baby. Katrine dissolved into tears, burying her face into her mother's shoulder. "I'm sorry!" She whimpered.

From her tiny energy cell, Sasha let out a bellowed laugh. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying."

"You stay away from my daughter!" Emilie dramatically shouted, pointing a finger at Vieers.

The security officers entered, phasers drawn immediately on Vieers as they surveyed the scene.

"She was talking to the little one." Nurse Addo-Carr explained.

"What was she saying?" Emilie demanded to know of Katrine, but her daughter was now too upset to answer.

"Oh relax." Sasha rolled her eyes, "I wasn't going to harm Daddy's precious little girl."

"You requested a private medical consultation." The officer growled, his tone commanding. "You were instructed not to communicate with other persons onboard this ship. Doing so violates your own request conditions, Vieers."

"Doesn't look like I'm getting seen-to anyway." Sasha remarked, "Must be some big problems if the CMO and Assisting CMO are out. My, my, what has the great Captain Temple done now?" She sneered at Emilie.

Emilie shook her head, as she turned away, "We're leaving."

"Ah yes, Lady MacBeth exits." Sasha jabbed. "Can't stand to hear anyone speak the truth about your husband."

"You know nothing of my husband!" Emilie snapped as she returned to the biobed to retrieve the baby.

"Enough, Vieers!" The security officer warned, taking a step forward. "We will stun you."

"I walked around in his head, remember!" Sasha ignored the officer and kept taunting. "I know all about your husband and his... past. I think you do, too. Only a matter of time before everyone else finds out who he really is." She smirked, "If he hasn't recklessly killed you all by then."

"Computer, open a slot in the force field." The officer continued. The computer chimed and a small gap appeared in the force field just near Vieers' abdomen. The officer aimed his weapon purposefully. "Last warning, Vieers."

"Stun me! Looks like I'm not going anywhere any time soon." She shrugged. "And I might as well have fun while I stick around."

With Katrine hanging off one arm and the baby bundled up again in the other, the nurse dutifully by her side with a helping hand, Emilie fled out of the Sickbay. Just as they reached the corridor, there was a loud phaser shot and the sound of Vieers crying out. The deck flooded into yellow alert lighting as the officers shouted instructions over comms to get the prisoner back to the Brig. Katrine continued to cry and even the baby was alarmed by the commotion, letting off a high-pitched scream into his mother's ears.

In a matter of moments they were back inside the turbo lift, Katrine and the baby still wailing. The nurse whispered that she was sorry as the doors closed again, leaving a frightened mother to calm her children.
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