Lt Commander Rangi Summers Chief Medical Officer / 2XO USS Chimera NCC 96899 - Ensign Mercedes Carpenter Assistant Medical Officer USS Chimera NCC 96899 = Sickbay = Mercedes wandered into Sickbay still looking a bit sleepy. She'd been taking a nap when Scott had called her over her commbadge to come to Sickbay. She didn't have to be on duty today, but was on call in case something had come up... which it obviously had. Walking to Rangi's office, she peeked in to find Scott sitting behind the desk looking at a padd. "You always manage to catch me when I'm taking a nap," she chided. He looked up and flashed his friendly familiar grin at the young woman as she walked slowly into the office. Laying the pad aside, he stood up. =93Yes...sorry about that. I know you're off duty." He skirted the desk and stepped towards the replicator. "Coffee?" he asked turning as she sat down "Yes, please... coffee would be wonderful." She looked around the Sickbay. It was rather quiet except for a crewman who was lying on a biobed and seemed as if he was high on something. "Is he all right?" she asked, pointing to the man through the transparent pane. Scott switched his attention from the replicator to Mercedes and followed her pointing finger. "No... not really..." he replied turning back to the job in hand ...Coffee...Black...two sugars.." he said and glanced back at the patient while he waited for the coffee to appear. When it did, he picked up the mug, found it too hot to comfortably hold and hurried it across the room. =93There you go!" he said setting it down quickly in front of Mercedes. "Thanks," she said, leaving the steaming cup to cool down before she took a sip. "What happened to him? It looks as if he's intoxicated. Did he take a drug? I didn't know Kinsi even had drugs..." Scott resumed his place. =93No." he said, his expression becoming serious."...I'm not sure...I've got a few tests running at the moment. He isn't intoxicated." He met Mercedes eye and shook his head."...and there's no sign of drugs...at least nothing that shows up at first try." Leaning back in the chair he continued: "The colonel brought down here and explained a few interesting things...and that's why I called you." "Oh? What kind of things?" Mercedes asked, looking at him. In the back of her mind, she'd noticed some people acting a bit differently on the ship of late, but thought it was just the crew indulging a bit too much in shore leave. "Well...for starters...Rangi called us. She wanted to know if there was anything strange going on here. MaiKai had met Commander Guzman and thought he was...behaving oddly." Scott shrugged, unable to clarify the statement. "Then... just after you went off duty, two bodies were brought aboard...a shuttle decompressed...and then Chimera was ordered out of weapons range of the starbase. The colonel showed up with Ensign Anders there." Scott nodded in the direction of the patient "...He's recently returned from the base. MaiKai's gone to get a list of all crew that have been over in there. "Did she say if people on the base were acting strangely? I mean, the people on Kinsi are a bit odd, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I was over there... at least not anything to warrant concern." Mercedes looked at the patient and then back at Scott. "How did she mean strange? Did she mention any specific types of behaviour?" Scott paused in the action of leaning toward the desk. =93You were there" he said almost to himself and sat forward. =93No she didn't... nothing special. Did you notice anything? I don't know...out of place?" His expression showed concern. {This whole things getting bigger by the minute} he thought and looked at Mercedes as if expecting her to say she too wasn't feeling well. Mercedes shook her head. "Besides the people gossiping behind my back... no. I was only there for two days before I came back aboard and then the ship started the war games. I've been onboard ever since. How about you? Did you notice anything that day you went over there?" "No..." Scott said slowly, looking at Mercedes carefully. "I didn't stay long. Only an hour or two. Me and Maria ...we..." He stopped, thought and added feebly; "err...I didn't stay long." He grabbed the padd and pushed it across the desk towards her. "That's the result of the accident...as much as we know." he said in a business like fashion. "...and that's why I asked you back." He smiled at her. Mercedes read over the padd and looked back at Scott. "Has Ops determined whether there was any malfunction with the shuttle itself?" Once again Scott shrugged "They're working on it." He looked at Mercedes for a moment. "You specialized in Vulcan physiology at the Academy didn't you?" he asked She nodded. "Vulcans were my species of choice for electives in Xenophysiology. It might please you to know I also rather enjoy performing autopsies." Mercedes grinned at Scott, looking a bit like a mad scientist for a moment. "But I promise it's only cause dead people don't complain... nothing else sinister about it." Scott laughed. =93I'm glad to hear that!" he said and continued to smile for a second or two. As the smile faded he said quietly, "Seriously though...you guessed right. We need to know all there is to know about the two Vulcans on that shuttle. We must presume they too were on the base. If there's some reason that they did something to cause the decompression...well..." he leaned back in the chair again, not needing to complete his words. =