=/\= Bridge =/\= "Go down there and deal with it Lieutenant," said the Colonel gruffly. "Get the flower, get the crewmen and take everything to sickbay." It was obvious he was growing increasingly frustrated with the situation and wanted it resolved post-haste. "Aye, sir," replied Andy, and headed into the turbolift. "Shuttle Bay One," said Andy, and felt the lift lurch slightly against the inertial dampeners as it raced down and aft. Soon enough, he felt the lift come to a halt, the doors swished open, and Andy began making his way down the hall toward the shuttle bay when he stopped dead in his tracks. There, not ten feet from him, stood a small mountain of teeth, muscle, sinew and short-cropped fur. It was Kaine, the dog that belonged to MaiKai Quiocho, one of the medical staff on the ship. He'd read a few reports in the past couple weeks from security that the animal had a habit of breaking out of his mistress's quarters and roaming the halls of the ship. Delightful. Well. Andy had a job to do. Attempting to carefully maneuver his way around the dog, he began slowly advancing along the opposite side of the corridor, keeping steady eye contact with the animal. He didn't get more the four feet, before Kaine quickly shifted position, and blocked his way, growling ominously. Bluffing? Perhaps. Andy took another step forward and was met with a loud and vicious snarl and a barely restrained lunge. Okay. That's not a bulff I want to call, thought Andy. Slowly reaching across his chest to touch his commbadge, he contacted the young doctor. "Lt. Andersen Foster to Ensign MaiKai Quiocho." "Yeah, what do ya want .. I'm kinda busy ..." Kinda busy? thougt Andy. Her animal is about to have me for breakfast and she's kinda busy. "Ma'am I think there's something you need to see here." Mai replied that she couldn't come there ... moreover, she requested if he could come to her, saying she could use some assistance herself. Andy noted that Kaine seemed to take a definite interest in the conversation, hearing his mistress's voice, and, swallowing hard, Andy told her that he'd be there soon. He bent slightly to start talking to the dog, when suddently it was upon him! Andy was sure that he was about to lose an ear or some other chunck of flesh from his head, but Kaine stopped, merely resting his paws on each of Andy's shoulders. A full two of three seconds passed without maiming or disfigurement, so Andy assumed he was safe. Regaining his breath, Andy spoke to the dog in a friendly and playful tone. "You wanna go see her boy? Huh? Do ya?" RRORWFF!! Kaine bounded back down to the floor, put his backside up in the air and started wagging his tail. A good sign. "Okay, We'll go see her then." Andy made his way back to the lift, and instructed it it go to Ens. Quiocho's current location. Turned out she was only the next floor up, outside the upper deck of Cargo Bay 2. Andy exited the lift, with Kaine trotting merrily beside him ... they continued a few steps, turned a corner, and found the young medical officer speaking with a couple of crewmen. Kaine quickly bounded up to her, and nuzzled her hand, looking for a good scratching behind the ears. "Oh, Lieutenant, I am so sorry .. I don't know how he got out of my room .. Again," said Mai with some measure of embarrassment. Andy nodded curtly and began to ask what the matter was when he was interrupted by a pair of quarrelsome crewmen. Mai turned to the crewmen and asked if they could accompany her to sick bay, and Crewman Seamore, the fellow with the flying monkeys answered with some general nonsense about cookies, whereas Loveless, who was the crewman who had been so rude with Andy over the comm ignored the question and decided his best bet was to start hitting on Mai. MaiKai turned to Andy and gave him a pleading look. "Please Help!" "Right," said Andy ... this works out pretty well, in any event, he thought. Bretam had instructed him to bring the crewmen and the flower to sick bay. He's got two of the three right in front of him. Now about the flower. He looked at Seamore, figuring he was the more pliant of the two. "Before we head up to sick bay, Crewman," said Andy as earnestly as he could, "the Colonel said that was a really pretty flower we found in the shuttle." Andy nodded and smiled as he talked, "You remember, yeah?" "Yeah!" cried Seaman happily. "Hang on! I have it ... er," he fumbled about in his coveralls, and produced a bag. "Right here. Lootennit." He handed it over and made a goofy salute. Andy nodded approvingly, and gently guided the crewman toward the lift. Now, on to Loveless. "Okay, Hector," said Andy. Loveless scowled back at him as a reply, told him to stop edging in on him while he was chatting up this pretty young doctor, and turned his attention back to MaiKai. Andy leaned toward the physician, and discreetly whispered in her ear, "just smile and nod at him ... follow me." Mai then made animated one-dimensional conversation with Loveless, who was all too happy to talk about himself. Andy inclined his head to indicate she should follow him and Seaman into the lift, and the four of them rode up to sick bay without a fuss, whilst Loveless continued to blather on about what a wonderful guy he was, and MaiKai smiled and nodded blankly at him, tossing in periodically a lively "Really?" or "How fascinating!" They arrived to find Scott and Mercedes ministering to a few more crewman who seemed to be acting just as strangely as the two that he and Mai brought in. Andy handed the bag over to Mercedes who showed it to Scott. The two doctors nodded in confirmation. "This is it," said Scott. "You said you found this?" asked Mercedes. Andy nodded in agreement. Mercedes sighed in resignation and pointed Andy toward a bio bed. "Take a seat over there. If you haven't started feeling strange, you probably will soon." Andy frowned, but hopped up on a bed nonetheless, next to Seaman, who seemed to be humming merrily to himself, and Loveless, who had to be sedated once he learned that Mai was leaving to return Kaine to her quarters, once it was determined she wasn't exposed to the flower before it was bagged. Fortunately, medical staff aboard the USS Simpson, who apparently also ran afoul of this particular plant, had managed to find an antidote, which was fairly easy to replicate. He waited patiently, sitting atop his bed, and watched curiously as a steady stream of people made their way into the infirmary, including Martin Guzman and a vulcan woman who seemed to be pining after him most curiously, and a large group of recent Chimera crewman who recently escaped from Kinsi by stowing aboard a freighter. Eventually, Scott made the rounds to him. "How you doin' Andy? Seeing any giant ferengis yet?" Andy laughed, rolling up his sleeve. "Hardly. Actually, I don't really feel different at all." Scott hesitated, and frowned. "When was it you were exposed?" "About 13.30 hours ... while I was inspecting the shuttle with those two," said Andy, pointing over to Loveless and Seaman. "That's odd," he said. "We'll hold off on the innoculation for now. You tell us if you start feeling anything strange, right?" Andy nodded. "Gotcha, doc." Lt. Andersen Foster Operations Officer USS Chimera