*** Rangis Quarters * USS Chimera *** Rangi pushed her hair back and ran her fingers through it, lifting then smoothing it in an attempt to have it look reasonably smart. She had returned to her quarters intending to spend the allotted time of forty five minutes for Short Rest in a much needed sleep and hadnt bothered to shower before flopping down onto her bed. She was asleep almost before her head touched the pillow but barely thirty five minutes passed before she was woken by a call from the Bridge. Forcing herself to wake fully, she rolled over , reaching to tap the combadge on her bedside table. "Summers here" she said, sounding rather more displeased than she intended. There was a moments pause before Lt Fosters voice informed her that the ship would be making way in fifteen minutes. "Thankyou Lieutenant." she replied more evenly and thought {I must see that man..} as she ended the communication. With a sigh, she turned back and left the bed. Now, showered and dressed in clean uniform, she gave up trying to style her hair, critically looked at her mirrored reflection, frowned at it and turned to collect her bag. She clipped her commbadge into place and walked quickly to the door thinking of Shane and the missing crew. **Transporter Room 1 * USS Chimera ** {Waiting is the worst part} she thought, leaning against a consol, arms folded in front of her. {If we just knew what's going 'on'} She glanced at the transporter Chief who gave a sympathetic half smile in responce. {I dont suppose it's much better on the Bridge} she thought looking at the transporter pads. {I bet the Colonel's worried...and with good reason!} Her eyes moved right to the eight security men detailed to escort rescued crew to sickbays. One rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and yawned widely. {I wonder where Shane is...what its like now on the base..I wonder if they caught him...} she thought and was overcome with a sudden urge to yawn herself. Shifting her position, Rangi sighed and looked at the control panel, the transporter pads, the security guards and the transporter chief. He gave her another small sympathetic smile. "We're almost to the base ma'am" he told her. "Yes....and none too soon." she replied. Rangi knew that both sickbays were ready and waiting to accept the rescued crew. She had reported the fact to the Colonel adding the latest news on numbers still in treatment there. Mercedes and Steve had charge of sickbay two, Maikai and Scott were running sickbay one. She herself had elected to come to the transporter room and assess the crew as they arrived and fervently hoped that security wouldnt be needed, but with the long term effects of the pollen, things couldnt be certain. After what seemed an interminable time, the transporter chief was able to lock onto three likely matches for the transporter buffer readings and in a few moments, two crewmen appeared in the blue shimmer of the transporter beam. They seemed surprised to suddenly see so many people staring at them and looked uncertainly at the security guards. The beer barrel they carried was hastily set down and both assumed an air of innocence. "Sickbay 2 " Rangi said, a security guard moved forward and the two crewmen stepped down from the transporter pad, giving the barrell a last lingering look. Three others were located in quick succession, one complaining bitterly that his frog had been disqualified on a technicallity and that if the judge hadnt been biased it would have won easily. Rangis spirits rose with each new arrival.Though all were definately under the effects of the pollen, none seemed to be suffering anything worse than sickbay had dealt with before. One new arrival materialised on all fours carrying a saucer of milk calling "Here kitty kitty kitty" looked up and asked if they'd seen her cat. Another dived from what had a moment before.. for him.. been a high board over a pool and ended up at the bottom of the transporter steps in a very surprised heap. As each new transportation began she thought {This will be him} but her hopes were repeatedly dashed. But the mood remained good, the missing crew was returning, albeit in dribs and drabs and things on the whole were promising. A tall figure materialized on the pad. He looked wildly angry and stood, breathing short shallow breaths, in a posture of attack In his hands, he held a sword like weapon, slightly curved with jagged edges on the outer side and the inner blade honed to a perfect cutting edge. Rangi gasped, three security men rushed forward but came to a sudden halt, partly at her cry of "Wait !!" and partly out of a sense of self preservation. "Stay back..staaaaay back" the crewman warned, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to make sense of his new situation. "Come near me and I'll use this...you wont take me..stay back!" The fact that he meant his threat was clear and though outnumbered, he showed not the slightest sign of backing down. It was a stand off. Rangi said quietly: "We wont harm you...please...put that down." and when he showed no hostile response, she took a hesitant step towards him. "Stay back!!" he yelled "Stay back..I'm warning you.." Rangi stood still, her hand part raised."Its alright...please...we wont harm you." "Get back...stay away from me" he shouted, gripping the sword so tightly that his muscles flexed in his arms. A security guard standing to the left and slightly back of the crewman edged forward, keen to disable the man. He glanced at Rangi and saw her eyes flick towards him. {It's too dangerous...we have to calm him..reason with him} she thought and signalled to the guard with an almost undetectable shake of her head. It was a mistake. The crewman noticed her.Either the guard was too slow or the crewman too fast, perhaps it was a combination of the two. He screamed " GET AWAY!!!!" as he spun to his left, striking out with a vicious blow. The blade raked down the guards arm like hot iron through butter causing him to fall back crying out in pain. He clutched his arm vainly trying to stem the blood and catching uneven breaths as he tried to control his pain. The crewman looked down at his victim then at the others standing motionless in front of him. "Try that again and I'll...." he fixed his eyes on Rangi."...you're not going to take me...I wont let you." "We're not trying to hurt you.." she said quietly though her heart was thumping fast. "We want to help you. You're on Chimera...Chimera..your ship.You're safe here." Whether or not he understood, whether he saw her or some imagined thing she couldnt tell. He remained where he was, one foot on the transporter pad and one off it, holding the sword ready against attack. Rangi stepped towards him and his grip tightened on the steel. "Please let me help this man then." she said slowly pointing to the fallen victim. " He's injured and needs attention. Please...I promise I wont try to touch you." The crewman darted a look at the growing pool of blood and at the woman looking up at him.She saw a moments indecision on his face and then a vivid white flash as a phaser blast struck him down. Two guards were beside him in seconds and Rangi crossed quickly to the fallen guard, kneeling beside him and supporting him as best she could. "Emergency transport sickbay 1" she said loudly and felt the tingle of the transporter beam. **Sickbay 1* USS Chimera** Scott Fisher was waiting at the small area of sickbay set aside for the emergency transports. "What happened?" he asked, moving forward as Rangi and the injured man materialised. "A crewman transported aboard armed with a ..a..a sword of some kind.He struck out at this man and caused all this." Together they helped the injured man away from the transport area and onto a biobed. A few moments later the crewman with two accompanying security guards, materialised in their place.Still stunned by the phaser blast, the crewman offered no resistance. Rangi paused, asked Scott to continue the assessment and moved over to the new arrivals. "We'll restrain him for the time being." she said "...though hopefully the pollen antidote will be effective.Poor man.." The two guards exchanged a look which said the 'poor man' was getting more than he deserved. Rangi and Scott worked together with practised efficiency, stemming and replacing the blood loss with use of the plasma infusion unit. The repair of a fractured forearm and lacerated brachialis took longer but eventually, with each using protoplasers, the injured arm began to look as it should. Finally the work was done.Scott began to clear away the used instruments as Rangi prepared a hypospray with a resuscitive.She administered the dose of Morathial and the security officer began to come round. Rangis commbadge bleeped. "Summers" she said tapping the link. "Lt Foster ma'am ...we have located Commander Guzman...in the engineering section of Kinsi....he's beaming into transporter room one ma'am" Scott, listening to the communication saw the relief wash across Rangis face. He smiled widely, pleased at her happiness. "Beam him to sickbay!" she said catching Scotts eye. "...and thankyou Lieutenant." Scott carried the used equipment away and Rangi moved to the security guard now lying awake on the bed. "How're you feeling?" she asked still smiling in relief. "Better than before" he replied and gingerly moved his arm, frowning at the dressings wrapped around it. He winced and sucked in a breath. "Aaaah...that hurts" he said and gave Rangi a somewhat accusing look. She blinked in surprise and with an expression of amusement replied. "Well....it 'will' do for a while...we don't actually perform miracles here....yet." ***End log *** LtCmdr Rangi Summers CMO / 2XO USS Chimera. Crewmen/security guards and everybody else (npc)s Rangi !! :)