Star Trek: Odyssey: Thirty One
Jermaine Allensworth was not fond of medical examinations. He wasn't sure why; it was merely one of those things that didn't resonate with him. Perhaps the reasons were based upon the fact that these were situations in which he had little control. His fate was in the hands of one of the Alexandria's medical practitioners, and in this instance, that experience was culminated in the form of Amanda Plumley.
"Nothing is wrong." She said as she waved the tricorder in front of Jermaine's chest.
"Of course nothing is wrong." He said pleasantly.
"I've been doing this to the crew who had come back from the Ba'ku planet. I'm just making sure that nothing is wrong. With you, something seems different. I can't shake this feeling I have. I'll run a few more tests and see if there is really anything wrong."
"I'm not too worried about it."
"You could have a huge hole in your head, and you still wouldn't be worried." She said. "Hell, you probably wouldn't even come to sickbay."
"And miss out on your wonderful bedside manner?"
Plumley sighed. "You'd be dead without me."
"No. I'd just have one less thorn in my side." He chuckled as he slid off the biobed.
Shaking her head to the contrary, Plumley persisted. "Dead as a doornail."
"Strange, I don't see too many nails on these doors." Allensworth said.
Slowly coming up along side him, Plumley matched his tone. "That's because I haven't killed too many patients."
Though the Doctor spoke in jest, Allensworth knew there was some truth to the statement. Doctor Plumley's record was impeccable when it came to the number of lives she saved. And reluctantly, he had to admit, if only to himself, that he was indeed among that group of saved patients.
Clasping his hands together, Allensworth expelled a long sigh and turned back to face Plumley. "So what are you going to do with me?"
"Observe you."
"I said it was nothing to worry about."
"Who's the doctor? It's my job to worry and I have a feeling that something is wrong that the tricorder is not picking up." The tone in her voice had been so utterly neutral that Allensworth found himself unable to tell if she had been kidding or not.
Suddenly, the intercom kicked on. It was Commander Merriell's voice.
"Captain Allensworth please report to the bridge."
"I'm on my way." Allensworth said into the air.
At that, Plumley turned on her heel and made her way to her next patient as Allensworth walked out the doors.
Allensworth emerged from the turbolift and walked to his chair. He saw that an Akira class starship was on the viewscreen. It was the Thunderchild.
"She's hailing us." Sato reported.
"On screen." Allensworth said.
A moment later, Captain Blaine Stork blinked onto the screen. Before Allensworth could say anything the skipper of the Thunderchild immediately spoke.
"Captain, I need to meet with you at once." Stork said sounding urgent.
"We'll beam you over." Jermaine said as he nodded his concern.
"No." He insisted. "You have to come to the Thunderchild. I can't explain over an open channel, but it's urgent."
"On my way."
"Make sure you come alone, Captain. Thunderchild out."
The communication severed on her end, effectively terminating the link between the two starships. Allensworth, however, was more than a little curious about what was going on. He turned to his temporary first officer, Alex Merriell.
"Alex, you have the bridge."
"Aye, sir." Merriell said sitting in the center seat as Allensworth walked into the turbolift.
Shortly later, he materialized on the transporter pad of the Thunderchild. Captain Stork was standing there waiting for him.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"It'd be easier if you see it for yourself." Stork said as he led Allensworth through the doors.
Allensworth frowned curiously as he walked with Captain Stork. He wondered what secret Stork had if he couldn't explain it and wouldn't dare speak of it on an open channel. The two entered a turbolift.
"Deck sixteen."
The lift started moving and Stork left Allensworth to his thoughts. Clearly he had no desire to chat as Allensworth preferred to do. That only prompted more concern in his mind. This had to be something of consequence and confidentially.
The lift stopped and Allensworth followed Stork through the vacant corridors of deck sixteen. He led the captain into a room that Allensworth didn't expect to enter; the brig.
Inside the room were two security guards, both armed with phaser rifles. One stood by the force field, while the other stood a bit further away. Allensworth slowly peered his head toward the holding cell to see who was inside and his heart skipped a beat.
"Admiral Dowler?" Allensworth turned to Captain Stork. "What is the Admiral doing in the brig?"
Stork pulled out a tricorder, pressed a few buttons on it and then held it in front of Allensworth.
"Look at the quantum signature. It matches the ones given out by people from the Mirror Universe."
"How did you find her?"
"Our sensors picked up a singularity opening up a few light years from our position. When we went to investigate, an imperial starship opened fire on us. We disabled them and according to our scans, they had this Admiral Dowler on board. My guess is that they were going to try and get close to Earth and replace our Admiral Dowler."
Allensworth nodded in agreement. Stork motioned him to follow him out of the room. The two captains walked out and down the corridor.
"We plan on keeping her here and see if we can get any info out of her."
"I wonder how many have actually infiltrated Starfleet and have actually replaced their counterparts?" Allensworth said.
"It's possible that a good number have been replaced or not even as many as we think. But this is war so it's hard to tell." Stork said.
Suddenly, Allensworth's communicator chirped.
"Plumley to Allensworth."
Allensworth was a bit surprised by the doctor's calling. He didn't have any idea why she was contacting him but there was only one way to find out. He tapped his communicator.
"Yes, Doctor."
"I need to see you in sickbay right now. It's important."
Jermaine's heart was in his mouth. "What's the emergency?"
There was brief, eerily silence that made Allensworth wish he hadn't asked the question. And when Plumley answered, he was certain of it.
"You."
At first, the medical data on Captain Allensworth only seemed to confirm the medical tricorder's readings, that nothing was wrong. Plumley remained unconvinced. So she dug around some more, and some more, until she finally ran a comparative analysis on his DNA before the captain when the Ba'ku planet and after he came back.
The results rendered her speechless and as she looked up at Allensworth from across her desk, Amanda Plumley did her best to explain what was going on.
"Your DNA is in a state of molecular decay." She said delicately. "And I'm afraid it's terminal."