p dir="ltr""There is nothing fucking wrong with me"/p
p dir="ltr"The loud voice of the captain echoed through the med-bay. I poked my head round the corner. Lorca was sitting on a bed, anger written on his face as he glared at doctor Culber. br / " I'm sorry, captain, but I need to check. The crewmembers with you said that you were attacked by a strange creature on your way back" It certainly looked like it. His uniform jacket was torn and blood stained the shoulder/p
p dir="ltr"Lorca let out a frustrated sigh. "As soon as this is over, I'm going back to the bridge" br / Culber frowned but wisely said nothing to contradict him. "I'm going to need you to take off your jacket. I need to see your shoulder"br / At that I decided to get back to my work, instead of creeping on my captain./p
p dir="ltr"There was quiet for a minute before br / "Nurse Ganiford, can you be spared for a minute?". Culber sounded slightly shocked. I dashed through the doorway, glad to be away from my repetetive work. Lorca was still sitting on the bed, in a black sleeveless undershirt. Culber was looking worried. " I was wondering if you had ever seen something like this before?" He asked, pointing to the captains' shoulder./p
p dir="ltr"It was covered in a multitude of red, weeping puncture marks, at least ten, clustered close together. Each was about three millimetres in diameter. br / "emShit"/em I said, then " sorry! It's just I know exactly what this is. It's not going to be good". I picked up my padd and brought up an image. It was of a raccoon - shaped animal, with a long, thin tail with a wide arrowhead on the end. A Quadatud, native to the planet Lorca had just been on. I zoomed in on the tail. The pad at the end was flat and covered in spikes. I handed the padd to Culber./p
p dir="ltr""Is there any more information on this?" He asked. There was only the name, approximate size, and the way it killed it's victims - by slapping them with it's tail. The spikes secreted some kind of poison which, after entering the bloodstream of another animal, paralyzed and then killed the unfortunate creature in minutes./p
p dir="ltr""It's incredibly rare. Only a handful of people have seen one. Luckily it's poison cannot kill a human, especially one such as the captain" I said. br / "How did you know what the marks were from?" Culber asked. br / "I was hit by one, when I was thirteen. A group of men had captured it and were parading it around. It turns out that they can snap metal bars with a squeeze of it's tail. I was the one it went for. The weakest looking, probably. The symptoms are different in everybody, but mostly they will spend at least 4 days hallucinating. The poison takes about four hours to properly kick in - that's why the captain looks fine now" I said. br / Culber looked over at Lorca. He was glaring at us. "Are you going to tell me what's actually wrong? Or just whisper and look worried" he snapped. Culber / " So, do you think he really needs to be in med-bay? Would it be better for him to stay in his rooms with a doctor. I have other patients to treat, you know."/p
p dir="ltr"I thought for a minute. " There's no treatment to give him. Absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain he's going to feel. He's just going to be very loud and disruptive to other patients in here during his hallucinations. I think being in his rooms would be better." I / Culber gave me an appraising look. "Alright then, you'll have to be the one to stay with him. Seeing as you've been through it yourself."/p
p dir="ltr"Just as I was about to strongly object to being stuck with a hallucinating captain for at least five days, said captain decided he'd had enough. br / " Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me, or I'm going back to the bridge" he said, having walked up behind me and Culber. Suddenly he stumbled slightly, and grabbed the doctor for support. Culber half-smiled at me and said " go pack a bag. I'll fill him in. Go straight to his quarters once you're ready"/p
p dir="ltr"After packing a bag with spare uniform, toiletries, and nightwear, I navigated my way to Lorcas' quarters. Doctor Culber greeted me at the doorway. "He's still insisting that he's, fine, despite not being able to walk properly anymore. Transport both of you to med-bay if anything goes wrong, ok? Good luck, Nurse Ganiford" He walked off down the corridor back to his patients./p
p dir="ltr"I walked into the dimly lit room ahead of me. Lorca was sitting on the couch, once again glaring at me. " If you think I'm going to just sit here and be babied, then you are wrong. I don't need a doctor. I'll be working, whether you like it or not, because I am perfectly fi-". His speech was interrupted by his sudden dash for the bathroom. I hesitantly followed the sounds of throwing up to a small bathroom, where the oh-so-tough captain was miserably slumped by the toilet bowl. He straightened up when I came in, and looked as if he was just about to speak before he was violently sick again. When it finally abated, I handed him a cup of water and a cloth./p
p dir="ltr"He tried to stand up, and nearly smacked his head on the bathroom cabinet as he fell over. I only just caught him. Well, you could say caught, but I didn't realize just how heavy the man was. I managed to get his arm round my shoulders and we stumbled to his bed. Through his uniform I could feel that he was burning up./p
p dir="ltr""You're going to need to take your uniform off while you can still stand" I said. He half grimaced, half smirked. "Asking me to undress already, nurse? Bit soon, in my opinion. I don't even know your first name". His words were slightly slurred. I sighed. "You'll want to soon, sir. You're going to get very hot" br / "M'already hot" he smirked slightly, before ruining the effect by nearly falling over again. I finally managed to get him to sit down and take of his uniform jacket and boots. "Are you wearing something under these, captain?" I pointed to his trousers. " Trust me, you won't want to be wearing this much in a little while. Do you want to change into something else?" He nodded and I turned round./p
p dir="ltr"After what sounded like him turning his wardrobe inside out, and smashing into various things a few times, I heard him flop onto the bed. He was wearing loose black boxers and a non-ripped undershirt. I forced myself not to stare at the outline of his chest, and went to get a jug of water and a glass. When I got back, he was breathing heavily and had gone quite pale. " Who're you?" He mumbled. "Kat?" br / "Um...no, I'm Nurse Ganiford, sir" I said, worriedly. He opened one eye. "Oh...yeah. And don't call me sir. S'not my name. Call me Gabriel" br / "Um...ok, sir" i replied. He opened the other eye and tried a glare. "Sorry, sir I mean...Gabriel". He made a sound between a sigh and a laugh. Then he fell asleep./p
p dir="ltr"I knew it would only be a short while before he was muttering to people who weren't there and wondering where he was, so I decided to brush my teeth and change now. br / He stayed remarkably silent until nine-thirty, when he began to toss and turn in his bed. I walked over. The muscles in his arms were tensed, covered in a layer of sweat. He suddenly threw his duvet off and sat up, staring behind me. "Look out, kat! It's right there!" br / I whipped round. Nothing there but the lit dimly lit room. I wondered who 'Kat' was. A girlfriend? A sister? When I turned back, he was slumped on the pillow, panting. I decided to take off his shirt, a more difficult endeavour than imagined, in more ways than one. The damp material stuck to his skin, and his occasional jerks and twitches made me jump. I also had to not stare at his broad chest. emHe's your captain, Ellie. You can't think about him like that. /em/p
p dir="ltr"The loud voice of the captain echoed through the med-bay. I poked my head round the corner. Lorca was sitting on a bed, anger written on his face as he glared at doctor Culber. br / " I'm sorry, captain, but I need to check. The crewmembers with you said that you were attacked by a strange creature on your way back" It certainly looked like it. His uniform jacket was torn and blood stained the shoulder/p
p dir="ltr"Lorca let out a frustrated sigh. "As soon as this is over, I'm going back to the bridge" br / Culber frowned but wisely said nothing to contradict him. "I'm going to need you to take off your jacket. I need to see your shoulder"br / At that I decided to get back to my work, instead of creeping on my captain./p
p dir="ltr"There was quiet for a minute before br / "Nurse Ganiford, can you be spared for a minute?". Culber sounded slightly shocked. I dashed through the doorway, glad to be away from my repetetive work. Lorca was still sitting on the bed, in a black sleeveless undershirt. Culber was looking worried. " I was wondering if you had ever seen something like this before?" He asked, pointing to the captains' shoulder./p
p dir="ltr"It was covered in a multitude of red, weeping puncture marks, at least ten, clustered close together. Each was about three millimetres in diameter. br / "emShit"/em I said, then " sorry! It's just I know exactly what this is. It's not going to be good". I picked up my padd and brought up an image. It was of a raccoon - shaped animal, with a long, thin tail with a wide arrowhead on the end. A Quadatud, native to the planet Lorca had just been on. I zoomed in on the tail. The pad at the end was flat and covered in spikes. I handed the padd to Culber./p
p dir="ltr""Is there any more information on this?" He asked. There was only the name, approximate size, and the way it killed it's victims - by slapping them with it's tail. The spikes secreted some kind of poison which, after entering the bloodstream of another animal, paralyzed and then killed the unfortunate creature in minutes./p
p dir="ltr""It's incredibly rare. Only a handful of people have seen one. Luckily it's poison cannot kill a human, especially one such as the captain" I said. br / "How did you know what the marks were from?" Culber asked. br / "I was hit by one, when I was thirteen. A group of men had captured it and were parading it around. It turns out that they can snap metal bars with a squeeze of it's tail. I was the one it went for. The weakest looking, probably. The symptoms are different in everybody, but mostly they will spend at least 4 days hallucinating. The poison takes about four hours to properly kick in - that's why the captain looks fine now" I said. br / Culber looked over at Lorca. He was glaring at us. "Are you going to tell me what's actually wrong? Or just whisper and look worried" he snapped. Culber / " So, do you think he really needs to be in med-bay? Would it be better for him to stay in his rooms with a doctor. I have other patients to treat, you know."/p
p dir="ltr"I thought for a minute. " There's no treatment to give him. Absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain he's going to feel. He's just going to be very loud and disruptive to other patients in here during his hallucinations. I think being in his rooms would be better." I / Culber gave me an appraising look. "Alright then, you'll have to be the one to stay with him. Seeing as you've been through it yourself."/p
p dir="ltr"Just as I was about to strongly object to being stuck with a hallucinating captain for at least five days, said captain decided he'd had enough. br / " Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me, or I'm going back to the bridge" he said, having walked up behind me and Culber. Suddenly he stumbled slightly, and grabbed the doctor for support. Culber half-smiled at me and said " go pack a bag. I'll fill him in. Go straight to his quarters once you're ready"/p
p dir="ltr"After packing a bag with spare uniform, toiletries, and nightwear, I navigated my way to Lorcas' quarters. Doctor Culber greeted me at the doorway. "He's still insisting that he's, fine, despite not being able to walk properly anymore. Transport both of you to med-bay if anything goes wrong, ok? Good luck, Nurse Ganiford" He walked off down the corridor back to his patients./p
p dir="ltr"I walked into the dimly lit room ahead of me. Lorca was sitting on the couch, once again glaring at me. " If you think I'm going to just sit here and be babied, then you are wrong. I don't need a doctor. I'll be working, whether you like it or not, because I am perfectly fi-". His speech was interrupted by his sudden dash for the bathroom. I hesitantly followed the sounds of throwing up to a small bathroom, where the oh-so-tough captain was miserably slumped by the toilet bowl. He straightened up when I came in, and looked as if he was just about to speak before he was violently sick again. When it finally abated, I handed him a cup of water and a cloth./p
p dir="ltr"He tried to stand up, and nearly smacked his head on the bathroom cabinet as he fell over. I only just caught him. Well, you could say caught, but I didn't realize just how heavy the man was. I managed to get his arm round my shoulders and we stumbled to his bed. Through his uniform I could feel that he was burning up./p
p dir="ltr""You're going to need to take your uniform off while you can still stand" I said. He half grimaced, half smirked. "Asking me to undress already, nurse? Bit soon, in my opinion. I don't even know your first name". His words were slightly slurred. I sighed. "You'll want to soon, sir. You're going to get very hot" br / "M'already hot" he smirked slightly, before ruining the effect by nearly falling over again. I finally managed to get him to sit down and take of his uniform jacket and boots. "Are you wearing something under these, captain?" I pointed to his trousers. " Trust me, you won't want to be wearing this much in a little while. Do you want to change into something else?" He nodded and I turned round./p
p dir="ltr"After what sounded like him turning his wardrobe inside out, and smashing into various things a few times, I heard him flop onto the bed. He was wearing loose black boxers and a non-ripped undershirt. I forced myself not to stare at the outline of his chest, and went to get a jug of water and a glass. When I got back, he was breathing heavily and had gone quite pale. " Who're you?" He mumbled. "Kat?" br / "Um...no, I'm Nurse Ganiford, sir" I said, worriedly. He opened one eye. "Oh...yeah. And don't call me sir. S'not my name. Call me Gabriel" br / "Um...ok, sir" i replied. He opened the other eye and tried a glare. "Sorry, sir I mean...Gabriel". He made a sound between a sigh and a laugh. Then he fell asleep./p
p dir="ltr"I knew it would only be a short while before he was muttering to people who weren't there and wondering where he was, so I decided to brush my teeth and change now. br / He stayed remarkably silent until nine-thirty, when he began to toss and turn in his bed. I walked over. The muscles in his arms were tensed, covered in a layer of sweat. He suddenly threw his duvet off and sat up, staring behind me. "Look out, kat! It's right there!" br / I whipped round. Nothing there but the lit dimly lit room. I wondered who 'Kat' was. A girlfriend? A sister? When I turned back, he was slumped on the pillow, panting. I decided to take off his shirt, a more difficult endeavour than imagined, in more ways than one. The damp material stuck to his skin, and his occasional jerks and twitches made me jump. I also had to not stare at his broad chest. emHe's your captain, Ellie. You can't think about him like that. /em/p