.o0o.
Kirk never had much occasion to spend time with Christine Chapel, but he'd always held an image of her as a Bones-in-training. She hadn't quite worked out the whole grumpy thing, but she was certainly tenacious, emotion-driven, and supremely proficient in the medical world. She had eyes and ears everywhere, so if someone knew something in regards to the Brigley fiasco, he had his money on Chapel.
Only, the knowledge she did have came at a hefty price.
The Sickbay was abuzz with energy when the captain strode in and he immediately spotted the source. Chapel was lying in a stretcher near the back, clutching her stomach as M'Benga prepared for surgery. One of the nurses, Walsh, immediately came up to him. "Captain. I was just about to call you. Chapel refuses to go into surgery until she's spoken with you." Walsh led him across the room. "Try and be quick, Captain, she's lost a lot of blood."
Kirk nodded and Walsh hurried away. "What happened?" He asked the Head Nurse, resting a hand gently on her arm.
Chapel swallowed hard and cringed. "It was Sagumpta, Captain. Such a nice girl, I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. She was after a bottle of ovalgiabizaxil. I asked her what it was for, and she just attacked me. She said she was going to kill us all. Next thing I know, I've got a laser scalpel wound in my stomach, and Sagumpta's gone. She just went crazy. I couldn't stop her."
"You did a good job." Kirk comforted. "I'll take over from here; you just get yourself into surgery."
Chapel nodded. "Be careful."
Kirk rushed into Bones' office, calling up Uhura without delay. "Uhura. Locate Nurse Sagumpta immediately."
"She's in her quarters, sir." Uhura transferred the room number so it flashed on his screen. He took a quick note of it, and barreled out the door, not bothering to turn off the intercom.
With a bit of reluctance, he stopped by the armory to grab a phaser before running the rest of the way to Sagumpta's room. He hated to wait any longer, but the nurse was apparently armed and very dangerous. He was having trouble believing that all this was true. He hadn't know Sagumpta well, but he'd spoken with her only a few hours prior and he had been completely confident when he's crossed her off his list of suspects. What had caused her to snap and why hadn't anyone noticed?
Kirk didn't bother with asking for entry; instead, he slammed in his captain's override as quickly as possible. Sagumpta didn't look up from her inspection of her blood covered hands, the laser scalpel lying discarded on the table beside her.
The captain wasn't about to take any chances, though, and raised his phaser. "Stand up slowly."
Sagumpta didn't move. "My hands are all bloody…" She whispered. "Why are my hands bloody?"
"We know what you did."
The effect was instantaneous; Sagumpta grabbed the scalpel and whirled on the captain, brandishing the weapon like a sword. Her eyes were unruly and her breath came in deep pants. "It took you long enough, Captain. Here I was able to kill Brigley and Chapel before you caught on to me." Her smile was vicious.
"How did you kill Brigley? You weren't even there."
"He always drinks his tea at 15:00 hours. All I had to do was slip something in his drink earlier and go back to my room for the computer to alibi me. It was really too easy." Kirk took a slow step closer. Sagumpta took one back so she stayed out of his reach. "Goodbye, Captain." And she plunged the scalpel into her eye, digging into her brain and killing her instantly.
Kirk stood dumbly, unsure of what had just happened.
.o0o.
