El'toraya
Tau Eridani I
T'Sen approached the Captain across the medical bay, where she stood observing the entertaining situation resulting from Sergeant Reed's failure to issue clear orders to his subordinates. That at least had been addressed from their end to the Captain's satisfaction. And so, had become entirely the Human Major's problem.
"Suvoc reports that Major Tucker has suffered no serious injury." T'Sen said, coming to stand beside her. "He estimates release to light duty today, full duties in two days with continued monitoring."
"That is good." T'Pol nodded.
T'Sen arched an eyebrow questioningly. 'Good' rather than merely 'agreeable'? Or even 'disagreeable', considering her obvious opinion of Humans?
Seeing the look, T'Pol explained. "I have determined that Major Tucker and the other Humans may serve a useful purpose."
"What purpose, Captain?" T'Sen asked, doubtfully.
"They possess extensive experience related to all areas of El'toraya's current mission profile. Experience that is superior to the majority of our current crew. It would be logical to utilize that, rather than continue to consign it to the cargo bay."
T'Sen continued to observe her Captain.
"His arguments were quite compelling." T'Pol insisted.
T'Sen squinted suspiciously.
"I understand you were compelled into the wall on several occasions." She observed.
T'Pol arched an eyebrow. "Indeed."
And then she smirked slightly.
"You are injured as well." T'Sen offered, excitedly. "We should seek privacy and discuss that."
T'Pol's eyebrow arched a little higher, so T'Sen reexamined what she'd just said.
"Excuse me, Captain." She corrected. "Seek privacy and attend to that."
"Of course, Sub-Commander."
Sergeant Reed stood uneasy in the medical bay, watching over the rather furious looking Major Tucker. And he was more than a little put out and thoroughly displeased with the situation, as he was faced with explaining himself to a superior officer. Something he preferred not to have to do, when it could possibly be avoided.
But the fact was that he had ordered the three men to bunker up. So they'd naturally assumed he meant bunker up against the Vulcan crew, rather than some unspecified threat no one had informed them about.
And so they'd ditched the translators, to prevent the Vulcans from tracking them if they had to move. The translators that not only allowed their current location to be monitored, but their current vital signs. Which resulted in alarms going off on the bridge, informing them that three of the Humans on the ship had suddenly dropped dead, then disappeared, simultaneously.
And they'd disconnected all the monitors and hacked all the controls in the bay, to prevent the Vulcans from using any of that against them. Which had set off still more alarms on the bridge informing them that the port cargo bay had suddenly been lost, despite the ship not having noticeably come under attack.
It had rather escalated from there.
He'd been able to intervene personally when it finally came to he and Major Tucker's attention. There had been the call over the comm system for security personnel to report to the port cargo bay, to repel intruders and support the MACO squad. And then another to subdue the MACO squad when it was finally discovered they'd taken over the cargo bay and had barricaded a large portion of it for no apparent reason.
"I don't know what to say, Major." He fidgeted. "They announced you were a casualty, which rather suggested you were dead. Or at least badly wounded in combat of some sort…"
Tucker was still gritting his teeth, though Reed continued to hope that was due more to his being in pain from the facial lacerations he suffered. And the contusions. And the bleeding scalp wound he held a cold compress to. And was that bite mark on his forearm?
"Just forget it, Sergeant. Everything's a damned combat situation to these people anyway."
"Understood, Major."
"I'll deal with it when I stop bleeding, if that's alright." Tucker winced.
"Certainly, sir."
But, of course, that left…
"So Major, what happened then exactly?"
"You mean to me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, the Captain and I had just the nicest little…hey, what the hell, doc? Can I get a hypospray or something before you do that?"
Doctor Suvoc withdrew that automated suture before he'd even begun applying it, curious at the Major's reaction.
"What form of hypospray do you require, Major?" He asked.
"Well…some kind of local anesthetic would be nice." Tucker glared.
Suvoc looked surprised. "I am afraid the only anesthetic we have available is reserved for major surgeries."
Tucker just stared for a second. "Doc…you don't have a damned local you can give me before you stick that thing on me? Are you kidding me?"
"Indeed not. But the pain should be manageable." Suvoc assured.
Tucker stared, dumbfounded. It was a damned auto suture. It literally sewed together wounds automatically. And fast. As in instantly. Which tended to make grown men make girly noises even with the local.
"Ooh…right." Garcia suddenly said, coming around Sergeant Reed. "They…uh…Vulcan medicine is a little…different, sir."
"You mean like how they don't give you a local before they slap an auto suture on yah?" Tucker asked, angrily.
"Yes, sir. You're supposed to manage the pain yourself. And…a lot of the treatment is going to involve touch telepathic nervous system stimulation, sir. In fact, there's probably…"
"Alright, that's enough of this crap." Tucker said, rolling off the medical bed. Slowly, with a few grunts and starts. "Garcia…*grunt*…get your gear and I'll meet you in the cargo bay."
"Uh, sir…I think you probably shouldn't move around…"
"I'm fine, get moving."
"Sir, all I've got is needle and thread…"
"Get going, Corporal." Tucker ordered.
"So you noticed no unusual physical strength in the Major?"
"Nothing beyond what would be expected of a Human. His stamina was obviously sufficient, however. Still, despite being physically weak, his movements were well coordinated, suggesting diligent maintenance of the advanced martial techniques he employed."
"Techniques consisting predominantly of redirection and defensive maneuvers? I find that disappointing."
"From what I was able to observe, that was his preferred method. However, it is typical of males to prefer defensive maneuvering in combat with females. Especially if those instincts have not been addressed in combat training."
"You believe he did not receive proper training in this area?"
"I suspect not. He was surprisingly unwilling to engage directly at the onset. But once he began to suffer injury he became more appropriately aggressive."
"Enough to present a threat?"
"I perceived so. His first unrestrained strike was here. Do you notice the coloring?"
"I do. And the size of the bruise is significant."
"This other one occurred approximately one minute, seventeen seconds into the contest. It was prompted by the laceration to his left ear, the result of a rigid hand strike to the throat being deflected imperfectly."
"The contusion suggests significant aggression."
"Indeed."
"If his tactic relied primarily on defensive and non-lethal actions, how would he have secured victory?"
"He showed a inclination toward grapples and holds when I began to tire. I suspect his intention was to utilize such a method to force submission."
"Even with notably lesser physical strength?"
"His greater respiratory efficiency granted him greater stamina, as you recall. And so fatigue became a factor."
"That is intriguing."
"I agree."
Tucker hissed audibly but managed to hold still as Garcia finished stitching his ear back together.
"*grunt*…Damn, Corporal, you done yet?"
"That should do it, sir."
"Good."
"Just…try to leave it alone. Let the dermal sealant set, sir."
"It's not gonna fall off, is it?"
"No, sir. It's not that bad. But it is technically a head wound. Those tend to bleed a lot if you let them."
"Well, I'll leave it be then. And give me another spray."
"Alright, sir. But I wouldn't go overboard with them…"
"I'm not trying to, but I didn't see the Captain exactly limping around. You'd never know she'd been in fight. There's no way I'm going on bed rest if she ain't."
"So what did you say to her, Major?" Reed asked, over the medic's shoulder.
"Now, why do you assume I said anything, Sergeant? She's Vulcan. You don't exactly have to do anything to set her off."
Reed frowned. But kept waiting for an answer. Without actually saying anything…
"Alright, I questioned her logic."
"Bloody hell, sir. Will all due respect, why on Earth did you do that?"
"Because I don't know how to keep my big mouth shut. And somebody needed to."
"So what did you say that…?"
"Let's just drop it. I figure I've made sure we have a nice little vacation down here in the cargo bay. So let's all just shut up and enjoy it. Is that understood?"
Reed shrugged reluctantly. "Yes, sir."
"Good. And let's get this barricade broken down before someone has to come down here and complain there's no room in the cargo bay for any cargo."
"Yes, sir." Reed acknowledged. "I'm sorry to say…"
"MACO squad report to the Captain's ready room."
The cargo bay was dead silent for a moment.
"What, is she going to kick all our asses now?" Wilson asked.
"Stow it, Wilson." Reed barked. "You heard it, get moving."
Tucker took a deep breath and began the long, slow effort of getting to his feet again. He was already pretty stiff even with two hyposprays.
"I'd expect you'd be at the door waiting on the rest of us, Taylor. Why aren't you?"
Tucker fiddled with his ear a little bit, despite being told not to. But he just wanted to be sure it hadn't fallen off before he had to face that damned woman again.
"Bloody hell, the Major's half dead and is already beating the lot of you to the door?"
Tucker might have objected to the characterization, but he was more focused at the moment on preparing for another throw down in the Ready Room. Just in case. He figured that was exactly the most unlikely thing to happen when he got up there with his unit. But since she was involved, he figured the exactly most unlikely thing was probably exactly what was going to happen.