Standing up, he pressed his badge. "Rass here. What's going... " he started.
"I need you to meet me at Captain Bolerov's quarters immediately!" Kirk replied quickly. Rass quickly examined his surroundings. There were four crewmembers either seated or standing next to him. His current patient, the mild concussion, was in pretty good shape. The other injuries looked painful, but not life threatening. He really didn't want to abandon his patients... especially when it meant turning them over to HIM... the EMH. Sure, the Emergency Medical Hologram had performed admirably most times, but it was just so COCKY... as if it had any chance of being as good as HIM. Still, the sound of the commander's voice was upset enough to make Dorrin think he had better get there.
He looked at the crewmen in front of him. "Okay, guys... I need you to take this man and help him to sickbay." He let out a deep breath. "Invoke the EMH. He can help you recover from these injuries, okay?" Silently, they nodded and picked up their crewmate. "Alright then... off with you. I'll be in to check up on you shortly." With that, the four limped down the corridor to the nearest turbolift. Dorrin watched them leave for a few seconds, before hoisting himself up off the floor with his medkit as fast as his legs would let him and swiftly heading the other direction. He tapped his comm badge one more time. "Rass to Commander Kirk,"
His badge popped. "Kirk here. Are you on your way?" He sounded out of breath.
Dorrin approached the doors to a turbolift, which opened automatically for him. "I'm entering a turbolift now. I'll be there in just a few minutes. What's going on?" The doors slid closed. "Deck three, officers' quarters," he announced to the air.
"About fifteen minutes ago, the lifesign alert went off in the captain's quarters. Elaine didn't see with all the other stuff going on. I don't suppose you caught it?" Kirk asked expectantly.
Doctor Rass shook his head. "I think I get emergency notifications like that in my office. I haven't been there for at least twenty minutes with all the injuries."
"Rats."
The chamber stopped, then began moving sideways. "I should be there in just a moment. What was the alert?"
"Something about 'death immanent.' That was all I needed to see. We must have taken a hit there we didn't know about, or something fell on him."
The small room came to a stop and the doors opened with a quiet hiss. The captain's quarters were just down the hall and to the right. With a couple of long sprints, he approached the door. "Okay, I'm here."
"My turbolift just stopped. I'm right behind you. Kirk out."
Dorrin tapped the entry request panel. "Captain, can you hear me? Can you open the door?" He waited three seconds, then issued the medical override. "Computer; override door lock on the captain's quarters. Authorization; Rass, delta one two delta." There was a chirp from the computer panel and the door slid open. He took a step inside and looked to his right. On the ground, in front of his favorite leather chair and next to a shattered bottle lay Captain Bolerov... face down in a large pool of blood. Dorrin quickly withdrew his tricorder and threw his medkit to the ground.
Dropping to his knees next to the body, he took a quick scan. As he feared, the captain was already dead. "By the prophets," he whispered to himself.
Quick and heavy footfalls told Doctor Rass that Commander Kirk was fast approaching. He turned to look as Stephen raced into the room. His eyes bulged in horror as he came to a stop so quickly, he fell backwards and sat down. "Oh, no," was all he could say. Part of him wanted to be nauseated by the vision, but shock kept his eyes locked squarely on the gruesome scene before him.
Dorrin turned back around and gently turned the body over. Bolerov's face was covered in blood, yet... there was a smile on his face. As the body turned over, a large sliver of glass fell from his right hand. A large, jagged gash dominated the captain's left wrist, the source of the blood. Dorrin slowly closed his tricorder and whispered a prayer of passing.
"Was it..." Kirk finally managed to stammer.
Doctor Rass held up his hand. "A suicide? I think so. I'll need to perform an autopsy just to be sure, but I smelled the alchohol as soon as I got in the room." He turned slowly to see Stephen, who was struggling to hold back the tears. "I'm sorry, Stephen."