[Backsim] Petty Officer 2C Corzid Benal + - A Dozen Ghost Roses

[Donald Furrow-Scott]

((OOC Warning: You'll be slightly confused. Then you will not.))

((musical suggestion for reading Corzy: Blue Motion-Weightless Dream Cut by Airstream
https://open.spotify.com/track/0Zf4yLh8OJtZnqUId88TZ1?si=7123c283a0d24d56
))

((Sickbay Complex, Xenobiology Lab, Deck 10, USS Ronin))  

Nose twitching, Spot cautiously put out her nimble paws on the container rim and Corzy's thumb. Corzy's eyes were clenched tight, his feet kicking at nothing. Spot sniffed at him.

Rox:  ::pressing the door button::  Stupid Becking thing open!  ::turning as the others approach and balling her fists:  Ok.  Come at me.  Beck around and find out.

Ślimak: ::tiredly to Rox:: Look… I’ve had a very difficult day. My friends are probably dead or insane, and I’m definitely going to be in therapy for survivor's guilt for the rest of my life. I don’t know what your malfunction is, lady. I can see that you are not having a good day either, and I’d rather not make it worse by stuning you buuuut…If you don’t calm down…

She lifted her phaser and waved it suggestively at the woman. Rox's eyes widened. A lavender-haired nurse acted like the one in charge.

Avae: Rox, you need to stop. You’re feeling the effects of the modified plague. No one wants to hurt you!

Knees rising up to his stomach, one hand trying to protect the side of his face, Corzy looked fetal lying on the biobed. Spot crawled into the nook of Corzy's other arm, turning to peek back out.

Nurse Celine: My rat’s ass is in hell. Where are the other Points*?

 
“Raven” staggered away from Dom’s aim, knocking over a crate of medical supplies. Her hand darted out, grabbing a reflex hammer, and she leapt back up, brandishing it like a weapon.

Ślimak: ::raising her phaser:: Hey, hey, lady, please. Put that down.

Avae: Just stun…

The raven-haired medical officer swung the tool with menace, a feverish light glinting in her eyes.

 
Dom fired her phaser. The orange stun beam struck Rox square in the chest. The woman crumpled to the floor with a groan.

Rox: ::whisper::  Goonies!

Corzy: AHHHHHHH! ::rolling off the biobed at the sound of second phaser fire as if he were a soldier rolling for cover from incoming artillery:: TAKE COVER, POINTS!*

Nurse Celine: NOOooooo! ::Her long black hair in a petrified bobby-pen knot fell half apart, spilling down over her shoulder and heart. Her stunned face matched the stunned, strange woman’s fall, though Rox seemed more like a giant crashing down towards her. The rat Spot, whiskers twitching, held on for dear life as Corzy tumbled.

Dommy dropped to her knees, shaking, but from the cure or regret was unclear. Her phaser hand dangling limply to the carpet, the other resting gently on Corzy’s trembling shoulder.

Ślimak: ::wryly:: Always wanted to stun an officer. Don’t give me that look, Lavender. She needed a nap. ::beat:: If you’ve got a counselor, my friend here could use one. Maybe a meal, too.
The lieutenant looked more than slightly disturbed at what she had heard.

Avae: Again, it’s Lieutenant Avae or Chief Nurse if you prefer. Petty Officer. ::she said the rank with her best impression of authority:: I was about to give you the order to stun her anyways since she was clearly unfit. Don’t make me have to call security here to keep an eye on you too. ::her tone softened and she nodded:: You’ve been through a lot. And we’ll all likely need to see the counselors when this is over if we’re alive.

 
Dommy mock-patted her pockets as some kind of insult. They’d seen that look from Dommy many funny times.

Ślimak: Aye, Sir! ::wearily mock-saluting:: Sure you were. And to be honest, in the heat of events with names and hammers flying around, I just didn’t catch it the first time.

Corzy: DDDOOOOOMMMM! ::he growled her name:: They’re back. Hide over here! They're angry and shooting again. ::letting out an ommph:: Spot?! Come back here! ::arms swimming while diving for the rat::

Nurse Celine: This isn’t the Rose’s sickbay anymore, you idiots! Weeee destroyed that one ::stuttering::, didn’t we?! The sick never listen. We’re doomed to repeat this over and over! ::grabbing after one of the lookalike doctors:: Doctor! ::they ignored her:: oO Why am I tied to Spot? Oo

Avae: Your eagerness to stun officers notwithstanding, thanks for the help. And the canisters.

 
A new person, like a god’s calling voice, filled Sickbay. While it spoke, Spot, whilst being plastered to Corzy’s chest, looked intently at the phaser dangling loosely from Dommy’s hand. Getting that back would get their attention.

Raga: =/\= Ronin to all teams, we’re running out of time but we have many pieces of the puzzle now. Regroup as you can on the Rose or aboard the Ronin’s Deck Ten, we can site to site you through the quarantine as needed. We have a resistant patient, a plant based protection to stave off the plague and buy time, and the Captain managed to acquire samples of the original virus. As well as some fetal enzymes that might help. And we have a Consortium agent who is likely involved with all this. We’re sending a data packet with everything to all teams now. So, Major Singh, if you'd be so kind as to tow the freighter and our guest back here I’d be ever so grateful. Ronin out. =/\=

oO That Damnable Freighter again! Oo Corzy’s hand shifted and loosened their grip on Spot for just a beat. That was all she needed.

Avae: Well, that’s good. If we have all that I hope we’re able to find a way to save all of us. If you’d be so kind as to assist me by moving those canisters onto the console over there I need to scan and prep them for use.

 
Almost to Dommy’s phaser, Spot felt the approaching hand before she ever saw it. She squeaked out angrily at the pain, and bit Corzy's finger for it. Celine tasted blood in her mouth.

Corzy made quite a sight, scrambling catlike around on the floor after Spot. He was lost to the others in Sickbay, as if in another world or still back on the Compass.

Ślimak: Sure, Lieutenant Avae. I’ll give you a hand. By the way, who did your interior decor? The carpet is so comfortable. Perhaps I’ll pursue a career in interior decor after all this. ::rambling on:: I used to love travelling in space, I thought I was sooooo lucky to get a position on the Compass Rose, exploring, fixing equipment and researching gear. ::as she talked, her young face went pale with grief:: I don’t know if I ever want to be in space again or fix anything after all this…

She trailed off.

Ślimak: Come on Corzy. Science is your area of expertise. Did Commander Blue share any info that Lt. Lavender—uh, Avae needs to know?

Corzy:  ::So much of Dommy was hidden by the biobed, that her standing up caught Corzy off-guard. He looked up:: AHHHH! ::screaming, seeing the phaser on Dom:: They’re here! AH aha ah!. ::Spot fell limp in Corzy’s hands::

Nurse Celine: Spot! Oh, my God! CORZY? What did you just do!!!

One arm winging batlike onto the biobed, Corzy’s eyes were a mile wide and seeing double. His face lowered itself jaw first to look down at Spot, crushed in his hand. Nurse Celine’s hands helped to clasp her. They felt separated, first by light, then by darkness.

Corzy: ::Breaking down into tears:: Oh, Dear Joiner, what have I done?

Corzy’s hands opened to reveal that he had crushed Spot to death. There was not enough horror in Nurse Celine to describe the hurt look on old Benal’s face.

With a chiming little bell, several nurses rushed in carrying blankets and meal trays. They grabbed Corzy and everyone else and helped them onto beds. Starfleet to the rescue.

They physically ran through Nurse Celine as if she were nothing but a hologram. Spread-armed, ready to hug them, Celine could only buckle in horror.

 
One of the nurses took the dead rat from a catatonic Corzy as another helped him up. The first ran a finger over the rodent. Then her eyes darted towards a crash cart.

Nurse Celine: Oh, God.  ::face falling:: I’m dead too. That...damned...plague.

What had she been reduced to, now? A spot of goo on someone’s shoe?

The nurses, busy ants tending the various victims, were unfazed by the teleported appearance of living, broken, inoculated Rose crew members. More and more beamed in as white flashes out of nowhere, the multiplying medical staff absorbing each and every one in practiced, caring hands.

Heaving up a wet breath with tremendous effort, the Roses' nurse's crying eyes looked to the Ronin nurse with Spot. Busy arrivals walked through Celine time and time again without feeling or even acknowledging her presence. 

The ghost of Celine reached out to touch the still rodent.

[End of Mission for Corzy, Celine, and Spot]

((OOC * = "Points" or team name for other Compass Rose crewfolk collectively))
 ===============================
USS Compass Rose crew

[Retired] Petty Officer Second Class Corzid Benal
Former Planetary Sciences Lab Assistant, current resident in the Endicronimas Center for the Terminally Bewildered

GNPC Ensign Celine Reynolds
Rose Crewmember euthanized by Lieutenant Syrex
Nurse Ghost of the Compass Rose, now trapped in the Ronin Sickbay

GNPC Spot the rat, Reynolds former pet
Ghost Rat of the Compass Rose #2, also now trapped in the Ronin Sickbay

simmed by
Ensign Roop
R240206OR1