Star Trek: Animus: Plague Bound

Part 5

"Glad to hear it, Ensign, inform Commander Sharpe of our progress and request that Lieutenant's Bozosky and Thorys and their teams are beamed down," Morganth replied as he led his small team down unnervingly empty corridors.

"Understood, sir, I've also disabled the command module, which should allow us a tad more breathing room," Leda reported sounding rather proud of herself at her achievement.

"Excellent news Leda, keep me appraised of the situation, Morganth out." The captain returned his communicator to its pouch on his belt and turned to face the two Kokoda officers that accompanied him. "We should hurry, it won't take them long to realise what we have done and they try to shift any evidence of their activities off-world."

Both Jacinta and T'Fryr nodded but offered no comment, which seemed to please the captain as he turned back down the corridor. Without any ceremony, he headed off at a brisk jog.

T'Fryr looked over to Jacinta briefly and raised a bushy white eyebrow as she appeared to hold her left arm close to her side, and only seemed to use it sparingly. "Ma'am, are you alright?"

Jacinta winced slightly as she moved her arm to point out that it was still working. "I think it's getting worse. I can barely move my arm now, and I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers."

The captain fell back so that he was beside the two. "Lieutenant, are you alright?"

Jacinta blanched slightly at the realisation that he had heard her. "I can't really move my arm, sir, one of the guards grabbed me soon after we landed, and I've progressively lost feeling in it since then."

Morganth suddenly turned very serious. "Where did they grab you?"

Jacinta's eyes widened at the serious concern evident in the Captain's voice before she pointed to her bicep, looking down she was surprised to see that her useless hand was covered in blood. Out of nowhere, Morganth produced a thin knife and carefully placed it against her arm, then proceeded to slice open her uniform downwards at the point she indicated. He frowned while moving the fabric aside. The skin underneath was mottled and swollen with a seeping wound that showed no sign of stopping.

He withdrew a device roughly the size of a stylus and placed it over the wound, the device beeped twice before a reading appeared on its small display screen. Frowning once more, he returned the device to its pouch. "You're joined aren't you?" he asked quietly.

The momentary shock of being discovered was overtaken by denial as she looked at him sceptically. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Morganth looked dubious at this obvious lie. "Lieutenant, I'm in ONI. We are well aware of your species dark little secret but don't worry we won't out you to your colleagues. Now answer the question."

Jacinta refused to meet his gaze and only nodded once in acknowledgement which seemed to lighten Morganth's mood. "While we are unaware of the bio-physiology of your symbiotic relationship, it is possible that the creature in your abdomen is slowing the spread of the infection, but we shouldn't delay any further. The sooner we complete our objective, the sooner we can find a cure."

T'Fryr who had to make it an effort to not pay attention to the conversation turned to face them.

"Wait you're seriously planning on withholding treatment for her?" he asked with an ice that would have made his arctic homeworld of Andoria seem tropical by comparison.

Jacinta was legitimately concerned that the Petty Officer was going to physically harm the captain and took a step to place herself between the two men, though she doubted in her present physical condition that she would be able to do anything to stop him.