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Starfleet Academy - First Mission, Out the Gates

Posted March 31, 2023, 8:15 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) (Kate O'Neill)

Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Starfleet Academy - First Mission, Out the Gates

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Starfleet Academy - First Mission, Out the Gates

Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Starfleet Academy - First Mission, Out the Gates
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

Next thing the man saw was a sideways image of Natasha as his head was thrust against the bed, a heavy weight of a body on top of him and a hand holding his head down.

“Give me the code, you’re gonna need it too,” Dante said, then looked at Nat. “Baby, come lick his face for me would you?”

Dante Knight, Cadet

“Okay, that’s it. I am so going to marry you,” Natasha said in a slow voice but with a weak smile on her face. Pushing off the table she leaned forward as Dante held the man still. Placing a kiss on his lips, she made sure she exhaled after.

As Natasha’s lips met the mans, he began to struggle and attempt to pull away. He was pinned hard however as Dante’s weight was on him, pinning him down with his hand firmly on top of the mans head and knee between his shoulders. “Oh god no!” The man began to protest, and Dante’s voice joined him. “Hey! I said lick, baby, lick. We really need to go over that list of rules again.” Despite the severity of the situation and Nat looking like she was going to win the Academy Halloween Ball prize for best zombie costume, Dante smiled at her.

“I’m not biting. You only say that when I am biting,” Natasha managed a weak smile before she took a steadying breath. Whatever this version of leprosy was, it hit hard and fast which was why the spread was so incredibly slow for being so infectious. If you immobilized the host, it could not be a vector for the disease.

“That’s because its’ usually me you are licking,” Dante protested, but he returned the smile.

“And you are NOT going to claim that kiss was cheating on you,” she let out a small laugh leaning back on the table.

“Fine,” he sighed. “You can have that one. Now, Mr Man,” Dante pulled the man to his feet by his hair which elicited a squeal of pain from him. “We are going to have a conversation about that code. If not, I’m going to bust it open with your head. Capisci?” The last word was spoken in an Italian accent that sounded exactly like the old Mafia movies.

====================
At the Ministry Building
====================
“And I am telling you that my team is on your planet and you have every ability to find them,” Kelly spoke into the comm with the Commander of the Ministry via comm screen.

“Unfortunately they have gone out of the safe area past the walls, and into the lower city where the protection and influence of our security forces is minimal.”

“So what about those floating pinata’s you call satellites? Are you saying they only transmit GalFlix?” The glib about pinatas might be lost on the man she was speaking with but it spoke volumes to Kelly’s crew.

” I assure you that even our satellites cannot track them there.”

“Oh come on now. We both know that is not true. We gave you those satellites. They can read the print of an ant reading a paper a foot underground. Try again.” Kelly sipped her coffee like this was a casual conversation between friends.

” They do not have the micro tracking chips we place in inhabitants of the lower city, and there are too many life signs for our systems to process. If we had them, we would certainly transfer these crim…inspectors, back to you.” The voice of the man was calm and smooth. Very much too smooth, like he was a well practiced politician reciting something he didn’t believe but wanted everyone else to.

“Oh…oh I was mistaken then. I did not know your satellites were not working. Here let me help you out. Nash load the photon torpedos,” Kelly said smoothly. “When you have them locked…fire.” Kelly did not care if this was the destruction of property or even a hostile act. It would be highly motivating to the people below and that was what she needed.

Nat Daye and Kelly Shultz

“Wait, what are you doing?” The smooth voice of the man hesitated a moment, and it no longer sounded so self assured. “You can’t do that.”

“We are just gonna give them a slight recalibration. You know like when the warp core isn’t humming right to so hit it with a spanner and then it purrs like a kitten.” Kelly made a swirling motion over her head.

“Torpedo loaded and locking in targeting profile,” the smooth voice of Nash sounded behind Kelly, but in his tone was no political sell.

“Wait wait wait,” the mans voice came through again, moments after the ping of the ships computer gaining target lock sounded. “This isn’t needed, we are all friends here!”

“Of course we are. That is why I am not targeting you on the ground,” Kelly said matter of factly as she took a sip of her drink.

“Firing now,” Nash ignored the voice on the comm and pressed the button. A slight woosh, and the viewscreen showed a bright light streaking away from the ship and curving slightly towards a spot above the planet.

------------------ Back in the Lab ------------------------

“Okay, so it was a pity that he lied about the code the first couple of times.” Dante shrugged and held up the hypo of cure towards Nat. Behind him, the locker that the medicine had been in hung open, with two very large and obvious dents in the door. To one side, the man that Nat had infected and Dante had kicked, lay unconscious with a large bump bruise on his forehead already forming.

Natasha smiled and shook her head. “How did you ever get an A in diplomacy 101.” Standing up she felt her knees buckle and the room start to fill with stars. The fever was intense and she was hot to the touch.

Catching her as she sagged, Dante lifted her onto the bio bed and made sure she was steady before he released his grip on her. He never removed his arm however, just kept it there but not holding her firm. “I’ll have you know that the tutors were very impressed with my technique. That and I reprogrammed the test to accept my style of diplomacy.” He smirked at her.

“baby you are burning up, where do I inject you?” He asked as he leaned over her, “Does it matter? There is only one hypo in there and a little bit left in it. Sleepyhead over there can get his own, they’ll have more in the city for themselves.” Lifting the hypo to look at it, he turned his hand slightly as he saw a smudge of colour where it shouldn’t be. Realizing what it was, he swore silently while Natasha wasn’t looking.

Natasha rubbed her neck near her jugular vein. It would be the fastest way to get it in her body without an IV. She had no idea how fast it would work but it should at least stabilize her until they could get back to the shuttle.

“I got you,” Dante took her rubbing her neck as a suggestion and without waiting, jabbed it into her neck and pressed the button.

At that moment out the large window beside them that looked over the slums of the lower city and the people that lived within it, a bright bloom suddenly appeared in the sky. High up, even in broad daylight it was visible and lit up the dimly lit room for a second. “That was a photon torpedo explosion,” Dante frowned. “What the hell.” He lowered the hypo and placed it on the bed as he tried to see what was going on.

Cadet Knight

“Meteor,” Nat said closing her eyes. Lifting her arm she limply let it drape around Dante’s neck as she stood up. Using his body weight, she shifted her arm to his waist to let him try to support her weight.

“Oh no, that was no meteor. I know that explosion. That was a torpe–ooouw!” He looked down as he felt something stab him in the thigh.

Looking down at his hand she picked up the hypo and stabbed him in the thigh. There was not a lot of medicine left in it but even a small dose would stall it some. They needed one of them to be able to walk.

“What are you doing? That was for you.” He protested.

“I gave you cooties,” she tried a weak joke looking at the small dots starting to appear on his skin. “How are you fehhh ling,” she put a hand to his forehead. She was still running a high fever so the heat from her head transferred to his forehead. “I think you have a fever?”

“I feel like the morning after the first night of Hell Week.” Dante admitted, “But still sober. How about you, did that juice make a difference?”

====================
At the Ministry Building
====================

“Oh friend you are so wrong. We can absolutely do this all day long,” Kelly corrected the stuttering man on the other end of the line. “There is even a song for it. Ninety nine satellites up in the sky. Ninety nine satellites. Shoot one down and watch it spread around, ninety eight satellites up in the sky.” Kelly’s lyrics did not match the tune exactly but everyone got the point.

Natasha Daye Cadet.

-------------------Back in the Lab---------------------------

A loud bang on the door announced that they were no longer by themselves, and Dante turned to look at the group of men with Hazmat suits and phasers standing outside the sealed, isolated lab room. “Baby we got company. Nat?” Dante turned to look at her and realizing she was weaker, scooped her up in his arms and held her close to him. “Baby, stay with me. Just a little longer ok.”

As he pressed her into his chest as the men outside began to hammer at the door as others tried to hotwire the controls, he felt her head contact the badge under his stolen Security outfit. Pity it wasn’t working, their communications network was being jammed from off-worlder transmissions. Looking at the window, he tried to work out how much force he would need to jump through it, land on his feet and keep going before the men behind him got through the doors.

Ninety eight satellites up in the sky. Ninety eight satellites. Shoot one down and watch it spread around, ninety seven satellites up in the sky The words filtered through his comm badge and instantly, he recognized the voice. Unfortunately he recognized the singing too, but it was what it was.

“Kelly! It’s Dante!” He yelled out although he knew full well that Kelly would be able to hear him anyway. “It’s good to hear your damn voice, even if you’re singing.”

“Listen, Nat is hurt bad, we need you to beam us out of here but the sickbay has to be isolated and everyone in isolation suits. I got some leftover cure here but no idea how long it takes to work or even if it works.”

Dante Knight, Cadet

Before Dante could finish his comment, swirls of light began to form around his body and slowly deconstruct his molecules until they were re-assembled back on board the ship. Kelly swiveled in the command seat and her mouth dropped open as her eyes widened. “Are you two okay?” Immediately Kelly moved to the emergency medical kit and pulled it from the wall.

Dante stood and looked at her dumfounded, then around the Bridge. “What the hell Shultz!” He yelled, looking at the blotches on his hand. “Why aren’t we in the Sick bay under quarantine? I said Sickbay!”

“No, I heard Nat is hurt bad and you need a beam up,” Kelly snapped looking at her friend. “The rest is insignificant.”

Nat Daye

“No, it really, really isn’t.” Dante was still yelling. “You want space leprosy? This is how you get space leprosy!”

He threw the hypo to Nash and swept Nat into his arms, turning for the turbo-lift. “Out of my way! Space Lepers coming through! Nash get that vial examined and see if we can synthesize more of what’s left. That’s supposed to be a cure but I don’t think its’ done much yet.”

“What do you mean, space leprosy?” Nash asked and glared at Kelly. “Dante where have you been sticking your tongue now? This wasn’t what I signed up for! We were to drop off a VIP on Risa, not get some kind of space virus.”

At that point, the Comm system started beeping and the scanners showed two in-system patrol ships approaching them.

Dante and Nash

Kelly saw the light flashing and tapped the connection to open a line. =/\=Hello. How can we help you?=/\=

=/\=You are harboring two viral fugitives. Prepare to be boarded=/\= the voice replied.

Kelly looked at Nash and raised an eyebrow. =/\=Uh negative on that but if you tell me what these viral fugitives look like I could tell you if I see them?=/\=

Kelly Schultz cadet

“Shields are up, nobody is coming aboard.” Nash grumbled as he hit the shield button on his console and cut the communication feed at the same time. “Kelly stop talking to them and get us out of here,” he pointed his finger at Kelly. “Too many words. Just grunt, wave and play ‘The Next Episode’ by Dr Dre over an open channel as we leave so they get the message we aren’t playing.”

“Space Leprosy!” The voice of Dante reminded them as the doors to the turbo lift closed.

Cadet Knight

“Space what,” Kelly said looking over her shoulder and then letting her eyes widen as she saw Nat’s limp form clinging to Dante. “Wait…is she contagious?” Kelly did not want the answer to her question. “You two were only on the planet like four hours. What the hell were you licking to look like that?”

“You think this is Klingon Herpes? No, its’ some kind of leprosy apparently which is why I said ‘bEam uS tO tHe SiCkbAy!’ but no, no we’re all gonna get the goobies now.”

The hails from the ships surrounding them blared like a klaxon. Instead of responding, Kelly pressed a button, opened the comms and said in a calm telemarketer tone, =/\=Hold please=/\= before turning it back off.

Getting up she moved to Dante’s side and helped him get Natasha set up in the small med bed the shuttle had. “How long do we have,” she asked Dante not caring about keeping her tone down. “You look better than her so are you feeling better or am I going to have to break out the PaDD’s and try to figure out the medical mumbo jumbo on my own.”

Kelly Shultz Cadet

“We both had some kind of that serum,” he pointed to the hypo in Nash’s hand, “but its almost empty isn’t enough for all of us, we need to get it back to Starfleet medical so they can analyze it and make a cure.”

“Getting to the nearest starbase is going to take 48 hours. Do you have that long?”

“No,” Nat mumbled. “Contagion was less than 12 hours for us but they are dying by the millions,” she feel into a coughing fit.

Looking at Nat and brushing a hair from her face, he looked back at Kelly. “Kelz there is half a planet of poor people down there living in the slums, sick from whatever bug this is while the elite sit behind a damn wall, yes, a wall, and treat those on the outside like a zombie plague to be eradicated. This thing is airborne, spreads fast and works fast, and they aren’t giving the cure to anyone outside that wall. Its’ like some kind of damn biological weapon.”

“Dammit,” Kelly paced the small space. “Okay we can’t go back to Earth so,”

“Get us back to Earth,” Dante almost pleaded.

“We can’t make the trip that fast and all of us will be patient zero to the first group that finds us floating in space half delirious.” Kelly was all jokes and fun but she got away with it knowing the rules.

“There isn’t anything we can do here, this ship doesn’t have the medical facilities to make that stuff, it’s a training ship. The faster we get there, the faster we get Nat the right medical treatment.” As if to emphasize his point, Dante coughed on the back of his hand. When he lowered it, blood was visible on his lips.

Cadet Dante Knight

Looking at the crew, Kelly felt the weight of command. It was the first time a situation was dire and not from hijinks or creative thinking. There was no way they could go back but they could not just sit here. Looking at all their faces, Kelly stopped on one. Looking at Dante, Kelly said quickly, “give me her coat.”

“What?” Dante looked at her oddly. “Why do you want her coat? What does that have to do....”

“Just do it,” Kelly worked to strip the coat off Natasha tossed it directly into Nash’s face.

“Hey! Watch it!” Nash grumbled as he pulled the thing from around his head. “What’s gotten into you? We need a solution and the longer we stay here, the longer they,” he stabbed a finger at the screen and the ships converging on their position, “might actually grow some balls and do something they will regret.”

Grabbing a hypo, she walked towards Ethan Nash. “Nash, you are Mintaran right?” The statement was rhetorical.

“Wow, you read up about your crew,” Nash replied sarcastically. “Just don’t tell his girlfriend that,” Dante joked despite the situation. “I doubt he’s told her he’s one of them yet.”

“Give Nat’s coat a sniff like you are looking for a clean shirt and it’s not laundry day.”

Kelly Shultz cadet

“What?” Nash said, looking at her as if she had gone crazy. “Why the hell would I do that? I shouldn’t even be holding this thing, its’ got germs and at least some of us need to survive long enough to explain to any ship that finds the derelict and frozen corpses what happened here. Its’ probably too late for me already, I had my mouth open when you hit me with it and got my tongue all over it.”

Cadet Nash

“Good. Got her,” Kelly said moving away from Dante and Natasha and towards the small medical bay. Pulling out a hypo she motioned for Nash to stick out his arm.

“Why me? What’s your game Schultz?” Nash narrowed his eyes and looked at her. “You know the Mintaran immune system is…” his voice trailed off. “Oh.” He muttered and folded the sleeve of his tunic up above his elbow before tentatively holding it out towards Kelly.

“I am just going to take some blood to see who is and who isn’t affected.” As Kelly spoke she pulled Nash forward and kissed him just long enough to get the deed done but not long enough for anyone to enjoy anything.

Pulling back almost as fast as Kelly broke off the kiss Ethan wiped his lips and looked at her in surprise. “What the hell are you doing? There was tongue in that! You know we’re married now on about twenty seven Federation worlds right? You need to warn a guy before you handcuff his soul like that.”

“Relax Ethan,” Kelly waved off his complaint and then stabbed him with the hypo. “We are all infected but I needed to make sure you were dosed well enough to ensure you were exposed. You and your freaking superman immune system is better than a med lab. Since the doc is down we are gonna take your blood once you push through this thing and dose ourselves if we have to. Right now you need to set a course back to the starbase because they have the cure we just dropped off and I am pretty sure we are gonna be cutting this time line close.” Right now Kelly felt fine but Dante and Nat were only on the planet for a about day before the symptoms kicked in and were about to kick their butts. With only one stasis pod, Nat was getting into it. Dante had most of the cure and was going to have to dig deep and ride it out while his little cossack took a nap.

“You didn’t have to stab me that hard,” Nash rubbed his arm while he walked to the pilots chair. “Mintarans bruise too you know.”

“Get her into the stasis pod. It will stop the progression of the illness,” Kelly said picking up the hypo with the remaining bit of the cure and jabbing it into her leg. “Nash you have the conn,” she said letting out a deep breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

Kelly Shultz

“Why is it always me saving your asses when we get teamed up on assignments,” Nash grumbled, mostly to himself. “Ohh look it’s Captain Fantastic and Captain Chaos, the indomitable duo! Thunderbirds are go! Avengers Assemble and Yabbadabbadoo!” Nash grumbled to himself mimicking the high pitched voice people used when pretending to speak as other people.

Kelly looked at Dante and bit back half a grin. “You know he is kinda cute and adorable when you crack that crunchy exterior and funny as hell,” she jerked her head towards the monologuing officer. “I think I am seeing why Fox has taken a liking to him. He is like a one-man stand-up routine. We need to include him more in our command assignments.” Her tone was more matter-of-fact than anything else. If she wasn’t starting to feel a little green under the gills, Kelly might have poked him for a little more entertainment. Ethan was pretty damn funny.

Don’t worry Batman and Batgirl,” now Nash had switched into a voice that sounded elderly, “Alfred will steer this thing back to the Starbase while you sit back and enjoy the ride and my blood, even though Blade was a better vampire movie than Twilight. I’ll even beat the everloving crap out of superman for you while you’re saving the Federation and while we are at it, Han Solo fired first....

While everyone else got to work, the quiet, animated and fully voiced monologue Ethan was undertaking didn’t pause for an instant.

“Kelly help me with the pod,” Dante called out while he carried the limp form of Natasha to the back of the small medical facility on the ship. Laying Natasha gently down into it, he moved her hair out of her face and made an effort to make sure she was lying comfortably, even though she was going to be put into stasis and would remember nothing. “We got you baby, we’re back on the ship with Kelly. We’re going home.”

Dante Knight & Ethan Nash

Kelly put a hand on Dante’s arm and gave it a small squeeze. No one understood their connection. It was far more than command and at times more intimate then the one they shared with Ric or Natasha. “She is going to be fine.” As the stasis pod slid back and crystalized over with a thin film of ice, the reality of a career in Starfleet began to materialize with a clarity Kelly hadn’t really thought about. Dante and Natasha chose to interlink their careers and Starfleet. This worked for the vast majority of officer or instead of Starfleet it would be called Celibacyfleet which no one would ever join. Ric kept Kelly far away from his career and his assignments. Now she understood why seeing the concern on Dante’s brow and the tension in his jaw.

=/\=Federation ship=/\= the sharply clipped voice from some officer on the planet below blared from the comm station. =/\=We know you have been the infected individuals onto your ship. We are now erecting a containment zone for the good of civilization. The progression of the disease takes 24 hours in most situations and 48 for the most unlucky. Do not worry. We will explain it all to your superiors in the event they show up.=/\=

Walking over to the comm Kelly did not immediately reply but tapped several buttons in succession before tapping activate. After she opened the comm channel back up. =/\=Don’t worry. We just sent out an SOS with an encrypted Data packet. Do you really think our officers were going to write an official report without evidence to back up all your lies, cover-ups, and the metric crap ton of feces you sell to Starfleet under the guise of transparency? You are not in some out-of-the-way backwater colony of the Federation. In most cases, the beacon is answered in 24 hours and 48 at the latest. I would suggest you get your ducks in a row because our superiors are on their way and are gonna have a lot of questions for you.=/\= Not waiting for a further response, Kelly clicked off the comm and silenced the incessant beep of the planet trying to contact them. Security overrides would allow the first Federation ship that arrived on the scene to contact their roundabout without needing someone to enable to comm call.

“So now we wait,” she looked at Dante before standing up and heading to the small medical console on the ship. “I know you are an expert on anatomy and physiology from your girlfriend being a doctor and all so help me run some tests on Khan’s blood?” While Mintaran’s were not augments, they did have an overactive immune system that hopefully would let Kelly and Dante cure this thing or at least find a medicine for it.

Kelly Shultz

“We’re not staying here waiting for them to decide to shoot us down,” Ethan said as the ship turned for open space, setting course to the nearest Federation station. “They aren’t going anywhere, we know where they live.” Looking up at the pair, he grinned slightly.

“Maybe we should let mom and dad know we are bringing back guests if they try to follow,” Kelly let out a small laugh.

“You do that,” Dante nodded and turned to Kelly, raising his hand and looking at the odd blotch of colour that was covering his palm.

Kelly felt a twinge of nervousness in her belly seeing the spot. Looking up she began to inspect the rest of Dante noticing something odd. Reaching out she pulled at his collar. “You feeling okay champ,” she asked him trying to sound upbeat.

Another blob could be seen under the collar of his shirt. “Alright Watson, lets scan that blood and see if Mintaran’s superior genetic selection has an answer for this thing. He was the only one not to get Klingon Herpe’s at that camp for wayward women, so maybe there is something to it.”

“Dude I don’t want to know. I mean I already do but it might be because Ethan was with the prim and proper Emily and not the Spuenkler brood. I am sure he is waiting like a proper gentleman before he makes a move to touch her chastity. Besides any chick in daisy dukes and pigtails should be avoided. I am not sure why you boys don’t know that.”

Taking the vial from Kelly, he turned and placed it into the scanning box on the computers medical station, then reached up to steady himself on an overhead bulkhead as he suddenly felt dizzy. “Mama Mia,” he muttered. “This feels worse than your last attempt at Spaghetti Bolognaise, Kelz.

Dante Knight

Putting her arm around his waist, Kelly helped Dante to one of the bunks. “Your Italians are such snobs. Ketchup on noodles is just as yummy as your bolognaizy thing.” Her attempt at humor was to judge how sick Dante really was. “You also never complained when I made pancakes with only water and flour on that wilderness weekend we went through. If I remember correctly you said and I quote these sure stick to your ribs Kelz.”

Kelly Shutlz

“That’s because they literally did”, Dante quipped. “Remember, it was a survival weekend and the only thing those pancakes were good for was insulating the cold weather gear we were wearing as an extra layer of protection from the cold. I’m pretty sure Natasha’s great great grandmother’s recipe that contained sawdust was more nutrious.”

Dante

Kelly let out a laugh. “True but if we had to go all survivalist and eat shoe leather it would have tasted slightly better.” Looking over at Ethan, she leaned back letting out a small groan. Her body was already starting to ache some. “How are you feeling handsome? Better than me?”

Kelly Shultz


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