Spaceport Vacation

Nicole Shea landed her ship and watched as the ground crews unloaded the shipment, and when they were done she signed the PADD and locked up the ship and walked to the Crystal Ship tavern.  She stepped inside and spotted the back side of someone and walked over and tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Stephen?"  The man turned and she was taken a back, "Sorry-- you look like someone I knew from the station.  Excuse me."  She signalled the barkeep and ordered, "Bottle of jasmine wine and a glass." She walked over and found an empty booth and pulling off her bomber jacket she slid in and started un-braiding her hair.

The wine showed up and she tossed a few pieces of Latinum at the server and poured a glass full and sipped it slowly.  She was tired, angry that she hadn't heard from Ashton in over six weeks, and now she just made an ass out of herself with a stranger.  Her next run out was two days away and that would be a long flight back into G'kra space from the Youkon contract.  She kicked her feet back up on the seat across from her and could hear the partying at the far end of the tavern.  She finished drinking the bottle about the time they'd started closing up.  She stood and pulled on her jacket and decided not to re-braid her hair and walked out into the cold wet night.  She took the short cuts through the streets and she heard laughter behind her.  The light in the alley way went out as she walked under it.  She was still walking when a hand grabbed her arm, spun her around and against the wall.

"Lookie ...lookie...it’s that snitch from the Starbase."  A tall blond guy swinging a length of chain and shoved her again, He handed the length of chain to another guy and reached into a pocket and pulled out a small vial of purple powder.  Several others grabbed her and pinned her against the wall and a chick in shock tart colours and wild hair, grabbed a handful of her hair and held her steady while the blond forced her mouth opened while she fought. But they still dumped the contents in her mouth and held it closed until she choked and coughed.  "Look, that’s a free sample of the product...our boss still wants you to run product for him."  They played a game of push and shove and finally when she couldn't stand they shoved her against the wall and left laughing.  

Nicole, slid down the wall and saw the alley waver, get fuzzy and change colours.  She huddled there in her jacket, knowing that she should make her way to her ship, or to a call box.  She'd heard that Tara Carmichael was with Serenity City's police force...maybe she should find a comlink... 

She passed out and when she woke there was a male standing over her, shaking her shoulder and talking to her.  Her mind substituted the monsters from her childhood and she screamed, forced herself to her feet swinging to move the stranger away, and then ran to her ship. 

Nicole entered the ship and locked up behind her and crawling to the bridge where she barricaded herself into the cockpit where she curled up in her flight chair.  The sun came up and through and woke her.  She covered her head with her jacket and shivered. 

"Oh god."  She had pain everywhere.  Without looking she contacted the spaceport authority.  "This is Captain Nicole Shea of the Raven and I need to speak with Security officer Carmichael.  She can reach me on the Raven...out."  She broke the comlink and headed deep into her ship away from the sun.

That evening, her security system went off and she jumped up off her bed, grabbed her phaser and rushed to the ramp to check out the alarm to find Tara Carmichael and her partner with her.  She was holstering her phaser as she'd fired on the ship to set off the alarms, and was smiling when Nicole opened the hatch armed, dishevelled, and very drugged.

As soon as Tara saw her, she knew something was more that just a little wrong. So did Jayson as they both went to her quickly. Tara grabbed Nicole before she felt down.

“My god!” Tara said. “Dust!”

Jayson looked at her and pulled out his comm.. “This is Lt. Jayson Sandoval of the Serenity Police force. We have a medical emergency. Emergency transport for three from this location and please advise medical staff to be waiting.”

They disappeared in the lights of the transporter beams, reappearing in the Paladin Emergency room. Dr. Hancock greeted them with several nurses.

“What have we got?” he asked with tricorder in hand, scanning.

“Severe dust exposure,” Tara replied. “And no, this was not her doing before you ask.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Will replied.

Tara looked at him and he knew that she could read his thoughts as well as Karissa did.

“Let’s get her to a bed, get an IV started,” he said to his nurses with a few other instructions for meds that could help halt the effects of the drug.

Tara and Jayson didn’t move from Nicole’s side.

“This is all my fault,” Tara said softly as they watched Nicole rest. The medications had knocked her out and her body needed the rest after the shock of drugs to her system.

“You can’t blame yourself,” Jayson replied, placing a hand on her shoulder as he stood behind her chair.

“Can’t I? She went undercover for me . . . So that I could try to stop the drugs on Starbase 901, but look . . . what have I been able to stop? I’ll tell you… Nothing. And look who’s had to pay for my attempt.”

“You know that this is all part of the job,” he said, trying to ease her concern.

“But it wasn’t a job she asked for,” Tara replied.

“But she accepted . . .”

Tara was quiet. She knew in part Jayson was right. But so was she. “I just want her to be all right . . . She’s more than just someone I’ve worked with . . . She’s a friend.”

“I know . . . and she *will* be okay. Just have faith . . .”

*faith . . .* That was a loaded word, she thought. One she hoped she could find the meaning of at the moment. It was a word that offered hope. She would try to have *faith*.

Two days later...

Nicole moved around her room on the third floor of the medical center, she tried the door and found it locked.  She wandered over and knocked on the window and knew it wouldn't give and the monitoring equipment was too high for her to get to even if she'd piled the chair on the bed...  She crossed her arm over her chest and watched the sun set and the lights in the city wink on.  She could see an edge of the spaceport from her room.

The door opened and in walked Tara Carmichael.  The door closed behind her and Nicole walked around the bed and hugged the other woman.  "They're out and on Serenity...I didn't have a chance and had no warning."  Nicole said meeting the other woman’s eyes.

“I figured that’s what happened,” Tara replied. “I had seen they were out from a few reports, but had I known they would have gone after you . . . I am so sorry . . .” she said, her green eyes reflecting her pain.

"Not your fault Tara."  Nicole sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her arms and added, "I was careless, too.  I have a planetary comm unit, and I have the stunner that Ash gave me but I'd left them both on ship.  When I get out of here you can be sure that I'll be carrying where ever I go...  Speaking of which; I wonder when they will let me out of here?  And I want to be in on the 'OP' that brings this group back down."

“You sure you feel up to it?” Tara asked with concern. “They drugged you so badly . . . You could have very well died from the exposure . . . Though I don’t believe that was their intent from what you said . . . But perhaps it was the intent of some of them . . .”

"I don't remember much until I woke up late yesterday.  Knowing medical--they'll probably not want to let me out right away.  I need some one to contact Ashton Liteboughlt.  I have a run that needs to be made ASAP.”

“I think I can handle that,” Tara replied. “But you should get rest . . . I’ll let Jayson know that you’d like to be on the job again and we’ll put our heads together for a plan . . . We’ll make you a part of the planning as well. But I want this done as safely as possible . . . The next time you might not be so lucky . . .”

"I can agree with that...the hallucinations on that substance are wicked."  A nurse entered carrying a lunch tray.  "Well I guess its lunch time."  She said sitting down and taking the tray.  "I look forward to nailing these creeps."

“Me too,” Tara replied with a smile.