Subject: FRONTIER: Another one bites the dust

SD 71119

>She smiled at him, "But you'd rather be here with me right?"

>"Yeah. I'm sure Patrick can manage," he said.

He reached up and touched her cheek where a crimson bruise was 
forming, she winced slightly and wiped a drop of blood from her chin, 
"I must look a mess," she said.

He tore a handful of grass from the bank and using it as an impromptu
sponge, dipped it into the water and daubed her face with it, "The 
bruise'll probably be gone by night. I fear Katie's will last longer 
though, you broke her nose at least, and I think you knocked a couple 
of teeth slack as well."

"She deserved it. There was no need for her to hit me."

Angus laughed briefly, "So that's the famous Bajoran self-control eh?"

Leana scowled at him, "What would you have done in that situation 
then?"

He sighed, "I'm not exactly doctor diplomacy, I'd probably have belted
her."

A smile spread across her bruised face then she stood up and tugged 
his arm gently, "C'mon, we better get back to the others, we should 
already be moving by now."


BACK AT THE CAMP

Ruth, still dazed, turned sharply at the sound of Sykes' voice. "Are 
you alright?" he asked with definite concern.

Ruth knew now that he had not been to blame. In fact, what Katie had 
done would quite easily be called rape. When they got back to a 
Starbase, she'd be called on that charge. At least twice.

And so she replied, "I could ask the same question of you." Tears 
began to track her face. "I'm sorry-"

He interrupted her. "You don't have to be. What you did was perfectly 
reasonable given what you knew. To tell you the truth, I don't 
remember much of it at all." He stood up from the tree stump, 
carefully watching his feet on the gnarled roots which showed through 
the ground here and there, and walked over to embrace her for the 
first time in days.

They stood there like that for what seemed like hours, the air 
punctured by the sound of Ruth's sobbing. As they parted, Neil found 
his own eyes damp with tears. "I love you too much to be without you 
again," he said, his loyalty clear. "I'll make this up to you somehow,
mark my words."


When Angus rejoined the rest of the group with Leana, the mood was 
clearly clouded. Now that Braun had been exposed as a danger to the 
crew, there were doubts about her mirror. m-Braun was adamant that she
was not the same, but it was all too easy to look at the twisted 
hatred visible on Braun's face and not be entirely certain.

Patrick was standing within arms length of Katie, and her hands had 
been bound behind her back. As Murray approached he reported, "The 
captain wants to see you right away. It's important."

Angus nodded and scanned the uneasy throng for Ramsay, spotting him 
still seated against the tree. He seemed a little more focussed, but 
he was still staring.

"Captain?" said Angus as he stopped before the weary, ashen-faced 
officer.

"Ah. You're no doubt aware that I'm in no condition to give orders," 
he said, his tone relaxed and full of his native Scottish accent. 
"Until I am, or you find Joanna, you're going to take charge of our 
bunch." There was an air of finality about his words.

When Angus replied he was clearly unsettled about the idea, "I don't 
have any experience at commanding, I'm not sure I'd be the best
choice."

Ramsay laughed hoarsely. "You're shying away from an opportunity to 
experience command? Haven't you learned anything from being head of 
your own department?" He paused for thought then added, "Of course, I 
could just give the job to the Counselor... I'm sure she'd jump at the
chance." He was almost goading Angus but clearly with good cause.

"Well sir, since you put it like that, this *is* probably the last 
chance I'll have for a few years..."

"Same here. You think they'll give us a promotion when we get back?"

"I should bleedin' well hope so, I think we've done enough to deserve 
it," Angus replied.

Will nodded and said, "Three points to remember: One, watch Braun like
a hawk; Two, watch Caroline's mirror still closer; Three, watch your 
own mirror like there's no tomorrow." Dryly he added, "You can dismiss
me now."

With that, Angus stood up and went to find Caroline. Within a few 
minutes the group was moving again following the tracks left by the 
army of horsemen.

Angus was talking to Patrick at the back of the group while the both 
of them kept a close watch on Katie Braun. A loud crack off to their 
left distracted them both long enough for Katie to dash off into the 
trees, when Angus looked around for her he saw only Leana plunging 
into the heavy undergrowth at the side of the trail. 

He and Patrick both ran into the woods after her and they could see
Katie through a break in the vegetation which led to a large clearing.

As Katie ran into the clearing Angus watched in horror as an arrow 
whistled seemingly from nowhere and stuck in her thigh, she screamed 
and fell to the ground. Another arrow struck her between her shoulder 
blades, she screamed again and writhed on the ground, unable to stand 
up because of her bound hands.

Patrick leapt into the clearing, scooping Katie into his arms, an 
arrow thudded into his shoulder and a pained look crossed his face. He
turned and ran from the clearing. Angus was crouching in the thick 
undergrowth, he traced the path of the arrow to a tree at the edge of
the clearing and keeping low, he advanced through the trees towards 
it. When he reached it he grabbed onto a branch just over his head,  
clutching his claymore in one hand, and pulled himself up, the figure 
in the tree appeared to be human and when he saw Angus he tried
frantically to bring his bow to bear on him. Angus was too quick 
however and he thrust his sword into the mans stomach, the man fell
from the tree and Angus wiped the blade of his sword on the man's 
tunic and replaced it in its scabbard.

When Angus returned to the rest of the group they were clustered 
around Katie's prone form. Sykes was desperately trying to resuscitate
her, without much success. After a few minutes of frenetic activity, 
he looked up at Angus and said, "There's nothing more I can do. She's 
dead, sir."

Angus looked down at the motionless body on the ground, his face was 
grim, "We can't bury her, so we'll have to burn her." He saw the 
horrified expression on the faces before him and added, "It's better 
than letting the crows get her." He turned away and walked away.

<nrpg>
I can't believe how long it's taking to write this damned post!!!
<rpg>

Sampter looked at the arrow embedded in Patrick's shoulder, the 
bleeding had almost stopped but the arrow was in deep and she was 
concerned about how to remove it without aggravating the injury. "Keep
still," she chided, "if you keep moving like that you'll make it 
worse."

Patrick patiently waited until Sampter turned her back on him before 
reaching up to the arrow, clenching his teeth and pulling it from his 
shoulder, he grunted as the blood flowed with renewed vigour.

Hearing him, Sampter turned around again and saw the re-opened wound, 
she pressed her hand firmly against it to stop the flow and gently 
backhanded him with her free hand. "You stupid fool!" she screamed,
"Are you deliberately trying to bleed to death!?"

Patrick shrank back slightly from her wrath, "Well the arrow's out now
isn't it?" he said defensively, then he held the arrow up and added, 
"I could put it back in if you like."

"No, that won't be necessary," she smirked. "You've done enough damage
already. Now, kindly sit down and stay still until this clots up." She
carefully moved with him as he took a seat on a nearby tree stump. As 
he rested there Ruth could feel the heart slowing to a more relaxed 
rate. Then, with a puzzled look crossing her face, she realised there 
were two distinct pulses. She would have never noticed but for her 
medical training, and she asked, "Two hearts?"

"Uh... yeah, that's right. Tolstoyans have a second heart, just for 
use in moments of extreme exertion, it acts sort of like a turbo 
charger, speeds up the circulation and causes all sorts of blood 
pressure problems," he replied.

"Great. Just when I thought my training was up to date, they throw a 
completely new species at me. Perhaps you'd like to drop into Sickbay 
sometime and tell me more about your people. Because guaranteed, if 
you get into serious medical trouble, we'll to need to know every last
detail. Who knows what damage we've done to you already?"

"Not a lot I expect, Tolstoyans are built to last. We're reputed to 
have the most aggressive immune system in the Alpha quadrant," he 
paused for a moment, "it doesn't stop us getting colds of course, no 
race in the galaxy is immune to *that*. We have very complex anatomies
so if you want a long interview about it how about 2-Backward instead?
Sickbay is such a restrictive enviroment."

She wasn't entirely sure how to answer that at first. Then she 
replied, "You're right, there's no better way to get to know someone 
than over a good square meal. How about next Gamma shift?"

"Suits me fine, of course we'll have to solve Q's little puzzle 
first." He glanced over to where the others were gathered and saw the 
look on Angus' face as he walked away, "Looks like she didn't make 
it," Patrick said somberly.

Sampter sneered and said, "I wouldn't lose any sleep over it."

"Don't you think that's just a little callous?" Patrick asked.

"It's no more than she deserves Patrick," she replied.

"I don't believe anyone deserves that.  On Tolstoy when a person dies,
we celebrate their life, it's a time to forgive past grievances and  
give the person honour in death. Everyone pays respect to them no
matter what kind of scum they were when they were alive."

"That's all very well but you don't have any grievances to forgive 
her for, she tried to drive me and Neil apart." 

"Just let it drop Ruth, you've made up your differences and Katie 
won't get between you again, let her rest in peace," Patrick's 
commanding tone indicated clearly that he was holding a black card 
over the conversation, so Sampter let it drop.

                       Respectfully submitted:

                           Allan MacLennan
                 [Lt.] Angus Murray, Tac/CSO FRONTIER

                            Sam M. Edwards
                  [Captain] Will Ramsay, CO FRONTIER
                 [Cmdr] Caroline Ramsay, XO FRONTIER
               [LtCmdr] Joanna Houston, aXO/tCMO FRONTIER


          "Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry."
                           Oliver Cromwell

  "The next time you go over my head, I'll have yours on a platter."
                       Commander Benjamin Sisko