Post 373: Getting Out of Dodge Part One

Stardate:70810.1200
Title: Getting Out of Dodge Part One
Author: Lt. February Grace
Scene: Symbiosis Commission/Various
Time: Following "Exit, Stage Left."
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Reece and Rigin stood beside February's bed, as Jaine Hood checked her vital signs again. The trio was quite shocked when Ashlyn returned and began hurriedly unhooking February from all the monitoring equipment which surrounded her.

"Um. . .and stuff?" Dabin asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"We're leaving. Help me, we have to hurry."

"What do you mean, leaving?" Jaine shook her head. "She's at a critical point, if we move her we risk,"

"I don't have time to repeat this!" Ashlyn exclaimed. "We've overstayed our welcome and if we don't get out of here now, we will be going home without February. If we're lucky."

"Time to go." Dabin concluded, and he began assisting Ashlyn in bundling February up in a blanket.

"But she can't leave without performing the zhian'tara!" Rigin objected. "It can't be performed without a Guardian present."

"How do you feel about space travel, Rigin?" Reece said, putting his arm around the smaller man and walking him a few steps away. "Cause we're goin' on a field trip."

"We?" Jaine asked, puzzled. "Reece,"

"This is something I have to see through to the end, Jaine." Dabin replied. "I just. I owe her that much."

"All right. Looks like we're taking a trip," Jaine concluded. Dabin smiled at her and slowly rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling as if he were swooning. He put his hand to his heart.

"And this is why I love you, Jaine."

Suddenly, Gilmore and Blane appeared in the doorway. "Ready to go?" The two men had their phasers drawn.

"I think so," Ashlyn looked around. "Where are Biggs and T'Ana?"

"They're waiting in the service corridor, making sure that no one tries to impede our progress." Blane remarked.

"We're going to have to be very, very careful carrying her out of here." Jaine warned, "She's dead weight, and has two surgical incisions newly mending in the middle of her abdomen."

"I'll take her." Blane said, handing Reece his phaser. Reece, in turn, handed it to Rigin.

"You know what to do with this, Slim?"

"Yes," Rigin replied. "Try not to shoot myself with it."

"Very good. Let's go."

Ashlyn had taken a pillowcase and begun tossing all the hypos of February's required medication into it. She handed it to Jaine. "They can send us a bill." She said, her eyes flashing, and Jaine nodded.

"We should be billing them for our services."

Simon appeared in the doorway.

"The service elevator is too busy. We'll need to take the stairs if we want to leave without fanfare."

"OK!" Blane said, trying to sound excited about it. He'd been through that whole hiking thing, and now he got to carry all five feet and ten gangly inches of February Grace down ten flights of stairs. *Good thing she's something of a string bean,* he thought, as he gathered her up into his arms and discovered that she was a lot lighter than he'd thought she'd be.

"Lily is watching the door to the waiting room. We have to go this way." Simon gestured towards the rear door with his phaser. He had another strapped to his hip, and was very glad that he'd thought to bring that extra weapons with him, even though Zanh had teased him about it. He'd have to be sure she knew later that he really did deserve that preparedness merit badge after all.

With Simon leading the way, Ashlyn, Reece, Hood and Rigin flanked Blane on all sides. He carried February out, and Gilmore and Lily brought up the rear, phasers at the ready.

The service corridor was dimly lit and mostly deserted. Once or twice they had to stop and wait as groups of maintenance workers walked past; once they ducked into an environmental controls mechanical room and another time, into what appeared to be the hospital's laundry facility.

It was then that they realized just how much trouble they were really in.

A group of men wearing black clothing and armbands which displayed a mysterious variant of the Symbiosis Commission's emblem was searching the laundry room. Gilmore whispered into Reece's ear, and he nodded. He then whispered to Simon and Lily, and the two joined Gilmore as he took off and left the others behind.

"They're going to try to lead them on a wild goose chase." Reece whispered to Blane, who shifted February's weight a little now. She was getting heavier by the minute.

"This way!" ordered the leader of the Trill security team, "I heard footsteps!"

They took off running after Biggs, who had split from T'Ana and Gilmore and run off toward a very visible and active public area of the hospital to try to lose them in it.

Just when Reece thought they were in the clear, a woman with her arms piled full of clean towels rounded the corner, finding the rest of them. She opened her mouth to scream, and Reece quickly clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Easy, sister. No one's gonna hurt you. We're just here to make sure that you fluff, as well as fold."

When she saw that he was Trill, she seemed to calm down a little.

"If I take my hand away, you're not going to scream, are you?" Reece asked, and he gestured toward the door with his head, urging the others to get a head start.

The woman shook her head. 'no'.

"Good. I'm going to let you go now."

She nodded.

Reece released her, and she immediately began to scream for security.

"Oh, come on!" Reece stamped his foot.

The sound of a phaser discharging filled the room, and the woman fell silent and slumped to the floor.

Blane, Reece, Trind, and Hood all exchanged glances. None of them had fired. They turned to Rigin, who was standing there with eyes the size of saucers and the phaser still leveled.

"Way to go, Slim! Good thing I set it for stun before I gave it to you." Reece patted Rigin on the top of the head. "We're outta here."

Within moments they had found the stairs and completed their descent. They saw Lily waiting for them by the exit. That was when another problem surfaced in Jaine's mind.

"How the hell are we going to get her to the Hiawatha? We can't just walk through the streets with Bru limp as a dish rag in TC's arms."

"I don't know but the transporter hub is two blocks away," TC warned, huffing and puffing a little as once again February's weight shifted in his arms. "And it's very busy."

"Simon's already thought of that," Lily replied. "Gilmore said that all of you should go with Simon while Reece and I go with him and meet you at the Hiawatha.

He still didn't like the idea of splitting up, but with no time to do anything else, TC had no choice but trust in the plans of his fellow officers. He led the way through the service exit out into the morning sunshine.

When he saw what Biggs had planned, he laughed out loud. "Damn. Now that's officer thinking."

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Lt. (jg) February Grace
Helm/Flight Controller
USS Independence NCC-90791