The Hospital Doesn’t Mean Hospitality
Posted on Tue Mar 1st, 2022 @ 10:57am by Ranger Blue & Captain Luka Mahone
Edited on on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 @ 5:21am
1,410 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: Haumea- Medical Center
Timeline: Pre-Roll With It
Ranger was propped up in the Starfleet biobed, wearing a blue gown and covered by a warm blanket. His shoulder throbbed, still aching from the osteoregen. He still felt sleepy, but he could see a man in his red Starfleet uniform waiting impatiently.
He figured now was as good a time as any to talk with what he could only assume was the commanding officer. “Captain?” he said, guessing the man’s rank.
"Yes," came the curt reply. Luka made sure to wait for everyone else to clear out before addressing the patient. With what the Marines suspected and Luka was assuming, he would have rather not wanted to cause alarm to those around him. "I heard the grounds outside the colony got in the way of your ship. Had to make sure this wasn't another rumor going around. Safe to say it's not, but I don't know if anyone's managed to get a why out of you yet. Normally when people come to visit, they find our landing zone."
“I imagine people who crash land don’t necessarily have the power or complete control of their ship when they crash, Captain. As for the why,” Ranger paused as he considered full disclosure. Of course, even the Vulcans realized the power of omission. “I was just completing a supply run for one of the colonies that the Federation wrote off when they drew back and fortified their boundaries.
You realize those people are still trying to live in those places they made homes. Many of them without the personnel and supplies this colony has.
I’m just trying to do my part to help.”
"Okay. Supply run," Luka deadpanned. He did not completely disbelieve the man in front of him, but the nearest 'written-off' colony was well out of Haumea's reach. If it wasn't, he would have sent word to Admiral Minawara by now. One simply did not deposit the former doctor somewhere and not have him at least attempt to help.
But that also meant keeping the colony he was looking after safe from whatever was after the patient. "I get that. Helping is what we do here on the colony. We like helping, especially with outreach to neighboring colonies. We've been here long enough to do that." Arms folded over his chest, the Captain tilted his head to one side. "But what I don't get here is, that if this is a supply run, then why you haven't given us a name... or why your shuttle isn't exactly coming up in the Federation databanks. Or what got you crash-landing here to begin with. Because last I checked, simple supply runs didn't tend to cause a shuttle to malfunction."
Ranger laughed, it hurt his chest when he did. Once he shifted and recovered, he looked at the commanding officer, trying to look officious. It was amusing, almost cute. “I think this is the first time anyone has asked those questions…” He let the statement stand for a minute before answering.
“First, my name is Ranger Blue. You won’t find me in your Federation databases because I’m not a Federation citizen. I lost that right when your Starfleet abandoned our colony to what equates to the ancient Wild West.
Same reason my shuttle isn’t on your register. It was supposed to be a simple supply run. If you investigate the outer moons of the system, you’ll see the cargo pod I was hauling, which had the unfortunate effect of slowing the speed shuttle.
As for how I ended up here,” Ranger paused. “Let’s just say the Pakled traders wanted more than we agreed upon and I couldn’t accommodate. We haven’t got a lot of funds, Captain, or a lot of trust. My colony gave me the exact amount to pay as agreed.
Now I’m stuck here because they trashed my shuttle. My short range scans just picked up this planet with atmosphere and a civilization. I set course and barely made it to orbit. If your engineers pick apart my shuttle, they’ll find I pulled every manual lever I could to save my life and to avoid damaging the colony.”
"We treat first, ask questions when you're not dying," Luka stated flatly. "Whether we all agree or not, I'm not going to sit here and bar medical treatment."
But now the suspicion grew. Usually, people had less code names and more names. This would require more investigation. Much more. "As for you shuttle, we're holding onto it for now. What you might find trashed may end up easily repaired with the right motivation."
He leaned forward. "Federation citizen or not, you're on this colony for the moment, and while I'm glad no one else was hurt for the time being, I want to make sure it stays that way. We can go back and forth like this, but I'm going to cut to the chase; you're setting off a lot of red flags, and while I could have people scan moons and pick apart shuttles, I do a lot better with people coming forward and being trustworthy. And you're giving me information now, but I feel like I'm missing something. So, we can do this the scanny-scanny, pointy fingers way, or you give me whatever other information I need to know because the way I see it, you're just doing what you set out to do. Let me do what I set out to do and we can make this much easier for the both of us."
“Come on, Captain, you know as well as I do who and what I am. It’s what I’ve wanted to be since I was ten years old and it’s why I chose my name. The Fenris Rangers rescued me when I was a child, wandering around with no memory…”
Ranger pulled the chain from around his neck, a small device that represented the Rangers hung from it. “Ranger for the people that found me, my parent who adopted me and Blue for the scrap of cloth I was found carrying.”
“Is that direct enough? Because I’m still just completing a supply run for my colony. I did get shot down by the Pakleds and I did do everything in my power not to crash directly into your colony. Whether you believe me or not, it is the truth.”
"Quite." Suspicions confirmed, Luka now had a list of items he'd have to deal with, but first, "As long as the legality of everything checks out? You're not going to find issues here. Once that's verified, we can see what we can do about making sure your shuttle is workable, and you can get right back to it."
Ranger smiled but thought better of rolling his eyes. “That simple?” Ranger asked seriously. “No ‘walk tall and carry a big stick’ talk? No Fenris Ranger danger? Just fix things up and send me on my way?
Seems a little too easy, Captain.”
"I said as long as the legality of it checks out," Luka repeated. "The legality checks out? It will be that easy. If it doesn't? If the team I send comes back with something less than checked out legality? Then that might be a complication." He also was not about to send the man on his way until he could confirm this Ranger fellow could leave the system intact. He was a humanitarian, not a dictator.
"When you've recovered, you'll be making a visit to our Brig until we can sort that out."
Ranger resisted the urge to shrug, which would aggravate his collarbone. His smile faded to a frown and his face turned to aggravation. “There’s the Starfleet welcome I expected. Please tell me you have nice stack of magazines,” he quipped.
"I'll let the Security team take care of your arrangements." And with that, Luka took leave. There was a part of him that felt for Ranger, a man who seemingly only had one identity, and that identity was wholly based off of one group's ideals. In Starfleet? That happened more often than it should have.
But on the other, the whole thought of Fenris Rangers brought about a host of issues to Haumea, issues that Luka would want to safeguard for pretty quickly.
He would have a lot more work to do than he wanted to admit to.
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