Chapter IIb: On Your Own

"I am here," Zephyr says to Lorq over the communicator. "Keep this line of communications open for a moment, I think Alex may have a plan. I will relay it to you as she tells me about it.

"Alex," Zephyr says through the wall, "go ahead with what you're thinking. I've got Lorq on the comm here. Lorq, I have repaired the replicator in my room. We may have a plan that involves it. Alex believes I may have been infected, and so it seems we need to act fast."

Zephyr is feeling slightly woozy, and is glad to have his bed near the wall. He has a seat as close as he can to the communicator and waits for what comes next.

"This would be a lot easier if we were all together, but... if Lorq was able to strengthen the sedatives, I think we need to sedate the guards and see if we can take over the ship."

She sighs. "I know it's only the three of us, and if the infection spreads quickly, then we might even lose one of those. But we're running out of time, and we have to take our chances or Zephyr's going to become one of them. Zephyr, I know that your shipmates should be coming for us, but I think we can all agree that we have no idea when that's going to happen."

"So does anyone have an idea for how to get them to get the three of us together in one room?"

Well, if someone can take being sick it could get 2 of 7s together. If we sedate any guards we could easily release the third.
Even if we can't get take over the ship, we may be able to stay free long enough to figure out where we are and send a distress call.

"I like that plan Lorq. If I were the one to fake it, I could replicate some split pea soup, hold it in my mouth, and then 'vomit' on a guard's shoes when he enters the room to address my complaints. Hopefully vomiting is not typical of my current condition, and they would call you in?"
Zephyr grins to himself. This could be fun.

"I just have one more request," says Alex through the wall. "Can we have a code phrase to initiate the plan? I was thinking 'roast chicken' would be an ideal trigger phrase."

She stands up and stretches in the complete darkness of her room. "I'm not much with a phaser, so it's probably best that the two of you do the damage. I'm happy to be rescued, but the first one to call me a damsel in distress gets a foot in the crotch. And I can kick.

I am fine with that plan and code word

"Sounds good, I'll get right on it. Zephyr out," and he closes the comm for now.

"Roast Chicken?" Zephyr wonders aloud to himself. "That's odd, but okay whatever works."

---

After about ten minutes of quiet contemplation, Zephyr walks up to the replicator and activates it. "Soup, split pea...and oatmeal, room temperature, in a cup." Taking the cup of soup, Zephyr walks back to his bed and sits down. He then proceeds to take a mouthful of soup and spits it out on the floor in front of him, making sure to keep a large mouthful left in the cup.

"Guard! Guard!" Zephyr yells out at the door. "Something is wrong! I've just emptied the contents of my stomach all over the floor in here, and I'm still feeling nauseous. This doesn't seem right! I may have food poisoning or a viral infection or something. Please, I think I need a doctor!"

Contrary to the panic in his voice, Zephyr waits nonchalantly with his cup of soup in hand. When the guard comes near the door he will fill his mouth with soup and then quickly stash the cup under the mattress of his bed. This is not the type of intrepid adventure he was expecting when he volunteered for this away team, but it sure will make a great story to tell over drinks once he gets back to the Potential.

Immediately lurching forward at the guard, Zephyr splurts the soup all over the guard's boots.

"Ugh, my apologies," he mutters while wiping his mouth with his sleeve, "It just comes out, you know how it is."

Staggering a bit, he stumbles forward onto his hands and knees and begins to groan softly.

"Oh man, sorry about your boots." Zephyr grabs the blanket off of his bed and starts to clean him off.

"Listen," Zephyr says a little louder on hopes that Alex will overhear, "something is really wrong. I think I'm freezing cold but I'm sweating. That can't be good can it?"

"If I may," Alex calls through the wall. "I could not help but overhear. If those are indeed the symptoms the meatbag is suffering, it is an ailment we refer to as a fever. I fear if it is not treated, your preparations will be for naught."

Her voice gets more excited then, as if just having a thought. "Our doctor... our doctor knows how to treat this affliction! If you were to bring him to the room, I have confidence he will be able to help."

it is good that you brought her to me. Help me get her on the bed.Don't just stand there like a roast chicken. Help her.