“What can I get for you today, Major?”
Cooper slipped through the hatch to the wardroom, chose an empty table removed from the rest of the crowd and sat down. Frank spotted her as she entered and rushed over. He brought a warm smile with his menu.
“I’d like another chicken salad sandwich like I had yesterday, thank you,” she replied with a smile of her own. “Is the salad bar open?”
“Just been refreshed. Your timing is perfect.”
“Alright then,” she rose as she spoke. “Oh, and can I get a cup of coffee as well?”
“I’ll get it right away, then put in the order for your sandwich.” Eager to please, Frank spun and scurried towards the galley to fetch her coffee.
Cooper walked over to the salad bar and filled a plate, taking her time to make her choices. When she returned to her table, her coffee was waiting for her, along with her utensils, and of course, cream and sugar.
“Frank,” she scolded under her breath, “you know I take my coffee black. Why do you always insist on bringing me cream and sugar?” Cooper sat, tossed a napkin on her lap, proceeded to take a few bites of her salad, and then a sip of her coffee. She went back to her salad, and then another sip.
A few minutes later, Frank appeared from the galley and approached Cooper for a quality check.
“Your sandwich is coming right up,” he said. “How is everything so far?”
Cooper didn’t respond. Instead, she appeared disoriented as she stared down at the table.
“Major, is everything alright?” Frank leaned down and put his hand on her shoulder.
“I … don’t feel … right …”
“Major?” A look of concern flashed across Frank’s face.
“I really … don’t feel well …” she said. She attempted to rise. “… think I need to go … lay down …” Cooper fell back into her chair and slumped over the table, trying in vain to stay conscious.
Frank stood and tapped his comm tattoo. “This is the wardroom to sick bay. We have a medical emergency here. Please send help quickly!” He clicked off his comm and went back to Cooper, who appeared almost unconscious. He tried to pull her back to a seated position, and as he did, a burly Marine approached.
“Need some help?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with the Major,” Frank said. “One minute she was fine, and the next she says she’s not feeling well. Now she’s fighting to stay awake.”
“Here, let me take her to sick bay for you,” the Marine replied. He moved to pick her up, but Frank slid between him and the major.
“That’s okay, I’ve called sick bay. They’re sending someone right away.”
“It’s no problem. I can take her. She may be very sick, y’know. We should get her help as soon as possible.” He tried to move around Frank, but the mess specialist stood his ground.
“That’s alright, Lieutenant …?” The Marine never offered his name, and Frank couldn’t find a name tag on his blouse. “I’ll stay with her until the corpsmen arrive.” Frank had an odd feeling about this Marine. He didn’t recognize him, and he prided himself in knowing all of his patrons at least by sight. This particular Marine was unknown to him, and a tad too insistent, which set off a red flag in his mind.
“Just let me help her–” The mystery Marine attempted to use force to remove Frank from his guard position, when Scarecrow and the rear admiral entered the wardroom. Everyone present stood when they saw the rear admiral.
“Admiral on deck!”
“Admiral! Commander!” Frank waved to them, frantic, as the burly Marine ducked his head from their direction and slipped away. Frank was having difficulty getting their attention until the rest of the wardroom began to return to their seats. They saw Frank’s agitated motioning, and turned to walk rather casually toward him.
“Sirs!” Frank broke his own rule never to raise his voice in the wardroom, and shouted at them, “Get over here now! It’s Major Cooper! There’s something wrong!” He jabbed his finger at her as he spoke. With that the two senior officers bolted toward the table.
“What’s going on, Frank?” Reynolds asked with a worried tone as the two officers approached.
“The Major! She’s been drugged or poisoned or something!”
Scarecrow knelt beside her and pulled her head to one side. At first glance, the major appeared to be unconscious. But Scarecrow noticed her eyes were open, and as he stared at them, he beheld her verdigris irises as they focused on him. She was as limp as a rag doll, but somehow she was still fully conscious. He gathered her up in his arms as the corpsmen burst though the hatch and scanned the room, searching for the emergency. They spotted Scarecrow holding Cooper in his arms and rushed over to him. Another pair of corpsmen came through the hatch with an anti-grav gurney and followed them over. Scarecrow laid her on the gurney as the team began examining her.
As Scarecrow walked beside the gurney while it exited the wardroom, Reynolds turned to Frank.
“Alright, Frank. Everything, from the beginning. No detail too insignificant!”
“The major was drugged, as you suspected,” the CMO said. “A very potent, fast acting paralytic. It’s different from most date-rape drugs in that it’s designed to render the victim completely paralyzed, yet fully conscious. The reason why is anybody’s guess. She would have been incapacitated for hours.”
Scarecrow and Rear Admiral Reynolds stood beside Cooper’s bed as the doctor explained her condition.
“How is she now, doctor?” Scarecrow asked.
“She’s resting, as you can see. I’ve purged the drug from her system, but an after effect of the treatment is fatigue. She’s asleep now, and will probably remain so until tomorrow morning. But another side effect of the treatment is not particularly pleasant. She’s going to have a raging hangover when she does wake up.”
“No hair of the dog?”
The doctor smiled at Scarecrow’s query. “Not for this particular situation, no.”
“Sounds like the treatment’s worse than the drug.”
The doctor patted Scarecrow on the shoulder and left the two Solar Warden officers alone in the room with Cooper.
“This is getting out of hand!” Scarecrow shot a frustrated glare at Reynolds. “We need to find out who this perpetrator is, and fast. She’s obviously become a target. This can’t go on, Sir.”
“I’m right there with you,” Reynolds said as he stared at Cooper, pensive.
“What did Frank tell you after I left?”
“Not much, except …”
“What?”
“It’s strange. He said he brought Sandy her coffee while she was at the salad bar, but he never saw her take a drink. We’ll have to ask her whether she actually did when she wakes up.”
“Can’t you test the coffee to see if it contained the drug?”
“No. The coffee was spilt in the incident, and while I was talking to Frank another mess specialist came over and cleaned everything up before I could stop him, so we can’t even test the cup for DNA.
“What’s more unusual, Frank did say when Sandy started to feel the effects of the drug, a Marine lieutenant came over to offer assistance. Frank didn’t recognize him. He said the lieutenant didn’t have a name tag on his combat utility blouse. He also told me the Marine insisted on taking the major to sick bay himself. He said he was almost too insistent.”
“Why is that strange?”
“Because Frank knows all 300 officers on this ship. For him to say he doesn’t recognize one, tells me that this Marine is not part of the Nautilus crew.”
“You mean we have a stowaway?”
“It’s a good possibility.”
“Where was the major’s security detail? Weren’t they supposed to be watching her?”
“She refused to allow them into the wardroom. She made them wait out in the passageway.”
“When she chooses to be stubborn, she doesn’t go halfway, that’s for sure.” Scarecrow turned from gazing at his fiancé’s sleeping form to look at Reynolds. “What are we going to do about this, Admiral?”
“The first thing we have do is find out who Frank’s phantom Marine is,” he replied. “And determine whether he’s an actual officer or an imposter. I have Frank working with security, going over the CCSS data from the wardroom and the adjoining passageways to try and get an image of him so we can run a facial recognition scan. I’ve got a forensics team scouring the wardroom for any evidence, and Frank is also working with an artist on a composite sketch. And I’ve got the major’s lieutenants and first sergeant going over the surveillance footage with security to see if they can recognize this mystery Marine. I’m doing everything I can, I assure you.”
“Well I thank you for that, Sir. From the bottom of my heart. All I can say is that for his sake, I hope you catch this parasite before I do.” Scarecrow turned and looked back at the major. “Is she going to safe in here tonight?”
“Absolutely,” the rear admiral said. “Her security team is standing watch outside, as you saw when you brought her in. Four of her Marines also volunteered, and are stationed with them. The sick bay staff is aware of the situation, and this entire facility is blanketed with CCSS, and I’ve assigned a team to watch it in real time. If anybody does attempt an infiltration, they’ll know it immediately.”
“And what if this phantom Marine enters and tries to relieve one of Sandy’s Marines on guard?”
“Those guys are from Cooper’s first platoon. They’ve served with each other for years. If a strange Marine approaches them, their first sergeant ordered them to hold the imposter and contact him immediately. He told them if anything happened to their ‘honcho’ on their watch, they would answer to him. That sealed it for them–no one’s getting in here unless those four Marines know them personally.”