Echo

Chapter 3: Poking the Bear

Author's Notes: Hello all! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, your words of encouragement have been splendid. I am planning on expanding my Star Trek 'verse by potentially writing something for Chekov, and Khan as well. Thoughts? Leave me a note if you're interested ;)

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Leonard

McCoy jammed his thumb against the "on" button with unwonted venom, looking forward to venting his frustrations upon the only other person who might understand his cause, though she could hardly sympathize.

The screen came to life in front of him, and he placed his fingertips on the number pad, dialing the code that would connect him to Joanna. He only hoped that some emergency had not pulled her away, although she was usually online around this time in the evening.

The camera fixated on his face so that he could see a screenshot of himself in the lower right hand corner. He could tell even from that tiny, distorted reflection that he looked aggravated and exhausted, and he had every reason to be.

Three days had passed since you and your fellow bodyguards had joined the crew, and as a nurse you had already screwed up the proper insertion of an IV, incorrectly identified a case of Andorian shingles as an allergic reaction to tribbles, and placed your bare, unwashed hands against an open wound to stop a man's bleeding without thinking about potential infection. By some miracle, you had yet to murder anyone, but McCoy was still not entirely convinced that the patient who had been yelling at you had passed out on his own.

He was almost certain you had personally knocked him unconscious for calling you a stupid cunt. Of course, it was highly inappropriate for him to address anyone in that manner, but it did not warrant a blow to the head. Of course McCoy couldn't prove it, and the man seemed not to remember it, but perhaps he had just been terrified into silence.

"Dad?" Asked Joanna, and Leonard felt an overwhelming sense of relief when his daughter's face appeared on the other end of the webcam.

"Hey darling," he said, "How are you?"

"I'm fine, how are you? No offense, but you look like you've had a rough day." She remarked, grimacing slightly in the same fashion as Leonard did.

His resemblance to his only child was striking, to be certain, and as such hiding his moods from her was not a possibility.

"You could say that," He informed her, ruffling his hair, "First tell me about you, though. How are the patients treating you?"

She smiled and said, "Well enough, I'd say. It looks like you could use my counsel more right now, though. Tell me what's going on, why was it such an emergency that you speak with me?"

Leonard looked around furtively and spotted nobody else in or around his office. He reached into his pocket and stowed the little device you had pressed on him at the bottom of a drawer in case you could somehow hear what he was saying from afar.

When that was finished, Joanna was watching him with a sort of nervous bewilderment.

He cleared his throat and said in a low voice, "Remember that mutiny we were dealing with a few weeks ago?"

She nodded and replied, "It's even reached my planet officially."

"Yes, well, Kirk hired these people to be our official bodyguards, specifically one protector to each of the central staff members, myself included." He stated.

Arching an eyebrow and looking mildly relieved, she replied, "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

"It would be, but as it turns out the people we've been given are all from some organization that carries out assassinations." He told her.