A Proper Qualification

Who: Keto, Tara and Wildflower
Where: The Medibay
When: A few hours after the staff meeting
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It was a few hours after the staff meeting in which Captain Jed had
informed everyone that the French had stolen all of the Blue Dwarf's
weapons. The entire crew had been told that they were to join up, in
disguise, with the French Foreign Legion in an attempt to recover the
weapons.
Keto, who had been half asleep through the whole meeting due to the
morphine still in his system, had thought this less than wise, given
his current state, and so had spent no time at all in going back to
the medibay and sealing the doors.
The other occupants had all headed off, Trisees with a muttered oath
and several glares at possibly innocent parties, with the exception of
Wildflower, Keto and Tara. Keto could barely stand. Tara couldn't
stand. And Wildflower's reaction to the announcement had been, "The
French Foreign Legion!? Dressed like THIS!?" followed by a sudden
dash into an ointment cabinet. The cabinet had rocked a couple of
times and then the doors had swung open, revealing it to be empty.
"Damn it," murmured Keto, remembering that he'd thought it would be
clever to build several 'escape routes' into the walls of the medibay
behind various cabinets and cupboards. Wildflower could have
disappeared to anywhere.
After spending a fruitless hour searching for her in order to turf her
out of the medibay once and for all, he gave up and decided his time
would be better spent trying to revive Tara.
"Wake up!" he commanded, waving some smelling salts under her nose,
"Come on, there've been enough ointments and chemicals in your
vicinity for long enough that signs of life should be back now! Wake up!"
"Get out of it Xavier" Tara said, gagging at the awfull smell
assulting her nose. "I don't want your smelly ointment smeg anywhere
near me. I'll recover just fine thanks" She groaned in pain as she
waved him away and tried to roll over.
"Yes, very clever, roll around and struggle some more when you've
suffered a major life-threatening wound. Keep it up and save me a lot
of further bother," growled Keto, "Now hold still." He dabbed a cloth
against a bottle of ointment and pressed it against Tara's shoulder.
There was a hissing noise as the ointment reacted with Tara's skin.
She yelled out loud and swung out her arm to hit Keto.
"I told you to get away from me Xavier. You were never any good at
this stuff, reling on those blasted ointments. Your brother was always
better. Get away." She said trying to shuffle to the far side of the
medi-bed.
Keto paused for a second, glaring at her. "For your information," he
said quietly, "I'm far more advanced now, medically, than my brother
ever was. And I have the added benefit of not being a psychotic
robot. Now hold still and do as I say!"
All the medication in Tara's body was muddling her brain. She glared
at Keto.
"Charlie was just mis-understood." Tara lay still, enabling Keto to
get a quick shot in with the ointment.
"There. Now lie still and let that work. Some of the pain should
go," said Keto, returning the ointment to the shelf behind him, "And
I'd love to know exactly how you think my wonderful killing-machine
brother was misunderstood."
"Says you, you are the one who set up the whole damned affair! I was
in a mental home because of you" Tara said, shooting Keto a glare that
he should have been proud of. She coughed, after exerting so much
energy and slumped into the pillows again.
"And it obviously didn't do a damned bit of good," murmured Keto
beneath his breath, before replying, "I never intended to set anything
up - things just happened and I took an opportunity. And, I'll point
out, I'm not the one who killed somebody. Think on that before you
judge me, Cleavage."
As much as she hated to admit it, the pain as subsiding. She frowned
and thought back to her days at med-school. A small whimper escaped
her lips as she recalled the fire. The fire that she called, she
quickly changed the subject.
"Do I have any mail? I'm expecting a letter from the JMCGMC" She said,
shaking her head of the past.
"JMCGMC," repeated Keto with a frown, "No, no mail...JMCGMC...where do
I know that from?"
"The Jupiter Mining Corporation General Medical Council... where you
took the oath.... Not that it means jack to you." Tara said. "I...
I've been taking a course...."
"Oh really?" asked Keto in a tone that could have etched glass, "And
what course might this be? Bad Judgement for Beginners? Annoyance
and Pestering Studies?"
"It's the end of my Doctorate actually. I have been studying to finish
my qualification." Tara said just as venomously, turning away. All the
glaring was giving her a headache.
"Hmm," said Keto, quirking one eyebrow upwards, "An actual course.
Well. Well well."
He turned back to the ointment cabinet.
"Congratulations."
"Is that sincerity I hear in your voice Xavier?" Tara asked, a small
smile creeping onto her lips as she looked at the back of the Doctor.
"Please check my inbox. They should have got back to me by now."
Keto gritted his teeth lightly, but said nothing as he walked over and
tapped irritably at a computer terminal.
"There's one bit of mail," he said shortly, reading the contents
without bothering to ask permission, before turning back to face the
prone Tara.
Tara was almost bursting with anticipation.
"What does it say Xavier?" She asked impatiently.
"It says," he replied with a sigh, "That you need to take an exam...oh
dear God in Heaven."
"That's not so bad, I can take an ex-" began Tara, before seeing the
look in his eye and falling silent.
"You need to take an exam overseen by a qualified medical staff
member," he said dully, "And unfortunately the only person aboard this
ship qualified enough for that...is me."
Tara was silent. If they had been in a western then tumbleweed would
have rolled across the room. It was so quiet, that even the air
conditioning had become quiet.
"What?" she said. Unable to process the idea of taking an exam
overseen and marked by Xavier.
"Your final exam. I have to tutor you. And invigilate the exam. And
mark it," said Keto quietly. "You know what this means?"
Tara fell silent. Not able to say the words. Fate was a cruel
mistress, and this was her way of making Tara's life a living hell. It
seemed the tables had turned on her from her days in the medical school.
"It means," continued Keto, "That you'd better lie still and get
better quickly so you can take this exam. And it also means that
you'd better do everything I say from this point on, or you won't even
have to sit down in front of the paper. I can give you your mark
before that ever happens."
"You hideous bast...." she said.
"I'd reconsider that sentence if I were you." Keto said, obvious glee
at the blackmail opportunity in his voice. Tara just growled and
glared at the ceiling, hoping it would cave in around her.
"So, my first decree," said Keto, smiling coldly, "Is a simple one.
From this point on, my brother's name is stricken from the medibay.
He won't be mentioned, referred to, hinted at or subtly brought up in
conversation. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Xavier." She said bitterly. Now wishing the ceiling would cave
in on him.
"Good," he said, eyes flickering as he turned away again, "Oh, and
Cleavage, please stop glaring at my ceiling like that. You might
damage it or something, you know."
And, proving that irony does indeed listen to mere mortals, a panel
above Keto's head chose that moment to swing to one side and deposit a
rather bedraggled looking Wildflower directly on top of him with a
loud thud and a yell.
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OOC: This has been a joint post between Tara (Becca) and Keto (Chris).
Tag anybody. :)