“That tracks with what I have on my end, Lieutenant.  The latest Starfleet training protocols suggest that other members of the departments receive minimal security and control training in case of an emergency.  On a medical and science ship like the Mercy, you never really know what you’re going to run into.”

Captain Halsey sat on the other side of the desk of his security chief.  He’d come to find the lieutenant to catch up on the security protocols they were working on within the department.  It wasn’t an area he was terribly familiar with in his previous positions.  Now, as captain, he needed to make sure he was getting as much exposure to the different pieces of his command in order to understand them better.  Commander Sorek was the primary contact with most of the chief officers, but Halsey had a hard time letting go of the practice of working with them ever so often.

O’Shea nodded as the Captain spoke, “That’s it in a nut shell, really. On a ship like this, we just never know what we might run into.” O’Shea said with a slight smile, “Most of the time, we, security, aren’t needed at all, but if we, say, provide medical assistance to a large ship or colony, especially of non-federation origin, things could turn south fast. I like to approach these things with a better safe than sorry mentality. ” 

Halsey accepted the PADD and nodded as he read, “That is interesting….”

Suddenly a klaxon rang through the security office, and an officer hurriedly stepped through the door, “Sirs…there’s a situation in the mess hall.  Medics have been….”

Halsey stood and was already in motion, “Let’s move, Chief.”

O’Shea was already on his feet and had grabbed two hand phasers, “Just in case,” he said as he handed one to Halsey. 

Mess Hall

They both stepped through the door and watched as security officer Iziraa threw herself into another officer holding a knife near his own neck, knocking him down and prompting fellow security officers to quickly swarm the man.  The medics came in moments after the two of them had and quickly moved to address the injured party.

O’Shea blinked for a second; this was not what he was expecting at all but didn’t hesitate. He moved forward to first check on the knife welding crewmen and Chief Pach, who currently had him on his back with how arms behind his back. “I got him, sir, the Klingon said” in a deep gruff voice. “Expected nothing less, Chief; take him to security for now while we work this out. I’ll be in touch shortly,” he said, then moved to Iziraa and Halsey.

Still sitting on the floor, Izi realized the captain had arrived, so she tried to stand.

“Hold still,” said the nurse treating Izi’s wound.

“But…”  Izi motioned toward Halsey.

“The captain will understand,” said the nurse.  She was wrapping a napkin around Izi’s hand, finishing by pulling it tight.

“Ow!” said Izi, glaring at the nurse.

“When you’re finished here, come to sickbay, and I’ll run a dermal regenerator over it and give you a shot to prevent an infection.”

Izi nodded.

Security was escorting the officer out of the mess hall.  Halsey glanced at his security chief, “It’s your scene – you’ve got jurisdiction.”

“Appreciate that sir,” O’Shea said to Halsey before turning to Iziraa. “What happened here, Lieutenant?”

Finally allowed to stand, Izi looked to Halsey first.  ‘Sir.”  Taking a moment to run things through her mind, she gave O’Shea her account.  “I was eating breakfast with PO Torell.  At first, everything was fine, but as we talked, he seemed agitated, even paranoid.  He kept looking over his shoulder and questioned if we should be sitting together.  I didn’t think much of it, so when I… well, I tried to take a piece of sausage from his plate.  That’s when he exploded.  He yelled at me, grabbed his knife, and attacked.”  She held up her bandaged hand.  “I tried to talk him down, but he kept saying something was coming for us, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.  When it was clear he was going to use the knife on himself; I made my move.  That’s what happened, sir.”

Halsey had his PADD out and was working through the roster.  Torell was Betazoid.  He handed the PADD to O’Shea, “Looks like we have part of the puzzle in all this.”  He turned to Iziraa, “Lieutenant, how are you feeling?”

“The nurse said it wasn’t a deep cut.  A few minutes in sickbay, and I’ll be fine,” said Izi.

O’Shea glanced at the PADD, his eyebrows furrowing as he quickly read the information on PO Torell. “I think it best we get the Petty Officer to medical for a workup, it may help prevent this in the future,” he said. “Best get to medical as well Iziraa, then if you could write a full incident report to this.  We will need to log it in the records.”

“Yes, sir,” said Izi.

O’Shea took a quick glance around the room at the gathered crew and sighed, ‘The rumor mill is going to have a field day with this one…’’ He reached up and tapped his combadge, “O’Shea to Pach.”

Pach’s voice returned quickly over the com, “Go ahead, sir.”

“Change of plans.  Take PO Torell to medical; I will meet you there.” O’Shea said as looked at Iziraa and Halsey. “I should go meet Chief Pach and see if I can have a talk to Torell before he is examined. Maybe get some insight.”

Halsey was watching the gathered crew as well and pushed aside his worry as he turned to his security chief, “I agree with your thought process, Chief. Make sure he’s secured or restrained humanly, Lieutenant.  Given the effect whatever this is had on him – it was enough to attempt to harm Lieutenant Iziraa… this may be far from over.”

“Of course, sir, he is one of ours,” O’Shea responded as a worried look crossed his face. “How many telepaths are on the crew? I think we should check up on each of them. I can get the rest of security up and have Lieutenant MacDonald lead that while I check in medical.”

Halsey agreed, “Start making a list, Lieutenant and work with medical to start the process.”  The CO watched O’Shea head out and turned to the security officer, “Lieutenant…I watched the video feed while I was standing here.  You did an incredible job staying calm and focusing on trying to help the petty officer.”

Izi smiled.  “Thank you, sir.  I was just doing my job.”

The CO smiled quietly, “You do it well, Lieutenant.  Get that hand seen to.”  Izi headed out the door, and Leopold sighed as he looked at the eyes staring him down.  He clicked his tongue to himself and headed to the gathering, a reassuring look on his face as he prepared to do his very best to help his crew process what had just happened.