Colonel Indira Patel led Captain Karin Bauer and Sergeant Heinrich Kohl back through the tunnel to the central module and around the corridors to the Command Center. The wedge-shaped room was lined with display screens on the walls and contained several computer workstations. General Richard Pryce was at one of the workstations, copying data onto small portable storage devices. He looked up when they entered. "Yes?" he said.
Karin looks briefly at Colonel Patel and Sergeant Kohl before walking up to the General and saying formally, "As witnessed by Colonel Indira Patel and Sergeant Heinrich Kohl present here I, Captain Karin Bauer Chief medical officer of Styx Base Pluto, request that General Richard Pryce relinquish his command of the station temporarily to Colonel Indira Patel and undergo a full medical and psychological evaluation to assess his competency for command. This is following standard protocol as stated under Station security directives SB153." She waits, somewhat nervously, for his reply.
Heinrich looks between Patel, Bauer, and the general, steeling himself for any possible resistance.
"General Pryce, as acting chief of security for this station I feel that I must concur with the concerns voiced by Captain Bauer. I'm sure this is stressful - being here, the Persephone crew and Lt.-Col. Bruce still missing, these aliens presenting themselves and possibly having hostile intent, possibly not. But your actions in the medical bay, I felt, endangered the lives of not only the missing but of everyone on this station as well. There's enough alien species that are trying to kill us - if these Mi-Go aren't hostile, we can't risk inciting an unneeded war with them. I also must question your attitude towards the visitors - you yourself authorized their release from custody, yet statements you made in the medbay made it seem as though you were hostile towards them.
"Now, please come along willingly. Don't make us do anything we don't have to."
"I agree with their assessment, sir," said Colonel Indira Patel.
General Pryce looked at each of them in turn, his eyes resting on the colonel's in the end, his expression oddly calm. "So," he said at last. "It's treason, then."
"Not treason, sir. Everything we're doing is according to regulations."
"You're finished, all of you. When word of this gets back to Alexander Kaiser, he'll have your heads."
"I'll take my chances, sir. Now turn in your sidearm to the sergeant."
Pryce hesitated a moment, then carefully removed his pistol from its holster by gripping its butt with two fingers and offering it to Heinrich. "Very well. You will all regret this, you know. You are in command now, Colonel. For the moment."
"Take the general to the medical lab for that examination, Captain," said Colonel Patel. "Sergeant Kohl, you go with them. He's in your custody. I'll be busy trying to undo the damage he's caused."
"Yes Maam. General, if you please?" Karin leads the way back to the med lab. She's hoping The Lieutenant has finished making the fungicide and packed up the evidence in case the Mi-Go can see it through the General's eyes. As most of her equipment has been packed for departure she only has her field case for the medical examination of the General.
Karin led the way into the corridor, followed by General Pryce. Heinrich Kohl, who had taken the general's pistol, brought up the rear. The door to the Command Center swished shut behind them.
"Attention all personnel," came the voice of Colonel Indira Patel over the public address system. "General Pryce has been relieved of command due to being mentally unfit for duty. I am now in charge of Styx Base. The order to evacuate is hereby rescinded. Lt. Rose, you are to seal the docking bay dome immediately and repressurize the bay! Everyone be prepared for an imminent alien attack!"
Heinrich salutes Col. Patel as she orders him to the medbay.
"I agree, Captain," he says when Capt. Bauer speaks. "Time is of the essence here. Those Mi-Go have to be getting close to the base by now. Is there anything I can do to help?" Mentally, he begins running through various plans for dealing with any hostilities that may arise as he follows the medical officer.
The three of them reached the airlock that gave access to the tunnel to the laboratory module. "Surely you realize what Colonel Patel is doing?" said General Pryce. "Yes, you must. You are not fools. She is the one who has taken leave of her senses. She seeks power, and she used you both to get it. But now that she has it, she doesn't know how to use it properly. By calling off the evacuation, she is endangering not only Lt. Colonel Bruce, but the entire crew of this base. How do you think the Mi-Go will react when she defies them? Worse still, she risks starting an interplanetary war and endangering Earth itself."
Karin opens the med bay door and gestures for the General to enter first. "Please sit on the bed Sir." As he enters she turns to Heinrich and says quietly, "The only thing that puzzles me is why the Colonel called off the evacuation, surely it is better for us to leave this rock and get word to Earth so that diplomats can deal with the Mi-Go. Why do you think we are staying?"
General Pryce complied, entering the lab and taking a seat on the bed. Lt. Edward Barrett had already gone and taken the fire extinguishers and aerosol sprays with him.
OOC,[b]Karin[/b], when you're ready to examine the general, you may roll Medicine and Psychology.
"That is a puzzling action, making us stay," Heinrich replies to Karin in hushed tones. "I must admit I'm becoming a bit conflicted. I still think we were right in what we did, removing the general, but the colonel's actions seem equally bizarre. If it should come out that the general's actions were only a hysterical reaction to the sight of such a strange creature as the Mi-Go..." Heinrich falls silent again, still mulling over his reactions to the general's actions and his part in Col. Patel's removal of the general.
"It need never come out, Sergeant," said General Pryce in calm tones. "If you restore me to command, I'm willing to forget all about your...lapse of judgment. Nobody would ever know. And if you refuse to do so, leaving Colonel Patel in command, then we'll all be killed by the Mi-Go, and it will still never come out. So, really, that is the least of your worries."
Karin completed her examination of the general. He was in good physical health, and his readings were no different from those in his last physical exam. It was harder to get a mental read on him, but he did seem much more in control than he had been when he had shot the Mi-Go, in spite of his removal from command. Whether this meant he was a victim of alien mind control, or whether it meant he had fully recovered and was functioning normally, she couldn't tell.
"Well Sir, you are as fit as ever: there is nothing wrong with your health. Thankyou for allowing me to examine you. Do you mind me asking what would you do now as the aliens are bringing Bruce back and will be arriving imminently?" Karin packs away her equipment into a carry bag.
"Once in command again," said General Pryce, "I would order the evacuation to resume. There may still be time to salvage peace before we incur the wrath of the Mi-Go."
"I think we should go to the hanger where everyone else is if that's okay with you Sir? The ships and equipment are there ready for evacuation. I hope. Sergeant, would you mind leading the way?"