Autopsy of Lieutenant Commander Brian David Smith

[DrDMatthews 0]

With Permission from Mr. Smith & Dr. Merina

 

Ironically, it was the third day following the attack and there were three of them present. Well, not really. There was one more but he was the reason the other three had assembled. They gathered around a cold, titanium table, two on the left side...one on the right. The room lights were on but somewhat dim compared to the blazing task lighting under which the three stood silently, waiting for the one in charge to issue the order.

 

The one in charge stared blankly at the table's contents, her heart racing. Without looking at her colleagues, she slowly extended her hand over the table until she reached a small blinking light on the top of the long black bag. She hesitated a moment to calm herself before slowly pressing the button. A soft hissing sound followed and a slit appeared in the middle of the bag, running all the way from the top to the bottom. Within a couple of seconds, the sides retracted, folding back on themselves to reveal the body bag's gruesome contents.

 

Debbie Matthews never looked away nor did she make a sound. But she thought for sure she was going to vomit. Withdrawing her hand, she finally looked across the table at Merina and Rocco Studly. They were still staring at the charred corpse of Lieutenant Commander Brian David Smith.

 

"I didn't expect to feel this way," whispered Merina, meeting Deb's gaze.

"Nor did I," chimed in Studly still focused on the body. "I know he's alive but....."

"Yeah," murmured Deb. "It's eerie.....very eerie." She glanced back at the scorched remains of a man she'd known since he first stepped foot on the Reaent so many years ago. "Let's get this over with," she ordered, nodding toward Merina. "Activate the scanners. Confirm the identity first and then we'll proceed to cause of death."

 

It only took fifteen minutes. The DNA confirmed the body was that of Brian Smith, the Reaent's Chief Science Officer. He hadn't started out in science. When he first joined Reaent, the MD behind his name put him in medical. He worked for Debbie for years before the move to science. She hated to admit it, but Sickbay had never been quite as interesting since Brian's departure.

 

Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. But his burns were so severe, he wouldn't have survived them even if his brain hadn't been so badly injured. Debbie thought of poor Anna O'Halloran lugging this body to an escape pod, refusing to leave her Chief behind as the Reaent struggled to survive long enough for a handful of the remaining crew to escape. Her efforts were valiant but futile. All that remained of that Brian Smith was a scorched corpse.

 

"What now?" asked Merina as she pressed the button to close the body bag.

"He's waiting outside," noted Studly. "He wants to see this body."

Debbie shook her head. "No. He'll never see this. He can choose the disposition of the body but he'll never see it."

"He's pretty adamant about it," replied Rocco. "He could go to the Commander."

"I'm just as adamant," snapped Deb as she strode toward the door of the morgue. "And I know the Commander better than he does."

 

She hesitated a moment as the portal silently opened. "Leave the body in the bag. Put the whole thing in a secure stasis unit and forward the key code to me. Nobody else is to have access to it. Brian will see that over my dead body."

Edited May 13, 2009 by DrDMatthews