Bonked His Noggin (Backpost)

Posted on Fri 24th Oct, 2025 @ 1:49pm by Captain Gordon Francis & Sundae & Qaraq & Gary Thirteen & Lieutenant Victor Delling MD

753 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: Holodeck, Qaraq's Casino
Timeline: BACKPOST - a few days prior to the events in "Call Me Anything, Just Call Me"

ON

The doors to the holodeck inside Qaraq's Casino came open and Qaraq immediately realized why Captain Francis' session went over the time limit. Francis was laying in the boxing ring, stirring slightly while his holo competitor hopped back and forth in place, waiting for his opponent to rise.

"Captain Francis!" Qaraq bellowed, rushing into the ring and taking the downed man in his arms. "Are you okay?"

Francis looked delirious and his eyes were in a daze when he looked up into the Broot's blue horned face.

"Did I win, ref?" Francis said, his voice quite a bit shaky.

"Frank, it's me, Qaraq." He held up three fingers. "How many fingers do you see?"

Francis squinted and asked, "On which hand?"

Qaraq grimaced. "You may have a concussion." He gently propped the Captain up in one of the corners and moved to the holodeck's arch and hit the comm button. "Qaraq to sickbay," he boomed. "I'm in need of some assistance. Frank... er, Captain Francis, appears to be injured. We are currently in holodeck two of Qaraq's Casino, Garden District. Please send someone immediately."

" Sick by acknowledged, an officer will be dispatched shortly. Please stand by and contact us with any updates and patient condition." It was the voice of the secretary who did the daily scheduling and dispatch, but they could hear her doing things in the background before the line cut out.

Victor was just getting ready to go off duty, heard the dispatch as he was coming to the exit of his office." I will go, just don't expect a report until tomorrow."

He grabbed up a med kit, and a neurospecific Treatment sensor. He carried the one and tossed the other over his shoulder like a Baldrick, and left it a Brisk pace.

Back in the casino holodeck, Qaraq had called in Gary Thirteen, the casino's main bartender, to have a look at Francis. Gary had partial training in first aid and knew how to use a medical tricorder. By the time Dr. Delling got there, the Captain was in a sitting position against the wall. Gary's cat Sundae was in the Captain's lap, pawing at him, but Francis didn't look very aware of her.

Gary approached the doctor and handed him his medical tricorder. "I'm not really an expert on medical tricorders," he said, "but I thought scanning him with this might you save some time. I don't really understand much of what it says."

"It might save me some time if its been properly calibrated and maintained." He smiled gently and his eyes flicked over the readout of the scan he'd taken.

Francis' eyes fluttered open upon the doctor's arrival. "Hey doctor," he said hazily.

"You got your bell rung pretty good there Sir." He commented as he picked a round sensor off his set and stuck it ti his forehead. "Can you show me a replay of the punches?"

"Computer," Francis said, trying to stay alert. "Replay session from... session from... from..." He closed his eyes and shook his head.

Examining the readout on the arch, Gary turned and said, "He was fighting someone called Clubber Lang. The safety restrictions were turned off."

Francis grinned. "Hey doc, ever see 'Rocky 3?'"

"No, not that I am aware of?"

"That's a shame," Francis replied. "I was try... trying to recog... recreate the final... final thing..."

Just then a raucous crowd appeared, frozen, surrounding a boxing ring in the center. A very intimidating competitor was in the ring. Black, built, with an epic Mohawk and a no-nonsense face. This guy had one bad attitude. He had his boxing gloves on, raised up, stuck in that position, like any minute he'd surprise you with a roundhouse left.

"That's the guy who hit me," Francis said.

Gary's calico cat Sundae had come in during the commotion and made it into the ring. Just then, the program restarted, and Clubber Lang came alive, resuming his hopping and looking down at his new competitor. When they made eye contact, Sundae hissed, and the boxer recoiled.

"Good god!" Clubber nearly screamed. "Someone get that cat! I hate cats!"

Sundae lashed out with a paw. Clubber Lang screamed like a little girl and bounded out of the ring and through the crowd, howling and wailing in tears, looking for some place to hide.

The program froze again. From the arch, Gary grinned. "Yo Captain! She did it!"

Francis blinked, trying to get his eyes focused. "This headache is killing me," he remarked.

OFF

 

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