It's 13:45 when her ship docks at Antares Base. She's cranky and sleepless, a week and a half spent in Sector 4593, digging through the smoldering wreckage of a recent civil war, scavenging for weapons technology that might be useful for the Directorate, as the ADD's own personal little vulture. The return voyage was harrowing, barely dodging countless close calls with the still patrolling and heavily armed Weaponsmiths. Her head pounds like a jackhammer.

By 14:02 she's being debriefed in command, staring sullenly over a styrofoam cup of coffee as the officers pore laboriously over the inventory list of her ship. The medical officer questions her about the headaches. Conversation turns to the comm chip planted in her spine, worries that she might be developing a brain tumor. Unintended side effects of course. A tantrum is thrown. She never wanted that surgery in the first place. Her hand shakes on the coffee cup. She slugs it back, goes for a refill. The medical officer calmly suggests replacement technology. Nanomachines. Kate barely understands the technical aspects of it; she's a mechanic, not a scientist. She suspects the medical officer is equally as clueless. Another tantrum is thrown. The last thing she wants is to go under the blade again. But the officers aren't budging. She's grounded indefinitely, until she can undergo the surgery and an extended period of observation.

At 15:13, she's back in her on-base workspace, a cluttered, cramped mess of engines, robotics and spare parts. She washes her face in the sink, brushes her teeth, downs a handful of painkillers and chases them with a gargle of mouthwash. She strips to panties and tank top, setting her small amount of personal effects on the cluttered side table, and hits the tiny, lumpy cot like a sack of potatoes. Despite the constant rumble of engines, clatter of tools, yammering of techs from the surrounding bays, she's out like a light.

20:01, her waking corresponds to the drugs wearing off. She pushes to a seat, hand run through her hair. The lab they marked on her map to visit blinks in her HUD incessantly. She taps it away, groans, reaching to the bedside table and extracting a joint from her cigarette tin. She smokes half of it, sets it back in with the rest. Kate pushes to her feet, digs through her clothes hamper. There's not much that's not dirty so she eventually settles on a pair of black leather pants, wiggling them up her strong legs, tugged over round ass. Boots come on next. She heads for the door and after a second thought, shrugs into her bike jacket over the red tank. She knows how cold the laboratory wings can get. After a third thought, she scoops up the cigarette tin and tucks it in the inside pocket of the jacket.

At 20:19, she swings by the mess hall and picks up a cheeseburger. Its freshness is dubious and as she heads briskly down the hall, chomping ravenously into it, she gets the sneaking suspicion it's been sitting there since at least morning. It's late now, and the labs are mostly empty. Still, doctors and scientists still filter through the halls, brisk and semi-regular, caught in their own thoughts. Those with genuine, fulfilling lives have already abandoned their workspace for the day to go live those lives. Only the truly manic workaholics remain. The liaison the officers had given to Kate is a Dr. Taylor. The laboratory in question is large, far more sophisticated and spacious than the cramped little engineering workshop requisitioned for Kate. A large observation window overlooks the better half of one wall. Kate's eyes drift over the name plate over the door.

20:34. There's a knock at the door to Nikki's lab.

15:30 - Nikki recieves an order to create a neural implant for one of the returning agents. "Fine. Make sure she comes by later." she told the agent giving the order. Deciding to get some sleep before she got to work on the neural implant Nikki moved to lay down on the cot in an empty corner of her lab.

18:00 - Waking up to the sound of her alarm buzzing she got up quickly and started the preliminary calibrations for the implant as she still needed to get the specifics from the patient.

20:35 - Nikki heard the knock on her door, and leaving the calibration to her computer she walked over to the door. Not bothering to put her lab coat back on she was dressed only in her skintight bodysuit, a favored outift of hers as it didn't constrict her movement.

Pushing the open button to her door she greeted the agent saying, "Come in and take a seat." As the other agent walked into the lab she would see that even with the capacity of her lab that it was filled to the brim with machines blinking and buzzing with extended use and many experiments underway working to find some of the many possible uses for her nanomachines.

She steps into the room. With Nikki over to the side, the first thing she notices is the buffet spread of equipment. Eyes gleam like a kid in a candy store. She has no clue what most of the equipment does, but as a techie, she may as well be looking at the Holy Grail. "Yeah. I'm looking for Doctor Taylor?" She stops as her eyes pan to the right, catching sight of the good doctor. Her tongue clucks the roof of her mouth, dark brow a question mark of a raised curve as her eyes drift up and down Nikki and what... well, what can only be described as a body suit in the loosest sense of the word. Her head tips at the faintest angle, the nest of machinery not evading her attention, but certainly not nearly as pressing as what stands in front of her. Arms are crossed under her chest. "I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong room.... I didn't know we had a Stripper Division." Her voice is bemused, lips curved in a wry twist.

"I..." she started as Kate had said she was looking for Doctor Taylor, not getting a chance to finish her sentence before Kate had looked her over saying I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong room.... I didn't know we had a Stripper Division. A mean smirk appearing on her face she said "Very funny. But it isn't very smart to insult your doctor now is it? As I am Doctor Taylor." Gesturing at what looked like an operating table she said "Now if you would please sit down. I need to ask a few questions about your current neural implant." Sighing softly she said "If the idiots who debriefed you would have told me the specifics earlier I could have had it finished already."

"Let me just say, Doc, the choice of attire isn't doing much to ease my anxiety." Not that she doesn't mind looking. The irritation probably comes from the afforementioned anxiety. The little body suit isn't the first of her worries anyway. This place is a far cry from her little corner of Antares, the sterile white lights, gentle hum and clinical cleeanliness of the laboratory a stark counterpoint to the mechanic bay, with its muggy haze lit by flickering neons and the constant stench of cigarettes and motor oil. But she follows the Doc's directions anyway, clipping around her to hop to a seat on the edge of the table. She plucks a fresh joint from her jacket before shrugging out of it, folding it over, setting it neatly at her side. "Captain Kate Mercury. Light Motor Cavalry. Serial 314979. My files should be in the system." Her brow knits as she recalls the barely used number identifying her. She's not much one for military formality. She lights up, "It's medical" offered as an aside, as she puffs off the cigarette.

"It serves its purpose but if it would make you more comfortable I could put my lab coat back on." she said as the other woman followed her instructions and took a seat on the edge of the lab table. Taking a position a few feet away from her Nikki listened as she rattled off her name and rank. "A captain, hmm? And they still force you to get procedures done? Well never mind that, some commanders are stricter then others." she said as Kate offered up the type of her implant. "Medical implant. Right, just give me a few minutes."

Walking over to one of the loudest buzzing machines on the wall Kate was looking towards she input the information into the almost complete nanomachines. Moving back over to Kate as the machine put the finished its work she said "Now if you would like I can explain the procedure to you."

((Heh. The "It's medical" comment was in reference to the joint, not the nanomachines))

She puffs off the exotic, fragrant cigarette, eyes following Nikki across the room. Tight leather creaks as she leans forward, brow furrowed, open palm rubbing where spined passes shoulders. "Ah, Doc, I'm sure you know the kind of power fantasies the women in charge here seem to have, the Byzantine twists and turns. I'm a captain out in the field and I'm good at it, but for what it's worth around Antares...." She exhales with a huff, long plume of smoke drifting from her mouth. "Hell, you probably outrank me around here."

Her brow lifted as Nikki steps back over, offering to explain. "You can try, sure."

((Oh, well it works on both levels so I guess it's fine.))

"True enough. They have learned that they shouldn't try and control me however. They need my work to get done and if I don't like the commands the give me I won't work on what they want." she told the other woman. "Technically, I'm a captain too." she said with a short laugh.

"Alright. It really isn't that difficult. The finished nanomachines will be injected into the nerve tissue near your spine. Following their programming they will work their way up into your brain and reconstruct your neural implant into one of my own design. Once the procedure is done the harmful effects of your previous implant should disappear within a few weeks." she told the woman. "Now the injection may hurt somewhat but I could prepare some painkillers too if you need them. Now... Do you have any questions?"

She continues to watch Nikki, keen eyes noting her manipulations of the equipment, trying to make sense of the nest of wires and buttons and whirring machinery. It's remarkable really, the way the good doctor's body seems to defy the very laws of gravity, deliciou curves threatening at every moment to burst out of the little strip of cloth that serves as a bodysuit. The cherry of the joint rides to Kate's finger and she flicks the roach across the room carelessly.

"Don't think I do, Doc. Shoot me up. Let's get the pain over with."

"Alright then." she said as the machine buzzed one last time, a syringe with a thick needle filled with what appeared to be a silver liquid releasing from the machine. Grabbing it Nikki turned back towards her patient saying "Now take off your top and lay face down on the table." Seeming like she was not going to turn around to give Kate the chance to follow the command in privacy Nikki waited patiently and wondered somewhat if Kate would actually do it.

She's frozen in place momentarily as her wide eyes stare at that thick, menacing needle, silver liquid glistening at the tip. But she covers quick, expression giving way to a skeptical smirk at Nikki's request. Eyes dart to the wide observation window that gives anyone in the hallway an eyeful into the room, hall empty for the moment, but it wouldn't surprise Kate one bit if the locals regularly paused to take a nice long look at the doctor.

Maybe it's the professional, sharp clip to Nikki's British accent, or the heady high of the drugs in Kate's system. Or maybe she's just hypnotized by the sexy little body so prominently on display, but she follows orders, fingers curling under the tank top, tugging it over her head and setting it on top of the jacket. Pert, round breasts bounce free, pink nipples standing attent in the cool A/C of the room. Her back is turned to the window, round swell of her breasts framed around the supine, narrow lines of her back. Legs dance upward to straddle the table, mounting it like a bike, lowering herself with a gasp of air against the cold metal table, chest lowered to table, cheek resting against the steel as her head turns to Nikki's back.

Her brow arching with interest as Kate hooked her fingers in her tanktop pulling it up over her head and letting her pert, round breasts free. Absently thinking to herself Nikki thought as she looked at Kate's naked upper body Nice. As Kate settled to a position on the table, a gasp of air coming from her as her body touched the cold metal table, Nikki walked over to her patient. A finger tracing up the line of Kate's spine before Nikki looked to find a spot for the injection and said "Are you ready, Kate?"

"Mmm...", she murmurs, despite herself. Field work is a lonely profession, weeks or months in desolate, empty space devoid of human contact. Normally she sinks her needs into the roar of the engine and the adrenaline rush of high speeds, but it always surprises her how out of synch she is at a human touch. Skin prickles as Dr. Taylor's deft fingers trail up her spine, hard nipples grazing the surface of the steel table as her breasts mash against it. Eyes glazed, stupid smile.

But it's fleeting, and at the promise of the needle, her body tenses, muscles bunched through the shoulders, legs clenching instinctively around the table, ass a tight, round peak through the creaking leather of her pants. Teeth clench. "Ready..."

"Good." Nikki said as she lowered the needle to Kate's flesh slowly sinking it in to the tight muscles of her back. A hand absently landing on Kate's firm ass as the needle pierced the nerve flesh near her spine Nikki then started to push the syringe's plunger down releasing the nanomachines into the nerves leaving Kate feeling an effect immediately as they coursed up towards her brain. The syringe soon empty she slowly pulled the needle out, her hand still on Kate's ass, and said "All done. How do you feel?"

She's only aware of the hand for the briefest moment but she's lucky it's there, distracting her attention as Nikki sinks the needle into her spine. Her body is all tight, lean muscle and desert-tanned skin, and it takes a show of force by Doctor Taylor to keep her pinned as she sinks the plunger on the syringe. Kate's body arches upwards against the table, thighs jerking upward, tight ass grinding into Nikki's hand as the searing rush of pain climbs up her spine and into her skull. "Fuuuuuuuuck!"

Hissing between her teeth, her breath comes quick and fast through her nose as the searing white pain fades and her senses slowly draw back around her, knuckles clenched around the edge of the tabletop. "Jesus Christ, Doc. Like I had molten lava pumped directly into my brain. But.... Yeah, I'm good now." Real good as a matter of fact. She feels the other woman's hand but she certainly doesn't protest, as she hesitantly reaches behind herself to rub tentatively at the injection spot. "Is that it? No post-examination?"