Starfleet engineering labs: Kathryn

“Excited?” Jack whispers in my ear as we wait for Reg Barclay to make the final adjustments to the array.

“About the test, or later?” I whisper back.

“Both, I hope,” he murmurs in my ear.

Actually, Jack and I have a little secret. Once a month or so, we take an afternoon off and head to a small inn owned by one of Jack’s wine-scene friends to enjoy a long “ lunch.” Not that we neglect that part of our marriage at home, but it’s nice not to worry about being interrupted, or that we forgot to turn on the sound dampener in the bedroom.

Reg Barclay clears his throat, interrupting our private protocol breach. “I believe we’re ready, admirals,” he says.

“Let’s get started then,” I say.

After a few weeks of computations using the charts that Cartography provided, Reg and company have come up with a path for the micro-wormhole generated by the MIDAS array. If all goes well, he’ll be able to find Neelix’s home and send a message.

That message is going to be bittersweet. At least Dexa will know where Neelix is, but getting him home right now is out of the question. In some ways, I suspect my mother can relate ….

“Wormhole created,” Reg reports, “moving to coordinates now.”

We’re watching the wormhole’s telemetry on the screens in real time … so far, so good.

“We have a distortion developing,” Reg’s assistant suddenly reports. Reg’s fingers fly across the console as the rest of us watch the screen, horrified. “Damn,” Jack breathes, that looks like …

“W … w.. we have another wormhole,” Reg announces. “S… same signature as the Borg wormhole.”

Ice forms in my gut. Somehow, we’ve managed to awaken Baldy Rock again …

“Wormhole collapsing,” Reg calls as he valiantly tries to overcome the interference, but the telemetry falls off the screen, and he slumps over the console, defeated.

The assembled crew seemed to be biting their tongues, trying not to spout obscenities with two admirals present. Truth be told, at least one of the admirals was trying not to spout those words, too. The only thing I can be grateful for right now is that I didn’t tell Neelix about this attempt.

“I’m sorry, Admiral,” Reg says sadly. “We tried to position the wormhole far enough away …”

I shake my head. “Apparently it has a longer reach than we realized. I’m just concerned that we’ve activated something that could endanger any ships that enter the area.”

“Considering how Neelix’s ship was sucked in, I’d say that happened long before we got there,” Jack says grimly.

“Well, back to the drawing board, Mr. Barclay. Let’s find another course that keeps us out of that generator’s reach,” I say crisply.

***

“I need to talk to B’Elanna,” I say half to myself as Jack and I walk back to our building. “Now that we know the micro-wormhole can switch on Baldy Rock, I wonder if it would be possible to control it using the MIDAS array.

“Maybe send a veteron pulse through?” Jack asks hopefully.

I shrug. “It’s worth considering.”

“Sounds like you have a full afternoon,” Jack says gently. “Maybe I should call Henry and cancel the reservation.”

In response, I quickly pull him off the path, near a small tree stand. “Oh, no you don’t,” I tease as I quickly squeeze his hand. “I do want to talk to B’Elanna, but it’s going to take a day or two to set up those simulations. Frankly, with all that’s going on, I could use a little distraction. And I seem to remember,” I add suggestively, “that you can be quite distracting.”



***

Baker point: Jack

Since Mom is back in Indiana for the week, and Neelix is staying with Sam and her family, Kat and I arrive to a quiet household. We have an uneventful dinner, save Will’s remark that we both seemed to be in a really good mood.

Afterwards, we send our youngsters off to do homework, while Kat and I sit on the deck in companionable silence, reading reports.

That is, until the vid starts to wail. Kat, frowning, takes the call on her pocket vid. It’s Naomi, and she’s in tears.

“Aunt Kathryn, Neelix collapsed after dinner. We’re at Starfleet Medical, and the Doctor wants you to come.”

“What happened?” Kat asks.

Naomi shook her head. “He’d been complaining that his back hurt, but he seemed well enough to have dinner. When he tried to get up from the table, he just fell over.”

“Oh, my. All right, dear, we’ll be there as soon as possible,” Kat says soothingly.

“Do you want to go on ahead?” I ask when she turns off the vid. “I’ll ask Dad and Bri to come over, but it’ll take them a few minutes.”

She squeezes my arm. “I’ll wait for you. I could use the moral support.”



***

Starfleet Medical: Jack

At Medical, we’re ushered into a conference room where Naomi, Sam and David are waiting. We drink mediocre coffee and talk quietly as we wait for the Doctor.

Well, Naomi, Sam, David and I are talking. Kat’s added very little to the conversation; in fact, my wife looks rather grim.

The Doctor comes in and nods at us all. Can’t say his presence makes me feel any better; his expression mirrors Kat’s.

“Mr. Neelix has given me permission to discuss his condition with you. We may not be his immediate family, but we are his family,” he says quietly.

“It’s been obvious he’s not well,” David says, “but this appears to be more serious than he’s let on.”

“It is,” the Doctor says softly. “To put it simply, his cells are degrading. I noted the cellular damage during his first exam. The damage appeared to be the type caused by exposure to high radiation. However, there were no other signs of radiation poisoning, and Mr. Neelix said he was in reasonably good health before his arrival here.

“Admiral Janeway’s recent conversation with Seven has shed some light on the matter. Seven told her that the wormhole generator was abandoned by the Borg because it severely damaged the drones’ nanoprobes, and any cellular material to which it was attached. The damage to Neelix’s cells and nanoprobes seems consistent with that. And given the number of nanoprobes in his system …”

Nanoprobes? David and I look at each other, puzzled. We seem to be the only ones. “Ah, sorry,” I say, interrupting my holographic friend, “but what’s this about ‘the number of nanoprobes?’ You aren’t telling me Neelix is some kind of drone, are you?”

Realization dawns on the Doctor, and he shakes his head. “No, certainly not,” he says. “It’s that … Neelix has had a brush with death before.”

“He was dead; for 18 hours. I’d hardly call that a brush,” Kat replies, her voice flat.

“What happened?” David asks in a strained voice. He’s doing better than I am right now.

“During an away mission, about four years into our journey, he was struck by an energy beam while collecting proto-matter. And yes, he was dead by Federation medical standards,” the Doctor says softly. “Seven knew of a procedure that used modified nanoprobes to revive him. He needed additional injections of nanoprobes until his system stabilized.”

“Wouldn’t have those nanoprobes degraded by now?” I finally manage to ask.

“Many of them have,” the Doctor replied, “but all of his organs still hold some trace of them, which is why the damage is so widespread.”

“Is there anything you can do?” Naomi asks.

“I’ve been trying to slow the effects of the degradation, but unfortunately, things seem to have accelerated. I will try another therapy, but ultimately, he is going to die of multi-organ failure,” the Doctor says sadly. “I estimate he has just a few weeks.”

“And all he wants to do is go home,” Sam whispers.

“I doubt his body could handle such a journey now,” the Doctor says.

We all sit, too stunned to even comfort each other. Naomi and Sam are openly crying; Kat’s face is blank, which worries me.

Naomi finally finds her voice. “Can we see him?”

“He’s sedated right now,” the Doctor says quietly. “There’s not much you can do.”

“That’s all right. I’d like to sit with him for a while.”

Naomi leaves with the Doctor, leaving the four of us looking at each other.

“Sam,” Kat finally says, “let’s spread the word, get as many of the crew here as possible.”

Sam nods. “We’re going to need all the help we can get. I don’t know how he’s going to take this.”

“I know it won’t be easy,” David begins.

Sam shook her head. “You don’t understand. The first time … it threw him into a crisis … we didn’t realize it. One night, Naomi was asking for him … I found him and Chakotay in the transporter room. What I didn’t know until much later was that Chakotay was talking him out of committing suicide.”

Apparently this is going to be a night of shocks. Sam looks at Kat. “You did know …”

Kat nods. “Chakotay told me … much later.”

****

Kat is deathly quiet on the drive home. Poor choice of words, I know. But once again, I’m reminded that my wife went through a version of hell that I can’t even begin to comprehend.

And while I’m horrified by the idea that she approved Borg technology to revive Neelix, I think I might understand why: Neelix was a valued crew member, certainly not a replaceable one. Kat has a deep affection for him … and considering the sheer number of losses she had out there, well, if she could save someone, she’d do it – even if that choice would make the ethics instructors squirm.

And I have to ask myself: If something happened to Kat, or one of the kids, would I turn to something drastic to save them?

***

At home, she heads for the den, and I hear B’Elanna and Tom’s voices float over the vid.

“What can we do?” Tom asks.

Kat repeats what she said to Sam, and adds one more request.

“If you can, please find Chakotay. Tell him Neelix needs him.”

***

I persuade Kat to come upstairs to bed. But when I come back from checking on the kids, I see she’s still dressed, and is standing next to the window, lost in thought.

“Hey,” I whisper, not wanting to startle her.

She looks at me and smiles sadly. “I was just contemplating the irony. The nanoprobes that brought Neelix back are now the reason he’s dying. Apparently you can’t cheat death.”

“I don’t know … you’ve made a career out of that.”

She snorts at my bad joke and shakes her head. “Maybe I should have left him dead. I would have saved him a great deal of misery then … and certainly now. I had no right to play god.”

“Neelix might disagree with you,” I say as I sit on the bed. “I admit, the whole idea of reviving him that way makes me squeamish. On the other hand, doing that gave him a good many more years. He contributed to your crew … he married, had a child … that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Maybe it all evens out.”

She sighs and sits next to me. “Maybe.” She’s quiet for a few moments, then shakes her head again. “Some days I think it’s all behind me. Then some decision I made in the Delta Quadrant comes back to haunt me … “

“I doubt anyone in that situation could get it all right,” I tell her. “But from what I understand, you got the most important parts right. Neelix isn’t the only one who got a second chance at life.”

“Thank you,” she says, kissing my cheek.

“You’re welcome,” I say, kissing her back. “But please do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Please make an appointment with your counselor. I know this is stirring up a lot of emotions and regrets for you. But Neelix needs you. And you can’t help him if you’re beating yourself up over your decision.”





















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