Disclaimer: While the attempt has been made to be medically accurate, some artistic license has been taken, and statements made by Dr Bashir are not to be regarded as authoritative. Admoxasaryfain is a product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to an actual drug and/or chemical name is unintentional.

The Krishnan race is a product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to the name of a canon Star Trek race is unintentional. Recognizable characters and plotlines are the property of Paramount and Viacom; all original characters and story © 2015 FemaleChauvinist.

Do not post without permission. Do not copy/print without including the above disclaimer in its entirety.

A/N: "Season" given for timing reference only; see my profile for the alternate history used in this story. Barbie

Season Six; Bashir courting Dax

Dr Julian Bashir and Lieutenant Jadzia Dax hurried up the rocky hillside after their guides, a pair of young refugees from the burned-out village several days' walk away. Chitra was sixteen; his brother Bedru twelve, but small for his age. At first glance, they appeared Earth human; their golden-brown skin and thick black hair like someone of Eastern Indian descent. But their eyes gave them away as alien; an amber gold with radiating stripes of a darker brown.

Bedru had dropped slightly behind as they climbed, and now he called out to his brother. "Chitra — let's stop for a rest!"

"We can't here in the open; it's not safe," Chitra said without turning. "There's a cave just up ahead; we'll rest there."

"But I gotta stop, Chitra; my hearts are all out of whack!"

Bashir turned; barely breaking stride he bent to pick the boy up and then hurried again after Chitra. He studied the boy's face, noting its mottled appearance and strange hue as Bedru panted for breath. "Easy; try to breathe slow and deep…"

Chitra glanced back. "Thanks," he said quietly, pausing a moment to let Bashir catch up. "Shoulda known something like this would happen; we ran out of his medication three days ago."

"What's he on?" Bashir asked tersely, pressing two fingers to the double pulse points in Bedru's neck.

"Moxysarfain…I don't know; something like that."

"Admoxasaryfain?"

"Yeah, that sounds right." He looked at Bashir with a glint of hope in his eye. "Where'd you learn to pronounce that; you a doctor or something?"

"Yes." He had introduced himself as Doctor when they first met, but he supposed that in that rushed introduction, trying to throw off their pursuers, the title had escaped Chitra's notice. "We really do need to stop so I can treat him; how long until we reach that cave?"

"Another minute or two — you can see the opening just ahead there."

Bashir nodded and sped up, concentrating half on reaching the cave without stumbling and half on the worsening condition of the boy in his arms.

Bedru coughed dryly as they reached the cave entrance, struggling to get his breath. "It hurts," he whimpered.

"Where?"

Bedru rubbed a hand over his upper abdomen.

"Both sides?" Bashir questioned.

Bedru nodded.

"Just hang on, son," Bashir murmured, laying Bedru on the cave floor and swinging the medkit off his back even as he pulled the tricorder off his belt and began running the scanner over the boy. "I'll get you fixed up in no time."

Dax knelt to open the medkit. "Triox?" she questioned, her hand on the vial.

"No. It's his niter heart; that would be worse than useless. Get out the portable ventilator. Chitra, is he allergic to any drugs or medications?"

"I…don't know. I don't think so," Chitra answered doubtfully.

Bashir lightly touched Bedru's cheek. "Bedru, I'm going to sedate you so I can put you on a ventilator; it's going to help you breathe." He turned toward Dax, asking for the sedative and taking the hypospray she handed him.

The drug worked quickly, relaxing Bedru's throat so Bashir could insert the tube from the ventilator. He turned the machine on, adjusting the settings.

While completely breathable for both Terran and Trill, the composition of air on this planet was different than on Earth, Trill, or the space station. He programmed the ventilator now to increase the oxygen level by ten percent and the nitrogen level by fifty, then set the pressure at ninety percent of its highest level; full pressure would have been too strong for a child's lungs.

He reached for the tricorder again and frowned as he ran another scan. "That's a dangerous rhythm…laser scalpel, Dax."

"You're not…operating?" Dax couldn't help asking even as she handed him the instrument.

"No. Get me the defibrillator." He flicked the scalpel on and cut through Bedru's clothes.

Bashir put the defibrillator pads over Bedru's heart, then stared at his tricorder with a finger on the control, timing the shock exactly opposite the beat of the oxal heart.

"Normal rhythm," he said with relief. "Adrenaline and admoxasaryfain."

As she gave Bashir the drugs he asked for, Dax found herself marveling at what a good xenologist he was. Watching him work, she would have been prepared to believe he had treated nothing but Krishnans his whole life, when as far as she knew this was actually his first time.

Of course, she knew he could simply be projecting a false air of confidence, and he did have a belief in his own abilities that sometimes bordered on arrogance. But she had seen him work enough times to believe he really did know exactly what he was doing. If he was arrogant…maybe it was because he had a right to be.

Bashir injected the stimulant, then a dose of admoxasaryfain twice as high as what he surmised Bedru had been taking daily. He scanned his hearts again, his expression not easing. "Still too weak and slow… Dax, hold this where I can see it; I'll have to massage his heart."

Dax obediently took the tricorder, her eyes fixed on Bashir's face as he bent over the boy, pumping his heart steadily. He watched the reading of the oxal heart on the tricorder, timing his thrusts exactly between its beats.

After sixty seconds he paused to see what the heart's rhythm was on its own. He grunted softly. "Not what I'd like to see, but better…probably the best I'm going to get for now."

He tested the oxygen and nitrogen levels in Bedru's blood, then adjusted the settings on the ventilator. Turning to the medkit, he took out IV supplies and began setting up a slow saline drip, deftly inserting the needle in the back of Bedru's hand.

Without being asked, Dax took a reflective thermal blanket out of the medkit and tucked it over the boy's still form. "Julian, can I give him something softer under his head?" she asked in a low voice.

"Something very flat," Bashir cautioned. "His niter blood pressure's still on the low side, so I don't want his head raised too much."

Dax nodded her understanding, pulling off her outer uniform shirt and folding it to tuck under Bedru's head. Leaving him to Bashir then, she crossed to where Chitra sat with his arms wrapped around his knees watching the doctor work with haunted, fearful eyes.

Sitting beside him, Dax slipped an arm around him. "It's all right, Chitra," she said softly.

"He's — still unconscious," Chitra gasped.

"Dr Bashir has him sedated. He'd doing all he can, and your brother's heartbeat is a lot stronger." She could interpret the tricorder readings that much herself, as little as she knew of Krishnan anatomy. "He's the best doctor in Starfleet; Bedru couldn't be in better hands."

Chitra leaned against her, accepting her comfort, and Dax was suddenly struck by how young he truly was. Too young, really, to suddenly have full guardianship of his brother thrust on him as it had been. So Dax tenderly stroked his hair, taking the place for the moment of the mother he had lost.

Next chapter coming next week!

I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!

Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. If you have questions regarding my Deep Space Nine alternate history, check my profile first to see if they're answered there. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie