Following Jermaine's collapse in the corridor, he was quickly taken to the infirmary where Doctor Plumley's fears were justified. Lieutenant Dowler stood nearby, feeling she had an obligation to be there since she was present at the time of the captain's collapse.
Amanda Plumley stood quietly over Allensworth, intently watching the medical tricorder in her left hand. In her right was a small scanner that she waved over Jermaine's body; it produced a series of shrill beeps that sent chills down the doctor's spine and made her mouth dry.
His condition was rapidly deteriorating. Jermaine's body was flushed of all color and extremely frail. Sweat beaded along his brow, and tiny lesions were beginning to blot his once perfect dark complexion.
Dowler saw Plumley with a morbid look on her face. It was something she rarely saw on the doctor's face.
Bashir came over to her and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The rate at which his genetic material is deteriorating has increased exponentially over the past few hours. We're running out of time, and I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do now."
Dowler came over to them. "How long does he have?" She asked.
"Two weeks. Maybe less."
Dowler's heart sank, and an empty feeling came over her. She very much wanted to do something to help the captain but when it came down to it, she was totally powerless. She could do nothing but sit and watch as her captain faded into oblivion.
Some time later, Lieutenant Dowler sat with Counselor Nycz in the counselor's temporary quarters that also served as her office.
"It was hard to see the captain lying there. I know that I've only been with the crew for a few months. Hell, I was only on the Alexandria for a few weeks before it was destroyed. I know that I shouldn't be this close or feel this way but…"
"It's okay to feel that way about a captain because, he's supposed to be larger than life in the eyes of the crew. When one sees the captain vulnerable like that it's hard on the crew."
At that moment, Nycz's communicator beeped. "Plumley to Counselor Nycz."
She reached over and tapped the device. "Go ahead."
"You'd better come down to the infirmary. I have something that might interest you."
Dowler could hear that Amanda's voice wasn't filled with panic or urgency, a detail that relieved the young Lieutenant. The Counselor stood to her feet. "I'm on my way." She then tapped her comm. badge to close the communication. "We can continue this later if you would like." She said.
"Counselor," Dowler said standing up.
The counselor stopped before she reached the door and turned around.
"Do you mind if I joined you. I just feel like I should be there as well."
The counselor shrugged. "Sure."
Together the two of them walked out of the room and headed to the infirmary.
When the two of them entered the infirmary, Doctor Plumley was standing with Doctor Bashir studying some schematics on the computer terminal before them. She briefly looked up from her studies to see who had entered and upon seeing them; she set her work aside and approached them. At that moment, Commander Sparhawk walked in as well.
She pulled out a tricorder and activated the device. "Doctor Bashir and I might be onto something that which could save the captain's life."
"Well don't keep it to yourself, Doctor." Sparhawk said.
She showed the three of them, the captain's genetic structure on the tricorder. She then walked back to the computer terminal and showed them what was on the screen. It was a set up of someone else's genetic structure and it looked a lot like the captain's with a few of obvious exceptions.
"Who's genetic structure are we looking at?" Nycz asked.
"Keith Allensworth. Captain Allensworth's father."
The three of them looked at each other for a moment before they turned their attention back to the doctor.
"Are you saying that the captain's father can help him?" Sparhawk asked.
"Yes, he is the key. We've been running some simulations and we think that with some genetic restructuring and infusing the captain with his father's DNA we would be able to make his father's immune system suppress the disease in the captain's body. However, the equipment needed to perform such a procedure is at Starfleet Medical. We need to go to Earth to do this."
"The Thunderchild is heading that way." Sparhawk said. "I'm sure Captain Stork will give us transport to Earth."
"It will take twelve days at maximum warp to reach Earth." Dustin said behind all of them.
"Let's just hope that he holds out in that time." Plumley said looking at the captain.
Commander Paris awoke and sat up in his luxurious overstuffed bed. He outstretched his arms and thought about how it was good to be the conquerors of a planet. He was placed in charge of the incursion of Cestus III. He didn't mind this assignment. Captain Chakotay placed him in charge of the away team.
He figured the captain wanted him to be on the planet so that the attempts on his life would go down to a minimum. Chakotay knew that Paris was trying to get the chair for himself but the ones that Paris sent to take out the captain always ended up as an example and shoved out an air lock after spending a few days in the agony booth.
However, here on Cestus III, the Federation world that the Terran Empire has consistently held against the Federation every time they attempted to take it back for these past few months. It was rather humorous to Paris that the Federation couldn't even take back this simple world.
Feeling pleased with himself, Paris pulled aside his covers, got out of bed and got dressed into his uniform. He tapped his comm. badge.
"Paris to Lieutenant Illaria. Report."
"Nothing unusual, sir." The female Bolian replied.
"Good. Let me know if anything changes." He tapped his communicator again to cut the communication.
It wasn't much of a report. But then again, there was little for the Imperials to do at the moment. They were able to construct a powerful ground based shield generator that was capable to deflect any weapon that Starfleet could muster. There was some resistance when they first arrived but, the Imperials made short work of them.
Paris enjoyed the comforts of this planet as well as his mistress B'Elanna Torres. He acquired a group of servants. In fact, one of them was due any time now.
At that moment, the doors opened and a male servant walked in.
"Arekkusu, it looks like you've brought my breakfast."
"Indeed I have, Master Paris." The servant replied.
The servant placed the tray of food on the stand next to the bed. The servant was a human in his mid thirties. Short brown hair and brown eyes and seemed to be physically fit.
The doors opened again and B'Elanna Torres walked in with a three year old in tow. Arekkusu straightened up at the sight of B'Elanna. She had a habit of torturing the servants for whatever the reason. Paris usually punished the servants if they misbehaved in someway. He needed a reason. She did not. The three year old was Miral Paris, the daughter of the two.
The three year old ran into her father's arms. After showing a bit of a affection to his daughter, he noticed that Arekkusu was still standing there.
"Tell me, Arekkusu, do you have any children?" He asked.
"Not yet, sir. I do have one on the way. The mother was off planet when the Empire took over and I haven't seen her since."
B'Elanna came closer with her arms folded. Her head slightly turned to Arekkusu. "Leave us."
"Yes, ma'am." He said before walking out the doors.