Ta'kel had been on the ship for four months now and was doing quite well. Most of the crew had accepted her and recognized her. She spent more and more time with the Captain and his group of friends. The only one of them that was still distant was the Doctor, which she found odd since they worked together every day.
Ta'kel walked towards sickbay, ready for a regular day at work. As she came into view of the door she heard the comm. come on.
"Ta'kel to the launch bay," said Spock's logical voice. Ta'kel sighed and turned around and walked towards the launch bay.
The door opened and she walked into the launch bay. She saw Spock and the Captain standing next to each other, facing two other people. She could recognize Dr. McCoy as one of the two, but the other was a man in a red uniform that she didn't know.
"Lieutenant Ta'kel," Spock greeted, "You have been chosen to accompany Dr. McCoy and crewman Itena on an away mission. We have received a distress signal from an Earth Colony. They claim that there is an epidemic that is in almost all the cities on their planet and they have no cure yet."
"And since you two are the best doctors we have, and we're the closest ship to the planet, you two are going," Kirk said, smiling. "You'll depart immediately. So, board your shuttle and be off." Kirk left promptly. Ta'kel was still put off by his odd behavior, but she rolled her eyes and boarded the shuttle with Bones and Itena.
Ta'kel sat next to Bones as they took off. She could sense anxiety in the man. "What are the symptoms of this epidemic?" the Vulcan asked.
"Symptoms start with chest pains, coughing, sputum is coughed up, later in with blood. It continues to develop with skin ruptures and fevers. Very high, hard to break. The patients usually die of suffocation."
"Sounds a lot like tuberculosis," Ta'kel grabbed the specks from the man.
"Comes on too fast. They don't fight it off easily enough. It's too violent for that, and the fever is quite high."
"It was just a suggestion. Clearly it's a respiratory infection."
"That's ingenious! Why didn't I think of that?" He glared at her, clearly being sarcastic.
"Alright, you don't have to be an annoying bitch about it. Are there any other symptoms?"
"Further on there's a slow onslaught of paralysis. It has nothing to do with a respiratory infection. Usually if the patient doesn't die by drowning in mucus, their heart just stops."
"Sounds wonderful," Ta'kel chuckled. She heard the crewman squeak. "You alright up there?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, his face turning white. "What happens if we catch this disease?"
"We die," Bones said, his usual uncaring demeanor.
"We don't die," Ta'kel assured when she heard the crewman start to panic. "We figure out what's wrong and fix it," she told the young man, placing a hand on his shoulder.
The rest of the voyage was spent with the two doctors bouncing idea after idea off each other. Dr. McCoy was very blunt and dismal while talking, causing a few panic attacks with the other crew member.
"I thought doctors were supposed to stop this kind of thing," Ta'kel said, calming Itena down for the fifth time in the past ten minutes.
"I'm a doctor, not a freaking psychologist. It's not my problem he can't handle the truth. I won't baby the man. Besides, he should have more confidence in us."
"How can he have confidence when all you talk about is all of us dieing of this disease!" she exclaimed, getting up in Bones's face.
"How is he supposed to learn that not everything is all bright and dandy if you keep telling him that everything is!"
"Hey!" exclaimed Itena, interrupting the two.
"What?" both exclaimed, turning towards the lower ranking man.
"We're here," he told the two. They looked at each other and proceeded to sit in the seats furthest apart.
The shuttle landed on the surface of the planet without a problem. The three exited the small craft and were greeted by a very tired looking man. He looked dirty and like he hadn't slept in days.
"Hello. I'm Nathanial Bordeaux, the governor over this settlement. You must be Doctors McCoy and Ta'kel. We are very grateful that you are here. All of our physicians have had no luck in treating this illness," the man explained.
"It's never a matter of luck, just competence," Bones mumbled.
"We're glad to help," Ta'kel said over the man's reply. She glared at him, "We should probably get started. Do you have an area where you're keeping the infected?"
"We're keeping them at the hospital, of course," the man told her, as if it was obvious and she should've known.
"Well good, take us there," Ta'kel said, trying not to sound annoyed. "We have no idea how this is spreading so I think everyone should boil their water before they drink it and facemasks should be passed out. Have you quarantined anyone?"
"Of course. That's standard procedure. We've been doing it for a while now. You act like we are incompetent and have no idea what we're doing."
"Yeah, Ta'kel. You're treating him like he knows nothing," Bones mocked her. She glared and he smirked.
They were led to the over crowded hospital. The doctors that were working there gave them information and they did scans. Ta'kel spent most of her time doing first hand work with patients. She noticed that humans were the only ones infected. That could mean many things, the most likely that there weren't any other species on the planet, but the one she most wanted to be true was that only humans were susceptible to the virus. Maybe it'll get rid of the inconsiderate douche, she thought to herself.
She left late at night to return to where she was staying. When she got there she realized that the three members of the Enterprise were forced to house together. She scowled at Bones and retreated into her room with a plethora of bio-scans.
Bones retired to his quarters later, tossing and turning on his bed. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't beat his insomnia. Finally, after a long time lying awake, sleep took hold of him.