Epilogue
The Starfleet Medical Centre on Earth glistened as the sun beat down upon it. Beautiful green gardens surrounded the large building, and the medical caduceus stood proudly on the front wall of the complex. Beyond the serene exterior was the clinical interior of the Centre. It contained hundreds of rooms with numerous patients of differing species and with different ailments. There were also a number of medical laboratories where new cures and treatments were devised and experimented with. In almost every corridor, Doctors and Nurses bustled around carrying out their daily duties.
Captain Blakeney slowly walked down one of these many corridors. He watched the medical staff as they conferred with each other, or pushed trays of medicine along, or escorted patients from place to place. Blakeney had a great respect for people who devoted their lives to helping others. The Captain walked around a corner and to the end of the hallway until he came to a set of doors labelled PSYCHIATRIC WARD. He pushed the keypad and the doors opened, allowing him to enter the ward beyond.
"Captain Blakeney," he was greeted by a handshake from a middle-aged, slightly plumpish Human male, whose brown hair was thinning on top. The pips on his collar revealed him to be a Lieutenant Commander. "I'm Doctor Foster," the man smiled.
"Pleased to meet you, Doctor," Blakeney returned the handshake.
"If you'd like to follow me, sir," Foster led Blakeney down the corridor.
"What do you think his chances are?" inquired Blakeney.
"Well physically I'm afraid there's nothing we can do," admitted Foster. "We can't remove his Borg implants. It would be like asking you or I to give up our lungs or our brain. He simply cannot survive without them."
"And what about his mental condition?" the Captain asked.
"Well we've obviously never had a case quite like this before," Foster stated, "but there's every chance that we can help him with his psychiatric recovery. We're quite optimistic."
"I'm pleased to hear that," Blakeney smiled. He and Foster came to a stop by a set of open doors that led to a small room beyond. A young Trill Lieutenant was stood in the doorway. The female had neck-length blonde hair and a friendly smile, which she demonstrated upon seeing Blakeney.
"This is Counsellor Blax," Foster introduced.
"I'll be responsible for Mister Ryan's psychological well being," she explained.
"Don't worry, Captain," Foster assured Blakeney, "He's in safe hands." The Captain peered through the open doors and into the small room. Directly to the left was a bathroom, and on the left wall was a mirror and shelf unit. On the opposite wall was as strip of lighting and jutting out from the right wall was a bed, upon which Nicholas Ryan lay, still unconscious.
Blakeney smiled at his former First Officer and stated, "See you soon, Nick."
