Notification: If you like my work, read also "One Page of Life", which I also post tonight. Now enjoy another chapter ;)
When they returned, Spock welcomed them aboard. He listened up a report intently. And he made some notes at possibly extra sensory perception abilities of the Romulans. That's not what would come to one's mind, but it made a sense.
Their mission was successful. They won. Sulu never expected Spock to be happy or enthusiastic or any other display of emotions from a first officer, but he expected that by the rest of the crew. So when he saw their small smiles on rather gloomy faces, he knew something was wrong.
"You are dismissed. Take a proper rest, Mr. Sulu." Spock relieved him out of duty.
"Mr. Spock, commander. What happened here, sir?" Sulu maintained at the spot and questioned his superior, looking persistently.
"We have a situation here." Uhura spoke up. Spock shot her a look.
"Lieutenant." He admonished her.
"Spock, just tell him." A plead came in return.
Spock stared at her for a moment, his look angry on the obvious disobedience and lack of formality in the way she addressed him despite being in an active duty at the bridge. Then his look shifted to Sulu. "I believe doctor McCoy will offer you more accurate explanation. You shall find him in a sickbay laboratory."
"What?!" Sulu pushed up on his hands and straightened, taking a step back from a table he was just bending over a second ago. He frowned in ugly premonition that what McCoy told him might not be just a bunch of crap but true.
"You said they got some kind of Romulan disease?" He hit on a doctor again.
"Not Romulan disease, but a disease that was brought aboard by Romulans." McCoy scowled. "It spread through ventilation system before first symptoms showed."
"And there's no cure." Sulu wanted to clarify.
"So far." McCoy grumbled.
As Sulu got to know, when he left with his team to search for escaping Romulan ship, most of the technical support engineers under Scotty's supervision beamed to Prudence, together with captain Kirk and Chekov, to help repair the ship. But then, symptoms of an unknown disease emerged. Everybody who beamed there had to stay aboard Prudence, so that the infection won't spread to Enterprise as well. And now, all medical staff from both ships was trying to find out how to beat it. After two days of research there were still no results.
After few moments of consideration Sulu broached the conversation again.
"If it was from the Romulans, maybe I could return to where we destroyed their ship and try to find something that could help?" Sulu suggested helplessly.
"You're aware that would be of no use, Mr. Sulu." Spock entered the sickbay. "If anything has been preserved from explosion of the ship, then it's already on its way to a deep space."
Sulu knew that, but he wished there was something he could do.
"I suggest you take a proper rest, first, lieutenant. And then join a science department to help chief medical officer to find out the cure or become an acting commander of Enterprise, while I would join the science department myself."
That sounded reasonable. Sulu nodded. His field trip took him almost three days and he hasn't had many opportunities to sleep during it.
When he was leaving, Spock was talking to McCoy in a low voice.
"Dammit, man!" he heard a doctor to scream. Sulu looked over his shoulder and saw McCoy to talk into a communicator he took from Spock. "You're a CMO of that ship. You have to take care of yourself first. If we figure out the treat, you're the one who has to apply it. You're the one who has to take care of the crew!" The sickbay door closed behind Sulu.
Before he lied down on his bed, Sulu decided to call Chekov. He opened his communicator and sent out a connecting signal.
"Chekov?" he asked when he heard the other side to pick up.
"Sulu?" Chekov asked happily.
"How are you doing?" Sulu worried.
"I hawe been betterr beforr. Good to hier yu're alrright. How did yorr mission go?"
"We've been successful. The ship is destroyed."
"Wee heard zat frrom commandrr Spock."
"Yeah. I'll tell you more later. I just returned and I need to get some sleep." Sulu yawned. "But tell me how do you feel. Are you also sick?"
"Wee all arr. I reperr fesility in ze sickbay. Some engineerrz don't want to do zat, becauze ze most seriouz caesiz arr zere, but it doezn't metterr. Ewerrybody iz sick hierr." Sulu closed his eyes and Chekov continued. "It iz like flu. But I am alrright. People from Enterrprize got it laetr, so wee'rre bettrr zan zis ship's crru."
Sulu was really tired, so he felt asleep quite fast. He hasn't slept all that long, though. When he entered the bridge, Spock was sitting in a command chair. He looked tired. Sulu has never seen a Vulcan tired. When he noticed Sulu, the tiredness got lost. Spock exchanged his post with Sulu, noting he is going to continue a search through computer's library.
Later on, Uhura came to take the conn. She did the same thing as Sulu, the same thing Spock must have been doing, too. She pulled out her PADD to continue the research. They were sitting in a command chair, guarding a ship in case another Romulans would show up and tried their best to use the time that was left to safe a part of their crew along with whole crew of another ship.
The time was running fast and it was too long since any of them had a proper rest. More serious symptoms have been reported and they could have been pretty sure that in time, this will become a question of life or death.
Chekov helped with engines until the infection broke out. Then there were tricorders and another diagnostic device that needed to be repaired. So he helped with it. Chekov wasn't basically an engineer, so it was for the best, if he took side tasks.
First, when they found out about the disease and a fact that it has infected everybody aboard Prudence, they were disturbed. But there were still two ships that could offer fully assistance in solving the problem. It was like that until sickness manifested at some people in rather serious way. The patients were feverish, their bodies started to ache and they were weak. It was hard to watch those people in such poor state, see them being in pain, without ability to do anything about it and knowing that soon you will be at their place, in the same pain. CMOs already defined what was obvious – that if the infected people won't get a treat soon, they will die. Sometimes, things were just a matter of time.
Captain Kirk and captain Sansburry tried their best to prevent a panic to spread among both crews. They interrogated persons who were at a place, when small container left by Romulans got opened and the deadly disease spread from it. Since those people were first in contact with it, they were first to be taken care of in a sickbay, too. Even if they were to persecute them, it won't help anything.
Of course, a high command of the ships also considered seeking a help elsewhere. However, they were too far from any inhabited world, too far for even a long-distance connection and they wouldn't make it in time even if the warp engines of Prudence miraculously revived on the spot. The only thing they could do was to continue their effort to find a cure among things they got.
As a sickbay filled with more and more sick people, Chekov was more a hindrance than useful at now crowded place, so he moved over to main engineering again. The engineers were also ill, but kept working. Once they will be out of this, they will need a ship with functional engines. It kept them occupied, it kept them hoping.
Most of the communication between Enterprise and Prudence was carried out through Spock and captain Kirk. They exchanged and discussed all information the other side needed to know. However, the other communication channels haven't been blocked. Just nobody had a reason or time to call the other side. Chekov was missing Enterprise, its crew. Both Kirk and Scotty were way too busy to talk with him. Chekov knew Sulu and the others aboard Enterprise were busy, too. So he kept repairing broken consoles and replacing defective components in short-circuits, until he was rather lying on the floor, propped against one of the consoles and stubbornly worked on drives and other small parts he could take off and hold in his hands placed in his lap.
His communicator signalized an incoming call.
"Sulu?"
Sulu kept the furious pace in search despite of lack of sleep. He spent every minute browsing through catalogues of terrestrial and extraterrestrial plants, using his botanical skill to suggest species that were worth to try. He was sending those to sickbay laboratory and got reports about a progress of the disease in exchange. When he stopped by in a sickbay late that night, he received only an irritated reaction from McCoy's side. Main nurse, who observed the doctor worriedly, came closer to Sulu.
"You shouldn't be like that." She told Sulu. "Dr. McCoy is too stubborn to get a rest and he would never forgive me, if I doped him. Well, he's our biggest hope." She looked at a doctor protectively, sympathy and admiration mirroring in her face. "You should get some sleep. There's no profit from overloading oneself. You'll be more capable, when you're not exhausted." She recommended to him. She hesitated. " If you want to, I can gie you something to help you fall asleep." She glanced at him.
"No… I'll be OK." He declined politely.
Maybe she was right, he should get at least a shower before he continues.
After a shower, Sulu remained in his quarters. He sat in front of computer access console and restored his attempts to find answers.
'Not this. Not that. No. No. No!" he slammed his fist against an edge of access console. There had to be a solution, there must have been something they've missed!
He picked up his comm and called Chekov.
"Sulu?" A tired voice sounded from a loud-speaker.
"Chekov. That container the infection originated to spread from, did you look at it?"
"It waz seerrged thru thorrogly. Zere iz nothin' on it."
Sulu paced over his room, roaming with his look around as he forced his tired brain cells to work.
"There must be something we missed. Don't worry, we'll figure it out." Sulu reassured Chekov eagerly.
"I don't think so." Chekov replied.
Sulu leaned on a wall. "No." His voice turned to calm and serious one. He slid down to sit on a floor as he felt his knees trembling. "We'll find something. I promise." He said, convincing both of them, even though he couldn't see a way out of this misery. He had nothing more to say, but he didn't want to hang up yet. This might be a last time he talks with his friend.
"Yu said yu will tell me about ze surrfing competition and about yorr little sisterz sometime." Chekov paused and Sulu could hear him to swallow exhaustedly. "I think, could yu tell me about it now?"
Sulu didn't reply for a moment, gazing forward he searched for strength to reign his voice.
"Sure." He broke himself from dazing out. "I can tell you about that." He said in a warm tone that contained only slight hint of weariness.
"So, when I was ten…" he started to describe his first experience with a surfing board and high San Francisco's waves. Going through all those happy and exciting days full of childhood adventures, his days of being a big brother to his little sisters who were adult now, but were fragile cute girls back then – that all made it a lot easier – to not think about that Chekov is dying on the other side of the connection now. If they would make it out of this, Sulu was sure he will take Chekov surfing.
At the beginning, Chekov tried to react, saying things like "Oh, zat must hawe been grreit." He had to be really trying, but he couldn't fool Sulu with the enthusiastic tone lacking his usual energy. In time, the notes were less frequent and then stopped entirely. Maybe he didn't want to disturb Sulu as he listened intently. But more probably he was just too tired to talk. That thought made Sulu feel like there was a stone in his stomach.
Carrying on with the story, Sulu was suddenly interrupted by a gasp of pain on Chekov's side. He braced himself and didn't comment on that. He just blinked as his eyes became wet.
"And so she went to a shrine, all dressed up in a beautiful kimono." Sulu continued and a tear coming down his cheek didn't belong to a memory of his sister.