Tegan Chronicles STV Style 1
Line of Fire
21
Tegan grabbed her head as bolts of lightning shot through it. She closed her eyes knowing they were glowing and not wanting to draw any more attention to herself. So far the doctor, Janeway, Tom and B'Elanna were the only ones to actually see her eyes light up. She knew Janeway had sent out a memo to all staff but that didn't make her anymore eager to show her talents off. She felt a hand on her arm and knew it was the doctor. "Dr. Kiser you need to sit."
"I'm fine." She took a deep breath while trying to push the pain back before she lifted her head and looked at him.
"No you're not. You're running on fumes. At the very least you need to rest." He reached for a medical tricorder. "I think the worst of the virus is over and I can handle things here for now."
She looked over at the only bed that was currently occupied by a groaning Chakotay who was acting like he was dying. Harry had even had more dignity when he came down with the 24 hour bug. She pushed the tricorder away before he could get a reading and turned to the door as Seven came in with her hand resting over her stomach. "I believe I am damaged."
"I've got her." Tegan said and before the doctor could argue she had helped Seven to sit on one of the beds. "What's going on?"
"I ate lunch and it will not stay in my stomach."
"We've been seeing a lot of that lately." Tegan tried not to grin at her phrasing. "I think you picked up the virus that's going around."
"I hope B'Elanna does not come down with it." Seven groaned softly so only Tegan could hear her.
"I take it your date last night went well?" She kept her voice low as she scanned her.
"Yes, I believe it did."
"When did you start feeling bad?"
"After breakfast." Seven watched Tegan nod.
"Are you able to keep anything down?" She lifted the tricorder up to look at the results.
"No."
"You aren't dehydrated, but we're not busy so I'll leave it up to you if you want to ride it out here or in the cargo bay where you can regenerate."
"Ride it out? Is there nothing you can do?"
"It's a 24 hours virus and the doctor and I feel it's best to just let it run its course."
"Very well, I don't want to regurgitate my food here."
Tegan made a face.
"Doctor Kiser, your eyes." Seven caught a glimpse just before Tegan closed them. "Are you in pain?"
"I'm fine." She stepped back even as the EMH walked over. "I think I'm going to take your advice and take the afternoon off. If you need me…"
"I know where to find you." He nodded. "I do wish you would let me check you over."
Tegan shook her head and walked out.
"Doctor what do we owe the privilege?" Tuvok greeted as Tegan stepped onto the bridge drawing Janeway's attention.
"I just wanted to see if Captain Janeway had a minute free?" She looked from him to the curious captain.
"My ready room." She stood up and led the way. "What can I do for you?"
"I've had some time to think about some of the things that were said at dinner in your quarters the other night."
"Go on."
"You said that you couldn't take a chance on my not being 100% at any given time." She watched Janeway closely as she continued. "There is something that I have," she paused. Tegan took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes before scrubbing her hand over her face. She grimaced lightly.
She was normally a very patient woman but for some reason she wanted to grab Tegan by the shoulders and tell her to spit it out. She could see the struggle Tegan was having but she wasn't entirely sure if that was all that was going on. "Tegan?"
Tegan opened her eyes again. She knew when she was done here she was going to have to go back to the sick bay despite just wanting to retire to her quarters. "I haven't been entirely honest with you Captain."
"Really?" Janeway paced up the few steps and turned around placing both hands on the railing so she was leaning forward looking down at Tegan. She never liked to hear that from one of her officers.
"Yes ma'am." Tegan hung her head slightly. "I was afraid that the information I'm about to share would derail my ability to stay on even as a provisional Starfleet officer and would no doubt keep me from taking part in pilot training."
"I'm all ears Lieutenant."
"You see." She gasped and pressed both palms into her eyes.
"Tegan?" Concern flooded Janeway's voice as she came down the steps.
Tegan took two steps back and her body went rigid just before she fell to the floor catching the right side of her forehead on the edge of Janeway's desk on the way down. Janeway watched as her body jerked on the floor in front of her. "Janeway to sickbay two to transport."
Janeway stepped back and let the EMH take care of Tegan. He quickly scanned her with a tricorder and frowned as he reached for a muscle relaxant hypospray, which stopped the seizing long enough for him to get her onto a bio-bed with some assistance from Janeway. He clicked a button that brought the scanning bed up around her body and another one over her head then he walked to the console and looked over the readouts.
"What is it doctor?"
"I don't know. Her potassium is low again and while I doubt that's the cause it does need to be treated." He looked over her as she started seizing again. He typed something into the panel and then walked over to pick up the vial that he'd just mixed. "I might end up regretting this, but I am hoping that if I dilute it enough I can administer the potassium chloride through a hypospray without damaging her carotid artery or the surrounding tissue. It's a large enough vessel it should be ok."
"Do it." Janeway stood on the side of the bed watching as Tegan's body tensed and relaxed and tensed again.
It took a minute but her body finally relaxed one last time and she opened her eyes. "What—how did I get here?"
"You had a seizure." The EMH answered.
"In my ready room," Janeway added.
"I remember my head hurting really bad," She made a face. "The neural weapon?"
"Possibly," The doctor looked at her EEG readouts. "They did warn that you would need rest even after you felt you had recovered, but you didn't have any seizures before."
"No, just my head."
"What are you trying to say?" Janeway rested her hand on Tegan's upper arm feeling her body heat radiate through her uniform.
"I was trying to tell you…" Her eyes drifted shut. "I'm so tired."
"She's in a postictal state Captain and needs to rest."
"We'll talk later."
"Give her at least an hour."
"I'm fine." Tegan was standing at the foot of the bed with the doctor doing his best to block her from the exit when Janeway walked in.
"I see you're feeling better."
"Captain, just the person I was about to go see."
"And now I'm here so you can get back in bed."
She looked over a Chakotay. "Actually I need to talk to you and the doctor, do you think we could go into the office?"
Janeway nodded and led the way. She pointed to the chair behind the desk before she took up residence in the one in front.
"I'm fine." Tegan held her hand up to forestall any interruptions she might get. "I'm not talking in relative terms, for now anyway I am fine. My head doesn't hurt and I shouldn't be having any seizures anytime soon."
"You told me you didn't have epilepsy and I didn't see any signs of it." A frown creased the doctor's forehead.
"You treated the seizure with potassium, did you not?" She leaned forward.
"It was a shot in the dark."
"Low potassium levels in extreme cases can lead to seizures. It's rare, my body isn't exactly normal."
Janeway cleared her throat. "You knew."
Tegan nodded. "If you had had access to my medical records you would have known pretty much from day one and had my latest seizure activity waited about five more minutes I would have told you. When my eyes 'glow' from the two types naquada in my blood stream interacting it causes my potassium to drop and evidently when it drops low enough it leads to me having the occasional seizure. Captain, I honestly was just about to tell you."
Janeway nodded, her face remained neutral though Tegan could tell she wasn't entirely happy that she had withheld the information. "Is there anything else of importance that you haven't told me?"
Tegan looked at the doctor.
"Doctor if you'll excuse us for a minute."
"Certainly, I should check on Commander Chakotay." He stepped out of the office.
"I don't know that it is important but," she paused and looked up at the ceiling for a second. "My CO back on earth didn't even know this. I mean he knew but not to the extent. The symbiotes that died in my body, they left behind their memories and for the most part I don't have to deal with the appalling things they did but when I go to sleep I can't stop the terrible images from playing in my dreams."
"How do you get any sleep?" Her voice was laced with concern this time.
Tegan turned from her normal ivory to a deep shade of maroon. "On earth Cassie brought me this stuffed frog and it helped so I replicated it."
"Whatever gets you through the night." She couldn't help the twinkle in her eye.
"Yeah I guess. So I guess my Starfleet dreams are over?"
"I need to talk to the doctor, but I don't see why anything has to change. We may need to put you on a daily potassium supplement. I can't make any guarantees about what will happen when we get back to earth, but as long as we're out here in the Delta Quadrant I'm calling the shots and I think we can continue as planned."
"Captain, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I wasn't trying to lie to you." She suddenly found her fingernails very distracting.
"Try trusting me next time Tegan."
"Yes ma'am."
"No more secrets?" She lifted her brow.
Tegan looked deep into her eyes. "No ma'am."
"Alright, if the doctor agrees you can retire to your quarters after you eat." Janeway stood up and followed her out into the sickbay.