Chapter 36: Hoshi's Dark Secret
He could barely believe that such sounds were coming out of such a small body. Hoshi was snoring so loudly, it would have scared away wild-life, if there were any, but since they were back on the ship, she could at worst scare passersby. He was sure that those with better hearing could probably hear the ship's coms officer saw through a veritable imaginary forest.
One of the things that T'Pol had informed him of during their rather animated wedding night was that on Wednesdays he would be relieved of all marital or parental duties in order to spend the evening and the night with his sister. Granted, his wife's order not to forget to ogle Hoshi's inevitably naked body appreciatively would go down as the weirdest wife's order ever, but then that was what he would have done anyway. The young girl in his arms liked the attention way too much to deprive her of that joy any longer. Today, apparently also with T'Pol's blessing, Hoshi had gotten herself hopelessly wasted on top of it.
Just like on that fateful evening she had been absolutely hilarious. Who would have thought that she knew so many rather rude jokes that were not meant for an under-age audience? He looked over at the bed-side cabinet and saw the hypospray with which he was supposed to jump start Hoshi in the morning. T'Pol being T'Pol had organized all of it, and she had thought of everything. Not only was there a document that registered Hoshi's bender as an official experiment to make it sort of legal, she had also procured the necessary medication to help Hoshi with the foreseeable after-effects the next morning.
As Malcolm had so fittingly said, he couldn't have done any better for a wife. For a start, many human wives wouldn't have believed that he was sharing a bed with a naked sister, who wasn't really a sister from a biological point of view, and not do something naughty. But then, no human wife would know his feelings from first-hand experience like T'Pol did after the mind-meld.
Even two weeks after it had happened, he couldn't believe how expertly T'Pol and his mother had pulled off that surprise wedding, even having Shran deliver her dad from Vulcan and back to his home world after the ceremony. His life would have been perfect if it wasn't for the fact that poor Pat would now be paying the price. She had been so happy knowing that he was taking care of Anna's occasional need for a man. They would now have to go back to the old status-quo of Anna hooking up with one of the many interested guys, hoping he wouldn't be useless between the sheets, while Pat would feel miserable.
He made a mental note to speak with T'Pol about that. For all intents and purposes their mating bond was nothing like it was described in the old texts. Anna only needed a man three or four times a year, maybe their bond could tolerate that? The very fact that he was holding Hoshi, while she was completely naked and resting her head on his chest, should have set off some very nasty instincts in T'Pol, but it didn't, instead his frankly modest talent to use their telepathic connection told him that his wife was quite content at the moment, and that, although she would never admit as much, meant that T'Lara had probably decided to crawl into mommies bed again. It would need some of Malcolm's more questionable methods to make T'Pol admit it, but she liked it a lot when their little daughter snuggled up to her or gave her a kiss. It was a sentiment he could easily sympathize with.
It still pained him that they technically had had to violate the young girl's mind to make her forget about what had been done to her, but she had the talent to make him forget about it the moment he saw her. Everyone aboard loved the little girl with a penchant for roaming the corridors in bright pink clothes and equally colored bunny-slippers. Since he and T'Pol had to get her out of the room once in a while for some action she was too young to witness, the fact that there would be eighty-five willing baby-sitters was a big help, but realistically, with Pat and Hoshi fiercely competing over the privilege, there was no need to worry about that and the little one loved both of them.
-=/\=-
"How is your sister?" T'Pol asked when he had kissed her after returning to their quarters.
"A little worse for wear," he chuckled. "She stuck to Rostov's vodka so there's no upset stomach and the hypo dealt with the headache. As much fun as she was, but I think we should keep it to that one time."
"It was not meant to become a recurring feature," T'Pol agreed while selecting clothes for T'Lara, who was having a lot of fun in the shower if the incessant giggling was anything to go by.
"Well, her surgery is coming up anyway on the weekend. Phlox delayed it twice. I doubt Hoshi would be too happy about a third postponement."
"Phlox overestimated the growth rate of human adipose tissue. Surely your sister would prefer an adequate result over an expedited procedure?"
"I know," he agreed. "But Hoshi's been having these problems for years and Phlox wasn't exactly helping. He gave her something to induce skin growth for when her breasts will become bigger, but now they are sagging really badly because of that. She's absolutely livid at herself. I did my best to make her feel better, but she'll burst a blood vessel anytime soon."
"Perhaps it would help if you spent the remaining two evenings with her until her procedure?"
He shook his head. "Hoshi's a grown up girl. Perhaps the night from Friday to Saturday, because she's a bit scared, no matter how much she looks forward to the result. Tonight though I wanna be with my wife. I want to test if a mind-meld really solves our...um… intimate problems. I don't really like it that I have to tie you to something when I want to make love to you."
"It worked during our wedding night, ashayam, but I agree, the experiment could use … several repeated tests," she said in a husky voice and kissed him. Their intimate moment was interrupted by T'Lara who came running out of the bathroom and jumped into his arms, stark-naked, but thankfully she had at least toweled herself dry.
"I missed you father," she said and kissed him.
"I missed you too, honey. And now get yourself dressed. I don't want to have to explain to the captain how someone can get a cold inside the ship."
She giggled and quickly donned the clothes that T'Pol had laid out for her.
-=/\=-
It was so infuriating not to be able to do something. If the engines had suffered a hiccup he could at least be doing something, but right now, all he could do was pacing sickbay while Phlox and Cutler where hectically fighting for Hoshi's life behind the privacy screen. Hoshi's body was not something he could fix with a micro-spanner and a hammer.
For all he knew, it had all happened behind the privacy screen, the procedure had been successful, but Hoshi should have come to a long time ago. Instead she was still unconscious and her heart rate was not exactly improving. His pacing was interrupted when T'Lara barged in, crying.
"What happened to aunt Hoshi?" she asked.
"I don't know," Trip said, trying to put a brave face to it and he put his finger over her lips to tell her to be as silent as possible. He gathered her up in his arms and she clung to him like a baby monkey, silently crying.
Finally Phlox came out from behind the privacy screen. He'd never seen the Denobulan sweat so profoundly.
"She'll be fine," the doctor sighed and sunk into a chair. The look of Phlox at T'Lara told him that the doctor wanted to discuss something that was not meant to be heard by the child.
"T'Lara, she's okay now," he said, barely holding on to his composure. "Would you go to stay with aunt Pat for a while? Doctor Phlox and I need to talk about something."
She nodded and walked over to the doctor, planting a kiss on the surprised Denobulan. "Thank you for saving aunt Hoshi," she said and walked out. He could see that Phlox was very moved by the gesture.
"Commander, this is not easy to say," Phlox struggled through his tears. "I believe the problem was caused by substance abuse."
"You mean to say Hoshi is doing drugs?" he asked in disbelief and the doctor nodded.
"What is she taking?" he asked as a rather big lump formed in his throat. He felt like all the air had been taken from the room.
"According to my scans, Diamorphines, known on your world as heroin. Heroin use has become so rare, it didn't even enter my mind to scan for it beforehand."
"Shit, this is going to end her career," he said.
"Not necessarily," the doctor answered. "The drug has been known for two-hundred years. In former times people had to undergo a procedure called 'cold turkey', which was the sudden cessation of substance dependence, accompanied by heavy withdrawal symptoms. Thankfully, in this day and age there are less stressful measures of therapy."
"Is there a way to find out when this started?" Trip asked. "I have a pretty good idea, but I'd like to know for certain."
"You blame yourself?" Phlox asked.
"No, I blame that asshole Black," Trip growled. "Hoshi was practically raped, she overcame that way too easily in hindsight."
The doctor disappeared behind the privacy screen and this time Trip went with him. Hoshi was lying on the biobed, hooked up to way too many sensors for his comfort. He sank down on a chair next to her and gently kissed her as tears threatened to destroy his composure."
The doctor hovered a scanner over her body. It was covered by a blanket, but that obviously didn't obstruct the device. When Phlox left again, he went with him.
"When was that incident, commander?"
"August 2149, pretty much exactly two years ago."
"Then you have your answer," the doctor replied dryly, showing him the output of the scanner. "The method is not very exact, but the results show that ensign Sato has been ingesting opioid painkillers for about two years."
"I'll kill that fucking prick!" Trip growled balling his hands into fists.
"That would be a job better left to Lieutenant Reed, wouldn't you say?" Phlox replied dead-pan. "And besides, you would be somewhat late in that regard. Admiral Hieram Black committed suicide a week ago and since we were in space at the time, for once our tactical officer had nothing to do with it."
"Will she be okay, Phlox?" he asked, not commenting on the latest bit of news. His reply wouldn't have been too civilized in any case.
"The therapy will be a mere formality, as I said, we have better methods to deal with rehabilitation these days, but I think ensign Sato could use the help of a … big brother right now."
He nodded and left sickbay in a hurry, hoping to get out of public sight before his emotions would overwhelm him.
-=/\=-
It was not hard to see that her Adun had not yet fully recovered from the after-effects of his ordeal on Vulcan, and what humans described as fate had now thrown another problem into his path. Her husband was sitting on their bed, crying helplessly, no doubt again blaming himself for not having noticed his sister's substance abuse.
Arguing with him about how illogical that was would be an exercise in futility, but thankfully T'Lara had taken it upon herself to console him. Close contact to her adoptive father pleased the child in any case and in this case it also brought consolation to Charles, and he was in dire need of it as the complications of Hoshi's surgery and the subsequent findings about her substance abuse had quite obviously shaken him badly.
Leaving her Adun in the more than capable hands of their daughter, she left their quarters towards sickbay. Arriving there she found ensign Sato on the biobed, awake and lucid, but quite obviously ashamed of herself. It was obvious that Doctor Phlox had informed her about his findings.
"I'm sorry, T'Pol," she muttered and against proper Vulcan protocol she took her Adun's surrogate sister's hand. "It is not I you have to apologize to. You should seek forgiveness from your brother. You have inflicted a substantial amount of suffering on him."
"Trip would forgive me if I stabbed him in the back," the young woman said as tears overcame her.
"May I ask what lead to your substance abuse?"
"T'Pol, I can't tell you that," the young ensign replied in obvious fear. "One mind-meld and Trip would know it. He could never live with it, especially now. He's barely recovered from what happened on Vulcan."
"My husband is the reason for you becoming addicted to opioid painkillers?" she said, letting a bit more offense seep into her voice than she had intended to. Seeing the tears in the young humans eyes, she knew she had just pressured her into divulging the exact details. She immediately felt guilty for it. Pressure was the least that ensign Sato needed right now.
"You know how our relationship changed after that day," Hoshi said amid sobs and T'Pol nodded. "The dear heart never left my side. I would probably have done something even more stupid had it not been for him being my life-line. But he had to work on the warp three program. Whenever he left me, quite reluctantly in fact, I felt so vulnerable. I started locking myself into my room and shot myself to frigging hell just so I'd be out of it until he returned. I'm skinny and it didn't take much to get me stoned out of my mind, which Phlox says is a big help now.
"About six months after what happened, I had gotten over my fears and nightmares with Trip's help, but by then it was too late, I had become addicted. I managed to tone it down, only requiring a snort about twice a week, but I never got rid of it completely. Oh my god, I don't want think how he will feel when he knows that. You know how he blames himself for everything."
"A distinct possibility," T'Pol agreed. "But he will need to know. You will require his help to overcome your problems. He cannot be effective in this endeavor if he has not got all the details. For now I implore you to follow Phlox's instructions to the letter. The best way to gain forgiveness for your foolishness is overcoming its effects, for nothing would bring more contentment to your brother."
"I promise," the young human answered through still tear-filled eyes.
-=/\=-
Unfortunately Ensign Sato's premonition had been proven frustratingly correct. Despite his initially correct reaction to blame the transgression of the late Admiral Black, Commander Tuckerblamed himself for ensign Sato's problems. No amount of conversation would convince him otherwise. He found it exasperating that right now the human was in tears again, apologizing to his surrogate sister for a problem she ultimately had caused herself, even if the reasons were perhaps somewhat understandable.
Phlox knew that easing Commander Tucker's self-recriminations was something that was now the duty of ensign Sato, and from a therapeutic point of view that would even be a good start to heal the young ensign back to a life that was free of ingesting debilitating substances.
Another one who was suffering was the captain. The ship's commanding officer had become a victim of his own idealism. It could not be easy for someone who had become convinced that humanity had progressed beyond it's worst problems, to realize that many of the age-old problems still existed, if perhaps not as often or pronounced as before. The five kilogram of heroin that ensign Sato had stock-piled to make it through a long deep-space mission where testament to the fact that humanity was still not where it would like to be. The only consoling fact was that through the much rarer use of the substance, its price had deteriorated over the last decades. Just half a century ago ensign Sato would have had to do much more than just baring her physique in order to procure enough currency to acquire such an amount of drugs.
In fact, Commander Tucker had confronted her with the question of whether or not she had prostituted herself in order to acquire the chemicals, a remarkable feat considering it would have increased his suffering had she answered affirmatively. However, according to ensign Sato's admission, she had merely used up all her savings. Like Commander Tucker, Phlox was inclined to believe her. Not that she could really lie; the medication he had administered to prevent any withdrawal symptoms did also serve some less reputable sections of intelligence services throughout the galaxy as a truth serum while interrogating prisoners.
While the medication was needed to prevent a physical reaction to ceasing the drug habit, the biggest amount of work was now lying with Commander Tucker, who despite his own problems seemed to be willing to take an active part in ensign Sato's recovery. Sometimes he wished his own siblings would have shown as much affection as Commander Tucker heaped on the young ensign. He doubted many biological siblings were as devoted to each other as the two bridge officers, and he could only wonder how much their ill-advised forced distance from each other for the benefit of Lieutenant Reed had contributed to the problems both of them suffered right now.
When he looked behind the privacy screen he found ensign Sato, her torso still heavily bandaged, and commander Tucker sound asleep on the biobed that was normally only designed to hold one person. They held each other in a tight embrace. Blinking back a tear and flashing one of his wide grins, he put the blanked over them and left them to enjoy their peaceful slumber.