Lydia slowly eased herself out of bed. Her legs were shaking badly, particularly her right one. As she stepped onto the floor, her right leg gave way and she fell. Her arms, attempting to reach for the bed, also failed her. She landed unceremoniously with a thud. She used her left leg and arm to lift herself back up, since they weren't shaking quite as badly. Perhaps her attempts to keep her strong leadership image weren't the best decision. She stumbled for the pills she took from sickbay, which were at the end table in the living room. They were almost empty... not that it mattered. The medication was barely having any effect anymore. Taking three muscle relaxers only lessened the symptoms for twenty minutes at most. Almost instinctively, she took three. She dared not take any more than that. She sat down in her wicker chair waiting for the medication to have some kind of effect. She stared in her quarters, thinking she had forgotten to turn the lights on. As she looked up and saw the dimmed view of her overhead light, she realized her eyesight was worsening, too.

She sighed. "Perhaps now I need some help." She thought to herself. She brushed her wavy, shoulder-length brown hair back with her left hand. She could see, even though the darkness of her eyesight that a great deal of gray had intruded. "No, damnit," She said out loud. "I survived the Cardassian war, the Dominion War, and pregnancy...three times! I can get myself to the sickbay." Her will overpowering her muscle spasms and head pain, she stood up and headed out the door.

Thankfully, she only passed two people on the way to see the doctor and was able to force a smile and pleasantry to each one. Finally, she came to the frosted glass double doors of the sickbay. She took a deep breath, and walked inside...

...and promptly tripped over a box just inside the door. She let out a Spanish curse as she tried to right herself.

"Captain?" a voice came from the next room. Doctor Rass poked his head out holding a piece of equipment.

"I apologize, Doctor. Your area is in worse condition than I...OH!" Her left arm gave out on her as she attempted to stand. She plunged face first into a box. There was more Spanish cursing as she righted herself, a fresh cut on her head.

"My word!" Dorrin barked as he bounded over the crates to her. "Are you alright?" He offered a hand to her.

She raised a badly shaking hand to him. "Not exactly, Doctor. I don't think I can stand on my own any longer."

The doctor's eyes widened as he hoisted her up with one arm. He slung her arm over his shoulder, then put his arm around her waist. "Don't worry, Captain. Let's get you into a hospital bed. Thankfully, there are two that are unwrapped. Just hold onto me as best you can." Using more strength than Lydia thought his wiry frame possessed, he kicked large crates out of the way as they made their way to a hospital bed. "Come on now...just sit down here." He ushered her to the bed. Slowly, she sat down with a thud. As the doctor tried to swing her legs over so she could lay down, he saw just how bad things had gotten. Her right leg was spasming badly.

"Captain, I'm going to have to strap down that leg of yours. I don't want you sliding out of the bed." She nodded. Quickly, he pulled restraints from the sides of the bed and looped them around her legs. With a click, he connected them, then used the tension adjustment to tighten their grasp. Thankfully, one of the pieces of equipment that had been left on the floor was a medical tricorder. He grabbed it and with a flick of the wrist, popped it open. The bio-reader slipped out with a little 'click'. "Alright, Captain. I need to know exactly what's wrong and how long you've had the symptoms."

She was impressed. It was almost like flipping a switch. He had gone from this light-hearted fish-out-of-water she met in the cargo bay to the no-frills professional she read about who had earned several awards and several more recommendations. "Well, it all started with a headache, I believe... maybe a month ago. I thought it was just stress, so I borrowed some of your pain relievers. My apologies for not asking first. You weren't here." She tried to smile.

"I'll bill you later. Okay, a headache a month ago. Keep going." As he spoke, he continued making adjustments to the tricorder, then scanned again.

"Well, things just started getting worse. I really started going downhill a couple of weeks ago. Blurry vision, minor blackouts, muscle spasms, mostly on my right side."

"Um, hmmm. What did the station doctor say?" He continued taking readings and shaking his head.

"Well, we were busy. Things needed to be done. I took it upon myself to remain here and see them through."

"I see...too stubborn to go to the doctor. That's a typical Captain's Condition."

His facial expressions didn't even budge, at least, not as far as Lydia could see. She couldn't tell if he was kidding or not. "That's not why..." she started.

"This is not working." The doctor interrupted. "I need the bio board, but I don't have any way to hold up..." He looked around, trying to find something that would hold the bio sensor that was currently on the floor, but connected to the board. He rolled his eyes. He had an idea, but it wasn't a very good one. For lack of any better ideas coming to mind, he went with it. "Computer, engage EMH." He closed his eyes and shook his head.

The image of a tall, thin, pale human with short, red, curly hair appeared in the middle of the room. He was wearing oversized glasses. To Doctor Rass, everything about this image exhuded obnoxious. "Thank you for engaging the emergency medical holigram. Please state the nature of your medical emergency."

The doctor grabbed the fully-formed image and thrust the conical sensor into its hands. "Here," he said abruptly, "hold this."

With almost human instincts, the now tangible EMH doctor took the sensor. "I beg your pardon?" He asked, completely dumbfounded.

"I said," the doctor continued moving his holograhic counterpart, "stand here and hold that. Like this." Doctor Rass moved the hologram's arms so the sensor was pointing down at the captain at an angle over her head. "Now, don't move."

Although the EMH complied, he protested. "Perhaps you don't understand my actual purpose. In the event the senior medical officer is absent or incapacitated, I..."

"Shut up," Doctor Rass said flatly. "I AM the senior medical officer." He bent down to press some buttons on the bioreadout board. "Hold that thing still."

The EMH let out a "Hrmph," and narrowed his gaze at the doctor.

Having finished his adjustments to the screen, his eyes grew so large even Velasquez could see his worry. "By the prophets," he whispered.

"What's wrong, Doctor?" Now Lydia was starting to get worried. Her stubbornness had cost her in the past. She would have thought she would become more cautious with age.

"Captain," he started slowly, "it's some kind of virus. It's all over your brain. By the gods, it's everywhere." The EMH just stood silently.

Shock completely set in. "Doctor, I took tricorder readings myself, thinking I might have something worse. Everything came up negative." She looked at him desperately.

"If you're referring to the tricorder on the floor here, it wasn't calibrated properly. It wouldn't have seen this."

She laid back slowly into the bed and tried very hard not to cry. Her stubbornness had never cost her this badly. Mustering as much strength as she could, she asked the only question that came to her mind. "What's going to happen to me?"

The doctor slowly shook his head. "I honestly don't know. It has spread to your vision center, your fine muscle control, even your taste center."

"You know, I thought the food was starting to taste a little bland," she said almost rhetorically.

"Well, I need a computer right now...and I need some of my equipment set up. This can't wait until tomorrow." He took a deep breath to calm himself. The next few words out of his mouth were going to be difficult. "Can I assume you've been hiding this from the crew, too?"

Her eyes closed. She merely nodded.

"I see," he replied slowly. "I'm afraid that has to end as of right now. Captain Velasquez, as my first official action as senior medical officer of the USS Warlord, I'm temporarily relieving you of your command until we can get this cleared up."

To his surprise, she merely replied, "I understand."