Bashir awoke the next morning, feeling like he had hardly slept at all. He buried his face in his pillow to stifle a groan, then rubbed the back of his neck. Although he hadn't woken up at all during the night, he felt like he'd been sleeping on rocks. Perhaps, he supposed, it was because his body knew it was supposed to have been back in its own bed on Deep Space Nine. And all the climbing and scrambling he'd done the day before hadn't helped matters. He was glad he'd stretched before going to bed, or else he would really be regretting it now.
"Julian," O'Brien's voice came from below him. "Julian, you awake?"
With a frown, Bashir pushed himself onto his forearms. O'Brien's voice sounded quieter than normal, weaker. Bashir leaned over the side of his bunk, but couldn't see his friend in the shadows.
"Yes, I'm awake. Are you all right?"
"I don't think so," O'Brien said and Bashir was instantly fully awake, swinging himself down from the top bunk.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm boiling," O'Brien said. "It's not the environmental controls, is it?"
"No, I feel fine," Bashir replied.
"I was afraid of that," his friend muttered.
"Computer lights," Bashir commanded and snagged the medkit from its storage niche in the wall. He sat down on O'Brien's bunk and put a thermometer on the other man's forehead. While that ran its scan, Bashir pulled out a medical tricorder and ran it over O'Brien.
"I know that look," O'Brien said.
"What look?" Bashir asked.
"That 'he's-in-trouble' look."
"You have a temperature of thirty-eight-point-eight. You definitely have a fever. But I can't tell why. The problem is that, here, it could be anything."
"You know just how to reassure a man," O'Brien said.
"Lie still, I'm going to take a sample of your blood to analyze. That should give us the answers."
He took out a syringe and drew a vial of blood. O'Brien winced, even though Bashir knew it didn't hurt. Most people's brains told them it did anyway. Without a proper medical lab, he set to work analyzing it with the tricorder.
"This might take awhile. I'm going to wake up the others and get you some water and something to drink."
"Sure," O'Brien said, his voice tired.
Bashir tapped his combadge.
"Bashir to Kira and Dax. Wake up."
There was a moment of silence, then Kira's voice, retaining only the slightest hint of sleep, answered:
"We're up. What is it, Julian?"
"Miles is sick. I need your help."
"How sick?" Kira demanded.
"Sick enough," Bashir replied.
Within two minutes, the women were dressed and crowded into the small cabin.
"Dax, can you get him some water and some food? Something bland, preferably. Major, I don't know what's making him sick yet. Without a medlab, I'm going to have to do the analysis myself, so it's going to take longer."
"Keep me informed," Kira replied. "How do you feel, Chief?"
"Just tired and sore, really," O'Brien replied.
"Hopefully it's a simple infection I can treat with antibiotics or antivirals. But I don't think he should be working on the shuttle in this condition."
"Agreed," Kira said, then held up a hand when O'Brien started to protest. "Dax and I can finish the communications array and you can talk us through the engines. We might not even need the engines if we can get a ship's attention. You need to get better, not worse."
"All right," O'Brien said as Dax returned. Bashir took the food and gave it to O'Brien.
"And you need to eat. Doctor's orders."
"After we're done with the communications array, I'll go out for some more food and water," Kira said. "Julian, I want you to stay here."
"Understood," Bashir replied.
The major turned to Dax.
"We'll get started right after we eat," she said.
"Right. Julian, what do you want for breakfast?"
"What's on the menu?"
"Food from yesterday with one replicator ration."
Bashir waffled between scones and jam or raktajino and finally decided on the coffee and the local plant and animal life as his meal. Kira and Dax vanished toward the cockpit, Dax returning a few minutes later with Bashir's breakfast. She gave it to the doctor, then squeezed O'Brien's arm, smiling at him.
"We want you back on your feet tomorrow, Chief. This isn't a vacation," she teased.
O'Brien gave her a pale smile.
"I'll do my best," he promised.
"Let us know what you find, Julian," Dax said. Bashir nodded and she left. He turned to his breakfast and his work, beginning a detailed scan of the chief's blood between bites.
"Try it now," Kira said.
"Got it!" Dax replied and Kira scrambled out from the access hatch in which she had been working. "I'm sending out a general distress signal right now."
"How long until it reaches the station?"
"Five or six days," Dax said.
Kira put a hand on her forehead and sighed.
"I hope Julian can find something to help the chief before then," she said.
"Me, too," Dax replied.
"Let's get started on the engines," Kira said. "I'll go out for food in about an hour."
Dax helped Kira to her feet and the two women turned to head toward the engine compartment when Bashir stepped into the cockpit. Kira and Dax stopped short at the expression on the doctor's face; Bashir looked as if he had known all the suffering and sorrow in the galaxy.
"Julian, what is it?" Dax asked.
"I've isolated the virus that's making Miles ill," the doctor replied. "It's a naturally occurring virus on this planet."
"Why didn't the computer's sensors pick it up?" Kira asked.
Bashir shrugged.
"It's endemic, and the computer would have no prior record of it. This planet hasn't ever been explored beyond a cursory orbital scan."
"Is he going to be all right?" Dax asked.
"I hope so," Bashir said with a heartfelt sigh. "I've given him a broad spectrum antiviral in hopes of knocking it out or at least wearing it down until I can come up with a more specific treatment."
"Then what's the matter?"
"I did some testing on it, and I've found that it shouldn't affect either of you. It doesn't seem compatible with Trill or Bajoran DNA. I suspect that your systems have already purged it, but I'd like to run some blood samples for both of you. However, it is compatible with human DNA. I tested myself. It's already in my system."
Kira and Dax stared at him for a moment, then Kira shook her head.
"If you have it, then why aren't you sick yet?" she demanded.
"Miles and I have different immune systems," Bashir replied. "It's likely his is more susceptible to this than mine. Or it could be a combination of factors, I just don't know yet. I've given myself the same antiviral treatment, but chances are good that I'm going to get sick, too."
"Is it fatal?" Kira asked and noticed the smallest of winces on Bashir's face. She knew it was hard for him to hear that question, but she needed the answer.
"I don't know," he replied. "Most viruses aren't, and a healthy human adult can fight it off eventually. But I've barely had a chance to study this one, and it's attacking a completely foreign host. Right now, there's no telling what could happen. We could both be fine, or dead, by tomorrow."
"Well we need you both alive," Kira said firmly. "We just fixed the communications array and we've sent out a distress signal. Dax thinks it may take five or six days to reach DS9, but, with any luck, we'll get the attention of a Federation vessel in closer range. Keep working on this, Doctor. I have no intention of losing either of you."
"Neither do I," Bashir assured her. "I'll do what I can."
"Good. Come on, Jadzia, the sooner we fix those engines, the better."
Just over an hour later, Kira deposited her pack under the shade of a tree and took out a water flask, clipping it to her belt. She had left her uniform jacket behind, and her communicator was pinned to her short-sleeved shirt. Conscientiously, she put on sunblock; Bashir had insisted they all wear it while outside. With the chief sick and the doctor infected, she didn't want to take any chances on doing anything detrimental to herself.
She pulled a bag from her pack and set to work collecting the edible plants she and Bashir had identified the day before. It was really quite peaceful with no one around. A gentle breeze blew through the grasses and past her, cooling her enough to make the task tolerable. The sun shone down, but the occasional wispy cloud passed over it, providing her with momentary shade. Kira worked easily in the company of the small sounds made by creatures going about their lives around her. She saw several small animals, perhaps the Bajoran equivalent of rodents, burrowing in the ground. Hunting wasn't great around here; although it was open grassland, it didn't seem to support the same kind of grazing animals she was used to seeing. There didn't seem to be any large predators either. But some of the smaller animals were decent prey, at least for the four stranded officers.
When she had finished, she stored the food in her pack and took out the empty water flasks. She left her pack in the shade and headed up the hill toward the small lake again. With no one around, she wasn't worried about losing it. The worst that could happen was some small animal would try and get inside.
Kira crested the hill and approached the lake. The colours in the water still took her breath away and she took the time to appreciate them, reflecting on how Bareil would have loved a place like this. It wasn't his gardens, but he would have enjoyed the quiet, wild beauty. For a moment, she missed him, but in a bittersweet way, and the memory of his peace and deep love made her smile to herself.
She filled the flasks and washed her face and arms in the cold water, making a mental note to reapply her sunblock when she returned to her pack. She rested for a moment, crouching at the lake's shore, and looked around. She wondered why the Federation had never considered this world for colonization. It was beautiful here. Then she thought of the virus that had infected O'Brien and Bashir and supposed it was better this place was untouched. It would have been a catastrophe landing a large number of humans here only to have them all fall ill. It was bad enough with only two of them sick.
She picked up the flasks and stood, heading back down the hill. When Kira came to the place where she thought she'd seen that man, she paused, looking around carefully. There was nothing below here but the small copses of short trees, the golden grass, the rolling hills. She sighed, hesitated, then put down the flasks. Carefully, she edged her way down to where she had fallen the day before, making sure to keep her footing this time. Again, she looked around but saw nothing.
With a sigh, Kira heaved herself back toward the path and felt the dirt give way beneath her right foot. She scrambled, throwing herself down, but began to slide anyway. Cursing, Kira threw herself sideways, landing on her back diagonal to the hill and sat still for a moment, making sure she had her balance back. When she was certain she wasn't going anywhere, she sat up slowly.
The view below her nearly made her lose her balance again.
Instead of the empty, rolling hills, she was greeted by the site of obviously tended fields following the contours of the slopes. The copses of trees were still there, some bigger, some smaller, providing shade and soil stabilization to the fields. The crops looked like some kind of fruit, perhaps vineyards. In the distance, she could see people moving between the rows of green, stopping every so often.
Almost directly below her, near the trees where her pack should have been, were several people working. From the looks of it, they were surveying the land and running some sort of analysis. Several of them were taking tricorder readings, and a few of them were comparing their findings.
"Hey!" Kira shouted and the work below her stopped. Everyone turned, some of them shading their eyes against the sun. Kira pushed herself to her feet and began inching her way down the hill as several members of the group began jogging toward her. As they grew closer, she could see that one of the men was Bajoran. The other two, a man and a woman, looked human, but they could have been Betazoid for all she knew.
They reached her and helped her down.
"Who are you?" the Bajoran man asked.
"My name is Kira Nerys," she replied. "I'm the first officer on Deep Space Nine. I crash landed with a group of my officers just over those hills there, and two of them are ill. We need help."
The Bajoran man stared at her.
"Kira Nerys?" he asked.
"That's right. Major Kira Nerys."
The Bajoran man and the possibly human woman exchanged looks, the woman raising one pale eyebrow.
"I think, Major," the Bajoran man said, "That you had better come with us."
Dax tapped her combadge.
"Try it now, Julian," she said.
For a moment, then was nothing, then Bashir's voice said:
"They're back on line."
Dax nodded, feeling relief flood through her. One down, two to go. Unfortunately, the one part of the engines they had fixed was maneuvering thrusters, which would be useless until they got the impulse engines working at very least.
"Good. Take a break. I need to go over the chief's notes for the impulse engines."
"Right. Bashir out."
Dax tapped her combadge off and picked up the PADD, frowning to herself. She knew Bashir well, and she could tell from his voice that he was struggling. He was very good at hiding it, but the hint of fatigue was there. He had been helping her as much as he could since Kira had gone out foraging, and trying to find a cure or a treatment for the virus that had infected him and O'Brien. The antiviral treatment he had tried on O'Brien seemed ineffective so far; the chief's fever hadn't gone down. On the other hand, it hadn't gone up, and Dax supposed that was a blessing.
Bashir appeared in the engine room and Dax looked up from her PADD. He looked all right, she thought; the fatigue was only beginning to show under his eyes. She wondered how he felt, but doubted he'd tell the whole truth if she asked.
"I'm getting worried about Kira," he said. "She should be back by now."
Dax frowned.
"Computer, time," she said.
"The time is fifteen hundred thirty-one hours."
Dax tapped her combadge.
"Dax to Kira," she said.
There was no response. She tapped her badge again.
"Dax to Kira. Nerys, can you hear me?"
When she received no reply for the second time, she looked up at Bashir.
"You try," she said.
He did, and got the same results she had. They exchanged a worried look.
"Computer, lock onto Major Kira's combadge and transport her back to the shuttle."
"Unable to comply," the computer replied. "Major Kira's combadge cannot be detected."
Dax felt alarm race through her, and saw the same mirrored on Bashir's face.
"One of us needs to go look for her," she said.
"I'll go," Bashir said. "I know the terrain out there at least a little, and you can beam me back if you need to. You know more about the engines than I do anyway."
Dax hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"All right, but take water with you and stay in contact with me. I know you're getting sick, and if something happened to Nerys, I don't want it to happen to you."
Bashir nodded grimly.
"I'll be careful," he promised, then turned to leave the engine room. On impulse, Dax grabbed his hand and Bashir looked over his shoulder. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back, then gave her a nod and left. Dax watched him go, then looked back down at the PADD, tapping her combadge again.
"Dax to O'Brien. We've got thrusters working again, and I'm ready to get started on the impulse engines. Are you up for a hands on training exercise?"
Although his voice was weak, Dax could hear the smile in O'Brien's voice as he replied:
"Sure thing, Commander. Let's see how much that host of yours who was an engineer actually taught you."
