Back in his office, Picard sat staring at the aquarium in his wall. A chime rang, alerting him that someone was outside the door.
"Come," he ordered.
LaForge and Data entered the room.
"Sir," said LaForge.
"Commander, brief me on the status of the ships function. How are her systems handling this energy field?" the Captain asked.
Data answered "As expected, sir. No major surprises and necessary systems are working at full capacity."
"Good," the captain replied briskly. "How much longer until we are through this anomaly at current speed?"
"52 hours, 17 minutes," the android replied.
"Time has become of utmost importance. Counselor Troi has responded very poorly to the effects of this anomaly and Dr Crusher has not been able to mitigate the crisis. Her life may be in danger. We need to get this ship through the energy field now. As soon as possible."
"Yes, sir," LaForge replied. "I'll reroute power to the engines, that should get us to a higher warp. It might not be much but we can shave a few hours off this trip at least."
"Make it so," Picard replied.
"Maybe...MAYBE…" LaForge responded, "we can even modify the shields to help decrease the effect. I'll talk to the medical staff and see if they have any information on the type of interference they're getting. Maybe we can alter the shields."
"Good. Do it. I'm afraid Deanna may need all the help we can give her," the Captain replied, exchanging a worried look with his engineer.
Back in the sick bay, Troi lay on one of the biobeds. He black hair messy spread out behind her head. Her eyes were closed but her rest appeared anything but peaceful. A monitor flashed silently on her temple while medical scanners lay over her body constantly running tests of her condition. Her cheeks were flushed.
"Any change?" Crusher asked the nurse watching the monitors, for what must have been the 20th time.
The nurse shook her head. "Her heart rate is still consistently between 130 and 140. Temperature is at 40.8C. It seems to have stopped rising at such a fast rate though. Maybe the medications have started to have some effect?" She asked hopefully.
"Perhaps," Crusher replied dubiously. "More likely, I'm afraid, her body just can't keep up the response for such a sustained amount of time. You're right though, the last combo seems to have had the best response, though negligible. Let's try and increase the dose. Plus an additional dose of antipyretic and something to address the sympathetic nervous system."
The nurse tapped the computer screen several times and offered it to the doctor for approval. "Yes, good. Let me know if anything changes. Or doesn't change." She sighed. "Just update me in 10 minutes," she replied. The doctor returned to her office, engrossed in her reading, her mind already addressing the next problem.
The next morning in the conference room, the senior staff gathered to discuss the progress.
"A little over 40 hours to go at this current speed," the engineer was saying. We've rerouted everything we can to the shields and engines. We're working on adapting the shields per Dr Crushers information and were hoping that might have some effect," he went on. LaForge was thinking that you didn't need to be an empath to feel the anxiety and worry in the room.
"What is Troi's condition, Doctor?" the captain asked.
"About the same, unfortunately. Her symptoms have stopped getting worse, but her heart rate is still incredibly high and she's still very, very febrile. If we can hold steady, there is hope we can avoid multi organ failure before exiting the anomaly. However, there is no real way to predict how long her body can keep this up."
"And her mind?" Asked the Captain. He didn't want to ask the question for fear of the answer, but should the answer be bad, he needed to be prepared, both professionally and personally.
"No way of knowing right now," the red haired doctor replied, shaking her head. "She's so sedated the brain scans show minimal response. This is not unexpected and is similar to what we'd expect in the other telepaths. Hopefully it's protective."
"I see," the Captain replied. "Any additional suggestions are welcome. Dismissed." He sat back down and turned his eyes, if not his kind, to the padd in front of him. The distraction provided no relief however. He was worried for his friend, and his crew, and himself. How would THEY cope if their Counselor didn't recover?
"Dr Crusher? A moment?" Riker called as the senior staff scattered to their posts.
"Yes, commander?" the doctor replied. "How's your head?"
"It's fine. Thanks," he replied, a bit rushed. "Would I be able to visit Deanna? In sick bay? Or would that be...inadvisable?"
"No, Commander, no visitors. Not even close friends. ESPECIALLY close friends." She looked at her commanding officer with an expression that said Don't make me say it out Loud.
"So…" he stuttered.
She cut him off. "No, Will. I know you're worried. We all are, but you understand why. I absolutely cannot allow it. Not until we get a better hold of it."
"But, Beverly", he protested, "if the worst were to happen...if….if…." he faltered. "I don't want her be alone," he finished lamely.
The doctor hung her head and rubbed her temples. She sighed heavily. "I know. I know,"
She murmured. She grabbed Riker's upper arm and gave it a squeeze. "If it comes to that…" she didn't go on. "As soon as there is any change or improvement, I'll let you know."
Riker gave her a slight nod of the head and she hurried down the corridor at a brisk walk.
In sick bay, the doctor stood in front of a monitor, still wearing the clothes from the day before. A couple staff members moved purposefully through the area. Counselor Troi remained on the biobed, still with messy hair behind her, pale skin, circles starting to form under her eyes in her quiet, fine-boned face. The Captain store into the room with purpose, then halted, as if wondering if he should be there at all. They had been surrounded by the energy field for 56 hours and almost 30 minutes.
The doctor looked up. "Captain, can I help you?" She asked, barely taking her eyes from the screen.
"I wanted to get an update on Troi's condition," he said, a bit hesitantly considering he was a man in command of a starship. He glanced over at the form on the bed. He was always a bit uncomfortable in sickbay, with so many machines that needed to be interpreted for him and so many emotions so close to the surface.
The doctor, understanding the source of his awkwardness and that the visit was not solely administrative, gestured for him to come closer to the bed.
"So far she's hanging in there. There's been no major changes. She is still very, very sick but she's not getting worse. We have about 4 hours left in this thing. It's still too soon to say for sure but if she can just hang on, just a little longer….." The doctor stopped speaking at stared again at the monitor, as if she could make it change readings with her kind. She sighed heavily and then looked back at the doctor. "Her fever is still over 40 degrees and her heart rate is still very fast. Luckily she is young and healthy and her body seems to be compensating. "When she wakes up from this," the doctor checked her words given the precarious position Troi was still in, then pushed forward, the other options being too awful to say out loud, "she's going to feel like she's been run over by a shuttle craft. She'll have a hard time with the time it will take."
"I hope, Doctor, that that is the least of our worries," the Captain replied. "In 4 hours, what is the plan to bring the affected staff back?"
"Those in stasis will come out as soon as we are clear, those on medications will have a brief taper of the medications, as they are able to tolerate it. I don't anticipate a problem and it should be able to be done over 12 hours, more or less," the doctor replied.
"And Deanna?" The Captain asked?
The doctor grimaced slightly. "Once we are clear, we will see how her vitals respond. Best case scenario things improve and we can taper off the medications as she tolerates as well, though I think a lot more slowly considering."
The Captain nodded. "Very well. I think, if it is alright with you doctor, that I might sit with Counselor Troi for a while." He looked at her for approval.
"Yes, of course," she replied.
"I understand Riker also asked about visiting but you told him no?" The Captain questioned.
"Yes. And I did," the Doctor replied. "HE," she emphasized, "is not the Captain. And also, I don't understand the relationship between him and Counselor Troi, or this 'connection' they have, and I don't want to take any chances."
The captain nodded grimly.
"And you, Doctor? Are you taking care of yourself? It appears, if I may comment, that you have not gone home overnight?" He raised his eyebrows at her with a look that both questioned and commanded an answer. When she didn't reply immediately he went on, "Beverly, it is imperative you take care of yourself. It appears the transition out is going to be as difficult as the transition in and I want my doctor in good health."
"Is that an order, sir?" She asked.
"Do I need to make it one?" He asked back, pointedly.
She sighed. "I'm just going to take a nap in my office. I want to be close, just in case."
The Captain nodded at her, knowing that would probably be as good a response as I would get, and moved towards the bed, taking a seat in a chair in the corner. The doctor nodded back and moved toward her office.