Deep Space Four, Stardate 2292.245
Amanda had many questions but now was not the time to ask them.
"He was glad to help," she smiled. "I hope your uncle Losha will be alright."
"Yes," was all he could manage with a nod of the head.
"I'm going to speak with my husband now but I will see you later." She smiled again.
"Yes," he said again.
As Amanda turned and went to greet Sarek, Dr. Naik approached the two Seenans.
"He is stable, for now, thanks to Ambassador Sarek. We'll know more after we complete more scans and review them."
"Thank you, doctor," replied Lazor.
"I don't anticipate any changes in his condition for the time being so maybe you'd like to get cleaned up?"
"I want to be here when he wakes up." Naalem's face was blank and Naik recognized that he was still in shock.
"He won't wake up on his own and it will be at least another day before we wake him up. And if anything changes, I promise to let you know."
"We don't want to be in the doctor's way, Naalem. Let's go and get changed. You can come back later."
"You're not in way but there isn't anything you can do right now to help him. We'll take care of him." She smiled.
"Alright." Naalem replied. "I need to call someone anyway." With that, he and Lazor turned to leave.
Two hours later, when Naalem returned in clean clothing, looking slightly less shocked, Naik and Dvir had completed further scanning of the patient's head and drawn some initial conclusions. Dvir had then left sickbay to check on Sarek. This time Naalem was not accompanied by Lazor, the medic, but by a Seenan captain Naik had seen on the station before. She had never spoken to him but recognized his captain's uniform - solid gray pants and a white short-sleeved collared shirt with two red stripes around each arm. He was not wearing the high-collared gray jacket. She assumed he must be the captain of the patient's ship, though she wasn't certain, given what she had learned about Seenan starship operations during her time on Deep Space Four.
The Seenan system was quite different from Starfleet's. Ships didn't have names but instead were assigned numbers. A captain and crew did not belong to any particular ship - they were assigned routes. After returning from a particular route, each crewmember would be assigned to a different route and the new route could be comprised of completely different crewmembers. This could mean that a crewmember boarded a ship having never met or previously worked with his or her fellow crewmembers. So Naik would see a number of the same faces visiting the station but because the ships and crews changed, it wasn't like getting to know the Starfleet or other ships and crews that frequented Deep Space Four.
She had seen the captain that came in with Naalem several times before. He was short man with a hawk-like face, thick eyebrows, and a large nose. He had a serious expression about him the times she had seen him before, but when he smiled, his whole face lit up. She imagined him to be an intelligent and kind man.
"Hello, doctor," he said, approaching her and Dvir. "We have seen each other before. I'm Captain Jemel. You have already met, Naalem, my crewman's nephew." He extended his hand to her.
"Rani Naik," she said, taking his hand and shaking it. She hadn't realized the boy was the patient's nephew. He must be married to a Seenan woman. That would explain a lot. She didn't know why she was surprised. She had met a few Vulcan/human couples and probably the most well-known one was aboard the station now. She'd seen Vulcans on Senes as well. It all made sense now.
"Can you tell me about my crewman's condition?"
"Certainly. He lost a lot of blood from the wound on his left arm but it's been sealed and between the blood we had on hand and what Ambassador Sarek could provide, that's no longer an issue. However, he did sustain a serious head injury. We've reduced the swelling significantly but not completely. I'm hopeful but we won't know the full extent of the damage until he regains consciousness. And we'll have to wait for the swelling to go down further before we can bring him out. Tomorrow at the earliest, though it could be a two to three days."
"By damage do you mean there is possibility of brain damage?"
"That is a possibility, but after reviewing the scans we took, loss of vision is most likely."
"Loss of vision?"
"Yes, we believe the force of the explosion caused his brain to bang against the back of his skull, bruising the occipital lobe. Damage to the occipital lobe can cause loss of vision. As I said, we won't know for sure until he regains consciousness."
"Would this loss of vision be permanent?"
"It is a possibility but I don't want to speculate. The good news is that if there is any loss of vision, Doctor Dvir believes it could be corrected by surgery on Vulcan."
"You can't do surgery here?" Naalem spoke for the first time.
"Surgery might not even be necessary. But, if it is, it would need to be performed by brain surgeons familiar with working on Vulcan brains. Doctor Dvir and I aren't neurological specialists."
"Losha can't go to Vulcan. He's a stateless person."
"What Naalem means," interjected Jemel, "is that Losha is not a Vulcan citizen. He is a stateless person and therefore would need special permission to travel to Vulcan. But I'm sure that could be arranged in this case, Naalem." He looked at Naalem reassuringly.
"I'm not really familiar with what a stateless person is but I would hope that it could be arranged with Ambassador Sarek's help. This would certainly be a reason to grant special permission."
"Losha was born on a planet that does not grant birthright citizenship. His parents were not Vulcan citizens at the time of his birth so he is neither a citizen of Vulcan nor a citizen of his birth planet. He is considered a stateless person. Many planets have restrictions on the admittance of stateless persons. Some will allow them to visit for a period of time, others not at all, and most, like Vulcan, only with special permission. He has served on my crew a number of times in the past several years and it has been a difficulty for him, to say the least."
"And he's not a citizen of Senes either?"
"No, Senes does not grant citizenship to non-Seenans. They are free to reside on Senes indefinitely but there is no possibility of citizenship."
"I had no idea. I'm a doctor after all," she smiled, "not a expert in interplanetary travel."
"Well, I'm sure we can work something out if it turns out that surgery is necessary. Captain, can you know what caused the explosion? I assume it's nothing serious since the yellow alert was cancelled."
"We haven't concluded the investigation yet but it appears that some chemical oxygen generators we picked up from a ship that had come in from the Algeron system were stored improperly. Investigations will be conducted on Algeron III, where the cargo was loaded, and on the ship that we received the cargo from. So far it seems to be case of failure to follow safety protocols. Losha was checking the bin where the generators had been transported at the time the explosion occurred."
"Wow. Well I'm glad, at least, that it doesn't appear to be anything intentional."
"I certainly hope not, doctor."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Doctor Dvir detected some telepathic damage in Losha's brain. It's not from today's injury - she estimated that it occurred at least ten years ago. She believes there is some chance of repairing it but he would need to see a specialist on Vulcan for that as well. Do either of you know anything about that injury?"
Jemel shook his head and looked at Naalem.
"It happened during the war."
"What caused it?"
Naalem pursed his lips but remained silent.
"Anything you can tell us could help him." Naik gave him a reassuring look but Naalem still seemed very apprehensive.
"I can leave, Naalem, if you don't want me to hear. But I think it's important that you tell the doctor whatever you know." Naalem seemed to be deliberating whether he wanted to say anything further.
"It's settled, then, Naalem. I'm returning to the ship. Please stay and talk to Dr. Naik. I will be back later to check on Losha. And on you too, Naalem." Jemel left the room.
"What can you tell me, Naalem?"
"I don't think he wants his telepathic damage repaired. He told me it was a burden to him, to be able to sense so many horrible things during the war."
"Are you saying he caused the damage himself?"
"No, it wasn't intentional."
"It would help me to know if he sustained a brain injury in the past."
"It's from sur. Maybe other drugs too. It damaged his memory too. He says he can't remember things the way he used to. But that was a long time ago. He hasn't done it in a long time. During the war, people would sniff sur so they wouldn't feel hungry. And then they got addicted."
Sur was a drug cultivated from the suraj plant, which grew in Hakar and other states on Senes. During her travels in Hakar, Naik had learned that during the eleven year civil war, when access to food was limited for many people, access to suraj was not. Hakarans would gather the plant, cook it with other substances, and create sur, an appetite suppressant that also gave people a high. Though not as highly addictive as some of the other drugs found on Senes, even short-term use was known to cause lasting memory loss. Naik was not aware that anyone was aware of the effects of sur on Vulcans.
"Thank you for telling me. I won't tell anyone except Doctor Dvir. And we'll discuss it with your uncle when he regains consciousness. I will talk with Doctor Dvir to see if there is anything we can do to help with his memory loss."