Chapter Two

Chief Medical Officer's Log, Stardate 44185.2. We have received word from Starbase 133 that they, too, are now under quarantine. Yet they have no further information about this virus than we do. Some unknown traveler brought it with him to a place where it could spread across the entire galaxy within weeks. Its symptoms seem to be no more than a common cold or flu for a few days, giving its victims plenty of time to remain ambulatory, and so infect others. The virus is as perfectly evolved as any I've ever seen. If it weren't attacking our crew so efficiently, I could almost admire it.

"Well," Beverly said as she leaned against the glass wall outside her office, folding her arms across her chest, "I do have some good news."

"Please share it." Jean-Luc's smile was weary. His gaze drifted toward the crowded sickbay nearby, where so many of his crewmembers lay.

"While we still can't immunize anyone against this virus, we do know how to treat it. Essentially, the virus works by attacking our genetic structures. But I can reinforce and strengthen those structures for any person on board for whom I have adequate DNA samples, which is virtually everyone." It was standard operating procedure for every person on the crew, including civilian workers and officers' family members, to keep such samples on file in case new skin or organs needed to be generated in a hurry.

Jean-Luc nodded; his expression remained grave. "Yet we aren't celebrating."

"This thing infects nearly everyone it touches. The virus can make itself at home in virtually any humanoid species. Worf's immune, as are the Vulcans, and of course Data can function. However, if our current estimates of infectivity hold true, the majority of the crew has already been exposed. The majority of those exposed will fall ill, which means soon the sick will outnumber the people both healthy and informed enough to offer treatment." Beverly rubbed at her temple; a headache brewed behind her eyes. "Best-case scenario, enough of us stay healthy to keep going and stay on top of the situation."

"And the worst-case scenario, Doctor?"

She wished she didn't have to say this. "We could lose people simply because we don't have the resources to treat them."

"But we could train people now." Already Jean-Luc was looking through the problem to the solution. "Create holo-simulations, prepare equipment, make it possible for them to provide adequate care."

Beverly had already begun readying the cellular-regeneration tanks, but why hadn't she thought of the holo-simulations herself? "Yes. Absolutely. I'll get Doctor Selar on it right away."

He acknowledged this with a quick nod. "Could we request that Starfleet send a medical vessel to assist? One with a higher percentage of immune races aboard?"

"I'm afraid not. Virtually every humanoid race is susceptible. The Vulcan medical vessel T'Ling could be of some assistance – but they're on the far side of the quadrant and couldn't reach us in less than two weeks. We won't be able to call in the cavalry on this one."

"Nor can we allow the geologists to beam down to Hasolon IV." He breathed out heavily. By now he leaned against the opposite wall, his body language mirroring her own. "We can, however, transport the equipment planetside. The science team may be able to provide assistance remotely."

"Worth a try," Beverly said, closing her eyes. By now her temples throbbed. She'd load up a hypospray in a second.

Jean-Luc's voice went lower, gentler. "How long have you been on duty?"

"About … ten hours, now."

"Time for a break, then."

"I can't take time off during an emergency."

"This emergency may be of some duration. The Enterprise will need you even more tomorrow than it does today." He could sound so comforting. Sometimes, Beverly wished she could tune out everything but Jean-Luc's voice. "Pace yourself. I need you at your best."

She sighed. "There's a reason they send you in for the tough negotiations. You're good at getting what you want."

"Precisely," he said. She opened her eyes to see the ghost of a smile on his face. "If I can handle Romulan admirals and Cardassian guls, I might just be up to managing a chief medical officer."

Beverly would have argued the point further if her own good sense didn't agree with the captain. Why hadn't she thought of the holo-simulations? Because she was so exhausted she could hardly see straight, much less make cogent plans. "Okay, okay. I'll turn things over to Selar for a few hours."

Jean-Luc had to be nearly as tired as she was, yet he waited for her the entire time she instructed her staff and checked on a few last patients. They walked out together, side by side. As they headed toward the turbolift, he said, "I didn't see Wesley in Sickbay. I take it he's fine?"

"Yes, thank goodness. Otherwise I'd – " She let her voice trail off. "Is it unprofessional to admit I'd be as worried about my son as the rest of the crew put together?"

"Of course not. Merely human."

He spoke with his usual warmth, but by the last word Jean-Luc had straightened, his attention drawn by someone behind her. Beverly turned, and wasn't shocked to see Sun Xia standing there.

What did shock her was the expression on Xia's face. It had been a long time since a woman had looked at Beverly with that kind of naked jealousy – not mere rivalry, but actual pain. If Xia still felt so possessive of Jean-Luc after all this time, if the current of feeling between them remained so powerful, then the relationship they'd shared must have been significant, even more so than Beverly had guessed.

And perhaps something else still bound Xia to Jean-Luc.

Something, or someone.

To Jean-Luc's profound relief, Beverly's tact did not desert her. "I'll get to work on those holo-simulations first thing in the morning," she said briskly. "For now, I'm getting some rest. I suggest you do too, Captain."

"Doctor." He was unable to summon any other farewell. Beverly's departure was only a blur of blue in his peripheral vision. At no point did he look away from Xia.

Yet Xia watched Beverly go, studying her intently. As much as Jean-Luc had wished Beverly gone, once she'd vanished down the corridor, he wanted her back again. Because now he was alone with Xia, with no pressing duties to call him away, no other officers to demand his time. He could hide from this conversation no longer.

Jean-Luc pressed the panel for the turbolift – not because he had anywhere to go, but because it was the fastest way to talk with Xia in private. As soon as the lift arrived, and the doors swished shut around them, he said, "Hold."

Unsurprised, Xia sighed. "Here we go."

"Do I even need to ask the question?"

"Not if you already know the answer." Her dark eyes met his as she folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself. "And you do."

He'd been all but certain from the first moment he'd seen Nicole on the transporter pad. Yet hearing the confirmation pressed the breath from his lungs, made him angry and sad and … on one level, irrationally happy.

But he couldn't begin to handle matters on that level yet. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'd transferred off the Stargazer before I even knew." She bit her lower lip, struggling for control. "Those days – I was so angry with you, and so hurt. I felt like I'd lost the only man I would ever really love. For a couple of months there, it was like I was lost inside my own head. Between the grief and the anger, and adjusting to my new position on Starbase 68, well – it took me a lot longer than it should have to realize I was pregnant."

The word had a weight to it that should have been absurd, given that Jean-Luc had already seen Nicole for himself. And yet it seemed to echo in the lift, within his own mind. Pregnant. Xia was pregnant when she left the Stargazer.

Xia's hand stole across her stomach, perhaps an unconscious reaction to her memory of those days. "By then I was building an entirely different life for myself. I knew I couldn't regain what I'd lost, so I decided not to look back at all. Instead I looked forward." She laughed, a weak, strangled sound. "But the path forward brought me here."

Jean-Luc could hardly begin to sort through his thoughts, much less his emotions. But he knew how to cut through complexities to resolve the most important questions first. "Does Nicole know?"

"No. Of course she's asked questions about her father; any child would. But I've told her only that she was born just after a very confusing, painful time in my life."

He remembered Xia's final night aboard the Stargazer, when he'd gone to her quarters to try to come to some kind of peace between them before she transferred off the ship for good. Her face had been hot with tears as she sat on a chair across the room from him, unwilling to even meet his eyes.

Xia looked at him now, though, and in her he could see the memory of true joy. "I've also told Nicole that she saved me. When she came along – she was, is, the best thing in my life. I couldn't be sad any longer. Once I had my baby girl, I didn't need anyone else. The first time I held her, I knew it had all been worth it. Every bit of the anger and the guilt and the loss, every mistake we made – they brought Nicole to me. So no more regrets. And no more anger."

It took Jean-Luc the space of several breaths to be able to answer her in a steady voice. "You speak as if this were entirely a matter of the distant past. As though it no longer had any significance."

"It doesn't." Xia straightened. "For what it's worth, Jean-Luc, I forgave you a long time ago. Really there wasn't anything for me to forgive, though I couldn't see it back then. Did you ever forgive me? Did you even try?"

"This is not the time to ask me that question."

Her expression clouded; she'd been so open to him until this moment, but now he could see her closing down. "So are you going to keep me captive in this turbolift until I've apologized to your satisfaction?"

"Resume," Jean-Luc said, and it was the last word spoken in the lift until they reached her deck and Xia strode out. He stood between the doors, holding them open, as he watched her walk into her guest quarters at the far end of the corridor. At this distance he could just make out Xia's smile as she saw the daughter who had been waiting there for her all this time.

The captain of the Enterprise slept poorly, and the next morning he breakfasted alone. Beverly would already be back in Sickbay. Even had she been available, he could hardly have faced her. Irrational though it was, Jean-Luc imagined that the next time Beverly looked at him, she would instantly glimpse the entire truth.

Damn this virus, he thought as he stared down at the Earl Grey that had gone cold in its cup. Damn this geological mission, too. Nothing for me to think about, nothing for me to do. Not a distraction to be had. Sometimes being a starship captain could be a bit like working as a glorified chauffeur. Jean-Luc welcomed the occasional respite, but at the moment he would have given much to be busy.

Then he reminded himself that while the Enterprise needed little in the way of command at present, she had a dire lack of nurses for the current medical crisis. Hopefully Beverly had set up the holo-simulators already. He could become acquainted with the procedure, begin by assisting the doctors and nurses on duty, and ready himself to handle future complications on his own should the need arise.

At least he felt well. The virus seemed to have passed him by for now.

As Jean-Luc made his way toward Sickbay, however, he found himself remembering how pale and tired Beverly had been the night before. Her head had been aching too; she only rubbed her temples like that when she felt terrible. Headaches could presage the flu, couldn't they?

Of course medical personnel would have promptly alerted the captain if the chief medical officer had collapsed. Nonetheless, Jean-Luc quickened his steps through the silvery corridors.

His reward was the sight of Beverly leaning over Keiko Ishikawa, pressing a cellular regenerator against her forehead. "Hold still," Beverly said, with the quiet yet indomitable firmness of any good doctor. "After another half-hour on this biobed, we can send you back to your quarters to heal. Luckily we caught the virus early in your case."

"Don't you worry about her," said Miles O'Brien, who was holding onto Keiko's hand as if she might otherwise float away. He smiled down at her as he added, "I'm going to take good care of you. Replicate the best chicken soup you ever had."

Keiko murmured, "I prefer veggie pho."

"Then pho you shall have, my darling."

Jean-Luc managed to avoid raising an eyebrow. He'd heard that Data had introduced Miles and Keiko some months ago but had assumed any android matchmaking would prove inept at best. Yet again, Data's talents surpassed his expectations.

"Captain," Beverly said as she caught sight of him. She didn't glance away from her patient long; her tricorder held most of her attention. "Good news – infection rates increased overnight, but at a lower rate than I'd projected. We might be able to keep our heads above water after all."

"Excellent. But we will of course continue with emergency training?"

She nodded. "We're holding the first holo-simulator session at oh-eight-thirty. Want me to go over the procedure before you do it in a group?"

"If possible." If he appeared to pick the task up especially quickly, the other crewmembers present would be encouraged to learn. At this point, fear threatened the Enterprise as surely as the virus; his crew needed confidence in order to handle the delicate work to come. "Sickbay isn't as crowded as I would have anticipated."

Beverly's fingers flew over the nearest wall panel as she pulled up a new set of vital signs, glowing in yellow and blue light. "I'm sending most people back to their quarters as soon as possible. Once the regenerative process has begun, they can recover perfectly well in their own beds. We can reserve our attention for more serious cases." She jammed her fists in the pockets of her blue medical coat, blew air through her lips in frustration. "Because some cases aren't clearing up as quickly as I'd like."

"Do you think the virus is mutating into a more serious form?"

"It's not that. Sometimes the genetic damage caused by the virus sets off other reactions within the body. Pre-existing conditions that were dormant, even unnoticeable, become far more serious overnight."

If they wound up with dozens of people gravely ill with a wide range of problems, ones that couldn't be covered by a medical holo-simulation, how would the crew of the Enterprise manage to treat them all?

Jean-Luc had only begun considering that question when the Sickbay doors slid open again. When he glanced up to see who had walked in, the question vanished, along with everything else in his mind.

His entire world narrowed to the sight of Xia standing there, supporting her teenage daughter against one shoulder – and Nicole herself, flushed and weak.

Even as he hurried toward them, Nicole's knees buckled; Jean-Luc reached them just in time to help Xia lower her to the floor. Dazed with fever, Nicole simply stared dully ahead as Nurse Ogawa hastened to join them. She looked at Jean-Luc's face but did not see him.

That blankness was frightening, but worse by far were the tears in Xia's eyes.