Disclaimer: CBS/Paramount own Star Trek and all characters from all the series. Only the story and original characters are mine.

Captain Ezri Dax was questioning the EMH on Cold Station 12, "Have you tried to revive Dr. Bashir?" Dax didn't normally refer to her husband so formally, but since she wasn't sure how many of the aliens were listening in on their conversation, she felt it was best to keep things impersonal.

The EMH was obviously trying to determine how much he could reveal safely. "I have, it was ineffective."

Ezri decided it would be better to cut communications rather than continue this unproductive conversation. "Please let me know if his condition changes."

"I certainly will Captain."

"Lindbergh out." When the transmission didn't end immediately, she turned to T'Phir and saw that she and several others were involved in a quiet and rather intense discussion. Ezri closed the channel herself, then headed toward the science station to find out what was being discussed.

As she approached she heard Ensign Wildman say, "…interrogate me later, I promise."

To which Todd replied, "Thanks, you know I will."

"Todd, why are you going to interrogate Ensign Wildman, does this have anything to do with the current situation?"

The small group assembled around T'Phir's station didn't look at all as if they had been discovered discussing irrelevancies during a serious situation.

Todd answered, "In fact, it does, well…sort of. I think it's obvious the alien on CS12 is conducting medical or scientific experiments on Dr. Bashir." Here Ezri was nodding her head, letting Todd know she agreed with his assessment. "I was mentioning that this is not the first time a Starfleet crew was used as laboratory subjects. Voyager was involved…"

Before he could finish the sentence, Ezri interrupted, "Of course, your Voyager obsession intervened, didn't it?"

Todd still didn't look at all embarrassed, "Naturally."

The Captain thought it was best to get the crew back to the matter at hand, "The EMH has tried to revive Julian, but was unsuccessful. Our conversation was rather uninformative, since we were reluctant to discuss the situation in depth. If Julian's condition changes, he'll let us know.

"T'Phir, what information do you have about the alien ship?"

"Not much, we can't penetrate their hull with our sensors. Ensign Wildman suggested this was most likely due to their desire to operate in secrecy."

Ezri smiled encouragingly at Naomi before speaking, "Well reasoned, Ensign Wildman." At this compliment, Naomi's face lit up. Dax continued, "What we really need is to talk to the EMH in a secure manner. Any ideas on how we can accomplish this?"

The group of officers was silent for a few moments as everyone pondered the question. Icheb was the first to speak, "Could we possibly transfer his program to our holodeck into a secure force field, of course?"

T'Phir answered him, "It is worth a try. I could have the containment field ready in about 10 minutes."

Ezri asked, "Why so long?"

"To ensure that there is no leakage of the pathogens present on CS12, it will involve very precise and exacting calculations."

Ezri would normally have known this without having to ask, but her mind was preoccupied with her husband's situation at the moment. "Get started, let me know when you're ready for the EMH to be transferred. Todd, Icheb, my ready room."

Ezri led her First Officer and Chief Medical Office to her ready room. When the door closed behind them and before they could sit down, Todd asked her, "How are you Captain? Are you feeling alright?"

"No I'm not feeling alright! Some strange alien is experimenting on my husband and I can't get a straight answer about his condition because they're listening in. We can't determine if the ship out there is armed to the hilt or if it's mostly a research vessel! My head is pounding and my stomach is in knots!!" As she was speaking her voice was getting louder and louder, the last sentence was yelled at top volume.

Todd went to the Captain and put his arm around her shoulder, "Did that help?"

She scoffed, "No it did not help." Todd escorted her to the chair behind her desk and eased her into it. She looked slightly abashed, "Sorry Todd."

"No apology necessary, you have every reason to be worried." She gave him a scathing look. He hastened to mollify her, "Not that I'm giving you permission to be worried, obviously."

She blew air from her mouth in an attempt to relieve her emotion. As the air left her, she seemed to deflate before their very eyes. "I'm sorry Todd, Icheb. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I've been an ambassador, a diplomat, and a Starfleet officer. I've been in battle, lived through wars and away missions which have gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye, but I have never been as scared nor felt as helpless as I do right now."

Before either man could answer or respond in any way to their captain's uncharacteristic show of vulnerability, they were interrupted by T'Phir's signal, "Captain, we're ready to try transferring the EMH to the holodeck."

The Captain regained her composure remarkably quickly, "We're on our way." She closed the communication channel. "Gentlemen, you're with me."

It took a few minutes for them to reach the holodeck. Icheb wondered briefly whose holodeck time they were interrupting, but the thought left his head as quickly as it had arrived. Once they were in the holodeck, he tapped his commbadge, "T'Phir, we're ready here."

Her brisk Vulcan voice emitted from the communication channel, "Initiating transfer."

The three officers in the holodeck saw the shimmer associated with a transport in progress, but the shimmer completely stopped after a few seconds. "T'Phir to Captain Dax, we are receiving an emergency hail from CS12."

"Patch them through here."

"Acknowledged."

"Captain Dax, this is Ops on CS12, why are you attempting to break quarantine?"