Ch. 12

"Doctor, your 1500 appointment is here to see you."

"Thank you, Leslie…there isn't a name listed in my schedule. Who am I meeting with?"

"One moment…a Dr. Zimmerman."

Beverly Crusher, head of Starfleet medical, paused. She knew that name, and she groaned inwardly. She'd heard horror stories about him from Deanna. Apparently, he was a genius when it came to holographic design, but his people skills left a lot to be desired. As she'd only recently taken the post, she had yet to encounter the man personally. She rolled her eyes and steeled herself; he probably had another design to add to the EMH program. A Mark V, perhaps. "Send him in, please."

The balding man stepped into her office and extended his hand. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Doctor."

Beverly shook his hand and immediately felt a difference. It was a slight difference, one that not everyone would notice, but as a practicing physician for over twenty years, she was certainly more in tune to the physical body than most. She cocked her head to the side, taking in his appearance. Yep, he was practically identical to the one she had briefly used as a decoy on the Enterprise. Of course, if her suspicions were correct, he was exactly identical.

Noticing her scrutiny, he offered, "Perhaps I appear younger than you were expecting?"

"That," she nodded and indicated he should take a seat, "and the fact that you're a hologram."

He inclined his head. "I apologize for the subterfuge regarding my name. I find it easier to make appointments if I give the family name, although I haven't yet decided whether to take the moniker as my own."

"The family name? I suppose that works." She sat back in her chair. This had to be the Voyager's EMH. It was the only one she knew of that was capable of being out and about on his own, thanks to his mobile emitter. While she had many reservations about the entire program line, she couldn't deny all the reports and achievements the hologram in front of her had accomplished if ship's records were to be believed, and she'd met Kathryn Janeway before her recent untimely passing. She hadn't seemed to be one to exaggerate claims, and she'd spoken quite highly of her doctor's accomplishments. "What can I do for you today, Doctor?"

"Well, it's really a matter of family that I've come to talk to you about."

"Is there something wrong with your creator?"

"No, no, Reg assures me Dr. Zimmerman is back to his charming self."

"Reg Barclay?" Beverly smiled. "How is he? I understand he had a large part in establishing contact with your ship."

"Yes, he did. He's quite instrumental within the Pathfinder project still. He's doing well." Eager to make a connection, he pushed on hurriedly. "Admiral Janeway even made him an honorary member of the crew at the welcome back ceremony."

Beverly heard the slight catch in his voice when he mentioned Janeway's name. She thought it a very human trait. "I was sorry to hear about the Admiral's death. Jean-Luc and I had dinner one night with her and Captain Chakotay. I found her to be a very engaging soul. I would've liked to have known her better."

"Actually," the EMH cleared his throat, "she's the reason I'm here."

"Oh?"

"I'd like to perform an autopsy of the remains."

"Surely you know the autopsy has already been completed. Starfleet wouldn't have notified the next of kin without following that process first for confirmation."

"Granted," he agreed easily. "But I'd still like to perform one myself."

Crusher studied the hologram seated in front of her. She knew from reports and the improvements to the Mark II that the Mark I EMHs were known for their superior attitudes, egotistical natures, and horrible bedside manners – much like their creator. But was this EMH requesting this because he thought he was superior? She hedged, "That's not usual procedure, Doctor. May I ask why you feel the need to perform one?"

"Isn't a second opinion always recommended in our field?"

"A second opinion?" Beverly raised her chin. "Just what exactly do you want to give a second opinion about, Doctor? The cause of her death?"

The EMH hesitated. "I'd like the opportunity to confirm that it is in fact Kathryn Janeway."

"Ah. I see." And she did. Believing a loved one had died without seeing their remains was always difficult, no less so for doctors than anyone else. And with a tragedy such as this one, where not only a mother had died but her child as well, it was only natural to seek answers. To try and prove that it wasn't possible. To defy death. But still… "Do you have reason to believe it isn't Admiral Janeway?"

"Not exactly," he hedged, fighting his natural tendency to divulge all of his knowledge. "But I do believe that I could offer more conclusive proof that it is her if that's the case."

"But you don't think it is." Beverly couldn't help but think that here was a man that was definitely uncomfortable. Like he was hiding something. It was only then she realized she was thinking of him as a man and not a hologram. His hesitations, his questioning nature, and most of all, his obvious emotional attachment.

"I…I'm not sure." He leaned forward. "But if I were able to conduct the examination, I could put any doubts to rest."

"I wasn't aware there were any doubts."

"Wouldn't you like to be sure?"

Beverly considered his request. She really didn't see any harm in it, aside from possibly affronting whatever doctor did the original investigation. Besides, it wasn't like this was the twentieth century where he'd be literally cutting into the body. And truthfully, wouldn't she want to do the same? If it were one of her friends from the Enterprise, wouldn't she want to assure herself that everything that could be done had been done? Yes. There was no doubt. But there was still something he wasn't telling her, and she was going to find out what that was before she allowed him any special favors.

Steepling her hands on the desktop, she said, "Let's assume I say yes." He immediately smiled, but she continued, wiping the momentary expression off of his face. "What is it you're looking for?"

"Nothing…specific." He leaned back away from her. "Just, I was her physician for seven years. I performed several surgeries on her during that time. I'd be able to recognize my own craftsmanship."

Beverly frowned. "Any previous injuries that were still distinguishable would've been noted in the report and compared with her medical record."

"Yes, well, I've read the report." He fidgeted. "I could recognize things that were perhaps not in her medical record."

"Doctor, let me be perfectly clear," she said. "I am not going to allow you to do anything unless you are straight with me. So either lay it all out for me right now, whatever it is that you are so delicately trying to sidestep, or have a good afternoon."

He looked stunned. "Are you sure you aren't related to Admiral Janeway?" When Beverly began to stand, an obvious sign of dismissal, he held up his hands. "Please, hear me out." She sat back down and motioned for him to continue.

"You were a doctor on a starship, so you are well aware of how difficult starship captains can be as patients."

She couldn't help but smile at that. "I've run up against my fair share."

"As I suspected. I can assure you, Captain Janeway was no different. I could barely keep her in sickbay long enough to mend the injuries that she managed to sustain with unfortunate regularity." He paused as they shared a momentary bond. "That being said, I'm also aware that you, more so than any other doctor besides myself, perhaps, has a thorough knowledge of the removal of Borg implants from the human body."

Beverly couldn't help but feel a cold wave sweep over her. Yes, she was quite familiar with that painstaking process and how brutally efficient those implants were at immersing themselves within the human body. She, like everyone else, had of course heard of Seven of Nine, the recovered drone that Voyager had brought back with them, but she didn't see how the blonde woman she'd seen on news vids had anything to do with their current discussion concerning Admiral Janeway.

Not missing her reaction, the EMH continued. "What I should say is that, more specifically, you and I are quite possibly the only people that know how it feels to have to remove such implants from our captains."

The statement hung in the air for a moment before she realized what he meant. "Admiral Janeway was assimilated?" Starfleet had sure managed to keep that quiet.

"Yes, the fact that three of Voyager's senior staff were assimilated is one of the few things Starfleet hasn't exactly been touting to the masses. Given the phobia some feel towards the Borg, it's one fact of our trip that hasn't been made common knowledge."

Beverly nodded, only half listening as she quickly opened and scanned Janeway's medical file. "Here's something, but it requires a level ten security clearance to view."

"I would hazard a guess that the Chief of Starfleet Medical would have that clearance?"

"Yes, she would," she replied with half a smile as she unlocked the file. Taking a moment to read the report, she became convinced that the hologram's program had not been overrated after all. "I see you had your work cut out for you, Doctor. And you had to do this with two others, as well?"

"And Seven of Nine, but her reclamation from the Borg was prior to those," he said. "You see, there are certain things I would look for if allowed to perform my own autopsy of the remains. Not all of Admiral Janeway's implants were completely removed."

"There's no mention here of any remaining implants," Beverly questioned, indicating the file she had open.

"No, and I assure you at the time it wasn't intentional. After I released Captain Janeway from sickbay, she skipped her follow up appointments." He couldn't quite keep the disapproval out of his voice. "Those appointments were scheduled so that I could remove the last remaining implants. Two months later, when I finally managed to confront her about it, she simply asked if they were harming her. They weren't and, in fact, were actually beneficial as they were adding support to her spinal column. She muttered something about what was good enough for the ship was good enough for her, and that was the last time we discussed it." The EMH stared at Beverly, willing her to understand. "You see now why I'd like to conduct my own examination. Even through the most devastating shuttle crash, I believe there would still be evidence of Borg material fused to the skeleton that could uniquely distinguish her remains from anyone else's."

Still scrolling over the report, Beverly shook her head. "The attending physician makes no mention of finding anything of the kind."

"Which makes me wonder," the Doctor pressed his point. "Even a field medic would pick up traces of metal fused to bone. Unless you didn't know that it was supposed to be there."

Beverly's eyes widened. "And very few people would have known about it, making that very few people that would have known to include it in a report of findings."

"Exactly."

"But we had DNA," she tried, feeling incredulous at the amount of cover up this hinted at if it was true.

"It wouldn't take much to find a source of the Admiral's DNA and clone it. Borg material on the other hand…" His voice trailed off. He didn't need to complete the thought. How many people wanted to experiment with anything Borg related?

She had to agree. "All right, Doctor, request granted. On one condition. You let me assist."