Tegan Chronicles STV Style 3:
What's Left of the Flag 13
"Knowing that Doctor Kiser has never received any replicated blood we decided to mix her blood with the replicated blood, basically a type and cross match, only to find that she immediately starts to break the replicated cells down." The doctor explained as quickly as possible.
"And you wanted to see if my nanoprobes would be helpful?"
"Do you mind?" His eyes searched Seven's stoic face.
"Not at all doctor." She inclined he head slightly aware that it was the first time he had ever asked instead of just insisting. "Doctor Kiser is my friend and I would like to help her."
"Your friend?" Her face scrunched up in pain.
"I thought I told you not to talk." The EMH rolled his eyes. "If you were a hologram I would deactivate your vocal processors."
"Yes." Seven spoke as she began extracting nanoprobes. "My friend, if I remember correctly you came to astrometrics before I left with Commander Chakotay and Ensign Kim and offered your friendship."
Tegan nodded.
"Why are you helping them?" Chakotay asked as they headed out of astrometrics not far behind B'Elanna and Seven.
"Because I told them I would."
"But they're criminals. From what B'Elanna told me they over took the guards and killed them all and they would have tortured and killed every member of the crew had we all been captured."
Janeway stopped her forward progression. "Yes they are criminals and while I don't agree with their tactics they are trying to survive. I don't think they would have done the things they did to Tegan or to the guards if they weren't treated in the same manner."
"So you're saying it was a learned process?" He shook his head.
"I don't know." She rubbed at her temples. "What I do know is they were tortured. No human being, no living creature, should be treated like that no matter what they've done."
He was glad he hadn't seen what she had seen, the look her eyes and the eyes of the rest of the crew told him all he needed to know about what they did to Tegan and Tuvok. "What about the prime directive?"
"I'm not interfering with the 'normal development of any alien life or society'. They aren't a society any more. They are the remnants of a penal colony abandoned by their society. They are all male, they can't procreate. All I am doing is relocating them to a more hospitable part of the planet to live out the remainder of their days and making sure that they can't do to any other ship's crew, what they did to mine."
"Something in her blood is rendering my nanoprobes inert." Seven's ocular implant dipped toward her eye and a small frown pulled at her lips. She wasn't used to things not going her way. "I have tried several times to reprogram them, always with the same result. I cannot assimilate her blood."
"I didn't think 'cannot' was in the Borg vocabulary." Tom commented off handedly.
"Then we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way." The doctor looked down at his grey-pasty pain stricken patient. "You never make things easy do you? Never mind, computer I need a list of all crew with type O negative blood."
"Computer belay that." Seven spoke. "I am O negative."
"Yes but because she might react negatively to your nanoprobes we can't transfuse her with your blood. I can't risk her having a reaction, not at this point." The EMH opened his mouth to repeat his request to the computer.
"Captain Janeway, Lieutenant Hayley Wellis, Ensign Samantha Wildman, Naomi Wildman, Ensign Tal Celes, Crewman Amanda Porter and Crewman MacAlister are all O negative." Seven searched eidetic memory and ticked them off.
"Thank you Seven." He tapped his combadge.
"Captain!" Naomi jumped to her feet when the door to her quarters opened to reveal Janeway.
"Captain?" Samantha hadn't expected the captain to show up at her quarters and started to stand. She wished she had gone to the door instead of just saying 'enter'.
"As you were Ensign." She smiled softly and looked to Naomi. "You too Ms. Wildman."
"Yes Captain." The young girl plopped back down on the couch but kept concerned eyes on Janeway.
"I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing." She shifted her gaze from Samantha to Naomi and back.
"We're doing ok Captain." She broke eye contact to look at Janeway's boots. "Thanks to Dr. Kiser."
Janeway nodded.
"Is she alright Captain?" Naomi asked ready to burst at the seams with curiosity and concern for her newest friend.
"The doctor is tending to her right now." She made it a rule to never give anyone false hope and right now she couldn't promise the girl something that was entirely out of her control. As much as she hated to ask she did it anyway. "Naomi?"
"Yes Captain?" Her brows tried to intersect above her nose as her face scrunched up. She couldn't remember when or if the captain had ever addressed her by her first name.
"How much did you see?" She had been quickly briefed about the large view screens and speakers at the compound as well as how B'Elanna and Tom had stepped up in her absence to shore up the crew.
"Oh," Naomi frowned and then shrugged. "Not very much, Neelix told me stories and sang some. He isn't a very good singer."
Janeway chuckled lightly.
"Doctor to Ensign Wildman, I need you to report to the infirmary right away."
Janeway nodded.
"I'm on my way." Samantha turned to Naomi. "Why don't you go find Neelix and see if he needs any help?" She looked at Janeway. "He's putting together food and making sure everyone eats something."
"Leave it to Mr. Neelix."
Janeway was in the middle of talking to Hayley Wellis and checking on little William when her badge chirped. "Sickbay to Captain Janeway this is the doctor."
Her stomach flipped as she touched the cool metal. "Go ahead Doctor."
"I need to see you in sickbay."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
"It is rather urgent Captain."
"I'm on my way, Janeway out."
Janeway rushed into sickbay to see Tal Celes sitting in a recliner positioned next to the biobed Tegan was currently inhabiting, a clear tube with red fluid ran from her arm into a machine and out the other side where it ran up the side of the bed and into Tegan's arm. "Doctor, is something wrong with the replicators?"
He turned knowing she had asked the most logical question to keep the fear out of her voice. "I wish." He spoke candidly. He reasoned there was no need to handle her with kid gloves; she was the captain for a reason after all. "We typed and cross-matched her with replicated blood only to find that she would immediately hemolyze it, there's no telling what kind of system wide reaction it would have in her body. She's in hypovolemic shock and I had to do something before her organs started to fail."
"A direct person to person transfusion, have they even been done since the first two great world wars?"
"It's unprecedented I know." He gave her a grim look. "I didn't have a choice."
"Is it working?"
"It's too early to tell. She's going to need more than I can easily obtain."
"Let me guess, she's O negative?" Even though that was the blood type the doctor had requested be replicated she wasn't entirely sure it was her blood type since it was the universal donor type.
"Precisely," he nodded.
"Seven percent of the human population is O negative, I don't see the problem."
"We've got about that on board Voyager looking at the total population we should have nine-point-eight and we have nine counting Tegan. The problem is Tegan can't give herself blood at the moment. Her antibodies and possibly the naquada in her system are attacking Seven's nanoprobes." He glanced at the woman in question who stood looking over the console readouts monitoring Tegan's vitals. "I can't be certain she won't react to Seven's blood even if I could extract every nanoprobe from it. So that's two down, Naomi Wildman is both too young and only half human, and Crewmen Porter and MacAlister are still recovering from burns from the attack on the ship and aren't able to give blood yet. Hayley Wellis is still breast feeding and shouldn't give blood. Which leaves three, you and Ensigns Wildman and Celes. As is I'm taking a change with Celes' Bajoran physiology, but I am hoping it pays off."
She pulled her Jacket off. "Let's get started then."
"I'm only considering you as a candidate because of the emergent situation. I must insist that you stay in the infirmary after this Captain."
"Insist all you want Doctor. I am not finished with what I have to do. So, take your pint of blood, give me a cookie and I'll be on my way."
"I do not believe a cookie is adequate nutrition Captain, you have not eaten since prior to your abduction."
Her eyes narrowed on the tall blonde who ignored the look and continued her diatribe.
"You will have adequate time to partake of acceptable nutritional supplements while your blood is being collected. What would you like replicated?"
"I am capable of taking care of myself." Janeway growled at her.
"Where have I heard that before?" Tegan's voice floated weakly from her position on the bed.
"You're still conscious?" Janeway watched her slowly and gingerly turn her heard toward her.
"Not because I want to be." He voice was rough as the words cracked across her vocal cords.
Janeway offered her an apologetic look. "I didn't think you were supposed to be talking."
"You eat, I'll shut up."
"We're only concerned about you Captain." Samantha spoke, her voice just above a whisper.
"Fine." Janeway waved her hand in the air as she relented. "Replicate Janeway zero one zero."
Seven sat the platter with a medium rare steak, baked potato and broccoli on it in front of the captain. She ran the medical tricorder over her and after watching Janeway grimace and drop the knife twice while trying to cut into the steak, Seven gently removed the utensils from her hands. "After the doctor repairs the micro-tears in your shoulders you will be back to cutting up your own dead animals."
"Thanks Seven, that's so appetizing." She shook her head slightly as Seven effortlessly cut the steak.
"This animal is still bleeding." Seven observed.
"That's the way I like my steak." Janeway grinned.
From where he stood next to Tuvok, Tom made the sound of a lowly cow. "Mooooo!"
Tuvok just looked at Tom his full Vulcan demeanor intact.
"Come on Tuvok, you gotta admit that was funny." Tom urged him to at least try to smile.