4th week post return
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From: Kathryn Janeway (captain voyager)
to: Doctor EMH Mk1 (EMH voyager)
Subject: medical series.
Doctor, for the love of goodness, GET A NAME!
As an epic of medical adventures, your holo-homage to the delta quadrant last week was an absolute storm. Certainly well received, skirted around the classified parts of the mission, and also, perhaps a close call with decency. I had NO idea that you had managed to get such a good picture of me looking like, hmmm, let me think GI Jane! Chakotay appears to have a still which he rather likes, presumably from you, where I am heaving around that big phaser, dripping in sweat. Possibly forgivable to give to Chakotay, but rather less impressed to be told half the male cadets in Icheb's year have a copy as well. Since I can have a reasonable guess that there are more images of us deshabille, I want you to be most careful over images for the next such lecture. I heard a rumour that it was provisionally entitled 'perils of procreation' I am very much expecting that the warp 10 encounter isn't part of this tale. If this is really possible, as the source is dubious, then please be especially sensitive around which crewmembers appear, and also the number of instances in which they may appear. We want no opportunity to cast any crew member into disrepute do we.
That aside, I wanted to wish you the best of good fortune with the audition! Seven says that the rendition of the pearl fishers duet is now 'acceptable', which I believe is high praise.
Oh, and I need to arrange to see you at some point for a pre-mission health check. Wonders will never cease, I am spontaneously reporting to sickbay! Good also to get a moment to catch up re the various projects you are working on. oh, and how it is going with Dr Zimmerman!
Kathryn
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The Doctor
Acceptable! Seven is damning in her praise. I comm Reg to make sure we have our final rehearsal.
As for projects, the manual to return borg to their pre-assimilation appearance, and which devices are best left alone is proceding. Planning a disconnection from the hive is more troublesome. We have placed the ways we believe it to be possible. I am uncomfortable that I am working on just this with Icheb, and not sharing this information with Seven. I am sure the captain has her reasons, but it is still... uncomfortable. Anyway the point will soon be moot, as without ready access to Borg, we cannot see if the neurolytic nanoprobes work as planned, nor whether we can truly programme a maquis nanoprobe - not that I will call it that - to resist assimilation. i am considering calling it an r-nanoprobe for resistance.
Again, unless we can produce a non-Seven, non-Icheb source of nanoprobes, then this whole line of research is questionable. It pushes me back to Seven's original research projects, neither of which are progressing the captain visits I will share some of my concerns. At least the research personnel are now working peaceably together.
I am interrupted in my thoughts by Seven welcoming a visitor 'Naomi Wildman. I was unaware that you would be visiting today.' Naomi is beaming at Seven and saying hello to the other officers 'my mom has a message for the doctor, and I wondered if you were free for lunch. We have been seeing the counsellor this morning. Dad is happier, and Mom says that it is all going to work out just fine. Are you happy Seven? I missed seeing you this weekend since we were at Dad's house, and you had already left when I got up today. I wish you could live with us' Naomi burbles over Seven, who has an unusual patience where Naomi is concerned.
'Naomi Wildman, please state which of your questions you require me to answer' and Seven waits, eyebrow raised. I notice our team all appear to be overcompensating with smiles for the girl. Naomi is accustomed to Seven though.
'lunch' she says 'please?' and then she turns to me. 'Mom says if the perils of pro..having babies includes me, she is fine with that. You might need to run the double voyager thing through the captain though' and she grins. 'come on Seven!, oh and break a leg doctor! If doctors break legs, or holograms' and laughing, she confidently leads Seven out of our medical lab.
Hmm, i wonder who suggested that my next talk was perils of procreation! one name very firmly comes to the fore. I may have been strongly advised not to talk about hyper-evolved lizard babies, but... I smile, and place an image of them on one of the screens ready for sorting. I had discarded the perils of procreation, but it has just, how shall i put it, made a miraculous recovery.
Shuffling through my exceptionally well organised and tagged images, and I have several hundred of the unfortunate ensign Kim. Not that most of them are suitable for public viewing, I exclude those of a more... private...nature. Oh, and there is Voyager itself, i nearly forgot about that. Hmm now there was a quote flying about on who was an expert in mating behaviours. indeed, to remove the uncomfortableness or prurience, there are many potential non-crew moments. Hmm, The shoal happened at the same time as Kes's Elogium, both of these worthy of discussion. Then I can discuss the injuries of Neelix and Tom from the trigemic poison on their 'planet hell'
Moving on from Lt Paris...I wonder whether I can discuss with B'Elanna the Automated Unit 3947 that we worked on together and that she was forced to build her prototype 0001, in effect procreation for a new robot species. I wonder whether the Q... No, I imagine all overt Janeway stories are off the table. Unfortunately. I perhaps will likewise not include any of the commander's liaisons, though removing that Borg inplant...
I will confirm, but I believe there is some clear learning to be had over Kim's unfortunate brush with the Taresians. How their DNA could be implanted via a virus to subvert his own and counter their imbalance of available males. And the rather non-Darwinian outcome of said males. i wonder if I would be allowed to feature ensign kim again and his luminescence after his love affair with the Varro woman. perhaps if I suggest some of his more gruesome and inconveniently located medical afflictions post 'shore leave' he will think this as less objectionable!
Oh, and 'One' Seven, my holoemitter and poor Mulcahy created a borg between us. Hmm, this might not be acceptable to starfleet as almost certainly classified. It does make me wonder about why the nanoprobes would do that. After all, procreation isn't part of nanoprobe tech in that respect. Perhaps it will offer Seven and our team some viable options for long term nanoprobe stability.
Ah, I have some new messages. I hope Reg is not backing out. He has been increasingly nervous. In fact, I have gone so far as to adapt a common anti-anxiety medicine for him and might suggest a trial dose.
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From: Harry Kim (Ensign, operations, voyager)
to: Doctor EMH Mk1 (EMH voyager)
Subject: medical series.
Tom says you are planning a show and tell on the 'love and misdemeanors' aspects of time aboard Voyager. Currently Jenny has locked herself in the head and is hyper-ventilating. You may need to do a housecall. She won't tell me what it is about, though we all heard a variety of rumours over the years which seemed a physical impossibility. Damn. Anyway, she is demanding your presence when you are free. Since we are in or quarters, we would prefer to discuss or negotiate directly with you, separately.
Harry Kim
From: Doctor EMH Mk1 (EMH voyager)
to: Harry Kim (Ensign, operations, voyager)
Subject: medical series.
Very nice to hear from you too Harry. It has been a number of weeks now, the longest time we have spent apart. I would like to remind you that I am bound by the medical oath of confidentiality, and I have upgraded my programming with the latest medical ethics for EMH having had a full and frank discussion with the Captain recently. It is inconceivable that I would divulge any of the personal medical history of patients without express consent.
however, although I believe the subject matter was raised by Mr Paris as an attempt at humour, I feel it may well be an interesting presentation, and I will be asking him to give permission to share something about the DNA changes that occurred as part of his Warp 10 flight.
For your information, I would particularly like to seek your opinion about the Kobali, as the Ensign herself is unable to give consent, and you were close. Much of my theme is going to be around novel approaches to procreation by the alien species we met, but DNA is a key theme, and you yourself had a DNA altering experience, which I would like to include. Your continued presence attests to your sexual continence on at least this occasion, so I am assuming this will be acceptable. It is, after all, predominantly a scientific presentation, not some docudrama or edutainment series for the masses.
Please reassure the delightful delaney sisters that I am at heart a gentleman and do not require a doctors oath to keep their medical secrets.
the Doctor
From: Doctor EMH Mk1 (EMH voyager)
to: Tom Torres Paris (Lt, chief helmsman, voyager)
I am presuming this uproar is caused by a bored Mr Paris? however, I would like to take presumably your suggestion and therefore discuss a DNA altering incident you were involved in for my next medical talk, and the lovely wife of yours, if she would like to permit me to discuss prototype 0001 as a contrast.
I hope you have a way of reassuring the crew before I am inundated with visits/comms/PADD messages to ensure discretion. The Captain personally oversaw my ethics sub routine upgrade at the end of last week and I am now more aware that on occasion my discretion was more lax than appropriate. i have no intention of divulging any of the intimate revelations that I have been privy to, and my topics will be medically based. Where some of the more unusual sexual pathogens we encountered are mentioned, the imagery will be entirely laboratory based of the pathogen itself, and no mention of crewmember nor their personal images. Some, in particular, will be very relieved. The Seven years I spent on Voyager was an eye opener to the inventive methods... anyway, I digress. Can you place this message on the scuttlebutt as my new ethics routines currently do not allow me to post anywhere that has a scurrilous nature. I have tried.
on a different note, I look forwards to seeing the three of you on Friday, with my delightful goddaughter. I hear that she is sleeping better - via the Captain, who no longer requires nightly ear plugs.
the Doctor
From: Reginald Barclay (Lt, Pathfinder project)
to: Doctor EMH Mk1 (EMH voyager)
Subject: the audition
I don't think I can do it. I know it is somewhat late to be getting cold feet, but I am sure I am losing my voice as well as my nerve. My stutter is worse than ever and i am even dreaming the pearl fishers. Deanna is too busy with Voyager counselling to be able to give me much time, and she says she will comm me if she gets an opportunity. Rumour has it she drew the short straw and got your captain.
Also, my work is piling up, we are trying to see if we can establish contact with the delta quadrant permanently, predominantly aimed at Neelix but there are quite a lot of computations and analysis to make it work.
I should be able to meet you this afternoon on the holodeck at 15:00 as planned. I have completed my reference for Dr Zimmerman to present with the Captain regarding sentience.
Reg
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the Doctor
'that does it Reg, you need to try an anxiolytic. They have been around for centuries. I don't understand why treating high level anxiety is more of an issue than treating athletes foot. Neither are deadly, both are affecting quality of life. honestly, this hang up on treatment of mental health issues is harking back to when it was possible to be discriminated against. Your anxiety has clearly gone beyond the normal physiological response to anxiety provoking stimuli. Even...' and at that point my new ethics subroutines firmly clamp down on my about to be jovial anecdote regaling my treatment of the biophysiological changes of depression in a crew member well known to be resistant to medical care. Gah! it doesn't even let me *think* her name.
Reg is not making eyecontact and mumbling about his history.
'Reg, it doesn't have to be me you consult. it has to be confidential. It isn't affecting your work performance... is it? just, well I can do this without you, but I would much rather have my friend at my side. I presume that you are still enthusiastic?' Since he is nodding, I am presuming this to be the case. I get his agreement to make an appointment this afternoon at starfleet medical, we are in luck and Dr Crusher herself will see Reg.
'right, let us practice then' and even though I say so myself, we are certainly meritorious. i have recorded our singing, and on play back, there are very few changes that we would make. Reg has no stutter when singing, and excellent breath control. Our voices blend melodiously and have a timbre each that resonates with the other. Both of us are proud of our accomplishment, and it certainly provides the final impetus for Reg to visit Dr Crusher as we walk back to starfleet medical together. Just to be on the safe side, I transfer him right to her door, and give her a sample of my modified anxiolytic to consider.
As I leave them to it, I can't help humming our duet as I make my way back to my office.
My good mood evaporates the instant I turn round the corner to see a corridor filled with starfleet personnel, all appear to be from Voyager's lower decks. My medical mind sees it as a thrombus blocking an artery. Unfortunately it will be my words that will need to act as the thrombolytics, enabling them to disperse. I apply my best smile.
'Do I need to ask as to what I owe the pleasure of a visit by so many comrades?' They turn and Rollins is the spokesman. 'Sir, we wanted to thank you for your confirmation as to the confidential nature of our treatments upon Voyager. It reminded most of us that we had been slow in thanking you for all the care we received in this time, the times that you saved the ship, that you saved the lives of many of us, and that you have been the holder of secrets for most of us. so we have provided you with this' curious. he hands over a PADD for my perusal.
Reading it, I become lost for words. my emotional subroutines place a hollow feeling in my chest, a holo-lump in my throat and an overwhelming need to sit down. i think the opening and closing of my mouth, like the ridiculous koi carp in the starfleet pond, gives away my lack of words.
'thank you' i eventually blurt out. 'thankyou, I just don't know what to say. I... thankyou' as I clutch in my hand sworn affidavits from every crewmember as to my competence as a doctor, to their belief that I have exceeded my programming, and their individual anecdotes and remembrances that leads them to affirm that they regard me as a sentient individual with status equivalent to their own.
'don't mention it, Sir' Rollins replies with a salute, which I rather slowly mirror back. 'what are families for. You are an integral part of our family and our family's survival.' and then, and i count them, 84 voyager lower deck crew shake my hand as they disperse. No streptokinase required.
As I enter our empty lab and go to my office, I can see messages that show a number of consultation appointments booked for my medical services, and a message that appoints me a federation lawyer to take forwards my request for acknowledgement as a person under the law, recommended by Admiral Paris.
Sitting down has never felt so required. I may need to go offline to process this through my neural networks properly. Computer, lock down the office and deactivate the EMH to reactivate in 2 hours or when access to the office is requested.
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jailbait[encrypted] to coffeeaddict [encrypted]:
Mischief Managed. Operational Objectives Obtained.
You owe me - no lizardlings.