Ensign Nabat walked into the Science Lab wearing a containment suit. Their fellow biologist, Ensign Sam Wildman, looked at them, puzzled. "Did I miss a quarantine order?" Wildman asked.
"Nope!" replied Nabat. "The Doctor's coming back from an away mission treating an epidemic in a local community. I'm just taking precautions."
"That seems a little extreme. We have biofilters on our transporters. Besides, the Doctor is a hologram."
Nabat looked at her with their naturally wide eyes that always seemed a little panicked. "There is nothing more unpredictable or potentially deadly than an unknown virus. If something goes wrong, we will not know until it is too late."
Nabat was a microbiologist. They held profound respect for microscopic life forms, generally preferring them to people. None was more worthy of respect than the virus, the smallest and most clever of them all.
Wildman smiled. "You enjoy wearing the suit, don't you?"
"I enjoy honoring the power of tiny things, if that's what you mean."
Mere hours later, a viral outbreak on Voyager had everyone sick. Everyone, that is, except Ensign Nabat. They were in the mess hall quarantine zone, taking readings on ailing crewmates.
You are a fierce adversary, unknown virus, they thought. You've succeeded where Kazon warriors have failed.
"What is that?" Lieutenant Paris asked, looking at Lieutenant Torres's neck.
Nabat looked closely. A swollen orifice had appeared just below her left ear. Well, that is strange, thought Nabat.
Suddenly, something small and insect-like flew out of the orifice.
"What!" Nabat exclaimed. "What are you? How did you do that? Where did you come from?!" They continued to shriek questions as they chased the moving object around the mess hall, taking readings.
Then they gasped. "No! Why would you do that?"
According to their scans, the flying object was none other than the virus itself, grown millions of times over.
"It is an intriguing evolutionary development," the Doctor said. He, Kes, and Nabat had taken a sample of the virus, analyzing it as they desperately raced to develop an antigen. What the Doctor had named "macroviruses" had started rapidly appearing all over the ship.
"No, it isn't!" Nabat insisted, offended. "Why would a virus leave its host cell? That's the whole secret to their genius! How is it going to propagate itself? It's just a floating ball of DNA!"
"Take a breath, Ensign," the Doctor advised.
"I am breathing! But you know what I'm NEVER going to breathe? MACROVIRUSES. What's the point of being an AIRBORNE VIRUS if you can't be INHALED?!" Realizing they had raised their voice, Nabat actually did stop to take a breath.
Suddenly, their sample leaped off the microscope. "Computer, erect containment field!" The Doctor exclaimed. The virus was now the size of a bowling ball. "Let's test the antigen," Nabat said through a clenched jaw. They filled their hypospray as if loading a weapon. "Are you ready?"
"Yes. Computer, lower force field!" The Doctor grabbed the macrovirus. Nabat injected the antigen.
The virus fell to the floor, dead. Nabat just shook their head.
They turned to the Doctor. "You said you observed on the planet that the virus is attracted to infrared light. What if we activate the Holodeck to lure them all together?" They were doing it as they spoke.
"Then someone will need to go into a Holodeck full of macro viruses to administer the antigen. As we've seen, they are quite aggressive," the Doctor replied. They both looked at the sharp projectile that extruded from the virus, prepared to impale anyone in its way.
Nabat was a scientist. They would never go willingly into a battle. But today, they had no hesitation. "I think I'm going to need a bigger hypospray."
Still in their sweaty containment suit, Nabat hunched outside the holodeck door with a phaser rifle they'd reconfigured to project the antigen. They closed their eyes. "For science," they whispered, and lunged through the door.
A macro virus zoomed toward them, the sharp projection forming on its surface. "You can stab me all you want, you sorry attempt at a predator! You're never getting back into a cell again! You can kill me, but you'll NEVER force my cells to make copies of you!" They shot it down. "Because you're…" They shot down another one. "Too…" They whirled and shot one behind them. "Damn…" Without turning their head, they shot down a macrovirus coming from the right. "BIG!"
They continued yelling as they shot. "You are no evolutionary development! You are freak mutations unworthy of the name VIRUS! I'm putting you out of your misery, since you are going to DIE OFF within a generation because you have forgotten the genius of your viral predecessors!"
Nabat lowered their rifle, surveying the field of dead macroviruses. "That being tiny makes you deadlier."
The next day, the captain returned from her away mission to find the ship operating smoothly. "Did I miss anything while I was away?"
"Nah," Chakotay replied. "There was a bug going around, but we handled it."
