Episode Two | Teaser - Good Night

Chapter 5
Julian
The Definition of an Emergency

After Jadzia left, Julian went back to imagining what he'd want out of a sickbay of this size over the course of seventy years. He didn't want to know how many times he'd paced the perimeter and measured the walls. He compared his materials and equipment here with what he'd had on Deep Space Nine—which was not a totally fair comparison. Deep Space Nine was over seven times larger than the Defiant at its smallest.

Still, Julian could guess at what little emergencies might happen. The crew would get sick because bacteria and viruses were among the most dangerous things the Humanoid body could encounter in alien environments. Despite the general health and fitness of a Starfleet crew, unexplained disorders and arcane maladies tended to emerge the longer one was in space. Organs failed and psyches collapsed.

He wanted a surgical bay. It seemed vital. After all, that was one of those things that he would have liked to have before he actually needed it. Each biobed was equipped with the highest standard, but none of the bays were intended for surgery. This wasn't a hospital, it was an emergency room.

"Computer? Activate Emergency Medical Hologram," Julian said, and moved all three biobeds to the back wall in the layout he'd constructed on his PADD. Was that going to work?

The same moment, the holographic doctor appeared. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." Julian had first met him when he was delirious with pain and shock from a near-death experience about six days ago. There hadn't been much time for small talk, and Julian had found his help incredibly useful once he returned from a brief excursion to an alien biology lab that concluded with Julian being infected with something—he still wasn't sure. If Julian didn't know better, the hologram had seemed peeved to have been left running, so he deactivated the it as soon as his surgery was complete. In the middle of everything, there hadn't been much time for small-talk.

Julian looked at him. "No emergency."

The hologram paused, and looked around. "This is highly irregular."

"Do you have to say that?"

"Say what?" The hologram stood a bit taller, turning away a bit as though somehow defensive about the question. Which was ridiculous, of course—it was a hologram.

"The whole nature of the medical emergency thing."

"It's part of my programming," the hologram huffed. "It's in the name: emergency medical hologram. Why have I been activated if there is no emergency?"

"Because you and I are the only medical staff on board, and, frankly, it's a bit quiet in here."

Julian stared at the hologram, and the hologram stared back. Julian supposed it might take a while to get used to the strange and extremely faint glowing aura of a hologram projected into a solid space like sickbay. He wondered if other people could notice the difference. Either way, it was quite different from the way a hologram looked on a holodeck—in its natural environment.

The hologram seemed to accept that as reasonable enough. He sighed, and turned toward Julian more fully. "Well, since I'm here, can you please explain what has transpired?"

"You mean you don't have access to logs?"

"I have access to crew records." The doctor hesitated. "My condolences for the lost crew members. However, we seem to have added quite a few of them, as well. Their records are incomplete."

"Yes, that's because they're Maquis." When the hologram didn't react at all, much less the way Julian would have expected an organic conversation partner to, he explained, "Long story short: the Defiant has been transported seventy-thousand lightyears from the Alpha Quadrant with a handful of terrorists from the demilitarized zone. You're probably going to have to expand your definition of emergency to something a little more realistic."

With a brief sigh, the hologram nodded. "I see."

He then looked around sickbay for a few moments while Julian went to inspect the back wall. Julian was pretty sure they could move all three biobeds here. That might free up the wall to the left for a proper surgical bay.

"What do you expect me to do?" the hologram asked after a second. "Recite Gray's Anatomy?"

"What do you think of this?" Julian held the PADD out for the hologram's review as he stepped back to get a better view.

With a suspicious side-eye, the hologram approached the PADD and snatched it out of his hand. Obviously extremely annoyed. "What is it?" he asked, squinting.

"A schematic of the room I've been toying with," Julian explained, and gestured to the furniture he was referencing. "My thought is, we could get more use out of the space if we put these two beds closer together here… might open up some space for a more comprehensive biobed and surgery combination there."

The doctor handed back the PADD. "I'm a doctor, not an interior decorator."

"Remember what I said about expanding your definition of emergency?"

"So manual labor is my domain now? Hanging curtains and moving sofas?" The hologram gestured the PADD he was still holding out toward Julian more insistently, apparently having developed a bit of ego in the last few minutes. "Not to mention every runny nose, stubbed toe, and pimple on a cheek when you're not in the mood?"

Julian took the PADD, grinning at him in mild disbelief. "You're quite sensitive, aren't you?"

The hologram leaned away from him ever so slightly. If Julian didn't know better, he'd say he was… embarrassed. "As a medical practitioner, I require a certain sensitivity to properly address a patient," he continued plaintively.

"Yes, but I'm not your patient." Julian went to the nearest biobed and tried to figure out how it was affixed to the floor. "I'm talking about you. You as a person."

There was a pause. "I'm not a person."

Right. Somehow he'd forgotten. Probably because he was praising the engineers that thought it might be important to have immovable fixtures in a warship—while at the same time he cursed them. "Right." Julian went back to the central console and paused when he saw the hologram looking at him. If he wasn't a person, he was a damn good facsimile of one. "My name is Julian," he offered.

The hologram shifted, again, as if uncomfortable. "I know. As I said, I am familiar with the medical files of all the crew."

"Normally, you might answer with your name."

"I don't have a name."

Julian leaned on the biobed and smiled. "Well, that won't do."

"What purpose would a name serve a hologram?"

Julian didn't get to answer. The door to sickbay slid open, and a young lieutenant in yellow stepped in. Julian placed her in her mid-twenties: about the same age he was. She seemed nervous. "Hello, there," he said, and gave the doctor a quick glance. The lieutenant did, too. Julian sighed. "Computer, deactivate emergency medical hologram."

He decided too late that didn't make sense, but it was done.

"Hello, Doctor," she said with a wan smile. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh, no," he said, and gave her a quick glance with a more medical eye. She didn't look injured, at least. She looked worried. He gestured around the empty sickbay and chuckled. "As you can see… we're swamped." She laughed, too, but anxiously. "Why don't you take a seat and tell me what the problem is?" he asked.

"Oh, there's no problem." All the same, she went to the nearest biobed and hopped up. "It's just that, um… you see, with the… examination we all went through on the array, I'm just not sure…" She paused and took another breath, shutting her eyes, and finishing hastily, "I'm pregnant, and I wanted to be sure everything was alright."

"Oh." Julian took up the nearest medical tricorder and flipped it open. "Yes, of course. That's understandable." As he passed the hand scanner over her, he said, "I've heard some horrifying stories by the crew that were conscious. I was unconscious for the whole thing."

"Hm." She nodded a bit. "I guess you're lucky."

The last thing he remembered, he passed out from the worst pain he'd ever endured… Still. Lucky. "I guess I am. Let's take a look, shall we, Lieutenant…?"

"Geissler," she said softly. "Camilla Geissler."

"Lieutenant Geissler." Julian gave a brisk nod and smile, watching the information on his tricorder fly by. Two life signs, both strong. He would be their doctor for a very long time. "And I'm Julian Bashir." He pressed the small hand scanner into the cylindrical slot in the tricorder's back and showed it to the lieutenant. "Would you like to see?"

Her drawn and worried expression softened into a small smile, and she nodded.

With that, he walked to the nearest wall with a display of the vitals he'd just taken. Everything was, as he'd seen from the tricorder's readout, completely normal. All the same, he imagined that the information and graphs would be more foreign to this young lieutenant than Neelix's scans had been to him, so he asked the computer to display a graphic of the tiny life sign he'd scanned.

"You seem to be in peak condition," he offered while she waited.

The image of the little thing was distinctly humanoid, though misshapen—normal, of course, with only twelve or so weeks of development.

"There," he said. "There's the little one. Also very healthy." He pointed to a set of statistics. "The father's Denobulan?"

With a smile filled with tears, Lieutenant Geissler nodded. "Dartann. I met him on Starbase 26, five or six years ago now? He was working in cetacean sickbay at the time, and I was just maintenance for the astrogation lab."

"Huh." Julian looked at the child's readings, but he couldn't find anything there that was more interesting than the question he had. "Sorry to pry, but, um… well, the Denobulan family is quite… extensive."

She chuckled. "Don't worry, Doctor, everyone asks. I only have one husband. But Dartann has three wives including me, and his Denobulan wives have more than one husband each—which I still get mixed up from time to time." She paused and shrugged slightly. "It's nice, with the large family, he probably won't miss us too badly."

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true." Julian smiled. "Did he know…?"

"He was thrilled. He would send me ideas for the baby's name every couple of days. We haven't decided on one." She smiled, but it turned into tears a moment later. She wiped them away hastily. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me."

"Excitement? Nerves? Homesickness? It's only been three days, and stressful ones at that. And you miss your husband." He could see that what he'd said had hardly been helpful at all, so he offered, "I'm sure you know that Denobulan gestation is a bit longer than humans on average, but not by much. The little one has fingers and toes already, and I detected the faintest of little heartbeats. You'll probably start showing quite soon. But it looks like you and the baby came through this ordeal quite well. I wouldn't be worried."

Lieutenant Geissler nodded, watching the static readings he'd taken for a few moments more before nodding. "Thank you, Doctor." She looked at him, then, and shrugged helplessly. "I had an appointment with one of the doctors on Deep Space Nine in a few weeks to check…" She pressed her hands to her belly.

"I can easily transfer your appointment to myself." Julian smiled for her, he hoped encouragingly.

With a nod and thanks, Lieutenant Geissler went back out. Julian sighed and looked at the readings a bit longer, wondering how he'd managed to miss this. If he was overly optimistic, as he was beginning to find was usually the case, they'd have an infant onboard in less than a year. He should probably warn the captain.

Actually, it was probably a foregone conclusion eventually. It would be necessary sooner rather than later—and Julian suspected he'd want flesh-and-blood assistance in here at some point. Seventy years was a long time. People were bound to couple up in that span of time regardless…

He couldn't help a small smile, and the memory of regret that was sure to surface tomorrow. Now, part of him wondered if it would. He'd not only sworn off Jadzia, but he'd told her. Like an addict finally saying no to an offered hit, he was proud of himself. It felt good.

She wasn't malicious. She just… didn't care about him. That realization had hurt like hell, but it was true. Besides, it wasn't her fault it hurt to watch her walk down the Promenade with just about every man on the station… except him.

He didn't know whether he wanted to give up and go to bed or continue working here when the door slid open again. Another yellow uniform, but Julian knew this one. "Hello, Harry."

"Hi, Doc." He looked at his hands and looked embarrassed.

Julian stood a bit straighter, adopted that professional look he'd been trained with, and gestured to the biobed that Lieutenant Geissler had been sitting on a moment ago. He should have called him Ensign Kim, not Harry. In here, he was distant. He was a doctor here, not a friend. "Take a seat, Ensign. What seems to be the problem?"

Ensign Kim went to the biobed and sat, still watching his hands. "It's… it's nothing, actually."

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be the doctor for now. Just tell me what's wrong."

He smiled a bit, took a deep breath, and nodded. "I, uh… I can't sleep. I keep… thinking." He looked down, his fingers seemed to unthinkingly go to rub the location just above his navel that the whole crew had described as the central focus of their unwilling medical examination by the Caretaker.

Julian nodded, gave him the most understanding gaze he could muster as he put his scanner away. "You're not the only one, Ensign," he said softly.

Harry nodded, and sighed.

Julian had a small batch of sedative replicated for just this eventuality. He'd distributed more than half of it already, and one of those doses had been for himself last night. Tonight, he thought he might be okay.

Julian handed Harry the pill packet, and he looked at it curiously. "I've been advised that our power situation is a bit on the precarious side. Recyclable hypos are a luxury we might have to do without. But these work just as well. Takes about twenty minutes to kick in. Just enough time for a cup of tea, which also works wonders." He smiled.

Harry nodded and pocketed the pill. "Thanks, Doc. I'll, um…" He sighed and turned to look at him. "We're okay, right? I mean, the whole… those things?" Julian saw his thumb pass over the back of his hand—one of the many locations where Julian had removed a lesion. Harry had them all over his body, inside and out—courtesy of the Caretaker.

Julian would have liked to fight him face-to-face for that title. Of all the nerve…

"None of us has relapsed, but it can't hurt to check. Go ahead and lie down."

After several seconds' hesitation, a sigh and glance at the ceiling in what seemed to be frustration, Ensign Kim did lie down.

Julian was sure that the material causing the growths had been removed quite expertly by the EMH, but if it would help the ensign sleep, then he would do every scan he could think of.

And he did. In the middle of the second scan, Harry whispered, "I'm not a hypochondriac. At least, not… not normally."

"Of course not. You've had a traumatic experience, and these experiments we had performed on us…?" Julian had explained to Chakotay and Tuvok what the Caretaker had done to them: insert foreign masses into their bodies—reservoirs of the Caretaker's genetic material that was obviously incompatible with their own. He wouldn't explain to Harry, since the simple explanation that they'd been just experimented on was troubling enough. "Checking in every now and again isn't a sign that you've gone mad. Not at all."

Harry nodded, and looked up at him. "Thanks."

Julian offered a bracing smile. "No need."

Harry seemed to relax as Julian continued his scans. His tricorder beeped in rhythm, and the screens above Harry's head flashed through series after series of reading from just about every cell in his body. Julian decided to be extremely thorough—not only for his own health's sake, but because he had nothing else to do at the moment.

"Your scans are clear," Julian reported after three relatively simple but telling scans. "Your blood counts are all normal, cellular growth rate is within expected parameters, and your lymphatic system is frankly flawless. You're alright, but… you know, if you feel any different, it won't hurt to check it out." Julian just wished they had a counselor.

Maybe he should talk to the emergency medical hologram about that emergency… Hell, Julian would like a counselor right now.

Harry sat up, nodding. His fingers went back to his navel as if a compulsion. "Okay. I will." He slid from the bed and went to the door. He looked back just before he left. "Thanks again."

Julian nodded, and smiled. It was his job. "Any time."

Harry left, and Julian looked at the empty sickbay. It was getting late. He should probably get to bed. Just before he went out into the hallway himself, Julian palmed one of the pills he'd given to Harry. Just in case.