Once upon a time in the test.

Posted on Wed Apr 2nd, 2025 @ 5:14pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Lieutenant Commander Kevin Kilbane & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T'ghann-Dex. Doctor

4,388 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Voices of the past
Location: Sickbay, USS Blackeagle
Timeline: Current.

Back onboard now, Kilbane had went straight to the bridge to see Karadis and reported his findings. She'd been unhappy at what she'd heard and said it would be taken care of. Now free to do what he wanted, Kilbane had made the decision to go to Sickbay and see how Finchley was doing.

Entering it, he'd walked across to the area where the Commodore was still under sedation and watched as Shon worked to wake him up.

"Better that he'd died down there or when he got back here" he said quietly to himself, "If you recover, there's a world of pain you'll be going through."

Shon was concentrating with as much as she could give. The reviving process had to go second by second and the process of looking at each wound and new organ took a long time but, eventually she gave herself the green light. For a moment she stood and stretched hands on her back reaching for a bottle of water. Do no harm, DO NO HARM she thought to herself and returned to him. Checking the overhead panel and the surgical clamshell she went over his slowly returning brain function. A nurse brought her a PaDD with his labs which were perfect. she smiled for the first time for days. Reducing the anaesthetic drugs slowly she upped his analgesia and reviewed his axaganol neurons. After a while his fingers twitched. She bent down and put her hand on his shoulder. Hoping that there would be no damage to his brain processes.

"Finchley, Finchley, are you there? do no harm, do no harm."

The fog was thick but it seemed to be clearing very slowly. From the depth of somewhere, a voice was saying his name and slowly but surely it was getting louder. His eye's fluttered open momentarily, but the light was bright and to powerful so he closed them again. It was a few minutes before he tried again, this time managing to keep them open for a little while longer before closing them again.

He tried to speak, but his mouth was ever so dry, "W..r, wa...t..r.."

Shon lowered the lights and brought him some cool water with a straw. "Finchley, drink, slowly it's Shon."

The straw was placed in his mouth but Finchley began sucking hard on it, trying to draw up as much water as he could to quench his thirst. Unfortunately this caused him to then cough and and splutter the water back out again. He spasmed as he coughed, it was sore, but he was so thirsty he began sucking again, trying to force himself to swallow the liquid down.

Shon removed the cup, moistened a swab and placed it between his lips. "I don't want you to choke, take it slowly. "Commodore, Finchley you are in sickbay on the Blackeagle. You were shot a few days ago. Please try to breathe deeply," she said as she forced down the words that wanted to come out. It's Shon, you are safe. Open your eyes?"

Finchley sucked slowly on the swab, the water trickling down his throat, it felt good. He could hear Shon's voice and it was soothing. Once again, he slowly opened his eyes, and with the lights dimmed, he was able to keep them open, though his vision was a little blurred. He could make out the shape of Shon's head, and instinctively he knew it was her who had coaxed him back to life.

He tried to smile, it was a tired smile, but he nodded his thanks and said, "Checkpoint...Zulu...will...have...to...wait" he whispered.

“What was that you said?” She asked him then, “oh never mind” as she bent down to kiss his forehead. “Welcome home.” She whispered. “Just rest and try to sleep for a while, later you can try some soup.” She turned away to monitor his recovering kidney functions pleased that, so far, there had been no problems. “Do no harm, do no harm,” she said softly.

Kilbane had turned on the COMM's from the outside, and was just about to speak when he heard Shon repeat what she'd been saying on the planet and on the shuttle. He quickly turned the COMM's off again and turned as he heard someone enter Sickbay, it was Karadis. When she stood next to him, he looked at her and said, "Looks like Kerr's beginning to recover, but there's something strange happening with Commander T'ghann-Dex."

Karadis looked at Finchley through the perspex, he wasn't moving and his eyes were closed, but she took Kilbane's word at what he said. "Commander T'ghann-Dex, is that what you're calling Shon now?" she asked.

"She doesn't deserve any familiarity after what they both did to me" Kilbane replied.

Karadis sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "Fair enough" she said, "what's the strange thing she's doing?" she asked.

"She keeps repeating the same thing over and over...'do no harm', it's almost like it's a mantra" Kilbane replied.

"Well, Shon's a Doctor, as far as I can remember, that's the medical oath they take" Karadis replied.

"Yes, I know that, I'm not stupid" Kilbane said, "but there's more to this than just her repeating the phrase, I mean, she wanted me to kill her back down on the planet and when I didn't, she later pointed a phaser at my head in the shuttle, saying something about her being a killer now."

Karadis looked at Shon, she seemed like the same person who had gone down to the planet, perhaps a little more tired, but that was to be expected given what she and her away team had gone through.

Tapping the COMM button Kilbane had been about to speak through earlier, she said, "Shon, It's Karadis, how's Bird doing?"

"Karadis!" she exclaimed, " he is doing well, just woken up, everything seems in order and functioning, he has had some water, do no harm. I am encouraging him to have some natural sleep and I will perform some partial lateral brain scans later. do you want, do no harm, to come see him later. I will be sleeping here i have a cot which I will put up next to him."

"Ok, enough is enough, you're not sleeping in there with the Commodore Shon, come out of the room now, we need to talk" Karadis replied.

"I do not think you quite understand Commander, this is my realm." Shon said. I do not have the staff to maintain watch on the Commodore." She walked over to Karadis, noting Kilbane standing next to the Klingon she had the grace to blush. "What can I do for you?"

"You're not well Shon, you've been acting strangely ever since whatever happened with Kara" Karadis replied, "This mantra of 'do no harm', do you think people haven't noticed? There's also the fact you asked Kilbane here to kill you and you aimed a phaser at his head in the shuttle."

"Hey, I told you that in confidence Karadis!" Kilbane said angrily.

"When it come to the Chief Medical Officer acting so far out of character, it concerns everyone in the Senior staff and the Commodores staff!" Karadis replied, equally as angrily.

Looking back at Shon she carried on, "You have other staff who can monitor the Commodore for the time being, you need rest and you need to see the Counsellor. Now, as the Senior Officer on the Commodores staff, and knowing what you did to Kilbane here, this can work one of two ways. Either you take the rest and see the Counsellor, or, I can arrest you for threatening and endangering the life of Commander Kilbane. The choice is yours, choose one."

“Very well, arrest me but be aware there is no one that can currently monitor and look after the Commodore. I repaired his liver, his lungs, his kidneys and his heart,” Shon began to raise her voice. “He was dead…he died, he died Karadis….he died. I deserve to be arrested and tried for murder, I killed my patient, I infected her with Isabelle’s nanites and told her I could cure her when I could not.” Then Shon began to do something she never did, she began to cry as she sank to her knees and curled up on the floor. “I gave an oath I would do no harm.” She began to laugh. “One down, many to go. DO NO HARM.”

Kilbane looked down at Shon, then back up at Karadis. Non plussed, he shrugged his shoulders, "Mad as a hatter, but she's your problem, not mine, good luck" he said, turning and walking away. Stopping, he turned back round and said, "My advice, replicate a straightjacket, stick her in it, pad a cell and throw her in it and forget about her." He then turned round again and walked out of Sickbay.

Karadis looked after him, there was a lot of pent up anger and loathing within Kilbane towards Shon, and she didn't blame him, what Shon and Finchley had done to him was sickening, even to her. Looking back round at Shon, she thought about what Kilbane had said about the straightjacket, then dismissed it from her mind. Taking a medikit from the wall, she opened it and took out a hypo and placed a sedative in it. Bending down, she gently pressed it against Shon's neck and administered it. Standing up again, she pressed her COMM badge, "Karadis to all Senior staff nurses, report to Sickbay immediately."

A few minutes later, two nurses entered Sickbay and Karadis told them to take Shon to one of the biobeds and make her comfortable. Once that was done, she ordered one of them to watch the Commodores vital signs on the monitor and report to her if anything dangerous occurred.

Shon lay half asleep liking the feeling of another arm over her, the heaviness of it across her hips and the hand resting on her abdomen gave her a feeling of protection she had not known for a long time.Then there was the smell….well maybe not a smell in the sense of the word, more like the musky odor left after sex. She smiled thinking of their coupling rough and hard. She yawned and stretched ready for more. She turned slowly, her hand trailing down his thigh her smile lazy but full of promise. Opening her eyes she looked into Kara’s. The dead woman smiled a rictus grin, half her face gone and the remaining facial musculature denuded by the process of putrefaction and Borg implants. Shon screamed and backpedaled. “NO NO…..SURAK NO,” she screamed at the sight and, shut down.

One of the senior nurses ran over to her shaking her by the shoulder. “Doctor Dex, Doctor..!”

The Vulcan part of her mind had finally gained the upper hand over her brain and had begun to attempt a reset. She lay, eyes open seeing nothing and not responding.

The nurse Mira hit her COMM “Sickbay to Commander Karadis, something has happened to the Doctor, I cannot wake her, she screamed and now she is just staring and her breathing is shallow, almost nothing.”

Finchley's eyes jerked open at the scream. He tried to sit up, but the dizziness that ensued made him lie back down again immediately. A hand rested on his shoulder, "Commodore Kerr, Sir..."

Again he opened his eyes and looked up, seeing a nurse he asked, "What was...the...scream?"

"It Commander T'ghann-Dex Sir, she was sedated, put on a biobed, then just screamed. Commander Karadis has been called. hopefully she'll be here shortly."

"Help me...up" Finchley said.

"No Sir, your not in any fit state to move around" the nurse said."

"That's an order...nurse" Finchley carried on, attempting to sit up again. The nurse frowned, but did as she was ordered, helping Finchley slowly to his feet.

"Take me...to...the Commander" Finchley said.

Painfully slowly, he was helped across to Shon, and when he reached her, he saw she was just staring at the ceiling. He reached his hand out and placed it on hers, "Shon...it's...Finchley, why...are you...screaming?"

Shon did not respond as her mind began its healing trance, her respirations dropped to three a minute and the alarm began become insistent. One of the other nurses placed a chair behind Commodore Finchley, “Can I get anything else for you sir?”

Finchley nodded his thanks for the chair then said, "No, but...thank you."

He turned back to Shon, "Ok...listen up...Shon" he began, hoping his voice would bring her round, "One of...two things can happen. You can come...back...to me now, or I can...just die...here...in this chair...holding your...han..." but he got no further, the effort of getting up and over to her in his condition now taking it's toll. His eyes rolled upwards, his head lolled forwards and he slid out of the chair onto the ground by the bed, still holding Shon's hand.

Shon’s brain fought with itself trying logic against love. Hearing Finchley’s voice had begun to override her loss of control as her breathing began to climb and her pupils moved dancing in nystagmus. She blinked and sat up still attached to his hand.
“What in Surak’s name is going on?” As her eyes took in the sight of Finchley half on the floor his hand in hers. Swinging her legs over the bed she was off in a second pulling him back to his bed.

“Well?” She said, “Help me get the Commodore back onto the bed and bring me a hypo of hayalazine.” As the two of them lifted him onto the bed the slap of a hypo in her palm brought her back to full physician mode. “Go back to sleep Commodore” she said as she depressed the hypo assessing his condition which, apart from exhaustion had not changed. None of his wounds had opened and his organs were still working. His lids fluttered and, he was once again asleep.
“What happened?” She asked, “why was I lying down?”

She was quickly brought up to date and then she remembered she had been talking to Karadis. Shon smiled, how like the Klingon to do that to her. “Very well, you can go back to your other duties, I will call if I need you.” They nodded and left sickbay. Turning back to the unconscious man she began repeating her scans planning to wake him again in a few hours.

Karadis came into Sickbay. Looking at where Shon had been on the biobed, she was confused to see she wasn't there. Looking around, she saw she was now with Finchley and she walked over, glad to see she was up and around.

"Shon, you're up and about, how are you and Bird doing?" she asked.

Shon raised an eyebrow at her. "Unfortunately because you sedated me, when the Commodore awoke he got up to see what was wrong with me and collapsed. He should not yet be getting up so, he is asleep once again and there is no permanent damage to him. However your sedation of me allowed a reset of my mental state so, now I am more Vulcan than human. It is logical at this time that I am able to continue looking after him because of my medical and surgical accomplishments and the fact that he is my patient. If you disagree with this you need to discuss it with Admiral Unasion at Starfleet Command and have them send out another physician who, is able to treat and recover the Commodore. Then I will give myself over for arrest."

"and having said that how are you today Commander Karadis?"

"So long as you're feeling better Shon, and don't flip out on us again, I'm more than happy for you to keep on treating the Commodore" Karadis replied. "As for me, apart from being concerned for the Commodore, you, Kilbane, what's happened on the planet to the away team, the possibility that there's going to be a civil war down there and having no idea how we're going to get back home to our own region of space...I'm fine."

"Who is there left on the planet, I thought everyone had been beamed back due to the unstable nature of the government and planetary war?" The strident tone of an alarm sounded and Shon was immediately at Finchley's side. "He needs to be awake and resting, I am going to wake him, will you please speak to him and get him to rest?" She administered the antidote to the sedation and waited for him to wake.

Karadis moved forward to Finchley, as she did she replied, "Oh, non of the away teams are there, but if those whom were helping the Munroe's win the war, there's a good chance that they'll be trying to find a way to make it back to Federation space to try and find allies for another war as they said they would."

Finchley opened his eyes and looked around, he was back on his bed, but no idea how he got there as the last thing he remembered was holding Shon's hand.

Karadis now moved round in front of Finchley, and looking down at him said, "It's good to see you awake again Bird."

"Karadis" Finchley said, giving his best tired smile, "It's good to see you again, where's Shon?"

"She's right behind you" Karadis answered. "Now, given that you're a stubborn one, you've got to listen to me and listen good. You need rest, have you got that 'R...E...S...T', that doesn't mean you ask for reports, it doesn't mean you get involved with ships duty, it means you do zip, nil, nada. Read a book or two, listen to some music, paint a picture, anything that helps you remain calm and taking it easy."

"Paint a picture?" Finchley laughed, then began coughing. Catching his breath he carried on, "Yes, I'll rest up Mother. Does that mean I'll get a sweety if I'm a good little Commodore?"

"It means you'll get a thick ear if you don't!" Karadis replied.

"How's everyone else doing?" he asked.

Karadis looked at Shon, "You're up Doctor, he's asking how everyone else is doing?"

"Well," Shon began "I managed to remove the augmentations from Isabelle. It was either that or die, or become fully Borg. Neither of which we or she wanted, she is okay but tired. However something is going on with Commander Hunter, I thought these 'auras' he was seeing around our Counsellor was just love , or the augmentations but, he still see's an aura around her, he also has an increase in his hearing, sense of smell and vision. So far I have some odd brain scans from him but, I must admit I have spent most of my time looking after you."

Shon looked at Karadis shaking her head with a minute movement. Finchley did not need to know about Kara, her own involvement and her dam of mental aberration. “Kilbane is as happy as ever and Karadis is...well you can see she is as wonderful as ever. We have had no crew deaths on the mission." she stopped, the last thing she wanted him bothered by was the current problem of the breakaway augment group. They had to stop them heading for the Federation.

"I want Commander Hunter put under twenty four hour observation, we have no idea what happens in this part of space, so him 'seeing' these auras could be dangerous, or it could be nothing, but better to be safe than sorry" Finchley replied. "I'm glad you managed to help Isabelle get rid of her augmentation, however, the bigger questions with that situation still remain, how did she manage to pass the medical for the Academy without her augmentation being noticed, and who helped her get past the medical. Kilbane's never happier than when he's unhappy, so I'm going to assume he's still pissed at us, and Karadis facial expression still looks like she has a bee in her anus so I'm going to say everything's ok with her. What has happened with the situation on the planet with Kara and Jackson, are we any further forward learning about what it is they really want...apart from Commander Savette?"

She looked at Karadis, “both Jackson and Kara are dead, It seems that Isabelle was going to be used as a 'bridge' between human and augment making takeover easier. The two factions of augments are currently busy trying to destroy one another and we have currently no idea if anyone will take over. There has been no launch from the surface if they are attempting to leave the planet. As for Isabelle and her academy medical I have a theory that I am looking into that seems quite promising but, I have no definitive answers yet. As for Commander Hunter I will keep him under observation but, I wonder who will have the bridge during this time." she smiled, "Finchley if you remain stable over the next twenty four hours I will discharge you from here to rest in your quarters.

"How did Kara and Jackson die?" Finchley asked, hearing the situation deteriorate before him. Prior to being shot, he recalled both of them wanting Isabelle to stay behind because she was the first of the lost children to return, him refusing and saying the away team were leaving, then he was here in Sickbay.

"As soon as you have the answers as to how Commander Savette passed vetting and her medical to get into the Academy, come directly to me and let me know, there could be serious repercussions from this" he said, "As for who will have the bridge, that'll be Karadis, she hasn't been to the planet and she hasn't had anything happen to her like being shot, having augmentation removed or seen weird halo's around people.!"

He turned to Karadis, "As I have a witness, till I'm back on my feet, you have the ship Commander Karadis."

As much as Karadis hated the idea of being in charge again, she knew she was one of the few Senior staff who were basically fit for duty.

"Aye Sir" she replied wearily.

"Good!" Finchley replied, then he looked back round at Shon, "So, how did Jackson and Kara die Shon?"

Shon had been dreading this moment, everything she had ever done would fall but, she knew she had to hold herself accountable. She turned herself setting up another scan aware of eyes on her. "Jackson died just before we were able to return to the ship, Kilbane killed him. As for Kara, I have her body in the mortuary. She was holding Isabelle Alec and myself, Isabelle was deteriorating rapidly and Kara refused us access to the medical facilities. The bombing had begun and the, buildings were falling around us." Shon stopped what she was doing as she began to re live the moments.

I had a syringe containing Isabelle's nanites. They had already begun to fight the augmentations and they were killing her. I knew I could remove the augmentations but I kept asking, begging Kara to let me use the medical facilities. You have to understand it was on the spur of the moment........an explosion occurred, I fell towards Kara and injected her with the nanites. I told her I could remove them and, then she took us to their sickbay. I knew at the time......I just knew it would be impossible but once I had removed Isabelle's augmentations she began to improve.

I did try, really I did but Kara died as a direct result of me. You see 'Do No Harm' is part of a physicians oath and I am guilty of murder. I intend to give myself up to justice whether it be human or Vulcan. I fully understand as your CMO and number two my duties come before me otherwise I should be in the brig. But you, your health was, is too important to me to the crew.you see I should do no harm, do no harm." She stopped and sickbay felt so quiet, as though the whole ship was holding its collective breath.

"Do no harm."

Finchley listened quietly to what Shon said, then took a moment to think. "Ok, first things first, we need to ensure that those augments on the planet don't get a chance to take off from it. Secondly, none of this away team now hold the authority on the positions they held, they're stood down, you included Doctor. Thirdly, we need to get McCrudden to work out a way to get us back to our area of space, SFI need to be informed of what's happened. Fourthly, as I said, till I'm fully back on my feet, Karadis is in charge of the ship. Fifthly, I need to work out if there's to be an enquiry into the the death of Kara to see if there's any blame or not on you Shon. Sixth, you need to go and see the Counsellor Shon, see whether or not this mantra you've been saying over and over is part of some mental breakdown you may be having. However, I need rest just now, I have a lot to think about and consider."

Shon turned from her latest scan. “You will be able to return to your quarters tomorrow to rest. I will see Isabelle of course and keep working with Commander Hunter to try to understand what is happening to him. However, I too need rest. If you need anything just press the buzzer. I will be here in sickbay if you need anything.

Finchley nodded, but said nothing as he was very very tired. He could see that Shon was as well and he was glad she was taking time out for herself to rest up. He nodded to Karadis to carry on, she had a ship to run and also get back to Federation space. She was going to need McCrudden for that, boy, he'd pay good money to listen to the dialogue between those two, it would be feisty.

 

RSS Feed