Breaking The Curse
Posted on Thu Mar 24th, 2016 @ 10:15pm by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Solis & Jackson Banning V & Commander Oralia Zeferino
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: Piper Medical Center
* Piper Medical Center *
“You should go get some rest Jackson. You’ve been here for hours.” The concerned voice belonged to Dr. William Harding, who stood looking at the wall panel that displayed the sensor readings over the past hour.
For his part, Jackson sat perched on the counter that ran along the wall, watching as Will checked Oz’s readings.
“I’ll rest once we’re outta here, Will,” he said. “She’s my life an’ while she’s in here, so am I.”
“I understand but I have to say, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, you look like hell,” Will mused. “Better not let Jan see you like this or she will drag you out of here and I’ll let her.” He flashed a smile at Jackson. “I do have some good news.”
“Let’s hear it then.” Jackson brushed back his hair and now his gaze shifted from Oz to the doctor.
“The nanoprobes are doing their work perfectly, which means I did my work perfectly. Programming them is tricky but I had a crash course from Six back when Eli was in danger.” Will looked from the panel to Jackson. “So now, your wife and your son of sorts are both carrying Borg tech in their veins. It raises an interesting issue. You are aware, of course, that the nanoprobes will continue to repair forever more as long as they are in their bloodstreams. Even the tiniest issue will be repaired instantly, or as fast as they possibly can do it. You follow me?”
Jackson thought about that for a moment and realization slowly dawned. “Includin’ cellular decay?”
Will smiled ear to ear. “Now you’re beginning to get the picture. Yes, even the cellular decay that comes with aging. I know that’s always been something of an issue for you and Oz - the fact that she does age and you so far do not. There’s still a lot we don’t know about you but as for her, and Eli of course, their pace has slowed down considerably.”
“An’ Dae too?” Jackson asked.
“Yes, Commander Nalas as well. I thought you’d like to give Oz the good news when she awakens. That doesn’t mean she’s invincible, mind you,” Will warned. “That’s something you need to keep in mind as well.”
“Well sure,” Jackson replied. He was smiling though, unable to stop himself. Will had, basically, just given him a lot of extra years with Oz, assuming no major disasters. “Still, it’s somethin’ ta look forward to.Thank you Will.”
Dr. Harding nodded. “That brings me to you. All of the rescue and away teams have been ordered to see the counselors. Make sure you do. In addition to Oz being assimilated, you had to take over command of the mission, and now this. It’s a lot to pack into a few days, even for you. It’s also getting to be that time Jackson. With all that’s been going on, the date slipped up on us.”
Jackson looked at the time and date showing on the wall panel. It was time for his yearly review, which meant a whole host of tests and an in-depth report to Starfleet Command. With admiral Wegener’s promotion to command of Delta Quadrant operations, at least this one could be done in person this time.
“Yeah, so it has,” he agreed. “But it’ll have to wait till Oz is outta here and we have a few days at home to catch up with each other. I wanna see Li too, then I’m all yours.”
“I don’t expect any changes, but I like being sure.” Will tapped the panel on the biobed arch. “Alright, I’m going to wake her up, at least for a short while. You’ll have two hours, then I’m putting her back under. The nanoprobes are good but the more rest she gets, the better. Solis will be doing an exam of her later tonight when he gets in, then we’ll decide about tomorrow.”
“Gotcha. I promise I’ll go get somethin’ ta eat once she’s asleep again.”
“And some sleep yourself. Ophelia will see that a bed is brought in for you.” Will pressed a hypospray to Oz’s neck, the hiss loud in the quiet room. “Alright kids. I’ll see you in two hours.” He patted Jackson on the shoulder as he went out.
Jackson hopped down from the counter and pulled his chair over to the biobed. Then he waited anxiously for Oz’s eyes to open.
She opened one eye partway. “Do I know you?”, she asked.
“You better. If not, I’ll lock the door an’ remind ya.” He smiled back at her. “How ya feelin’?”
Smiling slightly, she tried to sit up and thought better of that. “Like I’ve gone a few rounds with Gilroy and Darwin, without any body armor. I heard a rumor that I tried to die on you again.”
“You sure as hell did. Gave me an’ Li quite a scare.” He took her hand in his. “Don’t sit up. Will’s givin’ ya two hours awake, by the way.” He kissed her hand gently and smiled. “What you went through would kick both their asses, Oz. The good news is, the little critters in your bloodstream have fixed things right up. Better than the original, to quote Solis.”
“Tell that to my mother...,” she said then panicked, “Oh! My parents! Gods, are they okay?”
“Yeah, they’re doin’ alright. They were all here for a while, with Chance, but I finally sent ‘em all home,” he informed her. “Nothin’ they could do ‘cept sit, ya know? An’ as highly as I think of ‘em, what little time you have awake right now is all mine.”
“Okay, okay. Mr. Selfish,” she smiled, blinking slowly. “So I’m part Borg now?” She took a deep breath and felt a slight hitch in her side. She didn’t think anything of it, yet, and decided to reserve any deep introspection for sometime later. “Have you been home at all, babe? You look a little rough.” She reached up to touch his jawline.
“No, but I promised Will I’d go eat and catch a few winks once he puts you back under. That way I’ll be up and about when Solis comes in later tonight to examine ya.” Jackson paused and turned his head to kiss her fingertips. “There’s somethin’ you should know.”
“You’re going to show your appreciation for Solis by kissing him?”, she made a joking guess. Already, her arm was tired; she put her hand against his chest.
“No, as cute as he is,” Jackson joked right back. “First, yer gonna be in here for a while longer so the nanoprobes can finish their work.That means rest an’ not moving around. Li’s sworn to put you on desk duty for a while even after you’re back. You’ve got to take the time and let this all heal right an’ you’ll be fine. The other thing is...a little more complicated. You know the nanoprobes will continue to repair damage, even down at the cellular level, as Will put it. That includes wear an’ tear on those cells that come with aging. They will continue to fix that as it shows up. You get what I’m sayin’ here?”
“Huh... um...,” she tried to focus; she’d heard ‘desk duty for a while’, ‘take the time’, ‘more complicated’, ‘repair damage’, and ‘aging’. She blinked slowly; breathing was still surprisingly tiring. “Okay, I get it,” she nodded, even though she hadn’t yet put it together.
Jackson could see that the pieces were still ...pieces, not the whole picture. “What that means is that your rate of aging has now slowed down to a crawl, Oz.”
She continued just staring at him, a slight furrow between her brows. “Slowed. Like you? Think we’ll ... oh.” Her light bulb went on. “I get it. We’ll age together.”
“At the very least,” he answered. “We don’t know everything but that’s the basic idea. I thought that might make ya feel a little better.”
“Hmm... I’m sure it will, once I’m vertical. At the moment, I’m tired.” She smiled at him till another thought hit her. “Oh, hey, this means I’m harder to injure,” she grinned.
Jackson snorted. “Don’t let that give you ideas, got that?”
She chuckled. “Oh, all right. I’ll behave. Did any of the doctors say when I can go home?”
“No, not yet. The rest I can get outta Earl is ‘we’ll see’. They are being cautious and with good reason,” Jackson told her. “That rumour about you tryin’ ta die? Wasn’t just rumour. When Earl came to ask permission to use the nanoprobes, he said it was that or we’d be havin’ another memorial.”
Blinking, she shook her head. “That’s not okay. The crew couldn’t do another memorial. I’m glad there was an option. And that you took it, J. I kinda like being by your side.” She smiled.
Jackson licked his lips, debating on how much he should say. He’d never been one to mince words with Oz, so he didn’t see the need to start now. Finally, he spoke.
“I….I was terrified Oz. After all it took to get ya, I don’t know what I woulda done if I’d lost ya.” He raised her hand to his lips a moment. “Two close calls in such a short time was two too many.”
“J,” she said quietly, “it is too many; you’ve had your close calls, too.” Granted, none back-to-back or in the last... she couldn’t recall how long ago the last time was. “Would you rather I retire?”
“Absolutely not,” he answered immediately. “You would be miserable. All I want is for ya ta take it easy for a little while? Yer actually a good bit sturdier now than ya were before. I think we just need a little non-crisis time.”
“Darwin thinks of me as fragile. Has he told you that?” She chuckled. “Iggy told me that ... or...,” her brows drew together, “maybe I read that while we were part of the hive mind. Anyway, I hope I’m sturdier than that now. My parents are here. How about we take them somewhere on Archadia? Maybe Eli and his parents could join us.” She had included Chance in with her parents, as if he might go on a vacation without Eli.
“Maybe a little later. You’ll be here for several more days an’ then I’m takin’ ya home and I don’t want to be interrupted for a while.” He grinned back at her. “The only interruption I’ll stand for is someone deliverin’ food.”
“Well... um... my folks might have somethin’ to say about that, J. Maybe the occasional lunch with them?”
“I suppose,” he joked. “Just so they’ll know yer doin’ okay.” Behind him, the door opened and Solis stepped in.
“Well, well, hello Oz. You’re looking well, all things considered.” He smiled at her as he moved past the biobed and looked at the scans displayed on the panel.
“Nanoprobes will do that, I’ve heard,” she said, watching him. She held Jackson’s hand and her vitals showed a small spike of anxiety.
“Nothing to worry about Oz, everything looks fine,” Solis assured her. He made a few notes in his padd, then slipped it into his pocket. “I am, however, going to sedate you once more. Dr. Harding said two hours and I actually let you go a little over. Don’t tell him, okay?”
“Tell him what?” Oz laughed but that quickly made her pant for breath. “J, love you,” she murmured to Jackson. “I’ll see you in a bit, then. Maybe next time, you could let my mom in? She’s probably worried herself sick.”
“I will.” He leaned down to kiss her gently. “Now, I am gonna go eat and catch a little sleep. You don’t worry about a thing, got it?”
“You too, J. I’m in good hands, right, Solis?” She winked at the doctor.
“The best.” Solis smiled at the two of them. “Say nighty-night Oz.” He held the hypospray ready.
“Nighty-night,” Oz waggled her fingers at Jackson then was quickly asleep once Solis pressed the hypospray to her neck.
“Go on, get outta here, go do some normal human thing,” Solis ordered. “Like sleep. You’re not a Vulcan, you have limits.” He smiled and wrapped his arm around Jackson’s shoulders. “We’ll call when she wakes up.”
Jackson nodded. “Thanks. Ophelia’s got a room ready here somewhere she said.”
Solis waved to Chanella. “Chan will take you. Rest well, Jackson.”
****************
Oralia Zeferino
Sleeping Beauty
Lt. Commander William Harding, M.D.
Bearer Of Good News
Jackson Banning V
Owner & Relieved Husband
The Nexus Club
Lt. Solis
Giving Orders As Usual
