Even The Worm Turned

Posted on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 @ 7:54pm by Lieutenant Natalia Bren M.D. & Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D.

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Piper Medical

* * * Piper Medical Center * * *

Harding sat in his office giving the young man’s file one last good going over. He could, however, have recited it from memory at this point and so his mind began to wander. It went from Ensign Leyva to Cassidy Wilde, and finally to Natalia Bren - soon to be departed ex-chief surgeon. Word had come in from Lt. Tigan that the Trill homeworld had sent both a host and a Guardian who would have to perform the zhian’tara.

Harding didn’t give two damns about the other host. He knew Natalia wouldn’t last that long and it appealed to his sense of justice and that old rule about turnabout being fair play that Leyva be the one to take the Bren symbiont. By the time they arrived, separating him from Bren would be fatal to the host. However, Natalia was on his mind at the moment and he knew time was short. If he intended to speak to her, it was now or never. Rising, he informed the new assistant CMO, Lt. Lo-Tseng, that he would be in Natalia’s isolation room and departed his office.

In her isolation room, Natalia was going in and out of awareness. During the moments she wasn’t outwardly aware, she was inwardly having a conversation with the symbiont. ‘Conversation’, in this case meant ‘argument’. You can’t tell anyone anything!

But we will. We have nearly died at your hands, Natalia.

She woke, slowly, when Harding entered the room. Her dark eyes watched him approach her bedside and she gracelessly snorted. “So the patsy comes with questions?”

“I’ve been called worse, Natalia, usually by you.” Harding smiled, clearly unperturbed by her insult. “Yet you notice who is lying here dying and who isn’t. Where are your so-called associates now? I’m surprised they haven’t attempted to come in and kill you themselves.”

“Maybe the twenty-four/seven watch put on my door has deterred any attempts,” she managed to cough out. In reality, she knew Jonas was undoubtedly lying in wait, trying his best to get at her... or, maybe he was waiting, to see if she died before a host could come for the symbiont.

Bren asserted itself. With a slightly different inflection than Natalia’s normal one, it asked, “What of a new host? Will one be here soon enough?”

“Yes.” Harding left it at that. “You have no need to worry Bren, we’ll take good care of you. Natalia is a lost cause, however.”

“Fuck you, Will,” Natalia ground out. She shuddered as pain radiated through her and smiled slightly, knowing that the symbiont felt it, too. “Just to spite you one more time, I should hold on til a competent... doctor... arrives.” The long statement, following on the heels of her pain, tired her out and she fought to breathe.

Harding’s smile faded, his expression becoming hard as stone. “You wish. It’s a damned good thing I am a man and a doctor of principles, Natalia. After what you did, a lesser man would be tempted to help you along. What did they promise you?”

“They?” Again, she snorted, or at least tried to. She didn’t have enough breath in her to do it properly. “You think I’m just going to spill...” my guts... already doing that, thanks to the blonde bitch “...everything just because you ask?”

“No need, really, we’ll get whatever we need after the transplant. I actually came in to check on you and see if you needed anything for the pain.” Harding’s voice softened. “I may not agree with your methods or intent, but you are still my patient.”

“Huh,” she grunted and smiled. At her late stage of dying, the smile was gruesomely lopsided. “They think... those methods... and intent are yours,” her eyes watched him, “Not mine.”

“Not for long. Once Bren has found a better home, we’ll have the truth of it.” Harding shrugged. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

“No, I didn’t...,” she rasped.

“Very well.” Harding turned his attention the the arch above Natalia and checked her vitals. There was no new information there, only the signs of a life running out. It saddened and angered him at once. She had been a gifted surgeon and he couldn’t fathom what had been enough of a lure to draw her down the path she had chosen.

“...and I never will,” Natalia managed to say. “I was going to live forever.” But now, there was no chance she’d even live through the end of the day. As Harding watched, her vital signs dipped low and bounced back.

“You don’t know that Natalia. What happened was a freak accident. They’ve been stable so far but who knows how long that will last? Do you know that it caused some issues with repairing the shots he took to the chest? Tell me, when someone is wounded and placed in stasis, what happens?”

Her eyes were closed now and she didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to open them. “Nothing. No healing,” she answered him, though each word was labored.

“Exactly. It took some inventive thinking to force the cells to re-grow. Which means he and Sulan are fine as long as they don’t get seriously injured.” A sudden thought dawned on him. “You didn’t.”

An eye opened and stared at him. “Not an accident. Not for Jack...son or Su...lan... or me.... Supposed to... live forever.”

“You rigged it to blow?” Harding’s tone was one of pure shock. When she gave a faint nod, he pressed his hands to his eyes. “Good god in heaven, Natalia. How ….stupid could you be? Do you realize that’s why I can do nothing for you now??”

“C'est la vie,” she sighed. Again, her vitals dipped. This time, they didn’t bounce back, not immediately; even when they did, they were still lower than before. Natalia Bren was actively dying.

“What a waste.” Harding gave a deep sigh. “Looks like I'll be staying here a while then. I can’t let those two go unwatched and unprotected. There’s nothing I can do about you though. We were never meant to be immortal, you know that. It had to backfire somehow.”

Natalia didn’t answer. Quietly, she slipped away while above her, the quiet monitor came to alarming life, alerting anyone listening that its occupant had died.

Harding pressed the panel to silence the monitors and then a record button. “Chief Medical Officer William Harding. Patient name Dr. Natalia Bren, time of death 1500 hours.” Now he was in motion. Tapping his comm badge, he began issuing orders. “Mi, Ophelia, get in here now! Chanella, we’ll need you as well and Crewman Leighis, call Ensign Leyva and get him here on the double. Go!”

Immediately sickbay sprang to life and the doors to the isolation room opened. Mi was rolling in a small stasis chamber even as Ophelia and Chanella ran in, another mobile biobed between them, and began setting up the room for the surgery. Already the arch had been removed and Mi was busy removing Natalia’s gown and draping her.

“As soon as Leyva arrives, get him in here. And you,” he addressed Aleksa, who still stood guard outside. Other than Leyva, no one else gets through those doors.” He turned and held out his arms as Ophelia slipped the robe on and Chanella added a cap and mask to Harding’s face. “Thanks ladies. Now let’s do this.”

_______________________
Natalia
Deceased

Bren
Soon to be Transplanted

Dr. William Harding
Tireless For Now