Sickbay was all but deserted. Amelia was the only patient now, locked in the isolation ward with only the EMH for company.
The EMH had told her about the current emergency and the fact that most of the base personnel were off-station. Amelia had taken this fact as her best chance of escape and had tried to hack the door access codes.
As a result she had been sedated once again and put into the isolation ward.
As she recovered from the sedative, she thought back to her recent visitation by Jacen?
Amelia had been asleep when Jacen had arrived in the Infirmary. She had been awakened by the gentle rubbing of her still painful hand.
"Hello again." Jacen said as Amelia awoke.
"Oh great..." she murmured. "It's you..."
"It's nice to see you remembered me. I heard you had a nasty spill with the Romulans."
"Why am I not surprised." Amelia replied. "You seem to know everything."
"Knowledge is..."
"... 'the one true weapon.' Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes. "So, whyhave you tracked me down to the station? If it's about that Latinum..."
"No, no. We have a bigger problem."
"Really ? What would that be ?"
"Keldon."
"Keldon ? Oh please," she laughed quietly. "That Andorian. He's nothing but a pain in the rear."
Jacen smiled softly. "Agreed. I've learned that he has stolen some Section 31 cloning tanks though."
Her eyes narrowed. "You're joking."
Jacen shook his head solemnly. "I'm afraid not. The other problem is that he's sold some of them to the Son'a. I'm only asking you one thing. Please be careful and to watch the Son'a. As always, please relay the information back to me when you have the opportunity."
She sighed. "Alright. As long as you do me a favour."
"Of course."
"Don't get me involved with the business anymore. I'm doing this as a personal favour to you."
"And believe me, I appreciate it." He patted her hand. "I'll leave you alone now. Get better. I also want to see the Mystique up to running order as well. I hope Monica is doing well."
"She is," Amelia replied. "She is." She then drifted back off to sleep.
Amelia came back to the present.
She remembered how refreshed, but also troubled she had felt when she had awoken again. That was when she had decided to make an escape and get off this station. Her recent re-acquaintance with Jacen had made her think that her presence aboard the station wasn't as much of an accident as she had originally thought. Monica had always liked Jacen, but then she was such a flirt when it came to men.
It had been something that Captain Dawson had wanted and he'd always liked the idea of a computer which 'adored' him. However, Jacen was also the reason Captain Dawson was now a corpse floating through space.
Amelia and Dawson had become close during their time together, right from the time he had found her on that backwater planet trying to hack into the planetary computer network.
"So where has everyone gone in such a hurry ?" Amelia asked the EMH, trying to relieve the boredom now that she was full conscious again.
"I have no idea, I'm just a sophisticated computer program combined with a holographic matrix. Force-fields and photons. No one has the good manners to inform me of the current situation. All I know is that I was activated on Stardate 2461238 and told that under no circumstances was I to allow you to leave the Infirmary." The EMH replied.
"You're a second generation EMH, aren't you ?" Amelia enquired.
"I'm actually a third generation Emergency Medical Hologram." The EMH replied confidently. "I am a combination of the continued development of my programming by the holographic programming facility on Jupiter station and the recovered EMH from the USS Voyager. I have the ability to remain on-line for extended periods and can override my shutdown procedures or deactivate myself automatically." He continued.
Great Amelia thought.
"I was involved in the second generation EMH myself." Amelia announced.
"I wasn't around however when Voyager returned home. By then I'd been promoted and moved onto pastures new."
"Interesting, let me check my core programming." The EMH said. "Amelia Donaghy. Rank, Ensign, Majors in Bio-neural computer systems and advanced systems programming. Assigned Jupiter station, Holographic programming facility Stardate 2470. " The EMH began to recite.
"Computer, activate EMH command override Zeta Twelve Alpha, authorisation code Zimmerman." Amelia said quickly.
[Override engaged]
Suddenly the EMH froze in mid-sentence, standing completely immobile in the centre of the room.
"Access EMH direct voice command subroutines."
[Command authorisation is required to access these subroutines.] The Computer announced.
"Override code Zeta Seven Beta, authorisation Donaghy Seven Omega." Amelia replied..
[Override authorisation accepted.]
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." The EMH announced as it went through its originally programmed start-up procedures.
"Release the door lock on the isolation ward." Amelia ordered.
The EMH came over to the door panel and released the door as asked.
"Thanks pal." Amelia said, patting the motionless EMH on the shoulder as she walked past.
She walked into the Doctor's office and started to work on the computer console.
"Computer, show me a schematic of the station." She asked.
Almost immediately the basic schematic of the station appeared on the screen.
"Show me the location of the SS Mystique"
The schematic zoomed to show just the area of the central docking bay.
"Computer. Which is the quickest way to berth seven alpha." Amelia asked.
[That berth is located in the central docking bay. Access to that docking area is restricted to station and Starfleet personnel.] The computer replied.
Amelia left the office and walked towards to locked door. Again she tried to hack the door lock so that she could escape.
After about five minutes, there was a reassuring click as the door locks released.
As she rose from her crouching position, she looked back at the EMH, standing still as a statue by the door to the isolation ward. She walked over the EMH control console and started to access the EHM's short-term memory files, erasing the last ten minutes. Although Amelia had isolated the EMH from its personality subroutines by the command overrides, turning it into a walking mannequin, it would still have recorded everything that had been going on.
"Computer, release Command override Zeta Seven Beta in ten minutes time." Amelia announced as she left the Infirmary.
[Order accepted.]
Amelia quickly made her way along the corridors, seeking out the nearest turbolift.
She knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to the Mystique directly. This would require her to take an around-about route.
Amelia finally found a vacant turbolift and stepped inside.
"Secure doors. Section Two, Deck Eight." Amelia announced.
She stepped out onto the deck and quickly tried to get her bearings.
From the schematics she had seen back in the Infirmary, she knew that each level of the second section had a mini transporter room, consisting of two pads. She was hoping that with the lack of staff available, she could gain access to one of these rooms and transport directly to the ship. The plan was to check the transporter rooms on each level, working upwards.
Hopefully, all before Security discovered her escape from sickbay. Luck was on her side, as she quickly found that the first transporter room was unoccupied and after releasing the door lock, she got inside unseen.
Quickly stepping inside she found the transporter controls and found that all the controls had been locked down. Amelia quickly managed to release the lock-outs and started to program in her destination, using a stored transporter pattern to mask her true identity. Otherwise she would be prevented from transporting to the central docking bay.
Suddenly the lights dimmed and the yellow alert klaxon started to sound.
Guess my ten minutes are up. Time to get moving. She thought. She stepped onto the transporter pad and dissolved into the Ether.