Karissa rose from her seat across from Ensign Erin O'Keefe. The Ensign was a
young girl with straight, blond hair pulled back away from her face, and green
eyes. She was on her first assignment on a starship and was struggling with
being away from home.
"Let me see you back here next week," Karissa smiled gently. "Between now and then, I'd like you to make two lists. One of all the things you have accomplished while being posted to the Ronin . . . and not just physical achievements, but any emotional ones as well! And then on the other, I want you to make a list of what you believe you would have accomplished had you stayed planetside . . . "
"Okay," the girl replied with a soft smile. "I'll do that." She stood from her seat on the couch, and straightened her uniform.
"Good!" Karissa smiled. "I think you'll find that you've grown a lot . . . "
Erin's smile brightened. "See you next week, Karissa . . . uhm, Commander . . ."
"Karissa," she replied.
The girl nodded, as her green eyes shined. With a final good-bye, she left the office. As Karissa watched her leave, she smiled. Knowing that Erin was going to be fine, she went to pick up one of the many PADDs on her desk. Suddenly, her hand started jerking mildly. She stopped with concerned curiosity. In moments, it seemed to diminish, so she grab the PADD and continued with her work.
Later that day, Karissa took a moment and grabbed herself a cold glass of milk. Suddenly, she felt the shaking she had experienced earlier return. As she held the glass, the milk sloshed around, threatening to fall over the sides. She quickly set the glass down on a table. She watched her hands as they jerked spasmodically. But now she felt the tremors going up her arms and into her back.
Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment, she worked on gaining control of her body. She took deep breaths and attempted to relax her muscles. It worked, as the tremors disappeared. A bit fatigued, she sat down and sipped at her milk, debating about going to sickbay . . . But she had been fatigued so often as of late due to her pregnancy, she reasoned that the shaking could just be her body telling her she needed more rest. With that thought, she finished her milk and continued on with her day. She was scheduled to go to the bridge for the rest of her shift.
Karissa couldn't wait for Alpha Shift to end. She was so tired, she could hardly keep her eyes open. Ryan has thrown her a few concerned glances, but she had always smiled them away. After all, she was pregnant. Her body was working overtime. It was expected that she was going to be tired, and didn't think twice about it. However, she had also been fighting off the tremors in her body. They seemed to be getting worse, though no one on the bridge noticed them. She had tried to control them to the best of her abilities, and she had, for the most part. But as she walked to her quarters, the jerking progressed to her legs. They started to feel like jello. Entering her quarters, she sighed with relief. Maybe she would just lie down and take a nap. But before she could head to her bedroom, she spotted Torasu lazing about on the back of her couch. She smiled and went to him stroking his black fur.
"Hello there," she smiled.
He softly meowed at her, meeting her eyes for a moment, and then began to purr. But suddenly, her hand began to tremble again, followed by her arms and her other hand. It seemed to progress through her legs and body . . . This time, she couldn't force it away. Her whole body was jerking. Involuntarily, she slid to the floor. She couldn't stand up . . . Her legs would not support her. Immediately, Torasu was in her lap, peering into her face.
"It's okay . . ." she replied. "I'll . . . I'll go to sickbay . . . I'll be . . . fine . . ." But she couldn't control her body enough to hit her commbadge. Though she was conscious, her mind was slowly fading . . . Things turing gray and fuzzy . . . Suddenly, she slumped backwards, all the way to the floor, her body still jerking.
Torasu climbed on her chest, and nuzzled her face with his. She didn't react. Immediately, he jumped from her and ran to the door. As the door opened, he ran off down the corridor toward the turbo lift.
Tyran had just walked into the quarters he now shared with Dinara. She was going to be late, he had known already. She'd made a commitment to help out a friend with something personal, was what she had told him.
He went to the replicator and got himself a mug of coffee, and then settled down at his desk. He always seemed to have work to do, he mused as he pick up a PADD. Suddenly the door to his quarters slid open. He watched as a black furry figure ran in.
"Torasu?" he asked, as he put the PADD down.
Immediately, the cat was at his feet, meowing incessantly. He also walked back and forth before him.
"What's gotten into you, little buddy?" he asked, as he picked Torasu up.
Torasu wriggled and squirmed his way out of Tyran's arms and landed gracefully back on the floor. Tyran gave a curious look at him, went to the couch and laid down with his PADD. He got to work again. He felt Torasu jumping onto the couch. He continued reading. Suddenly Torasu's face appeared where the PADD was, as he pushed it out of the way.
"I got work to do. Now go on,
shoo!" Torasu got off Tyran's lap and ran to the door. There he sat in
the doorway so that the door would remain open. "Hey, come on now! Enough's
enough, if you don't start behaving, I'll get you shaven again," Tyran
joked. Torasu just sat there. This is ridiculous, thought Tyran. He got up to
try and bring Torasu inside, but as Tyran approached, Torasu ran off down the
corridor and sat down once again. Tyran followed after him, not knowing what
had gotten into him. As he approached Torasu, the cat got up again and ran another
few meters down the corridor. "You want me
to follow you somewhere?"
Torasu let out a meow.
Tyran was starting to get a little fed up of being led around the ship when Torasu disappeared through a door. Tyran walked up. He glanced at the name on the door.
Lt. Cmdr. Karissa Bentara
Counselor
What on Earth is going on here?
Tyran pressed the chime and waited patiently. He wasn't eager to trespass in someone's quarters. He didn't get a response. He rang again, but still nothing. "Karissa, are you in there?" he called.
He heard a moan from inside and Torasu meowing. He tapped his access code into the access panel and stepped in.
The image that greeted him was of Karissa sprawled out across the floor, on her back. Her growing abdomen apparent through the tight Starfleet uniform. For a moment, he watched in shock as her body jerked unnaturally, without ceasing.
"Tyran . . ." she said, just barely above a whisper.
"Karissa?" he asked, running to her side. "Wha... what's wrong?"
"I . . .don't know . . ." she replied. " I can't . . . can't seem to . . . stop this . . . " There was fear in her dark eyes. "Couldn't get . . . to sickbay . . ." Every word was a struggle.
Tyran tapped his comm badge, "Tyran to Sickbay, emergency transport needed in Karissa's quarters." Within seconds, Karissa disappeared in a beam of blue light and was gone. He sat back on the floor. Torasu came up and nuzzled him. "Well done, little buddy. Well done," he said, as he stroked him on the head. Tyran picked him up and left Karissa's quarters. "Tyran to Captain Evans, I think you'd better head to sickbay."
[What for?]
"It's Karissa, Captain."
[I'm on my way]
"Let's pray she's going to be ok, shall we?" he whispered to Torasu, as they returned to his quarters.
Will had managed to stop the ferocity of the body tremors by sedating Karissa. She rested quietly, with a mild jerking throughout her body. He sat at his desk and glanced at her periodically as he went over the scans he had just taken of her. Things didn't look good . . .
Suddenly, the door to sickbay opened. He watched as Captain Evans entered. He stood and walked out to meet up with him, as Ryan went to Karissa's bedside.
"What's wrong with her?" Ryan asked with concern
"Her nervous system is collapsing . . .," he said, staring down at his patient, with mixed emotions coursing through him. "Her major organs are also in the beginning stages of shutting down," he said, shaking his head sadly.
"So what does this mean? She's dying??" Ryan asked with disbelief.
"Unless we can figure out why this is happening to her," he replied, "But I haven't found a cause yet . . . I don't understand it . . ."
"Commander Kira, Lieutenant Wang, report to sickbay immediately," Ryan said, tapping his commbadge. He looked at Hancock. "I want the three of you working around the clock to find out what's causing this, and how to stop it," Ryan ordered.
"Of course, Captain," Will replied. Out of reflex, and needing something to do, he scanned her again. Suddenly, something caught his attention that he hadn't noticed before. "This is curious . . . As soon as Lt. Wang arrives, he'll want to see this . . .There seems to be something . . . different . . . Excuse me one moment," he said, stepping away from the bed and heading back to his desk. He immediately pulled up Karissa's previous files. He looked over all the scans that had been done, and the one thing that was apparent was a decrease in an enzyme that had previously been strong in her system. Now it was nonexistent . . .
Ryan followed Will back to his office. "Well?" he asked.
"I'm not sure what this means, but there's an enzyme that's missing in her body . . . I didn't pick it up before, because production in her body began to decrease after she became pregnant . . . It was a possibility that it was a normal response to the changes her body was make for the pregnancy . . . Now I'm not so sure that's the case . . . "
"So what you're saying is, this isn't natural. Someone has done this to her?"
"What I think . . . and Lt. Wang should be able to prove this . . . is that this is a direct result from Karissa's genetic engineering . . ." he replied, with a sigh as he squeezed the bridge of his nose trying to relieve a mild headache that was growing.
"Dammit!" said Ryan, pounding on the glass of Will's office. "Will you be able to synthesize the enzyme?" Ryan asked, trying to control himself.
"Perhaps with Ming's help . . . I'll have to go back through her entire medical history and find the correct level she should have in her system . . . This might take time . . . and I'm not sure how much time she actually has . . . " He shook his head and looked back at Karissa once again. "Never thought things would turn out like this . . ."
"Do what you can," Ryan said.
Ming and Kira entered sickbay and approached the office where they were.
"Gentlemen, Doctor Hancock will explain everything to you." He left and headed for Karissa's bed. "No one rests until she's awake! Is that clear?" he said.
The three officers nodded their heads in acknowledgment as they got to work. Ryan walked over to Karissa and sat down at her bedside. He took her hand and brushed back the hair from her face, tenderly caressing her cheek.
"This is getting to be quite
a regular occurrence," he started, sadly. "Pull through again. You
can't leave me . . . not now, not like this . . ."