Part IV.
From Crisis to Critical

Lt. Heidegger

The doors to sickbay flew open and Lt.Heidegger almost jumped in. Dr. Zimmerman, Nurse McCullan and the female EMH looked at the Lieutenant as if they had expected someone else.

"Hello there, err, I was on my way to the bridge, but it appears that we are already under attack. Does anyone of you know what´s going on?"

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

Almost certain that either Counselor Kerix or the first among Plato's wounded would be coming into Sickbay, Dr. Zimmerman and Nurse McCullan were somewhat startled to find Lt.Heidegger stumbling in.

"Hello there. Err..." he stuttered breathlessly, "...I was on my way to the bridge, but it appears that we are already under attack." He looked at each of them, including the EMH. "Does anyone of you know what´s going on?"

"All I know is that the fleet was attacked by the Jem'Hadar a few hours ago. Then the ship went to warp," replied Zimmerman.

They watched the morale officer bend over to catch his breath.

"Actually, it's a good thing you came when you did, Lieutenant..."

Heidegger looked up, "Why's that, Doctor?"

"You and the counselor can serve to comfort any victims we receive for treatment, distract them from their pain or panic. And, judging by the hit we just took, rest assured wounded are on their way to us as we speak."

It was a sound plan, and Heidegger nodded. As he straightened in anticipation of his mission, he looked to the third person in medical uniform.

Dr. Zimmerman noticed Heidegger's shift of attention. "This is our emergency medical hologram," he said with a pleasant smile, "Doctor? Morale Officer Lt. Heidegger."

Nurse McCullan watched astounded as Zimmerman introduced the morale officer to the computerized projection as though she were a real doctor. Either Heidegger shared her superior's eccentric regard or simply humored him: he politely asked the EMH how she was and shook her hand. And there was Zimmerman: his head tilted, observing the EMH's little quirks with a ridiculous expression situated somewhere between infatuation and pride. It was all too strange.

In a microsecond, the tone of the room changed as engineers with plasma burns staggered through the door. Medics carried in someone who had been near a console blast. They went into their routine as planned, with the EMH handling plasma burn victims, while Heidegger and the now-present Counselor Angel Kerix calmed and comforted them as best they could. Meanwhile, Dr. Zimmerman prepped for surgery and set to work on the blast victim. He worked with a speed and precision which dazzled McCullan; she found she had to scramble at times to keep up with his requests. His focus was keen and his hand steady, with not a single slipup. She had never seen anyone perform surgery with such expertise, and knew that alone would warrant him additional protection.

Two more plasma burn victims made it in. "Doctor," McCullan started. Without looking up, he instructed her to finish off treating the earlier burn victims with a dermal regenerator to allow the EMH to move on to their new arrivals. "I'll finish this patient off on my own. I'll be fine. The medics will clean him up when I'm done."

The nurse nodded and went to the biobeds, making her way around portable guerneys hastily set up beyond the surgical bay. In one fluid movement, the EMH passed the dermal regenerator into McCullan's hand, scooped up a medical tricorder for her new assignments...

(There's an Astrometrics?)
Lt. Cmdr Natalie Janeway

Natalie was going over star charts in Astrometrics when she felt a large jolt and stumbled...nearly falling into the console she was working at.

"What the heck was that??" She said to herself.

Barely getting her footing, Natalie felt another sudden jolt which sent her off balance, this time she did hit her head on the console. The console sparked.. "Ouch..god, what the heck is going on?" She said with her hand to her head.

She got to her feet and stumbled to sickbay..blinking to keep her vision clear. She managed to get to sickbay and made her way inside.
She looked at the doctor and Nurse McCullan.

"I need some...help here." She barely got inside the door when she suddenly felt very dizzy and collapsed onto the floor.

OPs Lt. Raganzi

Raganzi was nearly jolted off her feet as the Plato was struck without warning. Grimacing, she stood back up and tried to ignore the bruise on her stomach after hitting the console so sharply.

It was hard to believe that only this far into the mission, they were already under attack...

Lt. Heidegger

The door to sickbay opened again and this time Lt.Commander Janeway entered.
Lt.Heidegger noticed that something wasn´t right.

"I need some...help here" she whispered and collapsed onto the floor.

"Doctor Zimmerman" Lt.Heidegger shouted.

The Doctor and the Morale Officer rushed to the unconscious Stellar Cartographer and carried her to the next biobed.

"I hope the guys up there on the bridge will do something quickly, otherwise we´ll have half of the crew here in sickbay in no time!" Lt.Heidegger said.

The Doctor and the Morale Officer glimpsed at each other. They both knew he was right.

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

"Doctor Zimmerman" Lt.Heidegger shouted.

With Zimmerman still occupied in the surgical bay, the holographic doctor and the morale officer rushed to Lt. Cmdr. Janeway and carried her to a newly freed biobed.

"I hope the guys up there on the bridge will do something quickly, otherwise we´ll have half of the crew here in sickbay in no time!" Lt.Heidegger said.

The EMH and Heidegger looked at eachother for a moment. Then, the hologram diagnosed Janeway. The stellar cartographer sustained minor burns and a bump on the head. The EMH looked in McCullan's direction. "Nurse: this one requires dermal regeneration - and a minor analgesic when she comes to," she said before heading to her next patient.

Lt. Kovala

Kovala was almost knocked to the ground by the ship jolting from a blow. She surmised that it must be the Jem'Hadar attacking. Her mind was racing as she went over the instruments. So soon into their first mission, and they were already diverted...

Another blow knocked some of her and her crew to the ground. A some of them were burned by plasma from that one, and Kovala herself felt a stab of pain in her arm. She looked down and saw some charred flesh on her right forearm, but channeled her Klingon guard and ignored the sering pain. The bridge crew would be counting on her to get them outta there if the need came...

She made sure that everything was stable for the moment and mustered her strength to pick up two of her inured people to hoist to Sickbay.

"Engineering to Sickbay, I'm on my way down with some injuries here, but there are more, I need someone to come and help them!"

As she entered the turbolift, the people she was carrying groaned in pain. She hoped this would be over soon, her crew was small to begin with, that another blast could make her the only one down in Engineering...

"Sickbay," She ordered to the turbolift.

She entered Sickbay, handing the people to Nurse McCullan and some blonde female she did not know. The Doctor was already busy with some other injuries. Lt. Heidegger was there for some reason, but she didn't have the time to ask.

She hoped they wouldn't notice her own burn and turned to leave to get back to Engineering where she was needed. Her burn could wait...

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

Dr. Zimmerman completed his surgery and medics cleaned up and transferred the patient to a gurney for recovery. He surveyed the situation: many had already been treated and sent on their way. Predictably enough, the majority of wounded seemed to originate from Engineering.

Lt. Kovala's voice came through on the comm system: "Engineering to Sickbay, I'm on my way down with some injuries here, but there are more, I need someone to come and help them!"

Zimmerman tapped his combadge. "Acknowledged." More on their way... he contacted and dispatched medics down to Deck 11 with stretchers.

He aked the EMH for a status report. "We have several plasma burn cases, two trauma, and the stellar cartographer's condition is stable."

Zimmerman looked down at Janeway on the gurney.

"She's bound to wake up any moment," said the hologram. "I even took the liberty of administering a mild analgesic to minimize her impending headache."

"Good, good," he said, pondering. "She can recuperate the rest of the way in her quarters. We'll need that bed. Several more are coming in from Engineering, and with far more serious injuries."

The EMH complied and initiated a site to site transport so that Janeway would wake up in the comfort of her quarters. Then she and Counselor Kerix met Lt. Kovala's crew coming through the door.

Zimmerman and medics moved one of the trauma cases to the surgical bay...

Head Nurse Lt(jg) Kat McCullan

A Sickbay was probably one of the most tense, if not downright frantic places on a ship during Red Alert, in fact probably only pipped in the sheer stress-level stakes by the command centre. There were the highs, the lows, the lulls and the moments of hectic activity, but it was always the waiting that was the worst, in her experience. There hadn't been any waiting today though - one minute they'd sprung to Red Alert, practically the next they were flooded. Mainly plasma burns, which were easy enough to treat - a wave of a dermal regenerator and they were usually right, thank goodness. Unfortunately, to her experienced eyes, at least a few of the engineers now being hustled through the doorway in varying states of both consciousness and vertical orientation would require something more. If Sickbay was one of the most frantic places to be during a Red Alert, then Engineering was undoubtedly the most hazardous. With both Zimmerman and the EMH working on their two current serious trauma (virtually unaided, she noted with some discomfort), it fell to her not only to deal with walking wounded already present, but to appropriately assess and deal with the new arrivals. Couple that with the two surgeries already in progress she should have been assisting with and she was doing the work of an entire nursing department on her own. But there was nothing to be done about that now, so instead she offered up a silent curse in language present company would no doubt have been shocked to have heard, and diverted her attention to the first of the engineers to be carried through the door.

A quick scan revealed nothing more serious than a concussion, which, while causing the woman's current state of unconsciousness, was not immediately life-threatening. She could wait - under monitoring, so she directed the two medics to one of the increasingly few remaining free biobeds and turned her attention to the next one, who hobbled in on a broken ankle. The third and fourth were more plasma burns, while the fifth had somehow made a right mess of his hand - surgery would be required, if she was any judge at all, to repair the damage done to the fragile bones there. But he could wait, also, if there was someone with more pressing needs, so he was sent off with a hypospray of painkiller and some terse instructions. The next stretcher-case, though, was a different matter entirely - Katherine didn't even need to glance at the tricorder to diagnose him - there was no mistaking a flail chest, and there'd doubtlessly be severe internal injuries. He was already bringing up frothy, bright red blood, a sure indicator that at least one lung had been punctured, possibly both. She immediately led the two techs over to a bed and helped them raise the man up onto it, pausing only to snag Lt. Heidegger by the arm as she passed, pressing the dermal regenerator and tricorder into his hands.

"Here's a way for you to really improve some morale, Mr. Heidegger," she told him by way of explanation. "Call me if you have any problems." Her next comment, however, was directed at the surgical bay. "Doctor! If you have a moment!"

Lt. Heidegger

Lt. Heidegger observed the doctor, the hologram, and nurse McCullan. They were doing an excellent job, no doubt of that, but more and more injured crew members entered sickbay.

"We could really use a handfull of docs and nurses right now" he thought to himself.

Then Head Nurse McCullan snagged his left arm and pressed a dermal regenerator and a tricorder into his cold hands.

"Here´s a way for you to really improve some moral, Mr.Heidegger. Call me if you have any problems" she told him briefly.

"Yes, Ma´am" Lt.Heidegger replied and tried to handle the new situation. His medical knowledge was quite limited, but he knew how to use a med tricorder and a dermal regenerator.

Of course this would improve some morale, but it wasn´t really his job. Using a tricorder and other med stuff was just one part of the whole game. It was much more complex. But maybe a nurse and a morale officer had to have different points of view in this matter, he wasn´t sure.

"A kingdom for a quiet morning" he thought and focused on his two patients again.

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

Repairing an ensign's broken ribs took little time for someone of Dr. Zimmerman's calibre of medical expertise. While instructing waiting medics to clean up and move the recovering crewman, he heard an urgent call from his nurse out front. A hasty instruction went to the EMH to coordinate treatment and assign any necessary medics to assist her. He noticed in passing that Heidegger and Kerix continued their handholding of patients, which appeared to be doing wonders, while incoming medics took over their regeneration efforts.

The doctor bent over a critically injured engineer, his eyes intense and expression stern. With the surgical bay vacated, he secretly thanked his having been assigned to the same class starship as Voyager, and instructed precise coordinates for a site to site transport of the victim. She rematerialized in the main surgical biobed while Zimmerman activated the diagnostic arch and put her into cryostasis. With a glance, Nurse McCullan was on the other side to help, handing him a hypospray of Anesthizine.

"Transfer the patient's respiratory functions," he instructed. The Nurse complied, and assisted him with the grueling task of restoring damaged lungs and broken ribs.

In the meantime, the EMH finished her latest trauma victim and joined the small team of medics, handling plasma burns and sending the recovered back to their posts. The numbers started to dwindle at last, and from the main area, Dr. Zimmerman's commanding but steady voice could be heard:

"Transfer all respiratory functions back to the patient." Once done, with breathing restored to normal, the patient was taken out of cryostasis. "I want to keep her here for monitoring, he said. Then, satisfied, he looked up and across the bed at Nurse McCullan. He heaved a deep sigh and smiled.

Head Nurse Lt(jg) Kat McCullan

Zimmerman was good, she had to admit. Very good, in fact. This was certainly the fasted she'd ever seen this proceudre done. They were in and out in almost half the time she'd have expected them to take, from the moment she'd transferred the engineer's repiratory functions over to the computer to their return and the removal of cryostasis. She was impressed - and she wasn't often. There was definatly a lot more to this doctor than he was telling - and she hadn't missed the EMH's comment about his 'exclusive maintence'. Taken as it stood, it was one hell of an odd term to use for overseeing someone's health, but... She shrugged mentally to herself and returned both the sigh and smile the man offered from the other side of the biobed. The room was more or less clear now, with only a few minor injuries left, which the medics and the EMH seemed to be dealing with well. She glanced down at the unconscious engineer and then back up at her CMO.

"Do you want me to touch base with Engineering to find out exactly how this happened? You know as well as I do that the most common cause of this sort of injury is a high-velocity impact."

Zimmerman frowned. "That might be a good idea, yes. I rather suspect someone wasn't following the safety regulations."

"My thoughts exactly. But in that case it would probably look better coming from you. Let me know what you decide," Katherine repleid absently, watching as another crewmember headed out of the room under their own power. There were only a couple of casualties left now, none of them serious. Well, they could handle that on their own now.

"Computer, de-activate EMH."

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

Dr. Zimmerman's eyes widened, and he glared at his nurse for a moment. He caught his anger before it could erupt and calmly said, "I would have been more than happy to allow her to continue what she was doing while I took a momentary break." He walked from the surgical bay. "I'm sure you could use a break yourself. Computer: activate the EMH."

The holographic doctor rematerialized, her expression a little miffed. "I had one more patient," she said.

"I know," said Dr. Zimmerman in a consoling tone. "You go right ahead and finish up. The nurse and I will be in my office if you need us. And if I don't get the chance later: I want to thank you for all your help. Your performance was exemplary."

The EMH smiled with gratitude, then went over to her final patient.

Mark entered the office and sat down. He keyed in a command and the LCARS display was ready for entry. As Nurse McCullan slowly entered the room, he commanded: "Computer, list all crew members who have entered sickbay over the past three hours, and transfer the data to this station..."

Then, as the computer vocally listed all those who passed through sickbay's doors and the time, he noticed that McCullan was just staring at him.

"Is there a problem, Nurse?"

Dr. Mark Zimmerman
Head Nurse Kat McCullan

Completely disbelieving, Katherine slowly followed the doctor into the small office and stood there, staring at him. She'd been out there, busting her gut, doing the work of at least three other people and he hadn't even bothered to thank her. And then, just to rub some salt in the wound, he'd thanked the EMH, the emergency hologram. And the way he'd glared at her when she'd turned it off, you'd've though she'd committed a capital offence. It was just a hologram, and besides, leaving it running for longer than needed now would only waste energy - what was the point? And what was his problem anyway? Ok so she hadn't spent the however many years in med school that he had (if he'd spent any at all, a little voice in the back of her head persisted), but he could give her some credit, at least, for competence. Asking if she could handle the non-surgical cases. She hadn't minded earlier but... Of course she could handle them - she was trained for it! And come to think of it, she could probably handle most of the minor surgical cases too, thanks to her field medic's training if need be, though protocol forbade it except in extreme circumstances. She didn't even think he'd noticed that throughout the last surgery they'd done that he'd kept trying to do her work as well, as if she wasn't able to do it herself. He was a very good surgeon yes, but you'd think he'd never worked with a fully trained nurse before!

He finally dragged himself away from his computer console to realise that she was watching him.

"Is there a problem, Nurse?" he said.

Thoughts chased around her head, not the least of which was: 'Well, actually, I have several, doctor, and most of them seem to involve you and this assignment, which I'm beginning to wish I'd never taken!' But that was not to be said. She watched him, noting his somewhat expectant 'you were saying?' expression.

"Problem? No problem at all, Doctor," she replied lightly with a smile she knew did not reach her eyes. "Would you like me to contact engineering about our ensign out there?"

He looked back at the console. "Just leave a message of inquiry to the attention of Lieutenant Kovala. Once we've stood down from red alert, I'm certain she'll get back to us."

She nodded curtly. "is there anything else?"

Dr. Zimmerman looked back up. "Should there be?"

"Not that I can think of, no. I'll get on that then, and make a holodeck booking while I'm at it so we can start running you through some exercises. Do you have a time you'd prefer?"

He sat back in his chair and grinned. "How about when the ship's not under attack?"

She didn't return it - she wasn't feeling particularly jovial anymore - but kept her expression mild and simply raised her eyebrows in unspoken disapproval. "I'll try for tomorrow evening then. This early on we shouldn't have a problem getting a booking when we want," she said and, still fuming, left the office before he could reply to send the message, make the booking, clean up and, hopefully, cool off somewhat.

Counselor Angel Kerix

Lt. Angel had been in sickbay for awhile helping keep the injured calm. She had to admire how quickly and efficiently the doctor and nurse worked. She didn't know if she would have been able to keep cool like that.

She then noticed that the nurse and the doctor were having some kind of conflict that ended with the nurse saying somethin about trying tomorrow. She was concerned and so let the go of the patient's hand she had been holding.

Angel then walked over to the doctor's office, "Excuse me doctor, I don't mean to intrude, but I noticed that your nurse was getting upset. Is there anything I can do?"

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

Nurse McCullan thanked Lt. Heidegger for his assistance; he left for the bridge. The EMH was finishing up with her final charge. The patient in the surgical bay was resting comfortably. McCullan went over to the comm system to send a message to the chief engineer. She was silent, but her expression didn't go unnoticed...

In his office, Dr. Zimmerman filled in the blanks of those victims listed whom he had diagnosed and treated; the EMH and his nurse would have to submit their input as well. Engrossed in his work, he didn't notice Counselor Kerix in the doorway.

"Excuse me doctor," she said quietly, "I don't mean to intrude, but I noticed that your nurse was getting upset. Is there anything I can do?"

He looked up, then stared straight ahead and frowned. "She's not the only one."

Just then, the EMH walked in. "Excuse me, Doctor," she said, "I'm finished, and the final patient has returned to their post. Have you any further duties for me?"

They went over briefly the ranks and departments of those she treated, matched up those they could determine from the list, noting their injuries and courses of treatment. When they were done, the two exchanged smiles.

"Computer, deactivate the EMH."

The doctor's smile lingered for a few seconds, then he turned to Counselor Kerix and spoke quietly enough for only them to hear: "Counselor, I've had enough first-hand experience in working with and programming EMH's to know that they're more than just programs. There's sentience behind those algorythms and subroutines. And they're entitled to the same social courtesy as any of us. When my nurse deactivated her prematurely - like some... some... appliance..." he sighed and keyed information into his console. "Well, it was disconcerting. I suppose there are some people who still haven't accepted artificial intelligences as I have. And we'll simply have our fundamental differences to contend with."

=/\= Plato, this is Kaj again. Seeing as the Gershwin will probably precede your arrival, I may need some medical personnel to ascertain the status of the crew when I get there. Unfortunately, I had to leave our Doctor in command of the Fitzgerald. I don't suppose you could spare yours could you? =/\=

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

There was silence in his office as Dr. Zimmerman sat somewhat slouched in his seat. He'd managed to render the counselor speechless. And so there they were mute, while the beeps of Nurse McCullan's assorted inputs into the Sickbay comm panel could be heard in the background.

Just then, a page came through on the system:

=/\= Doctorrr Zimmerrrman: Please rrreporrrt to Trrransporrrterrr RRRoom Thrrree for an away mission immediately. =/\=

Startled into alertness, he looked up at Counselor Kerix. He got up and left his office and was met by Nurse McCullan, who had grabbed a stocked medic kit for him which was set beneath his office's outside window for just such occasions. He took it from her and looked into her eyes. "Thanks for everything. You were super today," he said.

Minutes later, he was in Transporter Room Three: medic kit slung from his shoulder and his mobile emitter activated and concealed beneath his sleeve. He looked around for other members of the Away Team, then looked at the transporter chief.

"Where's everybody else?"

The Ensign keyed in coordinates. "It's just you. The Gershwin requires your assistance for a rescue operation."

"I see." Commander Kaj's runabout. He was in for another adventure. Zimmerman half smiled as he stepped up on the transporter platform, turned, and nodded. "Energize."

Cmdr Dekket Kaj

Jem'Hadar fire rocked the Runabout.

"Report!" Kaj hollered above the sounds of consoles short circuiting.

"Shields down to 72%, minor damage to the hull. 4 Jem'Hadar fighters in pursuit." McKnight struggled with the helm as phaser fire flashed past the forward viewscreen.

"Damn." Kaj muttered. "So much for sneaking past the Plato. Doctor, status of Questor?"

"Questor is adrift and venting plasma. I'm detecting scattered life signs and they're not responding to our hails."

Streebeck broke in, "Commander, I'm picking up instabilities in their warp containment field. It looks like it could breach any minute."

Kaj shook his blue head angrily. "We can't beam anyone aboard while shields are up, and we sure aren't about to drop them anytime soon.

"We need to get rid of these fighters. McKnight, do they have warp speed capacity?"

McKnight shook her head in the negative, "No sir, not this class."

"Damn. I guess that rules out leading them back into the plasma fields. And we can't just lead them away at impulse, we haven't the time."

Kaj steepled his fingers, ignoring the chaos around him for a few seconds while he thought. After a few moments and mental calculations, he straightened.

"Transfer Helm control to me. If this doesn't work, I want it to be my fault, not yours. McKnight, stand by weapons, I'll need to detonate an aft plasma charge with a sensor flash and then a four torpedo spread shortly after."

McKnight looked at him, "We only have four torpedos, sir."

"Oh. Perfect. Don't miss." He grinned at her, then turned serious, "By the way, we'll probably be upside down."

"What?"

Kaj didn't answer as he accelerated to full impulse.

"Plasma charge now!"

Behind the Gershwin, the plasma charge detonated and the four pursuit craft broke formation slightly to avoid the explosion.

At the same time, Kaj punched the Gershwin into warp one. To the following fighters, it appeared for a moment that the Gershwin had exploded.

"Now what?" the Doctor studied his readouts nervously.

"Hang on to your hairpiece, Doc. This is what Terrans used to call a bootlegger reverse, Starfleet style."

At warp one, Kaj flipped the nose of the Gershwin up and accelerated to Warp Two as the ship creaked around them.

"Structural Integrity Field is maxed out! Phasers are offline!" Streebeck shouted over the whine of the engines.

"She'll hold together!" Kaj answered, then muttered to no one in particular, "Hear that, ship? Hold together..."

The thrust of the acceleration straightened the ship out, although as Kaj had predicted, they were indeed upside down from their last bearing.

They were also headed directly back to the spot they had left, at more than twice the speed.

At less than light speeds, this maneuver would not have worked. However, physics was a funny thing at faster than light speeds.

Traveling at more than double their previous warp speed on a reverse heading than they had just been, they returned to their point of departure before they had left.

The plasma charge detonated (again) and the Jem'Hadar fighters scattered (again) and the Gershwin struck.

"Torpedoes, full spread!"

The four torpedoes left the ship, but only three struck their targets. As three ships exploded, the fourth twisted around to avoid the torpedo, a maneuver which unfortunately brought it directly in line with the Gershwin, travelling at full impulse speed.

"Collision!" McKnight yelled as Kaj tried to get the ship's nose up, "Brace for impact!"

It was not much of a contest. The Gershwin was the larger ship, plus still had full power to the structural integrity field.

The runabout punched through the fighter craft like it wasn't even there, then began to drift slightly, it's momentum spent.

The silence was deafening, until McKnight broke it with a victory whoop.

Looking at his damage control display, Kaj wasn't sure where to start. Finally, he decided that it was easier to see what WASN'T damaged, but he listened as Streebeck recited the damage report litany.

"Shields are down, weapons systems are completely down, extensive damage to the hull and structural integrity is fluctuating. Impulse and warp drives are barely functional, but we still have transporters and life support." Streebeck looked up from his PADD with an incredible grin on his face, "Sir, it's a pleasure serving with you."

Kaj grinned back, "Wonder if Picard ever tried that Maneuver, huh Doc?"

Dr. Mark Zimmerman

Commander Dekket Kaj and his spare crew maneuvered the Gershwin beneath the phaser exchange going on between the Jem'Hadar and Plato. Dr. Zimmerman tapped his fingers apprehensively on an idle console, restless and eager to rescue any survivors of the Questor they may encounter.

All of a sudden, the doctor's vision shimmered as a transporter beam caught him. Before he could speak, he was back in sickbay on the Plato. Nurse McCullan stood before him with a dark, brooding expression...