A Time to Harvest

by Dayton Ward

  Do what you can, she reminded herself as she regained her bearing. You still have patients that need you.

  “Dr. Crusher!”

  Turning at the sound of the summons, she saw Dr. Tropp assisting another Dokaalan patient, this one a very young female who looked to be in an advanced stage of pregnancy, to a nearby unoccupied bed. She moved to help them, leaving the intensive-care area and going into the cargo bay’s postoperative ward.

  And nearly fell flat on her face.

  Feeling the tug of the gravity shift beneath her feet at the last second, Crusher was able to put her hands out and prevent a nasty fall, but she still fell to her knees, grunting in momentary pain as her left kneecap forcefully struck the deck.

  “Oh my goodness,” the Denobulan physician blurted, offering his free hand to Crusher while maintaining his grip on the Dokaalan woman. “Doctor, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Crusher spat in disgust as she pushed off the deck and back to her feet, already shaking off the fleeting pain in her left knee. “I just forgot where I was.” The fall was her own damned fault, she knew, having forgotten about the shift in gravity between the two sections of the triage area. The emergency treatment area had been configured for one-sixth Earth gravity to better accommodate the Dokaalan, while the post-op ward had been configured for normal gravity. The beds themselves were outfitted with antigravity generators to assist in keeping the Dokaalan patients comfortable while still allowing the Enterprise medical staff to move about normally.

  As she regained her feet and gently took hold of the Dokaalan woman’s other arm, Crusher noted how the patient was having trouble breathing. “Don’t worry,” she said, hoping to lend some assurance to the woman before she started to hyperventilate in panic. “We’re going to take care of you.”

  Helping Tropp move the woman into the bed, Crusher checked the bed’s gravity control and ensured that it was set properly for the woman. The Dokaalan even seemed to calm a bit as she allowed herself to relax within the grasp of the bed’s lighter gravity. Looking up at Crusher, the woman’s face was a mask of anguish as she struggled to speak.

  “I am coming to bear,” she said, her voice a strained whisper.

  Smiling reassuringly, Crusher reached out to pat the woman’s arm. “I know. We’re going to examine you and make sure your child is unharmed.” Eyeing the diagnostic panel above the Dokaalan’s head, she said to Tropp, “It looks like her lungs have some damage, though I won’t know if it’s due to the cold or some kind of chemical exposure without further examination.”

  “I tried to administer a tri-ox compound to help her breathe, but she refused,” the Denobulan replied. “In fact, I had just stopped her from trying to leave the cargo bay when I called for your assistance.”

  Crusher nodded. “She’s just worried for her baby.” Turning back to the Dokaalan woman, she said, “Lie back and relax. We’re going to give you something to help you breathe easier. You’ll feel much better in a minute.”

  Her eyes wide with fear, the Dokaalan replied, “I will soon come to bear. Please do not hurt my child.”

  Holding up a hypospray so that the woman could see it, Crusher said in a soothing voice, “Listen to me. Your lungs have been damaged and you’re beginning to suffer from oxygen deprivation. This is a medicine that will let you breathe without straining your lungs. I promise you it is perfectly safe and will not harm your child.”

  During the previous rescue operation, she and the rest of her staff had compiled as much information on Dokaalan physiology as possible. It had been a necessity in order to provide useful medical care for the hundreds of Dokaalan patients they had treated. Thankfully, many of the medicines that had been created to treat the wide variety of humanoid species that composed the United Federation of Planets had proven compatible with the Dokaalan. Fortunately for Dr. Crusher’s current patient, that list included tri-ox.

  The woman’s anxiety seemed to ebb and she finally nodded assent. She relaxed almost immediately as Crusher administered the medicine, her breathing growing less labored with each breath. Along with Tropp, Crusher waited for the tri-ox compound to take full effect, and after a moment the woman looked up and smiled.

  “I do feel much better,” she said. “Thank you.”

  Crusher and Tropp spent the next several minutes assessing their patient’s condition, administering a sedative and preparing her for surgery to repair the woman’s damaged lungs. Diagnostic scans confirmed the chief medical officer’s initial suspicion regarding the Dokaalan’s condition, with her lungs having suffered massive damage.

  “She’ll be fine now, though,” Crusher said as a pair of her nurses completed the preparations. Patting the resting patient’s arm one last time, she stepped away from the bed with Tropp close behind.

  “Dr. Crusher,” the Denobulan said in a quiet voice as they moved toward the triage ward’s small control center, “how could you be certain that the tri-ox would not harm her child?”

  Pausing a moment before replying, Crusher allowed a relieved sigh to escape her lips. “I wasn’t.” This particular situation had not been among the extensive Dokaalan medical database her staff had compiled. “But without treatment she would have eventually asphyxiated. Given the circumstances, I figured it was worth the risk.”

  Tropp replied, “Unorthodox, but I can find no fault with your reasoning.” Shaking his head, the doctor rubbed the bridge of his nose, a sure sign he was beginning to feel the initial signs of fatigue. “I have made my share of choices such as that today, even more so than last time.”

  Sighing, Crusher glanced down at a padd that had been prepared for her by Nurse Ogawa. “We’ve treated eighty-five people, out of a population of eight hundred.” She knew that the rescue operation was proceeding much more slowly than the first one, with the Enterprise forced to hunt and peck for survivors amid the ruins of what had been Mining Station Twelve. Other than a group of thirty-six Dokaalan who had been gathered in one section of the facility, the rest of the evacuees had been retrieved in groups of five or less. Many had been alone when they were found, with members of the Enterprise crew having to travel back and forth to the outpost via shuttlecraft on retrieval missions.

  She held up the padd. “According to this report, most of those areas still capable of sustaining life-support have been searched for survivors. It looks as though most of the hard choices have already been made.” Shaking her head, she added in a quieter voice, “We were just too late getting here.”

  Enough of that, she chastised herself. Tend to the patients you do have.

  With that mental rebuke to fuel her, Crusher dropped the padd into her pocket and went back to work.

  “Lieutenant Diix, I’m registering a power fluctuation in the port forward deflector shield generator.”

  In the Enterprise’s main engineering section, Kalsha heard the report from Ensign Veldon as she worked at her station. The Benzite sounded agitated, he decided, but that would be understandable. All around him, the chamber that housed the heart of the starship’s propulsion system was a hive of frenetic activity. The engineers were endeavoring to carry out their responsibilities under demanding circumstances, with much of their equipment compromised by the asteroids’ radiation field. Further, the lack of certain key members of the ship’s senior staff, most notably Commanders La Forge and Data, was undoubtedly adding to their stress levels.

  The tension and the continuing activity taking place here were causing several of the human engineers to perspire. Already sensitive to the distasteful odor they normally emitted, Kalsha now found it almost unbearable to stand in proximity to some of the engineers. Likewise, it was difficult to maintain his composure when circumstances required him to be close to one or more of the humans.

  Veldon was looking to him for direction, he realized. That made sense, of course. Thanks to his mimicking shroud, Kalsha still sported the outward appearance of Diix, the Andorian lieutenant he had been forced to kill in order to keep his pr
esence here a secret. The shroud, a garment worn by many in his line of work while on undercover assignment and capable of presenting the appearance of nearly any humanoid form, was one of his most preferred accessories. Its integrated network of sensors and holographic emitters was working perfectly, allowing him to interact with the Enterprise crew without risk of detection, just as the technology had allowed many of his people to assume the form of various Dokaalan citizens throughout the mining colonies in this system.

  One thing it could not do, however, was repeat whatever someone said to him when he allowed his attention to wander.

  What had the Benzite said? Something about one of the deflector shields fluctuating. Thankfully, Kalsha had dealt with this twice since the beginning of the rescue operation, as problems with power distribution were beginning to assert themselves on many of the shipboard systems affected by the asteroid field’s omnipresent background radiation. The course of action was simple.

  “Route power from all nonessential systems in that section,” he said, his voice sounding exactly like that of Lieutenant Diix.

  Veldon continued to look at him askance for several seconds. What was wrong? “Ensign?” he prompted.

  As if worried about the reaction her next words might evoke, the Benzite cleared her throat before saying, “Uh, sir, we have already done that. The power deviations are unchanged.”

  It was an effort for Kalsha to maintain his composure as he heard the ensign’s reply. Had he allowed his attention to drift, even slightly? Such carelessness would likely draw the scrutiny of the other engineers if he did not quickly cover his mistake. Looking over at the master situation monitor, Kalsha took in the current status of the various shipboard systems and the rerouting of power distribution that had taken place since the beginning of the rescue operation and saw that Veldon was right. Nonessential systems in that part of the ship had been already deactivated in deference to more important concerns, but more power was still needed.

  “Cut environmental control in that section by fifty percent until further notice,” he said. “That should be sufficient for now.”

  At the station next to Veldon, Ensign Leisner turned in his seat. “Sir, with all due respect, you might want to check with Commander Riker before we do that.”

  Not an unreasonable observation, Kalsha conceded. A reduction in temperature in that area of the vessel would not go unnoticed, but it could not be helped. Due to the instability of the ship’s forcefield generators and other containment systems, Commander La Forge had cautioned the command staff about the risk of engaging warp power while still within the asteroid field, even to channel the massive energies generated by the Enterprise’s main engines for other uses. Therefore, the ship’s impulse drive had been called into service to provide much of the power requirements for the current operation.

  With that in mind as well as other factors currently playing into their present situation, routing power in the manner he had instructed was, for the moment at least, the most effective way to channel energy needed to keep the deflector shields stable.

  “Duly noted, Ensign,” he said. “I will take responsibility for the action and notify Commander Riker, but make the necessary arrangements now, please. Time is of the essence.”

  Leisner nodded, apparently satisfied with that clarification. “Aye, sir,” he said before he and Veldon turned back to their stations, leaving Kalsha to look on in satisfaction. The engineers had heeded his instructions and turned to their duties without a hint of uncertainty or distrust. He decided that they were simply too focused on the more important concerns of the ongoing rescue activities to notice anything untoward.

  Interesting, he thought. You seem to be getting quite caught up in all of this.

  It was perhaps unavoidable, given the identity he had assumed. He had been content to remain in the form of Lieutenant Andrea Tyler, one of the Enterprise’s several junior engineers, whose appearance Kalsha had taken soon after boarding the Federation vessel. After using his mimicking shroud to disguise himself as a Dokaalan and blend in with a group of Dokaalan receiving a guided tour of the massive ship, he had managed to slip away from his companions while searching for an appropriate Enterprise crew member to replace.

  He had found Lieutenant Tyler working alone to replace some kind of power coupling. After determining that the human woman was an engineer, someone who could access the ship’s more sensitive areas without raising suspicion, he had used the shroud to duplicate her appearance in every detail. It had been his intention to complete his mission quickly and leave before someone noticed the discrepancy of the woman apparently being in two places at once, but that plan had been hindered by two problems.

  The first obstacle had come in the form of the Enterprise’s main computer. Though Kalsha had acquired more than a passing knowledge of covertly accessing even the most secure computer systems, working his way into the starship’s vast storehouse of information without being detected had proven to be quite the challenge. It had not taken him long to realize that more time than he had allotted for the task was required.

  Things had become more complicated while he was working in the office of the ship’s chief engineer and Lieutenant Diix entered. Since Kalsha had appeared to him as Lieutenant Tyler, the Andorian had naturally inquired about the woman’s presence when she was supposed to be working elsewhere on the ship. Tyler was, of course, and Kalsha had concluded that in order for him to continue working aboard the Enterprise in stealth, Diix had to be eliminated.

  It was an action I took with great reluctance, Andorian, Kalsha silently offered. There had been no other option, of course, given the parameters of his mission. He had always strived to reserve the taking of life for the most extreme of situations, and part of him still questioned whether or not the murder of the Andorian had truly been necessary. Still, he had carried out the action with great remorse, unlike many of his contemporaries and even his superiors who had callously killed those Dokaalan targeted for replacement.

  As it turned out, assuming Diix’s appearance had given him justification to spend more time in main engineering as he pursued his primary goal: finding a way to disable the Enterprise’s android crew member, Lieutenant Commander Data.

  Kalsha’s superiors had decided that the android posed the greatest threat to their activities here in the Dokaalan system. Though Kalsha himself did not fully understand the reasons behind this deduction, such comprehension was not required for him to carry out his assignment. After working with deliberation to access that part of the ship’s computer containing the most sensitive information, which included Data’s technical schematics, he had found the means to disable the android.

  So he thought.

  His efforts to render Data inoperative had proven only partially successful, with the very real possibility that the other engineers might be able to diagnose and resolve its incapacitation. That in turn could lead them, with the android’s help, to investigate and identify the cause of its shutdown. Kalsha could stop that, of course, but another covert attempt to permanently damage or even destroy the android was too dangerous at this point. It would only prove that Data had been deliberately sabotaged, leading the Enterprise captain to begin looking far more closely at the activities taking place in the Dokaalan system than he had already.

  I cannot allow that, Kalsha reminded himself, no matter the cost.

  “Lieutenant Diix?”

  It was yet another of the engineers, a Bajoran lieutenant whose name Kalsha could not remember. She was moving toward him, a padd in her hand and a worried expression clouding her features.

  “What is it?” Even as he spoke the words, he was still unable to recall the female’s name as she turned the padd so that he could see its face.

  Pointing to the device’s main display, she said, “We’re registering a minor flux in the antimatter containment system, sir. It’s not serious, but it is outside the norm.”

  The report caused Kalsha to look to the massive cylinde
r dominating the center of the engineering room. Despite the extra safeguards put into place by Commander La Forge to limit the ship’s primary source of power while the Enterprise traveled within the Dokaalan asteroid field, the warp core still pulsed with energy.

  “When did it start?” he asked.

  “The computer detected the first indications about three minutes ago, sir,” the Bajoran replied. “Looking at this along with the other status reports we’re getting from around the ship, it looks like all the rerouting we’ve done so far is starting to take its toll.”

  Kalsha nodded, knowing that the lieutenant was right. It made sense that the extra strain being incurred by those systems directly involved with the rescue operation would have effects on other areas of the vessel.

  Wait….

  Regarding the warp core once more, Kalsha realized that the answer to his troubles might very well have been delivered into his lap. The core’s elaborate network of containment features, designed to shield antimatter from normal matter except during those carefully controlled intervals where the two substances were allowed to mix, was beginning to show signs of strain or even potential failure. If left unchecked, the situation could conceivably become dangerous as the Enterprise continued to render whatever assistance to the Dokaalan Commander Riker was currently overseeing.

  Would it be serious enough to cause them to halt the recovery activities? What if the situation escalated to the point that it could no longer be controlled? The containment field would collapse, unleashing the fury of a warp-core explosion that would consume the mighty starship.

  That could not be allowed, of course, not while the ship was still a useful tool to the larger mission.

  “Engage the backup systems,” he said after a moment. “It is overkill, but it does not require us to route power from elsewhere.”