An Assassin's Suicide

[Nicolas Lepage 0]

Nick just materialized in sickbay along with the Rixian. Time was of the essence if he still wanted to save the man's life. He had run some preliminary scans in the brig and they had not yielded promising results. "I need some help here," he called out. Within seconds DJ was at his side, looking at the readouts on the monitor above the biobed.

 

Nick looked up briefly to see who had come to help. "It looks pretty bad. All his organs are slowly failing one after the other. I get some strange readings but I haven't yet found out what exactly it is." He keyed some commands into the control panel of the biobed, picked up a hypo and administered it to the Rixian in an attempt to stabilize him.

 

DJ studied the readings as Nick tried desperately to stabilize his patient. Lepage knew more about Rixian physiology than anyone else in the Federation but his efforts were proving futile. It didn't take an expert to see what was happening. The refugee turned assassin was dying.

 

The CMO took a step back and allowed Nick to continue working on his patient. Those strange readings were probably caused by some type of poison. She didn't bother mentioning that to Lepage. There was no need. He'd probably come to the same conclusion when he first examined the Rixian in the brig.

 

DJ was willing to bet the Rixian brought the poison with him when he arrived on Aegis. It must have been well hidden. No one on her staff noticed it while the Rixian was in Sickbay and security had apparently missed it as well. That was most unfortunate. Because now that it had been ingested, the chances of finding an antidote were slim and none.

 

The poison had to be Rixian in origin. The Federation knew very little about their society in general much less the types of poisons one would use to commit suicide. And that's what this was....suicide. This assassin came to Aegis with no intentions of returning home. He may have failed to murder Captain Ayers but he would undoubtedly succeed in killing himself.

 

DJ stepped up beside Nick Lepage and rested her hand on his arm. "He doesn't appear to be in any pain," she whispered. "If you agree with that, then I recommend we allow him to die in peace. We both know there is no cure for what ails him."

 

Nick looked at DJ for a moment then angrily tossed the hypospray onto the tray next to the biobed while displaying his knowledge of a wide variety of French swearwords. He new the CMO was right. Even if they managed to find out what kind of poison the Rixian had taken there was no way they'd be able to find and replicate an antidote in time to save the man's life. He looked at the Rixian's vital signs. They were getting worse by the second. "Coward."

 

Lepage turned back to DJ. "I'm sorry, it's just... well, I hate just watching people die. I became a physician because I wanted to help people. I never thought I'd meet anyone," at this he jerked his head toward the Rixian, "that did not want my help. I mean... I think I know what you mean."

 

"It seems a lot of his people don't want our help," replied DJ quietly. "By refusing it, they are, for all intents and purposes, committing suicide." She looked at Lepage and shook her head slightly. "But we can't loose sight of the fact that some of the Rixians may be willing to reach out to others for assistance. We have to be there for them. Obviously, this one falls into the first category. There was never anything we could do for him."

 

Nick sighed and hung his head as another alarm go off on the biobed. It probably indicated another of the Rixian's organs failing. He ignored it. DJ was right. There was nothing they could do. Nick looked back up into DJ's eyes. She had been watching him and now she was looking back at him and Nick thought she seemed a bit concerned. He forced himself to smile reassuringly. "I'm alright. I just hate losing patients... especially this way. But it was his decision so..." He trailed off and shrugged.

 

He had meant to say 'So I don't care' but that would have been a lie and he was sure DJ knew him well enough by now to know that he actually did care. Besides, his obvious display of anger and frustration when he had tossed away the hypo had given him away anyway.

 

"Just because it was his choice," said DJ, "doesn't make it right. And it certainly doesn't make it any easier to accept." She turned away from the biobed and again shook her head. "To say this whole affair has been bizzare would be the understatment of the year. I'm not sure this Rixian would have coughed up any information during interrogration, but I'm sorry we won't have the opportunity to find out."

 

She turned toward Nick and patted him on the shoulder. "Stay with him if you will," she continued. "I'll notify the Captain." She paused a moment. "Not that there's anything he can do." DJ started to walk away but stopped and again looked at Lepage. "After this Rixan has breathed his last, I recommend a full autopsy. Mabye we'll learn more from him in death than we would have had we been able to keep in alive."

 

Nick nodded. "I'll try to find out something that will help us identify the poison." He turned to the monitor above the biobed and noted that the Rixian's breathing had become extremely shallow. Even the computer could hardly register it. "I suppose it's best if I do the autopsy myself. I'll ask Mary-Alice to prepare everything."

 

Lepage tapped a few commands into the biobed's controls. He heard DJ walk away. Doors opened to his left. Just before DJ could walk through them Nick called after her. "Doctor McKinny," he didn't wait for a reply, "We should ask someone from security to check the cell. He must have kept the poison in a vial or a hypospray. Maybe they can find it and make it easier to indentify the poison. I'll check his clothes."

 

DJ nodded and continued on her way to her office. As soon as she stepped inside, she closed the door behind her and contacted Captain Ayers to apprise him of the situation. She informed him the Rixian had ingested a poison of some kind, was comatose and would not survive for more than thirty minutes, if that long. She also suggested the prisoner's cell be thoroughly searched, something she was fairly confident was already being done.

 

Hopefully, security would find the container the poison was carried in.  Or perhaps Lepage would locate it when he searched the Rixian's clothes.  Then again, it might never be found. The post-mortem would likely identify whatever agent the Rixian used to kill himself. But even a slight trace of the raw chemical would be if great help. DJ wasn't going to hold her breath. This entire situation had been one mess after another. She had no reason to believe things would change now.