Death, Dishonor, Hell

[Alexei Juno 0]

Sickbay aboard the Excelsior-class starship had once looked clean, pristine, and in good order, now it looked more like what Alexei imagined Praxis to have looked like after the blow. There was no less than thirty crewmembers in various states of injury laying on one biobed or another, the doors to sickbay were scorched with stray weapons fire, blood of various colors stained the carpet, and a dying Klingon who supposedly was worth more than all thirty of the aforementioned crewmembers combined.

 

Given the status of 'Cardinal,' Alexei couldn't help but be surprised that 'Haskins' hadn't barged in demanding to know his status, yet. Silently, he hoped that Haskins hadn't been injured or anything, he really didn't want to have to deal with the man—at all. The hubris of the intelligence officer, barging into sickbay and demanding a doctor to do something, let alone trying to pull rank. Alexei had never been one for power-games, there was a reason he was a doctor, but he'd be damned if someone was going to come into his domain and threaten the safety of one of his patients, even if had been the President of the Federation himself. On top of that the arrogant ass had wanted to post security in sickbay itself... in the middle of a crisis. Oh yes, that's what they needed more people in the way. Moments such as this were what made him long for the serenity Grima Institute, or hell even the relatively peaceful surroundings of the Okamoto.

 

The heavy hand of the Klingon Doctor, whose name Alexei had given up on, clasped the shoulder of the frazzled doctor. "It does not look good, my friend."

 

'Friend' was putting it strongly, but Alex nodded all the same. "What's your final prognosis."

 

"He's been poisoned..."

 

"Poisoned?"

 

"Yes," the Klingon said with a frown. "A rather dishonorable way to go, if I must say."

 

Ignoring the comment about 'honor,' Alexei pressed the point. "Poisoned, by what?"

 

"HaGeN tJHuk," the Klingon said in Klingonesse before translating it for the bewildered Alexei. "Rootpulp of the HaGeN weed.."

 

"Never heard of it."

 

"That's not surprising. It's a rather rare fauna that is only known to have grown on the Vathien homeworld..."

 

"I thought the Vathien star went nova twenty years ago..."

 

"It did..."

 

"Then..."

 

"Someone must have a supply handy," the Klingon suggested.

 

"Is there any known antidote?"

 

"Only one was ever found by Klingon doctors. The Vathien's poison making was a highly guarded secret, and they took that knowledge with them when their star went nova."

 

"So there is an antidote... maybe we could synthesize it.."

 

"Unlikely."

 

Alexei blanched, almost afraid to ask. "Why do you say that?"

 

"The only known antidote to our doctors came from an exotic mixture of targ blood, j'inson flowers and Craekin."

 

"Craekin?"

 

"Yes," the Klingon said with heavy sigh. "It's a small muscle that lives in the southern oceans of Romulus."

 

"Hell..."

 

"Yes, as I said the chances of finding all the ingredients in time... and of course there's..."

 

"Yes?"

 

"Well j'inson flowers are almost as rare as HaGeN weed was, they were native to Praxis... and well... Klingons have little fondness for them... the only think I've ever even known to like them were those blasted tribbles."

 

Sighing, Alexei ran his hands through his hair. "So what are the effects of the poison? Maybe we can find a way to.."

 

"It is an anticoagulant, it bonds with the platelets and keeps them from sticking to each other."

 

"Then why all the internal bleeding?"

 

"As an added bonus, in the Klingon anatomy it causes the membranes of veins and arteries to become porus allowing blood to spring forth... and since the platelets can't stop the bleeding...well..."

 

Closing his eyes and taking a breath, Alexei took a moment to sort out his emotions before responding. "Kobayashi Maru."

 

Puzzled the Klingon raised an eyebrow, which seemed slightly ironic to Alexei, but he didn't elaborate further than to say, "It's all over with then?"

 

"Yes, I would say... at his current rate... he has less than an hour, maybe two at the most before he bleeds out."

 

"Could we... how would a complete transfusion work?"

 

"Ineffectively," the Klingon retorted. "The poison has already implanted itself in his organs, the new blood would only be tainted and in a few hours, you'd be having to transfuse more blood. A 'band-aid' I think you people call it."

 

"Damnit."

 

"At least he's resting. No Klingon would want to know he was dying this way..."

 

"That could be a problem."

 

"Oh?"

 

"Without going into too many details, most of which I don't even know... the Captain wants to speak to him before he goes.. apparently he knows something or the other... we'd have to wake him."

 

Frowning the Klingon doctor shook his head. "A true pity that would be, to die in such a way is most dishonorable. Since he did not die in battle, he cannot go to Sto'Vo'Kor. I would highly recommend against it, Doctor. The least you should do is let him die not knowing that such a fate awaits him."

 

"Damnit to hell."

Edited October 5, 2008 by Alexei Juno