Electric Storm

Opening Act

Garek found himself with an ample amount of time on his hands. The number of commissions in his shop were down and so he found himself with too much time on his hands. He decided to drop in on Dr. Bashir to see if he could perhaps fetch the doctor some lunch. He was one of those people who frequently forgot or got too busy to eat. That action decided Garek closed up his shop and made his way through the Promenade to Sick Bay.

Sick Bay was suspiciously empty when he entered, with Dr. Bashir nowhere to be seen. Garek went to his office first, where it turned out to be empty. Now where had he gone off to? He made the decision to peak into some of the private patient rooms of Sick Bay in search of him.

One such room did finally hold someone, but it was Ensign Samantha Tracy who had just arrived a few days ago to work in Engineering with Chief O'Brien. Now what on earth was wrong with this Ensign?

Garek did admittedly move quietly, but he was surprised that she was not responding to his presence. Her long brown hair was placed gently at her side. Someone had placed it there with intention. She was dressed in one of the Sick Bay patient gowns. She was laying on one of the beds, while taking deliberate slow breaths, her face was shining with sweat and barely controlling her facial expressions. She was hooked up to four IVs, one on each limb.

Upon further examination, she was meditating and letting out a whimper periodically. Garek approached with a curious eye. He wasn't sure why this ensign was receiving this treatment; Dr. Bashir had been extra mysterious the past couple of weeks.

Apparently the source of the mystery was laying in front of him, whimpering in pain.

'Well, Ensign, what seems to be your issue?' She opened her eyes to look at Garek. He could see just from them how much pain she was in. The sweat on her body told the same story. Probably a nine on the pain scale.

'Well, stranger, I have a screwed up electrical system in my brain that without this treatment causes seizures that are quite dangerous to both me and other people.'

'And so, you suffer each week. Surely Federation technology could cure you.'

'Unfortunately, not. This treatment is the one thing that keeps me seizure free for a week at a time.'

'What does it feel like?'

'Like every nerve in my body is on fire. The slow burning sensation that builds up until the treatment is done.'

'So, here you are, in so much pain for the sake of living your life.'

'At least, I can live it. Until the treatment was found, I couldn't do anything, apart from have seizures. Now I can be a part of Starfleet. I just can't be sent into combat situations and am reduced to serving on a ship or some other place where access to medicine is more certain. It only takes one day of missing treatment before they begin again. Now, stranger. Unless you have an excellent distracting story, can you leave me to meditate this pain to tolerance levels.'

'Well, I could tell you some Cardassian epic stories. They can be quite distracting.'

Garek for the next hour and a half told one of the shorter stories that he knew. Tracy continued to whimper and groan occasionally as the treatment progressed. Dr. Bashir arrived at the end of the treatment to see the two of them in conversation. He had been in the operating theatre as one of the engineers had nearly severed their arm off. Thankfully, the arm was reattached and the patient will make a full recovery.

Once he detached the IVs, Samantha was desperate to get out of there. She sat up and tried to leave. Her legs buckled underneath her. Garek and Bashir caught her so that she wouldn't hit her head on the floor. Together, they lifted her back onto the bed.

Julian guided her back to laying down on the bed. She was struggling to breathe slightly, and so Julian grabbed an oxygen mask from the cart. He placed it on her face, which she looked up at him in relief.

Ensign Tracy was quite weak from this treatment, more so than her notes suggested would happen. The shine on her face from the pain sweats was also telling of something was going wrong.

'This treatment is barely working anymore, Ensign Tracy, isn't that, right?' Julian's voice shook with anger.

'Yeah, they started about eight weeks ago, each week the amount of pain ramps up on the pain scale, it started off at one, until now at week 9 it's a nine. I was going to tell you after this treatment.' She responded slowly and with strength in her voice.

'Well, you can't live a good life without these treatments. I'm going to look through the treatments that have been tested on you to see if any that I know of haven't been tried. As well, I'm going to consult with some colleagues. I will find you a treatment that will allow you to live a normal life.'

Samantha looked at Dr. Bashir through half closed eyes, his determination shining in them. She nodded and tried to take some deep breaths.

So many people had tried through the years to find a treatment for this condition that had no name. So many had failed. Maybe, just maybe he would succeed.