Electric Storm

Recovery

Once Samantha was happily listening to an audiobook in her room, Julian left for a quick walk. He needed to breath and try not to give up hope. He returned to the Bajoran temple. Vedek Bareil was also there, peacefully kneeling in front.

Julian knew he needed vent to someone who perhaps would understand the pressure or at least listen.

'Dr. Bashir, what brings you to the temple today?'

'Do you know about Ensign Tracy? I'm trying to find a treatment for her or even maybe a cure. My first attempt made things so much worse. I don't know how she can forgive me for that.'

'I have visited Tracy during her time on DS9. She is a remarkable person who does not blame people for things that aren't their fault. It's not your fault that your new treatment caused things to get worse. It does happen. She is aware of that. Tracy has spent a majority of her life in a hospital, hoping that someone would find a treatment. When they did, she was overjoyed. Why on earth would she blame you for doing the best you can?'

Julian kneeled there in silence pondering his words, Vedek Bareil had an excellent point. Samantha was someone who clearly had read a great deal of Vulcan philosophy. Earlier at her last post, she and one of the other ensigns where working on in an engine room on the Starbase and it randomly exploded. She was quite severely hurt mostly because she had shielded the other ensign from the blast. The other ensign, Samson, had blamed himself quite badly. The chief there had taken him off shift until he could figure out what went wrong. As it turned out, it was no one's fault but a part that had been installed that had a fault that was undetectable.

Samson had spent hours at Samantha's side until she woke up. He then spent twenty minutes apologizing for it. Samantha had been told while she was in a coma about the chief's discovery. Somehow, she was awake enough to explain to Samson that she didn't blame him in the slightest. After he continued to apologize, she laid it out in no uncertain terms.

From there, Samson stopped and actually got some rest. The next morning, he had come to walk Samantha to her quarters.

Julian admired her in that moment, not many people would be willing to set the facts straight right from the moment that they regained consciousness.

Vedek Bareil interrupted his thoughts.

'Shall we pray together for you to discover a treatment for Samantha, Julian?'

'Yes, I would like that.'

And so, the two of them prayed for a time, Julian still feeling hopeless but perhaps slightly more hopeful. Vedek Bareil was patient and a good source of guidance.

When Julian returned to Sick Bay Samantha was sitting up and talking with one of the nurses about a new Bajoran novel. He smiled at the sight. Apparently, she hadn't seized in a while. It wasn't a sign that her condition had stopped, but perhaps it was giving her a break.

Samantha looked at him when she noticed his approach with a brilliant smile.

'Well, Doctor, it looks like I'm having a good moment. Would you like to weigh into the debate?'

'Maybe if you decide to eat something. After all, a debate over lunch is always fun.'

Julian got the both of them some lunch and returned to the room. Samantha was still sitting up and looking well.

'I don't know about you, Dr. Bashir, but I find it quite curious about how Iliad which was designed as oral-formulaic poetry could ever be appreciated in anything but its original language.'

'The work of translators has been immensely valuable for the greater understanding of the work to much wider audiences than just those who understand ancient Greek. It seems quite egotistical to assume that reading the original is the only way that you can properly enjoy it.' Julian realized as he continued in his rant that Samantha was grinning brightly, she had wound him up deliberately! He laughed once he figured it out.

'You did that on purpose, didn't you?'

'Of course, I like to make jokes. I thought you would find it quite amusing once you figured it out. In truth, I have assisted in the latest translation work of translating the Iliad into Cardassian. I started last year during my first post. It was not a popular thing to do. Even though its been a good couple of years since the occupation. I thought it was a useful thing to do. The Federation wants to be able to share its literature with other races, then a good translation is useful.'

'How long did it take you to learn the language?'

About four months, I have a really good memory. From there, I've been translating as much as I can. Garek has been helping with some of the trickier concepts as he is fluent in both.'

'Garek can be quite helpful, that is true.'

'He is a person of many talents including a difficult engineering problem. I had to consult him on one particular issue with the Chief's permission. One part of the station was just refusing to interface with Starfleet technology. With his help, we got it working.'

'you must trust him a lot.'

'I trust him as much as he trusts me. Which is quite conditional. After all he is a former member of the Obsidian order, Tain's righthand man.'

'How on earth did you figure that out? Garek told me once he trusted me but still.'

'I used his behaviour to figure it out. He always is looking around rooms in a scanning way. His body language spoke of a job that required that high level of scanning the room. From there, I deduced he was a spy. Garek is aware that I know. We've reached a mutual relationship.'

'When on earth did you meet him? You've only been on the station a little over a week.'

'I met him in the Promenade on my first day. He approached me while I was eating lunch. We got to talking since I wasn't on shift yet. Once I made the deduction and shared it with him, he was surprised and, in that moment, didn't deny it. I caught him off guard. He finds me interesting and I find him interesting. Soon, we were going to have lunch at his shop to discuss some aspect of Cardassian literature that aligns with Earth's epic tradition.' Julian was floored at this. It had taken quite a bit of time for Garek to trust him enough to tell him that.

It was in that moment, that the good moment ended. Almost on schedule, once they were done their lunch, and the trays were cleared Tracy began to seize again. This time it was more of her normal seizure.

Julian waited for it to be over once it had finished. He placed a blanket over Samantha so she could remain comfortable as possible. Her vitals were good which was unexpected, but Julian would take it.