Rebirth -- Part 2

Posted on Sun Oct 13th, 2019 @ 4:06pm by Commander Hades,MD & Splendora Sage & Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD & Tom Vercetti & Vito Russo

3,465 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 100 - A Hatred of Atonement
Location: SB 400 (Various)
Timeline: MD2 0900hrs

ON:

Hades had just finished all the letters to the families that had someone who was in his department and had died in the raid. He had visited with Splendora early this morning and she had not looked well. It was time to talk to Tom and Vito so he headed to the restaurant and promptly located Vito. "Hello Mr. Russo."

"Doctor Hades, what can I do for you?" Vito asked.

Hades smiled, "Is Mr. Vercetti here?"

Vito eyed the Doctor for a moment, "Yes, I believe he should be by here soon."

"Excellent. Do you think that he can spare a minute...it's with respect to Doctor Sage."

Vito tiled his head, "I'm certain he can. What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong yet but I have some more information on what's happening to her and I know he would want to know." He smiled, "You too. I know that she means a lot to you as well."

Vito nodded.

Tom exited the nearest turbolift and started toward his restaurant when he saw Vito talking to Hades. "Is everything okay?" He called from several meters away as he walked closer.

Hades waited until Tom was close. "Mr. Vercetti, good to see you well. Things are okay for the moment but probably not for long. I wanted to speak with you ... to better prepare you for what is about to happen with Splendora."

Tom looked concerned. He was hoping things would have improved while he was away. "What's going on?"

Hades suggested that they move to a private location. Finally when all three were seated Hades looked over at Tom. "Splendora has asked that I explain this to you since I'm a doctor. She is close to transition." This raid had accelerated things but...he didn't want to say anything. "I don't know how much you read about her condition or how much you've been briefed but ... She thinks you will want to be in the room when she transitions and I wanted to best prepare you both that if you are to get her back you must know that you will loose her first."

Tom had a lot on his mind, and was mentally drained. He stood and walked over to the food slot in the room and ordered and espresso. It wasn't fresh but for now it would do. "Doc, maybe you need to go over it again."

Hades smiled. "Of course." He waited until Tom was settled and then began again. "Splendora has been going through random organ shut down. Soon she will soon go into total organ failure. When she does her system will go through a reboot. Only when this happens can we bring her back...there in lays the tricky part. Some...have not made it through the transition. Over the years...." He didn't know how to not keep this hidden. He sighed. "You may think that I was new to all this but over the years I have helped many who were part of project rebirth successfully transition. I promise you I won't let anything happen to her."

Tom sat there, stone-faced. He took a sip of the espresso, it was disgusting and tasted nothing like the real thing.

Vito looked at Tom and waited for him to speak. He was about to say something when Tom finally spoke.

"Let's go." Tom stood up and started for the door, looking back at Vito and Doctor Hades.

Hades looked at Vito and then stood. He followed Tom. "She's in her quarters for the moment." He studied Tom. "She loves you Mr. Vercetti. I hope you know that."

"I do." Tom said as he walked toward the turbolift. He loved her too and while he was extremely worried, he also wanted this 'rebirth' over and Splendora back on her feet and back to normal...whatever that new normal was. He also had a fear that, once the 'rebirth' was completed, Splendora wouldn't be the same and wouldn't care for him...but he refused to show or talk about that.

Hades smiled. Tom's love for her was obvious even though Splendora was not sure of it. They followed Tom to her quarters. When they arrived Doctor Harris came out to greet them. Nivar was there too. Harris wiped his hands on a cloth wiping a bit of blood off.

Hades instantly went on guard. "What happened?"

Harris sighed. "It's almost time. We need to prepare sickbay."

Hades gave a nod. He looked at Tom and Vito. "Why don't you two go see her. When ready call me we can do a site to site."

Vito let Tom go ahead.

"What's the blood from?" Vito asked Hades and Harris.

"Her lungs are failing." Harris said. Hades gave a nod.

"Vito she will be okay. I promise you that." He clasped the man on the shoulder.

Vito nodded. He cared for Splendora like an older brother and while he was unsure what to do, he was confident Splendora would pull through.

Tom walked in slowly, not sure what to expect. He saw Splendora laying in bed, she didn't look good and he felt helpless. "Hey." He quietly said, 'Hey, what the hell man, she's going through this and all you can say is hey?!' He thought to himself.

She turned and instantly smiled. "Tom." Weakly she reached out her hand. It was shaking but still she was able to move it, not without effort. "I'm so glad you are here."

Tom grabbed her hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled, "I'm scared." She said as he sat by her. "Will you stay with me?"

"There is nothing to worry about, you're in good hands and I'll be right here." Tom replied in a calm voice, not knowing what to expect next.

Splendora noticed Vito by the door. She smiled. "Vito! Come sit with me."

Vito narrowed his eyes then walked in. He looked at Tom who gave a nod before Vito gently sat.

She sighed as he looked from one to the other. She held both their hands. "You two mean more to me then anything." She looked at Vito. "If...if I don't make it." She pointed weakly to the cabinet across her bed. "Everything you both need is in there." She looked at Vito. "Do you have the box?" It was a long shot but...

"Yes, it is in a safe place." Vito replied.

Tom looked puzzled.

She smiled. "Okay. You know what to do." She looked at Tom and gave a weak laugh. "Don't worry you will find out about he box. It's not as ominous as it sounds." A tiny trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. She turned her head into the pillow and coughed a bit. her breath raspy. She felt a numbness in her arms and felt as if her mind was foggy. She gasped in a breath. "I....I need to sit up."

Tom leaned in to help her up while Vito adjusted her pillows.

Just as Tom and Vito were helping her sit up Hades came in. "Just wanted to...." He saw the colour on her face and the blood at the corner of her mouth.

"No sickbay..not yet. You said I have to be dead for twenty minutes."

He gave a nod pulling out his tricorder. He looked at Tom signaling it would not be long now.

She held Vito's hand. And laid her head on Tom's shoulder. "Can you hold me?" If she went she would go in his arms and if she did not come back then that would be the last comfort she had.

Vito pulled away to give Tom space to hold Splendora. He glared at the Doctor for a moment.

Tom held her close, he could feel her heart beat slowing and becoming irregular. "It's going to be okay." He said quietly.

Hades stood and moved off to the side with Vito. "I promise I will do everything I can."

Splendora could feel her time was short. "I love you Tom. T...tell Vito to...give you ....box. I...it holds a question for you ...hope.....will....be yes. Lo...love you." She inhaled deeply holding to the his scent and shuddered out her breath it's warmth tickling his neck one last time. Her hand, that had been holding onto his shirt for dear life, weakened it's grip and then fell away. Her body stilled.

Tom looked back at the Doctor. "Doc?"

Hades had been monitoring her from a distance across the room. He knew the instant she was gone. He gave Tom a minute before he'd rush her to sickbay. Carolyn had the room all ready. "Mr. Vercetti I should take her to sickbay. We only have a short time." He approached Tom.

Tom slowly backed away and nodded. He didn't know what to say...

"Allow me to take her. Why don't you stay here for a while to collect your thoughts. I promise you I will do everything I can." He motioned to the hair. "The change has begun."

Splendora's hair began turning white ever so slowly like a waterfall cascade. "I need to get her to sickbay he repeated."

Tom nodded again, but still couldn't speak.

Vito was breathing hard, anger was building. "Take her now." He said to Hades.

"This better work." Tom quietly said.

Hades scooped her up as if she weighed nothing. He called for a medical transport and left Vito and Tom to follow.

Tom and Vito left for the closest turbolift.

When they materialized in sickbay Hades laid her on exam table. He called. "Carolyn!"

“Right here,” she said from behind him, clad in surgical scrubs as she glanced at the additional monitors arranged around the biobed. None would record this particular patient’s stay. Yet they would help them to hopefully ensure they still had a patient twenty minutes from now.

The only reading which really concerned them now was time. Tied in to the tricorder Hades had carried, the display on the top right corner tracked the time since Splendora was considered ‘dead’.

She put a hand on Hades arm, “I’ll watch over her. Why don’t you do another check that everything is ready?”

She knew it was but this was his half sister and it was the easiest way to give him a few minutes to deal.

"Harris secure the ward." He turned then to Carolyn. "I need cortical stimulators and cardio stimulator and I need thirty five CCs of Kevaline. If you can get at I need to get a monitor." He looked worried. It wasn't that he hadn't gone through this with others it was the readings he'd gotten just after her passing.

Tom and Vito finally arrived and watched through a window.

“Talk to me. Now,” Carolyn demanded, even as she prepped the hypospray. Bad enough to be watching vital seconds tick by but she knew him well enough to pick up that something was off. “Sorry... I didn’t mean ... please just tell me what is going on in that head of yours, Hades. Please. I can’t help if I am in the dark.”

Hades looked at her. He showed her the tricorder. "Look. The readings...her internal structure is changing at a pace I have never seen." They looked at her and a cascade of colours seemed to work its way through until a dark almost midnight colour settled there. Hades walked over and placed the cardio and neural stimulators on her. He opened her eyes to see black pools there. He showed Carolyn. "I'm never seen that."

Harris continued to monitor her condition from behind.

Nivar had arrived and unashamedly entered the room followed by the Sentinel sisters and a few others.

Hades continued, "Her heart...it's developing another chamber look at the rate at which her muscles are shifting." As if in response Splendora began to twitch unbelievably changing before their eyes. If she were awake the experience would have been painful. There would still be pain when she woke. "I've never seen anything like this."

Nivar stepped forward. "I have."

Heads turned to him.

"You Armand. When you went through it I was in the room. I heard all these things from the doctors."

Hades said nothing. He gently brushed a tendril from Splendora's hair. He looked up at Carolyn. "We have five minutes to go. Her kidney function will return firs and we must administer the shocks at the same time. On my mark not a second before." He looked up through the window. "Get them in here. They might want to be here when she wakes up."

“I’ll be ready,” Carolyn assured him, inwardly wishing they had less of an audience.

Splendora looked on as the doctors worked. She saw Hades brush the lock of hair from her forehead and watched as her body .... she was not near it but she could swear she felt the pangs of pain. Suddenly she felt as if some unseen force was pulling her towards the bio bed. She briefly had the urge to fight it but then she caught a glimpse of Tom and Vito walking into the room. Suddenly she wanted nothing more then to feel his touch, see his smile. She pushed with all her force towards he shell that had been her.

Harris gasped. "I'm reading cortical activity. I'm reading renal function...."

Hades looked up. "Carolyn. Shock level 2. Clear!"

Trusting everyone not a doctor would heed Hades call to stand clear, Carolyn administered the shock, studying the readings displayed over the biobed for signs they were winning this battle.

Hades watched her body struggle under the shock. There was silence and then nothing. "Level five!"

“Anything above four risks neurological damage,” she warned, even as she made the adjustments.

He knew what she said was right and that it was too high but he watched. There was a slight increase a thump of her heart. "Again!"

Before Carolyn could activate it a figure stepped from the shadows. A figure that had watched it all unseen. "I think not." He held a phaser.

Florance smiled at Vito and Tom. "Gentlemen. Good to see you." He leveled the phaser at Hades. "All of you step away. Ms. Sage does not wake up."

Nivar and Harris hissed. The Sentinals were already calculating the odds of removing that phaser from his hand.

Carolyn glanced over at Hades, making no sign of moving from Sage’s side and her finger still poised over the button which would administer the shock. The intruder sounded calm and confident, and she had no doubt he would fire. Just as she was sure Hades would not hesitate to save Sage either way. But there was more than just the two of them and a patient. “Hades...?”

A rage seized him. Hades fumed. How had he missed this. How had his people missed this. Normally volcanic Hades was now calm. He motioned for his people to step back. The Sentinel sisters, Harris, Nivar all stepped back. "Hello Jon."

Florence stared at him. "Mr, Vercetti, Mr. Russo move back from Doctor Sage. We wouldn't want you to play the hero."

Tom took two steps to the right then he stood there steadfast and defiant.

Vito took two steps to the left then also planted himself. The distance between them was enough that Florence would have to turn, at least with his eyes, to see what they were doing, it was impossible for him to watch both men clearly. And if he wanted to shoot, Florence would only get one and the other would have time to him. It also made Florence focus more on Tom and Vito and less on Hades, Corrigan, and Nivar.

From the opposite side of the biobed, Carolyn withdrew her hand at Hades signal for everyone to step back. She brushed the monitor at the side of the bed, which was tracking Sage’s neurological activity. Just as it began to show a spike, the display shifted to mirror the other display tracking the time. She glanced at Harris, sure he had seen it.

Harris' eyes widened. He had stepped away feeling Hades' rage. He motioned for Carolyn to shut the monitor off. Splendora was coming back. She was as strong as they thought.

Keeping her movements as subtle as possible, Carolyn touched a couple of buttons and all the monitors went dark. Since he seemed to want Sage to stay dead, she hoped their intruder would not be concerned at the screens going dark.

Florence sighed. "Nivar...you are treacherous. I gave you a career and you lied about Ms. Sage not showing any signs or changes. I figured you would and now...not only can I fix that mistake you've lead me to the famed Armand who took down my little experiment. To think you've been hiding in plain sight all this time." He kept his eyes on Vercetti and Russo. He'd known they were trouble and back on Cardassia they had been quite descriptive of what they wanted to do. He motioned for Hades to join the medical staff close to Tom and Vitto. "Let's get you all in a nice group. A few more minutes and it will be too late to bring her back."

Hades exchanged looks with Tom and Vito. He hoped they could stop him. He hoped that the phaser was set on stun. He was about to take a step when both Rain and Gypsy Sentinel charged. The rest happened in slow motion. Florence turned towards Gypsy and fired. The beam hit its mark and her body started to disintegrate. Hades cried out. "No!!!!"

He saw Tom and Vito moving.

It wasn’t the situation he wanted, but with Florence distracted Tom lunged forward and grabbed Florence’s wrist to keep him from shooting. As Florence tried to turn away he was greeted with a big fist to the face supplied by Vito. As Florence fell, Tom stepped on his shoulder and twisted, breaking Florence’s wrist. The phaser he’d be holding slid away as Vito then stepped on Florence’s neck to keep him from moving. Tom picked up the phaser and aimed at Florence’s chest.

“It’s just like Bremer told you on Cardassian. Losing isn’t an option for us.” Tom said to Florence as he looked down upon him.

"Michael help Vito. Get that trash out of my sickbay or I might put him in an airlock." Hades was shaking. Gypsy Sentinel had given her life to save those who were here. He knew Rain was suffering. They were twins. His main priority was Splendora. As he stood to go to her she gasped. Her body went into seizures. "Carolyn! Move! We got to stop it. Anti seizing medication at 15 CCs. Harris turn the monitors on."

Carolyn nodded, not quite trusting her voice as she prepared the hypo whilst the image of Gypsy literally disintegrating before their eyes kept replaying in her head. She forced the images aside, focusing on the patient they had. Everything else could wait.

Administering the hypo her blue eyes shifted to the monitors.

On the ground Florence took advantage of a momentary distracted Vito and the commotion to slip free of Vito's foot. He rolled out of phaser range.

Tom was preoccupied with Splendora’s condition to notice Florence roll away until he’d done so. Vito grunted and gave chase. Tom trusted his old friend and remained by Splendora.

Vito quickly found Florence cowering and trying to hide. He reached down and picked up the smaller man, slamming him into the bulkhead. “No more games for you.” Vito slammed Florence against the bulkhead again and as Florence bounced back Vito grabbed the man’s head and with a quick turn he snapped his neck. “Bastard.”

Back at Splendora's bedside in sickbay the readings were stabilizing. Harris had lead Rain away and Nivar followed. Hades looked up at Tom. "She's going to make it." He motioned for the man to move closer. "Everything is working. Why don't you stay here. It won't be long until she wakes fully" He motioned for Carolyn. "Set it to constant read out. I want to know her vitals."

Carolyn nodded, making the adjustments.

He looked at Tom. "Are you alright Mr. Vercetti?"

"When she wakes up I will be." Tom replied as he watched Splendora.

Hades smiled. "I'll leave you with her. It won't be long and she might be disoriented at first." He looked at Carolyn and motioned for her to follow. He had seen her shock at seeing someone vaporized. He needed to make sure she was okay. "Come along Carolyn."

They walked out leaving Tom in the room.

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