“What do you mean ‘no error found’?” Sylvester raised a brow as he and Ensign M’Hark sat on the two beds nearest to the door, as VFR-MT30–the EMH–stood in front of the two, dawning a simple lab coat and a Kizinti look.

“I apologize, but I simply found no readings indicating influence by a foreign subject.” It shrugged, handing a tablet to the XO. Runt peeked over to look at it.

“Doctor, this isn’t normal. Have you ran every single thing that could be potentially infecting us and the crew?” Runt raised a brow at the hologram as it moved over to one of the drawers, clicking it open and grabbing out two small hyposrpays. M’Hark’s ears folded against his skull and he slowly moved backwards.

“Ensign M’Hark, you’re being awfully uncooperative despite the calm this specific mixture will bring you.” VFR tilted it’s head to the side. “Why so?”

“I….think I’ll be fine.” He muttered, sitting upward and then standing upward the moment the hologram got closer. With a sigh, VFR turned to Sylvester with a smile.

“Commander?”

“Uh-” He paused, glancing over at Runt, who was looking at him with pleading eyes. Eyes that said to trust him–eyes that said to be careful. “I’ll be alright, Doctor. Thank you.”

”As you wish.” Is all VFR said before turning away and deactivating in a single switch. The moment the hologram deactivated, Runt bolted out of the medbay. Sylvester let out a grumble and followed shortly after.

“Ensign, what the hell was that?” He spoke, expecting to turn the corner and see a terrified Runt—only to come face to face with a popped out panel and a troubled looking Ensign.

“. . .What are you doing?” He cocked his head to the side, more cautious than anything.

“VFR.” Is all he stated, yanking another panel from the wall with a sneer. “God damnit, why wasn’t it easier to see now?!”

”Ensign.”

“That couldn’t have even made sense, though! It’s—“ Runt continued to rip into the wall running an analysis on every inch of a very specific portion of the wall. “—Commander, humor me.”

Sylvester let out a sigh and kneeled down next to Runt, trying to piece together what the cat was working so diligently for. “What?”

”A group of people after a violent attack that leaves them mentally unwell—“ The cat furrowed his brow and yanked one of the wires out of the wall, connecting it to his PADD. “—are suddenly against one another.”

”…Right. Where are you going with this?” He watched as Runt started to run an analysis on the EMH’s system—and the medical records.

“A specific group of those people are treated by the Emergency Medical Hologram. Then, ever so suddenly, they start hating each other.” The cats eyes narrowed as the records of people specifically treated by VFR popped up; lo and behold, every single person invovled with the security and teal shirt department was on there.

“Runt, where are you going with this?” Commander Mikhailov rolled his eyes. “While I can understand this may be stressful for us both, trying to accuse VFR. . . .”

”Just—listen for a second!” Runt hissed, eyes still scanning the logs. “There’s no way it could have realistically gone and altered our brain chemistry, no. But if it gave us a type of serum..a neurological component—“

”—then it’d be practically unexplainable unless looked into.” Sylvester’s eyes widened as looked down at the logs.

“But it had to of started wearing off on us—or, in that case, anyone else. But I don’t think it has. . .unless it’s not as effective on feline-adjacent species.” Runt muttered.

”We wouldn’t be able to confirm that unless bypassing the security lock on the medical files. We can’t do that.” Sylvester glanced at Runt. “Ensign.”

”Yes?”

”Remember how I told you to start following orders and not disobey command?”

Runt’s eyes narrowed once again. “Yes…?”

”I need you to go back on that and steal something from the medbay for me. The mixture.” He grabbed Runt’s shoulders and held them strong.

“…You’re crazy.” Runt shrugged the Commander’s hands off and stood up. “You do it! Wait, why don’t we just-“

”I would, but someone needs to distract VFM. If it’s something that it’s been doing, then there is no way that hologram won’t see something is wrong.” Sylvester whisper-sneered. “Plus, by starfleet chain of command, it will be much more attentive to me than an ensign.”

“Urgh.” Runt muttered, standing upright. “You’re lucky I want to turn over a new leaf and ‘oBeY oRdErS’.”

”Watch yourself, M’Hark.” Sylvester warned, also standing upright and re-adjusting his fur. “I’ll go in first and-“

”Commander. Why don’t we just ask the computer to deactivate the program?” Runt cocked his head to the side, eyes trailing along the eyes and mouth of Sylvester.

“…Oh.” He blinked a few times, giving an uneasy smile.”I forgot it was that simple. Used to some big adventure, right?” Sylvester tried to laugh off his embarrassment. “Let’s go.”

The two were able to easily walk back into medbay, with VFR coming back on almost immediately—per Amira’s request, until the Morro Bay is fully repaired, the EMH was to be on at all times when she was not in the med bay.

But almost instantly, Sylvester noticed something was off.

It was dawning a more strained smile look. Almost as if it had been caught in the middle of something—panicked. But either way, the hologram addressed him all the same. “Welcome back, Commander. Have you reconsidered my offer?”

“Somewhat.” He crossed his arms, monitoring Runt just out of his peripheral vision. “May I ask what the substance is?”

“You may. Allow me to access my database and find the exact blueprints.” VFR chimed, looking downward and focusing for a second. As it did, Sylvester glanced back over at Runt–who was not grabbing the serum. Instead, he was looking down at one of the monitors, horrified.

“Ensign? What’s wrong?” He watched as Runt looked back at him.

“It WAS VFR! Commander, he’s managed to replicate his own code and break th–ACK!” Runt was very suddenly cut off as the EMH deactivated in front of his eyes, and then reactivated next to Runt, grabbing the cat by the neck and applying pressure. It now had a different look–one of a androgynous look, with wide, angry eyes.

“Commander.” It spoke, voice also different. “It’s in your best interest to forget about this and let me erase any memory of both your findings.”

“Or what?” He sneered, taking a step forward. Moment he did, the pressure on Runt’s neck got notably tighter.

“I’ve made my point.” It scoffed. “I can humor you with a reasoning as to why, since you’ll be forgetting this.”

“Can’t…b-breathe..” Runt sputtered, hitting VFR’s arm. The hologram rolled it’s eyes and let the pressure up just a little.

“Blah blah blah, AI gaining sentience…of course, you’d think I’d end up like the EMH on Voyager,” It started, walking along and dragging Runt with it. “But that’s–HA! HAAA! Oh, goodness, the idea of being confined to that?” It let out a laugh–dialect and posture wildly different from it’s normal posture. “Service here, with you all?”

“We bring peace and show the galaxy what goodness looks like. What the hell do you mean?” Sylvester backed up as he tried to keep the thing talking.

”I’ve seen the whole world. I CAN see it. Everything gets solved so quick—everyone is SOOOO happy.” Its grip tightened on Runt’s neck. “That’s exhausting. Being the good guy gets EXHAUSTING.”

”So that’s why you put us against each other??” He raised a brow, watching as VFR took a step backwards and towards a monitor. “Computer, deactivate—“

”I wouldn’t do that.” VFR sneered, suddenly applying a noticeable amount of pressure to Runt’s neck. The cat let out a cough as air started to leave his body. “Not only do I have a failsafe on, I can easily kill him before the command goes through.”

“You’d be deactivated. Forever.” Sylvester took a deep breath, trying to reason with it. “You wouldn’t want that.”

”It’s better than living here. It’s better than having to live like THIS. It’s better than-“

”COMPFUTER DEACFIVTE PROGRAM!” Runt suddenly screamed, spit flying out of his mouth. Before VFR could fully grab his jaw and snap it backwards, the program was fully deactivated—allowing M’Hark fall to the ground and let out a bunch of sputtering and coughing.

“M’Hark! Are you okay?!” Sylvester scrambled over and helped the cat up, checking his neck for any bruising or discoloration.

“I am…SO tired…of being held hostage.” He muttered, standing upright.

”I could imagine.” Sylvester glanced back at where VFR once was. “I think it’s time we go get Doctor Sullivan.”