Signing off on the latest treatments for Lieutenant Anix, Hannah closed the terminal in her makeshift office. Reflecting back on the moment she and Neri were preparing him for the burn chamber, she remembered the girl the lieutenant was supposed to have saved. Wondering if Neri had made any progress in her search, she thought she’d seek her out and ask.

The tone of the emergency department was much calmer than it had been only an hour previous as the remaining patients were being attended to. She couldn’t see Neri anywhere nearby. Perhaps she’s tracking down information, she thought to herself as she approached the nurses station located in the centre of the ward.

“Excuse me,” she began, attempting to get the attention of one of the two nurses occupying the station.

The female Benzite to Hannah’s left looked up from what she was doing in acknowledgement, “Doctor Murphy, what can I do for you?”

“I treated a patient earlier that was believed to have been with a little girl when he arrived. The patient’s name is Lieutenant Anix.

“Lieutenant Anix, hmm…Oh yes! He was the Betazed plasma burn victim. I remember him, but he was not with a little girl. A young woman, roughly in her thirties. She was treated for mild plasma burns and smoke inhalation. She’s in recovery room two. I can give you her chart in just a moment.” replied the nurse, as she downloaded the woman’s chart into a black PADD and handed it to Hannah. 

“Thank you.” said Hannah, taking the PADD, making sure to make a mental note of the patient’s name; Nidah.

Hannah was still getting acquainted with the hospital layout, but she remembered that the recovery ward was down the hall to the right of the nursing station. Proceeding down the hallway, there were a total of eight rooms in the small corridor. The rooms were numbered in ascending order on her left and descending order on her right. She approached the second door on the left and pressed the chime on the wall mounted panel to signal her presence before entering.

“Hello. I am Doctor Hannah Murphy. You must be Nidah.” She said introducing herself. The woman nodded and Hannah continued, “I understand you were treated for some smoke inhalation, and the dermal regeneration for the burns seems to have done its job. Would you mind telling me what happened?”

Nidah was hesitant to speak up at first, still traumatised by the whole ordeal. “It’s okay. I just want to help.” Hannah said, in hopes of easing the woman’s tensions.

“We were being evacuated to get away from the storms. Father’s illness managed to get him off the planet before I could. I grabbed the next available transport I could book. I was heading to the ship’s mess hall for a light snack when the storm caught up with us. It shook the ship violently and a wall panel exploded and burst into flames. If it hadn’t been for that heroic officer that saved me, I might not be here to tell you about it.”

Nidah wiped some tears from her eyes. It had been a very traumatic experience; one that she hoped she would never have to experience again. After regaining some composure she continued, “That man. Did he make it?”

“He’s being treated now, but he should make a full recovery.” Hannah replied.

Nidah’s eyes lit up. In as brave a voice as she could muster without bursting into additional tears of joy, she politely interrupted Hannah, shifting her concern from her saviour to that of her father, “Please, I hope you don’t think me rude for changing the subject, but do you know where my father could be? We were all told we were being evacuated to nearby stations, only we weren’t told which ones. I need to find him. He suffers from advanced stages of Zanthi Fever, and I want to make sure he’s getting the help he needs.”

Hannah didn’t recall seeing any other Betazoid males in the lists of patients being immediately treated, let alone any suffering from Zanthi Fever as Nidah had described. It may have been entirely possible that her father had not made it to Starbase Bravo and was instead at another station. That didn’t stop Hannah however from making one final attempt to be certain. If anyone on the station would be made aware of the comings and goings of people on the station, it would be security.

Wheeling out a stool from the small desk in the far corner of the room, Hannah sat herself in front of the Betazoid woman and took the woman’s hand in hers, “I have a friend in Security. If anyone would know his whereabouts, they would.”

She tapped the combadge affixed to her lab coat and called out in a very formal tone “Doctor Murphy to Security. Ensign Thompson, please respond.”

Sonja had just returned from a short patrol making sure and observing to make sure no issues were currently occurring. Once she was satisfied she was heading back to the Security offices to do some reports she needed to finish, when she heard a familiar voice on her commbadge. 

“Go ahead, Doctor Murphy.”

“Could you please come to the Emergency Ward, Sector Hotel-Turquoise? I have a missing persons case that I could use your assistance with.”

“I am on my way.” She said as she immediately turned and headed for the medical ward. After a small walk and a few delays from people stopping her asking questions. She walked into the Sector that Hannah had requested her to come too. 

Upon arrival, Sonja was greeted by the nurse at reception and immediately directed to the recovery rooms. Hannah could hear her friend down the hall and excused herself from her Betazoid patient to greet her, waving as she approached, “Thanks for coming Sonja. I figured you, out of everyone I know, could help me with this case. I’ve got a female patient here, Betazoid, in her thirties, who became separated from her father. Her father is not well, suffering from advanced stages of Zanthi fever. Hence the reason for getting separated. He was sent ahead on a transport to be treated, but his daughter was not told which starbase he’d be taken to. She ended up here on Bravo, and had it not been for her minor injuries, she’d probably still be looking for him. I was hoping you could talk to her, get whatever information you needed and maybe you’d be able to use what resources you have available to locate him.”

Sonja’s eyes grew wide as she recalled the encounter with a man that fit the exact description her friend had presented to her “I think…I met him just a few days ago, which was an interesting experience. He was begging we find his daughter whom he had been separated from. He was under the supervision of our Staff Psychiatrist Elegy Ward. I think this could be the daughter he is looking for. I can go talk to her and make sure this is the case of course. I just figured you should be in the loop.” She said with a smile to her old friend.

“Absolutely. She’s just inside here.” Hanna replied, motioning for Sonja to follow.

As the two walked inside, Hannah introduced her friend to her patient, “Nidah, this is Sonja Thompson. She works in security and is a good friend of mine. She’s going to ask you a few questions about your father. She believes she may have seen him a couple of days ago and wants to be sure it’s the same man. Is that okay?”

Nidah’s eyes gleamed as a feeling of closure seemed closer than ever to her ordeal. “Of course. If it is my father, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.”

Sonja smiled warmly “When was the last time you saw your father?”

Rubbing the back of her neck, Nidah said, “I said goodbye to him at the transporter arch, before they beamed him up to the rescue ship.  He was evacuated from the colony early, because he needed treatment.”

She nodded listening carefully to the girls answer “Has your father ever showed any tendencies of bad anger?”

“No,” Nidah snapped back, mildly offended.  “Never! He’s an artist and a poet.  He communicates through his thoughts and his composition.”  The way she said it, Nidah was practically pleading with Sonja.

She looked back at Hannah and nodded slightly before turning back to Nidah “I think we do know where your father is. He made it safely to the station though he is currently being monitored due to a situation that occurred, but I can assure you he is ok.” She said with a smile and calm voice of reassurance.

“That’s great news! We should probably take Nidah to go and see the Doctor right away.” Hannah replied excitedly.

“A situation?” Nidah asked, latching onto that word before all others.  Concern etched across her forehead as she looked to both women.  “What does that mean?”

Sonja saw the immediate concern on the girls face “Nothing to worry about it was a small outbreak that hit some of the base members. It wasn’t in their control and it was quickly resolved. The last I saw your father he was resting, but I was assured he was ok. If you want we can go to see him?”

“That,” Nidah said, “is the only situation I want.”

*    *    *

“Thank you for waiting for the test results.  I appreciate you coming back in after the… situation,” said Counselor Elegy Weld.  The recovery ward wasn’t as crowded as it had been a few days back, and Elegy didn’t have to raise his voice as he had done.  His patient, Ludrul, had planted his burly form on a biobed and he kept craning his neck back, eying the sensor results on the holographic biofunction monitor.  Elegy said, “All scans suggest the treatment was effective.  Your Zanthi fever has pass–“

Elegy was shoved to the side by Nidah, as she sprinted to the biobed and tackled her father in a hug.  “Uh… yes,” Elegy said vaguely, as he regained his bearings.  “Yes, that’s very good news.”  He looked back the way Nidah had come from and he spotted Hannah and Sonja following in Nidah’s wake.  “I suppose Ludrul has you both to thank for this reunion?”

Sonja nodded “It was a joint effort between us both, but I am glad to see the closure that Nidah found her dad.” She stepped closet to the counselor “Thank you for you help in this matter Counselor. This could have been a bigger issue, but thank goodness everything worked out correctly.”

“I guess it was lucky that Nidah was in the wrong place at the right time. If she had not been saved by Lieutenant Anix, who knows where she might have ended up.” Hannah replied as she gazed upon the joyous reunion of father and daughter and wiped the tears from her eyes that began to form.