Isha checked her map display on the armband once more after they made a turn around the corner, just to make sure that they were still heading in the right direction. She sighed for a moment and looked over at Vuzhan, only to return her gaze toward the direction they were walking. “You know. The doctor kind of scares me a little bit. The way she talked about this gas, or the contagion that’s within it, makes me kind of worried a little.”

“I think she may enjoy scaring people,” Vuzhan replied, the commando still holding his plasma gun at the ready. “Seems like there’s always one person like that in any crew.” He likewise briefly looked over at Isha before returning to the path ahead of them. “But I wouldn’t worry, our suits have held up so far. Once we find the Commanders, we’ll just jump out of an airlock and float until we’re past the interference and the shuttle can beam us aboard. It’ll all be over soon.”

Isha laughed. “Yeah, that’s starting to sound about right.” She sighed and lowered her arms, which lowered her rifle and the map display on her armband. “I’m hoping we could get the ship running. Maybe vent the gas, flush out the filters. Republic really could use another ship like this.”

Isha and Vuzhan soon come around a junction just to stop at the second the two Commanders were right in front of them. Isha sighed heavily in relief. “Boy. Aren’t we glad to see you two. Wdll I don’t know about my stone cold friend here but I sure am!”

“Commanders,” Vuzhan said flatly with a nod.

Saren tilted his head to the side for a second, like a shrug. “There something we should know about?”

Isha laughed. “Oh no, no. Everything’s fine.” Isha’s smile then faded when her shoulder light shined on Saren’s face. She raised her rifle just to shine on both their faces to be certain, then she gulped. “Oh no.”

“Something the matter, Sublieutenant?” Herrana asked with a raised eyebrow, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy.

“Pink polka-dots? Can’t be right! I mean. Wait.” Isha then frowned an

d realized something. She raised her armband and went into the suit settings. “Our suits haven’t detected the contagion, so the system thinks the air is fine. Life support on this ship is still getting power, so the suits switched to filter out our Co2 and bring in o2 from outside rather than deplete the suits o2 supply.”

Saren looked at Orex then back at Isha. “How are your biofilters?” Saren asked as he went to check his.

Isha checked hers and sighed in relief. “Mine are fine.”

“Mine too,” the Reman said.

Saren sighed and then began to speak but his voice went squeak. “Mine is compro- oh what the hell.”

“Oh, shit,” Herrana squeaked, then attempted to reflexively clasp a hand over her mouth but only served to bonk the front of her helmet. “This is bad.”

Isha tried her best not to laugh.

“It is not funny Sublieutenant!” Saren scowled at her.

“I’m sorry! I’m not trying too but.” She snorted before turning away. “Okay! Let’s get them back to the medical bay and quick!”

“I swear, I leave New Romulus for the first time in ten years and something like this happens…” Herrana said with a high-pitched groan, leaving Vuzhan trying to suppress a smirk.

“Hakona to Alpha team” Their comm went.

“Comms are working again?” Herrana squeaked, then looked to Isha and Vuzhan. There was no way she was answering the comms, not with her current voice.

“Hey Doctor! Slight problem. Our suits noticed the life support was still functioning and started recycling air and well, the biofilters in Vuzhan’s suit and mine are good but both Saren and Orex biofilters are compromised and…they’re infected.” Isha said with a nervous chuckle.

“Right, well that is problematic and at the same time very fascinating to use our systems against us”

“’Problematic’ is putting it mildly,” Vuzhan replied.

“Then get your ass to the sickbay, Vuzhan, per the doctor’s request and on emergency order…..get them here at any cost but protect yourself. All of you hurry…time is not in your favor” The communication went off.

“Alright you two, let’s get to the doctor’s office,” Vuzhan said, gesturing for Saren and Orex to follow him.

“Yes, let’s please hurry,” Herrana said, doing her best to keep her voice at a non-ridiculous tone.

“Let’s, before we die laughing before we try to kill each other.” Saren said in his high pitch voice.

Isha tried not to laugh but it was a real struggle. She took the lead and guided the team right back to the medical bay, at which point Isha had to ask. “How did you get the comms to work again?” Isha looked at the doctor.

Looking over her shoulder and points at the panel “I activated it, if you don’t push it then you never know it works right” Hakona looked back at the console tapping some buttons as she let the computer analyze it. 

Meanwhile, Saren grumbled. “You know,” his high pitched voice continued. “We would have figured this out some more if you had just let me finish reviewing the command logs. But no, you want to play it safe. Like how you played it safe back in your little, personnel transport business?”

Herrana shot Saren a glare. “Yes, we’d have been just fine if we stayed put and let ourselves stew in this toxin for longer…” she squeaked. “We didn’t need to figure it out, that’s what we have a medical officer for. Leaving is getting us treatment sooner. Or are you just determined to do everything yourself?!”

Isha overheard and stared at the doctor. “Doc, I think it’s getting worse!”

Ignoring their fighting, Hakona sighs and pulls off the helmet, taking a deep breath, “Ah, it is dusty here….” She blinks and looked at Isha “That face looks like you think it is safe….but it is not. The gas is still here, yet, to give these some calm to their minds and their build-up of paranoia. I do what every doctor does…or should do…show them it is safe” 

Isha eyes widened at the doc removing her helmet. “Uh, what’s going on?”

Ignoring the question as she throws a tricorder at Vuzhan “The fun part of being a medical officer is that you can see what something does to a certain particle. In this case, what does it do to us or to our Reman friend there” Hakona gets the injector as the console beeps, and she walks to it nodding “The answer is nothing….because this specific weapon is made and designed to take out a Romulan” She shrugs slowly letting the fluid get into the injector “Now with that in mind, I used the old database DNA logs on a Reman, used the profile of DNA logs of a Romulan and generated something of an antidote” She turns around looking at them with an injector in her hand “Now comes the fun part ladies and gentlemen. The test phase can either go well and reduce the symptoms, or it speeds up the progression. Seeing that these lovely people took their helmets off, they will die within the hour because of the density of the toxic. So I have no time and need to take risk”

“Uhhh, yeah, please fix us then!” Herrana said with wide eyes. “I would very much prefer not to die within the hour, thank you very much.”

Hakona raised her hand while taking a deep breath again, “That is why I am taking heavy breaths. Vuzhan whatever happens to me….shoot me if I become violent. Isha, if I douse the other profile in the system and I can assure you that one works” Hakona looks at Orex and smirks “Did you know that you really need to lose weight” Was it the virus already working? No one knew, but pink dots did appear. Hakona took a deep breath and pressed the injector into her neck and put the antidote into her neck, giving a small growl and yet enjoyable look on her face.

“Really? I had no idea…” Herrana said as she gave her ample stomach a pat, shooting Hakona a heavy lidded stare. “Please tell me more, oh observant medical officer.”

Saren could feel his blood boiling. “I would be happy to tell you more, oh pudgy one!” Was it getting worse or was he looking to get smacked? Hard to tell. Meanwhile, Herrana pouted a bit, then looked over and childishly stuck her tongue out at Saren.

“Sorry, Commander but would you shut the hell up!” Isha yelled at him.

“Excuse you, Sublieutenant! And where the hell were you when my family was in danger?” Saren asked her.

Isha frowned. “What?”

“Back on our colony, when it was attacked by the Klingons. I trusted you to always be ready for a fight! I expected all my soldiers to be perfectly ready for anything!” Saren barked at her.

Isha ignored him as she looked back at Hakona and Vuzhan. “Anything?”

“Perhaps it would be best if we sedate them,” Vuzhan said as he crossed his arms. “The voices were funny at first, but now they’re annoying me.”

Looking a bit of blank from her eyes and not replying to any of them, she drops to the floor and lets her hand flat on the floor heavy breathing “Give ….me a second” Hakona felt like her whole arm was on fire spreading through her body as if it’s attacking something. She looked at them and tilted her neck to the side “Are the dots gone?” 

“I’ll be damned,” Vuzhan said with a smirk. “No dots. Well done, doc.”

“In that case, I would very much like TO HAVE SOME OF THAT ANTIDOTE!” Herrana blurted. “I don’t want to get all STUPID and ANGRY like Saren has, thank you very much!”

Hakona rest herself against the console and looks at Herrana “I do like that angry attitude of yours Commander, but seeing the results that come after that…” She throws the antidote to Vuzhan “Do keep note, it has a lovely aftertaste” 

Saren closed his eyes hard as he grunted, trying very hard to not let the next dumb thing come out of his mouth. “Who cares about the aftertaste. Let’s go already! Already feeling like punching someone.”

“I sure hope that’s the sickness talking,” Vuzhan said as he grabbed the antidote and administered it to the Commander, then the Subcommander. “Because I’d really get in trouble for winning a fistfight against my CO.”

Saren smirked at Vuzhan as he grimaced from the pain he began to feel. “I’ll take you up on that challenge.” he grunted. “But maybe another time.”

“Owwwww, I am in paaaaiiiiiinnnn…” Herrana whined, rolling on her sickbay bed as she let out high-pitched moans. Gradually, her voice lowered back to normal, and her childish complaints began to subside.

Eventually, she sat up, rubbing her head and letting out a few coughs.

“Are… um… we alright now, Doctor?” she said sheepishly, clearly a bit embarrassed by her toxin-induced outbursts.

Already back on her feet Hakona looked at Herrana “Yes that is all, to my own disappointment” The last part she mutters and looked away. Herrana shot her a slightly bemused, slightly agitated glance.

Saren took in several long deep breaths followed by slow, long exhales. Once he was certain the pain was gone, and he didn’t feel like shit, he straightened himself out and looked at everyone, then at Hakona. “Disappointed you may be, you found the Republic and the entire Romulan population in the non-aligned region a defense against this weapon.”

Suddenly there was a green glow from a single column of a transporter beam in the room. This made Saren and Isha raise their weapons at it until the beam disappeared, leaving a single Romulan female behind. “Identify yourself!” Saren shouted at the individual. At the same time, the lights and the consoles around them came on, indicating that Delta Team had restored power.

“Uhhhhh, is hallucination a side effect of that drug, or did somebody just beam onboard?” Herrana muttered, still sitting cross-legged on the sickbay bed.

Exhaling a deep breath Hakona looked a bit disappointed at the arrival “Sadly for you Sub Commander I don’t deal in hallucination shit. Ask a Ferengi for that” She shrugs “As for you, speak up quickly”

Teri ignored the Commanders super rude remark towards her and unphased, looked at him with a look of pure seriousness “I am Centurion Teri Maec, the new Romulan Republic Intel Officer that has been assigned to your ship. I am here because I have an important message.” She said with no indication of what the message was yet.