Post 356: Playing God

Stardate:70806.1555
Title: Playing God
Authors: Jaine Hood/Ashlyn Trind
Scene: Surgical Suite, Symbiosis Commission: Trill
Time: About an hour after "Pardon the Interruption"
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Dr. Plen paced anxiously as Ashlyn Trind went about her work. She did her best to tune him out, but it was nerve-wracking. The man simply would not hold still.

She stabilized February's neural pathway activity as best she could before beginning. This took some doing, and Jaine was already almost finished with the procedures to restore February's vision when Trind finally made her first incision.

Carefully, Trind freed the Grace symbiont from its internal tether to February's body. She lifted it out of the girl's abdomen, and prepared to place it into the awaiting holding tank.

"I'll take it!" Plen insisted, and he tried to grab Grace from Trind with gloved hands.

"Back off, Sarien! What is the matter with you? Wait a minute. What the hell is that?" Ashlyn frowned, turning the symbiont gently over in her hands and stepping out of Plen's reach.

"Give me the symbiont, Dr. Trind. Now."

"Jaine, would you finish up?" Trind asked and Hood, having finished her own work, nodded and took over.

"What the hell is that thing and where did it come from?" Ashlyn put Grace gently into the tank, and she pointed to a protrusion on its spine, where the neck and head of the symbiont met. "That isn't right."

"No! It's not right at all!" Rigin stammered. "Dr. Plen, explain this!"

"If you don't let me tend to the symbiont now, it will not survive." Plen warned. "The implant must be removed."

"Implant? You better start talking, while there's a slight chance that you might still have a career tomorrow morning." Ashlyn began to scan the symbiont, watching as disturbing readings started to display on the monitor beside the tank.

"Electroshock treatments? Hyper-neural stimulation? Time-released drug infusion!" With each passing moment, the implications of the device became darker and more horrifying.

"You can't imagine the condition that symbiont was in the last time I treated it. Between all the neural pathways burned out by Deveral's lifetime of substance abuse, and the damage that was done when Wen Grace commit-" he stopped, editing his choice of words mid-sentence. ". . .died. I knew that if serious measures weren't taken, that the symbiont would have no chance at all."

"Why not return it to the symbiont pools so that it could heal?" Rigin gasped. "Under the care of the Guardians, given enough time,"

"I didn't believe it could survive as a single entity, even in the pools. It was too weak, too frail,"

"So you just thought you'd experiment on it! Place it in a young, strong host body. So that the symbiont could pull strength from her." Ashlyn spoke through gritted teeth. "You sold February down the river, and you knew what would happen to her!"

"What could happen, yes. But I didn't know that it would turn out so badly. I had hoped-"

"You were wrong!" In an uncharacteristic display from a mild and peaceful man, Rigin looked like he was about ready to tear Plen limb from limb if he heard one more word. Ashlyn stepped between them.

"Everyone back up-" she insisted, becoming aware that there was also a commotion taking place outside the operating room. Voices were raised. Some were shouting, and then finally Trind's combadge signaled.

[Gilmore to Trind, respond!]

"Captain?"

[We need to talk. Now.]

"I'm a little busy at the-"

[NOW! And bring that weasel Plen with you!]

Ashlyn blinked several times in quick succession. "Apparently, we need to step outside." She pulled her surgical gloves off and tossed them into the waste unit, then pointed for Plen to lead the way into the waiting room.

"Watch over Grace, Rigin. I'll be right back."

When they reached the waiting room they found not only Gilmore and Jariel, but a silver-haired man wearing Admiral's bars, several Starfleet Security officers, and what appeared to be members of the upper brass of the Symbiosis Commission.

"Arrest that man." Gilmore demanded, pointing at Plen.

"On what charges?" Plen demanded,

"On the charges that you have violated Federation law, tampered with official records, not to mention completely shattered the code of ethics of the Symbiosis Commission!" Admiral George replied. "That's just for starters. There's more, would you like me to read you the itemized list?"

"Without me, Grace will die just like its young host is already dying," Plen snarled as he was led away. "Their blood is on your hands!"

"It's already on yours." Gilmore replied, watching as they took the still rambling doctor away in handcuffs.

Trind shook her head sadly. "It's such a fine line, between genius and madness. Captain, tell me that you have something, anything in the way of medical information that will point us in the right direction?"

"This may help you, if you hurry," A tiny, elderly female Trill stepped forward and handed Ashlyn a data rod. "Please. Take it, and do what you can for them."

Ashlyn nodded and took the chip, then hurried back into the operating room. Running her hands quickly past the sonic sterilizer and donning another pair of gloves, she looked at Jaine Hood, who had just finished closing February up.

"All the rules just changed."

"So now what do we do?"

"We hope that this will give us a chance," She plugged the data rod into the computer, and scanned screen after screen of data as it appeared.

"Suicide?" Jaine gasped, reading over her shoulder. "Wen Grace committed suicide?"

"That," Ashlyn said sadly, as she began to place cortical stabilizers on the symbiont to prepare it for surgery, "Is just the tip of the iceberg."

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Lt. Jaine Hood MD, PhD
Consulting Physician
Starfleet

and
Lt. Commander Ashlyn Trind, MD PhD
Medical Officer
USS Independence NCC-90791