Unrequited

Falling in love is never what we want or hope it is...

The medbay of the Thunderchild hummed with the sound of machinery and lights as the Doctors moved from one patient to another each one busy with their own tasks aboard ship. No-one batted an eyelid when Doctor McKenzie strode in carrying the Captain half over his shoulder and placed him on the bed at the far end of the room, panting heavily as he did so.

“Get me twenty milligrams of bezoalite stat!” he shouted to one of the nurses. The nurse rushed away to get the medicine as quickly as she could.

“How long do we have before the Borg arrive at Earth?” Harper asked Rex urgently.

The Captain mumbled something incoherently as the effects of the Borg implants began to take over his mind once more. His eyes rolled upwards and his face became sullen and sunken as he sank deeper and deeper into a chaotic sleep.

“Get him back!” Harper demanded; turning the Doctor from the hypo spray he was preparing.

“Whattaya think I’m doing, whistling ‘Dixie’?” He demanded, glaring at her angrily. He pressed the hypo spray to the Captains neck and activated the spray nozzles with one swift movement. “There, he should come round in a moment.”

George Rex looked pale and grey to Harper, which worried her. She hated seeing him like this, it made her feel inadequate somehow; as if she were lost in some terrible dream that she couldn’t wake up from. She swallowed hard; hoping no-one saw her fears as she looked on the man she loved. He seemed to be dying, and she could do nothing to help him. Keep calm; she told herself, he’s in good hands. He’ll get better quickly, especially now that Big Mac is on the case.

She watched intently as he started to wake, groaning and nodding his head from side to side.

“How are you feeling?” asked McKenzie, suddenly appearing beside her and looking down at his friend on the observation table.

“Like I was run over by a freight train.” Rex told him, and then noticed Harper. A quizzical look swept across his face. “Why aren’t you on the bridge?” he asked.

“We can’t go anywhere for a while, and not much was happening, so I thought I’d see how you were.” She heard herself reply, shocked at how professional she sounded. She hoped he couldn’t hear her heart pounding in her chest, it was so loud.

“What about the Borg? What’s happening with them?” Rex enquired.

“Currently, the Borg are repairing the damage to both vessels with their usual efficiency.” She told him, sounding unperturbed by his lack of interest in her. She secretly wished he would notice how she felt, though. It would make her day to hear him say that he had!

“Casualties?” Rex continued, pulling himself into a sitting position.

“Thirty five minor wounds, Three dead, and ninety three serious injuries - though those were caused by the impact with the Borg cube.” Not even a waver in her voice. Harper was constantly stunned by how she was handling this. True, the voice sounded like it was someone else’s, but it was definitely hers, she knew that much.

“Any contact with Star fleet?”

“Nothing at the moment, it seems that we’re being jammed in some way.”

“Jammed?” Rex sounded concerned. “How? And who by?”

“We’re not sure yet. Our sensors are currently offline and the most we can detect is that it’s certainly not coming from any of the nearby sectors.”

Rex frowned and looked down at the bed for a moment. “How long till the primary sensors come back online?” he asked eventually, his eyes not leaving the bed.

“About an hour.” Harper told him, silently wishing he would look into her eyes and see the passion waiting there for him, she found herself holding her breath, and released it quietly, wondering if he could hear her.

“Well, we’ll have to see about that.” Rex jumped from the bed and was halfway out of the door before Harper realized he’d even moved. Swiftly, she followed, like a little lost puppy following its parent.