LtJG Gila Sadar - Not the Doctor They Deserve...

[Gnai]

It's a long one, but it's a good one. @Gila Sadar keeps telling us in the Discord that she isn't "cool" or "a badass". But she's totally wrong, and I think this proves that. Plus it also shows just how much of a nerd our beloved Mizarian is.

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((Borg Cube - The Badlands, Alpha Quadrant))

 

 

 

It almost gave Gila whiplash. One moment, they were relatively safe - as safe as one could ever be on a Borg Cube, at least - and the next, the Borg Queen, the Collective personified, turned the full brunt of her attention upon their group, and numerous Drones immediately started approaching them, causing every single Officer in the group to kick into crisis mode. Impending assimilation would do that...

 

 

Iko: ::under her breath:: I got your backs.

 

 

Any: Response?

 

 

Changeling 2: Well, you are persistent!

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma: Response

 

 

Vai-net pushed Gila out of the way, hiding her even further behind a large coiled mass of thick cabling, and thanks to being forced to look away from the awful central shrine of the Queen, Gila had the chance to actually properly look at their surroundings. That enabled her to see the ramshackle state of the Cube itself - a general theme that had been consistent throughout the Cube, but even more so in this most central part of it - and an access point... An access point quite like the one Vai-net had used not ten minutes prior to deep freeze a Borg Drone.

 

 

Sadar: Vai-net, look!

 

 

The Bajoran woman followed her voice with no hesitation, almost immediately seeing what Gila was indicating.

 

 

Vailani: What you thinking? 

 

 

What was she thinking? It wasn’t like they could turn this room into a giant deep freezer! Or vent life support. Or explode it. Could they? 

 

 

Sadar: A change of tactics?

 

 

But almost as though the Queen knew where their minds were heading, a shimmering green forcefield shimmered into being right before them, and every nerve in Gila’s body told her that touching that thing was bad.

 

 

Beck: You'd think they could get at least a little more creative when springing a trap. Try to make it interesting so we don't just die of boredom.

 

 

Gila considered telling Doctor Beck that dying would be the least of their concerns very soon, but she found her lips quite unappreciative of her vocalizing their impending doom, so instead, she remained silent. As she watched the Drones surround their prison, Gila inched closer towards Vai-net. It was foolish, but she still found herself praying that she - or someone - would find a way for them to get out of this... Somehow.

 

 

Borg Queen: Robin Hopper! You’ve been causing quite a disruption here.

 

 

Hopper: Response

 

 

The Borg Queen turned her head.

 

 

Borg Queen: You. I know you. (beat) Nine of Twenty. Quaternary Adjunct of Unimatrix 03. ::the right side of her lip pulled upward:: Come back to me.

 

 

Flint: Response

 

 

The Queen closed her eyes, and Gila felt desperation pour forth from behind the deepest recesses of her mind. She’d never considered herself a very good Doctor. She was prone to misdiagnosing, easily convinced by patients or senior Doctors to follow courses she knew to be wrong, and her bedside manner could frankly do with some work. While she knew a multitude of pharmaceutical formulas, psychological theorems and surgical methods, her inability to cooperate harmoniously with others, much less guide others in a crisis situation, ensured that she was a greater liability than a boon at a given crisis sight. The only times Gila truly was able to consider herself a half-way decent Doctor was when she could do her job in solitude. Quiet research in a medical lab, far removed from fellow Doctors and patients, was when she thought of herself as the best version of Doctor Sadar. But there was one more element of being a Doctor that she felt she was quite good at.

 

 

Sadar: ::ghost of a whisper:: No. 

 

 

Borg Queen: Do not resist me.

 

 

Iko: C'arn Flint… Don't let her win.

 

 

The Queen snapped her eyes open, and Gila’s heart plummeted to the soles of her feet.

 

 

Borg Queen: Nine of Twenty.

 

 

What did it feel like to have the life he had crafted for himself out of the ruins the Borgs had left him disappearing like morning dew before the violence of the sun? The Borg Queen had taken him. Again. And Gila’s heart broke for him.

 

 

She barely knew him. But from the moment these officers stepped foot on this Cube, they were her colleagues - her patients - and if there was one thing Gila did alarmingly well, it was worrying about her patients.

 

 

Iko: No. NO!

 

 

Gila felt the fury and desperation contained within the security officer as she attempted to use violence to escape the trap.

 

 

Iko: NO, YOU'RE NOT TAKING HIM AGAIN!

 

 

Borg Queen/Any?: Response 

 

 

When attacking the forcefield itself did nothing, LT Iko - as Lt. Commander Hopper had identified her - tossed her weapon at Gila, for some ludicrous reason and Gila barely managed to catch it as it bounced off of her torso and fell awkwardly into her arms.

 

 

Sadar: Wh-Wh-

 

 

For a brief moment, Gila imagined the damned thing going off because of her dropping it, and so instead, she tightened her arms uselessly around the rifle, not holding it in even remotely the correct way.

 

 

Iko: Flint, listen to me, you need to resist her.

 

 

Flint: Response 

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma: Response?

 

 

A Klingon drone, broad and foreboding, stepped forward and his hand entered the forcefield to grab LT Iko, who tried pushing it away. As a result, she ended up falling forward, using her right arm to catch herself on the forcefield surrounding the group of Officers, and the resulting sound - like searing meat - filled the air, making Gila’s eyes widen. The Security Officer barely had time to scream before Gila’d stepped forward, a reaction to assist despite her arms being fully occupied by an unwanted rifle, but the shorter woman had already retreated from the forcefield.

 

 

Iko: AAAGH, #$&%!

 

 

Vailani: She needs help?!

 

 

Iko: ::quietly, through gritted teeth:: I'll be fine… Get off…

 

 

Gila shrank back, her capacity for remaining calm already stretched to the limit, and having an open discussion with a decidedly violent and temperamental senior officer was not going to happen. Thankfully, Doctor Beck had no such qualms, and laid a hand on LT Iko’s shoulder.

 

 

Beck: You're not doing anyone any favors right now. Relax and let me give you something.

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma: Response?

 

 

As the two Medical Officers had their eyes on the Security Officer, Vai-net instead had her mind on something more tangibly related to their immediate future. Namely a plausible escape attempt.

 

 

Vailani: :: to the engineers :: I'm reading a cycle of energy through this series of cables … Gila … shoot above us! :: points to the twisted piece of cable ::

 

 

Gila had to do a double-take.

 

 

oO Shoot? Who? ME!? Oo

 

 

Sadar: B-But-

 

 

Gila knew the look in Vai-net’s face as she turned her eyes on her, and Gila realized with absolute certainty that no amount of reminded Vai-net of neither Gila’s pacifism, her abysmal combat scores, her numerous retries at the shooting exams or her decidedly poor mental state would convince the Bajoran that asking Gila to shoot that cable was the wrong decision.

 

 

Vailani: Now!

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma: Response?

 

 

And so, she shot. The idea of shooting a phaser rifle while enclosed in a forcefield with a large group of officers (+ one droning LtJG Flint) was not a nice idea, but thankfully, it also meant that she had a good chance of not missing and hitting something she wasn’t supposed to. After all, not even she would shoot people next to her when aiming up. The rifle burst hit the exposed cabling, causing a minor explosion on the inside of the forcefield, but the resulting ripple of energy surged through the cabling, causing a cascade reaction around the room, lighting numerous cables aflame.

 

 

Vailani: Again Gila! 

 

 

Iko: Whatever she said.

 

 

Gila whimpered, as she shot again. This time, the result was less dramatic, but more effective. The first shot had opened up to the inner wiring of the cables, burning away the insulating material around it, and when the second rifle shot hit the inside of the cables - its energy ricocheting its way through the Cube’s innards - and this time, a distinct flicker in the room’s energy was noticeably. The lights dimmed - if however briefly - and the forcefield enclosing them shut down. Which, well, was a positive, since they were no longer trapped, but at the same time, they were still surrounded by dozens of Drones and with a only mildly affected Borg Queen in the room. And if anything, she seemed more mildly annoyed with their efforts than seriously distraught.

 

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma/Vailani: Response 

 

 

Borg Queen: Response 

 

 

Their options were limited.

 

 

Iko: Your orders, Robbie?

 

 

The group of officers - now free from entrapment, but surrounded on all sides - formed a defensive circle, for all the good it’d do them, as LT Iko made a rather damning observation.

 

 

Iko: We can't survive this.

 

 

And they all knew she was right.

 

 

Hopper: Response 

 

 

Savel/Esma/Vailani: Response 

 

 

Obeying their Queen’s directions, the Borg Drones - along with LtJG Flint - started herding the group of officers away from the Queen’s central chamber. It wasn’t random, that much was obvious, but the Officers could do little more than follow the current… What could they do?

 

 

Beck: Sorry it took so long to get you that painkiller. It should hopefully be helping by now, at least a little. How's the arm?

 

 

Iko: I think it's burnt somehow. Help me take my jacket off? It's giving me the $%&^s.

 

 

Beck: Okay, but let's take it slow. This is probably going to hurt. A lot.

 

 

Did assimilation hurt? Gila wasn’t sure. The accounts left by Ex-Borgs were inconsistent at best, but perhaps the process was different to each species, or individual. As she looked at the back of LtJG Flint - the only Drone even remotely discernible thanks to his uniform - she considered what it felt like to him. His re-assimilation was entirely mental - the Borg Queen had never once touched him, but rather just attempted to retake his mind… His neural pathways.

 

 

And she just happened to have a neural sedative.

 

 

Hopper/Esma/Savel/Vailani: Response

 

 

Beck: Oh, boy. The reaction from the forcefield was intense enough it started to… uh, melt your uniform, for lack of a better word, and fuse it to your skin. I'd estimate if you'd made contact another five or six seconds we wouldn't have been able to remove your jacket at all until we got back to a proper medical facility.

 

 

Iko/Hopper/Esma/Savel/Vailani: Response

 

 

oO But how would it work? An entire dosage was enough to knock out a recent victim cold, even stop their heart unless they were given an extra dose and dedicated medical care. Even if I managed to give it to him, he can’t help us if he’s unconscious... Then again, he’s not a recent victim. He’s had Borg Implants in his system for years, probably. Would a single dosage even be effective enough to do anything? But if he’s had the implants for that long, and he’s managed to resist the Collective’s presence up until the Queen took direct control, perhaps he’s more resistant to the nanites? He might just need a little… Oo

 

 

Beck: Doctor Sadar - can we steal you for a minute? Lieutenant Iko could use some specific treatment and I gave up my medkit for the other team.

 

 

Pulled from her rapid-fire hypothesizing, Gila stared at the other Officers in a confused manner, quickly taking in the situation. LT Iko’s jacket was off, and the full extent of damage to her arm was clearly visible. They only had one medkit.

 

 

Sadar: ::clears her throat:: R-Right. Sorry. What do you need?

 

 

Iko/Hopper/Esma/Savel/Vailani: Response

 

 

Beck: Pretty severe burns, from what I can tell - but the anabolic protoplaser would be enough to treat it here in the field for the time being, maybe that dermal regenerator, too.

 

 

Opening the first aid kit to produce the necessary implements, Gila noted that Doctor Beck had moved ahead of the two of them to converse with Lt. Commander Hopper. It was encouraging that the Drones hadn’t received strict orders to keep them in a certain order.

 

 

Sadar: This’ll itch quite a bit.

 

 

Getting to work, Gila started carefully regenerating the damaged tissue and skin around LT Iko’s upper arm, but it took a fair deal longer than was necessary. For one, she was currently walking, which was not the ideal posture while working with this kind of procedure, but she didn’t think the Drones would agree to pausing their steady march towards their destination for this kind of medical treatment. They were certain to consider it a minor inconvenience that would be easily rectified with assimilation.

 

 

Iko/Hopper/Esma/Savel/Vailani: Response

 

 

Sadar: I’m sorry, I’ll be done soon.

 

 

Beck: So, she called you by name. Crazy ex-girlfriend?

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma/Vailani: Response

 

 

And as she switched out the protoplaser with the dermal regenerator, she hastily pulled out a single dosage of the anti-Borg serum, hiding it within her sleeve.

 

 

Beck: You doing okay, Becs?

 

 

oO What if I halved the dosage? How much does he weigh? … Less muscle mass than Lt.Cdr Dakora… How much did LT Jovenan weight? Add kilograms for height disparity, add kilograms for male muscle mass. The serum has a recommended dosage of 20μg/kg, if we assume he weighs 70 kgs... 20 x 70 is 1400, converted is 1,4mg, with a concentration of 0.5mg/ml is- Oo

 

 

Iko/Hopper/Savel/Esma/Vailani: Response

 

 

The group fell to silence when the Drones led them to a new room. One that looked eerily familiar, if distinctly different. It was a large chamber filled to the brim with alcoves - like the ones they’d previously seen filled with Drones… Dead drones. And suddenly, Gila had a grim prediction. They would soon find out why those drones were dead.

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma/Vailani/Beck/Iko: Responses

 

 

Gila took a step back in fear as she saw numerous Drones’ change behavior in that moment. They gathered together in smaller units around the Officers, forcibly dragging her and a few of the others away from the group. The ones not currently restrained were kept away, but Gila still attempted to reach for Vai-net - or anyone really - but she was soon surrounded by Drones on all sides, so it was a doomed endeavor. Two sets of arms grabbed onto her, restraining her as a final one produced a large implement - it looked slightly like a large ampoule but with a thick needle at the end of it - and aimed it at one of her restrained arms. Gila could hear scuffles as she assumed some of the others fought against the restraint, but even as Gila imagined her own face fall into the same, dead expression as the pale face before her, imagined dark technology snaking its way into her bloodstream and corrupting her limbs, she couldn’t.

 

 

oO Sacrifice that which is dear and let the Wheel guide your way. Oo

 

 

The needle was inserted. The pain was beyond anything Gila had been prepared for, and she felt anguish flare out on her skin, in her mind, behind her eyes, as her legs writhed in an attempt to shirk away from the Drones. But they were too strong. Then, it was over, and the Drones released her mere seconds after the needle had been extracted. Their mechanical unison would be almost impressive if it wasn’t utterly creepy, and while Gila had to fight every instinct to fall to the ground in a wounded heap, she saw the Drone who’d just extracted a sizable sample of blood from her arm stalk towards one of the alcoves.

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma/Vailani/Beck/Iko: Responses

 

 

oO C-Concentration of 0.5mg/ml, 1.4 divided by 0.5 equals- Oo

 

 

Gila wasn’t certain why only some of their number had biological samples taken, though her experience as a scientist indicated that it was for no good reason whatsoever. She witnessed as Drones approached the alcoves and the samples of blood they had taken from her and the other Officers were input into a genetic sequencer of some kind. Not promising. Maybe it was a new method of assimilation - nothing Gila had ever seen before - and she was reminded of her and Doctor Beck’s theory of the Borg experimenting. Was the reason that the deceased Borg had no data in their implants that they had died from the experiment?

 

 

oO 2.8 ml Oo

 

 

Gila didn’t have an answer, and she doubted she’d be able to arrive at one before it was too late. But before then - before she’d lose all sense of self and right and wrong - there was one thing she could do, to give at least one of them a chance. And as the Drones were occupied, she walked quietly towards the familiar ex-Borg - or was that fully Borg now? - in the red uniform, raising her hand with the concealed hypo and pressing it to the back of his left upper arm, as close to the brachial artery as she could. She only hoped her calculations were right.

 

 

Sadar: ::whispers:: I’m sorry. Please, you have to-

 

 

A Drone arm caught onto her other arm, dragging her forcibly towards one of the alcoves. Evidently, whatever Directive they had been given was about to be completed.

 

 

Flint: Response?

 

 

Hopper/Savel/Esma/Vailani/Beck/Iko: Response