Location: USS Paso Robles, Sickbay

Captain Jorala Mir and a small party beamed aboard the USS Paso Robles, they were beamed into the medical facility known as Sickbay. He had a surgeon and a medical nurse with him. “Captain Gutierrez, thank you for allowing us to use you’re ship to conduct this procedure.” Captain Jorala Mir said with a warm smile on his face.

“No problem, Captain. However you should thank Lieutenant Chen, this is her sickbay.” Renato explained, as he showed Jorala his chief medical officer. 

“Thank you Doctor Chen, it is very generous of you to allow us to use the facilities.” Captain Jorala Mir said with a warm smile now focused on Aria. She was an attractive lady, for an alien. But he was a happily married Trill of 55 years. 

“You are very welcome.” Aria said with a warm smile of her own. “It is my honor to allow you to perform your procedure in my sickbay. Anything you need at all, rest assured will be available to you and your party.” Aria had never experienced this before but she was more than ready to learn and assist. 

“I am Doctor Toral Kiva, I will be performing the procedure. My nurse will prepare you for Anesthesia, we need to make sure you are properly sedated, but not unconscious. The symbiont needs to merge with your mind. It can not do that if you are unconscious. Do you understand, Liutenant? ” Doctor Toral Kivi said, as he looked over to Zara. 

“I do, but I would like Doctor Chen to assist with this. She has my latest files on record.” Zara said as she looked over to Aria, basically pleading with her eyes to have the good doctor be a part of this. She wanted her there for her own comforts. 

“I will be right here with you, Lieutenant.” Aria promised her. “And I will assist in any way that I can.” She promised. Aria sensed that Zara needed her there for support as much as professionally. Though Aria did not understand the whole concept, she knew this was the Trill way of life and Zara was a part of her crew and she was dedicated to doing what she could to make this easier for her, more comfortable with the least amount of angst. 

Zara was nervous, it was clearly showing in her tone and body reaction. She reached out to grab Aria’s hand. “I appreciate this, Aria.” Zara said, as she looked over to Aria. It was silly that she was nervous, but she could not hide how she felt. 

“You would do the same for me, Zara.” Aria said with a warm smile. “This is who we are, a crew that is also a family though we haven’t known each other that long.” Her eyes met Zara’s. “It is okay to want some security, especially when your facing surgery.” 

“You want to take my place, doctor? That works for me.” Zara said in a teasing voice. The Anesthologist aka the nurse did not look as amused by her comment. “I’m kidding.” She said sincerely. 

Hila Gila the Nurse and Anesthologist walked over to Zara. “Relax Lieutenant. There is nothing to be worried about. You will do great. Doctor Chen, can you give me the results from the physical you conducted on her. I want to check her levels to the levels we have today.” Hila said, as she started to scan Zara.

“Yes.” Aria replied as she walked over and picked up the data padd that held Zara’s results from the physical she had performed just a few weeks prior. Walking over to the nurse she stopped and handed it over. “We can run the results side by side to see if there is any indication of changes.” 

“Her stats look mostly normal. She is a little heightened but given her anxiety levels right now that is to be expected. The sedative will help with that.” Hila said as she looked over to Aria and Toral. 

Renato was not sure if they should stay. He decided to ask. “Should we stay or come back later on?” He asked, as he waited for someone to respond. 

Toral decided to respond. “It’s your call Captain, this is your ship.” Toral suggested it to the Captain of the Paso Robles. 

“Captain, how about you give me a tour of the Paso Robles.” Jorala said with a big smile on his face. He knew if they stayed they would all be in the way. 

“Let’s do that. If you will please follow me, Captain.” Renato said with a big grin. 

“Commander Solwick, would you stay?” Zara asked, wanting some emotional support. Aria was good to have, but the more she had, the easier it would be on her. 

“I can stay, Zara.” Mira said, with a warm smile. “I’ll go find a seat over here.”  She said, as she took a seat on the sofa. 

“Thank you.” Zara said, as she looked back at Hila. 

Hila was preparing her hypospray. “It’s time to proceed, are you ready Doctor Chen?” Hila asked, as she looked to Aria. 

“Yes, Nurse Hilda.” Aria replied. She looked to Zara. “We are going to give you the sedative now, it will help you relax and make this all easier for you.” She smiled warmly, looking into Zara’s eyes. “It will be over before you know it.” 

“Doctor, I want you to monitor her vitals, as the procedures begin. The sedative should be entering her blood stream now.” Hila said, as she walked over to biomonitor on the surgical bed. “Adminstering the dose now, what do you vitals say?” Hila asked, as she waited for Aria to respond. 

“Her vitals are holding steady.” Aria said in a strong, clear voice. “Her blood pressure is normal as well as her heart rate. I see

No fluctuations “ 

“I can feel……it……working.” Zara said with a big grin on her face, the sedative was clearly working. She sounded a little dopey. She felt like she was on cloud nine. 

”She is feeling the effects of the sedative,” Aria continued. “Her vitals are remaining stable. It is time to move forward, she is ready.” Aria had read up on what was to come she was prepared to assist.

“Thank you Doctor.” Hila said, as she looked over to Doctor Kiva. “The patient is ready, is the symbiont?” Hila asked, knowing her role would be moving to secondary from this point, once he confirmed that the symbiont was ready to be transplanted. 

“Affirmative Nurse, lets begin the surgical procedure.” Toral said, as he brought over a scalpel and made an incision on her abdomen. “Doctor how are the vitals?” Toral asked, hoping everything was still in the green.

”Zara’s vitals are normal.” Aria informed them without looking one. She was keeping her eyes on the readings, it was important to her that nothing go wrong.

“Nurse, let’s prepare the womb for the arrival of the symboint.” Toral said they were making an artificial womb for the symboint made up of her own body tissue, so the body would not reject the womb or the symboint. The womb was only temporary. Till the symboint fully integrated into the host nervous system and consciousness. 

“The body is accepting the artificial womb, Doctor Kiva.” Hila said, as the three of them worked in concert. 

“Doctor, how are the vitals?” Toral asked once again, the next step was inserting the trill symbiont into the host body. 

“They are normal.” Aria said once more. “Her body is handling this very well, Doctor Kiva.”

Aria glanced at Zara for a moment thinking Zara was quite brave to go through with this. Her eyes then went back to the readings, knowing it was important to keep her eyes out for any sign of trouble. 

Zara smiled at Aria, as there eyes met. But she was a million miles away because of the Sedation. She was trying to talk but she was not able too. 

Mira decided to reach out telepathically. She knew this was probably the only time she could do it. Because after the joining she would need her mind to be clear or outside influence to merge with the trill symboint. “How are you doing, Zara?” Mira asked. 

“I…am…..in….” Zara started to say. It was clear her mind was out of it for now. Mira stopped trying to communicate with her telepathically. And decided to only be their for emotional support.

Doctor Kiva rolled over a tank, and opened the lid. A symbiont was in the container. It too appeared to be sedated. The Doctor and the nurse both started to move the symboint. The Nurse was tracking its vitals, while Doctor Chen was tracking Zara’s. 

“Ladies, here we go.” Doctor Kiva said, as the symbiont was placed inside the artificial womb. “Let’s seal this incision. And then wait for the Intregation to take place. Nurse Gila you will monitor the symbiont. Doctor Chen, you continue to monitor the host patient.” 

“Understood Doctor Kiva.” Hila said, as she put the symboint’s stats on a monitor so it would be easier to monitor them. 

“I am continuing to monitor her vitals.” Aria confirmed. “They are stable and I see no signs of trouble. Zara appears to be accepting this without any issues.” 

Two Hours Later…

Doctor Kiva was sitting in the main area, he was talking to Commander Solwick. They were having remedial conversations about trill. She had always wanted to go. 

The monitors started to beep. Hila smiles as she said. “The symbiont is starting to wake up.”’This meant it was time for integration to happen. 

Aria kept her eyes on Zara’s vitals, glancing to see that the integration had indeed begun. She  noticed a fluctuation and spoke. “Zara is experiencing some sensory signals, the symbiont is making neural connections with Zara.” Aria was relieved this was going so smoothly. 

Doctor Kiva had a big smile on his face. “That is wonderful to hear doctor.” Kiva said, as he scanned the abdomen area, and saw that the symbiote was starting to move around slightly. 

“The symbiote neural connections are starting to link with the host. All indications are perfect synchronization.” Hila called out. 

“What happens next?” Mira called a little bored and mostly curious. It seem like this is the perfect time to ask a question. 

“We wait commander, all indications are going well but we wait for full integration.” Doctor Kiva said with a big warm smile on his face.

“That’s good to hear, right Dr Chen.” Mira said, that she looked over to Aria.

Aria smiled at Mira, giving her a nod of encouragement. “It is going well.” She said quietly. “All signs are that this is a successful integration but we won’t know for certain until Zara indicates how she is feeling.” 

Zara’s I started to do some rapid eye movement, but she was conscious but it was clear that her mind was somewhere else at the moment. Interceptions was starting to clear up but she could definitely feel the presence of Lox, the newly minted barely 100 year old symbiote. It was definitely still a minor, and it was a little while the personality matrix. Sorry I found the symbiote to be mildly amusing as they tried to complete their merge. 

Another 2 hours had passed and everybody I started talking but Hila and Aria had kept an eye on them monitors to make sure that the vitals were good.

Zara set up and had a big smile on her face she noticed that the others had started in side conversations while they waited for her to regain consciousness fully. “Commander and Doctor you both waited for us.” Zara said that she looked to Mira and Aria. 

“You don’t have to refer to both of you as an us, you’re still you and the symbiote still the symbiote.” Doctor Kiva said. He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, he just wanted her to know that she didn’t eat her to both the symbiote and the host at the same time. 

“We promised you we would be here, Zara.” Aria said with a smile. “Mira and I both meant it.” She smiled over at Mira and nodded. Aria felt a huge relief come over her and she knew that Mira had to be feeling the same way. “Welcome back, Zara. How are you feeling?”

“I feel well doctor.” Zara said it seem so stupid away.

The end