Distant Shores - Marco Palmieri [126]
Or, is there possibly a compromise in choosing to help these people, but only in the cases where they would have survived, anyway? Those who would otherwise have died would still die. Those who wouldn’t would live.
I certainly have quite a bit to consider in the next few hours.
C
HIEF
M
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OG
- Stardate 53501.3007217433
Subjective time: Day 22
After lengthy consideration, I’ve come to a decision of how to approach the situation I find myself in. I have chosen to act on a compromise between my medical programming and my Starfleet programming. As a doctor, my first responsibility is to the sick and infirm. However, my responsibility as a Starfleet officer demands that I not interfere in the natural development of this culture.
But the damage is done. Voyager has both taken lives and changed them merely by being here. The best we can do now is try to effect repairs.
I’m going to take the job.
D
OCTOR’S
P
ERSONAL
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OG
- Stardate 53501.3008201628
Day 25 on Tahal-Meeroj
I found her.
More to the point, she found me-quite by accident.
My first night on duty proved to be more eventful than I’d ever thought it might.
A woman was brought in presenting what looked to be symptoms of a condition humans called oligohydraminos. Her amniotic fluid levels were almost nonexistent, and she was into her second quadmester of pregnancy. I was assigned her case, and found that my patient was none other than Mareeza Tabreez. She was fortunate. If she’d developed the condition in her first quadmester, it would have put the baby in tremendous jeopardy. As such a condition is usually brought on by a birth defect in the child, I checked the fetal development to insure that urinary tract, kidneys and cardiac development were at the requisite levels. This was not an easy task considering that such luxuries as a simple ultrasound are foreign objects to these people. Everything looked okay, but without proper diagnostic tools, it was impossible to be certain.
Perhaps a more proper mitigating effort would be just to bring the Tahal-Isut up to the standards of Klingon medicine. No. No matter how much I may see their need for technological advancement, the Prime Directive forbids me from doing it. My position is tenuous enough as it is without adding that level of behavior to it.
I tested everything possible at their level of technology. The results weren’t exactly optimal, but it was something to work with. I admitted her to the hospital for observation without asking about the baby. On Voyager, saving this child would be a simple task. Here, it might be a bit more of a challenge.
The next few weeks will be difficult, but I believe it’s possible to save the baby.
The question facing me now is, should I?
I will finish this entry later, as the hospital is calling me back to duty.
D
OCTOR’S
P
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OG
- Supplemental
The page from the hospital was for Mareeza. Her condition briefly took a turn for the worse. I was given a choice between saving the child, and keeping Mareeza alive in the process, or allowing the child to die, and losing any possible assistance Mareeza could give, with it when the worsening of her condition killed her as well.
I attempted every traditional method of treating her condition. Fortunately for both of us, the last treatment I attempted only required a mild, logical addition to the medication to work. I believe any competent doctor would have determined the same addition to the medication to be effective. Both she and the child will survive.
C
HIEF
M
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- Stardate 53501.3013778736
Subjective time: Day 42
I’ve reached the conclusion that the politics of this world are positively medieval. Diplomatic relations between the Central Protectorate and the Terrina Protectorate have become strained. It seems that