Recrudescence, Chapter 1
Title: Recrudescence
Show: Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Alternate Universe
Rating: FRT-V
Summary: Those on the station deal with the emotional and physical fallout of Julian's enhancements.
BTW, does anyone know how to make the 10 million cuts go away? I only wanted one!
A/N: The way I see it, just because humanity is supposedly more evolved in the 24th century, I doubt that everyone would Julian's enhancements as well as they did on the show. Not after they've been taught for nearly 400 years about Khan and how genetically enhanced people are bad news. So this is my alternate version of what could have happened after "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" Hence, the title of this fic.
"How does Starfleet Medical miss something like that?"
"What are they thinking, letting a freak like that stay in the service?"
"It's illegal! He should be imprisoned with the rest of his kind!"
Similar sentiments were all over the station; Miles had been hearing them for three days straight. No wonder Julian had declined his offer to hang at Quark's after their shifts ended. Of course, that left him sitting at the bar alone, staring at his glass of Tyrconnell, and wishing he had just stayed in his quarters. He did his best to ignore the faceless whispers of the crowd and their glances towards him, questioning his friendship with the doctor. He resisted the urge to stand up and yell at them all, they were entitled to an opinion, as wrong as it might be.
He started as Jadzia sat down next to him, her blue eyes smiling. She looked unusually cheerful, but she had spent most of yesterday with Worf, so he didn't question it. She ordered a spring wine from Quark before turning to face him.
"Hello chief!"
"Evening commander." Miles replied, not looking up from the whiskey Quark had set in front of him nearly an hour ago. The glass was still half full.
"Where's Julian?" she wondered. "I know this is your darts night, and I haven't heard anything about a medical emergency..."
"He's hiding." Miles explained gruffly. "Can't say that I blame 'im..." he trailed off, motioning to the air around him.
Jadzia frowned and tilted her head to one side, listening to the rumours and gossip swirling around them. The day Julian's secret had been revealed and dealt with by Starfleet, she had been in ops, surrounded mostly by Bajorans. The few Starfleet officers in the room had dared not chat about the news so close to Benjamin's office. She hadn't heard anything yesterday either, having spent the day on the Defiant with Worf on a rare shared off-duty day. Today in ops, there had been continued silence on the subject. But here, she was hearing for the first time what Deep Space Nine's occupants had to say about their genetically enhanced doctor, and she found it was not at all to her liking.
"How can they call him that?" she asked angrily, narrowly avoiding knocking over the wine Quark had delivered as she pounded the bar with her fist in disgust. "He's not a monster. Or a freak!"
Miles sighed. "He'd disagree."
Jadzia frowned at him. "What makes you say that?"
"Told me so when he said it was true." Miles took a sip of the Tyrconnell. "What was it he said? 'The word you're looking for is unnatural. Freak or monster would also be acceptable.'"
"Did he really say that?"
"Heard it with my own two ears. I couldn't believe the loathing in his voice." Miles didn't like to think that was really Julian's opinion of himself, but somehow it wasn't all that difficult to believe.
"But how could he think that?" she knew it was a stupid question, after some of the things she'd seen in the last 300 years, anything was possible. It just wasn't something she expected out of the charming and caring man she had grown fond of.
"He didn't know until he was 15." Miles stated. "He was taught that people with genetic enhancements are inherently evil, just like everyone else. And then he finds out he is one."
"So just because his genome's been alterred against his will, he's automatically going to attempt to conquer the station?"
"Apparently." Miles chuckled, and they both took a moment to survey the bar and what they could see of the promenade.
"Well, if that's true, he's doing a pretty lousy job of it." Jadzia joked, her humor somehow staying afloat through her anger. She took a sip of her wine, slowly falling into the same melancholy mood that Miles seemed to be in.
"Do you think that's why he does it?" She asked, and Miles frowned at her, genuinely confused.
"Does What?"
"Constantly re-tell the story about how he lost out on first in his class." Jadzia elaborated. "Do you think he uses it as a reminder that he's not infallible?"
Miles scowled, considering this theory. "Maybe. Who knows, maybe he got the question wrong on purpose."
"That's true." Jadzia acknowleged, and watched Miles finish his glass of whiskey.
"Well, I'm gonna turn in." He said, standing and stretching. "Night commander."
"Good night chief." Jadzia frowned as he walked away.
The nightmares were back. He hadn't had one since his days at the academy, after learning in detail about Khan and the other twentieth century augments and the ill effects of enhancements faced by his counterparts in this day and age. Some nights, dreamed he was turning into Khan. On others, he was trapped in his own head with no way to communicate. In the worst though, he was six years old again, struggling to learn his letters and numbers, his teachers and parents growing more and more frusturated. Gods, he wished Leeta would return Kukalaka.
Julian sighed and stared at the ceiling. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep tonight. He was in for another four hours of looking at the cardassian architecture for fun. What he needed was something, anything, to keep his mind focused on something besides the hate for him that the station appeared to be filled with the last few days. He had noticed immediately the change in attitudes towards him. His staff had started noticing too, something to do with an unussually small number of patients passing through the infirmary during his shift. But apparently the night shift had a massive increase in business. What was the point in being chief medical officer if patients wouldn't come see him?
He got up, leaving his bed in dissarray, and began pacing, trying to quell the argument raging within. He had been trying for years to convince himself that he wasn't a freak, and for years he had failed. He had never been able to decide why he had to demonstrate so much control over his actions and emotions if he wasn't a monster, waiting to injure those he loved.
It was nearly an hour before he ceased his pacing and returned to bed after taking a light sedative. He never heard his door slide open, and only woke when he felt the knife pierce his back.
Julian awoke in the infirmary, surprised to see Captain Sisko gazing down at him. He frowned and attempted to sit up, but was stopped by Nurse Akula's hand on his shoulder. She looked worried, as did Sisko, and as he took in the sight of the infirmary gown he was dressed in, the memories came flooding back. He could remember trying to get to his comm badge to call for help after the puncture woke him. By the looks of concern on his staff, carefully watching from across the room, he hadn't quite made it.
"Sir?" he attempted, but found his throat to dry for words. Akula held out a glass of water to him, which he accepted gratefully.
The captain sat down next to his biobed. "Doctor, how much do you remember?"
"Not much." Julian admitted. "I couldn't sleep so I took a sedative...I didn't wake until whoever it was stabbed me. They were gone before I could see their face. I think I tried to call for help. Did I?"
"You were found three days ago collapsed next to your bed, dying from massive blood loss and a punctured lung when you failed to report for duty." The captain informed him. "It appears you were trying to get to your com link, but passed out before you got there."
"Coma from hypoxia?" Julian asked, more of Akula than Sisko. She nodded and passed him a paid containing the details of his wound, sugery to repair the damage, and his recovery. He skimmed through the various scans and procedures, noting that his vitals were all normal now, except that he had been comatose for three days. "Do we know who did it?"
Sisko paused. He seemed to be deciding what to say. Julian watched him expectantly as he rose and began to pace.
"We think they hacked into the computer and found out what time your alarm was set for, and then timed it so you wouldn't be awake when they broke in, but you wouldn't be alone long enough to die of your injuries. They made sure that you'd still be alive when the infirmary reported you missing.
Julian frowned. Sisko hadn't com eclose to answering his question. "Have you caught them?"
"Odo is still looking." He finally said, turning to face the doctor. "His problem is that half the station is suspect, according to Dax, the Chief, Quark."
"Sir?" He wasn't sure he had ever seen his commanding officer looking quite so depressed.
"It was a hate crime, Julian." He finally stated, returning to the doctors bedside. "Whoever it was did this because of your enhancements."
Show: Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Alternate Universe
Rating: FRT-V
Summary: Those on the station deal with the emotional and physical fallout of Julian's enhancements.
BTW, does anyone know how to make the 10 million cuts go away? I only wanted one!
A/N: The way I see it, just because humanity is supposedly more evolved in the 24th century, I doubt that everyone would Julian's enhancements as well as they did on the show. Not after they've been taught for nearly 400 years about Khan and how genetically enhanced people are bad news. So this is my alternate version of what could have happened after "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" Hence, the title of this fic.
"How does Starfleet Medical miss something like that?"
"What are they thinking, letting a freak like that stay in the service?"
"It's illegal! He should be imprisoned with the rest of his kind!"
Similar sentiments were all over the station; Miles had been hearing them for three days straight. No wonder Julian had declined his offer to hang at Quark's after their shifts ended. Of course, that left him sitting at the bar alone, staring at his glass of Tyrconnell, and wishing he had just stayed in his quarters. He did his best to ignore the faceless whispers of the crowd and their glances towards him, questioning his friendship with the doctor. He resisted the urge to stand up and yell at them all, they were entitled to an opinion, as wrong as it might be.
He started as Jadzia sat down next to him, her blue eyes smiling. She looked unusually cheerful, but she had spent most of yesterday with Worf, so he didn't question it. She ordered a spring wine from Quark before turning to face him.
"Hello chief!"
"Evening commander." Miles replied, not looking up from the whiskey Quark had set in front of him nearly an hour ago. The glass was still half full.
"Where's Julian?" she wondered. "I know this is your darts night, and I haven't heard anything about a medical emergency..."
"He's hiding." Miles explained gruffly. "Can't say that I blame 'im..." he trailed off, motioning to the air around him.
Jadzia frowned and tilted her head to one side, listening to the rumours and gossip swirling around them. The day Julian's secret had been revealed and dealt with by Starfleet, she had been in ops, surrounded mostly by Bajorans. The few Starfleet officers in the room had dared not chat about the news so close to Benjamin's office. She hadn't heard anything yesterday either, having spent the day on the Defiant with Worf on a rare shared off-duty day. Today in ops, there had been continued silence on the subject. But here, she was hearing for the first time what Deep Space Nine's occupants had to say about their genetically enhanced doctor, and she found it was not at all to her liking.
"How can they call him that?" she asked angrily, narrowly avoiding knocking over the wine Quark had delivered as she pounded the bar with her fist in disgust. "He's not a monster. Or a freak!"
Miles sighed. "He'd disagree."
Jadzia frowned at him. "What makes you say that?"
"Told me so when he said it was true." Miles took a sip of the Tyrconnell. "What was it he said? 'The word you're looking for is unnatural. Freak or monster would also be acceptable.'"
"Did he really say that?"
"Heard it with my own two ears. I couldn't believe the loathing in his voice." Miles didn't like to think that was really Julian's opinion of himself, but somehow it wasn't all that difficult to believe.
"But how could he think that?" she knew it was a stupid question, after some of the things she'd seen in the last 300 years, anything was possible. It just wasn't something she expected out of the charming and caring man she had grown fond of.
"He didn't know until he was 15." Miles stated. "He was taught that people with genetic enhancements are inherently evil, just like everyone else. And then he finds out he is one."
"So just because his genome's been alterred against his will, he's automatically going to attempt to conquer the station?"
"Apparently." Miles chuckled, and they both took a moment to survey the bar and what they could see of the promenade.
"Well, if that's true, he's doing a pretty lousy job of it." Jadzia joked, her humor somehow staying afloat through her anger. She took a sip of her wine, slowly falling into the same melancholy mood that Miles seemed to be in.
"Do you think that's why he does it?" She asked, and Miles frowned at her, genuinely confused.
"Does What?"
"Constantly re-tell the story about how he lost out on first in his class." Jadzia elaborated. "Do you think he uses it as a reminder that he's not infallible?"
Miles scowled, considering this theory. "Maybe. Who knows, maybe he got the question wrong on purpose."
"That's true." Jadzia acknowleged, and watched Miles finish his glass of whiskey.
"Well, I'm gonna turn in." He said, standing and stretching. "Night commander."
"Good night chief." Jadzia frowned as he walked away.
The nightmares were back. He hadn't had one since his days at the academy, after learning in detail about Khan and the other twentieth century augments and the ill effects of enhancements faced by his counterparts in this day and age. Some nights, dreamed he was turning into Khan. On others, he was trapped in his own head with no way to communicate. In the worst though, he was six years old again, struggling to learn his letters and numbers, his teachers and parents growing more and more frusturated. Gods, he wished Leeta would return Kukalaka.
Julian sighed and stared at the ceiling. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep tonight. He was in for another four hours of looking at the cardassian architecture for fun. What he needed was something, anything, to keep his mind focused on something besides the hate for him that the station appeared to be filled with the last few days. He had noticed immediately the change in attitudes towards him. His staff had started noticing too, something to do with an unussually small number of patients passing through the infirmary during his shift. But apparently the night shift had a massive increase in business. What was the point in being chief medical officer if patients wouldn't come see him?
He got up, leaving his bed in dissarray, and began pacing, trying to quell the argument raging within. He had been trying for years to convince himself that he wasn't a freak, and for years he had failed. He had never been able to decide why he had to demonstrate so much control over his actions and emotions if he wasn't a monster, waiting to injure those he loved.
It was nearly an hour before he ceased his pacing and returned to bed after taking a light sedative. He never heard his door slide open, and only woke when he felt the knife pierce his back.
Julian awoke in the infirmary, surprised to see Captain Sisko gazing down at him. He frowned and attempted to sit up, but was stopped by Nurse Akula's hand on his shoulder. She looked worried, as did Sisko, and as he took in the sight of the infirmary gown he was dressed in, the memories came flooding back. He could remember trying to get to his comm badge to call for help after the puncture woke him. By the looks of concern on his staff, carefully watching from across the room, he hadn't quite made it.
"Sir?" he attempted, but found his throat to dry for words. Akula held out a glass of water to him, which he accepted gratefully.
The captain sat down next to his biobed. "Doctor, how much do you remember?"
"Not much." Julian admitted. "I couldn't sleep so I took a sedative...I didn't wake until whoever it was stabbed me. They were gone before I could see their face. I think I tried to call for help. Did I?"
"You were found three days ago collapsed next to your bed, dying from massive blood loss and a punctured lung when you failed to report for duty." The captain informed him. "It appears you were trying to get to your com link, but passed out before you got there."
"Coma from hypoxia?" Julian asked, more of Akula than Sisko. She nodded and passed him a paid containing the details of his wound, sugery to repair the damage, and his recovery. He skimmed through the various scans and procedures, noting that his vitals were all normal now, except that he had been comatose for three days. "Do we know who did it?"
Sisko paused. He seemed to be deciding what to say. Julian watched him expectantly as he rose and began to pace.
"We think they hacked into the computer and found out what time your alarm was set for, and then timed it so you wouldn't be awake when they broke in, but you wouldn't be alone long enough to die of your injuries. They made sure that you'd still be alive when the infirmary reported you missing.
Julian frowned. Sisko hadn't com eclose to answering his question. "Have you caught them?"
"Odo is still looking." He finally said, turning to face the doctor. "His problem is that half the station is suspect, according to Dax, the Chief, Quark."
"Sir?" He wasn't sure he had ever seen his commanding officer looking quite so depressed.
"It was a hate crime, Julian." He finally stated, returning to the doctors bedside. "Whoever it was did this because of your enhancements."