Stardate: 60426:2130
Title: Old War Wounds
Author: Dr Ted Matthews
Time: Current
Scene: Sickbay


When he took his hands away they were covered in blood. In usual circumstances the sight of blood gave him no qualms but as he looked down at the face of his best friend he felt sick. Instead of the usual medical facts and triage information that ran through his head there was only the heartbreaking reality that for his friend this was the end. There was no hospital or even sterile environment where some flamboyant procedure could bring him back from the edge of death and away from the brink of nothingness.

*Why?*

The question pounded loudly in his head.

*Why Mark? Why here in this god awful place?*

Explosions sounded around him but all he could see was the lifeforce slowly draining away from the man who had befriend him when others had made him an outcast. He applied more pressure on the wound but it wasn’t helping; the area was too great.

Death was not new to Ted; he was a doctor and the Dominion war had been raging for what felt like forever. Ted had worked on the battlefields and he would never say he had come away a winner. His job was to move amongst the injured and the dying making hasty patch jobs and trying to give comfort to those in their last few moments.

His service to the Federation at this time had been particularly difficult as Ted was part-Cardassian and even though he had never met his Cardassian father and had been bought up by his human grandparents on earth many people mistrusted him. Mark, however, had never doubted Ted’s allegiance and had watched his back on many a battlefield and in many of the bars that they had frequented.

Mark had died and the battle had continued on around them. Ted had sat next to his friend unable to leave the man who had never abandoned him. A cold driving rain had drenched Ted chilling his skin, but he was far colder inside from the bereavement he felt. He had finally left Mark when he had tuned back into the world and heard the frantic calls for a medic. He had staggered to his feet and carried on. Years later and the memory was as fresh as if it had happened yesterday.

Ted shook his head and bought himself back into the present. After bringing the Emergency Medical Hologram online on the Relentless Dr Matthews had beamed back to the Horizon. He didn’t want to be stuck on the Relentless when they made their break for freedom. A smile crept on his face when he thought of the EMH - some engineer somewhere had a sense of humour and the Relentless crew now had a very quirky doctor.

On his desk were copies of the recent medical research that had taken place on Tharan 3. After scanning the information Ted sat up and started to read more closely the details of the various reports. Whilst the research had started off quite detailed with many hypotheses and detailed plans of studies to take place, recent reports were less detailed and the results sketchier.


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Dr Edward Matthews (Lt.)
Chief Medical Officer
USS Horizon
NCC-72400
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