Shakedown #80"
By: Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Favor, Medic / Morale Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58203.01 1700

Giuseppe Silvio drifted in his own personal version of heaven. He thought it very tempting to just give up and stay here, floating forever in bliss. He fought that temptation; he fought it because every so often he would get a glimpse of people watching him as if waiting for him to do something. Silvio tried to reach out to them be they were so far away.

More often than anyone else he noticed the strange angel with the broken wing watching him. It was the image of her that fueled his desire to leave this place. Silvio was convinced that she was his guardian and wanted badly to know why her wing was broken. She did not speak to him anymore. She just watched.

Favor gazed at Bird, her eyes like two bullet holes. Pink crescent of a smile, head shaven of any adornment. She'd chopped her hair off, shaved herself bald after her last visit to the counselor. "So you won't feel like the only bald egg when you wake up, Birdie-bird," she murmered. She touched the dried clots of blood on the side of his head. Already he sprouted stubble. "Like a downy fey-chick," Favor said, and smiled, as she thought of the seabirds that nested in the craggy slopes that dropped down to the Tieran Sea.

Suddenly, Silvio felt a strange discord. He was no longer floating, he was falling and the feeling of utter bliss was slowly fading. Something was dreadfully wrong he thought. The angel with the broken wind faded too. He had to stay with her! Focusing all his attention on her he tried with all his might to shout to her and reach out to her.

“NO!”, shouted Silvio as he sat up on the bio bed and grasped the arms of a startled Ensign Favor as she was tending to his wounds. Silvio looked around sickbay slowly realizing where he was. He still felt the strange discord. Turning his head he looked at the startled Medic.

Favor only looked startled. Nothing surprised her any more. She pried Silvio's fingers off her arm. "Welcome back to the land of the living, buddy," she said. Silvio gripped harder; not surprising, considering the muscle had rebuilt itself, it wasn't atrophied at all. She winced. "Bird, have you ever picked up broken teeth with crushed fingers before? You better let go unless you want to find out what that feels like."

Silvio relaxed his grip but did not let go. He was looking at the angel with a broken wing, except he was real and had no wings. What was it that she called him he thought, Bird?? He was confuesd. "Sorry Doctor." he said, letting go of her. "I was having a dream I guess."

"No dream, Birdie-bird," Favor said. She placed one hand on his forehead. "You've been in a Chem-coma for the past few days. Stay put for a second. I'm not a doctor, " she added.

Favor retrieved the spray nozzled and washed Silvio's head. "Gad, would you look at this crust?" She didn't say it aloud, but Silvio frankly smelled foul. The dried clots of blood on his head melted under the water. The wounds had healed; the crushed skull melded back together. All that remained was this old crust of blood.

"You're going to be just fine," she said. Even though she privately thought that nobody could care for the patient as she did. Even if she was planning to quit the Sick Bay for good, put in for a transfer, leave the whole damn thing behind. Yes, he'd be just find. She sighed.

Silvio could still feel an odd dicord. Something was not right but he could not put his finger on what was wrong. "Why do you have a broken wing?" he asked her.

Favor smiled. Where had this one been? Some wild place, she was sure. Some chemical planet. Maybe his childhood vision of Paradise, hence the angel reference. "I don't have a broken wing," she said. "I have a bald head. I shaved it. Because, frankly Silvio, you looked pretty sorry once I zapped your hair off, and I took pity on you, and zapped mine, too. So you wouldn't be the only one."

Silvio instinctivly ran his had over the top of his head. It was true all of his hear was gone. Then he remembered the Cardassians. He figured that most of his hair had been burned off by them anyway.

Silvio tried to sit up and immediately wished he had not. He was still very sore. He lay back down. He could still feel the strange dicord. What was wrong? Silvio help himself really still. Then he knew. "Do you feel that?" he asked.

"I don't feel anything. I'm not the one who's been drugged up for the last few days." Favor turned back to the task at hand. This was typical for patients just coming out of a coma, this oddly surreal feeling of being and not-being, all at the same time. What had he meant by the broken wing? Word association lessons came to mind--broken wing=immobility=vulnerability to predators. Hmmm.

She glanced at the patient. He looked about to cry.

"The vibration. It is the warp engines, there is something wrong. They are going to fail." he said as he relaxed his body, "It's too late to do anything about it now." Silvio turned his attention back to his Angel, She says she did not have a broken wing but he could see it. Oh well, at least he wasn't dead. Silvio went back to sleep. This time, there were not mists or dreams of angels.

Ensign Favor entered a message to the Doctor and the Captain notifying then that Silvio was awake.