Star Trek: Destiny #2: Mere Mortals by David Mack

Star Trek: Destiny #2: Mere Mortals by David Mack

Author:David Mack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2008-10-28T00:00:00+00:00


Beverly Crusher heard someone limp into the Enterprise ’s sickbay and grunt with pain. She looked up from the padd in her hand to steal a glance out her office door.

It was Commander Worf. He was garbed in a loose, off-white exercise garment, similar to the gi he usually donned during martial-arts training. This one was scuffed and torn in places. His nose and upper lip were bleeding, and his right arm dangled limply beneath his drooped shoulder.

“Worf!” she said, bolting from her chair and jogging to him. “What happened?”

“I was exercising.” He tried to turn his head to the right, stopped, and winced. “I fell.”

She picked up a medical tricorder from an equipment cart and made a fast scan of his injuries. “Looks like you fell several times,” she said with a teasing gleam. “In addition to your broken clavicle, you’ve got four cracked ribs and multiple deep bruises all over your body.”

“It was a very good workout,” he said.

“I’m sure it was,” Crusher said. She nodded to the closest biobed. “Have a seat. I’ll get the osteofuser.” Worf eased himself onto the bed as Beverly rooted through the lower drawers of the equipment cart.

“Once we fix the break, I’ll take the swelling down on those bruises,” she said. With the surgical implement in hand, she stepped in front of the seated Klingon and asked, “Do you want any anesthetic before I reset the bone?”

He shook his head once. “No.”

“Suit yourself.” She placed the surgical device on the bed. Then she put her left hand behind his right shoulder and tensed her right hand in front of his broken clavicle. “This’ll hurt. A lot. You need to promise not to hit me.”

His glare betrayed his fraying sense of humor. “I will try not to. Please proceed.”

She slammed her palm into his jutting clavicle and hammered it back into place with one strike.

His bellow of agony and fury was deafening. Crusher recoiled from his roar and covered her ears. Averting her eyes from his, she saw that his hands were clenched white-knuckle tight on the edges of the biobed.

Then he was silent and gasping for breath to relax himself. “Thank you,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she replied.

He sat with his eyes closed while she used the osteofuser to mend his clavicle. “I haven’t seen you do this to yourself in a while,” she remarked. “Are the holoprograms getting tougher, or are you getting a bit careless?”

Her observation opened his eyes, and he pondered her words for a moment before he replied, “I felt it was time for a greater challenge.” She finished fixing the bone and adjusted the fuser. He rotated his arm forward once and twice in reverse, and he grinned. “Much better.”

“Good. Open your jacket and let me fix your ribs.”

As he untied his black belt and opened his jacket, Worf said, “I did not expect to find you here so late.”

“I wasn’t planning on being here,” she said, starting work on his left side, which was purpled with bruises.



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