The Aftermath of Wolf 359

Chapter 1

Crusher had removed most of Picard's outer implants without much trouble when she had started removing the fibers from his brain. Unlike the others, these seemed to regrow as she removed them. She noticed they were growing from a node above his eye, so decided to try to remove that node first. As soon as she tried to remove the node, he flatlined and started convulsing, and she put it back, relaxed to see that replacing it was enough to stabilize him.

"Crusher to Riker."

"Can you come to sickbay please?"

"Removing their implants is more complex than I thought. They keep regrowing after I remove them. I tried removing the node that's regenerating the other implants, and that nearly killed him."

"Are you saying you can't do it?"

"No. There are two options. I can leave some of the implants in place and disconnect all subspace and radio transceivers, so he'll be himself, but without all of their technology removed."

"And the other option?" Riker asked.

"We have the equipment to at least temporarily artificially maintain all of the same biological functions the implants are controlling now."

"How temporarily?" Riker asked.

"Hours, but hopefully that will be enough time to fully deactivate and remove all of their implants, and repair and reconnect the damaged tissue."

"If something goes wrong and you can't repair it in time?"

"He'll die." She answered, "It has around 50% chance of complete success, and 15% chance it leaves him permanently paralyzed. The recovery will be much longer and more difficult, but if it succeeds, he'll be himself again, with all of their implants gone."

"If you leave some of the implants in place, is it possible they could still find a way to use it to control him?"

"I don't know. There's still a lot about their technology we still don't know. I have no idea what the long term effects of that would be."

"Can you wake him and ask what he would want?"

"Among other things, he was under the influence of multiple powerful psychoactive drugs, likely to make drones faster, more compliant, and prevent them from feeling pain from the implants. Even if I did wake him, I doubt he would be able to answer coherently."

"Can you give him something to counteract that?"

"No, the drugs they used are highly addictive, and I need to carefully control how he comes off them. I can't wait to bring him off the drugs safely because the longer we wait to decide the lower the odds of success will be."

"I think we both know what the captain would want." Riker said.

She nodded hesitantly "He would want this stuff out, no matter the risk."

"If you doubt it, find a way to wake him." Riker said.

She thought about it, but she didn't think it was worth the additional risk when she already knew what he would say. "I don't need to. It's an unnecessary risk, and I already know what he'll say."

"Do you know if he has any family we should contact?" Riker asked.

"He has a brother on Earth, but they haven't spoken in a long time and aren't on the best of terms. I don't think he would want us to contact him."

"In that case, you're probably closer to him than anyone. If something else like this comes up, make the decision as his friend based on what you think he would want."

"Thanks." She answered.

"I'll be on the bridge." Riker said and turned to leave.

Crusher turned to her staff. "Let's get him moved to the surgical suite." She said and two nurses came to help her.