The Long Goodbye

“I do not doubt that at all. Your reporting orders will be transferred shortly. Make what arrangements you need to make, and congratulations Captain.”

“Thank you Admiral.”

The beeping sound of a closed communication echoed in the room as Riker, now officially a Captain, closed the screen down. Looking up from the Captain’s desk Riker met eyes with Captain Syntron. While emotion did not come easily to the Vulcan, he nodded with a slight smile. Riker stood and nodded back with a similar small smile. No words were exchanged, but the message was clear. Syntron was proud of his first officer and grateful for his service, and Riker was honored to have served under him. In such a short period of time they had fought a battle, salvaged life for an entire species and saved the lives of their crew. Riker extended his hand for a handshake, and Syntron obliged the practice. Glancing down at his palm Riker noticed under the strong Vulcan grip he was not holding a new rank pip. With a smile, Riker walked towards the door.

“I have a few goodbyes I should get to” Riker said as he turned to exit.

*      *     *

The door to his quarters opened with a whoosh and Riker entered glancing around his room for what would be one final time. Opening a bottom drawer Riker removed his old duffle bag and began to gather the small amounts of personal belongings he kept. After careful folding and packing Riker laid out his Parrises squares jumpsuit and rolled it up placing it in the bag. Finishing closing up the bag, Riker was interrupted in his cleaning by the beep of a communicator.

“Captain, you should get down to sickbay.”

The voice belonged to Michael Eddington, the chief of the boat and a lifelong friend of the Captain. His tone was serious and motivated Riker to throw his duffle bag on the bed, and leave for sickbay.

The doors to sickbay opened and Riker walked in to see Eddington standing over an open panel with Ensign Simmons working on the mechanics inside. Glancing around Riker also noticed Tolo and two crewman scanning isolinear chips in a hurried state. In the middle of sick bay was Doctor Gray who was looking down at his hand, which appeared blurry and was blinking in and out. Before he entered the room any further Doctor Gray looked up at his old friend and smiled.

“Looks like I’m dying Captain, these guys are trying to save me”

Hearing these words, Riker stormed over to Ensign Simmons.

“Simmons, what the hell is going on?”

“Doctor Gray is degrading Sir.”

Gesturing towards the readout on the screen Simmons continued.

“There appears to be an interference pattern in his primary coding. It appears that his encounters with those energy beings has left an interference pattern inside his code. The code itself is degrading any component it passes through. We can’t seem to stop the degradation without physically resetting the code”

“You can’t reset the code.” Riker fired back.

“Doctor Gray is sentient, contained in his code is more than just a program. It is who he is. If you reset any section of his code you destroy a living being”

“Like the story of the Doctor from the Voyager” Tolo chimed in.

“Exactly.” Riker responded.

“Doctor Gray has been a running program for more than thirty years, the Federation has recognized him as a sentient life form with the same rights and protections as any of us.”

Nodding in understanding Simmons glanced over towards Doctor Gray, who was still distracted by his fuzzy blinking hand. Understanding his situation Doctor Gray just sighed slightly and sat down. Looking back towards Captain Riker, Simmons continued.

“We would need a way to protect the network while the program restored itself. The only problem is that no single component can hold his code long enough for that to happen. We can’t even risk taking him off line due to the code issues. The entire holo matrix is degrading. It’s like a virus, Sir. We would need a way to contain the spread of damage, restructure the internal components and repair the holo coding. All of which can only happen if we can repair a sub component on the nano level. We can work to slow it down, but that is above my abilities”

“We could use nanites” Tolo chimed in.

“If we were able to get nanites programmed to repair and rebuild, they could keep the components stable while we rebuilt the matrix.”

“Then do it” Riker responded.

“I would sir” Tolo said, “but nanites are a very complicated science. There is no one onboard who could program and work with them at the scale we need”

Rubbing his beard slightly Riker pounded the panel in anger.

“So what are you saying? The only way to fix this is to find someone who is a nanotechnology expert, fluent in the coding of holomatrices and understands the subatomic make up of Starfleet isolinear chips... I’m sure the Federation has a few of those laying around somewhere”

An awkward pause followed Riker’s outburst as Simmons and Tolo glanced at each other forming matching smirks. Clearly they were sharing the same thought, but the question was if either of them were willing to suggest it. As chatter and the commotion of work began to fill the room Tolo chimed in.

“Captain…”

Riker was too busy talking with Doctor Gray and reading from a PADD to notice the soft spoken Bolian.

“Captain…”

Again, his soft spoken words were missed by a busy room. Clearing his throat Tolo spoke up, louder than most in the room thought a Bolian could get.

“Captain!”

Turning to face the Bolian Riker raised an eyebrow.

“What is it Tolo?”

“I know someone like that… I know someone who fits the description… er that is, I know someone who could help us.”

Glancing over Riker noticed that Tolo looked over at Simmons a few times, it did not take long for Riker to know exactly who Tolo was thinking of.

“Him? Are you sure?”

Looking over, Eddington just shrugged. Clearly he was not in on the joke.

“Is he even available, is he not serving a sentence?”

“Not any more sir. He was serving a work program at the Martian Nanotech facility. After his sentence was over the Admiral kept him around. He is easily the Federation’s leading mind on nanotechnology.”

Rubbing his collar and feeling all four pips, Riker gestured his head towards Eddington to follow him.

“We’ll see what we can do”

Looking over to Doctor Gray, who was still seated, Riker winked.

“Don’t die on me old friend. I’ll be back with help soon.”

*      *     *

The shuttle bay doors opened and Captain Riker with Master Chief Eddington in step behind him. Ensign Tolo, pulled away from helping with the holo matrix work, was leading the shuttle crewmen as they were conducting initial landing checks. Gesturing for Tolo to follow him, Captain Riker walked towards the back of the shuttle. Handing his tricorder off to a crewman Tolo stood, adjusted his uniform, and quickly followed behind the Captain.

The door landed with a calm tap and after a moment a familiar face emerged and began to head down the ramp. Wearing the blue of a science officer, different from his usual engineering gold, Sorripto appeared no worse for wear and, before addressing Captain Riker, gave Tolo a slight wink.

“Captain Riker, I am lieutenant Sorripto.”

Riker did a double take at the pips on Sorripto’s blue turtle neck.

“Lieutenant? I thought you were an ensign?”

“I got promoted recently Captain. I am good at what I do” Sorripto responded.

“You got promoted during incarceration?”

“You can’t be that good” Riker mumbled.

Tolo snorted in a failed attempt to hide a laugh. This was followed by an awkward pause as both Riker and Sorripto glanced over at him. Before his embarrassment could swell any further Sorripto simply smiled and shook his head, Captain Riker rolled his eyes and appeared less forgiving.

“I read the information you sent over.” Sorripto interjected to break the silence.

“It has only been a few hours, have there been any developments?”

Gesturing for Sorripto and the group to follow him Riker walked towards the door as he spoke, headed to sickbay. Sorripto hurried up the ramp of the shuttle and grabbed a large case, then hurried back to rejoin Captain Riker.

“The dematerialization has spread, and the components are frying faster. We only have a few hours left before we have to reboot just to ensure there is enough room left to keep any program”

“Interesting” Sorripto responded

“Well I would need to look into frequencies and tendencies of the program, but I have a few ideas.”

“Good” Riker said as the entered the turbolift.

*      *     *

The doors to sickbay opened with a whoosh and Captain Riker entered first followed by Sorripto. Riker turned left and headed towards the bed Doctor Gray was sitting on. Sorripto turned right and headed right for the panel Ensign Simmons was working on. Before Simmons even noticed the presence of his former superior Sorripto grabbed the tricorder from his hand and began scanning the bank of isolinear chips.

“You always were a little slow at your isonlinear recalibrations”

“Hard to learn speed when my chief engineer did most of the work himself” Simmons retorted. Surprised, but glad to see his old friend.

As Sorripto continued to scan the isolinear banks the Cardassian worked a feverous pace on the tricorder. Hurrying over to the information the tricorder was presenting Sorripto rushed over to his case and, after clearing a large section of table space, began to set up the portable workstation. Sorripto assembled various tools, scanners and nanite kits into a work station capable of programming the nanites he had brought with him. Holding up a large glass test tube Sorripto spoke softly to the pasty gray goo that was inside.

“Time to show them what you can do boys”

Sorripto loaded the tube into one of the larger machines and as it emptied the machine made an audible ping sound.

“What does that do?” One of the young crewman asked.

“This?”

Sorripto said pointing to the machine.

 “It is a machine that goes ping”

The crewman looked over at Ensign Simmons who simply shook his head as if to tell the crewman to leave it alone. Touching a few keys on the PADD in front of him Sorripto walked over to Doctor Gray and Captain Riker.

“Well Doc, I have got some good news and some bad news.”

“Oh goody, my favorite type” Doctor Gray retorted.

The fading and blinking was just past the elbow on Doctor Gray’s arm. Glancing down at the fading hologram Sorripto continued.

“The good news is, I have a working theory. The bad news is, in order to program any type of new isonlinear pattern…”

Sorripto tapped the PADD he was holding as he continued.

“I am going to need your program to degrade faster.”

“Faster? Absolutely not” Captain Riker interjected.

“Let him finish old friend”

“As I was saying Captain, the pattern and code is acting as a sort of virus. It is frying the components at the nano level. In order to stabilize a pattern on my nanites, I am going to need that degradation to happen for longer than the automatic component transfer will allow. Meaning, I am going to have to manually override your program safety protocols.”

Gesturing to the faded section of Doctor Gray’s arm, Sorripto continued.

“You are a hologram, but this is going to hurt”

Captain Riker looked into the eyes of the Cardassian before him. Being a tall man Riker was used to looking down at people when he spoke, even being the same height Sorripto commanded the presence usually reserved for tall beings. Riker was uneasy putting his faith in a Cardassian, he was raised his entire childhood to hate Cardassians. Sorripto recognized the look the Captain was throwing him and interjected himself.

“You know I grew up hearing stories about the evil Maquis. I grew up hearing stories about Starfleet, the Klingons and how terrible the rest of the Alpha quadrant was. The only saving grace I ever had was that my father always taught me to judge each person for themselves, and never judge an entire group for the actions of one man.”

Handing Riker the PADD, containing the data Sorripto used to reach his conclusion, Sorripto continued.

“My father was in command of the Cardassian ship that fired on the Dominion during the battle of Cardassia. My father scarified everything for a chance to do what was right, and he spent the rest of his life rebuilding a civilization that never forgot that. The day he died he made me promise to join Starfleet, and I smile every day I put this uniform on… I have seen that look a million times. You are torn on whether or not I have ever put away who I am or where I came from. I have never forgotten that I am a Cardassian Captain, but trust me when I tell you, I would not be standing here right now if that was the first thing I saw when I got up in the morning.”

Glancing down at the PADD, Riker handed it back to Sorripto, and looked over at Doctor Gray. As they both nodded to each other Riker spoke.

“Do it.”

Walking over to the command console Sorripto began to enter a series of commands. Finishing at the command console Sorripto walked over the open panel and grabbed a small lever inside one of the chip rows. With the lever in one hand and his tricorder in the other Sorripto looked over to Doctor Gray.

“This might sting a little”

Flipping the switch, Doctor Gray spasmed as the faded section of his arm spread upward towards the shoulder. Reaching out Doctor Gray noticed that his other hand and forearm had begun to fade and blink. Sorripto worked feverously at the station moving with the pace few humanoids could work and with a loud snapping sound shouted out.

“I got it”

Running over to the panel Sorripto flipped the switch back and watched as Doctor Gray slumped over, most of his body now faded and translucent.

Running back over to his work station entered some information before turning towards Captain Riker.

“So, long story short, his program was corrupted and is now acting like a virus. I can’t explain it, but I imagine it is because of the energy from those glowing creatures you mentioned. When they attempted to enter his body, because his program is so detailed and over coded, they corrupted the base functions of the code itself. They basically turned him into a virus for the holomatrix.”

Gesturing to the machine Sorripto continued.

“What I will need to do is calibrate nanites to match the frequency that the damage is occurring on the components. They will be able to repair the components and keep the code in one place long enough to activate and deactivate the doctor. This should force the code to restructure itself, and allow for the non-infected code to transfer into other components. Those components will also be reinforced and repaired by the nanites. This component fixing should allow for the code to restructure and save enough of the internal components. The nanites will stay local and then purge themselves from the system once the repair is complete.”

“You used the word should too many times” Captain Riker inquired.

“Well, it is the best I have. I have never done anything like this before”

“Do it.” Riker gave the command.

Sorripto worked quickly to enter information into the nano machine he had set up. Flipping between the various machines on the table and the tricorder he had used earler Sorripto continued to press buttons and enter data. With a final few strokes the large machine began to ping and spin as it emanated a faint blue light. Reaching into his case Sorripto pulled what looked like a glove with only two fingers. Placing the glove like device on his hand Sorripto attached a small box to the back and as he turned the box two long probes came out from the tubes that ran along the gloved fingers. The faint hissing sound the probes made was drowned out by a large gasp as a nurse dropped her tools and backed slightly against the wall. Realizing the reaction, Sorripto immediately retracted the probes and hid the gloved hand behind his back.

“I am so sorry.”

“What the hell was that?” Captain Riker asked angrily.

The nurse had steadied herself and was being consoled by a crewman standing behind her.

“It is a nanite transfer device. I modeled it after the borg assimilation technology. From what I have found it is the most efficient way to transfer nanites into technology.”

Gesturing to the female nurse with sincerity Sorripto continued.

“I apologize for the reaction. I got so use to the other officers at the nanite facility that I had forgotten the reaction it brings out in people. Especially those with memories of the borg.”

Nodding in agreement with Sorripto’s assessment the nurse confirmed his suspicions. Gesturing to the bulkhead she gathered her tools and busied herself elsewhere, so Sorripto could return to work. With the tension in the air broken, Sorripto aimed his two fingers at the front of the machine, the light from which was now a greenish blue, and the probes quickly extended into two ports. After a few seconds the probes retracted and Sorripto stood and walked over towards the open panel. Making a fist the probes extended and retracted three times striking various sections of the isolinear row. Nodding to signal completion Sorripto walked back over to his workstation and removed the box and glove placing them both into the case.

“Now comes the fun part.”

“Fun part?” Inquired Captian Riker

“Yeah, the fun part. Now I get to see if I was right”

With that Sorripto activated the nanites and instantly a small shower of sparks flew from the panel. Doctor Gray twitched again as his entire body faded in and out of a translucent appearance. As Sorripto monitored the exchange with a tricorder he began to smiler… a smile cut short by a large shower of sparks from the panel beside him.

“What is happening?” Demanded Captain Riker

Scanning the tricorder Sorripto looked up in worry.

“The matrix is destabilizing, there is not enough isolated power to the components the programs are running through”

A second pop of sparks as Doctor Gray began to fade to near transparency.

“Reroute the power, manually if you have to” Riker ordered.

“There is no time, we are losing him” Sorripto responded.

Looking around the room Sorripto grabbed a chip tray retrieval tool off the floor. The large heavy tool, shaped like a spanner wrench had a short handle, one Sorripto now gripped with both hands.

“Simmons open the emergency access panel beside you”

As Simmons began to open the panel, he barely had enough time slide the door open when the heavy retrieval tool flew past him striking the row of circuits and smashing much of what it hit with a shower of spikes. Simmons was more taken aback by the force Sorripto was able to throw the tool than he was with the sparks, but before he could form a thought the lights dimmed in one section of sickbay.

As the lights dimmed Sorripto had slid out a row of chips and was rearranged them with the speed of a power dealer shuffling cards. Placing the last chip in place Sorripto slammed the row back in to place. As the lights returned to normal so too did Doctor Gray.

“Well that was… different” Doctor Gray mumbled to himself.

Glancing down Doctor Gray noticed that his hands were solid and, as far as holograms go, he felt fine.

Everyone else seemed a bit taken by the events that had just unfolded. This silence was broken by Captain Riker.

“What the hell was that?”

Riker was gesturing to the sparking and damaged emergency access panel. As Sorripto opened his mouth to say something Simmons cut him off.

“He forcibly rerouted power through the matrix his nanties were working in.”

Riker turned towards Simmons still somewhat angry.

“By damaging the components in this panel he forced an emergency power reroute through the section his nanites were in. That concentration of power allowed them to maintain the components long enough for the program to repair itself…. Brilliant”

“Brilliant? You know you’re going to have to fix that right” Riker smirked gesturing to the damaged panel.

Simmons sighed in defeat and then shook his head.

“Well maybe not that brilliant…”

Captain Riker turned again to address Sorripto, but he was no longer standing at his work station. Riker turned the other way to see Sorripto standing next to Doctor Gray holding the portable holo emitter. The Captain walked over to Sorripto and the Doctor just as Sorripto was explaining the results.

“According to preliminary readings it worked, your program is purged of the infection and your holo matrix is currently being repaired. I would suggest keeping your program in the system while work is being completed. This will give you the best chance to incorporate to your new surroundings.”

“Thank you. Now if you will excuse me. How do you say? I need a nap”

With that Doctor Gray vanished and Sorripto handed the portable holo emitter back to Captain Riker. Walking over to his work station Sorripto began to disassemble his tools.

“That was something else. Unorthodox, but effective. We’ll chalk up the damage to the panel as an effect of the procedure.”

“I can live with that” Sorripto responded.

“I can see why they kept you around. You are good.”

Sorripto went to respond, but Riker cut him off.

“More importantly than that you saved my friend. I owe you one for that. I know it might sound funny, being friends with a hologram and all.”

“Not at all Captain. My best friend is Bajoran. Try explaining that one to new faces”

They both laughed as Sorripto finished packing up his case and closed it. Gesturing to the open panel.

“The nanites will purge their way out of your system and be removed through basic air filtration.”

“I mean what I said Lieutenant” Riker responded

“I owe you one.”

As they headed out of sickbay Riker continued.

“I will be leaving here shortly to take over command of the McKenzie”

The ship’s name brought back some memories for Sorripto who smiled, as if to say she was a fine ship.

“While there is little I can do for you there, I have some friends elsewhere. Word is they are looking for an assistant chief engineer on the Alsea.”

“Just assistant eh? I guess I can’t ask for too much” Sorripto laughed to himself.

“Just say the word and we will do what is needed to get you back to the fleet.”

The doors to sickbay opened with a whoosh and both Sorripto and Captain Riker exited the space. Both turned back to the frenzied work happening in the space and smiled. Their paths may cross again, but for now there new friends to be had and new adventures awaiting both of them.

“I am not quite ready to head back to the fleet just yet Captain…”

Before Sorripto could continue Tolo ran up to them holding a small case. Handing it to Sorripto the Bolian smiled. Opening the case Sorripto glanced down at the old medal, it was just as it was when Sorripto gave it to Tolo for safe keeping. For as long as he has had it the old medal was a symbol of why Sorripto joined Starfleet. Looking back up at Captain Riker Sorripto smiled.

“I’m ready now Captain.”