Nate rolled to his side and wretched. A medic helped hold him his body still until it had purged all it could. His head was pounding when he was done, but he blinked and looked around, focusing on the person assisting him.

“Medic Larsen? Why am I here? Why am I sick?”

“I don’t know, Admiral. Toorg brought you. It’s not like he offered any explanation.”

Nate turned and saw the big blonde guard bent over another table. He squinted and focused. “Is that Darcone over there?”

“Yes, Admiral. His vitals are falling. I’ve not been able to determine what’s wrong with him. Your sickness has been severe.”

Nate slid off the table almost going to the floor. “Help me over there,” he ordered.

“Sir, you…”

“I said… help me get the fuck over there,” Nate ordered more sternly. The female medic wrapped one arm around him and practically dragged his limp body to the Darcone’s table.

Nate tapped his com unit. It was fried. He grabbed Toorg’s wrist and hit a button. Seconds later, Bri appeared.

“Nate, are you okay?”

“Surviving, but can’t remember anything. Darcone’s out cold. What happened, Bri?”

“Your father drugged you. He also said he poisoned Darcone. He’s at the shuttle waiting for me to deliver Maslin. He’s offering an antidote in exchange, but I don’t know if he’s being serious or not. I can’t take any chances.”

“Bastard,” Nate said fiercely, looking away and hoping he wasn’t going to be sick again. “What drug did he give me?”

“I don’t know. Something Sheena made. Call her. She’ll know what to do.”

“Watch your ass, Commander.”

“Save my alien, Admiral. I’ll save your ship.”

“See that you do, no matter the cost. I mean that, Brianna. He’s a traitor now.”

Nate tossed Toorg’s wrist down. He took the readout of Darcone’s vitals and scanned it for abnormalities. His headache was making it hard to think.

“Larsen, I need some Stay Alert—10cc fast.”

“But sir…”

“It’s Doctor at the moment,” Nate barked, turning a glare in her direction. “If Darcone dies, our planetary peace dies with him. My fucking headache is not going to stop me from doing what I can to save him. Now stop arguing and help me… or get me someone who can follow my orders.”

“Right away, Doctor Tiberius.”

While Larsen scurried to a locked drug cabinet, Nate leaned on the bed and looked at Toorg. “Go find me six of the strongest aliens we have. Bring them here to Medical to help me hold down Darcone. If he comes around while I’m working on him, I’d just as soon remain alive to finish saving his mean ass.”

Toorg nodded once. “I am Toorg,” he said quietly before running off.

When Larsen returned, she held out her hands. “Injection or pill, Doctor.”

“Injection—I need this to work quickly,” Nate said, pulling down the back of his pants until his hip was showing.

When it was done, he took a minute to just breathe. Another thirty seconds passed and the headache eased into a dull pain. It was like being three days of no-sleep tired, but at least he wasn’t wanting to puke every second.

He pulled himself upright. “Now I need a booster drink with something to calm my stomach… and your wrist com.”

Larsen pulled it off her wrist and handed it over without comment or question. Nate pressed the bridge button.

“Jarvis here. What can I do for you, Medic Larsen?”

“Lieutenant, this is your Admiral. I want you to get hold of Dr. MacNamara’s shuttle. Tell her pilot not to dock until we give the okay. I’ll explain later. Patch her personal communication to the overhead in Medical. I need to talk to her. This is a code red situation, Lieutenant Jarvis. This is not a readiness test. Commander MacNamara is otherwise engaged in the docking area. Use your best judgment and help us both.”

“Aye, sir. I’ll see it all gets done.”

“Good man. Report back to me on Larsen’s com. Mine was destroyed. She’s assisting me with a critical patient and we’re both using hers in Medical.”

“Yes, sir.”

When that was done, Nate turned to his all-but-quaking assistant. “There’s no time for you to go into shock, Medic. Take something or drink something. Do what you must. Every moment right now is important. Can you maintain?”

Nate watched the woman swallow and nod.

“Good. Draw some of Darcone’s blood and do a poison analysis, stat. While that’s running, call Medics Evic and Lange. Tell them both I said to report to Medical immediately. As I told the Lieutenant, this is a code red emergency. We may have other casualties within the next few minutes.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Nate investigated the body and found the injection site in the back of Darcone’s shoulder. His father had caught the alien with his back turned. How had he gotten him so easily? He and Darcone had been on guard. He knew they had. His long-term memory was still working.

Larsen drew the blood with shaking fingers and slid the collection device into the portable screening com. She handed it over Darcone’s body to him. “Trade you for my wrist com,” she said, trying for lightness. Nate made himself smile as he made the swap.

He set the screen down on a nearby table and watched the poison analysis run. When it was completed, Nate saw six things listed on the screen—the probability was listed beside each one. Six was too much variation. Even if his med-replicator could produce all six, he couldn't just give the alien all six antidotes. Any one might kill him as much as cure him. Darcone’s physiology was similar to humans, but not the same.

“Nate?”

Nate’s legs grew weak with relief at hearing her voice. He leaned heavily on Darcone’s med table. “Doctor MacNamara, I’m so glad you called. I have a poisoned alien here and six possible causes.”

“Which alien?” Sheena demanded.

“Darcone,” Nate called out.

“What are the six poisons?” Sheena asked.

Nate called them all out to her. Sheena ruled out four as nothing that would have been effective on him. Now they were down to just two choices.

“Got a best guess?” Nate asked.

Silence greeted his question.

“Who did this to him?” Sheena finally asked.

“Later I’m going to say I told you so. It was Director Tiberius,” Nate said bitterly.

“The Guardians don’t sanction human suffering and torture. They either recondition you, cure you, or kill you. They would never use poison to accomplish their goals.”

Nate nodded. “You think my father got the poison on his own?”

“No. Novus Prime would use all of the poisons you mentioned, and have, but they preferred one. It was found in the blood streams of the dead portal technicians. Their favored poison was brewed up to be readily accessible and given to their agents for field use because of proof of it dissipates eventually,” Sheena said, naming one of the two remaining.

“Novus Prime,” Nate said, shaking his head. Was his father more aligned with them than anyone knew? “At least we have some kind of answer. I’ll start the antidote now. We'll try that first.”

“Use the metal bands to bind him to the table. Get some aliens to hold him down when he comes around. Darcone’s quite fierce when agitated. The poison won’t have erased his memories.”

“I’m ahead of you there. I sent Toorg after the aliens,” Nate said. He nodded when Medics Evic and Lange came running into the room. “Metal bands, guys. Secure the patient to the table. Make them as tight as they’ll go.”

Moments later the aliens and Toorg showed up. They stayed to the side and watched as the Medics banded Darcone’s entire body down.

“Medic Larsen?”

“Sir, I’ve already programmed the med-replicator. It will be done shortly. I was eavesdropping,” she said.

“Good woman,” Nate said, grinning at the chaos. “Sheena?”

“Yes. I’m still here,” she said.

“What kind of crap cocktail did you create that makes a person forget stuff? This would target short term memory from the last couple of hours.”

“I made about seven different ones. Can you be more specific?”

“Not really,” Nate said. “I threw up a lot when I came around.”

Sheena named a couple that would cause that side effect.

“Any antidote to them?” Nate asked. Silence happened again. Nate hung his head and snorted. Of course, there wasn’t. Why had he even asked?

“Time is all that helps,” Sheena finally said. “And you’ll probably never get your memories back of what happened during the blackout period.”

“Thanks, honey,” Nate said dryly. “Don’t make any more memory erasing potions, okay?”

“Okay,” Sheena said. “Nate—your father drugged you to forget something? Do you know what?”

Nate huffed. Larsen finally brought him a booster drink and pushed it into his weak grip. He tried to nod his thanks, but before he could make his head move, Larsen was off to check the med-replicator again.

“I’d be more offended by that fact, but right now I’m just glad he didn’t poison me as well. Mother is going to be highly pissed when she finds out what a true bastard he’s become.”

“I’m sorry I talked you into letting him go before. He’s obviously had high-level help to get the things he used on you and Darcone. Something needs to be done about him.”

“I think someone is doing something now. I’ll keep you posted. I’m going to sign off to clear Larsen’s com unit. Take care of the Matchmakers while I save our favorite alien. Your sister will never speak to me again if anything happens to him. They’ve gotten kind of close since you’ve been away.”

Sheena sighed into the phone. “Nate, please stop. I’m on speaker up here. The shuttle has a few extra ears at the moment.”

“Who’s with you? It’s not like this is going to surprise Angus and Erin,” Nate stated.

“Oh dear… you’ve forgotten that as well, haven’t you?”

Nate wrinkled his face, trying to recall all the elusive stuff floating around in his gray matter. Larsen came back, injection for Darcone in hand. He motioned to the aliens to come surround the alien.

“Remind me later,” Nate said. “Antidote’s ready. Got to go.”

“Keep us posted, Nate. Darcone’s important to many people up here.”

“He’s important to people down here as well. Medical is full of people who care about him. Call back in about ten minutes. If this works, he should be up and growling by then.”

Nate heard the patch disconnect. He motioned to the table. “Be ready. He’s going to be very mad at my father when he comes around,” he warned.

Then placing the injection against his throat, Nate deployed the plunger and started praying.