Stardate 52054.6

     Everything in front of Commander Ming was blurred, and her head hurt.  All
she could tell was that she was on some kind of bed.  She groaned and rubbed 
her eyes, trying to focus.  When she opened them again, she saw Mason, Enoz, 
Wallin and Thomas looking down at her.
     The holographic Doctor pushed his way through them, "Everyone out the way,
I need to get to the patient."
     Ming looked groggily at him, "'The patient' would like to know what's 
going on, Doctor."
     He started scanning her with his medical tricorder, "You were under the 
influence of an uhciar herb.  Tell me, how much of the past 24 hours do you 
remember?"
     "Bits and pieces," she mumbled, "I..", the memory of herself fawning over
the Ferengi came back to her.  Her face turned red and she said, "Oh my god."
     "So you're not going to be chasing Reman around the ship professing your 
love for him?", Ensign Thomas asked.
     She shook her head, "No.  I'm definitely over that."
     Captain Mason turned to Enoz and said under his breath, "Better keep Reman
in the brig just in case."
     Enoz nodded.
     Ming started to say something to the EMH, but she only ended up getting 
out a light groan before she passed out.
     The EMH looked at the Captain, "She'll probably be drifting in and out of
consciousness for a few days.  Uhciar herbs are extremely potent intoxicants, 
and her system isn't used to handling them.  It'll take time for her to 
recover."
     "I understand," the Captain said.
     "Um, Doctor," Ensign Thomas said, "My duty shift officially ended about an
hour and a half ago.  If we're finished here I'd like to go."
     The EMH said, "You may leave," and walked over to a nearby console to 
analyze his scans of Commander Ming.
     Doctor Wallin saw the annoyed look on Ensign Thomas's face and said, "You
did a fine job today, Ensign.  See you tomorrow."
     Ensign Thomas smiled and left sickbay.
     Meanwhile, Captain Mason was sitting back down on his biobed.  Enoz 
followed him over.  As he was sitting down, Mason noticed the others who were 
still unconscious.  Lisa Talli and Sasha Stroh were still knocked out after 
being attacked by Wiansani, and Jack Hindman had yet to awaken from the blast 
of anesthezine gas he had recieved.  He turned to Enoz, looked at her in the 
eyes as best he could, he never could figure out which two eyes to look at, 
and said, "I'm ready for that report now."
     "Aye, sir," Enoz said, "Beeg has posted guards at both holodecks, but 
neither the Goulavar prisoners in holodeck one or the Jem'Hadar prisoners in 
two have regained consciousness yet.  We're confident that we can handle the 
Goulavar, but the Jem'Hadar..."
     "Won't give up without a fight," Mason interrupted.
     "Yes, sir.  I estimate that we can keep them sedated for two days at the 
most."
     "Is that enough time to get to the Romulan base?"
     "No, sir."
     Captain Mason sighed, "Go on."
     Enoz continued, "All 12 of the Dominion prisoners we rescued have been 
given quarters, and the Doctor thinks they'll all recover given some food and 
rest.  Lieutenant Elani Borgatella has insisted that it's 'logical' for her to
perform some function now that she's on the ship.  So, I have her studying the
life form that Beeg found."
     "Has she found out anything so far?", he asked.
     "No," Enoz said, "we can't identify her species.  All we know is that 
she's some type of humanoid, but a lot smaller than most humanoids.  As soon as
we can verify that she's not a danger to the ship we're going to bring her out
of stasis."
     "Very good.  Anything else?"
     "Yes, Captain, the Wiansani ship that helped us during the battle has been
following us.  They've kept a good distance from us, they've stayed at the very
edge of our sensor range, but they are following us."
     "Have you tried hailing them?", Mason asked.
     Enoz nodded, "They won't respond."
     The Captain scratched his chin, "They must be waiting for something.  I 
just wish I knew what their intentions were.  Do you think they're 
Confederation Wiansani?"
     "Free Wiansani?", Enoz said, "That would be my guess.  Either way, they 
did save our lives back there."
     "We'll stay on present course, and wait for the Wiansani to contact us 
when they're ready."
     Captain Mason's communicator beeped, "Syxx to Mason.  One of the P.O.W.s,
a Mr. Taj wants to speak with you immediately."
     "I'm on my way."
     As the Captain got up and started to leave, the EMH came running over, 
"Captain, where do you think you're going?  You may have come out of your coma
sooner than expected, but you still need to rest to.."
     Mason interrupted, "Computer, deactivate EMH."
     With a look of shock on his face, the EMH got out the word, "Captain!", 
before fading away into nothingness.
     "Now I know why they call them Emergency Medical Hotheads," Enoz said.

     Mason and Enoz walked up to Taj's quarters.  Mason tapped the panel beside
the door.  After a second, the door opened, and a gray skinned man with wavy 
hair stood there.  Enoz looked surprised when she saw him.  She didn't 
recognize him personally, but she knew his race.
     Mason said, "You must be Mr. Taj."
     "Yes," Taj said, "Etalom'Ori Taj."
     The Captain recognized the name structure, "You're from the Wardyssian 
system."
     Taj shot a glance toward Enoz, then looked at the Captain, "Right again, 
Captain.  I'll get right to the issue.  The Etalom aren't involved in the war 
with the Dominion, and yet I was captured and tortured by the Dominion and 
their Goulavar allies.  There are several Goulavar and Jem'Hadar that you have
captured here which I want to oversee the torture and execution of personally."
     Mason looked grimly at Taj, "I can't accept your request, Mr. Taj.  We're
not planning to torture or execute anyone."
     Taj looked both shocked and angry, "What?  They've committed numerous 
personal injustices against me.  I have the right to.."
     Enoz interrupted, "You know that doesn't apply here.  They do things
differently than us."
     Taj yelled, "You can't really believe that's any way for a civilized race
to behave!"
     "It doesn't matter what I think," Enoz yelled, "I'm a Starfleet officer 
and I have to.."
     Taj yelled back, "You can't just hide behind a uniform!  You.."
     Finally, Mason, in the loudest command voice he could, yelled, "Enough of
this!  I've made my decision!  You will not harm any of the prisoners!"
     Taj glared at the Captain and said, "We'll see about that."  He shut the 
door to his quarters, leaving Mason and Enoz by themselves in the corridor.
     The Captain was gritting his teeth, "Computer, override lock on.."
     Enoz touched him on the arm, "Captain, let me talk to Taj.  The Oblokoni 
and the Etalom have a very friendly relationship.  He'll respond better to me 
than he will to someone from the Federation."
     The Captain closed his eyes and breathed slowly a few times, trying to 
calm himself.  He decided he should probably meditate in his quarters.  He had
been letting too many things get to him lately.  He reopened his eyes and said,
"All right.  I'll leave this in your hands.  I'll see you at the senior staff 
meeting tomorrow morning."
     Enoz smiled reassuringly, and Captain Mason walked off, on his way to his
quarters.  He took a turbolift from deck 5 up to deck 3, but when he was 
walking through the corridor to his quarters, he suddenly started to stumble.
He felt dizzy and had a burning pain in his head and chest.  He grabbed ahold 
of the wall to keep his footing and stood there for several minutes, kneeling 
in pain.  Finally, the pain started to fade, and the dizziness started to go 
away.  As soon as he regained his balance, the Captain continued on to his 
quarters.  I just need some rest, he thought to himself.