Sick Day in Sickbay (repost)

Posted on Tue Apr 19th, 2022 @ 6:26pm by Lieutenant Commander Klarth

2,108 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Into The Void
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Just before mission start

Alia was rushing again... it was something she had gotten used to very, very quickly on board the starship that was her new home. Medical handled the sick; navigation guided the ship; engineering kept the big systems running and so on. Operations, on the other hand, was the backbone that handled EVERYTHING else behind the scenes. Everyone had very important jobs to do but if Operations fell down, no one could do their jobs.

So... she rushed!

In time, she assumed, it would become easier and she get things organized to the point where it wouldn't seem like she need to be triplets to handle it all. But that time was in the future. She just hoped it wasn't the FAR future. The door chimed, it was crewman Bronson with a crate on a grav pallet. Smiling, he said, "Lieutenant, here's a delivery for you.”

“Eh?” She searched her memory. “Bronson, what was that?”


“We finally finished the inventory, this had a tag on it for you. Indeed, after she looked closely through all the scuff marks and dirt, she could make out a universal shipping label that had the Daikyu code and her name on it.

“Bring it in, Bronson. Let's see what came through.” Most of her possessions from the Daikyu were 'in transit' as it were. Even taking a second breath on that ship was a luxury and she didn't expect most of the stuff to arrive for months to come. Fortunately, she had carried her most prized possessions with her when she arrived on the Lionheart. Chances were this had just arrived early and was stowed with the other supplies before the ship left Earth.

Bronson lowered the pallet and levered the crate onto the floor, then left with a nod. Alia tapped in a code on the locking mechanism and then put her hand against the plate. There was a slight hiss as the air on the inside puffed out, blowing more dust into her face.

“Oh! It's my photos and my...” her eyes grew blurry. “My birthd...” Before she could even finish the sentence, she collapsed to the deck....

...only to awaken in what was obviously the quarantine chamber in sickbay, with Head Nurse S'Lace wearing a containment suit and taking readings with a tricorder.

"Good morning, lieutenant," S'Lace murmured, "It is fortunate that you managed to order a force field to contain your quarters as you did; had anyone opened your door the rather unpleasant pathogen I am currently treating might have infected someone else. It is also fortunate that you managed to order an emergency beam to this room; that was remarkable foresight. Doctor Klarth will be along presently to confirm my diagnosis and ensure my treatment was adequate."

All of that sounded very reasonable. Only Alia was quite certain she had done neither of those things...

"Doctor... you said *I* ordered the beam and quarantine? I'm afraid I have no memory of any of that." She sniffed and it felt like her nose was 'full' of something and she felt achy and a bit hot. *Wait, this matches the symptoms of a respiratory viral infection. So this is what that feels like?* "Also, do you have any idea what this is? Either it has an incubation time with an atypical growth curve or something much more potent."

Klarth came in wearing a containment suit too. "Hello I'm Dr. Klarth. Yes, I'm a Klingon and a doctor. You know, Klingons need doctors too." Klarth looks at the datapad with her medical information. "You are an interesting case aren't you? It says on your chart that you're a modified/cloned human and that you are resistant to radiation, viruses and other mutagens... But are you resistant to whatever you picked up?...And I have to ask, did you know there was a pathogen in the container you opened? And/or, do you know which one, because our instruments aren't able to tell us what it is yet so if you knew, it would save us some time and work here."

"Certainly Doct... achoo!" Never having had a cold before, she was uncertain how to handle it. Fortunately, the isolation force field was more than sufficient to handle a mis-aimed sneeze. "Sorry, sir. I had no idea that there was anything on that crate, if that's where I got this. No one on the Daikyu was noticeably ill when I left. Before the crate arrived, I didn't notice any symptoms of any sort. Honestly, I'm not even certain it's a recognized organism since it was only a few seconds between touching the crate and collapsing."

Steeling herself, and sniffing to keep her breathing clear. "If I may, Doctor, I do have a bit of experience with biomedical research and my own genetics in particular. May I be of assistance? I know I'm going to be quarantined for awhile, so I might as well make use of the time I can't be on duty."

"So, S'Lace says you have no memory of calling for help. Have you had any other memory loss?...Or did someone else call for help?... Klarth shouts into his headset "S'Lace we might have another mystery on our hands!"... Returning his attention to Alia "Sure if you think you can help that would of course be appreciated. Basically what I'm recommending is the kitchen sink method, I'm going to do every test possible and try to figure out what pathogen we are dealing with here."

She shook her head, "No, nothing like that. As far as I know, I just passed out when, when... *achoo!*" She wiped her nose with a very low-tech tissue and dropped it onto a table near her bed where it was immediately transported out to be analyzed. "When I opened the crate, I got dizzy almost immediately but *sniff!* my memories seem clear up until that point." She blew her nose and sighed mentally. *How does everyone handle this?! This is miserable!*

"I think a complete assay makes the most sense, as well. We don't know what we are dealing with so there's no reason not to. I'd like to have something to report to the Captain before too long." She sighed and then squared her shoulders. "Please send me all the work you think I can handle. My more physical duties in Ops, I'll have to delegate anyway so I do have some time available." Alia felt very frustrated by this development. It felt like losing a limb that she counted on because it had been there her whole life.

Klarth looked at her and her chart and couldnt hold back a smiles as he said. "Your symptoms appear to be fairly mild. You really don't have much experience with illness, do you?...Yes I'll make sure you're all set up to work in here....in fact..." Klarth seems to consider something "Are you up to date on all your EV suit certifications?"

"It's a requirement for Ops specialization. You never know where you might have to go to make sure everyone's beans and synthahol are available." She grinned but it was interrupted by another sneeze!

Klarth' mood seemed to turn darker and he asks "Let me ask you this, do you have any enemies? Let me assure you that I am not just going to be pursuing the medical aspects of your case but also the questions as to how the pathogen got in the case? And who called for help if you did not?" Klarth seemed to look over his shoulder to see if anyone was behind him even though they were in isolation. " Between you and me this may or may not be related to a larger story and pursuing it is the only way to find out for certain."

"Honestly, I can't think of anyone who dislikes me enough to be called an enemy. My aunt is not a fan and there were some weapons smugglers that we helped uncover but I'm pretty sure they never found out that we assisted with their capture. The commander tried very hard to keep our involvement a secret and I'm fairly sure she managed that." She shrugged, "Besides, this would be a very odd attack, no?"

"Well, if it wasn't an attack then perhaps a mistake? Was there anything in your possessions worth stealing? If someone was infected when they broke into it maybe they contaminated the case without even realizing it." Klarth calls S'Lace and says "Where is the case she opened? Has it been examined and decontaminated? When could she look through it to see if anything was missing?"

"There were only personal items in there. I don't own anything of any real value. Of no value to anyone other than me, that is!" She thought back carefully... "Pictures. Awards. Some souvenirs and birthday presents. Anything really important I carried with me." She frowned. "I find the possibility of a virulent mutation or a completely alien pathogen to be much more concerning."

"I promise to come at these mysteries from all angles," said Klarth.

"Thank you, doctor." Alia cocked her head to one side, "You implied that Klingons are not usually doctors... is that not a prestige occupation in Klingon society?" She thought back to her studies of the Klingon Empire. It was a warrior society she knew but wouldn't a society that extolled combat appreciate healers?

"Oh, I wish that was the case, but I'm afraid that warriors are the only class that the Empire truly values," said Klarth. "And I find that non-Klingons usually don't consider other classes either as warriors are the ones they see most often. So good for you for thinking of all us folks behind the scenes, The Klingon lawyers, doctors, statesmen, scientists, even the housewives, and the children. We are all Klingon too!"

"Goodness, doctor, I don't think anyone could mistake you for anything but a warrior." She looked over the man who was every inch a Klingon... in the right context. In the sickbay, you could easily imagine him with a laser-scalpel. On a rugged, frontier world, easily as a fighter! "It's a shame that Klingons only see one of your faces and non-Klingons only see the other face. Apparently, the Captain appreciates your medical skills as I imagine she easily had her choice of officers."

"Thank you," said Klarth. "I can see why the Captain has put faith in you as well. I'm very happy to be working with you."

"Well, then, would you say I'm fit for duty? Most, if not all, of my tasks can be done from sickbay though it is certainly not ideal." If it had been doubted in the past, in the current century, it was recognized that interacting with other people was essential for most roles. "Obviously, I don't want to subject others to whatever we haven't analyzed yet."

Klarth says "Well, I'll go look at the test results, but I'm afraid you're stuck here for now."

Klarth seemed to remember something. "Yes, we already talked about your EV suit certification. That's the other option, you are free to go back to duty as long as you wear an EV suit and come back here when you are off duty."

She nodded, "Please, doctor. I've lost enough time as it is." The young officer smiled, "And we always have the fallback of me working from here. The Captain seems to have a lot happening, it behooves us to be ready, right?"

With all due efficiency, she was beamed into a sterilization chamber. She removed all her sickbay clothing and put it in a sealed container to be analyzed and likely destroyed. Alia wrinkled her nose... she wasn't fond of sterilization showers. They made her itch in the best of times and this was likely to be more thorough than usual. She sighed and followed the regulation procedure and redressed in standard uniform but decided for the skirt option as she wanted to minimize how much weight she took into the suit. Once again, the sterilization procedure repeated, an even MORE thorough one, as the EV suit could take a lot more than human skin!

She ran the diagnostics on the suit and watched the green lights turn on one after another on the internal screens went through its checks. Unlike some systems, the EV suit was designed to be as self-reliant as possible so it could handle its own scans. When the last light went green and the standard external scan details came on. "Finished, doctor."

Feeling ungainly despite the relatively light materials of the suit, she stepped out of decontam. "Okay, let's do this!"

 

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