Well...Crap.

Posted on Thu Oct 17th, 2019 @ 1:41am by

Mission: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: Deck 8 - Sickbay
Timeline: MD9
1916 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Natasha's eyes darted around to various crew members as she quickly walked by them towards Sickbay. She didn't want to alarm anyone, just in case no one was aware of it yet, but she had gotten a call to come down immediately. As far as Natasha knew, it was an emergency situation of a delicate nature.

She was worried.

"I mean, of course you are, one of your fellow crew members is sick. Maybe dying," she thought to herself.

She shook her head and stopped short in front of the door to Sickbay. She took a deep breath, preparing for the worst, and stepped through the doors.

Sekat arched an eyebrow as a female in teal colours came hurrying into sickbay. "There was no need for you to run ma'am," he announced as he handed her a PADD. "Crewman Stef, unexplained fragility of his bone stucture. Like many, the patient has been implanted with a device of unknown origin. I would like to bring him back to consciousness for a little while to see how he responds."

The Vulcan doctor gestured towards a section which was warded off by curtains. "In there," he added somewhat unnecessarily.

She nodded, taking the PADD from him and walked over to Crewman Stef.

He was floating in a gel of sorts, rather than resting in a bed, and he looked...well, he didn't look great. The poor guy, quite frankly, looked exhausted.

Turning to Sekat, she asked "How many others are affected?"

"I do not know," the Vulcan was forced to confess. "Fortunately, his child seems unaffected. I have not been able to see anything on scans concerning the child." He nodded towards the young man again. "Crewman Stef is the captain's yeoman and the ship's animal caretaker. Can we wake him for a few minutes?"

She nodded, "Of course, ready when you are."

"Monitor his vitals," Sekat suggested as he walked over to the side of the tank. he reached to adjust a few settings to the side, allowing the nutritions and medications inside the gel to do their work. "He should be coming around now," he added as he watched the younger Vulcan's eyes flutter. Beckoning the woman closer, he gestured towards her. "Stef this is..." He looked up, realizing that he didn't even know the new medical officer's name.

"Oh, my name is Natasha Stark, Assistant Chief Medical Officer," she said, keeping an eye on his vital signs. So far, so good, no sign of any significant distress.

She looked down at the man, still keeping half an eye on his bpm and blood pressure, and asked, "Stef, how are you feeling? Can you talk?"

Stef stared at her, eyes wide. He started to shake his head, then grimaced and closed his eyes for a moment. "Pain," he croaked out, "cannot move." His eyes seemed to dart around though all he could see where the two doctors, and the ceiling. "Alecx?"

Sekat stepped out of visual range. "His son," he explained, "the child visits every day. We let him talk, because we are certain Stef can hear everything that is said to him even if he is unable to respond. However I am of the opinion that he should be allowed to wake for a few minutes every day, to allow him the realization of where he is, and what is going on. Sensory deprivation can be...frightening."

"Ah, good idea," she agreed, moving to talk to Sekat. "I'm sure it's a comfort to him. I can't imagine being in his shoes," she added, glancing over at the man. He looked very uncomfortable now, the beeping on his monitors speeding up just a bit to keep pace with his pain and she frowned at them.

Stef tried to shift, feeling anxious. "Alecx?" he called out again, trying to raise his arm, even if the gel wouldn't let him. It was keeping him both afloat and immobile for the most part. "Please.. it hurts so much."

"Talk to him," Sekat suggested, taking a small step back. "We will put him under again in a minute."

Without another word, Natasha moved over Stef's side, being careful not to touch him or the gel.

"Stef, try not to move too much, okay? It'll be over soon, I promise, I just have a couple of questions for you, if you think you can answer," she said, as she motioned for Sekat to be ready to put him under again if things got to be too much for him. "I promise we will let you sleep soon."

She took a deep breath and pressed on. "Stef, do you know where you were when you got...implanted?"

Carefully, Stef shook his head just a fraction. "I know nothing about an implant," he answered slowly, clearly wracking his brains over information he did not have. "I remember feeling unsteady, I remember fractures and them becoming too much." He closed his eyes. "talking hurts," he whispered, "breathing hurts. Where is Alecx?"

"With Razmi," Sekat promised, "he is safe and visits every day." He looked up. "Razmi is his best friend, she takes care of the child for now."

Natasha nodded, making a mental note. She looked down at Stef, who looked miserable, and back at his vital signs. Not great, but he didn't seem to be in immediate danger. She figured maybe another question, two if they were lucky, but that may be all she could expect to get from him before he needed to go back to sleep.

"I know it hurts, we're almost done, I promise, but can you possibly tell me where it hurts the most?"

Natasha wanted to see if the pain was just broken bones and the implant being somewhere it's not supposed to be, or if it was a symptom of something the implant was doing to his body. Either way, it would bring her at least a tiny bit closer to understanding of what's going on and how to fix it.

"Everywhere," Stef whispered miserably, "everything hurts. Please, no more... please end this..."

Sekat nodded, hand hovering over the controls. "I am ready to put him back to sleep ma'am," he said gently, "but I do feel we need to allow him to wake a minute or two each day. Even without asking questions, allowing him to adjust."

"Agreed, Stef, you've been amazingly helpful, thank you. We're going to let you sleep now, okay? I promise, we'll figure this out. Thank you for your help," she said, nodding to Sekat to go ahead and put him to sleep again.

She stepped away from the tank. "I think we should try to get some scans of the implant. There's got to be a way to tell what it's purpose is. Maybe we can take scans of the others and compare them, see if there are any differences?"

"New insights would be most welcome even though Sandra and I have taken extensive scans already." He gestured for her to follow as he sat on a nearby bed. "I have one too," he admitted, "I have not found it to impair with my duties here, but it has some undesired effects." He gave her a small encouraging smile. "Take all the scans you need, I am certain Sandra will appreciate any thoughts you have on this." He didn't seem to realize he was calling the chief medical officer by her first name.

She looked at him, eyes wide. "I guess, with so many others being affected it make sense, but I had no idea. Have you had yours scanned at all?" She started pacing back and forth, the wheels turning in her head. "What if we take scans of it, say once a day or once every other day at the same time, see if anything changes, if it grows, if it shrinks, if it multiplies, whatever?" She stopped pacing and looked at him, realizing that she was starting to interrogate the man.

"Sorry," she said, sheepishly. "I'm very interested. This whole thing is intriguing. I mean, horrible, but I'm fascinated."

"We could keep track of my readings," Sekat suggested, "see if my vitals change. Especially if..." He hesitated. "When... I see my wife," he amended. "My dead wife."

She sat on the bed across from him. "I'm so sorry, Sekat, that sounds terrible." She took a deep breath and continued. "However, that's an absolutely fantastic idea, and I think we should do it. I can meet with Lieutenant Adamson to see if she has any insights."

Sekat nodded. "She will probably be relieved that someone else can monitor me," he admitted, "because of our personal involvement. And I do hope we find whoever implanted these devices soon, because I feel it is unfair to her to be competing with someone no longer alive."

"I think the sooner we figure this out, the better, ideally before this," she gestured to Stef, "happens to anyone else.''

She sighed and put a hand up to her head. "What a mess. Well, you're the guinea pig, how would you like to start? I'd like to get this underway as soon as we can."

"A fresh look is a start," the Vulcan answered calmly, "since you have not looked at prior readings why not start with taking scans? Apart from my disability, I am in perfect health." He gestured towards the cane which stood nearby and then towards his leg.

"Sounds like a plan," she said, standing up, grabbing his cane, and holding it out to him. "Wanna start now?"

Accepting it with a slight nod, Sekat smiled. "That might be wise," he answered, "would you like me to lie down?"

Natasha nodded. "Please," gesturing to the scanner and moving to the screen to set it up. "I'll try to make this quick, I don't want to keep you from your duties for too long." She grabbed her PADD to make some notes as they worked.

"Before we start the scans, I'll go ahead and take your vitals," she said, jotting down the time and date on her PADD before setting it back down and looking at Sekat.

"Other than elevated anxiety due to these visions, I believe you will find all within normal values." Shifting, Sekat eased himself backwards on the bed, folding his hands across his abdomen. "Take your time..."

With that, Natasha began, being very careful to make meticulous notes of anything she thought had a chance of being pertinent. She took detailed scans of everything she could, trying to take notes as she went along.

As the last scan went through, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, Sekat, all good." She helped him out of the scanner and started to pull up the scans to show him on her PADD.

"You should discuss them with the chief medical officer," Sekat suggested, gently pushing the PADD away. "I can hardly be considered objective, when it comes to my own readings."

"You're right, I'm getting ahead of myself," she said, smiling. "We'll get this figured out." She turned off the PADD and set it down. "And we'll keep you posted," she added, walking to the door. Time to set up a meeting with Lt. Adamson. Natasha was anxious to look over those scans.

She looked back at Sekat. "Thank you for your help, Sekat. Hopefully it won't be long until we get some answers."

---

Lieutenant j.g. Sekat
Medical Officer
pnpc Lhaes

Lieutenant JG Natasha Stark
Assistant Chief Medical Officer