Medical Findings

Posted on Sun Dec 13, 2020 @ 10:31am by Commander Ajani Carter & Lieutenant Narisa

Mission: Episode 1: On Stranger Tides
1387 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

IC

Commander Cater let herself in to the antechamber and stood before the large window, laying on half a dozen slabs lay the bodies of half a dozen different species. None of them Cardassian. Narisa had beamed them back a few hours ago, the attack ship was now empty, her teams having gotten everything they needed and, after clearing their medical tests were doing their own things.

The Room outside the quarantine lab was sparse but there was a few stools for people to sit in. Narisa had finished her autopsies and exited via the airlock and decon room. She was frowning as she turned to face the Captain and she removed her helmet. "Captain, I am locking down that ship, warning beacons are to be put in place immediately."

Carter sighed "Am i to assume you have found something that is of danger then?" she asked her Orion Doctor.

"Yes" She sighed. "Have you heard of Harvesters?"

Ajani frowned, thinking. "Nope, don't know that one" she said taking a stool to sit on. It really was turning into one of those days that was for sure.

"They were an invisibly-small synthetic virus, tiny enough to enter the body through the skin, and lethal alone. It was classified as a biomechanical gene disruptor. The T'Lani and Kellerun each produced mass quantities of the weapon during their centuries-long war. The entire population of T'Lani III was devastated by harvesters. But this .. this virus it is ... a variation. It causes prolonged pain, and shows as a different virus to begin with.
These victims suffered extreme flue like symptoms before death. Symptoms included blurred vision, dizziness, palpitations, and a stinging sensation in the lower spine. The virus took 3 days to run its course when the virus finally killed its victim. And that strike team? They are infected."

Carter didn't know how to react to that, four members of her crew were more or less effectively dying. "Was a cure ever created for this virus?" Ajani had a feeling of what the answer would be but she couldn't bring herself to accept that her people were going to die even though they, even though she had done everything by the book.

"Yes, Harvesters were cured by Doctor Julian Bashir and a team of Medics from Kellerun. I have to pull their research but I believe we can adapt it to be used on this virus." Narisa said calmly. "Though, it can take a while. Harvesters were not contagious like this version. They only affected those it came in initial contact with and there was no transmission. WE will need to make sure Starfleet medical is aware and Starfleet Command. If anyone breaks containment it could result in the deaths of everyone on this ship."

"I will speak with the Admiral, and i will ensure no one leaves or joins us until you have a workable treatment" Ajani hadn't expected her to say that there was a cure, almost ready to hand. "Has there been any signs of this virus in Cardassian space recently?" she asked, if there had been that was a lead she could follow, and maybe lend aid.

"Not according to any reports that I have access to. Cardassians do not share such things anyway."

"Can you please have someone check the Fleet medical records. I will call a few old friends, maybe i can get something for you. Is there any indication that this virus has been engineered into its current form rather than evolved?"

"Until i look deeper into it, I will not know the answers to that question. I will send out the comm to Starfleet Medical." Narisa replied.

Ajani considered it, if this was an engineered virus they had a problem on their hands. If this was a mutation, well that was a whole other problem. One meant that someone was planning an attack, the other meant that somehow some of the virus had avoided destruction and had injected enough people to have mutated. Neither choice was a good one. "Okay Doctor" she said "What can you tell me about the virus, or its makers"

"That it is virulent and can kill everyone on this ship in 3 days and the longer i stand here the longer it will before i get a cure." Narisa said blandly. "I can give you more as I said, when i have a chance to look further into it."

"okay okay" she said raising her hands a little in surrender "I will leave you to it Doctor" she said. She opened her mouth to ask to be kept informed but thought better of it. The Doctor was rather literal and might find it a stupid thing to say. So she just smiled and left her to it. Carter had other stops to make now that she had seen the doctor.

Narisa watched the captain leave then turned back to the small console by the lab door. She had work to do and being interrupted by a Captain demanding instant answers was not how she wanted to spend her time. She was a doctor not a god or a Q. That said she did not want to spend her time doing this either. biting back a sigh, Narisa brought up the data on Harvesters and got to work. She used Bashir's information around the radiation and noted the different tries they had gone through to get to it. SHe had a sample in a secure section and she was determined that fi the radiation worked then she could use it to synthesize a cure.

She documented each step by getting the computer to record all the tests she was running. It would be a process but she could not and would not allow more to die from this illness, no not illness, this biochemical weapon. And once she was done with it, she would record her results and cure and destroy all known samples.


Hours later she sat in the viral lab going over the data she had gathered so far. Made by someone. And Mutated from its original form. Dr Bashir had noted in his files on the Nano virus that the T'Lani and Kellerun governments ordered that anyone with technical knowledge about the harvesters was to be killed so that the weapons could not be recreated. They had even tried to assassinate Starfleet Officers, foiled obviously but someone must have been missed by their culling as neither starfleet officer would have sold this information to anyone. Someone had take the original virus and mutated it. And whoever had done it was cleaver and very much a person of great knowledge and medical know how. Part of her wondered if the cure of that radiation would work... she doubted it to be truthful, but she would try.

"Chief medical officer's log, supplemental. I have been reviewing Doctor Bashir's records around the Harvesters from the period when he and Chief O'Brien were aboard a T'Lani cruiser, helping the T'Lani and the Kelleruns eliminate their stockpiles of Harvesters, deadly biomechanical gene disruptors used by both sides in their centuries-long war. I have found that while this virus holds the base design of the Harvester Nano Virus, it has been altered or mutated to be worse. It causes prolonged pain, and shows as a different virus to begin with. The victims examined and from their own ship medical logs, show that they suffered extreme flue like symptoms before death. Symptoms included blurred vision, dizziness, palpitations, and a stinging sensation in the lower spine. The virus took 3 days to run its course when the virus finally killed its victim. The Strike Team were infected 8 hours ago. That leaves me with sixty-four hours in which to affect a cure or we loose 4 people. My team have placed them in medically induced coma's to keep them from being in pain. I just hope that it will not spread into the ships' general population. The Secondary away team are being regularly tested every 4 hours, but so far none of us are showing any signs.The Medical Team is also being regularly tested and I have informed them to do random testing among the ship's compliment every 5 hours. I hope it is enough to give us warning if this virus escapes containment. End log"