Season 15: Episode 3 - Restless Spirit

[Tanner Lachlyn]

They'd been given the thumbs up and Tanner set her team into gear immediately. Working in groups to pick up the supplies from medical and receive a rundown on dispensing the antivirals, her teams were then split into groups and hit the separate decks running. Literally.

Thankfully the ill crewmembers had been promptly quarantined but given the unknown origin of the illness, there was a degree of unease still left about the ship being out of such dangerous territory. After passing it by her superiors, Tanner spread the message that once the quarantined crew had been completed, the teams were to do a full deck sweep. The last thing they wanted was to miss someone in need.

Tapping her combadge she said, "Tanner to the Bridge, all teams deployed. Will keep you updated on our findings." With another tap the connection closed. Turning to her team she gave a slow tilt of her head to indicate they were moving.

"Ma'am," A young security ensign asked, "Are you going to get out of your suit? Now that things are improving."

Thinking it over, Tanner nodded, "Once we're done with the quarantined crew. I think it'll be safe to remove them." Sensing the unease of the Ensign, she offered a smile, "Do I look that scary?"

"N-no Ma'am," The Ensign said in a wobbly tone. Her eyes moved to the ground nervously.

"It's fine, it's not every day you see staff in them. Let's go." They then headed on their way, medical kits in hand and moved to the nearest turbolift.

[Tekin Nevir]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
and NPC Lt Danjar-Torra Addams
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

With a hiss the medication was delivered.

Rayek leaned back in his chair and waited for the treatment to take effect.  He looked up at the overly tall Grazerite as she did a check over his system before moving off towards the Risian pilot.   The Romulan glanced to the Captain, unconscious in the chair beside him.  This wasn't right...

"You need to treat the Captain next." Rayek stated.  Was it just his imagination that the fog in his mind was already beginning to lift?

Torra didn't paused on her route to the pilot, but she did take a position beside the helmsman which allowed her to look towards the Romulan Commander as she continued her work.   "I wish I could, sir; but until the doctors approve it for open usage, I'm limited to only distributing it to volunteers."

The Romulan felt a spur of anger at Torra's words.  That's ridiculous. He's going to die waiting for that approval; and he's in no condition to volunteer!"

The Grazerite hunched her shoulders in response to his outburst.   "I understand your frustration, sir.  This was why there was the disagreement about declaring Patient Zero as dead.  With both Doctor Thane and Sluchaynyy affected by the illness, none of the doctors have the authority to do anything outside of strict laboratory testing procedures. Which are unsuitable at the moment.  We need someone as CMO.  The Jupiter's EMH offered to assume the role but then got into an argument with our EMH." Torra stated with a bit of apologetic shrug.

Rayek grimaced at the situation.

"Which of the remaining doctors is most senior." he asked, praying she wouldn't say the EMH.

"That would be the exchange officer, Dr. Tanar Betaika." Torra supplied helpfully as she administered a dose of the treatment to the Risian pilot.

"The treatment is fast acting, so you should be seeing improvement in just a few minutes." Torra said to the pilot.

Meanwhile, Rayek had come to a decision.

"Computer record.  In the absence of Dr. Thane and Dr. Sluchaynyy due to illness, I , Commander tr'Lhoell, am temporarily promoting Romulan Exchange Officer Tanar Betaika to the position of Chief Medical Officer of the USS Discovery, effective immediately until such time as a more senior medical officer is well enough to fulfil the role.  Computer, recognize authorization of Rayek tr'Lhoell - Three Juliette Four Sierra Seven Three Five Golf Lima"

"Authorization recognized. Promotion of Lieutenant Tanar Betaika to Chief Medical Officer acknowledged. Report sent to Starfleet Command."

Rayek opened an internal comm channel "tr'Lhoell to Dr. Betaika.  I've just promoted you to Chief Medical Officer.   It is my understanding, that Lieutenant Addams needs a direct order from you to be able to administer the Jupiter treatment to any unconscious patient.   The Captain is presently unconscious and unable to volunteer to take the treatment."   Rayek informed.

There was a pause before the doctor responded.  "What are his vitals?"

Torra, who had finished with the helmsman, approached and scanned the Captain with her medical tricorder.    "Blood pressure and oxygen levels are critically low, as are his white blood cells.  His autonomic functions are on the verge of shutting down.  He has maybe an hour to live."

"Go ahead and administer the treatment to the Captain; as well as to any other whose vitals are weak.  Continue to monitor those patients and send regular updates back to Sickbay so that we can complete the proper testing quickly and get this treatment out to the entire crew."

Torra smiled appreciatively towards Commander Rayek and acknowledged her orders from Dr. Betaika.

"Yessir!"

With Rayek's help, Torra carefully leaned the Captain's head back, exposing his neck and pressed the hypospray with the treatment against his skin.  A hiss sounded as the Captain received his dose.

Torra then went around to the others on the Bridge.  Each had 'weak vitals' in her opinion so each got a dose of the treatment, and when she used up her 6 doses she requested for more to be transported to her location.

Rayek was feeling much better by this time and he knew what he had to do.

"Computer, I want you to monitor all life-signs on the ship and alert Sickbay when one falls to critical levels."  Those would be the individuals who would receive priority treatment.

At being informed that the Jupiter security away team had returned, Rayek called for a report.

He listened to the quick brief offered by Lieutenant Lachlyn and acknowledged her request to remain in the EV suit.   "I think that's an excellent idea.  I want your team in Sickbay to assist the treatment efforts.   You'll escort the doctors if they need to treat patients outside of sickbay and generally be on hand to assist."

Not long after this an odd transmission was heard over the comm.  It was Lorut.

Rayek altered the ship's status to Yellow Alert in acknowledgment of the warning but didn't remove the quarantine.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

It took a few seconds following the hiss of the hypospray, but the experimental serum started working its miracle on the Captain, and his lifesigns started to stabilize and then strengthen. It took an additional minute for the Captain to stir, and finally open his eyes to see nothing but black and stars of space as the ships left the nebula.  As he straightened up he winced; he felt like a corpse. But, he wasn't dead... and he wasn't dust.

"Commander?  Status?" he asked with a hoarse voice, as the bridge seemed to come back to life.

[Dem Broadshire]

[USS Discovery, Bridge]

Malik sighed with blessed relief as the Grazerite administered him the hypospray, the compound felt cool entering his bloodstream as it worked its way into his core. The positive effect shortly followed, with a respite in the relentless tinnitus and feeling of exhaustion.

"Thank you...", was all he could muster for now as he sucked in big lung fulls of air trying to clear his head. Thankfully Graham was still functioning at helm it seemed. Now with some awareness of his surroundings, Malik watched as Dem slumped unconscious. "May want to jab the doctor next, he doesn't look to good."

Doctor Betaika

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Before Torra could reply, Betaika jumped at the young officers open question. "œI can administer his dose" he replied, trying to disguise his concern for his friend. Dem was cold, unconscious and on the ground. He looked like he did for many weeks in his quarters. Betaika had checked up on Dem over the few recent weeks, trying to get him to some help for what was extremely apparent PTSD. Betaika had seen it to many times in young officers, a mission goes awry and they can never steer back on track. Obviously there were no support systems available in the Tal Shiar, so it frustrated him that he was refusing the wide network of mental health services that the federation provided. As the hypo decompressed, Betaika softly said to him to try and remain still. After a few moments of stirring, his eyes were open. His mouth started to open, and a stream of words started to flow out. Soon, Betaika could hear that he was asking "" more begging "" to leave the bridge. "œGet me away from it", "œback to my quarters", "œStress leave", were the few repeating mantras that he could grasp. "œAlright Dr Broadshire. Lets get you up then." Betaika paused while lifting the majority of the young lieutenant's weight. Age has removed his ability to perform a strenuous activity with patter. "œYour dismissed until the effects of the sickness wears off." Selecting some choice words to avoid Dem's embarrassment, Betiaka was really trying to get him out of the stressful environment that he clearly could not handle.

Turning to face the bridge crew, after a check of his PADD, Betaika addressed the congregation. "œI'm glad to see that you have recovered captain. 60 percent of the crew have been given the inoculation, and all critical patients have stabilised. My Russian associate Sluchaynyy and Doctor Thane have also recovered." Betaika informed the group in his usual calm tone.

[Lorut Vila]

USS Jupiter
Bridge

Vila leaned back. She was tired. Today was ...weird.

Please do your job, computer. We will discuss things later once the captain and the others are better.

"The AI responds best to threats of violence," she said. "BUT it shouldn't be a problem anymore, I have him stablized." She'd coded in a self-destruct feature at the first sign of resistance, and that seemed to do the trick.

"Commander, all systems are stable. As soon as we pass the Nebula, we can return safely to the Discovery," she said. "I am going to turn off all non-essential systems to reserve power. This ship is old." She made it so.

Later....

She stepped near the Transport pad. She was ready to go "home." She hoped that this ship wouldn't go the way of the last, but she honestly wouldn't miss it if it did.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery-B - Deck One - Bridge]

[prior to Rayek receiving treatment]

[USS Discovery-bridge]

"œCommander there is nothing concerning going on, I made the jump to warp." He was sure that he was fine as he made sure to not worry the commander. He figured as long as he was able to pilot the ship then there shouldn't be a problem. He thought that as long as he closely monitored his symptoms as time progressed then he should be fine. He would have let someone know if things got worse.

The Romulan was about to question who gave the helmsman the order to go to warp, but Rayek realized with his fogged mind it could very well have been himself - and that to question the action now would only further spotlight Rayek's lack of capacity at the moment.

"Ah, yes.  Thank you.." There was a lengthy pause as Rayek struggled to remember the pilot's name.  'Fvadt.  He'd known it a minute ago!'   "Chief." Well at least he remembered the man's rank.

[after being given treatment]

Rayek was feeling more and more of his strength and focus returning as the minutes ticked by.  He realized, at looking over the ship's readings and automated command recordings, that it had been Lek that had ordered - remotely - the jump to warp, after Rayek had complained about the speed.   The Romulan didn't recall saying that, even though it was less than 15 minutes ago; but it was hard to deny given the recordings proving such.

He would need to thank Lek. Perhaps the engineer would be appreciative of some extra holodeck time, or a rare bottle of Sunberry wine from Ba'ku, left over from his and Tess' wedding?

The thought of Tess, and immediately afterwards that of their son, had Rayek struggling to curb the strong urge to leave the Bridge to check on his family;  but he couldn't do that yet.   He did however discreetly reach out to the Vulcan security officer he'd sent to his quarters to get a report.   The officer's report held some very comforting news that both Tess and Fvienn had seemed unaffected by the ailment that had struck down most of the crew.

Rayek wondered at that.  Perhaps there were lingering benefits to Tess' youthful exposure to the metaphasic rings of her native planet.  But would those benefits be passed on to their son?

[Bridge | USS Discovery]

The carpet of USS Discovery had a pattern. However subtle, it was a geometric, monochromatic zigzagging that spanned across the entire ship. The thoughts of how Dem had never noticed that before (considering his head is not usually pressed against it for an extended period), were the last ones he had before unconsciousness consumed him.

Doctor Betaika

[Sickbay "" Bridge | USS Discovery]

After cutting communication with the bridge, he decided that it would be best to head his way up there. Once the captain is in his chair once more, he can focus on the rest of the crew. After issuing some parting orders with the remaining staff (to administer the medication to any volunteers), he headed up to the bridge. When he stepped onto the bridge, it took him a few moments to register the scene that was the command deck. Some officers slumped across their consoles, with a few more tending to them. He walked towards the commander, with the cure in hand, standing over their fallen captain. Taking a few vitals with his tricorder, he nodded to Rayek to proceed. They may finally get out of this mess.

After a short while, the new CMO arrived and as hoped gave the go ahead to provide treatment to the entire ship's compliment.

[Bridge]
"œStatus report?  Is the medicine working? we are estimating that we should be out of the nebula in an hour or so.

"tr'Lhoell to Commander Garrison. The medication is being distributed as we speak.  It seems to be working well.  We are fortunate that the Jupiter EMH had managed to figure out a treatment. It is sad that it wasn't soon enough to help his own crew.

[USS Discovery, Bridge]

Malik sighed with blessed relief as the Grazerite administered him the hypospray, the compound felt cool entering his bloodstream as it worked its way into his core. The positive effect shortly followed, with a respite in the relentless tinnitus and feeling of exhaustion.

"Thank you...", was all he could muster for now as he sucked in big lung fulls of air trying to clear his head. Thankfully Graham was still functioning at helm it seemed. Now with some awareness of his surroundings, Malik watched as Dem slumped unconscious. "May want to jab the doctor next, he doesn't look to good."

They'd been given the thumbs up and Tanner set her team into gear immediately. Working in groups to pick up the supplies from medical and receive a rundown on dispensing the antivirals, her teams were then split into groups and hit the separate decks running. Literally.

Thankfully the ill crewmembers had been promptly quarantined but given the unknown origin of the illness, there was a degree of unease still left about the ship being out of such dangerous territory. After passing it by her superiors, Tanner spread the message that once the quarantined crew had been completed, the teams were to do a full deck sweep. The last thing they wanted was to miss someone in need.

Tapping her combadge she said, "Tanner to the Bridge, all teams deployed. Will keep you updated on our findings." With another tap the connection closed. Turning to her team she gave a slow tilt of her head to indicate they were moving.

At Lieutenant Lachlyn's report about the security teams being deployed, Rayek nodded to himself, before acknowledging the call.  "Thank you, Lieutenant.  Good work organizing the search teams."   It was actions like that he liked to see.  Initiative and leadership.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

It took a few seconds following the hiss of the hypospray, but the experimental serum started working its miracle on the Captain, and his lifesigns started to stabilize and then strengthen. It took an additional minute for the Captain to stir, and finally open his eyes to see nothing but black and stars of space as the ships left the nebula.  As he straightened up he winced; he felt like a corpse. But, he wasn't dead... and he wasn't dust.

"Commander?  Status?" he asked with a hoarse voice, as the bridge seemed to come back to life.

Hearing the Captain call for the ship's status, Rayek answered.  "The ship is on automated course towards the nebula boundary at warp 5 following the USS Jupiter.  We are still keeping the ship and our shields between the USS Jupiter and the erratic star.   It's output is growing in fits and bursts."[/color]  That summarized the outward situation.

"As for the illness, the ship is still under quarantine.  I'm still waiting on the numbers for the total affected crew but it seems the treatment from the USS Jupiter is  effective and it is being distributed shipwide by suited Medical and Security personnel."

Doctor Betaika
[Bridge | USS Discovery]

Before Torra could reply, Betaika jumped at the young officers open question. "œI can administer his dose" he replied, trying to disguise his concern for his friend. Dem was cold, unconscious and on the ground. He looked like he did for many weeks in his quarters. Betaika had checked up on Dem over the few recent weeks, trying to get him to some help for what was extremely apparent PTSD. Betaika had seen it to many times in young officers, a mission goes awry and they can never steer back on track. Obviously there were no support systems available in the Tal Shiar, so it frustrated him that he was refusing the wide network of mental health services that the federation provided. As the hypo decompressed, Betaika softly said to him to try and remain still. After a few moments of stirring, his eyes were open. His mouth started to open, and a stream of words started to flow out. Soon, Betaika could hear that he was asking "" more begging "" to leave the bridge. "œGet me away from it", "œback to my quarters", "œStress leave", were the few repeating mantras that he could grasp. "œAlright Dr Broadshire. Lets get you up then." Betaika paused while lifting the majority of the young lieutenant's weight. Age has removed his ability to perform a strenuous activity with patter. "œYour dismissed until the effects of the sickness wears off." Selecting some choice words to avoid Dem's embarrassment, Betiaka was really trying to get him out of the stressful environment that he clearly could not handle.

Turning to face the bridge crew, after a check of his PADD, Betaika addressed the congregation. "œI'm glad to see that you have recovered captain. 60 percent of the crew have been given the inoculation, and all critical patients have stabilised. My Russian associate Sluchaynyy and Doctor Thane have also recovered." Betaika informed the group in his usual calm tone.

Torra passed off the hypospray to the new CMO and continued to take readings from those she'd already treated.  Because the treatment had barely been tested before being distributed shipwide, there were bound to be some species with side affects.   The next few weeks, medical personnel would be busy doing follow-up checks on the entire crew.

When Betaika relieved Dem to recover in his quarters, Torra dipped her head in goodbye, hoping the young doctor would get some much needed rest.  She would make a point to stop by later to check on him - maybe bring him some pumpkin soup to help bolster his immune system.

"That is good progress.  Thank you, Dr. Betaika. I trust you will see to Dr. Broadshire?  If you need assistance, I can arrange for a security member to help." Commander tr'Lhoell offered.  Torra smiled.

Back when both she and the Romulan were assigned on the USS Challenger, she doubted he would have made such an offer, probably figuring that his security personnel would be better used guarding the ship rather than helping it's crew.

It was nice to see the change in him.

[Tekin Nevir]

Captain's Log, Supplemental

Thanks to the actions of both the away team and the EMH of the USS Jupiter, the majority of the crew, myself included, has been saved from a near-death state. Our own Chief Medical Officer and Acting Chief Medical officer were able to find a spaceborne extremophile that when coupled with the radiation from the nebula and star created what can only be described as an internal radiated virus. The longer we stayed in the nebula, we would have died from the inside out.  I have submitted our findings to Starfleet Medical with the suggested name of the Jupiter Radiation Virus, and the symptoms known as the Jupiter Internal Decay Syndrome.  I have also put in commendations for the crew's actions to find and restore us; something that the Jupiter was just too late to do for her crew.

The Jupiter is actually being diverted back to Katra Station for holding and study.  Starfleet has opted to wait for after Frontier day to start a study on the ship.  For us, however, we have been given a distinct honor. The Discovery is going to be part of the escort wing for the final flight of the USS Enterprise F. This means we have no time left but to head home at maximum warp.  I'm actually looking forward to seeing this display they have planned; its apparently sure to be one for the history books.