Trouble in River City

Posted on 13 Jan 2019 @ 8:20pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D. & Lieutenant JG Shay Mitchell

2,711 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: The Kalisa Conundrum
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: MD 1 || 1600 hours

The test results had come back and Jayla wasn’t happy. There was some sort of bacteria present in both Kelly’s and her own blood. She had administered a broad spectrum antibiotic to herself and had sent a nurse to give it to Kelly as well, but then the real trouble had started.

She had tested the rest of Sick Bay and found the same bacteria. Broad spectrum antibiotics were administered all around, of course. Already knowing what she would find, she had taken a med kit to engineering and tested several engineers. All tested positive for the same bacteria; more antibiotics were administered.

Some people also seemed to be exhibiting symptoms of low level radiation poisoning. Assuming it was remnants of their recent time displacement ordeal, she had given them hyronalin and called it good. But, it had been more than a week since they’d all been put right. It couldn’t still be from that, could it?

With a sigh, Jayla realized she would have to call the captain and tell him what she had found. She reached to tap her combadge, but the “emergency transport” alarm sounded and two people were beamed into Sick Bay. One of them was the captain.

“How convenient,” muttered Jayla, hurrying over to help them. “Captain, what’s wrong?” she asked, taking out a tricorder and beginning to scan him.

"We were on Deck Twelve," Harvey reported, trying to help the poor Ensign reach a biobed. "Miss Mitchell and I just encountered each other in the corridor when suddenly she fell to the floor screaming." Naturally, he omitted the fact that they were already on the way to sickbay and that he'd experienced hallucinations. He'd share that if, and only if, necessary.

“Hm,” she said, turning her tricorder to Mitchell. “I wonder if that’s due to radiation poisoning. I’ve found that just about everyone has some mild radiation poisoning as well as a bacterial infection of unknown origin. I’ve been giving everyone antibiotics and hyronalin for the time being, but I haven’t had a chance to figure out what’s causing it. How have you both been feeling? Any forgetfulness, fatigue, hallucinations?”

Harvey, unfortunately, did not hear the questions being asked. As soon as Ensign Mitchell was on the bed, he withdrew to let the medical staff do what they did best.

Shay looked toward Jayla as she began to scan her. Was she one of them, too? Sadly, the young woman couldn't take any chances. "No!" she shouted, knocking the device from the doctor's hand before scrambling backwards to put some distance between herself and them. "You don't belong here! None of you belong here!" She tapped her combadge, or so she thought she did when in reality her hand never left her side, and spoke. "I need backup! There are intruders on the ship!"

Thinking quickly, Jayla held up her hands in surrender. "It's okay!" she insisted. "We didn't come to take over. We're here to help. We detected a bacterial infection on this ship and we have medicines to help. The Captain let us come aboard. He's right here! Ask him yourself!"

Captain Geisler? It seemed so familiar, and yet, she didn't feel like she could trust them. "No! You're lying!" Shay snapped, realizing there was still a phaser in her hand. The young woman raised it and held it out in front of her, only she didn't know how to use it. They didn't need to know that, though. "Don't come anywhere near me!"

Lucas, who was making his way from the storage room, blinked when he saw what was going on and weighed his options. He could rush the Ensign and risk hurting her, which wasn't something he was comfortable doing, or he could restrain her while someone sedated Shay. The latter of the two seemed the least violent.

The big guy pulled one of the nurses aside and told her what the plan was, then watched as she disappeared to get the required medication. He hung back for a moment, debating allowing the nurse the chance to get the sedative, but that was putting everyone else at risk. Luc couldn't allow that. He stayed out of Shay's line of vision and attempted to get the Captain's attention to let him know to back up.

Jayla spotted Abrams out of the corner of her eye, but very carefully did not look at him. He seemed to be up to something and she didn't want to tip Shay off. "No, really," she said, intent on distracting the delusional officer. "We've come only to help. My people are mostly doctors. We don't even carry weapons. Take a look. Do you see any weapons on me?"

The Captain had excused himself from sickbay for a moment, withdrawing to the nearby head to splash some water on his face in an attempt to sober up. He was not drunk by any definition, but after that scare in the corridor, he already knew he wasn't right in his head. He reentered sickbay to find a sort of standoff in progress. "Ensign Mitchell," Harvey said, moving forward to stand beside Doctor Kij. "Stand down, ensign."

Now was his chance thanks to Doctor Kij and the Captain having Ensign Mitchell distracted. Lucas took a breath and held it after he saw the nurse with the sedative appear, then he rushed the young woman. His massive arms went around her, causing Shay to drop the phaser on the ground.

Shay let out a frustrated growling sound and thrashed against the man restraining her, though it was short lived when something was pressed to her neck. It only took a few moments before she was sagging against Luc.

"It's safe to say hallucinations are a check," the big guy stated.

"Hallucinations?" Harvey asked aloud, feeling a bit apprehensive. "Who said anything about people hallucinating?"

“Well,” Lucas began as he moved Shay to a nearby bed. “We’ve been seeing a few people come in with various ailments. Hallucinations being one of them.”

"What other sort of ailments are we talking about?" Harvey asked, approaching Shay's bed to take a look at the biometric readouts himself, hoping to spot something unusual. "Fatigue? Memory loss?"

The large man nodded his head. "We've seen a few other symptoms, but those seem to be the major ones."

"I've taken blood samples from a lot of people and found the same bacteria present in all of our blood," Jayla added as she took a sample from Shay and plugged it into a tricorder which had been programmed to detect the bacteria. "Of those who have received broad-spectrum antibiotics, we've been feeling a bit better. I... think I've said that already. Anyway, with hyronalin, things improve a lot, but I have no idea where this bacteria or the radiation poisoning are coming from. I can't reconcile it with recent events; it's been far too long for that to still be affecting us. And there's one more," she added, holding up the tricorder to indicate that Shay had the bacteria as well. "I'm almost tempted to put the antibiotic into the replicator system, but there are a few species that require a different type, if they're even infected. And I'm babbling. Sorry." She gave the captain a sheepish grin.

Captain Geisler turned away from the display to look at the woman with the sheepish grin. Confusion flushed across his face as his ability to recognize what was in his field of vision went away. Someone stood in front of him, spots outlining either side of her face though her hair did a fair attempt at obscuring them. Strange whirrs and beeps surrounded him from all directions, sounds he'd never heard before. He quickly to his left, then back to his right. Other people were in the room, and none of their names came to his memory.

The grin slowly faded from Jayla's face as she watched the recognition slide from the Captain's eyes. "Sir," she said, trying to regain his attention, but she was afraid it might be a lost cause. "Sir, are you okay?"

Sounds came out of an opening on her face. He blinked, mesmerized and confused by the white specks and the pink fleshy thing flapping around as the opening opened, shut, elongated and twisted itself to make... words... Yes. Those were words, not sounds. Sir... Okay...

In a flash, memories poured back. Whatever wall had appeared suddenly vaporized. "I'm fine," he lied to Jayla. "Bacteria. Replicators. Different species. Bad idea. Got it. If we're all infected, that means we all must have been exposed to something at the same time. And, will inoculations or treatments actually prove effective? And why aren't the... bio filters taking everything out?"

She gave him a dubious look, but let it slide for now. "Treatment has proven effective to the medical staff," she replied, readying a hypospray. "I'm still a bit fuzzy, but at least I remember what a lab is now. Anyway, antibiotics and hyronalin for you, too. And then we need to figure out where this bacteria and radiation is coming from." She pressed the spray to his neck, switched the phials and pressed it to his neck again. "This will keep us in our right minds for now," she added.

Harvey didn't feel any immediate effects, so only time would tell whether or not her attempts would work. "Have you seen Counselor Stuart? We need her to take an active role in identifying those who are more affected than others right now."

"I haven't seen the Counselor," Lucas told him as he began to treat Shay. "Captain, you should be treated while you're here as well."

"Define treatment," the Captain inquired. That directive was not to question what treatment was, but rather to find out if they intended to detain the ship's captain while the first officer was away.

"The same treatment everyone else is getting, Sir," the big guy responded. "Is there some other kind of treatment you require?"

"I'm not the doctor," Harvey retorted before nodding at the sedated Ensign Mitchell. "And if you're implying that Ensign Mitchell is a template for my future, then Doctor Kij will just have to wait to have me removed from command by medical directive."

"No one is suggesting you be removed from command, Captain, " the big guy stated. "Most of our medical personnel have been treated with antibiotics and hyronalin, and the effects seem to be waning. All you need are the required doses."

Just like Harvey and Shay appeared via emergency transport, a second group of two appeared. A man, supporting a heavily pregnant woman whose abdomen was exposed with a six inch gash present. It was still bleeding, but didn't look to be overly deep. "We need medical assistance!" the crewman called out, bringing Joey to one of the few empty beds.

Jayla had been about to joke that removing Harvey from duty would make her the first officer, but the appearance of Joey put it right out of her mind. She completely blanked on Abrams' name- whether out of stress or because of the medical issues they were all facing she didn't know- and simply called out, "Surgeon!" She was about to assist when she saw Dr. Road- also a surgeon- hurry to do so. Instead, she took over with Ensign Mitchell.

Lucas turned Shay's care over to Jayla and moved toward Joey and the man who had brought her in. "What happened?"

Joey appeared frantic, clutching the wound with one hand while she fisted the from of Luc's uniform with he other. "You have to get them out of me!" she cried, hoping someone would listen to her. "They're going to die in there! You have to do something! Please!"

Quickly, Abbey scanned the woman's abdomen and zeroed in on the two babies. "They're fine," she muttered to Abrams. "Don't worry," she told Joey. "We'll make sure they're all right. Just lie down and let us work."

"No, you don't understand," Joey said in a panicked tone with huge tears running down her cheeks. "They're not okay. They told me so. You have to get them out now, or they're going to die! Please, you have to do something!"

Lucas took a blood sample while Abbey had her distracted, then ran it. It was just ad he suspected, she was showing the same signs as the others. "Doctor Road is right. Your children are fine, Lieutenant."

"Why won't anyone listen to me?" the agitated woman asked, trying to sit up. "They're dying! They're telling me so right now! Do something!"

"Oh, they're saying so?" asked Abbey, pretending to be alarmed. "Oh, goodness! Doctor Abrams, we'd better do as she says! It's all right, sweetie, we'll get them out, I promise. First I have to give you this, okay?" she added, holding up a hypospray. "It's just to make sure you don't have any pain. It'll also put you to sleep while we work. We'll save them, I promise." With that, she pressed the hypo against Joey's neck quickly before she could protest. "Never said when we'd get them out," she told Abrams after a couple of minutes.

Harvey rushed by Joey's side, fighting for his chance to be next to her amongst the medical staff. "It's going to be okay, Joey," he said. He looked at the cut in her abdomen, wondering why she thought she could perform her own liposuction. Surely there were better ways, especially with lipostimulators and excellent cardio workouts. "Who's dying?"

"No one is dying, Captain," Luc said, letting him stand near his wife. With Joey being sedated now, they could start treating her. "I'm assuming your wife thought your children were. She was borderline hysterical, so we didn't get the chance to find out. Are you going to be okay watching this?"

"Children?" Harvey repeated, the wave of confusion once more overtaking his face. Suddenly, everything started to click again. How could he have possibly forgotten about Hope and J... What was his son's name again? "Right. Of course." There was no playing this one off. Of course, all that remained to see now is what the medical staff would choose to do with him.

"Sir," said Jayla, abandoning Mitchell for now- she was asleep and had the medicines required anyway- and heading to the Captain's side. "Why don't you come over here and lie down for a bit? Let Doctors Abrams and Road work. And let your medicine work. Your memory will improve in a bit."

"I'm not an invalid, Doctor," Harvey protested, his tone agitated and gruff, much like the Harvey Geisler who first assumed command of the Black Hawk more than a year ago. Before his crew--his friends--helped him change for the better.

She gave him a stern look that asked who exactly he thought he was. "No, but you are ill," she replied firmly. "And a little in the way. You were a doctor once. What would you have done with someone in your place?"

Harvey narrowed his eyes. If his gaze were daggers, Jayla would have been gouged a hundred times over by now. "I'd get me out of the way." With that, he started for the exit. He had a ship to command.

Jayla didn't quail under his gaze; she'd seen worse. "Captain!" she called after him, but eventually just let him go. "So help me, if you get us blown up, I'm going to pummel you," she muttered, going back to check on Mitchell and stay out of the surgeons' way.

The Captain ignored the Doctor's outburst as he departed sickbay. In the corridor, he frowned as he made a direct line to the turbolift. His wife had attempted to cut her womb open and now she was sedated in sickbay. Members of the crew, including himself, were hallucinating and dealing with memory issues. He could only hope things wouldn't get worse.

Harvey paused, realizing almost at the last second that he was about to mistake a maintenance closet for a turbolift alcove. He shook his head and resumed his trek, hoping that the medication would kick in soon.

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