Bar The Gates!

Posted on 17 Oct 2019 @ 1:34pm by Commander Jayla Kij & Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexander Rylan & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D. & Story Teller

3,229 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Truth and Justice
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: MD 5 | 1623

At the sound of the red alert and the general quarters command, Abbey burst from the exam room and shouted, “belay that! Everyone back to your posts! Computer! Lock sick bay doors and don’t open them without authorization from Dr. Abbey Road, Dr. Jayla Kij, or Dr. Lucas Abrams!”

=/\=Unable to comply. Security protocols are offline.=/\=

Stunned, Abbey blinked around at everyone. “Right then,” she replied, and went to the door controls where she simply ripped wires out at random. “Engineering can kill me later. Nobody gets in or out without my permission.” She looked around at confused and alarmed faces. “Long story,” she told them. “To make it short, the ship as been boarded. Consider everyone a hostile. We need to make sure nobody can get in. Has anybody got any ideas?”

"Yeah," Alex said. "But it's going to tell the whole ship that something is up in Sickbay. We run a simulation for an extinction level biohazard getting loose in Sickbay. Something like Chalnothian Hemorrhagic Fever. The computer will seal this place up good as a test and wait until the medical staff tell it the drill is over. You can set the person in charge, or defaults to Doctor Kij and, well, me, since I'm the departmental command NCO. I can initiate it, but the computer is going to notify the bridge, unless someone here knows how to bypass that."

“Does it really matter if they know we’re up to something?” asked Abbey almost triumphantly. “They won’t be able to get in by any means anyway. I like it. Any objections?”

Lucas couldn't help but arch an eyebrow. General Quarters Three... Red Alert... The ship has been boarder, but by who? There wasn't a lot of information to go off here, but when was their ever. "I think sealing off sickbay is a bad idea. If there are boarders, then chances are there will be injured that need medical treatment," he said. "I can't with a clear conscience, stay locked away in here while people are possibly dying."

"These boarders invade your mind," said Jayla bitterly from the doorway to room six; she had ignored Abbey's orders and pulled herself off the biobed and come to see what was happening. "They look like you, act like you, talk like you. They have access to your memories. You won't know who is a boarder until it's too late and one has boarded you. Seal off Sick Bay," she added, an odd look of anger mixed with triumph on her face. "In the event of biological contamination, medical personnel outside of Sick Bay know to set up a secondary Sick Bay on the holodeck. Anybody injured will go there. But, let's tell the computer it's real, that there is a real biological threat loose in Sick Bay. I'd rather those.... things believed we're actually all highly contagious. They'll be less likely to try to get in."

"Jayla--Commander," Alex said, rushing to her side. "I thought of that, but won't the computer seek secondary confirmation of an actual biohazard if you try to convince it there's something real going on?"

"Sorry, I meant we should tell it an unknown pathogen is loose," said Jayla wearily. "The computer will treat that as a level 1 threat."

"If it asks for a confirmation, it will only be from another doctor," added Abbey. "It's been far too long since I was involved in such a drill, so I can't remember if it does or not."

The large doctor couldn't believe what he was hearing. They'd locked main sickbay off to those who might need it with the hope someone on the outside would set up a secondary sickbay in the holodeck? Luc was entitled to his opinion, and in this case, that opinion was this entire plan was stupid. His place was outside the now useless doors. "When I became a doctor, it wasn't with the mind of locking myself away while shit hit the fan. I can't speak for any of the rest of you, but my place is supposed to be out there with the rest of the crew who might need medical assistance," he said. With his size, there was no way he was getting into a Jeffries tube. Luc was essentially screwed. "Since I wasn't given the option of staying, or leaving, consider this my official resignation."

Perhaps Jayla wasn’t thinking clearly. This would be understandable, given what she’d been through, but even so, thelook that crossed her face as she stared at Abrams was harsh and cruel, even under the circumstances. “He’s a boarder!” She accused wildly. “He’s one of them!”

“Dr. Kij!” snapped Abbey impatiently. “He’s been in Sick Bay the whole time and the only infected person in here was you! If you didn’t infect him, he’s fine!”

“I didn’t know everyone who was infected to begin with!” Jayla defended. “He could have been infected before-“

“Jayla,” interrupted Abbey. “Go lie down. You’ve had a shock and aren’t thinking clearly. And since I’m your doctor, I can make that an order.”

“But-“

“Go!” ordered Abbey.

The two women stared at each other stubbornly for a moment. Finally, sense seemed to come to Jayla and she slumped slightly. “I’m sorry, Abrams,” she said softly. “I just want to keep us all safe.”

“There’s transport inhibitors in a storage locker not far from here,” offered nurse Rigby. “We could go get them. It would mean manually releasing the door locks, which means we can’t close them again, but we could push some heavy cabinets in front of it. Maybe even bolt them to the walls around the door. We’d still be able to get people in, but we can also keep them out.”

"I'll go," Alex said. "Akabi, Michaels, and Babatunde will grab phasers and come with me." All of the corpsmen Alex had just listed off had seen service with the marines. "We'll provide security. Korma, Laramie, Tanaka, Goyakla, you'll be our pack mules. We're ready to move in two minutes, we make sure we know where we're going, and we're gone and back again as many times as we need cover Sickbay with inhibitors. Any objections, Lieutenant Adams? Commander Kij?"

"Calm down a mo, Rylan," replied Abbey. "We're not sure we're going to do it, yet."

"I'm going, too," put in Jayla.

"I thought I told you to go lie down!"

"You did," said Jayla dispassionately. "I'm ignoring you. I know how to fight these things. Kij and all the past hosts attacked it and allowed me to get control. They can't take me. If they try, I can resist again. Therefore, I can tell you if the rest of the team has been taken. If they go alone, you may never know until it's too late."

Abbey ignored this for the time being. "Abrams? What say you?" she asked.

"I understand the need to want to keep us safe, but we're not doing the rest of the ship any good by staying locked inside here. We don't even know if there are injured out there breathing their last breath, or if there are people who are already dead. Our job isn't to sit here and do nothing. Our job is to help those who need it. It's the oath we all took," Lucas stated. He was, and had always been quite passionate when it came to practicing medicine. Now was no different. "If that means one or more of us gets infected, then we have to trust our crewmen to figure out a way to get us back. Those who don't want to risk it can stay here, but I'm going to find a way. There's always a way."

“That’s why were trying to keep them out,” Abbey reassured him. “So we can figure out how to detect them. Damn. Jenin took our only specimen. As soon as he’s done examining it, we need to scan it so-“

“I’m carrying another,” said Jayla almost soberly.

“You what?” said Abbey after a beat, staring suspiciously at Jayla.

“Just here,” replied Jayla, holding up her right hand. “Ready to slither into someone’s ear as soon as I place them near enough. Dr. Abrams? Would you care to scan for it? You might have to set the tricorder sensitivity a bit higher; we didn’t detect the ones that were already here at any of their physicals.” She offered her hand to Abrams, but it just looked like normal skin.

Lucas nodded. His resignation had gone unmentioned, so he assumed Doctor Kij was simply going to reject it, or would speak to him about it at a later date. Time would tell, but right now, their current predicament required his attention. He reached for a tricorder and changed the settings on the device as he looked to the creature Jayla was currently in possession of. It did occur to him that they were locked inside of sickbay with one of those things, and if it was able to possess someone, it would make their current situation dangerous. "Scanning now," the big guy said as he began to scan the parasite.

The tricorder screen came alive with various data readouts as it started to map the neural pathways and features of the membrane-like parasite. Aside from it being on top of her hand, it was easy to see that the creature was doing its best to mimic the Trill nervous system.

"It appears your little... friend," Luc began, unsure what he was supposed to call the thing. "is trying to mimic your nervous system."

"And that's how it got past the bio-filters and other sensors?" Alex asked. He hadn't left Jayla's side. Despite the fact that a lot people treated him like scenery, eye candy, or 'the help' he was more than just a pretty face and impressive physique. "The sensors just thought these things were part of the Away Team's normal central nervous system? That makes sense. These things aren't very big. The bio-filters are fine tuned enough to pick up pathogens, but a little extra mass in a person's nervous system, especially if it looked like normal, in this case Trill, tissue? The bio-filters would have ignored that."

“Exactly,” replied Jayla. “The question is, can we detect them inside someone’s body or will they mimic their brain waves too closely? Theoretically, now that we know what to look for, we should be able to, but can we do it quick enough to know who’s friend and who’s enemy?”

"Well," Alex said. "If you can come up with a way to detect these things, Babatunde, Akabi, Michaels and I can go test it. We've all been through Field Medical Training Battalion and served with the marines and snatch and grabs were a part of my work with MARSOC. Or we could go out there with you to test it. Or we could take down someone you lure in here so you can test it. Whatever you want to do. But how do you solve this problem: If someone tests positive, there's a fair chance you're on the right track. Positive could be false positive, but I'm guessing a positive is more likely to be a true result. But if someone tests negative, how would you know if it was a true negative or just a case of the scanning method not working?"

"Exactly," said Abbey, nodding. "I wish we had someone we knew is infected so we can test it."

"I know I'm going to regret bringing this up," Alex said. "But we know the Away Team members are infected. We could try to snatch one of them. I'm capable of absconding with one of them, depending on where they are. If one of them is out in the open and I could isolate them, and presuming this possession or whatever it is doesn't make them super strong and super fast, I could subdue that one and bring them back here. But with the sensors down, I'd have to try and pick up their combadge by scanning for it manually with a tricorder. Not sure how long that would take. Other than the Bridge, I'm not sure where to go looking for them. Other than Jayla, who all was on the team?"

“Rylan, I’m really glad you’re willing to do this, but that’s incredibly dangerous,” said Abbey wearily. “They could infect you, or worse, kill you. I don’t think we’re desperate enough to take that sort of risk.”

"This entire situation is dangerous if what you're saying is true," Luc stated. Though, he had to wonder if Jayla was speaking professionally or romantically. "If we aren't willing to put our lives on the line, then we probably shouldn't have chosen a life in Starfleet. I'll go. My size plays an advantage against most."

“They enter through the ears,” Jayla told Abrams. “Ear plugs, maybe? I’ll replicate some.” She turned on her heal, lost her balance and fell into Rylan.

“You’re going to bed,” Abbey ordered. “Or at least sitting down. I’ll check on the ear plugs. Take Rylan with you,” she told Abrams. “And maybe a few more of the corpsmen. Try to catch someone alone. And by surprise so they can’t put up a fight. Dr. Kij, do you know of anyone else who may be infected.”

“Um...” said Jayla, thinking. “They said... there were two others. Carmichael? He may have been one of them. Otherwise, all of the away team was infected. That means Di Pasquale, Gomez... uh... Cooper, Mitchell.... Miller. I’m forgetting some, I know I am, but that’s who I remember.”

"Now, then... who do we target?" The big guy asked. "It's my understanding that the away team was very Security heavy. Perhaps, someone from Security would be our best bet. They're undoubtedly on every level trying to secure certain areas, so, we attempt to think like them and get to those areas to see who we can get."

"Who we target depends on where they are and if we can isolate them," Alex said. "Anyone we snatch, we have to carry back here, so we don't want to go ranging out too far. So, best bet is something on this deck. If you were taking over the Black Hawk, what is on this deck, besides Sickbay, that you'd want to secure?" Alex frowned. "Or is it Sickbay? Do we want to try and lure one of them here and grab them?"

"It would be so easy if we had coms," put in Abbey. "Security to Sick Bay, and all that. And then hope that Di Pasquale herself shows up. Has anybody got any ideas?"

"Yup," Alex said. "Look, there are two places on this deck that need to be secured. Sickbay and Environmental Control. Environmental is easy. They've likely grabbed that already. I say we go and snatch one of them there. I could do it easy, but we have to do it RFN, before they try to hit Sickbay and we end up barricaded in here, under siege."

Alex looked at Abbey.

"Lieutenant... Abbey," Alex said. "I can do this. And if we keep hesitating, a lot of people are going to die or be taken over."

"They're right," Jayla put in. "Abrams and Rylan. If we're going to retake the ship, we need to know we can detect them. But, the only way to know they weren't compromised is if I go with them."

"Jayla!" Alex said. "Commander, that's ridiculous. You can't even stand. How do you expect to move fast and keep up with me? This is stupid. The only reason I'm not objecting to Abrams coming is that he's strong enough to carry whoever we knock out and he's in top form. You're a Goddamned train wreck."

"Hear me out," replied Jayla. "They can't take me. We know that. I know how to overcome them. It's exhausting, but I can. If they take us, I'll be able to tell you. It's the only sure way of knowing nobody else has been infected."

"Lieutenant, this is absurd," Alex said. "If they take us, they're immediately going to know that Commander Kij is immune and they're not going to send her back here, and she won't be able to tell you squat, because she won't be here."

"I agree with Rylan. Our best course of action is for them to not know you're immune to whatever it is they're doing to the crew. The second they find out is the second they can try to alert others, and that's going to put us in a predicament we might not come out of unscathed," the big man stated. "We have a small list of people we know were infected. We try to get one of them without drawing too much attention."

A person could have knocked Rylan over with a feather right at that moment. An officer, on this ship, just agreed with him?? He recovered quickly, but didn't say anything.

“Besides,” put in Abbey, returning from the replicator where she’d been inputting codes. “I’ve got a secret weapon. We used to use these at concerts back in the academy. They’re noise filtering ear plugs.” She opened one hand to reveal several small sets of plugs. “They deaden the sound so you don’t lose your hearing. And the best part is that they sense when more output is needed. So you guys won’t have to yell at each other,” she added with a bit of a grin. “That thing came out of Dr. Kij’s ear. These should make sure they can’t get into yours.”

Alex took the earplugs and put them in his ear, checked that he had a fully charged phaser, discretely made sure his knife was secure and unseen where he kept it, and turned to Abrams. "Ready, Lieutenant?"

Lucas took the earplugs from Abbey and gave a nod of thanks, then looked toward Rylan. "Ready."

Abbey handed out the rest of the ear plugs to the people nearest her. “We’ll replicate more in a bit,” she promised. “We’ll all keep these in just in case. Dr. Kij, will you hit the manual door release since I broke it. Oh, don’t give me that look! You know I never would have let you leave sick nat in your current state. You should be lying down, but I know you won’t. So just open the door, hey?”

With an agitated sigh of relent, Jayla crossed sick bay and opened the panel with the manual door release behind it. She’d thrown these several times before, but this one, she just couldn’t seem to move. She motioned one fo the medical corpsmen over and he easily pulled the lever. “Okay, okay,” said Jayla, turning to look at Abbey, who had watched carefully and now looked satisfied. “You win. I’ll go back to bed.”

Abbey nodded, satisfied. “All right, you two,” she said to Rylan and Abrams. “General quarters is enacted. I’d check their quarters first. And be careful.”

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