Race for the cure:Part 1

Posted on Mon Feb 25th, 2019 @ 5:35pm by Lieutenant Galatea Polaris & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D
Edited on on Tue Feb 26th, 2019 @ 1:37pm

Mission: Negotiations and Apothecaries
Location: Science Lab 3
Timeline: 25 February between alpha and beta shifts

Galatea sighed, =/\=Doctor Polaris to Doctor Edwards, meet me in science lab three please.=/\=

Anthony wondered what it was about knowing Medical often had need of science and as they were both scientists it wasn’t unheard of. =/\=I’m on my way Doctor I’ll be there in a few minutes.=/\=

Galatea exited the sickbay shortly after the CO. She wished she could give Tali some good news but whatever this was had to be taken care of. She was careful to keep a containment mask on as she exited the sickbay. While on route she had the computer take precautions that she wasn't sure would work.

Once there she used what was know as the back entrance to the lab that had now been split in two by the force field. She sighed as she entered and locked down the back door. Thank goodness Lab three was relatively close to sickbay but far enough where Edwards would be safe coming in the front door.

She thought a moment, =/\=Polaris to Edwards use the front door please. =/\= Just so she would be safe she had to tell him that much. When he entered he would notice the contamination field that was splitting the lab with its hauntingly blue glow.

Anthony was a little perplexed by the doctor’s specification that he use the front door, except in emergencies that was the way he expected that was the done thing. =/\=Do I need to bring a moon suit?=/\= He asked wondering if it was because Medical was a quarantine zone, there were plenty of moon suits around science as there were many experiments that need it.

She hadn't thought of that. =/\=Actually that's not a bad idea. Suit up just in case=/\= She would have thought of it herself but her mind was fuzzy and she was thinking of all those who had been affected.

=/\=On my way Doctor!=/\= Anthony said as he got into the moon suit and carried the Helmet under his arm till he got closer to science lab three.

Galatea had already fired up the computers and was looking at the results of those infected with their last physicals. There had to be an answer here.

Putting on the hood of his moon suit Anthony entered and as soon as he did he saw the quarantine fields and said "Ah I see I was right to bring this then. How high did you keep the safety protocols as you came Miss Polaris?"

"Lab is split in two with top level fields and I have run a decontamination program but keep that on. I have been in sickbay for the entire day." She indicated the computer panel. "I have sent you samples from patients who've had a physical when they boarded, they were labeled with the alphabet to protect confidence. The rest of the samples are yellow, red, and green patients." She sighed and sat down hard on the chair. "We have to find a cure."

“Okay I guess we start at the beginning. There should be another moon suit in the cupboard. Unless you think you have been exposed to it already.” Anthony said with a smile.

She smiled, "I work in sickbay. No symptoms yet but you never know." She sat down at the computer and started categorizing the files. "I could have sworn that I knew what this was. It masks but...it's not the same."

“So are you thinking a copycat virus?” Anthony asked as she worked he sat beside he4 working and looking over current results to get to know the sickbay results so he knew what tests had been done and work out where to start so they didn’t waste time repeating tests for the same result.

"That or mutated." Her hands flew over the control panels. "Let me pull up what I thought it was and why." She waited until she heard the accompanying beep from his terminal. "It looks like Velari Virus but the standard Tremazine treatment doesn't work and the symptoms were stronger. Also they seem to have a ......." How would she put this.

“That sounds like genetic medication to me as a non Medical scientist, rather than mutation.” Anthony said with a smile. “Any chance you haven’t tested for that yet?”

"Well it's going to sound crazy but like they are unique in symptoms but when patients get to Red stage it's...weird almost seems to morph back into Velari."

“Maybe, if it is genetic modification, whatever the modifications did have run their course by the red stage. How many patients are cured after getting to the red stage?” Anthony asked.

She sighed, "None. They just seem to stay in that state but we lost one red coded patient." She sighed heavily. "We need to find a cure for this."

“Actually Doctor seeing as there seems to be no cure for the red stage what we need to find is something that provides and immunity to catching it, I think just incase it is a genetically modified in which case it may not be curable. I will work toward a cure but we have to accept immunising those that don’t have it is at least as necessary as finding a cure, for those that do have it.” Anthony said with a smile. “Well I guess sleep is cancelled for a few days.”

She sighed, "Divide and conquer. You find the vaccine I will look for how to stop this?" His comment about sleep was apt enough. She would not sleep, not until her patients were well.

“Sounds like a good plan to me. Cures are more medical science where as it is need sooner than a Vaccine. I’ll get HG involved to she might have a little insight into the genetics and whether or not they have been engineered or natural mutation.”

Galatea sighed, "She is level green at the moment. Infected two but if you think she can help I will have my staff provide her a terminal in sickbay."

“Ah that explains where she has been for the last few days."

Galatea's hand flew over the consoles. She was a woman possessed. She needed to find the cure. It had to be there. About an hour into their session the coms rang telling her that Ensign Rogers had died. She stood and threw her cup of coco, which he'd gotten along the way, against the wall. She sat down hard and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Anthony fought back the reaction that almost came automatically to say at least the walls in the science labs were easy to clean, because as a doctor losing a patient is vastly different to any other science experiments going wrong. He gently rubbed her back and said “We’ll find a cure.”

Galatea wished that she could have his confidence. "I hope so." Her fear was for Eli who was now marked red. "My apologies." She said straightening her shirt. "That was uncalled for."

"Not at all in the same situation I would have reacted in exactly the same way. Let's get on it before we lose anymore crew." Was Anthony's hopefully encouraging statement.

Galatea smiled as he sat back down. "Remind me to deputize you as counselor when this is over."

"Don't worry I am sure I will forget to, you can guarantee that." Anthony said with a smile. "I'm happy to interpret if you need it Gali but you can keep that job for yourself."

She laughed, "It has its perks but times like this...." She became serious. Something in her readouts caught her eye. "Hmmmm... that's not right."

“I suppose I could see it working in theory because interpreting ideas is a large part of it but if you saw my result in Academy psychology exams you would undoubtedly agree with me, I think my but instructors comment was and Iquote verbatim ‘Stick to linguistics you’ll get a lot further with it.’” Anthony said with a laugh “I took that comment very seriously.”

She smiled. "Well that's not such a bad thing. Tell me doctor what do you know about Bolians?"

“The Bolians, Blue skin with a bifurcating facial ridge, hairless head and face. Sometimes they have darker blue bands across their heads inplace of hair. Though some of their females have hair on the their head the males that have hair is always a toupee! Their blood inherently blue, when outside the body, is deadly to Vulcans for transfusion. That is about as much as I remember from Academy classes.” Anthony said.

"Correct but they also seem to have a natural immunity." She looked at more results, "I also think I've figured out a way to solve the Vulcan Romulan thing."

“Why are there two species that seem to have a natural amunity to it? The Bolian and who else?” Anthony asked.

She smiled, "Our Bajoran friends seem to be completely immune, they can't even carry." She held up a PADD realizing that he's still in a quarantine suite separated by a filed. "Sorry will send the findings to your console. This might help both our researches. "

“Those blood samples you came with was any of that from a Bajorans, we might find both a cure and something we can synthesise for a immunisation.” Anthony said hopeful that there was. “If not can I get a nurse of yours to draw some from him for testing, and maybe all the Bajorans on the ship to truthfully try your theory.”

"I tested Hunter's blood. He's immune." She sighed. "We would need more samples. I could ask Hunter to get those."

“That would be a very good place to start because if we prove your theory
It would certainly negate the Bolians to Vulcan poisoning problems.” Anthony said.

She thought a moment. "I wonder. We have Andorians on the ship too. So far none of my patients are Andorian but I do have an Andorian nurse and she's not showing signs of the illness."

“Andorians are then I expect the Aenar would be too. Their blind telepathic cousins, though they rarely If ever leave Andoria. It could how ever be true. There is no known problems with transfusions with Vulcans or Romulans though their blood is also blue, which might lead us into making the scientifically deduction that something in Blue blood causes an immunity. This is something that should be investigated and pretty soon I think.” Anthony said.

=/\= Senior officers to the briefing room, Lt's Polaris and Edwards you can remain where you are.=/\= Came Taliserra's voice over the comm system.


OFF:

Continued in part 2