Outbreak (Part I of II)
Posted on Tue Aug 18, 2020 @ 4:30am by Civilian Melvyn Raddon & Civilian 'Arrival' Geral Lasuma & Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant Commander River Morgan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson
Edited on on Mon Aug 24, 2020 @ 11:32am
1,278 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Promenade
Timeline: MD05 1300
Tags: Raddon, Outbreak, Security, Promanade
[ON]
Ensign Jessica Mayhew and her partner Petty Officer Third Class Travis Nottingham walked their standard Promenade route. It was a normal, very busy day on the Prom. Travis was talking about the disastrous date he’d had last night, but Jessica was only half listening. She was watching a woman stumbling along the walkway, bumping into people. The woman wore a nondescript coverall over her clothes, much like a spacer might. A rude Nausicaan growled and shoved her, and the woman slammed into one of the pillars on the Promenade.
“Trav, look,” Jessica said, nudging her partner’s arm. The odd woman pulled herself up. Her arm was at an odd angle, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I think she needs help.”
They walked over to the woman. “Ma’am,” Jessica said, reaching out to steady the woman with a hand on her uninjured arm. The woman gave her a glassy-eyed stare. Jessica frowned. Something glistened on the woman’s skin, refracting the light, almost making her sparkle. And some kind of crystal thing poked out from where the injured arm was bent.
“Travis, better call this in,” Jessica told her partner. “And we might need Medical, too.”
Travis nodded and stepped away. “Willingham to Promenade Security. We’re on Deck 353 with an injured being. Can you send a medical team down, and maybe some back up for crowd control,” he requested.
Lecesse and Akioka were the next closest security team, therefore they were quickly rerouted down two decks to check out the situation. Other teams were alerted to a possible situation, but for the time being would not be pulled from their normal patrol routes.
Jessica turned back to the woman, who suddenly coughed a sparkling powder into Jessica’s face. Mayhew gasped instinctively, then coughed herself as her lungs objected and her eyes watered, stinging.
“What the hell was that?” Travis asked with surprise.
There were no signs of unrest as the security team made their way through Deck 353. Hopefully this meant the medical situation was limited in scope. They slowed down as Travis and Jessica came into sight.
"What's the situation?" asked Jallold.
Jessica coughed on the dust, sparkling like a vampire caught in the sun.
The woman started wandering off.
“Her!” Travis indicated the woman to the other security team, concerned about his partner. “Something’s wrong with her. Jess, you okay?” he asked, patting her back.
“Water,” Jessica coughed, dazed. Why was her mind so...fuzzy.
"I'll get some water," Jallold said as she headed towards the closest replicator. Vostriva continued down the corridor towards the aforementioned woman. At the same time, she broadcast the woman's description to other teams with instructions to keep their distance unless necessary.
The woman didn’t seem to notice the tail. She wandered into the railing of the Promenade, bumping into it a couple times, looking confused.
* * * * * * * SICKBAY * * * * * * *
Terry had spent another day on the station, as there were storms that limited shuttle trips to the planet the previous day. He hated being idle, so he had volunteered for another shift in Sickbay. When the request for a medical team came in, he moved to the supply cabinet and got a couple of medkits ready to go.
"Doctor, I've got gear ready," Terry said.
"Great, Gunny, you're a star!" Amia replied, smiling widely. "River, please can you go with?" she called Morgan over and continued, "I think you two have all the experience and expertise to handle this, whatever it is, but do call back for help if it's multiple patients. You know the drill, don't let me keep you by repeating what you both know better than most. On your way." Amia requested the computer to send the two medics to the location of the call from Travis, by Emergency Medical Transportation, and River had barely had time to grab her med-kit before they were engulfed in blue shimmer and gone.
* * * * * * * PROMENADE * * * * * * *
They re-emerged on the Promenade just in time to see Jessica asking for water and coughing. They could also see the injured woman with a crystalline protrusion from her wound. River wondered if this was a crystal growing out or one that had been inserted in, causing the break in the first place. She spoke to Terry quickly and quietly. "Shall I take the arm injury if you want to help Ensign Mayhew? Or do you have more of a leaning to go the other way around?" They were quickly moving towards the patients as they discussed their triage.
"Sounds like a plan, doctor," Terry answered with a nod and went to Mayhew.
"Ensign, I'm Sergeant Henderson, and I will be your medic today," Terry said, pulling out his tricorder and scanning her. "Please tell me what happened."
Jessica coughed, eagerly guzzling down the water Jallold gave her. “Something...wrong…” the blonde security officer muttered, her eyes glazing over. The glass of water slipped from her hand, splattering over the floor of the Promenade.
“Jess!” Travis said with concern. “We engaged the subject,” he told Terry, nodding to the woman by the rail. “She...coughed that crystal dust all over Jess--Ensign Mayhew,” Travis said. “I think she inhaled some of it.”
The scans Terry was getting were...odd. There was some kind of crystalline structure growing inside Jessica.
"What about you?" Terry asked Travis. "Did you inhale any?"
“I don’t think so,” Travis said.
Terry tapped his communicator while continuing to review the tricorder readings of Ensign Mayhew, guiding her to the floor.
"This is Sergeant Henderson, Medical Corps to Operations," Terry said. "We have a contamination situation on the promenade. Erect a quarantine field around sectors three, five, and six. Seal all air scrubbers in the section."
River looked over when she heard Terry make the call for contamination containment, just a few feet away from herself and her patient. The woman was not resisting violently, but she was walking unhelpfully around, returning every time she was guided away from the railing, bumping endlessly into it again and again, glassy eyed and non-communicative. River scanned the crystal in the woman's arm and decided from the results that it was in fact coming out rather than having been stuck in from outside. It was a very odd situation, and the woman could not be asked to explain anything, and she wouldn't desist from quietly bumping into the railing.
In an attempt to stop the patient harming herself -- or worse, actually falling over the rail -- River tried to sedate her with a gentle dose delivered from a hypospray. It had no effect at all other than to make the woman push River out of the way in order to return to her bumping again.
It was at this point that River heard Terry's call and moved closer to him. "What kind of contamination?" she asked quietly, keeping an eye on the crystal armed woman who was still bumping quietly, but determinedly. "Are these cases related?"
"I'd bet my stripes, doctor," Terry said. "According to Travis, that woman coughed some sort of crystal dust all over the ensign. Now look at this."
Terry showed her the tricorder scan of Ensign Mayhew and the crystalline growth.
"By the Spirits!" River exclaimed, looking at the scan and the growth which was accelerating alarmingly. "Let's run the same scan over our bumper-car friend over here."
To be Continued…
Ltcdr. River Morgan
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
GSgt Terry Henderson
Combat Medic
21st MEU
PO Lecesse and Ens. Akioka
Security Officers
Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer
PO3 Travis Nottingham
Security Officer
Melyvn Raddon
CEO
Raddon Corporation
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