Fallout from the Personnel Files

Posted on Wed May 15th, 2024 @ 7:51pm by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant JG T'lenn & Lieutenant JG Malcolm Beckett M.D. & Lieutenant JG Thivi & Lieutenant JG Ta'Feel Anith Usskik

1,821 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Side Plots
Location: Serenity Archive Room to Astrea Sickbay
Timeline: MD 2 - MD 7

======== Serenity Archive Room Day 2 =========

As Thivi was clearing the other officers to leave the Archive Room of the Serenity, T'lenn noticed something was wrong Tel'im. Not only had she not come out of unconsciousness with the others, she didn't appear to be reacting to any stimuli, like the others had been when they were experiencing a memory.

"Lieutenant Thivi," T'lenn called out evenly, despite her increased state of concern. "Tel'im appears to be nonresponsive. She needs medical attention. Commander Johansen, we may need to find a way to disconnect her from the device quickly, so that we can transport her to Sickbay." T'lenn set down her open tricorder, and began to manually examine the crystal that Tel'im had connected with.

Thivi swore under her breath. And here she'd been hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with occurrences such as this one. Tel'im was Romulan, which meant that she was telepathic, even to a mild degree - something something telepathic disharmony blah blah blah, it'd been a whopping single page in one of her textbooks, she couldn't remember which. And now she'd have to deal with it. She knelt at her side and scanned the Romulan's brain with a downward twist to her lips. "Her brain activity is... what is the human term, through the ceiling? Hmm. I'm pretty sure it was ceiling." She mused out lout. "Any progress with determining how to disconnect her?"

T'lenn moved to the panel that had been controlling the memory crystals. "I am able to power down the device," T'lenn responded. "The effects of the forced disconnection are uncertain, it would be wise to prepare for immediate medical transport."

"I think you might be more experienced with matters of treating the mind than me." Thivi mused to her colleague. "What is the practice on Vulcan when similar events occur? Surely there must be a sparing few cases of Vulcans being stuck in telepathic lock... or something to that effect." Her brow furrowed some. "Pardon me. I think I might not be using the right terminology..."

"Johansen to Bridge, Get Dr. Beckett to my location immediately, and tell Dr. Ta'Feel to prepare for an immediate emergency transport to Sickbay. Attaché Tel'im is in neurological distress," Remy's firm voice interrupted the two while they were talking.

Dr. Beckett materialized in the room shortly after. "What's the emergency?" he asked, already seeing T'lenn and moving in to examine her. He noticed the science officer working on the equipment that appeared to have had this affect on the patient.

"What is this?" He asked.

"We thought it was going to be as simple as watching videos of old files, but the crew ended up having some sort of mind link with the program," Remy explained. "She's the only one to not come out of it."

Beckett looked over at T'lenn. "You can't power it down?"

"I can, Doctor. I was waiting for orders. I did not want to harm her any further," T'lenn responded. "Shut it off on three," Beckett told her. "Dr. Beckett, to emergency medical transport team, three to transport on three. Myself, Nurse Thivi, and the patient. One, two, three."


=========Astrea Sickbay Day 2 =========

Dr. Ta'Feel had heard the urgent announcement come in over the comm system, and it was immediately translated via Hir implants, to .Chix'alk. Sei immediately responded tapping Hir comm badge, and announced: "Medical emergency team." "Report to Sickbay." "Three beings are in the process of transporting from the Archive room aboard the Serenity." "They are being transported to Sickbay." Sei grabbed Hir medical instruments and stood by, waiting for the patients to appear.

Dr. Beckett and Lt. Thivi materialized in Sickbay with an unconscious Tel'im less than seconds later.

"Brain activity five seconds ago suggested high level of conscious awareness, elevated blood pressure, and cortisol levels threatening damage; however, she was nonresponsive to external stimuli. We just disconnected her from the device that was likely causing the increased activity. We need to watch for signs of a crash," Beckett called out, as the medical officers scurried into position.

Dr. Ta'Feel pointed to a biobed and replied, "Place the patient on this bed." Sei then did several quick scans with Hir medical tricorder, then responded, "How long was she connected to the device?" "What are the specifications of the device?" "Did her activity increase rapidly, possibly exponentially, or was it gradual?"

T'lenn responded to Ta'feel's questions to the best of her ability, "Attaché Tel'im was watching what appeared to be a video recording for approximately two minutes, when the device somehow connected to the officers another way, and she was connected for approximately 28 minutes, Doctor." T'lenn began.

"The other officers became disconnected and reoriented having seen what we believe to be memories of the Ataran people. Tel'im is the only one to have had had an adverse medical reaction. We are still examining the device to see how it works," she added.

Dr. Ta'Feel was transcribing what T'lenn was telling Ser, while reviewing all the facts Sei could about the Romulan. After a moment, Sei announced, "Dr. Ta'Feel cannot determine anything unusual about Attaché Tel'im from her records." "I think we should refer this to Starfleet Medical."

"Right away, Doctor," Nurse Reynolds responded, as she left to go to a terminal.

-----------The Following Day, MD 3------------

Commander Johansen sat by Tel'im's bedside on Wednesday evening. "I'm sorry I let you touch that memory crystal or whatever it was. I was reckless with my command, we should have been more cautious and now you are in here."

Remy let out a deep breath. "The doctors say that you are in there, Tel'im. I hope you can here me. We've been sending your scans to the Vulcan Medical Division at Starfleet Medical. T'lenn's brother is a physician there, and he's already making arrangement for transport on a ship that will have the proper equipment."

Remy reached for Tel'im's hand. "You're already special to this crew. Tel'im. We need you back."

----------- MD 5 ------------

T'lenn stood near the foot of Tel'im's bed. "Is she still stable, Doctor?" T'lenn asked.

"Aye, Lieutenant. I've been on subspace with the Vulcan physicians. Why they don't just share their their medical technology openly, when we have Vulcan citizens serving on ships is a bloody mystery, but they believe they will be able to reconnect her neural pathways so that she can begin speaking and moving on her own again quickly," Malcolm said. "I believe she can understand us. It seems like she's trying to interact, but the synapsis aren't connecting."

"The secrecy shrouding aspects of Vulcan medicine is illogical," T'lenn said tersely, as she stepped closer to Tel'im. "If that is what is wrong a simple mind meld could work," she said softly, as her fingers hovered in the air over Tel'im as if she were thinking about it.

Malcolm's voice broke the air. "I know how you must be feeling, but I don't think I can recommend it. She is making progress. And we'll rendezvous with the medical ship in a couple of days."

"Excellent. They're better equipped to handle this than us, at any rate." Thivi responded. "Definitely better than me. Starfleet nursing textbooks don't have anything in depth on vulcanoid physiology..."

Dr. Ta'Feel was in Hir office, telepathically communicating with Hir family members, reviewing all aspects of Tel'im situation. After a few minutes, Sei returned to Tel'im 's area and announced, "As far as the Anith family can determine, we do not have any capacity to communicate with Attaché Tel'im that is similar to a Vulcan mind meld." "Dr. Ta'Feel is unsure what the effects would occur if we tried to communicate telepathically with a Romulan."

"Waiting like this is illogical," T'lenn argued, uncharacteristically on edge. "Attaché Tel'im could crash any day, and we are powerless to help her while we wait on Vulcan medical technology that the High Command refuses to share, yet they claim to be allies."

"She's stable for now," Dr. Beckett interjected. "There's no reason to assume the worse. Once of the nurses can bring you a chair if you'd like to sit here a while."

T'lenn did not respond to Beckett, so he quietly gestured to one of the assistant's who brought over a chair and left it near Tel'im's bedside.

----------- MD 7 ------------

For hours Thivi had watched with great concern as Tel'im's brain activity spiked through the roof. She wished that she could've done more, but she was just head nurse and far less qualified than one trained in the neurophysiology of the Vulcanoid mind to do so - which she found rather infuriating. Thivi hated feeling helpless, especially when she was the one supposed to be rendering help. The Kelpien heaved a sigh as she leaned against the biobed, eyes fixated on the monitor in front of her.

T'lenn walked in to the care unit where Tel'im was being treated to find Thivi focused on the screen that was displaying Tel'im's bio signs. T'lenn approached the Kelpian nurse slowly, and announced her presence quietly.

"Hello, Thivi. I came to check on Tel'im's condition. My brother is a member of the Vulcan medical team arriving early tomorrow morning. I am to discuss with them what we know of the technology that caused this condition," T'lenn stated.

"Excellent." Thivi did her best to straighten up in front of her. She was the head nurse after all; she needed to look strong at least. "Please do keep us updated? We'd like to be better equipped for the future, as I'm sure you understand..."

"I am no medical officer," T'lenn admitted. "Perhaps they will allow you to observe their work. We've been denied access to study the devices that caused this, once the Atarans regained the ability to control their own property. We are left with very little information ourselves."

"Let's hope one day the Atarans will come around." Thivi noted tiredly. The one big thing blocking medical progress: stubbornness and distrust. If the tech that made Tel'im like this was better understood, they wouldn't have to do this. Plain and simple. "I'd love to learn from these scientists."

"I know you and the other medical officers have performed your jobs and provided care to the best of your abilities," T'lenn responded. "Technology that can manipulate the Vulcan midbrain's use of telepathy is well protected by the high command as it could be weaponized easily. However, when it comes to Starfleet and the number of Vulcans serving far from these facilities, it does beg further benefit risk analysis."

"Let's hope the results of that analysis work in our favor." Thivi responded tiredly. "Thank you. I need something to eat - I'm going to get something from the replicator. One of my nurses will be taking over shortly."

As Thivi walked away, T'lenn went over and held Tel'im's hand for a brief moment. She then checked the monitors before returning to her shift.

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