A Nice Tidy Aftermath

Posted on Friday 21 May 2021 @ 15:42 by Lieutenant Nir’anyar & Captain Melody Jones

Mission: A Cry from the Darkness
Location: Colony Medical centre
Timeline: MD7 1130
1274 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

"Chief Medical Officers Log: Stardate 74824.4- For my first duty as Chief Medical Officer I have been faced with a massive planetary pandemic that was artificially constructed. All indications showed this as a malevolent virus with a mortality rate approaching one hundred percent and an infection rate that surpassed our ability to accurately measure."

Anya had taken up resdience in one of the prefab medical units that was not in use any longer, sat behind the small desk dictating a log while turning a small hypospray vile between her thumb and forefinger. The contents a gentle cloudy pink colour and the saving grace this planet needed.

"While the mission itself had fallen apart, the Captain had been kidnapped, my life had been threatened and all of it by some mirror incarnation of someone called Lieutenant Amelia Fox. We did strike it lucky that during the rescue of the Captain we stumbled across some data which contained the process for synthesizing the cure to the virus which had not only been let loose on the planet's population but also released into the mercenary force that this Alternative Fox women had hired. Tests have been run and the cure is effective. Given the scale of the pandemic across the surface I have skipped several stages of the clinical trials and several volunteers came forward to try the cure... Thankfully the cure is completely effective in eradicating the virus".

She placed the vile down on the desk and then interlaced her fingers on the desktop just in front of it, bringing her chin down to rest on the back of her hands, her violet eyes still staring at the contents with a mixture of elation, joy, worry and trepidation.

"The cure is being administered to the population now and the Captain is on her way to see me so I can give my final report and inoculate her also... My fears though are getting the better of me. This virus is so invasive, so dangerous... What if there are more like this or is this a single one time only situation. Could she have more like this up her sleeve?"

The doors parted pulling Anya from her musings and wandering thoughts. A quick glance around and she could see the Captain entering the unit. She quickly sat upright in the chair, scooping up a hypospray from beside her, and loaded the vile into the lower section of the handheld device.
"Computer end log and upload to the ships database!"

Melody, who had been napping in one of the side offices, entered just as the Doctor finished dictating her log entry. "Doctor, I hope I'm not disturbing you?"

"Not at all Captain, please" she waved the Captain in dismissing the log she had just finished, one the Captain would be able to listen to later as it was a ships log and not a personal one.
"I am happy to report that inoculations have started and my medical teams are distributing the cure to everyone and training the local medical personnel to deal with it as well. I have your inoculation here as well."

"Yes, by all means, Doctor." Melody said, moving closer "I'm looking forward to getting back on the Merlin." She had a sudden thought which caused her to pause. "Is this alright for the babies?"

"The Virus appears to have been filtered out by the placental barrier in all cases who were also pregnant. The vaccine should be the same as it is just a dormant version of the virus that should activate the natural immune response within the body... It should then transfer that information to the foetus or we can inoculate once the baby is born."
Anya pressed the hypospray to the Captains neck, the familiar hiss as the liquid was passed from devise to blood stream.

"Very well," Melody said finally. "Has Commander Rajel been inoculated as well?"

"He is next on my list Captain!"

Anya said with a smile, having most of the Merlin's away teams doses in her medical kit ready to catch them all at the beam out site.

Melody took a deep breath. "Good work Doctor. As soon as the Commander has been inoculated, he and I shall be returning to the ship. Could you also provide me with a does for Lieutenant McPhee?"

"No need Captain. Once I return to the ship because of the possibility that Lieutenant McPhee has transported the virus to the ship I will inoculate the entire crew and civilian population. We should have it completed sometime tomorrow."
Anya came back immediately, having left nothing to chance.

Melody smiled. "Very good Doctor. I see you've covered all the bases. Do you have any idea how the disease was created in the first place?"

"We found indications in the database we uncovered that this virus was artificially created but it's not using any of the bioengineering methods we are aware of... The database also suggested it could be from a civilization over six hundred thousand years old". The Benzite allowed that information to sink in before she proceeded. "I did some digging and the only societies around that age that would have had technology advanced enough to create this would have been Iconian, T'Kon, Chodak, Hur'q or a very small number of others".

Melody frowned. "How the hell did she get her hands on that kind of disease? Mind you, apparently, she sold a planet killer to a group of rouge Son'a so I woldn't put anything past her."

"I would not put anything past her Captain. This virus is even more dangerous than Symbalene blood burn... There are not many viruses that I can say I am scared of but this one Captain falls solidly into that category!"
Anya rummaged around in her lab-coat pocket and removed a small PADD. Held within its memory she had put a complete breakdown of the virus, how it had been engineered to work and the effects it had long term on biological forms of life.
"This virus would have invaded a biological entity such as you or I. Slowly started to adapt and infect others until the entire population had been infected. It would have had a one hundred percent fatality rate but it would have continued to adapt itself until all biological life, animal or plant would have been reduced to nothing but fuel for the virus itself until eventually nothing would have remained and the virus would have died!"

Melody shook her head, dismayed. "Now you have the cure, this disease has been rendered non-lethal. Say, if she were to unleash it anywhere else?"

"The cure is only effective up until a certain stage of its life cycle... once we cross the point of no return then a planet is essentially on borrowed time Captain. Thankfully it takes months to reach that stage!"
Anya stood once more, collecting the tricorder she had left on the desk and running a quick scan of the Captain. "You look all fine Captain, no reactions to the vaccine... You are all clear to return to the ship!"

Melody relaxed slightly. "Thank you Doctor. I intend to do so, once you've treated the XO."

"What is that quaint Earth expression... Let the duck eat the rabbit!"
It didn't sound right even to her and she could tell from the captain bemused expression she had gotten the saying not quite right.

END

●●●● Captain Melody Jones
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin


●● Lieutenant Nir’anyar
Chief Medical Officer
USS Merlin