Suspicions and Chemistry

Posted on Thu Apr 4th, 2013 @ 12:02pm by Lieutenant Jade'n SnowDen & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Captain Alexsa Kendrick

2,234 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Rumours, Promises, and Lies
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 6: 1700 hours

Reo scowled with uncertainty as he went through the list of daily check-ups he had done that day alone. He was noticing an unusual and slightly disturbing pattern within several of the crew members. "Commander Michaels can I see you in my office," he said hesitantly after tapping his combadge.

"On my way." She didn't recognize the name and quickly pulled up the information on her PADD. New doctor? She hadn't seen his name come up on the last transfers. She quickly headed to sickbay and asked for Lieutenant Snowpaw.

Reo stepped out of the office and gave a wary smile to the XO. "Glad you could make it ma'am, I wanted to run this information by you first before I spoke to the captain," He said waving the lone nurse out of the sickbay. "As you may or may not I only recently arrived aboard yesterday and the recent blast in sickbay has all but purged the medical records, So I spent most of today scanning the crew who I could convince to listen to me." His tail twitched with annoyance while his ears pressed back. "I've noticed some very worrying patterns in about four out of ten of the crew," he handed a PADD over her.

"I'm not surprised," she said, thumbing through the data on the PADD. "We've seen a marked increase in tension and discord in others as well." She didn't mention her theories, as she would rather the doctor come to his own conclusions. "What can I do to be of assistance?"

"Well some of the chemicals being released by the brains of these individuals indicate that either they are spending to much time around a nosy telepath," he paused taking a deep breath. "Or they are being influenced by an outside force."

"Interesting. Is there a way to counter this?" she asked.

"Unless you want to risk poisoning the crew either Vulcan or my own blood," He sighed. "But I'm not even sure its a malevolent force, as I said I don't know how many Betazoid's are on this ship, let alone how many telepathic beings could be in the ship, that's why i brought it up with you first ma'am."

"It is unlike any telepathic entity I've encountered so far," T'mpest said. "It's more a psychic energy. It seems to affect both telepath and non-telepath alike, although I warrant it's stronger for a telepath." She looked over the data again. "Have you informed the Captain of your findings?"

"No Ma'am, I wasn't sure if these findings were anything to worry about, as all of the files I'm going over, are ones I've created today," Reo sighed as his ears drooped down.

"Keep testing and keep a record. This information may be important later." T'mpest wasn't sure what to do. Telling the Captain could make her start believing in a psychic force, or it could make things worse. She wished she knew. "I suggest you consult Captain Kendrick. She knows a bit more about this area than I do. She might have some ideas on what to do with the information."

"I'm sorry who?" Reo asked with an extremely confused look on his face.

"She's the Mission Advisor," T'mpest said. "Captain Alexsa Kendrick."

"I don't believe I have had the pleasure of meeting her," he said as his ears perked up.

"I think she would be quite interested in what you've discovered," T'mpest said. "Right now, it is important to find out what's causing the tension on the ship and then see if we can remedy the situation."

"Yes Ma'am," Reo muttered. "If its not to m-," He stopped his eyes locking to the middle distance. He blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Sorry about that ma'am," He said suddenly extremely grateful he had fur to cover his blushing face up. "As I was saying it would really help me if you could arrange for the entire crew to have a medical check up."

"I'll do what I can, but I can't guarantee anything until we get out of this sector, which may be too late for what you need." She gave him an apologetic smile. "If it helps, I am here and you can run the tests on me."

At one of the most inopportune moments for something like this to happen, the doors parted and Kendrick walked in with a very slight but pained expression on her scarred face, "What tests?" she asked.

"Chemistry tests, Ma'am," Reo said eyeing the officer warily. "Are you alright Ma'am?" He asked his ears perking as he looked her over.

"Fine." Kendrick said plainly--a little too plainly clearly ignoring the extent with which her thighs throbbed with numbing pain, along with the small box she carried with her. That and the slight disorienting feeling in her head.

"He has a most interesting theory," T'mpest said. "I suggested he talk to you." As far as T'mpest was concerned, the timing was perfect. She didn't have to figure out a way to get Kendrick and the doctor together without the Captain thinking she was up to something.

Why me? Oh I see, this is that thing again where people think I'm holding things back - you, commander, now know everything I do, Alex thought to herself before turning direct to the feline looking doctor, a face she'd not seen before which was odd in itself given her time aboard and where they were. "What's the theory--and what sort of tests? And what about?"

"Well, ma'am In the short time I've been aboard I noticed that the air has an unusually high number of stress related hormones, undetectable by most humanoids but for me," He said tapping his short muzzle with a clawed digit, "Clear as day." He paused long enough to hand Kendrick a PADD containing the scan results.

Alex breezed through the data on the PADD as Reo continued on, "A few routine scans showed an alarmingly high percentage of the crew showing signs that they are either spending too much time around a nosy telepath or that some psychic entity is manipulating them," Reo grumbled as his fox like tail twitched with concern. He took a couple sniffs of the air before locking his grey eyes on Kendrick"Ma'am you'll have to forgive me for being persistent but you smell like your in a great deal of pain."

Without moving her head, Kendrick stole a quick side glance to T'mpest looking for a reaction. Since she'd joined the conversation late, this was obviously old news to her as she saw none--just the same emotionless Vulcan visage she always wore. Alex looked back to the doctor, his sense of smell almost endowing him with telepathic powers as it was, and slowly handed the PADD back to him. Her eyes did not avert from Reo, as she said methodically, "Hold that thought Lieutenant, Commander, a quiet word?"

T'mpest gave her a half-bow of acquiescence.

Alex led T'mpest off to the side and out of earshot before quietly asking, "Who is this, and what did you tell him?"

"The new doctor. I said it's a psychic energy that is affecting the crew. And that you might be interested in the information. This may be the proof we need ot convince Captain Halliwell that there is something here we need to deal with."

"He's either way too perceptive for his own good, or he knows too much." Kendrick added. "He's also figured out a lot of the details after being on board for such a short time. Thoughts--do we trust him, knowing what he knows?"

"I do not know, but it would be good to have the doctor on our side to lend weight to our argument, if it should come to that. Especially as he has the chemical data to support our theories."

Alex nodded while looking back to Reo waiting in his newly refurbished office, and the two officers headed back in that direction. "Computer, secure this room, authorisation Kendrick Pi-Four-Seven. Alright Mister Snowpaw, you're right on a lot of counts. What you may not know is how right you are, or could be..." Kendrick went on and explained the situation and history again for about ten minutes to this new and unexpected arrival, but if they were to beat this, they would need medical expertise as well.

"And there it is, and yes, I am in a hell of a lot of pain and request you issue a continuation of my medication. So, what do your tests involve?" Alex finished with.

Reo scowled his ears pressing forward almost into an aggressive stance. "The first thing I'm going to need is the ship to basically function around sickbay," He said mostly to him self but just loud enough for the others to hear. "Meaning I'm going to need the whole crew to submit to mandatory physicals."

"Anyone we find that's being affected..." He cringed slightly "Why hasn't Captain Halliwell been told about this?" He asked tone turning darkly. "I'm sure the medical staff before my arrival must have been on top of physicals, including routine brain scans." He stopped in his tracks realizing he had just growled every R in his last sentence. "S..Sorry," he stammered as he stepped away from the two officers.

"Because just between you, Commander Michaels, and I, Captain Halliwell could be under such influence. Even under terms of reasonable doubt, we still don't have any proof with which to bring this to the table, and certain..." Alex paused glancing across to T'mpest before going on, "restless behaviour could be pressing some members of the crew to act in shall we say such a way not befitting Starfleet officers'."

Kendrick paused a second more, and continued, "We don't have a lot of time on this, most of the senior staff is going to be requested to the surface within a few hours, and I don't want anyone else trusted on these tests. I think that mandatory physicals of the entire crew is unwarranted at this time, we don't want to tip our hand or even have people suspect. Will these tests give us proof of what is physically happening to our people?"

Reo ignored her and instead moved towards the hypo-spray which sat on his desk and proceeded to jam it into his arm. He sat down for a moment breathing deeply. "The brain scans just show the usual signs of prolonged exposure to telepathic probing, if what you say is true and members of the command crew are currently under the influence of an outside force the chemistry will show as massive imbalance of standard chemicals."

"Well that's a start, so with the permission of Commander Michaels, start with us, then move on to the oldest crew records for physicals rotation so as not to arouse any more suspicion than we need to. But unless their name is on that list, do not involve the senior staff, and under no circumstances is this to be discussed with the captain."

That last dose didn't last as long as it should have, Reo thought to himself. "I'll see what I can do but I'm a little concerned, I just... I wasn't prepared for psychics assaulting what should have been a routine mission," He squeezed his eyes shut as the aggression inhibitors kicked in.

"Don't forget Lieutenant, these psychics are long dead, and there's no-one to blame for this any more--if this is what's happening, we need that proof. You have at best two hours to dig up something concrete, can you do it?" Kendrick asked flatly.

"Two hours to find enough evidence to remove her from command you mean," He he asked just as dryly as she did.

"No. Two hours until we head down to the planet," T'mpest countered. "We are not looking to relieve Captain Halliwell of command. Quite the contrary."

Despite her conflicting thoughts, Kendrick kept quiet with great duress. It was true that they were not actively seeking evidence to remove Captain Halliwell from her command, but should she endanger the ship or crew much further than she already had done, then extraction would have to be considered. Being the ranking officer, that task would fall to Alex to instigate, but procedure would also dictate that the XO and the Chief Medical Officer would have to see it through for it to be above board and legal.

"Oh," He sighed with relief his posture relaxing. "I will see what I can come up with then," He sighed as his tail began to wag at a normal tempo.

"Thank you Lieutenant. Computer, cancel security precautions of this office currently in effect." After the computer's chirp to confirm, Alex went about normal business, handing the box to Reo, "Would you mind topping up the prescription?" she asked more as an order with no questions asked than a request.

"Sure," he said taking the small box. After a quick glance he tossed the box aside typed the medication into the pharmaceutical computer and pulled a fresh box out. "Same dosage but this is a non-narcotic variant of the drug," he said handing the prescription to Alex.

"Let's hope it has the same effect." Kendrick said in way of thanks.

"Now, if you would still like to run your tests, you can then mark us off your list," T'mpest said.

 

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