[sb118-veritas] [V-SIC] [Backsim] Dr. Chythar Skyfire & Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek: Even If I Believe In Miracles Part II
Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek
((Main Sickbay, USS Veritas))
Rosek: ::huffs:: If I can even get a break from this annoying buzzing in my head for an hour, it would be a God-send.
::It had started the morning after the party, intense and unrelenting, killing her ability to focus and drowning out any other thoughts. She was surprised she’d been as coherent as she had through her conversations with her brother, her father, and her attorney. The written communication to Chythar--it had been hard to focus. She’d gotten lazy, she supposed. With their telepathic connection, all she had to do was think what she wanted to say and he’d hear her.::
:: Mark nodded slightly and loaded up a hypo with the smallest amount he could, hoping it’d work. It was the minimum dosage for her species, based on the notes he’d reviewed in her file. With a hiss, it was injected into her neck. ::
Rosek: ::sighs in relief:: Contact with another Al-Leyan certainly didn’t help. I mean, I knew this was going to hit eventually...but I think the telepathic and empathic contact may have exacerbated and even accelerated the process.
Mark: I’m not familiar with what you’re experiencing. My database on your species is limited.
Rosek: ::chuckles:: I think your empathy subroutine needs updating, too.
Mark: Yep. He knows. It’s on his list.
((Mini Time Jump, Main Sickbay, USS Veritas))
:: After nearly two hours, Chythar emerged from the lab. He was probably looking equally haggard as well, and was certain in his calculations this time. ::
Mark: Progress?
Skyfire: Honestly…? Ah’m nae sure… One way to find out.
:: Mark took the hypo from Skyfire and returned to Rosek’s side with it, injecting it into her neck. Chythar watched, and whispered a quiet prayer that it would work. He’d hate to be wrong after all that. ::
::She tensed as she felt the cold steel of the hypo pressing into her neck. A hiss indicated the medication was hitting her bloodstream. Suddenly, she felt as though the ship was in a gravitational spin and she gasped, grasping the edge of the biobed tightly, fighting back the urge to throw up.::
Skyfire: It’s nae a permanent solution, but if my calculations are right it should stave off the effects. Ah’d recommend using it for more than 3 months, tops. After that, your body will begin to shut down.
::Lael inhaled and exhaled a few deep breaths, the dizziness and the nausea slowly fading. It took her a few moments to process what he’d just said. Three months. Surely she could figure out a solution within three months.::
Skyfire: Shall ah go over the side effects now, or leave you a memo?
Rosek: ::laughs breathily:: Anyone ever tell you that your bedside manner could use a bit of work?
Skyfire: You’ve mentioned it a few times.
Rosek: ::smiles wanly:: Shut it off and let yourself be human for a few minutes. The whole robot doc thing isn’t exactly reassuring.
::It had been a joke, but she could tell it was a challenge for him. Her features softened as she studied the man who had unexpectedly become one of the single most important people in her life. She still couldn’t quite fathom how that had happened. She deliberately avoided getting too close to people. It was easier when they ghosted her.::
::And yet...she had three best friends who she would give her life for in a heartbeat, she’d developed a very deep emotional attachment to her biological father in the short year and a half that they’d known each other, and she’d fallen in love with a man who deserved so much better than her.::
:: Chythar nodded slightly and attempted to comply. That wasn’t exactly his strongest suit these days. Even during his time aboard the Gorkon, that was a weak subject for him. Since his demotion, it just made him more gunshy. ::
Skyfire: OK, Lael. Ah’ll be honest. This is a stopgap and best ah could come up with on short notice. It will not be a long term solution.
Rosek: ::sighs:: Do I have much choice? It’s not like any Al-Leyan in their right mind who isn’t already exiled will have anything to do with me. I’m a modern-day pariah. My best shot is to dig deeper and see if, me being half-human, simulating the pheromones of an Al-Leyan male will work or if I have to find some disgraced Al-Leyan man who is willing to help me out. ::grimaces:: Normally, I’d just seek out an Al-Leyan woman who meets those qualifications, but with my species, it doesn’t work that way.
:: Chythar nodded grimly. He didn’t know what to do, and didn’t have any idea what to say. Hopefully, his solution would work in the interim. After a few moments of his awkward silence, he spoke again. ::
Skyfire: I’ll figure it out.
Rosek: ::murmurs:: I hope so. This particular cause of death isn’t what I want listed on a coroner’s report. ::smiles wanly:: I’d prefer something a bit more heroic than “died because she couldn’t find someone of her own species willing to be intimate with her.”
Skyfire: If anyone can pull this off...it’d be me. Dassa didn’t give me the St. Anthony pendant for nothing.
Rosek: ::chuckles:: Yeah. I suppose we’ve gotten out of worse situations intact, right?
:: He nodded slowly, recalling dimly the last time he pulled off a miracle -- the treatment for the Hocktin virus. His reputation for miracles was nowhere near as good as some of the other notable Starfleetian physicians, but CD hoped one day to have a legacy for something other than miracle working. ::
Rosek: ::sighs:: Last I heard, dad was digging into a list of exiled Al-Leyans who would fit the bill if it comes down to it. ::grimaces:: The idea of losing Jon over this is killing me. It would be different if we made a mutual decision to call it quits. But to have that choice taken away...
:: CD nodded slightly and handed over the hypo with the temporary measure. He just needed time. He had a little, but not much. He had to save his friend’s life, again. Somehow. ::
===
Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek, Eng.D.
Engineering Officer
USS Veritas NCC-95035
I238110RH0
https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php/Lael_Rosek
&
Lieutenant Chythar Skyfire, MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Veritas NCC-95035
O239002CS0