Lt. Commander V'Lar - The Weight of This Sad Time

[Chris M]

((Medical Laboratory, Gibaria Outpost))

V’Lar: ::Continuing to speak quietly:: Witnessing their suffering and decline will likely be highly distressing and is not conducive to scientific study. I suggest that you and Lieutenant Pace relocate. I will remain and attempt to oversee the civilian medical staff while progressing with developing a treatment.

It was a calculated kindness, but one born of pure logic. As a Vulcan, she had her formidable mental barriers and practiced discipline to help block out the horrific fates of the stricken researchers. Logically, if a member of the team had to be exposed to such an environment, it made sense that it was her, sparing her colleagues the trauma of watching the slow, painful and undoubtedly gruesome deaths.

Tahna: Commander V’Lar, we’re Starfleet. We don’t run from distressing situations.

V'Lar considered the Bajoran's reaction. It occurred to her that the First Officer had categorised her suggestion as an assessment of their courage or ability to work under pressure, missing the intent of the offer. 

oO It is not a matter of cowardice. It is simply that I am equipped to compartmentalise this horror so that you are not required to endure it. Oo

Before V'Lar could make such a point, she observed Lieutenant Pace, who had previously retreated to a far workstation, cautiously approach and clear her throat, robbing the Vulcan of the opportunity to further explain. V'Lar silently accepted that she had failed in her efforts to reduce the mental harm to her shipmates.

Pace: E-excuse me, sirs? I haven’t had much luck with the data either, but I do know a bit about our dimension’s plants.

V'Lar turned so that she could take in both officers, remaining silent to allow the Elaysian to proceed.

Tahna: What have you found?

V'Lar watched Commander Meru stand and walk over to the Elaysian, her head tilting, causing the silver d'ja pagh at her ear to sway.

Pace: Well, plants have cell walls right? Even cancer and other mutations in our dimensions’ plants tends to pose less of a risk to them because of the protection their cell walls offer. I’d wager that these plants also have cell walls and if we can get a closer look at them maybe we can fortify the patients’ own cells.

Tahna: Doctor V’Lar, what sort of medical risks would something like that pose?

V'Lar's mind instantly engaged, rapidly running the biochemical simulations of Pace's suggestion. Animal cells relied on flexible lipid bilayer membranes, which the dimensional energy was easily penetrating and which were being ruptured as a result of the violent cell division. Plant cells typically possessed rigid cellulose walls, making them far stronger. Given that plant life could survive despite the as-yet unidentified dimensional energy, it was possible their cell walls were the reason for this, but what was being proposed was completely contrary to most animal biology.

V’Lar: The risks are severe, Commander. While it might be possible to synthesise a genetic retrovirus to harden the cell membranes against the dimensional energy, I need not remind you that animal biology is dependent on flexible cellular membranes. To find a species-agnostic solution that would sufficiently protect their cells without causing complete organ failure would be challenging.

oO So challenging that the Carrington Award panel wouldn't bother accepting nominations from anyone else because the result would be a foregone conclusion. Oo 

Pace: There’s also the question of the radiation, multiple nuclei, and general mutation of the cells, but fortifying their cells may slow down the liquefaction in tandem with the arithrazine?

The Elaysian possessed an impressive capacity for lateral scientific thought.

V’Lar: An astute deduction. If we are correct that some form of dimensional radiation is the catalyst, then arithrazine could inhibit the radiation, whilst a fortified cellular membrane physically hardens the cell both from without and within. It would not be a cure, but theoretically it would slow cellular corruption.

V'Lar noted the small smile that Commander Meru offered the young Lieutenant.

Tahna: If we can’t reverse it later, stiffness and loss of range of motion may be a problem. But given the choice between melting or some level of paralysis, I’d certainly take the later. It’s an option to explore.

V'Lar had sufficient experience with cellular engineering that it would not be difficult for her to concoct a retrovirus to reinforce the cell membranes. The issue was finding the right balance; protecting the cells in a meaningful way but without inhibiting their ability to move and function normally to such a degree that the patient's life processes were compromised.

V’Lar: Indeed. However, it is not simply the immobility of their bodies but of their entire cellular structure.

Pace: Response

The sharp chime of the First Officer's PADD drew V'Lar's attention. She watched Tahna check the device, noting a genuine smile breaking across the Bajoran's features.

Tahna: Commander Neathler has sent us scans of some of the flora they’ve encountered. That should be plenty to get us started.

V'Lar immediately synced her medical tricorder with the incoming data stream, her eyes tracking the complex biological data scrolling across the display.

V’Lar: Lieutenant, isolate the specific genomic sequences responsible for their cellular wall integrity. I will use this time to mentally model a retrovirus and delivery vector that would be compatible with all species present. Simultaneously, I will more efficiently organise the medical staff available in order to improve their triage and palliative care efforts and brief them on the requisite protocols for arithrazine usage. 

Ultimately the civilian medical team had insufficient resources and training for this scenario. V'Lar could not resolve either issue, but she would do her best to dedicate as much of her time and energy as she could possibly spare without compromising her efforts to develop an inoculation. While Vulcans possessed significant mental bandwidth which supported the completion of multiple mental tasks without the typical performance decline, taking active command of scared, inexperienced, and overworked medical staff dealing with a crisis situation while synchronously designing a retrovirus would test those capabilities.

V'Lar considered the time she had selfishly spent socialising during shore leave, time she could have spent on her hemispheric lateralisation research.

oO A more efficient brain with each hemisphere able to operate completely independently would be a benefit in my current situation. Oo

Pace: Response

V'Lar observed the Bajoran returning to her workstation before stopping. V'Lar met the Commander's gaze.

Tahna: I can’t order more crew into a quarantine zone for something we can’t cure. But I will ask for qualified volunteers to support local medical staff.

It was a highly logical compromise, respecting the rigid parameters of a planetary quarantine whilst simultaneously addressing the acute lack of resources.

V’Lar: Thank you, Commander. 

Pace: Response

With the immediate scientific parameters established, V'Lar retrieved the tray of arithrazine hyposprays and stepped through into the adjoining treatment area.

((Infirmary, Gibaria Outpost))

The environment was predictably volatile. The outpost's civilian medical personnel were operating in a state of severe cognitive distress, their triage efforts erratic and fundamentally inefficient as they attempted to save patients whose cellular structures had already degraded past the point of viability.

V'Lar did not raise her voice; instead, she utilised the innate, grounding authority of a Starfleet officer and the unyielding, emotionless gravity of a Vulcan in order to command their focus. She swiftly reorganised their deployment, overriding their frantic instincts with a stark, ruthlessly logical triage matrix. She issued the arithrazine, clearly detailing the dosage protocols and the neural depolarisation risks, and explicitly instructed them to abandon palliative care for the most severe cases in order to stabilise those who still had a mathematical probability of survival. The civilians were visibly displeased by the cold calculus.

Once she was satisfied that her necessary imposition of order had been accepted, albeit begrudgingly. She sterilised her hands and returned to the relative quiet of the medical laboratory.

((Medical Laboratory, Gibaria Outpost))

V'Lar stepped back into the laboratory, her expression rigidly neutral as the doors sealed behind her, muffling but not blocking out the cries of pain. She approached the closest workstation, not pausing as she provided an update.

V’Lar: The immediate crisis in the adjoining room has been temporarily structured. The local physicians have been briefed on the arithrazine administration and instructed on strict triage prioritisation.

Tahna/Pace: Response

V'Lar focused on her terminal, studying the latest data, not looking up as she spoke.

V’Lar: Their resilience is being tested and their operational efficiency remains suboptimal, but I believe they are doing the best they can under the circumstances. Given their psychological state and physical exhaustion, I recommend they be relieved as soon as possible, although it should be noted that their existing patient numbers will begin to decline imminently.

Tahna/Pace: Response

V'Lar permitted herself a micro-second to consciously reinforce her mental barriers against the emotional bleed of the suffering and dying scientists and the brave but likely hopeless efforts of the medics before looking up from the display screen and returning her focus to her colleagues.

V’Lar: It is a necessary reality of the mathematics we face; many are simply beyond saving regardless of the skill or will being employed. 

V'Lar opted to change the subject, as focusing on what one could not control was counterproductive. 

V'Lar: I was able to successfully devise a retroviral framework and delivery vector. Have you been able to isolate the relevant genomic sequences?

Tahna/Pace: Response

==========/\==========

Lieutenant Commander V'Lar
Chief Medical Officer
USS Gorkon, NCC-82293
A240101CC1