Lt. Jg. Ryden Sylvax - We Need a Test Sibject

[Ryden Kel]

((Sickbay - Starbase 118))

The steady hum of Sickbay settled into a rhythm Ryden could almost
anchor himself to... diagnostic tones, quiet footsteps, the faint
murmur of patients beyond the partition. Familiar sounds. Grounding
ones. He let them steady his thoughts as Foster continued explaining,
the Andorian’s energy spilling forward faster than the equipment could
keep up.

Foster: The memories are still there, but I just can’t access them –
at least not consciously. Unconsciously I’ll just know certain things
like where the medkits are stowed. Muscle memory type things.

Ryden watched Foster as he spoke... clinical honesty wrapped around
visible frustration. The explanation aligned cleanly with what Ryden
had already observed: competence without context, instinct without
recollection. The brain remembering how without remembering why.

Bremi: ?

Foster glanced toward Ryden, and Ryden recognized the subtle shift...
the unspoken relief of having someone else carry the structure of the
explanation. Ryden stepped naturally back into the role, picking up
the thread without pause.

Sylvax: We’re comparing the waveform to a documented artifact
encounter involving the Constitution-B. There are similarities in
energy signatures. If we can map the wavelength interference
precisely, we may be able to counteract it... restore synchronization
between neural regions. ::He met Bremi’s gaze directly now.:: We need
environmental analysis. Residual energy traces. Pattern modeling.
Anything that helps us determine whether the wave originated
externally or from within the station. And we need to know if there’s
a risk of a secondary pulse.

Bremi: ?

Ryden inclined his head once.

Sylvax: You, like me, are currently unaffected. That makes you one of
our most valuable assets.

Foster: And with a fresh point of view maybe you’ll see something we
haven’t seen yet.

Bremi: ?

Ryden folded his hands loosely behind his back as Foster continued,
the Andorian already scrolling through incoming reports.

Foster: The energy wave affected a large portion of the starbase
population. We’ve seen almost every species affected. Andorians,
Betazoids, Denobulans, Gorn.

Ryden’s attention sharpened at that list. The diversity ruled out
simple biological coincidence. Whatever this was, it operated across
wildly different neurophysiologies. It also concerned Ryden because
phenotypically, he presented as Trill... which was not currently on
Foster's list... but he was also part Betazoid. Would Ryden be next?

Sylvax: That is a very curious list?

Ryden rubbed his spots... nervously. Something he hadn't caught
himself doing since he was joined with Sylvax.

Bremi: ?

Foster paused, antennae twitching as he reviewed the data again. Ryden
watched realization assemble itself piece by piece across Foster’s
expression.

Foster: We don’t have any reports of ferengi and other four-lobed
brain species being affected. ::he paused and his antennae flared::
And we don’t have any reports of any… Humans… being affected.

That landed heavier than Ryden expected.

Humans unaffected. Ferengi unaffected. Entirely different neural
architectures sharing immunity. Not a species pattern... something
structural. Something electrical.

Ryden stepped closer to the display, eyes narrowing slightly as
connections began forming faster than he could comfortably articulate
them.

Sylvax: Then the disruption may depend on a specific neural
configuration rather than species identity. A shared vulnerability in
signal routing… or hippocampal interface structure.

Bremi: ?

He glanced between Foster and Bremi.

Sylvax: Which means immunity might tell us more than the symptoms do.

Foster/Bremi: ?

Ryden moved to the main console, isolating comparative neural
schematics... Andorian, Denobulan, Gorn... layered beside Human and
Ferengi scans. The differences were stark, but so were the overlaps.

Sylvax: If Humans and four-lobed species are unaffected, then either
the waveform is tuned to a specific neural frequency range… or it
disrupts a structure they simply don’t possess.

Foster/Bremi: ?

Sylvax: Most of the affected species share a bilateral hippocampal
relay with similar electrochemical thresholds. Humans do as well...
but their cortical redundancy is higher. Ferengi, on the other hand,
distribute memory processing differently across the four lobes.

He paused, thinking aloud now.

Sylvax: If the wave overloaded a relay junction common to bilateral
structures, it could interrupt conscious recall without touching
distributed or redundant systems.

Foster/Bremi: ?

Ryden adjusted the display again, overlaying the recorded energy
waveform signature.

Sylvax: We need a clean environmental sample from the moment of
impact... residual radiation, harmonic echoes in the station’s hull
plating, anything. If we can determine the dominant frequency, we can
attempt a counter-signal. Something precise enough to re-stimulate the
disrupted pathways without frying them.

Foster/Bremi: ?

A biobed chimed behind them, another patient being logged.

Sylvax: But before we attempt any broad intervention, we test on a
controlled subject. One patient. Minimal amplitude. If recall
returns... even partially... we’ll know we’re on the right track.

Ryden locked eyes with Foster. Hoping his implication was clear.

Foster/Bremi: ?

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Lieutenant JG Ryden Sylvax
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240109RK1