Lt Cmdr Quentin Beck - You Have Died Of Dissin' Terry...llian Plague
Quentin Beck
((Sickbay, Deck 10, USS Ronin))
Avae: What in the stars was Poagie doing? I thought all experiments were suspended while we dealt with the epidemic?
Nemes: They were.
Naledi: Crick Pop Snap Crick… Sounds like a risk to the ship… We should neutralise them.
Quentin let out a sigh of regret, his fingers dancing across the screen on his PADD.
Beck: Not the first time someone has said that about ol' Poagie. I'm sure it was another of his misguided attempts to profit on one of our experiments, and it's going about the way it usually does.
He pressed 'SEND' on a very strongly worded personal message that would arrive in Poagie's inbox - mostly invectives about the size of his lobes and his lack of business acumen.
It might not neutralize the damn Ferengi, but at least it would sting a little.
Avae: We need to get power back to these chambers immediately.
Nemes: ::shrugging:: I’ve heard of someone powering a transporter with a phaser discharge once, but I wouldn’t recommend it. ::looking at the others:: Only brainstorming. That wasn’t a serious suggestion.
Naledi: Crick Snap Pop Crack… You could, if you need to, beam us into space. It would stop the disease.
They all, as one, peered at the Xindi-Insectoid as if it had grown a secondary head. While Wyla's face had gone white, the corner of Quentin's mouth had curled into an ugly grimace on the left side of his face, his brow arching slowly.
Beck: While technically correct, I'd like to reserve spacing everyone from Sickbay as a last resort. Mostly because, personally, I'd rather not turn into a meat popsicle unless there's no other choice.
Avae: Why would you say such a thing!? ::She looked at Sybil:: Do we have anything other than phaser power cells we could use?
Nemes: As I said, I know that there are also emergency backup batteries in science lab four. It’s not too far away from here down the corridor. ::pointing in the direction of the lab:: As long as the primary power line to these labs here is not repaired, that could help us out.
Rubbing his chin with the back of his hand, the Doctor mulled over the suggestion for only a few moments before nodding slowly.
Beck: That would be enough to give us some more time, absolutely.
Nemes: Hm, I’m not an engineer. I assume they are too heavy to bring them here. And we would have to deinstall them first. I don’t know if we have that much time. ::beat:: Isn’t there an easier way to just connect them to our power supply here?
Since Quentin also had some Engineering in his background, he knew there might be a few options - one was simply rerouting the power through internal paths from the lab to Sickbay, but emergency backup batteries were usually a bit more isolated than other components… simply because they were meant to be emergency batteries for whatever it was they were batteries for. There was also the possibility of physically running power cables from one set of batteries to the other, the downshot being that there would be a degradation of power if the lines were too long.
Before he could follow that train of thought, Naledi's clicks and clacks drew his attention again.
Naledi: Crick Snap Pop Crick Hiss… It’s a commitment I made to Starfleet. By Extension, the Ronin.
Avae: I understand and admire that, Naledi but no one’s getting beamed into space before we’ve even tried to cure you all.
He jerked a thumb in Wyla's direction.
Beck: … what she said.
Naledi: :Clicks their mandibles democratically:: Of course I want there to be another way. But sometimes there are no alternatives. Equally I am stable, and likely contaminated. Send me to the Rose. Keeping me here only risks the crew.
His shoulders rose as he inhaled a deep breath as a precursor to a rather large sigh; there was a time and a place for noble sacrifice, and as far as he was concerned, this wasn't it. It was, more or less, what Wyla had suggested earlier when she wanted to expose herself to the virus, and almost certainly what Naledi was suggesting now. He didn't know the Xindi at all, so he couldn't say if this was common behavior, but he suspected it might be the case.
Nemes: ::sighing:: All of this is just distracting us from the real task at hand. We should try to find out more about this virus at last. I have the feeling that time is running short.
Avae: Sybil is right, we need to focus on trying to figure out what this is so we can work towards a cure and we don’t have time to argue.
Beck: ::waggling a finger:: And that's exactly why I don't want to space you in particular, Lieutenant Naledi. While you are infected, you're not showing all of the symptoms. In fact, you're remarkably lucid for someone that should be succumbing to the paranoia and nausea this should be bringing on. I think you might be essential to finding the cure. ::grumbling:: Not to mention the fact I'm the senior-most officer in the room and Chief Medical Officer on this damn ship, so stop trying to tell me you need to be spaced!
Nemes: Response
Naledi: ::Sympathetic, but uplifting snapping:: Of course, I am your disposal, Lieutenant Nemes.
Avae: Good! Now, to that point Sybil there’s something that’s been bugging me about the structure of this virus. Like, I’ve seen it before but maybe a progenitor version. So I don’t know if this is modified intentionally or just adapted itself over time but this is definitely a bioweapon of some kind.
Quentin let out another short gust of a sigh, smoothing out his hair, which had grown mussed during his brief tirade. He cleared his throat.
Beck: That reminds me, I should go check on the search in my office - it's possible we've narrowed the list down to–
Nemes/Naledi: Response
The console near Wyla chirruped as an outgoing open channel was sent to the Rose’s away teams and at the same time a message hit the Sickbay computer from the bridge.
//Bridge to Sickbay. URGENT. Probes just located a Tarellian Plague ship wreck in this system.//
Avae: That’s why this was so familiar. It’s the unholy grail of Antosian virology. ::she looked at all of them:: The bridge just messaged that we’ve located the remains of a Tarellian Plague ship. That’s the source of this! It has to be. It’s why it was so familiar. Because the base sequences are the same, but altered. ::color filled her cheeks as shock turned to rage:: If I find the monster that did this I’m going to give them a hypo cocktail from our entire viral storage.
Brow creasing with confusion and more than a little shock, the Doctor moved closer to the console while Wyla spoke so he could read the message again. Muttering something under his breath, he raised the PADD to make another automatic adjustment to the search parameters and his holographic Ops counterpart acknowledged the change via text.
Beck: I will happily sign off on that. I'll have to work on how to word the note so it's something a little less litigious.
Nemes/Naledi: Response
Avae: I’m sorry, and yes. ::she took a slow breath:: My people hold the Tarellian plague in high regard not because we like or respect its creation. But because it’s the deadliest bioweapon ever created and no Antosian has ever been able to study it or be infected by it. We loathe viral weaponry. There’s a lot of us that have the mindset that if Antosians had been able to do so we might have been able to save the Tarellians.
Nemes/Naledi: Response
Quentin was silent for a moment as the trio discussed, his attention drawn to the door to his office as the Vulcanoid Beckagram suddenly appeared, a slim brow arching beneath the bowl-cut hairdo. He moved to speak softly to Q'Uen in hushed tones, his face drawing into a grimace.
Avae: No one’s getting airlocked or beamed into space, Lieutenant Naledi, so don’t make me sedate you. ::she huffed:: If this is an altered Tarellian plague, then we need to find out how it was modified. Or even by whom. Stars, we could even just expose samples of it to every genome we have on file to see what is and isn’t affected. Someone has to be immune. To the bioweapon. That no species has ever survived contact..with.
Wyla’s shoulders slumped slightly the more she spoke until she was practically bowing at everyone. The Doctor shut off the Operations hologram before turning to approach them again, still clutching the PADD.
Beck: I updated the query and can confirm with what little we have on the Tarellian Plague on file - after some filtering, the biomarkers match. We didn't pick up on it sooner because of the modifications - they added a whole string of new protein strands to the front and back of this thing, which is exactly what the nanomachines that Doctor Kel discussed appear to be for. I can't say for sure, but it looks like they've been programmed with a very advanced AI that can make adjustments on the fly to better infect whoever it is that's picked it up.
Wyla/Nemes/Naledi: Response
While hyperadvanced artificial intelligence was hardly unheard of in their galaxy, it was still incredibly rare to see something like this, especially at the molecular level. Even the Borg didn't display anything quite like this… and while there were any number of possibilities that still existed, Quentin felt a little ball of tension form in his gut when he considered who might actually be behind it. He tapped his combadge.
Beck: =/\= Sickbay to Bridge. We got your message about locating the Tarrellian ship - I can confirm that what we're looking at is a heavily modified version of the plague. =/\=
Niac/Raga: Response
Wyla/Nemes/Naledi: Response
He shot a look at the Xindi-Insectoid behind the protective glass and smiled humorlessly.
Beck: =/\= I think there's some hope - Lieutenant Naledi, who was sent over from the Rose, appears to have some sort of natural resistance to this thing. I don't want to call it immunity, I don't have enough evidence to say that for sure, but they are progressing at a much slower pace compared to everyone else. Now that we know where to start, we might be able to make quick, significant progress while investigating why it isn't affecting them the same way. ::a pause:: There is one little caveat, though… =/\=
Niac/Raga: Response
Wyla/Nemes/Naledi: Response
His lips pulled into a thin line and he gripped the PADD a little more firmly.
Beck: =/\= The information on the plague we have is almost 40 years out of date. We were able to match biomarkers to what readings they could get on the Enterprise way back when, but uh… I think if we want to make any headway, we need a live sample that hasn't infected anyone just yet. =/\=
Niac/Raga: Response
Wyla/Nemes/Naledi: Response
Beck: =/\= I'd like to volunteer to lead the away team to dispatch to the plague ship. I have a pretty good idea what we're looking for, and I'm hoping maybe we'll get lucky and find the lab where they were modifying this thing. =/\=
Niac/Raga: Response
Wyla/Nemes/Naledi: Response
Beck: =/\= I... feel I should also mention another theory I've got floating around in my head. This is based on a conversation I had earlier with Doctor Kel - he said there's nanomachines involved that are actually modifying the host's proteins to better allow the virus to spread. That suggests a highly advanced AI is being used. Just... throwing that out there. =/\=
Niac/Raga: Response
Wyla/Nemes/Naledi: Response
[Tags/TBC]
Lieutenant Commander Quentin Beck
Chief Medical Officer, technically on Leave
USS Ronin NCC-34523
A238810SA0