Cmdr. J. and C MacLaren: Narrowing Ground Zero; tag Brek

[meredith lahmann]

 

((MuVirginis Central Hospital Morgue))

 

:Dr. Colin MacLaren closed another file and sat staring at the wall for several moments in silence before suddenly bounding to his feet. He passed Ensign Agee who’d been working hard on a series of autopsies:

 

Colin: charging out of the room and calling over his shoulder.: Eh’ve got to check something out. Eh’ve not been any help to you here anyway.

 

:Colin went back to the main hospital and asked after his sister. No one had seen her in a while since she’d begun talking to patients with the Captain. He began doing the same himself as he looked for her.:

 

 

(USS Odyssey)

 

J. MacLaren: Walking over to a chart she’d made on the glass wall when she’d first gotten news of the plague.: See, Anuka, Malsden provence, here, and here and here…all in far different places on the planet.

 

Brek: Well, we've certainly heard of Anuka. Maybe that it's worth a visit? If we find any healthy people over there, they might have better information to offer.  Unless you prefer to interview more people?

 

J. MacLaren: Eh’m not sure yet. Let me stare at this chart a bit longer. Before too long, we’ll have to check with the other teams and see what they’ve discovered.

 

Brek: That's an option too. I'll let you decide our next course of action while I put this new suit on.

 

J. MacLaren: ?

 

:Brek walked to a room where he would be able to change. He had barely started when he received a call from Tornquist, who had some news to deliver. He listened patiently, while eating the scones, and he told him to remain vigilant regarding space traffic around Mu Virginis. He then refocused his attention on his former task.:

 

:Moments later he returned to the area where Jo had been doing her research.:

 

Brek: I've received some interesting news. Cmdr. Clifton set up a safe zone on his own, with two shuttles, including the Robert Bruce, and Gavin lost no time going after it. 

 

J. MacLaren: Gavin? He has no need to be down here though if Clifton just commandeered the Robert Bruce, Gavin would use it as an excuse to come down and see this for himself and to see if he could help.

 

Brek: Well I hope that, among all the protocols that he knows by heart, he spared some thoughts on health protocols in epidemics situations. Now, another thing of interest, is that Starfleet Security and Intel brought to our attention the presence on Mu Virginis of one individual called Charles Umbrage. He appears to be a science genius, and he might be able to help us understand this plague. At the moment he is at Mu Virginis' Virginia Institute of Technology.

 

J. MacLaren: Weel, that is interesting. Eh may have heard of that name before, but Eh canna think where. It might be best to talk to him. Let’s beam down to the planet and steal my brother’s shuttle, so we can move around freely once we’ve talked to this Charles Umbrage.

 

Brek?

 

(Mu Viriginis Central  Hospital)

 

:Colin had spoken to several patients getting information that suggested his theory might be correct although it was too soon to know. He also ran into a nurse who told him that Johanna and Brek had beamed to the Odyssey after Brek’s mask had been broken. Colin wondered if the Ferenghi’s days were numbered. He thought anyone who kept insects for pests was a bit strange, but no one deserved to die of this plague, especially one who had come to help. It made him wonder more about Brek who who did, after all, come from a culture not given to self sacrifice. Colin was as  free from the imperatives of protocol as Ferengar was from altruism, so he hailed his sister by her childhood pet name :

 

Colin: tapping his combadge: Hannie, it’s Colin. Eh’ve a theory.

 

(USS Odyssey)

 

:Johanna heard the hail and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. She wondered if Colin would ever think of her as anything but the little sister he’d protected during their childhood.:

 

J, MacLaren: This is Commander MacLaren. How can Eh help ye, Dr. MacLaren?

 

C. MacLaren: looking down at his combadge with a grimace: Good Laird, Hannie. It’s just us.

 

J. MacLaren: not wanting to take the time to remind him that communications were monitored.: What is your theory, Doctor?

 

C. MacLaren: Eh dinna think the plague really started everywhere at once. Eh’m near cross eyed reading the post- mortem reports. It seems almost everyone who came from provinces other than Anuka had just reported back to work from vacations.

 

Brek?

 

C. MacLaren: Aye, so why were the others all from Anuka? And why were none of them on vacation just before they sickened?

 

J. MacLaren: looking at Brek excitedly: Colin, Captain Brek is here with me. Wait a moment. Captain, ye said a moment ago that we’d heard of Anuka. What was it about it that made it special?

 

Brek?

 

J. MacLaren: Colin, it’s a seashore, a popular vacation spot.

 

C. MacLaren: So, it means that these others might have been there, contracted the disease and taken it home with them. We’ll need to confirm that, and see what dates they’d returned to be sure. It doesna find us Patient Zero, but it may narrow where that patient is. Mr. Agee was looking into location of victims and analyzing their autopsies, so it may or may not confirm

 

Brek? 

 

tag, tbc

Cmdr. J. MacLaren

FO

USS Odyssey

also simming 

Cmdr. Colin MacLaren, MD