Digging In

Posted on Thu Apr 16th, 2020 @ 12:18pm by Commander Edra Crow & Commander Vox Templar & Commander Caressa Melanick & Lieutenant Michael Harris
Edited on on Thu Apr 16th, 2020 @ 3:29pm

Mission: To The Rescue
Location: Deck 4 - CMO's Office

Caressa sat in her office and poured over the report, rubbing her temples. “What the crap was this stuff?”

Highlights of the report
• There was no patient ‘zero’ to determine where the illness came from.
• No incubation period could be determined, due to the fact people could spread it without even having symptoms.
• It looked like a triple mutation of old earth viruses, a novel corona virus from the 2020’s, Ebola: a hemorrhagic fever, and a nasty bird flu. If she
was correct H5N1.
• No antiviral medication had even helped.
• The current death rate was over 60%
• Symptoms include: weakness and fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting, high fever, quick onset debilitating pneumonia, bruising and severe bleeding
internally.
• Most victims succumbed in a week or less.
• Microscopic exam revealed that they were very similar to their 2020 counterpart viruses but had mutated to the point that nothing was killing, or treating the virus once it had infected the individual. It also was inconclusive as to how the mutation occurred.

She rocked back in her chair. Grabbed the closest PADD and starting her requisitions. She was going to need help. She sent meeting invites to Edra, Vox and Edruj. This was nothing like they had handled before.

She went to the replicator in her office. "Chicken noodle soup Mom's recipe variation four, hot." In a few seconds, the steaming bowl appeared. "Maybe this and apples might help." She was being sarcastic, but she was really at a loss.

Edruj stepped into Sick Bay with a thousand questions. Unfortunately, the report that she read just added a thousand more questions. "It seems we have our work cut out for us."

Templar stepped into sickbay and made his way to the CMO's office. He folded his arms and let out a small sigh as he leaned against the door frame. "You can say that again, lieutenant. We seem to be dealing with a virus that is acting very suspicious." He walked over to the replicator and ordered a hot coffee. "Do we know when and where the first symptoms were noticed?"

"That information was not available, in fact there isn't a lot on this report. It makes me a bit un-nerved to be honest" Stirring her soup and taking a spoon full, then wiping her mouth.

Edra hurried to her former office, reading the report on her way. She'd worked with Brie to organize how the cargo bay would be laid out before joining Caressa and the others. She finally got to the end as she stepped into Sickbay, but she was sure she'd have to read it over as the complications were astronomical. "Sorry I'm late. Have I missed anything?"

"No your right on time" looking up at the trio. Pointing to the empty chairs for everyone to take a seat. "We are going to have to take every precaution. I already have my teams replicating as many environmental suits with the highest ratings. I also scheduled training drills in the holo-deck with every potential problem. Practice makes perfect, but the thing that is the most worrisome is the virulence of the virus. I have not seen anything like it." She turned her comm screen around for them to look at.

Edruj looked at the screen with interest. "Forgive me for stating the obvious. However, have we tried to use any of the tried and true cures for the flu. I wonder if they would have any effect on this strain."

Caressa looked at Edruj," They have tried all the tried and true anti-virals. I sent some past vaccine models from old earth for them to replicate and try also."

Templar walked over to an unused computer terminal and punched in his security access code and then addressed the computer for the additional verification. "Computer, this is Commander Templar. Starfleet Intelligence access code four-one-seven-gamma-six-omega." The computer made several computational noises before replying, "Voiceprint match confirmed. Access granted."

Vox then proceeded to pull up relevant data regarding known races and their uses and methods regarding poisons and biological warfare agents. He scanned over the list and tapped the console a few times, dumping a comprehensive symptoms list to the doctor's terminal. "We can cross-reference the man-made biological weapon and poison symptoms with the exhibited symptoms from the population. It's a stretch, but we shouldn't leave any stone unturned."

Edra paused, considering the possibility that this was bioterrorism. "Good call. If we start to think it's a reasonable possibility, pass the info onto Security and keep Command updated." She looked back to Caressa. "Do you have enough staff to keep up? I can pull officers from other departments with medical training if you need it."

"I think we have it covered, we are running training sims in the holodeck currently." Caressa turned to Vox, "That is an excellent idea. The thing that scares me the most is the ability of this virus to self mutate. Not something that naturally occurs." She rocked back in her desk chair.

Vox frowned at the terminal before looking back at her. "Well, some viruses do mutate on their own. In fact, some can actually mutate themselves out of existence. One that could mutate so aggressively and be so hard to counteract does raise a red flag, though. The best biological weapons are the ones that can't be traced or appear natural. If it is artificial, this one might indicate the manufacturers were in a hurry, sloppy or were intentionally trying to make a point. For example, the Dominion poisoning a planet in the Gamma quadrant."

Caressa rolled her eyes at Vox. "Maybe I should have said that it self mutates so quickly and strangely." Thinking to herself he is being a smart ass as usual.

"This seems to be presenting with factors of a number of viruses from Earth. It is possible that the treatment lays in the way the the viruses of the past were treated. It could be a combination of this treatments, treats what we are looking at now. As you said viruses do mutate." Edruj offered up, what she was looking at was damned vexing.

"If this is presenting so many appearances of a Terran microbe," Edra started, "Perhaps that's where it originated." She looked at Vox. "See if you can find out if there have been unauthorized or surprise visitors from Earth prior to this." She turned to Edruj, "I think we should look at how this spread spatially, where it originated, what track it's taken, and what the timeline has been so we can figure out about when it started. Vox's search is going to need as narrow a window as we can get." She looked at Caressa, "Have I missed anything?"

Edruj nodded in acknowledgement as she already began to jot some notes down on a PADD.

"No I think that covers it. Now just to execute." Caressa said as she looked at the group.





Lieutenant Commander Caressa Melanick
Chief Medical Officer, USS Mercutio



Lieutenant Edruj
Chief Science Officer, USS Mercutio



Commander Vox Templar
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Mercutio



Commander Edra Crow
Executive Officer, USS Mercutio