Facility Quarters
Whether maintenance, Security or accident and emergency, you'll find them all here on the facility quarters. When designing the ships it was decided that most work related areas of the ship should be designated to specific areas on the same floor to save time and confusion. There are walk ways connecting the different sectors for less urgent matters, but express lifts and shuttles between different sectors and floors in case of emergency. When first arriving in this area you are met by a long arched reception area, girls behind the desk and a wall of glowing neon arrows pointing the way to go.
They needed to find Hayley now, with every passing moment it was getting more and more likely she would be killed in the same way that the other women had. Without requesting help, and appearing to have given up the search at one point, D'mitri's search needed to find results soon.
Vesper and Rosie arrived at the medical ward just a few minutes after leaving the social sector and the nurse helped her onto one of the more long-term beds, which were slightly more comfortable. She searched through some drawers and came out with a small vial and syringe. It took her just a second to inject it into the IV. "Just a little morphine, to help with the pain," she told Rosie, feeling like she needed to explain it wasn't poison or something. Though she didn't know if she really
did need to tell her. She threw the syringe away and looked at Rosie when she was done. "What would you like to eat and drink?"
Needing very little help to get into the bed,
Rosie shook off most of the nurses attempts at helping. Getting herself settled and comfortable, getting almost lost in the sheets as she pulled them up close. Twitching a little when the nurse came close but staying mostly still. "Soup, fruit juice. And someone needs to get my other set of glasses from Alpha deck, second draw down in my desk, its not locked." she was looking at the Dr but wasn't really seeing anything.
Vesper nodded. "I'll let someone know." And with that she left the room, touching one of her earrings as she went. In the other room she was talking, but it was quiet, a murmur in the room Rosie was in, but it was only a few minutes before she came back with some rich soup and a fruit drink that had either multiple fruits in it, or one unidentifiable one. Either way, if the nurse approved, probably wouldn't kill her. "Here," she said, placing it on one of the food tables and scooting it over so it was over Rosie's waist. "I suppose just push it out of the way when you are done, I'll get it later. Just try to rest whenever you finish. I'll just be in the other room if you need anything." She nodded and then then left her be, wanting to write up her initial report while it was still fresh, and of course to give the poor woman some privacy. It wasn't as if she wanted anyone around it seemed, and Vesper didn't want to stress her, no matter what her opinion on the whole situation was.
Staring at the food table and barely registering the Dr or the food she gently placed Archy on the tabletop and let him sniff around it. Her brain slowly recessing into itself but she knew she needed to eat before she could sleep. Taking the straw out of the drink and flicking it dry before sticking it in the soup and slowly sucking on it. She didnt trust her arms to lift anything any more. They might not be in pain but they were still unstable. After drinking half the bowl,
Rosie gingerly plumped her pillow and closed her eyes, drawing the covers up tight to her, she had torn off a bit of cloth from her tattered coat and put it on the table for Archy to sleep on. Hopefully she wouldn't dream tonight at all, or any night soon.
It was only a short time later that
Vesper thought it safe to peek in on her patient again. Well, 'patient' wasn't really the word for this woman was it? 'Antsy' maybe. 'Annoyed'? Perhaps. Seeing that Rosie had lain down, she quietly stepped across the floor with quick, practiced strides and moved the cart soundlessly out of the way, so it would not disturb the resident of the bed. The last thing she needed was for the tray to go clattering to the ground and startling the poor woman. She set the bed to monitor Rosie's major functions, checking that they were all stable and within normal range, before giving her one last gentle smile and exiting the room to get rid of the dirty dishes. Rest would do the woman some good, but she would need to talk to someone about this if her mind was going to heal. With the trays now gone, she sat at her desk and set to work putting in the rest of her report, requesting someone with psychologist certification check the Annoyed as well.
A male nurse came into Vesper's room slowly, knocking on the door to get her attention and smiling down at her. "Is everything alright in here?" he asked cheerily; it was customary to have to have people check up on new patients even if they had a doctor there already, making the rounds. There was a feeling of this doctor being a bit green however, he looked a bit innocent and uncorrupted for someone who had worked in this profession for long.
Sighing and waking up a few hours ago,
Rosie just couldn't get comfy, or sleep right. Her head still felt like she was swimming and had got water stuck in her ears. Noticing the male nurse she shrunk slowly under the sheets and spied on him from just over the edge, wiping her eyes so she could see better she remembered her glasses and pushed a button to call the nurse.
"Everything is fine,"
Vesper smiled at the man who had joined them, standing from her desk as she did so. He was cute, in that fresh sort of way. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked softly as she went into Rosie's room. She smiled gently at the woman, trying not to make her more uncomfortable. "What is it you need?" she asked, still somehow showing she was listening for the other man too.
Holding out her broken glasses and squinting a little
Rosie could make out the shape of he male nurse more clearly. "Has anyone gotten my good glasses yet?" Sounding slightly perturbed at the whole group thing. Her hair looked horrible. "Also, can I get a brush?"
"Ah, yes, I was asked to check up and to give these" he pulled out a case, holding some glasses for Rosie, he really was a young nurse to get sent on fetch errands like that. He probably had only just got out of his intern ship.
Holding her hand out so he could put them in it, as she couldnt see where his hand or her glasses were.
Rosie was glad she'd be able to sere properly again, it was rather alarming to not be able to see and have strangers wondering around. Yes, they were medical staff, but as she had learnt, anyone could pose as staff.
The glasses found themselves in her palm, the man patting her hand gently and smiling down at her. It was good to see she was still being assertive and mildly positive, instead of just curling up inside.
Flinching and frowning at the man,
Rosie slipped on her glasses after cleaning them and glared at the man, eyeing him wearily and looking at Vesper. "A brush?" then looking at the male nurse and raising an eye brow.
The doors to the medical facility opened to admit a recently disinfected mechanic. Justin carried the disinfected skeletal remains of
Ka'aias to one of the stasis tanks on the wall and put her carefully into it, hooking up all the wires to her metal frame before closing the clear, hard lid carefully. He hit a couple of switches on the tank and turned, jumping slightly as he saw that he was not the only one in the room. "Oh...uh...sor
ry. Miss Ka'aias is...healing." He pulled a stool over to sit guard over his boss as she recovered.
Rosie had barely taken her eyes off of what the man was doing, blinking as she tried to wrap her mind around it. "How? she's pretty much dead...from what I see. OH GOD, she wasn't in the soup was she?!! oh god!" putting her hand over her mouth as she tried to quell the feeling of raising bile. Her head spun a little at the thought of someone else actually being in the soup, it never really sunk in till now. "Oh dear lord... can you close the curtain, please?"
Justin gave Rosie a strange look. "Soup? I should hope not. Miss Ka'aias has just returned from a trip with the captain. There are many infected aboard, and from what I gathered on the ship, she was self destructed in order to protect the crew. A day in the incubator will set her to rights, though, no fear of that. Cypers are much more capable of healing than any of us."
"Into the bin by your bed, if you must," Vesper informed Rosie gently when she saw the woman become nauseous. She grabbed the curtain and looked at the man who had brought the glasses. "Thank you. If there is nothing else, you may go." She tugged the curtain most of the way around Rosie's bed as she spoke to the other man who had come in with Ka'aias' remains. "If the others are infected, where are they now? Is the Doctor alright? Is he with them?" She paused to look at Rosie. "I'll get you that brush." She stepped away, looking at the man to let him know she demanded an answer even as she went to get a brush for Rosie, all the while listening for a response.
"The last I new they were still in the docking bays. The doctor seemed fine." Justin glanced toward where Kai was laying and glanced back at Vesper nervously. "I am just a technician, not a medically trained personal. I only tend to Miss Ka'aias when she is incapacitated."
"Hmmm...." Vesper touched her elbow with one hand, her other one reaching up to tap a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps they have been quarantined.... Interesting question. I'm sure I'll be notified soon enough though. For now, I do think Miss Rosie is a bit traumatized... Try not to disturb her will you?" The nurse smiled at the young man, and it was sweet but with an edge to it that whispered of possible physical harm if he were to disobey. "Can I get you some coffee?" she half chirped, and the edge was gone.
Justin smiled and shook his head. "No, thank you. I am not allowed mood altering substances while Miss Ka'aias is unable to fulfill her duties. It falls on me to be her stand in." He gave Vesper a look. "I will leave Miss Rosie to rest. Was she injured in some way?"
Vesper frowned thoughtfully, glancing back at Rosie's bed, but she didn't look too concerned. "I will keep her observed, but I do believe she is only a bit... shaken up? I wouldn't worry yourself dear." She gave Justin a sweet smile, showing her pretty pearly teeth that seemed so perfect, and none of the second row, before heading back to her desk to fill out some forms.
Justin settled in, watching Kai's stats for awhile. This would be a long day.
D'mitri walked into the security station and set Neddy in a seat and mentally ordered two officers to watch him. "These two officers are going to watch you while your papers are brought into order. Try to escape and they will terminate you." he said to Neddy.
"You promise?" Neddy said weakly, though it was clear he wasn't going anywhere, he was just half sitting in the chair with the two officers looking at him confused. This was the monster that had killed two women in such a gruesome way? He looked... meek, uninteresting.
D'mitri turned and walked through the desks to his office. He sat down at his desk with a nasal sigh and shook his head. "People and their concepts of loneliness. Its enough to make me wish we had an emotional dampener installed in the ship." he contemplated as he set about the paper work that had piled on his desk.
A brief while later the message came through. "Security Officer D'mitri" it was the commander's voice, and it wasn't sounding very relaxed "I need you and every available squad member to join us at" there was a moment of quiet discussion "hang 4. We are approaching from a sister ship and are carrying a lot of injured and infected people. If this infection spreads then it could kill an entire ship in a few days, we need you down here with sedative guns and your best men." It wasn't a question, it was an order, he had to get down there now.
D'mitri acted immediately upon getting the message. He sent out a mental command to all of his people that werent already occupied with paper work or suspects. "Report to Hanger 4 immediately with all tranquilizer and stun devices. There are injured people along with possibly dangerously infected individuals so make sure to make use of full body protective suits." With the order issued he grabbed his rebreather and headed to Hanger 4.
It was obvious that these messages were going around other facilities as well, as quite a few other areas appeared to be spitting people, little figures... and some quite big figures, and one or two flying figures, all flooding down towards the docking bays to catch the Commander's infection before it spread.
In the security quarters Sojana had been transferred to a portable one man containment cell after her rather inglorious scrub down. Her scales were dull now after having them worked over with course brushes and a searing chemical bath. She felt dry, pithy and couldn't wait for someone to come by and ask if she needed anything. Her first order would be new clothes and a stout bottle of Adoas Oil to get rid of that ashey feeling... maybe even some Raslack to take the edge off being cooped up in here for the quarantine window. She'd been forced to part with her uniform and was now dressed in some sort of papery human garment that was olive green and tied at the back. It wasn't so bad, there was room for her tail, but if she wasn't careful she'd end up showing her cloaca. When she paced her cell she was forced to do so with her tail down, effecting her balance slightly. As she sat now, waiting for news from the outbreak she came to a startling realization. They'd taken her uniform to be destroyed, incinerated probably. Her poor book, she'd never get to finish it now, it was likely little more than ash by now.
D'mitri walked into the cell area and stood in front of Sojana's cell. "I have been sent here to keep an eye on you."
"I'm honored." Sojana told him. "But I'd have preferred a grunt I could order around and maybe yell at." She smiled, looking quite odd on a face that didn't really have lips.
"Feel free to yell if you wish, but it wont get you anything." D'mitri said with a shrug. "I would like to know a few more details about what happened."
"Where do you want me to start?" Sojana asked him. Long ago she'd gotten used to hearing him speak in her head. "They tell you I almost got squished by an elevator? That was pretty fun."
"Yes, yes. Near death experiences abound. Start at the beginning." D'mitri said with a sarcastic flourish of his hand.
Sojana began recounting the events of the mission, including the elevator, the generator that nearly fried both her and Kai and even Old Doc Shackelford harvesting a liver to take for his lunch. "It was in the control room where I think Kai first became exposed to the virus after jacking into the ships AI. I'm not exactly sure how Kai works... worked, but something happened that caused the Doc to use that harvested liver he'd found. He replaced hers, which is probably what made her sick." She told him about finding the refugees and the odd coincidence that the man in charge was another Vidian. (Of the non egg stealing variety) "He'd made sure that the sick were housed away from those unaffected and the Cap'n ordered me to tranq them for transport. I ran out so he borrowed my pistol." She didn't sound overly sympathetic about the four that he'd dispatched, but she'd seen more than her fair share of humans die in her time. After all it had been her idea to just shoot all of them and not risk exposure on the ship. She continued by telling him that the boys completely rearranged Dresden's carrier to make room for all the refugees. It was on the flight back to the ship that Kai began acting strange. Since she's half biological Jim prepped what she guessed was a tranquilizer and Rhodes jabbed her in the neck with it. When that didn't work Sojana put two in the back of her skull. "That only pissed her off and next thing I know she's all over me. The Cap'n deactivated her with the emergency shutdown and I got a nice goo-Kai cocktail to the face. Now I'm in quarantine, I feel like I'm about to shed and they incinerated my book with my uniform... All in all it's not been a bad day." That last bit was sarcasm of course.
D'mitri nodded as he listened to her retell the tale. " I agree with you. The sick of that vessel should have been dispatched and then after your return we should have destroyed the remainder of the ship."
"Such is what happens when you put a human in charge." Sojana said lifting her feet to rest them on the comode. "Their capacity for sympathy is often too great."
"So there were non-infected individuals on the ship? What was done with them?" D'mitri asked, he hoped that at least the captain was brought back so he could interrogate him as well to find what exactly happened.
"Oh they're here now." Sojana told them. "We transported all of them."
D'mitri was at a loss for words. "He brought all the people from the diseased ship over to ours? We are going to have a pandemic on our hands just like the other."
"That's what I said." Sojana told the chief. "But he seemed confident we could contain it. I'm not so sure. The most useful thing we've done so far, other than lower the life expectancy of everyone on board by fifty percent, is give it a name."
"Why?"" D'mitri asked with a raise of his eyebrow ridge.
"If this thing, mind chiggers, gets out then we're going to have a lot of blood on our hands." Sojana told him. "The infected on the other ship began indiscriminately killing, trying to spread the germ, or parasite, or whatever it is... Personally I'd like to order the boys to start handing out bullets." And from the expression on her reptilian face, Dimitri could figure out what that meant. One bullet each, delivered directly to the brain.
"I think that would be a horrible waste of our current resources. Now using the bullets on anyone who exhibits any signs of infection is a good use of said resources. D'mitri said as he began to pace. "We are going to need to work full time with all current staff to maintain the peace and to prevent any of these...mind chiggers from getting a hold."
"That's what I meant." Sojana told him. "I think the seemingly unaffected would have showed signs by now. My men are your's, I might be out of commission, but they like you. They'll do whatever you order them to without argument."
"Not that they would honestly have any choice." D'mitri said before continuing on. "We dont know enough about this disease to be too sure. Someone had to start the plague and we dont know if there could be carriers who dont suffer symptoms."
"I've heard of it before." Sojana told him. "There have been lower lifeform cases on Vidia, but I don't know enough about it to help anyone. You'd have to talk to the Doc to get more information. But you could be right, the unaffected could still be carrying the organism."
"I dont think that cackling vulture could do anything about it right now." D'mitri said with a shake of his head. "Commander Rhod will have him busy with the dead or currently infected till it is too late for any kind of warning."
"If he can keep him out of his office long enough."Sojana said. "I think he's touched."
Rhod came into the room, staightening his shirt and breathing deeply as he seemed to be trying to keep himself at least looking in control. "Hello Sojana, D'mitri" he nodded to the two "I came in to check for myself how things are going in here." He knew that D'mitri would warn him the moment something went wrong, he just wanted to give it a little look in.
D'mitri snapped to attention immediatly and gave a sharp salute. "I am glad that you came in at this time Commander. We were just discussing the situation and the apparent disease. We need to quarantine everyone that was on that ship originally in separate holding cells as well as everyone from our ship that went over and came into contact with a citizen of the ruined vessel. We believe that there is a chance that some people may be infected, and are only carriers thus, not showing symptoms."
Sojana didn't snap at anything when the captain came in. However she did stand and salute, there just wasn't as much energy behind it as there had been Dimitri's. She wasn't in uniform any way and getting a face full of infected robo goo kinda did that to a person. "I've a personal request or two also." She said, lowering her salute, not bothering for permission. "Nothing grand, just a pee-on to order around for a while."
"I've already ordered for seperate wards to be enclosed and watched inside the medical quarters, those that might be infected are to be watched internally and there will only be a few to a room, each with guards at the door with filtration masks just to be sure. While this is happening we shall scan the staff to check if they are carrying" Rhod sighed, saluting but losing momentum as the hand went down so he wound up rubbing his neck slowly "We have the DNA code, we should be able to track it in a system. I shall have to be scanned again after all of this... though I think the infection only spreads through ingestion. If it was air born there wouldn't even be this many survivors. As for your requests Sojana, we shall try, but we must reduce exposure and it isn't the most vital thing going on right now. But if you tell me, I shall make sure to remind myself when I have a moment."
"Just a few personal items sir." Sojana told him. "Too arbitrary to bother you with. You've got too much on your plate as it is."
"I will get a person on it as soon as possible" Rhod sighed, closing his eyes and stroking his hair back slowly; he really wanted to have a sleep right now. "I'm afraid I made the wrong decision... this is stretching our safety protocols to the max right now, and draining our reserves right now."
"I won't say 'I told you so', Sir..." Sojana said, not outright saying that she had indeed told him so. The uninfected were one thing, those people could be saved, but the infected... even if she was among their ranks now she'd rather take a bullet than risk getting loose and releasing a brain chiggered vidian on board the ship.
"Yes, yes, human compassion" Rhod waved it away, not aware he'd just done the reverse of her "lower lifeforms" claims; it was always considered that the people considered lower life forms were always more emotionally in tune than others. That's why the phrase human compassion had stuck around. "I have a team already working on a vaccine. I'm not expecting results right now, but we're working on it. I also wanted to tell you, as a vidian we know that has been directly in contact with this infection they might come up to take samples."
"What about the remains of the other ship, sir?" D'mitri asked. "I believe we need to destroy it down to the smallest fleck in order to prevent other ships from happening upon it and likewise becoming infected."
"A self-destruct was initiated by the computer there, we managed to get it online in order to do so" Rhod sighed, did he have to explain everything that he'd done to this lot? He wasn't just going to leave a floating death ball tumbling through space.
Dr. Shaq'l'phard grumbled as he returned to Infirmary. He was glad to return to his quiet and sterile hospital. The little excursion to the neighboring ship stressed him out. He did not even acknowledge his nurse's presence as he hobbled to his office, shutting the door loudly
Vesper looked up as the doctor came in and smiled a greeting. "Oh, welcome back Doc-" She frowned as he slammed his door shut. She shrugged it off and went to the room with her only patients and told the only one awake what was going on. "Mister Justin, the doctor has returned. I wouldn't bother him unless it is an emergency." She chuckled softly, trying to put him at ease with the doctor's less than friendly demeanor. "I'll be taking my leave for now, but I'm sure I will return in a few hours, if you are still here. If you need me before then, just have the computer call me." She gave a little wave and nod before stepping out and heading down to below decks.
Shaq'l'phard moved right to his storage unit once he was secured in his office. He felt filthy, all those disgusting sick people....he cringed at the very thought of them. He opened his storage unit and withdrew a package, tossing it onto his desk and then moving to the sanitation chamber he had and set to scrubbing himself until he felt clean yet again.
Rhod was here pretty speedily, standing outside the hospital quarters and watching the injured, infected and able bodied scurrying past him like ants to get treated. This was going to be a long day, and things were being made even worse by the infected, who all needed to be cryo-stored until a treatment was found. He'd kept one aside though in a sterile room, one large man who probably had more of the infection inside him to do this. He was heavily sedated, but he would be frozen the moment a sample was taken.
Justin, seeing Rhod outside, started making a copy on a hard disk of the print out report on the effect of the mind chiggers on Kai's body. Once he got the disk, he took a step out of the medical ward and approached. "Sir, this is the hard copy of the exact biological functions and mistakes from the last six hours in Miss Ka'aias's body. It is usual protocol to give this to the doctor, but..." He glanced nervously at Shaq'l'phard's office. "Well...to be honest, the doctor scares me a little."
"Thank you" Rhod said as he took the disk "It should help us figure out a bit of a vaccine." He sighed and shook his head as he pocketed the disk for later use "Thank you for your work, how's Kai doing? I really didn't like frying her like that..." He should read the manual, he really should download it, just so he knew it off by heart. Maybe then he'd end up not killing Kai every time she freaked.
"I went over the last few minutes of data before she was shut down," Justin said, a frown firmly on his face. "Her computer side was in complete control when they tranqed her biological side. I'm not sure who shot her in the face, but they triggered the automatic response built in, which is to neutralize the enemy. I can switch that mode off and put her into neutral mode, which means that when she is tranqed, she will just sit there if you wish."
"I think right now that is best. I mean if she's shot then react, but if she's tranqued it would be a good idea NOT to act violently." Rhod sighed softly and shook his head "Thanks to my innability to react Sojana might be infected by this disease. I just hope we can get a vaccine for this stuff soon." He looked around, maybe bringing the infection here was a bad idea... but they needed samples, and where else would he get them from?
"If you need anything, I will be here. With Miss Kai." Justin started to walk away, but then thought of something and turned. "Oh, and, in case you didn't know, the chemical makeup and DNA of the thing that infected her is also in that report. I'm not sure what good it'll do, but it's all there." He went back into the Medical Bay, having made his report, and started on the changes to Kai's computer.
"Well she's quite the super computer isn't she?" Vesper remarked lightly to the commander as she and Taylor entered the medical ward. She had only caught the end of Justin's report. She smiled at their valiant leader, her way of greeting. "Hello Commander," she told him, her voice almost as soothing as contact with her. "I would ask if your journey went well, but I can see quite clearly it did not."
Taylor was already starting to sweat in her hazmat suit. She hated these things...almost as much as she hated hanging around these uniform stooges. "Alright- where are these frozen specimens?" she asked, wanting to get his over with.
"Yours isn't frozen yet" Rhod said to Taylor "I had him under heavy sedation inside a sterile room. I didn't want there to be a chance the sample would get tainted by the freezing process or outside influences." He looked around towards the back room "If you would go get the sample, I need to discuss things with the nurse here."
"Sounds good." Taylor said as she was gestured towards the sterile room. She walked in with the proper procedure and stepped towards the large man. She took out a syringe from her belt and took the cap off. Easing the needle into the victim's skin, she took a blood sample. Finished, she put the syrings in a small capsule and slid it into her belt. Taking out a long q-tip, she swabbed the inside of the man's mouth as well as took a sample of skin from his hand. Putting them in more individual containers, she gave a general physical examination for puss and things of the sort.
She found several large swellings along the glands under his arms and the inside of his thighs; much like human get when suffering from the black death. They throbbed a yellow colour beneath the blood that was still there from unknown sources. Not the prettiest thing to be working with.
"Oh man... nasty." Taylor muttered, but being hte most professional thing to say. But dammit, she just worked with plants. She felt like this was more of the doctor's forte. Either way, she took out a scalpel and scraped some cells from the pustule.
Vesper smiled as she watched Taylor enter the room, watching her with a medical eye for just a moment as she set to work before regarding the commander. "Why would you need to speak with me, sir?" she asked, though the last word was oddly foreign. She said it as if it was his first name, not a title.
"I was wondering if you would be alright to work with Taylor on the creation of a vaccine for this infection" Rhod said slowly, judging his words "I have had a note on her record saying she is notoriously difficult to work with, if you have qualms against it I will not force you, but I wished one of our best to be working on this vaccine. I cannot make you however."
"Oh, I am sure we can work something out, Commander," Vesper replied in kind. "I will do my best to see that this vaccine is created and administered quickly. For the good of the crew." She nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. "You do worry too much, sir. I see the situation is dire, but your own crew appears to be in alright order, with the exception of poor Miss Ka'aias. Do try to relax now. We are all doing our duty, and yours is to find us a new home, and make sure we get there, not save the universe. Try not to hold it on your shoulders, yeah?"
Taylor finished getting her samples and wrapped up her examination. She wondered what the hell this guy got into to have such a putrid outbreak. Although she was no medical doctor, Taylor had never seen anything like this before. She really hoped she could find some sort of immunity in it to make into a vaccine. Plants were more her specialty. "Man, that guy is a wreck." Taylor said, stepping out of the room and taking off her hood.
Rhod gazed down at her sealed samples and nodded "Yes... he is. I suggest you don't look at those in anything but a very secure location." He sighed and turned to Vesper "Alright, so you two shall work together. Take this." He held out the disk from Kai "It has the last few seconds stored on it, where she became infected, and has the DNA structure of the infection to aid in your work. Also, Sojana, our cheif away team leader, was soaked with what remained of Kai when I had to self-destruct her, so we might have a viable multi-species examination for you to conduct should she... should she succumb." He coughed, not liking that he had to mention this.
"Any speculation on a deadline?" Taylor asked, a bit worried to the Commander's answer. She tried to ignore her giddyness when he assigned Vesper to work alongside of her. Now wasn't the time.
"Whatever you were doing, drop it. This is top priority, over everything else. Stay up all night if you have to, just make sure this gets done" Rhod said, seeming a bit more in charge than he usually behaved "We don't want you to have to start getting a whole new load of tranqs made. We've made this as clean as possible, we're sterilising everything we're moving through afterwards and all their clothes will have to be disinfected, burnt and then pushed out an airlock, including the clothes of anyone who has had extended contact with that ship or the patients."
Fuck- Taylor thought. Something like this could take weeks... months even. How the hell was she and Vesper expected to just wipe out a vaccine from a foreign, alien disease? "I'll report to you on our progress in five hours."
After thoroughly scrubbing himself in his sanitizer chamber, Shaq'l'phard moved to the package he had settled on his desk earlier. After the hellish adventure he had had, he felt as if he had deserved the little snack he was about to partake in. It wasn't every day that he got to eat what he was about to. He settled himself on his perch and unwrapped the aged organ.
Vesper nodded to the captain before putting a hand on Taylor's shoulder to address her. "I'll be ready in just a moment to go, alright? I just need to inform my superiors." She gave the other woman a small gentle smile before letting her head slide from her shoulder and stepped over to the Doctor, less affected by his actions than most people would be. "Sir, Commander Rhod had ordered me to work with Miss Taylor on a vaccine for the infected. I am, of course, as always, at your service-" She placed a formal hand on her chest and bowed a little, head lowered, then stood upright again. "You need only to call me, and I shall come. I just wanted to notify you that I would be working with her for a while and will be in this medical ward less often than is customary of my schedule."
Taylor's attention went over to Vesper as she walked over to her superior. Her eyes glanced down briefly to the woman's figure before shaking out of it to face the commander. "It's it's alright with you, I would like to head back down to the biolabs. Feel free to contact me if anything new comes up."
Shaq'l'phard sighed and leered across his desk at Vesper. "I thought I had locked the door. You know I do not like to be disturbed while I am feasting. And upon a delicacy no less!" He huffed and slumped, "Very well. You will of course be checking in on any progress? The captain has made a point of infesting this ship with whatever sort of virus those wretches have and soon the sickbay will be overrun with patients. If I do not have assistance, I will most assuredly have to start putting people out of my misery." He chuckled softly at the end of that statement, a strange sort of grunting sound that seemed more to disturb most people than edge laughter from them.
"Of course, sir. I shall make it of the utmost importance." Vesper gave him a last little smile and a wave before she turned and walked out back to Taylor, feeling a bit like her own feathers (if she'd had any) had been ruffled. She mentally worked to smooth them back down as she grinned at her companion. "All set then?"
Taylor nodded, "We should start running tests right away." she said, heading towards the door with the nurse. When they left the quarters and began down the hall, she wrapped an arm around hers. "So much for getting a drink? Guess we have a long night ahead of us."
"I do not mind staying up if you do not," Vesper replied easily, laying her free hand on the arm currently wrapped in hers, seeming very unbothered by their closeness despite their new companionship. "And there will be many days to come, to be sure. Drinks can wait. Unless, of course... one is dying of thirst." She chuckled as they stepped in the elevator to go below decks.
Rhod looked around at the bustling... they could deal with him not physically being there for a moment. His mind, and computer, would be on it for sure, but right now he felt like he needed to be somewhere else physically. Somewhere a bit stiller.
"No you dont sir and I apologize if it seemed I was being condescending and belittling." D'mitri said in response to Rhod's thoughts. "Just trying to do my job as best as possible to lessen or remove any threat or threats this ship may encounter."
"Your job is the safety of the people and immediate threats on this ship" Rhod said, making the position seem respectful and not butting D'mitri out of his business "I will worry about outside influences. If you do it all I'll have nothing left to do."
"I understand, I do not wish to make you feel unneeded or to cut into your area of authority." D'mitri said with a slight bow, "I will keep my attention focused on the well-being of the ship and her occupants."
"Which will be quite the chore I'm sure by now. Did anything happen while I was away? I'm afraid I've been out of radio contact for a while now" Rhod wanted to be on top of everything, and while he could download the files into his head he prefered word of mouth... Well... He frowned, technically he was still downloading it into his head but this way was slower and involved less electricity.
Sojana stepped back and let the two males converse. She didn't have a problem with offering a sample of her blood, but if the medical personnel coming to take it brought the wrong equipment her scales could very well snap all they're needles. She;d broach the subject later though, when the captain and the chief were finished with their exchanges.
"We apprehended the individual that was responsible for the bones recovered from the green houses." D'mitri began to explain, "It was a gelatenous humanoid that was apparently lonely and depressed since he was the only one of his kind on the ship. So he started melting down women in a vat of acid to create another blob-like creature like himself to have as a companion. Our break in the investigation came when he kidnapped Rosie and took her into the service corridors. After this event I am going to recommend psychological evaluations be done on every member of the staff every yearly cycle. Or I can just scan their minds for criminal intentions."
"Not all of them are members of staff" Rhod pointed out, rather disgruntled that this had all happened while he was away. He was glad D'mitri was able to handle this, but having a full strength kidnapping spring up was something completely different.
"I would recommend evaluations be done on every person aboard this vessel, but the time and resources required would be unobtainable." D'mitri continued, "That is why I feel it can be limited to only people who are in positions of high stress, power, or danger, as well as those that have access to hazardous and deadly items."
"Even that wouldn't weed everyone out, but maybe it would be a good idea to start making it mandatory to visit a psychotherapist every now and then" Rhod agreed "But right now we have more pressing matters."
"Agreed, once this infestation is taken care of we can then work on the new policy." D'mitri said.
"Does anyone know how long it takes this thing to start acting?" Sojana asked. "I don't really feel like burrowing my way into someone's colon." She'd not started exhibiting signs of the virus and she was pretty sure Kai had succumb by now. Maybe it too longer in Vidians?
"That is a point... you haven't turned yet" Rhod frowned at Sojana "Maybe... maybe we should examine your blood? Take a close look, see what's going on in there..." He huffed however "But... the labs are working over drive on a cure."
"But I am sure they would be willing to make some room if there is a chance that some resistance or cure could be found out of her blood. D'mitri said as he turned to look at Sojana.
"I'll volunteer for anything you want me to sir." Sojana told him. "Shy of giving up an egg of course."
"I'm a commander not a monster Sojana" Rhod sighed before looking around "Alright, some samples from Sojana would be useful. I need to contact the lab techs right now..." He closed his eyes and frowned, as if concentrating hard.
"For testing I mean sir." Sojana told him. "I'm the one who eats them. Who does that make a monster?"
"I can contact them for you if you wish, Commander." D'mitri said, ready to send a telepathic command.
Rhod didn't answer, his eyes were closed, he was concentrating on connecting with the people down at the labs.
Back to: Closing Time
History: Facility Quarters 1
Facility Quarters 2
Facility Quarters 3
Facility Quarters 4
Stumble!