Post by Admin on Mar 31, 2016 6:00:05 GMT
A Plague of Problems
Postby Jocelyn Nidari » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:28 pm
A Plague of Problems
Cdr Akena Le-Gran, Lt. Atton Jetrel, & Lt., j.g. Jocelyn Nidari
Atton shuffled into sickbay carrying a large energized box a healthy distance away from his torso. He'd already singed his uniform twice on the damn thing and wasn't interested in more random holes in his pristine uniform. He glanced around at the mostly empty sickbay. Only a few of the crew had reported any sort of adverse reaction to the recent invasion and none so bad as whom he sought to help. Noting that Commander Le-Gran was not in the main bay, he wondered if that meant he was dead or so bad off that he'd been moved to a private room. Atton took several small steps further in, ever cautious of sickbay.
“Hello? Doctor?”
“Yes?” Jocelyn poked her head out of the CMO’s office at the hail and spotted Atton. Isn’t he the one that the odd little Counselor Desu tried to throw at you… uh oh. Her gaze drifted to the object in his grasp and she blinked. Through the force field walls of the box she could see one of the tiny energy bugs that were currently plaguing the ship. Data padd in hand, she cleared her throat as she approached to catch his attention.
"You captured one of them?" Bending slightly to peer into the makeshift cage, she frowned. "It doesn't look that happy about it. What are you going to do with it?"
Atton blinked, dumbfounded, as Jocelyn appeared. Great, the pretty doctor who made you walk into a wall. At least try to sound intelligent. "I uh... hadn't decided yet, but..." He glanced around in a secretive manner, and lowered his voice slightly. "I head the commander had an adverse reaction. I was hoping this... thing could help."
"Someone did call it in, but the commander himself hasn’t shown up.” She’d had only a few other reports of injuries due of the creatures. The worst had been a slight sprain to a crewman's ankle when he'd been surprised by one flying out of his sonic shower. “Perhaps it is not as bad as you thought?"
Atton could hardly hide his embarrassment. Again. "This is what I get for listening to the enlisted." He frowned slightly and glanced around, quickly losing confidence. "Well, you can still look it over if you'd like. I mean... it's not every day the ship gets infested by... whatever these are." He bent down, and peered into the cage, watching the bug try desperately to escape. "I don’t think it'll make a good pet though."
"Are they intelligent? Has anyone attempted communication with them?" Her eyebrows rose fractionally at the thought. Making some inquiries into her data padd, she waited a few moments for the query to run and then breathed a soft sigh of relief. "According to this, they are not. We actually have them on record, though it doesn't list side-effects. Perhaps no Morian has ever encountered them before." She handed him the data file to review and pulled out her medical tricorder, making a few adjustments before scanning the tiny creature.
His frown only deepened as he read over the file. Not only had been mistaken about Le-Gran, but he'd wasted hours catching a useless bug that did nothing. His eyes caught the name however, causing him to do a double take. "Goldman's Quasi-dimensional Fireflies." A loud sigh escaped him.
"Quasi-dimensional?" She hazarded a glance up at him. "I wonder if the field is keeping it from phasing from this dimension or if they all must do it at once as a group."
The little bug bounced off of the holding container a couple of times as if testing its bonds and then continued to hover in the center, emitting sparks of various colors. "Does it have any other information on them? Their characteristics, perhaps? Do they emit any harmful chemicals or substances?"
"I wouldn't pretend to know the math that allows it pass through solid matter... or what makes them what they are..." He glanced up at her, the looking educated thing not working so well at the moment. "It says here that they're mostly harmless, though they're known to sting invaders and threats, which is something akin to a mild electrical shock. They mostly just want all the quote-unquote 'delicious energy in the ship.'" He blinked, and looked up to her again. "I really hope Goldman didn't write the guide too."
"Mild electrical shocks. It makes me wonder why no one else has complained of attacks. Perhaps they simply are not threatened by us, though this one might be if you disengaged the field."
She trailed off as sickbay doors opened and a very pained aquamarine-haired, silver-eyed Morian entered sullenly. Her eyes widened slightly and she glanced pointedly from the door to Atton and back again. "Commander… what a surprise to see you here."
“Hello, Doctor…” Le-Gran bit back a sigh. If only he were lucky enough to catch them all on coffee break so he could help himself to the medical supplies. He hurt. All. Over.
Atton caught the hint and followed Jocelyn's gaze to Le-Gran, all bit up just like Crewman Navarro had described. Perhaps he wasn’t so stupid after all. If it hadn't been for the colorful description, Atton may have dropped a jaw, or worse, cracked a smirk at the sight. Instead he did his best to look professional. "Commander, Dr. Nidari and I were just investigating one of our uninvited guests."
"So... what brings you in?" Jocelyn asked casually, giving him the benefit of the doubt and wondering why he hadn't come sooner. Silly male pride, perhaps?
"In case you didn't know... I um... yeah... bugs and I…” Le-Gran started flushing.
"Goldman's Quasi-dimensional Fireflies," she supplied. "But there is nothing on record about reactions to Morians." She patted one of the biobeds. "Why don't you have a seat and let me look you over.”
Moving to comply, Akena caught sight of the caged bug and froze. “You have that thing contained, Lieutenant?”
“Of course, sir,” Atton nodded eagerly, if only to prove in front of Jocelyn that he was good at something. He remained where he was, deciding it was probably best to watch the commander from a distance, where it wasn’t so humorous (and hazardous) to his career. He was still having trouble suppressing his smile of triumph at anticipating the commander’s need, but he managed.
Le-Gran sighed as he took his seat on the bed, trying his best to smile at the doctor. "We don't do well with most insectoids."
"Then this has happened before.” Resetting her tricorder once more, she used the wand to scan him. "Did one sting you?"
“Must have been in my sleep,” he grumbled unconvincingly.
Atton glanced up at Le-Gran but said nothing as he instead fiddled with the power settings of the box. He'd heard Navarro's story and couldn't blame the commander for the white lie.
"Mmmm... that seems odd as they haven't been aggressive to any others on the ship." She threw a glance at Atton's specimen, eyes widening slightly at the bug's reaction to the XO's presence. It had started to fling itself against the cage in an attempt to break free. "Lieutenant, is that new behavior?"
"It definitely seems to react to the commander’s presence. I've never seen it this riled up." Lowering himself so he was eye level with the creature, he jerked backwards involuntarily as it hit the field nearest him. He decided not to mention that he hadn't thought they could hit this hard and wasn't entirely confident the cage could hold it.
Le-Gran smiled coyly. "You've seen the reaction Tribbles have to Klingons?"
"I've heard, but I had no idea that the same was true for insects and Morians. That explains a little..." She studied the scans as they concluded. "Well, it looks like nothing more than an allergic reaction. In this case, irritation due to the high concentration of energy they spark - much like an electrical burn. It causes a peculiar chemical change to the skin. Perhaps they take exception to your blue hair,” she teased as she retrieved her hypo.
He snorted. "It's a bit of reverse operation..."
"What do you mean? Your species has an intense hatred of insects which makes them hate you back?" After priming the hypospray with something that would help with the painful burns and itching, she pressed it to his carotid and released the medicine. "I suppose I should give you something to take with you as this will probably happen again until someone figures a way to get them off of the ship."
"Which they'd better do immediately," he muttered. "I itch in places I didn't even know I had. I've had to disconnect all of the power sources in my quarters to keep them from being drawn there."
Atton, who was chuckling good naturedly at Le-Gran's last comment, hadn't even noticed the first couple of low beeps emanating from the cage. By the time he'd glanced down and realized his hand had been covering the ‘low battery’ light, the cage walls had died in a quiet hiss. The bug darted towards Le-Gran, missed him by inches, and disappeared through a wall.
The three of them met eyes, though Atton was the first to voice what they were all thinking. "This isn't going to be good."
"Perhaps it ran away in fear?” Jocelyn offered unconvincingly, but trailed off as all of the medical equipment began flickering madly. The consoles struggled to compensate for the tiny sparks of energy that the bugs emitted. She took a few steps back from Le-Gran, eyes wide as the first insect flowed out of the circuitry… followed by an entire swarm of its brethren. "Oh... my... uh... Commander..."
Le-Gran knew that look and didn't like it. Jumping from the biobed, he whirled to face the swarm and backed away with her as it hovered a few feet away – now growing in number as even more of the tiny creatures joined. Bright flashes of energy sparked between them, relaying messages. He doubted they were friendly messages.
Atton was also backing away, remembering Jocelyn's comment that they didn't seem to like to be contained. He had an aching feeling they weren't all here for the Commander. He glanced towards the sickbay doors, which seemed a mile away. The bugs slowly inched forward, moving to box them in a corner.
"Doctor... you might want to hide in the office..." He glanced over at her with concern in his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was get her stung as well.
"I… uh...,” she stammered, unable to take her eyes off of the creatures. Her brain didn’t seem to want to function. One hand remained clenched around her hypospray, though it was hardly going to do her any good if – when – the insects attacked.
They could feel the energy level in the room rise as the creature count increased. The hair on their arms began to stand from the static field surrounding the bugs. Then, without warning, the floodgate broke open and the insects flew straight at the three of them. Jocelyn screamed and ducked her head, doing her best to crawl beneath the writhing mass of insects that battered the two men.
Akena was all for screaming like a girl and ducking, but he didn't think that would make a good impression on the rest of the crew. Instead, he grabbed for the tray of medical supplies at his elbow, scattering equipment everywhere as he swung the tray like a giant swatter, batting away as many as he could without getting stung.
Atton, who couldn't think of anything useful, resorted to running around sickbay like a mad man in an attempt to break the swarm into smaller, more manageable groups. It had gone well for a while before one stung him in the leg, causing an involuntary muscle spasm that left him rolling in agony on the floor. He yelped as more of the bugs attacked and did his best to make himself a moving target. The sound of mild electrical sparks filled sickbay.
Taking refuge beneath one of the biobeds, Jocelyn kept well out of the way of the main force of crazed fireflies, fending off the few that strayed in her direction. Somewhere between scrambling out of the way as Le-Gran inadvertently hit a few creatures in her direction, and screaming hysterically as she tried to untangle one of the insects from her hair, a flash of insight struck her. Dashing from her cover to the door of the lab, she slapped it open and ducked inside.
The small stasis units that they used to preserve certain cultures hugged one wall. She cranked one to its highest setting, knowing that it wouldn’t be immediately able to compensate. It whined dangerously as the power level shot upward and then began sparked as it neared overload. Finally, the safety systems engaged and siphoned the power in a single massive jolt.
The resulting surge shot out of the unit and into the power network, traveling through the rest of the ship where it could easily be distributed and absorbed. Sparks flew, both from the bugs and the overload that ripped through sickbay and down the power grid. Distracted from their vendetta, the fireflies shot out of sickbay, chasing the irresistible energy all across the ship.
Sagging against the doorframe as the onslaught ceased, Jocelyn peered back into sickbay, expecting injuries but finding something just shy of a war zone. Le-Gran had been doing fairly well at knocking the infernal creatures away, but had several more stings to go along with his original wounds. Not even her initial treatment was helping him. He was covered in dozens of electrical burns that were growing larger and angrily red with every passing moment. Leaning on the counter, he gritted his teeth with the effort it took him to remain standing as his muscles spasmed.
Though the commander looked far worse, Atton had taken the brunt of the attack, so much so that small plumes of smoke rose from his singed uniform where the bugs had shocked him. Suddenly aware that there were no more insects to battle, he rolled onto his back and let out a slow, painful groan. Without moving, he glanced around the room.
“Everyone still alive?”
“Barely,” Akena growled.
“Moderately,” Jocelyn replied as she moved into the room. She tapped her communication badge and called for the emergency medical team to report immediately. “Now, I want both of you up on beds,” she ordered, helping Atton to his feet as she reached him first.
Only a few moments later, the emergency team rushed through the doors and swarmed the three of them, helping the two men to their feet and getting them to biobeds. The surprised looks at the state of sickbay were followed by rapid-fire questions as to what happened. As he was the ranking officer present, Le-Gran attempted to explain while a half dozen people took care of his wounds. Jocelyn allowed one of the nurses to dose her with the same medicine she’d given Le-Gran before helping the others with Atton.
“You aren’t showing the same reactions as the commander, but your wounds are quite extensive,” she said quietly as she glanced to bio-monitor. One of the nurses placed a new hypospray into her hand and she pressed it against Atton’s neck.
“The Betazoid glanced over to Le-Gran and then back to her with a clenched face. The pain made his voice unsteady, and his shame wasn't well hidden. "I-I'm sorry..."
She studied his face for a moment before finally shrugging. "Mistakes happen. I only hope that Le-Gran doesn't have you flogged, because I would have to clean up the mess," she teased, trying to lighten his burden of guilt.
He produced a weak smile as the hypos began to kick in, numbing him in general. "My luck hasn't been that great lately. What do they say? Bad... Karma?"
"If it is any consolation, none of us were seriously injured. The commander will be uncomfortable for some time, but he is far from death. And remember, you came in here with the best of intentions. Surely that counts for something?"
"That’s true. I suppose we learned a valuable lesson about trying to contain them as well.” He rubbed his face absentmindedly before glancing back at her. The hypos were still doing their thing, and by now he had a pleasant smile on his face.
"Yes. The lesson is: Don't! But we did get some useful scans, so your efforts weren't for nothing." Jocelyn was waiting for the glassy-eyed expression. She patted his hand gently once she realized he was wandering. "Rest now while Nurse Marquez treats your burns."
He smirked. "What's the old saying... no pain no gain? You've got to fight for those scientific footnotes sometimes." He chuckled and let his head fall back onto the biobed, quickly drifting into a lovely state of semi-consciousness.
“Is he going to be okay?” Rosaline asked uncertainly as she inspected Atton’s injuries.
“More or less. I dosed him with antihistamines and a sedative to knock him out for a while. He needs a few dermal treatments for the worst of the burns, but he should be more or less back to normal when he wakes up.” Jocelyn threw a glance to Le-Gran’s bed. “I am slightly worried about the commander, though.”
“Why? I thought you said he wasn’t grievously injured.” Rosaline followed her gaze.
“He isn’t, though he’ll still be itching for a while despite our treatments.”
“So what’s the issue?”
“I can’t decide if we just keep him sedated until Atton has been discharged or if we should make ready the restraints.” Jocelyn smirked impishly at the nurse. “Once he regains his senses there’s a good chance that he’ll try to throttle the lieutenant here. That can’t be good for his blood pressure.”
“Better Lieutenant Jetrel than us,” Rosaline remarked wryly. “He’s a classic redshirt. He should be accustomed to imminent danger and the threat of death from hostile entities.”
“Perhaps,” Jocelyn chuckled. “But that really didn’t prepare him for homicidal fireflies.”
“Obviously.”
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Jocelyn Nidari
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