ZE/D03 - Sickbay

[Charlotte Dawes]

Charlotte overheard the Vulcan asked about blunt force trauma and she smiled at Ensign Baldwin.

"This race is so much stronger than most of the people on board," Charlotte reminded her. "Their cranial structure is also reinforced with this metal," she said looking up from the subject she was studying. "I think a Vulcan might stand a chance. A Klingon. But, I'd wager a guess that they are faster than most of us too."

"Present company excluded, of course," she added sheepishly. "We are starting to get blood panels and chemical analysis back," she added.

"With Dr. O'Fee's approval, I can start to run simulations to see if any of our standard sedatives would effect them." Charlie glanced over at O'Fee for her response.


==Tag O'Fee, Baldwin==

[Evie O’Fee]

Coming back to her staff Evie had a lot of information to work with, still something seemed to be out of place. They were really making sure that they were ready to defend against them, and heal their injuries after. They still haven't really learned much about them at this point, personally she would have left them adrift but here they were. 

"Alright here is what we know to be true." Evie said to her small team. "The physiology of these people would require a lot of sedatives, enough that would kill two humans. It would behoove us to know how much is needed to keep them sedated for proper treatment, everything has to be perfect to prevent say being conscience during any procedure." She started to think a little more carefully about how to defend against them. "Nurse Dawes I trust your judgment, I authorize any test you deem necessary." She paused again.

"Daideo (Grandpa) used to tell us all the time, first learn how to use your head, and then fists when it comes to that. Meaning their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness, if we use between one hundred and fifty to three hundred and sixty joules or twenty and thirty amperes. Its enough to both start and stop a human heart, I am afraid that the risk is too high we would cause brain death if we do this wrong. I suggest both be taken to the holodeck for testing, I would also suggest testing magnetic fields. If we could magnetize the metal in their skeleton, we could use it as a natural restraining device." The magnetization itself wouldn't last long, but it was possible to buy them time to talk their way out of something. 

"Doctor Tyris-McEntyre what I need you to do is test the theory of gravity, if I am right the gravity on this ship as is would hurt them a lot. Much like pressure on a spring, if you release pressure on the spring gradually nothing would happen other than going to its original size. Release the pressure all at once, that same spring will jump off the surface. Much like Sir Isaac Newtons third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Even if Evie didn't want them in her care, now that they are she would work equally as hard to maintain their life. "As for me I am going to work on what I can get from these stasis pods. It stands to reason that they would have a cargo compartment that would hold potential food, medicine and even weapons. My list of priorities in order are to keep them asleep until Command can find them a home, learning how to talk to them, how to treat them and finally if it comes to it defend against them. Now you know what I expect, lets get to work." 

Evie went to the pods looking for any indication of a small cargo hold, there had to be something there that would also give them an insight to their language. An advanced race would have some way for others to communicate with them, they just needed to find the key.

==Tag and GM input.==

[A’kilees]

“This does help a lot, and that leads to my next request. Let’s assume these guests are not hostile to us, I would like to be able to increase or decrease with a single command. If they are not hostile, we can gradually decrease the gravity so they can climatize. If they are hostile, I want to be able to outright eliminate gravity by saying ‘conundrum’”.

Interesting, I’m sure that wouldn’t be too much of an issue. A’kilees thought to himself striking a thinking pose, his gaze lowered from the doctor to the Sickbay floor as he began to envision how it would be done. A'kilees wasn't sure how long he sat there on the biobed thinking for but soon he heard Evie's voice directed at him.

“If you like you can return to Engineering, we can handle things from here”. The saurian looked quickly back up to her and gave her an reptilian smile, trying to hold back his eager and excitable energy.

How could you possibly tell me to go back to Engineering when I have a chance to mess around with the gravitational controls?! A’kilees cleared his throat.

“Well Doctor you should be able to increase or decrease the gravity in a room with just a voice command to the ship's computer already to accommodate them. Even they will be able to do it once the Universal Translator deciphers their language.” he replied attempting to subdue his enthusiasm.

Come on please say yes, please Doctor!

“But if you’re requesting *gwar* to have an emergency voice activation subroutine in case of any hostility, I’d be happy to play aro- *cough ahem* program it from your gravity control here in Sickbay rather than to go right to Engineering. It should be a simple algorithm to put into place to deactivate the grav-plating. However, I might need to get permission before implementing it though. Excuse me for a moment.” A’kilees turned away from the Doctor pressed his combadge and it chirped in acknowledgement.

Smooth A’kilees he grumbled irritantly at himself, nearly blew it for yourself. He hoped that the doctor hadn’t heard him blunder. Acting professional in these instances was a part of being a member of the Engineering department, he didn’t want Doctor O’Fee that he was only planning on messing around.

[A’kilees to Keir 77. Chief, permission to install a voice activation subroutine for the gravitational control in Sickbay as per Doctor O’Fee’s request.]

== Tag Evie O’Fee, Keir 77 ==

[Keir 77]

The reply to Engineer's request was immediate

[Permission granted Midshipman, please keep me informed as to your progress and findings, Keir out.]

[A’kilees]

[Understood.] replied A’kilees.

Excellent! he thought. Got permission from both the chief and the doctor, now to get to work! He stood up from the biobed and went over to the wall terminal. Upon accessing the computer interface, A’kilees got to work right away writing up the parameters of the program, humming loudly to himself. As per the doctor’s description, the program required the deactivation of the artificial gravity upon the specific voice line to be spoken by Evie if in a moment of emergency. Within no time, the saurian had a quick program written up and he addressed the ship’s computer.

“Computer, begin implementation *clickclick* of the new emergency subroutine. Install bypass parameters superseding officer clearance codes with authorized voice activation in event of emergency.” The computer chimed in acknowledgement.

[Boo-bop. Bypass parameters set.]

“Link subroutine with Sickbay’s artificial gravity control. Set gravity parameters in Sickbay from 1.0G to 0.0G upon emergency subroutine voice activation.” A’kilees continued.

[Beep-beep! Warning: Deactivation of artificial gravity in Sickbay may affect personnel within and in surrounding areas.]

“Understood. Initialize new voice activation emergency gravity program subroutine”. The computer processed the new program and soon chimed again in acknowledgement.

[Boo-bop. Program initialized. Voice sample for activation required. Ready to record.] The saurian looked over to the Doctor.

“Doctor, nearly done here. If you don’t mind, could you please speak the command word?”

== Tag Evie O’Fee ==

[Morad Ameen]

== GM-Broken Arrow ==

As Doctor O'Fee meticulously examined the exterior of the twelve stasis pods, the sleek, utilitarian design of the ancient technology became apparent. There were no obvious handles, hinges, or latches. However, as she ran her medical scanner near the heavily reinforced base of the pods—just below where the occupants' feet rested—the tricorder detected a small, hollow cavity shielded by a layer of the same lead-polymer honeycomb found on the ship's hull.

Applying a mild, localized ultrasonic pulse from her instruments, Evie was able to disengage the mechanical locking mechanism. A small, seamless drawer slid outward with a quiet hiss of equalizing pressure. It was a standardized emergency survival kit, identical across all twelve pods.

Inside the compartment, there were no weapons, but there were three distinct items of interest. First was a sealed, metallic cylinder containing a highly compressed, desiccated nutritional compound. Second was a heavy-duty, spring-loaded auto-injector. While its design was entirely alien, its medical purpose was undeniable; a quick scan revealed it contained a stabilized, incredibly potent chemical stimulant or coagulant—a perfect starting point for Nurse Dawes' sedative and chemical interaction simulations.

Finally, resting at the bottom of the drawer was a small, heavy metallic medallion attached to a thick chain. Evie's hope of finding a written language or an alphabet, however, was dashed. Much like the black box data module currently sitting in the Science Lab, the medallion contained no letters or pictograms. Instead, it was etched with a unique, highly complex series of geometric fractals. It seemed these people didn't just use mathematics for their computers; they used it as their foundational language and personal identification.

[Evie O’Fee]

Even though Evie didn't find what she was looking for, she did find a few things of interest. If they were going to need to take care of them, they were going to need to know how. There was food and medicine in this pod, and one other item that looked important. Picking up the syringe it felt heavier than any other she picked up, bringing it to both Doctor and Nurse she got their attention. "I am willing to bet there are eleven more in those pods, it should give us an idea about how much medicine to deliver and how. Doctor McEntyre could study this and there is something that I think passes as their food, it would give us a better idea about what they eat. We might need to make them comfortable."

Getting ready to go, she knew this was important. "Computer location of Commander Keir."

[Commander Keir is in the Ready Room.]

Holding the other item in her hand, she had the item. "Doctor McEntyre hold down the fort while I am gone, I need to bring this to their attention." Evie left the room and headed to the bridge.

>>>Ready Room.>>>

[A’kilees]

A’kilees turned around. “Doctor, nearly done here. If you don’t mind, could you please speak the command word?”. The saurian was quite surprised that he was speaking to empty space as Evie who had previously been nearby was now gone. He looked around Sickbay curiously, peeking around corners. There were the various members of the medical team hard at work, the Security team vulcan Ava Baldwin was surveying the pods and the aliens inhabiting them while other members of the security stood by, but the doctor was nowhere to be seen, not overseeing the medical crew nor in her office. “Computer, where is Doctor O’Fee currently?” the saurian asked. The computer chimed in acknowledgement to the question.

[Boo-boop. Doctor O’Fee is currently on Deck One in the Ready Room]

That’s unfortunate, A’kilees thought as he turned back to the wall computer interface once again and began to modify the program he had been working on. He had hoped that she would have provided the voice sample before leaving to make his programming easier and to thank her for the exemplary dental treatment he had received earlier, but he knew her responsibilities as Chief Medical Officer required her to report to the Commander and be present with the rest of the bridge crew.

“Computer, designate voice command word for emergency gravity subroutine as ‘conundrum’ and to be implemented only by Chief Medical Officer, Doctor O’Fee”

[Boo-boop. Parameters set.]

“Good, end program modification. Thank you Computer”. The computer chirped back in conclusion of the task. A’kilees looked around one last time. He was sure that everything was completed here and remembered that the doctor had mentioned that once he was done he could return to Engineering. A'kilees wanted to check on the power draw on the EPS conduit of his hardwire job and was confident he would find some other tasks to complete before the end of the cycle. Confident in his completed work, he headed out of Sickbay and towards the turbolift to head down to Engineering.

>>> Engineering >>>

[Evie O’Fee]

<<< Ready Room<<<

Evie didn't waste much time after getting back to Sick Bay, it was important that they work quickly. "I need everyone's attention." She shouted loudly waiting for everyone to stop what they are doing. "we have something of an idea about what they require for nutrition, most of the nursing staff will be responsible for breaking down some of a sample. We need to be able to replicate even more, and if we can expand on that even better."

"Nurse Dawes I need you to break down the mechanics of the syringe, and a small sample of the medicine inside. My guess is its to bring them out of the stasis, much like a morning cup of coffee just stronger." 

Turning to the other Doctor. "Doctor Tyris-McEntyre you are with me, there are several scans we should run. If we are going to wake one of them up soon, we need every bit of information we can get. We will compare their brain against every species we know that have special abilities, we need to verify one way or the other if they have any."

Evie went back to the pods scanning their brain, if there was something there it would be easier to compare with what was already established. If there was something they could use, it would become clear shortly.

==Tag and GM input please==

[Charlotte Dawes]

The hum caused by the chatter of the officers in Sickbay came to a quick stop as Dr. O'Fee shouted into the well of the workspace demanding everyone's attention. Charlotte was happy to see that the Chief Medical Officer had returned - their work was starting to come to a standstill without more direction.

"Nurse Dawes..."

Charlotte perked to tune in more carefully to the orders given specifically to her.

"I need you to break down the mechanics of the syringe, and a small sample of the medicine inside. My guess is it's to bring them out of the stasis, much like a morning cup of coffee just stronger."

Since Dr. O'Fee was still giving out orders, Charlotte acknowledge hers with a simple nod and by gathering the necessary equipment to safely collect the syringe to transport it for testing. The lab equipment in Zephyr's Sickbay was functional, but as with most of the ship, there wasn't much extra space to work with. Still, Charlotte didn't need much to work with. She pressed herself into the quietest corner that she could find and began to work.

It didn't take long for the scans to show that Dr. O'Fee's instinct was correct - the contents of the medicine was a strong stimulant, but the initial findings were confusing to her. The analysis also showed coagulant properties. She tried to think of how a coagulant might be relevant to bringing someone out of a cryogenic state.

Would thawing them out create hemorrhaging risks? Could their genetic modifications have thinned their blood somehow? 

She had more questions than answers at this point. She asked the computer to run simulations on some possible counter-agents and reached out to Evie over her comm, so she could let her know what she found.

[Dr. O'Fee, whenever you have a minute. I have some preliminary results.]



==Tag, O'Fee==

[Morad Ameen]

== GM-Broken Arrow ==

As Dr. O'Fee and Dr. Tyris-McEntyre ran the comparative neurological scans, the bio-bed monitors began flashing with completed data matrices.

To answer Evie's primary concern: the scans showed a complete absence of a psionic paracortex. When cross-referenced with known telepathic or empathic species like Vulcans, Betazoids, or Aenar, there were no matching neural pathways. These beings were strictly non-telepathic.

However, they were far from ordinary.

The scans revealed that their parietal and occipital lobes were massively hypertrophied—enlarged to a degree rarely seen in humanoids. This indicated an incredible capacity for visual-spatial processing. They didn't just look at their environment; they likely calculated it in real-time, perfectly aligning with the complex, mathematical language Pedro and Amila were discovering up in the Science Labs. Furthermore, their amygdala (the brain's fear and panic center) was tightly regulated by an unusually thick network of myelin-sheathed nerves. They were biologically hardwired not to panic under stress, but to analyze and adapt.

Simultaneously, the medical computer finished processing Nurse Dawes's simulations regarding the syringe.

Charlotte's instincts were absolutely correct. The computer simulation of the thawing process showed that pulling a biological organism out of a 100,000-year deep-freeze caused microscopic ice crystals to temporarily rupture capillaries throughout the body. Without the coagulant, the rapid introduction of the heavy stimulant would cause massive internal hemorrhaging, effectively killing the patient the moment their heart restarted.

The alien syringe was a perfectly balanced, all-in-one revival cocktail. The coagulant would instantly seal the micro-fissures in their vascular system, while the stimulant kick-started their heart and respiratory functions.

According to the computer's final assessment, the medical team had everything they needed. If they synthesized a matching dose and administered it, the alien would wake up—and they would wake up calm, calculating, and fully lucid.

All they needed to do now was coordinate with Lieutenant Gath to transport one of the pods to the secure Holodeck environment.

[Morad Ameen]

[Lieutenant Gath.] Ameen voice came through the ship's comm system. [Coordinate directly with Doctor O'Fee. We are not waking this subject in Sickbay. I am authorizing the transport of one pod to your prepared Holodeck simulation. I want maximum containment fields, weapons restricted to heavy stun, and full quarantine protocols active before the Doctor administers the revival stimulant.]

There was a short pause.

[Lieutenant Ra'an, Midshipman Cortez just forwarded his linguistic analysis. It confirms your team's theories—they communicate in pure, constant mathematics. Lock down that Faraday cage, and maybe bring a calculator... The Holodeck is our First Contact point. Make it safe. Ameen out.]

[Evie O’Fee]

It didn't take too long for the results to come back, they were extremely fascinating. The way how they see their surroundings was different than what they did. It was almost like they would be natural tricorders, at first it would be taxing to many people too see the surrounding world like that. Taking in all that information flooding in at once, made Evie think as they grow the ability gets developed. If they gradually developed the senses, it would prevent being overwhelmed. 

Soon she received a communication from Charlotte. [Dr. O'Fee, whenever you have a minute. I have some preliminary results.] She had more work to do before they could transfer one of those pods to the Holodeck. There was a chance that by removing one pod the others would open, or all of them would as a safety feature. She left Tyris to continue the work.

"Lets see if this is one of those units that work best when it is all together, or if one is removed the others would start to open. We might have to think about replicating this pod in the holodeck, amongst other environmental conditions. We might have to replicate their environment in more than one way, the way how it looks and feels." Evie didn't have much time before talking to Charlotte. 

[Doctor O'Fee to Engineering I need to have a full diagnostic of these pods, I need to make sure these don't work on the same kind of principal of a series circuit. If one part isn't working, the rest of it will shut down.]

She left McEntyre to complete his task while going to Charlotte to see what she had to report, it was getting closer to making the transition smoother for these people. "What have we got Charlotte?" Evie had some excitement in her voice that was hard to hide, like solving an giant puzzle. 

==Tag and GM input on findings==

[Charlotte Dawes]

Charlotte had a serious expression on her face when Dr. O'Fee approached her. "What have we got, Charlotte?" O'Fee asked.

"Well, you were right, it is a stimulant - a powerful one," she answered confidently. "Simulations show that it should revive their cardiovascular activity and stimulate their autonomic nervous system to continue these functions." Charlotte showed the doctor the images that the computer had produced which showed a visual graphic of the stimulant's work throughout the bodies of the aliens. "If it works the way our simulations show, it will be quite effective. I have the computer working on potential counter-agents, should we need it. With the results I'm seeing already, I think we'll have something their soon."

"But the analysis is also showing a coagulant. I was trying to figure out what that might be about," she added, sounding a little less confident. "The simulations are saying that without it that during the thawing process, ice crystals could cause hemorrhaging?" She turned to the doctor as if for confirmation as she pulled up the next set of graphics.


==Tag O'Fee==

==Tag GM, input please, is the computer able to come up with counter agents to the stimulant?==

[Evie O’Fee]

The information was impressive by any standards, in the early days before the Federation something like this would not be possible. This technology predated humans by a long time, this could have solved the problem they were having. Now they have a working solution that shed some light on them, possibly what they were about.

"The problems with cryogenic freezing is ice crystals, its like having shrapnel running loose in your body. Also yes it can cause hemorrhaging, that's part of the job of the coagulant." Evie stopped for a second, it was better than she thought. It was important to enter the information in the ships logs, Star Fleet Science would take a big interest in.

"The coagulant helps with the reanimation process by adding clotting agents that would aide in the healing process, it would instantly heal all wounds and prevents degradation of the blood. As we both know blood breaks down to three parts, this would prevent it from happening." Looking in the direction of the pods. "I don't imagine they meant for it to last this long, second thought lets keep all this information on a private server until the Captain is ready to release this information." They were going to play this one close to the vest while keeping the Captain informed, what to do with it will be up to him.

"Eventually we are going to have to send one of these pods to the Holo Deck, I am going to tag the one I believe is going to be the most helpful. The one that had the second piece of what they have in Science, he is either the leader or the person who has the information we need." This whole thing was going to get noticed soon so they were going to have to work quickly, even her firewall would eventually come down the question was when.

==Tag==

[Morad Ameen]

== GM-Broken Arrow ==

As Dr. O'Fee reached out to Engineering, the bio-bed's diagnostic computer finished running a localized structural analysis of the pod cluster to answer her immediate concern.

The computer confirmed that the pods were not wired in a fragile "series circuit." This highly advanced species designed their survival gear with extreme redundancy. The pods were modular. Disconnecting the "Leader's" pod from the main cluster would not cause the other eleven to fail or open.

However, there was a catch.

The diagnostic showed that the moment a pod is physically severed from the shared power matrix, its internal emergency battery takes over. The pod's programming assumes that if it has been disconnected, the ship is either destroyed or the pod has been deployed to a planetary surface. Therefore, severing the umbilical will initiate an automatic, unalterable 15-minute countdown to a forced revival. Once Evie and her team unplug that pod to move it to the Holodeck, they will have exactly 15 minutes to transport it, get it behind Gath's forcefields, and administer the coagulant before the occupant wakes up on their own—which, without the coagulant, would be fatal.

Simultaneously, the main medical terminal chirped, signaling that it had finished processing Nurse Dawes's request for a counter-agent.

Charlotte's request was successful. By analyzing the chemical structure of the alien stimulant, the computer was able to synthesize a highly concentrated, fast-acting neuro-suppressant—a heavily modified Anesthizine derivative. The computer authorized the replicator to produce the counter-agent in standard hypospray vials.

The computer did append one warning, however, echoing Gath's tactical report. Because of the alien's highly efficient, redundant circulatory system, a standard dose of the counter-agent would only neutralize the stimulant for approximately ten minutes before their liver and secondary organs filtered it out. It was a functioning safety net, but a temporary one.

The pieces were in place. They had the counter-agent, they had the coagulant, and they knew exactly which pod they were taking. The clock was ready to start.

[Evie O’Fee]

Even though the methods were different, the results were exactly the same. It was only a matter of time before the other pods were going to open, this could be problematic for all involved. There was one work around that Evie could think of, they already had the hollo emitters in place, if they were to replicate even a hologram of the pod it might help. If they were to keep the circuit complete, the countdown wouldn't wake the others.

"As I suspected." Evie said while looking at the results. "Once one pod is disconnected from the group, its a small matter of time before they all wake up. If we keep the circuit complete by creating a hologram, we might be able to keep them asleep longer." Evie wasn't sure if it was going to work, but it was worth the risk. If it didn't work there wasn't much of a downside, they would open and they would have time to figure out what to do with them.

"Charlotte lets hypothesize for a second. Lets assume our standard equipment isn't going to be helpful to them, like carving a turkey with a paring knife it just can't get the depth needed. I think we should make sure we have the tools needed to treat them as needed, after all its better to get ready for it while we don't need it as opposed to when we do." she wasn't sure about what results Charlotte had, it could shed some light on the subject.

"What have you got for me?" Evie waited for her report to continue, there was something there Evie just wasn't seeing it yet.

==Tag==

[Charlotte Dawes]

"What have you got for me?" Evie waited for her report to continue, there was something there Evie just wasn't seeing it yet.

Nurse Dawes held out a glass case that contained twelve vials, meant to dose a standard hypospray, recently replicated and dosed with the synthesized counter-agent that the nurse had requested. There was a purple-banded warning label on the case and on each vial.

"Well," Charlotte began tentatively. "We are learning more about their biology. They are very advanced in pretty much all ways."

"This is what the computer was able to come up with as a counter agent for the stimulant, Doctor," she replied. "It's a fast-acting neuro-suppressant, modified from Anesthizine," she explained. "From first glance it appears to be extremely potent, I just instructed the computer to analyze what would happen if one of us were accidentally dosed with it - just in case. But here's the catch-- it will only sedate the aliens for ten minutes."

Charlotte directed Evie over to the computer's analyzed results, which included a three-dimensional graphic of their circulatory system, liver, kidneys, and other organs, some of which showed clear redunancies, others with purposes not yet clear.

"Their bodies will filter and neutralize this agent quickly. It's almost like their bodies are built to be immune to poison - to filter it out, and this agent, would be interpreted as something their bodies need to get rid of," she said summarizing the results.

"Something that might last longer, would be if there is something that could be administered through the air, force them to breathe it, continuously," she offered. "But if modified Anesthizine acts as a sedative, they may be too similar to us that there might not be anything that wouldn't also knock us out pretty quickly also."

"Perhaps we should tag them with commbadges for easy transporter locks," Charlotte suggested. "To administer this, we'd have to get pretty close, or I don't know, use a dart gun or something?" Charlotte seemed to be stretching for answers to find something useful. "I can have the computer keep working on medications for treatment, a better sedative. Is there anything in particular that you think we might need to treat?" She asked. 


==Tag==