by Lance Hartcort and Zanh Liis
90604.16
Following Help's Not on the Way and The Upcoming Wall
-=USS Serendipity=-
90604.16
Following Help's Not on the Way and The Upcoming Wall
-=USS Serendipity=-
Zanh Liis took a moment to try to rub the weariness from her eyes.
It was no use.
She was tired physically, that much was certain, but it was the emotional strain upon her and everyone else aboard ship that was beginning to take its toll. She knew for those aboard the Zenith, the stress was far worse.
She couldn’t bear to think for too long about what life might be like at the moment for the people who had originally been serving aboard the Zenith…
She heard the chime to her ready room door ring and had no doubt who was on the other side.
She took another moment to try to shake the look that had been on Keiran's face from her thoughts, so as to paste a calm expression back on her own now before releasing the door to her visitor.
She drew a deep breath, walked to the replicator and ordered two cups of hot coffee; black.
She called for the computer to unlock the door and TC Blane strode inside. Without greeting, she held a cup out toward him. "Drink with me, Thomas."
Blane knew that this was not a good sign.
"Black coffee at this time of day?” He whistled softly. “You're hitting the hard stuff." he teased gently, but soon all traces of humor left his voice and his expression as he observed the shadows looming in her eyes. “Bad?”
"Bad.” She confirmed. She found herself unable to contemplate swallowing the liquid in her cup and quickly discarded it. “Keiran just told me that the Cavalry is not coming this time."
“Really?” TC took a long draw from the coffee. “Not to cast aspersions on our fearless leadership but they are aware of the situation we are facing out here. The fact that this night be a first contact situation gone wrong or even a possible first strike on telepathic members of the Federation does not bother them?”
"There's a phrase. Keiran taught it to me and it applies here." Liis sighed. "You're preachin' to the choir, Thomas. I agree with you completely. They should be sending every available ship to deal with this. But they're not. So here we are." She inhaled and exhaled slowly. The walls seemed to close in on her more by the minute; she had to get out of this room.
Blane noticed her visibly shudder once as if a great chill had passed through her before she continued speaking.
"Listen, Salvek is busy conferring with Reece about this...portal… thing. And I need to take a walk. So I'm going to pay Sickbay a quick visit. See if our CMO has any news on Wren Elton that might help us. You have the bridge."
“Aye sir.”
-=/\=-
As much as a long walk would've helped her to clear her head, she had no time for the luxury now.
So it was with quick and precisely directed steps that Zanh traveled to Sickbay. Immediately she found Lance Hartcort. He was frowning deeply, an expression that seemed at odds somehow with the very nature and construction of his facial features.
"Doctor."
"Captain." He looked up and sighed, knowing she'd want news but unfortunately, he didn't have much to give her, let alone any that was good. "You're not going to like this."
"No?"
“No.”
“Why not?”
"Because I don't know what is happening to her." Lance said, glancing over at Wren regretfully. The woman appeared frozen, her body without what seemed to be the very essence of her soul. "She's dying and I know why, but I don't know how to stop it."
Hang on, Wren, Liis thought, wishing that the Betazoid could hear her now, as easily as she would have had things been as they should be; if Wren were standing behind the counter at the Afterthought pretending, at least, that she didn't know exactly what the ship's Captain was feeling at any given moment. He needs you. They both need you.
"Captain?" Hartcort, noticing she'd become distant, requested her attention again.
"Well start with 'why' and maybe we can get to 'how' from there." Zanh replied.
"All right." Hartcort brought up the most recent scan of Wren's brain and displayed it for the Captain on the screen beside her. "You see, her neural pathways are lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve. All the synapses are firing at once, but nothing can connect. As a result, everything is locked up. Her body is stuck in a state of panic, she's getting too much adrenaline and I can't counteract it. If this keeps up, her heart will not stand the strain."
"Something is actively disrupting her normal brain activity?"
"Trying to block her telepathic abilities I'd say, judging from the area of the brain where the greatest amount of activity is happening. But this is the thing. Her brain is trying desperately to find a way around the roadblocks they've set up, and as a result, it's literally working itself to death."
Zanh's expression clearly conveyed her distress. "If you can't stop it?"
“Then whatever is causing this situation is going to kill her.” He stated bluntly. “Also I am confident that the cause is not something of a typical nature, such as a virus or something of that sort. I also have run scans for sub-sonic waves and other known causes of telepathic and empathic interference. Nothing.”
Zanh nodded, listening intently as he continued.
“Whatever is killing her is not on this ship but it is in this part of space, or is at least being transmitted here. Obviously the ships shields are not able to stop it and I’ve tried putting her into stasis to no effect.”
"Options?"
“First option would be to get her out of here.”
Liis shook her head slowly indicating that that was not a possibility.
Lance rubbed his chin in thought. “I do have another suggestion. It is radical mind you, but given the current situation I feel that our choices are limited and our time to act on them short.”
"Getting shorter by the second. What's your radical suggestion?"
“I’d like to use the transporter and store her in the pattern buffer. I think that once she is broken down to the molecular level whatever is disrupting her normal brain activity will cease because it will not be able to effect her in that state. We can leave her there until this situation is resolved and I can still monitor her status through the transporter pattern computer.”
"Oh." Liis felt as if she'd been hit with a bucket of ice water. The idea of sending Wren into a buffer and leaving her there for who knew how long at this point, she didn’t like in the least. In addition to the inherent risks of such a proposition in and of itself, if anything went wrong with the ship’s systems during any upcoming battle that may take place, if the computers were damaged and her pattern lost...Wren could die, and Rada wouldn't even have a chance to say goodbye.
*Rada.*
Liis realized instantly the only answer that she could give to Hartcort. "That's a decision that only one person can make. I may be Captain of this ship, but I am not that person."
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "The only one who can approve your plan is currently in Main Engineering. If you can convince him..." She turned away and paused, "Then you have my permission to proceed. If not."
"I may not be able to convince him," Hartcort called, staring at Wren's still form on the bed and knowing this may be her only chance of ever again opening her eyes and returning to her family. "But if anyone can do it, Captain, I think you could."
Zanh froze.
"I won't try to convince him," she stated immediately, and with sorrowful certainty. It was not her place to try to influence the medical decisions of a member of her crew concerning anyone in their family, let alone the person who held their heart.
It was, however, her duty to be certain that she did all she could to help her crew. She had a duty, at this point, to at least try talking to Dengar and to be sure he understood his options. Finally, she added, "But I will ask him."
“No, Captain. You need to convince in this case.” Lance sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, I can’t save her from whatever this is.” He glanced again at Wren with a helpless expression on his normally optimistic face that shocked Liis as she looked back. A grave stare that drove home his next words of warning.
“I’m convinced that if we don’t do this the only benefit will be that someone will be able to hold her hand in her final moment.” His eyes returned to Zanh. “Captain, she will die.”
He sighed again and rubbed his eyes. “You must convince him. You have to.”
As the doors opened to allow her to exit, Hartcort held his breath a moment, uncertain what she was going to do.
He was relieved to find a moment later that his words seemed to have managed to sway her at least a little, enough to give the effort a try. He listened as Zanh spoke into her badge and nodded to himself as he exhaled at last.
"Thomas,” Zanh said, “I'll be back on the bridge soon. First I have to make an unscheduled stop in Engineering to speak with Mister Dengar."
Commander Lance Hartcort
Chief Medical Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
-=/\=- Zanh Liis O’Sullivan
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Chief Medical Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
-=/\=- Zanh Liis O’Sullivan
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012