Asteroids and Dhampirism
Posted on Wed Mar 3rd, 2021 @ 9:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Leonora Wolf MD & Lieutenant Teejay
1,521 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
S1E5: Symphony of Horror
Location: Belmont Station, near Corvus Prime
Timeline: undisclosed
It never got old, that bright and shiny feeling of arriving somewhere new. Perhaps it was a need to both acknowledge, escape and embrace the shadow of his distant past, or maybe he just liked meeting new people, learning new things. Either way there was a skip in the man's step as he strolled from docking bay to main concourse and cast a look out for the scientist he here to connect with.
An asteroid station, medical personnel everywhere, crisp lines with neutral colours and that definite sense of needing to keep things... clean. He hoped they had a bar. They always had a bar, right?
Once he found a clear space, the half-Vulcan grinned and turned full circle in a lazy pirouette, then stopped and caught the blue eyes of a blonde haired human woman.
"Hey, you here to meet me?" He asked, with a hopeful raising of both eyebrows.
Her tone was kind and held a soft nordic lilt as she spoke, "Doctor Leonora Wolf. Virology and pathology." The woman extended a hand to him. "Welcome to Belmont Station."
"Teejay," came the quick, brightly offered reply, and dark brown eyes locked on those the colour of clear blue sky as he shook the hand warmly. Teejay smiled, a big broadly happy gesture as if Dr Wolf was the answer to everything he needed today, and continued with enthusiasm. "I have a few assorted qualifications, but mostly I'd say forensics." He waggled a palm between them as if he wasn't quite sure that covered everything he needed to impart, then took a step back to give her space. His company's accent was as beautiful as she was, but he wasn't here to flirt, he needed to work with this fellow scientist. "Thanks for the welcome," Teejay noted, his attention entirely taken up by this new person. He lowered his voice just a notch, then asked. "Anywhere we can get a hot beverage and talk about vampires?"
"Call me Leah," Wolf shook her head amusedly, "everyone starts with the vampire jokes when they get here for the first time. Hell, I did too." She motioned for Teejay to follow her, "they prefer to be called Corvans, and their condition is dhampirism. A vampire...is, let's say they take it in a derogatory sense, most of them anyway."
Internally face-palming, Teejay outwardly smiled. "Well, I wouldn't wanna buck a good trend," he joked. "But I'll do better from here on," he added, falling into line beside and just behind Dr Wolf through the open concourse. "Thanks for the heads-up on the etiquette. You been here for a good while already, Leah?" He asked, feeling no need to hold off in using the name she'd invited him to.
"A bit, yes." The norwegian said as she lead Teejay down a series of winding pathways.
Belmot station wasn't a pinnacle of design nor practicality. Starfleet Medical clearly had it's own priorities when it came to putting together space stations and they didn't seem to consider those not of the medical field may not always see the logic in their layout.
In fact, Leah had found in her time here, even those away from the field as long as she had been were very confused by Belmont station.
Then she got her head around it and now, it was like second nature, navigating this place. "Tell me, what do you know of our work here?"
Okay, so, he was already lost and far too proud to check the directions. He'd sit down later, on his own and work through the geography of the place. Right now.. oh she was asking him a direct question... Teejay snapped from internal dialogue into an external response with a wry grin. "We're looking into how..." he paused and chose his word more carefully. "Civilised and stable the current Corvan physiology is." A softly offered shrug. "Which is kinda ironic from my point of view, cos I normally deal with dead people."
Leah chuckled as they walked into the big Mess Hall finally. "I know what you mean, me too. I'm in research more than practice. I'm assuming you've read reports on NOS-4-A2?"
The smell of food made his stomach rumble and the half-Vulcan took a centering moment to simply stop and literally smell the roses. As his dark eyes opened once more, he quirked his mouth as if he'd tasted something unpleasant. "Yeah," Teejay answered, gaze scanning the culinary options. "Fake blood chemistry experiment that seems to mostly work, but gives everyone a serious Goth look?"
Leah chuckled, "you'll fit in well here." Her tone was more sarcastic though than amused. "NOS-4-A2 has been showing signs of degradation of late, according to reports. Medical is pulling experts in the unusual to try and figure out why."
The newcomer to the world of goth vampires made a swift mental note that he was likely not making the best impression here and dialled it down a tiny notch on the casual verbal abuse of their study group. "I can be professional," Teejay promised, with the emphasis on that second word. "Promise." Reboot on the attitude, he told himself as he adopted a more serious outlook. "Yes, took a little while to get over here, I read up the latest reports," he noted. Kinda flattering really, to be called upon for something of this importance. A whole planet hoping for inclusion. "We're here to make sure the evidence supports Corvus joining the Federation. Seemed from the data that there are trace irregularities in the population? Suggests possible post-dialysis complications perhaps stemming from some intervention in the manufacture or delivery systems?"
Leah nodded as she ordered a drink and a meal through a small interface at their table, "possible, it could be a naturally occuring effect as well. Something that's mutating in their genetics that's acting as an interferon against the full effectiveness of the compound."
As she took the lead on sustenance arrangement, Teejay waited his turn, then ordered a seriously mouthwatering looking lunch. Extra everything. "A mutagen?" He asked, rhetorically. "Yes, I suppose they could be evolving a resistance to the NOS. My gut, however," he added with a wry cant of his head. "Says this is more likely deliberate than nature rolling dice. There was the hint of some political rumblings in the Conclave over the last year - only to be expected perhaps with the changes to potentially come - but," Teejay shrugged. "Can't help thinking there might be a connection." He tapped the side of his skull just behind his right eye. "Just a feeling in my gut. Us sentients don't always embrace change, and when we do it's not always for the right reasons."
The blonde observed him for a moment, "you clever, clever boy." Her own head canted at the thought, "you like to try your hand at politics as well as Science, hm?"
Teejay kept his grin purely internal in that moment and returned a casually serious nod in first response to her question. "Jack of all Trades," he confirmed with confidence rather than overt arrogance. "Comes in handy in my line of work, gotta see the bigger picture to understand the motivations of those involved." He held up a pointy index finger. "But, hypotheses are one thing. Research takes time."
"Well it is all about proving a hypothesis, really." Wolf conceded, "tell me about yourself CSI Teejay. Something interesting."
"Something interesting?" Teejay re-asked her question out loud to give himself a little more time to think. Not that there was a shortage in his mind of things to offer up, but that he tried to tailor the most intriguing nugget of data to pique a deeper curiosity. That was always more fun when meeting a stranger. "I'll trade you," he suggested, then grinned. "When I was a kid, I was king of a tomb."
Leah leaned closer, in a conspiratorial manner, "tell me more. This is far more interesting than what I've got." She said in a hushed tone, her eyebrows wagging a little in amusement.
He laughed, a warm, genuinely self-effacing action that lit up his dark features. "Sure, okay," Teejay conceded mock-reluctantly. "But I'm trusting this is a fair trade here, you gotta share something too." His gaze shifted to a sudden noise over to their left, then refocused back on Leah with a bright sense of someone unafraid to speak of their own weaknesses. "So, there was this old dusty half-wreck out in the Gamma Quadrant with nothing but eight year old me presiding over a whole bunch of long dead corpses and skeletons. If the Denobulans hadn't found me, I'd likely have become one of them." He grinned. Always leave them wanting. "Your turn."
Wolf grinned, "oh you will be continuing this story," the norwegian said, raising her hands from her elbows in a concilatory manner, "but...I promised to share."
Leaning back she let the waiter put their orders on the table, before continuing. "There is a story handed down through the generations as to how we got the name Wolf."
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