"Ryeeee Laaaaaaaand!"
Posted on Mon May 15th, 2023 @ 11:08am by Captain Akiva ben-Avram & Lieutenant Commander Leonora Wolf MD & Lieutenant Teejay
3,557 words; about a 18 minute read
Mission:
Season 1 Interlude II (E5.5)
Location: Yuna Tarka Medical Center | Risa
Timeline: ID 4
"Ben-Avram to Wolf. I need you and Teejay to come to the Yuna Tarka Medical Center. Reggie has been hurt and is undergoing a volatile treatment under the care of a Doctor Tafalla. I need your assurances that it's the only way. Ben-Avram out."
Not only was it an unexpected interruption, but the channel closed before Leah could respond.
Leah's head poked out from behind the shower curtain. "Seriously? Someone just had to go and hurt themself?" The nord groused as she ducked back under the shower and looked up through the shower stream from overhead at Teejay. "I've got to go to the Tarka Medical Center. Reggie's done something to himself and the Captain wants me to take a look at him before the local Doctors put him under a volatile treatment, the Captain said." She said as she began to rinse out the suds from her hair. "You wanna come with? I don't mind either way, I just don't know how long I'll be."
"Pretty sure he didn't get injured just to annoy you," Teejay pointed out, soaking wet, naked and now worryingly curious as to what constituted a 'volatile treatment'. Inside the confines of the shower, he stepped closer behind Leah and reached his arms about her waist with a leisurely sensitivity to her pale, drenched skin and let his long, dark fingers slide downwards, close but not too close... "Sure, I can come with," he agreed. Not exactly what he had planned for this vacation time, but pretty much how life generally mocked him when good things looked like they might stick around for a bit. And they'd both just gotten clean too, going to visit a Med Center seemed such a waste. "How bad is he? Any idea what could have happened?"
Leah's brain turned to mush as his hands began-a roving. The professional part of her was thankful that he'd asked the question before she completely lost her train of thought, nestled comfortably against his chest, completely willing to let the exploration keep going.
"I don't know." She said honestly. "As far as I am aware, Risa is not dangerous, unless you neglect your OH & S and end up hurting yourself. So this is definitely something else. Unless he literally fell off a rock and did himself in." Leah turned in his arms and planted a soft kiss on his lips then patted his chest. "Come on, let's rinse off and get dry. We should take care of Reg sooner rather than later."
"As far as you're aware," teased Teejay, resisting briefly on the request to exit and lingering in a secondary kiss. Here was easier. Here was fun. Only, he supposed, he should care about Reggie too. It just didn't seem fair to give all this Wolf-time up just yet. "Well," he noted, gifting Leah one last cheeky ear-nuzzle. "I guess we need to work on your awareness then. We'll pick up on this again, later, huh?" He confirmed rather than asked, following the Nord as she hopped on out of the shower.
Leah and Teejay stepped over to the entrance, "Doctor Cassandra Wolf, this is Doctor Zhi'rev." She flashed her cover credentials briefly to the nurse at the reception. "We're here to see Reg Howley." She gave them Reggie's cover name, hoping to god they followed proper protocol and admitted him in under the cover identity.
Loud and lairy palm-tree t-shirt in neon shades bringing a little friendly good humour to the Medical Center, Teejay paid close attention to Leah's tactics, maintained a serious expression and quietly followed her lead.
"Oh..." The technician at the desk turned pale. "Him." She input a command into her terminal and then pointed to the service turbolift. "Take the staff turbolift. It has direct access to the intensive care ward."
Leah raised an eyebrow. "Is there someone up there who can give me a report on his status, or do I have to do the job of taking a patient's history and diagnosis myself?" She asked in a clipped tone.
"The patient's chart should be available for review," the nurse said. "From what I have here, you are to render a second opinion?" The makings of a shrug rolled off her shoulders before her professionalism pulled it back. "You may confer with the attending physician on his rounds if you have any questions."
Leah nodded, "alright, please call up and let them know we are on our way." Without waiting for an answer Leah nodded to Teejay and headed for the assigned Turbolift.
Quietly, Teejay tagged along beside her, amused internally by the easy shift in Leah's mannerisms and the theatre playing out, but far more serious with regards whatever had happened to poor ol Reg. It did not, from everything he'd heard so far, sound good.
Once they were in, Leah dropped the abrasive cover. "If he's in the ICU and they are being cagey about what's happened it means it's either bad, embarrassing or both." She said with a sigh. "Just when we were starting to relax." Leah looked over at Teejay with a soft smile. "We'll need to make up some lost time, I think."
"Agreed," the half-human noted with a curt nod and a steady gaze. "And no combination of those options sounds good... Let's hope it's more embarrassing than bad, huh?" But somehow that sense of dread imparted by the nurse boded ill for optimism.
Leah stepped out first and headed over to the Nurse's station. "We're here to see the Physician-in-charge of patient Reg Howley? Doctor Wolf, Doctor Zhi'rev." She flashed her warrant card again briefly.
Standing back so that he could maintain a safe view of the exit and anyone moving between and around them, Teejay held up his card from that distance and waited. Internally, his brain trawled through options and possibilities. What could Reggie have done? If he'd caught something, what options were there on Risa? It had to be bad if he was down here, and while going into isolation wards was not exactly new to Teejay, each time brought a new risk. Logically, risking both himself and Leah at the same time was not a good option. But she wasn't about to back away now.
When they walked off the staff turbolift into the ICU ward, the luxury of Risa faded way into utilitarian form and function. Everything from the view screens to the lighting that came from the ceilings, walls, and floors looked cutting edge, but the theme was nonetheless quite spartan. A wide circular desk stood off several meters from the turbolift. A dark-featured Risian woman looked up from her display screen and gave a tight but cordial smile. "Hello, Doctors. You are cleared to assess the patient. Please follow the guide lights to the designated suite."
Leah's eyebrows rose in query. This ICU looked like a hotel, yet very sparse in personnel. She shared a curious look with Teejay, before following the guide lights.
She nodded to the Risian woman and lead the way down. "Have you ever seen a place this advanced and this...nice?" Leah whispered to Teejay. "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something is very wrong and I don't like the screaming in my gut about it."
"Sadly yes," Teejay admitted. "I've seen a vast variety of different... lab facilities..." he added with an air of unwanted mysteriousness. While he might not mind sharing sensitive information with Leah, he suspected this place was wall to wall ears and eyes. Not worth it assuming otherwise. "They know something that they don't want to share," he stated, looking around as if he might spot the 'hidden' surveillance he knew existed. "Which is bad for Reggie."
As they finally reached the end of the hallway, Leah announced them again as they saw a person in a labcoat finally. Would this be someone who was looking after Reggie finally?
"Are you the attending physician to patient Howley?" Leah asked.
A tall man whose bald head made the Risian symbol on his forehead almost bulge looked at them both. "Yes, I am Doctor Tafalla. You have been briefed on the patient, I assume?"
Leah shook her head. "No, Doctor. We were summoned urgently because he was hurt and was set to undergo a volitile treatment." She replied, keeping her expression neutral, but sharp. "We were asked to offer a second opinion and since we entered this facility we've been directed from one place to another with no word as to what actually happened."
"I see..." Tafalla's eyebrows arched while he pursed his lips in thoughtful surprise. "In that case, come with me." He led them into the ICU suite that had been indicated already, stepped to one side, and let them take a good, long look.
Reggie was not laying in a bed. Instead he was suspended on a harness that wrapped around what was visible of his torso. The harness consisted of a thin, viscoelastic material that advertised a strong radiation rating. Fungal flowers covered his face and chest with intubation being the only sign that a head lay somewhere inside the overgrowth. Blooms were visible but understated throughout his extremities.
Leah blinked. Then she looked at Tafalla, then at Teejay, then at Reggie. "What..." Wolf tried to form words, "what? Wait, what?" She looked back at Tafalla but said nothing for a moment.
Leonora was a pathologist and a virologist, not a...mycologist? Could that be some sort of fungus? She had to collect herself quickly. "I assume you know what this is, considering a treatment was mentioned."
"It's bad," said Teejay quietly, having taken in all the same information as Wolf just had, but owning a little more knowledge of the fungal wonders of the universe. "I can see it's reached his lungs... Has the infection permeated his entire system?" Teejay asked Dr Tafallla. "Have you taken any direct action or are you currently just stablising him?"
"The patient has contracted an acute infection of Psolium Septicus, an aggressive mold indigenous to the planetary substrata," the doctor explained. "Typically benign cases are treated with a protoplaser and perhaps antifungal medications if it has spread. The rare extreme cases were historically treated with controlled delta radiation pulses, but the mold has metastasized into full blooms throughout the patient's upper respiratory system. We have implemented low-level delta radiation therapy, enough to halt the spread but insufficient to effect remission. A Starfleet Captain was in here earlier ordering a second opinion before we could begin the full treatment." His brow arched in juxtaposition with his droll, low tone. "The Risian Travel Bureau has done its damnedest to suppress awareness of native flora like Psoli, even banning the public mention of its earlier slang name Passionbloom, but every generation or so we catch a case." Handing off a flimsy, transparent digital document displayed on a sheet of polycarbonate, the doctor concluded, "Everything you might need to know about it is here. I've unlocked the otherwise classified reports. If you concur with my prognosis, then don't bother waiting. Just activate the full delta protocol from the medical terminal there." The communicator on his wrist beeped. "I'm needed elsewhere," he said, darting away in a trot. "The nurses can assist you further."
"What the actual fuck was all that?" Leah looked after the flyaway doc. She shook her head and exhaled. She looked down at the flimsy and read out some of the data. "Transmitted mainly by body fluid exchange, Typhoid Mary is created by direct contact, primarily inhalation of the spores."
She looked over at Reggie, "oh Reg, what had you been doing? Or who? And who with?" Leah spoke softly to herself. "We need to check for vectors." Her eyes went back to the flimsi. "Mycology is not my expertise, but if I am reading this right, there really is no other recourse than going forward with Delta." Leah handed Teejay the information and headed over to Reggie's readouts.
"Passionbloom..." Teejay was stuck on the name for a moment, suppressing the internal smile as he looked to Reggie. "You dog," he said, quietly. Seriousness edging back into focus, the science specialist skimmed the reports that Leah handed him, but didn't need to read them in their entirety to understand the basic problem. "I've seen something like this before," Teejay noted. "Though on the colony Lasstavuss where I found it, neither the fungus nor the affected stayed quiet for long, and it wasn't fatal. Fungus spread via body fluid contact from a visiting ship - turned everyone into pale blue furries." His expression remained stern and professional, conscious of the fact that Reggie was a friend and colleague, someone Leah probably knew well.
"I agree, we should go ahead with full delta protocol. I'd like to take a sample first though - isolate it and run it as a confined control."
Leah looked over at Teejay briefly with curiosity. "Furries, huh? You'll have to tell me all about it." Amusement coloured her tone briefly before she returned to the matter at hand. "Alright, grab a sample and send it to the ship. Our medbay has secure containment for this kind of thing. When you're done, activate the protocol. I'll go talk to the nurses, see who brought him in if anyone and if there was anyone else with him."
That look! It conjured up a lopsided smirk, but Teejay caught himself just as Leah had - that story could be traded later - and followed her in moving on. It took a few moments to safely and cleanly obtain a sample, seal it properly and mark it up with name, date and reference. "Sorry, buddy," Teejay told the unconscious patient, gently. "But we'll figure this out, don't worry." In Leah's absence, the forensic scientist took a moment longer to simply observe Reggie, grab diagnositics (both historic and current) and then take a few more notes on his PADD. He supposed talking to Reggie would have been of some use, but with his expertise and general field of study and practise, Teejay wasn't accustomed to live patients who could answer questions.
Finally, he checked the med-terminal Tafalla had indicated, activated the Delta protocol and followed after Leah.
"That patient's arrival was by emergency transporter," said the nurse, presumably in answer to Leah's inquiry. "He was belligerent and screamed about a 'Rye Land'? He was presumed intoxicated at first until the medscanners determined he was a biohazard risk. Then he was placed in quarantine where the fungal growths removed his speech capability." Pulling up the log for more accurate information, the nurse continued. "It appears the transporter site was near the turbolift at the lowest level of the Subterranean Gardens. Global Security has since cordoned off the area pending an investigation into a potential breach of abandoned mining sites that were supposed to be sealed off." Looking up from her display screen, the nurse said, "If there is any connection between your colleague's infection and the suspected trespass and vandalism, there may be criminal charges pending. As such, his chart has been flagged by Global Security as a potential Person of Suspicion in their investigation."
Leah sighed, "oh wonderful."
What was of bigger concern however was 'Rye Land'. Whilst the Doctors wrote it off, both Leah and Teejay knew of a Ry-Land who had a penchant for getting himself into trouble.
As she noticed Teejay arrive, she nodded at him before looking back at the Nurse. "Can you please inform the Doctor that we have initiated the Delta protocol and we'll be back in the morning to check up on him. We'll also inform our Captain that he may not have been alone and we'll coordinate a search with your people."
"You can take that up with the Global Security liaison," the nurse said with a touch of sass. "That investigation is outside our purview except for the part where we can't let the patient leave without their say-so."
Leah raised an eyebrow, "you'll still do your part of the job as I've requested, please." The emphasis was on the please in the vein of it being a command rather than a request.
"The patient chart auto-updated as soon as you initiated the Delta protocol," the nurse said. "Dr. Tafalla was rather certain you would concur with his prognosis. If there's nothing else, I'm sure you can show yourself out."
Leah nodded, "thank you." Although in reality, she felt like climbing over the counter and punching the woman in the face. She and Teejay then headed out.
Following Leah's lead and staying out of the awkward to and fro, Teejay grinned as he walked beside Wolf to the exit. "She was... efficient," he nudged, hoping to break the sense of irritation surrounding his colleague.
"Ugh.." Leah harrumphed as they walked back into the Turbolift. "We may have a bigger problem than we thought though. He was screaming something about Rye Land - when he was beamed in. Reg and or Ryland could be charged with trespass and vandalism if Global Security makes a connection. His beam in site was near the Turbolift of the lowest level of the Subterranean Gardens - there is suspicion the old sealed mining sites may have been breached." She said, looking over at Teejay. "We need get the ship to start looking for Ryland and alert the Captain."
"Great," noted Teejay with a comedic roll of his eyes and a sharp sigh. Shenanigans. Which were fun, of course, he liked fooling around, good, messy entertainment and all that... but it took a nasty, unwanted turn when someone - someones? - started growing spores inside their lungs. "Well, if Ryland is breaking into old mining sites," he'd known the man at least long enough now to get an idea of his MO and cared little for any administrative trouble he may or may not get into. "Then he won't be doing that alone. And if Reggie's infected, chances are high someone else will be." He gave Leah's hand a squeeze. "I'll let the ship know, you okay telling the Captain?"
Leah nodded, "will do. But let's get clear of the building first - I don't want to be overheard. We need to get to him before Global Security does." The latter was added in a whisper.
"Of course," noted Teejay, with a wry expression.
As they reached a safe distance from the building, Leah pulled out her commbadge. "Wolf to ben-Avram. Sorry to disturb, Captain. We've just come from seeing Reg - are you able to talk? It's important."
The tail end of a sigh came through before Akiva replied, "This is ben-Avram. What is it?" While he wasn't exactly impatient, there was clear irritation in his tone.
Leah allowed herself a smirk as no one was watching, "We've authorized the aggressive treatment as his condition is extremely severe. The problem is there is at least one escaped vector, Ryland. If Global Security finds him before we do he is liable to be brought up charges of trespass and vandalism. Reg's beam in site was next to the Turbolifts in the Subterranean Gardens - suspected breach of old sealed mining sites. Teejay is contacting the ship now to begin search for Ryland."
How in all hells did they go from holidays to utter failures in the clandestine community? How did these things happen?
A sigh came through Leah's combadge. "Thank you, Commander. I will have the ship update me directly from here on out. You two already have your hands full with Reggie. Update me with any progress."
Leah had to remember that they were all human beings and that she should not begrudge the Captain's reaction. She also had to remember that she was no longer a Team Leader or a Commanding Officer. She was a follower again, and as such she needed to follow.
"Will do, sir. Wolf out." Leah replied, as she turned to Teejay, "there's little we can do now until the treatment over. You wanna head back or are we doing lunch somewhere?"
Closing down the call to the Phantom, Teejay exhaled slowly. This was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, which pretty much summed up most of his attempts at having what other people called a vacation. Death and illness seemed to follow him around the universe, seeking him out like its personal lightning rod. But, in this case, hopefully Reggie would respond to the treatment, they'd find Ryland and his harem before any of them succumbed to the fungal-driven afterlife and there would still be a little time to get naked in all the good ways with Leah a few more times. Could happen, right?
"Lunch," Teejay said. "Please," he added with a grin. "I need some food in good company before we dive headfirst into this living nightmare and go play hide and seek with those idiots."
Leah chuckled and took his hand. "Yes, we need some good vibes before we deal with the shit. Come on, I know a place. We went there a few times on that conference I told you about."
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