Posted by Ensign Kastarak (Doctor) in Sickbay – Kastarak’s simple ailments clinic day (anyone may join!)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander T’Aria (XO / Navigation Officer) in Sickbay – Kastarak’s simple ailments clinic day (anyone may join!)

Posted by Ensign Kastarak (Doctor) in Sickbay – Kastarak’s simple ailments clinic day (anyone may join!)
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip!)

Kastarak’s doors parted with a metallic shriek, exposing a lithe figure adorned in command gold.

T’Aria stood with tousled hair and restless creases that tormented her tunic and trousers. Her eyes, half-lidded and sunken, drifted to Kastarak. “Doctor,” she lifted an ashen hand touched by irritated green blotches, “am I interrupting you?” She advanced with an awkwardness that exposed the fatigue in her voice and the dull ache attacking every fibre of her being. But even the ache was no match for the throbbing sensation in her temples.

“Not at all,” replied Kastarak, standing up as he greeted her. “Come in, sit down. What is the reason of your visit?”

“Thank you,” T’Aria rigidly bowed and moved to sit across from Kastarak.

Was this what humans endured every winter?

“I awoke with mild rhinorrhea,” her nose and cheeks were flushed with rubbing, “and a negligible fever. Naturally, I assumed it was a product of my dander allergy, but the antihistamine did little to soothe it.” She pinched her eyes shut to quell the prickling pain in her neck… and the sneaking suspicion that her visit with Crewman Hidalgo had wished this upon her. Why were human illnesses so virulent?

“I believe I contracted a rhinovirus,” T’Aria observed. Her training bestowed an acute awareness of the ailment, but T’Aria could not recall a time she treated it from a patient perspective. She often found herself conducting brief examinations only to prescribe mild anti-inflammatories, rest and honey or ginger-infused tea. Never had she expected that she would be the patient. Fighting a yawn, T’Aria added, “do you have time to confirm?”

— T’Aria

Kastarak listened carefully to T’Aria. Her self-described symptoms were rhinorrhoea and a mild fever. At the same time, T’Aria appeared fatigued.

“Of course,” he replied to her question. “Are you in pain? If so, where?”

“Yes,” she responded, “I am experiencing mild myalgia and sinus pressure.”

“I see,” replied Kastarak. “Mild myalgia and sinus pressure.”

He then picked up his medical tricorder and pointed it in her direction. “I wish to measure your temperature. Do you consent?”

T’Aria voiced her consent and leaned into the chair, awaiting his scan.

Heartbeats elapsed before his tricorder displayed her primary vitals. Her heart pumped at a steady 251 BPM, blood oxygen peaking at 94%, with a blood pressure of 78/40. Though the tricorder provided four distinct measurements, it reported a mean temperature of 34.2 C, noticeably outside the established range.

“Your heartrate is a slightly higher than the normal zone, 251. I see from your charts that your normal resting heartrate is 220. Blood oxygen saturation could be better, probably affected by a more laboured breathing. Your temperature is almost two degrees higher than the established range. That is not a neglible fever, that is a clinical fever,” said Kastarak’s tone. His voice came out more as a Vulcan pre-school teacher than a doctor arguing with another doctor. He realized his mistake in tone, but decided not to make a thing out of it. He moved on:

“I would also like to test your hypothesis that your ailment is virulent and not a cause of allergy. Another possibility is a bacterial infection. I wish to take a sample of your mucus. You may blow your nose on this cloth.” He handed over a sterile cloth to T’Aria. “Do you consent?”

“Of course,” T’Aria took the cloth without protest and turned to blow her nose. Though she was well-acquainted with sinus pressure and post-nasal drip, this sensation was distant and nearly unfamiliar. That is, save for the hay fever she endured in her first month at SFMA. T’Aria prefered natural remedies to benchmark drugs but never had she been so relieved to take a hypospray. Tucking the thought into its designated nook, she slipped the specimen into a biohazard bag (or whatever container he selected) and shifted her attention to Kastarak.

“Is that all?” T’Aria inquired with intent to provide Kastarak as intricate a ‘picture’ as his diagnosis required.

After taking the biohazard bag, he placed it under analysis in the computer. While waiting for his results, he turned to T’Aria…

Kastarak took a deep breath, something he would almost always do before needing to ask something that was private. In Vulcan culture, privacy was highly guarded, and there was always a hesitation before Kastarak would ask a private question, even if logic dictated that he needed to ask them, as in this situation.

“You have described your symptoms adequately. You have not, however, described the presence or lack of any neurological or neuropsychological symptoms. State whether you exhibit such symptoms, and if so, describe them.”

– Ensign Kastarak (physician)

Kastarak’s question provoked an inherent reluctance in T’Aria that contradicted her effort to divorce Vulcan beliefs around vulnerability and its innate sentiment. She wavered and reminded herself of his position. He would not examine her neuropsychological state if it were unnecessary.

“I noticed mild disorientation shortly after waking,” she explained, “but it resolved itself within the hour. I admit, too, that I have not preserved my sleep and meditation regimens. Although I have not detected any concerning changes, I suspect it has reduced my ability to resist illness.”

She kept her words simple and concise, trusting he would request clarification if he found something curious.

— T’Aria

“Mild disorientation,” he echoed T’Aria’s words, and listed her symptoms, “fever, rhinorrhoea, myalgia, and sinus pressure.”

The computer beeped, finished its analysis. The analysis had taken longer than expected.

Curious, T’Aria peered through entangled fingers at the computer panel to glimpse the results.

He walked up to the computer, got out its goggles, and looked into the specimen while the computer displayed data.

“Curious,” he almost exclaimed. “You are correct in your hypothesis, Commander. It is a virus. Look here, at the RNA, and the analysis suggests it is endemic to the wildlife of Romulus. This is some kind of Romulan influenza. It must have affected Romulans, perhaps they are immune due to millennia of living in that environment. You are not immune, and that is why you are suffering from influenza.”

Indigenous to Romulus? T’Aria rose and bimbled over to consult the RNA analysis.

If the pathogen arose from Romulus and resembled influenza, she suspected it engaged in endocytosis - first attaching to and deceiving a cell into bonding, then replicating in its nucleus. A simple but effective process… for which Romulans appeared immune. She pondered whether their immune systems evolved swiftly identify and attack the pathogen or their cells ‘changed the locks’ on the virus’ key. The thought didn’t linger. If this pathogen was of Romulan origin, and it infected her, then it threatened every Vulcan aboard Chernov. Kastarak included. The revelation crept into her mind without much commotion but departed with a vitality that left her – at least momentarily – energised.

“See these interactions here? This suggests the virus has adapted to Vulcan – or Romulan – physiology quite uniquely. I have never seen bondings like this before. See how the cells have been invaded in such a novel way? Curious, is it not? This bonding should be unique to Vulcans and Romulans, the humans, Betazoids, Andorians and other species on board should not be effected, but we had better run some tests.”

T’Aria narrowed her eyes to better inspect the virus’ morphology and bonding patterns. Fascinating… her gaze flickered between Kastarak and the screen, it must bond to a receptor found only in Vulcan and Romulan cells.

Suddenly Kastarak went quiet. “If it is Romulan, then neither you nor me, as Vulcans, would carry antibodies to it. We must quarantine, lest we might infect others of our species on board. We do not know its incubation period. The question, however, is how it got on board. What do you think, doctor?”

“We were in recent contact with Romulan marauders,” she noted. “We know influenza viruses often engage in horizontal transmission through droplets and vectors. So, when our away team engaged the Romulans, they likely acquired the virus and too became vectors, transporting it to the ship. The decontamination sequence should have eliminated any pathogens. But, current Federation-Romulan Star Empire relations and our ignorance of the virus suggest our systems may not be sufficiently familiar to detect and destroy it.”

T’Aria allowed her lungs a moment’s rest, “but that is mere speculation.”

Kastarak suddenly experienced enthusiasm for something novel. It was not allergy, and flu-like symptoms among Vulcans was rare. This was exiciting, it peaked his interests, reminded him of why he had chosen to study medicine in the first place. He was fortunate that his patient was a physician by training as well. Even in quarantine, they could cooperate in examining the virus and its properties. The first priority should be to see how bad it could affect them.

“I wish to test your blood for antibodies. Do you consent? I shall test mine as well.”

T’Aria squinted and wrinkled her nose, attempting to gauge the realse of an impending sneeze, but it never arrived. “Of course,” she stifled a sigh and offered Kastarak a consenting nod.

“But I emphasise: we must stay in quarantine.” Kastarak summarized: “At this point, we do not know the severity of this virus or its disease, nor its means or ease of transmission. We do not know if it poses a threat to non-Vulcan crewmembers’ physiology, though probably not. However, we must be cautious. We need to run tests. We do not know its origin, but the most likely is from Romulan bloodsplatter on the returnees from the surface, that somehow passed the biofilters, and then, in some way, came close to you. After all, it is not as if we have any Romulans on board.”

T’Aria stiffened but saw no purpose in disillusioning Kastarak, nor tampering with the trust of another. Was it a lie by omission? She supposed that depended on the context. Did the their conundrum warrant a breach of confidence? Given the narrow association between their DNA and their predicament, T’Aria suspected candor would encourage more conflict than it resolved.

“I have not been in direct contact with members of the away team,” she offered, “but I conversed with the transporter technician following their arrival. Crewman Hidalgo engaged both teams for several minutes – ample time to transmit disease – so, I may have acquired it from them.”

Her mind drifted back to the crew, yielding a startling realisation. “Doctor Symar accompanied the away team,” T’Aria spoke in near exclamation. “He may have been exposed. Have you heard from him today, Doctor?”

Kastarak spoke faster than usual. He sensed his heartbeat going faster. Perhaps his heartbeat now fully mirrored T’Aria’s, he thought, though for different reasons. Surely he could not have been affected already.

“Will you assist, as a physician, to the best of your physical and neuropsychological abilities, and under these unique circumstances, in answering these questions?”

An impassive cast tamed the excitement coursing through her fevered veins. Her clinical practice ended with the Portland incident, but the prospect of a medical captivated her with a familiar warmth – passion, she believed it was called. “Without hesitated,” T’Aria answered, “Doctor.”

Kastarak walked back to the computer, synthesized a mix of medication into a hypospray.

“In the meantime, this hypospray should alleviate some of the acute symptoms of pain. At this point, the fever is clinically important, as the inflammation helps your cells to do away with the foreign agents, and ––” Kastarak stopped himself, realizing he was explaining medicalese in simple terms to an actual colleague. “Of course, you already know. But should the fever rise – we will monitor it – there are, as you know, ways of bringing it down. But at this point, I see no reason of bringing it down, as it might actually make the infection linger in your body longer than it should.”

– Ensign Kastarak (Physician)

“I am pleased to be in the care of a skilled physician,” T’Aria assented. The fever warmed her blood, impeding her body’s natural cooling mechanism, leaving her uncomfortable. But it was not intolerable. If the fever persisted without an immediate threat, it could provide insight into the virus’ resilience against her immune system. She was one in a pool of Vulcan crew, but it was a start to understanding its mechanism and strength.

“Protocol requires that we notify the Captain of our condition,” she observed. “As you mentioned, we may suspect the virus targets Vulcan hosts, but we have yet to attain empirical data to support that hypothesis. Others may have been exposed or infected, so we must act fast to contain the spread and avoid panic.”

“I will handle standard procedure,” she assured. “Where do you propose we start clinically?”

— T’Aria, XO / patient