Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Main Sim: Sickbay - NE Piccolo Surgery

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim: Sickbay - NE Piccolo Surgery

Posted by Gamemaster Pelican (GM) in Main Sim: Sickbay - NE Piccolo Surgery
Posted by… suppressed (26) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Leah followed him out to recovery where Piccolo was. “It might be good if I am the one to talk to her once she wakes up,” she said, looking over the readings to see how the woman was faring .

~Leah Hart, NP

Kreed nodded. “Agreed. We will record anything she says for Security… omitting any medical information, of course.”

Kreed, CMO

Leah nodded, hoping she would be in a state they could speak with her soon. But head injuries could be complicated in terms of regaining consciousness (even after surgery) and also memory.

~Leah Hart, NP

Bump for GM

Bump for GM x2

Bump

OOC: Sorry it took me so long to actually do the GMing for this sim. Good writing here.
IC:

The work of the Medical team had been exemplary, and scans would show that NE Piccolo had practically no signs that the injury had even affected her. The new bone in her skull did show up as younger tissue than everything surrounding it, of course, but in terms of the important properties, it meshed well with her previous physical condition. Their timing was also impeccable, as she had slowly begun to regain consciousness. She remained on her back as her eyes opened slowly and she looked around.

“Why am I in Sickbay?”

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel

Leah moved over slowly making sure to allow herself to come into Piccolo’s line of sight gradually. “Hi, it’s Nurse Hart. We’ll explain everything in a moment, but can you tell us what you remember?” she asked in a calm voice, resting a hand on the edge of the biobed and wearing a soft expression.

~Leah Hart, NP

GM OOC: Adding in the CMO’s post.

IC:
As Hart spoke to Piccolo, Kreed monitored her vitals and made sure that there were no complications or issues from the surgery. He looked at Hart and said softly “After, ask her about her childhood. Test long term memory retention.”

Kreed, CMO

NE Piccolo paused for a second, trying to think. Her expression, instead of scrunched, was flat, as if she was trying to stare at a screen instead of diving into her brain. While she did not have any obvious cybernetic implants - and her service record would show that she had suffered no injuries or persistent medical conditions to require them - it was akin to someone with visual augmentations trying to access camera recordings. Her eyes even moved as if she was treating her memories like a cinematic program.

When she finally answered, NE Piccolo said, “I was early to my duty shift at Stellar Cartography. Our XO has modified the duty rosters a bit to allow for leave, but Commander Alden had Alpha shift set up for full staffing. I have a running bet with some of the other Science junior officers - show up late to a shift, take a double shift. So far, nobody has been less than punctual. A couple of the Vulcans are actually precisely punctual - and I would swear that it amuses them, but since they’re Vulcan, I don’t know what the logical version of that is. It annoys the rest of us, because we always think, right up until the last second, that we can give them one of our overnights once we leave starbase.”

Hart smiled at the anecdote, but amused by the bet but also glad for the details Piccolo was able to recall so far.

Piccolo paused, realizing that she was giving far more background information than necessary, then continued. “When I got to Stellar Cartography, I found myself disappointed, because I thought that someone had managed to get to his station even earlier - no overnight shifts in drydock, at least not in the labs. He was a Vulcan I didn’t recognize, working intently on the laboratory computer station. Then I saw that he was wearing a Services department uniform, which confused me. I tried to be cordial, and asked if there was something wrong with the lab’s systems. The man looked up, apparently so intent on his work that he hadn’t realized that I’d come in. He said that he was just finishing some routing maintenance work - which I knew was a lie, because the Starbase personnel had confirmed that they had already performed all the required maintenance in Stellar Cartography.”

She stopped for a second to breathe deeply, and moved her hand to her head. “That’s when I saw that he had a hand-held device that I didn’t recognize, and had established a hard connection between it and the computer terminal. I tried not to react, but I did move toward the communications panel. Before I could reach the wall, something hard hit my head, I heard a crunching sound from inside my ears, and everything went dark.”

The NE looked at Nurse Hart, then said, regretfully, “It happened so fast, I probably wouldn’t even be able to point out who attacked me if you put him in front of me. I saw the uniform, the device, and the pointed ears and eyebrows, but I don’t remember any truly distinguishing features.”

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel

It was a startlingly clear recollection and Leah was glad for it. It boded well for Piccolo’s recovery. “That’s a very comprehensive account, thank you. We’ll be sure to get someone to check on Stellar Cartography,” she said, her eyes flicking briefly to Kreed. “Now, can you tell me you full name, rank, and place of birth?” It was a mix of recall that both tested her long-term memory at various points in her life.

OOC: We don’t have to do anything about Stellar Cartography since there is already a thread, but I don’t think Leah would know that under the circumstances.

~Leah Hart, NP

“Elizabeth Dabney Piccolo, Ensign, Alpha Centauri City, Cochrane Memorial Federation Hospital.”

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel

Leah smiled at her and gave Kreed a subtle nod. “Good. Do you think you could describe this hand held device he had?” She wanted to let Piccolo rest and she would insist on it, but right now they needed clues to help find the one responsible.

~Leah Hart, NP

Kreed made notes while Piccolo spoke and returned the nod to Hart. Her memory seemed intact, but the physiological aspect of her accessing her memories was… odd. He ordered a full scan and blood work up.

Kreed, CMO

NE Piccolo sighed and closed her eyes. “Thinner than our usual portable computing devices, with what looked like matte blue paint - except that it didn’t quite look like it was painted, if that makes any sense. The connection line was also strange - it looked like the exterior was braided instead of our usual flat covers. I got a glance at the screen, and I wondered how he was using a broken panel so well, because it looked like his display was just full of blotches and blobs.”

She opened her eyes. “That’s about as much as I got. I can’t remember the exact shape, or if there were any symbols on it, or how the face of the device was actually arranged.”

As for the blood work, the analysis came easily enough, as the system had collected the requisite information during the surgery. It came back relatively normal - except that it detected non-natural chemicals typically associated with memory enhancement, aid with task focus, and emotional regulation. They were not considered detrimental to a person’s societal function, but there was an indicated possible additional affect of sleep cycle modification that required the user to have an intentional sleep schedule. Given their relatively benign nature, they were available upon request to any Federation citizen with the proper genetics - in this case, human and/or Vulcan, though Vulcans seemed to use it in a far more targeted fashion than humans.

Well, that, and a blood scan came back showing that her hemoglobin, while consisting mostly of iron, had trace amounts of copper. Some other genetic markers indicated some sort of variation of Vulcan heritage. This seemed relatively impossible, as the blood work indicated that the Vulcan ancestor in question would have been eight generations back - well before Federation scientists had determined how to guide a Vulcan-Human pregnancy to viability.

The full scan would require either Kreed or Hart to perform it, but the blood work data provided Kreed with quite a bit of information on its own.

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel

Leah nodded at Piccolo and patted her shoulder. “Thank you. Is ther anything else you can remember that you think might be important? Even something small.”

~Leah Hart, NP

Piccolo furrowed her brow and bit her lip. She kept her eyes open, but this wasn’t like she was trying to look at an image - it was like she was trying to force herself to see backwards in her head.

“I had a weird thought when I first saw him, something like, ‘Why isn’t he using any voice commands with the computer terminal?’ We talk to the computer all the time, so for someone to be working on one without any voice interface use seemed… old-timey. Like something my great-grandfather would have found comfortable on an NX or a Daedalus.”

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel

Leah nodded. “That might be useful, thank you Ensign.” She leaned over and read over the results, her mind immediately processing some of the implications, or at least the stories her brain wanted to create about the information. “We’re just going to run a more in-depth scan to make sure everything is good after surgery. All you need to do now is rest,” Hart said as she initiated the full scan.

~Leah Hart, NP

Bump

Looking at the results, Kreed’s black eyes stared for a moment. He then looked at Hart and said “I’m concerned about a few of these results.” He then looked at Piccolo. “Go ahead and relax. You are going to be just fine, but I just need to run another scan. That should tell us a bit more.”

Kreed, CMO

Bumps

Bump

OOC: I am not sure what all you are looking for, sonlet me know if I miss anything.

IC:
The scans came back confirming the stimulant in Piccolo’s system. Indications showed that she had been taking it for some time.

Results on her genetics were the same. 8 generations back she had Vulcan ancestry.

While Kreed and Hart did scans, Nurse Shrine had been monitoring the quarantine progress. She appeared at the door. “Dr. Kreed. Quarantine protocols are in place and teams are ready at your word to proceed through the decks.”

EvilJen, DDoSFEO

OOC: We already knew her ancestry went back 8 generations but the bloodwork itself was supposed to reveal ‘quite a bit’. Is there more to know there?

Despite her impeccable poker face, Leah’s body tensed. The quarantine itself wasn’t the problem, but the deception was. It just wasn’t in her nature. She pushed it aside and gave nodded to the nurse as she cross-referenced Piccolo’s medical record to see who had prescribed the stimulant.

~Leah Hart, NP

The blood work information, beyond the indication of seemingly Vulcan ancestry farther back than should be possible, and the chemicals in her system, also revealed how the chemicals were interacting with her body. It seemed to be actively suppressing the affects of the latent Vulcan genetics, as the chemicals were specifically linking with the copper-based hemoglobin and other Vulcan-specific blood proteins. Additionally, there were hormones present that, in Vulcans, was normally a seven-year cycle, but seemed to simply be a baseline for NE Piccolo.

The full body scan revealed other indications of what the system was indicating as distant Vulcan heritage, in spite of the fact that it should have been impossible - higher bone and muscle density, minor differences in major organ placement (albeit not the complete transposition of the human locations of the heart and the liver as in Vulcan-Human hybrids), and slightly different cartilage and bone structure formation. One aspect of her bone structure that didn’t quite line up with Vulcan or human physiology - her brow seemed to be denser than the rest of her skull.

Meanwhile, Nurse Shrine noticed Hart’s physical demeanor change, but Shrine didn’t interpret the event entirely correctly.

“I trust that this quarantine will reveal that there was little cause for concern, at least for anyone on board, Lieutenant,” Nurse Shrine said. “I have been through two quarantines before, and those affected were a minimal number in both cases.”

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel

“I’ve been through quarantines too,” Leah said calmly.

Leah looked over the results and none of it made sense. And then it did. Her eyes widened and Hart stepped to the side and then to a nearby part of Sickbay, grabbing something from the emergency supplies.

[O] Asam to security, medical, and Alden. Deck 8, junction 29. Our quarry is there now. Attempting to bypass the comm lock down. He’s wearing an environmental suit.[C]

Cpt. Asam, CO

OOC: If I’m right, do I get cookies for this? Otherwise, Leah’s getting a reprimand.
IC:

Leah stepped back, her gaze utterly serious. She lifted her hand and had a phaser in her hand that she aimed at Piccolo. “Don’t move, Ensign Piccolo, not that that is your real name.” She didn’t look at Kreed, though she addressed him. “Vulcan ancestry a hell of a long way back, bioreading peculiarities, and signs of facial surgery all tells me that we likely have a Romulan spy with us. Which makes our quarry elsewhere either an accomplice or someone trying to stop our real intruder.”

~Leah Hart, NP

OOC: Right ballpark, but you’re in the stands, not the field. No facial surgery, just a denser forehead bone - Hart rushed a bit to conclusions there.
IC:
Piccolo’s eyes went wide at the phaser. A Romulan spy… her family had warned her to do everything she could to spoof the scans. She had taken copper supplements on days for her regular medical exams, made sure to avoid injuries, and did everything she could to disguise her ancient heritage. She had never heard of or seen the human movie Gattaca, but her routines were similar, with a similar nature - to hide any trace that she wasn’t exactly who she said she was. Now that the Lieutenant had revealed the nature of her attacker, Piccolo was even more upset. The attack felt targeted - but if so, why was she alive?

“No, nurse, I am very much not a Romulan spy,” NE Piccolo said, trying to do nothing that would result in Hart discharging the weapon. “I have two Romulan ancestors who came to Earth in the twentieth century, as a way to escape from a Romulan government who wrongly accused them of treason. A courier service delivered them to the surface, where they altered their appearances and lived quiet lives in Thailand. My direct ancestor was born there, immigrated to the United States, and, using Romulan technology, had two human children with an Italian American immigrant who only became aware of his wife’s true history later in life.”

Piccolo shifted slightly, but she made it clear that she was adjusting her posture, not making an attempt to leave the bed.

“It’s a family secret we’ve been keeping for a while, and our family has been accepting refugees from the Star Empire since before the interstellar war a century ago. My great uncle, may he rest in peace, married a Romulan refugee disguised as a Vulcan - who has also since passed, so don’t get any ideas about contacting Starfleet security. My cousins by that union are quite content as Federation citizens. Believe what you will about Romulans in general - and I assure you, much of what is believed is accurate - but I am a loyal Federation. Romulans whose government have marked them as pariahs view Earth, and human society, as a safe haven where they would have none elsewhere.”

Piccolo leaned back and let out a sigh.

“If there is a Romulan spy on board, I can only assume that he’s trying to find people like me - or my ancestors - in order to complete the mission that the Star Empire has currently established - the permanent elimination of political dissidents.”

Pelican, GM
USS Sentinel