OOC: So first off sorry for the long delay folks. Between my finishing school for the holidays and then the holidays coming upon us, I was both busy and unmotivated for anything really. This will be a bit of a long post to get some vital plot development moved along and hopefully get us back on track reasonably. With the kind permission of Dave I will be hijacking his CMO to get this thread done in one shot.

Dr Zarath was surprised at the Captain’s coming back to consciousness but with the arrival of the injured alien pilot he couldn’t do much but task an NE to oversee a vital check and full physical work-up. He wanted to be the one to make sure Dvorak wasn’t having any residual implant rejection or randomly firing synapses, but it sounded like this alien being was in bad condition and thus his priorities changed. Besides he wouldn’t be that far away if his expertise was needed once again.

With a last look at the Captain, Tolar made his way through a sterilization field and into the isolation field with the adjusted atmosphere. The atmosphere was breathable for Andorians, Humans, and whatever species the injured pilot was, it’s just that with the higher nitrogen content the speech of most sentients would be at a higher pitch.

Tolar’s first look at the pilot had him furrow his brow as the radiation burns were fairly extensive. What was likely a flight suit of some sort looked to have a good deal of charring but may have protected some of the pilot’s vital areas. Having walked to the head of the biobed, he keyed in for a genetic scan to see which medicines would be effective and to stay away from any that were harmful. With the scan running he pulled a medical tricorder out of a slot on the bed and began a vitals and organs check. It was clear that something internal was damaged and it might prove necessary to replace it if it couldn’t be repaired. The lungs looked the worse for wear but the heart looked damaged enough to be very concerning. There didn’t seem to be any kidneys or liver, perhaps their body used another method for filtering out bio-waste. Setting aside that little mystery of biology, he focused on the readings from the heart and lungs and decided the heart needed repairing but the lungs would likely need to be replaced.

He put the tricorder away and checked the results from the genetic scan. It seemed most of the standard drugs and therapies would work without incident or side-effects and the ones that wouldn’t had an alternative to them. A loaded hypo was injected into the pilot’s neck with a cocktail of stabilizing medicines and others which promoted better air absorption in the damaged lungs. A sample of the pilot’s genome was given to the organic replicator for the purpose of making another set of lungs, though it would take hours for it to do so, it’s just hopefully their current lungs would last long enough for that to finish. With that process set in motion it was time to move to the hard part. He moved a surgical support frame over the pilot’s chest and began the procedure to repair their heart. It was a long and stressful operation considering the alien anatomy but ultimately the damage was repaired. Now to see to the lungs…

There was a problem. The organic replicator hadn’t been able to make a functioning set of lungs at all. It was as if the genetic sequence it was given was incomplete. Was it damage due to the radiation? Perhaps a phasing of part of the DNA because of the solar flare? Either way there was no undamaged samples of DNA or organs to use as a template for the replication. This wasn’t good as they very clearly needed lungs to live. Would prosthetics work? No, there was no way to insure their body wouldn’t reject them and rejecting such an important organ would only delay the inevitable and make it far more painful.

Tolar was about to contact the XO and advise her of the situation when the alien’s eyes began to open. They looked an the verge of death and weak but their eyes were bright and seemed intelligent. The expected reaction of them freaking out didn’t happen but instead an inquisitiveness in their surroundings seem to be found instead. The pilot’s eyes settled on the Doctor and a raspy voice quietly spoke. Fortunately the computer had translated the language and the universal translator did its job.

“Where… is my ship?” The pilot asked.

“Your ship is damaged but intact.” Tolar said gently. He wasn’t expecting to be the First Contact representative for this race and coupled with the unfortunate prognosis for his patient, he wanted to be comforting. “You’re very hurt. I’m a doctor and doing my best to heal you.”

The pilot looked quizzical or perhaps murderess, it was hard to really tell. “Heal? Doctor? I know not what those are. When hurt we just return to the great cycle.”

“Great cycle?” Asked Tolar.

“The body and essence returns to the shrik to the benefit of the rest. This provides for the new while reusing the old. Nothing must go to waste or the cycle is broken and all will die.” They responded. Was their tone of voice somber or filled with pride? Perhaps both.

“If we bring you back to your people can they help you?” Tolar asked with rising concern. It was sounding like they were just going to euthanize this injured person. Was it not cost efficient to care for their wounded? How did they not see the loss of trained personnel as a loss in efficiency if you had to train someone else? Besides the inhumanity of just replacing an injured worker. Hmm… could they be a hivemind in that case? Too early to draw a conclusion on that.

“The cycle must be continued. It is the way.” The pilot replied but didn’t really answer the question. Their breathing was getting more labored as their lungs were shutting down. Warnings began to flash on the biobed monitor. Tolar injected another hypo of medicine to help improve the oxygen absorption but its efficacy had dropped and was barely effective.

“You don’t have much longer as you can’t get enough air into your blood.” Tolar began in a rather clinical manner. It was always hard to watch a sentient die even if they were a stranger. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Tell my people that pilot E5463, that I Slrripp did my duty. That I rejoined the cycle when my task was done.” These last words were spoken as a whisper. It was a few more shuddering breaths later before they became completely still, their eyes looking into the void.

Tolar looked upon the body of the once alive pilot and sighed. He moved his hand to close their eyes but stopped in shock as their body began to shine. Was it a bioluminescence after death? No! The body begin to rapidly disintegrate into particles of light until nothing was left, not even the flight suit. What in the world just happened?

=/\=Sickbay to Avik…=/\= Tolar said in a shaky voice then took a breath to compose himself. =/\=The injured pilot that was beamed here for a medical emergency succumbed to their injuries. However after passing they then disintegrated until nothing remained under some sort of light effect. Here’s the rest of what I know…=/\= He then divulged the conversation he had and the treatment experience.

GM Dread