appreciations Taeval - A Close Call With Catastrophe

[Doz Finch]

There is such a novelesque quality to this closing sim, which is no surprise knowing that it came from @Quinn Reynolds. Solkon suspects that the equipment in Sickbay may have been sabotaged when it starts acting up, and Taeval gently steers him in another direction with a shift in tone that was beautifully done and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

"The crew are coming to terms with an existence in a Borg dominated galaxy. Almost everyone’s acting out of the ordinary. Half are in a daze, and the other half are manic." 

[Backsim] Taeval - A Close Call With Catastrophe (google.com)
 

Quote

((Sickbay, Deck 7, USS Gorkon))

 

The Gorkon’s two new doctors had reported to sickbay for their first shift... in a timeline where everything they knew and cared for was gone, and the Borg reigned supreme. After checking in with them, the pair had done what so many officers were doing, and immediately tried to distract themselves with work. They’d asked for a general overview of the ship’s current medical workload, and he’d offered it. Then they had moved on, perhaps inevitably, to talk of preparations. 

 

A discussion interrupted by the appearance of the Tyrellian ensign, Thea Kairis. She presented after an accident during the many drills taking place aboard ship; a blow to the head which had left her visibly dazed. But their attempts to diagnose and treat her were being stymied by a series of odd malfunctions. The computer had brought up the wrong record for the ensign, then lost it and refused to load any at all. It had forced the two doctors into more traditional methods, but they were holding their own.

 

Kairis: Was there going to be a memory test? Or was that the memory test?

 

Nera: No, it wasn’t. ::He exhaled a light chuckle.:: Normally, we’d have that information on hand. Unfortunately, as you’ve seen, we seem to be having some technical difficulties at the moment.

 

All eyes were on Nera, who paused to frown at his tricorder. Without explanation, he turned its sensor arrays toward himself, prompting a very Vulcan eyebrow raise from Solkon. 

 

Solkon: Is something wrong, Doctor Nera?

 

Nera: Odd. It seems the tricorder is acting up as well. ::He shook his head, putting the device aside.:: At least according to this, you and I aren’t actually here.

 

Solkon: Let me examine it.

 

He walked over and picked up the tricorder and scanned himself for a few moments. The device gave off the sound of a positive scan, and Solkon turned it around in his hand to look at it. It showed that he was Vulcan, had a slightly higher heart rate than normal, and a normal body temperature for his species.

 

Solkon: It detected me. How curious. Perhaps it was a temporary malfunction.

 

To Taeval’s surprise, the Vulcan opened up the device and inspected its innards. Straight to the source, and it impressed him Solkon knew what to look for. The Romulan wouldn’t have a clue. He was a user of the devices, and while he knew the abstract theory of how they functioned, he couldn’t say how that translated into circuits and crystals and the myriad components of a tricorder.

 

Nera: Apologies Ensign, we seem to keep getting sidetracked by one technical issue after another. ::He offered her a wry smile.:: You’ve picked quite the day for a visit. So, to begin with, please state the current date. I need the day, month, and year.

 

While Kairis rattled off the requested information—first in the standard Federation calendar, and then with an impish smile, the Tyrellian one—Solkon attempted to scan her again. This time, it appeared to work, though that result didn’t satisfy the Vulcan. From the brief glance he got, Taeval could see it wasn’t the results themselves which dissatisfied. They were good; no signs of any serious brain trauma. But the scans were of lower quality than they’d normally see, and it wasn’t clear if there was a milder injury.

 

Nera: Okay, thank you. I’m going to give you a series of numbers, you just need to repeat them back to me in reverse order. 4, 5, 2, 8, 3.

 

Again, Kairis complied, though Taeval noted she got the final two numbers out of order. Possibly just an error, but possibly a sign of concussion. As she did so, Solkon swapped the malfunctioning tricorder for another, and scanned Nera again.

 

Solkon: It appears to only be that one tricorder at fault. I shall run tests on the rest. ::He turns to Taeval.:: Taeval, if you could assist me we should start with the rest of the medical tricorders.

 

Taeval: Yes, of course, once we’ve finished with our patient.

 

Nera: This is tedious, I know, but you’re doing well. Last one, please repeat the months of year in reverse order.

 

Karis smiled at Nera, and if she was finding it tedious, she was good at keeping it hidden. This time she stuck to the Federation calendar only, and while she got the months out in reverse order in the end, she stumbled and had to correct herself near the end. 

 

Leaving the engineering ensign in Nera’s care, Solkon proceeded with his task and picked up another tricorder. As he was running a scan, he turned toward Taeval with a thoughtful look in his dark eyes. No, not thoughtful, assessing. A look the Romulan had seen many times in the decade since he’d fled his dying homeworld. He painted a weary smile on his face, approaching when the Vulcan waved him over.

 

Solkon: ::Low,:: Do you have any idea who was in sickbay before you started your shift? We cannot rule out the possibility of sabotage.

 

Taeval: I don’t, but security will know. The internal security sensors track everyone’s movements.

 

Solkon: What about remote sabotage? The ensign spoke about ‘stress tests’, but there may be something more. Should we call down a member of security or a technician to examine the systems?

 

Taeval had learnt a phrase while studying medicine with humans: “when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” The Gorkon wasn’t just an admiral’s flagship, with all the increased security that involved, but it was also one where many of the crew remembered a breach which nearly cost lives. While he thought Solkon’s concerns were valid and possible, there were other, more likely explanations. Investigatory triage, eliminate the easy and obvious possibilities first.

Taeval: I’m... not sure what benefit there would be in sabotaging a medical tricorder.  

 

Nera and Kairis’ discussion faded into the background as he focused on Solkon. It seemed the young woman did indeed have a concussion. Luckily for her, it was the 25th century, and treatment was a quick and painless affair. She was in expert hands, and would be back to reciting her months backwards and in multiple calendars in a few minutes.

 

Solkon: Has anyone here noticed any of the crew acting particularly out of the ordinary?

 

Taeval: Solkon... ::He paused, trying to find the right words. When he spoke, his tone was gentle and non-judgemental.:: The crew are coming to terms with an existence in a Borg dominated galaxy. Almost everyone’s acting out of the ordinary. Half are in a daze, and the other half are manic. This is the time mistakes happen, and we should be careful about compounding them with careless accusations.

 

It was ironic, he supposed, that a Vulcan was being more paranoid than a Romulan. Maybe it was Solkon’s reaction to finding himself in a timeline where the Borg ruled unopposed, looking for a situation over which he could exert some control. Maybe it was a case of an overeager ensign, not yet used to life aboard a starship, seeing everything in its most dramatic framing. Sabotage was so much more intriguing than someone making a mistake because they were distracted by thoughts of assimilated loved ones.

 

Taeval: This is what we’ll do. Once Doctor Nera has finished with Ensign Kairis’ treatment, we’ll ask her to look into these errors. If she finds anything suspicious, we’ll raise it with security. 

 

Over the next few hours, it came to light that it was indeed malfunctioning equipment. A faulty batch of isolinear crystals, finding their way into an entirely random collection of devices and consoles across the ship. The malfunctioning tricorder had several such crystals installed, and in combination with the computer stress testing, brought the issue to light. 

 

A timely discovery, considering how many of the crystals had still been in storage. A few beatings from the Borg, a few repairs involving those crystals, and entire swathes of the ship might have failed when under stress.  

 

Later, when there was room to laugh about a near miss with catastrophe, Ensign Thea Kairis would confess she had never expected to be so pleased about being beaned by a high velocity hyperspanner.

 

 

--

Taeval tr'Sienelis

Physician Assistant

USS Gorkon

 

simmed by

 

 

Vice Admiral Quinn Reynolds

Commanding Officer

USS Gorkon

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