Popular Post Lhandon_Nilsen Posted December 5, 2024 Popular Post Posted December 5, 2024 Most of us love a good medical drama, and it's even better when we get to learn more about procedures for different species. In this JP, we get a really nitty-gritty look into Trill medicine as our engineer lies on the biobed following a massive injury sustained during the last mission. I also know from Discord that Nick and Zac have poured so much thought, love, care, and research into this JP, ensuring all the little details are accurate and creating a story grounded in realism and a joy to read. We are also introduced to a brand-new PNPC, Vivien Thomas, who, as I learned today, is named after a famous African-American surgical technician who developed a pioneering technique for heart surgery in babies. @Jania Nis @Kimonzi Lahl Quote ((Sickbay, USS Octavia E. Butler)) Jania Nis stumbled into sickbay, dark crimson blood staining the medical blue on her uniform. An older nurse with an ensign’s pip and dark skin ran up to her, but she noticed something behind him. On one of the biobeds was the unconscious form of Kimonzi Lahl, her skin paler than Jania had ever seen it, her spots fading. Even from halfway across the sickbay, Jania could see her vital signs were bad. Slow heart rate, irregular respiration, brainwaves nearly flat. WIth a gasp, Jania tried to push past the nurse. Thomas: You’re injured. We’ll need to clean it up before going back over it with the dermal regenerator. Nis: We’ve got to take a look at Kimonzi. Thomas: ::looking behind himself towards the biobed where Ensign Lahl was laying:: Ensign Lahl is being looked at, you still need to be looked at. Nis: You don’t understand, she needs a Trill. Ensign Vivien Thomas shook his head. Doctors were always the worst possible patients. Even after twenty years of Earthbound practice and now into a Starfleet career to see the stars, he was still dealing with doctors that refused to be checked. Thomas: And exactly how do you plan on being useful with a mangled shoulder? Are you planning on practicing surgery while bleeding out onto your patient? He gave her a look born out of years of practice. Nis: We—we guess that would be a sanitation issue. Thomas: Precisely. So, you’re going to order me to clean out the wound with the subcellular disinfector, and then you’re going to order me to use the flesh regenerator, and then finally you’re going to order me to use the dermal regenerator. Jania rubbed her forehead, not realizing that she left a streak of blood on her face. She stared at the nurse in frustration. Nis: Okay, nurse, we’re still pretty new here--what’s your name? Thomas: Ensign Vivien Thomas, Doctor Nis. Pleasure to meet you. Nis: Great, Nurse Thomas, clean out the wound with the subcellular disinfector, and then use the flesh regenerator, then finally the dermal regenerator. Please. Thomas nodded along as Dr. Nis gave him her orders. He quickly, but safely, went through the list of orders Dr. Nis gave for her injury. Thomas: On it. Jania lay back on the biobed, which automatically cut away her shirt from that area. As she did, she tried to get a glimpse at the wound. It was thin but wide, and she couldn’t understand what had caused it. It didn’t seem to have shrapnel. As she lay back down, Ensign Thomas grabbed the three devices he needed to perform the procedures that she had ordered. He had found that when you had a doctor that wasn’t wanting to play nice, a stern yet gentle direction about what was needed to be done could get them on the right track. Nis: We don’t know. Something happened on the passage through time, maybe. What kind of wound does it look like? Thomas: I’m not legally allowed to diagnose, but if I were to guess, I would say you were stabbed. It’s fairly clean, all things considered. Nis: Oh. Weird. We don’t know :: pause :: Did you travel, too? We understand some of the crew members made it back to 2401 without issue. Thomas: I was here on the good ol’ U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler the entire time we were on our misadventures. Where did you wind up? Nis: We ended up in 2943. It was-- Just then, an alarm went off. Jania jerked over to see a red light flashing on Kimonzi’s bed. With a groan, Jania sat up and started for Kimonzi. The dermal regeneration was complete, although her arm still ached. Thomas: Wait, the skin’s still thin! ::chasing after her:: Nis: It’ll have to be good enough. At Kimonzi’s side, Jania checked the monitors. The problem with these bio-beds was they were meant for humanoids; even detecting the symbiont’s life signs involved swiping past a half-dozen panels. oODamn Starfleet.Oo Thomas: What’s going on? She was relatively stable, if doing poorly just a couple minutes ago. Nis: She’s experiencing an isoboramine drop. Thomas: Isoboramine? I’m not familiar with that. Jania nearly scoffed, but forced her gaze to the floor. Still, she couldn’t help but think, oO That’s why a Trill needs to be the one doing this.Oo Nis: It’s a neurotransmitter that links us to the symbiont. If it’s dropping, it means she’s effectively disconnecting. A disconnected host won’t survive. Thomas: Ah, I see. Could it be something wrong with the symbiont itself? Vivien was just going with the flow at this point, he wasn’t fully sure he understood what was going on. Nis: Yes, that’s a good point. We may simply have to take the symbiont out and see what’s wrong with it. Vivien watched as the symbiont was gingerly taken out of a pouch in Ensign Lahl’s abdomen. It looked vaguely like a slug, but tapered, and…while he had never seen one before, it did look somewhat sickly. Jania took the symbiont in her left hand and ran her right thumb up its body firmly. She froze by the head. There was a soft, cyst-like lump on the head of the symbiont. Nis: It’s hydrocephalus, presumably from the explosion. This will kill the symbiont if we’re not careful. Thomas: Hydrocephalus? I know how to deal with that on humanoids, but this is all brand new to me. Nis: We’re not sure if we can deal with it here. The symbiont needs the sacred waters. Vivien raised an eyebrow at the young doctor. Clearly that was supposed to be something important, and probably related to their home world. Thomas: How close are we going to be to your homeworld? Or how close are we now? Nis: We’re not close enough, that’s for sure. :: after drumming her fingers on her pants to think :: Nurse, please replicate us a stent. Keep in mind this is for the symbiont, not a humanoid, so it needs to be :: running her teeth over her tongue :: 0.18 millimeters in diameter. Thomas: Yes Doctor. Nis: Also, please replicate a scalpel handle too. In our locker, you’ll find a small box with four black stone scalpel blades. Please bring us one of them. Thomas: Obsidian? Wouldn’t a laser be more precise? Nis: A laser is too strong for their flesh. And metal’s not sharp enough. Plasma might work, but the way we were taught, obsidian is best. As Thomas gathered the various items, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of shenanigans he had accidentally gotten himself into. oO You did say that you wanted to see the stars…that includes everybody out there too. Oo As he came back, he saw the young doctor placing the…slug seemed like such a crass term, but oh well at this point, on the tray. Jania finally placed the Lahl symbiont on the tray. Nis: We’ll need a hypospray of terakine, please. Thomas: Terakine needs to be tightly dosed based on the mass. How much are you carrying there? Nis: Absolutely. We’d say it weighs about half a kilogram. Suddenly the symbiont thrashed in the tray. It shook so hard the tray almost clattered to the ground. She grabbed the symbiont around the center and held it firmly against the tray as it thrashed. Nis: That hypospray, please! Thomas: Got it! ::reaching over and injecting the symbiont with the hypospray:: After injecting it, the symbiont relaxed and was still. Now Jania turned on the readouts on a free biobed and placed the tray on it. As soon as she calibrated it, the red lights began flashing. Nis: This is worse than we thought--the fluid is pushing on the memory center of the brain. If we don’t act fast, Lahl could lose whole hosts’ memories. Thomas: That doesn’t sound good. Nis: Okay, prep the stent, please. Jania lifted her scalpel. It was hard not to be distracted as the obsidian tip glittered in the sickbay lighting. This wasn’t her scalpel, not really. That had been lost in the future. Staring at the blade, she could feel the memories of Susru’s sacrifice coming to the surface. But she’d still knapped the blade herself, and there was time to think about that sort of thing later. For now, all she needed was a steady hand. She bit her lip and steadied the limp symbiont with her left hand, then slowly, precisely, brought the blade down and touched it against the creature’s flesh. Rather than blood, neural fluid gushed out, faster than she expected. Thomas: Whoa! Here you go Doctor. ::handing over the stent:: Jania nodded and took the small draining unit from his hand. With it, she sucked up the excess fluid from the symbiont. But suddenly, Kimonzi let out a gasp from her bed and the sensors went wild. Jania jerked up and turned to her. The longer Kimonzi was apart from Lahl, the worse these problems would get. Nis: Nurse Thomas, please attend to Kimonzi. Thomas: What does she need Doctor Nis? Nis: We’re assuming anti-seizure medication. Without isoboramine, her condition is somewhat like the human disease called Parkinson’s. She’ll be at risk of seizures and choking. Thomas moved for Kimonzi, but Jania stopped him. Nis: Wait--the stent! Thomas: ::over his shoulder:: Already in your hand! Jania looked down at her hand and cringed. Not good to be distracted. Vivien took his place beside the young ensign’s biobed. She was young, possibly young enough to be his own daughter if he had had any. But that wasn’t important. She was in trouble and he needed to help her. He tapped away on the console of the biobed, pulling up the proper medications for Trills, as the scanner was telling him this patient was. He pulled it into a hypospray, and injected it into her. Hopefully it would keep her stable while Dr. Nis worked on the symbiont that was apparently vital for her to live. At the very least, there was no sign of a seizure brewing on her brain waves, but it was disconcerting the lack of brain activity. As Vivien worked on Kimonzi, Jania worked on Lahl. She spread open the cut she’d made with forceps and gently placed the hair-thin metal stent alongside the creature’s sensory nerve root. She wished Vivien were at her side to help, but he needed to be with Kimonzi. Gritting her teeth, she adjusted the stent with the forceps. One wrong move and she would paralyze Lahl, or delete host memories or do a dozen other horrible things. But then it was over. The stent was in, and immediately pulled fluid away from the brain. Jania let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding before grabbing the dermal regenerator with her free hand and fixing up the cut she’d opened. Nis: Nurse Thomas, let’s get this bad boy back in the host. Thomas: ::coming back from Kimonzi’s side:: Yes Doctor. She lifted the symbiont and handed it to him carefully. He brought it to Kimonzi and replaced it in her stomach. Immediately, her isoboramine levels raised, and soon they were stabilizing. Jania let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the nearest chair. With the surgery complete, Jania finally felt like this mission was complete. But--and a former teacher’s voice echoed in her head--”the surgery’s not complete til you clean up.” Exhausted, she stumbled to the sink to wash her hands. She found Nurse Thomas already there. Nis :: as she washes her hands :: We did it. Thomas: ::washing deeply:: Is she good to go permanently? Nis: Well, no. She’ll still need a trip to Trill for the sacred waters. But we can’t imagine our superiors would deny the request. It’s for medical reasons, after all. Thomas: I see. Nis: Thank you. Kimonzi might have died during the surgery if it hadn’t been for you--and then the stent wouldn’t have done Lahl much good, either. Thomas: Glad to be of service. Nis: You can go rest. We want to be here when she wakes up. *** Kimonzi groggily woke up, and as she did so, she heard some incessant beeping. As she realized what happened, her eyes snapped awake and she looked around, wondering what had happened to her. Her abdomen was still sore, but the past memories and personalities were a gentle background like they usually were, rather than trying to assert themselves. Nis: Hello, Kimonzi. We’re glad you’re awake. Lahl: Hi…what happened? Nis: How do you feel? Lahl: Like crap…is Lahl ok? My abdomen’s been in pain for most of our adventures through time and space. Nis: Yes, Lahl is injured. You’re currently okay, but the symbiont’s situation is complicated. It has neural fluid in the brain cavity. We implanted a stent to drain it off, but it needs the sacred waters to heal properly. Lahl: Does that mean I’ll have to go back home? Nis: Yes, it needs to swim in them. We don’t think any major source of sacred water exists except on Trill itself. Lahl: That makes sense…I’ll have to talk to the command staff. Nis: We doubt they’ll have a problem with it. But for now, you can rest. You’re stabilized. We’ve got time. Lahl: Wait, what about Commander Katsim, and Lieutenants Nilsen and Maxwell. Nis: Everyone from your group made it back to 2401. Lahl: Oh, that’s good. How’s the rest of the crew? Nis: Well, it was a chaotic mission. We’ll be honest, Lieutenant Arlill doesn’t seem to have made it. But rest for now. You’ll have plenty of time to hear more about it when we meet the DTI. Lahl: Ooooooh noooooo. Do we really have to talk to them? Nis: Yeah, that’s what they say. Is there anyone you want us to get? Anyone you want to see? Lahl: No thank you. I’m good. Ensign Kimonzi Lahl Engineering Officer U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler O240107KL4 She/Her/Hers (Character); He/Him/His (Player) and Ensign Jania Nis Medical Officer USS Octavia E. Butler NCC-82850 O240108JN2 she/her/they/them (character accepts either); he/his (player) 3 2
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