This Explains All of It...
Posted on Sun Aug 16th, 2020 @ 9:06pm by Captain Benjamin Ingram Dr
Mission:
S2:2: Best Laid Plans
Location: Infirmary, Canopus Station
Timeline: MD5
OOC Aimee: Uncertain exactly when this happens, but I'm thinking maybe 3 days after the solo post. This is the Aimee becomes a normal adult post
The headache treatment for Aimee Paulsen had worked for a day, but she noticed that the symptoms had been steadily getting worse and she was beginning to feel extremely uncomfortable and strange throughout her body. Finally, after the third day of things getting worse and being told by yet another Medical Officer that her hormones were building steadily throughout her body.
Aimee couldn't do it anymore and returned to the infirmary for the fourth time in three days. She was absolutely flushed this time, "I think it's gotten so much worse..." She said as she stumbled into the room.
The nurse on duty was concerned when she noticed that the Counselor was looking the way that she was, "Come in and sit down on the biobed," She disappeared around the corner, "If Doctor Murray isn't here someone needs to go get him now... And, I would recommend getting the Captain too."
He'd been asleep. Curled up on his bunk back on Cargo Reef stealing some well-deserved snuggle time with his favourite little daughter. And the call had come via the usual channels now that he'd accepted his position within the main station. Dr Paulsen Jr. Again. She really was a full-time job in herself, what with the conundrum of her conditional immunity and recent struggles with what seemed to be accelerated and continuous puberty. Still, Murray accepted the responsibility graciously, largely due to being unable to swear profusively in the presence of a three year old.
Dressed, alert and nursing an underlying irritation, he scooted into the infirmary and caught up on current events. The kid counselor looked rough, so Murray placed nice. "It'll be okay," he lied. "We just need to balance you back out. Still hurting everywhere?" He asked, keeping his tone even and warm as he checked her over.
Ingram arrived a few minutes later, trailing a comet tail of administrative underlings carrying data slats and running commentary. As it turned out running a small city in space, and a growing city at that, left a lot of DNA signatures to put on formwork.
"I hope you appreciate the level of disruption to my day you are providing with this call to sickbay," Ingram muttered darkly. "The head of the Space Mining Guild is in my office, right now, waiting upon my return."
Ingram furrowed his brow for a moment.
"Actually, come to think of it, this looks somewhat serious. After all, you'd not call me down here for just a common or garden variety ailment. And given your unique physiology in regards to the Concordance, some might even say mission-critical to the entire Long Jump Project," Ingram turned to one of his underlings. "Go back to my office, and impress upon Guild Master Phink that I am indisposed to meet with him at this time. But please pass him along to Chief Deluna, but warn her first to up the temperature in her office for him. Gorns despise being in cool climates."
The underling vanished, gone to put more work in Sharona's crowded in-tray.
"Now that my day is cleared of mind-numbing minutiae, will someone expanded upon my summons?" Ingram said.
Murray let the Captain rant, well-used to the man's mannerisms now and no more intimidated now than he had been at their first meeting. He kept himself in check, and spoke only when directly asked a question. "Dr Paulsen Jr's condition is shifting," the medic explained. "I think her entire system is rejecting the idea of continually cycling through puberty," he met the other man's eyes with an ominously serious look. "I don't think she can take it much longer, and the meds aren't easing the symptoms," Murray added. "It's gonna go one of two ways if we don't do something." And one of them won't get us the results we want from our little experiment, said the unspoken words telegraphed in the Rish's gaze.
"Might I remind you of the sensitive nature of the work we are undertaking here, Doctor. In her biochemistry, a cure for the Concordance fungal infection might be found, chemistry unique to her physicality as it presents itself now," Ingram mused for a moment. "What about stasis? I'm not talking cryogenic freezing, I mean true metabolic retardation. It would halt the biological process as they stand now, allow you to continue your work yes?"
"No need to remind me, Captain," Murray assured Ingram coolly. "I assure you I am well aware of both the significance and the uniqueness of our young subject... er, patient..." He appeared, at least outwardly, to consider the other man's idea for a suitably long moment, then nodded sagely and looked to Dr Paulsen Jr as he answered the Captain's question. "It would allow me to keep studying this intricate and complex matter, yes," Murray noted. "It would also ensure that Dr Paulsen Jr here remained unburdered by physical pain or suffering while my work progresses. I think," he added, "with the additional help from my colleague on the Potter, we're very close to a breakthrough." There followed a loaded pause. "Is this a path we can legitimately take, sir? I mean from a technical point of view - we can freeze this youngster and her guardians don't need to be notified?"
Aimee groaned as she listened to the two of them talk and had her eyes crossed for a moment as she reacted to what they were saying. Meanwhile, she was rather uncomfortable, "So my body can't do what now?" She asked and raised a brow before another sharp wave of pain in her lower stomach. The headache wasn't helping her much either, "Can you at least give me some sort of sedative? Or, something?"
"As has been stated before, and in her medical files, Dr Paulsen might appear to be..." Ingram began to say, his voice ramping up to full-blown anger when in mid gesture to Paulsen he stopped cold. Her ankles were showing on the cuff's of her pants. Ingram's eyes tracked to her wrists, which were now a good two inches of bared flesh between the cuffs and her hand.
She now looked the age of a Starfleet Academy senior cadet.
As the others talked, Murray moved to place an infuser against the young woman's bare neck. "Sedative," he said, simply as he let the Captain rage some. But as he looked up, Dr Jacobs noted the same change Ingram did. "Oh," Murray said. "Captain, if we're doing this, we need to get her into cryo right now." He added, and, without asking for permission, he hit Aimee with a second dose of sedative.
"Given the fact she's already undergoing a rapid cellular change, I think we've moved past the point of preservation," Ingram grumbled. "Even the sedative is being metabolised faster than it can act. Dr Paulsen, how are you feeling?"
Aimee started to feel drowsy, "Whatever you have to..." She felt her eyes fluttering, "Do... do it!" She said and then Aimee was snoring.
Murray looked to Ingram and steeled his gaze. "We stand at a junction," the Rish medic said, as he picked up the young woman into his arms gently. "It's now or never. Cryo or stasis, or we lose our advantage." He was already walking, but the Captain's directive otherwise would stop him in his tracks.
"Phi!" Ingram hissed. "Begin aiding her body in combating the effects of the cellular growth. With Commodore Grissom on the station, I cannot help but feel such a course of action might be frowned over."
At first he slowed his pace, just in case Ingram changed his mind. The presence of a Commodore was clearly less of a concern for Jacobs than it seemed to be for the Captain, but Murray supposed that made sense. Needs of the many, position of power and all that. There were things that Ingram needed to be protecting... A small smile sat on his features as the recently assigned Assistant Medical Officer turned to face his current superior. "You're sure?" Murray asked, questioning the certainty as he cradled Aimee's head and let his gaze rest entirely on Ingram. "Grissom might thank us for saving lives in the long run... might be worth a frown or too, and if he did not... you could always blame me?"
"I could, but then you'd always be in a position to hold such a promise over me. I learnt this game from my father's knee, Mister Jacobs. No, begin administrating your treatments. Even if there was such a dire need, we are far beyond a point by which stopping this would be seen as feasible," Ingram sighed. "At least we have her blood work on file, as well as detailed cellular scans. I'll want those copied as soon as possible."
Murray chuckled softly and nodded. So far, he figured, he'd done a half-decent job of playing 'Starfleet', and he wasn't about to ruin all that by trying to play a player. "Duly noted, sir," he said. "Apologies, blackmail wasn't on my agenda. I was simply thinking about long term and the needs of the many." Well, for the most part at least. It wasn't a total lie. So, with gentle hands, he placed the sedated form of Dr Paulsen Jr down on the bed and began to do his proper job, or at least the one Captain Ingram had assigned him.
"Let me consider the needs of the many Mister Jacobs, you need only concern yourself with the medical needs of this station," Ingram sighed, and turned slowly around. "Send me a report when the work is done."
Crisis averted. Murray nodded. "Received and understood, Captain," he said, his words as efficiently purposeful as he could make them.
"Excellent to hear, Doctor," Ingram said as he left.
