Required Healing

Posted on 09 Mar 2020 @ 11:01am by Lieutenant Syvar MD & Lieutenant JG Kovan Talios M.D.

Mission: Mission 3 - Whom gods destroy ...
Location: sickbay
Timeline: MD4, 2100 hours
1684 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Escorted by a single guard, Syvar made his way down to sickbay. He didn't fancy the Andorian doctor coming up to his quarters and preferred to be treated in the facility which was designed exactly for that: sickbay. He dismissed the guard at the door. "I'm not going anywhere, and I'm likely made to sleep here so..go enjoy your evening."

At the guard's hesitant nod, Syvar entered the medical facility. "Doctor Talios, I need your help," he called out, preferring a real person over the personality-less EMH.

The Andorian's right antenna perked up momentarily at the proclamation. While the left one remained pointed at the medical journal he was reading. "What seems to be the problem, Doctor?" He asked without looking up. It was unusual for the Vulcan to ask him for help.

"I..." Syvar hesitated, then nodded over to one of the wards. "I'd rather show you in private," he murmured, clearly embarrassed over something. He preceded the Andorian into the ward, then took off his jacket and undershirt. Clear bruises were visibly across his upper body from where he'd bashed into furniture, and green welts across his back which clearly were claw marks.

Talios frowned. "Doctor Syvar, what..." He flipped open a tricorder and began scanning, the remainder of his question put aside for now.

Syvar looked down at his hands, which were folded in his lap. "There's that, and severe muscle pain all over and.." he hesitated again, indication a small scar on his right side just across his ribs. "I need something removed from my body. A device called agonizer." He assumed the Andorian had been alerted to his arrival and that its removal was mandatory.

Both of the Andorian's antennas pointed upward. "An agonizer? Who put an agonizer in you?"

The younger man cast frightened eyes on his colleague. "Com- I mean Amelia Fox...her counterpart that is. She..." He faltered, looking away again. "She got to me...and when I was out, she implanted it."

Talios nodded. "Right. Lie down on the bio-bed. We'll start with a full scan." Syvar did as told as the sensor arch closed over his torso. The machine did its task with a low electronic hum. Placing his hands on the edge of the bed, the Andorian doctor found the device quickly. "I see it. Just under the scarring, about half a centimeter. I don't see any others. It's very small. Computer, analysis of foreign object, please."

The computer answered with its typical dispassionate voice. "Object is an oblong disk, approximately 12 millimeters long. It is lined on all sides with hypershock neuropathic beam emitters. Separate internal circuitry surrounds a microscopic tricobalt device."

"Damn," Talios muttered.

Syvar listened to the computer's assessment and shivered visibly. "Just... just remove it, please," he begged, "I want it out of me. The captain wants it removed... please. He's ordered it out, I should've come straight here but I didn't..."

Talios have him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Of course, Dr. Syvar, of course. But as your doctor I also have to warn you of the risk. This abominable device was invented to torture and terrorize prisoners. It's also rigged to prevent someone from attempting what we are about to do. One wrong move on my part and the explosion could wipe out sickbay. Not to mention us. I will do my best."

"I trust you," Syvar whispered anxiously, "I know what it does, I still feel the pain it caused. Please, take it out of me." His green eyes were filled with fear as he looked up at his Andorian colleague. He had to trust that it'd go well. "I trust you," he repeated.

"Lie still," Talios said. He was already at work. "Computer, erect a level one force field around the bio-bed. Notify security that we have a bomb on board and I am going to remove it."

"Acknowledged," the computer replied with an electronic chirp.

Talios produced a hypospray. "I'll start with a local anesthetic. Probably best that you stay awake." He administered the dosage and set the hypospray down, then began typing commands into the arch. "Our best bet is probably to use the surgical transporter. Beam it out into space. It doesn't have the precision of a scalpel, but I can use the safety features to disarm the device while I'm removing it."

Syvar wrenched his eyes shut, breathing harshly. "I'm scared," he whispered, "just... just get it out of me."

There was a moment of quiet as Talios did his work. It was momentarily interrupted as two armed security men walked in, looking concerned. "Sir, you reported an explosive device in this compartment?"

"Yes, the bomb is here, inside my patient," Talios answered, focused on his work, although one antenna did bend in the direction of the security officers. "Don't come any closer, gentleman, and be quiet if you don't mind. I'm a doctor, not a transporter chief, so it takes a bit of concentration to aim an annular confinement beam at something this small. With any luck it'll be off the ship in a minute."

The two security men exchanged a look, but did as told.

"This might tickle," Talios said to Syvar. The agonizer was attached to a bundle of sensitive nerves. It took a fair amount of skill to remove it and not anything that he still needed. He straightened up and advanced the two light bars on the console. "Energizing."

Alarms started blaring, his patient twitching as his lifesigns suddenly dropped drastically, his limbs going stiff as if a current was running through them. Syvar screamed in agony, then he went limp, his lifesigns dangerously low.

"Computer, abort transport!" Talios said. He scanned Syvar again with his tricorder. Then he glanced over at the two wide-eyed security men. He needed help, but couldn't risk lowering the force field. " Should have known I'd need the nurse," he muttered. "Computer, activate the EMH."

A pleasant-looking hologram, young and smiling, appeared in the center of sickbay. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"Over here. I need ten units of trinephedrine," Talios said. He was holding the tricorder over Syvar's head while the other hand was furiously tapping commands into the arch.

The EMH hurried over, passing easily through the force field. He stood on the opposite side of the bed and looked down at the stricken Vulcan with programmed concern. "A neural stimulator is the recommended-"

"I don't dare use anything electrical on this man. Hurry up and do as I say!"

The EMH quickly prepared a hypospray with the drug. "What are we doing?" He asked as he pressed it against Syvar's neck.

Talios watched as Syvar's brain and cardiac activity returned to less alarming levels, but it was still low for a Vulcan. "Give him another ten units. We're trying to remove a bomb."

The EMH looked up in alarm. Not having any tactical subroutines in its program, the vocabulary momentarily glitched. "A buh?"

"No, not a buh, a bomb," Talios repeated. He studied the computer display in front of him intently. "To be specific, it's an agonizer. When I tried to beam it out of him, its security features went off and did this. It's a clever one. So I have to fool it somehow."

The EMH administered the second dose. "How exactly?"

Talios grimaced as he finished typing instructions into the surgical transporter. "I'm going to beam Syvar into space, but before the transport cycle completes, I'm going to bring him back and leave the device in space. Without its victim it will detonate harmlessly out there."

"Is it really possible to do that? I mean, if it doesn't work you could kill him!"

Talios glanced up at the holo-doc. His antennas flexed and straightened with worry. "I suppose we'll find out. If you have a better idea, now is a good time."

The EMH shook his head and looked around, possibly for an escape? There was none. "I'm a doctor, not a bomb squad," he said in meek protest. "Is there anything else you want me to do? "

"If this doesn't work, then I might be your next patient," Talios said sourly. "Or the next guest in the morgue. Be ready to step in as senior medical officer."

"I will, if any of my holo-emitters are still online."

Talios nodded. "Energizing"

On the bio-bed, Syvar, who looked to be sleeping peacefully, faded away in a swirl of dazzling blue light.

An alarm sounded its urgent cry from the console, warning that the destination coordinates entered were not safe. Talios overrode it. A second went by. Then two. Then three. Talios quickly punched in the retrieve command as Syvar began to rematerialize fifty kilometers off the ship's port bow. But following his pre-programmed instructions, the transporter finished transporting the agonizer to its destination, cleanly separating it from its former host.

Sensing that its prisoner was attempting escape, the agonizer's explosive charge went off. Fortunately it was far away from the ship.

Syvar rematerialized on the bio-bed. He still looked peaceful, but his color was decidedly more blue. Talios and the EMH worked quickly to correct his temperature and blood gases.

Though his temperature was dangerously low, as well his blood oxygen levels, the Vulcan didn't seem to be in any distress.

"Computer, deactivate force field," Talios said. The computer did so with a chirp. With that he sighed in relief. "I think we're okay here," he said to the security men. The two had not moved this entire time, but at the Andorian doctor's word they shuffled out quietly, still in a mild state of shock themselves. Later they would relay the story to shipmates over a few well-deserved drinks.

"I can take over here. If you need a moment," the EMH offered.

Talios shook his head as he opened the medical arch over Syvar. "I'll stay. When he wakes up, he'll want to hear what happened from me."

---

●● Lieutenant Mitchell Graham
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Andromeda

Ensign Syvar
acting CMO
pnpc Aidan