Unexpected Meeting and Shared Interests

Posted on Sun Aug 18th, 2024 @ 6:58pm by Lieutenant Muffy Harrington

1,354 words; about a 7 minute read

Unexpected Meeting and Shared Interests
Joint log
Lieutenant Muffy Harrington
Ensign Micah Byrd

Begin Log

Muffy was in the lab connected to her office, looking at slides. She didn’t hear a lot going on around her as she concentrated on what she was doing.

Lieutenant Kyle Jamison saw the young man hovering in the doorway and walked over to him. “May I help you with something, Ensign? Does medical need a special project done?” Recognizing the ensign as medical and thinking that Doctor Toulaine had sent him for something.

Micah had left sick bay and made his way straight to the science labs, his research in his hands as he walked through the open door, waiting for a science officer to talk to. He didn't just want to barge in, he lingered in the door and the science officer walked up to him “Hi yes I need to speak to Lieutenant Harrington it's quite urgent” he said with a brief smile.

Jamison took in the nervous young man and the data disc in his hand and nodded. “Of course. She’s in her private lab, but we will try to get her attention. Please, follow me.” Jamison headed toward Muffy’s office. “I’m Kyle Jamison, by the way, if you ever need help in science again.” He smiled at the young man and then knocked on Muffy’s door and rang the chime, at the same time.

Muffy heard both the knock and the chime and sat up from her hunched position over the slides and scope. She stood and stretched a moment and then went to the door and opened it and looked over Kyle and then, in surprise, Micah. “Kyle, what can I do for you? Micah, this is a surprise, what can I help you with?” She asked both men with a smile and a flip of her blond hair.

“This young man needs to see you urgently, Muffy. So I brought him to you. I will return to work on my project.” He turned to Micah. “It was nice to meet you.” And then he left them.

Muffy looked at Micah and stepped aside so he could enter her office. “What can I do for you, Micah?”

He looked to Kyle “Thank you I'll be sure to stop by again” he said with a brief smile as he turned his attention to Muffy “Hello Lieutenant I’ve been working on some research in sickbay” he said handing over the padd in his hands “I've been trying to work out a biological trigger for this radiation whatever it is and wondered if you had some time to help me sift through and get to the bottom of it two heads are better than one and all that” he said smiling.

“Of course. Let’s see where you are and how far behind me you are.” She put the disc in her computer and took a look at it and scrolled through and nodded. “Okay, so only a few hours behind me then. Come into the lab, and I’ll show you what I have been working on. I found an interesting correlation between their weapons and this radiation as well as biological markers.” She stood up and handed him his disc again and opened the door to her private lab. There were several locked storage crates, labeled differently for what they held, but in a shorthand that was impossible to decipher. “Take that scope there and here are some slides to look at. I would love a second pair of eyes and opinions on it. Welcome to the project, Micah. I hope that Toulaine isn’t upset that I’m going to steal you for a time to do this with me.” She grinned at him and gave him the marked slides she had looked at that matched up with what he was working on to get him started and help him progress his personal line of research.

Micah looked at her as he moved into the lab, he laughed a little “For future reference I’m always cardinally behind most people it takes me a whole ass beat to catch up so we're even lucky I’m this caught up. Curses of being a gamma shift nurse and sleeping through the day shift” he said laughing again. He looked at the screen “only a few hours? By gosh Lieutenant Harrington you flatter me” he said winking a little as he stepped further into the private lab “There's a link between their weapons and the radiation? Lord knows why I didn't think of that. Has anyone looked through Otto's systems to see if we can pick up any residual latent radiation?” he asked quizzically.

He took the scope she pointed at and as she handed him the slides and his disk. “I'll try and give you a second pair of eyes with our combined research. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this” he said looking through the scope. “These markers are latent in every single slide? It's infecting them like some sort of virus?” he said looking deeper. “Lieutenant weird question, it has a motive of course. Do we have access to any Vulcan blood samples or immune cells? I have a wild theory and I think I may be able to work out a way of making it work” he said flipping through the slides “Some are more advanced than others and its attacking the neocortex and Animal brains”
Without looking up from the slides she was working on, Muffy spoke easily. “There is no such thing as a weird or stupid question, especially when it comes to science. So ask away, anything you want and I will do my best to answer. As for Vulcan blood and immune cells, I do have a sample from T’Kaia, taken by Toulaine at the beginning of the radiation contamination on the ship. T’Kaia has almost always proved to be the most susceptible to radiation of the crew. Although I do believe that D’Vana is being triggered by the Barclay Regression Syndrome, which is an interesting way to go in response to this form of radiation.” Muffy changed slides and pushed a small box marked T’Kaia on it toward Micah.

“As for the link between the radiation and their weapons, when looking at…” She paused for a moment to regain composure before continuing, though her voice was a little thicker. “Otto’s remains, I noted that the weapon would have been nothing more than any variation on an energy weapon currently used by most of the major players in the Beta and Alpha quadrants. But when you add in their radiation, it turns that weapon into something more, almost like the famous “death rays” from the ancient time comic books that could obliterate entire planets with a single blast. That is what happened to Otto. It was a single shot that lasted less than half a second. Without the radiation, it would have only put a hole in him and we could fix that. Honestly, Edwards was lucky to only get burns second hand, if it had been a nanometer wider, he would have been obliterated as well.” Then she changed slides again and stopped talking for a moment.

Micah looked through the slides “I only wish I'd come down sooner because our Brains would have had this figured out. Something was clear though l, those with an already aggressive disposition seemed to be of the highest risk. It seems though from a medical standpoint those with high levels of aggression already present seem to be hit the hardest.” He started running the rest he wanted to run with the Vulcan DNA and immune cells “Muffy I think I just cracked something” he said calling her over to the scope *Vulcans are the least affected which means this radiation relies heavily on the victims emotions” he said with a wide smile.

END LOG - to be continued in sim

NOTE: Ensign Micah Byrd also authored this, but he hasn't gotten on the website yet.

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