Back Underway (Part 2)

Posted on Sat Jun 10th, 2023 @ 4:38am by Commander Lucy Heartfilia & Lieutenant Yōji Itami & Chief Petty Officer La'lei & Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Commander Marc Kitchner M.D. & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & Lieutenant Shinobu Miyake & Lieutenant JG Marcel Knowles & Chief Petty Officer Meredith Corden
Edited on on Sat Oct 28th, 2023 @ 12:45pm

1,263 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Bridge
Timeline: M3 MD04 - 14:30 hours

Previously on Star Trek Midway:

#Midway to Nimbus III. Had engine trouble. All appears OK at present. Back on course. ETA between 8 and 13 hours based on the current speed and possible asteroid showers en route. Will advise if anything changes. Midway out.#

In sickbay, it was Slattery's turn to do the quarterly physicals. Complete physicals. In 8 hours, he must have seen almost half of the crew.....naked. Male. Female. Whatever sex they might be. He's seen them all. 7 ingrown toenails. 3 early-stage pregnancies. 20 cases of an unknown parasite that someone had contracted while on an away mission or shore leave. Treatment will be an injection of an antibiotic, prescription body wash, and several lectures about safe sex. Once he finished with his cases, he went to his quarters and took a shower using the body wash. Then he sealed his uniform in a plastic bag and took it to the quartermaster for disposal. Then, with his med kit in hand, he took the turbolift to visit the bridge to inoculate everyone there.

Aze heard the turbolift doors open and turned in time to see Michael step out onto the bridge. She smiled as she saw his handsome face as he strolled onto the bridge.

Lucy looked back to see the doctor enter the bridge. "Doctor Slattery?" she asked. "What do we owe the pleasure of the visit?" she asked curiously.

And now the continuation...

Slattery moved closer to the commander. "Sir. I was doing quarterly checkups on the crew, when I found that almost 25% of the crew were infested with parasites. The parasites are of an unknown variety. It appears that some of the crew were on shore leave when they came into contact with the parasites. Those that transported back weren't initially infected, the majority of the cases were those who shuttled back. I've informed the flight deck that all of the shuttles have to be sterilized. As far as the crew is concerned, everyone has to get an antibiotic shot, bathe with an antifungal body and hair wash, and take all their uniforms to the quartermaster so they, the uniforms not the crew, can be destroyed and new uniforms supplied. So I would like to give everyone on the bridge the shot, give them the body wash and have them get new uniforms, with your permission of course."

A moment of stunned silence fell upon the bridge. The whirring and beeping of the ships instruments was all that could be heard as it seemed every eye was on the doctor. Finally it was Lucy was broke the silence. "Doctor, why am I only hearing about this now? Surely something like this should have been brought to me immediately?!" she asked, her tone indicating she was far from pleased.

"Well, so much for everything being 'okay'..." Lieutenant Miyake muttered.

Aze was properly creeped out by the sheer mention of parasites. She had never been a fan of bugs or, what her mother called them, creepy-crawlies. She then smiled for a moment when she pondered if she could get Michael to give her the body wash personally.

"I'm sorry commander, but we just discovered these parasites and to the extent that they possibly have contaminated the ship in just the last 30 minutes or so. Yes, I should have contacted the bridge as soon as possible, for this I am to blame. But," he paused, "this is something we need to deal with immediately."

Meredith paused by the turbolift door as Slattery exited and walked past her. She waited to see if she would need to receive whatever treatment he was talking about. One hand moved to her belly as if she was imagining gross parasites inside her. Her face drained of colour slightly. She was used to the hazards of space travel but some stuff was gross.

Thraxina frowned and turned at the helm.

"Doctor, these parasites, do they have a name? I want to check that they're nothing that can harm my babies." she asked, rubbing her tummy maternally.

Stryker looked at her and with a smirk said, "Hope they aren't those that eat metal, if so they're in for a feast, and we're in another world of trouble!" Then he smiled. "Just kidding, just kidding, I don't believe there are metal-eating parasites. At least I don't think so."

"You don't think so?" queried Thraxina "Oh, you're a great comfort, Commander!"

Aze perked up again at hearing a comment about metal eating parasites. The first thing she thought of, before even the ship herself, was her jewellery collection, especially the pendant that was her grandmother's, which was already one hundred years old when her grandmother received it on her 21st birthday. She was relieved when Stryker said he was joking. She rolled up her sleeve in preparation for the antibiotic shot.

He just could not resist. If it was not one thing, it was another. One emergency after another, they were never going to reach Nimbus III!

Thraxina next: she took her shot like a man.

He addressed the following to everyone on the bridge. "There is no indication that this parasite is flesh or metal eating. If it was flesh eating, a quarter of the crew would be dead by now. From what we can tell, there is nothing in the fleet medical database that this parasite has ever been seen before. From what we have seen, the worst syndrome you may experience is gastric distress. So...the best thing this crew can do is to take the antibiotic shot, take a hot shower using this," he held up the bottle, "and get fresh uniforms." He looked around, "Any other questions?" But before anyone could respond, "Good. The orderlies will come around, give you an injection and hand you the bath sample."

"Come to think of it..." oh no, Thraxina wasn't going to discuss her toiletry situation here. She liked Stryker too much for that, and she'd already had to embarrass herself in front of Dr Slattery, thank you very much. She pressed a candy coloured button on her console which would summon a relief helmsperson, so she could go and dose herself with the shower gloop.

"Well this is a real change of pace, now everyone's getting a shot, then off to the showers." He looked over at Commander Heartfilia, took a deep breath, and exhaled before saying, "Commander, think we could step on it a bit, maybe get us to Nimbus III before something else happens to this ship and her crew? Not meaning to overstep, Ma'am, just suggesting."

Meredith took the shot without issue and then hurried off to the showers. She had been leaving the bridge anyway so she didn't need to summon relief, though there were others to fill in should a Yeoman be needed in the next twenty minutes or so. These parasites were just gross!

Lucy sighed. "We can't all just up and leave our posts doctor. A starship doesn't run itself." She explained to him.

She looked down at Thraxina. "Reduce speed to Warp One and set us on autopilot," she ordered. She then stood up from the command chair. "Right people, issue a shipwide medical warning. Start decontamination procedures and..."

Lucy was cut off as suddenly the Midway was shaken hard. The emergency alarms sounded as the ship shook. The viewscreen suddenly switched to show a Romulan bird of prey barraging them with its disruptors.

"Battlestations!" Lucy called. "Those parasites will have to wait! We have bigger problems, return to sickbay doctor." She added.

To be continued...

 

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