Medical Followup with Dr. T'Vek

Posted on Monday May 11th, 2020 @ 6:22pm by Lieutenant Commander T'Pri & Lieutenant Commander Nivora T'vek

3,368 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Shakedown Cruise
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: day 5 0800

[On]

The Captain and Exec had suggested to Lt T'Pri to follow up on her investigation with Dr. T'Vek. She made an appointment for 0800 in the morning.

The Vulcan Intel chief also had to have a physical and to drop off her medical records.

Most of the information T'Pri had been able to uncover was spurious at best, however she was a very meticulous investigator.

T'Pri had entered sickbay precisely on time. She was very punctual.

"Ah, On time I see, I can appreciate someone on this crew, in fact anyone, with a sense of punctuality," came the ever imperious drawl, T'vek had been continuing his determined purge to the disorder the Sickbay had been in when he had first arrived, there was now a clear delineation from where he had set to with a determined will, and where he had yet to tackle properly, and even then he had managed to bring some semblance of order. Well over half of Sickbay had by now been meticulously organised to his exacting standards, subtly sliding a now organised rack of equipment packs into a newly labelled shelf and approaching T'pri with supreme self assuredness and all the speed and inevitability of a glacier, Tricorder in hand and stiff, faintly displeased expression chiselled in place.

T'Pri looked around. Sickbay was well most of it, indeed well ordered. She watched as Dr. T'Vek approached her. He was very tall in fact a full foot taller than T'Pri.

"I am T'Pri, We come to serve." She said making a standard Vulcan hand greeting.

The young Vulcan handed Dr. T'Vek her supplemental medical records.

"My purpose is two fold, Doctor. First to get my physical and then to hear what you have found out of about the explosion and death of her pilot from purely a medical perspective. Your insight could help my investigation. I would also be interested in hearing about any theories you might have on how it happened." T'Pri added.

"Where would you like to start?" She asked.

"Indeed, Jolan Tru," T'vek murmured in response to the hand gesture, "As for where to start, with your checkup, then we can retire to my office for some relative privacy to allow for me to brief you on what I alluded to in the officers meeting," he paused for a moment to take the proferred PADD, "and during that I can take the opportunity to review your medical records and perform any further diagnosis, and I must say, it is commendable that you retained such records, the crew thusfar seems to have been rather lax in their own medical histories."

With this last backhanded compliment he opened his medical tricorder and arched an eyebrow, "I trust this is acceptable to you?"

"Jolan Tru Doctor. It is acceptable. Thank you." T'Pri replied.

T'Pri put her arms at her back and stayed perfectly still as the doctor ran his medical tricorder over her body. Truth be told, She had had very little experience with Romulan's. He did seem to be a very competent Doctor though. She had learned a long time ago to take her records with her. It helped prevent identity theft and was added proof as to whom she was especially with changelings and her superiors. This was a very effective precaution in her line of work.

T'vek swiftly set about his work, as meticulous as ever before putting his tricorder back into his belt and reaching for a hypo-spray and slotting in an empty vial, "A blood test, any complaints or concerns at all, or simple convenience and efficiency to combine visits?" he inquired in flat yet haughty tones, "I must also apologize for the general state of sickbay, when this ship was reactivated it would seem ensuring medical was in a fit state." The sections of sickbay to which he was referring seemed to be in a somewhat acceptable state until one looked at the sections to which the fastidious Romulan had set himself to, with everything itemized polished cleaned and organised in fundamentally different ways differing from Starfleet norms yet all the more efficient and organized for it.

T'Pri's eyebrow shot up at his haughty tone. Perhaps her presence itself was an annoyance. Most people who had lived under scrutiny disliked intelligence officers or operatives. She had the same problems with Cardassian's. They were a somewhat paranoid species.

"I quite understand, a work in progress." T'Pri replied stoically.

T'Pri stiffened a little as the doctor drew rich green blood from her.

T'vek noticed the reaction to his subtle barbs, he had yet to encounter his species cousins but had heard much about their own claims to superiority through logic and suppression of emotion, he hadn't expected to get a rise so easily and that he had gotten one caused him to smile inwardly while maintaining the mountain like mask of mild disdain and disinterest, not missing a step through his continued analyses of readings.

"I trust it would not be impolitic to inquire something about your career history, After all the body, irregardless of species is entirely mutable, and ever an interest, and knowing something of your service history is always helpful in a medical sense, I understand if needs of propriety you can not elaborate, I am more than aware of the need for privacy and secrecy and entirely respect that, perhaps, something of a broad summary if you would be so willing?" he inquired in that same vaguely provoking yet seemingly disinterested tone.

"Not at all Doctor. As you know I am an intelligence officer. This is not my first tour of duty in Starfleet. I trained to be a diplomat and an exo biologist originally and am a graduate of Vulcan science academy. I joined star fleet during the dominion war.After training I was assigned as an intelligence analyst. However due to my background and knowledge of the Cardassian's I was made a covert operative and did what I had to for the war effort. After the war I resigned my commission to pursue personal interests. After a 10 year hiatus I entered star fleet a second time and was recommissioned. I took this position with the understanding that it would be a teaching position. Is that broad enough for you or did you have something specific you wanted to ask me?" T'Pri replied.

"Most interesting, and most curious," was the only reply at first, in an almost distant thoughtful tone buried beneath the drawl, "it would be remiss of me to ask, given the Dominion's noted advances in Chemical and Biological Warfare and their application of such in the Gamma Quadrant, but were you deployed or did you visit any Dominion held world in either quadrant, you may omit the details if that is preferable, my concern is for your long term health, not to pry into matters in which my attentions are likely unwanted." With this he continued his checks, moving on to a basic response analysis while awaiting the blood results from a nearby console, his hands and fingers moving deftly much like a virtuoso pianist in concert.

"I was on Cardassia prime when it fell both times. The carnage was overwhelming, the mass destruction was too. The utter disregard for the Cardassian's by the Dominion was most illogical at the time. The Dominion had almost no regard for life at all." T'Pri stated.

"From what I recall of the history, I'm sure the Founders would have found a way to justify their actions, though from my viewpoint it does seem wasteful spite, their position was hardly tenable and to dilute their strength further to begin a massacre was to be frank wasteful, then again, the same could be said of war in general, I'm sure a Klingon would no doubt disagree, but as they say, everything is relative," T'vek replied cryptically. "I thank you for the information, I will be sure to compare any records I can locate for any personnel who have served on Cardassia Prime," he continued as he continued on with a further battery of tests, before imperiously gesturing to his office "shall we continue this in private?"

"Indeed Doctor", T'Pri said following him to his office. T'Pri remained standing.

"As I stated both the Captain and Exec suggested I follow up with you on the medical aspects of the explosion an death of the pilot. Did you work on the forensic analysis directly and if so was there anything strange about the remains"? T'Pri asked.

With little preamble after leading the way into his office, a strictly ordered haven of order he gestured to a seat at his desk while he took his own behind his desk, various artful stone statue's were placed around on small plinths while behind his chair loomed a large raptor bearing the twin worlds, one in each talon, to his right on the desk was a small relief of a group of Romulans surrounding a wolf like creature with a raptor overhead.

Before answering, T'vek reached into a drawer in his desk to take a small unusual but definitely Romulan device and placing it upon the desk before continuing, "a security precaution," he drawled in unbidden answer, "and indeed I was the one who dealt with the analysis directly, none of the staff I have onship at present I would consider proficient enough to do such a task to a useful degree, as for strange, I have three separate strands.

The First, I found an energy signature consistent with that of a transporter within the remains, this would be unremarkable to the laymen, but typically this energy signature lasts only for at most half an hour before dissipating, which would indicate to me that it being possible the remains we have, may not actually be whom we think they are, not to mention the transporter signature, is not Starfleet.

The Second, the genetic structure of the remains has been well and truly scrambled, I have been working on trying to identify if what was in that fighter was even Human, this is complicated by the tissue damage being inconsistent with remains from similar such accidents.

The Third, There is the presence of chemical compound, of which one of the elements is an isogenic enzyme, the presence of which I trust should immediately ring the proverbial alarm bells for you, given your prior experience.

As for the veracity of these discoveries, I have cross referenced and double checked these readings using both Starfleet and Romulan equipment," he finished with a flat finality.

T'Pri's eyebrow shot up.

"Interesting an isogenic enzyme. A type of natural catalyst produced by organisms. Ketracel-white for example is an addictive narcotic containing an isogenic enzyme and nutrients. Were you able to determine the kinetic parameters of their regulatory properties?" T'Pri asked.

"I thought that might get your attention," he replied grimly as his lips compressed, "I was indeed, however I got two separate readings from two sets of equipment, I suspect that some effort was put in to obscure the readings from any Starfleet investigation, that is, what complicates matters is the presence of a cocktail of chemicals which are also inconsistent" he paused for a moment tentatively, "if this is indeed what it appears to be, nothing that I have ascertained so far seems to be consistent, the energy signal of the Transport readings are not consistent with those of Dominion Transporters." With this he handed a PADD with what readings he had managed to ascertain broken down in comparisons in meticulous detail.

T'Pri took the PADD and scanned the readings. Everything that T'Vek said was consistent with his report. It was probably not the Dominion, or any other Federation member that she knew of. Logic dictated that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

"Have you quantum scanned the bio matter residue Doctor"? T'Pri asked.

"I am something of a perfectionist Lieutenant, I have conducted every scan possible, I have even managed to perform some scans despite not having the equipment by improvisation, I even ran a scan for any temporal anomalies," T'vek replied with a slight sigh, inwardly despairing that this whole incident could not have occurred several days later when sickbay were in better condition and all of the equipment in actual working order.

"You'll find those scans, along with the quantum in the end section, the only line of investigation I haven't pursued would be to attempt to clone the remains, and the only reason I haven't pursued that would be the complications on trying to keep such an enterprise discreet and ruffling any feathers, I understand that feelings about the matter are running high," this last was with the customary drawl as to whether he disagreed with the sentiment of mourning or more of the idea of such mourning getting in the way of an investigation.

T'Pri punched up the data.

"T'Vek, did you notice that the quantum vibration of the bio matter residue does not match what it is supposed to be? Everything in the universe vibrates at exactly the same frequency. Your readings here indicate that the bio-matter residue does not." T'Pri stated.

"I did indeed," T'vek verbally parried with a faint smile, "I presumed it had something to do with the Transporter Signal, however as you'll also noticed I did not put down a cause for most of my readings, merely stated my findings, I am not a scientist and can only comment on matters on which I can claim expertise, that being Medicine, Biology, Psychology, Geology, Metallurgy and Art I could of course elaborate further but I wouldn't wish to bore you," he concluded once again with that faint smile, bordering almost on a smirk.

"It is not out of the realms of possibility, if I were to speculate, that this could be the result of mistiming a transport out of the craft, or perhaps, in to the craft," he let this last possibility hang ominously.

"That is not logical, a transporter effect could not possibly affect the quantum vibration of matter in the universe unless of course it came from a parallel universe. It was very wise to keep your theories of causation to yourself T'Vek the implications of which are quite startling." T'Pri stated.

"As stated, I am a Doctor, not a Scientist," T'vek replied stiffly, "the main reason I mention that there could have been a switch is the presence of the residual Transporter energies, scrambled genetic structure, it is possible," continued the ever regal Romulan.

"It is curious you mention Parallel Universes, that subject seems to have been highly in vogue recently," he continued thoughtfully, "regardless it is a pity that it took me some time for me to get this far in my investigations or I would have requested a sensor sweep over the local area."

"A pity indeed. Curious as to why command didn't request one either." T'Pri said her eyebrow arching again.

"Indeed it is," agreed T'vek mildly, "I think we will need to work our way through each of these one by one, what I do find curious is the timing of this, I at present am operating under the assumption that these remains were beamed into the craft as the detonation was beginning, the reason why I believe this is due to having studied the tests of pilot suits, which in the Star Empire, are equipped with single use transporters in the event of the destruction of their craft, something that Starfleet pilot suits seem to lack," T'vek drawled as he recalled that the subject had been part of his final year exam.

"If I may make a supposition. Perhaps our pilot wasn't really killed. It is possible he was beamed out and replaced with this biomatter residue in an attempt to delay our launch or to replace key individuals. The purpose of which is inconclusive at the moment. While it is true that the suits don't have escape transporters the fighters do. Normally the computer senses a problem determines its a critical or catastrophic issue and beams the pilot out to a safe distance." T'Pri added.

"As do our fighters, with both it allows for a greater survival rate," T'vek replied with small smirk, "As for your supposition, that is indeed possible the question to that would be why, perhaps beyond a medical scope, and while the genetics of this residue are well and truly scrambled," he paused for a moment and then continued to forestall the inevitable query about that, "and yes I have been working on disentangling them, my examinations did ascertain several compounds consistent with human remains."

"Of course, we could easily continue with circular that these compounds were put there to, as you said delay matters by making sure that it would seem to still be human remains," T'vek simply smiled thinly at the prospect of no doubt talking round in circles for the rest of the day, it had been a while since he had had such a rousing conversation like this, it made him miss the Empire.

"Dr T'Vek, I have been trained in xeno-biology. If in fact I can be of use during your continuing investigation or research, I would ask that you avail yourself of my services. If not I quite understand." T'Pri said.

"Consider it done, you have my summary, while here," he paused for a moment to reach into his desk, "are my more nuanced analsyes along with annotations and more technical terms," his tone idle as he held out another PADD.

"This will be most helpful. I will be very discrete." T'Pri said.

"That will indeed be appreciated, as I have thusfar managed to keep my endeavours discreet, and it would be remiss of me to mention one more detail," T'vek paused for a moment as he handed over the PADD, "When I arrived on the ship and first examined this facility, I found evidence of break in and upon further inspection discovered several missing chemical compounds, medicines and sedative's, one of the latter warrants further consideration."

"I have not yet reported this to security as I did not wish for this to influence the investigation into this current incident and have instead in the process of reordering Sick Bay, put my own security measures in place, however I am but a simple Romulan Doctor, inexperienced in such things and was curious as to your thoughts and insights on such precautions," he enquired with a wry self aware smirk.

"Indeed Doctor, when did this happen and what exactly went missing. I assume a simple Romulan doctor keeps very meticulous records. I would be interested to know if your security measures have yielded results". T'Pri stated."Also have you noticed if any computer records have been tampered with or deleted"? T'Pri added.

"Indeed I do, however such records are complicated by having only records of what should be here, not what was actually here, and even then shipboard records were not present, something which I found most interesting," he returned in tones more suited to describing the floor.

"As for my security measures, I've decided to start from the bottom and work my way up," with a smirk, effortless grace and a single hand placed one of the equipment containers that now populated half of the storage racks in Sick Bay, it looked to be almost a blend of Starfleet and Romulan sensibilities, with the interior having precisely shaped indentations for items, equipment and medications.

"I should explain, each container has a series of sensors and pressure points, so that if anything is removed it logs what was removed based on weight, surface area and chemical composition in addition to each container and position logged via inventory, it works both independently and as part of other precautions I have put in place," he smiled mildly at this last before continuing.

"Of course any suggestions you have, would be much appreciated, while this is more a security matter, your input nonetheless would be highly valued," as inscrutable as ever, despite this he seemed somewhat genuine.

[End]
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A post by:

Lieutenant T'Pri
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Poseidon

Lieutenant Nivora T'vek
Chief Medical Officer
USS Poseidon

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