Briefing
Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2015 @ 7:58am by Lieutenant Alana Tovan & Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD & Ensign Corrine Steiner & Lieutenant Commander Kaya Innis
Edited on on Mon Jun 22nd, 2015 @ 11:41pm
Mission:
Pandemic [Incomplete]
Location: Observation Lounge, USS Carthage
[ON]
Drusus was fascinated by the information they had received. He had already read the reports from the research team - twice - but was listening intently as the doctors briefed the senior staff on what they were heading into. He sat the head of the table in the Carthage's observation lounge, tapping notes into a PADD with his left hand and absorbing the informed opinions of the MDs.
"Okay," Doctor Innis began as she sat forward in her chair, "I know that there's a lot of information that's already been delivered to you. With so much to absorb, I think it's of the utmost important that all of you understand the known symptoms and the risk associations with these periods and their transmission windows. Please understand, though, that this is only the observed pattern within this host scenario. Anything that introduces new variables from a change in setting, temperature, host species, etcetera will change the disease in some way so there is never truly a single model, just a majority rule."
Kaya glanced around the room briefly before continuing on. "After infection, the virus apparently has a cook time of roughly four months. At this time, patients are asymptomatic as the virus is likely in replication mode and slowly chipping away at the nervous system and lymph nodes. A four months, the most common symptom prevailing is an onset of sudden onset epistaxis, followed by subconjunctival hemorrhage and in select few syncope. Bloody nose, burst vessels in the eye and fainting. This would lend to the belief that blood pressure spikes significantly and the possibility that the virus is either blocking the ability to absorb key vitamins and minerals, or simply destroying the body's supply at a devastating rate."
Ens. Steiner raised a hand. "Doctor, are there any reports of species, humanoid or otherwise, which appear to be immune to the virus?"
Innis grimaced and shook her head. "No. Even if there were, I'd advise you to not bank on it either. Viruses are masters at adaptation, mutating and changing with every host or environ change. Don't trust anything at face value. Anymore questions before we continue on?""
"Do we have samples other than the indigenous population?" Alana Tovan asked. She wasn't well versed in viruses. The only heartbeat that she ever dealt with was that of the ship. But she figured that she should ask anyway. "I mean, the report suggested that the virus didn't originate here, but none of the researchers were infected, are they?"
Doctor Brand spoke up in response to this question. "No, there haven't been any reports of the researchers being infected. They've only been observing, not interacting with the native population. That we know of, the indigenous population are the only samples we have."
Corrine Steiner raised her hand again, "Doctor, I've heard stories that androids have served in Starfleet. Are there any which could be dispatched to help us? They'd be viral immune."
Tovan wasn't one of the doctors, but she shook her head. "Starfleet has been studying androids for years, but have never been able to recreate one. I think there was only the one android that ever actually served in Starfleet, but I think he was killed many years ago."
Brand took a look at the PADD in front of her. "They'd be immune to the virus, but would still need to be decontaminated before interacting with us. The researchers don't know how the virus is spreading. That's something that we'll have to look into once we get there. Their research labs are suited for anthropological studies, and some limited medical treatment. They're not equipped to study a disease in detail." She turned to Commander Drusus. "Commander, I suggest we set up an isolation chamber in case we need to bring any subjects aboard the ship. Not only could they be highly contagious, but we will have to be very careful about introducing them to the ship."
Drusus nodded once, "Do it." He gestured over to Tovan and added, "Work with Tovan and her team to set something up. I don't want any risk to the crew."
Once again, worry was the mother of ideas for Ens. Steiner, "Doctor? Could we set up holodeck mirror isolation rooms? One has the patient being tended to by a holodeck projection of you. The other has you tending to the holodeck projection of the patient. I've heard of that being done in plague situations."
Brand gave Innis a glance to see what she thought. "That's an interesting idea. I've not done that myself, but it might be a good way for us to examine the patient. Physical samples would be harder to gather, but could potentially be sent to the lap with the transporter."
Drusus considered the idea; it certainly had merit and anything that minimised the risk of infection for the crew was worth investigating. But ever the practical man, he wondered whether it would work. Site to site transport would take care of samples easily enough, though the biofilters would have to be disabled, but he wasn't sure about the rest of it. He turned to the chief engineer. "What do you think, Lieutenant?"
Alana considered the idea for a moment. "I'm not a holodeck expert, but I think it could be done. It would take some time to set up properly."
"Aright," Drusus nodded. "See what you can do. Steiner, you can assist. But I want I want strict contamination control around the holodeck. It's not set up for infection control so for this to work, you'll have to set it up. Air scrubbers, decontamination fields, controlled entry and exit. Everything." He paused and looked at each of the assembled officers in turn before adding, "And I want a non-holodeck back up in place elsewhere in the ship, in case something goes wrong. We're talking about holodecks here, after all." He nodded at the chief engineer. "Lieutenant Tovan, if you can have them both operational as soon as possible after we arrive, that would be appreciated."
Tovan nodded. "Aye, sir. We'll have both facilities operational before we arrive. That backup lab will be easier since we already have some capability in the medical labs. The synced holodecks will take more work. But they'll be ready."
The commander looked back up at the doctors. "Is there anything else we should be aware of?"
"Nothing more at this time," Brand replied, shaking her head. "We won't know much more until we can meet with the researchers."
The Magna Roman nodded once, the gesture leaving nobody uncertain about the status of the meeting. "Then we're finished here. You have your assignments. Get to it. Dismissed."
Commander Titus Livius Drusus
Acting Captain / Science Officer
Lt. Commander Kaya Innis
Chief Medical Officer
Lt. Commander Isolde Brand [P: Liarra Von]
Medical Officer
Lieutenant Alana Tovan [P: Liarra Von]
Chief Engineer
Ens. Corrine Steiner
Chief Operations Officer
