Oby Outbreak

[Alexei Juno 0]

Dictionaries defined coincidence generally as an occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection. As the USS Challenger hurdled towards the Oby system, her Chief Medical Officer couldn't help but wonder if there were some connection to the fact that he was aboard Challenger. Shaking off such paranoid arrogances, Alexei Juno took a breath as the lift doors opened, depositing his five foot eleven inch frame near the central sickbay complex of the Excelsior-class starship.

 

Running his hands through the thatch of brown hair that had refused to cooperate after his shower, Alexei headed for his office to begin reviewing the information that they'd managed to obtain from Oby VI. It was fortunate that Starfleet had saw fit to upgrade the medical facilities aboard the Excelsior-class; while the Constitution-classes were prepared and able to respond to most medical crises true epidemics like the one forming on Oby were out off her abilities and generally had to be handled by specifically designed hospital ships. The only problem with the hospital ships is they weren't as easily dispatched as say a front line starship.

 

The doors to sickbay slid open with the trademark hiss of the pneumatic doors aboard all starships, revealing a bustling medical facility that had been ordered into action. A small smile formed on his face as he visually inspected the action of his staff. It was encouraging to see them react so quickly, getting the bio-bed prepped, containment units ready, supplies stocked and ready to go, medical aide packs prepared and ready to beam down to the affected planet. In the far corner of his eye, he noticed Harris working with the orderlies to get the containment for critical care cases setup. Opting to not disturb her, he started walking towards his office and made a mental note to thank her later.

 

It had been his office barely three weeks and most of that had been leave time, but already the desk was cluttered with reports and paperwork. Every time he heard they were becoming a paperless society, the more it seamed he had another fifty forms to fill out as many medical records were still kept in hard copy for security and privacy reasons. Sighing, he headed over to the fresher and took out a mug that would be filled with coffee as soon as his percolator perked.

 

While the tale-tale drips of water becoming coffee began behind him, he started to look through the information from Oby. The initial diagnosis, when the first couple of patients had came in, had been some sort of influenza. That was quickly discarded when other symptoms began showing, such as blood diathesis, hypotension, petechia and several other symptoms that were consistent with some sort of hemorrhagic fever, though tests for all common ones had continued show negative. At that point, according to the record, the extreme contagion factor began showing as many of the nurses who treated the first patients began developing symptoms. By the time they realized that the infection was spreading rapidly and that extreme biohazard cautions were needed, the mortality and infection rate were staggering. As of the last communication with Challenger, Oby authorities reported nearly 140 deaths and 300 people showing symptoms. To make matters worse, the disease had not responded to treatment by the usage of Ribavirin, Interferon, several other anti-viral agents and a host of the best anti-biotics that the colony had on hand.

 

Information on the contagion itself was sketchy at best. The medical personal who'd been handling the original outbreak hadn't been able to do any detailed molecular scans of the infected patients. Juno took a long deep breath before exhaling and looking over to his coffee. The good news, if there was such a thing, is that they did have fairly detailed records on all of the diagnoses cases of the disease. He was sending that information to the science labs for the science kids to begin charting the data, while the biochemists and some of his own people would begin looking through databanks at both the Grima Center and the Cold Station Projects to see if they could find any viral or bacterial agent that matched the profile of what they'd seen so far with the Oby outbreak.

 

Meanwhile, Alexei was beginning work on a report to engineering on the specific containment units he'd need setup. He hadn't told his staff yet, but for the most part he felt their efforts to prepare containment units in sickbay would be futile. While he'd not gathered enough information for the proclamation, he was beginning to suspect whatever was causing the infection at Oby to be a so called "level 4 biohazard." As he'd told Commander Ba'alyo, until the vector could be identified he didn't want to take any chances. If the disease was airborne then standard precautions would be insufficient, and all they needed was a massive outbreak of plague on Challenger, especially since the disease had shown the very curious property of showing a lack of prejudice in it's choice of host species. That said, he was going to ask engineering to construct a containment unit in the cargo bays.

 

When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a hazmat suites were a given (which had to be tested to make sure they were properly sealed) and a self-contained oxygen supply would be mandatory. The entrance and exit of a level 4 biolabs needed to contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard such as decon chambers. Multiple airlocks would need to be employed and would be electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. Further the construction itself would need to contain all of the equipment to effectively operate a working hospital with surgical, laboratory and critical care areas and be constructed out of the same basic material as hazmat suites. He was sure engineering was going to love this assignment.

 

The sudden, high-pitch beep of his communications terminal caught him off-guard and derailed his entire train of thought for a moment. Taking a moment to collect himself, Alexei reached over and hit the blinking, round, blue button on his desk. "Dr. Juno here..."

 

"Incoming transmission from the Grima Center," the flowing voice of the second watch communications officer said. "A Dr. Susan Nuress for you, Doctor."

 

Alexei blanched "Lovely, just lovely... of all the people..."

 

"I should tell her your busy?"

 

Closing his eyes and taking a long breath, Alexei finally shook his head. He'd known that sending to Grima for assistance could result in this. In fact, most part of him had expected it. They knew that there was clearly an epidemiologist on the case, why not give him the assistance of one of the best virologists in the Federation to help? Never mind that she and he mixed like oil and water. "No, I'd best get this over with."

 

Holding back a chuckle, the communications officer clicked a few buttons. "Putting the doctor through now, Dr. Juno."

 

It took a few moments for the real-time feed to pop onto his screen, but as soon as it did, Alexei regretted letting the communication go through.

 

"Alexei," the smooth, silken voice of the brown-haired human female came. "It's so good to see you again. Why you haven't even called since you left for Challenger."

 

Forcing a smile, Alexei nodded. "I know Susan, I've just been very busy lately. You know, saving the galaxy and all that."

 

Snorting, Susan leaned back into her chair. "Really? Well, I suppose that's a good use of someone with your talents. I have to admit I was surprised when my assistant told me that I'd be helping the Chief Medical Officer of the Challenger and that she thought I knew him."

 

Holding back a barbed remark, Alexei continued his forced smile. "I have to admit, I was a little surprised when I was told you'd be on the case as well."

 

"I am sure you where," she said with a half-smirk. "Well, let's get down to business. I've read your initial report to Dr. Klansin and Dr. Tholron..."

 

"Oh, what did you think?"

 

The response surprised Alexei, to be sure. "I've cleared my schedule for the next month. I'll be in orbit aboard the John Snow by next week. Till then you and I will need to keep in constant contact..."

 

"Very well."

 

A few minutes later the communication flickered off. If anyone were listening, they likely heard a string of obscenities aimed towards the gods, the ship, the outbreak, and Susan herself.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Alexei Juno