Back to Work

Posted on Sun Oct 30th, 2022 @ 1:09pm by Lieutenant JG Karen Lamont & Lieutenant Dr. Daniel Brasken

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 19 at 1400
746 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

{ON}

The meeting was a routine one or, at least, as routine as anything on this mission ever was. While Karen was the Assistant Chief Medical Officer, she mostly saw him at shift change, since it was her responsibility to run the department during Beta Shift. It was important to check in and discuss the department's affairs. Thus she now found herself entering Sickbay and making her way directly to the office of the CMO.

Without looking up, Daniel reached a hand out and waved his second in command into the office. He was hunched over his computer terminal frowning slightly at what was being displayed there and waited for Karen to enter completely before hitting a couple buttons to send the image up to the screen behind himself. "Tell me. How would you deal with an overactive adrenal gland?"

"By trying to isolate the cause," Karen began with the obvious, "and then the treatment would depend on that and on the age and general health of the patient." She followed his gaze to the image on the screen, studying it. "Is a patient giving you trouble?"

"The cause is genetic modification that the patient doesn't want to have undone but I'm trying to mitigate the effects on a day to day basis." Daniel looked over from the screen to Karen and gave an overly dramatic sigh. "Military experiments and the subject doesn't want to lose the advantage it can provide. The stress on their body be damned."

"I think I already know who it is," Karen laughed slightly, but then her gaze focused again on the screen. "I'd want to study this further before saying anything definitive but my first thought it a steroidogenesis-inhibitor, perhaps starting with a low dosage."

"That might work if we were looking for a longer term control of the situation. I worry that a regular medication would take too long to wear off when they want the boost." Daniel stood and brought up another image, this one of the adrenal gland in question. "I was thinking of some sort of device to insulate the gland and filter the output. Fault open of course, so that should the device have any problems then the boost would kick in automatically."

"That might work..." Karen said thoughtfully. "It'd have to be carefully calibrated."

"Do you have any experience with this type of technology?" Daniel was curious if this was something that he could hand off or if he should keep a tighter grip on.

"This case is slightly novel," Karen admitted, "but within the range of what I'm used to dealing with."

"Fantastic, I look forward to your suggestions then. I wont put this all on you but it will likely require maintenance from time to time and it would be good if we both knew the ins and outs of the situation." Daniel leaned back in his chair and motioned to Karen in a vague manor. "Have you been up to anything during our down time?"

Karen nodded. "I'll have them to you shortly," she promised. "I spent most of it enjoying the surface with Gretchen. I socialized with some other members of the crew. Did you spend any time down there?"

"I was able to sneak down for a massage at a local place. Tried some of the food though I was less impressed with that." Daniel stretched his arms out to the side before lacing his fingers over his chest. "Mostly I kept myself busy tracking down people for their medical procedures that they had otherwise been avoiding."

"You deserve more of a break than that, Dan," Karen said encouragingly. "You work your ass off the rest of the time."

"Perhaps next time I will coerce the security department to help round people up instead." He gave a slight grin. "Truth be told I'm not a big fan of pleasure planets. They are just too...easy. I prefer real challenges."

"A few months ago, I would have agreed with you," Karen said.

"Having trouble adjusting to the new universe we have found ourselves in?" Daniel quirked a brow slightly in her direction.

"Not excessively," Karen said with a shrug. "But it was nice to decompress a little."

"Fair enough. Is there anything else you want to discuss? Otherwise you are free to explore your normal duties and this new project." Daniel smiled, leaning back in his chair slightly.

"Not at this time," Karen said. "I'll see you at shift change."