A key to the cure...,Ferengi Medical Crisis

Posted on Mon Oct 23rd, 2023 @ 9:44pm by Captain Ryhl th'Zeles & Lieutenant Commander Rikka Takanashi M.D. & Crewman Ki'ana

2,207 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: Deck 12 Sickbay
Timeline: MD C12 1500 hours

=/\= ON =/\=

Lissa had spoken with Dr. Takanashi on their way back to the Columbia, letting her know that they were bringing two Ferengi back to the ship with them. The first was Krata, a lab technician who had tested positive for antibodies for the virus plaguing the Ferengi. The other was Nurse Kephi, who had been their liason for the mission - it was unclear what their relation might be. The science teams would continue to test samples they brought back, but as of now, Krata was the only one whose blood sample had shown promise for a possible cure.

Lissa walked the Ferengi into the main doors of Sickbay, the large open space of the reception area, lit by bright lights and the sterile atmosphere. She turned to her companions. "If you could wait here a moment, I'll let Dr. Takanashi know we're here."

"Thank you, Lissa", Kephi said with a friendly smirk. Krata spun in place to look around at the advanced facility.

Ki'ana had been briefed on who the Ferengi were ahead of time. Admittedly it had been quite hard for her to imagine Ferengi as anything but businessmen, but then again maybe medicine was profitable... somehow. The gangly Kelpien came shuffling out of a side room, PADD in hand. "Welcome! Is there anything I can get you both to make your time here a little more comfortable?" She asked, smiling sweetly. Or maybe not so sweetly from the Ferengi's point of view considering she towered over them. Why did Ferengi need to be so short?

"Thank you so much", Nurse Kephi said as she looked up to Ki'ana. "For now we just hope to get to the bottom of things. Though maybe a tour would be nice later."

Ferengi society was far more advanced than a series of casinos and minor businesses. They had a military arm to their government, as well as a diverse range of industry and social services.

The Ferengi Alliance would not survive without the benefits of science and medicine. It would be unprofitable to outsource all research and treatment. Kephi had endured such ignorant and stereotypical beliefs from many people in her day.

She was a proud example of who young Ferengi were beginning to evolve into in the days of Grand Nagus Rom. Business and profit were still engrained into their culture. Both Kephi and Krata still had a duty to the medical wellbeing of their comrades.

Lissa went to the Chief Medical Officer's office and stood in the open doorway. "We're back, the Ferengi I told you about are here. Do you want to begin, or should I get Dr. Lenn?" Rikka was near the end of her pregnancy, and Lissa had been worried that she'd been doing too much.

Rikka slowly pulled herself out of the chair. "Let's begin." She said simply and a smile. Even though her belly was now quite bloated and rounded, it didn't seem to phase Rikka as she made her way out to meet the Ferengi.

"Are you the Ferengi I've been told about?" Rikka asked simply as she approached the two Ferengi in the sickbay.

"You must be Doctor Takanashi", Krata said as Kephi moved closer. Their eyes moved downwards briefly. "We really appreciate everything your crew has done for us."

"How far along are you?" Kephi beamed as she asked the question. "You're still up and about working? Oof, the hoo-mans! How much longer until you're due?"

Krata looked up curiously. He hoped Doctor Takanashi was safe. The fact that the illness had not spread beyond Ferengi thus far provided him comfort.

"Not long to go, and I have made it clear to our captain that I fully intended to work until my baby is born," Rikka replied. She wasn't much taller than the Ferengi, as she herself was shorter than most.

She pointed over towards the main medical console. "So, update me on your findings."

"We're only just learning about things ourselves", Kephi replied. "Nurse Kerr only told us about Krata's status recently. She'll have to tell you more about their investigation."

"From what I gathered during the flight", said Krata, "the pyrocytes in my blood seem to reject the effects of the harmful contagion.. I'm just waiting to hear about the next step myself, Doc.."

Krata's thoughts were consumed on ways he could market future treatments made from his own pyrocytes. He would study additional applications in the lab on Grabok, the main Ferengi settlement.

"What do you think is the next best step, doctor?" Kephi looked to Doctor Takanashi with curiosity.

"Let's take a sample," Rikka said. She moved over to the hyposprays and then loaded one with an empty vial. "If we can isolate why the pyrocytes reject the contagion, we might be able to use them in a vaccine," Rikka explained.

"I can take some full body scans, Doctor," Lissa offered. "We can get a better idea of his overall immune system, metabolic rate, pituitary analysis. If Nurse Kephi would also like to volunteer, we could possibly run some comparisons."

"I'll go prepare the equipment we need." Ki'ana seemed a bit miffed at being forgotten about (just a bit) as she trotted off to fetch things - she basically had a whole list of equipment typed down in her PADD of late and fetching them was more or less like breathing air by now.

Rikka simply nodded at them. "This might take a while for the computer to complete a full analysis." Rikka explained.

"I'd be interested in taking a look at those scans", Kephi said softly. She took one step closer to Lissa. "There might be a few things I can help point out and explain about Krata's physiology."

"Of course, that won't be a problem at all. We're here to assist and collaborate, we want to learn as much as we can, but we if we find out any useful information for you we want you to have it so you can take care of yourselves," Lissa responded. "There's an old human saying, 'You give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. You teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.'"

"There are a few troubling diseases that I feel this pyrocyte targeted research could apply to. If we can get our scientists to focus on the data, it could bring us closer to a breakthrough. All of us back at the medical center will really appreciate this.. Nurse Kerr."

Krata noticed an accessible biobed, one with the swing-arm open to the side. He took off his pale orange lab coat and hung it on a nearby hook. His lithe little footfalls carried him quickly towards the biobed, taking a little extra stretch to hop up.

"I gotta say", Krata said. "It's a bit nice being on the other end of things for once. "Say doc.. You wouldn't mind sharing all of this research with me too.. What with all my troubles and all?"

"I'll be willing to share," Rikka said as she took a blood sample and then slottled the hypospray into the diagnostic console.

Kephi approached. "We should be able to start working on new immunity treatments.. Just from this research alone." Nurse Kephi stood just under 5 feet tall. Krata was a little taller at three strips of latinum taller than 5'2.

"Rule of Acquisition number 23.. Nothing is more important than your health.. Except for money." Krata smiled warmly, as if in the midst of a sentimental thought. "I'll handle the marketing", he finally said. He placed his arms behind his head and crossed his ankles as he lay.

Rikka cast him a look of disbelief. "If you're planning on selling this for profit, should I come up with a solution and thus putting lives on the line... I won't give you a single byte of it."

Krata set his arms to his side and sat partially upwards nervously. "Doctor.. Our medical program would not function without profit. Nothing is free. I pay a monthly fee just to rent this lab coat.. Not to mention the laboratory maintenance costs. Why.. All of these fees help the center pay for its operation. Such research could likely fund our center for.. Ten years. The breakthroughs we could make in that time, here on Campor, could be astounding."

Rikka simply scowled and turned away from the Ferengi.

Krata laid back down, eyes looking up towards the ceiling's bright lights.

Ki'ana came out of a side room with a Caitian lab tech accompanying her. "We can get to work on analysing those samples." Purred the white-furred Caitian. "Give us maybe... twenty minutes?"

Kephi turned towards the newcomers, moving towards the Caitian and the Kelpian cadet. "I look forward to hearing more of your findings. Your crew is so diverse and wonderful", she said as she turned her neck to study her surroundings.

Lissa walked over with a biometabolic scanner, which worked by attaching to the biobed and scanning the patient head to toe. She'd overheard the lab technician. "Dr. Takanashi will probably need a lot more time in the laboratory than that. She and the other specialist will be putting together potential cures together, and then running those through a complex system which tests the compound for effectiveness and safety," she explained. "It could be several hours, or even days, but having you close by is helpful in case we need any further information from you. Once we've completed the scans that the Doctor has ordered, we can find someone to show you around."

"I got no where else to be", Krata said in earnest. "I mean, analyzing samples can wait when I'm at the center of this whole thing. I'll have to contact my associates on the surface though."

"Just what she said, this could take a while. Its not a simple process." Rikka said as she started to feed the data from the scans and samples into the computer. "Plus, I want to run some initial tests and simulations before we consider a test subject. The last thing we want is for this to lead to an outbreak of blood poisoining or some sort of blood disease," Rikka explained.

"I can make sure everything looks on the up and up", Kephi said as she looked to Rikka. Her large golden eyes were often seen as warm and disarming, pointy smile less menacing than Krata's. "The medical center can help locate potential candidates. I'll call and tell them to begin preliminary tests." She bowed slightly to Rikka before turning and heading off to find a quiet corner to make a quick comm call.

Rikka turned and made her way back to her office. She needed to sit down, her back had begun to hurt more with the expansion of her belly. At now nearly thirthy four weeks pregnant, the baby growing in her womb was starting to take its toll on her small body.

"Nice to meet you doc," Kephi called out to Rikka as she left.

Behind her desk was a computer screen, but it was set amongst lines of bookshelves. Normally one would have decorated these with ornaments, but Rikka had opted for something different. Organised in alphabetical order were blue spined medical journals, on everything from grays anatomy to borg nano-probes to xeno-psychology. It was her own little medical library, printed out and organised in her office ready for her to pull and read when she wanted.

She scanned the vast amount of journals, some only a few millimeters thick, whilst others were thicker and finally pulled one down on the Ferengi physiology. Slumping down into her chair she opened the journal, some of the pages were illustrated too and began to read up on what the Ferengi were like, at least on the inside.

Lissa approached Krata and Kephi one all of their scans had been submitted to the Doctor. "Hello again, we need to let the doctor work for a while. Cadet Ki'ana has volunteered to show you to your quarters. If you'd like a tour of the ship she can do that as well. Lieutenant Ligan will be joining you. He's with ship's security, and will explain any limitations you may have on access, so that there are no misunderstandings."

Krata hopped out of the biobed, slinking alongside Kephi.

"Do let us know if you encounter any difficulties, of course." Ki'ana said as she emerged from the room behind Lissa. She towered over the Orion, making for a bizarrely unsettling sight with her rangy figure and bald head. "This way, please." She led the way to the exit, beyond which Zeke was already waiting as soon as the doors hissed open.

"Great. Hiya Lieutenant." Krata walked towards him as he spoke.

The Ferengi could relate to Ki'ana's facial features, the Ferengi also bald and easily misjudged by their appearance. "It really means a lot that you all would help and welcome us like that. We've been kind of in a bad way", Krata added. "Show us the way, miss!"

"We're all placing a lot of hope in this research", Kephi said anxiously. "You'll have to forgive Krata and I for being excited." They walked off with Ki'ana and Zeke.

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