Ensign Mercedes Carpenter Assistant Medical Officer USS Chimera NCC 96899 - Ensign Scott Fisher [apb Rangi] Assistant Medical Officer USS Chimera NCC 96899 - Ensign Steve DeSoto [apb Rangi] Assistant Medical Officer USS Chimera NCC 96899 = Sickbay = Sick bay was filling up. There were now eight patients exhibiting strange behaviour, ranging from extreme happiness to plain misery. AMO's Scott Fisher and Steve Desoto stood near the biobed occupied by Ben Anders. He currently lay, eyes closed, with a serene expression on his face. Steve had been treating the woman Maikai had taken to sickbay. "...so i had to sedate her...no options. " Scott nodded and sighed wearily. "Yes... I know. This whole thing is getting out of hand." "Any news from Mercedes?" Steve asked glancing towards the far end of the main ward. "Not yet." Scott replied. "... and it's possibly a vain hope that two victims of decompression are going to shed any light on things....but they could. " he added hopefully, ever the optimist. "No word on Rangi then?" Steve asked. " No...not yet." The two men looked at each other, one thinking that no news was good news, the other that bad news was often the last to reach them. "I'll get on then," Steve said half turning away. "The cadet from deck 6?..she's responding quite well...isnt so upset now." Scott looked encouraging. "Good" When Mercedes walked into Sickbay she was surprised to see so many people. A few hours ago when she'd left, it was quiet, except for Ben Anders. Now it seemed to be turning into a mental ward. People were crying, laughing and talking loudly. "Bretam to Sickbay?" came the call over the comm system. Mercedes saw Steve and Scott talking with each other, so she answered the call. "Dr Carpenter here, sir," she replied tapping her badge. "Doctor? I have sent the report Lt Foster has compiled from the shuttle. It appears the two shuttle passengers caused their own demise." "They caused their own death?" she asked a bit surprised. The bodies had delivered no evidence so far, and she thought for sure the shuttle would give an answer. "Aye, it appears so. The report contains a sensor log. You should watch it. It shows some highly unusual behavior form out two unfortunate friends. That behavior lead to irrational actions and their death." he said. "Okay, sir. I'll review it as soon as possible." "Good, hopefully you can use the information to help you find a reason for the odd behavior. And doctor, it is important that you work qwuickly. This might be part of a bigger issue, and Starbase Kinsi might be in danger." "Understood sir. We will work as fast as we can." Mercedes replied. She walked over to Scott and Steve and the two turned to look at her. "Pardon me saying so, but this place looks like a madhouse. What's going on?" Scott grinned at the simplicity of the statement.He looked around at the ordered chaos. "You tell me!" he said turning to face Mercedes. "How did it go?... any luck?" Mercedes shook her head. "I couldn't find any physical evidence that might explain what happened. The Colonel just let me know that there was nothing wrong with the shuttle. He said there's a visual log we might want to take a look at. The blood and brain stem results should be done by now, and I'm hoping it could shed some light on what's going on." Steve frowned."Nothing wrong with the shuttle?" He glanced at Scott."Lets take a look at this visual log" Scott said, moving towards the CMOs office.He looked at mercedes as she and Steve followed him. "There was nothing at all to give us a clue?" he asked. "No, I can't understand it. The one appears to have been attacked by the other one, but there are no signs at all of self-defense. At first I thought he might have been experiencing pon farr, but there would be physical evidence of that... if you know what I mean," Mercedes said, not wanting to elaborate too much on what happens in Vulcan males during pon farr. The trio walked a few steps in silence."Ensign Oriana came in..." scott said as they approached the office door. He stood aside to let Mercedes enter first, and following her continued. "..I'd like you to take a look at her too. She's....'in love'." "In love? How did - " Mercedes was interrupted by another call over the comm system. "Bridge to Sickbay. Incomming transmission from the USS Simpson. Please accept." Mercedes frowned confusedly at Scott and Steve and then activated the comm terminal. The face of teal clad lieutenant appeared on the screen. "I am Dr Carpenter from the USS Chimera, how can I help?" "Greetings, I am Dr Eszen," the Bajoran doctor said, nodding his head. "A few days ago, our Science officer brought a mysterious flower onboard the ship. Within a matter of hours, the pollen released from this flower adversely affected almost the entire Science department. We have quarantined our Science labs so that further contamination is halted. "However, our medical staff is very small and we do not have all the medicines we require to treat this problem. We tried to contact the Starbase, but they aren't responding. I was hoping that you might be able to help us?" There was a stunned silence. From outside the room came sounds of differing degrees of mania. A smile widened across Scotts face. "A flower!" he said and turning to Mercedes he laughed. "A 'flower?'" Mercedes looked at Scott and turned back to the Simpson's doctor. "Where did she get this flower? From Kinsi?" "Yes, Ensign T'Pon said she was given the flower by a man on the Starbase. It appears of all those affected, she is the hardest hit and is perhaps the most in danger. That is why we urgently need your help. She is Vulcan and is experiencing a total loss of control over her emotions." "Just as Oriana is!" Scott looked at Steve. "We have it...the reason.." Steve nodded agreement and looked at Mercedes as Scott said. "We can't know if there was a flower on the shuttle...or if those two had been exposed to one... but I'm betting they were!" "Hang on..." Mercedes turned and walked over to a database terminal. She quickly brought up the report that Lt Foster had filed after his inspection of the shuttle. "Yes! They found a flower in the shuttle." Just then a nurse stopped by the office. "Dr Carpenter, here are the blood and brain stem results from the post-mortem. They were just released by the lab." "Thank you," Mercedes said, taking the padd from the nurse. She looked through the results and they were exactly what she thought they'd be. "Severely heightened dopamine and endorphin levels, high adrenaline counts and testosterone readings... this could prove very dangerous in a Vulcan. That might explain what happened to them." Steve and Scott peered over Mercedes shoulders to read for themselves. "Ben Anders endorphin levels were sky high" Scott said thoughtfully. "We need to get the CSci back?" Steve queried. "Mmmm..yes...and fast." He looked at Mercedes. "Contact the science lab... get them to run an analysis on the flower from the shuttle. I'll inform the Colonel. Steve and I'll get MaiKai back here." he paused, his enthusiastic attitude stilled for a moment. "If this is rife on the base... lets hope Rangi's ok." he said quietly. Mercedes turned back to the doctor on the comm screen. "Please send us a list of the equipment and medication you'll be needing and we will do our best to help where we can." "Thank you, it's much appreciated," he replied and then ended the communiqu=E9. "Lt Andersen to Sickbay," came the third call in as many minutes over the comm system. "What is it this time," she muttered under her breath. Tapping her commbadge, she spoke up. "Mercedes here. What can I help you with Andy?" "We have a situation in the Shuttlebay that requires a medical officer," he said. "Okay, we'll send someone as soon as possible. Carpenter out." Mercedes looked at Scott and Steve. "What else is going to go wrong today?" Scott tapped his combadge. +Taps+ Fisher to Colonel Bretam+ The reply was almost instananeous. "Bretam" came the promptreply. "Sir?...we know the problem. Dr Eszen from the USS Simpson contacted us a few minutes ago. Sir...they are experiencing the same crew behaviour as we are...and they know why sir. Apparantly a flower, given to a crewman on the base, releases its pollen and causes..." He paused. "Sir...Kinsi should be made aware of the problem." Scott looked at Steve and Mercedes as the Colonel replied. "We need to start planning a treatment," Mercedes said to Steve. "I'm imagining that if this all is caused by the flower's psychotropic compounds, the effects should wear off after a few days, but in a few days this ship could go up in flames. I just hope we have enough medication to treat everyone." "Thats not a problem," Steve replied "Just before we docked at Kinsi, MaiKai was checking over the storeroom... we have plenty of antihallucinogenics." "All right, let's get started then. We'll need to assess every individual patient, unfortunately. Everyone seems to affected differently by this. I'll contact Science to get us the analysis about the flower, and then we need to get Oriana down here. If what Dr Eszen said is right, Oriana can be in serious danger." Steve agreed. "I'll call her... and at least we can DO something now." =