Anomalies

Posted on Fri Jun 27th, 2025 @ 5:08pm by Lieutenant Xalanth & Lieutenant JG T'Para MD & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD

1,409 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 1

Jezra frowned as she stared at the tricorder sitting on the rolling table, unsure if what to do with the tricorder that was in her hand that she intended to put on the tray. Everyone else had their own tasks, so it confused the Trill because they hadn't seen anyone else near this particular tray. A tickle of deja vu itched the back of their mind, as if this task had already been completed, but they couldn't remember actually doing it. I must need more sleep or something, she thought. The thought was brushed aside when she heard the sickbay doors open, so she just tucked the tricorder into her pocket, something to sort out later, and looked to see who had entered.

The doors to the medical bay opened as the security chief stepped inside. The lizard blinked a few times as he looked around. He could see the small line of people waiting for Lelani's office. His councillor mate was clearly being kept busy. Looking around, his eye fell on his first, whom he walked over to calmly. He wanted to wrap her in his arms, but she was on duty.

He smiled at her as he walked past her, heading for Jezra. " Doctor Jezra i see you're busy down here, but i was prescribed something to help me sleep and i was told to collect it here," he said politely.

The Trill gave a warm smile to the company. "I've been receiving quite a few of those requests lately. If you'll come with me," she gestured for him to follow her to a workstation near one of the biobeds, where she typed on the console. They pulled up his file and the request for a relaxant. "I'll just have to do a quick scan to fine tune the prescription for your needs. It should only take a minute."

"Lead the way." Xlanth said as the two of them headed for one of the biobeds.

Jezra pulled the tricorder from their pocket and opened it. "Is this an inability to get to sleep, or waking up mid-cycle?"

" Waking up mid-cycle. Last night I woke up and my brain was all over the place. It was almost putting me in survival mode. Lelani managed to drag me into her sensory deprivation tank and calm me down. " Xalanth said softly as he followed the doctor.

Jezra's expression scrunched into sympathy as she passed the scanning wand over his body. "I'm sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, that is also a story I have heard a couple times today." There was a brief pause as the Trill read the results coming in. "It's understandable that it seems to have increased your stress levels slightly. Your cortisol levels are a little higher than what is considered normal for your species. Any changes to your appetite, by chance?"

" Nothing I've felt. I had a normal breakfast and I felt fine. " Xalanth replied honestly.

"Good." Jezra finished scanning and returned the wand to its slot in the tricorder. "I have what I need," they said with an assuring smile. "I'll make the necessary adjustments to the prescription. Is there anything else of concern while you are here?"

" None that...." Xalanth began before his yellow eyes darted upwards to the biobed top monitor, which was letting out a large and angry buzzing tone. " What..." he began as a concerned-looking hybrid doctor burst through the ward entrance. " Doctor, what the..." she began as her eyes fell on the scene. " What..." Escaped her lips.

The sound of a bed monitor's alarm made Jezra tense, and her eyes snapped up. Above the bed, the monitor was displaying the name Linora Richardson, with vitals falling to zero. Faint blips in the pulse monitor were telltale resuscitation efforts, then a brief spike in all vitals were well known in the medical field as the signature of a cortical stimulator trying to jump start the body. The whole monitor was flickering, as if it were unsure of what state it was meant to be in. What was strange was that this Linora wasn't on the bed... it was just Xalanth.

Jezra's face went pale, her dermaglyphs taking on a shade of grey as her wide eyes locked onto the screen. The tricorder in their hands clattered to the floor, immediately forgotten. She was barely able to take a stumbling step back. The phantom tingling of her hands pressing repeatedly onto a dying woman's chest timed itself with the faint blips in the pulse monitor. In a nearly imperceptible echo of the past, the unintelligible hum of urgent orders in crisis whispered in the Trill's ears. Their breath came in short bursts. Her hands began to tremble. She couldn't look away from the monitor.

T'para was at her boss's side in seconds, taking a firm grip on the trill. " Easy, easy." She said calmly as she helped her boss to a stool before pulling her own tricorder. Her blue eyes widened, her reading was all over the place.

Xalanth was on his feet in seconds, helping T'para get Jezra over to the stool before stopping to pick up Jezra tricorder and then looking up at the monitor. " Who is Linora Richardson, and why is it reading me as her?" He asked He wasn't liking this expanse it reminded him of the story of the sea of the damned the ancient dried salt bead of his homeworld. According to his people's legends, fire and night had slayed one of the eldar ones there, but even in death, it spat its poison into the world, rendering the laws of reality unstable.

The Trill let herself be moved, her sole focus on maintaining her breathing. They slowly sank into the stool, then forced their eyes away from the monitor to try and keep it together. Their hands pressed into their legs, gripping the fabric. "Sh-she was my Captain on the USS Colossal. The original, not the refit," Jezra whispered, her voice shaking slightly. "She was among a third of the crew who died during a battle in the Gamma Quadrant. Her injuries were too severe." The alarm was still droning on, so Jezra added, "Computer, disable alarm... please..."

The alarm kept on blaring despite her calls. Xalanth let out a sigh as he walked over to the room's control panel and tried it manually. With another buzz it crackled before finally going silent. " Is that going to affect the whole ship? " he asked as he turned back to the two women. " I hope not, or we're going to have to go back to basics in a medical emergency," T'para replied as she focused on Jezra. Thankfully, her readings were steadying.

" It's okay." Xalanth said reassuringly to Jezra. " Just focus on your breathing. Believe m,e i know it helps."

Jezra was already focused on her coping mechanisms, her eyes shut in concentration. The year of medical leave was spent finding ways to accept what happened, to keep the guilt from crushing her, to live with it. Five seconds in, hold for two, eight seconds out, hold for two. Linora's death hit the hardest, and the fear of it happening again was Jezra's deepest secret since being back to active status.

"I'm okay..." Jezra said after about a minute. "I'm okay." Opening her eyes, she expected to see her hands coated in blood like they were that day, but they were clean. They looked up at the two, giving a faint appreciative smile, "thank you both. I have no idea why the monitor did that. I... I'd report it to engineering, just in case." The monitor lingered behind the two, and Jezra felt a lump in their throat at the sight of it, even though it was no longer displaying Linora's vitals.

"Remember, focus on your breathing," Xalanth said as he headed for the door. Turning to his mate, he gave her a look that clearly said Keep an eye on her, to which his hybrid mate nodded.

It wasn't until after Xalanth had left that Jezra remembered why he had come in. Sleep aid. "If you are comfortable prescribing medication to a family member, can you enter in the readings from the tricorder and have the sleep aid sent to his quarters, please," Jezra quietly asked T'Para.

"Of course. I'll have them sent to our quarters," the hybrid doctor replied politely as she headed for one of the computers.

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