How Does One Simply Fall Over Dead?
Posted on Fri Feb 13th, 2026 @ 11:48am by Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD
789 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD9 0015
Sickbay was quiet. The thiopental was still being administered, keeping Alex fully under, and her vitals were on display above the biobed. Jezra watched those vitals for a long time, refusing two shift changes just so they could be nearby in case Alex’s condition changed. Coffee was no longer an effective stimulant, so Jezra resorted to forced breaks from the CMO office to stretch their legs.
Leaving Sickbay, Jezra went down the hall to the morgue, where they checked in and went to the refrigerated storage area. With a press of a button, one of the doors hissed open and a table slid out, presenting the ambassador’s body. Jezra had seen bodies before, in this lifetime and in prior ones, so T’Varel’s didn’t bother them. The tightness in their chest was from frustration, from trying to understand how the ambassador died.
They read the autopsy report. Multiple times. Jezra trusted the detail that was put into it. Putting on gloves, they carefully moved around the table, eyes scanning for anything that could have been missed. Anything that could provide a lead, or even a vague direction. Enough time had passed for rigor to set in, so they didn’t bother trying to move T’Varel’s limbs. The gloved hands instead shifted the robes around for a few minutes, exposing areas where something could have been injected.
Nothing.
Pressing their lips together, Jezra looked at T’Varel’s pale face for a few more seconds before removing the gloves. Seeing it for themself didn’t really provide any answers. A breath passed before Jezra scoffed to herself, tossing the gloves away. What am I doing? They used the controls to put the ambassador back into storage. They knew that there was nothing in T’Varel’s system at the time of her collapse. The toxicology report came back negative. Twice. After the medical emergency ended, Jezra ran a diagnostic on the toxicology screening systems to be sure there wasn't a fault in any of the equipment. They were working perfectly.
How does someone simply fall over dead?
Returning to Sickbay, Jezra went back into the CMO office. They used the wall displays to open the medically sealed case file. The screens filled with reports and notes that had been acquired over the last 8 or so hours. Leaning back into the edge of the desk, Jezra crossed their arms as their eyes scanned the data.
Questions bounced around in Jezra’s mind. Why did the symptoms progress so quickly? Why were her neural scans behaving differently from her vital readings? Why didn’t the interventions work? Was this neural shock, or something that only presented as neural shock? Was there potential for it to be stress-induced?
Why?
Jezra stared at the data for about 10 minutes before pushing off the desk and going around to take a seat. Turning on their computer, they pulled up the security feeds from the incident, watching T’Varel closely. One minute, she was fine. No obvious stress indicators. No obvious signs of distress or symptom onset. Nobody even got close enough to touch her or administer something. Then, in the next minute, she’s on the floor, with Alex, Iozhara, and Jezra rushing in to assess. They replayed that segment multiple times, even going frame-by-frame at least once, but there was just… no indication of anything wrong.
Time crawled onward. Jezra's focus alternated between the computer, the wall displays, and the ceiling as they slowly paced with their hands behind their head. A cup of water came and went. Each return to the desk chair became harder to get out of, until they were sat with one hand propping up their cheek, eyes tingling with the difficulty of staying open.
Rubbing their eyes, Jezra glanced at the time. Jeez, it was nearly 0200. If they were going to be useful during the next shift, they needed to get some sleep. Closing up the case file, Jezra made sure the medical seal was in place before turning off the computer. Yawning, they stood and stretched before trudging out of the office. They’d use the on-call quarters that were near Sickbay, just in case.
The door to the CMO office slid shut, the transparent glass allowing the dim Sickbay lights to cast shadows across the small room. A moment passed where the office remained still.
Then, the computer turned itself on, casting an intrusive glow against the wall behind the desk.
Lieutenant J.G. Jezra Siv
Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
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