A Matter of Trust, Part II: Unease
Posted on Sun Mar 29th, 2026 @ 11:54pm by Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone MD/DSAPM & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD & Ensign Charlotte Dawes
Edited on on Sun Mar 29th, 2026 @ 11:56pm
1,676 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: USS Astrea, Deck 7 and Sickbay
Timeline: MD 11, 1200 Hours, After Part 1
* * *Deck 7 Corridors * * *
... Assess the damage.
"Exactly how much did I say..." Blackstone began, "because that is going to determine much in this conversation."
"You mentioned that it helped retrieve the information you just showed the captain and I," Jezra answered. Their tone had quickly shifted to something less aggressive once they realised how abrupt abrupt was.
Alex paused, searching Jezra's gaze for a moment before looking both ways down the hallway to ensure they were quite alone. "For your safety I really can't say more. If you are still interested down the road then I can petition to bring you onboard the project... but not now."
For her safety. That only made Jezra more curious. Grudgingly, they did understand the rather infuriating logic behind need-to-know classifications. "You're not supposed to be practicing while on medical suspension, Alex, and you certainly aren't supposed to be contributing to the investigation."
"Technically speaking, I was never expressly forbidden from contributing to the investigation. Regardless of that however the information in my mind had to extracted and at present yourself and the Captain are the only two people that I am reasonably certain can be trusted with any of it" She offered a small prim smile as they proceeded down the hall from the holodeck.
A couple seconds passed where Jezra simply stared at Alex before they gave a little shake of their head and started walking again. "You and your pedantics," they muttered, knowing that that damned Vulcan hearing probably heard it.
Alex chuckled at the words meant to be unnoticed and fell back in step with Jezra. "Indeed. What are your thoughts on the matter anyway? Something feels very.... off as my father would say."
For a few seconds, Jezra didn't answer. Part of it was processing, and part of it was the lingering motion sickness. The sensation sat uncomfortably in their gut. "It's certainly a lot to process, but it does offer a possible explanation where the data does not." They glanced toward Alex to ask, "what about you? What feels off to you about this?"
Alex thought through it for a moment, trying to place the feeling that she had as well as its source. "Honestly; if I was a full Vulcan I would say that the feeling I have is completely illogical... but my father taught me to trust my instincts." She paused and tilted her head as she recalled his wording. "Especially when the logic and facts don't add up, trust my instincts."
Jezra found themself paying less attention to the reply and focusing more on the feeling of unease in their stomach. This was no longer motion sickness. It was something else. Their heart was pounding, but it felt... wrong. As if they had been running. The back of their neck felt like a thick, cold blanket was draped across it. They blinked a couple times, but it didn't ease the bizarre floating sensation, like they were a couple steps ahead of themself. Reaching out, they touched Alex's shoulder, though once the hand made contact it was as if Jezra almost needed her support. "Alex..." they murmured, their voice now cautious. Why did their legs feel heavy? "Alex, something's wrong..."
Alex stepped forward immediately, alarms going off in her mind as Jezra's body seemed to just stop supporting itself. She quickly did a manual check of her vitals and found her pulse racing and everything clicked into place. She swore as Jezra's weight settled further upon her. Alex's mind continued to race fast enough that she could not focus on a singular thought but her training told her she needed medical facilities. she repositioned herself and hefted Jezra into her lap. "Jezra? Jezra!" escaped from her lips, not quite the sound of panic but definitely unbidden.
Alex looked both ways down the hall and found them devoid of any crew member so she pressed her CommBadge, more forcefully than she had intended which left a cut from one of the edges but her voice was cold and clear when she spoke. "Initiate a Medical Site to Site, Authorization Blackstone - five - nine - zero - nine - one - one" The badge chimed as the computer processed the command and after only a moment had passed the blue light of the transporters filled the air where they had been, leaving the hallways completely empty.
A headache was settling in as the transport enveloped Jezra, and when it was done they blinked a few times to figure out their surroundings. There was enough spatial awareness to recognise sickbay, and they could feel Alex's support. Every time she tried to call on prior experiences to understand what was going on, she felt worse. Why couldn't she... oh, it was difficult to think. Why was it so hard to think? She grimaced as the headache continued to get worse.
* * *Sickbay * * *
Nurse Solae was at the main console and spotted the two transport in. His eyes widened when he saw Jezra, and he rushed around the console to assist. "What happened?"
Alex was focused on her colleague and did not even hear the question immediately, after a moment it registered however and she looked to the nurse. "I don't know; we were walking down the hallway and chatting and the next thing I knew she was dropping. Her pulse is racing and she has severe weakness of the extremities and a seeming deficiency in her vocal cortex."
"That's not good," Solae breathed, more as a reaction than a meaningful assessment. He knew the transport order would have alerted the other medical staff and that they'd be in shortly, but it would help to have a report ready. "Let's get her to a bed to figure out what's going on."
Jezra mumbled something, but it was too quiet and jumbled to meaningfully register. She subtly shook her head, as if it would help get rid of the brain fog. Her breathing was rapid and shallow, like she couldn't quite catch her breath. "... Siv..."
Nurse Dawes came rushing over to the nearest biobed with a table of medical supplies. She was turning on the biobed and getting it ready to take readings before Dr. Blackstone and Nurse Solae had Jezra fully situated. She then pulled out a medical tricorder for Dr. Blackstone and offered to take her place at the table and continue getting everything in place for the proper preliminary diagnostics.
Alex hesitated for a moment before finally reaching out for the medical tricorder. "Computer, let the record show that Dr. Blackstone is resuming medical duties under Emergency Authorization Alpha - Zulu - Nine - One - Victor" She waited for the acknowledgement chirp of the computer and then stepped forward, taking the tricorder in hand. "Let's get her vitals up on screen; get me a neural stabilizer and administer 150 milligrams of Metrazine and 1 unit of Vasokin; we need to slow Dr. Siv's heart rate back to a normal rhythm."
As the biobed started recording Jezra’s vitals, an alarm went off to remind the medical staff of what they had already determined. Her pulse was erratic and fast, her isoboramine levels were declining toward the minimum safe levels for stable symbiosis, and her oxygen was also beginning to drop. The biobed also diplayed Siv's vitals, showing high stress levels classically indicative of a being in distress. There was also a growing desync of the neural activity between symbiont and host.
Solae moved quickly with Dawes to get the medication pushed while a neural stabiliser was attached to Jezra's forehead. The Bolian nurse watched the readings with a frown. He was trying really hard to ignore who was on the bed, because if he acknowledged that it was his boss, his composure was going to fracture. The medication seemed to help slightly, as it at least boosted oxygen to her organs, but her pulse was still way too fast. "Minimal change," he reported.
"Doctor," Charlotte interjected, urgency in her voice. "The symbiont..." She paused briefly as she tried to put to words what she was seeing. "The symbiont and the host, they seem to be coming apart." She hated how impersonal that sounded. "Jezra's dying, the symbiont seems strong for now, but..."
Everyone at the table knew that saving the symbiont was always the priority over saving the host.
Alex nodded to Charlotte and her face firmed into a grim, severe look. "We are not losing either of them. Get me Dr. Beckett to handle Jezra's vitals independently of the symbiont. I have a couple of ideas but I am going well beyond the realm of standard procedure with all of them." she looked at Jezra's face and whispered, the words barely audible. "Hang in there Jezra; I am not letting you slip that easily."
After a moments pause Alex's gaze slid to the vitals for both symbiont and host which had been split automatically into separate sections. She watched them carefully before giving the next commands. "While we wait for Dr. Beckett lets get a pair of cardio stimulators and a Trill Symbiont geared Neuro-Stimulator. Remove Jezra's uniform and lets establish simulators on both of them separately; I think it is going to give us a better chance to do this."
Jezra's barely conscious expression twitched, but it was unclear if it was actually in response to Alex's words or if it was a mere reaction to the symptoms.
To be continued in Part 3
Lieutenant J.G. Jezra Siv
Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Ensign Charlotte Dawes
Nurse
USS Astrea
(NPC of Remy Johansen)
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