Science Consult

Posted on Thu 6th Dec, 2018 @ 4:42pm by Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller & Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD

1,648 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: CMO's Office
Timeline: MD 15, 14:00

Chlamydia Addams looked calm as she sat behind her desk, catching up on paperwork. Her Zeta Reticulan spider, Thing, however, drummed its fingers on the desk in a fair display of impatience.

A minute or two later Lanis arrived at Chlamydia's office, PADD in hand. "I'm ready," he said. "Hello, Thing." He glanced back at Chlamydia. "Are we meeting Commander Keller here or somewhere else?"

Jasmine hurried around the corner and stopped just short of the door to sickbay. She took a deep breath to stop her heart from racing and then stepped into the room and strode around the corner to the CMO's office just in time to hear Lanis ask his question. "No, no. I'm here. Lani was a little fussy after her nap and I'm running a couple of minutes late. I'm so sorry." She was still a little out of breath but managed to get everything out in one quick sentence.

Thing stilled its tapping, and waved its index finger in response to Lanis' greeting. Chlamydia smiled at both of the arrivals. "Be at ease," she greeted them. "No one is late. Time is an illusion; 'on time,' doubly so." She touched a control on the surface of her desk, dismissing the paperwork, and then another, closing the door of her office and establishing sound dampening fields around it. "Doctor Collins-Keller, thank you for coming. The information we are about to share with you is classified above Top Secret. It is very strictly need-to-know, and may not be revealed to anyone without prior authorization from the case manager. Do you understand and consent to these restrictions?"

"Of course," She had been sworn to secrecy before in her career and had the proper security clearances to prove her ability to maintain complete discretion when needed. She had turned her attention to Thing and tapped her fingers gently next to him "Hello gorgeous," she spoke softly to the reticulan spider. "I didn't mean to ignore you there." As a scientist, Jasmine was deeply enamored with rare creatures like Thing.

Thing made a double-sweeping motion with its index finger, as if smoothing an imaginary mustache. Chlamydia smiled slightly, but went on. "Some time ago, Security discovered a hidden laboratory aboard the station, which had been used during the Dominion War in an effort to design what might be called Federation Borg. When the experimenters left the station and sealed up the laboratory, they neglected to terminate their experiment. When we stumbled across it a decade later, the test subjects were still... biologically... alive."

Lanis waited for a moment to give Dr. Keller time to absorb that information. "We tried to revive the person we found, who was a Starfleet officer, in the slim hope that he might be sane enough to be able to identify who did that to him. Unfortunately, he didn't survive past the disconnection of his brain from the computer he had been linked to."

"I remember." Jasmine nodded. "I'd only been here a short time and was rummaging through some old files in the genetics database." She closed her eyes and shivered. "I found the files with the video of those poor subjects." Jasmine was visibly disturbed by the memory of the video she'd found showing how the victims had been tortured as someone tried to turn them. "I turned all the files over to Colonel Drake and Commander Hunt. I had no idea where the investigation went from there."

Chlamydia's eyebrows lifted in surprise and she glanced at Lanis. After a moment, she turned her gaze back to Jasmine and spoke again. "We understand that you had contact with some sort of... dormant Borg spores recently?"

"Yes, although I didn't get to do as much testing on them as I had hoped. Commander Hunt," Jasmine stopped when she mentioned the man's name and caught took a breath. "Commander Hunt had asked me to look into an object he'd received from his brother and Lieutenant Maynard had a second one. When we put them next to each other, they merged and mutated. We believe they or rather others like them were responsible for the original creation of the Borg." She looked at the two doctors. "Again, there is a complete report on file if you would like to pull it up. Our research was sanctioned until we figured out what we had."

"I would be interested in reading that," Lanis said. He set his PADD on Chlamydia's desk and slid his fingers over its surface. "Following Lt. Commander Breaux's death I performed an autopsy." Lanis grimaced. "It was more difficult than usual because he had been fitted with dermal plating that, as far as I can determine, was grown into his skeleton. We're seeking your expertise because we've come across a living, healthy person who has had something else implanted onto her--in this case a toxin-filled ring that was grafted onto her finger." He glanced at Jasmine. "I've removed the ring, and Dr. Addams removed and isolated the toxin. It's deadly in a very small dose. Here is a comparison image of bone samples taken from Lt. Commander Breaux and from our more recent patient. Do you notice any similarities? And if you do, have you ever come across anything like them before?"

He handed her the PADD, which showed a microscopic image of Scott Breaux's bone samples on the left half of the screen and a similar image labeled "Zelda A." on the right half.

Jasmine studied the images for several seconds. She looked from one image to the other comparing, measuring, studying when suddenly, she caught her breath. "These markings here on the bone...we did a cross-section analysis of one of the spores." She ran her hand over the PADD in front of her. "They're almost identical to the markings we found on the spores." She shrugged. "I mean we'd have to compare them to be sure, but they look just like I remember."

Chlamydia raised her eyebrows. "Now that is interesting... and unexpected. We had presumed that the nano-machines used in the conversion experiments were developed to mimic the effect of Borg nanites, rather than directly developed from Borg devices. But if they were independently developed, why would the developer include legacy glyphs or patterns?"

Jasmine shook her head. "I have no idea." SHe continued to look at the PADD in front of her.

"I wonder if the... experimenters anticipated their subjects coming into contact with real Borg and wanted theirs to be able to pass themselves off as genuine Borg, to some degree?" Lanis wondered aloud.

Thing made a motion with its three smallest fingers, as if brushing dust off a page. "Yes, quite so," agreed Chlamydia. "It is fruitless to speculate. We have two questions for you, Doctor Collins: Would you concur that the ring seems to have been grown in situ using a method similar to that shown on Commander Breaux's dermal plating? And do you have any thoughts as to anyone who might currently be pursuing such research?"

Jasmine studied the picture a moment longer before answering. "Yes, I believe the methods had to have been similar. But as to who might be pursuing such research," She shook her head. "There are only a handful of scientists in the Federation that would be qualified to attempt this sort of thing. I can get you a list," She offered, "But I think I'm the only one in this sector and I assure you the only genetic experiments I'm working on are in botany."

"What about less reputable scientists?" Lanis asked. "I was about to suggest looking farther afield than the Federation, considering where we are in space, but since the two subjects we know of are both human, I suspect the person doing these modifications is of Federation origin."

"There are a few scientists that have this knowledge who are no longer sanctioned to practice their craft." She shrugged. "There's no way of knowing what they might be up to if they've slipped past the authorities. Grayson Dagon comes to mind, Dobbs..." She stopped for a moment. "There was an incident on this station with him in sector 49 wasn't there? I doubt he'd come back here but..He was excommunicated from Star Fleet because of his genetics work."

Lanis stared at her. "Dobbs? As in Adrian Dobbs? He was involved in that?" Lanis went pale and controlled himself with an effort. "I understood he had resigned, but--clearly, that was just the public story. I have a lot of reading to do, then."

Chlamydia leaned back in her chair. "And I have heard a rumor that Doctor Holly Day is at large in the Triangle. Which may be related, or an entirely separate headache."

"Yes, Holly Day is also on that list." Jasmine agreed. "She does have the knowledge although I'm not sure if she would be that extreme. Although I only know her by reputation."

"If I recall correctly, she seemed more interested in pure genetics, not in imitating the Borg," Lanis said. "Didn't she develop new base pairs?"

"The woman known as 'Doctor Death' is a polymath, brilliant and wicked," Chlamydia answered flatly. "She created no fewer than three plagues, including one which would have killed the Founders, if the war had gone on. The entire world of Clarvis had to be burned and quarantined to keep one of her plagues from killing trillions. And she's been out of the public eye for the last decade. Could she do something nefarious with Doctor MacDougall's nanites, especially given ten years to muck about with them? Absolutely. Has she? Remains to be determined."

"This Borg thing was intimate; plagues are less so. But I agree; Day's involvement has yet to be determined. So we're back at step 1 but with at least the Dobbs lead," Lanis said.

 

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