Ruminations in Decontamination 1.

Posted on Tue 16th Sep, 2025 @ 11:54am by Makila i'Hartelhai

852 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: Decontamination.

The knot of tension in her back and belly unwound as she threw herself down on a cot in the decontamination chamber. Pristine white walls surrounded her and honestly made her headachey a little bit from the subtle scent/nonscent of the chemicals used in the decontamination process. She knew they wouldn't harm her, yet every set of spray and beam of light made her wrinkle her nose or cover her ears in subtle discomfort. The subtle discomfort was better, she knew than the 300 odd patients that she had seen over the course of the last 24 hours.

The knot in her belly increased, and she took a brief inventory of her physical state. She was starving. It had been over a full day she noted, since she'd last eaten and a subtle but deep ache in her back made her wonder exactly how long it had been since she had anything to drink. Romulan physiology was good with that, a throwback to their Vulcan ancestry yet it was just uncomfortable enough that she sought out the replicator. She'd have to seek out the replicator rather than cook or have something delivered as, Makila was not yet cleared from her decontamination. The young Doctor was fortunate however to have both a PADD and a replicator in the chamber that had been set aside for medical staff that needed to transition from the mass of plague victims to the throng of humanity that existed just outside of it.

Mentally, she was exhausted. She just wanted to curl up in the embrace of her man, but he understood the trappings of duty just as much as she did. That didn't mean that she didn't miss him fiercely.
You're getting ahead of yourself today too. You might be well served by telling him you love him and being done with it.

She programmed in pre-selection, and was rewarded by a tray appearing in the replicator base. In a bowl, was a florally fragrant salad complete with a sprinkling of strawberry chunks and feta cheese. There were vegetables of all kinds, though it was heavy on the various lettuces from Earth, she was not displeased by the selection in front of her. Drizzling it with one of Kellians own mixes for salad dressing she popped the first fork full in her mouth and smiled. He had been the one to introduce her to this meal, and he wondered briefly about the rediculousness that would occur if the man was notified when people used his replicator programming. Would he see the transaction and think on her with fondness?

The silliness of the idea had Makila smiling, and also allowed her to turn her thoughts back to the problem at hand. The plague.

Where in the process, she wondered did the Cascade become critical?

At what point in the disease progression, did the pathology of the virus become so much that it overwhelmed the system? What was it exactly that triggered the overwhelm of the body's systems?

If they could stop it at phase one, or even phase two could they recover the body of the person and keep them from death? Was there any possibility of reversing the progression even if the patient had passed into the later phases of the disease?

Was it phase two before the lactic acidosis became so much that.. she paused at that remembering something she'd read an ancient medical textbook. It had been on loan, but had said multiple things about clearing the body of lactic acid. They might benefit from treating these patients like they were septic, and see if they could mitigate the effects that the acidosis itself was having on the body. They were also having problems with both coagulation cascade and potassium balance given the breakdown of the blood cells.

It was causing an artificial High in a patient's creatinine kinase. Briefly she sent a message to one of the nurses to check those levels in a patient in each state of the disease. That would at least give them some base line numbers to work with.

Artificial rhabdomyelosis, that was something at least they could mitigate with crystalloid and high dose steroids. They could treat it and the inflammatory cascade at the same time if they acted quickly. They could walk the tightrope line of rescussitation here, and maybe save some of these victims.

With that Makila began making notes in the shared document that all of the researchers and doctors could access.

Her changes and suggestions lit up the document in a pale violet, the color she had designated for herself and her ideas. There were suggestions from a user in navy blue a d a user in goldenrod yellow that was active in reviewing the suggestions on the board. Another mint green user was sitting in the research users section, and was provably in the lab. Her words were briefly highlighted in the goldenrod yellow before the words 'Trial on patients' were displayed beside them.

Makilas smile was incandescent, maybe she'd made the right choice in this calling she shared with her father.

 

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