Enterprise: Contagion

[Deciviel]

The bridge of the Enterprise NX-01 was quiet, save the hum of the warp reactor as it powered the ship and it's crew through the vast reaches of space. The captain sat solemnly in his chair, gazing at the viewscreen, watching the the stars streak by as the ship went along it's journey. Behind him, he could hear T'Pol quietly talking to herself as she preformed scans of the space ahead.
"I don't suppose, you've found anything worth mentioning?" asked Archer, taking a look back at the stern, centered sub-commander.
"I'm afraid not captain," she replied, "I'll let you know, though, when I do." The captain turned back around, continuing his stargazing. Not more than a moment later, the comm rang. Lost in thought, he almost didn't hear it ring the second time. He qucikly became alert and answered. "Archer"
"It's Phlox, captain," the doctor repleid from the other end, "can I see you in sickbay please? It's urgent." There was a sort of uneasiness to his voice, a tone that was quite unsettling.
"I'm on my way." replied Archer, lifting himself from his chair and making his way to sickbay.

***

As Archer entered sickbay, the doctor greeted him almost immediately.
"What's the problem?" asked Archer, both alarmed and curious. Phlox led him to a nearby medical bed, where an ill-looking crewman lay. Her face was covered in blisters, and she was barely concious.
"What happened?" demanded Archer, a shrill tone to his voice. "What's wrong with her?"
"I'm not quite sure, captain." the doctor replied. "She came in here just minutes ago, complaining of skin irritation along her face, and in no time these lesions began to appear on her face. I've tried giving her an antibiotic, but it seems to have no affect."
"Is it life-threatening?" asked Archer, unnerved by the situation.
:I can not tell." replied the doctor. "I'll have to run a detailed scan before I can give you a proper diagnosis." He went to a nearby counter and picked up a scanning deivice. He then made his way back to the crewman, and the captain.
"Keep me posted," said Archer. "I'll be on the bridge."
"That I will, captain." Phlox replied, beginning his scans.

[Deciviel]

That's it so far. Sorry it's a bit short, but that's all I could think of for now. There will be more to come. Tell me what ya think.

[janewaykat]

its good

[Deciviel]

***

The mess hall was filled to the brim with chattering crewmembers as lunchtime rolled around. At the far end of the room, a female officer is invited to sit with a dashing young officer. To the far left, a couple of male crewmembers can be seen playing a friendly game of poker. At the center table sat Lieutenant Reed, looking over scans of the weapons systems and so forth. A plate of linguni sat before him on the table, yet it has hardly been touched. As the lieutenant continues analyzing the scans, Ensign Mayweather approaches him, a plate of food in his hands.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked, pulling out a chair next to Reed.
"Oh, not at all. Please." The young lieutenant replied, and so Travis sat down.
"I've been at the helm all day. I've been anxious to get some food." The armory officer said nothing, still deep in his scans.
"Sir?" asked Mayweather, not knowing whether or not the lieutenant heard him.
"I'm sorry?" Malcolm said, looking up from his scans.
"Nevermind." Mayweather said. He picked up his fork and began to pick up linguini from his plate. He stopped, though, just a few inches away from his mouth. "Sir," began Travis, "Do you mind If I ask you a question?"
Lieutenant Reed looked up from his scans. "Oh, no, go ahead." said Reed.
"This...contagion, which has affected Crewman Redford. Do you think it's anything to be concerned about?" He took a quick bite of his food, then continued. "I mean, when I was on the Horizon, we once encountered this strange fungus that started growing on one of the reactor coils. I think it was from Benzien 4, our previous stop." Lieutenant Reed was listening to him, though it didn't look it. "We didn't even know it was there until the crew started getting sick. It caused lesions on our skin and caused a pretty nasty rash. We didn't even locate it until about two weeks later. But once we got rid of it, we started to recover."
"You're thinking that this might be along the same lines?" asked Reed, putting down his scans for the moment.
"I'm not entirely sure," said Travis, "but I do know that if we had found that fungus about a day or two later, we probably would've been dead." He took another bite of his linguni.
"I'm sure our sensors would have detected anything of the sort." said Reed. "They are pretty efficient." He picked up his scans again and reviewed them for a moment.
"I'm not saying that I don't trust them," said Travis, "I'm just saying that, well, maybe there are some things that it can't detect. Viruses that may be too miniscule for them to find."
"I wouldn't be too worried about that." said Reed. "If there is a virus, I'm sure the doctor will be able to treat it." With that, Travis finished his meal, got up and said, "See you on the bridge," and walked out.

[janewaykat]

yah keep writing

[Deciviel]

***

The time slipped by slowly as the captain sat, a water polo game on the screen in his quarters. His pet beagle, Porthos, was sitting on the floor beside him, sleeping. Water polo is the favorite sport of Captain Archer. But today he just wasn't interested. It merely provided a sort of white noise. He couldn't get his mind off the situation affecting the ship. Over the past hour, 3 more crewmembers had been admitted to sickbay with lesions on their faces. Doctor Phlox's scans hadn't revealed anything about the cause of this outbreak. All scans came up inconclusive. It was still unkown if the contagion was or was not life threatening. As the captain was deep in thought, the door rang.
"Come in." said the captain. As he said that, the door slid open, and T'Pol stepped in.
"Am I disturbing you captain?" She asked.
"Not at all." replied Archer. trying to feign a sort of smile. "What can I do for you?" The Vulcan stepped towards him as he turned off the game of polo. He sat up and reached out an arm to recieve a padd from the sub-commander.
"We're approaching a system approximately four lightyears away." said T'Pol. "My scans have indicated that one of the planets is Minshara class." Normally the thought of an away mission to a new planet intriuged Archer, but today his heart just wasn't in it.
"Thanks." He said. "Let me know when he get there." He returned the padd and turned the polo game back on.
"Captain," said T'Pol, "I've noticed that you have been...preoccupied ever since-"
The captain interupted her, sharply. "I've got four crewmen in sickbay who might not live to see tommorrow!"
T'Pol corrected him. "Doctor Phlox's scans have not shown-"
"They haven't shown anything! They've been inconclusive every time. That could mean ANYTHING." He got up sharply and walked over to the window.
"I share your concern for the crewmembers, captain," said T'Pol, walking to him, "but it is too soon to be jumping to any...premature conclusions."
The vulcan's words felt like a cold dagger in Archer's back.
"Premature conclusions?" he said angrily. "You couldn't give a damn what happens to them! That'd require some of those emotions, which in case I'm mistaken, you've repressed all your life." He had a sharp tone to his voice, sharp enough to make Porthos sit up from his slumber.
"This is no time to be placing blame, captain." said T'Pol, calmly. "We've got a virus on board that is affecting the crew. They need leadership. They need a captain."
Her words stirred something within him. He realized that his first officer was right. He couldn't sit here, brooding, placing the blame on whoever it seemed convienient. He needed to take action. He had to find a way to save his crew.
"My father, once said something to me, when I was very young." Archer told T'Pol. "He said, 'When times get tricky, always keep in mind, your actions define who you are'. I...think, I'm getting to understand what he meant by that." He turned his face to the sub-commander, his rage subsiding. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some virus kill my crew." With that, Captain Archer, with a sense of strong determination, made his way to his bridge.

[harry_kim]

Good story Keep writing!

[janewaykat]

^yep good story

[Deciviel]

Thanks.

[Deciviel]

 Captain's star log, supplemental. It's been nearly two days since the mysterious
outbreak affecting the crew began. So far, it seems that only the junior officers are being
affected. None of my senior staff has shown signs of being ill, nor have my bridge crew.
Not yet, at least.
I have Doctor Phlox working on finding the cause of this contagion, but I have no idea how
many more crewmen will be affected from now until then.
The captain sat in his chair, the leather underneath him giving him a sort of comfort he so
desperately needed. He gazed silently at the viewscreen before him, and watched, awe-stricken, at
the sight unfolding before him. What was a small speck of red and white only minutes ago was
now a brilliant, radiant sphere of red, white, and green. The white clouds that covered most of the
planet had a sort of greenish hue to them, unlike anything the crew has ever seen.
As the captain gazed at this spectacle, Sub-commander T'Pol interjected, disrupting his
flow of thought. "I am reading several life signs on the surface," she said. "There appears to be a
civilization there. By the looks of my scans, they appear to have warp drive."
The captain was only half-intrigued, a rare occurrence. "I take it it's safe to go down and
say hello?" he asked.
"It is." said T'Pol. After a few more views of her scans, she added, "I�m mistaken, captain. There
appears to be a sort of shielding covering most of the planet's surface. We cannot land a
shuttlepod.�
Archer turned and looked at his science officer. �Shielding? If there�s shielding, how can you tell
that they have warp drive?�
�This type of shield appears to only block bio-matter and weapons. It does not appear to affect
sensors.� She meticulously studied her scans, and then said, �I am unable to ascertain whether or
not they have detected us. However, if their scanning devices are as technologically advanced as
ours are, there is a good chance they have.�
And they were probably as advanced, for a species capable of faster-than-light travel, right?
�Move us into standard orbit, Mister Mayweather.�
�Aye, sir,� said Travis, sitting at the conn. He laid in coordinates for a standard orbit, then took a
look at the picture of the planet that engulfed the view screen. It was nothing like Earth, and the
was a good thing. It had no clouds of pure white, no mountains, not even blue water. Instead, the
water seemed to be a greenish color.
�Captain,� Reed spoke up from his station, �You might want to take a look at this.� Archer made
his way back to where he sat, and Reed punched up an image. The image showed several distinct
buildings, each shaped and built differently. �This is an image from the southern continent. The
architecture of these buildings is quite unusual for a warp capable species.� He touched a finger
on one of the buildings, and within seconds a closer view came onto the screen.
The buildings appeared to be made of some unknown type of metal. They were different shapes as
well, and different sizes. The one on the screen was a roundish building, not too big and yet not
too small. It seemed to have rectangular rods protruding from it�s domed top, and it�s blue
colored bottom was a stark contrast from it�s yellowish top.
�What�s so unusual about them?� inquired Archer.
�Well, sir, I�ve taken a few scans of the surrounding area, and there appears to be no sort of
scanning devices anywhere. In fact, if I didn�t know any better, I�d say that this planet barely has
any technology at all, save the shielding of course, and maybe some other forms.�
�No technology?� asked Archer, confused by his tactical officer�s observations. �They must have
technology. They�re warp capable.� He took a look at T�Pol. �Have you ever heard of anything
like this?�
�No,� said the Vulcan, raising her eyes from her scans to meet his. �Considering warp capability
cannot be reached without many other technological achievements, it does not make sense that
this civilization would have little to no technology.�
Archer was perplexed by this puzzle, as was the rest of the bridge.
�What does this have to do with the architecture of their buildings?� asked Archer, turning his
attention back to Lieutenant Reed.
�As far as I can tell, these rectangular obtrusions coming from the roof of this building here serve
as some sort of makeshift antennae. It would seem that this is how they communicate.�
�So they barely have any technology, and use these antennae to talk to each other?� asked
Archer. �Couldn�t there have been a war? Some sort of disaster that took a large toll on them?�
�I gave that some thought,� said Reed, �But I managed to locate the shield generator. According
to scans I took of it, it�s been there for much longer than these buildings have.�
�How much longer?� asked Archer.
�I can�t give you an exact figure, but I would say almost one thousand years longer.� said Reed.
�I also doubt there has been any wars amongst the inhabitants. With a few tweaks to my scanners,
I was able to collect some data from the generator. It seems to store data regarding almost every
aspect of the structure of the planet. I matched those with it�s current state, and they were
identical. Any war capable of destroying their technology would have to have been a massive one,
leaving behind scorch marks, defaced mountain sides, anything. I must admit sir, I�m drawing a
black as to how this is even possible.�
�You�re not alone,� said Archer, gazing blankly at Reed�s screen. All of a sudden, the worries he
had about the mysterious outbreak aboard the ship were not just a fading memory in the back of
his mind. The only thing that occupied his mind now is this puzzle that lay before them. A culture,
with warp capability, that lacks substantially in technology. How could such a thing even be
possible?
Archer, with his trademark curiosity, couldn�t leave this puzzle alone.
�This is one mystery I don�t tend to leave unanswered.�

[Voy_Girl]

Good!

[Deciviel]

Five hours.
It had been five hours since the first discovery of the strange, new planet. Doctor Phlox had
urgently called for Captain Archer�s presence in sickbay. When the captain arrived, the doctor had some interesting news.
�I find it remarkable, captain.� he said as Archer joined him in sickbay.
�What?� asked Archer. �What�s remarkable?�
�These patient�s bio scans.� He walked over to a nearby biobed, to a young ensign in what
looked to be a state of comatose. Around the captain, there was a total of seven crew members in
the sickbay, all in the same state as the ensign. Phlox pressed a button on the screen above the
ensign�s bed, and at once it produced a detailed scan of the patients genetic structure. �You see
this here?� he said, pointing out a single strand of DNA. As he did so, he enlarged it. �Initially,
this looks to be a usual strand of DNA, but it�s much more.�
�You�ve lost me.� said Archer, wishing the doctor would skip to the point.
�You see this nuclei here?� he asked, pointing to the nuclei in question.
�What about it?� asked Archer, letting his right hand rest firmly on his left.
�It appears to be in a mild state of chromosome flux.�
�You mean it�s mutating?� asked Archer. He could see on the screen that there was, indeed, a
metamorphosis of some type going on.
�Indeed,� said the doctor. �I wouldn�t have even noticed it if I hadn�t thought to realign my
scanners to the same frequency as that of the shielding on the planet.� He pressed a button on the
display, and the DNA strand returned to it�s place among the rest of them. He walked towards the
bed next to this one, this one containing a young lieutenant. �This patient�s DNA is going through the
same metamorphosis,� he said. �I can�t explain what�s causing it.�
�I�m curious,� said Archer, �What made you think to use the shield�s frequency as a medical
tool?�
�As Sub-commander T�Pol would say, simple logic, captain,� Phlox responded, and Archer could sense a slight
tone of pride in his voice. �We�re in close orbit of an alien planet, with an alien type of
technology. I concluded that this might have something to do with this outbreak, but I�m not
quite sure what.�
�This doesn�t make sense,� said Archer, �These people started getting sick even before we
entered orbit.�
�I�m well aware of that, captain,� said Phlox, trying to keep his annoyance out of his voice. �That
still puzzles me. Still, since I was able to make a discovery using the shield's frequency, I believe
that there is something about this planet that is causing these people to become sick.�
Archer didn�t like how this was panning out. Sick crewmen in sickbay, a mystery on the planet
that might prove of great historical significance. He couldn�t just leave this mystery as it was, and
yet he couldn�t risk the well-being of his crew just to satisfy his own curiosity.
He knew what T�Pol�s stance on this would be.
�This is turning out to be one hell of a day,� said Archer, a slight frown penetrating his stern face.
And at that instant, before Archer could tell the doctor to keep him posted about this new
situation, the walls of sickbay shook and trembled with great force. Medical equipment flew from
the tables and onto the floor, creating a racket that sounded like a herd of elephants. Archer
quickly grabbed hold of a table nearby, and Phlox did the same. A scanner nearly missed Archer�s
face as it flew by, and he ducked, even though it wouldn�t have hit him if he did. The patients in
their biobeds shook as well, some falling from their beds, covers following them down to the
floor. Soon, after only six or so seconds (but what seemed like an eternity), the commotion
stopped. Sickbay, which was clean as a whistle before, now looked as if the mother of all
hurricanes had ripped straight through the room. As Archer struggled to regain his thoughts,
Lieutenant Reed�s voice came from the com.
�Reed to the captain. We�re under attack and suffering heavy casualties. Report to the bridge at
once!� With that, the captain rushed as fast as he could out of sickbay and to his post on the
bridge.

[Voy_Girl]

Also good!

[lord_picard]

nover hurd of that one

[Voy_Girl]