The Discovery

Posted on Mon Jan 9, 2017 @ 6:20am by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Phen Caticasse

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Sickbay / Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 3 || 1300 Hours

=====Main Sickbay=====

Finn had been up to his neck in scans from all of the crew, and the various surprises that had been thrust upon the crew in the recent hours. He had felt something was off since his meeting with their Orion guest. However, he couldn't put his finger on whatever it was that was wrong. It was starting to drive him up a wall. Part of him wondered if it was partially due to his own prejudices. After all, he was a spacer. He didn't remember many times when dealings with the Orions weren't much more complicated than they appeared. They seemed to always be working so many different angles. He couldn't think of that at the moment, though. For his break, he was on to patients. It didn't look like a break to most, but it was something he generally enjoyed, especially early in his interactions in a ship.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Phen Caticasse, but you can just call me Finn," Finn said as he walked over to his next patient. "What are we in for?"

"Oh, just the required checkup." The crewman said with a quick nod, "Crewman Tessa Warner," She said quickly, with a light nod.

Finn waived her over to a biobed, "A pleasure to meet you. So, if you'll have a seat, and we'll get your scans underway. Any medical history I should be aware of."

"Not current. Well," She corrected herself as she sat and the scans started, "I was in a training accident a couple of years ago. This is my second real assignment since then. Healed now though, I think."

"What happened?" Finn asked, looking at the scans.

"Shuttle crash. A engineering recruit did something wrong. Lost power. Couldn't restore it fast enough. Got it working before hitting the ground, so the pilot was able to slow, but our Inertial Dampeners hadn't come online. I was in bad shape, but recovered quicker than I thought I would."

"Good, glad you're recovered mostly. Having any issues?" Finn asked.

"Well, a bit of numbness and tingling where my scar lines would be." She said, "But otherwise, just phantom pains."

"Any mental issues?"

"I really don't like shuttles..." The crewman said with a little shrug.

"I bet." Finn added, "Well, your scans look good. Do you mind if I ask you where your scars were? They seem like they've been covered really well."

She gave a nod, and then touched the side of her face. She started to explain, but Finn didn't hear a word. He only saw a flicker from the scan as she explained it. Finn held up a hand and she stopped. He quickly glanced over to her.

"Can you do that again?" He asked.

She gave a nod and touched the scar line again, but didn't say anything.

Finn watched the scan for a moment as it detected a little surge in nerve activity around the area, "Okay. You're fine." He said, "But, did you just have scars removed, or..."

"Reconstruction. Part of my jaw was obliterated in the crash." She said as her eyes turned in a curious sweep over the doctor.

Finn stood, "I hate to do this," He said quickly, "I'm going to hand you off to Kato. You made me realize something I was missing all day. Something I have to check." He said with a nod.

"I understand, sir," She said with a little tone that might have indicated she didn't, but wasn't willing to push the point with an Officer.

"Thank you. I apologize," Finn said as he moved away with a quick shake of his head. He stopped at the counter, "Kato. Finish up with these patients. And hand me a clear padd."

Petty Officer Kato gave a quick nod, and then reached to offer up a Padd to the Chief Medical Officer. "Yes sir." He added, before heading to finish up with Crewman Warner.

Finn took the padd and gave a nod back to the petty officer before heading into the offices of the medical deck. "Computer, bring all of our recent guests medical scans to this PaDD. Highlight any sections of the scans where damaged nerve clusters were detected. Include and highlight recently healed nerves, separately mark incomplete scan areas." There was a little chime from the padd as it began to work. He didn't stop walking, pushing through the other medical personnel to one of the staging areas. He tossed the padd down softly nearby, before quickly stripping out of his scrubs, and washing up. It gave the computer time to collect all of the requested, and by the time he had switched into his uniform, there was another chime.

He took a breath before picking the padd back up. His eyes scanned over the data for a few moments, everything else passing him by. "Damn it," He said softly. He sighed. "Computer, locate the Captain."

=====Ready Room=====

"You need to see this, Captain," Finn said with very little time between the time the door opened, and he entered the Ready Room. While normally it might have been seen as his usual lack of reverence. "Some of our guests might have had reconstruction procedures," He said explaining, putting the padd with the scans on the Captain's desk. "Too many have irregularities in their scans, and similarities to the nerve patterns indicative of intricate reconstruction procedures. I went back over each of their scans on the way up here, but I'm confident in the data so far. These people aren't what they are claiming to be."

"That's what the Orion woman said," Michael responded when he saw it was the doctor he had argued with before coming to an agreement courtesy of his XO. "What do you have for me?"

"Let me be a bit clearer. Nerve clusters are damaged in reconstruction. It is different for every person. One person might experience a tingling, another itching, another nothing. Someone might scar heavily, or not at all." He was talking with his hands by this point, mimicking every little addition. "But, here is the thing. As one heals, the cells strive to return to their baseline. If I cut my hand, the cells will try to stitch back what they know. What they were designed to do. When we greeted our guests, we took scans. We know who they aren't, but they had done a rather good job hiding who they were originally. But," He tapped the padd. "Their cells did not get the memo. They are healing normally. Their cells are stitching back as they should. Based on their cellular regeneration near the reconstruction sites, and a mix of other things on the scans I'm not going to get into - I can give you their original species. Or genus, at least. Take a look."

Michael accepted the PADD and even though he wasn't medically trained, he saw where the Chief Medical Officer was going and what he was talking about. "So the information is correct that we were given? Is any of them an actual Starfleet officer?"

"Yes. As much as I hate to say that. The current evidence does seem to lean in that direction." He gave a sigh, and a bit of a groan though. "It doesn't seem right to me, though. The mix of species is odd, to say the least." He nodded to the padd, "I've listed the ones I've been able to definitely identify. It is a unique mix. Some are human, or close enough... but I've identified at least some Klingons and Cardassians... It feels like some details are missing."

"What details?" Michael asked. "The Orion Syndicate is a mix of different races. It's not unusual to see them all working together as long as the goal is the same."

"No, it isn't. But..." Phen shook his head. "I'm a spacer, sir. My family ran cargo. I've dealt with the Syndicate a few times, and heard a thousand stories... This combination of species seems odd. Where are the Yridians, Nausicaans, or even Coridanites?" He grimaced a bit. He tapped the padd again, "There is one vulcanoid, as well. I read it as vulcan at first, but couldn't place the genetic profile precisely." He paused and took a breath. "Maybe, the story is solid. I don't know. But there aren't as many of the usual suspects as I would expect. It's unusual, and in my experience, unusual can be benign, or it can be a sign that we missed something critical. I'd rather be prepared for the latter."

"Maybe they decided to use species that were the closest compatible to have surgically altered," Michael said. "A Nausicaan would have to have extensive surgery to appear human as would some of the others. Whatever the case, they're trapped as they appear to be until such time as we can turn them over to Starfleet when we return. Is there anything else you can tell me?"

Finn didn't say anything for a second, and then narrowed his eyes a bit. "Not at the moment." He said, "Captain, would being able to see what they originally looked like be useful? Would being able to see their original faces help us, you think?" He shook his head. He spoke again, though it may have been partially to himself. "With a little work, I can do that, I think."

"How would you be able to restore them to what they looked like without knowing or having their records?" Michael asked.

"Genetic markers can't be faked. We have their species, to some degree. I have their basic bone structure. I can give you at least what would be on their ident cards. Height, a weight range, color and type of hair, skin, eyes. Likely age. Likely face shape, body shape..." He gave a quick shake of his head. "It isn't exact, but I can get you holographic images of their most likely actual appearances. A little help from someone with a forensic background, and intelligence... you may be able to get more information on our guests." He shook his head. "Just another option, sir, should you think its worth looking into."

The Captain thought for a minute, then he nodded. "Do it. We may not have the one we're looking for yet, but the group we have now may have warrants in Federation space. Get it done, Doctor."

"Aye, sir." Finn gave a quick nod. "I'll give you a call when I have those holos prepped. Is there anything else, sir, before I go?" The doctor asked before taking a couple steps back towards the door instinctively.

"That'll be all," Michael said. "When you get it done, I want copies to go to Security and Intel."

"Of course, sir. Thank you." Finn said before twisting and heading out of the office.