JL| Lt. Keál & Sh'eik "From The Ashes"

Posted on 241508.26 @ 10:50am by Lieutenant Keál & Cadet Sh'eik

Mission: Agua Mala
Location: USS Enterprise - Sickbay

=/\= USS Enterprise, Sickbay =/\=

Darkness. Frightening Darkness. That was the last thing Sh'eik remembered.
A soreness in his footpaw, a fullness in his head, and the feeling of his skin crawling, and the Darkness of being blind.
Not a good place for a youngling to be.

As it turned out, Doctor Avery had successfully removed the cyst behind the young Cait's eye, but blind he remained.
And ever worsening. Avery had spoken to him about stasis. Reassured him that it would be painless, and would give them more time to assess what was going on.
Sh'eik had agreed, what else could he do? His life was in the hands of starfleet's doctors, and he trusted them.
It was the last thing that went through his mind before feeling the hiss of a hypospray against his furred neck.

Here he lay, in wait. Mindless, quiet, frozen in time. Waiting for the moment Avery would wake him up, hopefully with good news.

Keál ran the final diagnostic workup of the patient in the stasis chamber and instructed the computer to begin brining down the stasis field. In his hand was a hypospray of Netinaline to revive the young Caitian, a vile of Cordrazine to get his heart rate up, and the vial of medical nanites which would hopefully root out and destroy the parasitic infection raging through the boy's body.

As the stasis field dropped and the chamber depressurized there was a sudden snap as the lid latch released. Quickly and deftly, Keál raised the lid and pressed the tip of the hypo into Sh'eik's neck. There was the characteristic hiss of a hypospray and Keál turned his attention to the bio-monitor to check his patients vitals. Only a few seconds later the second vial was loaded with Cordrazine and a 2.5cc injection was administered. Though his heart rate had been reduced to near death while in stasis it was quickly returning to Caitian standards of around 90 beats per minute while at rest. All that was left now was to monitor wait until the boy regained consciousness.

It started slowly, a sort of warmth, like sneaking under a duvet in the winter, radiating through his body. Starting from his core and moving out to his limbs and extremities. It was primal at first, just the physical feelings, then slowly he could think, as he rose from months of slumber.

Memories flicked up next, and then the subtle pains from before.
Sh'eik was disoriented, his eyes fluttering open, with a lazy flick of his tail.
A part of him panicked and then saddened quickly. He still couldn't see.
"D-docturr...?" His voice slurred. His muscle functions still lazy and, elders sake, was his mouth dry...

Stasis sickness, the name given to the side effects following reanimation from stasis, had been known to throw some people into shock and even cause death. Keál placed his hand on the bare shoulder of his young patient and said, "Much time has passed since you were put underrr. Please do not trrry and move or talk just yet." Keál picked up a small squeeze container filled with an electrolyte and vitamin rich supplement. Putting the straw of the container into Sh'eik's mouth he gently squeezed some of the restorative fluid past the drawn lips of his patient. "Sip slowly but drrrink yourrr fill."

'Much time has passed...' Sh'eik let the words roll through his mind as he willed himself to remain still.
Questions scrolled through his mind, as he sipped in small amounts, intermittently. The flavour of the solution wasn't particularly good, but it did an excellent job of stopping his jowls from sticking to his teeth.
'One step at a time.' He thought

Sh'eik focused, instead, on the doctor's voice. It was new to him, and distinctly feline. It filled him with hope, that perhaps someone had come aboard who better understood what was happening to him. Perhaps a specialist? Sh'eik hoped that they hadn't gone to that much trouble, just for him.
His left ear flicked a few times, lazily, as his mind sharpened further.
The solution was sitting heavy in his stomach. It hurt a bit, but it almost felt like it was radiating out into his body, like fuel to a starving impulse engine. Soon the bottle was empty, and he let the straw slip from his muzzle, his breathing slowly normalizing as he began to feel stronger.

"Therrre now. That should help you get yourrr strrrength back." Keál pulled the container away and sat it on the platform next to the stasis chamber. "How arrre you feeling?" Keál needed to get see if his patient was coherent enough to describe his physical state before he began explaining what was going on within his young body.

Despite his inability to see, Sh'eik blinked, his left ear flicking a few times again.
"I..." he opened his mouth, then closed it a moment, left ear flicking again.
"I feel like I've been run overrr by a hoverrrskiff." He tried to break the tension with a joke, but he had a hard time getting his face to produce a smile.
Anxiety shot through him suddenly, his pulse quickening. Worry didn't seem to have any trouble crossing his face.
"Wherrre...?" His voice was still quite husky and his throat still hurt a bit.

Keál again placed his hand upon the young Caitian's shoulder as a reassuring gesture. "You arrre in good hands. We arrre aboarrrd the USS Enterrrprrrise, a Starrrfleet vessel. My name is Keál and I am the Chief Medical Officerrr aboarrrd now. I rrread in your charrrt that you are sufferrring pain in your rrright foot and leg? I also rrread that you have lost sight? Is that accurrrate?" Keál asked in his mild manner tone.

Sh'eik relaxed instantly, though a touch of shame passed through him when he realized it was because he was glad to still be on the Enterprise, and not shipped off to the homeworld.
He nodded slowly, muscles in his neck still weak, but responding better and better with each passing moment.
"Doctorrr Averrry, was worrrking on something causing prrresurrre behind my eye. I don't feel it any-" His voice broke for a moment as a wave of dizzyness washed over him and he flinched instinctively.
"I don't feel the prrresurrre anymorrre. But I still cannot see. And my Rrright footpaw..." He shivered, "It has that same fullness, and the feeling of insects... in my skin."
The young man shivered again, with a whimper.

"You feel something crrrawling underrr the skin?" His tone fluctuated slightly with annoyance and curiosity. Keál wondered why the surgery which removed the cyst had not turned up any signs of a parasite large enough to feel. "I have a treatment I would like to try. If I am correct, you have a parasite living in your blood stream. It seems to be able to deflect or shield itself from our sensor scans so I have devised a method of treatment with the help of the ships EMH that I would like to try out." Keál held the vial of nanites in his hand and gave them a gentle shake then instantly realized his mistake as the patient was currently blind. "I would like to intrrroduce these medical nanites into yourrr blood. If all goes to plan, they will be able to track the parrrasite by the secrrretions they make and then eliminate it. Your sight can be rrrepaired and should have been repaired after the surgery." Keál noticed the sound of his voice was tinged with aggregation at the state his post had come to him.

That was a new one for Sh'eik.
"Nanites?" he picked up on the doctor's unhappiness, subtly "What arrre they?"
He had been about to ask if they would hurt, but the reality was he was already pain, what was a little more, if he could see again? He'd only been able to coast through the situation by reassuring himself he would see again, when it was over.
To hear it said out loud, reassured him greatly, and he breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that his throat and lungs no longer hurt. A mix of the concoction he'd drank and relief of his fears filled him with hope.
This doctor DID know what he was doing. He was going to get better. He would see again. He wouldn't be alone with his thoughts.

Keál wondered where this boy had grown up not to know what a nanites was. It took him a second to come up with an answer that wouldn't terrify the young Caitian. "Nanites are robots on an atomic scale. They arrre progrrramed with cerrrtain tasks in mind. In this case, we are going to use them like a parrrasite to trrrack and eliminate the rrreal parrrasite. Once they have finished theirrr task they will deactivate and pass out of your body by normal means. We have been using this technology for more than a centurrry now. You will feel no pain frrrom the nanites, though you may frrrom the parrrasite as it perrrishes. I will give you something for the pain if it becomes too much for you, but it would likely put you out in yourrr state. You have been asleep for nearly six months, I doubt you wish to go rrright back underrr." Keál could smell the anxiety on his patient as much as see it in his pain ridden face. He squeezed the boy's hand this time and said, "You will be fine, Sh'eik."

Though he was weak, Sh'eik's grip was strong as he clung to Keál's handpaw.
"Do what is necessarrry. I am not afrrraid," He squeezed the doctor's hand just a little harder to emphasize his trust in him, though his next statement betrayed what was obviously an underlying abandonment complex.
"But please... Please do not forrrget about me." He was being honest. The idea of millions of microscopic computers running through his veins was less frightening to Sh'eik, than being alone again.

"I will be rrright here." Keál gave Sh'eik's hand another squeeze and then released it so he could prepare the hypo and the nanites. He stood there looking at Sh'eik with his dark chocolate colored fur, and wondered at how odd a coincidence it was to have two dark Caitians on one ship. The thought was odd and passed quickly as he readied the hypo. "Hold still, this won't hurrrt a bit." The quick hiss of the hypo introduced hundreds of thousands of nanites into Sh'eik's blood and started a waiting game to see if the boy would rise from the ashes or if Keál's treatment would go up in smoke.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Lt. Keál
Chief Medical Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Sh'eik
Civilian
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F