Past Midnight With Nanites

Posted on 15 Jan 2014 @ 9:22pm by Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Teth Miir

810 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Starfleet Medical, San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: MD 11 0300

[ ON ]

Olsam had left the Miir residence and made the uncharacteristic decision to contact the local Starfleet operations center and have them beam him directly to Starfleet Medical in a site-to-site transport. Ordinarily he took more traditional methods of transit, but the more time he could dedicate to solving Teth's problem the better. He knew that if he had Borg technology inside of him, he'd want his physicians moving with haste.

Where it had been late morning in Dusseldorf, it was the middle of the night in San Francisco when he beamed in. Olsam used his credentials to gain after-hours access to the research center in the medical library on the Starfleet Medical campus and set about reading through the relevant journal articles and research findings on the medical applications of Borg technology.

When the morning rolled around, he made the appropriate calls to friends in the Department of Nanomedicine and elsewhere for quick meetings over coffee. By the afternoon, he felt he'd gathered enough information to begin some preliminary consultation with Teth about a way forward. He ducked into a public use area on the bottom floor of Starfleet Medical and established a connection with his counselor friend on the other side of the globe.

"Teth?"

"What can I do for you, doctor?" he replied with his practiced therapist's response. He was so accustomed to helping others he greeted people in such a way by default. Even in this situation where he had been anxiously awaiting the doctors call in the hopes that something useful might come of it.

"Well, I have good news," Olsam said, smiling despite the bags forming under his eyes. "I've done a little research and spoken with some colleagues here at Starfleet Medical. I wish I could say with absolute certainty that we can remove the implants without any consequences...but it's not quite that simple. However, we think we can make a good try of it. I have a call in to a potential neurosurgeon whom I studied with at the Academy that has some relevant experience. There's more to discuss on that front, but I think the best way forward is for you to come to Starfleet Medical so we can begin some of the pre-op ground work. Scans and such, nothing invasive."

"Excellent." the caitian said, uncertain if he had anything to add to the conversation. He was feeling reluctantly excited at the prospect of removing the devices. As time went on, and he learned more about the Borg and just how insidious they were, he couldn't help but feel like one himself at times. He had a recurring nightmare of his "safe" borg implants reasserting themselves, linking him to the collective, and causing him to destroy everything he knows and loves. And this fear was only reinforced when he found out he would be joining a crew that was recently under siege by the Borg.

"I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for your help doctor. I really don't know how to repay you for your efforts. All of the other doctors I've spoken to about this don't even want to touch borg technology since the moratorium was put into place."

Olsam nodded. "Yes, unfortunately, there are a lot of liability concerns. The medical community can be close-knit, though, so it's not uncommon to trade favors here and there."

In reality, 'trade favors' was a vast understatement. He'd spent the entire morning and early afternoon calling virtually every qualified doctor he knew. The majority of them were happy to provide leads or brief consultations, but none of them had been tripping over themselves to be on the medical team. Borg technology had been all the rage during the 70's but it had since lost its appeal after a number of mishaps and more research pointing to possible side effects.

"I know it's somewhat short notice, but if you're not otherwise detained we can begin the scans now."

"I didn't have any plans. I can meet you in San Francisco in twenty minutes."

Teth was lying, of course. He was supposed to be visiting with his parents and extended family that day, but it was an event he was happy to miss. Especially given his less than cheerful and stable demeanor at the time. He definitely preferred medical scans over spending the day making small talk and telling white lies.

"That should be very good. If you can, ask the transporter technician to beam you to the transporter pad on the fourteenth floor of Starfleet Medical. There will be signs for 'Medical Imaging.' Just follow those, and I'll be waiting for you with a colleague in Room 1456."

Olsam gave one last smile and then dropped the connection.

END:

Lt. JG Olsam Mott M.D.
Assistant CMO
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG Teth Miir
Counselor
USS Galileo

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