Meanwhile in Sickbay

Elliago materialized on the Phoenix transporter pad and jumping down towards the door without even a glance at the transporter chief. His pace was brisk and energetic yet unhurried despite the quickness of it; the walk of a professional who knew lives may hang in the balance yet aware that showing any appearance of nervousness could undermine the morale and confidence of those around him. It was a typical surgeon's skill, one that allowed swift and decisive action while keepping everyone around him as calm and alert as the situation demanded.

It was a skill that came naturally to him, inherited from his mother, former starship captain, another critical position that this abilty caracterized the best of them. But although he had himself experienced command once in a crisis during the Undine confrontation that occurred at the end of Operation Horizon, such responsibility was farthest from his mind; all his thoughts were focused on the welfare and health of his injured comrades.

He was chief medical officer; this was the duty he had chosen.

As he came into sickbay, the sterile field at the door cleansed him and all that he whore thoroughly in the mere second he took to go through it. He spared a glance at the Sagan's people still under treatment under Doctor Gray's care. After a reassuring nod from the EMH, the Deltan went straight to the pair of biobeds where the injured scientists had been laid down on after their emergency transport from the surface. Looking at them, Nasaro-Myth shook his head, his voice a low growl.

"This is the result unecessary risk for no good reason and all the wrong ones and I said they should have a care and listen to their good old doctor... But nooooooo..."

"Sorry, Doctor?"

The CMO of the Phoenix came out sharply from his returning gloomy thoughts and smiled his dazzling, charming smile at Doctor Nedaro-Lenn standing between both researchers barely out of their EVA suits. One look and he could see that Doctor Fallon,  the Human scientist on the left, was resting unconscious in a stable condition under a level 2 forcefield providing nurturing oxygen and heat while the biobed indicators monitored her vital signs returning steadily to normal. The right biobed indicators however immediately caught his attention.

"Why is this biobed's reading fluctuating like that? malfunction?"

"Negative, Doctor. Doctor Frieman is Dralaxian. She has a class C transmutating physiology."

The purple eyes widened in sudden interest.

"Shapeshifter?"

"Affirmative, Doctor. She can shift from between a complete felinoid physiology to a complete hominid one and back under certain physical or psychological conditions. In her present condition, her system is in shock and cannot properly stabilize fully her physiology; the genetic shift from one matrix to the other as her system tries to reflexively rebalance itself is causing the confusing readouts from the scanners."

"Fascinating. This is the first time I met one of her species," Elliago said, the xenologist passion in him flaring up. But that did not diminish the healer's side of him. "Nurse, one cc of cordrazine."

The Deltan woman beside him looked with alarm at her superior officer.

"Cordrazine, Doctor? Even such a low injection will give a temendous jolt to her system."

"Exactly, my dear, " he said as a worried nurse brought him the required hypospray.

Cordrazine was the most potent stimulant ever devized; the smallest dose could boost any carbon-based lifeform to peak physiological responses... but any excess of it could induce exagerated response from the organism and trigger intense paranoia and the most violent, animalisitc survival instincts.

Like all Starfleet medical personnel, Elliago of course was quite aware of that and of historical cases of such effects; like the famous temporary insanity of legendary ship surgeon Leonard McCoy that almost destroyed the timeline when his madness sent him through a time portal to change 20th century Earth history. But the Deltan CMO looked as unconcerned as he was well aware of what he was doing, as he explained.

"Like all shapeshifting species, her natural ability would be hardwired to get her into the most survivable form available to her in case of danger or injury. The cordrazine will jolt that reflex and bring her to the best state possible for her natural physiology to take over and maximize her natural healing process. Remember basic medical principles, Doctor Nedaro-Lenn; the patient heals itself. We doctors only provide the best condition for it to occur."

Then he gave her a crooked smile.

"But be prepared to bring the forcefield to level 5 and to soothe her... just in case."

And so saying, he injected the injured geneticist with the stimulant and stepped back a pace.

Fallon woke up with a groan. Her head felt like someone took a hammer to it and are still happily banging. She heard the doctors speaking in the background and it took her a minute to realize what they were saying.

“No, no!” The words forced itself through a dry throat and cracked lips. “Doctor! She said not to give her anything!”

She turned towards them, blinking furiously to clear her sight, just in time to see  Doctor Nasaro-Myth applying the hypo.

“No!”

She scrambled off the bed, her headache forgotten in her haste to reach Kathleen. A nurse grabbed her arm. “What are you doing? Get back in bed!”

Fallon shook of the restraining hand. “Don’t you people ever listen? From what I can see, not one of you heard that she specifically asked not to be medicated!” Her head swung back to Kathleen. “Oh …” She bit her tongue before the swear word could leave her mouth. “She’s waking up. I really hope you all know what do now.”

Kathleen woke up screaming. She can’t decide which is more painful; the forced changes between her primary and secondary forms or the burn wounds, open to the air. No, she decided blearily while another scream/howl erupt from her throat, it’s the fire that’s burning her alive from within.

After a few minutes of vacillating, her body at last stayed in prime. But the drugs the doctor injected her with, have a very negative effect on her. Disregarding the wounds that are now slowly closing, weaving new skin, sprouting new fur, the elemental mind of the predator inside her came to fore.

All she saw in front of her is prey. Nice juicy prey. Salivating, ignoring her still painful wounds, she unsheathed her claws and made a grab for the nearest person. When her claw met the forcefield, she went berserk. Kicking and howling, she punched the field over and over again.

After a while, she slowed down and her claws retracted. Her hands still clawing at the forcefield, Kathleen looked up at the doctor.

“I have to go back. Please Doctor. I have to make sure the babies are OK. Please…”

Her movements slowed until her arms fell listlessly to her sides. Her eyes closed and she fell into unconsciousness.

Fallon could do nothing to help her friend. Teary-eyed, she turned towards the doctors.

“Will she be all right?”

Elliago smiled warmly at the scientist as Doctor Nedar-Lenn and himself lifted the inert Dralaxian back onto her biobed, sharing in his purple eyes a deep understanding of Fallon's concern over a suffering friend.

"Life is an ever changing process, Doctor Fallon; no one can garantee anything. But judging by her reaction and her current state, I feel confident that she has now gone through the worst of it. "

The Deltan stepped again to the now unconscious Dralaxian and moved a tricorder sensor over her while comparing the readings to those of the biobed. Then, he used his own hands and eyes to confirm both, with the extraordianary sensitivity and atunement to others that made his species so uniquely sensual and empathic. All the while, both he and Doctor Nedaro-Lenn exhuted their soothing pheromones to both releive the patient and her friend Fallon from the physical and psychological tensions lingering from their ordeal. Added to the healing effects of the forcefield-enclosed biofield, the readouts were now all stable and within the lower spectrum of otpimal health as defined by the recorded biometric file of Doctor friedman but starting to rise slowly and steadily.

"I understand your sense of alarm at her reaction," then said Elliago with a calm but authoritative voice. " Cordrazine is especially potent on alterable physiologies like hers, sometimes painfully so; and hallucinatory periods are often a side effect while the drug is active in the system. What you saw was exactly what I expected after looking at her file. But you can breathe easy now. Her condition is now stable and the natural healing process has started. She will be kept under the protective field and sedation for the time being, to help her own physiology reassert itself properly. The biobed will adjust  regenerative emitters on a continuous basis to assist it and finish taking care of her burns... and alert us instantly of any trouble. Only time now will properly answer your concern. But she should be fine now."

Lifting his bald head, Docotr Nasaro-Myth then spoke to the ship's computer.

"Computer; if the patient on biobed 2 raises her body higher than thirty centimeters, adjust forcefield confinement to the biobed area; Nasaro-Myth medical command code Mu-One -One Blue."

"Medical command code confirmed; patient will be confined as established by protocol to prevent fall and injury," answered the disembodied female voice familiar to all Starfleet officers.

Moving around the shapeshifting woman's bed, the CMO of the Phoenix now went to her friend.

"Now, how do you feel? And what happened to you both down there?"

“I feel fine, Doctor, thank you for asking. Seems that I wasn’t that badly hurt. I scarcely feel any pain. Tough I feel kinda woozy and my ears are ringing. If someone can...”

Doctor Nadaro-Lenn came back with a hypospray she used on Fallon's neck. The hiss of the injector was barely over that the effect was instantly visible on the face of the scientist.

Fallon sigh in relief. “Oh thank you! I’d rather be up and working than lying down and do nothing.” She sat down on the nearest bed. “To answer your second question, Sir, I can give you the basics as I know it, but the real facts are only known to Doctor Friedman. I am not yet certain exactly how her database works and the answers are in there.”

Fallon sighed and racked her fingers through her hair.

“It all started when Friedman asked us to explain how we saw one of the sigils. When she saw that we all saw it differently, she had to know why and she did find the reason. You see – no pun intended – to be able to ‘see’ an object, four things need to be taken in consideration. One: light, two: line of sight, three and four: specular and diffuse reflection. Then we still have to take in consideration that every species, well, depending on several factors which I am not going to name now, observe and see objects differently.”

"I understand," Elliago said with a nod and a smile. "Like fish immediately reacting to objects over their heads as food and behind them as threats but their eyes and brain not even registering what is directly in front of them. Please continue."

She stood up and drifted aimlessly through the sickbay, picking up objects and putting it down, while she fill in the blanks from the recording.

“So Kathleen started scanning everything again. Using different settings on the scanners to reflect the viewpoint of different species. Like I mentioned in the recording, I couldn’t wait to see what we came up with so I ran the routine while adding and the results were mind-blowing!”

“The species who built the ships made provision for any kind of intelligent species to be able to deciphering their codes. They used universal elements for observing and reading the message they left here. We think that the message will differ from chamber to chamber, but in our chamber, it showed us how they came to be there, on the planetoid.”

The Deltan blinked for several seconds, dumbstruck y what Fallon was saying.

She fell silent; her head downcast while her left foot draw patterns on the floor. Then she looked up and smiled at them.

“The pictographs showed us a bustling metropolitan area, not much different from cities on any planet, but the people itself was blurred out. There were no sounds, but I could imagine the sound of voices, the whoosh of the flying cars, you know what I mean. Everything was so clear! Then the images began to speed up. It was like they tried to compress hundreds of years of images into a few minutes worth of viewing.”

She walked over to the biobed where Kathleen Friedman still slept.

“It showed us their sun going nova. It wasn’t big enough to go nova on its own, but they used their technology to harvest energy from their sun and something went terribly wrong and it exploded. Between the time the event happened and the actual nova, the pictographs showed them building one massive space ship; not in space, but around, underground their planet. It showed shadowy figures entering hundreds, if not more places all over their planet and moving down.”

“In the last minute or so, you can see the empty world, but you can also see millions upon millions of…let’s say people, preparing themselves for what we now know, was their journey here.

“They left no one behind. No animal or insect, no fish or bird. What they could collect, they did. They used their own planet core as the drive for their ship and when the sun turned nova, they collected that energy and used the shockwave to throw themselves out into space while their planet disintegrate around their ship.”

She sighed again.

“That’s all I know. Why Doctor Friedman saw fit to close the inner door, I don’t know. I think she saved who and whatever is inside that place because it was just after she closed it, that our suits started bubbling and repairing itself. The heating system went haywire. One moment I was freezing and the next boiling. Our suits couldn’t keep up with the environmental changes. If it wasn’t for that force field, we would have been fried, for sure.”

She tapped lightly on the forcefield surrounding Kathleen’s biobed.

“Hey Doc, you better get better fast! We really need to know your side of the story.”

At that exact moment, Kathleen’s eyes flickered open and she yawned mightily.

“Hey, back at you, Fallon. You look mighty fine for someone nearly fried to a crisp.” She tried to sit up but the bed immediately adjusted to the last order given by the CMO. “You can let this go now, Doctor. I promise I won’t eat you.” She looked at him belligerently. “But give me more drugs, and I won’t guarantee anyone’s well being.”

"Not to worry, my dear Doctor Friedman; taking care of everyone's well being is my job... including yours."

Elliago looked up at the monitor, confirmed the recorded reading from a medical tricorder, than nodded to his colleague and the brief shimmer of a forcefield being turned off was seen.

“I beg your pardon, Doctor. I am not questioning your expertise. A simple test would have shown that, even though the scanners identified me as a shape shifter, I am not one.  Neither am I human, or Draylaxian.  Which we all know isn’t a shifter species.”

The Deltan frowned by still smiled at her.

"Well, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... "

His smile then faded.

"But as far as Draylaxians go, there is no reference in the medical database... and your medical file in the medical computer database of this ship is supposed to be complete an accurate so that proper treatment can be given; and this is as much your responsibility to provide as for me to obtain and take into account... for your sake may I remind you. Having you on board without being first cleared by Medical is a serious breach of safety protocol could have endangered you and possibly other people on board. Whoever are responsible for this lapse, I will make sure are going to be on report."

Kathleen took a deep breath and turned towards Fallon.

“Fallon, may I ask you for a huge favor?”

“Sure, Doc! What do you need?” She looked inquiringly at Kathleen.

“If you will, please fetch me one of the vials in the bottom left drawer of the desk behind the screen. Your thumbprint is coded to open it.” She smiled wryly when Fallon noted, “Nice way to get rid of me for a few minutes, Doc!”

“No, I really need it, but it will also give me a few minutes with the CMO. “ When the door closed behind Fallon, she held out her hand towards the Doctor. “May I ask that you open my medical file and then hand me your PADD, Doctor?”

Elliago did as she asked, raising a shaved eyebrow.

“Normally, when I am on a ship, I have to inform the Chief Medical Officer of certain facts. But things have been a bit hectic this past few weeks and I haven’t had time to request clearance for you yet.” She held up her hand. “It’s nothing to do with your normal security clearance. This is something just a few people know of and I am under oath not to reveal this to anyone except, well, you!”

"Guess I made myself quite clear about that, didn't I ?"

“Thank you, Doctor.” Kathleen took the PADD from him. She tapped the “Allergies” tab on the screen and when it opened, she tapped on the word “none”. Immediately a warning flickered on the screen, prompting for a password. When she entered the password, the warning disappeared and a file, quite different from the previous medical file, filled the screen. She handed back the PADD.

“There you go, Doctor. The information will only be available for a few minutes so you need to read quickly. As soon as I receive your clearance, that information will always be available to you, when you need it.”

The Deltan did as she suggested, this time both his eyes widening as he read. 

“That information cannot be copied and cannot be changed in any way. The file will self destruct if you try. Any medical history should be added on the ‘normal’ file.”

"Disregarding the actual data here," then said Elliago, "you realize this is completely contrary to Starfleet's medical rules. This... secrecy... puts you at risk as well as everyone on board for no valid reason I can understand. Unless you get exemption by Starfleet Medical and the General Surgeon's Office, which I doubt you will get, I am morally, ethically and professionally bound to record everythin in your medical file. You are aware that medical files are highly confidential and that not even an admiral or the captain of this ship can access?"

Then the smile returned on the handsome face as a sparkle lighted up his purple eyes.

"You should trust you Doctor."

“I do have an exemption, Doctor. I also have orders.” Kathleen returned his smile. “In this day and age, no one can be trusted. That is something I’ve learned the hard way.” She grimaced. “I’ve also learned that information is readily available, even when restricted and highly confidential.”  Stretching out, several of her vertebrae popped loudly in the silence that followed her statement.

“So, when can I go back to the planetoid? I really need to finish my work and I have to verify that nothing else was harmed inside the chamber.”

"That remains to be seen with the Captain, Doctor Friedman."

Just then, Fallon tapped her on her shoulder with the vial.

“Here you go, Doc.”

“Thank you very much, Fallon!”

Kathleen removed the seal of the vial and inserted it into a hypo spray which she then applied on her inner arm.

“This,” she handed the nearly empty hypo to the CMO, “is my medication. You may analyze it, if you want, Sir.”

"It's not a question of "may" but of "must", Doctor Friedman," the Deltan said as he took the hypo and hooked it to his medical tricorder to record the traces of compound left in it for later analysis. "Your... secret file is clear enough on that."

Kathleen suppressed the unreasonable irritation that welled inside here. Is this man really that perfect? Correction: Deltan. Aren’t they supposed to be a fun loving species? Why does this one eschew his instinctual responses by trying to be perfect in all things? Perfect recall of procedures, rules and regulations and then be totally obnoxious about it? What mistake did he make that even now, he can’t even begin to forgive himself to immerse him so totally into being perfect?

Weariness settled over her.

“I shouldn’t feel this tired,” she revealed, “I need to take a n...app.”

She was lightly snoring even before her head touched the pillow.

"Please do," the Deltan Doctor said with a smile and helping her to ease herself on the biobed. 

His touch was transmitting the soothing effect his species was well known for so that her rest would be free of pain or anguish. Fallon  watched her friend with concern etched in her face as much as in her voice.

"What is happening to her, Doctor? Is she allright?"

"This is the after effect of the cordrazine," answered Elliago with a reassuring smile now for the Human scientist. "It was quite a shock to her system and her psyche, even at such a low dosage, so that now that it's effects are dissipating, her natural healing capabilities are forcibly taking over. When she'll wake up, she'll be as good as new... physically at least."

"You sound like her condition was your fault, Doctor," remarked Fallon, unknowingly echoing some of her sleeping colleague's thoughts.

"The health and well being of every crew member of this ship IS my responsibility, Doctor Fallon," aknowledged the Deltan. Still smiling. his tone was nevertheless very serious. "I'm not here for fun and games, no more than you are; and when I fail to prevent such mishaps as what happened to you both..."

He stopped right there. Speaking further what he thought would have been unconstructive, even possibly... disruptive.

"You can't prevent every hazard that may come along the way, Doctor," rebuked Fallon after a moment of silence. "After all, risk comes with this uniform of ours."

"Indeed... but so do a few sensible rules... like hygiene."

This time Elliago was diverting the subject on purpose to better quell the discussion. Words were now leading back to disruptive thoughts, possibly even... mutinous.

This was the last thing he wanted. To further dam the emotions that threatened to erase the smile from his face and the light from his eyes, he turned away from Fallon and spoke to the ship's computer.

"Computer; where is Captain Syntron?"

"Captain Syntron is in transporter room 1."

After exiting the main transporter room and then briefly checking-in with the officers on-duty on the bridge, Syntron entered the turbolift and made his way down to deck 13. As the lift ceased motion and the doors whooshed open, the captain strolled purposefully out into the corridor and then headed straight into Sickbay.

As he gazed around the bay, Syntron espied the CMO standing attentively beside the biobed of the injured Dralaxian geneticist. The Vulcan captain cantered discreetly toward the Deltan physician.

"How do our patients seem to be recovering doctor?"

"They'll be fine," answered Elliago curtly, then took a breath visibly to refrain himself from saying something. His smile returned as he faced the captain. " Oxygen deprivation, environemental stress and radiation burns are minor problems easily and quickly solved, now that we have centuries of space travelling experience and medical technology to draw from. Doctor Fallon should be able to return to duty within the hour. Doctor Friedman's distinctive physiology however  makes it a tiny bit more complex than the norm. But since all carbon-based lifeforms obey the same biometrics principles, it's just a matter of adjustment. Physically, she will bear no trace of her ordeal when she will wake up."

The Deltan turned again his purple eyes down to his patients.

"Psychologically however, I can't yet properly assess her status. I'm a xenobiologist, not a xenopsychologist; I studied several shapeshifting lifeforms like the Chameloids and the Changelings... even artificially induced ones like the Undines... but I have not encountered Dralaxians before. Her response upon revival was somewhat... instinctual and disconnected from her rationality, yet her perceptions were on the here and now. She clearly knew I was there and who I was... but not where she was or what she was doing. I recommend that you bring the ship's counselor here for further assessment and treatment of her mental condition and health."

"An excellent reccomendation Doctor" the captain affirmed as he reached up an engaged his combadge.

"Lieutenant Bijoŭ, please report to sickbay at once."

"I will be there momentarily Captain" came the almost immediate reply emanating from the Vulcan's combadge.

((continue this aspect of the story  in "Medical confrontations and compromises))