Breaking the Seal

Posted on Wed Aug 26th, 2026 @ 11:31pm by Lieutenant Endymion Tox & Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus

1,236 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Preservation Instinct
Location: Medical Bay | Deck 07 | USS Ontario

ON:

Tox looked around. Aaron Marcus would flip but damned if he cared. He took a breath and stepped into the quarantine filed around Xavier. "Hey Pluto, I know you can hear me, even though you can't respond." He walked up to the bio bed and took Xavier's hand.

"I know that I've been an ass but I need you to wake up." He gently pushed back the hair that had fallen across Xavier's brow. Marcus would melt down if he knew Tox broke quarantine but he needed to hold Xavier's hand and so he did.

"I need you to wake up so that I can be mad at you and you can continue your romantic gestures. Hell I don't even think I'm mad I just love the letters and notes you've been leaving for me. I guess I'm afraid that you'll think I'm not worth it."

He had so much to say, to apologize for and if Marcus couldn't figure out how to bring Xavier out of this coma he'd never say them.

"Please wake up. We can start again. I'll pour my heart out if you wake up and I promise I'll..." A noise startled him and he turned to see the very man he'd hoped would not be in sickbay at this hour.

"Doctor Marcus...I...." He squared his shoulders and got ready for the lecture he was sure he was about to get about breaking quarantine.

The doctor who walked in was the EMH that now looked like Aaron. This was Aaron's way of making sure he did not get sick, while he did his job. The way one knew the difference was that the EMH did not have a cane. The hologram spoke with Aaron's voice. "You were trying to comfort a very sick loved one. While in the process getting yourself sick and possibly dead. The only bad doctor is a dead one." There was zero sympathy in his voice. This was not a situation for love or any other emotion. This was a time for diagnosis.

"We've been dealing with sick people the whole time and we're still healthy. Besides He's worth my life." He shrugged "I don't have to leave sickbay."

"I am only healthy because I am not really here. Just call me the Wizard. Now you are quarantined to Sick Bay and will continue to perform your duties until if or when you develop symptoms. Now are there any new symptoms from any of our patients." The Wizard as Aaron had taken to calling himself began to look over Xavier's medical file.

He sighed. "No new symptoms is most patience. Xavier...." He looked over at him. "It feels like he's slipping further away. He's not reacting anymore. Like he's slipping deeper into his coma. He's body temperature is up by two degrees and the machine is now fully breathing for him." He looked around. "Why haven't the others gotten this bad?"

"Its his dammed physiology. Vulcans and Romulans have copper based blood. That said their immune systems work in that environment. This whatever it is rewrites DNA. I need an infusion of Vulcan or Romulan blood. Search the crew database and order anyone who is a match to report as a donor." Tox was right about Xavier. Now, Aaron had an idea about the organism needing Copper to survive. He had to test the blood to find out.

Tox gave a nod. "I'll get on that right away." He looked back at Xavier for a moment. Just as he turned to Aaron the monitors went off. "He's seizing!" Tox yelled running to get the cart. "Do something!" He was well aware he was a nurse but seeing Xavier like this just emptied his brain of anything helpful...at least for a moment and then instincts kicked in. He began loading the medication as his hands shook. The fact that the doctor was in the quarantine bubble told him that this was the EMH. "No offense but where's the real Marcus. I'm not going to loose Xavier to a computer."

The hologram of Aaron turned to Tox with what was perhaps the smuggest face that any hologram could create. Without looking he prepared a hypo spray and administered 600 mg of Oxcarbazepine. Xavier immediately stopped convulsing. "Now, for the medical records I have just administered 600 mg Oxcarbazepine. Record the convulsions as a new symptom. Also for the record. If the Lieutenant dies then you would have lost him to the greatest computer ever devised. MY BRAIN."

Tox sneered a bit. "I don't like you. Marcus is a genius you're just delusional." Tox turned and made a note on the file. "Medication and symptom noted. He studied the hologram. "Alright now since I know you're linked to the database. Is the doctor any closer to figuring this out?"

"Tox, relax..." The hologram began and then turned to Tox. "It is me. Aaron. I turned the EMH into a literal puppet. I talk through it, I work through it. It is merely a shell for the awesomeness that is I." There was a part of Aaron that was amused by Tox thinking that the EMH was acting on its own. "To answer your question. Yes I have identified the pathogen. It seems to be a viral infection that begins to rewrite certain systems within the body. Almost like Borg assimilation. It attempts to make the body the best living space for itself. I need more study to gain a cure though. Who is not infected?"

Tox eyed the hologram. He opened and closed his mouth inside. "Oh! Thank the Gods of Starfleet!" He seemed to perk up a bit. "For the record you're more handsome then Robo Doc." He sighed. "Well we've got Commander Ra-Gruvloveii who is unconscious, Commander Chernova with a killer headache. Xavier with...well you know. Chief Steele..." He rattled off another list. "We're going to need another wing for them. More and more are coming in. With most of the senior staff in here the lower deckers running a mok, mak, muck," he tossed his hands in there air. "You know what I mean and the junior staffers getting two big for their britches we're about fifty shades of messed up."

He paused. "Counselor Rose is still okay. I'm okay-ish. Exhausted but chugging along. Also for the first time the Parasite is quiet." He pointed to his abdomen. "So all is well."

"Counselor Rose you say? Now I wonder why she is doing so well." Aaron brought up the last scans from Amanda. There was nothing that popped out and screamed that was the answer. As much as it pained him to even think of this. "We are going to have to get Thorny down here for another exam. There may be something there."

"Very true. Everyone else is toast but she had the most exposure and nothing. She did have those digestion marks...do you think that could have made her immune?"

"Possibly. But it would depend upon there being a connection between what happened to her and what is happening to everyone else." Aaron said as he punched commands into the console at his desk. All at once the scans from Amanda's treatment were there and he stared. If there was something there, he would find it.

OFF:

Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ontario

&

Lieutenant Endymion Tox
Head Nurse
USS Ontario

 

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