Hidden Dangers

Posted on Wed Nov 29th, 2023 @ 12:03am by Chief Warrant Officer Karuta Roromiya & Mikoto Roromiya & Lieutenant Dr. Eli Ellis M.D.

1,888 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Karuta's Quarters/Sickbay

Warrant Officer Roromiya returned to her quarters that afternoon after her duty shift. She stepped through the doors of the quarters and looked around. She had done her best to tidy the place up, mainly for the safety of Mikoto. However there were still a few damaged areas around the main living quarters. One of them was by the replicator which had exploded during the crash, therefore Karuta had been taking Mikoto to the mess hall for meals.

Although the emergency rations were sufficient for survival, it apparently 'Didn't taste good' to Mikoto and she had already kicked up a fuss about having to eat them. No matter how many times Karuta had explained their situation and how it was 'illogical' to be wasting resources, Mikoto couldn't seem to grasp what was actually happening.

"Mikoto?" Karuta called as she made her way towards her daughters room. The room was dark. Karuta was thinking that maybe her daughter had fallen asleep, or was waiting to jump out at her. Her latest 'thing' was to try to scare her mother, but it had always failed.

However, what she wasn't expecting to see was Mikoto laid on her back on top of her bedsheets hardly moving. Karuta walked over and stood over Mikoto. "Mikoto?" she asked wondering if this was a new trick that the young girl was playing. It became quickly obvious that this was not something that Mikoto was doing.

Karuta ran a hand over her daughter's forehead. Her skin was sweating and was what a human would call 'clammy'. She was warm to the touch and Karuta could tell that her breathing was shallow. "Mikoto. Can you hear me?" she asked, her monotone voice asked. She recieved no answer.

Karuta raised an eyebrow as she pulled up the young girl, into a sitting position. She crouched down and made eye contact. Mikoto was concious, but her attention was not present. It was like she was in some sort of daydream. After looking into her eyes, Karuta pulled off Mikoto's shirt quickly. Her skin was still clammy and warm all over. She was not sure on what was going on with her daughter, but logically it would be best to try and cool her body heat. Therefore she quickly stripped Mikoto down to her underwear and remained holding her up.

She then tapped her comm badge. "Chief Roromiya to Doctor Ellis," she said simply.

Eli was working still to bring the medical database online. He was on the floor, pulling on isolinear chip after another to see about their conditions when his comm beeped.

"This is Ellis, Go ahead Chief."

He replied as he got up off the floor.

"I have a medical emergency in my quarters. My daughter is requiring your attention." Roromiya replied calmly. Her voice was emotionless and her words flowed slowly as usual. There was no sense of panic, or concern in her voice as she spoke in her usual Vulcan monotone.

Eli started gathering up his medical bag, bolting for the door before remembering he didn't have his boots on, but decided to forget them anyways.

"Im on my way, it might be a couple minutes for me to get through the jefferies tubes."

Eli says as he headed for the nearest accent. The enviromental controls were still shot so he'd taken to wearing a short sleeved medical tunic and a skirt, running and climbing quickly to get to his destination.

Whilst the doctor was on his way, Karuta gently picked up Mikoto and moved her out of the bed. The bedsheets were drenched in sweat. She took her to the living area of the quarters and laid her down on the couch by the window. She could see that Mikoto was still fighting to remain concious, her eyes were now semi-open and she seemed to be struggling to breathe.

"Do not worry Mikoto. The doctor is on his way." She said trying to sound comforting, even if she had surpressed emotion she was worrying about Mikoto; she just didn't show it. She soaked a towel in cool water and laid it across Mikoto's forehead. Logically the coolness of the water should temporarily assist with cooling the young girls body.

Eli arrives a few moments later, knocking on the door. He had basically ran all the way from sickbay to Karuta's Quarters in record time.

"Enter." Karuta called simply. She was now sitting on the couch next to Mikoto monitoring her until the doctor arrived. She did not have a tricorder, but had been checking every few seconds of any changes in Mikoto's breathing and temperature. She has established that Mikoto's body was increasing in temperature, as if her immune system was hard at work fighting something. It would also explain why she was perspiring as much as she was.

Eli opens the door, coming in quickly to where Karuta and Mikoto were at. He smiles as he got out his tricorder to scan the girl.

Karuta sat there silently as she watched the doctor run the tricorder over Mikoto. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked eventually. She had allowed the tricorder to gather data before asking. She did not want to seem desperate, afterall desperation was an emotion.

Eli scans Mikoto, parsing his lips as he finished his scans and takes out a hypospray, pressing it to Mikoto’s arm and injecting.

“I’m administrating a dose of Hyronalin. She has a moderate case of Radiation Poisoning. Was she exposed to anything that might explain that?”

Eli asked Karuta curiously as he loads another dose to inject to himself, before getting up.

“I’ll need to inoculate you too against it.”

Karuta allowed him to inject her as well. "She has been in this room since we crashed." She stated simply. She looked around the room. It was the replicator that caught her attention. "The only logical reasoning for radiation to be in this room is that it is eminating from the broken replicator." She stated indicating to the smashed and exploded remains of the device set into the wall.

Eli walks over, scanning the remains of the replicator. His tricorder beeping and squealing like crazy as it took the readings.

“That’s your issue, we’ll need to move y’all out of here til an engineer can get down here. I’ve got plenty of space in the pediatric unit of Sickbay y’all are more than welcome too. It rarely gets used much.”

Eli says.

“You should be fine if you take a few minutes to get something’s together, we’ll run them through decontamination in sickbay.”

"Agreed," Karuta said as she picked up Mikoto. For her picking her up was easy, being half Vulcan she did possess the strength of a Vulcan. "I would suggest that we hurry to the sickbay." She said to him.

Eli nods, picking up his medkit to lead them both to sickbay.

[Sickbay]

Karuta carried the half naked Mikoto into the room and gently set her down on one of the biobeds. She then stood by her side, opting to stand instead of sit next to her child. This way she could easily assist in anything the doctor needed to do.

Eli comes over to the biobed, tapping on controls to bring up the anti radiation treatment from the biobed’s extendable scan armatures. The machine thrums to life.

“She’ll have to spend a couple hours under anti radiation treatments and bio decontamination but she should be fine. I didn’t detect any long term damage but we’ll keep an eye on her.”

"Understood," Karuta replied emotionlessly as usual. She turned to look down at her daughter as the medical equipment started. "I request for her to remain here until I can ensure the safety of our quarters, or secure another safe place for her to reside." Karuta asked. "I believe she is more affected by the radiation due to her human physiology."

“As I said earlier, yall are more than welcome to stay in the pediatric unit. I’ve got more than enough beds there and it’s basically empty 95% of the time.”

Karuta nodded in response. "You have my thanks Doctor."

It was then that Mikoto finally started to stir. She started to move her head from one side to the other but her eyes remained closed. It was like she was having a bad dream as she was laid there under the decontamination arms. She also began to shiver slightly. "D...D..." she stuttered. "D...Daddy?" she asked as tears escaped her eyes. "Daddy...?"

Karuta didn't seem phased by whom her daughter was calling out for. But deep down in her heart it hurt, like a hot cattle prod had been stabbed into her skin. She turned to the doctor. "I have duties to attend to." She was making an excuse, but she didn't want her emotions to surface, not here and not now.

“If I can ask, where is her father?”

He asks in the most polite way possible, an understanding tone.

Karuta wasn't expecting the question from the doctor. "Her father and I are currently seperated," she explained in response. "Mikoto always preferred the company of her father over me. However he is currently on another Starfleet vessel on a long range tactical mission. We had... disagreements."

Eli parses his lips again.

"Have you considered talking to someone about this? I could ask Lieutenant Johnson to speak with you?"

"I do not see how 'talking with someone' would rectify the situation." Karuta replied. "My husband is on a deep space mission which was unsafe for Mikoto. He decided to take that action which was a participating factor on the deterioriation of our relationship. Although I do..." she paused for a few seconds. "Miss him at times. I understand that not all relationships between people succeed."

"Let me rephrase that, I think it would be a good idea to talk to someone about the issues. Children pick up easily on their parents emotions and she clearly misses her father quite a lot. If not for her, then just to have someone to talk to will help greatly."

Karuta pondered for a brief moment. "I shall consider your suggestion doctor." she said to him simply. She glanced back at Mikoto for a brief second. "Please ensure she remains safe." she stated. "I shall return in a few hours after I have secured us another residence."

"Of course, she'll be safe here, I assure you"

Eli says with a smile.

Karuta turned and left the sickbay, walking through the doors with not another look back. Only when she was out of the sight of others did she bow her head and look down at the deck. She could feel the intense emotions starting to surface again. When Mikoto had called for her father instead of her, she felt like crying. But she knew better than to show her emotions at a time like this. She looked up and started making her way down the corridor, she needed to find new quarters or a place where she could keep her daughter safe now. That was her priority.

Posting by

Chief Warrant Officer Karuta Roromiya
Air Boss

Lieutenant Dr. Eli Ellis M.D.
Chief Medical Officer

Mikoto Roromiya
Child

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