Rapid Response Required

Posted on 23 May 2026 @ 2:41pm by Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD

586 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Time After Time
Location: Arawyn :: Main Sickbay

// Arawyn :: Main Sickbay //

Riah Amberlyn and all the sickbay staff came alert when the power seemed to flicker and a bare moment of tremor filtered through the structure of the ship. Warning lights were immediately and automatically activated; not the ship-wide alerts, but departmental equipment notifications and multiple levels of flashing amber warnings on computer monitors, screens and halo projections, indicators of power fluctuations. Medical losing power to any degree could disrupt medical life support systems, equipment reading distortions or interruption of diagnostic and surgical procedures.

The Medical Department Manager, CPO Lucy Engerman, immediately comm’d the Communications Department, asking for a status report. They were told to stand by. Subsequently, in reply to Riah’s similar inquiry, addressed to Engerman, she was also advised to stand by.

The ship now went to yellow alert, and it took several minutes for a status report to be issued by Cmdr Batenburg. A temporal anomaly of some kind, an inhabited planet that appeared to be Earth, operating in the year1984. Arawyn was avoiding detection and maintaining silence, limiting external communication traffic, waiting until the stability of the event could be determined.

Finally, Cmdr Batenburg’s calm voice: “Senior Staff meeting in 15 minutes. Medical, be prepared for twentieth-century human baseline physiology and period appropriate pathology profiles. Be prepared for unknown injuries presenting from within the population closely associated with the temporal transition points. Stand by for further information as details become available.”

Those were the orders, thus far.

Riah tapped the intra-departmental comm. “Attention. The Captain has called a Senior Staff meeting in 15. Dr Kim, call up on the main database, human physiology of the later twentieth century and a list of possible pathology profiles from the time between 1980 and 2000. We need to be covered for interaction with people of that era, protecting both our crew and any people associated with that planet. Who’s in the clinic on 16?”

“Lt Jorik and I think Dr Dunross was headed that way about 5 minutes ago.” came the quick answer from Engerman. “I have awakened Dr McDavid. He’ll be here shortly.”

“Thank you. Call them up here. I want Emerson and Miller to join us too,” added Amberlyn. “Meeting in the Conference Room in 4 minutes.”

// Four Minutes later //

Everyone but off-duty housekeeping staff was in the Conference Room. Riah had received precious little additional information but relayed all she did know to those present. “Reports?”

“Human physiology information is front and center on the data base,” reported Dr Kim. “That was easy. It should pull up instantly upon request. Pathology profile is populating and I will tweak that a little to make sure it’s ready before you get into that meeting with the Senior Staff.”

“Thank you. Assuming these people are indeed identical or truly a time differentiated Earth population, we should have the records we need, but what we don’t know is what has happened to them as a result of the temporal displacement. Dr McDavid, please do some research while we’re gone on other instances of temporal transport and any pathological complications as a result. Drs Emerson and Miller, I need psychological profiles for people in the same time period, 1980 to 2000,” Riah continued. She checked the chronometer on the by the door controls. “Ok, the days of easy-peasy are over. Let’s pick up the pace around here. Dr Dunross, I’d like you to come to the Sr Staff Meeting with me.”

~~~
LtCmdr Riah Amberlyn, XMD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Arawyn
&
Various NPCs apb Amberlyn

 

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