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Fathom's Phantoms Emergency Response

While not ALL medical personnel were summoned for any particular emergency, the pending arrival of an unresponsive Freighter on an auto landing program had apparently captured the combined interest of the bridge crew. Perhaps it was an exaggeration to say ALL medical personnel; in truth Victor didn't know if every last doctor on the station was supposed to report to the E-3 landing pad... but, considering that the Cat was more of a laboratory doctor rather than in-the-field first-aid kind of medical professional... well... as far as he was concerned "emergency medical technician" was not one of his normal assignments.

Never one to head into a project unprepared, Dr. Cortez took a few minutes to double-check all of his equipment. While any EMT might consider a simple handbag of supplies to be sufficient Victor prided himself on being above reproach; 'neglectful' would never be a term someone would ever associate with Doctor Victor Cortez. In the end however, those several minutes of extra preparation would turn into a much longer delay and that setback was heralded by the loud thump of the lower deck medical center's door being pushed roughly aside.

The Cat frowned; in the few days he'd had the experience of working in the Executive Medical Bay he had become spoiled... at least people THERE had the courtesy to pay attention to the red light identifying that no doctor was available. Of course, on the Ghoul Deck the medical center didn't have a red light. He settled for a very simply shouted "We're closed!"

The reply was, not surprisingly, less than civil. "You're here, so you're fuckin' open!"

Victor glanced down to the counter where he had several instruments of healing that could, in the right paws, be used for any number of harmful 'procedures'. For just a moment the Cat contemplated the thought of putting the bone drill and rib spreader to good use but instead he simply settled on picking up a scalpel and palming it as he left the storage room and exited into the waiting area. "I said--"

The following words slid back into his muzzle when he saw that there was more than one visitor. While there was a large Gorilla Ghoul with a hand-written "#17" scrawled across the front of his suit (Victor didn't bother looking at the multiple digit stitched number), the other three men were not dressed in orange. The Gorilla had a particularly nasty collection of evenly spaced blood spots across his bicep-- puncture wounds judging by the damage to his uniform. Considering the rips in the fabric Victor was tempted to say that whatever caused it was most likely blunt... and jammed itself into the Gen's flesh with force rather than finesse.

Behind the Ghoul was a Donkey in a set of blue coveralls; he had one hand gripping the other with a mass of cloth... which was dripping red. On either side of the two casualties were members of the station security team-- one a Dalmatian and the other a Malamute.

He revised his greeting upon seeing the two security guards; he'd learned that it was always a smart idea to remain on the good side of enforcement agencies. "Hello, gentlemen. What seems to be the problem?"

The Malamute spoke up, voice matching the impolite objection from earlier. "Seventeen got his sleeve caught in an actuator."

The Cat nodded, stroking his chin as he acknowledged the confirmation of his earlier preliminary examination, "Hmm... looks like you're one of the lucky ones... not many people get to keep their arm after an accident like that."

The Dalmatian stepped forward and that's when Victor saw the rank pin indicating that the spotted Dog was actually the senior security officer of the two. He motioned to the Donkey, "Which is why Engineer Alton is here too..."

The Engineer's long, fuzzy ears lowered slightly in the obvious indication that the Donkey didn't respond well to being the center of attention, "I... uh... just disconnected the piston assembly before it could do any da-- well... any REAL damage."

Dr. Cortez took a step toward Alton holding out a paw as a non-verbal request to see the injury. "Indeed... and ended up getting hurt when everything fell apart, hmm?"

The Donkey obediently provided Victor with his injured hand. The Doctor slowly unwrapped it then shook his head at the damage the machinery had done. It wasn't serious but it also wasn't going to be a quick fix. Clicking his tongue with displeasure the Cat simply motioned with his head toward the exam room. Alton paused, "Um... I... I think he might need help first."

The good doctor frowned, letting go of the Donkey's hand after covering it back up. Despite having been second-guessed Victor maintained a fully professional tone as he addressed the comment. "This is my Medical Center and I'm the one held accountable for what happens here. HE is a Ghoul and YOU are an Engineer which means I get in more trouble for you losing a hand than for HIM dying. So... the longer you wait for me to tend to you the longer he'll be bleeding to death. Does that clear things up?"

Rather than answering the Donkey simply followed without another word, still cradling his injured hand with the cloth wrapped around it once again. The Malamute however was not quite so complacent. "Engineer Alton is under our care while he's down here... we're coming in too."

The Cat stopped and turned back to face him. "I'd rather a Ghoul as large as 17 here be supervised while he's in the medical center... I think it would be better--"

The Malamute didn't give him a chance to offer a better alternative. "Then we'll all go."

Thankfully the Dalmatian was much more reasonable. "Sergeant... you can stay here with Seventeen and I'll go with the Engineer."

Frowning, the Malamute deferred. "Yes, Sir."

The Ghoul spoke up for the first time since he entered the Medical Center. "I won't cause any problems, sir."

The Dalmatian gestured to the Gorilla. "There... you see? All's well."

Victor wasn't convinced, adding in a rather unconvincing tone "Fantastic."

The Lieutenant then looked to Victor, "Lead the way, Doctor."

The Cat shrugged and headed directly back to the work room. Once they were in the hallway with the door between them and the waiting room, Victor didn't mind throwing some verbal flack at the security guard. "You're lucky you came in when you did... two more minutes and there wouldn't have been anyone here."

The Dalmatian didn't seem to mind in the least. "Fortunate for everyone then."

Victor motioned to the exam table, upon which the Donkey obediently sat. The Cat began undressing the engineer's wound before applying sanitizer. "You're PARTICULARLY lucky, Engineer Alton... if this had to wait to be treated you might have lost some fingers."

The Cat finished cleaning the wound before applying a numbing agent. He had started sewing up the gash and only then did Alton speak up, "Thank you for your help, Doctor Cortez."

The simple, straight-forward acknowledgment of his skill did wonders for the Cat and a smile even managed to break his otherwise dour expression; it was nice to be appreciated. Cutting the last bit of polymer from the suture Victor finished the stitches. "You are most welcome."

The Dalmatian stepped away from the wall and uncrossed his arms, "Are we ready for the Gorilla now, Doctor?"

The Cat set his tools down, "Fine. You can send the Engineer on his way-- wait a minute."

Alton, who was just about to leave, paused and looked back at him. "Yes, Doctor?"

Victor held out a small plastic container. It had been over a year since Victor had actually thought about the more affable nature of his profession. Offering his most personable smile he gave the pill bottle a little shake. "For the pain."

The Donkey smiled back. "Thank you."

Rather than acknowledge the continued thanks, Dr. Cortez chose instead to accept it with grace by maintaining his professionalism. "Alright, Lieutenant... you can bring this patient out and leave him with your attack Wolf."

"Dog, technically. And he--"

Victor's tail flicked. "Your attack Dog."

The Dalmatian nodded and led Alton out of the exam room. While he waited, the Cat deposited his used equipment into the plastic bio hazard bucket next to his work space and began preparing the variety of items he'd need for the Gorilla Ghoul. #17's wounds had been bad but they were still only a few stages above superficial... 'trauma' without it being an excessive emergency. He would be able to do a job worthy of his skill level without having to over analyze the situation or follow up with any great amount of double-checking.

All of that meant that he was almost done with the distraction and he'd be able to address the pending arrival of the Freighter which, as far as he knew, was in questionable condition with who-only-knew what crew problems. Finishing his preparations for the Gorilla Victor got the last of his equipment in place, prepared some bandages, and contemplated whether or not a sedative would be needed; Captain Collins returned with the enormous Ghoul before he could finish his decision so he settled on not bothering.

#17 went immediately to the exam table upon entry into the room. He used his good arm to pull his orange jump suit away from the wound. Had Victor's body contained even a single squeamish bone he would probably have shuddered at the sound of the cloth being separated from the mutilated flesh. Instead, the Cat was far more interested in the condition of the Gorilla's arm and to marvel at the injury's messy simplicity.

Perhaps Dr. Cortez was the only medical professional in history who considered the numerous punctures caused by an industrial accident 'simple', but, as far as he was concerned enough pounds per square inch applied to flesh would create a puncture no matter how dull the item being used. The wounds at their base level were very simple... what was NOT simple was utilizing the best method to close them up with so little flesh left intact. In the end, he settled on a very old fashioned technique.

The Lieutenant's ears raised as the Cat pulled out an applicator. "Is that medi-glue?"

Victor rolled his eyes but worked to maintain an even tone; he'd learned far too often in the past that talking down to the average security officer usually ended up poorly. "The proper term is 'bio adhesive', Lieutenant... and yes, I am using a form of 'glue' that will act as an antiseptic and a bonding agent to keep this fine fellow from bleeding to death... that WAS your objective for bringing him here, yes?"

The Dalmatian returned to his leaning place on the wall, "When I file my report I'll have to tell Central Ops whether they should expect him to recover... will he?"

The Cat finished applying the adhesive and had just opened his mouth to answer but the entire room shuddered. The movement was accompanied by flickering of the med bay lights followed by the echoing rumble of something that could only have been bad. Checking his PCD, Victor realized that it was MINUTES before the Frigate was due to land. "...perfect."

The Lieutenant pulled his own PCD out and adjusted the mic in his helmet. "Sergeant... I lost signal from Command..."

The Malamute's voice spoke up from the paw-held device. "Yea... me too. Did you feel that shudder from the walls?"

The Dalmatian frowned. "Check through the different channels, then meet me on 8."

The Sergeant's response was a simple "Roger."

Victor wasn't entirely interested in eavesdropping, but he never could manage to turn down the thought of receiving a little insider information. The Cat finished sealing up the Gorilla's wounds as he overheard the Lieutenant shuffle through channel after channel without response before sighing and switching one more time. "You there, Sergeant?"

The Malamute's voice spoke up right away. "Yeah... couldn't get anyone else on any of--"

The Sergeant's voice trailed off and Victor heard someone speaking in the background. A moment later the Malamute came back. "Alton thinks it might be damage to the Comm System... which explains why close range PCD contact works but we can't reach Command or Central Ops."

The Dalmatian nodded. "Alright... I think we're almost done here."

He glanced to Victor, who nodded in response. "All set."

The Lieutenant continued. "Yeah... we're good. I'll bring 17 out and we can get back to post. Without Comms there's a good chance that things might get a little dicey."

The Cat, who was just about to turn and gather his supplies for the trip down to the E-3 pad came to a stop. The Lieutenant had a very good point and Dr. Cortez was NOT very enthusiastic about traveling a third the length of the station alone with possible riots and looters. "Lieutenant... a moment of your time, please?'

The Dalmatian didn't seem interested in hearing him out. "Not now, Doctor... you should get back to your quarters and stay there until whatever's going on calms down."

Victor sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well... as I was saying earlier before you commandeered my services to tend to the two patients, I have orders to get down to the emergency landing pad in preparation for a Frigate coming in on Auto-Return."

The Lieutenant raised his PCD. "Hold a minute." and then looked straight at the Cat. "What orders?"

Dr. Cortez smiled; in his experience a question presented was a foot in the door... perhaps he wouldn't have to travel alone. Holding the largest of his travel bags out toward the Gorilla's good arm the Cat motioned to the door, "The Station Commander requested me personally... so, considering how late I am I think I'll need a little help. We can talk more about it on the way."

* * * * * *

Aside from all of the obvious problems coming to pass on Sigma-Echo it still hadn't been an easy week if for no reason other than being separated from Jen. Theo was elated when the apartment received a call from the bridge; even if he couldn't do anything about most of the problems at least he would be able to address the most personal one. The Wolf was relieved to hear from Jen... though the topic of discussion wasn't a pleasant one. Aside from the usual "How is everyone?", there was a much more direct discussion regarding Nathan, who had finally succumbed to the lack of HID.

Unlike the rest of the Gens the Elephant had requested to not take the supplement created by one of the ship's medics. It was difficult for Theo to explain the events that had happened; since there was little study on the topic it was his duty as a loyal LHI employee to document the effects of HID withdrawal... on one of his friends.

The Wolf explained what had transpired during the call as clearly as he could all while maintaining an even tone. Despite the importance of his report he made a point of pausing every time he heard Jen murmur or shuffle or gasp. Once, toward the end of Theo's report, he heard her sob.

When next she spoke however she had recovered her own professional, even tone. "So... he didn't suffer at the end?"

There was no video to the communication but Theo paused to straightened his tie even though she couldn't see (it was a personal habit and helped him settle himself). "It was really bad in the beginning: aches, pains... eventually weakness-- so he was bed ridden. After awhile there was coughing and some bleeding. But... no... several hours before he passed he went unconscious... and it was... peaceful."

He heard her heavy sigh through the comm. "Good... I guess... I-- I should have been there, Theo... I should--"

He was quick to cut her line of thinking short. "You are the Station's Overseer, Jen... it's important work. We ALL know that. You were doing what you should have been doing and nobody can fault you for it."

It took several moments for her to respond but once she did her voice was even again. "How's everyone else? Is that serum Dr. Cortez manufactured helping?"

Theo closed the folder of information he'd kept on Nate, glad to be done with it. "Other than some general irritability, minor aches and pains, and some people complaining of trouble sleeping it seems like everything's fine."

Concern came back into Jen's voice at her next question. "What about YOU, Theo... are... are you alright?"

Ever since he had asked Jen to give his share of HID to the others and made a request to not use the synthesized serum she had been consistently concerned for him. He was displeased that he caused her so much stress but he realized that he wouldn't do her any good if he had some questionable chemical cocktail in his body... not when the home office had made it clear many times that he wasn't subjected to the same genetic instability of the rapidly manufactured models of the Designer Domestics.

He quickly pushed the thoughts from his mind, having already delayed his response far too long. "Mostly the same symptoms, actually."

He offered a comforting chuckle and, miraculously, it spread to her. As silence slowly passed the time between them he tentatively asked a question of his own, "How are YOU doing, Jen... I mean... without the HID?"

Although her words were direct, something about her tone made him realize that she was hiding something... and she never hid anything from him. "It took a few days to get it out of my system. You shouldn't be worried about me-- I don't have a modified genetic structure... mostly it just means I have to work a little more to not get mad. It seems like it's harder to be professional when my body can actually manufacture all of those hormones."

"Is something wrong?"

Jen let out a sigh. "No... pretty much just the irritability and having trouble sleeping... but it isn't any worse than what you guys are going through."

Theo was not satisfied; he could tell when she was being evasive. "Did you just said 'pretty much', as in, there might be something else? You know I get worried when it sounds like you're hiding something, Jen."

She let out a sigh, a hint of agitation coming to her voice. "It's personal stuff, Theo... it isn't important."

The wolf stared at the comm system, taking a seat on the bed, "I could try to help if I knew what was wrong. You know I will always do anything I--"

Jen's voice snapped succinctly. "I'm going through having a period."

Theo was struck dumb. "You... mean..."

Her tone was still aggravated. "I'm menstruating, Theo... as in, hormone cycle, PMS, cramps... all of THAT stuff!"

Everything fell into place for the Wolf. "Oh."

Ever since Theo had been put onto the HID to maintain an even emotional state and to preserve the LHI copyright on his genetic coding the Gen's hormones had been suppressed. In objection, Jen had also demanded to be given the exact same regimen-- she had always been an obstinate child and her father had hoped that having a compliant Designer Domestic Geneticon would help calm her down but the plan ended up backfiring when she demanded to be given the same treatment.

In the end, her father was so adamant about Theo going on the same chemical cocktail as the rest of the line that he let her have her way (after the scientists guaranteed no less than a dozen times that it would be safe). What that meant for a young thirteen year old girl, however, was that, other than her first one or two experience as a teen she had gone through her adult life without ever having a normal menstrual cycle. The thought scared him because Theo was probably only a day or two behind. He'd heard that males didn't have PMS, but the shifting in hormone production could still kick the professionalism right out of him.

He didn't realize he'd fallen silent until Jen spoke up again. "How's everyone else? I mean... what has the team been doing?"

Theo was thankful for the change in topic; he really appreciated the light-touch maneuvering out of uncomfortable discussions required even if he himself didn't have it. "Everyone's been keeping busy. Trudy has been trying to set up work schedules for everyone... Carol just got back with checking into a new color scheme for the apartment."

Jen seemed to take that information well but as usual her concern still showed, "Is she still getting escorts from security? There are plenty of CPO employees in the Central Hub and I don't want her down there alone."

The Wolf had always admired the amicable way Jen referred to the convicts and criminals hired by the DRC Corp. While he had heard numerous station employees call them 'Cons', 'Ghouls', or even 'Slaves', the official term of CPO, Contract Purchased-or-Obtained seemed far more politically correct. He was quick to put her mind at ease. "She has a line straight to Security Control and gets two officers any time she's down at the Hub. According to security she can contact them at any hour and she'll get a personal escort."

A chiding humor managed to sneak through Jen's otherwise dour tone. "Good... make sure you prepare a report on that. I want to send a Light-Trans to my dad when I get a chance to point out that there are plenty of good Gens out there who weren't manufactured."

Theo smiled despite himself. "I thought the two of you had already agreed to disagree on that point."

"We did... but he's still wrong and I intend to prove it."

They shared a chuckle but as that died down he continued with his report. "Marco has been restless... he's spent his whole life with his brother so he's been looking for ways to keep himself busy."

Jen's concern was readily evident in her reply. "Keep an eye on him, Theo... he'll probably need a little extra attention. Try to give him some goals... maybe do a review of the apartment and look for any security concerns-- Oh! I know! Have him prepare a few contingency plans for evacuation, protection, and counter-intelligence."

Theo smiled; she always knew just what to say. "I'll also have Xavier and Ollie spend some time with him... just guy stuff. They got back earlier today from another talk with the security detail down at the hangar."

Her response was completely analytical. "Did they find out anything new? Do we know how or why the VAC targeted LHI supplies specifically?"

Theo's smile disappeared. "Nothing new, no... but they did say that security would report to Commander Vanessa if they discovered anything and she'll get that info to you directly... so I think it's more of the waiting game..."

In unison they both acknowledged. "...and I hate waiting."

After another small session of laughter Jen followed up with another question. "What about Ken and Henry? Have they both calmed down?"

Theo nodded despite her being unable to see it; he enjoyed talking with her even if he couldn't see her and his tail was finally free to wag again. "One calmed down and the other calmed up. They've both been spending the time taking care of the apartment... cleaning up..." he paused. "They're the ones who handled Nate's... uh... remains."

Any humor in the situation disappeared, "...oh."

With no time really being the 'right' time, Theo settled on that moment as the best time to tell her, "Nate's body is gone."

Although there were any number of ways for her to have analyzed his statement the Wolf was again astounded and proud of the Overseer's method of understanding. "How long after time of death did it take place?"

He focused on being professional and analytical in his answer, pushing aside the thought of his friend's death and choosing instead to look at it from a clinical and scientific manner. "Some time between one and a half to three hours after the call-time. Almost three hours exactly after storing the body Henry identified the complete loss of genetic cohesion."

There was a pause on the other end before she spoke up. "...decomposition?"

He provided clarification, "Complete disintegration... I think we'll need a scientist to determine if it was total project failure but there was just... uh..."

"...Goo?"

Theo let out a sigh. "Yeah..."

There was silence from the comm for several seconds before Jen spoke up again, "Alright, Theo... just... keep everything in storage and leave it at that. Everyone had a chance to say goodbye, I hope?"

"Yes."

The Overseer let out a steadying breath. "Alright, then we'll keep things moving forward. Make sure that everyone has their doses of the new medication and if it looks like we're running low we can tap Dr. Cortez again. Until then maintain operational standards and I'll see when I can get some time to come ba--"

The feed suddenly ended; a few seconds later the Wolf felt a distinct tremor from the floor followed by a faint, echoing rumble. He stood up immediately. "Jennifer? Jen? Jen!"

There was no response. Theo pulled out his PCD and checked for upload strength to the station's central communication... it wasn't that he didn't have a signal; there literally was no signal to be had. Maintaining his composure the Wolf felt his heart begin to beat a little faster-- another one of those side effects of not having the HID to control his adrenaline. It frustrated him to no end but he just added that onto the hormone issue as well.

Forcing himself to remain calm Theo put his PCD away and headed out into the main room to talk with the others; Jen had told him to maintain operational standards and that was precisely what he intended to do. The other Gens had apparently also realized that there had been some kind of 'event' and that meant his job was going to be harder-- Mark was already loading up on weaponry while Trudy and Henry were talking about another possible VAC raid.

Theo put on his best manager persona and got right to work. "Everyone calm down."

Although all of the Gens acknowledged his authority right away it still took several minutes for everyone to settle in. Mark, who, quite literally had been packing every single firearm he had brought with somewhere onto his person needed the time to place them back in the firearms chest so he could sit down. Gertrude, who had taken cover in the back room needed to be coaxed out and shown that everything was indeed alright. Although Theo had not originally expected it, Henry ended up being the most helpful in getting everyone organized.

Carol was the sole other member of the Gens aside from Theo who had not lost her cool. She continued working away on her PCD and only when everyone had quieted down did she bother to start the discussion off, "It looks like Comms are down across the station. I can't bring up anybody who isn't here in this room."

Ken, who was the communications expert of the group was very quick to chime in next. "If the station's comm center is offline then we'll only have short range communication with identified signals from each others' PCDs. Does anyone know other people on the station?"

Everyone pulled out their own hand held comms and began searching through their list. Theo did a quick check of his own. "I just got a message from one of the engineers stationed on this deck... he seems to think Sigma-Echo lost its Comm Tower."

Ken winced at that. "Great... well it looks like it'll be awhile before communication comes back up-- that's no easy fix."

Theo worked to avoid whining at the thought of further distance between Jen and her workers but he didn't let the sound escape him. Instead he stood back up, put on his best in-charge-and-confident-about-it air, and began to do what he was meant to do: he kept the peace, maintained order, and saw to it that the group would remain productive. Secretly, however, he hoped that Jen would find a way to get back to them-- it just wasn't the same without her.

As everyone parted after the meeting Carol came up to the Wolf and spoke quietly. "I hope Jen can get back to us soon... it just isn't the same without her."

In some way it felt reassuring to know that he wasn't the only one thinking it but, at the same time, it was his job to be that reassurance for everyone else. Theo rested a paw on Carol's shoulder. "She will be... I'm sure of it."